Learning to COOK…etc. Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Yesterday (Tuesday) was definitely the plateau for most of us in the Thai language department. Luckily, today we didn’t have Thai class…instead we had Thai cooking class! It was so fun! We got split up into groups to make different foods that our Ajans would teach us to make. When we got to school, we all piled into Rot Dengs with our Ajans and heading for the market. We got a list of the ingredients (in Thai) and how much of each and were sent off with 700 Baht. Our group decided to split in half to make it faster. Mark and I got everything in 10 minutes (mainly because we wanted to go buy food for ourselves!). Of course, we ran into some tricky situations. One of the ingredients we were supposed to get was chili. Although, we weren’t sure if it was actual chilis or chili powder(ish). So, we went with chili powder. The list said 10 which was kind of confusing because they sold big bags of chili powder so we just got 5 (which is still a RIDICULOUS amount of chili powder). When reuniting with our group…we thought maybe we did something wrong. So…Mark and I ran back to the stand and bought actual chilis also…just in case.  Eventually, we found or Ajan and she looked in our bag and and definitely expressed some amusement at our chili situation. I told her in Thai that we were confused and she agreed…turns out we were supposed to get 10 Bahts worth of chili rather than 10 packs of chili. Although we used both kinds so I’m not sure which the one on the list was…

But, since Mark and I finished early, we bought some DELICIOUS pastries. The desserts here are unlike anywhere else and are always so good! They usually entail sticky rice, coconut milk, sugar, egg...etc. I still haven’t figured out exactly what they are. But dessert is, by far, my favorite meal. 

So, we headed back to school and started chopping, boiling, crushing, peeling, etc. We were making pork salad. Sounds weird but is delicious. It is salty, minty, spicy, and sour all at the same time. We used leek, mint leaves, pork, onion, some other vegetables, lime…to create a cold salad-y creation. Other groups made egg dishes, pasta dishes, wraps/dumplings, salads, etc. They were all amazing. But, I think the best part was that an ice cream man came today! This ice cream is unlike any ice cream I have ever had. He puts it in either a cup, cone or sandwich (and by sandwich I actually mean a piece of bread). I am pretty sure it is vanilla ice cream with some sticky rice, coconut milk, coconut jellies, and chocolate syrup. I can’t explain how good it was. He came before we got to eat and ISDSI treated us! Luckily, he stayed til after so me and a couple others went back for seconds. Today was a day of sweets…I have these days more often than I probably should.

Later, for our Foundations course, we visited a museum of Thai history (mostly Chiang Mai history).  Honestly, I couldn’t focus. I might have been too hyped up on sugar. I forgot to say that I also had dessert after breakfast…this is a daily thing and I think I can get used to it.  But the museum was pretty cool…

The most interesting part was what we found out about on the ride there. Our professor was sitting up front in the Rot Deng with the driver and asked him about a certain Wat (temple) that we passed by. The driver said that our Ajan wasn’t missing out on anything because that Wat was one in which methamphetamines were sold and child prostitution took place. Disgusting. Although, this is very interesting because Wats are seen as very sacred, religious places and I would never have imagined such actions occurring. So, that was my lesson for the day. Although, let’s be real…I have many lessons a day…

Today was the first day I didn’t go to cross training and instead went to the mall with our “taxi crew”. We call ourselves that because we all live far from the school and travel home together! I’m sure I already explained that but I can’t always remember what I have written. The mall was boring…I hate malls even in Thailand ha.

I am very ready for bed. Although I still have about 15 pages to read for Foundations and some studying to do for Thai class! Never a dull moment here (except for m my weekend)! Good news, this weekend we are going on a retreat! We are heading up to the mountains to a park with waterfalls and staying in hostels/cabins. It’s mainly chill time so that should be awesome. We have a swimming test on Friday at a reservoir, which should be pretty cool. We have to swim 500 meters and tread water for some amount of time. I can’t wait for the weekend!!