The rhino beetle incident, biking and a Thai foot massage

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My sister keeps asking me if I've seen any strange bugs here yet. I hadn't yet, but I got my dose this week. When I came downstairs for morning devotion, there was a huge rhino beetle on the dresser where we keep the music! I have actually seen these before (I guess it was in Arizona), but nevertheless, I was terrified to see such a large flying insect in our house. I immediately alerted Paul to the presence of a deadly insect, but he was not alarmed at all. In fact, Ping had brought the beetle in as a pet, and Paul just said, "oh, it's a rhino beetle! Cool." I said that if it started flying during our devotion, though, I would certainly freak out- guaranteed. So you can guess what happened next. Of course, the humongous beetle started flying around like crazy, into walls and up to the light, then down low, narrowly missing my head. It was like a june bug but about 3-4x as big. I was sitting on the long bench in the middle, so I was trapped. I asked Amnuey to let me out so that I could escape if the beetle flew near me again. Everybody else thought it was funny, but I didn't find it all too amusing.

I had a busy week, and today I decided that the best medicine for my homesickness and frustration about not being able to get out and about was to join a bike tour w/ our friends Gaan and Geng from down the road. (Side note: is it possible to be really busy, but bored and sad at the same time? Apparently so. I have plenty of work to do, but I still feel bored from being in the house most of the time, w/ the exception of trips to the beach to go jogging or watch the sunset- which is always gorgeous here.) It turned out Gaan couldn't go biking today b/c she wasn't feeling well, so it was just me, Geng, his friend Nai, and a Swiss guy named Felix. It was cool b/c I got to speak some German w/ him. We drove to Thai Mueang and biked about 22 km altogether, stopping at a shrimp farm, a fish farm, and the beach! At the beach, we met a class of schoolkids who were doing an art project. It was neat. We rode on the roads through the countryside- past water buffalo, mosques, temples, rubber trees, spider webs, over bridges, through a small town w/ little shops... it was fantastic! Then we had a nice Thai lunch at one of the cool restaurants made out of wooden benches that still look like tree limbs, all very natural and beautiful. I just love the way they design things here! Then, unfortunately, I developed a stomachache (don't know if it was the food or other factors), so I missed the next stop- the waterfall, b/c I was sitting in the truck in the air conditioning w/ the seat leaned back and trying to nap. I prayed that my stomach would feel better, b/c it was pretty miserable, and then it did! So I got out at our next stop, which was at an aquarium (or something like that), where we saw sea turtles, different kinds of fish, and lobsters! It was so cool! Especially the turtles. I only have pics from the first part of our outing, though, b/c then my camera stopped working after that.

Kim Quinley (director's wife) arrived this evening from Bangkok, and we enjoyed a lovely evening out- a girl's night! We had dinner at the sticky rice restaurant and then got foot massages! And man, a foot massage here is awesome. It's not just a foot massage- they massage your legs, too, and afterwards they do your shoulders, back and head for a few minutes. And they serve you tea. Wow. After that, we had gelato at an Italian restaurant. It was so nice, b/c I haven't had a fun night out w/girls yet since I've been here. It's been hard this week; I've been feeling lonely and just really realizing how small this place is (and the fact that I can't get out! I'm going to learn how to drive the scooter so that I won't be quite so limited in where I can go and what I can do.) So even though it wasn't the best week, it sure ended nicely.