Weeks 5 and 6

Day 29: September 25:
The alarm went off and we hit the snooze. Sleep was much desired. We awoke to the phone ringing. It was Nui's mother. It was time for breakfast and we both still had to get up, shower, dress, and pack. We did so very quickly. We rushed down to breakfast, which most others had finished already. We quickly ate and loaded onto the bus. We had a very long ride ahead of us. Nui handed me one of her ear buds so I could listen to music with her. The first song she chose was a song by the A Teens. Who knew that a cheesy pre-teen chick song from the 90s could bring me such joy. It was windy and rainy as we wound our way through the narrow road making its way through the mountains. The trip reminded me much of our adventure in Italy, with our driver maneuvering our bus through the windy road leading us up that steep mountain. At times seeming as though the turns would be impossible without us toppling over and rolling down the cliffs, but we made it. This trip wasn't as intense as that, because the turns weren't as sharp, but we were going at a very fast speed, as always. Thais are crazy drivers.   We stopped for lunch along the way, but we mostly just slept until we reached the border. We all rushed off the bus for it was not actually parked, just pulled off to the side. We were then handed our passports and two copies of them, just in case. I was not sure at that moment just exactly what we were doing, but I heard the woman in charge say one hour, then Nui grabbed my hand and off we went into the crowd. Nui and I held hands for the majority of the time because it was so crowded and I did not want to be lost. After pushing our way through tourists, travelers, vendors, thieves, and beggars we made it to customs. I would rather have each of my finger- and toenails removed, one-by-one, with no anesthesia, than go through customs again. Lucky me I was able to go through twice to get into Myanmar. Oh joy. The first time, we payed money and they stamped my passport then sent us on our way. Nui's parents had gotten ahead of us and people quickly filled the gap like water between rocks. Just at that moment a man in a uniform shouted to us: "Excuse me! Come here please!" He indicated that we should go in a room through some curtain, we decided to wait outside until Nui's parents arrived. We then had to pay more money and they took my passport and gave me a card instead. They took my picture, printed it on the card, and told me to hand that in when I leave to get my passport back. I guess they are afraid that I will flee and not come back to Thailand. After being in Myanmar for one hour, that was the furthest thing from my mind.
The moment you step into Myanmar, you are flocked with beggars like a fry is flocked with pigeons on the streets of the city. The first word to describe this place in your mind will be dirty. The streets are littered with garbage and beggars. Everything is covered in dirt. Anything that was unwanted and cast aside now lays in the streets, including people and animals. We finally made our way down the dirt covered cement steps and into the "market". Anything there that was not fake was stolen, most of what was fake was probable stolen as well. You can't walk for more than five minutes without being harassed by someone desperately trying to sell over-priced junk to pay for their next meal. Not only adults, but children as well. Children who had been cast aside, unwanted, unable to be taken care of, like the many stray animals that roamed the streets, picking through garbage among the more desperate of the beggars. The most desperate lay down on the street, not even with a cup to accept any spare change someone is willing to give. Those are the ones who have given up hope and accepted their fate. This poverty is the reason the customs is so strict leaving Myanmar. Many people, in true desperation illegally immigrate from Myanmar into Thailand. These people are considered to be third-class citizens, but they are the ones who work the hardest. They do not care about getting caught, because they would just be sent back to their country, only to flee once more, and there is always work for them here. I have been there one hour and I would rather not go back. Thais flock there because everything is so cheap. The vendors are so desperate to have you buy what they are selling that they are willing to drop their prices to whatever you are willing to pay. When you think about more than just how great the prices are, it really is quite sad. We were finally done with Myanmar and began to head out. Leaving was just as hard is getting in. I had to go into a crowded room, show a man what I had bought, then try to get out again. It was like trying to swim upstream in a very strong current; nearly impossible. I finally made it out then had to go to another building to pick up my passport. After they confirmed that I actually was Courtney Yonce and not someone trying to impersonate me to leave that dreaded country, I received my passport. I was not done yet, oh no. I then had to wait in line, behind a bunch of foreigners here strictly to shop, to get my passport stamped to allow me back into the country. That was finally done and we had to rush through the crowd of people bustling about. The bus arrived and we piled back on with our new buys. We rode to a new hotel in Chiang Rai and had dinner.
After dinner was done, instead of going back to our rooms to sleep, we decided to go out to the markets. Unfortunately it was raining so we had to wait for a bit. When it finally stopped, Nui, her mother, and I set out. We went to many little shops and mostly just looked. Nui's mother bought herself and I matching anklets with bells that jingled as we walked. While we were roaming around this one strip in the market, I heard music that sounded familiar. I stopped an listened, then I realized a man was playing "Poor Boy" by Simon and Garfunkle. My heart soared at the sound of it. I don't think I had ever been happier on the whole trip. I sang along quietly as Nui and her mother shopped. We then went to an area where I could no longer hear the music, but that was quite alright because it was still playing in my mind and in my heart. On our way out, we heard him once again, this time playing "Tears in Heaven". We made a quick stop for ice cream at Swenson's, the best place to have ice cream. Ever. No joke. Their sundaes are absolutely divine. I have never had a more delicious sundae than the ones I have had at Swenson's. We went up to our rooms exhausted, and turned on the T.V. We watched soap operas for a bit before falling asleep.
Day 30: September 26:
We woke up earlier today so we would have time to shower and get ready but not have to rush. Breakfast today was a bit fancier than at the last hotel and with more options, such as waffles. However, there wasn't any of that delicious condensed milk they have on toast and to get coffee was too complicated for me to bother. After a hearty breakfast, we loaded all of our luggage and boarded the bus. It was very quiet for a few hours as everyone slept. The bus stopped across from a temple and we stepped, blinking, into the sun, wiping the sleep from our eyes. We were then herded across the street to the temple. So far, this was the most beautiful temple I have ever seen. It was called Wat Rong Khun (White Temple). The temple was completely white, to represent Lord Buddha's purity, and covered in mirrored mosaics. The temple is currently still under construction and isn't expected to be completed for about 90 years. Nearby the temple is an exhibited displaying the creators many beautiful paintings. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend visiting this temple. After we hustled back across the street, we piled back onto the bus and continued our long journey back home. We stopped for a few bathroom breaks and a quick lunch, then again for dinner. Dinner for me was Thai style noodles with balls of fish and various sauces. A-roy. And guess what, ladies and gentlemen, I ate my noodles with chopsticks this time. Yes, I have mastered the art of chopsticks. It was a little difficult at first, but I managed. I think I will be quite good at it in no time. We got back on the bus and I promptly fell asleep. I woke up just as we arrive to the Whale Hotel at 11:30 at night. I was absolutely exhausted and would have to get up early the next morning. Ugh.
Day 31: September 27:
I arrived to school at my normal time, ten till eight. My dance class didn't start until nine. Nick wasn't in yet, so I sat with Tina and told her about my weekend. I always enjoy swapping stories with Tina. Around 8:30 Nick arrived and one of the other teachers whisked me away to help one of her students study for the spelling bee. It turned out this very same student was also going to be in the dance with me. We went down to the dance room, but the teacher was not there so the other girls began teaching me the dance on their own. To say I am not very good at this would be the understatement of the millennium. I an awful, but they insist that I am good. "Chompoo rum Thai geng mak ma!" Which means "Chompoo Thai dances very well!" They are too kind. Around 10:30, we began to be very hungry. Faa, the girl I was helping study, and Muuk, Ajan Leck's daughter, brought me to go have lunch. They somehow managed to find a place for me that makes frozen mocha with Oreos in it. A kind of cold heaven in a flimsy plastic cup. Then we sat down to eat our kiao-pat gai. Soon two other girls joined us as well. Faa and I finished first so the two of us made our way back to the school. It was then that I decided to practice my Thai on her, because none of the girls know very much English, I have more opportunities to speak Thai. We had a very simple conversation about music, but the more I speak, the easier it is for me to understand and talk. The rest of the girls slowly trickled in and we turned on the cartoons. Much to my surprise Bleach was on, dubbed in Thai of course. I was so excited to sit there with those girls who were probably about 15 or 16 and just watch cartoons with them. Then our teacher arrived. Then we became serious, somewhat.
Day 32: September 28:
Today was my second day of dance practice. I didn't have to be at school until 9 am today. It felt good being able to sleep in for once. Yai couldn't make it to take me to school today though so I went with my dad and a driver. Practice was a little easier today because I knew most of the steps. Our teachers taught us more today and went through each of the steps one-by-one. We still have a lot of trouble with the ending though. After class I went to Ajan Leck's office and waited. My dad and Kung arrived in the little Suzuki to pick me up. We went out to lunch at the same place Kung and Fon took me my first day with them. This time I was significantly more relaxed and laughed as my dad chose to sit outside so he could watch the movie that was playing. We laughed even more as he pulled up a chair directly in front of the T.V. and stared, open-mouthed, at it.
Day 33: September 29:
Today was my third day of dance practice. Yai was unable to take me again so I went with just the driver. Our dance teacher decided to change the ending because we were having trouble with it. She said she wanted to mix American jazz dance with traditional Thai dance. It wasn't exactly jazz dancing, but it was fun. It was definitely easier than what we were originally doing. The driver picked me up after class and took me home.
