Monday, Jan 11

I‘ll miss my morning vuew of the mountain and assessment of the air quality.

Intentionally did not do anything fun today. I wanted to spend The Day catching up on Thai vocab and grammar. Some things are just not sticking with me. It’s a very tonal language…which means the way you say the word is as important as the word itself, and they really go UP and down, in a way that English just does not. So there’s remembering that as well as the vocab.

And I straightened up the apartment a bit, sort of gathered things together as tomorrow is Move Out Day. I don’t have to pack neatly or anything, but I do have to get it all to fit and be sure not to leave anything behind.

I made a quick trip (#LeavingTheHouseEveryDayInJanuaryChallenge) to the nearest convenience store (The Mini Big C – seems a bit contradictory, no?) cuz I was in the red zone with toilet paper, guh. Managed to step in a hole and twist my ankle on the way. And it hurts. Thai sidewalks are No Joke. Goodnight.

Tuesday, Jan 12

the new room

Busy day with a lot of moving parts. I took my luggage to the new apartment at 10am. Couldn’t check in yet, but the host let me leave my stuff there so I didn’t have to drag it around while I was basically homeless. I chatted with the current tenant while I waited. He’s from Korea, so I got to speak a little Korean, which always makes me happy.

Then I went back to my old place to finish cleaning and check out by 11.

I brought my laptop and Thai book and headed to Starbucks for a light lunch and some work. First I had the address wrong somehow (how does that keep happening when I copy/paste from Google Maps?), and my driver almost left me at a university. He was like “WE’RE NOWHERE NEAR STARBUCKS,” but we were…literally three minutes away.

I made it to Starbucks, started fighting with the wifi, and then my laptop battery died. I think the charger plug must’ve fallen out overnight. And no, I don’t carry my charger around—it’s old-school with the brick in the middle and a long pin plug, so it’s a pain, and no one ever has one I can borrow.

I did at least finish entering my vocab into Noji (formerly Anki), and then the new Airbnb host texted that the cleaner was done and I could check in anytime.

So back I went…to unpack everything I’d just packed. Clothes are put away, but there’s still a pile of random stuff on the bed that needs homes. I’m officially over packing/unpacking. I might shove it all in a bag and deal with it tomorrow. Right now I’ve gotta get to class.

Wednesday, Jan 14

First night in the new place was alright. I slept okay but in addition to the colandar and plastic pitcher stores, I think I also need to find a pillow store. This pillow is very unpleasant. Very thin, flat, geometric, foam like…egg carton shaped. Very unpleasant. Not particularly a fan of the comforter, either. The pillow and comforter shown in the photo above are not what is actually here.

And I might even look at cheap toasters. It was such a pleasure having the toaster in the other room, I toasted at least once a day. There’s a toaster oven here that I failed at used this morning and the toaster and “toast” ended up on the floor (and not in a good way).

I spent the bulk of the day studying Thai and watching the goings-on outside my room. In “my backyard” if you will. People doing random cleaning-up tasks out there that appear to me to have no point nor make any real difference. There are two dogs that occassionally stroll through, sniffing along the fence line. I watched two pigeons chase each other. And I thought there’d be nothing to see out my window!

In the afternoon I got out for a bit. I went to the reservoir at nearby Chiang Mai University to watch the sunset. From YouTube I knew this was a popular spot. While I had some trouble getting a taxi, I made it at just about 5:45pm…and sunset is currently 6:06pm. I walked a little to enjoy the view and the people and then sat on a bench next to a young man. We ended up chatting, he was very sweet to talk to this old lady, ha ha. He’s visiting Chiang Mai for the first time also, from his home in Bangkok. I tried out a little of my newly-learned Thai on him and he was impressed, ha ha. We even took a selfie together!

So, not a big outing, but an outing. I didn’t stay in bed all day. I really haven’t done that since I’ve been in Thailand. I just sort of feel better here.

Thursday, Jan 15

While I had plans for today (massage + brunch) I just felt so TIRED…and I didn’t get myself up and out all day…until the late afternoon when I went for a walk to keep up with my Leaving The House Every Day in January Challenge. Haven’t missed a day yet…and I’m halfway through the month. Go, me. I’d also gotten into sort of a study groove and thought I’ll just go for my walk, then get right back to studying when I return.

Or not. I was so sweaty…I finally lugged one of the big chairs out onto the balcony – not the most comfortable thing, but better than the little matchstick chairs that are out there now. And I just SAT. Felt good to just sit as the sun went down and the sky turned gentle…and then dark…and then I was a big ‘ol mosquito target and I came in.

On my walk, I did end up at a 7-11 where I got a new big bottle of water, a bottle of coke…and a Pandan cake roll. When I walked to that cafe last week and had the steamed bread with the dipping custard, one of the flavors of custard was pandan…and it was nice. Mild. So I was excited to see these in 7-11. But when I got home and opened the package it was like WHOOOF sweaty salty sock smell. Oh. I ate ONE. Couldn’t handle the smell. Turns out pandan is a nutty flavor? Sweaty Salty Sock Nuts? Oh. Dear.

Another interesting thing I’ve noticed…I kept being to sure to buy regular Coke, not sugar-free, not Coke Zero…but original coke. And yet it still tasted less sweet – and Coke isn’t really sugary sweet tasting to me to begin with so…anyway…at the 7-11 I translate scanned the bottle to be sure I was getting the right thing, and sure enough, it says Coca Cola ~ Original Flavor ~ Less Sugar. Huhhh?? Then that’s not “original flavor”!

I also used the ATM there to get 1,000 baht ($32) cuz I’m getting a little low on cash. But I did it on the first try. I remember in Korea how it was months before I found an ATM that a) I could figure and b) would give me money from my foreign card.

I still get confused by the concept of a “foreign card.” I’m like oh, they don’t mean ME. *I’M* not foreign, I’m American. ha ha. Duh.

Alright, it’s 7:39pm and I think it’s time for bed. I’m hungry but don’t feel like making anything to eat so I may as well just go to sleep.

Night-night sleep tight don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Friday-Sun, Jan 16-18

And thus ends my 15 straight days of leaving the building, ha ha. That was a pretty good run for me but all things come to an end…and starting Friday, I Just Could Not Leave the Building. Well, to be fair, I DID “leave the building.” I got dressed, teeth brushed, etc, and left the building to walk out front and pickup a food or grocery delivery.

I always have the best of intentions. Things I WANT to do…but when I get to the planning stage I slowly start talking myself out of it. If I’m not up and out at At The Crack of Dawn, I feel like I’m already too late, I’ll just have to wait and go another day. If it’s someplace slightly outside the city center, I’m afraid that I’ll be able to get THERE, but I won’t be able to get a taxi to bring me BACK. I have excuses reasonable rationales for NOT doing all the things I want to do…but don’t.

Sigh.

Anyway.

Next week’s another chance to go OUT THERE.

 

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