happy new year!

Happy New Year everyone. Thailand's new year is much like that of everywhere else. A lot of people gather in the center of town, fireworks are set off, people cheer, etc. It was an interesting place to be, although for a period of time, we were each one element of the heaving crowd, unable to control our movements ourselves, much like being caught in the undertow. We started the night with mulled wine and dinner at the house we've been house-sitting at, then went to the Tha Pae gate area. We got separated from most of the people we were with, but ended up staying with Danny, a friend from Texas who had never let off a Chiang Mai lantern (from the last festival). We did that with him, had some food from a vendor, and went home for 2 am.

Sadly, in Bangkok, a fire broke out in a nightclub killing 59 people. It appears as if fireworks set it off. Thais have really bad habits with fireworks, namely complete carelessness and lack of foresight. People must be in the hospital all the time with missing fingers, eyes, and other parts. The sad thing is, it probably wouldn't be the person who set it off.

So- we are safe and sound up here in Chiang Mai and had a good New Year's celebration. I hope everyone has a safe holiday.

bad day

I had a bad day. A really bad day.

It all started out like a normal day, nothing too exciting. Katie and I have been staying with a friend who is housesitting, so we've been enjoying the comforts of more than one room. That friend, Lucy, needed to work on the same side of town as I did, so I drove her to work. We were running a bit late, and I was rushing, so I screwed up my routine getting of my motorbike and forgot the key in the ignition. Now, I've done this before- not cool. This time, however, it was different. I walked out to my bike when I was ready to leave, and it was gone. My helmet was sitting on the ground, alone. FREAK OUT Called work, whose bike it is, they called the police and did all of that stuff and didn't sound too freaked. So after the shock of getting a motorcycle stolen, I had class in the afternoon. Naturally, I had to ride my bike back "home" because I didn't have a motorbike. On the way home, of course, upon accelerating from a traffic light, the crank on my bike broke, and I could not pedal. I got off and walked it the rest of the way. Of course.

So, something bad was supposed to happen to me on either a motorbike or a bicycle, and this was just karma's or whatever's confusing way of keeping me safe. Right?

Finished Thai level one

Katie and I both finished our Thai course today. The course ended with a grueling, for some, test. We preempted the test by completely forgetting about class on Friday, not even realizing we had missed it until well into the afternoon. With fear in our soles (our feet were shaking) we set off for the monster exam. Of a two-hour class period, it took us each about 35 minutes to finish the test. It was immediately corrected and we both walked away with nothing less than A pluses. I guess it wasn't so hard after all.

We are now eligible to take level 2, however I don't think we will. The class is too slow and we think we could get more out of alternative means.

But we do speak some Thai now. Phurkraw phuut paasa Thai daai khrap!

firs commercial success

Today I decided to make a few cold calls. I brought our business cards and our "business handout" with me, dressed like I was trying to sell something and walked into the tourist area. My plan of attack was to talk to tour guide companies, because there is so much competition, and because they have so much direct contact with English speaking people. I walked to the first, handed them my stuff, and said a few words. After an awkward moment, the man told me he needed to show it to his boss, and that was the end of it. The second place I went to, I was told by a couple of teenagers, one who was incessantly dabbing her face with a napkin, that they weren't interested, after they had a private (read: in Thai) laugh at me. I know this because they were speaking Thai and laughing at me. The third place was a minor success. I was able to convince a woman that when she created her website in the near future, it would need to be fluent English, which she agreed to. The last place, however, was the best. A young man just happened to be designing a brochure, upon which he had placed several pictures, but no text. He happened to need to paraphrase a couple of paragraphs he found on the internet and needed to find good English wording for it. I told him I could help him on the spot, for 100B ($3). I figured it was a safe number, and anything is positive at this point. When we were finished, I had typed the stuff up, worked on his wording and design, and of course, paraphrased the paragraphs. When I left, he paid me double.

If things keep going this way, this might actually work. We have officially opened for business.

Christmas and business

So, we decided it was time to decorate our room for Christmas. Because Thailand is Buddhist, there isn't exactly a plethora of various decorations, and since we also do not have a plethora of funding, we decided to take matters into our own hands. This is some of what we came up with.




I know, its not Martha Stewart, but at least we're not in jail, right?

We also have started a little proofreading business, aimed at trying to fix every single sign or brochure written in English in Thailand. Obviously, they are using a Thai 4th grader to do their proofreading, so we saw a gap in the market. Whether they care or not is yet to be seen, but we did get some professional looking business cards printed up so we'd be taken seriously. We also hired a model to pose with them. Oh wait, that's just Katie :)

bangkok and chris

So: news

Chris took off last night ending a two and a half month trip. At the moment I think he is roughly in Japan and will be home in the cold within a day. Happy travels and say hi to everyone at home for us, Chris.

Thailand-
The occupation of the airport has ended. The 'supreme court' of Thailand ruled the last election a fraud, thereby nullifying the current political parties. Thy hen set a temporary prime minister until new elections can be held, wherein (this is my opinion) the same people will be voted in again, because they do, in fact, have a majority. After that, who knows. Maybe the yellow shirts will take over the buildings again as it seems to have worked this time.

Overall, only a handful of people were injured or killed in an entire takeover of the government, which only included people directly involved. Not so bad in my book.

The airport should be opened by Friday, they say.