This past week involved 3 wonderful food parties. Also, the picture above is of my neighborhood! 
Saturday night, we christened our house (The Farang Fortress) with a housewarming party. Our American friends came, as well as our Thai friends. Chang was drank, cards were played, even our screen doors were assembled! It was a fun mash-up of people, and now the house is modestly furnished and amazing. I wonder if our Thai neighbors see us walking through their street and go "uh oh, there goes the neighborhood".
Tuesday night, our Thai friend Jeum put together a big potluck feast in her office on campus near the soccer field. Several of her Thai colleages, 1 girl from Sri Lanka, 1 boy from Nepal, 1 boy from Vietnam, and several of us from America all cooked traditional dishes for this cultural event. From our group, Alana and Lauren made maccaroni and cheese, Sarah and I made pasta salad, Elizabeth Ruby and Angela made apple pies, and I also served up some of my (now world-famous) guacamole (copyright jenn richey). It was a big hit because Thai people love spicy foods. The night was filled with eating and silliness that was only topped off by several hours of kareoke. We taught the Thais the Electric Slide, the Macarena, the Soulja Boy and they taught us several fun dances and songs that I would be hard pressed to repeat the names of. Very fun though!
***Note to mom: huge wad of cilantro at the fresh market for 3 baht. that's less than 1 cent)***
Wednesday night, our Thai Language instructer "Pam" invited us over to her apartment and taught us how to cook traditional Thai dishes instead of giving us an exam (Thank you Pam!). Now I can say that I know how to properly cook: Kai Jeow (omelette), Laab Moo and Gai (an Issan dish of pork or chicken), Tom Ka (spicy soup with coconut milk). Apparently Thai cooking is absolutely reliant on THE FIVE:
This picture here is the Winnie the Pooh stickers above my mattress on the floor that were so thoughtfully left on the walls by the last people to live in our house.
