Thai Language studying makes me cranky and tired.

I'm tired. I took no pictures today. 1st class was meh. Second class was better. Learned some cool stuff spent about 5 hours studying. Tired. Much Tired. That's all I got because I'm so tired that I can't even remember what happened today...Night world.

The Feeling of Seeing the Path

Today we had a lovely lecture about women, the word mother, and the rice goddess in Thai culture. It was a fascinating lecture and it kept my attention the entire time. I was so happy to hear about how the Thai language developed the way it did and how the role and view of women has changed drastically since WWII. There were only a few of us out of 13 who didn't fall asleep (brain toned out). Even one of our aa-jaan was doodling and took barely any notes. I had 2 pages! I was so mesmerized. At the end of the lecture after my noodle soup I walked around the lake and told Lexi how I felt. I told her that I knew. I knew in the middle of the lecture what I wanted to do with my life. What path I wanted to take in the next 2 years of my schooling. My majors are Asian Studies and English with a minor in Anthropology. Finally I can see my path and I know I will stay on it. The feeling of freedom and happiness has washed over me today. My depression which has loomed over me the past 5 days is gone. Finally I see.
Minds open, hearts close, bellies full

-The Foodie and Nature Enthusiast

Get out my bubble! Too many languages! Shh I'm meditating.

Thai people have no concept of personal space. Even my aa-jaan (teachers) say so. I mean when you order food they hand you the menu then stand right behind you or beside you and stare at you...I'm like okay okay I'm sorry I'll have *closes eyes and points at random thing on menu* "THIS ONE!" which is always met with the reply of "ummm we no have." crap. The market (especially the Sunday one) jeez there is no space between you and anything. No wiggle room at all. In traditional Thai homes the home is one big room so there is no doing anything in privacy. Learning the Thai language is difficult. The words are one syllable so they are pretty easy but the tones! It's so hard to remember which words are which tone and then when you have all 5 tones in one sentence. Yikes! Then sometimes I say things in Japanese or German and I think 'nope that's not right well...um...next person...'. But the teachers are all really nice and understanding. At lunch I always go to the lake and walk around. Sometimes I even get some moments of meditation. When people walk by they look down and see what I'm doing and they'll either A) stop talking or B) whisper. The culture here may have no concept of personal space but they are very respectful and kind. No matter who you are or what you look like they respect you. The only type of discrimination they have phom/di-chan or khrop/kha (how to distinguish between genders when speaking about yourself and how to end sentences depending on gender). Even with these though they have phoan/hap which is how a transgender person would say it. It's really quite interesting.
Minds open, hearts close, bellies full
-The Foodie and Nature Enthusiast

Coke in a bag. That's how we do in Thailand.

I wanted a coke. Unfortunately the people at the guest house were all busy admiring their new graduate from Chiang Mai University. I guess that's not unfortunate because I was really happy for them it was just unfortunate for me because that meant I couldn't get a coke from here. So I walked down the street a little bit and came across a place I could. But the lady wouldn't let me take the bottle with me because they get to recycle them with the company. If I wanted to take the bottle it would have cost me 50 baht! 50 baht! It costs 15 a little farther down the road...So we compromised. She poured it in a bag and lowered her price. So ladies and gents this is my coke in a bag.

minds open, hearts close, bellies full...
-ME!

Maesa Elephant Camp

Maesa Elephant Camp has 71 happy elephants. Below you can see a picture of banana snatcher. He got that name because when you give him a banana he takes it and then drops it. Your eyes (stupid human that you are) follow the dropped banana wondering when he'll pick it up. While his very powerful trunk snatches at the big bunch you still have in your hands. There is no fighting an elephant. You just don't do it.

After we were done getting bananas stolen and watching more stupid humans get theirs taken we went to the arena to watch the elephants play soccer, basketball, paint, and play with their trainers. They looked like they genuinely enjoyed it. At times the trainer would tell them to throw the ball and the elephant was like nope. Then the trainer would try again: nope. Again: still nope. Finally the trainer said okay and the elephant dunked the basketball. It was awesome. The elephant laughed in his face (literally). It was great.

