After a utility day spent in Kuraburi yesterday, everyone else returned from Ranong - I opted out of the trip so I could get supplies, move in, start my online class,
and practice some Thai words. The only interesting thing to tell was that I had to order my own food totally solo for the first time for lunch and managed quite well; perhaps only because I chose a place we had already tried the night before (the Tom Yum soup). Oh and I took a picture of a great flower. When Judith (an intern from Austria) and Andrew returned to the apartments, they invited me to dinner. We had no idea where to go and walked aimlessly until we decided to try out the new bar that recently opened. I think it is the most happening place in town. It is certainly our new hang out for Friday and/or Saturday nights, but we cannot go on weekdays and expect to be able to work well the next day. We are all a little sluggish today. Here's my story...
We were the only foreigners in the place and the people were rather stand-offish with us. Fortunately I practiced my Thai, because none of the restaurants have menus. You just tell them a Thai dish and they go make it for you. This is nice because you are assured everything is made fresh. However, if you are unfamiliar with Thai dishes, it complicates things greatly. I asked for rice (khao) and chicken (kai), so she asked khao pad kai? Which would be fried rice with chicken. Everyone agreed that sounded good, so we ordered it. She came back and apologetically said she had no more chicken. So I asked for khao pad moo, which is fried rice with pork and that she definitely had. We also ordered tom yum kung, tom yum soup with shrimp. I guess we should not eat the shrimp here, but we didn't know. It is farmed with chemicals and antibiotics and such. It is not only bad for the environment but not good for your health as well. Ok, no more kung.
A little later everyone in the bar stood up at the apparent instruction of an announcer and raised their glasses as if to make a toast. A man tapped me on the shoulder and made a motion for me to stand as well. So we all did. We raised our glasses and... the entire bar broke out in the longest rendition of "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard, lasting at least five minutes. Joining in the festivity seemed to endear us to the people. Suddenly we were like locals. Andrew and Judith were dancing and I made a new friend. She was very shy at first but wanted ever so badly to join us. After quite a bit of coaxing, she warmed up to us as well. Isn't she beautiful? She tried to teach me some Thai words and I tried to teach her some English. Her father and almost all the other men in the bar, we found out, are police officers. The two of them are very photogenic.
Her father wanted her to befriend us as much as she wanted to herself. Everyone was so very friendly. Someone sent us a place of some very spicy mystery meat. I asked a lady who worked there what it was and she said rabbit. It was so extremely laden with chili peppers that you could not recognize anything but the chilis. Yes, Dave, I DID try it. It was very spicy, indeed, but I took small bites and did fine. Andrew and Judith, however, loaded their mouths with a large scooped and suffered the consequences. More beer! More water! Ha ha ha. It was quite funny. Then someone sent us a plate of mussels. The mussels were served raw and closed tight in their shells with a side of some very spicy sauce. No, Dave, I DID NOT try those. But I found I had a talent for prying them open and helped out Judith and Andrew. Then beer started appearing. 
They hid our Singha beer and said it is not real beer. They brought us something else that I can't share because it was written in Thai characters. I should have taken a picture of it. Next time. Here is Andrew and Judith joining in dancing with some of the locals. While they danced, I learned how to do a dance that uses hand movements. If you compare my hands to hers, you can see how awful I was at it. But she was very sweet and patient and kept trying to teach me. 
Afterwards she tried to teach me a hand clapping game. I am not very good at it. I have the coordination of a new born colt. I am sure the beer did not help any, but I did not drink too much at this point. We did not intend to party it up quite so much but, once the people accepted us, it was taken a bit out of our control. We enjoyed the attention, the acceptance and hospitality, and did not want to insult anyone. However, if we return, we will need to take it easy and make sure things don't get out of hand. I am not worried or afraid of anything, but I do not care to have a hangover! We had so much fun. It has been a great experience so far, but tomorrow Andrew and I start working at the Burmese school. There is no airconditioning in the concrete classrooms and only one fan in each. I expect to be very hot and sweaty all week.
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