FML: My New Haircut (true story)

One morning I woke up early to go work out before school. I ran a couple miles around the track before walking back to my house, which is located right behind the school in a teacher housing area. As I approached the compound, I saw my next door neighbors' dog Taniwah outside, the same dog that bit me 2 months ago, and he was unchained. I stopped in my tracks, we made eye contact... and then he came for me. I turned around and fled screaming for my life back towards the school as I heard the snarling dog closing in, and I had gone no further than maybe 20 yards before I felt his teeth scrape the back of my thigh. He didn't break the skin thankfully, but it stressed me out so badly that I burst into tears, and to make things worse there were a few students not too far away that were witnessing the entire event. Completely terrifying and mortifying.

Lee went to school that morning and told our coordinator that Taniwah had struck again. They came over to the house and talked to me about what had happened, and then the sub-director went over next door and spoke with our next door neighbors. Based on what I know about Thai culture and from other people's stories - one in particular about a person who secretly poisoned their neighbor's dog instead of complaining about it (something we have considered) - I knew that the neighbors would probably not be thrilled that we said something about the dog to the school. But seriously, I draw the line at personal safety.

Taniwah was nowhere to be seen the rest of the day, and I returned to school to teach my afternoon classes. One Thai teacher told me that she heard that he was taken away and locked up somewhere else. After school, Lee went out to get a snack, came back and told me that he had seen our neighbor at the store (we'll call her "M" here) and that she had barely acknowledged him. M is usually very friendly to us and speaks more English than most people in our town, so we had a suspicion that she was not pleased with us at this point.

That evening, it was time for my first Thailand haircut. I had been dreading it for weeks, but a pretty female Thai teacher with fabulous hair named Pi Earng told me where she got her hair cut, so I figured I'd just go to the same place and hope for the best. I opted not to bring a picture of a celeb like many of my American friends with successful Thailand haircuts have done here because I wanted to be adventurous... slash got a little lazy about looking for a picture. All i could think about as I walked to the town's main strip was man, this isn't going to be a very good day if i get a dog bite AND a bad haircut on the same day.

So I'm walking up to the area where Pi Earng had described the hair salon to be, but as I'm getting closer I'm seeing a kinda dingy place with one woman cutting someone's hair... I get to the door. The woman cutting hair looks at me, and suddenly I recognize who she is. It's my next door neighbor, M.

FML.


If you want to know what happened next:

Without a smile on her face, she says "You want haircut? Sit down." I nervously oblige, but all I can think is there is NO way I'm letting this woman cut my hair now. I'll dread my hair before that happens. I pull my glasses out of my purse and told her I needed to go get them adjusted down the street (truth), and that I'll be back (lie). As I leave and walk down to the optical shop, I pass by a really nice looking salon right next door and realize that this was the place I had originally been looking for. Damn. As I'm sitting and waiting for my glasses to be fixed, I call my friend Marianne... "dude, I have a real life FML going on right now... help."

Option 1: Let someone who I just offended that day use scissors on my head.
Option 2: Go to other salon to get my hair cut by someone else, but risk seriously offending my neighbor again.

"Steph... do NOT let that woman cut your hair."

I snuck into the other salon and got out with an okay haircut for 60 baht (2 US dollars). I've seen M 3 times since that day and she hasn't said hey to me once. I don't think she likes me anymore.


Taniwah, the ferocious beast... just kidding. I'm way too scared of Taniwah to try to take a picture of him. This is some random pup with shoes at a gas station.

Kop Khun Kaa!

Sawatdee Pee Mai 2011 from Thailand!

This post isn't about recapping the last few weeks (although one about the last few weeks will be coming soon)... but I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for supporting us in this journey. This has been a dream for me for almost 3 years, and I still can't believe I actually made it here sometimes. It's been unbelievable.

Kop khun kaa - Thank you. :)

Verbatim from my Teach in Thailand application:

"Ever since studying abroad in Spain and traveling around Western Europe for a summer in college, my interest in traveling to different places and exploring new cultures has become a passion that I simply cannot ignore. As graduation approached in May of 2008 and most of my classmates were already hot on the job hunt, I was creating a list of countries that I desperately wanted to explore after college before settling down in a business-related career. My dream was to island hop around Asia all the way down to Australia for about 4 months before returning to the US. Only two small things stood in my way: a lack of funding and no real plan for actually executing my grand idea. I reluctantly resorted to getting a job in online marketing and put up postcards from my past trips on the walls of my cubicle to remind myself of the world outside my office building.

Working in the real world has given me a new perspective on what I want to do with my life, and that is to find different ways to utilize my strengths and passions to make the world a better place."

Don't lose sight of your dreams, my friends!

The Black Kittens

Christmas in Thailand was very different. Not different in a bad way, but different in a way that I will never forget it. Every Christmas prior to this year was spent with family eating, exchanging gifts, and playing games. This year we did the same, but with our new friends.

On Christmas Eve the school had a 3 hour assembly that Steph and I put together. I wrote the play, which was a simpler version of Rudolph, and Steph set up a some song and dance numbers and a dance contest to the classic tune Jingle Bell Rock. Oh yeah, and I also got to dress up as Santa. As if the little kiddies didn't give me enough rock star treatment, I got even more dressed as the man in red. I got to throw candy out into a crowd of thai children, which has always been a dream of mine. And I also got to spread some cheer by giving a few "Ho Ho Ho's." It was a lot of fun, but extremely hot.

Christmas morning we caught the 5am minivan for Bangkok. Seven of us booked a massive suite for the night. This place was a sight for sore eyes. It had a huge tv, massive beds, and a kitchen with all the appliances. We didn't ever want to leave. We spent the day watching Christmas movies and catching up with our friends. That night we prepared the best Christmas feast we could've asked for in Thailand. We had chicken, salad, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and mac & cheese. I overbought and ended up making about 4 pounds of mac & cheese. I tried to eat all of it, but failed unfortunately. After eating we exchanged gifts and I quickly fell into a miniature comma.

We figured if we couldnt celebrate the holidays with family back home, we would celebrate with our new family here. It was a great Thai Christmas.

We brought in the New Year celebrating on the island of Koh Chang, Thailand's second largest island. Our place had a sweet dinning area that looked out over the flat placid water. If any surfers are reading this. Don't come to Thailand for surfing. I haven't seen a single wave. Anyways, the night of New Years Eve we drank at our resort and headed down the beach and celebrated outside an exclusive party, which some people were able to sneak into later. It was an awesome night, but we did have to do the countdown ourselves. I remember looking at my wristwatch and counting down for everyone around us. First time I've ever had to do that.

The next day five of us rented some mopeds and explored the island and all it's glory. I dubbed us "The Black Kittens" and we were that badasses you didn't wanna mess with. I, the leader, or King of the Kittens, decided that we needed to establish some street credit. So we were cruisin along just minding our own business when we approach a road block where two Thai cops in black uniforms signal for me to pullover because I didn't have a helmet on. The company we rented the choppers from gave me one helmet, so me being the nice guy that I am, gave it to my precious cargo Steph. I didn't want to argue so I payed the $6 fine and The Black Kittens hit the road again. Only this time we had a bad reputation.

The kittens seeking refuge after a long, hard ride.

That night we played pool with some "ladyboys" who may or may not have been selling their bodies for money. It was hilarious. My team won both times, but not because of my skills. The "ladyboys" are incredible at pool.