Fortune on a Stick

Had a really great trip to Ayutthaya with the Mastache clan. Took a boat up the Chao Phraya all the way to the town (maybe 2 hours?) and then started off by visiting Bang Pa-in Palace which is a royal summer palace that was built in the 17th century.

Also visited the ruins of a number of wats (temples) that were mostly built around 300ish-500 years ago. Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese in the late 18th century, and so all of the Buddhist images had been de-headed and the relics stolen either by Burmese soldiers or Thai locals who realized they could sell the goods on the black market.

hmm - hopefully that's a close enough history to pass. Besides our really sweet/ informed tour guide who was with us for the whole trip -- the highlight of my day was definitely being introduced to Buddhist Fortune Sticks.

I got to shake fortune sticks at two wats, and here's how it goes: you take a can that has about 20 sticks with numbers on them, and then shake the can until one of the sticks fall out.

Once a stick falls out, you go over to a little cabinet and pick out a sheet of paper from the shelf that has your stick's number on it.

The sheet of paper at the first temple was only in Thai, and I can't really remember the details of my fortune as it was translated to me - but here's what my second fortune looked like:



And here's what the message says:

Your will be achieved any matter you do, good luck is coming and you should have luck with money. There is a good news for loves.

umm... awesome.

I didn't take many pictures since Megan was there and she's good at photography -- so I'll post some of hers soon.

Love to you all,
Paige

A Very Merry Christmas (and a visa run)

Hello there loved ones --

Had a really great extended Christmas with the Mastache family here in Bangkok.

Lots of really yummy food (mashed potatoes, ham, and some Thai) as well as a trip to the hospital to visit Mr. Mastache (who is healthy and home again - but we got to go caroling down his hospital corridor with champagne and dessert to make sure he had ample holiday cheer).

Also went to Cambodia for about 2 hours on the 24th to get my visa stamped.

Here's what the border looks like:



Beyond that the only parts of Cambodia that I saw were the morning-regulars at a seedy casino and an outdoor cafe.. not the best preview, but hopefully I'll do justice to the country sometime in the near future.

It was so nice to be able to hear some of your voices on Christmas day, and I'm thinking about all of you lots!

Going to go to Ayuttaha tomorrow which is a former capital of Bangkok, and so I'm really excited about that.

Oh! Also made Mom's egg nog, and the fanbase of that recipe just keeps on growing, ha.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Koh Samet: Part Deux

Hellooo --

Had a really nice and sunny weekend on Koh Samet. Here are a couple of pics from the little bungalow we stayed in (and not to rub it in - but I have to mention that it was about $7.50 each for a night, ha) :::





And here is my friend Rachel who I went with and I on the boat back to Ban Phe where the ferries leave from:



I'm now officially on vacation, and off to a very strong start relaxing. In fact, I was so dedicated to resting up that I slept through the alarm at 3:45 this morning that was supposed to wake me up so that I could get on a 5am bus to Cambodia for a visa run. Oops. Guess I'll go tomorrow instead.

I'm also going to be celebrating Christmas with the Mastaches on the 26th instead of the 25th, because their younger daughter lives in Portland and the airport was shut down because of the snow! I'm not especially attached to the 25th, so not to worry about -- kind of nice to have an extra day to relax before all that exhaustive present opening and eating, ha.

Hope you're all well!

Love,
Paige

Back to the Beach

Heading to Koh Samet again for the weekend tomorrow morning. Really psyched.

love to you all,
Paige

Best Question Ever

Had a great moment at school today when a girl walked up to me and gave my skirt a tug in the middle of class.

I looked down and she had a pretty pensive face on and motioned that she needed to whisper something to me. I figured she was either trying to tell me that a) one of the other girls had taken her pencil case. These girls take their pencil cases impressively seriously... or that b) she was trying to come up with the English words for "I definitely just peed in my pants."

Well. To my surprise - it was neither. Instead her question was a very quiet, "Teacher Paige... can do you a cartwheel?"

ummm... could not be more glad she stopped class to ask that one.

Love to you all,
Paige

Megan's Birthday: A Retrospective

Hey loved ones --

So the internet at my apartment has been working about 5% of the time recently -- and that 5% is usually before I go to work, soooo... that's why I haven't been posting little updates of late.

Meanwhile things are going well, and I'm getting really excited for a two week break from school. I'm having Christmas with my friend Megan and her family, and so to get excited about that here are some photos from Megan's birthday celebration a few weeks ago.

