pictures and pictures

A restaurant that we went to off campus. It was on a lake and the fish we ordered, they scooped it out of the lake


The family beer.


Beer is drank in a cup with ice. The waiters refill the ice when they refill your beer. They say it's to combat dehydration. It makes it taste like apple juice. 


Pad thai -- but wrapped in egg and scrambled. Most of our meals are from outdoor markets or stands, as they're quick, cheap and everywhere.


I had my students mark on a drawing of Thailand where they're from. Pretty cool. 


The bugs and insects are crazy. But I don't know what's crazier, the size of the snail or the size of that heel.


We went house shopping because our dorms are temporary. Finding houses here is just driving around dirt roads until you see signs, then calling the caretaker and they jet over to let you in. Rent is about 250 bucks per month for a nicer 3 person place (3 bedroom, no AC, living room).

Luii, the woman in the white, helped us for 3 hours for two days driving us around and looking and calling. She's a real character, I could write a whole post on her, no joke. Before we left campus, she calls up and gets one of her students to help drive the truck around because she doesn't like driving on dirt roads. She blows her nose in a napkin then throws it in the backseat of the truck. She got kicked out of her house and moved into the dorms, but not before renting another house and puting all of her stuff (it's a lot) and 7 cats there. She was born in Arizona on a Native American reservation and came over 13 years ago. And she's really kind.


House #2: too many ants. No go.


Linan and Megan, the other 2 PiA fellows. Linan's from Duke and Megan's from Princeton. Jackie, the student that helped drive us around, is in the back.  


We took a bus into town (12 miles) and this is the center food market. It's not open yet. Town seems pretty great, it's small, no tall buildings, relaxed. If Bangkok is New York and Chiang Mai is Boston, Chiang Rai is Providence.