Farang Parties

Friday I realized I'm an old lady. Or I work too much, take your pick. But I was tired at 7pm from working so much. I still went out with some of my friends. Even if I am tired, everyone needs a chance to wind down from the week, right? So a few friends picked me up at 8pm and we were headed to a restaurant for dinner. Pit-stop at a birthday party though lol. Turns out the birthday girl is married to another American, so yay for finding another farang in Uttaradit, let alone someone from my country. He is from Kansas and has an adorable 8 month old little girl. I had great farang food: lamb burger. That's right, L A M B. I got to watch some American football, albeit from a few weeks ago and his book collection is all in English, bless him. What I did not expect is that watching football would make me miss my mother, with whom I have watched many many football games. But still, the experience was very nice and we stayed so late that we had to change our restaurant because it was closed. We did not stay out late, because I was not the only one worn out, but it was a really nice night.

Saturday I was busy all morning and afternoon with some friends and I bought a very cute bag that isn't big enough to swallow my head lol. Then I was off to Lampang. I met up with a friend and then went to a farang house party. So the benefits of working at an international school is that all the teachers are farang. The benefit of living in Lampang is that there are more farang than in other cities. So when we show up at the house party it took me a good half hour to adjust to all the farang speaking English. Think frat party, small scale with people from America, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and Germany all together. Of course, the American girl from Michigan was throwing the party. And the whole time, people from the other countries were trying to figure out what Americans did at frat parties and the rules for American drinking games. Hilarious. The cops came chugging up on their motorbikes after midnight and were super polite when they asked us just to turn the music down (honestly, it really was not loud, but hey you do what the cops say, especially when they are being nice). 

After that little incident, it became guitar and sing along session, which was really nice. One of the farang is a classic pianist and is supposedly a musical genius, so that was cool. Then, of course we hit up a nearby club. We got the center balcony, which is really nice. You see, farang like the balconies at the clubs in Thailand because no one is there to put their hands on your hips and tell you to stop dancing in a club. So yes, center balcony, great live performances with lasers, fog machines and good music. We danced all the way through the morning light before finally making our ways to our respective beds. I think my favorite quotes from the night was the farang who was telling me about one of my friend's ex-girlfriends. I am pretty sure he thought we were dating too. Not nice, sir, not nice. Then my other favorite was one of the women saying, "So you're a lesbian." Uh no, not last time I checked but glad you were certain about that one. The way my guy friend put it, I showed up to the party with him and yet I am not sleeping with him, so therefore they thought I was a lesbian. Funny.

It became Sunday long before we were asleep and we finally rolled out of bed around noon. Breakfast was one of the gorgeous places by the river and there I learned that the little lizards can wiggle-walk backwards. Good to know. Then we walked around one of the beautiful parks that is like a cross between some of the parks in Charleston and Boone rolled together and add a splash of Thai. It was a nice in the shade and just a pleasant calming experience. In the afternoon, I was given a free ride to Chiang Mai since some of the other teachers were going to look for more school books, so that was super nice. Air conditioned car with friends definitely beats a bus. After arriving at the hostel, I crashed for two hours. Too much excitement this weekend 55. My other American friends coaxed me out of bed and we had Mexican for dinner. Pretty good. The sour cream was a little off, but sour cream is sour cream. And the cheese was real cheese, bless them. Then we leisurely strolled the huge Sunday night market. There were some very creative and beautiful art pieces and pottery, some great looking food, and a random smattering of everything but a lung, as one of my friends said. I think I am going to come back closer to when I go back the States and get some gifts for people there.

So now it is Monday morning. I was woken up at 6am by my loud British roomies finally coming in from the night. I have a visa appointment in two hours, then lunch and back to Uttaradit. I have mostly finalized my October break plans and it includes some very fun things. I am not going to say anything to ruin the surprise but check back in 3 weeks and read all about the crazy excitement. Right now I feel icky and sticky so time to go back to my lovely roomies and clean up and pack up.