How to be More Thai!

So i am still insanely happy and enjoying my life here in Thailand.... so happy and busy I haven't had a chance to BLOG and I apologize for lack of photos, but will post soon!

So here is how I am trying to be more Thai

1) Eating Pork. So after 15 years of not touching "the other white meat" i decided that since I ate Greek Goat, Turkish Lamb, that I didn't really have a logical reason not to eat Thai Pig, especially since I HATE being high maintenance when eating is family style, the best STYLE EVER...so I am eating pork. I still keep true to my ban on beef though... I rationalize that to being Indian...sorta.

2) Driving a Motorbike. Yes yes, I finally purchase my amazing Yamaha Fino Automatic Scooter, ITS FANTASTIC, and yes I wear my helmet and I promise to add a photo as soon as i have time to get someone to capture me in transit looking wonderful. The Fino is amazingly cute, as cute as Vespa - if not cuter, and mine is blue and white with Hawaiian blue flowers trim. I have a silver helmet and I am not nearly as scared of the traffic as I thought I'd be BUT that is no reason not to be cautious... I do not speed more than around 40 km/hr.

3) Speak Thai. Well I don't' speak Thai YET, but I am learning from a wonderful private teacher who comes into my small little abode and I am mastering the 5 tones, 12 vowels... and short and long stops... its definitely CHALLENGING to say the least, but my whole staff speaks Thai and they promise to practice with me and they definitely are expecting me to learn soon so I have the right incentives. I am doing 6 hours a week, we hope, I can stay committed!

4) Cute Cartoons Um.. this wasn't a hard one for me... to pay no more than 200 baht( $6) at the market on any single item and to decorate my home with silly items like the COOLEST Snoopy Make Up carrying case EVER! Um, and my Batgirl t-shirt.. and my amazing sneakers with neon skulls and bones...

5) Hang out at the Coffee Shop. Again -- not much of an adjustment, but there are seriously more coffee shops on the strip I live on than any other city I've ever lived in... they are all awesomely hip and i don't know how to choose or if I'll ever get to go to all of them. This is NEW THAI, cause they are all brand new since I was here in 2005.

6) Buddhism. I am not there yet, but I did celebrate the Buddhist lent and I gave an offering to the monk and prayed and both my parents independently told me that I should adopt Buddhism as my religion, so I am going to investigate more and get back to you!

UM & To Qualify, its not really being more Thai only but also more Shan and Burmese as well...
OKAY, i have to sleep... that's just a short update with more fun to come.