Thanksgiving & Finger Sniffing

And we’re back. It’s crazy that it’s December already. I’ve officially been at my school for a month now and in Thailand for two. It has seemed so long but so short at the same time. Weird. Anyways what has been going the past week…

Thanksgiving! Happy late turkey day to everybody. It was a little depressing missing my first major holiday, but my time working in hotels & restaurants prepared me for it somewhat. Plus I got to enjoy the meal via-facetime so I felt right at home. I am disappointed though that my family went without deep-fried turkey this year… That’s ok, as long as it makes its return when I do, we won’t have a problem. As for my Thanksgiving, I met up with the other Westerners that live in town and had a lovely meal of green curry and cheap beer. Just like the pilgrims.

This weekend has been the first that I’ve stayed at my school instead of visiting another city. It’s also one of the weekends that all of the students went back to their families houses so I’ve had the whole school to myself the last couple days. Not gonna lie, it’s been nice to have a little peace and quiet. As much as I miss the farang gang, it is nice to sleep in and have some me-time. One of the other teachers lent me his scooter for the weekend so I’ve cruised into town a couple times and wow-ed all the residents with my pale beauty. I hear that I am one of four white people in town, and the only dude. Everyone honks at me and waves with a big smile when they see me riding around.

On Saturday before the students left, there was a massive party that was basically a high school reunion. I also had to teach on Saturday (which was some lame), but in turn classes on Monday are cancelled. A couple days prior, the female English teachers got told to wear dresses and “beautiful” makeup. They didn’t say anything to me, but I was not about to be shown up… So I busted out my suit for the first time and laced up my tie. I was lookin pretty spiffy if I must say so myself. I figured it must have been a success because random Thai girls kept coming up to me and asking to take pictures with me. Pro tip: if you ever want to feel like a celebrity, move to rural Thailand. After parading myself around for a while, we sat down for dinner and the entertainment.

Let me tell you about fancy Thai dinners. Everything is served family style, which is nice in theory, but they serve Thai portions. Which are definitely not the same as ‘murican portions. My table and all of the food was set for 8 people. That entire serving could have been taken out by 2-3 hungry Americans. Easily. The whole meal I sat around grabbing single spoonful after single spoonful while having to monitor that I didn’t eat more than everyone else (I’ve mentioned that everything is eaten with spoons here right? Forks are a luxury, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single knife since I’ve been here). It can a very stressful eating arrangement. I’m not used to dinner requiring so much concern for others.

On to the finger sniffing (get your head out of the gutter perverts). During dinner, there was essentially a rock concert complete with 8 professional dancers. I figured it would be pretty tame and mild mannered affair, being that this was a school function. Nope. These girls became more scantily clad with each successive dance.

A bit later on, once my hunter buddy got a little drunk, he started to ask me which dancer I liked. After I told him, he grabbed me by the arm and walked me to the stage and told me reach out and grab her hand. After I shared a nice dead-fish-handshake with this young lady, he told me to sniff my fingers and rub them on my face… I thought he was screwing with me, but as I looked around, all of the Thai men nearby are getting dancer-scent on their fingers and rubbing their faces like they’re on drugs. Now I’m open to new culture and all, but this one weirded me out. I mean, I did it… but I didn’t feel very good about it.

I guess that’s about all the exciting stuff for the past week. I booked my hostel in Phuket for New Year’s so I’m pretty stoked about that. Plus I should be getting my first paycheck any day now, which will be neat. Oh yeah, me and the Chinese girl who I sit next to started using Google translate to chat/gossip about everyone in the office, so we’re best friends now.

Well, as always, I miss everyone and hope you’re doing well. Peace y’all, until next time. Oh yeah, and I ate bugs.