Khun DanDam, Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Nang Rong Falls, Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Thailand is so beautiful.

Long story short, it was great.  I loved the falls, the scenery, the mountains, our Thai family (yes, I call them family as we’ve connected so well and they have done so much to care for us already), and just everything that we did today.

Another thing I hold in common with them is a love for food.  Yep, the matriarch of the family (3 generations live in one house) enjoys cooking, and all of them very much enjoy eating.  Fabulous, no?  Every time we have a meal together, they bring (or order) us new things to try, as well as remember our favorite foods.  (And, I often return favors with baked goods, knowing they’ll enjoy it!).  Today was no different – as we went from the tree vendors to the falls, our friends told us to pull over so they could buy us a roadside snack.

All along the road (as is the case pretty much anywhere in Thailand) were little stalls and cabana-type structures hawking roasted meats, veggies, fruits, salads, and snacks.  The one we stopped at was selling something called ข้าวหลาม – khaaw laam.  Fortunately for you guys, I remembered to take a photo halfway through munching in the car.

It’s really a simple snack – sticky rice roasted over a fire or coals in a piece of hollowed out bamboo.  The rice is usually mixed with some sugar, coconut cream and sometimes black beans (like mine) or sesame before being roasted.  You can eat it hot right when you buy it or take it home, pop in the fridge, and eat it later cold.   Yum.

P.S.  In case you were wondering what we had for our picnic at the waterfall, we had perhaps my favorite meal in Thailand – som tam and roasted chicken.  This combination of food is to Thai picnics what burgers, hot dogs, and potato salad are to American barbecues.

… and Brook feasted on a couple of chicken feet.  Blergh.

We moved.

No longer residents of Lopburi, Thailand… now citizens of greater Bangkok.  And, it’s wonderful.  Seriously wonderful.  I honestly can’t begin to describe to all of you just how spectacular and refreshing this change of location, change of home, change of lifestyle has been for the two of us.  It is nothing short of a blessing, and that’s really the best way to put it.  After all of the struggles with noise, dirt, mold, allergies, lack of basic conveniences (a flushing toilet, for example), health problems, stress, unfriendly (and rather scary) street, living beside people who wanted absolutely nothing to do with us, etc……. we are now living in a whole new world.

I feel normal again.  Well, as normal as is possible being an American girl living in Thailand, of course.  But really, after living in the country for a year, it does feel normal.  I sometimes wonder now how weird it will feel the first time we return to the States.  Hmmm.

In front of our new house, before going out on my birthday.

Anyways, since I don’t have a bunch of pics ready to post online yet (since we just got our internet hooked up in the last day or so), I figured I’d just list off a few of the things I’m really thankful for in our new home.  It’s true, I’m no longer calling where we live our “house”… no, this place is worthy of being called our home.

• 2 real, self-flushing toilets (yes, we have 2!)
• a bathtub (a rare find in Thailand)
• a separate shower area upstairs
• a patio behind the house where I can do laundry and cook
• an automatic washing machine, with a big metal rack to dry clothes in the sunshine
• my own oven/stove (outside to keep the house cooler)
• a corner lot that actually has a little bit of yard
• a couch to sit on
• trees!
• windows on every single wall (we only had one in Lopburi)
• complete floors in every room (meaning no broken tiles, no missing chunks of wood)
• space for visitors (hint, hint!)
• a corner lot that enable us to be quite visible to neighbors, giving us the opportunity to make friends
• lots of neighbors that are willing to talk to us
• loudspeakers that broadcast weekly community announcements, which are always preceded by 5 minutes of 1940′s swanky night club style music, then closed out with more music that sounds like the end of an old-timey radio show
• birds in our trees
• quietness
• the ability to begin sleeping again
• a functional a/c wall unit in our bedroom and office
• a functional kitchen nook (one wall of our living room) with cabinets and a countertop!
• a gracious, friendly landlord
• no fluorescent tube lighting in the house  :)  (it’s all cans or circle fluorescents)
• a corner lot that happens to be where the kids play after school every day
• a little house-front vegetable stand (that sells flour, too!) in our “village”
• when riding my bike to the vegetable stand, a few people already call to me by name to say hello
• being able to actually hear the crickets at night, rather than booming clubs
• … and so much more!

