Went For A Ride In The Car!!

    It was really surprising to go to class today. More than it should have been. We haven't had class for only four days and we were with Ajan Boudin for all of them. But it seems four days was enough for our brains to turn off the Thai. We were able to take in new information but a lot of last weeks lessons weren't coming through. Drexler has stopped sitting in on our classes like he used to. Not sure if he believes in us or has decided he has better things to do than watch us fail.
   
    The highlight of today's lesson was when I got curious and started flipping through the textbook during class. I was looking for when we would start learning activities instead of the 'useless' information we are being fed (today we learned body parts and how to tell someone to go to the doctor. Not sure when this will ever come up). I discovered the chapter about helping people. Helping people with what?? Oh, the usual. Heroin, marijuana, alcohol, how to tell someone they have 'contracted AIDS'. These are all words/phrases we are going to learn before the end of the semester. Because they are so important. On the other page was the word for prostitution and just like in the movies the whole class got silent right before I said "Okay, so there's the prostitution" then burst out laughing. The teacher had to ask me what prostitution had to do with today's lesson. Another interesting fact is we did not learn how to say 'butt'.

    Songthaewed it back to the guesthouse. Deanna and Karen went off on an adventure to find pottery but some of us were feeling a bit lazy. Which turned out to be a good thing since they got lost and spent money. The two things you should be afraid of happening in a foreign country.

    Forgot about going to Tai Chi today so got going a little later than planned. Lilith did not join us this time (my prayers have been answered!!) so she will be forced to go to yoga or something else. Barbara is the type of teacher who believes that if we talk to her we will realize she's just shy, not a bad person. This makes me remember she has a Hitler poster in her single at Coe. I don't think we'll be painting each others toe nails and gossiping about boys any time this lifetime. Or the next.

    Tai Chi was really fun today. We had two turtle paced tracks and one slightly faster one!! There was lots of turning and squatting. It was more intense than usual. Apparently they color coordinate everyday. Today was pink, I wore my purple flowy pants. Tomorrow is green. I'm going to be buying some new exercise clothes while here. And they will be color coordinated. We met Barbara's friend who tried to give us a ride back to our guesthouse which is the opposite direction from her house. Her name is Ajan Champuu (Like shampoo. Champuu is the word for pink in Thai). We got to ride in her car and it was the most exciting thing ever!! Because Thailand is like Britain where everything is on the opposite side. And I thought her car didn't have seat belts (the vans we take on the weekend don't. I thought Thai vehicles didn't either) but they were hidden. I imitated a dog going on a ride to the dog park. She dropped us off half-way but Barbara was going to meet a friend for dinner so I got a songthaew and rode it back all on my own. It was scary until some older ladies climbed in and the one who sat across from me had bright pink hair. They said 'hello' and 'goodbye' and it was very reassuring in a weird way.

    Ate dinner by myself, which is something Thais don't do. You never see anyone eating in anything less than pairs so I got some looks but that was probably from shoveling the steaming fried rice in my mouth. For not moving around much Tai Chi makes you hungry. On the way to the restaurant I thought I saw some hookers walking towards me. I realized as they got closer it was just some inappropriately dressed French teenagers. One girl looked like she was in a tube-top one piece swim suit he shorts were so short.

    Having some roommate troubles. Donna has made a joke of calling me a racist which was funny at first but now feels more like an attack. So tonight when I started ignoring her while she told me I was racist she switched tactics. Her new one is 'you stole my pie.' At the middle of nowhere pie place Karen, Donna and I ordered the same pie but they only had one piece left. Karen had given it to me, since she had already had a slice and I didn't know Donna had ordered the same type. I tried giving it to her and made her take the first bite. That's the pie story. So she starts yelling about stolen pie and when I give up on that she starts a story about 'the beautiful princess Donna and the evil, pie stealing witch Lexi.' At this point I left the room. I like talking to Donna, I like rooming with her. Not really enjoying this.

The Winos cross this bridge to get to a park on the other side of the stream. It shakes when you cross it but has been holding on this long. And the stream is really pretty. 

Lizard Count: 9