humorous.

well, these past two days have been nothing short of hilarious. to start...

when i began talking to my parents again about getting my nose pierced, if they said yes, i thought i would just wait until i got to thailand to get it pierced. that way my sweet mom wouldn't have to see it! then i decided for sterol reasons i would just get it 3 days before i left... THANK THE SWEET LORD IN HEAVEN I DID! 2 nights ago i was at the night market and passed a jewelry booth where they did piercing. you want to know how they pierce peoples noses here? they get any earring that you choose (not sharpened, not thinner... just a plain ole erring) and grab your nose and push the earring until it goes through. no needle, no nice tube thing so you dont feel like your nose is getting broken off... just a man pushing... pause, take a breather with it not even half way through.... push.... stop again.... push annnnnd now your nose is pierced! bleeding? yes. crying? yes. throbbing? yes. worth it? HECK NO! i would have died if i had gotten it here.

yesterday, i thought i was going to go insaine. we had an extended amount of free time and i couldn't think of anything to do for 5 straight hours while the students were still in class. so, i decided to grab my camera and walk around to take some pictures. needless to say, i stepped in 9 million mud puddles, almost got hit my a took-took, sung tau, and garbage truck, and got yelled at for picking a flower off of something that i guess was really important.

the meat here is sold in such sterile ways! what isn't in this picture is the bucket of catfish that are still swimming. and when this dish starts running low, they just stick their knife in the bucket, get a fish, chop it up, and throw it in this bowl.... i thought i was going to puke. they actually laughed pretty hard at the face i was making as i watched...

this is one of my favorite desserts here! the lady making it was so excited to talk to an American that she gave me some for free! it made my day so much better!

i really am going to miss this about Thailand. i love just walking through the streets and soaking in EVERYTHING that is so different from what i have grown up knowing.

tonight though- tonight was my personal favorite of this week.... Pbaan always makes our plans and then she picks me up around 6 every night and i just do what she says we are doing with the students... tonight she said basketball! little did i know what i was getting myself into.

lets rewind a couple years. i played basketball growing up. well, i TRIED playing basketball growing up. i am athletic, but basketball is just not my forte. and tonight, it was no different.

me getting picked for a team... surprisingly i wasn't last!

Dad, im so sorry to disappoint, but im not better now than i was about 9 years ago... i shot about 9 times.... air balled every. single. one.

this was the funniest part though. the students i was playing with had been there since 4. i got there at 7. and they play till around 12. so, these students had already been playing for about 3 hours. to get water, you have to ask permission....

every player must line up on the line and yell, in unison, a "simple" phrase asking permission to drink water.

"KAW-AH-NU-YAD-DEUM-NAAM-KA!"

i understand that that looks easy to yell. 1. you are reading it. 2. the pressure of these peoples hydration isn't resting on your shoulders with about 300 people staring at you and 3. you cant hear the tones (remember, there are 5) that are involved in yelling thing

i could NOT get it! thank goodness this sweet girl was willing to help me...

they all had to wait for me to yell it correctly on my own before we could start over and yell it as a team...

and then... after i thought it was done, we had to reply with "KHOB-KHUN-KA!" which means thank you. however, when they started to yell again, i assumed we were yelling that we wanted water again. nope. once again, everyone had to wait on me to say it correctly and then yell it again with the team...

FINALLY, after about 10 minuets... everyone got water! and then, i chose to withdrawl and take a seat. my talents were no longer needed.

abc.