Eating Pad Thai: Discovering the crazy streets of Ram 2

You know there's that saying: "When it rains, it pours." If I may be so bold to say the opposite, "when it shines, it shines bright." And I'm saying this both literally and figuratively. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the days are steadily getting hotter, and every passing breeze is sanctuary from the humidity. Figuratevily speaking, the crazy streets of Ram 2 (Ramkhamaeng 2 - the neighborhood I live in in Bangkok), are shining brighter with the friendly, bright smiles of my neighbors. I mean, Thai people are nice, but seriously??? They are so overwhelmingly hospitable! The other day, I was rushing home from church so that I could change to play some volleyball with the university students when I ran into some of my students that I taught earlier in the day. They had a bag of mangoes with them and "Ploy" handed me a mango saying, "ma moo-ang!" I gladly accepted, and as she was handing me one, another gentlemen was telling her to give me more - I gladly accepted those as well! Woo hoo! free mangoes! I thanked the kids, I thanked the nice gentleman, and as I continued to rush home, a grandmother, who...whom...I greet every morning stopped me and gave me two MORE mangoes and she told me "Priow" (sour). I told her, "Aroi Mak!" (It's delicious!)...again, I attempted to rush home, and the grandmother ushered me across the street to the nice gentleman's home (meanwhile, the nice gentleman was yelling into his house telling his daughter to come downstairs) and he gave me a bagful of mangoes and told me that they are from his farm! I was drooling at the mouth...fresh fresh mangoes...love. His daughter came downstairs and she began speaking to me in English really well, explaining to me that the mangoes from her father's farm are sweet, while the mangoes the grandmother gave me are sour. Meanwhile, the grandmother was cutting up the mangoes, and gave me some to try with a mango dip which she forewarned, "pet" (spicy). I told her "chaup pet!" (I like spicy!). The mango dip tasted like tamarind, anchovies, shallots, fish sauce, and some other fun stuff. But it was really really good. I made friends with that household, eating fresh mangoes, trying mango dip (who knew there was such a thing!), and got the daughter's digits and I'm hoping we can hang out so that I can get me some more mangoes...haha..jk jk jk. She wants to learn more English and I told her I would help her.
:) ANYWAY...I finally made it home, changed as fast as my sweatiness would allow me, and made my way back down my neighborhood street...they all yelled "bbai exercise mai?" (going to exercise?)...haha, they're so cute!!!! I speed-walked down and came across my students again, sitting down on a porch of another man's house (who I also say hi to everyday), and I told them to have a nice dinner, and the nice man was telling me to sit down with them to eat!!! Hahaha...SO SWEET!
ahhhhhh...the crazy streets of Ram 2 - crazy crazy sweet. I love it.
Later in the evening, I ran into yet another friend named "Ray" at the night market. I didn't immediately know that she was there, but I recognized her dog, and so I popped my head into the store and saw that she owned one of the shops! So we got to talking...and she's such a sweet lady. She's currently taking language classes at the church so I get to see her on a weekly basis, although she isn't one of my students.
So yes...when it shines...it SHINES! :) LOVE!!!!

here are some pictures to update on these past weeks:

Rayong

as a university event, we went to plant trees at a marsh.

I've never done anything like that before and it was the coolest thing ever...

Saving the planet is fun stuff! Go Captain Planet!