to bling, or not to bling

I've never seen a Thai woman wearing a wedding ring. It's not because they don't have them; they do, at least in Bangkok. But women here are afraid to wear their bling. According to Nummon, there are many thieves.

I left my nice jewelry at home for just that reason, but I haven't had any problems with pickpocketing or robbery. I've never felt it was a threat. Then again, maybe that's because I'm not waving several carats of precious stone around.

Nummon only wears her wedding ring at her house. To us, this seemed kind of backwards. Mariela said the point of wearing the ring is to let others know you're married. Why wear it at home?

One of the other Thai teachers, Sutima, took her jewelry with her on a trip to visit her family months ago. There, her wedding rings and some other pieces were stolen. Her cousin "found" a bracelet that had been with the rings, so Sutima was suspicious.

Her mother visited last week and brought the rings. She said they'd been found in the room Sutima stayed in on her visit -- a room she and her husband had turned upside down searching.

She said, "I never want to wear them again! I just want to put them in front of my Buddha and leave them there [for protection]."

Maybe I'm too practical, but if I were that paranoid about my jewelry, I would ask my husband not to buy it in the first place. How about a lifetime subscription to a gourmet-chocolate-of-the-month club instead? That's true love.

love and marriage

I was talking tonight with a mom I tutor for and weddings came up. She said Thais invite everyone they know to their weddings, including coworkers. The average guest list is around 1,000 people.

I can't imagine trying to pay for a soiree like that. But she told me receptions here are more like cocktail parties, since you'd have to sell a kidney to fund a sit-down meal for 1,000 guests.

This mom also said a law was recently passed here saying that women are no longer required to take their husband's last name. She told me more women are opting to keep their last names since the divorce rate is so high (around 50%, like the U.S.). Women don't want to go through the hassle of changing their names, just in case it doesn't work out.

Seems to me you're doomed from the start if you take that attitude.

christ church

I think Mariela and I will stick with Christ Church. She's figured out the right buses to ride so that we don't get stuck walking for an hour in the heat to get home every week.

Since our first Sunday morning there, we've learned that you shouldn't always wait for a free bus. They don't come frequently enough, and the next level of bus only costs 6.50, which is about 20 cents. We took non-air con bus 77 home today, and we were the only farangs on the thing. I really enjoy riding the bus, actually. It makes me feel less like an outsider and more like someone who lives here.

I think I've adjusted.

Tonight, I sat on my balcony toward dusk reading The Brothers Karamazov and eating rambutan. It was breezy and cool and I looked up at the sky and out over the trees and rusty corrugated metal rooftops below and sighed. Contentment is certainly a good feeling.

Sometimes I forget I'm here, though. Yesterday I stayed in bed because I have a cold. I must confess that I spent nearly the entire day looking at wedding Web sites. With Mariela talking about getting her dress made here, it's impossible not to catch wedding fever.

Anyway, last night I was lying in bed, thinking about wedding dresses. I got the urge to go to my mom's closet and put on my huge, white, poofy gown from floorshow my senior year of high school, and then I remembered that I was in Thailand.