I'm Selling Out My Friends.

I'm sorry VJ and 'Rez.

It's like this.

I never knew exactly what sort of game or prank you were setting up for all this time, by pretending that you didn't know each other in person, that you'd met because of your blogs.

I was totally playing along, as if the summer of the year VJ, Ruthie and I were all roommates, that 'Rez didn't come out for the summer and live with us, on Ruthie's invitation. (Ruthie and 'Rez were high school buddies.)

I'm not sure what great unfolding prank you were planning, but I was prepared to play along. I love a good prank.

But .................... see .................. I'm sorry ...................... but I sorta let it slip to Col.
And she offered me a mint condition Jonny Cash lunchbox full of Fig Newtons if I could provide proof.

And *hangs head* the only video I had was that one night after we went to the silent movie in the park.
Yeah.
Sorry.

The footage where we play spin the bottle.


BUT YOU KNOW HOW I LOVE FIG NEWTONS!

I caved.
I'm sorry.

*giggle*



But seriously, did anyone ever actually believe they'd never met?

Pictures

So my old roomie Valancy Jane has bugged me about not having a picture of myself on this blog. I still haven't gotten around to picking one photo to define myself by, but today I found something that just makes me happy on so many levels at once.

If you do a Google image search of my name...............

............. Yeah. I love that. That's my picture, people.



And James, you'd BETTER visit me, you sexy man you.

I Like Ike.

My cousin Ike has pointed out that I've neglected to mention him, even though he sent me the most thoughtful and random care package. (And to clarify my comment on the last post, I DID NOT break up with my cousin, I NEVER dated my cousin, he just happened to be there and talked me thought a messy breakup.)

But seriously, is this not the best care package EVER?

• Guitar strings
• A small selection of over the counter drugs, because there is nothing in the world worse than being nauseous/flu-y/constipated and staring at an aisle of medicine in foreign language. Well, there is something worse than that, it's trying to pantamime 'diarria' to a confused man behind the counter.
• Oreos
• A hula hoop ( I can only imagine what that cost to send, Ike.)
• John Mayer CDs
• A few rolls of one hundred ISO film. He's always on me to upgrade my film tastes.
• A moose dressed in a santa suit, clutching a small bottle of maple suryp.
• A "glamor shot" of him at Mt. Saint Helens, framed and signed, "The Second Most Intrepid Explorer in the Family."
• A t-shirt from the last family reunion.
• A two page letter from our thirteen year old second cousin, detailing all the juicy gossip in the family. (Lacey, no way, he to-tally didn't say that, did he? Ohmygosh.)
• The dog collar from my old family dog, Arthur, that passed away. I felt so bad when he died while I was so far away, having his collar makes me feel like I can say goodbye in a way. Thank you, Ike.

Missing you!

Dearest friends of mine with whom I haven't been keeping in touch who have somehow found me here through the internet,
I'm so very glad you've found me! I miss you all, and though I don't keep in touch like normal people, I think of you all, in turn, all the time. Home is more than a place, you know.



Dearest Ruthie,
I expect you to visit me next holiday.



Dearest ValleyJaney,
I miss our winter popcorn fights. A lot. I want to put my favourite pj's on, play hide and seek in our old neighborhood, and when the cops come, tell them that it wasn't us who threw pudding at old lady Jamison's house.



Dearest Tezzie,
I've given up trying to mail you stuff cause you keep moving; I'm going to mail things to your Mom from now on. You'll be happy to know I've finally caved and gotten someone to teach me to play chess. We've been playing for a few months now, each Thursday, and I'm pretty sure I can keep up with you now.




Love,
Chlace

It's ok, it's ALL ok.

So, I finally get my internet connection back up, and what do I find in my email account but 14(!) emails from PC headquaters asking “when do [I] expect to have my internet connection back up”?
Can you believe it?
*hears resounding ‘Yes’ from everyone who has ever worked with goodhearted, computer un-savy ex-hippies*

Bless you, Ruthie, for including the undies in the care package. I happen to know for a fact one pair is used, I remember you wore them that night we got caught in the sprinklers outside the hotel in Tulsa, but it’s so hard to find regular cotton underwear over here in my size. Not that I have a huge butt or anything, but the woman over here are all so freaking tiny and have no hips.

Things are great at the school (read, oversized office), I’ve got 18 students at the moment. And one of them invited me to her house for dinner last week. I was surprised, she’s the shyest one there, and she barely says a word during class. Actually she barely said a word during dinner either. The whole family was so quiet, every time I spoke, I felt like I’d just woken them all by shaking the four corners of the house.

At any rate, my interpreter assures me this internet connection is better than the last, but I'm realizing he would put a happy face on nuclear war. "It's ok, it's ALL ok" is his favorite saying.

Teaching in Thailand

[Editor's note: This is actually Ruthie. Since there's no longer internet access, Chlace has asked me to post on here once in a while to keep you all updated. I'm not changing anything she says, just typing what she mails me. Unfortunately, I can't include her cute drawings, but I'll write all her words on here. Typos and all. I'll forward any comments you leave here on to her.]

Surprise, surprise, they have me teaching. I know many of you already know that, since internet access is less common than I thought it would be (advice: don't always believe what they tell you in the interview, sometimes it is misleading) and I've been having to mail everything.

Well, I love it, and as it turns out, it is in line with what I want to do when I leave, so I'm happy as a clam in water.

As with every assignment, I was ridiculously homesick in the beginning of the journey, like I mentioned before, but have been trying to mail postcards and letters to soothe and calm and remind you all that I exist. It's nice to be somewhere warm.

I kind of feel like I'm taking advantage of the Corps. I mean, here I am, in beautiful Thailand, supposed to be teaching them, but instead, I am finding that my students have been teaching me more. I now know how to say everything I need to get by in Thai. My co-workers think my accent is very adorable. That's the thing with being a perpetual traveller; wherever you go, you have a 'very coot ack-cent!'

Hope you all miss me as much as I miss you. Ruthie, I got your letter. Do you know, it smelled like you? You need to cut back on the cigars. At least until I can join you.

Love you all.

The new digs......

After two days in Bangkok (such a noisy city) I'm now in what my interpreter calls a 'cottage flat' in Chachoengsao. It's basically just a studio flat, but I've got a big closet. Ruthie, remember that room in Bolivia were we had to fit all our clothes on that one shelf? And we kept thinking of other ways to store clothes, so you took all our shirts and stuffed them with our other clothes and used them throw pillows? I'm so homesick right now that I took my old 'La Bonita Vida' t-shirt and slid it over my pillow to remind me of you and our last assignment. I miss you and Maki and Tae so bad, but it's always like that at first, right? Thank buddha (see how well I'm fitting in already?) that the Peace Cor. decided I would need the internet.
They told me this city was 'off the beaten track', and boy, they weren't kidding. I haven't seen any foreigners since I got off the bus. Yesterday I was downtown buying maps and I saw a head of long blond hair in a crowd, and I actually followed to see who they were and where they went. Turns out it was a fourteen year old transvestive prostitute. Not exactly the slice of home I was looking for.