Showerheads.

I didn’t post anything for Thanksgiving, so in the spirit of gratitude, this post.

I just got back from a 12-day vacation in the Philippines. I am very grateful to have had that time with my mom and family there. It was full of reunions. With my two aunts and three cousins who live in the States and flew over with my mom. With my two uncles and aunt and cousins who live in Manila. With my 4-year-old cousin Jia whom I met for the first time on this trip! With my cousin Joanne who lives in my mom’s hometown of Hagonoy. With my mom’s cousins and family from her mom’s side who also live in Hagonoy. With my mom’s high school friends – they had a big reunion at their old high school, class of 1975! With my mom’s college friends. I’m so lucky to have such a big family in the Philippines!

It was a very full trip. I went to a beauty pageant. I saw the musical “The King and I” on stage. I got my teeth cleaned at the dentist. I went to my Uncle Eddie’s burial (there was a funeral back in California that I missed because I was in Malaysia, now he’s interred in the Philippines, at his family’s cemetery). I ate a lot of delicious Filipino food that I haven’t had in years. I ate an amazing soy burger. I went to Tagaytay to see Taal Lake and the volcano. I ate a lot of halo halo. I stayed in a hotel penthouse with my mom and her high school friends. I Skyped my dad and sister in California. I went to the mall. So full!

I’m so very grateful for my mom’s and family’s generosity. I really loved being with all of them.

Now I’m back in Thailand. Yesterday on the hour-long bus ride from the airport to my town, I chatted with an American gentleman coming to visit his daughter, who now resides in Laos. He gave me her number for when I make a visa trip to Laos at the end of December – I’m very grateful for that contact because I will probably go alone. Then I was very grateful to be back here in my quiet farm town! To be back in my little room, in my house with my two housemates. I had such a sweet welcome from my community here. And I arrived just in time for Nonnie’s fifth birthday dinner! Nothing better than coming home after travelling to good people and good food.

To top off my homecoming, today was the King’s birthday, which means it was Father’s Day, which means that it was a holiday! I was very grateful to sleep in today – I slept about 12 hours! Then I spent the day working on some craft projects, watching “Shark Night” (terrible but perfect for a lazy day), and hanging out with Kia and Katrine. At one point during the day, after hanging my laundry, I walked back to my room which I was in the process of reorganizing and I had this very settled and happy feeling of really being home. I felt, yea, I do belong here. It was a really nice feeling.

Last thanksgiving I’ll offer in this entry: for community and for my showerhead! To preface this anecdote, some background info. When I first arrived, Antonia suggested that I keep a container in my bathroom filled with water, for when water gets shut off all throughout town, which she said happens at certain times in the year. I never got around to getting such a container, but when the water shut-off finally occurred, maybe a month and a half ago, it wasn’t too big of a deal because the water came back later in the day. However, after that, the water pressure in my shower just wasn’t what it used to be (which was actually pretty good). Since the water shut-off and lack of pressure were caused by a general lack of water pressure and low rainfall, I just showered with my showerhead as per usual, even though it took forever to wash my hair out (I could have switched to bucket baths of course, but honestly I just felt too lazy to do that). But finally after a couple weeks of this, the water pressure became just a dribble. So, I did the next best thing…I started using the nozzle (on a short hose) next to my toilet, which continued to have really amazing pressure, even better than my showerhead ever had. In Thailand, there are two preferred styles of cleaning yourself after using the toilet: toilet paper or the water nozzle. I like having the hose in my bathroom because I use it to clean (I don’t have an enclosed shower which makes it even easier). Well, for the last month, I was also grateful to have the hose because it made showering much faster.

When I arrived back yesterday, I was told that Nongkhai had gotten more rain than usual over the last couple weeks. I was excited to hear this because I thought maybe my shower would be back to normal pressure. But when I tried it later, I was disappointed to see that it was worse than ever.

Then, some valuable information came my way. When I mentioned my disappointment to Kia this morning, she told me that our Thai coworker Perm Sak showed her how to use a needle to clear the showerhead of calcium deposits! She said after she did that, her shower was back to normal and it was so nice again. When it was time to shower again tonight, I cleared out the calcium (I’m such a volunteer – I actually wondered if it was the same kind of calcium the human body needs and if I could ingest that kind of calcium should I require it) and lo and behold! I have my water pressure back! Still didn’t have hot water, but I was so happy I grinned through my whole shower. Thank you Perm Sak, Kia, and safety pins. I’m so excited to take my showerhead shower tomorrow again J