Goofy fella who kept on insisting on wearing my bike helmet! Notice the tee-shirt displaying the different types of machine guns...
Here is a picture of my ma and pa! Ahh, just like home.
This was a pond full of these goldfish and that just kept swimming in a big circle...I have no idea why!
This is my host sister on the left and my aunt. We're at a party with kareoke, dancing and fun!
Random picture of a monkey, a monk and a King Cab truck. Hmmm?
Two-headed cockroach? I too asked myself that question when I came upon this insect phenomenon in the bathroom at my host family’s house. Funny enough, I’ve discovered some interesting things in this bathroom. Besides the occasional frog coming out of the drain, I’ve seen a spider the size of my hand (the kind of spider that you’re sure will eat your entire arm if you get it close enough), and a scorpion that couldn’t have been bigger than a quarter (I didn’t realize scorpions came in “mini”). Well, I had to be sure that this genetic mutation was for real, so I threw a bucket of water at the critter, but one quickly became two as they scurried for the nearest crack. I was really hoping for a two-headed cockroach, but I guess I’ve never seen roaches mating either. Weird, eeh?
Food, food, food! So, Thailand has some of the best food in the world (even if they do eat rice with every meal!). I’ve been here for about two months, and I’m nowhere close to being tired of the food. A typical dinner will include a bowl of rice for each person. The youngest female in the family will usually serve rice and beverages to everyone else, starting with serving the eldest male. I say beverages, but really I almost never see anyone drink anything (even water!). I think that’s also why I almost never see any Thais sweating. On the floor, or a table depending on if the family has one, there will be multiple dishes that everyone shares. My family usually has four or five different dishes. Each person uses one’s own utensil to spoon out whatever one wants. Thais 
tend to only put a little bit of whatever dish they choose on their rice. Then, they will eat this before spooning more onto the rice. I’m not quite sure, but it seems that mixing the dishes isn’t common. Some interesting things I’ve had so far include rat, eel, snail, water bugs, fried crickets, silk worms and boiled blood. Hungry? I think you just have to try hard not to dwell on what you’re eating. Most of the above things actually tasted pretty good until I started thinking about what they actually were. Fried crickets for example…extremely tasty. Kind of like deep fried, salty peanut butter. Mmmm. Other common dishes include stir fried pork or chicken, fried rice, deep-fried fish, curried soups, fresh herbs and vegetables, pepper sauce, egg, and noodle dishes (considered to be Chinese).
A few nights ago, a fellow Peace Corps Trainee and I cooked dinner for our host families, who actually happen to be related. So, technically, this PCT and I are cousins through our host families. We cooked them some American fare…grilled chicken (and also pan fried with beer), mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and grilled cheese. For desert we showed them the magic that is dunking oreos in milk, and concocted some “ants on a log” with m &m’s, peanut butter and bananas. Everyone in our family was polite enough to try all the dishes, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be cooking any of them after we leave! As most of you know, I wasn’t really disappointed by anyone’s lack of enthusiasm over the mash potatoes as I helped myself to thirds and fourths!
About a week ago I attended a wedding with my host father. Or, rather, we went, ate breakfast and left. I guess this culturally acceptable, even at parties or other social events. For example, a few other Peace Corps Trainees and myself were invited to the local temple to eat lunch with a big family that was remembering and celebrating the life of a relative that had passed away. We went, they served us, we talked a tiny bit with what Thai we do know, we lit incense for the woman who died, said our thanks and left. We were there for a total of maybe thirty minutes, which felt funny to me. I think in the U. S. we are used to making a point of talking for a while to the host, even if we don’t know them. I kind of felt like we were “eating and running.” We learned that it was a big deal and a sign of respect that we would even go and eat with them. So, we weren’t being disrespectful at all. I will be excited for the time when my Thai is good enough that I will be able to hang around and talk for longer. Back to the wedding with my father…we did get to catch a little bit of the ceremony as we were leaving. In the picture here, the groom is approaching the house of the bride’s family. In order to be accepted into the family of the bride,
the groom must offer a dowry worthy of the bride. When the bride’s family is satisfied with the amount, the string across the door is cut or lowered and the groom is allowed to enter. I have heard from other volunteers that they have been to weddings where the bride’s family wasn’t happy with the amount of money the groom was offering. So, members of that groom’s family ran up and started throwing down gold jewelry and money and anything of value they had with them. This was all so the groom could “save face” and enter the bride’s house! 