Seasons

Sa-wat-dee ka! (Good day/hello).

This is Ferdinand, the gecko- my pseudo pet for a few days until he ran away.

Before I went to Thailand, I had to audit a class. In it, we studied the cycles of culture shock: First the honeymoon phase, then 'fight or flight' regarding all the differences in the culture, then 'fit'-ness, adapting to and accepting the differences.

Well, I thought I would never experience the honeymoon phase. Since I've been here, I've been more bewildered than anything. But, right now, I'm past bewilderment into the honeymoon phase.

Finally it hit me, I'm here. I'm really really here. The place I've talked on and on about- how I missed mangos and sticky rice and schweppes manao soda. I really missed schweppes manao soda. I used to go on Amazon and look at how much it'd cost to ship it to America, which was about $70. I always used to tell myself, when I'd go back I'd drink it again. But I never knew how soon I'd be back.

And now I'm here, drinking schweppes manao, eating sticky rice and fried chicken (even though it's bad for me). I used my broken Thai to buy more data on my phone and they understood me (it was haa sip baht, if you were wondering)!!

I love love love this. I'm here. I can't believe after waiting and waiting I am finally here.

I hope the other phases of culture shock don't hit at all or at least hit gently. But at least for now, I am so content. :)