Checking the Boxes/Minding the Gap: A Boring Life Update Post

Five days is probably not far from the average time most Westerners spend in Chiang Mai.  That’s how long we’ve been here now, and though we probably can’t check as many exotic-sounding items off our life-lists as the standard travelers, we haven’t been exactly idle. Without further ado, here is a list of eight mundane, yet important tasks central to acquainting oneself with a  new city in which one plans to live.

In five short days we have:

1. Checked in with our language school, established our schedules and start dates.

2. Toured several apartments before deciding on the one. Our meeting with the landlord is tomorrow to do all the paperwork and give the deposit. Writing about it gives me heebie-jeeby jinx anxiety, so I’m going to stop.

3. Realized that a motorbike or scooter is central to existence here. We rented one the other day, which Andy drove bravely through weekend mall-rush traffic and accidentally on a highway. We did not die.

4. Became oriented with the city. We now know where the touristy parts end, and the hip and functional parts of the city begin. We’ve also got the geography of the central city down pretty well–our maps have been left in the hotel for the past few days.

5. Found the cheap Thai megastore, and in it, an ATM that does not charge a fee beyond the Bank of America extortion.

6. Identified several banks with which we can potentially secure accounts on our non-immigrant, educational visas.

7. Tried out what will probably become our new home climbing gym.

8. Sorted out how laundry works in terms of reasonable costs and locations. Our first trial run went splendidly!

Throw in some sore tummies into the mix with what’s above, and we’ve not lead lives teeming with potential blog fodder. Dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s is useful, but also somewhat tedious. We’re hoping that by doing the legwork now, we will be able to live a little bit more fully in the next few weeks.