In Thailand, the imagination is a Westerner’s worst enemy. While the fact is that my bedroom only inhabits a few little geckos and a small army of ants, my imagination tells me otherwise. For example, late at night, the wind will send a ripple through my thin blanket and I’ll imagine a hungry snake inching towards my head. Or my peripheral vision catches the flash of a tree limb’s shadow and I immediately conclude that a hairy spider is preparing for attack. Every sound is too close for comfort. Every shadow is evil and venomous. I am always something’s prey. Do I ever do anything about it? Do I ever close my windows or shake out the sheets before getting into bed? No. That would require effort. Instead of being proactive, I just lie there, paralyzed with fear. I might as well get used to it, eh?
When a friend of mine found a large furry spider in her room, my friend’s host mother handled the situation – quite literally – by simply smashing the spider with one bare hand. When another buddy’s face became home to millions of microscopic parasites, she was simply told to use a cream and tough it out. Dog bites, centipede bites, ant bites in areas where the sun don’t shine, swallowing handfuls of mosquitoes as your ride home at night… This is my life now.
When I went to visit my work site last month, I was casually informed that King Cobras are spotted slithering around the local villages on a regular basis. I can’t think of anything more terrifying than a King Cobra. If I make it through the next two years, if I get back home in one piece, I will greet those friendly Daddy Long-Legs and those harmless garden snakes back home with open arms.
In other news, today was a big day. We’ve reached the end of training and Peace Corps staff has given us our final evaluations. The question of ‘Are you gonna send me back home or not?’ has finally been answered. Fortunately, they’ve decided to keep me around for a while. I got a high score on my language proficiency test and I’m ready for action.
Now we have one week left to party with our new friends, to cut loose and relax, to make those final memories with our host families… We’ve all gotten so close. It’s going to be a difficult goodbye. I’ve already started downloading various romantic comedies to remedy my separation anxiety, but there’s just not enough quirky Meg Ryan monologues to compensate. I’ll be homesick for Texas, homesick for my training site, and sick-sick from all the intestinal parasites. At least if you don’t hear from me for a while, you’ll know why.
On a brighter note, I will conclude this post with a video. Sadly, I can't figure out how to embed the video, and I can't seem to get the link to be link-able. So you'll have to copy and paste. Sorry, folks. ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1siCw2r6EaU
