Falafels in Thailand--Chiang Mai

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So folks, I decided to get down and dirty and face the music and really engage myself in the community and have done so by getting a teaching gig here in Chiang Mai.
The class is pretty wonderful, the students are intelligent, interesting to talk to, and have taught me as much as I have taught them, both culturally and personally, so I'm learning a great deal, and not stressing over teaching as I have done many a time before in the past.
The class consists of students between the ages of 15 and 29, some are college students, many are college grads, and a few have M.A.'s in Education (like myself) from Thai universities. Pretty amazing.
I made a gargantuant falafel feast the other night for several of my guest house friends and made the most incredible babaganush i have ever tasted (i don't mean to brag, but it was very tasty) my highly tattooed fellow massage student friend said that i hit it right on the dot---babawise--and the trick is this everyone: chinese eggplant, mmmmm, yum, and it cost a total of 8 baht (nearly 20 cents) to make.
I shared the falafel extravaganza experience with my students and promised them that i would make falafels for them too. I was amped and ready to enter falafel mode and had to go to the Indian veggie place to get the gonzo (aka chick peas) beans, but, unfortunately, the Indian man and wife whom i so adore along with the old lady (grandmother possibly) who sits in the same cooped up position all day long while staring into space and talking to herself, disclosed the information that, at that moment in time, there were no current gonzo beans. so i either continue the long search, or i explain to my students the complexity of obtaining garbonzo beans and instead wait till a later date (i.e. tomorrow) to begin falafel madness. Not very many Thai people have indulged in Middle Eastern cuisine--veyzmer--well that's all about to change quite quickly folks. There will soon be an underground falafel movement amongst my Thai students, and they will intermix and cross cultural lines through the use of the gonzo bean---i can picture all very clearly, now.
Anyhow, the students are a riot and the fact that Thai culture promotes barefootedness, thus in any home, place of worship, many restaurants, schools, and massage places, the etiquette, which i think should enter the Western hemisphere, is the 'no shoe policy.' You leave your shoes outside the door, and so, when I teach, I have the amazing luxury of barefootedness, which inadvertently gives me a fresh sense of freedom of movement and consequentially changes my way of teaching, making me more flexible, alowing me to be eccentric and creative yet actually teach these people something. Barefootedness is really a beautiful thing.
My students: I have artists (grafiti artists--college educated of course, that is), engineers, agricultural studies majors, humanities kids, prospective doctors, authors, ambassadors, flight attendants, etc. It's quite a diverse crowd. As a result of my teaching however, and due to the increase in heat (it's close to or above 100 degrees Farenheit, nearly every day), I have neglected the most wonderful thing I've learned here: Thai massage. I'm piling a few too many things on my plate it seems, I guess it's even possible to feel burnt out while traveling/vacationing, who would've thunk it.
So I'm trying to develop a more flow oriented way of life while staying here (i can honestly see it being no more than 2 months in Chiang Mai), and it consists of this:
yoga in the am
teach right after (2 hrs--although they want to give me more, starting tomorrow, ahhhh!)
eat
massage 3 hrs
and start writing a book in the evening ( have to first find a used typewriter---please, send typewriter karma over this way, friends)
write until 7/8pm
chillax
eat a nice Thai, Italian, or Middle Eastern array of food
Oh, and I exchange Thai cooking lessons for English lessons with a 21 year old Thai guy who works (or lives at least) at my guest house
He's also taught me some of the colloquial intricacies of Chiang Mai, i.e.--to say thank you in traditional, general Thai is: Kup Kun Kah (for women) and Kup Kun Kup (for men), but the Chang Mai region says Kup Kun Jow---both genders--and so I've been employing this newfound information recently and have gotten an incredible response by the local population. When you bring in the Jow---people are like, 'whoah girl, wassup'
ok, so they really say nothing like that at all
but they seeme to be highly impressed
so if any of you decide to visit me in Chiang Mai, I'll give you the colloquial lowdown
My foot massage women was very happy when I used my words. We had quite the bonding experience. And she cleaned my black bottomed feet with aclhohal swabs before her endeacer into massaging and was left with a blackened cotton ball reminder of me. And she put me in a foot massage induced heavenly state.
I gotta get back into massage.
Teaching is cool, and quite fun actually. But massage is healing. And that's why I've been so attracted to Chiang Ma--it is a haven for obtaining and learning massage, and a highly therapeutically oriented community overall. Plus it's got a great veggie cuisine and amazing fruit shakes and soy ice creams.
I developed somewhat of a posse here in Chiang Mai, and lo and behold, one by one (there were actually only two of them), they've left and gone on to greener pastures---i.e., the UK. One of them left a few weeks ago, and the other left for China en route to the UK yesterday. I called ourselves the 'three stooges' and currently, I am the only stooge left.
Boo hoo.
That's ok, cos I'll write a novel.
And I'll see my good friend Virginia who lived in Thailand for years and now lives in Japan next month. Virg--a shout out to you girlfriend!!!
So all is good in the hood.
Peaceful wishes to alls y'alls
happy post purim and lechaim and hamentushens to all those who celebrated
and much love to you all
JAruni

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