Things That I am Tired of.... (Carol) Whenever you are away from home as long as we have been (June 11th), you can get tired of traveling. This is true no matter how much you may love a country, such as Thailand and its people. So now I am going to list what I am tired of.... I am tired of rice. I love rice but not three times a day. It also has a bad effect on the system that I did not anticipate. One of the students had such a problem, we had to take her to the hospital clinic. We heard later that there was a great celebration in the student hallway when she got relief. I have always loved Thai food, but I am tired of it. Tom and I have been craving salads and ever since we arrived at this island resort that caters to tourists, we have eaten salads and wraps with salad inside. The wait people seem disappointed and ask us if we are going to eat Thai food. I tell them we love Thai food, but I'm not sure how to tell them that we have eaten it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for almost two months and are tired of it. Also the Thai people want you to eat everything spicy because they love spicy food. The further south you go the spicier the food gets. I am tired of always saying, "Not too spicy." They look crestfallen, but it is so easy to turn permanently red and sweat. Which brings me to...I am tired of sweating. I sweat every day, copious amounts. Some days are worse than others. Showers are wonderful and also hopeless. I am tired of washing my underwear by hand. I got so far behind that I made a bathtub full of dirty laundry.

I would not let Tom spend $2 on each pair of underwear. At the student hotels the laundry was very cheap and nicely done. I still can't pay someone else to wash my delicates and knit shirts. So I miss my washing machine. Who would have thought! I am tired of crappy internet service. Actually Tom got more exasperated than I did. The university student hotels where we stayed for six weeks had lousy internet service. In Bangkok, I had to go sit in an un-air-conditioned hall to get online(another opportunity to sweat); then we would try to back into the room to keep connected, which seldom worked, but we kept the computer dance going. I am tired of Thai paper napkins. Each table has a tiny box with tissues smaller and thinner than kleenex. They do nothing so you end up using 25 of them for a single mouth wipe. It is so wasteful.