Now that we’re just about finished with all of the work that goes into setting up a home from nothing (literally, we moved here with clothes, computers, and a few small items), it’s time to get back to language study, meeting new people, and learning just how we can reach out to the community around us.  I can already envision so much good here.  In the past few days, we’ve had 3 women from down the road either walk or ride their bicycles down to chat with us while we did work on our yard.  We’ve had conversations with the older couple who lives across the street, and talked to a lady a few houses down about her plants and what she thinks we should do with our yard.  The kids that play on our street corner finally got up the courage to speak to us and invited Brook to play some badminton, while I brought out fresh chocolate chip cookies to feed them at the beginning of the week… and, they came back this afternoon, rang our bell, and asked if Brook could come out again to play!

Have I mentioned yet how refreshing this change has been?  I’m beyond thankful.

After having talked with the teachers about preparing our final meal together and bringing it to them, rather than going out to a local restaurant, I had to figure out just what to make.  Seeing how the Thai palette is not the same as those of us from the States (or much of the Western world, for that matter), I needed to do some polling around to find out what each of the teachers like and dislike.  It seems that most basic Italian food goes over well in Thailand, as they are already accustomed to tomatoes and tomato-based sauces, they enjoy garlic, and pasta has become quite common over the past few decades.  Since I rather enjoy making Italian food, this was no biggie… but, just what would I make?  Lasagna.

A few of the ladies asked if I could make lasagna, and wanted me to make it the way they’ve seen it in pictures – not the way other foreigners have made it, or they way it is prepared in selected Thai restaurants.  They wanted the real stuff, unchaged for Thai tastes.  Little did they know, I LOVE making lasagna (my Nana’s recipe), and I’ve been looking for an excuse to splurge (cheese is expensive, both noodles and ricotta/cottage cheese very hard to find) on this meal for the past year.  Finally, I had a good reason!  (And time to pad the budget a bit, too.)

Since we were gone all day Monday working on our new house, I had to do some of the prep on Sunday – shredding the mozzarella, and peeling/dicing/stewing my own tomatoes with finely minced onion and herbs, since the canned variety isn’t available to me here.  Boy, did it smell good in here.  Having the most time consuming things finished already, I was able to get up early today, finish making the sauce, brown the meat, prep the cheesey layer, then assemble the lasagna for baking.  Check it out.

I gave myself an extra hour for cook time, just in case my wonky oven decided to do anything to ruin my day, and I’m glad I did.  The thicker material of my new dish (found it on sale in BKK – it’s real Corningware!), plus the inconsistent gas in my oven made it take about an extra 25 minutes.  Good thing I learned from past experience, eh?  While that was in the oven, I prepared a simple salad, a tray of veggies to add to the salad, made a dish of fresh garlic butter with parsley, and arranged a couple of thinly sliced baguette on a tray.  It all looked great, smelled great… and made my house about a billion degrees this morning!  But, I didn’t care.  I got to cook, and it worked, so I’m happy.

We sat down to lunch with all but one of our teachers today, and I had to keep focused in order to keep myself from tearing up while we ate.  These women really do work hard for us.  As I said yesterday, they put up with so many people messing up Thai, messing up culturally, asking the exact same questions over and over again… and they still manage to keep a smile on their faces.  They have incredible patience and such willing hearts to help us in learning this language and keep from making fools of ourselves.  Though the year hasn’t been easy, I am incredibly grateful for them and all they’ve invested in both Brook and I.  I really can’t say thank you enough.

Today was really fun.  And… they liked it!  Seriously, most had seconds, and some even went for thirds!  If you’ve ever lived in a foreign country, and if you’ve ever tried to cook for your national friends, you know what kind of accomplishment that is.  I loved listening to them chattering away about how they liked it, and how pretty it was (yes, they noticed my meticulous layering as every slice of lasagna came out of the pan – my momma taught me well!).  Even when unwrapping the tray of bread, another said how impressed she was that I had fanned the slices out so neatly around the cup of butter – it’s those little things that count, ya know?  That’s the kind of stuff that makes it special, and I think they noticed.  I know, I know, I should have taken a picture of everything, but I didn’t remember to do so until it was mostly gone.

I really hope they felt appreciated today, because I would not be where I am without them.