Fon arrived and asked if I wanted to go with her, Kung, and her sister to take her father to the hospital. Of course I wanted to go! It was a bit of a drive, but that was quite alright. We mostly just waited in the waiting room, but Fon taught me more Thai while we were waiting. We ended up on the topic of hair, which mine was all over the place as always. I simply mentioned I needed a hair-cut and they agreed. Maybe I will get my hair cut here, who knows.
Day 34: September 30:
I had just finished my breakfast when Kung came into the room. She was all smiles when she said to me "We go to get hair cut! Want hair cut?" "OK!" I said and jumped up off the couch. We met with Fon in the other room and climbed into the little Suzuki. First we stopped at the bank to deposit some money for the factory, then we were back in the car again. We went down many side streets and pulled into this sketchy looking alley. We walked down a long line of hairdressers and went into one they knew. One of the hairdressers knew Fon by her first name; I knew I was in good hands here.As we waited for our turns, they had me look at the magazine full of many different hairstyles, but it wasn't too helpful. My host dad called us saying my school had called and I needed to be there at one. It was twelve at this point. Soon it was my turn and a quiet tall girl directed me to the sink to wash my hair. I think I spent more time having my hair washed than having it cut. It felt very good though. I was so relaxed I could almost sleep, but instead I talked with the girl, in Thai. It was another very simple conversation consisting of, "what's your name" "where are you from", "how old are you", "how long will you be in Thailand", etc. After my hair was and combed, I was directed to the cutting chair. They placed that black shawl around me an asked me how I wanted my hair to be styled. I showed her about where I wanted it and she began her cutting. Within moments my hair was shorter than it had ever been., Then she asked if I wanted bangs, I figured why not. Then began the long process of drying and styling my hair. This took even longer than the washing. By the time I was finished, I didn't even recognize myself. I was also very hungry, and beginning to be late. This man from down the street delivered kiao-pat and Fon and I ate while we waited for Kung to be finished. Then we raced into the car and quickly made our way to the school.
I was out of uniform with my new hair.At first no one recognized me, but there weren't any other farrang around, let alone any that would be in the dance, so they figured out it was me. They sat me down in a chair and proceeded to do my hair, again. Once that was done, I was brought to another chair among many other girls applying layers and layers of make up. One of my teachers came up to me and began applying my makeup. I sat there for about half hour as many others watched in excitement. They had never seen me with makeup before. As soon as that was finally over with, another girl lead me away to the dressing room, where she proceeded to dress me in my traditional Thai dress. I now know how a Barbie doll must feel. We still had quite a bit of time before our performance and we were all very hungry. Two other girls in my dance group went out and bought us all food. We ate slowly, all nervous and excited with anticipation for our dance. Then it was time. I have rock climbed up a steep cliff, I have waited on a starting block to swim 500 meters in a race, I have flown 29 hours on my own to meet a foreign family I would be spending ten months with, but I had never been so nervous in my life. As soon as we started, people rushed up to take pictures. I'm sure it was quite the site to see me, a very white girl, dressed in traditional Thai dress, among seven other Thai girls, doing a traditional Thai dance. To my surprise, I relaxed almost instantly and everything was all right. At one point in our dance, all the mothers came up to join us, and somehow poor Ajan Tina was roped into it. I could tell she was having fun. I was too. We were then presented with teddy bears by our teachers. Ah! Such a great gift! When we were finally finished I went down to meet with Fon, Kung, and my host mom. Of course they began taking tons of pictures, not only them, but others as well. Everyone always wants their picture taken with the farrang. My dance teacher found me amidst many people and rescued me from the pictures to go eat food. She had to make sure I ate. Before I even sat down she was piling food on my plate and another girl was pouring Dum yung  into my bowl. I ate quickly though because I was tired and antsy to go home. Fon and I went to the dance room and she helped me attempt to turn back into myself. We said hello to Finns dead then we were home free.
Day 35: October 1:
Today was one of my many lazy days. My dad came into the room and told me there would be a Rotary dinner at seven. It was a Saturday instead of the usual Monday, so I knew it must be something special. When I arrived I quickly learned that this wasn't as serious as I thought it was; when I noticed it was karaoke as well as dinner. I waied everyone and was seated between a teacher and the woman who is always feeding me at the meetings. They all were trying to convince me to go up and sing, and I was trying my best to explain to them that I actually couldn't sing. They found this little routine very entertaining. Each time a new person sat down at the table, usually a man because I was at the men table, they would ask me to sing, then the rest of the table would erupt into laughter and shouting, trying to convince me to get up there. Again, I would have to explain, each time louder, and each time would take longer. Of course, because this was a social event and they are Thai, there was drinking. As the night went on, they became happy and more talkative. One man decided that, since I wouldn't go up and sing, he would instead. He got up there and said: "This is for you Chompoo" and pointed to me. Then an old cheesy love song came on, one that I had never heard before. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight was the first time I had ever been serenaded to and it was by this silly Thai man who probably had no idea what he was singing, and that was quite alright with me. I have come to learn that the later the night goes on, the more they want to talk to me. All night people would rotate through my table. At first some would be hesitant to sit next to me, I think I scare them a bit, but after an encourage smile and "Sa-wat-dee kha" they relax and try to talk with me. We were originally going to go home at nine, but then it became ten, then ten-thirty. The man sitting next to me at the time, when my dad said: "sip na-tee" (ten  minutes), told me we may just end up staying all night. I was quite alright with this. I enjoyed being with them when they were relaxed and not worrying about the meeting. Not that they're not relaxed at the meetings, they are very, but I don't get to sit next to my club president while my dad jokes about him being my grandfather. Each rotary even I attend with my club makes them feel more and more like my family. We left a little after 10:30. I was exhausted on our ride home, but my dad was all smiles. "Poot Thai geng!" He announced just before a fit of giggles. My dad may be old, but he is still very young at heart. I think one could say the same about most Thais.
Day 36: October 2:
Today, Kung, my host sister, Fon, Kung close friend and my closest friends here, and my host mom took me to Kanchanaburi, which is a province in Thailand, a very big province about an hour away from my city. They first took me to walk on the Bridge over the Kwai River, which is famous because there was a movie named after it. It also used to be a part of the Death Railway back around WWII. It was absolutely beautiful, but very hot and it was going to rain, so we made that trip quick. We then headed further north to Wat Sua, Tiger Temple. Originally, there was just one tiger, it had been abandoned when his mother was killed by poachers, so a monk there took him in. It now is a famous tiger sanctuary. There building a "Tiger Island" where the tigers can roam around freely without harming anyone and still be taken care of. They have many tiger cubs and Kung, Fon, and I were able to pet one! It was so amazing! The tiger cub was basically sitting in my lap! It soon began to downpour, but that was after we left Wat Sua. Fon and I went back to her dads house because she had to do his medicine stuff. He is very sick, I think because of diabetes. It's causing him to have heart problems and it's hard for him to walk. Also his kidneys are failing so he has to be hooked up to an IV to clean his system for him. Asian culture is amazing. Fon and her sisters all take turns watching him, taking care of him, feeding him, and such. He sleeps on the couch in their living room and they put a bed in there too so who ever watches him at night is right there with him. I love Fon's family. They're all so nice and so much fun. Her oldest sister, who is 30, is a dentist and took me out to Vietnamese food the other day with her, her dad, her boyfriend, and Fon. She wants me to come over all the time so we can teach each other and just hang out. While we were at her house, I met her twin sister Fun. Her boyfriend was driving up the next day and they were going to go to Bangkok for their pre-anniversary and she wanted me to go with her. I told her I would and she was so excited to show me around and meet her boyfriend. We returned home around eight and met some of Kung's other friends there, Jept, Uun, and Kuk. Soon two of her other friends arrived with food. It was a nice night so we went up to their sort of patio on the roof. They sky was turning red, which meant rain. We quickly picked up the table and moved everything under a sort of roof that took up about a quarter of the roof. Sure enough, just after we moved, it began to downpour. We were up there until almost two in the morning just eating and talking. I never knew people who could eat so much, but it was so much fun. I went to bed absolutely exhausted.
Day 37: October 3:
I woke up around 10:30 today and headed downstairs. I was greeted by Fon with bags of food. Apparently no one else had gotten up yet. We went into the kitchen and put the food on plates. Breakfast today was Sump Tuum, roasted chicken on a stick, and sticky rice. Around 11 o'clock, Fun, Fon's twin sister, and her boyfriend, Aof arrived. I quickly finished eating and we piled into Aof's truck. I want to mention that Fon speaks the most English in her family, and it's not very much. Fun and Aof, her boyfriend, picked me up around 11 and we headed to Bangkok. First, though, we made a quick pit stop. We started driving down these random back roads and I had no idea where we were when we got out. Then I read the sign above this little building "Thai Toy Museum". It was very cool. The first floor was all  old Thai toys and traditional Thai candy, all made in Thailand, and all for sale. The second and third floors were more of what we think of as a museum. There were small rooms crammed with various, antique, related items. For example, there was one room that was dedicated to a traditional Thai kitchen on one side and the other side was a history of cameras in Thailand. Another room was dedicated to old hairdressers of Thailand with all of the old instruments used to cut hair. Those were slightly frightening.  Fun is so much like Fon I felt comfortable with her right away, and her boyfriend was so nice. They have quickly become family to me, all of Fon's family has. We spent a few hours in the toy museum, and not only did I take many pictures, but they were very eager to take lots and lots of pictures of me as well. It looked as though it was about to rain so we quickly climbed back into the truck and set off to Bangkok.
