A Win

After so many days of heat, exhaustion, walking, being frugal, and trying desperately to keep our hopes up on this get a phone/get a job/find a place to live journey, this is what Julia and I listened to when we finally had a win:

(As well as this No Doubt vs. Eminem Mashup uncensored version, but that might be less appropro for here)


I will tell you what that win is at the end of this entry just to keep you reading.

Many things are more difficult here than they would be in America. That may seem like an obvious statement, but it's not because of the reasons you think; it's the heat. It's so hot and so humid that just walking to get lunch is an extensive endeavor that makes us feel like we just spent the whole day at Disneyland. At one time, while we were walking in the heat to get somewhere that people would normally use a tuk-tuk or taxi for, Julia referenced the debated topic of how much money is necessary for happiness. And we decided we agree with parts of the theory. If we weren't trying to be frugal, we would probably take more taxis rather than walking, which would save us time and energy. We wouldn't have to be sweating with swollen feet when we get to every destination. And with food, we walk further to find something cheaper and we try to buy fewer snacks. With our accommodations, we go for cheaper guest houses with no AC. If we had more money to spend at the moment? No walking in the heat, AC all day errday, and nawms galore. You get the point.

Other than this, applying for jobs has been stressful because what isn't stressful about being unemployed with no income? Add to that the lack of an immediate support network (thank you internet for allowing us to communicate with loved ones, how would we ever have survived in the 70s, oh wait that's what my parents did) and the previous issues with weather and money and you've got our stressed selves.

Since we were going to live here for a year and not just study abroad, we wanted to see if we could use our iPhones instead of buying a cheapy phone here. That whole process turned out to be more nightmarish and expensive than we ever would have imagined. I'll spare you the long-winded story, but suffice it to say that unlocking our phones and getting the right SIM and plan while communicating in broken English (and reading handy pamphlets that are only written in Thai) was an adventure. I say adventure and not a terror only because it's over! We have successfully unlocked our iphones and gotten a phone plan with unlimited 3G and Wi-fi. Which also means we can make our phone a hot spot. Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Still searching for a job, but we're hoping apartment hunting will be fun.

Thanks for checking in and maybe next time I can squeeze another entry out of Jules.

Oh and I almost forgot!:

Ariel: +66 909 183 214

Julia: +66 909 183 215

It won't cost us any money if you call, but it'll cost you, so if you have a smartphone, stick to Whatsapp or Wechat. And if you don't know what apps I'm talking about, download them now so we can text each other!

Holding on to hope for a job and a place to live,

JujuAire