proud to be an american

 I'm seriously so stoked about the election outcomes, I have a feeling all the Americans will be out to celebrate tonight. At least, all the cool ones ;)

Anyways, things are going good at work. It was really interesting to go to Lamphun and see how they actually do a situation analysis. We basically visited schools and "village headmen" during the days. Still not sure exactly how they are defining a village, because they seemed pretty small. I'm thinking neighborhood size...But the headmen are elected positions, and it's their job to know all sorts of stats on the villages and keep things running smoothly. However, everyone we spoke to said HIV was not a really big problem in Lamphun, but the district hospital said a lot of people in the area were affected. Unclear if the people we spoke with were lying, honestly didn't know about the HIV status of their populations, or else the hospital was somehow wrong/misleading. I think the OVC team will go back in a few weeks to do some more research. I'm not sure if they want me to go, as my input/help is clearly limited by the language barrier. But overall, it was cool to get to know my co-workers better. We stayed in this awesome temple, and did hella karaoke every night, which was hilarious. Who knew there was a "hip hop" version of the Cranberries Zombie, or a "techno-remix" of Blondie's One Way or Another?

Halloween was a blast, I went to a party at an American friends house and we all had a great time. Although my tuk tuk driver was completely clueless as to how to get me there, and ended up dropping me off near a convenience store where I got way too many uncomfortable stares since Thia's don't really do Halloween....But I met some really cool Americans who all teach English out here, and I think we will all go out again this weekend.

Other than that, nothing too crazy.  The other night my housemates and I decided we needed to find a bar super close to our house and make it ours.  After a rigorous search (read: 2 bars) with a comprehensive criteria rating system, we found a winner.  Yellowbird Cafe is a 10 minute walk from our house, super friendly/chill with good tunes, cheap drinks, and had Jenga and a really nice guitar they let me play.  Though Freedom Bar came in at a close second, especially with their Western toilet equipped with tp.   Otherwise, just gearing up for the next month. On November 12 Thailand has a national holiday which apparently is celebrated best in Chiang Mai. I guess there will be a bunch of floating lanterns that are set off in the moat and then fill the sky, looking forward to it for sure.