I got a package from my best friend, Sharon yesterday!  It was a huge box and it was so wonderful to see it!  It was full of cheesy american junk food (goldfish crackers, smartfood popcorn and easy cheese).  I’ve been missing cheese so much.  It had some other snacks and a candle too.  Pat helped me open the box and  a couple of other teachers helped me look through everything.  Pat wanted to try the easy cheese so I put some on her finger.  She made a funny face and basically thought it was horrible.  She proceeded to try to get everyone else that walked by to try it, but no one would.  Ok, so easy cheese is not really cheese, but in a land of no cheese, it’s wonderful.

Yesterday after school, Noi came and picked me up to take me to her house.  I was excited about this for a few reasons.  1.  It meant I finally was able to communicate “later” to her.  2.  She has a garden and I was excited to see it.  3.  Her husband is the one I met at Scout day that was so delightful to talk to.  4.  I think she really enjoys my company and this feels more like someone that wants to spend time with me than someone who wants to take care of me so I will stay here, teaching.  It may seem like a small difference, but when you are truly alone in a town, it’s a huge difference.

I wanted to see in her house to see what a Thai teacher’s house looks like, but I wasn’t invited in and I didn’t want to ask.  They had a lot of plants and trees everywhere.  They had a really old dog who just wanted to go lay in the road.  She insisted that I pick stuff from the garden.  They have a bunch of fruit trees in the back and she gave me some fruit I’ve never seen and I have no idea what it is.  One, I think is like a pomelo, but giant.  The other, it sounded like she was calling it an olive, but it’s too big to be an olive (or it’s a giant olive).  I plan to to food prep tomorrow so I’ll update you then.  They gave me bananas (I have way too many bananas now) and a bottle of honey.  Someone else gave me a bottle of honey.  So, now I have more honey than I’ve ever eaten in my life.  I don’t know what to do with it.

After the garden, they took me to the temple.  The temple near their house has one of the oldest Buddha images.  It’s over 1000 years old.  The pagoda next to the temple was rumored to once float in the river and then was moved later near the temple.  They also showed me a temple for ordination of monks – no women or non monks allowed in.  After the temple, they took me to dinner.  I am grateful for the information on the temple.  It was a good evening.

Today one of the teachers and the school driver took me to Tak to turn in my paperwork for my work permit.  The lady rejected the paperwork because the signatures were photocopies and she wasn’t reading my passport correctly and was trying to explain that my visa expired soon, which it doesn’t.  I have a year on the visa and I have to leave the country and come back every 3 months.  I have until the end of March to do the border run.  And there were two other documents she handed me that needed to be filled out.  It all was confusing to me and to the teacher that came to help me so we went back to Sam Ngao.  We will do originals, fill out the other paperwork and pick up where we left off in May.

After school today, my new friends Tip and Ging picked me up and took me up to the gardens by the dam with their two daughters and Ging’s husband.  We started Thai lessons and they brought food for a picnic.  It was a beautiful evening.   They want to hang out again tomorrow.  I think I will bring a fruit salad and hopefully they will accept it.  It’s nice that everyone wants to buy me dinner, but it does make me a little uncomfortable.  I’m not use to being this taken care of.  And I want to be generous in return, but no one will let me.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore