Well, folks, I can honestly say
that this has been one of the most boring weeks that I have had here in
Thailand. Tis because finals week is
coming up, and my laziness meter and stress levels have skyrocketed to an
all-time high. It’s quite unfortunate that
they’ve both decided to grow at the same time.
Also, all of the Thai students have left for break, the internet is
AMAZING; so, the internet is an even worse distraction than before. The amount
of times that I’ve checked Facebook is making me feel disgusting.
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| This is what I look like too much of the time. |
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| This is the common room on my floor where I spend 75% of my time when I'm in Alpha. Look beside the red chair on the right- that's all of my homework! |
A lot of my time this week has
been dedicated to reading the assignments that I neglected reading so that I can
do well on my take-home final exam for Social and Cultural History. I have two out of three essays done!!!!! It’s
never taken so long to write two 3-page papers before (both of them are over 4
pages- #overachieving). I have neglected to study for my Thai exams and one of
them is an oral exam at 10:10 am (kill me now). It’s not my fault- I had to
watch the boys at Omega Dorm model on top of the rooftop for 30 minutes, and
hang out with Allen, and watch Game of Thrones, and learn the lyrics to a bunch
of songs. These things are important
too.
Speaking of Allen…Allen is one of
my good friends here at Payap. He is
from China, but he goes to school in Thailand, and he studied abroad at SMCM
last semester! Eyesha and I went out to
dinner and an excursion with Allen and his girlfriend Tingting to hang out with
them before they leave for China- Allen has graduated, and Tingting is leaving
for break. After dinner, we went to the
market behind Big C. It doesn’t have
many things that interest me (mostly nice normal clothing and weird toys), but
it DID have fried bugs for sale.
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| Eyesha, Tingting, and Allen. |
And I ate some. I had a little grub and bit the head off of
the largest grasshopper in the bin. They didn’t taste bad, but I was absolutely
horrified at the fact that I was eating bugs, and the grasshoppers head was
super crunchy. It’s amazing how the mind
bars us from doing things that we’re totally capable of doing. I tried eating bugs. Now I can cross that off of my list of things
to do, and I can say with conviction that I would prefer not to eat them.
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| I ate one of these grubs. |
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| I also nibbled on the crunch head of this big guy. |
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| This was my after-face. |
After that lil escapade, we went
to the German Microbrewery in Chiang Mai where I tasted the best beer I’ve ever
had. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the
name, but it was yummy. We met a man
from Arizona who has been living in Thailand for 20 years. We had a short conversation about how he saw
that America was going downhill for years, and that he’s glad he’s no longer
living there. I can see how he justifies
his reasons for being in Thailand from an economic perspective- you get a lot
for your money here- but, politically…I just don’t really know. Speaking of politics- sending in my absentee
ballot this week!!!!! Good citizen! Tis
my first time voting J
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| A toast to Thailand! |
I talked a lot about SMCM with
Allen. Unfortunately, this made me miss
home a lot. I think a lot of people are
kinda missing home, especially those in relationships. Crap has been going down lately, and it’s
making me sad. I won’t delve into
personal matters too much in my blog, but I feel that long-distance relationships
are a big issue in travelling. It can be
done people. It sucks, but it can be
done. Don’t be a dingus and throw something
good away. My own beau has asked me to
give this message to the boyfriends of my friends here, but I think this can apply
to many others, so I post it here:
"Good sir, it has come to my
attention that we are each dating incredible women as they mill about several
thousand miles away in Thailand. I hereby challenge you: That we both maintain
relationships with these ladies so long as they remain in that silly country.
Where I am I have seen several relationships collapse due merely to distance -
and I issue you this challenge in the hopes that at least two pairs of us can
come away unscathed from this interesting, but most trying time. Stay true to
your heart, stay true to your soul, Peter."
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| I miss St. Mary's! |
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| And this. |
Now. On to less serious matters. Perhaps the most fun that I’ve had this week
was our short reunion with the Swedes- Andreas, Erik, Adam, Philip, and Rosa
(and the Chinese girl’s name that I can’t remember) that we met in Pai. We intended to go to a Salsa Dance Club…but
it was closed. So we hitched a ride with
P’Jew who had agreed to go bowling with us…but there was a bowling tournament
that shut us out. Success came when we
decided to hit a few bars- the THC bar, Loco Elvis’ Restaurant and Bar, and of
course…Zoey’s. I hate Zoey’s.
Loco Elvis was great. We didn’t eat their food, but we used their
microphone. Laura and I sang “I Don’t
Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith, while Andreas pulled out his air guitar to
Kiss’ “Detroit Rock City.” The owner of
the place is the absolute best- during a Thai girl’s performance of “Billionaire”,
he made an unexpected entrance during the rap part- and he was amazing. Twas a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and
totally recommended for all of the classic rock fans and pop babies.
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| Emily, Andreas and Erik singing...a song. |
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| The awesome bar owner makes his entrance. |
Okay. Awesome update. We figured out how to get on top of the roof
of Alpha! AAAHHHH!!!! I’ve been wanting to do that since I’ve been here, but
the urgency was heightened by watching those boys model on the rooftop for 30
minutes. It’s way too easy (though satisfactorily
so) to get up there. And the view is
awesome. We were gonna eat our Greek
pizza from Duke’s on the roof, but then it got too dark. Duke’s is a place that I would recommend to
everyone who is missing good ol’ Amurican food- it’s a lovely establishment, it
delivers to campus, and the food isn’t made Thai-style.
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| Do I look like a regal bird? |
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| Sittin on a rooftop, enjoying a sunset. |
I feel like this is the most
boring post that has been posted. But my
week has literally been filled with work and gorging myself to death with
7Eleven snacks.
Well, I’ll talk about food then. I’ll list out my go-to’s slash all-time
favorites that you must eat while here!
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Pad see ew= a Chinese influenced fried noodle
dish. I like to order pad see ew je
(vegetarian) because they add a bunch of yummy veggies (carrot, bok choy,
broccoli, cauliflower) that they don’t add when you order non-vegetarian.
·
Tom yam kung= famous Thai soup with spices and
some sourness. This particular version
has shrimp in it, but you can get it with chicken or pork too. I like mine best with the small noodles
(guay-tiaw lek).
· Fried rice= everyone has had fried rice. Rice being the staple food for almost the
entire world, people have gotten creative with it. Pineapple and chicken fried rice are always
good. I really like the Rainbow fried
rice which has carrots, peas, onion, pineapple, tomato and raisins in it. I’m being starved of the amount of veggies
and fruits I want in life.
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Sticky rice and mango= the sticky rice is
flavored with coconut milk
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Pork on a skewer
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These I have not had, but Kristina recommends
them:
o
Taud mun= fish cakes with chopped green beans
and chopped peppers, deep-fried (I've provided the recipe for shrimp cakes)
o
Black sticky rice and coconut milk= dessert
There. I’m sure I’ve sufficiently bored you until
you drool on your keyboard. Either that,
or I’ve made you extremely hungry for some Thai food- in which case, you should
come here and join me for some nom noms!
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