New friends!

The internet has been down at my guesthouse the last few days. Something so simple that I have been taking for granted cuts out and bam! I didn't know what to do. Couldn't answer any correspondence about possible jobs, missed skyping with both my parents, my friends thought I was mad at them because I wasn't responding to anything... Just kinda puts it in perspective how much we rely on some things. But it wasn't all bad, I finished two books (Left Hand of Darkness and the Book Thief, both excellent), and I was lucky that it was over the weekend and most of the job emails came today so I was only few hours later in responding, as opposed to a few days. And my fantasy rosters were set so I won in both hockey and basketball. Always nice when you can beat Suchy and Martin in fantasy in the same week.

In other news, my weekend was pretty good. My (only) friend Julia got a job interview last week with a school here, and while she was there, some of the other teachers invited her out with them and I tagged along. We went out Sat night and it was actually pretty fun. It was interesting to see the dynamic of the group we were out with. The street that I live off of is one of the main tourist streets here, and the upper class tourists at that. All the signs are in English, and most of the bars are expensive and filled with yelling Asian women and rich old white people paying 4 times what they should for a plate of pad thai, or for some way too expensive western food. I know that there is a decent sized community of young farangs, most of whom live here year round and are teachers, much like I hope to be. But until this weekend, I had no idea where these people congregated, so I was interested to see what it was like when we went out with them on Sat.

And, truth be told, it was very similar to what I would experience at home. In other words, I nursed a non alcoholic beverage while squeezed in between people I don't know very well, sweating and trying to make conversation above the noise of the live band 8 feet away. :) Bars aren't usually my first choice of entertainment, even when I know everyone there, and when I go with only a few friends (or in this case, one), they are tolerable at best. But to be honest, there was something almost comfortable in being out and being uncomfortable amongst my drunk fellow twentysomthings. Looking around, I could have been out at a bar in Chicago (in the summer). We stayed till close, which was only midnight (two thumbs up on that) bc the bar didnt have some permit for live music. We got food after (kebab's - no antonio's or la bamba, but delicious) and Julia and I walked home surrounded by the drunken shrieks of 30 or so white people. I could have been on Clark street or in Champaign!

But the night was fun. I did meet some new friends, got a lot of encouragement from people about the job search. Pretty much everyone said it took them at least month or so to find one, so they all told me to hang in there and stay persistent, which made me feel a lot better about my situation. I've been hearing so many different things from so many different people that it was cool to finally talk to people who are in the situation I hope to be in a few months. AND, the live band was a Thai band playing what sounded like Mexican music. They were pretty good, but the highlight was the barefooted, dreadlocked, mid-thirtish Thai woman who was the lead singer, and whom, I will admit to you faceless reader, I was quite entranced with. :) She wasn't even especially good looking, but she might have been the coolest person I have ever seen. The girls at my table kept trying to get me to buy her a rose from the small Thai children running in the bar trying to sell flowers, but I wussed out. Although in my defense, I'm pretty sure I saw her husband there. Ah well, maybe next time. :)

TPWWLT - 'Face Drop' - Sean Kingston