The Web in the Corner

This is pathetic

2007-11-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

When I left for Thailand four months ago I decided to take a few art supplies with me in my carry on luggage, so I could doodle on the plane. So I grabbed a bag of pencils, erasers, etc. and stuffed it into my bag. I went through DIA airport security, LAX security, two security checks in Tokyo, and arrived in Thailand with no problems. On my way back to the states I put the same little bag of pencils in my carry on and went to the airport. I got through BKK airport security, two Tokyo security checks again, got to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport and had to have my stuff scanned an extra time at customs (due to a large preserved tarantula in my luggage), and started to go on my merry way to my last, and ninth security check to get on my last two hour flight to come home. As my bag goes through their machine, the dude staring at the screen gets all wierd and has to call over someone else for help. An airport officer had to take my bag and call me aside to go through my stuff. It took him forever to find what he was looking for, and all the while I'm trying to figure out what this airport might be more strict about than the others. But when he pulled an exacto knife with about 20 or so extra blades out of my little art bag, I realized just how much airport security sucks and fail to do their jobs properly. I got onto five airplanes and through eight security checks before anyone noticed that I had 20ish lethal weapons in my carry on. How pathetic is that.

Also, since I have returned home, I am not planning on posting to this blog until I decide to return to Thailand. So i wouldn't worry about checking in to see how I am doing.

Wow...

2007-10-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

I actually feel like I got some sleep last night. I can't remember the last time that happened. I think I need another night of decent sleep before I really feel better though.

Evan and I had to buy an extra suitcase for the stuff we have accumulated. That suitcase is filled with stuff for other people and our training gear. Hahaha

Only one week remains.

2007-10-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

That's it, all I have left is one week in Thailand. I don't feel like I did much, and looking back, I really didn't. None the less, it has been a good vacation.

Things I will miss:

Seeing only 1-2 fat people each week, as opposed to 1-2 every five minutes in the states.
The taxi drivers. Some of these guys are great.
Training every day.
The food.
Having excellent Thai restaurants within walking distance. In fact, having one almost just outside the front door of where I live.
Healthy $1 meals.
Healthy, whole meal, fast food. (I know this is an unknown concept to Americans, you would have to experience it to understand)
Being surrounded by Asian people.
Not having to work.
The sea of black hair.
Staring it the weird clothes girls wear sometimes.
Making friends with people I will only see for a week.
Some of the long term friends I have made. Some who are already gone.
The wild cats. And packs of wild dogs.
Sitting in a restaurant and not understanding any of the conversations around me.
The lack of emo kids.
The lack of bible bashers.
Definitely the food.

Things I will not miss:

The pollution.
Open sewer holes.
Electricity cables you could walk into and strangles yourself on.
The severe lack of walking space.
The smell of fish balls.
Cold showers.
Dirty water.
My hard pillow.
The crappy Internet connection.
Not having enough clothes.
The 'peanuts'. Or the odd ducks, whatever you want to call them.
No offence to the Thai people who are not this way but... the abundance of racism and sexism in this country.
The MOSQUITOES and the ANTS crawling all over me while I SLEEP!
Having to rely on other people so much to do anything.
The washing machine, and lack of a dryer.
Being unable to cook for myself. All I can make is cereal and PB&J.
PB&J every day.
The dogs that mark their territory all over the Institute.
The hole between my room and the next. And the cigarette smoke that gets through.
The Thai kids. I swear they ALL have hyperactivity disorders.
This uncomfortable chair that I am currently sitting on.
Being unable to see the moon.

As I think of more things over the next week, I will add them to my comments for this entry.

Junk food day

2007-10-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

I am officially dubbing today junk food day. I ate french fries, soda, a burger (albeit a good quality one), four banana muffins, a whole can of pringles, a strawberry frappe, and I'll probably have some chocolate later. I think the only healthy thing I have eaten so far today is an orange, and some water. Watch me gain a kilo, Ha! Take that body! Really though, I'm sure I will burn it all off during tommorow's training sessions. It just won't feel very good while I do it.

I am not cool! Stop bothering me!