We went to a wine-tasting which we all had pretty low expectations for -- and then the food turned out to be really good, and the entertainment turned out to be these dancers (who are also, according to the MC, economists and journalists by day):





There was a lot of Gwyn Stefani being channeled. The photos are by Megan -- very fun to have someone taking photos who can do more than just point and click.

And here's a shot of the group I was there with:



Hope you're all starting to feel festive!

Love,
Paige

Getting in the Spirit

I've been hearing a lot of people throw around the ole "It just doesn't feel like Christmas when it's 70 degrees out" of late, and honestly.. I couldn't agree less. Nothing says Christmas to me quite like hanging lights in shorts and a t-shirt - and that's exactly what someone at my apartment complex did this past weekend.

So now my apartment's front walkway is decked out in white lights (which is great), and it made me realize that I hadn't shown you guys a picture of the spirit house at my apartment which always has sparkly little lights on it:



Spirit houses are veryvery common here - and most homes and businesses have one -- usually in a corner of the property where shade is least likely to hit it. The houses are shrines to animist spirits, and people leave offerings at the houses to keep spirits that could cause them trouble happy.

I see a lot of drinks left at spirit houses - water, Fanta soda, milk - and flowers and incense are also common offerings.

The spirit house at my apartment complex is actually one of my favorites - and maybe I'm biased, but hopefully the spirits are happy with it too.

Love to you all,
Paige

Lumphini Park

Spent most of my Sunday afternoon at Lumphini Park with some friends. It covers about 140 acres (thanks Wikipedia.), and it was really nice to be sitting on some grass under some big shady trees.



There were also swan boats...





.... and next time I think I'll have to rent one.

Love to you all,
Paige

Happy Birthday King Bhumibol!

Today is the King's birthday -- it's also Thai Father's Day. Or Father's Day was yesterday. I couldn't really get a straight answer on that one.

In honor of HM's B-day I'm posting my favorite picture of him to date (... and even in just two months I think I've seen hundreds...)



That's right... it's Elvis pointing something out to the Queen and Priscilla being ignored on the far right. The King seeems to be pretty at ease wearing his sunglasses at night. Kudos to Megan for introducing me to this gem... and speaking of Megan and birthdays --- yesterday was also her birthday too (happyhappy!!), and so I might have to steal some of her pics from our goings-ons to post.

Love to you all and happy weekend!
-Paige

"I am beautiful!!!"

One of my favorite things that happens a few times each day is when I ask one of my students, "How are you today?" and they reply (usually pretty enthusiastically), "I am beautiful!"

I don't have the heart to tell them this isn't exactly a standard response for native-speakers -- nor do I think I could explain the sublteties of why to one of my 6 year olds... so instead I would just have to say: "No, you cannot say I am beautiful" ... and let it stand at that. I just can't do it.

And really.. since it usually makes me giggle a little when they say it - it actually encourages them to say it more. I don't know what this says about my teaching.

Happy Monday!
-Paige

Two Month Anniversary

Bangkok and I have now been seeing each other for two months. To celebrate this landmark in our relationship I'm going to go and see House Bunny with a friend, and stay away from the demonstrations...

You might be hearing about the protests in Bangkok.. If not... there were four explosions at Bangkok's two big airports this morning, and thousands of protesters there yesterday. Anti-government protesters don't want to let the Prime Minister back into the country.

Thousands of protesters have also been gathering near the Parliament building.. so we'll see what happens. There was a bloodless coup in 2006 -- the military stepped in and forced the former Prime Minister out of power. Currently they are saying they will not do that again.

I feel safe though, and have enough people keeping me up to date about when not to worry - so I'm not sure they'll tell me when I should worry.

Love to you all,
Paige

Ko Samed; Koh Samet

One fun thing about English in Thailand is that there are often no "correct" spellings for the names of places. Koh Samet (Ko Samed) - the island where I went this past weekend - falls into this category.

However you want to spell it, the island was great, close to Bangkok, and the weekend didn't cost too much more than staying in the city.

The bus out there was about 3 hours, and then there was an hour-long ferry ride. The ferry had beach chairs for seats.

I went with four other folks - and they were all really nice. Everyone was just very ready to sit on the beach, read, and breathe in some cleaner air.