We got to Bangkok and it was raining so we went to eat first. We went to a Japanese restaurant that was absolutely delicious, all of it. I used to be skeptical of Sushi, but I have changed, and I am in love with salmon now. I also ate seaweed. I had tried it before, and wasn't particularly fond of it, but this time it was a-roy mak ma! We ate quickly because we want to go to Wat Phra Kaeo, but we weren't sure when it closed. It stopped raining and we took a taxi from the department store where we were parked to the famous temple there, Wat Phr Kaeo. Again, I took many pictures, but they took many more of me. We saw the many places around the temple, including our last stop at the Grand Palace. We were afraid that it was going to rain soon so we left the temple and took a boat across the river because Aof really wanted me to see the river. Just as we got off the boat and out on the street, the street was closed and the King and Queen of Thailand drove by. Fun told me that the people believed if you could see the king just once, you were lucky. We had a quick coffee, then hopped on a Tuk Tuk. A Tuk Tuk is basically a motorcycle that is rigged to have a cart attached with seats for three people to sit on, four if you really squeeze. Tuk Tuk drivers are crazier than taxi drivers, quickly winding in and out of traffic, but it's really the only sensible way to get around the city, unless you want to sit for hours in traffic jams and pay unreasonable amounts of money. Fun then took me shopping in the market while Aof went off shopping on his own. We didn't have a lot of time because Fun didn't want me to be late and Aof's house was three hours from Nakhom Pathom. I had a lot of fun with them. We returned to Fun's home and met Fon there. Before Aof left, he told me he and Fun want to take me out again, but next time he's going to take me to his province where they have an under water fish museum!!! I'm so excited!! I had so much fun and I just love being with them, even when it's hard to understand each other sometimes. I learn a lot being with them because I have to and because they are very good teachers. They speak slowly and use mostly words they know I'll understand. They are also very patient when I don't understand.
Day 38: October 4:
This time, before our Rotary meeting, my dad took me out for dinner at Pizza Company. It was a-roy mak and I seized that opportunity to drink some coffee too, to get me through the meeting. Just before we left, we bought some movies. I seem to be in the mood for action movies all the time when I'm here.
The meetings are supposed to be boring and slightly uncomfortable, but my Rotary club has welcomed me with open arms. They all want to talk to me and take me places. They especially love when I get up to speak in front of them at the meetings. I don't usually do it too often, but tonight I did, with help from a woman who translated for me. I thanked them for welcoming me and making me feel comfortable there. I also told them to feel free to talk to me and to teach me, that I really wanted to learn. They loved that. I also presented my president with my district flag; they loved that. After I spoke and sat down, one man stoop up and said he wanted me to come to all of the meetings, then the president, who used to intimidate me, told my host dad to bring me every week now, and if he was busy, send me on a motorcycle taxi. That sent a roar of laughter throughout the crowd because I'm not allowed to ride on motor cycles or take taxis alone. They then started talking about where to put the flag I gave them and how they would have to create a special place for it. After the meeting, while we were just hanging out, they were drinking, talking, playing cards, a man came up to Sue, the woman who interpreted for me, and asked if I could talk each week and update them with what I've been doing. They want to know so much about me and what I do! He was so excited when I said yes! I then talked with many people, partially through Sue sometimes through V, her husband.  I've come to love Sue and V. Sue is fluent in English, and her husband is very good as well. I knew V before Sue, I would sit next to him at some of the meetings and he explained to me what was going on and would just talk to me about other things when Big wasn't there. The two of them help me communicate with the other Rotarians, all of whom are eager to talk to me. There is one funny man who wants to be able to speak English very well and says good evening to me every time I see him. He used to say good morning, but I taught him the differences. I was wearing my Rotary blazer, as I always do to the meetings, and he pointed to the pin Alison had given me and said "star". I said yes, star. Then he said something in Thai to V, then V said to me, "He wants to know where you got that from." I told him my friend from America who is a YE in Mexico gave it to me before she left. V then explained this to the other man, then turned to me, and said "Your best friend, correct?" I guess I had talked to him about her before. The other man then got up and said "I give you one" and was about to go out and give me another star pin, but returned shortly laughing, "Fon tot! Nam tuem!" He said (It's raining, it flooded). "Next time!" Sue and I exchanged numbers before she left, and she said I could call her anytime. It's strange how my friends seem to be getting older and older.
Day 39: October 5:
Can't remember
Day 40: October 6:
My family decided to whisk me off to Bangkok to go shopping today.  My two sisters, one of my brothers, my Aunt, my dad, my cousin and I all squeezed into a car meant for four, plus our driver. We then dropped my dad off and moved into a bigger car. Thais sure know how to shop. As soon as we reached Bangkok, we first dropped Peat, my brother, off at the market. It would have been an ordinary, hectic, and tiring day of shopping if it wasn't for one event. My younger sister, Koy, and I stopped to look at a pair of pants we liked. I continued my inspection of them as she went to ask the owner of the shop where we could find more of them. I heard her begin to ask, stop abruptly, then say "ao". I looked up to see what was wrong, and as I looked around the precariously posed mannequins, I noticed the man was not Asian. He seemed startled at first when he noticed me, probably just about as startled as I'm assuming I looked. He quickly recovered and went about his business as if it was nothing. He noticed which pair we were looking at and directed us to where they were on the racks. He said to us "I believe the ones you are looking for are over here." In English. He then asked us which style we preferred. He must have thought I didn't speak English because, somehow, I had forgotten that we spoke the same language. I first started speaking to him in Thai. I realized my error when I heard Koy try to talk with him in broken English. It still didn't click in my mind that he was clearly fluent in English, as well as I, and I too began to speak to him in broken English. Then, just before we were about to leave, it clicked. I asked him where he was from and he said Vancouver, then indicated to the hat on his head, which said "Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics." He then asked me where I was from. Expecting the usual blank stare, I told him Cooperstown, NY. A wide smile broke out on his face "Oh! Baseball Hall of Fame! I've been there!" Can you imagine? The two of us, halfway across the world, end up in the same city, at the same time, with over a million other people, and we somehow manage to find each other. We chatted for a little bit, but we didn't stay for too long. It was getting late, we were tired and hungry, and we still had to pick up Peat. So, we said our goodbyes and parted. Maybe I'll see him again, you never know. It sure is a small world after all.
We got back in the car and drove to a market outside of a mall. Kung, our aunt, and I continued shopping for a little bit while Koy and our cousin waited with the driver. Once we hit a point of absolute exhaustion, we used our last stores of energy to climb back into the car. We drove around some back streets, all the while I had no idea what we were doing. I soon learned we were picking up Peat and another cousin. We found them eventually and they both squeezed in the front. Then the cousin, I can't remember her name, got out at I think a bus station. We arrived at a restaurant in Nakhon Pathom and our parents were arriving just as we were. I wondered for a moment of their perfect timing of their arrival and what a coincidence it was, when I remembered the marvels of modern technology: the cell phone. We had dinner as a live band played amazing music. Music is always so much better live because you can really hear the music, and not only can you hear it, but you can feel it. When we arrived home, I learned my dad had bought a piano. No one in my family really knows how to play a piano. It came with numbers on some of the keys. I was confused why there were numbers on  the keys at first, until I looked at the music book on the stand. The books had not only the words to famous Thai songs, but also numbers below the words that correspond to the number on the key you press for the correct note. Oi vey.
Day 41: October 7:
Again I was whisked off to Bangkok with no idea what we were about to do. I got in the car with my two sisters and my aunt. On our way, we picked up my older cousin, who I had met yesterday. I quickly learned we were going to see a movie. When we arrived, we didn't have much time before the movie started, but we were all hungry. Their first thought was "Find Courtney a burger." I used all of my will power to turn down this offer and ate polar snow instead. It's basically Italian ice with fruit and condensed milk on it. A-roy mak mak.  We had a quick coffee, well I had a coffee they had hot chocolate, before going to our movie. I have learned that Thais have the same sense of humor about movies as I do. We all, everyone in the theater, laughed as the previews for various horror movies played. Somehow Thai horror films are far more entertaining than American ones. The film we watched wasn't a Thai horror, however, it was "Grown Ups". In English with Thai subtitles.  After all of the previews and just before the actual film started, music started and everyone stood up. Practicing what I observe, I stood up as well, my popcorn laden hand halfway between the bag and my mouth, unsure if it should continue out its task, return to the popcorn bag, or remain where it was. As a result it performed many spastic motions, quickly launched itself to my mouth, then dropped to my side. No one noticed, fortunately, because they were too busy focusing on the screen which was now playing a montage of various things the king has done for his country. The music ended, the screen went black, and we all sat back down in our seats. The movie was funny, but not too great. I think what I enjoyed most from the film was my sisters' and cousin's reactions. After the movie, we had a quick round of Traditional Asian Drum Hero. Not quite like Guitar Hero, but I rocked it anyway. We returned to our car, found Peat once again, then made the long journey back home.
