Settling In

So the rainy season is late. It's rained a few days, but for the most part has been dry, which is nice except for the fact that the rain breaks the humidity a bit and cools down the air. Also, it would be bad to run out of water later in the year. Despite the rains holding off though, Dengue has arrived. Several people I work with came down with it this week, and just yesterday one of the older fellows. I am keeping my bottle of deet next to me at all times. I think I need to make a holster for it. Mosquitoes here are quite tricky. Aedes, the mosquito that spreads Dengue, bites mostly during the day and likes cool damp places. I got swarmed, for instance, by a whole bunch of Aedes mosquitoes when I plugged in my toaster for the first time. It had been a very nice living space for them until it started to heat up!

Nothing else very exciting has happened yet. Two of the fellows working for the same organization as me for the past year just left Mae Sot, which was actually quite sad. It always amazes me how close you can get to people in a short amount of time when travelling. We had a going away party for them at their favorite karaoke bar, which also happens to be a brothel? This was quite confusing to me but it seems to work like this. There is a big room where you can sing karaoke or hang out with sex workers. There are private rooms where you can have a small group sing karaoke, or hang out with sex workers. So we of course sang karaoke in a room to ourselves (which is extra great because while a lot of the songs are American, the videos are random scenery from the Netherlands) , but upon leaving I had one sex worker run up and sniff my cheek, smiling and giggling. My friend explained this is the way Thai people kiss sometimes, which explains the sniffing, but not why she ran up to me and did this in the first place. It's a mystery.

I have also discovered fermented Thai milk, which sounds disgusting, but is full of probiotics that are fantastic for my digestive system since getting here. They kind of taste like green jello salad, extended McIvor clan, which you know is one of my favorite things ever.

I think I mentioned the dogs already. There are strays everywhere, but at night they like roam the streets in packs. Basically, in Mae Sot, dogs OWN the night. I got chased by a pack of them a couple of days ago, which was actually slightly terrifying. I have taken to carrying a big umbrella that I shake at them like a stick while I growl really loudly. This is working so far.

World Cup fever caught in Thailand, and was fueled by the huge number of farangs (foreigners) here. The final game was crazy because it was at 1:30 in the morning, and the bar was packed with Spaniards (who of course went nuts). Side note: Thai beer kind of sucks. And Thai whiskey, not so much whiskey, its more like rum and really really sugary like everything else here. No good wine either, but that's ok, because there is also no good cheese.

Miss everyone! I'll try to keep these a bit shorter and less boring in the future :)