the power of positive thinking

as of right this second, i have approximately 2 weeks of work remaining. i should have a party! but its still 10 days of trying to think of something to do with my time. well, maybe only 9 days because one half day is another "inquiry teaching" workshop and one half day will be required to extend my visa at the immigration office. and maybe an additional half day taken up to go to the bank and transfer money to my US bank account. so that's really only 8.5 days! now i really should have a party. i can see how well this positive thinking business works.

so, keeping on that positive note, i have created a list of things i will miss when i go back to the states:
-witnessing 2 people, neither of whom speaks english well, try to have a conversation in english. (it sounds mean, but it really is quite interesting, seeing how they use the language and how different it is from real english.)
-fresh coconut milk
-most of the fruits
-the food in general
-rain (it might be a good many months til there is rain in phoenix again)
-being able to completely ignore everything that is going on around me because i have no idea what people are saying

ok, that is all i came up with. but i think its a pretty good list. the fruits are interesting... i haven't figured out why thais like to eat some fruits before they are ripe. ripe guava = delicious. unripe guava, the only kind you can get here, is hard and flavorless. like a pear that's not ripe yet. i know they are really good for you and all, but i just don't like them. you shouldn't have to dip your fruit in sugar+chili flakes to make it tasty. also unripe--the oranges! there's lots of little clementine-sized oranges at the market, but they are green! maybe they taste alright, i've never actually tried them. and a more recent appearance--pomegranates. the outside of the pomegranate is yellowish, and the seeds on the inside are basically white. that can't taste like much, can it? i think not. i personally like the ones that are really red.