By finishing up our first year at the language center here in Lopburi, we’ve moved up a level in our Thai language abilities… so much that we no longer need to study in a designated center, with designated teachers. This means we won’t be seeing the women we’ve come to know and love every day anymore. That, to me, is a little bit sad. These ladies work hard every day to teach all of us foreigners, who have no clue about anything compared to them, how to both speak the Thai language and adapt to the Thai culture. Do you have any idea how much patience they must have to put up with years and years, rounds and rounds, of these non-Thais coming through asking the same questions, making the same stupid mistakes, and all around generally failing at life? :)

They are wonderful, and I believe they really don’t hear it enough.

So, what are we going to do about this? We have been told that it is tradition that when each student or family is ready to move on, they take the teachers out for lunch together as a final sort of thank you/farewell party. This, however, is usually rather quick as their lunch break is only about an hour and a half long. It always seems rushed, someone else has to arrange for transportation, another has to decide where they will go and call ahead, and so on. This got me thinking…

Hmmm… I love to cook. These women love to eat. They know I love to cook, and seem to enjoy every time I’ve brought in treats to share with them. I am already finished with my classes and have a whole morning free on Tuesday (the day before Brook’s final exams, thus making us both completely finished at the center). Hmmm… if we were to bring lunch to them at the center, that would free up more time to spend with each other in a quieter setting and take away the stress of transportation. Hmmm…

So, yes, tomorrow I will be blogging about the lunch we shared for Tasty Tuesday. :)

But, what does this have to do with today’s post? I’ve decided it would be good for us to leave something other than bellies full of food behind. Some kind of gift that’s not too big, not too small, and has a little bit of heart in it. When thinking about the teachers and what type of things they like, I realized how much they all seem to enjoy decorating their offices with cute stuff… flowers, plants, posters, stickers, cartoon character things, etc. Then, I came across this idea online.  Perfect! 

So, I made a bundle of these flowers in two patterns I thought they would like.  Then, I made a big batch of Lime Meltaway cookies (to come later via Tasty Tuesday’s as well!), which they had all enjoyed the last time I brought them in.

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Put the cookies in little bags…  staple them shut…  tie on a flower…  and, ta-da!  I know it’s not the most beautiful or extravagant thing ever, but it’s entirely homemade – that counts for a lot over here in Thailand.  I hope the ladies not only enjoy their cookies, but will remember us each time they see the flower on their desk, hanging on their bulletin board, or whatever they decide to do with it in each of their offices.

The craziest thing about this – aside from the fact that I can now read and write a completely foreign script, and speak enough Thai to be mostly independent in everyday life, as well as hold my own in general conversation all in a totally new, totally tone-dependent language – is that it means we’ve been living in Thailand just short of a year already.  We arrived in-country July 29th (crazy enough, my dad’s birthday), last year – 2009.

It’s been a year since we’ve been able to hold onto or see either side of our families in person.  It’s been a year since I’ve eaten cottage cheese (I used to eat it like every day).  It’s been a year since I’ve seen a field of corn or soybeans, seen a proper cow, or witnessed a traffic jam in the suburbs of Chicago.  It’s been a year since I’ve experienced an actual change in seasons.

That’s just crazy.

So, what is it that I’ve spent the last year doing?  Studying.  Lots and lots of studying.  Kinda weird, tough, and humbling to go from being the one teaching others for a few years back to being a student.  And, even at that, being like a pre-schooler.  During the course of my studies at the center here in Lopburi, I’ve gone through 9 learning modules:

• 1-3 : basic survival Thai (numbers, colors, days of the week, etc.) written in English phonetics.
• 4 : the writing module, where I learned to read and write the Thai script (because all modules after #4 are completely written in Thai!).
• 5 : how to carry out certain daily life tasks, with sample conversations on ordering a gas tank, reserving a hotel room, both giving and asking for directions, etc.
• 6 : Thai family structure, as well as cultural norms and traditions and how they’ve changed through the generations.
• 7 : easy Gospels unit where I studied 3 Bible storybooks which contained each of Jesus’ parables.
• 8 : self-study/ module out – I learned about kitchen terminology and Thai food with a woman from our community instead of a teacher at the school.
• 9 : Christian communications – learning how to use the high royal/religious vocabulary set for prayers, opening/closing church services, how to both read and explain passages from the Bible, how to tell stories for children (I drew the picture cards below to help me tell the Creation story during my exam), tell my own testimony, and explain why I came to Thailand.

I know there's no Day 7 card - I don't know what God looks like, so I obviously couldn't draw him resting!

