A First Time for Everything

Today was a day of firsts. It started out with me finding my first mosquito bite....the first of many I'm sure. It's the dry season now and apparently come wet season, you can't tell the raindrops from mosquitos....care packages of deet anyone?

Tuk tuk - local taxi cabs....much safer than my motorbike or bicycle.

I am apartment hunting currently and thus have been doing more of that than work. So my assistant/translator took me on the back of his motorbike this morning to view a couple of places. Luckily traffic is light midday, I managed to keep my skirt out of the exhaust pipe, and my hands are only slightly sore from hanging on. Soon, my boss' son will be giving me motorbike lessons and then unleashing me on the road....that's a scary thought. Especially since I also managed to ride a bicycle home from work today and am thanking my lucky stars I'm still in one piece. Given the number of tourists on motorbikes and bicycles around here, I like to think the locals are use to them and give us farangs (foreigners) a wide birth.

I also had my first instance of helping tourists. A sweet couple from San Diego struggling to read the map and finding no help from the non-English speaking locals.  I talked them into visiting the COPE visitor center (my new place of employment)....which you should check out the website and maybe consider a donation to their wonderful cause :). http://www.copelaos.org/. It felt good to have the ability to help someone out and gave me a little boost since lately I am the stupid tourist making mistakes and looking silly.