The island wasn't too busy, but wasn't desolate either. Had some really good spicy papaya salad and really had to try hard not to pet the very cute, homeless beach-dogs.

Here are some pics of the fishing village near where the ferry dropped us off on the mainland, the group I went with, and the beach:







I think I'll try to make a beach-trip about once a month while I'm here..

Alright. Bedtime.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Bangkok: low bike theft rate?

This beauty was hanging out lock-free yesterday morning on my street:


:::

In other news - getting packed for the weekend on Koh Samet, and happy to see the ocean and some trees.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Where I'm Working

So here's a pic of the courtyard where the students meet every morning to sing, pray, and I guess talk about other things.. but it all happens in Thai, so.. you know..



I'm supposed to get to school at 7:45 - but I'm realizing that I really have to try to get there closer 7:30. Turns out that every time the girls do the following things in the courtyard you have to stop and wait:

a) pray. This is an easy one to detect and stop to wait for because they hold their hands in a praying position.
b) sing the school anthem. I can now recognize this song, and remember to stop.
c) sing the Royal Anthem. This is an important one to stop for, but for some reason I've forgotten more than once. Not good.

Some mornings they also have aerobics. About 10 girls go on stage in full-on neon spandex. This is one thing I don't have to stop for - but it's too funny/bright not to. If I wasn't concerned they'd think I were some sort of pedofile I'd document it for you.. but, yeah.. it's pretty priceless.

Aerobics aside, I'm going to try to get there at 7:30 so that I don't have to play red-light, green-light with their morning activities/ possibly offend a few hundred Thai schoolchildren.

Much love,
Paige

Other Places; Bangkok

Soon I will be settled enough for some letter-writing.

Once that happens I'll get to drop things in the box on the left.. unless any of you are considering moving to Bangkok?



Love to you all!
-Paige

Bamboo Ladders

I've witnessed a good bit of wire-hanging that seems to happen on the streets of Bangkok - and usually bamboo ladders seem to be involved.

I think I just love the combination of someone's bamboo ladder leading to someone else's high-speed internet or 750 tv channels.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Weekend in Review

The internet at my apartment wasn't working this weekend (which is not an easy thing for me, come to find out) -- and so here are some highlights from a couple of pretty mellow days::

#1. Food by Phone:



Not to lead off too strong after saying my weekend was low-key, but Food by Phone might have changed my life.

365 days a year from 10:30am to 10:30pm you can have food delivered to you within one hour from over 80 restaurants. This has honestly blown my mind. I realize this is probably common in all metropolitan areas.. but it's new to me.. and it's amazing.

On Saturday I ordered a mushroom quesadilla, brownie, and diet coke from a Mexican restaurant that I like, and having it appear at my doorstep was basically like magic. They also deliver wine, beer, magazines, and dvds. Delivery costs about $3.

#2. Khlong boats:



Bangkok has canals going through it (khlongs), and there are khlong boats used as public transport that I used for the first time this weekend.

I was proud of myself when I used the taxis on the river for the first time -- and the khlong taxis are even more confusing/intimidating since there's really no English signage - and often not even any Thai signage for me to puzzle at.

The drivers also don't always slow all the way down to let people on & off, and the people collecting money wear helmets - making this probably the best form of transport in town.

#3. Koh Samet



This is actually my big news for the week.. I'm planning on going to Koh Samet -- an island that I'm told is really pretty -- with some folks next weekend, and so obviously I'm reallyreally excited about that.

Alright -- I'm happy to have the internet again, and I hope everyone's weeks are starting out well (..and that all of your food-delivery dreams also come true).

Love,
Paige

Unit 7: At the Food Court

So today I gave my first test on Unit 7: At the Food Court.

The unit has been a blast, but I'm sure Unit 8: At the Supermarket will be just as thrilling.

The test-giving was pretty uneventful, but I did realize something very cute during the art-time afterwards :: a lot of 6 year-olds sing to themselves while coloring.

.. in other news I realized today that I've got out every night this week do things with people.. so I'm excited for another lazy weekend starting at 3:30 domani.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Loi Krathong

Just got back from dinner at a really great restaurant on the river that goes through Bangkok - the Chao Phraya - across from one of the most famous temples in the city - Wat Arun. Wat Arun is on all of the 10 baht coins.

Tonight was the night to have dinner on the river because it is the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai calendar - which means it's Loi Krathong.

