My Digs

Here is my roommate. Her name is Patricia. She is from Spain. I joke that our last names have been tied together by the history of Spain's bloody colonization, plundering, cultural raping of the Philippines for 400 years. I think she finds it funny?

Here's a first look of my room. I know--messy. And I didn't bother making my "bed" before taking this picture. However-story of my life, correct? I actually really like sleeping under my net, because for the most part, it's my fortress against all the terrors of the night (bugs, beetles, beasts). If anything, it keeps the gecko poo from getting on my bed. I like my gecko--he eats insects, but is completely devoid of toilet manners, or has no control of his bowel movement. So the net is much appreciated. I hear it also keeps mosquitoes away.

My first month in Thailand could be described in a lot of ways. One of them could be, "The Epic Search for Real Coffee." People here strongly favor instant coffee. Which is okay-- but not an entirely adequate substitute. Really, they come in packets. It's 50% sugar (not kidding), then coffee creamer, then coffee. All 5% of it. You can imagine my dismay. My bleary eyes every morning. My looming caffeine headache, only abated by the infinitesimal amount of coffee in instant packets. I don't want to go any further, but I think I almost pissed my pants when I realized that this press was just right under my nose in the Indochine market. The only other problem was finding the actual beans--they do exist, in a small, easy to miss section of the superstore. Most of them are made with robusta beans. My arabica bean coffee in Thailand is a sure luxury. And since I don't have many, I have no qualms splurging for a daily necessity. I think I'm actually nicer to people now... Either way, here is my tiny savior in the morning, on my makeshift dining table/stove top table....

This is the view from my balcony. Yes--another unexpected luxury. But really, it's not very wide. We live right off of a main highway, with a slight detour into a dirt road, nestled within a nook of other houses. The house that you can see is our neighbor's, whose kind and generous heart has supplied my roommate and I with bath water since either the ground water has run out (and needs replenishing from the rain... but... the rainy season is over...) or the machine that pumps it is broken. Either way, each day that I survive without running water the universe is compensating me with good karma ... somewhere.

This is my kitchen sink, located in the back of the house. I didn't even have this during my first week at all, and we had to "wash dishes in the jungle" as they call it here. Really it's just a lot of trees and wild grass. At any rate, our dishes are now cleaned with water that is in that huge cement jug every single day. Yup. I no running water = badass = good karma. Also, please note that there is no plumbing system. our soap water is, merely diverted by the pvc tubes to the other side of the house. Somehow, I think this is a really bad idea, but what can we do, right?

This is my room. It has wooden floors, white walls (again I need some art here) and a high ceiling. You can see that I've put up a wall of pictures of family and friends. I look at it every day and think of you all back home, and miss you dearly. It's also helping me survive here thus far, so thank you.

Here is my "bathroom." It's more like a closet, with a squatty potty right in the middle, a tub of water for flushing down the toilet, a bucket for showering. That shower head bends to the laws of physics, ergo, it does not work... The spigot, which is what Thais use instead of toilet paper, has better water pressure. When we had running water I used it to wash my hair.... Also, did I mention our door does not lock? My roommate and I have established a ground rule: if the door is closed, wander no further.

Here lies my kitchen sink for the first week of moving into my house.

My home! It's painted light green and it makes me really happy! It's not very big, but spacious enough for two people and I like it.

This is what the bottom area looks like. Yup. quite bare. Please send me some art over here, the inside is impoverished of color, except of course from our plastic chairs. Those two tables are really all we have--and we park our bikes inside the house. The living room doesn't get much "living" really, and I hope to amend this dilemma soon. But, check out those cement floors, yes! It's permadusty from outside. I'm okay with that--it means you can't see the dead bugs on the floor as easily, and here in Thailand bugs come a plenty...

I need to dedicate an entire entry to my school experience so far. My student collage includes all of my students, and I took pictures of them to remember their names. Needless to say, I'm having a lot of fun and I am just so busy all the time. So far so good-- and next week I'll be going to Surin for an elephant festival. Cross fingers I get to ride one...