HORDES

    Not of zombies, not of tigers, not even mosquitoes. Though all three are as equally frightening as....
    Small Thai children.

    Somewhere, a person made the decision to pair the adjective Catholic with the world large and then mash them into the noun school; this person is being unfair. I'm beginning to feel a bit unnoticed at my school, even with my unique status of Farang. That's mainly because the sheer number of children who attend my school is overwhelming. Mind you, not one of them has learned how to walk around in a crowd without trying to walk through me; not a happy situation.

    And it's pure irony that I've managed to come down with a cold in a tropical country. I caught a bit of sneezing from my host brother, Nong Tay, who never covers his sneezes. But now it's a headache, and dizziness, and even some slight what-I-hope-is-NOT-asthsma-but-feels-very-scary, which started last night.

    Should I also mention that my clothes are shrunken just a tad every time I've cleaned them? Is that normal?!? Because if I were to stay with this family the whole year, I'd need a whole new wardrobe in two months easily. Or maybe I'm just growing really fast... it's not too bad of a problem, but there are two or three items of clothing that are too tight for me to comfortably put on.

    Today started out wonderfully. I tripped over my trash can, the lizards in the bathroom fell from the ceiling to the floor upon seeing me, and Khun Yai (host Grandma) muttered to me for a long time about eating and eggs and watched me intently as I ate. None of which I could understand, except for that she was offering me some coffee. When I saw the coffee and the sweetener in her hand, I couldn't stifle my grimace. There were plenty of ants on the container, so I shook my head and told her "the ants are eating it!" To her, it sounded like "I'm not eating it!" So she gave me a look that said "I thought you liked coffee...?" before downing hers. I was just trying to warn her, but I guess Thai people don't mind swallowing a bug or ten in their food. Sadly, I do.

    I just watched my first Thai movie, "30 jaew," which was really sweet. I didn't understand much of it but I went with Thai friends who could kind of help explain some parts. The movie's plot is a 31-year-old women falling in love with a 24-year-old man, and difficulties arising in her being older than him. I almost cried near the end... Need to watch more Thai movies :)

     In the next week, I'll try to start an afterschool activity, and find information about switching to my second family.

     Until next time...