After every module, every student has what we call a “check” – a one-hour oral exam with a teacher other than your own, and a language advisor writing down their evaluations as you speak.  Yesterday (Wednesday), I had my final check – Module 9.  It was crazy knowing this would be my last one while in residence at Lopburi.  It went alright, despite the fact that I’d not been able to sleep more than a total of 2.5 hours in the last couple of days, nor was I able to study as a result of some pretty crazy neighbors and their noise.  I guess that means I’ve truly learned the language, right?  If I can still speak it well enough to be understood and pass my exam, while unable to see straight, without studying, and feeling a massive beating headache… I’d say my progress is just dandy.  Yep.

After my final module check, then it was time for the big humdinger – the Year One exam.  Dun dun duuun.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!  I can’t really give you any details on what it was, or how it was carried out on here though.  The Year One exam needs to be kept secret so every student has an equal chance at displaying their true skill level.  I will tell you though, that it was comprised of both an oral exam and a one-hour writing session.  I actually thought they were both kind of fun.  Yeah, I just said an exam was fun.  And, you’ll just have to take my word for it, since I can’t tell you what I did!  In all seriousness, part of the fun came from the fact that I felt like I’d truly accomplished something.

Halfway through Mod 9 - is my handwriting neat enough?

Brook doesn’t have his last set of exams (same ones I did) until next Wednesday, the 7th.  So, what am I doing in the meantime?  Packing, chilling, and doing lots of cleaning.  Why?  Because now that we’re finished, we finally get to move out of Lopburi and get our lives started!  But, I’m not going to tell you any more about that yet… you have to wait at least another week until we move, and hopefully get the internet all hooked up at our new house.  :)  All I’m sayin’ is we’re headed to Bangkok, and I love the house.

Today was full of final classes, tonight full of studying (from which I am taking a short break to write this and eat a bowl of Carnation brand almond ice cream) for my module 9 (Christian communication) and final Year-One exams tomorrow.  Then, it’s a week of cleaning, packing, and seeing everyone and their brother for the next week while the Mr. completes his studies and exams (ending Wednesday, July 7th)… final Fellowship Group meeting next Wednesday night… and then we move the 8th!  Is your head spinning from that?  Again, I say whoa.

So, here we are chatting about food.  That makes me happier than studying books of course.  So, what will I introduce you to this week?  Jackfruit.  Why?  Because our new house (oh, how I LOVE to say that!) has its very own little – well, quite big, actually – jackfruit tree at the back corner of your yard.  (Yes, we have a yard, too!  Ok, I’ll stop – you have to wait until we move for more info.)

Here's a whole jackfruit.

Jackfruit are thought to be the largest of all tree-grown fruits in the world.  Depending on location and climate, this fruit can reach up to 80 pounds in weight, 20 inches in diameter, and 36 inches in length!  It has a bumpy green exterior and tends to grow low on the tree.  When opened, the fruit emits a fragrance similar to a blend of pineapples and bananas.  However, I’ve been told that if the fruit ripens and is left unopened, it will begin to smell like rotting onions until cracked open and the smell of its interior flesh can take over.  Eeew.  We’ll have to see how this works out with our own tree.

Jackfruit pods

So, what part of the jackfruit do you actually eat?  Every football-shaped jackfruit can contain between 100-500 seeds (depending on the size of your fruit) with fleshy pods or bulbs surrounding each one.  The pods are a canary yellow in color, and tend to have a crisp, slightly sweet texture.  I seem to think it tastes similar to a tart, not quite yet ripened banana.  Depending on ripeness, it may even make your teeth squeak when you bite into it, so if certain food textures or sensations give you the heebie jeebies, you may want to steer clear of this particular snack.

As with many things in Asia, every part that can be used of both this fruit and the tree it comes from will be used.  The large seeds found inside of each bulb can be boiled and eaten similar to a chestnut.  The bulbs themselves can be eaten raw as a fruit, boiled or stewed in curries, or (due to it’s texture being similar to cooked chicken) used as a vegetarian meat substitute in certain Thai dishes.  Its leaves are used for wrapping different types of foods, and making containers for small items.  The wood of the jackfruit tree is quite lovely in color and is used in making certain Southeast Asian musical instruments, as well as furniture and certain housing elements in India.  Also, the wood can also be used to create a deep golden colored dye for ceremonial clothes worn by monks.  They really do use every part of the tree.

