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Other entries in Mae Rim

I'm starving

there is ONE bad side to volunteering - the food situation. basically you have to eat whatever is put in front of you. and between 'strange' (ie: reeeally local, reeeally authentic) and 'not enough' (ie: tiny asian portions), well all I can say is if you need a diet program, get off that couch and volunteer - you'll loose plenty.

I used to have pride about how much local food I ate (noodle soup for breakfast, no more eggs, etc), but shit, here it's intense. you never really get what you WANT to eat, but being so hungry, you HAVE to eat it.... one morning we had marinated squid FOR BREAKFAST. maybe doesn't sound too bad, but the sauce was dark maroon. the squid was dark maroon. their jiggly tentacles were dark maroon. it was all a little too creepy... then again, those thais actually make it TASTE good so whadaryagonna do? I ate 'em.

a lot of the 'meat' we eat is really just fat  - you know the stuff you slice off regular meat and throw away? yeah, well, ummm....I eat that now. yesterday I gnawed on a bone of fat. no meat, just fat. but I didn't stop. couldn't stop. (confession) it was actually good. I eat chicken skin just for the calories. I'm 2 steps away from being a beggar kid. yesterday - all time low - I seriously considered taking food out of the garbage (not joking - I was shaky-hungry and desperate - it was chicken in a bag that I knew was good and only just went in there). but loads of ants already got hold of it, that stopped me dead in my tracks. clearly I still have some standards. maybe it's wrong to make the comparison, but I'm getting a bizarre taste of what it means to be hungry every day.

I AM getting more familiar with the place tho - found a stash of white bread, butter and jam - that's heaven! and some guests showed up with fruit so hoarded a little of that. and finally learning more names of the kids (enough about me starving)! and forming friendships with what's ending up to be mostly the shy kids, artists and lady-boys - no surprise there.

this weekend I had 20+ students in 2 art classes that lasted over 4 hours each - eek! today was painting day and someone please remind me never to do that again. 20 kids with brushes, water, not enough bottles of paint or floor space. if you want green, walk across the room and get it. but they did shockingly well - another testament to how behaved everyone is.

I made a cartoon showing how to dip, wipe, store your brush (yeah, I'm a clean-freak artist. what a useless combination) and surprise of suprises - they actually did it! only a few spills but most importantly, more than a few talented kids. of course there was the 'typical' stuff (here it's: [sun, hills, thatched hut on stilts, garden], lotus flowers), but also some abstract deibenkorn-esque stuff (my favorites), a night sky, fish-on-a-platter, 'typical thatched hut' but in a fish tank (a variation on a theme TOTALLY appreciated) with bubbles coming out of the roof.

it's now sunday night and I'm exhausted (and starving!). and wondering where my paycheck is. not exactly the best way to head into another week of teaching. but in less than 2 weeks I fly to australia. ABSOLUTELY loving my time here, but am so looking forward to a new continent, new vibe (mmmm.....civilization. mmmm.....meat.), seeing petros after over 6 months (last time was in buenos aires), getting to actually road trip! (he has a car) and diving on the great barrier reef. yee haw!

so one more week of teaching art and english. playing with the kids. trying not to make mistakes (oh god, almost forgot. about those mistakes....they have a rule here that no one can hang underwear to dry ouside. well, a pair of mine must've fallen out on the way back from the laundry cause 3 HOURS LATER, I walked by this post in the middle of the playground, and there, on display for god, buddha and the whole of the school to see, were my red hello kitty undies.        -.     just shoot me now....)

ps - dschell - I'm teaching the kids to say "Meckaleckahigh meckahighneehoo"

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