Day 42: October 8:
Nothing. Today had nothing of great significance occur. Just a usual day in Thailand with many more like it to come, and somehow I never tire of them.

Weeks 3 and 4

Day 15: September 11:
After going to bed at 11 PM last night, I woke up this morning at 3 AM. First let me tell you a story. My host dad was talking to me last night at about 6 PM. What I thought he was saying was: “You have to leave at ten, so you have three hours until you need to get ready and four hours until you have to leave.” I ran up to my room and quickly began to pack, then waited, and waited. 10 o’clock rolls around. Now, I wasn’t positive if that was what he said, and I knew someone would come get me when the time came to leave. Then it became 10:30 and I was sure that I had misunderstood what he had said. Then it clicked. He meant “Go to bed at 10, be up at 3 and leave at four.” Oi. Boy was I wrong. I cleaned up the mess I had made of my room and fell asleep still slightly dressed. I awoke with a start to my host mom saying something to me. Had I not just woken up after getting about 3 hours of sleep, I probably would have understood what she was saying. Instead, I hopped out of bed, threw on the rest of my clothes, and raced downstairs. Turns out, it was only 3:20 AM. I went back upstairs to make myself a bit more presentable, but ended up falling back asleep. I was woken up, once again by my host mom saying something, this time I knew what she was saying “Good morning! Time to go!” I was dressed and out the door by 4 with Yai. I hadn’t eaten because, well I was too tired to be hungry, but Yai stopped at 7/11 and had me eat something. I chose coffee and a little cake; very nutritious, I know. This was the first cup of coffee I’d had in fifteen days. It had been too long my friends. We picked up Da and drove somewhere. I had no idea where we were or where we would be going. I assumed we would be going to the airport in Bangkok. Yai left Da and I waiting for the van. There I met one of the other YEs in Thailand. Her name was Emmi and she was from Finland. She didn’t talk much, but then again, it was very early in the morning. The van pulled up and we piled in, Emmi, her host dad, Da, and I. Inside the van, I met another YE. His name was David and he was from Germany. Sitting beside him was his host dad. Two more people piled in and we were off. It was an hour drive to the airport, and a very quiet one. Most everyone was either asleep, or falling asleep. We got to the airport with time to spare so we sat down in a little coffee shop. The adults sat together and we exchange students sat at another table. I began asking them about their home, how long they had been here, what they thought, the usual starter questions, and neither one seemed to be too happy. They seemed surprised at how happy I was to be there and how much I was enjoying it. Oi! All I could think was I was sure glad I wasn’t either of them. Soon Anna arrived chipper as ever to rescue me from the Debbie downer duo. It was so nice to see a familiar face, and of course she was accompanied by her ukulele. She sat down beside me and started talking with us. Apparently she was having as great of a time as I was! Huzzah, I’m not alone! After some time of our host parents tring to get us to eat, and us turning them down, it was time to check in and board our plane. It was quite a small plane compared to the planes I had taken on my way here, but not too small. I was seated next to David and in front of us sat Emmi and Anna. After some time of talking with David, I began to think of him as less of a Debbie; he was quite interesting. After about half an hour of awkward bonding, the plane landed in a tiny, abandoned looking airport. It was the strangest airport I had ever seen. There wasn’t a gate for us to walk off the plane and into, instead a set of metal stairs was wheeled over to the exit of the plane. Surrounding the perimeter of the airport was a very high fence holding back a handful of people staring and taking pictures. After the shock of appearance of the airport, we gathered our luggage and pile into yet another van. We had about another 45 minute drive until we arrived in Trang. It was a very fast, windy and bumpy ride.  I’ve come to realize there aren’t really any rules to the road, it’s every man for himself. Just I was reflecting on this, our driver began to slam on his breaks, a little too late. There was a loud noise and a rather large bump. I turned around to see what we had hit, assuming it was a speed bump, to find that we had actually hit a dog. I don’t think I will ever be able to get that picture out of my mind. I wish I hadn’t turned around.
We arrived to the resort and were given our lime green Rotary shirts. There was no way they would be able to lose any of us. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and tacky t-shirts and all climbed into the van. We met up with the rest of the exchange students at the docks. There was a girl from Brazil, who I ended up loving, named Fernanda, a girl from New York, who will also be going to Geneseo next year, named Emily, a girl from Japan named Emi, a girl from Canada named Emily, and a girl from Germany named Kimberly. We walked down the board walk and clamored onto the boat with our host parents and our guides. Trang was absolutely beautiful. We rode on the boat to one Island, and at first we were slightly quiet and kept to ourselves, until we got out our first time. We stripped down to our bathing suits and life jackets, grabbed our snorkels, and jumped into the water. I had forgotten how much I loved snorkeling. It was at this point that I realized there were people on our trip who weren’t exchange students, one was a rather fat and very happy Asian. Many of these people I just mentioned could not swim, so one of our guides went in the water with us and carted them around on a life saving tube that lifeguards use. It was quite entertaining to watch, but what was even better was the view under water. I spent most of my time diving down and swimming along the bottom. We tooled around in the water for quite some time, I’m not sure how long, then we went back on the boat for lunch. I do not remember what we ate, but it was Thai and it was delicious. After we had finished our lunch, we went back up on top of the boat. We continued on our adventure among the islands. We stopped again near one island, but this time they didn’t have us take out our snorkels. Non of us were really sure what we were doing until they brought out some bread. As they threw it in the water, fish began to swarm towards it. We were each handed a slice of bread and into the swarm we went. We were surrounded by fish. There was one downside to this. There were huge jelly fish in the water we had to be careful of. We weren’t too worried though because there were people still on the boat keeping watch. I think my all-time favorite part of this particular stop was when I suddenly heard a rather large splash then loud giggling. I turned and saw the fat Asian man floating around in his life jacket holding an entire loaf of bread. He just made my day. After some time of hanging out with the fish, Anna, Fernanda, and I got out, climbed up to the top of the boat, then jumped off into the water. It was amazing. For a brief moment it felt as though I was flying. I wanted to do it again and again, but then a jelly fish was spotted. We all quickly swam to the boat and one of the guides carted those who couldn’t swim. We climbed back up to the top of the boat and awaited our next stop. While we waited, we talked with B. Boy for a bit. He was one of our guides and was a YE to the U.S. a couple years back. He had also been a host parent to a few YEs to Thailand. He quickly became our favorite guide. Alas, we were at our last stop: the cave. We put on our bright orange life jackets and one-by-one got into the water. We formed a long train, each person holding onto the person in front of them, with one guide in the front, one in the back, and a few swimming alongside us. We first went in, and it was still light, but the light was a florescent blue color. As we went further and further into the cave, it became darker. It was soon pitch black. That was when they had us begin to chant. I’m not really sure what we were chanting, but I chanted along anyway. Every so often B. Boy would take pictures so they could see where we were going and we wouldn’t crash into anything. Eventually, after what seemed to be a long time, we began to see light again. We were in the middle of the island. We climbed out of the water and onto the beach. There were many other people there, but they were all Asian. They were so excited when they saw us and started taking pictures of us…a little strange, but I’m getting used to it. It turns out, the place we were at actually used to be a place where pirates hid their treasure. It was a pretty good hiding place if you ask me. It was also absolutely beautiful there. I could have spent the rest of the day there, had I not begun to turn a deep shade of pink. Soon it was time for us to put on our life jackets and leave. One-by-one we lined up and re-created our little train. We headed back through the cave, but this time it didn’t seem as long. We did, however, have a little trouble with the tide at first. We piled back onto the boat, re-applied sunscreen, and climbed up to the top. We began our journey back to the resort and back to civilization. We all were assigned to our rooms, I was with Emmi from Finland, and were sent off to take showers and dress for dinner. The dinner was delicious, as always, but I had no idea what it was, as always. The rest of the night was a little boring and was made worse by exhaustion and sunburn. We were herded into a large room, dressed up and in our blazers, and we all sat in the front row. Thankfully I sat next to David so we could talk during the parts when they were speaking in Thai to the adults. It was almost ten o’clock when we were finally released for bed.


Day 16: September 12:
We woke up nice and early at 6:30. That is very early after having very little sleep the day before. Coffee coffee coffee. Coffee is my best friend. Emmi was really sick this morning so after breakfast, she went to bed and we all went to the rest of orientation.We spent the majority of our day sitting in that room. Except for when we left for check out, and I had a cup of coffee, then when we left again for lunch, more coffee for me. It was very long, and very boring. There were some interesting parts though. Towards the end, we each had to get up and read our homework aloud to everyone. After someone read, their host parent would come up and talk about them. It was nice to hear what they thought of us, because after they would talk, Emma would translate it for us. This was when I learned that I basically have two sets of host parents. Da talked about how lucky I was to have two host moms and two host dads. She also said how proud she and my school were of me. I adapted to the Thai culture so quickly and I was so polite, that they were very impressed with me. She also said she thought it must be because my mom is a manager of a hotel, so I know how to react with people and I know my manners. I have to agree with her. I think all of my time I spent at my mom’s work throughout the years has really payed off. My main goal is to please others around me and to be as polite as possible, that is something I have learned from basically growing up in the hotel business.