Sadly, I doubt you’ll be able to find jackfruit in your local market or grocery store, as there are only a handful of trees located in Southern Florida, and a few more in the Asian exhibit at the San Diego zoo.  Looks like you’ll just have to come visit me in Thailand, and eat them from MY tree!  :)

I promise this looks yummier in person. We have funky fluorescent tube lights in our house.

If you know me well at all, then you know I love pretty much any type of salad, whether it goes on a sandwich or it’s the kind that’s all green and eaten with a fork.  I’m a rabbit by nature, and when it’s hot outside, I prefer to eat things that are chilled rather than hot and steamy.  What better way to end yet another day in the 100′s and full sun than with a cool, light, and refreshing supper of chicken salad croissants.  Mmmmm.

So, for this week’s Tasty Tuesday, I thought I’d share with you how I make my chicken salad here in Thailand.  There are certainly other variations that I use from time to time (like adding crushed pineapple, walnuts, or finely diced cucumber), but this has to be my most frequent recipe.  It’s a little bit sweet, a little bit tart, a wee bit salty, and has a nice light crunch.

Another thing you may already know is that I don’t really measure much when I’m preparing food.  I just kind of eyeball everything, and keep that amount in my mind for the next time I cook.  So, I’ll just tell you what I use (giving amounts when I actually know what they are) and let you take it from there, ok?  This recipe makes enough for about 6 medium sized croissants.  Here goes…

• 1 pkg. (8) chicken tenders or 3 chicken breasts, poached and shredded
• 3-4 stalks of celery, split and diced
• about half of a large yellow/white/red onion (whichever you like best!)
• a generous handful of RED grapes, seeded and split (green ones just don’t have the right sweetness)
• start with a few Tablespoons of mayo or Miracle Whip (I like the MW), then adjust it to however creamy you want it to be
• a few dashes of lemon juice
• salt and black pepper, to taste

Toss it all in a bowl, then let it chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  This will allow the chicken to soften up a bit, and the flavors will get the chance to blend nicely.  Sometimes, if the mood strikes, I’ll add a little bit of dried dill or some finely chopped walnuts to this recipe as well, but never both at the same time – something about their flavors just doesn’t mesh well with each other.

Enjoy!

Just after I was born.

With Father’s Day this weekend, of course I’ve been thinking about my dad again.  He’s not here for me to hug anymore.  Not here for me to say “Happy Father’s Day” to.  Not around for me to bake a cake or grill up some hamburgers for.  This is the 10th one since he’s been gone.  Kinda crazy to think about.

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So, in remembering my dad today, it made me think about this past April (the 20th being the 10 year anniversary of his death), and some of the realizations I came to that, frankly, I never saw before.  It was too hard for me to write about it then, so that’s why I waited until now.  Perhaps this is something you’ve already discovered, something you made the connection to a long time ago… or maybe you haven’t.  Either way, I want to share it with you because it’s become really important to me.

How many of you out there are either Christians yourselves or have observed Christian practices in a church or elsewhere?  You are probably familiar with the concept of Communion then, right?  Though it is practiced differently in some churches and religious circles, the premise remains the same: it is done in remembrance of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice which He made for us, with His own life, in payment for our sin.  We eat a piece of bread (cracker, wafer, etc.) and taste the wine (grape juice, etc.) as we think about this sacrifice and make a connection to Him yet again.  This is all done in reverence and with love.  (Or at least it should be.)

Every year, on the anniversary of my Dad’s death (April 20) and his birthday (July 29), I eat a special meal and I think about him.  He was sick for my entire memorable life (he came ill when I was still very small), and though I didn’t get to know him as well as I wish I could have, there were times when he was able to outshine the disease that held him captive – and it’s those memories that I hold onto.  One thing I remember enjoying with him was egg salad sandwiches.  My mom also tells me that when she and him were dating, he also liked to have Lime Jell-O with pears in it and make the meal a picnic.  So, what is it that I eat for lunch and/or dinner now on these special days?  You got it – egg salad sandwiches, and Jell-O (though not as easy to find now in Thailand).

It really is important to me to do this, as it helps me feel some sort of connection to the father that’s no longer here with me.  It gives me the chance to think about him (not that I don’t already, most every day), and bring back his memory in a tangible way.  It reminds me of the love I had for him while he was around, lets me think about the struggles he had to overcome with his health all those years, and allows me to miss him in a non-depressing sort of way.  I do everything I can to make sure it happens every year, and I look forward to it.

