Snippets of my life in Thailand

I'm going onto four weeks now in the same spot! It feels good to have a sense of home again, only this time home is an orphanage in Thailand. Funny how quickly I can set up a “home” nowadays. Since I initially left Canada almost 2 years ago, I've made a home in Taiwan, Australia, China and now Thailand (with lots of 'mini-homes' in between). Who knows where home will be next!? So here I am in Thailand – sweating like its my job. It's hard to believe that less than a month ago I was complaining about how cold I was! The fan is sending hot air my way and I'm ready to update everyone on my life here!

I've been meaning to give an update for a while now, but there's simply so much to say that it's been too daunting a task to start writing! Instead of giving a general sweep-over of my life here, I'm just going to write a couple of interesting snippets to make you smile.

Tags
“Game” is one of the older boys here at the orphanage - he's 17 years old. It's 'summer' vacation now in Thailand and Game has got a job at Le Meridian Hotel cleaning rooms. His English is great and he's hoping that if he pays his dues now he can get a job later on as a desk clerk or driver. Now that he's making some money, he can afford to buy a few things that he wouldn't normally get. A few days ago, Game was wearing a spiffy looking shirt and a crisp pair of trousers. He looked so well-dressed that I had a double-take. On second glace, I noticed that the price tags for both his shirt and trousers were still attached – hanging there in plain view. I shouted at him as he walked away from me, “Game! You've still got the tags on your clothing!” He gave me a massive grin and kept on walking. Puzzled, I asked one of the older kids nearby, “Why doesn't he care?” I could tell she wasn't as confused as I – as if this is an everyday occurrence. She replied, “because he's making sure that everyone can see they are new clothes.”

Rainy Season
Our entertainment for the night used to involve watching geckos run around and catch their dinners on our front porch – we usually sat silently, transfixed by the sport and occasionally yelled, “c'mon! Get'm! You can do it! He's a big one!” However, now that rainy season has come upon us, sitting on the porch at night is completely out of the question. The “Gecko” programming has been replaced by “Massive Termites and How They'll Drive You Insane.” This show is not one of my favorites, but it's on at prime time and there's really no avoiding it. It seems that the tropical storms have caused a mass-hatching of FLYING TERMITES. Even though we try to avoid these insect beasts by hiding inside and placing towels at the bottom of the front door, they still manage to weasel their way in. Thus, instead of cheering geckos on as they feast on mosquitoes and other small insects, we've resorted to carefully watching the bottom of the front door and killing any successful intruders with my running shoe. We even leave the dead bodies to warn the hopefuls, but it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Do not 'dine-out' after a big rainfall
Fiona and I learned this important lesson the hard way. It had rained quite hard that day and we were fully unimpressed by the dining hall conditions. Termites were flying everywhere, into people's dishes and even worse: hair. These insect beasts are out of control and seem to have one mission and one mission only for their short 24-hour lives: mate. They fly around in circles until they crash-land on the floor. Once landed, they can no longer fly and so they resort to walking around on the ground until they find a mate. After making the decision to brave the outdoors (armed with umbrellas and deet), we headed off into the night (to walk the 200 metres to the nearest restaurant). We carefully avoided frogs along the way and soon arrived at the place which I've personally come to know as “Pad Thai Heaven.” We sat strategically in front of a fan and placed our orders. It took a mere 30 seconds for us to realize that in fact, on this particular night, this was not a good alternative to the dining hall. There were termites flying everywhere and those that had crash landed were crawling towards our feet at a rapid pace! Fiona was quick to take action and pulled an insect spray out of her purse. We immediately sprayed a circle around our table, making a “safety shield” from the impending threat. Unfortunately, the termites were not easily deterred and so I had to do the unspeakable: ask the waitress for a broom to sweep them away (whilst trying not to offend her or the cleanliness of the restaurant). The staff quickly realized that we were terrified of the termites and so they set up 2 guards for us (it was a slow night anyways): 2 waitresses sitting on either side of the table armed with brooms and dustpans – patrolling the area carefully for termite-invasion.

Mortified, we ate our Pad Thai quickly so as to end the uncomfortable situation that we found ourselves in. However, the flying termites started to become a nuisance, swooping down on our table, flying around our heads and even crash landing on our bodies! It was when I felt a termite fly down my shirt that I stood up, ran from the restaurant, and ripped off my tank top to shake it in the street. After I calmed down, I returned (even more embarrassed than before) and we moved tables (as did our body guards). Finally, when it was time to pay, we left a massive tip – promising that we would never ever return after the rain.