When we finally finished with our orientation, we had a light snack, and yet more coffee for me. Oi, never wanted coffee so much in my life. Friends, I don’t recommend drinking a lot of coffee before getting on a plane. Emmi, David, Anna and I piled into the van to head to the airport. We arrived very early and had time for another snack, because we were “Hiu ma!’ very hungry. Now this was a very small airport, yet again. It had only three gates. There was one place to buy food, and we were in luck. It just so happened Anna, David, and I were in the mood for cookies and there they were Nantucket soft baked cookies. The three of us shared two packages of delicious cookies. Anna played her ukulele and we sang some of our favorite songs just before we had to bored the plane. Anna and I sat next to each other and David and Emmi sat in the row across the aisle from us. For some reason Anna and I were incredibly hyper. We were chatty and giggly the entire way home. We brought David in on our many conversations, and I think he’s beginning to enjoy it more here. I think he was just feeling lonely because he didn’t have many people to talk to. I think we fixed that. He and Anna live near each other so now they can spend time together as well. Half an hour later the plan landed and I’m surprised I can still breath after all my laughter. After we gather our luggage, we part from Anna and load up in the van again. At this point it was almost 10 o’clock and we had an hour long drive. I arrived home very late, very tired, and very hungry. As I’m wolfing down my eggs and toast, my host tells me “No sachool tomorrow” Glory glory hallelujah!
Day 17: September 13:
Today was a very relaxed day. I woke up around 10 AM for breakfast. I mostly hung around the house and was pretty lazy. I felt as though I hadn’t slept in days. Fon and I hung out a bit at home and talked, but not too much happened. Around four Fon came to visit me and told me there was going to be a party for my host sister, Klung, 25th birthday. My host dad was very excited for this. Two of her friends arrived to start cooking food for the party. I found this very fun because I was invited to help. Basically Fon, Kung, and I peeled the garlic with another girl while her boyfriend cooked everything else. I also enjoyed it because he would explain to me everything he was doing as he did it, in English, not because he felt he needed to, but because he wanted to.  Around six, just after Kung’s boyfriend Off arrived,  Fon and I left to pick up some of her other friends who would be at the party. We went to a little coffee shop to pick up Koo, which she lived above. One of their other friends met us while we were there. I liked both girls upon meeting them. Koo was funny and lively and the other girl, I think her name was Jept, was very kind and also very funny. We arrived back home and so did another one of Kung’s friends. We all went outside to start up the grill and finish up the preparations. We were having trouble with the grill so Ai came to help. He got it figured out and we all sat down and began to eat. Then the party started. It was a very fun and very long night. Many of Kung’s friends came and went and they were all very interested in talking to me. Unfortunately I can’t remember the names of most of them. I’m pretty sure many of them weren’t even introduced to me, they just came up and started talking to me. We talked and ate all night; their two favorite things to do. I don’t think I have ever eaten so much in my life. Everything they put in front of me, I ate, which probably wasn’t the best of ideas. They somehow seem to be able to eat better than I can. Maybe it was how much I had been eating, or perhaps my stomach wasn’t used to the food, I’m not sure why, but something started to make me feel very sick. I left the party early and went to bed.
Day 18: September 14:
This morning I woke up, threw up, and went back to bed. No school for me today. I wandered downstairs around 10 AM for some water and found Off asleep on the couch. I grabbed water from the fridge as quietly as possible and crept back upstairs and went back to sleep. Around one o’clock my host mom came in and asked if I wanted to eat. I was feeling a little better so I said OK and followed her downstairs. Thankfully I had gotten dressed first because soon after my breakfast/lunch the Rotary president of my club showed up to look at my passport. After he left I went back to watching Futurama. That was about the gist of my day. It was a slow, lazy, sick day.


Day 19: September 15:
Back to school today. I almost forgot what it was like to have to go. I enjoy school because it gives me something to do, but there are somethings about it I don’t like, for example, having to get early to go. Also, everyone notices me. There is one girl in particular. I had never been able to say that I didn’t like someone or that someone annoyed me….until her. She somehow ended up in my cooking class, I think she just followed one of her friends in. She was so loud and so obnoxious, I really just wanted to hit her repeatedly with the spoon that was in my hand, or myself so I wouldn’t have to hear her anymore. Almost everyone yells “Hello! Chompoo! Hello!” to me, and sometimes even in my face, but that I can handle, she I can’t. She was shouting all the time, and I was right there. She was doing it strictly for attention. I can’t even begin to describe how annoyed of her I was. Of course, I did not make this known, hence the venting, I simply put on my best Rotary smile and continued with what I was doing. I think it became clear to my teacher that I was annoyed of that girl (possibly because I would cringe every time she came up to shout something to me) and sent her out of the room. Ah, at last, some peace. Aside from that girl, my day was great. My day started out with Thai class, which was pretty boring, but I had my Thai book  to study and Aor to talk to, which was nice. She escorted me to my cooking class. I absolutely love this class. They all know I can’t eat spicy so they are always sure when we make something, I test it before it becomes spicy. I also love this class because they feed me lunch! After we make our food, we all sit on a table and have a picnic. Then, to make it even better, one of the girls I cook with brought me to buy ice cream from this very nice man. He was very excited when I figured out how to put the sides on my ice cream. We all sat down on the ground and hung out eating our ice cream, joking around with each other. These girls know little to no English, so it’s even more fun for me trying to keep up and figure out what’s going on. Next I went to my carving class. Today it wasn’t where it normally was, and it wasn’t exactly a carving class. It was in the room where I had my flower arrangement class last week, right outside of the teachers’ office and it was actually a sewing class. Ajan Fon sat me down at a table with other teachers, who all absolutely love me, and handed my a vegetable to start carving. My favorite part of the class was at the very end. Ajan Fon was showing me how to peel a tomato to make a rose. I was peeling my tomato, horribly of course, when in walked the Japanese teacher. I was holding my tomato, now peeled, and I was cutting it to look at a flower, when he started touching my bracelets. Now, he speaks no English, so our conversation today consisted of noises. It went a little like this: He: “Ahhh…” (as he touched my bracelets) Me: “Hee” Him: “Ohhahaha” (as I attempted to wrap the peel into the shape of a rose) Me: “Hahaha, ohhh” (as I set it down and it started to unravel) Him: “Aww!!” (as I managed to get it to work out, and surprise it looked like a flower!) Me: “Heyeah!” And then the class was over. Next was Thai dancing.  Aye…this class is always rough for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very fun, I just don’t have those skills. Towards the end of class, after everyone else had taken their exam and left, my teacher decided I should stay and have some extra lessons. I stayed with her and three of the student teachers as they tried their very best to help me. Just as I was about to leave, Ajan asked me if I wanted to be in a show! Naturally I said yes! Of course I will need practice…lots of practice. I went back to the language office and talked with the Chinese girls who are helping to teach me Thai and Chinese. I love these girls. Unfortunately they’re going back home to China very soon. I’m going to miss them, but I’m excited to meet the new student teachers.
Day 20: September 16:
I have been looking forward to today all week. Today, first and second period, I had math. Oh how I missed it! It was not what I expected though. It was taught completely in Thai and they were learning about percentiles, something I had never heard of. I learned as I always do here, by watching. I was confused because certain numbers they used, I had no idea how they got them because they didn’t find them mathematically. I enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t the same. This man was no Mr. Toulson. He was old with facial hair, he didn’t make any references to old movies or TV shows, he was not ostentatiously nerdy, he did not mention Star Wars even once, he was average height, he didn’t have a tie that perfectly matched the rest of his outfit, and he had no lame jokes. Dear Mr. Toulson, I miss you. After math class, the girls insisted we take pictures. I began to feel like a sort of attraction; everyone wanted their picture with me. They really are quite cute girls. They escorted me to Ajan Anchalee’s office, where Aor soon met me. She brought me with her to her free period and I stayed with her and her friends until after lunch. I was just beginning to slip into a lack of Oreo caused depression, when I started telling them how much I missed them. They quickly informed me that they did in fact have Oreoes here! Better yet, they sold them in the school! As I was inhaling my lunch of fried rice, chicken, and pork sauce (a-roy ma!) one of Aor’s friends showed up and handed me a pack of Oreos! I can’t even describe how happy I was at that moment, I didn’t even notice the audience of girls as I ate  them, the only way one can eat an Oreo. I twisted the two sides apart, licked the frosting off of each side, then slowly ate the two chocolaty outsides. According to my Psychology class my Junior year of high school, that meant I should stay away from fluffy animals and small children. Anyways. Back to what really matters. After lunch, I met with Piuw, the girl I had met at the quizbee, and I went with her to Physics. I think the Physics room is my favorite room so far. It’s almost on the top floor and you have to take a narrow staircase separate from all the rest, walk through the gym, then take yet another narrow stairway. The room doesn’t have air-condition, so we have to open the huge windows that look out into the street. It’s very refreshing and breezy up there, the room also seems more open and less crowded. I sat at a table with Piuw closest to the window.  She and her friends asked me all about the places I had visited and what I had seen in Thailand so far and were disappointed that I hadn’t been very many places. They invited me to go to Bangkok with them next week because school will be closed for holiday and testing. I am very excited to do something outside of school with my school friends.