It wasn’t until standing in church at the end of April (this year), not long after having my traditional meal a week or two before, that I finally had a sort of epiphany, if you will…  you see, I’ve always taken and understood Communion, but this time I connected with it in a different way.  After all, how was this bread and juice, mixed with Scripture readings and prayer, any different from what I do for my own Dad 2 times a year?  It’s taking something we have, and using it to remember someone we love in a tangible way – the same way every single time, and on a regular basis.  I don’t know if I make any sense to anyone other than myself on this, but all I know is that I feel like I understand the meaning behind this practice in church a little bit better, and I think it hits just a little bit deeper for me now.  What I don’t understand is why I’ve never made this connection before now… maybe the timing was meant for me to be in Thailand, separated from everyone else I know, before I could really understand what everything is all about.

I duno… just thinkin’.

** Oh, and the title picture for this post on the main page is actually a picture my Dad took of himself taking a picture, in a mirror.  :) **

As I opened the door and stepped outside to head for classes this morning, apparently, a snake took that as his invitation to come inside.  I have no clue where it came from, I didn’t see it at all… but, Brook did.  Not more than 2 steps out the door, he hollered to me that a snake had just come in the house.  What?!  No way!  I didn’t see anything of the sort.  Thinking perhaps it was a ball of dust, or a stray thread falling from our curtains, I asked him repeatedly if he was sure (while remaining briefly outside the threshold of the door, of course)…

We both got down on our hands and knees (after I decided to come back inside) looking under the bench, the desk, the book shelf in the corner… and nothing to be found.  He was sure he saw a bright green snake slither in past me, and we were determined to find it.  5 minutes later, he saw it under the bookshelf in the corner.  So, with him keeping an eye on the creature, I ran to get a my heaviest pot to use to smash its head.  You see, at this point, we didn’t know if it was poisonous or not – so, we figured killing it and getting the chance to examine closer after it was no longer moving would be the best course of action.  After all, only a few months ago, friends of ours just across town discovered a big bad cobra in their kitchen.  (They lived on the edge of a rice paddy, so not a huge surprise… but, still unexpected!)

Anyways, it kept playing hide-n-seek for nearly 20 minutes, before it decided to come out from under Brook’s camera bag (on the lowest shelf of the book rack) and climb straight up the wall.  Wait a second.  What?!  YES, this snake slithered straight up a sheer, smooth, painted wall with little to no effort at all.  I have NEVER seen anything like it in my life!  It was frightening and awe-inspiring all at the same time.  After making its way up to the top of the window frame, it lifted its head and first several inches of its body off of the wall as it poked around the window looking for an opening, I assume.

That’s when my hero made his move, knocking the serpent in the head with the crooked handle of my big umbrella.  Just the right length to reach it, and heavy enough to knock it senseless to the ground.  Once on the ground, Brook (my aforementioned hero) finished him off quickly with the umbrella, and I stood there watching in amazement as the body continued to writhe, curl, extend, and slither on its own after it was already done for.  Snakes are beautiful creatures, yes… but also very dangerous, and we couldn’t take that chance.

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Here it is, the freakishly long, skinny, bright green creature that invaded my home this morning, after being immobilized permanently.  I was sure to take a few photos so we could later identify just what type of snake it was without having to keep it in the house.  (And, I believe the tiles on our floor are 6-inch squares, if that helps you visualize at all.)

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We’ve come to learn via internet research and advice from fellow expats in Thailand that this is, in fact, a Golden Tree Snake – also called an Ornate Flying Snake.  Incredible creatures they are, they have the unique ability to climb straight up sheer surfaces (as witnessed this morning), as well as fling themselves in such a manner that they seem to fly from branch to branch among the treetops.  Also, we were relieved to find out that even though this particular snake is a member of the Viper family, its venom is so mild that it would not be harmful to humans.  Other than a painful bite and swollen limb, there would not be worse damage done.

I never enjoy the death of a fellow living creature, but as we weren’t sure of this particular one’s nature, it was the best option.  We know now for the future that we don’t need to worry about this type of snake, and that capturing it to release out somewhere else won’t be a dangerous operation.  Even though they scare the snot out of me, I do think snakes are beautiful creatures (especially when secured behind thick glass in a tank that has a tight-fitting lid).  Just Google this snake and look at the detail in its scales, the bright green color, and the black edging and bands on its body.  It’s really incredible!  (Even moreso when it’s not in my house… :)  )