Nom Yen

Just a quick update to say that things are going well and I'm feeling (mostly) successful here thus far. We planned all day today and have now completed two units in our curriculum! We had a great dinner tonight, where Shawney and I convinced everybody to go around and say why we appreciate Nicole since it was her birthday the other day. It felt like I was right at home! I had an amazing chocolate cake for dessert tonight, which is always a success. I've napped for the past two days. The weather has cooled down a bit (which is really like 2 degrees, but I can tell!). What can I say? Thailand is enjoyable not just because of teaching, riding ostriches, and going to orphanages. The little things still keep me happy on the other side of the world.

The only failure was nom yen. When writing a poem to include in a lesson today, Shawney and I needed to describe something that was pink. We asked Nat, our country director who is native to Thailand, for some advice. He told us to write about nom yen, and then made us this drink as it's his favorite. Imagine a liquid that is the color and consistency of pepto bismal. Now imagine a taste of something like cough syrup. Boom! Nom yen. Although Thailand has MANY good things to offer, I'm afraid that this isn't one of them.

In the meantime, be prepared for the following:

• Many mentions of Shawney as I spent 99% of my day with her currently. I hope she doesn't get sick of me and my weird sense of humor!
• We're planning on riding elephants this weekend! I may or may not cry from excitement. I'll keep you posted.

Please send me e-mail updates about your lives! I miss everybody very much and hope that you all are doing well. If you'd like to Skype or chat, I'm typically online around 9 or 10 A.M. EST. I hope to hear from you all soon!