First day of school!

As Sarah and I made our 25 minute commute to language school at the Church of Christ Thailand language school I reminisced that this first day of school was nothing like when I started kindergarten. There was no big yellow bus, no pink Barbie lunchbox, no backpack full of school supplies, no teary-eyed parents waving as the bus pulled away, and it was definitely more of a cool morning as the fall began it's approach. Instead, I met Sarah on the terrace between our two apartment buildings, forgot to even bring a pen or pencil, only remembering my Skytrain pass, and started towards the station. We passed the spirit house that protects our buildings, and noticed that it had a fresh supply of flower garlands and cherry pop for the spirits to drink to keep them happy. By the time we got to the driveway, I could feel the sweat on my brow, and wiped it away as we continued past the 12 foot picture of the Queen which greets everyone coming to Lumpini Place. We walked down the sidewalk of Saphan Kwai (the street we live on) dodging bicycles, people and a few street vendors, trying not to twist an ankle or lose our balance as it was uneven, broken up, and intersected by soi's (sidestreets) randomly. Sarah just cut off a motorbike, and hurries to get away as quickly as she can. All around us is a sensory overload, and it is difficult to tell which is stronger. The smells are potent and range from exhaust fumes, evaporating rainwater, and flowers to worship Buddha, to curry from a street vendor, charcoal smoke, and grilled bananas. The sounds are mostly of traffic; overpowering motorcycle engines, buses, impatient taxi drivers, etc. As well as shopowners opening their stores, train wheels squealing on the tracks ahead, pigeons, awnings flapping in the wind, bicycles bells chiming, and people talking. As much as I try to avoid the dripping water coming from leaky gutters and pipes that lead to who-knows-where, I fail and briefly ponder whether this is like Chinese water torture. The heat is ever-present and to this point foremost of my senses. Even so we push on through, up and out of the chaos to the Skytrain station where we board and the personal space as well as air-conditioning makes it seem like an oasis. We have but a short walk from our stop to the school where we arrived 35min early. Unsure of what we should do, who our teacher was, or what room we should be in, we were told to sit on a couch and wait. After that it was sink or swim. Our class had already started the week before, and the 5 other students in there already had some basic questions and to review back and forth. At times is was a little overwhelming, but eventually we caught on. I never knew asking someone what their favorite color was could be so intense. By the end of the day, my head hurt and I was ready to commute back to our apartments after a stop at Big C for supplies.

That evening, I stared at the directions for my new rice cooker for an hour trying to figure out what the pictures meant since it was written in Thai. Thankfully Pastor Bob and Diana called to ask how our first day was and they helped out with the rice situation. I feel it was very appropriate that my first meal I cooked here was rice. I'm sure eventually I'll be sick of it.

I called Dang and asked her what her favorite color was and she understood, so I got an A for the day.