Hello my blogger friends,

Let me tell what I have experienced lately.

1.  I have figured out what the hose is for in the restroom.  I asked my colleague for the UK.  She replied that was for your parts (I laugh as I type that).  So, I think to my myself in Japan they have toliets with all sort of bottons that you high high and low.  It even has a seat warmer.  I can vouch that is a really nice feature then I turn my thoughts back to the hose in the bathrooms in Thailand, and I cannot wrap my head around the thought of spraying my parts with the water for either of these toliets.  If I cannot drink the water, I am not sure I want to spray my parts with the water because I have no idea where the water is coming from. Yes, I know that I take a shower everyday.  Actually, I take 2 because of the humidity. Taking a shower is a necessary task if I want people to be around me.  

2.  Today at lunch, my colleague order BLACK paste.  I will post a picture.

3.  A great business here is juicing every fruit and vegatable you can.  They drink a lot of juice!!!

4.  Today, I saw of grove of coconut trees.  As a matter of fact, there are so many pretty trees and flowers.

5. Krispy Kreme is EVERYWHERE!!

6. There are mini shrines everywhere

7.  I have been trying to talk to the cleaning lady and everyday, but she never responses.  She looks at me everytime I talk to her a smiles, but never says anything.  Ok, I must be stupid.  She cannot speak or understand a lick of english.

Finally, can someone tell me how to pictures without adding the one at a time.  I have look everywhere on this site.

Until next time:-)

I have another 5 weeks here, and I looking forward to it.  The people here are just wonderful1!

Ok, I think that I am in Thailand.  Last night, I cooked for dinner fried chicken, black eyed peas and purple sweet potates (I will post pictures of the dark purple sweet potatoes).  I have said it before, I just cannot believe how much American food and brands they have here.

I went into the city of Bangkok this past weekend.  I went to a couple of  malls.  I really cannot believe how many huge malls they have it.  There is more shopping opportunities than any woman should ever have.  I had a maniure and pedicure with gel polish this past weekend.  The price was $51 total for both services.  This price is really cheap.  I pay $35 dollars for just the manicure with gel polish in my little town in NC. I also saw a million street food stands.  You could buy salad, vegetables, fruit, meats (chicken?, pork?, beef?),  and fish (I mean whole fish with the heads, fins and tails).  They actually set-up the plastic table and chairs on the sidewalk so some of them are like little cafes.  Finally, I know that you are waiting to hear about the sex workers as they call them here.  It was early in the evening when we were walking back to the apartment, but I did see them getting ready for the night.  I saw the so called massage palors.  On one side of the sreet there was a group of ladies dressed in red and the other side of the street the ladies were dressed in black.  They are just so open with it.  Yes, I know that it is legal here to sell and buy sex, but it just seems like a foreign concept to me. Sorry, I will not have pictures of the ladies because I was to chicken to stop and take pictures like the tourist that I am.

I am planning to go to one of the beautiful islands here in a couple of weeks.  The beaches have white sand.  I can hardly wait to go.  I will post pictures once I go to the island.  I think I will also have a few storys about the boat or ferry ride to get to the island because I have never been on small boat like that before.

This post is about how do you know that you are in another country.

1. I started this post at 4:00AM, but had to start over because the internet when down.  Bad internet service
2. Yes, I am not blogging at 4:50AM.  I went to sleep at 7:30PM and woke-up at 3:30AM.  I am not sleeping on the Thai time yet, but I am not sleeping on the US time zone; however, I am sleep on somebodies time zone.
3. Today, I bought seaweed in a bag like potatoes. I have not tried the yet.  I am still building up my courage.
4. When, you are watching TV programs that have been cancelled in US, but are being advertised as new shows here.
5. When, you receive a business card with English on one side and the only thing you can read on the other side id the company name and the numbers.
6. When, you are 5'3"/160.02cm and you are the tallest person in the room.  I mean seeing the top of peoples heads.
7. When, you are saying yes to something that you have no idea what you just said yes to.
8.  When, you pay about $3.50 for a bag of chips ($1.59 in US), pop/soda ($1.59 in US) and a small tin of cookies($3.00 in US) (yes, I said a tin of cookies).  This means that the US dollars has more value than it does in the US.  This also means that I would be considered wealthy here with my current salary.  I could actually afford a driver and a housekeeper and many other things.  One of my Thai colleagues told me that it would be expensive to go stay at a 4 star hotel for $120/night.

