Day 12: Bangkok Adventure

After a long day at school, teaching four periods of math to 5th and 6th grade boys, I was ready for a break. Allison and I peaced out of BCC right at 4:00 and began our adventure. We hit up the skytrain and went straight to our favorite mall food court at Paragon. (That's the "Times Square" type intersection right down from our apartment.) We pigged out on some grilled chicken, rice, and some kind of Asian soup for a whopping $1.50. If only food in the States were that good and cheap. Oh P.S. Breaking News: We have acquired the ability to find Thai food that we like. That and a balanced diet of ice cream, Snickers, and street food, and we're set. So, we sat down to eat dinner, blessed the food, and humorously asked God to give us a great shopping experience. Today was our day to explore the markets and get manicures! So we moved on to the next mall (MBK) and searched for a nail salon. Long story short, we ended up at some place that sucked...and I paid $30 for the worst manicure of my life. Um...when did I get the impression that manicures would be cheap and good in Asia? Because that's for sure wrong-o. Oh well...live and learn I guess. So we left the mall and continued on to shop at the markets about 2km from our apartment. We weren't sure how to get there because it had been over a week since we'd been there with Mama Jo, so we waved down a Tuk-Tuk to give us a ride. (A Tuk-Tuk is a small, motorized taxi thing that looks more like a trike with a carriage cover.) After a hilarious ride with lots of prayer, we arrived at the market. Allison and I bought shirts and dresses for all under $5 probably. It's insane how cheap stuff is here in Thailand. We decided to walk back home and shop at all the markets on the way back. Somehow we ended up a street over than what we thought, having no idea where we were. But, we just rolled with it because we know our skytrain stop so that's really all we have to tell a taxi driver to get home. No biggie. So the only logical thing to do when you're lost is to keep shopping...duh. We also bought our first round of street food...corn on the cob. SO good! And while we were way cute eating our corn on the cob and getting that mess stuck all up in our teeth, of course three Australian boys come up to us and start talking to us, asking for directions. Evidently we're champs at looking like we know what we're doing, and magnets for Aussies (no complaints here...that continent must breed sexy). So we showed them to the nearest skytrain stop and kept walking. By the way, we're still in our skirts, shirts, and shoes from school at this point...we never went home after school. After the feet started hurting, we decided to just suck it up and ask a cop how to get back to "RATATOUILLE." (That's at least how we pronounce it...like the rat movie.) We were way off, so we just gave up and got on the skytrain. Rule #1 of living in Bangkok--as long as a skytrain stop is in sight, you can get home. So anyway, I was totally long winded about that...but God really did answer our prayer for a wonderful shopping experience. And I'm sure he threw in a little safety there to answer my parents' prayers as well. :)

So everyone starts back to class at Lee tomorrow. It's weird not being there and seeing everyone get back from Christmas break. I miss so many people, but I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm not homesick too bad yet. I've been here almost 2 weeks, and I'm still in the "OMG I'm loving this" stage. Sure, there are things that remind me of people at home still...24/7, but I'm learning to just smile, miss them for a second, and keep livin' it up here. There's no point worrying and missing home and wasting the short time that I have in Thailand. My time here is flying by...I wish I could just spend the whole semester here now. And no, I can't believe I just said that. God really is changing me...

I'm out.
Cwalk.