What's Changed?

Just a quick reflection this morning while I’m feeling reflective...More stories soon to come about what we’ve been up to recently. 

I had the thought that some people may want to ask, “What’s changed for you since coming to Thailand?” For those of you who are curious...

Here’s what’s changed:

• My calf muscles (Thanks to squat toilets and my Peace Corps-issued bike.)
• My tolerance for bugs (I’m still not crazy about them but have become much less resistant to the fact that at any given point in time there is probably at least one crawling on me.)
• Poop (Before I was cleaning up dog poop, and now I’m cleaning up gecko poop.)
• How I plan (To put it simply, I just try not to anymore.)
• I’m not surprised anymore when I see an entire family (up to five) on a single motorcycle. (Also getting used to seeing baby seats on motorcycles...kind of like a car seat except for a motorcycle.)
• I say “okay kah” to Karaoke (Zack and I are working on our harmonizing so that we can be super impressive on the stage.)
• Sometimes I can actually sleep through the music blasting at any time of day or night.
• I can be amused when my shirt size is XXL.
• I may have finally hit my sugar limit. (Thais love their “nam-tan!”)
• I can never be sure if I am actually a vegetarian.
• My ability to speak English. (I know it’s only been 4.5 months, but I’m forgetting words more often find myself speaking “Thaiglish.” Thaiglish is basically English with a few Thai words and/or Thai sentence structure thrown in. For example, when Thais think it is going to rain they will say, “fon ja dok.” This literally translates as “Rain will fall.” So what do I tell Zack when I think it’s going to rain? “I think the rain will fall.” Thaiglish. It’s not deliberate, it just happens.)

A sneak-peak pic of our trip to Khao Yai last weekend

This is by no means everything that has changed, so I will keep you updated of changes as I think of them. I think that the longer we are here though, the more routine things that would seem strange in America become. My perception changes every day.