2007-10-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

Why does it always feel like there is so much to do right at the end of something? I haven't been procrastinating. It is other people that are like 'oh we have time' 'we can wait' , and then 'oh no! only 2 weeks left! I must show you this long list of stuff and we must do this long list of stuff before you go!' AHHHG! Sooo irritating. My goal right now is finish my hours for this level of training. Not to go gallivanting around the countryside, go to bbq's with random strangers, go out partying and drinking with the other students, or whatever else people want from me now. The only thing offered to me that peaked my interest is a few more cooking lessons. But it is still not as important as getting my training hours in. I would be annoyed if I left that unfinished. I think what frustrates me the most though, is that we did not go to the north, so I didn't get that interaction with the elephants I wanted so much. If I did nothing else while here, that is what I wanted. I actually cant really describe how pissed off and disappointed I am about that, and I don't want to talk about it anymore than that.

Yay for sleep

2007-10-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

The last couple of days have been rather difficult due to a severe lack of sleep. They guy staying in the room next to us started smoking in his room. Especially at night, and he goes through almost a whole pack every night. Unfortunatley, there is a hole between our rooms by the window, right above my bed, about a foot long and a few inches wide. So when he smokes at night, it all falls right onto my face while I try to sleep. I kept having to get up every half hour or so and sit outside for awhile so I could breathe and try to get rid of the headache it was giving me. After two days with no more than 2 hours of sleep, I got an extra towel to plug up the hole, and despite the dangers of snakes coming into our room, I left the window open. The towel seems to be working well enough to shut the window again, and I finally got some sleep.

Anyways, on a better note, Evan and I went to Ayutthaya on Sunday. The ruins were really fun to walk around. Evan posted pictures on his blog. If there are extras maybe I will post some too.

Training

2007-10-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during my training session I miraculously got grouped with all the guys doing the higher levels of Muay Thai instead of being with all the kids! Yaaaay! Recently, if it a small amount of people that session, I have been doing a bit of intermediate training, which is definitely more enjoyable. I am actually tired at the end of training now. I do have a bit of a difficult time keeping up endurance-wise with the guys who have been doing intermediate and advanced stuff for awhile, but I wouldn't really expect myself to be able to do everything they are doing. Like ten push ups after every round (about every few minutes). I don't think I can even do ten full push ups. But I am glad to be with trainers that will actually push me a bit and correct the things I am doing wrong. I am hoping that this will continue. I suppose I will see today.

Just because your'e special

2007-10-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

Allllllright, so I keep getting all these little messages about how you all like reading my blog posts, and you want me to post more entries. Well, alright I will give it a shot. But in all honesty I am not very good at this whole blogging thing. I feel a little awkward talking to a large, semi annonomous group of people. And I tend to get tired of typing seemingly useless entries about the tiny things that I do each day. I have kind of run out of things to ramble on about, especially since I started training Muay Thai. I just havent been getting out much and there is nothing special to report. I am way better with the IM's and e-mails. That way I can actually, you know, converse with people and feel like I have friends. But if you really like reading this so much I will try to do more posting. However, just so you know, it would be really nice to get some comments more often. It is easier for me to make posts when questions have been asked and when it appears that people are paying attention. So thanks for the comments, I appreciate them, and please keep posting more.

Still Alive

2007-09-27T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lag, the internet has been very touchy all month. Evan and I went to Koh Chang again, the resort on the island we went to before. It was really nice to get out by the beach again and relax. They go easy on our training there too, the instructors want to relax and have good time along with us. Spent a lot of time in the swimming pool and on a bike, and my legs are finally looking a bit more fit now for it. Yay!

Things otherwise are still going well. Except for the bugbite inbetween my toes, but that will go away.

Training Pictures

2007-09-07T22:16:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from my training. They were taken by Mon, the girl I am standing with in the first picture, and some of the other girls in the class. They are all masseuses that came to learn self defense.

The women here in Thailand are all taught to be docile homemakers, to a point that most of them really don't have much of an individual personality. All the girls are the same, they are very nice, sweet, and unfortunately weak, and not just physically weak. Their culture teaches them to be this way, and coming from a place where women are becoming or have become independent, autonomous, and equal to men, it is rather disappointing for me to see this. I find that Thai people in an effort to show respect towards women use traditions that unfortunately reinforce stereotypes of women being weaker and docile. The interesting part is that the Thai men here treat me, a foreigner, as even weaker than Thai women. Apparently they think that Thai women are stronger and better than other women, and Thai men are stronger and better than other men. I can understand having pride in one's country and people, but I don't like being treated like a pathetic little runt, and I think treating foreigners in this way shows disrespect to other countries, and people, and is rather counterproductive. Pride is great, as long as you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater...

