life as usual

hi all,
I don't feel like I have a whole lot to share as life has been going pretty much as usual.

This is the second weekend in a row that I have been in town. After so much traveling in October and November it has been so nice to not go anywhere. But part of the reason I'm not itching to get out is I know I have a fabulous trip coming up. On Tuesday I go to pick up Rachel Nisselson and Adnan in Bangkok. I am SO excited to have such wonderful guests coming to visit. We will be in Bangkok for a few days, in my town for a few days, and down south for New YEars. We are going to Krabi and Phuket- two of the areas hit by the tsunami. I haven't been down there yet and am interested to see how things are going. I think a lot of the infrastructure has been rebuilt, but there is still lots of development to work on.

Peace Corps currently has about 12 crisis corps people down there. Crisis corps is for people who have already finished PC and is a 6 month service in places of 'crisis. ' Apparently PC sent some people to help in the wake of hurricane katrina in the first ever domestic service opportunity.

So all else is well in Uthai Thani. I am up past my bed time playing on the computer. I had time today to catch up on lots of email correspondances. I also made 2 fabulous thai dishes. I made a yummy veggie & Shrimp red curry. And also a fried tofu and beansprouts thai dish. mmmmm I have become really good at the different fried veggie dishes. bamboo w egg is my favorite, closely followed by pumpkin, which I am excited to see making a bigger showing at the market these days. I have also mastered the thai omlette. There is still much more to learn, as there are so many food here that I haven't ever seen at the thai restaurants in the states. But I am proud of my new found comfort in the kitchen, and the thai dishes I have under my belt.

I also went on a run today. Tomorrow is the 3 month mark leading to my marathon. My training is going really well. Friday I did a 20 mile run!!! It's the longest I've ever run by myself. Just me, my IPod, and lots of annoying dogs.... And in customary Thai form I was offered water by people I passed. The marathon is March 19th, but it starts at some ungodly hour like 4AM, which means it's March 18th in America. My birthday. So this will be my birthday marathon!!

In 2 days the trainers for the next group of volunteers arrive in my town. I'm excited. Most are Thai who will be language teachers. A few are Peace Corps staff that I know. And there will be 3 people who finished their volunteer service 2 months ago and are good friends of mine. It will be nice to have them right here in town. And I am SO excited for the new volunteers to arrive on Jan 12th.

Did I tell you before that lots and lots of people from my group plan to go to the aiport to welcome them all as they arrive? It was a welcome surprise to have a group of 40 people ethusiastically shouting at us as we arrived in Thailand after 24 hours of flying. It is a nice excuse to see lots of people from my group too.

There will be 7 of us meeting up down south for New YEars. With about 5 people visiting from the states. Rachel and Adnan included. This will be the 4th time in 5 years Rachel and I have counted down to the new years together.