Friday, June 09, 2006

Exciting Times Going on Here

Well, I don't have any new pictures to share just yet but I will. Still haven't got internet at the house yet. I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will. I'm at the school computer lab. Today is a holiday. The King of Thailand is celebrating 60 years on the throne (it's kind of like 50 years in the west because they go by 12-year cycles). Anyway, they've been having celebrations in Bangkok for about two weeks and then on Tuesday, parliament decides that they are declaring Friday a national holiday. Gotta love Thailand. One would think that they would declare this months in advance not a few days. Either way, I was happy to hear that I would have a three day weekend.

Anyway, I'm here at the school with about four other kids playing video games with the sound way up and it's driving me crazy. Yesterday was Wai Kruu Day (honor teachers day). The school had an assembly where students were given awards for the best drawings about teachers, and poems and essays about teachers. The students then present the teachers with these beautiful flower arrangements (they made on Wed.) -- I'll try to post some pictures later. It's kind of cool just to see how different holidays are celebrated.

Things are going much the same. I still have a few students that I want to punt but otherwise things are good. I'm really ready to have the family here. Just two more weeks and they'll be here. I know, I always mention how much I miss them or can't wait until they get here but come on you'd all do the same if you were in my position.

Wednesday night I had the pleasure of reliving a memorable experience from my past :-(. I was watching a movie (I rented four last Friday for 90 baht - about $1.25) and noticed a little spider in the air dangling from a web. I killed it and kept on watching the movie. A few minutes later another one. I looked up at the ceiling and there were probably a hundred of those little chumps up there. There were probably about 1 cm across (the leg span - not the body) and they were everywhere. So, I paused the movie and grabbed the can of bug fumigant (I had purchased this in a pinch because I couldn't find regular spray). So, I spray the room for 15 secs. as per the directions and close the door and leave the room. Oh, I must mention that when I looked up at the ceiling I had seen a gecko making a meal of the spiders but I knew that little guy couldn't finish the job by himself so I grabbed the spray. (If there had been five or six geckos I may have just let 'em feast. Anyway, back to the story; after 15 min. I go back in and start airing out the room. Now there are dead spiders all over my bed and probably half of the original population is still running around on the freaking ceiling. By this point I'm so ticked that I start yelling and mumbling at the spiders (as if they are doing this just to make my life difficult and can actually understand what I'm saying). I then spent the next half hour killing the little chumps one at a time by smashing them with a paper towel. GOOD TIMES!!!! Kristen and I had a similar if not quite as distressing experience in Provo a few years ago.

I don't know if I'll get used to the bugs. I'm just going to start using lots of sprays and traps and such. I think I've killed probably 4-5 roaches (and seen as many that were already dead). YUCK!!!

Well, that's the news on the eastern front for now.

5 comments:

Joel said...

I remember coming home once during my mission and the two other elders in my 4-man apartment had completely emptied the cupboards and were in the process of disassembling the the cabinetry and the sinks in our kitchen. They'd seen some roaches, apparently.

I know there are roaches and bugs everywhere, but it sure seemed like there was a higher concentration in Asia. Maybe it's the bamboo.

Zimm said...

Seriously, in Mexico, I saw cockroaches that were as long as your index finger and as wide as your index and middle fingers together. Usually they were smaller and more plentiful (and in the bathroom), but occasionally they were quite large.

What bothered me most, though was the scorpions. They were small, light colored, and probably non-lethal, but man they froke me out.

Tha Docta said...

Excellent use of proper grammar, my friend. Also, I didn't know that geckos ate spiders, but if that's the case, maybe I'll get one for my house.

AtomicU2 said...

What's that comment about the grammar supposed to mean? Yeah, as far as I can tell geckos will eat any kind creepy-crawly as long as it fits in the mouth. Get a couple -- they're nice to have around. I'm going to start naming the ones at my place. :-)

Zimm said...

I think he was referring to my use of "froke" instead of "freaked" above...

:-)