Weekend Wonderland

I've had a fabulous weekend. I've been rather hermit-like lately, but I've definitely needed a period of self-reflection and just plain ol' turning inward. Someday, when I'm back in the US and paying ridiculous taxes on a teacher's salary and not able to afford the simple luxuries that I have here and probably chasing around some babies that I popped out along the way, I'm going to want to look back and remember days when I could:

-Get a two hour massage for, like, nothing
-Go for a Sunday stroll, discover a cute little cafe, and camp out there for a few hours while writing letters to loved ones
-Work out with a personal trainer
-Practice speaking Thai (as I'm finally taking lessons!!)
-Spend undisturbed hours writing in my journal
-Purchase copious amounts of cheap DVDs
-Leisurely clean, dust, organize photo albums, and finally put pictures into empty frames
-Eat lots and lots of spicy Thai food.

So I don't think I've expressed often enough just HOW. FREAKING. GOOD. Thai food is. And for me, the spicier, the better, which is actually NOT so good as I have a rather sensitive stomach.....but I just can't help it. The good thing about eating spicy food is that not only do you get some sort of intense rush, but it helps you lose weight (not, mind you, that I'm trying to lose weight, I'm just sayin' it's possible), as a.) you can rarely finish everything, b.) it kills your appetite (probably due to some strange stomach swelling), and c.) um, your body tends to cleanse itself after several days of chili peppers and basil and curry and garlic and citrus. HOLY LORD, gimme some green curry STAT. So the spicy food has numbed my mouth and lit my bloodstream on fire and exorcised the demons from my pores and it is now MY OWN PERSONAL CRACK. I think I have the shakes right now because it's almost dinner time........

By the way, I haven't had Sundays off for the last year and two months (NOTE: I DO NOT recommend working on a Sunday EVER), and I now finally have Sundays off. Bangkok is absolutely lovely on a Sunday. The streets are peppered with food vendors and plastic furniture upon which people are sitting and shoveling all kinds of delicacies in their mouths while also enjoying some relaxed conversation. The air is smoky and spicy with chilis and burning coals and you can smell the grilling meat and the juicy fruit and the boiling coconut milk and it is AWESOME. I didn't think that it was possible for a city this relaxed to become even MORE relaxed, but you can TASTE the relaxation in the air. I think a lovely Sunday stroll will become a new ritual for me.

Hokay.......it's time to eat a spicy papaya salad set with grilled chicken and sticky rice. Life is good.