Mai Pen Rai

One aspect of Thai culture that I've definitely adapted to quickly is their Mai Pen Rai attitude, aka "Don't Worry About It".  The other day when Nell and I were sitting at dinner I was struck by how different our lives are when instead of our usual dinner convo of where should we go out this weekend and "so...who do we like?" Nell threw this perfectly legit question at me: "I wonder how many bugs I've eaten since I've been to Thailand?"  While I'm normally no fan of bugs invading my space, it's just another aspect of my new and very different life, and I can't help but approach it with a Mai Pen Rai frame of mind.  Yes, I'm constantly attacked by mosquitoes; Yes, my bedroom and desk at work are crawling with ants and other unknown insects; Yes, I can look around any restaurant I'm in and count at least 10 geckos hanging from the ceiling above my head...but, all I can say is...Mai Pen Rai.  

This weekend I had planned to head up north to one of my fave places on earth, Chiang Mai, but we were nervous when we walked out our front door and saw that the main road in town had been flooded (see below) and we didn't want to miss our first day of teaching because we were stuck way up north.

So to take a break from the Soup, we decided to join several of our friends a few hours down South in Hua Hin to relax on a beach.  Hua Hin is a fancy resort town, apparently it is very big with Europeans, so there were a lot more food choices, as well as people that could speak English.  After several major food FAILS in Suphan Buri last week, including one night where 4 of us went out, ordered our separate chicken/veggie meals (we thought), and the waitress returned with 3 plates of fried egg and plain white rice, we were definitely in need for some variety.  Of course, that ended up being lots of grilled cheese, banana crepes, and banana shakes - but it was delicious!!  It was really nice to meet up with some of our orientation friends and hear how everyone else was settling in to their new living situations, and of course we had a lot of fun taking on the karaoke bar in town.

Here's a few pics of my beach vaca...I know, I know, tough life!  I did, however, start teaching today and it was very overwhelming, but I'll save the deets on that for my next post.  Let's just say I'll have to be sure to carry that Mai Pen Rai attitude with me to school...