Around Mahasarakham
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A Message to the US Ambassador to Thailand
On September 29, 2023, Robert F. Godec, Ambassador of the United States to Thailand, visited Mahasarakham University to open a new wing of the American Corner, at which Mina and I have been helping run open conversation classes. If the ambassador’s social media ninjas happen to see this post, please convey a message to him that I was unable to complete when a VIP entourage suddenly appeared: The best historical book in English regarding the Issan region, and Mahasarakham in particular, is The Far Province by Francis Cripps. There are several editions; try and get one with photos and you will see how much this town has developed in 60…
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Stewed Beef
I am a huge fan of stewed beef, and I love the texture of stewed meats in general. Nam’s friend from middle school opened a noodle shop near her university and we visited a while back. It was so good. I’m also loving the camera on this used Pixel 6. I was shocked to find out that a local phone accessory shop could cut me a hydrogel screen film with their cutting machine. It had the specs for my phone in its memory, along with thousands of other models I could see. Maps Link: Racha Stewed Beef
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Mahasarakham University Convention Center Building
Weather and schedule permitting, I walk around this area every day around sunset. I caught a double rainbow framing the “medieval church” convention center last week:
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wiggy
A stall selling wigs at Robinson Roi Et shopping mall. It must be noted that the number of the stall is also shorthand for the name of the city, Roi Et, which means “a hundred and one.” According to Wikipedia: The name of the province literally means ‘one hundred and one’ (Thai: ร้อยเอ็ด; RTGS: roi et ). Correctly, the number should be “eleven” (Thai: สิบเอ็ด; RTGS: sip et ), as the province was named after its eleven ancient gates built for its eleven vassal states. In ancient times, the number “eleven” was written “๑๐๑” (101) and the provincial name was written accordingly. Later, people took “๑๐๑” to mean ‘one hundred…
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Lunchtime Perfection @Praewa
Pat Prik Gang Moo Krob Khai Dao – Red Curry Stir Fry with Crispy Pork Topped w/Fried Egg (AKA Star Egg) at a short order joint between my office at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University and the National Sports University down the street. They serve the highest form of Pad Thai in the known universe, topped with crispy pork, only available at a couple restaurants I’ve ever seen.
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dotter
I guess you could say this was taken at our new (side job) workplace. Mina and I have been brought on as facilitators for Chit Chat Corner, a program sponsored by the American Embassy in Bangkok aimed at providing an English language conversation space for the community at Maha Sarakham University’s American Corner.
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My Mitsubishi Triton at Sunset
@MSU old campus I’ve been doing 3km walks capped with short jogs here every day recently… It’s hard for me to get out the door to exercise if I skip days, so it’s easier just to get in the habit of going every day. So considering side jobs in the evening (the only realistic time to exercise is wither before or after it gets sunny) and the weather (it’s currently thunderstorm season), I probably average 6 days/week right now. Although I did a three week stint without a day off, which felt like a big deal.
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Back Home Again
Nam and I went on a nice trip to pick up Mina in WA and for Nam to see Max after four years of COVID lockdown/US visa processing. The last long leg of our trip saw us dropped this bus stop in between the two sides of Maha Sarakham city at dawn. As it turns out, we aren’t moving back to the states just now. Mina has come back to Thailand; she missed her friends here. I have many tales to tell.
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Blue vs Red Kapom/Gapom Species
No photos here, just a link to a 13 year old post I updated about some local lizard species which are called the same thing in Thai/Isan languages: กะปอม/กิ้งก่า), but ended up being distinct species with different common names: Oriental garden lizard (Calotes versicolor) vs. Calotes mystaceus (the Indo-Chinese forest lizard). For the sake of posterity, I hereby shorten their names to Bob(s) and Dan(s). Bobs are the red ones, Dans are the blue ones (did you know that roughly 75% of people on social media would have used apostrophes to indicate plurality in that sentence?) Update: Uh oh, there are Emmas (green when mating) in Thailand as well: Calotes…
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Building 4 at RMU
The whole country is flooding from the heavy rains of the past week (a result of Typhoon Noru which had a completely different name in the heavily ravaged Philippines), but we are safe so far. Usually, our neighborhood floods when there’s heavy rains, but the drainage systems just in our immediate area have worked well this time around. There’s supposed to be more opening of floodgates upriver (mainly at the Ubolrat Dam in Khon Kaen) in the coming week, so it may get worse. For now, there are a lot of volunteers filling sandbags in preparation of more rain and rising rivers. My students coworkers haven’t lost their sense of…
