Friday, February 15, 2013

Zumba for Old People

    Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! Or, for the other half of the population, Happy Singles Awareness Day!! Today started out good with Niko giving everyone a piece of chocolate. He is becoming better, especially since it's hard to dislike someone who just gave you a chocolate heart.
    Had a hard lesson today. We learned how to say where we're from (because we didn't learn it thoroughly enough the first time) and how to talk on the phone. I wish we were learning more conversation than in-depth Thai. I mean, I think we are going to have to talk more about what we like to do than giving directions or knowing different jobs. Just realized today we have two more weeks of spoken Thai lessons then a week of written Thai before we're done!! Then it's on to survival Vietnamese.
    There was extra time at the end of class so I asked how to say 'prostitute' in Thai. We were given many different ways of saying it from socially acceptable to derogatory and learned how to say 'boy prostitute.' Yesterday I asked how to say 'bubble'. Plus, teacher Pranut told us about how she was shot at once because she looked like her father who was the actual target. She's a lot of fun and it's easy to learn from her. 
    Drexler informed me he was forcing Lilith and myself to go to Tai Chi today with his wife Barbara. We were allowed to go to the guesthouse first to pick her up and change then we went back to the school. Traffic was terrible so when we finally made it they were about half way done. Barbara and I talked about old British TV (I meet so many people who like Are You Being Served?) for most of the trip there. Lilith sat there looking a very pained expression all the way there and back. It was really fun, even though everyone there is probably a grandparent. We were assured that they love young people coming so I will definitely be going back. It's all about working on your balance and breathing so in other terms it's like yoga standing up. But with a lot more movement. So not really like yoga at all but that's how I am describing it. Or maybe it's like Zumba for old people. Definitely going back next week, although Lilith stood there most of the time refusing to follow the movements and afterwards said "It wasn't her thing".  For those who know Lilith at Coe, I saw her wearing ballet flats today, not heels!!
    We flagged down a songthaew right after leaving campus. There were a few other people in it so it was going to be a while before we got back. We were in that damn truck for 40+ minutes. At least. In the mornings it takes fifteen minutes to get to the school from our guesthouse. This songthaew dropped us off on the street next to the one the guesthouse is on. Those trucks have no air conditioning and really tight quarters. In fact it was so tight that my foot accidentally brushed Lilith's leg and she immediately had to wipe away any trace I may have left on her. She looked constipated the whole way back and took off immediately after getting out of the songthaew without thanking Barbara for paying for her. She was also disrespectful to the Tai Chi teacher. We are hoping that her behavior towards people isn't what they remember of our group when we're gone.
    On to a more positive note. We got back too late for me to go grab dinner without locking Donna out of the room so I waited for everyone to come back from the school and we went out for ice cream. It was Valentine's Day today so we felt we deserved something sweet. And we were right. 
    When we got back to our rooms we broke out our wine and had a glass. Not an actual wine glass but each room has two hotel like glasses we used. Karen's and mine looked like white wine (while her's was honey and mine was strawberry), Deanna's was pink (apple), and Donna's was green (cantaloupe). We complained about Lilith and Donna told us the funny story of how at Multicultural fusion orientation, where every African American freshman was, Lilith announced that she hated black people during her introduction. If you ever wanted a stupid idea, here's one of the dumbest ones ever. She has not been invited back since. In order to separate this faction of the group from all of us as a whole I will refer to us crazy ladies as the Winos. Ducklings is everyone, Winos are the fun people. 
    After that we had sing-off through the walls (I was singing "Somebody That I Used to Know" while Karen and Deanna decided to sing the evil Bieber) (In Vietnam we have to perform at a gala. We have two ideas floating around: belly dancing and a mix up of Michael Jackson and Bieber ('I wanna love you' 'As long as you lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love me'). These are still works in progress).
The ducklings are going on a weekend trip to some ruins this weekend so no new posts until Sunday.
Here's us eating ice cream. I was finishing off some fried rice with Chinese sausages and didn't wanna smile with my mouth full. 

Lizard Count: 8    Confirmed a sighting when a lizard shaped branch that had been in our window last night and did not move for hours was gone today. 

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