FOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!

ok here's one that everyone can enjoy. i thought it would be nice to let you all know what kind of foods i am eating on a day to day basis. i was worried before the homestays about being forced to eat chicken hearts or blood pudding or fried bugs or something equally ridiculous and/or gross. what i have discovered however, is that i far prefer the homestay food to the food on campus. the food is just so much tastier (literally it has more flavor, often SPICY, make you sweat spicy) and more substantial. lots of other people complain because we eat so much rice and it just fills you up then disappears in an hour or so, but i freaking love it. i LOVE sticky rice. i love the way it tastes, i love being encouraged to play with your food, and i love that everyone takes it from the same basket and uses it to eat from the same plate. in case you have never been lucky enough to experience this, sticky rice (phonetically cow neow in thai) is kept in a circular basket thing that everyone then reaches into and takes a big handful of. you use your left hand to roll it into a log, and then rip little balls off with your right hand. then you use the little ball of rice to pick up pieces of meat or soak up some sauce or whatever from the communal plates in the middle. basically i want to eat this way all the time. granted no one really washes their hands, and you may have read earlier about the bathroom procedures, which is what makes a lot of people uncomfortable with this eating style. honestly though, it doesn't really bother me, ppl are germy, everything is dirty, i'm pretty sure we will live. ok i guess this just turned into my ode to cow neow but hey, it had to be said: sticky rice is pretty cool. the food that goes with the rice is usually chicken (gai) variations, or pork (moo). almost everything is flavored with lemongrass which i started out hating and now would just rather there was much less of. there are also a lot of curries, and most things are fried. i love the way they fry eggs, the difference from the ones at home is something i am unsure of, but am a definite fan of, i think it fried in fish sauce or something. sounds good right lol. the food at the university is much more bland, there is a lot of fried rice that is completely non-spicy, and uninspired pad thais. i'm sure that as i learn more thai and am able to actually ask for the things i really want the whole experience will be better. ok outta time, i have to go to a peer tutor for thai who will once again shatter any good feelings i have about my progressing in thai by not understanding one word with my pronunciation.
peace, love, and chocolate for all.