simple life

And now I am here in Chiang Mai, which is to be my adopted home for the next few months. First impressions:

1. Little alleys (just like Italy, o diba?)
2. Motorbikes (everywhere. I’ve already been on a few. Must get over fear of)
3. Markets (also everywhere. Lord help me)
4. Moat (separates the “old” from “new” city. It’s my landmark for getting to & from anywhere)
5. Heat (scorching, & only going to get hotter as we enter the summer season)
6. Flowers (orchids, bougainvillea, sampaguita, birds of paradise, the smallest roses I’ve ever seen, & a million others I could never hope to name)
7. Hippies (lots. Kinda ew)
8. Dogs (askals roaming free on the streets)
9. Food (oh my God the food. Do I really need to elaborate?)

The house. I am living in a very (very very very) simple house that is traditional Thai-style. We take off our shoes at the door. No TV, no internet, no aircon. I don’t even have my own bed. I have the top bunk (disaster in the making when I come home drunk, augh). The first night I was eaten alive by the tiny red ants that decided to crawl into bed with me. Ahh, nature. I was able to solve this problem by spraying my sheets with Bygon (insecticide), & it’s really comforting to know that now I won’t die from being eaten alive, but instead it’ll happen by breathing in poison every night (I kid, I kid).

I live with 5 other volunteers, all female, ranging in age from 24-40: 2 Americans, 1 Scottish, 1 Australian, & 1 Filipina. Then me, the house mongrel. We are each working on different projects, so it’s a great dynamic in that we get to exchange many colorful stories about work life. So far so good- no catfights yet. J (no pillow-fights either, you perv) We also have a live-in maid, an assimilated Thai woman who was originally a refugee from Burma. She cooks our daily meals & cleans up after us messy Westerners.

It is no secret that I have not yet mastered the art of packing light, & it seems I never will. I rolled up into this ultra-simple house (as a volunteer, no less!) with 2 pieces of luggage & a backpack stuffed to the brims, 6 pairs of shoes, a hairdryer, a flat iron, a laptop, an ipod, ipod speakers, 2 digital cameras, & 10 million beauty products. Low-maintenance, I am not. And my closet looks like this:

And I share it with my roommate. And I am only going to accumulate more. Like much much more. Like I am afraid of myself & the damage I can do to my already overburdened bank account. Hello shopping!!! The markets are right at my doorstep.

There are way too many opportunities here for me to empty my wallet.

The pace of life is slow, worlds away from what I just experienced in Bangkok & Manila & most definitely New York. Time doesn’t seem to matter. The operative word for everything here is “chilllllll.” But I’m enjoying this radical change in my life. I really really am.