My Birthday & Thoughts On Mondays

It's a shame I don't have any pictures from my birthday because it was awesome. My Thai class planned a surprise party for me and we really didn't do much learning in class on friday. First, we reviewed what we learned the day before. Then we took a break to eat cake and sing 'Happy Birthday."

[I should probably add here that I was extremely nervous about eating cake. The last time I ate cake in another country it ended up being the most disgusting thing I had ever eaten and I later became quite ill. So the whole time I am cutting the cake I am praying that it does not make sick...and it didn't, thank goodness!]

Anyway...back to class. After taking a break to eat cake, we took another break. Then we started to learn about Thai times, but that didn't last very long because a former classmate decided to stop by for my birthday. He had given up on Thai class the week before, but decided to come back for my birthday. With him he brought champagne for a celebratory toast (he's French). Needless to say class was definitely over for the day.

Then I returned to the Mekong Center to eat lunch and work. At lunch most of the Mekong Staff sang "Happy Birthday" to me and bought my lunch. Later in the afternoon a couple of Swiss ladies brought me some candy and some fried banana (more on this later). One of them also asked if I liked chips and proceeded to buy me chips. I also received honey as a present from the Mekong Center director and his wife. So I'm thinking people are trying to send me subliminal messages...

Mondays. are NOT my favorite day of the week. The first saturday after I arrived here I bought a bicycle. On monday the chain came off my bike when I was riding it back after class. Some Thai guys helped me put it back on and told me not to go too fast because the chain was kinda loose. So, I took their advice and slowed it down. Things were going well until last monday when the chain came off again. No, I was not going too fast. Actually, I was going pretty slow because there was an unavoidable speed bump that I had to cross over. I managed to get the chain on by myself that time and although I was frustrated that it came off I was proud of myself that I put it back on even if it did get my hands all greasy.

Today (monday) I am on my way to class and the chain comes off for no reason at all. I put it back on really easily and continue on my way. I pedal once, maybe twice and the chain comes off AGAIN. This time the chain did not go on easily at all. After I struggled with it for about 10 minutes a Thai kid stops and helps me get it back on. I take off, already late for class. I start to pedal and the chain falls off. In frustration I give up and get a song-tow (basically, a taxi) to take me to class. Even though I was a 2 minute drive from class the guy ripped me off and charged me 40 baht (about $1.50). He claimed 20 was for me and 20 was for the bicycle. After class I try to put my chain back on. It goes back on easily, but also comes off easily. A guy in my class looks at the bike and tells me that somehow my back tire has come out of alignment which is preventing the chain from staying on. Rather than becoming more frustrated I got a song-tow back to the Mekong Center. This driver was much more merciful on me and my plight and charged 60 baht -- and he took me 4 times as far as the other guy.

That's just my commute on mondays. Class is stressful enough without being stressed out by the reliability of my bicycle. By the time I got back for lunch I was stressed out trying to figure out how I was going to get the bike fixed. And then I was surrounded by Swiss people...speaking Swiss. I figured I might as well be sitting alone. It was rather depressing.

Most days are not this bad. Mondays is by far the worst day of the week for me. For some reason they start horribly and that sets the pace for the rest of the day. By lunch time i end up wanting to cry because I am that frustrated with everything going on around me. However, there is good news. The bike has been fixed (at least for now) and it didn't cost me a thing. The building manager at the Mekong Center is a really handy guy and was able to fix it just be tightening a few bolts. The rest of the afternoon wasn't bad either, just typing up some info for Tim. I'm hopeful that next monday will be better. For starters, its a holiday so there is no class. Also, now that I've figured out mondays aren't the best days for me perhaps I'll be more prepared to handle the stress that monday brings.