Anyways, there is my rant for the day. Some parts of Thai culture I like, but this has really been bugging me lately. Training is still a lot of fun, I just have to keep proving myself over and over again. Evan says he sees them changing and noticing my effort, but I don't notice them changing their actions because of it. No matter what I do here, in their eyes I will never be as good as any of the men. Fortunatley I train close to other foreign men, who aren't usually so demeaning.

Only two months to go...

2007-09-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

We went to a boxing match yesterday a few hours north of here. There were probably close to ten matches that we stayed for. The last two were Muay Thai fights. Two guys from England came to fight in Thailand. The first lost his match, got dead-legged, and the second one won. The second was a lot younger and so was his opponent. He seemed rather inexperienced but I think he will do well as he gets used to fighting in the ring. Anyways, it was fun except that I got nasty carsick and was throwing up the whole way back. All better now though.

On another note, we are halfway through our trip. It really doesn't seem like two months have passed. It doesn't seem like I have really done much in that time, but on the same note I am happy to be relaxing. I am on vacation anyway so I don't feel the need to push myself everday.

Muay Thai

2007-08-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

I started training Muay Thai on Monday. Today will be my third day. I am having a lot of fun with it. There are usually a few new people to meet (locals from around the area) and the instructors are just out there having a good time, so it is definatley fun. I am not training like Evan is though. I am just doing general training without getting any certificates. So I can take it easy and I don't relly have to push it if I don't want to. They also take it really easy on women as well. I definatley put a lot more effort into it than almost all the other thai women. I am rather amused at how little they do and how little the instructors care. One of them got all excited when he saw me actually trying and had me do a few extra kicks for him because he thought I was doing well. Anyways, I am having a good time of it and I feel better now that I am getting some exercise in my day.

On another food note, I tried some pig intestines last night (I was the only one at the table with enough balls for it). They were a little too chewy for me, and had a bad aftertase, but tasted like pork otherwise.

I can still see the eyes...

2007-08-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

I had a big grasshopper land on me the other day, last night it was fried on a plate. Some of the employees had made themselves a snack of fried grasshoppers and gladly shared a small plate with the group of us. They tasted kind of like burnt french fries to me.

They said it would scorpions next time, which are apparently "even better."

Bugs Bugs!

2007-08-18T00:35:00.000-07:00

So our friendly window spider was frightened by the air conditioner repairman and has appeared to have moved into our bathroom, and what a great place for it to be too! Normally there are around ten small flies that hover around the drain, but they were suddenly gone one day, and upon looking above my head, I saw they were all stuck in my new best friend's web!
It seems to be a social species, since there are always 2-3 of them fairly close to each other. Has some interesting behaviors I have never seen in a spider before too, very interesting for me.

Last night I was standing outside with a few people and all of a sudden something thwacks my belly. I look down and see the eyes of a 3 inch long grasshopper. Very pretty, had black markings on its underside. I got excited about it and one of the people I was with (an Austrailian named Tim), noticing how calm I was said I should be a buddhist, lol.

Pretty

2007-08-15T06:15:00.001-07:00

IMG_0159
Originally uploaded by Latrodectus_09

Ok, here is the pic of the skirt that I promised.

Still kicking

2007-08-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

Everything is still going fairly well. Just a few bumps alonog the way. Evan got sick yesterday, but he seems fine today so no big worries, probably just some food he ate or something. We went to a resort for a few days which was a lot of fun. I love sitting by the beach. If I could live anywhere it would definatley be close to a quiet beach. But anyway, we went to a bar while we were there and I felt the need to dance, of course being me that would happen. But I got a huge nasty blister on my foot almost the size of a quarter and about as deep as the thickness of a quarter as well. Amazingly it is almost healed already though. On another note, I am going to start training Muay Thai when my foot heals. Nothing serious like Evan is doing, but I really need some exercise.

A guy came up to me while I was eating a couple days ago with his elephant, trying to get me to feed it. I decided not to because of what someone said about the elephants being drugged while in the city. I don't know if it is true or not but I suppose it is better not to support it just in case. That and I was in the middle of a meal, and getting elephant snot all over my hand didn't sound very appetizing.