I'm not about to do justice explaining the holiday, but "Loi" means "to float" and a "Krathong" is a small (6-12 inches across?) floating circle made out of banana leaves and flowers.

You put candles and incense in the Krathong, and then float it down the river. The Krathong is supposed to represent your anger/ bad things - and so you also cut off some fingernails and add some of your hair to the Krathong before shipping it off so that you're physically sending off something of yourself.

Along the river there were also bus-sized barges that were decorated with all sorts of lights and had music going -- kind of like a veryvery toned down Mardi Gras on a river with no beads or booze -- but very festive and surprising/ pretty to see.

At school today they kept coming in and pulling out girls to go and work on their classes' Krathong, and then some of the girls walked down to the khlong (canal) at the end of the school's road to set them down the river.

I was also told by one of the teacher's that the Krathong are an apology to the river god for pollution (there's a strong Hindu influence somewhere in this holiday) -- but since some people use styrofoam to make theirs it might not be the river god's favorite offering?

So here's Wat Arun with a passing barge, some Krathongs, and then me getting help lowering my Krathong into the river:







Please feel free to fact-check/ correct me!

Love to you all!
-Paige

Hostess with... at least something to offer.

So I haven't exactly reached "Mostess" status yet -- but yesterday was my first attempt at playing tour-guide here in Bangkok, and it wasn't a total bust.

A friend from Emory came through Bangkok just for the night, and so we went to dinner at a place I like near my apartment and then to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

Since I'd never actually been to the night bazaar I didn't know what exactly to expect -- but was psyched to find a beer garden that was about 200 yards x 50 yards, and had a huge stage that had a rotating cast of about 5 singers who all sang with the same back-up band.

The outfits were pretty amazing: one of the guys was going for a Thai Chuck Bass (Gossip Girl character. obvs), one of the girls had a fur lined jacket on ("winter" is approaching), and one of the girls had some sort of western theme she was working with. While they were singing there was also a 10 foot screen behind them playing soccer matches. It was pretty delightful.

I couldn't talk Rob into buying anything besides DVDs - but he did well for himself bartering.

I didn't take any pics, but here are a couple courtesy of other folks:





By the time all of you visit I should be a pro. Don't worry.

love to you all!
-Paige

A Cup of the Familiar

Today I found some Sleepytime tea. love that.

Hope everyone is having good weekends!

love,
Paige

Exciting Realization

First of all, I would like to share that I am not the only person on my street having a slow-paced weekend. I caught this guy snoozing down my road:



awesome.

Also - I realize that I have not posted many pictures of my face on this here blog. I still haven't learned to say "Can you take my picture" in Thai, and am apparently not used to saying it in English.. working on it.

So here's me, and please pay special attention to this dress (and pardon the red-eye):



.. I bought this dress last year for maybe $15, and for some reason it is one of my absolute favorite items of clothing. With all the hubbub getting used to it here I had not worn it yet and realized that it was - in fact - the perfect dress for this climate.

For the past two summers every time I put it on (which seemed like basically every weekend when going to the beach) I would think to myself.. wow... I really wish I had this dress in about 5 different colors.

And then this morning I realized..(drum roll...) I can!

A lot of the expat women here are very into having tailor-made clothing here because it's reasonably priced, and sometimes hard to find clothes for Western body types.

So now I'm on a fabric hunt to try to make a couple of copies of this dress. funfun.

Love you all!
-Paige

Weekend Plans

This weekend I'll be doing as little as possible. Some reading. Some movie-watching. Maaayyybe some printing out photos to put around my room. No promises. I'm spent.. so lazy it is.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Damn it feels good to be American

I've always been very proud to be an American --- but never this proud.

I've never considered putting an American flag in my room - but I might.

I'm just so proud of the American people for moving forward, demanding change, and creating history. Absolutely thrilling.

When I went outside the campus to jump up and down, cry a little etc (I got in trouble for being too outspoken earlier this week.. I'm learning..) a couple of guys came over to see if they couldn't sell me a motorbike ride and/or check if I was having a total meltdown.

I told them that Barack Obama had just been declared the next president of the America. They looked bored - said they figured this would happen - and double-checked to see if I might want a ride.. "only 10 baht?"

It might not have been thousands of people screaming and crying together - but I was at least glad that they assumed Americans would put Obama in office.

