Tuesday, May 18

It looks like we got the place in Nana!

Our agent—Plair—talked to the owners, and they agreed to drop the monthly rent to 17,000 baht, include free WiFi, do a deep cleaning of the place, and replace the funky old couch cushions!

We're pretty thrilled. The process is going a little slowly since the owner is in the US and we're still figuring out the best way to pay our deposit but...we should be all set to move in May 30.

In other news, Roman has started his job, and restaurants are slowly reopening!

Eating inside!

Due to Covid, there won't be any students at Roman's school until at least June 1, but since his contract begins May 17, he still has to go in every day from 8am to 3:30pm to...lesson plan? Which mostly means sitting around and chatting with the other foreign teachers? It's silly that they're making him go into the school for that, but he's glad to be getting a paycheck. And they provide free lunch!

I'm still figuring out my daily routine, but I'm mostly sticking around the house, trying not to spend too much money until I start making some. It's been a little like quarantine, really, except with better beverages. I do yoga, I read, I meditate. I drink kombucha and soda water and pandan water and Diet Coke. 

It's been super hot here, so this morning I left early to walk around the neighborhood while the heat was still manageable. The streets were lively at 8:00am—lots of cars and buses and motorcycles on the road, monks in orange robes begging on the sidewalks, and street vendors frying up doughnuts or setting out waffles or fruit or bundles of rice steamed in banana leaves.

I got some ground pork from a small grocery store, basil and Chinese broccoli at the wet market, and mangos from the fruit vendor. It seems kinda silly to prepare Thai food at home when it’s so good and so cheap on the street, but the ingredients for it are the cheapest and easiest to find and, well, I'm not sick of it yet. Also, buying from the market gives me the chance to try different vegetables.

I've been making lunch for myself at home.

Stir fried pea shoots with egg tofu, rice

Stir-fried Chinese broccoli with a tart preserved sausage, rice

Restaurants are opening up again, but can only seat to 25% capacity, so we still bring some meals home.

Ready for shrimp wontons

Or else I cook dinner for us both.

Man, I hate how meals photograph on this table. Almost worth buying a tablecloth for photos alone.

We also met a small group of foreigners who do a meet up in the neighborhood. One of the people in the group, Kathryn, is an American in her 60s who has lived all over the world. She has MS, which makes it hard for her to get around, but she likes having people over to her lovely apartment in Sathorn, and today I headed over there in the afternoon for tea and a chat, as she put it.

I forgot to leave our one set of keys in the lockbox outside our door, but I got home just in time to meet Roman when he got home from work. And we spent the rest of the evening in.

New sign on the subway marks the real beginning of durian season