Sorry for the delay in updates (if anyone other than my mom is actually reading this). It's been a busy few weeks and I don't even know where to begin. Rainy season has begun which I have really been enjoying so far. When a storm rolls in the temperature noticeably drops several degrees and I might even stop sweating for a minute or two. This also means that I got to buy a pretty awesome looking rain outfit for riding my bicycle around.  All I can think about is how similar I look to the tin man from The Wizard of Oz.

In other news I went to a river blessing to thank the river for everything it does for us. In the  middle of the ceremony a snake came out of the river and someone murdered it. I went to teach english at a camp in another district and got to hang out with a few of my volunteer friends. Went to Chiang Rai and ate pizza. Worked at the health center and am developing programs about teen pregnancy, drugs, and HIV/AIDS to introduce at the schools. Gave a speech in Thai to some very important people about a program I am planning. Working on more dengue mosquito traps. Went to a waterfall and national park and hiked with  some neighbors. Started weekly bike rides with one of the youth groups. Teach english twice a week. Set up my new home. Started a gigantic vegetable garden. Killed a scorpion. Saw a mosquito the size of my fist (I'm still not convinced this was actually a mosquito but the kids kept telling me it was). Fended off many attempts of people to marry me to their brother, father, nephew, uncle etc. etc. 

And now I'm off to play with kids at a nursery school, enjoy the pictures!

My neighbor. She stands in her door and yells La to get my attention while I eat breakfast. How could I not be happy waking up to that?

Playing in the sand outside my house. They love to plant weeds and then water them hoping they'll grow. I'm always terrified that they are going to unearth a scorpion, but so far I have only found one massive one and am hoping that I never encounter another.

My beautiful new home! I live in this big house all by myself. It's in a family compound so I always have neighbors over and eat dinner at a neighbors home or someone comes over to eat with me. I'm pretty sure I could get away with never cooking since people bring me plates of food every night.

Living room.

Kitchen.

Laundry room/kitchen sink/bathroom sink. This washing machine is the kind that you have to put the water in drain it, run it, drain it, run it, drain it, run it, and then spin it to get a bit of the water out before hanging the clothes outside. Unfortunately the spin part doesn't work and it's rainy season so the clothes I washed 3 days ago are still not dry. I have to wash a lot of my clothes by hand because my washing machine is a bit violent but I love having it for towels and things.

Bedroom.