What an amazing moment for America, and what a wonderful opportunity for progress, hard work, and growth. yeahyeahyeahyeah!!!

The Melbourne Cup/ Voting

So Americans are starting to head to the polls right now - it will be around noon here tomorrow when all of the results are in - and to ease the tension, I'm just getting back from a Melbourne Cup after-party.

The Melbourne Cup is an Australian Horse race that is only about 2-3 minutes long -- but the parties for it are all day events.

There were about 60 tables at the party that filtered into this bar -- and each table decides on their own theme -- hence the pirates & Greek goddess outfits:



Since all of the folks at the party had been drinking since 10am - nobody really wanted to talk politics, so it was actually a pretty politically-calming place to be.

And now it's bedtime -- happy voting to everyone!

Love,
Paige

Positive Posts Only

So today is the first day that I would really like to write about an experience that was difficult here in Thailand - partly because of cultural differences, and partly because sometimes things are just difficult - but.. since this is the world wide web -- I will not.

Instead I will post this sweet picture of a pumpkin..



..and let you guys know that I had a very good weekend (really. not just blowing around sunshine because I'm realizing I can't be too critical on here.)

Dressed up as a witch and went to a pub with another American, a couple of awesome Danish girls and a few Israeli guys. We also met up with a really cool Irish girl and her Canadian boyfriend -- it was kind of like a very festively dressed mini-UN.

Saturday night a friend of mine and I went and bought tickets to go see DJ Shadow -- which is really exciting -- and we walked around Khao San Road for the first time -- which gave me insight into why backpackers usually aren't too impressed with Bangkok.

Dad also got me these sweet lamps --



which are a huge quality of life improvement - and so now I no longer feel like I am going to wilt under flourescent lights. Which is great.

Send me updates on your Halloweens, and I hope things are good with everyone!

Love,
Paige

(and really.. all that being positive did actually make me feel better - go figure.)

Happy Thursday

A photo from the Grand Palace.

Hope everyone has lovely Halloween plans ahead of them!

Love,
Paige

The King at the Movies

So before every film shown at a movie theater here in Thailand there is a two-minute video about the King. Everybody puts down their popcorn, stands-up, focuses on King Bhumibol and listens to the Royal Thai Anthem.

The people of Thailand LOVE their King, and there are pictures of him everywhere in the city: on billboards, on the sides of huge buildings, in 8.5x11 photos in most small businesses.. all over the place

Disrespecting the King in any way is considered hugely unacceptable, and punishable with a jail sentence. He's done a lot to earn such respect, and it's interesting to see the different ways Thai people make efforts to honor him and show their appreciation.

So with that intro, I give you the new pre-movie tribute to the King. [..and in keeping with a totally different Thai movie tradition - this is a bootleg version.]



Delightful, no?

As far as I go, the second day of school was a little rockier than the first - my voice was even worse, and so there was a lot of miming, smiling, and a good bit of confusion. Just giving myself ample room for improvement, ha.

Love to you all!
-Paige

Day One as Ajarn Paige

Day one as a teacher.. pretty funny.

Today I taught 4 one-hour classes with a Thai co-teacher (all of the English teachers get this basic set-up - so that's great), and I effectively got the girls to talk/ write about their vacations and didn't have too many blank/ disgusted stares. Lovely.

The other 4 hours in the work-day are to be used for prep/ grading etc - which is also really nice, and today allowed me to shadow some of the other teachers. Different days of the week it's not exactly half and half - but it balances out so I'll have some harder days and some easier days.

Off the bat it seems like I'm really going to enjoy teaching. (phew.)

I also learned the beginning of class ritual today, which goes like this:

At the beginning of the class I ask the girl who is the current "class leader" to ask the class to stand up. Once everyone is standing I say "Good morning class" and they say "Gooooood Mooorning Ajaaaarn Paaaaige." [My name when said by 30-some Thai 1st graders sounds kind of like Paaaaysh. Ajarn = teacher.] And then I say "Please sit down," and they reply "Thaaaank youuuu teeeeacher" and sit.

I don't know if this sounds adorable/ hilarious - but live and in person I guarantee that it is.

I also had a delightful experience yesterday tutoring for an 11 year-old girl who is going to England in a couple of months to study, and wants to go to boarding school in the US. The family is just so pleasant and very sweetly understated given the fact that they live in this beautiful mansion in the middle of Bangkok with classic Mercedes and Lexi cramping up their driveway. Her father also studied in the US ("oh cool, where?" "err, umm in Cambridge" oh. right. didn't we all?).

