I have pictures!!!

Thanks to a fantastic friend I have some pictures to share with you all. He sent them to me as a birthday present and I could not be happier!!!! It's amazing how pictures through an email becomes the best present in the world :) But, here's the deal: life is pretty darn slow here right now. It is summer break for school and all we really have to do is just go out and talk to people and...well, just be. So, I decided that in addition to spending some time just hanging out at the talat today, I would also spend some time in the nice air conditioned room and write yet another blog. Yay. I was feeling pretty darn lonely today so I called one of my best friends here, Megan. We talked for an hour and I feel much much better. Lonely already and it's only the 2nd week at site you might ask? Well I will tell you that not being able to fully explain ANYTHING to the people around you is very tiring and leaves you with a sense of emptiness.....thankfully we have cell phones and I have a good set of people behind me. Currently, I am sitting in the internet shop where 20 other kids are blankly staring at their computer screens playing internet games....the thing that gets me is that they all have the music or sound to their games turned up (seemingly) as loud as possible. How they know what sound belongs to their game I have no idea...but this is definitely not a quiet Buddist wat....;) Today I am going to go to "den aerobics" which is dance aerobics. It should be a good time dancing to some Thai pop music don't you think? So, here are the explanations to my pictures.
This first picture is Bekah and myself. Bekah is one of my best friends here as well. She is 28 years old and from Florida. Her accent is one of the strongest southern accents I have ever heard. She was my bike buddy during Sakeo. I passed her house every day to work where her family would greet me with exhuberant hellos. The skirt I am wearing (and the yellow thing underneath the white shirt) was part of a costume that I had to wear that day for a dance. Myself and 9 other people did a northern dance for our going away party in Sakeo. It turned out...well, OK I suppose...but I was laughing the whole time. It was a blast. I can show you the dance if you come visit!!! The next one below this is me in my full costume after the dance and my friend John (not the John most of you are thinking of). The woman in the foreground is my pi sao (older sister) who housed me during my 10 weeks in Sakeo. Her name is Baeo though I honestly only learned that the last week...I asked her name the first day I got there but because I couldn't understand Thai, I easily forgot it and never asked again because I always called her pi sao. I only learned because my younger sister called her name and she answered...yay, for listening closely huh? I have no idea who the woman to my right is by the way....John's host

mom maybe?? The next picture is of John and I again (again not the John you are thinking of) at our swearing in ceremony. The yellow shirts we are wearing were made special for the day....I believe I have already told you about the swearing in ceremony so I won't go into any more detail except for that the shirts were extremely uncomfortable, we had to pay 1000 baht, which is a substantial amount, and will most likely never wear them again in our lives. We all joke about the fact that we will wear them to our first job interview when we get back to the states however. What an impression that would make right? If you can see in the background there is writing on the wall. It says Peace Corps 45th Anniversary blah blah blah...this letter announcement is HUGE in Thailand..I mean huge. Every gathering you go to there will be a sign indicating where you are and what you are there for. Just one of those things that makes me smile. The next picture is of Bekah, myself, and Tina. I didn't get a change to get to know Tina very well but she is a sweet heart. She was a camp counselor in Colorado for a couple years, has a lot of energy and has given some great ideas for songs and lessons. She is stationed in the south of Thailand so I probably won't get to see her. The next picture is of Meghan and myself. I love her. She is very awesome. We initially bonded because we were roommates in San Francisco but mostly bonded through our discussions of who is the sweatiest person in Thailand - she or I. I always claim it is I but she definitely comes into a close second. We have similar views about pretty much everything and also understand each other as her dad passed away a couple of years ago. The picture at the beginning is of myself and John (the John you ARE thinking of) during free time during our language tests. Time to go.....do what, I ahve no idea right now but I'm sure it will be hot. Oh, today I am making dinner for my family....it is a new creation of mine....it is rice (of course) with eggs and APPLES (kao gap kai sai appen). They laugh when I tell them I cooked eggs with apples, and in all honesty, I didn't know what I was doing when I started to cook but it was the only food I had....you use what you got right? It turned out pretty good and so I offered to cook it for them. They will probably grang jai me and tell me it is great when they actually think it is discusting but eh, it will be fun none the less. Oh, my reason for saying that was because I have a bag of eggs hanging off my bike which are probably roasting in the sun.....I should get them inside. Oh, I have no fridge yet so keeping things fresh has been quite a problem. Ok, love to all :)