a late post

July 19
The Thai government is corrupted and quite frankly it is amusing. Yesterday my mom’s friend came to pick us up. We were at a red light, about to get on the toll bridge that leads to the highway. Apparently you’re not allowed to change lanes while approaching the toll booths, because my mom’s friend did that, and then out of thin air, a cop popped out. He wasn’t in a car, or a motorcycle, instead, he was on foot. Poof! There he magically was.

He waved for her to pull over, so she did. She rolled down her window and as he approached the car, he explained to her what she did and he took out his notepad. She asked him “can you please let me go just this one time?” He was about to mutter something, then she said “I work at the court house. I’m a judge.” Without saying a word, the cop just walked away. If he had not walked away, she would have just given him 500 baht and sent him along. Cops are easy to bribe and that’s why it’s so amusing. When we were getting pulled over, I was actually kinda excited. I was thinking to myself, “Yes! I finally get to see someone pay off a cop!” To my mom’s friend’s advantage, her job scared the cop and she didn’t even have to pay him. Yay for corruption!

Speaking of illegal things, today I ordered some more bootleg DVD’s from Pantip... without having to even walk to Pantip! If you’re unfamiliar with what Pantip is, it is a large electronics mall, filled with 4 floors of various shops that offer everything you can possibly imagine in the electronics world. A few days ago, I bought 5 bootleg DVD’s from this little shop in Pantip and got their business card. The nice lady who owns the store said that if I ever want more, I can just call her cell and she’d make me the copies and I could just come pick them up. Well today I did just that. I made myself of a list of movies/TV seasons that I wanted, then called her up. She cut a great deal, just 80 baht per DVD. That’s about $2.50 each. My mom mentioned to her that we live only a block from Pantip, so she offered to deliver them right to our house! How awesome is that? I don’t have to walk my ass to Pantip in the 100 degree heat ☺ Yipeee. These people will do anything to keep a customer.

Another good example of customer loyalty: I went to dinner with my cousin Pete last week. Pete ordered a Singha beer, but the restaurant doesn’t have any beer. What do they do? They go across the street, buy a beer, then come back and charge Pete for a small profit. How clever.

On another note, I can’t believe I have only 1 week left here. Time really flew by and it makes me sad. It’ll be a long time before I get to come back. Once I get a job, I’ll have to save up vacation time, so making my way to this part of the world will just get more difficult and less frequent. I really don’t want to leave but at the same time I miss my own life.

Tomorrow I have a busy day. In the morning to afternoon I have to go to a house warming party for a relative. Then in the evening my mom’s friend is having a dinner party for us, so I’m forced to go to that. I’m really sick of doing things with my mom’s friends, but I’m being a good daughter and forcing myself to go and just deal with it. Mom and I are trading off what we each want to do. She goes on beach trips with me if I go do things with her friends. I guess it’s not so bad. On Monday to Wednesday we are going to Pattaya Beach. It’s probably one of my favorite beaches because I have a lot of childhood memories there. Thursday is my last full day here, then Friday I have to pack and technically that night at 3AM (which is really Saturday) I have to wake up and be at the airport by 6AM. UGHHHH And I have to fly alone for 20 hours ☹ How boring... eff my life. My mom and I weren’t able to book return flights on the same day. My mom comes back on the 28th. She gets two extra days... lucky.

I got a little behind with postcards and they will be sent out on Monday. I actually had them ready to be sent out this past Thursday, but I guess it’s a 4 day holiday here (!?!?). Yea, news to me. So in other words, the post offices were closed so I have to wait til
Monday to mail them out. Chances are I will arrive in Ohio before the postcards make it in your hands. Oops ☺

Oh, and I found an amazing trench coat that was on sale at the mall! It’s black and pretty and goes down to my knees ☺ I’m in love with it. It’ll go great with my work clothes. Haha HOW SAD!!