I don't blog well

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

So... I don't really blog well. This isn't really a surprise to anyone at this point since I think my last post was in June or July and we're now in September. I don't know why I don't blog. Maybe it's because I don't really see that what is happening around me is suitable in terms of story telling. That and I'm long-winded. I know this and Lord knows my friends and family know this. That's why they're my friends and as for family...well, you're just stuck with me I guess.

A personal note to my mom. Aren't you proud of me?! 'They're' and 'you're'... I know... I'm proud of me too! (To everyone else... I believe the English language is stupid and that there is no need for 3 separate spellings of the same word. The same goes for 'your'. My mom has been trying to 're-educate' me for several years now with only minor success. I remain resistant. Call me foolish but I don't expect you to understand my own personal struggle against the English language. If necessary, I will rise up in arms against the English language itself and lead an army of immigrants with thick accents to forcibly remove the extra spellings of such words from dictionaries the world over. This will be our revolution! You're welcome to join us if you like.

As for Thailand... I'm not going to mention the current political situation right now. I'm feeling to light hearted at the moment to be brought back down to earth by the complexities of the internal political climate of a Southeast Asian nation. Not gonna do it! Instead I'm going to talk about rain. Deal with it.

Previous volunteers from the south had warned the volunteers of my group (Group 120) including myself of the extended rainy season which occurs in the south. The south typically sees eight (8!) months of rain per year starting sometime around May and going for roughly 8 months. (You do the math.) When I first arrived, it would rain for about a half hour every afternoon and by looking out my front door towards the mountains in the east around noon, you could tell if it would rain around 1pm or around 3pm. You are your own weatherman and just as accurate if not more.

Slowly, the half hour rain showers turned into hour and then two hour rain showers. I figured this was only the beginning of the rainy season. But then things just got weird or I guess things got weird. I really don't have a frame of reference since this is all new. I'll be checking in on this account next year to see if things are the same. Days would go by without rain followed by entire days of nothing but. Then more and more extended periods without rain. Is it possible for a jungle to be in a drought? I talked to one of my co-teachers about this joking that I thought this was the rainy season. (This was around late July and we hadn't had rain for a good three weeks and what rain we did get didn't last longer than 15 minutes.) My co-teacher laughed but didn't really give an answer but did mention something about a day in mid-May or June which helps predict the rainy season. If it rains on this day then it will be a normal rainy season. If not then it will be a shorter rainy season. Apparently the groundhog didn't (or did...I forget the whole groundhog thing) see his shadow and so we're due to have a shorter rainy season this year. The next day we had a huge rain storm which lasted for 3 days. Rainy season...

Now we're currently in the middle of another major storm system. It's been raining for roughly a week now with no sign of stopping. A volunteer from Group 118 told me that "You will get wet. Accept it." I didn't really believe her until this point because the rain hadn't really been that bad until this point. Now I wear shorts or something else casual to work and change my cloths once I arrive. I'm looking into investing in a larger rain parka as the one I currently have is not made for a Southeast Asian rainy season.

So yeah... Rain... I've begun singing that "Rain, rain, go away" song a lot but I've changed the lyrics at the end to make them my own and now I can't remember what the real lyrics are. I could google them but that wouldn't be very fun. If someone could post them then that would be great.

"My Rain Song" (I think I learned these lyrics in school but I can't be too sure...)
Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day
I went to bed
With a gun to my head
And I didn't up the next morning

I giggle a lot when I sing it because no one around me understands English. I can sing this here. You can't sing this where you are because people will look at you funny.