Day 9: 'Ello Mate!

Today was our first day of independence. I say that with a slight smile on my face, but a tear in my eye. (Haha...I'm so poetic.) I just mean, it feels good to be able to explore Bangkok on our own, but I'm incredibly sad that Mama Jo left us. It's scary being in a foreign country, not knowing the language, and finding yourself smack in the middle of downtown. I can't even begin to read Thai...the script is beautiful, but dang. Heck if I know what any sign says! I'm glad they have the English translations for most things, but still. It's seriously just a bunch of consonants smushed together to form a word...a long, unexplainable, incomprehensible word. Haha. But we're managing to get around just fine. We moved from our apartment at the school (BCC) to our permanent residence at the Student Center for the Church of Christ in Thailand. It's quite a step down from the wonderful 14th floor of the BCC building. We're living in a tiny room, with the most ridiculous bathroom arrangement. (see photo) The shower is wide open, and you have to walk through the shower area to even get to the toilet. And the sink and mirror is right there in the shower area. Good thing our hairdryer and straightener already blew up or we might be worried about electrocuting ourselves while getting ready, standing in shower water. It's just disgusting. The picture doesn't even do it justice. But, on the bright side...our little apartment complex is gated in with a guard 24/7. (Hope that gives you some piece of mind Daddy-O!) We've started this new rule--for every complaint, we have to have a positive comment. For example, Allison whined, "Ugh...I'm so hungry!" And I replied, "But...at least you're not dying of starvation." Haha. We're trying to stay positive about everything, especially the gross rooms. But the section of town that we are in makes up for it, I do declare. (I said/wrote that in a Michael Scott southern accent...if you don't watch the Office, shame on you. Haha!) We are right down the road from two HUUUUGE shopping centers. It's like Times Square or something! We spend the day today exploring that area. The food court is pretty good...I love being able to eat an entire meal for $2. Chicken and rice is the way to go. That's about as Thai as I get. Allison and I treated ourselves to a pedicure today, too. (sigh) That was gooooood. And then we got incredibly lost in a department store. We're talkin'....6 floors of mall here. It's insane. We ended up deciding that the best method was to retrace our steps exactly. So, 45 minutes later, we escaped the mall. Haha.

There's a cute little area right across the road from our apartment with tons of patio restaurants and such. We went by there tonight, and it seems to be the place where teens and college kids hang out at night. We met a group of Australian boys (Mmmmhmmm) while we were there. I could barely understand their accents, but oh baby I loved listening to them talk! While we were sitting there on the patio, a super cute little girl walked up selling flowers. It's not uncommon for children to be sent to look cute and sell stuff to people for their "masters." So, it literally broke my heart to see her. She was absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have adopted her right then and there. We hung out and then went karaoke'ing with them, and it was a blast! Thai karaoke is absolutely hilarious. For some reason, 90s music is totally in here. Allison and I for sure rocked out to "All For You" by Sister Hazel and some random Spice Girls song that I had never even heard of before. So much fun! I think we ended up living in such a perfect area of Bangkok. Thank God I'm not directionally challenged...it's really not that bad getting around on the sky train and walking. I don't really prefer taxis because I don't trust anyone but myself. (The picture to the left is the cute little girl selling roses, and the picture to the right is Phil (the one making a retarded face haha) and Shawn, two of the Australian guys we met.)

So, we were eating in some random Thai restaurant today, and "You Belong With Me" came on the radio. Of course I thought about my House of Shame girls...once again, even on the other side of the world, little bits of home haunt me. :) But I smiled and sang along. If only I could find that song karaoke. Haha.

So, independence isn't so bad. :)

I'm out.
Cwalk.