From the Land of Smiles

Sweat 'n Shopping in the land of Smiles! ;)

Greetings Gals and Guys!

So here is a little spiel about Thailand for those who have been requesting it...I walk outside and in .35 seconds, I can feel sweat collect and drip down my back. But soon I find myself chilling to my ipod as I speed down the soi on a motorcyle taxi. I will end up in one of many coffee shops, but usually I sell-out to Starbucks and read (yes...I'm a NERD!). I then hop on the BTS (Skytrain) and tutor the cutest prodigy in the world (she speaks 4 languages and is 9) where I get paid a lot of money to sit and listen to her read my favorite books! If its a Tuesday, I might be watching a great foreign film for less than $3 in a theater that boasts leather seats and a great mocha frappacino. Other days I could be found in the park writing my latest memoir, watching skateboards fly by or procrastinating on lesson plans for my darling 4th, 5th and 6th and 12th grade students. If its the weekend, I'm shopping at the local markets trying to figure out how I will get all this great stuff that I "just have to have" home with me in a few months. Hi...my name is Lauryn and I am a consumer! If its a really good weekend, I could find myself on a plane, train, automobile or bus heading towards an island, a new country or even just a new restaurant that might also have a great dance floor...sometimes when I turn my key in the door of my apartment and find myself suffocating before I can turn on the air-con, I miss the frosty Angwin mornings and wish I could remember the last time I needed a sweater. In the same way, speeding down the streets in a Tuk-Tuk also helps me realize that my lungs are aching to breath So-cal air...yeah all you "Inland Empire Haters"...the smog is worse in other places! ;) But as much as I miss old friends and laughing at inside jokes that no one here knows, I love this "land of smiles" and my $.50 Pad Thai and the fact that for the first time in my life, I am a slacker, laid back, and loving it! So I'll deal with the sweat dripping down my back for now, and perhaps even miss the smog just a little...