Things I learned while living in Thailand- Part Nine

Coffee and food will never be as cheap anywhere else in the world.

13 baht for breakfast, 30 baht for lunch, 20 baht for coffee and 30 baht for dinner.  That is a total of 93 baht for the day, or $3.10.  Need I say more?

Things I learned while living in Thailand- Part Eight

I love driving where there are rules on the road.

Driving has always been my thing.  If the group was going somewhere, I always offered to drive.  I love being in control.  I love being behind the wheel.  I also love to drive fast, much to my parents’ dismay.

In Thailand, as you all know, I drove a motorbike.  And, I always drove.  Cait and Koreana were regular passengers, and I loved it.  There was the accident setback, but I still loved the act of driving.  What I didn’t love was the driving conditions.

The driving age in Thailand is 18 and you must have a license.  But, this is merely a suggestion.  People will drive their cars and trucks to the DMV equivalent, take a road test, fail the road test, and get right back in their cars and drive away.  Does anyone stop them?  Nope.  If someone without a license gets pulled over, he or she will often just have to pay off the officer on duty, and all is forgiven.  It should now be pretty obvious as to why the driving conditions are not ideal.  People never learn to drive.  They just do it.  Turn signals are used unnecessarily for the most mundane maneuvers and not used at other essential times.  Lanes are crossed without looking.  Merging is frightening.  Speed limits... Hmmm... I don’t know if there are speed limits.  Speed is whatever you feel like driving.  Red lights are a suggestion to stop within the next five seconds, if you feel like it.  Right of way doesn’t exist.  You go when you want.  And driving under the influence of alcohol is commonplace.

There are tons of accidents every single day, but far less than one would imagine, reading what I just wrote.  Without any rules or any rule enforcement, there is no assuming while driving.  Everyone is always prepared for something to happen.  Maybe someone will turn in front of you, cut you off, merge without looking, stop unexpectedly, swing open a car door, drive on the wrong side of the road, you get the picture...  But, driving in Thailand, you must be prepared for any of these things to happen, and be ready to act accordingly.  My heart races every time I drive.  It’s stressful.

I am so happy to be back in the States.  With rules.  My guard is not completely down, and I don’t think it ever should be, but I am far more relaxed.  I can expect people to stop at a red light.  I always look before going, but I don’t have to expect people to run the red light for ten seconds after it changes.  I can pass a car with a bit of confidence, knowing that there is a good chance the car will stay in its own lane.  

Driving in a car in the States is a breath of fresh air.  

Scratch that.  

Driving in a car in the States is a breath of filtered air coming through the dashboard and without a helmet.  That’s nice.

Sleep

Sleep was underrated.  Well, it was underrated for me, until I suffered from jetlag, as I had never experienced it before. 

I flew in JFK on Monday evening, and then drove back to Saratoga.  I didn’t sleep much on my flights from Thailand, and I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep in my old bed.  My mom drove the entire way home, but I was wide awake, and we chatted the whole time.  When we got home I wasn’t tired.  We stayed up for about another hour and a half talking with my dad before going to bed at 2 am.  But guess who didn’t go to sleep?  That’s right.  This girl, right here.  I laid in bed until about 4:30 am.  

When my mom woke me up at 10, asking if I wanted a car for the day, I was completely confused.  I got dressed in minutes and dropped my mom at work, and took the car for the day.  I ran a few errands, had lunch with friends, and ordered my new phone (Siri is in the mail!).  In the evening the family went to Ellie’s for dinner.  Even though we were home before 10 pm, I couldn’t fall asleep.  And, it was well after midnight when I fell asleep.

Next thing I knew it was 5 am, and time to drive Chip and my dad to the airport.  I had volunteered to take them, and I was wide awake before my alarm even went off.  It is as though my body was allergic to sleep, and was excited to be awake again.  When I got back from the airport, I sat in the living room for a while, mostly talking about how crazy my dad has been lately, and then going upstairs to “try to sleep.”  With Wilbur as my foot warmer, I slept until 1 in the afternoon!  I was ecstatic.  It was just what I needed... Until that night rolled around.  My mom and I decided to go to TJMaxx to look for dresses for the wedding, to see if we could find anything better.  I fell asleep in the store.  While I was waiting for my mom to finish shopping I fell asleep standing by the door, waiting for her.  We immediately went home, and I went straight to bed.  I was so overtired that I had a minor freak out session.  I started crying, and my mom laughed at me.  But I went to sleep, and was out before 9 pm.  

...Until midnight.  And at midnight, I was wide awake.  I tossed and turned, knowing I would fall back to sleep.  And when I didn’t, it was time to pull out the big guns.  Sleeping pills.  My dad gave me two different types of sleeping pills to choose from.  There was one for a full night’s sleep: 7- 8 hours.  And the second would be more of a “nap” sleeping pill.  At 1 am, I chose the full night’s sleep.

I woke up feeling refreshed at 7:30 am.  I felt great.  Until the afternoon hit.  And I passed out on the couch for about an hour.  Okay, feeling better again.

That night I went to a Christmas party with a few of my friends.  I knew I had an early flight on Friday, so Nicole and I were home by 11 pm.  I finished my packing and was asleep around midnight.  I set my alarm for 5, but I was wide awake at 3 am.  Ridiculous.

I caught up on my television shows, read a handful of the blogs I follow and wrote a few emails.

Just as we were boarding our flight, at around 7:45, I decided to take a “nap” sleeping pill, to make sure I slept.  I am usually very against sleeping pills, but this jetlag has been painful.  And I really didn’t want to crash for the wedding weekend.  So, I took a “nap” pill.  Of course I fell asleep, but I barely woke up until we landed in Phoenix.  I was nearly comatose when we had our layover in Chicago.

But, here we are, in Scottsdale, and I feel fine.  Granted, that seems to change pretty quickly, but it’s 7:48 pm, and I’m still awake and communicating well.  

It looks like it will be a good weekend! 

Things I learned while living in Thailand- Part Seven

I love wine.

I knew this before I moved to Thailand, but it is now more true than ever.  While living in Thailand I was swimming in beer and whiskey.  Wine was hard to come by, expensive, and not very good.  Coming back to the States has only made me appreciate its amazing tastes and flavors that much more.  I love the variety of wines.  I love a big glass of red wine and the foods I associate it with.  I love a chilled glass of white wine and the foods and places that I associate it with.  I love that one glass of wine will satisfy my thirst.  I love the sounds that wine glasses make when clinked together in a cheers.  I love the way wine glasses look and feel.  I sometimes love wine charms.  I love the way wine sticks to the glass when it is swirled.  I love using a wine key to open a new bottle, and the scent when the cork is first removed.  

It has been said that distance makes the heart grow fonder.  This cliche has been very appropriate for my relationship with wine.