Had a good, full weekend again. My weekends always seem to be characterized by long, hot, exotic trips and huge meals. This past Saturday, I took the train with Rung, Awn, Kwang, and Tai to Ayuttayah, the ancient capital of Thailand, about an hour outside of Bangkok. We rode a little subalu (a itty bitty pickup) to a few different ruins of temples and palaces. As far as history goes, all I really picked up was that the Burmese invaded and destroyed all these buildings a few hundred years ago. For some reason, they also knocked all the heads of the Buddha statues even though they’re Buddhist too.

The best part of the Ayuttayah trip was a leisurely elephant ride after lunch. I got to sit on the head of the elephant—so crazy! At one point, our elephant leaned down to drink water, and I thought for sure I would topple off over his head. Most of all, I loved being able to see and feel the wrinkly skin, the weird hairs, the trunk, and the ears up close.

After we got back to the city, we planned to go back home, shower, and change before a fancy dinner that Rung has been planning for months with Awn and Kwang. Unfortunately, we found our way blocked by the “red shirts,” a political group protesting the removal of Taxin, the former prime minister, by a military coup a few years ago (wow, that sounds like I know what I’m talking about!). They’ve been protesting for a couple weeks now, and they spent Saturday parading the main streets of Bangkok. There are no “back ways,” so we hung out down town a bit and then headed to dinner, sweaty and disgusting and all. But dinner was SO worth it. We ate at the top of the Baiyoke Hotel, the tallest tower in Thailand, with a huge international buffet on the 83rd floor and a revolving sky-view thing on top. I. ate. so. much. Amazing!

An update from EWU: they still need another couple weeks to find out if they can offer me a teaching assistantship. The prof who’s been contacting me said I was still “very much in the running for the TA,” but he suggested another GSA I could apply for that involves tech writing and the international/nontraditional programs office. It feels so good to know they really want me there.

I’ve got most of my flights home booked. Isaac and I will be leaving May 23 to go to the Philippines (Cebu via Manila). Then I fly back to Minneapolis on June 1 (I’ll be arriving at 5:55 p.m., in case anyone wants to see me!!!). Isaac is still figuring out his plans, but he might fly straight to Minneapolis too. This is probably too much information, but I am really excited to start pinning down the plans!

Check out my new pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045768&id=110900370&l=63fa73868b