Mang

They come up from the river at dusk and fly into the gold dragon lamps lining the block of restaurants. One after another the half moth half worm insects fall to the ground. Hundreds of thousands of white fluttering wings litter the ground like snow, except that this snow is living. breathing and writhing in the last few moments of the dying twilight.
In the morning the dried out corpses line the road in heaps and piles. The stench is unbearable but the clean-up crews come by and sweep them all up before it becomes entirely light.
I'm asked if we have these moths without legs in the U.S. I answer "not in Oregon."

Nerves

Transitions are always difficult. Moving host families was so hard for me emotionally and physically. I don't know how I've accumulated all this stuff. I was told that I would be moving into town. Not so.
I moved into yet another village. After insisting that I need to be near internet access for various reasons after not having constant internet access for months, I am able to spend most nights out of the week in town. The house in the village is interesting. My bedroom ceiling slopes towards the ground and the mice that live above me occasionally poke their noses down the holes they have carved in my bedroom walls and ceiling. The windows are screenless and so I get all kinds of visitors into my abode.
I also have a traditional thai shower aka a large tub filled with water and a large ladle. At night the geckos bray loudly. GE ko GE ko.

My new host father's nickname is Golf. It's a name that seems to be following me everywhere. His nickname is golf because he is obsessed with the sport. He views it as the american dream. Play the sport well and make millions of american dollars. Tiger Woods is his idol. Half african-american and half thai (according to my host dad--I myself am not sure) in thailand, he would be the lowest of the low on the caste system. In the U.S. he's one of the wealthiest celebrities and his name is known worldwide. Golf defies the class structure. My host father is certain that if he can teach me how to play golf well, he will instantly give me a better future.

My host brother Bam is around twenty years old. He's been trying to flirt with me since he met me. Flirting in thailand is on a much subtler scale. It's all about eyebrow raising and conversation. First he'll ask me where I'm from. After "discovering" that I'm from the U.S. HE will want to speak english with me. He'll ask what the difference between the subject and an object is. After I explain he'll feign understanding and promptly give up on trying to speak english with me. I've been through this before.
My last older host brother went through the same phase. He even started carrying around an english thai dictionary. They both eventually realize that I speak much more thai than they speak english and that it is simply easier to speak to me in thai. Then they realize what grade I'm in and that I don't plan on getting married to a thai man and living in a village the rest of my life and the flirting stops.

I moved houses at 10 in the morning. After my suitcases left the car I was promptly introduced to the entire village. Old women all rubbed my arms for good luck. I spent two weeks in the sun and I still have "white" skin.

Another exchange student friend and I have realized why rotary has three host families. At the beginning of each new family, the family is cautious and doesn't yet know our capabilities. I have a strict curfew of 5: 30 pm every night with my new host family and am not allowed to travel anywhere alone. My friend Colette has lived with the same family for the entire year and now that they know her well, she has all the freedom she would have had in the U.S. We joke about the three host family situation is not for better cultural understanding...it's to keep us under control.

Getting down to business

I have ten weeks left in my exchange. So instead of dwelling on how much I don't want to go home/ how much I'll be excited to see some of my old friends/I don't want to forget this experience and all those other mixed up feelings, I'll be spending the last few bits describing objects and everyday life here, right now.

Today is laundry day. I don't have an automatic laundry machine and I don't have an automatic dryer. I have a broken down laundry machine that spins my clothes, two metal basins, a machine to spin the water out of my clothes (think giant salad spinner) and a drying rack. The drying rack is a large metal frame with chipped sky blue paint.

It's incredibly hot today. The heat and humidity make me lazy. I don't feel like doing anything other than lying down in a large pool of cool water. The closest pool is an hour drive away.

I spent the last month traveling in the south of Thailand. I camped on a remote island and stayed in hotels in Phuket (pronounced poo ket, NOT fuckit). I saw islands where james bond movies were filmed and others that simply stayed anonymous.

I am tired, so tired of traveling.

My mother came to visit. I'm glad that she was able to see how I live and eat what I eat. I thought I was going easy on her. I didn't make her eat anything too spicy or too strange in my opinion. There was so fermented fish or dried and roasted squid. Turns out maybe I had been pushing Thailand on her more than I realized. I made her walk across town in 90* weather and thought nothing of it. It didn't even occur to me that she wasn't used to the heat.

The skin on my back is peeling. In the south, the sun is so strong. I burned the first day beach bumming. I wore sunscreen and covered my shoulders. It didn't make a difference. I was in such pain that night, I could barely sleep.

In Phuket I went into Jim Thompson's shop. Jim Thompson was the man that capitalized on the thai silk industry first. His silk is considered by some, to be the best quality in the world ( I know others that think differently). The shop was poisonous. It made me want so many things. Hankercheifs for $15 dollars and $70 silk and cashmere shawls. Purses and bedspreads. I am materialistic.

My laundry is done spinning. I have to attend to it.
Will write soon,
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