Where do I begin? I've had so many cultural experiences and insights since I last wrote that I've forgotten some, gotten used to others, and eagerly adopted still others. First of all, I'm suspicious that the Thais consider me dangerously on the cusp of being overweight. Which is amusing because I consider about 90% of the men here dangerously on the cusp of being undernourished. I think I shocked a few locals by explaining that, rather than discouraging me from eating when I go home, my mom actually tells me that I'm too thin and that I need to eat more. Clearly, from their perspective, I'm doomed.

Some of my less enjoyable cultural experiences have recently come in the form of visiting foreigners, specifically former Luce Scholars, who apparently enjoy buying dinner for me and expounding on how wonderful they are, how I'm squandering my Luce year (despite doing many of the same things they did during their years), and complaining about the many negative aspects of the program. I continue to think that I, along with many of the other decent and interesting people in the program this year, somehow slipped through. Or at least I hope I don't come across as arrogant, self-righteous, and unhappy as some of the past scholars.

Last night, my boss and the other people leading today's workshop (local provincial officers in the Ministry of Agriculture) had a great night. We started out by going to a local market and buying the biggest prawns I've ever seen in my life--these things had pinchers nearly a foot long, I'm not kidding. Then we took these to a teakwood, open-air restaurant and ordered a bunch of other dishes. We spent the next couple of hours stuffing our guts and laughing at my inability to speak Thai. The night was rounded out by spending several hours in a private karaoke room at the hotel. As the selection of English songs was somewhat limited, I was forced to sing (among others) "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "Eternal Flame," "On Top of the World," and "Islands in a Stream." Dolly would've been proud.

In only being here a month, I've already learned a lot about Thai culture. One of the first lessons I learned was that you can't do anything here by yourself--the Thai people love to help you do whatever it is you need to do. Sometimes this is good. Sometimes this is bad. Sometimes this is just weird.

When I first arrived and started working, I hadn't found an apartment yet. So my supervisor immediately arranged for two of her students to take me out that afternoon and find an apartment. Normally, this would have been great. The only problem is that I'm not allowed to tell anyone in my office how much money Luce is giving me because it's likely to be a lot more than my co-workers' salaries. I had been planning on spending about $550 (roughly 22,000 Thai baht) on monthly rent for an apartment. But the students, not knowing how much I was making, took me to apartments that were renting for about 5,000 baht ($125). So I spent the greater part of an afternoon wandering around looking at delapidated, tiny apartments in the hot, polluted Bangkok weather knowing the whole time that I wouldn't rent any of them. Very sweet, but very frustrating...

The Thai people always seem amazed when you confide that you've experienced something in their culture before. A couple days ago, some of my supervisor's former students were showing me around the city and we had to take a tuk-tuk somewhere. This is basically a modern-day motorized rickshaw. I take one nearly every day to get from the skytrain to my apartment. They asked, "Have you ever taken a tuk-tuk before??" and were blown away when I said, "Uh...yeah, actually, I take one almost every day." And the way they act while crossing the street with you, you'd think we don't have roads anywhere else in the world. They literally hold your hand sometimes and wave for you to cross quickly when traffic has stopped.

The part of Thai culture that I've had most problems adapting to is the language. Even though I took an 8 week intensive Thai course before arriving here, I still find myself staring blankly at people, nodding, and smiling a lot whenever they try to talk to me. My friend Grady and I went to see a movie one night soon after we got here. After the movie, I needed to run to the restroom, so I proceeded into the closest one, which I quickly realized was the women's room (especially when I heard Grady say--from outside--"uh, I think that's the women's...). So I rushed out and started looking for the men's room when this Thai women came over to us. This was our conversation (this was in English):

     Thai Woman: Would you like to go to Thailand?

     <Grady and I look at each other, confused, and look back at her>

     Me: Excuse me?

     Thai Woman: Would you like to go to Thailand?

     Me: I'm sorry--what?

     Thai Woman: Would you like to go to Thailand?

     Me: But--we're already in Thailand.

     Thai Woman: NO--would you like to go to toilet?

     Me: Ohhhhhh. Yes. Please.

Other cultural surprises here? They LOVE hot dogs. Though they call them "sausages" and don't eat them on buns. I saw a poster advertising them the other day: "The texture you can taste." Ughhh...no thanks. And their favorite corner convenience store? 7-11. It's EVERYWHERE here. Usually located right next to a Starbuck's.

I'm still searching for the t-shirt shop where everyone shops here. I saw a girl wearing one the other day that said "Materia girl" (not a typo on my part) and another--my favorite--that said, "Enjoy girl." I wasn't sure if that was a directive or if 'enjoy' was loosely being used as an adjective. Or maybe you get to choose.

The food here is, as everyone says it is, incredible. I regularly eat for $1-2, sometimes less. There are food stalls on virtually every corner of every street in the city. Local people cook scads and scads of food at home and then haul it out to these curbside stalls. Normally, one would be advised to avoid food being sold on the street, especially meat. But here, that's where you're supposed to get your average meal. It's great! And even a very nice restaurant might cost $5-10 for a meal, possibly including appetizers and dessert. Fresh, delicious fruit is readily available. On my walk home from work, I usually stop and buy half a pineapple or a piece of watermelon from a vendor who slices it up and serves it with a mixture of sugar, salt, and peppers for $.25.