Football and Bugs

The past two days have been a little crazy so I figure it's best to split my jaw-dropping narrative into two post. Friday was a long day that started with laundry followed by class from 9 to 11 then another class from 1:30 to 4:30. Our ill-planned Frisbee game turned out better than expected with a full field match of 6 on 6. The evening turned into a gender specific affair with all the girls going to dinner in Bangkok followed by the much awaited movie version of everyone's favorite HBO hit. Sadly I'm not talking about "Curb Your Enthusiasm". For us three guys we had manly plans involving sports, beer, and meat on sticks.

The Euro 2008 tournament is currently in progress and the two matches for the night were Italy vs. Romania at 11 PM then Netherlands vs. France at 1:45 AM. We went into downtown Bangkok with our Thai friends and some other Americans working at a school nearby. The venue for watching the first game was an outdoor tent (maybe 150 ft by 400 ft) with a big screen TV. Luckily the game was a draw, but perhaps the most interesting part of the game was the "food".

I'd seen some fried bugs before and figured that I'd keep putting off trying them if I didn't get them sometime soon. Why not now? I mean, what could go wrong with Thai insects cooked by semi-toothless on a grill that, well, I couldn't actually see any grill. I just had to go on faith that they were cooked. I went for the bug bonanza which was a mix of worms, grasshoppers, and one mantis. The result? A little crunch and a something new to check of the list. Plus a little more protein than usual.

Following the first game we headed out to another spot to watch the Netherlands vs. France game that the French would've just been better off surrendering at the start. It wouldn't have been a surprise and it would've saved everyone two hours of their time. The end of the night saw a cab ride back to the dorms at 4 AM and me displaying my recently developed climbing skills to hop the front gate. I'm sure the guard was a little surprised to see me walking up to him from a closed 10 foot gate, but given my lack of knowledge of the Thai language prevented me from answering his questions. Just a quick "sawatdee krup" and I was on my way.