Building My Ark.

This week marked my 11 month anniversary of living in Thailand, and now that I've been here almost a full year, I'm starting to notice some cyclical things in my Thai life. Some fruits that were around when I first arrived in October are making their way back onto the fruit carts, rainy season is in full swing which means my hair is in full frizz, and the river is back to bursting at the seams - just like it was during my first few weeks in the Soup.

Around town, everyone seems to be gearing up for a major flood: shops and restaurants have spent the past week building flood walls out of cement to keep the water at bay, a truck has been driving around belting out announcements that may or may not be important but I don't understand enough of what's going on, and we've heard stories about crocodiles swimming around outside of school - no thanks! I might have to head to 7-11 to stock up on some flood supplies in case all of the local food options go under. We're definitely short on information, and this week Nell and I took what is likely our last long walk around Suphan because the river walk where we usually go had started to flood and is no longer walkable.

 Many towns and provinces in Thailand right now are finding themselves underwater, and all signs seem to be pointing to Suphan as the next target, but it's odd not being able to read a newspaper or watch the news and find out what's really going on. Some schools around us have moved their holidays and closed for the next 3 weeks - I'm definitely hoping that won't happen here as it's the final weeks I have to hang out with my students and friends here in Suphan - I don't really want to be swimming around town to find them to say good bye! I guess I'll just have to rely on my friends with boats to help me out if we end up in water, and I did see a few market stalls selling floaties and life jackets so I'll have to prepare as much as I can! The latest word on the street is that they will be "opening the gates" on the 15th so that's when we can expect the flood... what exactly that means for me, I'm not sure yet... I guess I'll find out tomorrow!

Frequently Overheard in Thailand...

I've been living in Thailand for 10 months now, and I've started to notice some words and phrases that I find myself saying fairly frequently.  Certain aspects of Thai life that you would think by now I would be used to, but they still seem to phase me and cause some sort of reaction.  Here's a list of phrases frequently overheard in Thailand...

• "It's hot." - I know back home in the States there has been a bit of a heat wave going on, but Thailand is permanently part of a heat wave. It is hot here. every. single. day. If you look at the weather for my town it looks the same if it's March, July, or December.  Hot. Muggy. Potentially a thunderstorm or two. By now I should probably be used to the heat - but I still find myself saying this at least once a day - maybe when I'm hoofing it up the 4 flights of stairs to my office, or a short walk to get lunch, or if I attempt to sit in my room without the AC on. I just can't seem to accept the heat here. 
• "I'm full." - Since Thailand is all about food, I'm usually starving before every meal, and then 10 minutes into it I'm so full I immediately lapse into a food coma. It's probably a combination of a lot of rice + hot weather + MSG and other random ingredients.  Either way, it's amazing how fast I can go from famished to stuffed. 
• "I almost just died."- It's not that I partake in particularly risky behavior over here in SE Asia so much as it is that walking around town I happen upon many potential threats - a pack of angry street dogs, a motorbike driving on the sidewalk, a frying pan spitting hot oil, a large pipe sticking out of the ground, an active power line swinging 5 feet off the ground, etc. A simple minivan trip to Bangkok can sometimes feel like the end of the world is near while the driver goes 150 km/hour around curves and rushes past trucks full of some variety of livestock. I'm pretty sure that Nell and I say this to each other at least once a week, but hey - so far so good!
• "I have no idea what he/she just said." - I've really enjoyed the smile and nod approach to the confusion that happens daily in my life when people yell things out to me in Thai or try to have a full conversation.  Sure, my Thai has improved a lot in 10 months, and I tend to understand a lot more than I can say - but a lot of the time I have no idea what someone is trying to tell me as I pick up only 3 or 4 words from every sentence.  I just smile and nod or say "khob khun ka" (thank you) and I'm on my way.  I can't even imagine what it will be like to re-enter a society where I understand everyone and they understand me... I guess I might have to start watching what I say! 

And now for some random pictures to add a little flair to this post!

Love Thailand's flowers.

Chillin' with a baby Leopard

My new fave from Pad Thai Lady: Pad Thai Gai Mee Krob (crispy noodles)

Music Monday: Love Me, Eat Liver.

The latest song that will never get out of my head is by Thai artist Teng, and the name of it is "Gin Tab" - which means "eat liver." I'm not sure I could tell you exactly what this song is about but the refrain is pretty catchy. If you watch the video below it gets especially exciting around the 1 minute mark, there are some amazing dance moves going on (as with most Thai music videos I've seen).  I also really appreciate the American flag scarf that one of the dancers is rocking.  As I said, I don't really understand (mai kow jai) exactly what he's singing about, but my Thai co-teacher Fon translated the meaning to me as this: "It's just like 'love me, love my dog' but in this case, it's 'love me, eat liver.' The man is singing about how he goes on a date but the woman only wants to eat som-tom or other foods and she won't eat liver, so he can't love her."  So there you have it, "love me, love liver." The music video also shows scenes from a movie that features the song, I love that it's starring a few monks, I'm probably going to need to make a trip to the theatre for this one.