I'm Back!

I have been sick for a week. Too sick to even get on my computer long enough to make a post. Looks like I got Dengue Fever. It has gone away now though so I shouldn't be cramped up in my room all day everyday, I just wish this rash would go away already.

I keep wanting to run around and take weird artsy photos, but I havent gotten the balls up for it yet. Maybe soon, we will see.

Laaaaaaaag

Sorry for the lack of posts. Chai-poom has been keeping me at his house cooking (mostly just prepping the food and sitting around) twice a day and I am starting to get tired of him, not the cooking, but of him. Anyways, that takes up all the time that I normally post.

I don't have much exciting stuff to report though so I guess it isn't a big deal. I did see an elephant being ridden down the street yesterday though, which was awesome. It was just walking along with cars whizzing by, it didn't even care. It was a busy street too. I love elephants. I will try to remeber to bring Evan's camera along with me more often. I guess I'm just not used to having to remember it.

Learning to Cook Thai

I started to learn how to cook some Thai food today. They showed me ginger chicken. Unfortunatley, I'm not really sure I could make it in the U.S. because some of the ingredients they use here I have never seen in the U.S. Maybe I can learn to modify the recipes when I get back. Anyways, I am still looking for ideas on what to cook for them (american food). Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.

*Screeeeech of joy*

I saw the most beautiful wolf spider I've ever laid eyes on today. Of course I did not have my camera with me... sigh. I will always remember it though. Sooooo big too! It was larger than the biggest species (of wolf spider) in North America. Anyways, I was excited, and had to get it out. Thanks for listening.

Thai Cooking

Soooo, a small restaurant owner has offered have me learn to cook a couple of thai recipes with his wife. I'm not sure (because he gets excited and jumbles his words and sentences together) but I think he may want me to show his wife a couple of american recipes in exchange. Unfortunatley, I know how to bake and I don't think they have an oven. I can cook but I don't know a lot of recipes. Does anyone know any good, easy recipes that could be considered american food? Wait, what is "american food" anyway?

Update-Learning the language

I am feeling much better. Everything is going well again. Evan and I have started taking some Thai language classes. We are just learning a lot of common phrases and words, but if you learn how to use each of the words in the phases you can get a lot out of that. I am rather considering picking up a couple of kids books to learn how to read and write, because they wont be teaching us that. Something that bugs the crap out of me though... Evan and I are the only two people trying to learn the language here! I am just of the opinion that if you are going to be in another country you should at least try to learn a little bit of their language.

I also finally bought a couple of new pairs of shoes. This is a big relief for me because what I had really was not appropriate for the heat, the terrain, or the constant taking on and off whenever you enter a room. I am really not a big fan of shopping so this is a good thing for me. I still would really like to get a couple of cooler shirts, but the thought kind of makes me nervous. The people teaching us Thai got a little excited at me when they taught us the word for shopping. It is still an important girly trait to like shopping here. I got kinda nervous with them just mentioning the word 'shopping'. Ugh, I need to get over my shopophobia...

<(*o*<) (>^c^)>

Thai girls make me look fat...

Siiiiick

I got nasty sick half of Monday and all of yesterday. Feeling lots better today, but still headachey. I'm going to keep resting until I get better.

BTW...

Don't foget to visit Evan's blog. He has some pictures up now.

Update

Evan and I went around with a local to the King's temple, the sleeping Buddha, and another temple (the name of which escapes me) yesterday. It was a lot of fun desepite the heat and my need for clothes appropriate for thai weather. I took lots of pictures. I think Evan is jealous of my colorful blog and wants to post some on his page, so look there for photos. I may post some too.

Things are going really well here. It took us almost a week to really get organized and into the swing of things, but everything is going well now. We both still need to do some clothes shopping but that isn't a big deal. The people at the MuayThai school are very helpful, and we have made a friend of a local who runs a restaurant down the street. He is very kind and wants to take us around the sights of Thailand every week. He is very proud of his country and loves to show it off to foreigners. He likes to make sure foreigners get a good exerience while they are here. He invited us to dinner with his family last night as well. We had Thai style BBQ with squid and octopus, shrimp, and pork. I mostly stuck with the pork and the shrimp was good too (suprisingly, despite my severe dislike for seafood). His daughter is learning english and he wants us to try to help her, she is a very sweet girl and I like her quite a bit.

There is a older woman at the MuayThai school (not training) who makes food and cleans and whatnot. I am not sure who she is but she is always giving us food. She made a huge meal for everyone here last Saturday. I think my tolerance for spicy food has really increased. It was really good food too, she is a very good cook.

The people here are really very nice. I have not yet met a grumpy Thai person. It makes it very pleasant and fun to be here. I would not like to live in Bangkok forever though; I think my lungs would collapse from the pollution. I really want to travel to some of the northern regions. I should look into that... and riding elephants. :)

Going all touristy today

One of the locals who runs a restaurant near where we live offered (nearly demanded) to take us around sightseeing to a couple temples, chinatown, the sleepng buddha, and some other places. He is really nice and speaks english very well. Well, all thai people are really nice, I haven't seen a grumpy one yet. But this guy is exceptionally so and seems to love showing off his country to foreigners. He wants to take us out every week to different places, and Evan and I plan on taking lots of pictures.

BTW, thanks for the comments and feedback. :)

Ok, Pictures

Here is the first spider I saw in Thailand!

Here are a couple more spiders.


Thai fruit is awesome... Rambutan. I think I have seen it isn the U.S. but it is everywhere here.


And here is the room Evan and I are staying in.


We are gong sightseeing with a friendly local tomorrow so expect more pictures soon.

Having Issues uploading photos

Anybody know anything about this on Blogger? I will keep at it... later. Hopefully soon I can get you guys some pictures.

Bleh...

Omg jet lag is killing me!

Whew got to Thailand

Sorry for the lag on posting, my page switched to the Thai language and I couldn't read it to change the language back. Currently my laptop is running low on battery so I will have to finish this post later.