Etcetera...

Thursday afternoon, I came home from school and noticed that I had no power. The usual glacial breeze that greets me when I open the door to my apartment was not there. This did not bode well as I had a ton of things to do before I went away for the weekend, and I was supposed to go on a date later in the evening. I tried to figure out why my power was out; I hadn't even been in the apartment a month so I didn't think it was because I hadn't paid the bill. Then I vaguely recalled a piece of paper that I found in my mailbox. It looked like junk mail, a piece of paper written in Thai, folded over and stapled; I had put it in my teacher bag (read: black hole) to take to school for one of the teachers-who-know-Thai to read for me, just to make sure it wasn't a bill. That was two weeks ago and I forgot all about it.

So, I called my landlady. She called the security guard downstairs to check on things. When she called me back, she told me that I must have not paid the bill. I was instructed to take 350 Baht (about $10) downstairs to the security guard, and he would find someone to take care of it for me. This sounded pretty strange to me; just go downstairs and hand this guy some money. How would he know how to pay Dominion Power...I mean whatever the electric company is here? All I know is that ten minutes later, my power was restored. Another lesson learned: don't be late with the power bill. There is no month grace period like in the states.
I went to buy a few things today since I was paid on Thursday. I needed some more beverage glasses, end tables, a kitchen table and chairs. This was an interesting experience since my Thai has not progressed any further than hello and thank you. Making purchases that need to be delivered offers a whole other set of problems. The first lady spoke some English so that worked okay. The next lady spoke zero English. Picture it: me, speaking slow and plain English, using hand gestures that seem obvious and her speaking Thai as clear as a bell. We spoke as if the other person would miraculously understand the other. She had no idea that I needed to have the two end tables delivered and I couldn't figure out a hand gesture. I wonder if giddy-up would have worked? Fingers walking didn't work. I showed her my address, but it was written in English so that wasn't much help. I ended up going back to the other store and asking the other sales lady how to say "delivery." She couldn't tell me, but she did give me the order form where she took my order and it had Thai and English on it so I was able to take it to the other place and let her see what I needed. It was all clear after that. I should have all my purchases within the week.
This past weekend we went on a staff-bonding trip to Rayong beach. This is not one of the more opulent beaches in Thailand; it kind of had a Hotel California feel to it. The beach looked man-made with rocks that were obviously placed there piled up at regular intervals. Not much of a beach. The great part about the weekend was that it was absolutely free, so I can't really complain. We took a two hour bus ride Friday right after school. There was a quiet bus for teachers with children (isn't this an oxymoron?) and a noisy bus, I guess for the drinkers. I took the quiet bus because I wanted to read and because I felt bad for the teachers with kids who seemed to be banned to solitude, as if parents with kids don't have any fun? Anyway, we had a relaxing weekend with a lot of free time. There were some "staff bonding" activities Saturday morning, and a dinner with a variety show afterwards that was highly entertaining.

I spent a lot of time poolside, reading, and two hours at a massage parlor across the street. I wanted to try it a second time some where different to see if there were any new techniques. There were a couple. This was the kind of place where the women sit behind a window and you pick which one you want to massage you. Seems a little sketchy, huh? I saw something similar on an A&E special on red light districts. Despite the sketchy setup, the massage was more or less just like the other one; this woman walked on my back a lot more though. Even though there were slight variations, it was still pretty invasive. I could do without the inner thigh action. From now on, I am going to stick to foot, back and shoulder massages.

A book recommendation for those of you interested in Thailand: Bangkok 8 is a murder mystery by John Burdette that has bunches of cultural information about the area. The main character is a Thai cop whose mother is a prostitute who was impregnated by an American solider during the Vietnam war. A female American FBI agent comes over to help solve the case and there is some culture crash between her and the Buddhist cop. An interesting read with quite a lot about Buddhism and the sex trade in it, too.

Last night for dinner I went to Crepe & Co. Fabulous. I had a Norwegian crepe--cubed salmon with sour cream and chives. Dinner was served with both a knife and fork (as opposed to the usual Thai setting of a spoon and fork). I had a Nutella crepe for dessert and a nice glass of chardonnay. The place is run by a Greek guy. I am enjoying all of these swishy and chic little restaurants. A food lover's paradise.