And the flip side

I've been home two weeks, so its had a little time to sink in...

10 Things I Missed About Thailand While I Was Home In America

10. Thai - I'm getting pretty good at it. I'll have whole conversations with people, I'm picking up idioms, flirting with girls...It feels kinda cool to speak a another language (semi) fluently.

9. The Time Zone - Chiang Mai and Chicago vary from being 12 and 13 hours apart, depending on Daylight Savings Time. In other words, its like the worst possible distance to adjust too, as day becomes night and night becomes day and your body has no idea whats going on. At home, I would go to sleep normally but was waking up for a few hours in the middle of the night before going back to bed. It wasn't until the last night I was home that I got a good 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep. When I got back to Thailand however, my extremely confused body settled on sleeping hours of 5pm to 1am. This was puzzling as that would correspond to times of 4am to noon back in Chicago. Like my body wasn't sure which way to go so it just split the difference. I mean it was doable, I basically get home from work and go right to bed, but it's not very social, as there are not many people to hang out with from 1am when I wake up till about 6:30 when I have to get ready for work. I have managed to break this in the last two weeks, but it was a pretty bizarre feeling when your body was dead tired everyday at 5pm.

8. My Kindle - OK this one is cheating because I didn't actually get one until Christmas and I had it at home for a while, but I've really grown to love it here. It's awwwwwesome. When of the few electronic toys I've ever owned and I just love it love it love it.

7. Bake N' Bite - Being home meant I had to break my streak of like 22 consecutive weekends having brunch there. Luckily Lex and Adam were gone as well so I don't feel as bad. Don't worry, we started up a new streak.

6. My Commute - Yes I love driving, and it was good to be behind the wheel. And I love my job, but its not like I spring out of bed every morning at 6:45 itching to go to work. But I will admit that I really enjoy that 25 minute bicycle ride every morning. Kinda wakes me up, gets me ready for the day, and I usually spend the time to and from school listening to a podcast.

5. The People - I tell ya, something that I definitely take for granted living here. Everyone is just so friendly and nice. It was a little better at home than I thought it would be (I think because it was Christmastime), but here, you walk down the street and everrrryone smiles and says hello. It takes me half an hour just to walk around the corner to 7/11. Back home, I unthinkingly was smiling at people as I was walking past them on the street, and I got quite a few strange looks. Not that I stopped doing it...just way different than Thailand.

4. My Bicycle - Yes, it's pink, and yes, it looks like something straight out of Wizard of Oz, but I really do like transporting myself on my own motive power (Objectivism alert!). That, and its cheap (the El + cabs + Metra + filling up the gas tank once = around $70) and is pretty much the only form of exercise I get, aside from maybe once a week basketball. And that hour on the bike everyday is about an hour more than I got at home.

3. Food - Mu gatiam, kao soi, khao man gai, milo dip, nagi khao mu, mam saparod....really just white rice in general. When I got here, I could only eat Thai food like every other meal, I needed something western. The longer I've been here, the bigger and bigger (or smaller and smaller) that ratio got, until now I have western food maybe twice a week. And being home, I found that I missed the simplicity of just some meat and white rice.

2. Weather - I got off the plane at midnight, it was 75 degrees. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and sandals. On January 4th. Um, awesome.

1. (Tie) - Sai, Nammon, Nakoa, Don, Sim, Nina, Bam Bam, Miyuki, Jaja, Chan, Aomsin, Bella, Aueng, Tata, Thee 1, Nine 2, Kaning, Tee 2, Pet, Emma, Panda, Asmee, Yok, Pooh, Shumie, Poon, Dominique, Nine 1, Bible, Pear, Win, I-Nam, Both, Tong Tong, Fai, Name, Stang, Guy, Phet, At, Tiger, Champoo, Zen, Gun, Nice, J.J., Pin, Nam King, Soman, Aut, Pleng, Lita, Poom, Ida, Dragon, Davy, Lily, Nalin, Bew, Mengjai, Boss, Jetty, Khreena, Pang, Indy, Ja, Numfah, Gorkaw, Champoo, Numwan, Katang ,Tonnum, Almond, Kimmy and Uki.

TPWWLT - Fall Out Boy - 'Chicago Is So Two Years Ago'

PS - It's my birthday tomorrow, and if you think we aren't having a party at school then you are sadly mistaken. I have to admit its pretty awesome though, my kids are wayyyy more excited about my birthday than I am. We actually have a countdown on the board counting down the days, and the first thing my kids do every morning when I get is tell, nay demand, that I change the countdown to one less than yesterday. Imagine how excited you were for your birthday when you were 6, and now imagine that you have 32 six year olds that are all that excited about someone else's birthday. And it happens to be yours. Do I have a great job or what?