The accommodations here have been great so far, but my limit for living in the wild may be approaching... I'm just in the few days before my period so I'm grumpy and apprehensive. It's hard to decide whether it'll be a relief or a disaster when it starts. It'll be hard to tell, though, because every part of my body is ALWAYS COVERED IN SWEAT. It's actually kind of satisfying though because I have physical proof to satisfy the voice in my head that never thinks I'm working hard enough. I'm going to take one hell of a shower when I get home.
My favorite part about this place is that everything is open... windows, doors, buildings, it's not jarring to find a bug in our room because they go in and out. Whereas in my parents' house, they go in and then get stuck.
A few days ago at Wilson Vet we pulled a tick off of a dog and dropped it in a test tube of alcohol and Lindsay and I stared at it for a full minute out of fascination. It's funny to remember because on ONE of the dogs here I saw every stage of a tick's lifespan. So many ticks. Making comparisons is ridiculous.
Sometimes I daydream about living here. A lot of the time, actually. Only I can't figure out how Connor and I could live here together. His career wouldn't allow it and that makes me sad. Maybe one year when he's a professor, he can go on sabbatical and live here with me for a year. I would be so happy, the two of us in one of those little huts, taking care of the elephants and cats and dogs and eating delicious vegetarian food. We could go on so many walks and throw water on so many elephants. Not quite sure how we'd ever get intimate, though. How do people have sex here? It seems like it would be a dirty, sweaty mess. During our orientation Aek said that there's a woman who gives massages here - 150 baht for feet, more for full-body - then he said to come and see him if we want a "special" massage. -_-
I like the Canadians. Ariana is sweet and Sidney, Lisa, and Alex are nice. Alex is very down-to-earth and has an awesome elephant tattoo and she's only here for 2 weeks just like me, so we'll be traveling back to LAX together. I don't know where these other girls get all their money. I'm going to bring something home for G'ma Leta to thank her for helping me finance this trip. The thing is, she has a lot of random trinkets from other countries - I want to give her something special or useful. I already know I'm going to get some carvings for myself - I like the one of Dany and maybe I can find one of Tilly or Hope or Mae Perm. They are all done by hand by the mahouts - that's what makes them so special. The mahouts know their elephant better than anyone else in the world - in the documentary the relationship between mahout and elephant was compared to a marriage, all about love and respect. I like knowing that the figurines were carved by the person who knows the elephant best. I like that they were done with love. G'ma would love them too for the same reasons, but she's got things from all over the world already. She enjoys things like company or services... I'll try to think of what I can do.
It's fitting that today is Mother's Day because I thought about Lek a lot. I'm going to try and do something for my mom too, maybe send her a message and definitely get her something. I don't have enough baht - after I hit the gift ship I will have barely any left for our day in Chiang Mai before going to the hill tribe. I need to do laundry this week - I'm already running out of underwear.
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