Friday, April 9

Today I have a shorter dispatch, because I didn't spend hours on the train, recording my every thought and action on my phone (see yesterday).

We spent most of the morning getting out some cover letters & resumes for Roman, and then headed to the nearby mini street food complex for lunch.

I ordered a som tum and sticky rice from one of the carts. The guy working there asked how spicy I wanted it, and I said, like, medium? I haven't had anything too spicy here, so I felt like I could handle medium. A woman started making my salad in the pok pok.

Then another woman who worked at the cart came over, checked out what was going on, and then said to me she worried it would be too spicy. I said I liked it a little spicy, but she still seemed worried. She let me try a little of the liquid from the pok pok—it was salty, tart, a little sweet, and not too spicy. I asked her how many chilies they'd used—like, one? When I've gotten gotten som tum medium spicy in the past, it's usually had one or two chilies in it. She looked at me and said, no, like four. I was still unconcerned at this point.

I took my som tum and sticky rice to a table to join Roman, who had gotten a bowl of soup with those thick rice noodles and every kind of meat they had (fish balls, slow-cooked beef, tendon, and organ meat).

And oh my god the papaya salad was so spicy! By the time I was maybe two-thirds of the way done, everything was burning from my throat to my stomach. Even Roman thought it was super hot, and had trouble tasting his soup after a bite of my salad. I was pretty sure I would have to go home and lie down until it stopped hurting, and I felt a little prickling of alarm. But it passed, of course, and I finished most of my papaya salad and felt pretty proud of myself. Next time, though, I'll ask for two chilies.

Dying inside

I was hoping to go out in the evening, since it's Friday night and I felt, really for the first time since we arrived, like having an evening adventure. I thought maybe we could go see some live music, or something like that. Maybe have a chance to meet and chat with other people?

But there has been another Covid outbreak in Bangkok (400 new cases stemming from a couple bars in Thong Lo), and the government has shut down all bars, clubs, and massage parlors for the next two weeks.

And in fact, it looks like festivities for the upcoming Songkran holiday have been at least partially shut down (I don't know anything about this holiday, except that we've been warned a lot of places will be closed and our job searches might slow).

I definitely feel like Covid is having a huge impact here, and not just on tourism. The teachers I spoke with at the job interviews talked about long stretches of working from home, then being back at school, then teaching remotely again. There have been many changes made to school procedures and the materials available in classrooms (basically, there is a lot less sharing happening). And it seems like a lot of public social activities have been suspended—there are few meetup groups getting together right now, and my sense is that many bars and clubs are still closed.

So, even though there have still been fewer than 100 deaths in the country, Covid has obviously still had a huge impact here—and I'm sure there's been a lot more impact I haven't learned about yet.. I suppose that's all pretty obvious—it is a global pandemic, after all.

A part of me does feel like I should be going out more—having more experiences, meeting more people, etc. But I think I have to keep in mind that these are still unusual times, for all of us. And that it's also OK to stay at home and do yoga and read a book, like I did this afternoon.

Striking tree (with...mangoes?)

Me in my natural habitat (7-Eleven)

I felt a little down in the early evening. The school I was hoping would hire me emailed me, letting me know that they’re still considering my application and will get back to me as soon as possible, but that the office is closed next week for Songkran.

I was glad to hear back from them, but still a little disappointed. I am trying not to take it personally—I think the interview went well, but I imagine they've interviewed many candidates. And I definitely lack experience, which is something I can't change.

But I'm not crazy about having to wait another week—what does that mean if I get other job interviews? A job offer?

I'll have to wait and see if it comes to that—though, in reality, I think most everything will be shut down next week for the holiday. 

THEN I got it into my head maybe we should go to the beach next week. I want to go and hang out on a beach so badly, and the job search will likely be stalled anyway, and hotels are much cheaper because if the lack of tourists...and, once we start working it seems like we won’t have time off for quite a while (and even then, maybe not at the same time). 

But this is probably not a good time to leave Bangkok. Covid is surging and I think they could totally restrict domestic travel, especially for foreigners. It would not be good to get stranded in Phuket right now, given that we have a place in Bangkok we've paid to rent and a job search underway. 

But I feel disappointed that we can't go to the beach right now and also like a HUGE BABY for feeling disappointed. We are still in the middle of a pandemic and I'm complaining because I can't go hang out on a beach? Yeah, I really can’t justify it.

In the evening, we went for a wander around Sathon, and hit up a different street food cart pod for dinner.

We walked through the busy narrow alleys until they finally emptied out onto quiet dark streets, and then we turned around and headed home for the night.

Roman with gecko