Asia is far away.

Well, friends, I am in Thailand!
Finally.
I feel like I lived an entire little lifetime between the USA and Chiang Mai. It was a long trip--especially the seventeen hour flight from LosAngeles to Bangkok. You know how most of our maps have the Pacific Ocean split into two parts? I'm now convinced that when they split it up, they also cut a chunk out of the middle. Because let me tell you, it takes a LONG TIME to fly over it.


Luckily it was an exciting flight. And in some ways, a little hngr simulation, complete with:

A Host Family: I sat with a Thai mom, two daughters around my age and an 18 month old granddaughter. They were lovely and friendly and welcomed me warmly into their...row. Not that they had a choice.


Language Learning: With their help, I expanded my Thai vocab from the hello/goodbye/yes/no basics to two full sentences. Okay, one and a half sentences. "May I please have another cup of coffee? No milk or sugar."


The Unexpected and Popular Unrest/Instability: Two hours in, all the tv screens stopped working, leading to a plane-wide uproar. Luckily this was temporary--everyone got used to it and people actually even talked to each other. Because let's face it, no matter how strange the guy next to you is, 15 hours is a lot of silence.


Deep, Angsty Thoughts: expressed mostly by the guy across the aisle about the effects of media and technology on both relationships and societies, and how we'd all probably be better people if we weren't so modern and technological. This was a direct result of the aforementioned tv situation.


and, last but not least, Embarassment/Frustration Towards Fellow Americans: this is an actual conversation, from three high schoolers in the row behind me (part of a larger group wearing matching t-shirts with an elephant and "Thailand Krew" on them). I started writing it down because my journal was out already, and, well, it was just so sad.

A- So what are we doing after the beach?

B-Helping at some village.

A-Right, but like...what are we DOING? I missed that meeting for baseball.

B-Helping with...like...something with trees...

C-the mangroves

A-the what?

B-Right. They got hurt by the tsunami.

A-Wasn't that in Japan? Is Thailand close to Japan?

C-Different tsunami.

A-There was another one?

C-No! This was like, a while ago.

A-Ohhhhhh. But stuff's not fixed from it? What are we doing to the...uh...

C-mangroves! I don't really remember. But they're like really important.

B-They'll tell us what to do when we get there.

A,C-yeah.

B-and then we'll go back to the beach!

ABC laugh.

I mean, really?

All that to say--I am here, I am safe, things are good. I'll write more about the actual Thailand part of this journey to Thailand soon, but right now my gecko roommate and I are going to hopefully sleep, despite the fact that my body thinks it's almost time to wake up. (Yes, I have a gecko roommate. He lives above my bed, in the air conditioner I'm not allowed to use. I AM taking name suggestions.)