soi dog excitement

I was bit by a dog last night on my way home from eating w friends. I am used to dogs barking viciously at my heals while I bike. In fact everytime I biked to or from my host family house I had to deal with about 15 dogs running after me at some point. When I ran I had to run w a stick in my hand to wave at them. Here in Uthai it's much less of a problem, but somehow I found the one crazy dog! It bit me on my lower left calf as I biked by. One good tooth indent, and one scratch. I already have the preventative rabies vaccine so I just needed one shot last night, and I go back for another monday.

Old Hat

They say once you've lived somewhere for 3 months it is no longer new. You stop seeing the idiocyncracys as anything special. It is so true. I have all but stopped taking pictures because things don't stand out anymore. Cochroaches in the restaraunt? No biggy. Stalls on the streets selling cochroches, and other bugs to eat, no biggy. Having a friend buy said bugs and eat them, no biggy. Being offered the bugs and popping one in. No biggy. Well, as long as you don't look first. ewwww.

don't help too much

Did you hear the one about the Thailand Peace Corps Volunteer who went down to Phuket to help build tsunami wrecked houses when her school was on vacation and she didn't tell Peace Corps???

She got kicked out.

I just heard about a friends friend who's with Peace Corps in Haiti. She had a rash and called to get it checked out, and over the phone she let the medical office know it probably wasn't too serious as she had gotten rashes in the states occationally. The officer checked her medical history which said nothing about rashes in the states and the next day, without even being seen by a medical profesional, she was on a plane back to the states.

What are our prioreties here people??

Trends

When I was traveling this fall if I liked to play the "where are they from" game in my head. If I saw a yellow "LiveStrong" bracelet it was an easy answer: American. But now the Thais have adopted this trend and are running with it. About 10% of teenagers I see, even out here in Uthai Thani, have a LiveStrong bracelet. They sell them at all the open-air markets, right in between the exotic fruits and hammocks. You can get them in any color you can imagine, but the price is not cheap. Always more than the equivalent $1. And sometimes they come in a small size, to better fit the asians. Just like the condoms do....