So long, America.

It has been a wonderful two weeks.  My apologies to the people I was unable to see and visit with.  And for those of you I did see, thank you!  I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, exciting, and fun two weeks in the States.

I'm currently sitting on the floor of the Anchorage airport waiting to re board the plane and exit the country.  See you in April, America!

Puppets galore!

One of our activities in this session of the American After School Program was a puppet show.  All of our students are incredibly talented artists, and the puppets blew me away.  Here are a few photos of the kids hard at work, and performing their shows. 

Above is the T. Meaghan and T. Paul puppet.  We are walking Manao.  Manao is the dog coming out of the lime, because manao means lime in Thai.

Meaghan's Magical Mystery Forest

Where in the world am I living?

I now live in a house.  I live in a humongous house, in a great neighborhood, next to a wonderful lake.  But, what is going on in the yard?!

I don't have any grass.  My entire property is tiled.  It's a bit ridiculous, and quite confusing for the dog, but it's been okay.  Until the crazy animals started showing up!

Paul is convinced that I have a monkey.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a monkey.  The very first day I moved into the house, Paul peered through the cutouts in the wall and into the neighbor's yard.  He was trying to see the neighbor's pool, but he saw a monkey!  He jumped back from the wall and made a crazy sound.  He swore it was a monkey that climbed up the wall in front of the cut out, and I swore he was crazy.  That was until I had my own monkey sightings.

One morning, as I was letting the dog out, I saw a figure.  It was a dark figure, hunched over, monkey-like.  It was sitting on top of the arbor in the yard.  The entire structure trembled as this thing bounced across it, and back over to the neighbor's yard.

Then, there was the evening sighting when I was watching television.  Manao started barking.  At first I didn't think much of it, until she started going crazy.  Something was going on.  I went outside and heard a great crash as this same monkey-sized figure hopped from the roof on the storage space to the roof over our outdoor bathroom and then back over the fence.  I was petrified.  And thoroughly convinced that I have a monkey.

Paul has attempted to trap the monkey, but he has had no luck.

While the monkey is scary, we have had a variety of other creatures roaming around the house, inside and out.  One morning after Manao and I walked around the lake we came home and I began watering the plants.  Within moments Manao was hopping around whining in pain, tossing her head about.  Upon closer inspection I noticed that she had a crab clinging to her snout!  The tiny thing had it's very strong claw stuck on her wet nose, and he was not letting go.  A crab.  In my tiled yard.  What in the world?

Then there was the snake.  Well, one of the snakes.  We have green snakes, black snakes, big snakes, and small snakes.  But this snake was different.  When I found it, it was constricting a toad.  Yes, we have toads as well.  According to my roommate, a snake fanatic, there are only a few types of snakes that constrict their prey, and none of them are safe.  Well, that was a comforting little fact.  Thank you, Andy.

Oh, and then there was the tokay in the bathroom.  A tokay is a very large gecko.  A very fast, large gecko.  The three of us spent at least 30 minutes trying to catch it and get it out of the house.  Luckily, Andy wasn't scared, and he grabbed it, let it bite him, and threw it outside.

The most recent creatures have been the creepiest by far.  We have rats.  They live behind the house in the water shed.  But, that area opens up to the Thai kitchen.  The kitchen was an addition to the house, and we usually keep it completely closed from the rest of the house when we are not using it.  One morning I went into the Thai kitchen to find a huge mess.  Rat footprints and tail marks covered the kitchen.  The top of the vegetable oil had been gnawed off, and it was spilled everywhere.  My container of very expensive Hershey's cocoa was chewed open and cocoa covered a large portion of the floor.  The tiles around the sink were broken.  It was disgusting and scary.  What filthy creatures.  It gives me the chills to think about it.  But once again, thank goodness for the men in my life.  Paul came to the rescue.  First he did research on the internet and told me about a rat's ability to reproduce 7 times per year.  And assured me that I probably have an entire colony of rats.  Well, thank you for that fact!  But, he found that peanut butter would be the best bait for the trap.  And unlike his attempt at monkey trapping, he was successful this time.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Paul trapped a rat.  What did he do with the rat?  I'll tell you when you're older.

Teacher Paul, my hero.

You swing those arms! You go, girl!

As I was running this evening, thinking about life, my future, my present, my goals, my dreams, and various other unimportant running thoughts, something awesome happened.

Now keep in mind, this is all happening at the end of my very long week, the evening of a very long Friday.  I am tired from work, tired of work, tired from life, tired of life in Thailand, and just plain tired.  And then it happened.

As my iPod played the same 8 songs I run to every day through my right ear, my left ear pod is broken, "California Gurls" came on.  For those of you that don't know, "California Gurls" is by Katy Perry and features Snoop Dogg.  I have learned every word by heart, and no, I'm not entirely proud of it.  But tonight, as the song went in one ear and out the other, and my thoughts floated somewhere in between, the whole world clicked.

I was running with pep in my step, my back wasn't hurting, and as the song hit the chorus...

California girls

We're unforgettable

Daisy Dukes

Bikinis on top

Sun-kissed skin

So hot

Will melt your popsicle

Oooooh Oh Oooooh

California girls

We're undeniable

Fine, fresh, fierce

We got it on lock

West coast represent

Now put your hands up

Oooooh Oh Oooooh

 ..... the woman walking in front of me on the path started swaying her arms.  As in perfect Thai style, swaying arms and swinging hips is considered fitness.  And walking while doing both is supahhh fitness.  So, as the Thai woman swung her hips and flung her arms about, I continued to run, watching in amazement as she did it all in perfect sync with the song.  It was all too amazing.

And this was no in-sync-turn-signal-situation.  You know what I mean, when you are stopped at a light, and the person in front of you has his blinker on that is perfectly in time with yours, but after a few clicks you are out of sync again?  No way, Jose.  She just kept swinging and swaying, and she stayed in perfect rhythm.  I slowed down my run just to see how long it would last!

Pretty lame story, I know.  But it sure did put a smile on my face.

Click here for the song!