Punsiin

Today was pretty spectacular.

I was up at 1:30 am and pretty much powered through the day on that amount of sleep, but it was really okay because if you prepare yourself mentally for a long day of being awake then it's not so bad.  But since my host sister Ben didn't wake up till about 2 p.m. I sort of wandered around, following Mae Aun and eating Thai-brand cornflakes and trying to get my thai phone to work, feeling vaguely lonely and restless.  When Ben woke up we hung out for a little while and got ready to go shopping, and I realized that I have little to no idea about Mae Aun's familial status with any of her numerous children, because as it turns out Ben is not her daughter but some sort of exchange student from Bangkok who has lived here 6 years.  I also met Nat, Mae Aun's 26-year old "son." Again, not sure.  I'm sort of under the impression that Mae Aun's house (which is AWESOME; it is very long and 3 stories tall and the rooms are all kind of like apartment rooms/dorms) is kind of like this very close-knit hostel, and even if you are not family you are treated as such.

Also, it rained really hard last night and this morning I found a tiny lizard (ching cho) in my room.

 But anyways. Ben and Nat and I took this enormous Isuzu truck to a shopping mall with a parking garage that resembled some kind of jigsaw puzzle. Cars were double parked, triple parked, sitting on top of each other. But no one was getting angry/belligerent and everyone was being so patient.  We shopped for a little bit and then got ice cream at Swenson's.  Nat and Ben got banana splits and I, in a stupid burst of curiosity, got something called "sweet n gold" which ended up being ice cream with corn, some grotesque yellow fruit, and lumps of weird gelatin.  All the while "silent night" and "have yourself a merry little christmas" were playing in the background in English.

Going through the shirts with English writing on them was hilarious/sad because they made no sense but Ben and Nat, who have just a basic grasp on the language, wouldn't notice how funny they were.  Example: "I don't care what you say, sex make me hot."

Then Nat and Ben took me to a scenic view halfway up the hill to the Doi Phuket temple, but not all the way because I didn't have a camera.  it was INCREDIBLE; and up the road (which is really long and perpetually uphill) were all these crazy-in-shape bikers.  The cars came within inches of them.  Then we drove to a waterfall about a mile away.  Nat took lots of photos of Ben in model poses which was really funny and the waterfall was gorgeous.

After dinner Mae Aun and I walked the dog, Punsiin (Poon-sheen).  Punsiin is a tiny elderly long haired poodle who seems to be scared of everyone and everything, and trends sharply right whenever he runs, which makes him crash into fences/other dogs/my legs.  But he always seems shocked that other things are around him and skitters away like a crab whenever this happens. He is really cute but extremely absent minded.

Later on Mae Aun ironed my school uniform and pointed out how much bigger my skirt size is than hers. I'm still looking for the compliment in this.

Love
Emblz