The girl loves reading English books - and so we spent most of the time talking about a few of our favorites since her parents mostly just want her to practice conversation.

So today's pic is celebrating nerdy book-loving girls of all ages:



oh! also! Forgot to mention that I sounded like a scary heavy-smoking baritone all day/ have basically lost my voice because of this cold I can't seem to get rid of. Typical. Hopefully it will find its way back to me by tomorrow am.

Much love!
-Paige

Back to School, Back to School

Tomorrow is my first day at W.Academy -- very excited to start the semester, and have a better way to structure my time, etc.

Went in today and did some lesson-planning, and those sorts of good things. I feel weird about posting anything job-relevant on a public site, so.. I won't be, ha - but I'll send some e-mail updates about how things are going in the classroom in a little bit.

And here's a pretty flower:



Hope everyone's weeks are starting out well!

Love,
Paige

Suggestions?

I've decided to go to the next meeting of the Bangkok Women's Writing Group, so before I go... I need to write something to take with me.

With this decision made - and having not done any writing writing since it was assigned to me in college - I am now soliciting writing assignments from you guys. Just e-mail me, and if I write on your topic, then I'll send you back the final work. If I don't write on your topic, then I'll at least write you a haiku about how awesome you are.

My only parameters are that it not be a personal essay - I'll just be meeting these people.. no need for public self-reflection with strangers.

The meeting is either this Wednesday or next Wednesday, so the sooner the better as far as suggestions go!

Today's photo is of a spirit house in a rare (but celebrated) green corner:



Much love,
Paige

Holy Basil, Batman!

Opened the fridge today to find - of all things - a bit of sanctified herb:



..who knew? Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Love,
Paige

New favorite place to eat.

I have a new favorite place to eat that's pretty close to where I'm living. It's called Rice at 33, and (appropriately) serves rice dishes on Soi 33. It's inexpensive, and they cook the food out in the open so you see how clean/ fresh everything is. I like that.

This past week I've also tutored for a 4 year-old Japanese boy a couple of times, and that's been fun. He's pretty cute, has mini-glasses and loves dinosaurs, whales, and dolphins. I thought that private tutoring at someone's home might be a little awkward - but this has been fine. Next week I'm going to start tutoring a 7th grader also.

I don't have any new pics today, and so I'm posting a couple of Gramp's (hope that's ok Gramp) -

Here's from the boat ferry that I was talking about earlier this week:



And here's another one of the cove in Wolfeboro:



Thanks for the pics Gramp, and love to you all!
-Paige

I'm healthy!

Excellent news -- I don't have diabetes (that's what the biggest worry was since it runs in our family). I'm very glad that I went and got the tests done - and it's also just generally nice to know the procedure now for going to a doctor here, and having a go-to person in case I get sick again. It's also obviously really wonderful to hear that I'm healthy. So that was great.

Since I was at the hospital for a day and a half, I also read 3/4 of "On Beauty" by Zadie Smith. Even though I haven't quite finished it - I wholeheartedly recommend it.



Love,
Paige

Hospital Visit & Martha's Vineyard in my Shoes.

So today unfortunately I had to go to the hospital which is never exactly fun... my body is not quite sure what to do with the Thai heat quite yet, and so I'm going to get some bloodwork done just to make sure that nothing serious is going on.

There was a good/ surprising part in the day though. When I realized I was going to the hospital I decided to wear real shoes since the AC would be cranking; when I put on my little topsiders there was still a bunch of sand in them from MV. It was a very comforting, gritty moment. I ended up not wearing them so that I could save the sand though, ha. I'll have to put it in a mini-bottle or something.



Love,
Paige

In the Year 2551....

So I just found out this morning that I am currently living in 2551. I kept getting really confused as to why people kept tacking "51" onto things - so really this feels like quite a breakthrough for me.

I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that a Buddhist country wouldn't use J.C.'s birthday as their go-to time-marker, and.. they don't. Buddha was born 543 years before Jesus. So basically I'm living in the future - which is pretty sweet.

Also - here are pictures of a guy who makes jasmine rings in front of a Subway (as in the chain sub shop - not the public transportation) daily on my street. Both the jasmine rings and the bread being baked in Subway tend to smell delicious.





Love,
Paige