Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity

TODAY IS JULY FIRST! ! ! YAY!

I woke up just in time for equipping time . . . Melanie was leading it today. She talked about simplicity. That is definitely a topic that is pretty challenging to live out. I have come to realize more and more that my life is pretty cluttered with lots of unnecessary things. For our application, we kind of had a tough time choosing which one to do. We all agreed to apply simplicity in our own way for a week and then we would come back and discuss it after the week had concluded. My application was to live on 100 baht per day, which is about the equivalent to $3. It should definitely be a challenge.

After equipping, we all went up to campus for lunch to talk to the students and tell them about some of the activity going on at the zone for that week. Even though I knew nit noi Thai, I definitely feel like I have improved since I have been here. I ate lunch with this group of girls who were all communications majors though, so maybe they gave me a false sense of confidence because they were all so fun and easy to talk to. I have learned that Thai people have this unspoken trait about them called "grenjai". It is basically a term that expresses how overly polite Thai people are to other people, which isn't always a good thing. For example, if I asked to join a pick-up soccer game with a bunch of Thais. They would all go easy on me because they wouldn't want me to feel bad about my poor soccer skills. After learning this, I always question whether or not the people I talk to here are really enjoying my company or if they are practicing 'grenjai'.

Back at the zone, I had a few hours to chill out before my English lesson with Pluem, so I attempted to catch up on my journal. I wasn't too successful though. At 4:30, Pluem arrived and we started our lesson. It went really well! Pluem is such a smart girl! She makes teaching really easy for me, and even when she doesn't know the answer, she just smiles and laughs. We have a great time together!

After the lesson, P'Pui, P'Wut, Bom, Rit, Chris, Katie, Melanie, and I all ate at Hom's restaurant a few doors down from the zone. Hom is this teenage girl that helps her parents run a restaurant and a meat cart down the street. Every morning when I go out to run, I stop and talk to her. I attempt to incorporate my Thai, but my small vocabulary combined with my poor pronunciation does not make our conversation go too far. At her restaurant, I tried a new dish, which actually ended up being really good. New dishes can be dangerous sometimes. After dinner, we ran by the fruit stand-I can never get enough pineapple! I also tried some of Chris' dragon fruit. It was really good, so my next fruit stand visit, I may have to get some of my own.

Back at the zone, we all made our movie night preparations. Since there were no new movies out at Robinson, we decided to rent one and watch it at the zone. We rented Click! While Chris and P'Wut set up the projector, Melanie, P'Pui, and I all made brownies for everyone to snack on. The oven at the zone is kind of sketchy and unpredictable, so I wasn't too optimistic about the final result, but they ended up being a big hit! The whole pan was gone in a matter of minutes. I think everyone liked the movies as well, which is a huge improvement from the week before.