Headin' up, movin' out

Tomorrow is my last full day at Mae Aun's.  That is proof that I've been in Southeast Asia for five weeks, which is the weirdest thing to write, ever. Is strange that time is passing so quickly.  I feel like I got here yesterday, equipped with a basic grasp of the Thai language and knowing this one part of the city really, really well.  Anyway.

So I saw the dorms a couple of days ago, and they are swell.  They have balconies with no railings that you could probably hang about 1 and a half shirts on: nice one, ISDSI (who assured us that we would pretty much have everything we wanted in the way of drying space).  The thing I am most apprehensive about is doing laundry, actually.  Pi Ben gave an overwhelming speech the other day about places that do laundry by the kilo.  I think the people who live here all the time think to themselves self-righteously, "Well I had to figure it out myself, so THEY SHOULD TOO."  Fair enough, I guess.  I will probably just do my laundry in the sink or something.

Had a Thai tones test quiz today.  Got a 15 out of 20, but for the life of me I don't know why.  Later I'm sure we will go over the scores, and I guess I should be happy since it was out of 10 questions anyway, but still, I feel like the number of exceptions in the Thai language make any of the many many rules I have learned totally moot.  I can read just about anything.  Not understand it, but sound it out accurately and sounding probably like a nutso.  Tonal languages are pretty crazy, man.  But still, not NEARLY as crazy as learning English would be.  Seriously.

So last night I was studying tones, and dangerously had my computer open, and whenever I got frustrated I sent crazed, aggressive skype messages to my friends who were not online, as little surprises for them when they DO get online.

Tonight, attended a profoundly awkward goodbye dinner party for the host families at a very ritzy hotel. Meals were served on the floor with great triangular cushions that you can lean comfortably for about 4 minutes before your legs/arms fall asleep from trying to sit "rip roi" (proper).  All the American students were dressed up in traditional Lanna (northern Thai culture) dress, which basically amounted to pajamas for the boys and unbelievably intricate outfits for the girls.  Before we left, my host sister Ben scraped my hair up so tight I felt like my scalp might come off any second, and grumbled about it wasn't staying up, and while she was dealing with that, Mae Aun kept scuttling up to my face and laying into it with vast amounts of blusher.

At the dinner, there were dancers/drummers/musicians from around the area who performed, and then some American students did dances or sang songs that their host families had taught them (THANK. GOD. i did not have to do this). Then all the farang (foreigners - aka us Americans) sang Kon Bon Doi, a super famous Thai song about a home on the mountains. It is pretty much 4 minutes of lyrics about how houses in the mountains have no TV, no bar, no Fanta - just good ol' "naam jai" which directly translates to "heart water," but which I think means "generosity."  Anyways.  Before the dinner, my host brother Nat (who plays for Chiang Mai FC, which is AWESOME) took my camera and lurked around with it for a while, taking really really unflattering pictures of me and all the other Americans, trying to capture us "candidly" talking to each other/trying the squid noodles/trying to recognize each other without the white shirt and usual sheen of sweat.

Tomorrow we are presenting projects that we've been trekking around the city researching for the past 2 days.  My group is doing drinking water accessibility. We looked at restaurants to gauge how much they charge for water and what kind of container it is served in.

So Chiang Mai is a place for me now. I can get around comfortably, survive, I have a bedroom and a school, and a phone.  That's pretty cool. Or, jeng!! as we say here.  But I am almost positive that "jeng" is really nerdy and outdated, like "far out!" or something, and Ajaan Danai is just messing with us and trying to make us look like jackasses, which could definitely be the case.