So I guess this is our 15 minutes of fame

Clearly, Brian and I stick out. Not only are we the only white people within 100 mile radius of our little village Ban Kram (if not more), but we are also giants, hovering a good 4- 12 inches above everyone (Julie, we finally know how you feel, we literally have to bend over to talk to people) and we speak only english with a few Thai words in a funny accent. Little did we know that it was exactly this that would launch us into star status.

First, it started with the yelling. A lot of "Hello," "How are you?"Brion," or "Breeget." We thought this was fun and we always yell back hello and ask students their name, even though only a brave few answer.

Then one day Brian and I sat outside at one of the tables at school and a small group of girls from another table started talking to us. Suddenly, they were at our table and then just as quickly we were surrounded by about 50 students. They started throwing paper and pens at us and asked us to sign our name. But not just our names, they wanted us to write "My name is." It was insane. Pieces of paper torn from text books or other little scraps thrown in front of us for our autograph.

Then people started drawing pictures of us and giving them to us. First, one of the girls in the house we were living in with the English teacher P'Ray and her family drew pictures of me and wrote in Thai that I was beautiful (once again, I had to believe P'Ray on this one, it really could say anything). She then drew a picture of Brian, her and me with a house in the background. P'Ray explained that this girl was not in fact her daughter, but that both of her parents had died and that she had just taken her in. She said that the picture said that she would like for Brian and I to be her parents. It was one of the hardest moments we have had so far in terms of realizing the suffering of some of these kids, in the poorest part of Thailand. On a lighter note, we also received a portrait drawn of Brian and I from these three girls that take us to lunch everyday in the canteen. Written at the top in English was " When you leave, I will miss you forever, I promise. Love forever." Rather intense seeing that this was given to us after sharing only two lunches with these girls (they have since requested a photo of Brian and I for them to keep).

Our fame recently reached new heights when we spent a weekend in Ubon Ratchathani for the Candle Festival there. This is one of the biggest festivals in Thailand celebrating the Buddhist monks and Ubon holds the largest parade/party of all. When we arrived at the parade we took our place near some of these giant floats made of wax that were candles to be offered at the temple. Within the first 30 minutes, 3 random Thai people had asked to take a photo with us. Then it became a regular thing. Either we would catch people taking photos from across the street or people would ask to take photos with us about every 5 minutes. Then as the day progressed and we started walking around, people would line up waiting to ask us questions (practicing their English) and then they would take a photo. At one point we were surrounded by about 15 Thai people and their was this father who started grabbing at our arms saying "my son wants to take a picture with you." It was crazy and honestly really exhausting. By the end of the day we were trying to cover our faces just to get out of there and people still chased after us. Brian said that now he can see why celebrities get so fed up with photographers, but we decided if we were making millions of dollars, we may have less of a problem with it.

When we return, if you could treat us like mini celebrities, that would REALLY make the transition easier. Thanks! B&B