Day 21: September 17:
Today my flower arrangement class in the morning was non-existent so I talked with Tina. We were so into our conversation that I completely lost track of time and missed my cooking class as well. It wasn’t until Aor called me asking me if I was out of class so we could meet for lunch that I noticed the time…oops. Because it was the last day of the semester, there were basically no classes. I went to one class, English. All we did was compare animal noises in Thailand and animal noises in the U.S. Basically I just made animal noises on the microphone for my class. After that one class we went to the canteen and waited for school to end. While we ate my friends took me to buy Oreos. After school, Fon picked me up and took me home. I curled up on the couch and fell asleep. I didn’t realize just how tired I was. Right after I woke up, my host dad came into the room and told me we were going to eat. I quickly got up and realized I was in my pajamas. Oi! I ran upstairs, threw on clothes, and made myself somewhat presentable. During dinner, Kung told me she was going to karaoke  and asked if I wanted to join. Uh, yes! I had never been to karaoke before and I was very excited. It was about eight o’clock when we arrived, I realized right then that it was going to be another late night. Waiting for us were Koo, Jept. As soon as Un arrived, we moved into our karaoke room. Of course the first song they chose was Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” and because it was an English song, it meant I was up first. Oh boy. Ladies and gentlemen, I want you all to know I held that mic in my hand and sang loud, proud, and horribly off key, and I loved every minute of it. The majority of the songs were Thai, but every time an English one came on, I was right there with that mic, doing my best, which was also my worst. I even tried to sing along with the Thai songs. And when Hilary Duff’s “So Yesterday” came on, I did her proud. I got up, I sang, I danced, I poured my heart and soul into that mic, again, horribly off key. We stayed and sang until almost 2 Am. I don’t think  I will ever be able to sing again, but that may be for the best.
Day 22: September 18:
Today was a wonderfully exciting day. Today we went to see the elephants. Fon, Kung and I left around 1 and went to Koo’s house to pick her and Jept. On our way there, it began to rain, then it began to pour. We were afraid that they might cancel the show. We went there anyway and picked up a schedule. The next show wasn’t until 3:20 so we left to go eat and hoped the rain would stop in time. Fortunately it did. The rain stopped just as we finished eating and were about to leave. We went back to the Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo to watch the elephant show and the crocodile wrestling. It was so much fun. Because it had been raining so much, there were virtually no people there at all. The elephant show started out as a history of the wars between Thailand and Myanmar. They had men and elephants act out certain battles complete with explosions and sword fights. Next they just had them doing silly little tricks, such as dancing and playing soccer. Now, I say silly little tricks, but I was thoroughly impressed. These elephants were dancing, standing on their front legs, kicking soccer balls, it was impressive. Once everything was said and done, we were able to feed the elephants. Everyone else with me was too afraid to, so I did it alone. I also pet one of the elephants. They are beautiful and huge animals. I want to ride one so bad! Next we watched the crocodile wrestling. There were two men and five crocodiles. It wasn’t intense wrestling, more like playing, but it was exciting all the same. At one point one of the guys slid across the wet floor and jumped over a crocodile. He also stuck his entire arm in a crocodile’s mouth. Just as he was doing this, the other guy slipped and fell. He pulled his arm out just in time before the crocodile clamped his mouth shut. The guy who fell later put his head in a crocodile’s mouth, as he was doing this, the other guy fell, this time really bad. It looked like it hurt pretty bad. He got right back up and continued with the show though, it probably happens a lot. We left the zoo and returned home for a little bit. Kung talked to her parents and we were off out the door again. We went over to Kuk’s house to play with her little nephews. They were the cutest little kids I had ever seen. The older one started acting up though, a clear indicator that it was time for him to go to bed. The boys went to bed and we left. Fon had to go home to take care of her sick dad so we parted with her. Kuk, Jep, Kung and I went to a coffee shop and bakery to wait for Un. While we were there we had some “appetizers”; cake. He finally arrived and off we went to Big C. We ate at a restaurant called Bar-B-Que. Tonight I was determined to master chopsticks. I did, for the most part. Until we got to the noodles. Those got the better of me. Another time, noodles, I will conquer you.
Day 23: September 19:
Today was a very laid back day. Fon came over to keep me company. When she arrived, I was working on a bracelet and was very excited. She wanted to make one too. She knew how to make the Chinese staircase, but she didn’t know how to make the candy stripe or any other pattern. I started teaching her how to make the candy stripe, but she wanted to make something a bit more complex. She drew me a picture of what she wanted, and it was a zig-zag pattern. This such pattern is actually quite difficult for a beginner, especially one who hasn’t finished learning candy stripe yet. I gave her the benefit of the doubt though. I did the first few rows for her, explaining what I was doing as I did it. Soon she wanted to try. I handed it over to her and away she went. She learned very quickly. We sat there for hours just working on our bracelets. I finished mine and started another. Soon it was time for her to go to work. She hadn’t finished her bracelet, but decided she would come back tomorrow to finish.
Day 24: September 20:
School is technically over for me until November, but I went to school anyway today. I was convinced to come in because they wanted me in the class picture for their yearbook. The pictures started around 9 AM and seemed to never end. Over a hundred students lined up together. Some, including me, stood in the back on tables, others stood on benches, the second row sat on benches, then the first row knelt on the ground. I was a filang lost in a sea of Thais. I wonder if I’ll stand out in the picture. After this chaotic picture taking, we went to the canteen to eat. The place where Aor and I usually bought lunch, kiao pat gai, was closed so we bought noodles instead. It was a-roy mak ma! Absolutely delicious. It was thick noodles, two types of chicken, fish oil, sugar, and some other sauce that may have been soy sauce. Some more of our friends joined us bearing goodies. They gave me Oreoes, as usual, and we ate many other snacks. It was a “fat day”. We chatted for a bit, they taught me Thai and I helped them with English, then we went to get ice cream. Oh how I love ice cream. Soon I was whisked away by many chatty and excited girls. More photos! I have never had so many photos taken of me in one day in my life! After the photos of everyone in Madame 6, there were photos for each class. They were having group photos for the year book, and every group had about five photos. Five more photos I could have handled, but the groups went one at a time and all the groups wanted me in their photos. THEN, after all of that, was individual photos. Everyone had two photos: one serious and one choice. It came to be my turn. Now, I hate pictures being taken of me, especially when I’m alone and supposed to look cute or whatever. He ended up taking about six pictures. Oi. It was very hot, slightly torturous, but very fun. After everything was done, we were very hungry. Looking good for pictures is very hard work. My friends asked me if I had ever had sump-taam, a famous Thai dish, and I told them no. We still had time before I would have to leave so off we went to one of their houses to have sump-taam. It was delicious. We also had muu waan (sweet pork) and kiao now (sticky rice). It was very good and made me very full. We hurried back to school and it wasn’t long before Yai picked me up.
It was Monday night so once I got home I only had a few hours before I would have to leave for my Rotary Meeting. This meeting was quite an eventful one. I went to my usual table of women and ate the usual small meal of rice, egg, and I think chicken. I waied the women there said “sa-wat-dee kah” and a few other things to them. They asked me simple questions slowly, and I could answer them for the most part. It usually takes me a long time to eat a little because there is always someone coming in and I must stop what ever I’m doing and wai them and say “sa-wat-dee kha”. It wasn’t long before a man sat next to me and began to talk to me, in English. It always confuses me for a moment when someone starts talking to me in English. He told me about his experience in America and where he had been. He has a cousin who live in South Carolina who he visits once a year. He was a very nice man. As I was talking to him, this very beautiful woman came. I remembered her from the last time I went to a meeting because she had given me lipgloss and insisted I wear it. This time she came with her daughter and more food. She brought kiao now and grilled pork. Of course I ate some because they insisted I eat. “Gin gin!” They always tell me. My host dad came over with another man and they were told me this man wanted to take me north. Apparently my Rotary club was taking a trip up north to Chiang Rai and Nan and they wanted me to go with them. “I want to take you to the north!” the man said to me, then that woman said “And next month I take you south!” They were very excited about taking me places. They want to show off their country to me, and I’m more than happy to join them. Soon Big arrived and explained to me again that they wanted to take me with them. Then it was time for the meeting to begin. This time a man was talking about some tiles. I had no idea what he was talking about and for a time I though he was talking about remodeling something. Thankfully Big was sitting next to me and explained that each member has to speak at a meeting and tell something about their occupation. As always, very few people were paying attention. I pointed this out to Big as he played Facebook on his Black Berry and he laughed, but then he began to pay attention to the speak, just to prove me wrong. Something happened and everyone laughed. Apparently one man said something about soaking something in water before laying a foundation or something like that. I don’t understand tiles so I couldn’t tell you the joke. The point is, he got a little prize for saying something correctly, I guess. After that, everyone was paying attention. Two more people were awarded prizes, and then Big was awarded one as well. I guess it pays off to pay attention sometimes. After his speech was another speech. This one there were no prizes, so everyone else went back to their papers or side conversations. The meeting finally ended and I waited for my host dad with Big. This was when I was informed that at the next meeting I would have to give a speech, in Thai. Oh my. I think I know enough Thai to give the speech, I’m just not a huge man of speaking in front of others.