We finally got a new matress as well. I dont think I talked about the old one but it felt about the consistency of a light punching bag. This one is a little better, my back doesnt hurt so bad as it did with the old one. They gave us new pillows too, the old ones were only about an inch thick, maybe an inch and a half. These are way bigger but they feel like the old mattress did, so my neck hurts a lot. I think it is funny though, no biggie.

Thai Silk

2007-08-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

Evan bought me a Thai silk skirt. It is very pretty, dark olive green with black trim. A lot cheaper than I thought it would be too. Bonus! I will wear it when I go to the beach. *Grins*

I'm Back!

2007-07-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-22T04:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-14T00:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

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^)>

2007-07-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

Thai girls make me look fat...

Siiiiick

2007-07-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

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...

2007-07-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

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

Update

2007-07-08T19:10:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-07T16:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-06T19:10:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-06T01:52:00.001-07:00

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

Bleh...

2007-07-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

Omg jet lag is killing me!

Whew got to Thailand

2007-07-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-06-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

I left my two pet spiders with a friend just a few days ago so he can take care of them while I am in Thailand. I miss them already. I am completely not worried about them though, I left them in good hands. The person I left them with looks at spiders with the same adoration that I do. It is kind of comforting to see someone who can appreciate spiders in the same way that I do. I wonder if I get that same look in my eyes when I see such pretty spiders. I left my aloe plant with another friend as well. Not worried about that one either, even if it gets eaten by a cat (I am actually rather curious if the cat would like the way the aloe gel in the plant tastes).

Anyways, I am getting really ancy to get out of here. Be assured that I will miss my spiders more than I will miss you. ;)

I feel beautiful

2007-05-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

I made an old man smile today; it was the last thing he did before he died.

The children are waiting! Please tell them the story about the frog and the wig.(question from my profile page)

2007-05-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, in a land much like our own, a young child lived in a lush, beautiful, forest far away from other people. She often would walk through the trees, lying under ferns or in patches of wildflowers. One such patch of particularly fine smelling flora grew beside a small, slow, trickling, stream. The stream was far clearer than any from our world and gleamed with exquisite beauty that would wrap around and through the little girl, holding her snug and warm inside a tight blanket of love and radiance. Despite the tenderness the stream draped over her, the girl became lonely. She desired a true friend, one that she could touch and hold. Now, there is one important difference between our world and the one in which the little girl lived. In her land, magical things could happen if wished for hard enough; and that is exactly what the little girl did. So much did she want a friend, so hard did she wish that before her widening eyes a young frog slipped out of the sparkling water as though pulling himself from a close-fitting sheath. As the beads of water fell from his smooth bright skin, he stepped forward toward the while smiling. “You truly are a beautiful girl,” said the frog, “with your silken locks bouncing so cheerily around your bright, healthy face.” His voice was so smooth and kind and the young girl immediately took a liking to him. “Well!” the girl excitedly said, “you are most certainly as pretty as I am, with such bright beautiful colors all over you! Not one of these flowers is even close to as handsome as you.” The frog looked bashful and for a moment paused before speaking again, “I could never be as lovely as you, for I have no hair upon my head or face. I am bald as a stone and I am ever so embarrassed.” The girl giggled at how the frog felt but could do nothing to make him feel better. It was true that the frog was extremely self-conscious about his shimmering, hairless head, and every time another creature came around he would jump away and hide as fast as he could. The little girl got so frustrated with the frog because of this that she finally cut a lock from her own head and fashioned a wig for him that wrapped with a string around his chin. The frog was so happy and hopped all over before giving the girl a big hug. Soon though, the hair on the frogs wig became brittle and the luster wore away quickly. The frog became shy again and was no longer happy. The girl wanted so badly for the frog to be happy again. She wished as hard as she possibly could but nothing would happen. She wished so much that she hurt inside and had nothing but tears and anger left for the poor young frog. She screamed at him, and yelled as hard as she could through her tears. As her sharp words hit the frog and stretched over him, a hair began growing upon his head for every word that the girl threw from her mouth. The girl could not see through her tears, and when her anger finally ceased she wiped away her tears and saw before her the happiest frog ever seen. Since the frog was now so cheerful and would not run away at the sight of other creatures, the girl was able to be joyful again as well. And so they lived in the forest, best of friends, happily ever after.