A Day in the Life

I have to say that a typical day is nothing to complain about. I wake up to the sounds of traffic and get ready for work. I am running a little late to walk to campus and get to class on time, so I am content to find a red truck taxi that takes me directly to my building without taking a long detour to try and pick up other morning commuters. I work for about an hour and 15 minutes. The class lesson was rather dry today so I decide to stop everything and have the students close their books and play a game of hangman with me. It gets their energy going and those little stinkers energize me as well. Hangman can be quite an exciting game, I've found.

After class I hang around campus to do some grading. A funny moment while grading: in a previous assignment I asked the student to rephrase the title of her paper. So I circled a few words and wrote "rephrase." On this next assignment her title now read: "The rephrase effects of soy protein." Nice.

That was my sign to call it a day for grading, so I meet a friend for lunch at a great place called Cafe Muong Pearl for...grilled cheese sandwiches. Such a luxury here. We noted that they butter the outside of the sandwich as well as the cheesy interior. Great for the arteries, I know. I then catch a ride with her back to my neighborhood to show her my fitness center, then we head over across the street to get massages. We both went for the back and shoulder special, and I am embarrassed to have fallen asleep for a few moments. She woke me by giving me a little tap on the rear and said 'frip ovah!' I did and she put my head in her lap and massaged my head and face. She even did some karate chopping on my forehead, which kept me awake. Then I felt her playing with my hair and talking in Thai. I realized that she had opened the curtain partition to show the masseuse next door my hair. She was probably making fun of me and my tossed and tangled mane but when I looked at her and the other masseuse they both smiled and said suay suay, which means beautiful. I comforted myself noting that sarcasm doesn't really exist in the Thai language...I hope.

After the massage we went and saw a Thai film at the theater, popcorn included. The film was not great. Just a series of events that weren't all that cohesive. The message of the movie was, I decided, if you sign someone's high school yearbook and promise to give it back later and make plans to meet after final exams but the boy can't find the girl because they are each looking for the other at their respective houses and then she gets raped in the park and gets an STD and you don't find each other until 10 years later when she's on her deathbed with nasty sores from that STD, you both find out that you like marigolds. Lost in translation, perhaps.

After that head scratcher we split to get a workout in and reunited over dinner with other friends at a northeastern Thai restaurant where we were presented with a whole fish on a plate, in which we happily devoured with rice and spicy sauces, picking the bones out of our teeth. Finally, a short motorbike ride later, we arrive at a beautiful yoga studio for some relaxation and meditation with a great group of people. I plan on making that a weekly thing.

So my typical day is pretty extraordinary I've decided. I'm getting very used to this lifestyle, and I'm afraid I'm in danger of getting sucked in for longer than I planned....