happy holidays

Merry X-mas everyone. Hope all your holidays were fun and family filled. I woke up Christmas morning in a tent next to Rachel and Adnan at Huay Kah Kaeng National Wildlife preserve. Mostly we just saw lots of ants. All over our food. It was a chill camping experience. Lots of rest and story telling. The wildlife preserve is almost half of my province, about an hour to the west of where I live. It wasn't like my last camping experience where there were lots of other people camping. This isn't set up for lot of tourists. We had the place to ourselves practically. My friends Jeeda and Wendy drove us there and picked us up. Rachel and Adnan got two very Thai experiences, the first is riding in the back of a pick-up truck. The second is 'Thai Time,' as Jeeda was an hour and half late both times she came to pick us up.

When we got home we went kayaking on the river near my house and R and A got to see all the house boats in Uthai Thani. You can see right into the houses. Beds and TVs and all. That night we went to a big festival in the center of my town; R and A got some more taste of Thai food. Then the ultimate Thai experience: Kareoke!!! Jeeda, Wendy, Munglee, Rachel, Adnan, and I spent 2 hours in a private room singing English songs. Rachel and I had the microphones the whole time, only bc nobody else wanted to sing, and we chose 90% of the songs. It was a blast singing at the top of our lungs. "And YOUUUUUUUUU are the WIIIIIIIInnndd beneith my WINNNGGSSSS...." It was also Munglees birthday so we had cake to celebrate turning 4!

Yesterday after a visit to my schools where R and A were celebrities and helped teach English, and a yummy thai lunch, oh, and head massages for R and A, they took off for bangkok. Today they are taking a day trip to Ayyuthaya, the old Siam capital with gorgeous ruins. We will meet tomorrow morning at the airport to fly to phuket together.

It has been so fabulous having rachel and adnan here, as I said before. one of the nicest things is being around someone so like me. Most of my Thailand life is spent with Thais, which i love, don't get me wrong, they are the nicest, most generous people in the world. But, as much as I joke that because I live and speak so much like a thai I am one, I will never be one. I am an American. And even though I have many other American PC friends here, there is no one I am more like, or clearly who I have more history with, than Rachel Nisselson.