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Published: September 23rd 2008
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with no elephant stories!!! We don't have any volunteers at the moment (some are arriving on the 26th) so I haven't been going to the camp and have been busy with moving. September is the month with the highest rainfall here so I think that puts people off coming, and I don't think the recent political problems have helped although it hasn't affected us in any way, except for everywhere being quieter because tourists aren't travelling. Being a biy quieter though has given me time to get settled into my new house, but I am now starting to go a bit stir-crazy and will be glad when the volunteers do get here.
I'm spending a lot of my time watching Thai music videos (which can't be good for me) and now recognise the songs and can sing along. The videos are hilarious (don't tell anyone here I said that, they teake them very seriously) and almost always involve boy or girl having unrequited love for someone, whether the song's about that or not, but by the end of the video they've got together and you have a big awwww moment. One of the DVD's that we have is a concert
Pepsi now likes riding on the motorbike
and is a right pain to hold on to as he tries to look around at everything and there are two key points to note about it:
1) There is a girl singing Zombie - which is amazingly popular over here - I think it was by the Cranberries (?) and it's often the only English song in Karaoke bars (not that I frequent them often you understand) so I know the words pretty well...I think I just contradicted myself there...... anyhow.... this woman does not sing Zombie, it is unrecognisable, apart from the bit where she actually sings 'zombie, zombie, zombie e e e.....
2) One of the girls dancing on the stage apparently doesn't have a face, that's what the camera man seems to think anyway!
It's a good job I'm reading a good book too...one night Tia went to sleep at 6.30pm, Pepsi was asleep, the light wasn't working inside the house and I couldn't cook..... Extra bit of information: the next morning I was woken up by a big black squirrel running up and down the inside rafters of the house!!! Ah country life......
The other thing that's been taking up my time is playing on-line scrabble. I think I am slightly addicted and get up on a morning
to check if someone has played (they know who they are and I want them to play more often! Set your alarm for the middle of the night!!!) then I check later, and later....and I'm so disappointed if it's not my turn. I'm sure there are help groups for this, but if anyone does want to start a game let me know........
New House!
So we're in the new house now and feeling more settled. The location really is beautiful, very peaceful, and the place is looking much better now that I have ‘pimped’ it a little with the addition of my wind chimes; we’ve even made a little shrine inside with Buddha’s, elephants, candles and incense. On the first night that we moved in Tia lit the candles and incense and said prayers, presumably for our happiness in the new house. I’ve got into the habit of lighting some incense and candles every night now, although obviously for me it’s more about making the place look and smell nice!! I’ve just found out that my dad’s ill and was upset when they called to tell me, when I went into the house later (in Thailand you spoend
most of your time outside; eating, reading, pretty much everything) I saw that Tia had set up the shrine again to offer prayers for my afthers help.
New Puppy!
The main new news is that at the new house we have a new puppy. I decided to leave Bobbi behind at the camp as she’s settled there and Tia’s mum will look after her. She didn’t want Bobbi to go either, she was very much a shared dog and she has her doggy friends there too. Anyway one morning Tia asked me if I wanted to go and look at another puppy so we went to a nearby camp and came away with a little black puppy who is now called Pepsi - I wanted to call him Punk but the Thai tongue just couldn’t get round that word! I’d also suggested Elvis, Levi…..but Pepsi was decided on. To get him back to the house I had to ride on the back of the motorbike with him tucked under my arm…. And he wasn’t wearing a crash helmet! He is adorable but the first thing we had to do (well in honesty I just supervised) was de-tick and
flea him, he was infested!!! Like Bobbi he does not like having a shower.
He’s now settled and whines if we leave him - even if we just go down the steps although he is now learning how to tumble down them in an inelegant fashion. He’s getting to be an old hand riding on the motorbike now, we’ve even been to Mrs Noi’s and Tia’s parents house, both of which are about 25 minutes drive away. It was a bizarre experience riding down the highway, pillion with a puppy under my arm but, being Thailand, no-one else gave us a second look! His first trip was to another elephant camp so that we could collect some dung for the vegetable garden (best fertilizer ever, go ask your local zoo for some) that I have finally planted. Yes I’ve done it and after a week there are some shoots coming through for beans, tomatoes, basil, broccoli and cabbage. I’m so excited……they’ll probably all be dead again by the next blog given my track record with house plants! We drove back from the camp with (in order) a huge sack of elephant dung, Tia driving and me at the back with
Pepsi the pup under my arm.
His next trip was to Mrs Noi’s so that I could check emails. She wasn’t in and when she arrived the first thing she said to me was that Mr Boonserm (whose land we’re living on) doesn’t like animals but she’d forgotton to tell us - just after I’d been out and bought special puppy biscuits, dog shampoo, flea powder and a squeaky toy! The second thing she said to me was that Tia couldn’t fish in the ponds around the house with nets….I said I was going before there was any more trouble we could get in to….no such look! As soon as we got home I answered my phone and it was Mrs Noi telling me that I mustn’t bring Pepsi to her house again as Thai people condidered it bad luck to let black animals into the house. Then she went on to tell me that I should take him back to the camp as it wasn’t good for him to be away from his mother and other dogs…. Maybe she was just having a bad day and I got in the way?! Luckily Mr Boonserm said it was ok for
us to keep Pepsi and he trots around after us checking that we're doing everything right: Tia fishing, watering the garden.... it does amke everything take a that bit longer though having Pepsi running after you trying to bite your ankles all the time!
Is this what it's like having children????
Pepsi sleeps most of the day then in the middle of the night he wants to play, which he lets me know by biting my ankles (maybe babies don't do that...) then at 6am every morning he whines because he want to go to the toilet!
On a similar subject Bim came to stay with us for two nights. She ran around playing with Pepsi, ate my food, drank my diet coke....yes Bim was back!!!
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Tess
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The Veggie Patch
I'm glad you pointed out that was the veggie patch. When I saw the photo minus the description I did wonder if you'd buried someone!!! Thank you for putting my mind at rest!