On our way home, I thought I would practice my Thai a little bit with my host dad, he never judges. I said to him “A-tit nee, mai bpai rorian.” Which means: “This week I don’t go to school.” He was very excited and said “Aha! No sachool!” I was emcouraged by his enthusiasm and continued: “Sam-sip bpai rorian triam Thai” (On the thirtieth I go to school for Thai dancing). He laughed and started dancing “Dancing!” He said. His enthusiasm always lifts my spirirts. I had to go to school in the 27th as well, to practice, but I wasn’t sure how to tell him this, but I tried my best. I said: “Ye-sip-jept bpai rorian triam Thai…uh..practice?” He seemed to understand this completely. He continued to laugh and say “Youuu go to sachool sam-sip, dancing! Ye-sip-jept, you sachool dance!” Alas! We’ve had a break through! “Kun poot Thai geng! Courtney poot Thai geng geng!” (You speak Thai well! Courtney speaks Thai well well!) Chan poot Thai nitnoi dai!
Day 25: September 21:
No school today! Yet another very relaxed day. Fon returned to finish making her bracelet. It was a very uneventful day, but it was nice. I finished a second bracelet and Fon finished her bracelet; it was very well done, I’m impressed with her. Kuk came over for a little bit, being with he is always exciting. We went outside and “gossiped” for a bit, and I could actually understand some of what they were saying. Each day I can understand and say a little bit more. Being with Fon is a big help because she teaches me a lot. She is eager to learn but she is eager to teach as well. She is also very patient, which is good because I often mispronounce things.
Day 26: September 22:
Today no school again until next week! I stayed home for a while with Fon and we started new bracelets. I figured out a new way to make them, but it’s very confusing and makes me tired. After some time, our hunger got the better of us and we went to eat pizza. We were much too full to eat ice cream so we returned home instead. Fon’s mom called and asked if she would go over to help her ten-year-old sister study for her exam. Fon asked if I wanted to join her, so of course I tagged along. Her mom was incredibly nice. She spoke no English, but we managed to communicate a little bit. Again my English skills came in use. Fon’s sister had to study for an English test as well, and that’s where I came in use. We stayed there and studied until around 7 or 8, then returned to my home. Fon’s mom had asked if I could stay the night, Fon thinks she’s lonely because all but one of her kids are grown up. Fon told her I couldn’t because it was against Rotary rules, but I will come back and visit her. I came home and watched some T.V. with Kung and Koy. After their soap operas were finished, Kung managed to find a movie in English with Thai subtitles. It was a very strange movie, but I stayed up with them until almost 11 PM and watched it anyway.
Day 27: September 23:
I woke up around ten and packed my bag for three days. I somehow managed to fit everything I would need in my one backpack. I worked on my bracelet until Fon came over around 6 PM. At around 7 PM, my host dad came home and I grabbed my things and climbed into the car with him and Fon. We went to the whale hotel to eat and await my departure. My host dad ordered for me kiao pat Americano, which is American fried rice. I’m not too sure why they call it American because I had never before had it in my life. It was fried rice with carrots, peas, and raisins in it topped with a fried egg. On the side was a drumstick of fried chicken and a hot dog that had been cut in half. It was still very good. The rest of the group slowly arrived, as well as the president of the Rotary club. He sat next to me in spoke to me, in Thai, about the YE last year. He told me how he spoke Thai very well and waied very beautifully. He also told me if I could speak Thai well, when I returned home, his Rotary club would be famous, or something like that. He spoke kind of quickly, but I could understand most of what he was saying and he got his point across. I must learn Thai and learn it well.
Eventually the man who had invited me on the trip arrived with his wife and daughter. It turned out that that beautiful woman from the meetings I had mentioned before was his wife. Their daughter’s name was Nuii and her and I were going to be roommates. Eight o’clock came around and it was time to board the bus. I said goodbye to Fon and my host dad and followed Nuii onto the bus. I was very tired and fell asleep fairly soon.
Day 28: September 24:
We arrived at our hotel at 6 AM. Nuii and I got our room keys and went to our rooms. I jumped in the shower first and laid down while Nuii showered. The phone rang not too long after Nuii got out of the shower and it was her mother telling us to come down to breakfast. To my great appreciation, they had coffee. Nuii and I ate quickly, then headed back to our room. We were almost out of the lobby when we were beckoned back. They were going to the market and wanted us to come along. This was when I realized I had been temporarily adopted by Nuii’s family. Everywhere they went, they brought me along with them. We hopped into the back of a truck, one of their forms of taxis, and off we went. They took very good care of me while I was with them. Every time we had to cross a street or go into a busy area, Nuii, her mother, or sometimes even both, would grab my hand and hold on until they felt it was safe to let go again. We spent hours tooling around in the little shops scattered throughout the area. Finally, when hunger and exhaustion got the better of us, we returned to the hotel around 10 AM. Nuii and I went to our room and napped as we waited for it to be time for lunch.
12:30 rolled around and we awoke to the phone ringing. Time for lunch. I sat with Nuii, her parents, and another couple who seemed to be good friends of theirs. This time, instead of having one person, the person next to me, always putting food on my plate, it was everyone doing it. It seems to be the latest trend. Once we finished our lunch, we piled onto the bus. I wasn’t too sure where we were going, but I just went along with it. After about half an hour of driving, we got out of the bus and boarded a trolley. We took a guided tour around the city of Nan. Apparently our tour guide was very funny. He spoke too quickly for me to understand most of what he was saying. We saw many sights, such as the oldest wall in Nan, some temples, more temples, a river, and some more temples. We got out at one of the temples and prayed and took some pictures, then got back on our trolley and went back to our bus. As we passed by people in their shops or at their homes, our guide would ring his bell and say “Wave hello! Hello people!” Everyone, of course, would get very excited and wave back to us and say hello. Once we were back on the bus, instead of going back to the hotel, we went to another temple. This temple was up on a hill and the pathway leading to it was lined by two giant dragon sculptures. The temple was beautiful. We went to the temple and prayed, but we also walked around the temple three times as we said our prayers. Then it was time for the group photo. I hadn’t mentioned this yet, but they love to take group photos. They even have a big sign they hold up every time we take one. We walked back down the pathway, all the way admire the beautiful view of the mountains in the distance, and got back on the bus. After some time, we got out at yet another temple. This one was different though. There were many people outside and there seemed to be music playing. As soon as we got off the bus, everyone at the temple started cheering and waing us. It turned out our Rotary club had donated a lot of money to this temple. They played music and danced as we walked/danced around the temple three times. It was quite the sight. There were so many people there, the majority of them were elder woman, and they were all so thankful. They went around the temple three times with us in the scorching heat, dressed up in their traditional costumes, then they sat with us for about an hour crammed in the small temple, on the floor, as we went through the ceremony. After the very long ceremony, we had dinner and a show. The local kids and some adults did various Thai dances for as while we ate a very delicious meal. When we first sat down, they brought out some plates of appetizers, one of which contained crickets. There was a plate full of cooked crickets. Everyone laughed and joked about it at first, but it was clear that no one wanted to eat them. Nuii’s mom changed that. She reached over, pick one up with her hand, contemplated it for a moment, then stuck it in her mouth. She didn’t look too disgusted as she chewed it, and she even said “a-roy” after. I did what any good rotary student would do. With many eyes watching me, I reached over, picked one up, and quickly shoved it in my mouth before I could have any second thoughts. To my surprise, and the surprise of the others, I actually enjoyed it! “A-roy!” I proclaimed to the many expectant viewers. I picked up another and ate it. I tried to convince Nuii to try them, but she wasn’t as gun-ho to try new things as I was. She did try them eventually, and she did like them. I never should have doubted Ian at Tin Bin Alley for selling them. When I return home I intend on buying many, many packages of them. After the very long dinner, we finally returned to the hotel. I was exhausted. We showered and turned on a Thai soap-opera and quickly fell asleep.

Week 2

Day 8: September 4:
I was sitting in my usual spot on the couch, drawing, when in came the little girl, who I have previously mentioned, and Nat. They had been out in the front room playing a game when she insisted they moved in there. It was about two minutes after they had come in when she convinced him to move to couch and include me in their game of hangman. That quickly faded into a different game, and then yet another different game.  After sometime of playing different word games, she said something quickly in Thai, then left the room. She closed the glass door to the room we were in and stood there and watched us for a little bit with a mischievous look twinkling in her eyes. For a moment we just laughed at her, but then that moment was over. It soon turned into a slight awkward moment of trying to start conversation. We talked about Bangkok for a bit, and made small talk, but soon we ran out of topics. He got up and left. For a moment I was not sure if he was coming back, then he returned with a book that looked almost like an old photo album. He handed it to me and I soon learned it was full of Thai stamps. He collects stamps. It was one the coolest and most unique hobbies I had heard of. He asked what my hobbies were and I told him Frisbee was one of them. He did not understand this because they do not have Frisbee here. I quickly ran up to my room and grabbed my Frisbee to show him. When I showed him a look of curiosity spread across his confused face. At first he thought it would return to him, like a boomerang, but then I explained to him that it was used in a sport and you threw it to another player. I never thought I would ever have to explain to someone what Frisbee was. They also don't have silly bands here, so I gave him one of mine, the one that was apparently a crocodile. There is a story behind this silly band. One night, while we, Alison Weber, Jacob Miller, Andrew Green, and I, were sitting outside of Price Chopper around 12PM just before camping out, Jacob had bought scented silly bands. He took them out so we could smell them, but they all seemed to smell the same. There was one in particular that I remembered because we could not, for the life of us, tell what it was. Someone, may have been Cat who we had bumped into while there, suggested that it might be a crocodile. Sure enough it did seem to have crocodile like qualities. The night before I left for the airport, Jacob gave me two silly bands, one was a blue elephant, and the other I couldn't tell what it was, I loved them both none-the-less. About two days after I arrived in Thailand, four days since I had been wearing these silly bands, I realized they glowed in the dark. I also realized at that moment, these were two of the silly bands we had been examining at Price Chopper that night. Anyway, back to Thailand. When I showed Nat the silly bands he said "crocodile, very clever" and I told him he could keep the one he was holding. He looked at it and right after he put it on his wrist, he said "glow in dark?" "Chai!" This silly Thai boy could tell right away that it was a crocodile and glowed in the dark. It took four Americans and one Canadian to figure it out after half an hour that it was a crocodile and it took me four days to know it glowed in the dark, and that was only because it was glowing!  He is a very observant boy.
