Greetings friends and family!

I've been in Chiang Mai for about 3 days now and I haven't been writing.  There's a lot going on.  I am also exhausted so forgive me if this post is unorganized.  The rest will be better than this.  I'll post pictures and links and make cute lists and fun facts. But not today.  Just want to give you an update and write so i don't forget!

I'm so tired right now.  We were out late last night dancing (so much fun) but I am a tad hungover today.

I don't know where to start....  Free write :

It's been pretty overwhelming, but I know everything is going to be okay and I'll figure things out in time.  It's only been a few days and we've already done a lot.  We've gone out to dinner as a big group (20+) the last two nights.   I'm ready to stop going out in such a large group.  We are loud and unapproachable.  It is easy to meet people in a small group and Thais are really friendly.  There are some Thai English majors that we have hung out with a little bit.  I'm excited to get to know them better and to remember their names (first step).  Their english is very impressive.  The language is crazy! Tonal.   5 tones, 8 vowels, 44 grapheme consonants, but like 20 phonetic ones.  I'm excited to take the language class and eager to learn more.  I know to say hello, thank you, chill out, (mantra here) don't worry about it/your welcome/nevermind and I can count to 5.  nong, song, som, ... I forget 4, and ha is five.

We got our uniforms the other day and they are super cute and comfortable.  We are free to accessorize too!  I'm excited to go to the market to get some more clothes and decor for the apartment.  The apartment is cute- tiny, but I have my own bedroom.  No kitchen.

The food has been good!  The cafeteria food is cheap, but kind of comparable to cafeteria food at home - except totally different because it's Thai food.  Same same but different.  The first lunch at the cafeteria I had green curry fish and rice.  The fish wasn't very good actually.  Reminded me of a McDonalds chicken nugget.  For dinner I had chicken and galangal coconut milk soup.  It was pretty good - spicy, but I don't know if Thais would even consider it spicy.  I didn't know what galangal is but I just looked it up: "Galangal is a rhizome with a hot, ginger-peppery taste. In texture it is a bit firmer than fresh ginger and it's a bit less fibrous with a finer skin. Galangal is often used as a substitute for ginger. Galangal has a mildly resinous aroma, reminiscent of pine and can be found in Asian groceries stores."  
Also the chicken looked like squid and was still on the bone.  I didn't eat it.  Another night we went to a restaurant by the river (beautiful)  This place catered to Westerners and the food wasn't great.  Today at lunch Tom Yum Koong soup was sooo yummy!  I'm liking the spicy, but again I don't know where my food has been on the spicy spectrum.  

So much to write about.  Getting around the city is fun.  We ride on these red trucks with an open back and my favorite thing is to stand on the back so I can feel the wind and see everything.  Kim will post a picture of me on the back of one.  You have to bargain with them.  I'll get better at it once I learn more Thai.  Apparantly is a cultural thing that Thais are very eager to please, so if you ask a question they may give you an answer even if the don't know.  We got a red truck the other day and they driver (such a cute friendly little old man) said okay! and then after a few minutes pulled over and asked a woman at a shop where our destination was.  

After the first night at dinner, some people went out but Kim and I were pooped so we rode a Songthaew (red truck) to her hostel and I spent the next day with her. We ate at the cutest little cafe.  (Everything is open air)  It was called the funky dog and there was a funky looking dog hanging out.  There was also a caged bird that could say "How are youuuu!?"  and Sa wa di Ka  (hello)  The man who worked there was so cute and friendly with his long scraggly beard and bohmian pants and bare feet.  You take your shoes off in places like that.  I had a yummy pumpkin dish and some homemade yogurt.  Then we got a 3 hour massage!  It was awesome.  I need another one though.

I can't do this right now, I'm so tired. I'll update later and talk about the people I've met and some other adventures we've had and my classes!  Stay tuned.