The one where I got cold in Thailand

It’s cold season in Thailand.  At least once a day someone asks me ‘nao mai?’ (are you cold?) and my answer is always no, with a smile.  I explain that ‘cold season’ in Thailand is like my summers in America - the weather is perfect and I love cold season.  Students come to school with jackets and long sleeves under their school uniforms.  I see people in the community putting on scarves and hats and wearing what look like winter coats.  They think it’s funny that I still walk around in short sleeves with no coat on.  They laugh at me and discuss the fact that the farang isn’t cold yet.  My office building, the local government administration building, recently held a meeting to pass out bundles of blankets to village representatives to distribute to people in their communities to keep warm. It was a lot of blankets, and most people receiving them were dressed in coats and hats.  It's funny to think about Thai people getting cold when it's 75 degrees outside. 

Then today it got cold.  It hasn’t rained in quite a while here, and last night I heard sounds of torrential downpours outside my open windows.  I’ve been wanting rain and appreciated the sound.  This morning I put on pants and my one long sleeve shirt, thinking it’d be a little cooler with the continuous drizzle I noticed outside.  I grabbed my rain coat as I headed out on my bike, mostly so I wouldn’t get wet on the short ride to my Monday school (not because of the cold).  I still haven’t taken my coat off.  When the teachers commented on the weather I finally agreed with them that yes, it was cold.  I checked the temperature and it was 63 degrees.  I looked at temperatures around Thailand, expecting I might see similar numbers, but Bangkok was at least 20 degrees warmer.  My barefoot toes have been cold all day.  I’ve blown on my hands a few times to warm them up.  At lunch time I was told we were going home to eat.  We usually eat lunch under a little pavilion outside at the school, but today they said it was too cold for that.  I went home with the teacher I live with and we ate hot soup with rice and then had hot coffee afterwards.  On the drive back to school I noticed people bundled up outside and a few fires lit under roofs to keep warm.  I got a little concerned about my own wardrobe, as it’s not really suitable to keep me very warm (I never thought that’d be much of a concern here, but living further north is teaching me otherwise).  I’ve had thoughts all day of going home and getting under the covers in my bed and keeping warm the rest of the day.  I haven’t felt like that in almost a year, and it’s a welcomed experience.  It might not last long and before I know it I’ll be sweating uncontrollably again as hot season approaches, but for right now I’m enjoying being cold in Thailand.