A Series of My Greater Than Mayo's Successes

What is blogging after all if not competition... So I'd like to point out that when I say successes, (unlike some people) I don't just mean I managed not to throw up and I didn't proofread my post to spite the reader (For more information on such success visit oh-mayo.blogspot.com). All of this in affectionate jest of course. Really I'm just jealous that Mayo's blog is funnier than mine. 

On to my triumphs though:

1. I skipped my two first Thai civilization classes and pretended that I had previously registered for a different course and decided to switch. Additionally whenever I show the professor my bandaged hand she just smiles and lets me do whatever I want. In my first (other peoples' third) Thai civilization class we put on a mock Thai wedding which was hilariously fun. Also at this class I learned that we only have 5 left. During one I will be teaching English in the North (Excusedville, Thailand), and during another I will be in Vietnam with GA and Ben. This means I only have 3 left and will have managed to only go to 4 classes all semester. I will also get an A even though participation counts heavily towards your grade. Such is Thailand. Cash. 

2. The other night I had the munchies in what can only be categorized as a life threatening way. I ordered Pad Thai (which I eat daily) and sat down with a bunch of people at a coffee shop to eat. Much to my dismay these totally disgusting teeny freeze dried shrimps were all over my food. Their eyes are like little and black and they fall apart and all all dried and just sit in jars on market vendors' stands. UGH. So I was back to square one with only inedible Pad Thai and my disposal. [NOTE: today I was in Chinatown to watch them set up for New Years and I saw how they package the shrimps- they have them on a dirty ass tarp on the ground in the alleys of Chinatown, and some barefoot guy with dirty feet just walks around amongst them and puts shovels them into barrels with a dustpan. EW.] How is this a success you ask? I instead ventured to a nice man making something that smelled awesome and inadvertently ordered the best thing ever. A fried flaky pancake filled with gooey yummy warm bananas and topped with sugar. Also on this adventure I met the most adorable Thai toddler and successfully conversed with him in Thai for like 45 seconds. Cash.

3. My wounds have started to scab over and one of them doesn't even need to be bandaged anymore.

4. Today on my way to Chinatown we had a really nice cab driver who we realized (after about twenty minute of Thai bashing) spoke English pretty well and had lived in Mississippi for 8 months (?) Anyway after paying him we walked a few blocks before hearing incessant honking and yelling at us. Obviously being so attractive and accustomed to this behavior it took us a while to realize it was our cab driver trying to get our attention. I had accidentally given him 1,000 Baht instead of 100 and he chased us down, pretty far out of his way to give me my money back. In Thailand (as my Nana warned me) if you want to cross a street in Bangkok you had to have been born on the other side... well that's how bad the traffic is and that's how nice this man was. Cash. Literally. 

Anyway, I'm going to Laos today for the weekend and I'm not really sure what to expect. At the very least I hope to get some cool stamps on my passport, and at best some sort of holographic visa. If you're back at Maryland, check out my Thailand column on Tuesday. I hope it's not too much of a repeat of my blog. I still miss everyone terribly but things are really starting to pick up nicely here. 

Shabbat Shalom,

Esti