It's amazing how we forget that animals are just like people. They have talents, personalities, rebellions, fears, favorites, and dreams. If anyone has the opportunity to see this place I recommend you go. You walk away with a new appreciation for life in all it's forms.

Minds open, hearts close, bellies full.
-Nature Enthusiast

Ryan and the Prairie Dog

I can't really explain this more than the title. This is Ryan. He's the youngest in our group and the one who always disappears. He has several nicknames and he likes to play "where's Ryan?" with Bob. He's actually a pretty cool guy and apparently prairie dogs love him. lol I'm not so sure the feeling is mutual though...

Yes that's a leash. This woman at the temple had 3 of them. She had bought them in Bangkok and they even did tricks. SOO cutessy

Minds open, hearts close, bellies full!
-The Foodie and Nature Enthusiast

The Mysterious Allergy Bean

I had an allergic reaction last week. My chest tightened, I could hardly breathe and walking was out of the question. After Lexi got me home and shoved a Benadryl in my hand I was fine a mere 15 minutes later. The next day we just couldn't figure out what it was that had set me off. Two days ago we went to our little spot (Into the Woods Cafe) and I had flat fried rice noodles in chicken gravy. I felt nascious after about 7 bites and I couldn't eat anymore. We started walking home and I began coughing with my throat becoming more irritated with each step. Well..this isn't good I thought. We walked the 3 minutes home and then I had to sit. 15 minutes of just sitting and my throat had gone down and my breathing was back to normal. The next day I read that peanuts are actually beans and not nuts. Take a look at the picture...Ladies and gentlemen that is a boiled peanut. I had been having reactions because of lack of knowledge that a peanut is actually a bean. Know your facts people. Minds open, hearts close, bellies full!
-The Foodie and Nature Enthusiast

Dexter: Our Son

Ladies and gentlemen I am pleased to announce that Lexi and I have officially adopted a baby boy!!!!! (Please do not freak out and continue to read) He's so cute! He likes to hide in corners and run away when we get close to him. He likes hiding in warm places. He's so cute when he hides because he sticks part of his face out and stares at us almost as if to say "I can see you mommies but you can't see me!" His favorite place is the shower. Especially when the water is on and when it's off he scurries to the drain of the shower. He's a little weird. He likes to be with us at night but during the day he's gone. He's realllly pale and sometimes we can see his veins straight through his skin. Dexter has really big eyes (a deep brown color). You know what my favorite part of our little guy is? His tail! Let that sink in....

FAMILY: I don't actually have a kid. Lexi and I are not a couple.

DEXTER IS A GECKO.

We are not really sure if it's a boy or girl, quite frankly we cannot get close enough to him to find out. He's in our bathroom every night and greets us with a scurry up the wall when we have to shower. If you want to see any pictures of our little guy please go to lexi's blog! HEHE

Sorry family for the scare but I had to have a little fun... :)
Minds open, hearts close, bellies full!
-The Foodie and Nature Enthusiast

Teddy Bear Death

Fangirling at Into the Woods Cafe

If you don't know the musical Into the Woods then you won't understand why I freaked out when I saw this little cafe. On the window they have the synopsis of the musical. Mom, it follows it exactly. The mural has little bits and pieces of each character in the story. I just can't. I mean the food is cheap but reallly reallly good, the drinks are awesome, and the people there speak really good English. They have free wifi and books you can read at your own leisure. Open everyday 9:00-9:00. We've been there 3 times in the past 5 days...We  have officially found our homework spot, think spot, drink spot, food spot...let's just say we've found our spot. I really wish we could get Netflix so we could watch Into the Woods when we are there. Oh well. Check out the Teddy Bear Death post to see a latte teddy bear art die slowly....hehehe Mind open, hearts close, bellies full.

