Batman comes to Nakhon Phanom

If you could imagine the hottest and most humid day of your life, where sweat is pooling on your lower back and you are getting sweat stains in areas where you shouldn't then you can imagine every day in Nakhon Phanom. Then imagine coming home from that hot day and taking a long cold shower with the water pouring down on your head, you can feel the humidity and heat flush away and for a while after your shower you feel refreshed and cool. Do you know that feeling when you are on a motorcycle and you're driving so fast that the wind whips through your hair, your face feels pushed back and you can hardly hear yourself talk as your voice becomes swept away with the wind? Now imagine all three of those at the same time. Utter and complete bliss. As the rain poured down and all of our Thai friends sat in the back of the truck under the over hang waiting for it to stop, Suzanne and I jumped out and ran into the monsoon laughing and cheering. We didn't care if we got a cold, we didn't care that an hour later we would be shivering and itchy from being wet. We just wanted to dance in the rain, cool off from the heat and have the time of our lives. Our Thai friends thought we were rediculous and Aom's mother took pictures of us splashing each other and frollicking as if we were characters in a bad disney movie, bounding over a flowery meadow smiling with the sun behind us. We knew, but didn't notice just how soaked we were getting and it was much too late before I noticed that my white pants were COMPLETELY see through and you could see my Batman Boxer Briefs underneath. Classy. The bat symbol was as clear as day, I half expected him to show up and ask where his help was needed. I started singing the Batman song and everyone laughed. We had to drive 20 km back to our house after Aom's birthday party and all nine of us piled into the back of a pick up truck and felt the pelt of water spray us and the immense wind as we drove down the highway. After a certain amount of suffering a lightbulb went off and we realised that we could just lay down and the water wouldn't hit us at all. I wish I could have taken a million pictures of that moment. We were all cuddled up in the pick up truck while the Thai girls sang songs and clapped, the wind rushed past at 80 km an hour and rain pelted beside us. Though we were freezing cold it felt nothing like the cold I would feel if I were in Canada. Feeling chilly was such a nice break from the humidity and the heat that I forgot about how cold I was, and remembered that soon it would wear off and I should savour every minute of it. At Aom's party we made ourselves lunch at her house while sitting on mats on the floor. There were buckets on top of cement with coals in them and a little dish on top. We cooked a soup type thing and grilled chicken all at the same time in the same container. It was delicious and there was even some Vietnamese eggroll type things that were extremely tasty. When I couldn't eat anymore more food came. Fish with corn and cucumbers and carrots. Everything was mouthwatering, especially the pomello which has offically gained the title of "Favourite Thai Fruit". Then there were the temples we visited. There are so many different things you can do at temples. It is nothing like a church where you just go and pray. There are gongs that you bang three times to bring good fortune upon your life, you bring in flowers and bow with your head fully on the ground three times and then leave the flowers at the shrine. Then there are candles attatched to incense that you light and hold between your wai as you make a wish, then you stick the incense in a big pile of sand. You also get a piece of gold that you stick to the statues [this is the reason why buddha statues are gold], and you can pour oil over a bucket with the day of the week your birthday lies on the bring you good luck. The wats are so peaceful and refreshing, it feels so wonderful to be in them and to share the religious experience with my Thai friends. I have been invited over my school break in October to go to Bangkok with a friend and her sister to live in a Temple for a week. I would be living like a nun, praying and meditating all day and not being able to eat food after lunch along with 7 other rules. The entire experience sounds intimidating but I know that I would not have had a true religious experience in Thailand if I did not take the opportunity. I just hope that my host parents will allow me to go to Bangkok. After the party Suzanne and I have discovered the best coffee place here! [That isn't saying much, but I have started to miss caffeine so much that I would just eat cofee beans straight if I had any. Which I don't because the only coffee you can buy here is instant coffee that comes with cream and sugar in it already]. We bought lattes and doughnuts and it was so wonderful. When we asked for two more the women who owned the shop looked completely bewildered that they had so much business from us. The second latte was even nicer, they put chocolate and sprinkles on top. As we left they shouted "See you soon!" I think they knew that we would be back many times in the future [The woman who sells bubble tea next door sees us almost everyday and has started to teach me some things in Thai]. Our first adventure on our own, I was quite proud of how much we have grown here, we didn't need the help of a Thai translator to buy salt and containers [so we can keep them in our purses when the food is bland.. which is anytime it isn't spicy] or money for my cellphone! We even paid for a Tuk Tuk to drive us to Suzanne's house without getting jipped by the price and arriving somewhere completely different. It felt so liberating doing things for myself for once, I feel since I have been here I have been treated like such a child and everything has been done for me. Today I felt confident, free and daring. It was perfect. Suzanne's host brother is one of the most shy boys I have met, he barely said a word to us and when we asked him questions he would answer quickly, smile a lot, blush and then not say anything else. We don't think he knows what to do with sister who is as white and blonde as Suzanne, let alone having two very pale and very blonde teenage girls sitting on the couch with him. The awkwardness wasn't that painful though, we bonded a little over a stray cat that wandered into the yard. We pet him and swatted at the millions of a misquitos, then her brother disappeared off into the night on his motorcycle like some sort of mysterious superhero. The cat abandoned us after we brought out the electric fly swatter to kill as many misquitos as we could. I really enjoy that toy, I will probably invest in one.The misquitos here love me and they are real ankle biters [literally]. They swarm around you and the square centimetre on your body that you don't get with bug spray is attacked. They kill ants too! [Not that I would go around killing ants, but I tried it out on the ones in the bathroom]. Though the weather here is unimaginable and the bugs are pesky I always look forward to cloud cover and the zap of misquitos being fried. "I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling I'm happy again" Kulap