Wow, this was a long day.  I went to school in the morning to not teach.  It’s the first day of class for all the students.  The M1 and M4 students started Monday.  M2, M3, M5 and M6 started today.  Robin had to do his speech before the whole school at the morning assembly.  It reminded me of my first day which seems soooooo long ago, but really wasn’t.  Most of the day the younger students spent cleaning classrooms.  Since the school is open air with wood shutters to keep the jungle out, every room is a disaster.  They installed new glass doors on the classrooms in my building.  I’m not sure what purpose that serves since there still is no AC and the windows are still open.  The older students are in some school “camp”.  All I know is that a bunch of university students are here to help with the camp.  They spent most of the day in the all purpose room doing cheers – kind of like a pep rally.  I like listening to it, but I don’t get it.

During a conversation with Pat I told her about what a Rain Dance was and how we would joke that someone needs to do a rain dance when we need rain.  She told me they had something similar.  They put a cat in a cage, just one female cat.  Then do a parade with the cat.  They throw water at the cat to make it cry.  The cries of the cat will bring rain.  True Story!  http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/2404_thai_tradition_festivals/thai_tradition_festivals.html

After lunch, Ging and her husband took me to the highway to catch the bus to Chaing Mai.  The lady selling tickets on the side of the highway was there, but she upgraded to a bigger table.  She wasn’t as friendly as before.  She asked if I wanted the 150 or 200 baht bus.  The 200 one is VIP.  I don’t know what that means, but since it’s only $1.50 more I decided VIP.  I should have done the cheaper one.  VIP did not mean working air conditioning or anything that resembled VIP.  I’ve heard that buses breaking down is a common thing that everyone will experience at some point.  Check.  Now I have that experience to check off.  The bus broke down about an hour into the trip.  So, we all stood on the side of the highway while the driver tried to fix the bus.  It smelled so bad of burnt rubber that it seems to me it is beyond repair.  Waiting didn’t bother me too much.  It was real hot and standing on the side of a highway is never fun, but I think it’s just looking at all the trash thrown everywhere that bothers me.  After a while, the bus attendant (every bus seems to have an attendant that checks tickets and lets you know when you get to your stop, etc) made an announcement I assumed was that another bus was coming.  She handed us prepackaged wet naps.  A warm wet nap didn’t do much to cool me off, but I gave it a try anyway.  Then I watched as most of the people threw the packaging on the ground.  Eventually another bus came and picked us up.  I wondered if this was the 150 baht bus.  The air con worked and a nice lady made her son get up to give me his seat so I didn’t have to stand.

After I checked into my hotel, I found a burger and a massage.  Exhausted.  I have to get up kind of early to go to the US Consulate to get a Power of Attorney notarized.  I’m looking forward to seeing what the US Consulate is like.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore