Picturing my new life in U Thong, Suphonburi

Right now I am sitting in what will be my office for the next two years, and I couldn't be more excited. I just arrived at my site today to visit it for two days and look at possible living situations for my next two years here. I spent most of the morning with my counterpart, the man who I will work very closely with on all of my projects, his wife and daughter, and then another women at the office who "speaks" English. There is a strong possibilty that I speak better Thai than she does English, but with our combined knowledge it hasn't been too bad. We went and visited two possible home stays this morning who I could live with for the first month in order to integrate into the community. Then after one month, I would move out on my own. The family I chose to live with lives on this compound....or really just a huge piece of land with about 5 houses where the entire family lives. I will be staying with them for the next two nights while I am here. The houses are slightly run-down but the family is huge and seem pretty friendly so whatever, we'll see.
After meeting the families we went to look at possible houses that I could move into after the first month. All of the options that we looked before lunch left me feeling very uneasy about the next two years. Most were lacking many of the amenities that the Peace Corps requires, which isn't to extensive, as well as having slightly shady landlords. After lunch however, we went to this house (which was like a little townhouse) and talked to the guy who is currently living there. He is apparently willing to move out of his house into his other house, and yes, apparently he has two, so that I can move in. The Thai Government has arranged to pay for our housing while we are here and capped it off at 3,700 baht, which is about $105 a month. Fortunately, this guy was only going to charge 1,000 Baht for rent, but that includes no furniture. Thankfully, with my great bargaining skills, I told him I was willing to pay more...ie the thai gov but that was not necessarily explained, if he was willing to furnish my house. So hopefully what was translated, which most of time you never know, was that I will move into this cute little townhouse, which has a western toilet and a hot shower...no bucket shower or squat toilet, in May and live there for the next two years. I'm so excited and can't wait to move out to site. The town I will live in is about and hour and a half away from Bangkok, so if anyone would like to come and visit just let me know. Traveling to my site as well as around Thailand will be amazingly convenient with the location of my site.
Speaking of Bangkok, I spent the night there two nights ago. All of the volunteers stayed there before they shipped us off to our sites for the weekend. It was so much fun to finally let loose and relax with a night out on the town. It was so interesting to see Bangkok because it is NOTHING like traditional rural Thailand. It almost made me miss Chaibadan and my Thai family because everything in Bangkok is so urban, it's like an asian New York City. I have definitely grown to really appreciate the traditional Thai life.
After the night out in Bangkok we went and stayed with an active Peace Corps volunteer to see what their life is like. I stayed with a girl that is just finishing up, so it was very interesting to see her perspective on things. She was very upbeat about her experience, which made me very excited to see what is in store for me. She also had really helpful insight on Thai festivals and culture as well as places to visit during my two years. Thailand sounds pretty amazing and I am soooo happy that I was chosen to serve here.
This has continued to be such a positive experience for me and I am very content with the way things are going. Every day I encounter new cultural differences that are usually pretty interesting. Speaking of which, I had a very funny experience the other day. During our training, we are supposed to choose 3 language lessons that we can teach ourselves. My first lesson was to learn the articles of clothing and how to bargain in the markets in order to get what I need for a reasonable price. I began by using my 8 year old Thai brother to give me the vocab for the different articles of clothing. I realized afterwards, when I went to double check the vocab with my Thai teacher, that using an 8 year old definitely has its pros and cons. He was correct on most of it except when it came to underwear. I asked him how you say bra in Thai and when I confirmed it with my teacher, she busted out laughing. Apparently, it is normal for little kids to call bras "milk sacks" in Thailand, which is not the appropriate word for adults to use. My teacher found it hilarious as well as the other volunteers. I quickly learned that relying on my little brother to learn Thai was probably not the best idea. Well, that is all for now, Sawaatdii Ka!