My Journal - Sept 10, 1993

September 10, 1993

I have gotten into the habit of turning on the news at 7am, Tom Brokaw and Nightline is on via satellite, no commercials, it is about 20 minutes long. Right before and after they have Thai TV (Face the Thai Nation and Good Morning Thailand) in English. I love the U.S. News with Tom Brokaw, in the States I would never care to watch the news or even know who was who. There was a report on the cost of Aids over the next ten years in Thailand. So far, if I have seen any prostitutes here, I didn’t know it, but I haven’t been to any of the popular areas either.

One more week of Homestay, I will miss the sweet life. Most of us are going to Koh Samet an island past Bangkok, near Cambodia. Gin & Tonics on the beach. Bridgid & Julie went to Nong Kai, near the Laos border, sounds like a great place to visit, I’ll have to find the right season and try it out. Its supposed to be the monsoon season in Koh Samet so we probably won’t have to share with anyone. My little brother is coming home tonight, I hope I can talk to him, I need to study for mock interview on Monday. I am going to take my notebook and use every word in a sentence, in Thai, with my mother listening. If she doesn’t go out of her mind it may help.

Lisa asked me if I took an ugly pill today! I am afraid I did. While I was away from class I realized how much I can’t or won’t talk out loud because I am afraid of saying something wrong. I never practice. Seriously, if David wasn’t constantly arguing and Paul would pay attention we would all get twice as much out of the lesson. I need to practice! Jeff and I were talking about the Dave and Lee the other Forestry PCV’s, Jeff said it doesn’t look like much opportunity for male bonding. Poor guy, I like him, he is smart and he has a great sense of humor.

I have put on make-up once since we left the U.S. our last night in Ayutthaya before Homestay we had a party/get together, we played cards and drank beer. Julie S., Lisa, Bridgid, Julie E. and I decided to wear our pasines and put on make-up. Bridgid, Julie E., and I look different (ok, much better) with it. Lisa looks prettier without, and Julie S. looks just as good either way. I like not bothering to put it on, but I would rather look better. Maybe it is time to think about permanent eyeliner, since I don’t work at Disneyland anymore.

I also want to mention that I really like John Carr, he has turned out to be very funny and very sharp. He is a better choice for Julie S. than Groovy Jeff, although Julie is a better choice for Jeff and John deserves a really smart and giving sweetheart. Julie sees what is wrong in a situation and has no problem voicing that, I wish I was more like that, but I worry that, for me, if you are not afraid to voice your opinion you forget that you might be treading on someone else’s, even when you say “that’s just my opinion”, the vocal people are usually the ones that are heard.

I can’t believe it is 95 degrees and 99% humidity, the Chao Phrya Mae Nom rolls 50 feet from our door and I don’t go for a swim.