Cockroaches Can Fly

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Now that I am living in a new country, I have started appreciating even the smallest comforts.

I got back to Bangkok, from Cambodia, late on Monday evening. With 8am class the next day, I went nearly straight to bed. Bringing me to appreciation number 1 and 2, having a place to come home to with space of your own to relax and, of course, read. Also, even though school isn't really my favorite part of Thailand, it gives me structure and some sort of schedule to adhear to.

On Wednesday, when I don't have school, I usually relax or fill my time with reading and walking around my neighborhood. As my neighborhood is small, it is starting to become monotonious, so I got in contact with my Uncle John's friend Roger who is a human rights lawyer in Bangkok. I went over to his house on Wednesday afternoon which brings me to appreciation 3-like 200. Roger lives in a quite neighborhood with his wife, Sara (sp) and three kids! I worked with Roger on his latest human rights work pertaining to Myanmar for a couple hours. The rest of the day was filled with eating (pesto, garlic bread, lemonade, and wine (Thailand doesn't have very good wine so this is especially a treat...for reference the drinking age here is 20. mom.)), swimming in their pool out back, hanging out with their fantastic kids, baking (because we don't have an oven I've been going through withdrawl), and finally going out for Sushi. This last part being about 100 of those appreciations. After a month of living in a dorm where cockroaches can be spotted flying near your head and for the most part eating exclusively Thai food, a day like that was beyond bliss (so maybe this is Nirvana??). A day like that also leads to a deep appreciation of the comforts of home, but I suppose that is why we all seek out these types of journeys: to test ourselves, to grow, to learn, to be uncomfortable.

This weekend we went to the beach for two days. While it was a nice beach, the truth about this place (Pattaya) is that people (men) don't really come here for the white sands and Chang's. Pattaya is one of the most well known (unannounced to me) sex trafficking cities in the world. The strangest part is that you think that you;ve learned about the sex industry and that prostitutes are on the corners or in a window lit with red. My limited exposure at Pattaya has proved my ignorance wrong. The worst part is, is that it's not that simple. Because the industry is not as overt as I had pressumed it to be, I, instead, suspected everyone in this city (farang or local) as a part of the illicit operation. People (primarily Russians) flock to this over crowded area, and I just can't fathom why else someone would travel thousands of miles to this small (beautiful but much less impressive than the beaches that can be found in the south of Thailand) beach besides to participate in this rife exploitation.

Cockroaches can fly.

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Photos

Koh Larn
This Island is off of the main land of Pattaya

Julia, Beka, and I
Pattaya City