Random Things You Would Most Likely Not See in Thailand

This weekend was sales tax free weekend in Florida so people were out in the stores in droves. As I walked around Target trying to get what I needed without bumping into people, I mused how like Tesco Lotus the moment felt. All I needed was a loud Thai song with the words 'squeeze California' in English interjected into the middle of it to make me feel at home. Over a year ago I tried to record the differences I noticed between Thailand and the US. It was my strategy to cope with leaving. The things I saw weren't necessarily profound. But here they are:

Cereal aisles

Baseball diamonds

Arrowheads (This is just a chance for me to show off my arrowhead collection.)

Streets without motorcycles. I was amazed how few motorcycles I saw on the roads in the US.

Self-tanning solution


Unfinished war memorials

American Perceptions

I always get a good laugh at people who get fearful whenever they hear someone is going abroad. "Oh, be careful" they tell their friend traveling. Somehow life outside of the US is dangerous and chaotic. You never know what might happen while abroad. But after being gone for so long, I find America scary. Yesterday, I was outside getting ready to go for a bike ride when a helicopter flew over. The police were making the following announcement via a loudspeaker, "Attention Seminole County residents. If you see a white male wearing an orange shirt and beige pants please call the Sheriff's office immediately." I don't know. How's that for making me feel peaceful?

Come to find out the man was not a criminal. He was just someone who suffered from memory loss. I guess he just didn't know how to get home.

The Manatee

Of Manatees and Dolphins

Tuesday night my roommate knocked on my door and said, "Do you want to go to St. Petersburg tomorrow?" I said, "Sure." And then I had a good chuckle at myself because I neglected to get the details. She quickly informed me that we would be going to the beach. So Wednesday morning we got up a little too early for my liking and headed out to St. Pete. I brought my towel and some good books to read thinking that we would spend the day lounging on the beach. We met up with her friend's family south of Orlando and then followed them all the way down to St.Petersburg. I was surprised when we pulled into a marina and not a beach. We got out of the car and they told us we were going to rent jet skis. (Yeah! I've never been on one.) After getting our fill of jet ski rules, we (six people on three jet skis) got on and took off for the gulf. The guy I was riding with asked me, "So how adventuresome are you?" I made the mistake of saying, "Well, let's just say I don't mind getting tossed from the jet ski." He took me at my word and went delightfully fast down the river toward the ocean. We didn't go fast long though because to our right a dolphin surfaced. We paused and watched it for awhile and then took off. I think I was happiest at that point. I looked at the blue blue sky with tufts of white clouds and the moon still showing behind the clouds; I watched as the motels on the beach got smaller and smaller and just felt that God was good. We raced my roommate and her friend on the other jet ski and then took to jumping the waves. Then Michael, the guy driving, did a really tight left turn and I went flying into the water. After we relaxed in the water for awhile, he offered to let me drive the jet ski. I said no at first, and then I couldn't resist. I'm glad I said yes. It was a blast driving. The only problem was I didn't realize how quickly jet skis can slow down and I gave Michael whiplash two times (I think his head actually knocked into my life jacket). I figured that it was probably a better idea to let him drive since he went faster then and didn't inflict as much injury as me so we traded places. We were nearly done on the jet skis when another dolphin came up out of the water. Wah. Happiness.

After we came in the family we were with rented a boat. We got on the boat and ate lunch as we traveled to a small island near the coast. Once we got to the island, we anchored and just sat around on the boat and chatted. As the group of us were talking, a couple walking on the beach said, "Look a manatee is swimming right toward you." We watched its dark form in the water and then it popped up right beside us. I couldn't believe it.

I've had an incredibly relaxing summer. I think the most free time I've had in ten years. I was 'supposed' to go back to work Wednesday, but my roommate's invitation ended up being one of the nicest 'detours' of my summer. It was a very pleasant way to end the summer.

A Writing Assignment: Indulge Me

If you're one of my former students, you've probably seen this writing assignment before. It's one of my favorite writing assignments. I like it so much that I'm assigning it to you dear readers of this blog. You never would have known that reading a blog came with homework! So get out of piece of paper and answer the following questions.

When was a moment you felt really loved?
Who have you felt 'most' loved by? What did he/she do to make you feel so loved?

Now write. Write for five or ten minutes. Don't worry about grammar or punctuation or even if anyone is going to read what you say. Don't worry that you have to write the 'right thing.' For example, you might feel that you should say you felt most loved by a spouse when actually it was your pet canary that really filled your love cup the most, (okay, I jest!), but you get the picture.

When you are finished writing, you may then (ahhh...I love the authoritative sound of this) come back to this blog and check the comments section of this post. There I'll tell you what to do with this writing assignment. (Don't worry I will not ask you to share what you wrote. But there is a painless part II of this assignment.)