"I like to eat Milo.."

Nothing too exciting going on, but here are highlights of the past week and a half.

• This week and last weeks theme was “People of the World”. Naturally, I dedicated an entire lesson to America. I made a slide show with pictures of Obama, the flag, American money, American food (hot dog and hamburger), American football (which Matthew yelled “DAAANGEROUS” when he saw my slide including a picture of a charger pileup and LT sailing over it) and also focused on California.. I even showed a youtube clip of the video that is shown on the ride Soaring Over California at Disneyland (which they LOVED)! I explained that Teacher Chelsea is from a city near Mexico (which didn’t mean anything to them) and next to Disneyland (or Mickey Mouse’s house). I showed pictures of Teacher Chelsea in America, which included graduation, charger games, with my family, with the kids that I nanny for in Santa Barbara, any pictures that I felt were appropriate to show. They had a ton of fun picking teacher Chelsea out of my friends. My last picture was one of me and my mom, brother, and Milo Boo. Dogs are viewed differently as they are in America.. in America they are a member of the family. Here, they wonder the streets and are often abandoned when they are no longer puppies. When they saw this picture of me holding Milo, they yelled “TEECHA CHELSEA AND DOG!”. I said “Yes, this is Milo! He is my baby!” And little Kiwi in the front, with a huge grin on her face said “Teacher Chelsea, I like to EAT Milo!”. A little mortified, I was speechless just for a second.. I then realized that “Milo” is a chocolate brand, just like Nestle.. they make candy bars, coco puff-like cereal, and even chocolate milk. I laughed awkwardly in hopes that she meant chocolate.

•  Last week was Khon Kaen’s Silk Festival.. which honestly didn’t have much silk to sell. It was an even more intense version of like a county fair. It had rides, food, and junk for sale. And when I say junk, I mean JUNK. Like used shoes, 99 cent store stuff, ton and tons of cheap watches, clothing.. I did find a cool sea shell mobile thing for my room, but nothing else appealed to me. Because my city is not really a tourist spot, events like these seem to cater to the Thai people, who apparently want old cheap shoes. Or baby bunnies, squirrels, or porcupine. I was tempted to pick up a furry friend, but decided against it once thinking of ways I could smuggle him through customs when coming back to the US.

• The people at the gym no longer call me Chelsea.. it’s now Maria, as in Maria Sharapova. One of the instructors even told one of my workout classes that I am Maria.

• Christmas is very prominent in Khon Kaen.. Thai people LOVE Christmas decorations, but I don’t think they actually celebrate the day. They love the idea of Santa, Snowmen, and Christmas trees, which are all mega-sized at Central Plaza mall! I even come across Santa Claus himself while I was leaving the gym today, he made an appearance at the Pullman (5 star hotel which my gym is at) to do their tree lighting. Me and Santa were leaving the hotel at the same time (it looks like he’s lost a little weight) and with a twinkle in his eye, he looked at me and said “Ho Ho Ho!”.

• As you all know, I sure am picky when it comes to food. I have found a place at the Central Plaza food court that I love! The food court is just like it sounds, is a big area with maybe like 6 different counters that’ll make different kinds of food (all Thai). There is one for Pad Thai, some soupy thing, and my very favorite fried rice with an omelet! Normally, this order comes with seafood creatures that all have eyeballs (I made the mistake of ordering it the very first time because I thought it would just be shrimp.. I didn’t know that the shrimp would have a face and bring along other sea friends). So the next time I went, I said “Mai ow seafood ka” which means “I don’t want seafood please”. From then on, they know my order! Just plan old fried rice with an omelet, which actually isn’t an omelet at all, but just a flat egg. And it is always the same two women working and cooking. Yesterday when I went for dinner, the women, who speak very little English, asked me my name. When I said “Chelsea”, they looked so bewildered and disappointed like they could never learn to pronounce my name. So they had me write it down on a piece of paper. I asked them theirs but immediately forgot. I’m not sure how they feel about me piling my plate up with six or seven spoon-fulls of American ketchup, but they sure smiled big when I told them that it was “Aroi” or delicious.

I’ve been in Thailand for two months now! I feel like I am finally getting into the swing of things. However, I still know VERY limited Thai. I am having my kids teach me a word a day, which little Pao Pao LOVES doing. He now translates almost everything he can for me from English to Thai, he is one of the few kids with amazing English. I am finally going to pick up a language book this weekend.. next week I have three weeks off for Christmas break! I will be doing a lot of bus time and maybe can finally get myself to learn a little Thai. I just feel so unmotivated since I have gotten away with not knowing any. At least my kids taught me how to count to ten. That’s a start! :)