I am sure there are some things that I have missed.  I will share them with you when I remember.

I should be sleeping right now, but the hardest part of this experience so far is adjusting to the time zone.  I understand why it is so hard for people to work the midnight shift or grave yard shift as some call it.  I am hoping this week that I can make the adjustment because if not I will develop a strong need for sleeping pills.  Today will be a really hard day because I am not sure if I have had any sleep. I am sure that I will make it through the day.  The one good thing I have going for me is that my apartment is less than 5 minutes from the office.

Today, I went back to the Mega Bangna Mall.  I went for more groceries, and to my surprise, I found a lot of brands from the US.  I was so excited :-) to see so many American brands here.  They also had a lot of lotions, toothpaste, make-up, moisturers, etc. To my friends and colleagues that travel to Europe, you know that this is really a big deal because you cannot find this many American brands in Europe.  If you can, I have not seen them.   I bought JIP peanut butter, snuckers strawberry preserves, morton salt, mccormick red pepper, LAWRY'S SEASON SALT (I know not good for me, but it was a taste of home), pop secret popcorn, pepperridge farm goldfish, havarti and cheddar cheese and wasa multigrain crackers.  I can survive now!!! 

OMG!! What a life experience this is!!! I went shopping today at this new mega mall that just opened up yesterday.  AWESOME!!  I went with one of my colleagues from the UK.  She use to work in Greensboro in the same office building that I work in.  What a small world.  She has been here a few months, so she is showing me the ropes. She helped me to buy groceries, and yes, I bought more than groceries (shoes, handbags and clothes.)  Next weekend, I am going to stay at her place.  She lives in the central of Bangkok in a 3 bedroom apartment, and she has a private driver.  She has a bigger budget than I do, but she is sharing with me.  Let me tell you, GOD IS GREAT!!!!!

Hey,
I have had some new experiences in the last couple of days.

1.  I ate lunch in the cafeteria on Thursday.  I ate some chicken, rice and vegetable dish.  I was starving by 3PM.  So on Friday, I took my lunch.  I ordered food from my apartment restaurant and took if for lunch and my water.  This is a much better option for me.

2.  After lunch on Thursday, we went to a little outdoor market.  I did not have my camera with me, so I have not pictures.  I will get pictures next week.  You can buy anything at this market, example: clothes, shoes, purchases, electronics, food (not me - this is asking for stomach problems), jewerly, soap, etc....So at lunch time a lot of people go shopping.

3.  In the restroom stalls, there is gardening hose.  I hear the other ladies spray the water in the toilet some before and some after they use the toilet, but I am not sure what is the purpose of this.  I have sprayed the water in the toilet a couple times, but I think next week I will ask why we are spraying water in the toilet when there is already water in the toilet.

4.  This morning when I left for work there was a little lizard outside my door.  I am on the 15th floor.  This was a really scary reality for me because my had told me look into your shoes for spiders, snakes, etc before you  put them on.  I was thinking to myself, yeah right.  After, I saw the lizzard, I am now thinking I need to look into my shoes before I put them on, but I am also thinking I need to look under my bed covers and any clohtes that I put on.

5,  Finally, I am going SHOPPING tomorrow with a lady that was an expat in the US.  There is the Mega mall that has opened up.  I am so excited.  She has a driver to drive us around.  I have to take a taxi to the mall that will be a new experience.

6.  One more thing, I am planning to take a week trip to Nang Yuan Island (Ko Nang Yuan).  I am going to go stay in a bungalow resort:-).  I am so excited about this trip!!!!
http://www.thailand.com/travel/beach/beach_surat_nangyuan.htm

Hello,
I am in Thailand now.  The plane ride was brutal!!! 
The people are very nice at least at my apartment complex.  I am leaving in a little resort area.  It is not a plush resort.  It is more industrial.  I can see the bright lights from the city off in the distant.  I will venture off the complex grounds this weekend when I go to buy groceries.

I really like my studio apartment.  I have everything I need..kitchen, washer & dryer, 42" TV with surround sound and DVD player.  I actually love my closet.  I had to ask for 20 more hangers to hang-up all my clothes.  I have enough space for my shoes and drawers.  I will post pictures of my room if I can figure it out.

So far, the food is good.  I asked the hotel restaurant to make my dishes mild instead of spicy.  

I will start work tomorrow.  It should be an interesting day!!

Talk to you later.