Chiang Mai University

These are pictures at our university. I know you're thinking your what all I see is water? That's the lake on campus. Yes they have a LAKE on campus. With 33,000 students the buildings and walkways are packed. There are more buildings owned by the University then I can count. The food courts have tiny restaurants where food is anywhere from 25-40 baht (cheap). The campus is so green they have a great agricultural program and the students plant flowers and crops throughout the campus. There are ponds, wooden bridges, fish, trees trees everywhere. We have over 60 hours of Thai language class along with Thai culture class. Then we have to do some volunteer work &/or classes that get us out into the community. We still have a small business class with Pam once a week and then we have our independent study project. My independent study project is food in Thai culture. How awesome is that? Totally fits with who I am. If you have any questions don't forget to ask. Minds open, hearts close, bellies full!
-The Foodie and Nature Enthusiast

Dinner on Chiang Mai University’s dime

This restaurant has traditional northern Thailand cuisine, architecture, and had a nice after dinner show of Thai dancers performing traditional Thai dances. The food was really really good. Basically it was a free for all. I’m not going to explain how it works, I think the pictures do that. Combining flavors was really great and the company was fantastic. Our professors and the dean were there. We literally had dinner with our teachers and talked about random stuff. One of our professors, the one in the purple, during the knife show said that in Thailand if woman break up with man he kill her but if woman stay and he break up with her then he kill her too because he doesn’t want her to be happy. That’s Thailand.  (paraphrasing because I don’t actually remember the quote word for word). It was probably the best line of the night…okay it was. Then at the end Lexi decided to pull me up and make me try and learn this dance on the stage in front of EVERYONE! I was so nervous that afterwards my adrenaline was still rushing so I was shaking until we got back to the guest house. I have never wanted to get out of a restaurant so fast in my life. I mean my teacher kept yelling at me in Thai to do things and my head was screaming “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING STOPPPP YELLLLINNGGG AT MEEEEEEE”. It was awful. I do not recommend this for people who get nervous easily about the possibility of failing. Haha Minds open, hearts close, bellies full

-The Food and Nature Enthusiast

Flowers at the Zoo

The Elephant at the Chiang Mai Zoo

The zoo was really awesome because you could feed almost every single animal (not the panda). I fed a leopard some meat that’s how awesome the zoo is here. The elephant? Completely trained and he totally likes holding people and eating bananas from kiddos. Giraffe (post below)? LOVES people because people equal food and there was a baby giraffe! So cute.

The Giraffes at the Chiang Mai Zoo

The Panda at the Chiang Mai Zoo

Humble Abode

So this is where we are staying. It’s very peaceful and all the places are made of wood. We do get little visitors like geckos and snakes in the bathroom. Check out Lexi’s blog at thebookyouneverread.blogspot.com to see a video of what happened it’s hilarious. Apparently later in the term there is a gigantic lizard (size of a kimodo dragon. Google it) that likes to hang around the guest house and eat the in heat cats, dogs, and birds (no complaints on the bird part). The bad thing about our gigantic reptile friend is his teeth bend backwards so if he happens to get his teeth on you there is no getting him off without ripping flesh off. OUCH. So I made a mental note, a BIG MENTAL NOTE, to stay the HECK AWAY from that thing!! Anyways the people here are really nice and we get yummy breakfast every morning with our stay (thanks mom and Allen for the room & board $). Minds open, hearts close, bellies full.

-THE Foodie and Nature Enthusiast (I apparently like CAPS)

SKYTRAIN

First of all how cool is the skyline here of Bangkok? We had to take the skytrain to quite a few places because the roads were blocked by the beautiful protest. Oh by the way Bangkok is in a state of emergency for 90 days (started on the 22^nd) in case anyone wanted to know. We may be flying straight out of Vietnam or Chiang Mai in April. We saw a lot of things on the rides, for example the Victory Monument. It was erected after the Thailand-Franco war and has the names of soldiers who died in that conflict as well as WWII, Korean War etc… Of course there were protesters on the monument. When we went to the Jim Thompson house we were stopped trying to turn down the street by protester security?? Not really sure because they were just citizens who had security badge things (like the ones you have to get backstage at a concert). It was a little scary, I mean they didn’t have guns or anything but it was still nerve racking! We were fine. Next day we were heading on a train to Chiang Mai. Minds Open, Hearts Close, Bellies FULL

-Foodie and Nature Enthusiast