Tonight we went to dinner at the most beautiful restaurant I have ever seen. It was on the water and lit up by twinkle lights. When I say on the water, I mean literally on the water. The entire restaurant was on a deck that stretched out across a body of water full of fish, which you could feed. There were fountains off to the sides and live music. Thai folk music, my host dad told me. It was beautiful. I went with my host mom, my host dad, and that woman and her daughter again. I absolutely adore this girl. She gets so excited when she sees me and always wants to do something with me. Tonight I felt just like a child. The menu was in Thai, so my host family ordered for me. As usual, we had a few big dishes that everyone shared. The woman sat next to me, automatically assuming the duty of putting food on my plate, and the little girl across from me. They love to feed me here. No matter how many times I say 'Im!! Im maa!!" They continue to pile food on my plate. Our cutlery was wrapped up tightly in napkins and taped. I struggled, in vain, for quite some time to free mine of it's trap, to no avail. No one noticed, of course, to my delight, except for the little girl sitting across from me. She giggled and held out her hand. I handed her my encased silver-ware and watched as she tore the napkin apart. Now why hadn't I thought of that? There was no trick to it as I had thought there was, you just had to go at it. The food arrived and was piled on my plate. They had asked me, and have asked me many times, if I like spicy, I always say yes, but they tend to stray far from it any way, except for tonight. Tonight they ordered a spicy dish and tonight was my night to prove myself. A generous helping was placed on my plate and I was directed to the proper sauce to put on it. Of course, I, being the ignorant girl that I am, poured a spoonful of this red sauce onto my plate. Then I went in for the bite, and then another and another. "A loi!" I proclaimed. I was fine...until that fourth bite. Not even eating five spicy chicken patties could compare to the fiery inferno that lit up in my mouth. As it turned out, the sauce I had poured onto my plate had been spicy as well and that last bite was saturated in it. My face turned beat red. I was sure if I opened my mouth I would breath fire. Everyone began to laugh. Despite the fact that I felt as though Hell itself was rising up inside of me, I laughed too. I quickly drowned out the heat with vegetables and soup. The flames were doused with many gulps of water. Now it was mainly coals, simmering in the back of my throat. I was fine once again. "Ha, a loi!" I proclaimed again, and again the laughter arose. After we had finished our meal, the little girl and I got to feed the fish. I like being with her because she is always so happy and full of energy. Plus she makes the kid in me come alive. When we arrived back to the table, ice cream was there waiting for us. I am a child and I love ice cream. While fully immersed in my ice cream, I noticed a shy looking boy coming towards us. He started talking to me in English. It turns out he went to America, Arkansas, not too long ago and his father owned the restaurant. He was very kind, but also shy so our conversation was a bit on the awkward side. I still enjoyed talking to him though. We left the restaurant and went home. I wasn't tired and I always feel bad leaving them to go hide in my room, so I went and sat on the couch. Not too long after I sat down, my host mom and the little girl game in with a game. I decided to join them. It was very similar to Monopoly, but I did not understand the rules completely when we started, so I learned as we went, although I'm pretty sure the little girl didn't know them either, and she was the one running the game. It was fun. We played for hours and I was losing miserable, to the point where the little girl would just hand me one of her many 5000 baht pieces. Soon Nat and Klai arrived home and watched us play for a little while. It wasn't until well after 11PM that we ended the game and I went upstairs for bed.
Day 9: September 5:
Today I was sitting on the couch reading when that little girl, who I love so much, asked if I wanted to go swimming. "Chai!" I always want to do things with her because they are so childish and simple, but they are always fun. I didn't know how long we were going to be there, but we ended up staying for a little over two hours, just playing games in the pool. At one point, when she had gotten out to get her floaty, I heard someone say hello in a foreign accent, but clearly not Asian. I looked over and there was an old Caucasian man looking at me. At first I was a little annoyed that he had assumed I spoke English, but then I remembered the little girl liked to count in English and was very fond of the word champ. Our conversation was quite brief because she soon returned and required my full attention as she explained our next game. It was almost dark when we finally left. I was very tired and hungry; she drains the life right out of me. We went to the market near the temple and bought food for dinner. When we arrived home, my other host brother was there. My meetings with him have always been brief. He goes to school in Bangkok so I see very little of him. I hope that changes because I would really like to get to know him. We talked briefly today about football (or soccer for you Americans out there) and I learned he likes Liverpool. Go Liverpool. I've also learned, over time, that my host dad doesn't like crust on his bread, he had never dipped toast into egg yolk before, he has an incurable sweet tooth, he likes to take walks after he has eaten, my host mom loves to take pictures of everything, and that's all I have so far. Today, while I was in the shower, I noticed something moving on the window out of the corner of my eye. My first thought was Spiderman, then I realized that was a stupid thought; Spiderman doesn't live in Thailand. Then I looked over and saw it was a lizard! It looked just like the Geico gecko. I also came to a realization in the shower, that's where I do all my best thinking, my razor is scented. I had never noticed until today when, for some reason, my razor was unusually close to my nose. I could smell some unfamiliar scent and realized it was coming from my razor! Now why on Earth would someone need a scented razor? People don't smell their razors while they're shaving, unless they shave their face, but this is a girl's razor. Meant for females. The world confuses me sometimes.
Day 10: September 6:
First day of school. I talked to Big yesterday, and he told me we would leave by 8 and arrive at my school at 9. I thought this was strange because the school I thought I was going to was very close. This morning, I woke up at 6:30, ok more like 6:40. I was convinced I had slept in too late and rushed out of bed. I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth, and ran down for breakfast. There was no one in sight. By now it was a little after seven. I ate some yogurt and read for a little bit. Still no sign of life. I went back upstairs and brushed my teeth again, this time taking my time, then went back downstairs and turned on the TV. It was very near to 8 when my host dad came in. As soon as I saw him I got up and grabbed mt bag. "Eat now. School nine" he said to me. Phew, what a relief. That's one more hour before I have to go, but it's also one more hour for me to sit around nervous and jittery. They made me breakfast, but I was too nervous to eat most of it. Then I went upstairs, brushed my teeth for a third time, braided my hair, and slowly made my way back downstairs. Time to go! I expected my host parents to take me to school, but instead my host dad's twin brother took me. They look very similar, but I can tell the difference, easily. On our way, we stopped at the bank and went inside. I was very confused at first. "Not school, bank" he told me. I laughed and followed him in. Inside was his wife, and many other friendly women. His wife followed us out to the car. She was joining in on the fun. We arrived at my school and went into the office. Behind the desk was a woman who seemed to always be smiling. She was the manager. Sitting next to me was this skinny, animated man. Slowly my nerves were calmed. After sometime of talking, they decided they wanted to take a picture. "Chompoo chompoo! Photo!" Chompoo. At that moment it clicked. That was my Thai name. My new name. After our little photo opp, I was herded into the directors office. When I saw him sitting behind his desk, wearing his uniform and looking so important, my stomach turned to knots. Then he smiled. "Sa-wat-dee-krup. Welcome to our school." We had a very nice chat, he and I, and then his assistant came in as well. Yet another important and scary looking man, until he started talking to me. He told me all about his experience in America as an AFS student. I was then escorted to the office in the English department. Yet again many happy women greeted me. I learned that there were two "filan" (foreign) teachers. Once was from Canada and the other Minnesota. My adviser brought me into one of her English classes to talk to her students. They all wanted to know my name, how old I was, and if I had a boyfriend. I get that a lot. "you have boyfriend?" Then she asked me if I could teach them a childrens' song, one with movements to it. Naturally I taught them the hippopotamus song. Yes, I did the hippopotamus song AND dance in front of the entire class. Class ended and we went back to the office to meet with Tina, the teacher from Canada.   When Tina walked in and saw me, her face absolutely lit up. "Oh! Another white face!" She started chatting me up. She was talking so fast, even I couldn't understand her. Soon a few girls arrived to take me to lunch. The moment we stepped out of the office, everyone turned and stared at me. "Hello! What name? What name?! Nice meet you!" We slowly made our way to lunch, stopping to talk to people every few moments. I went with the girls who took me to lunch to their class to study. That point was slightly boring, I'm not going to lie. They took me back to the office where I talked with some other teachers. Then I had tour of the school. It is much bigger than Cooperstown. I went back to Tina, then we went to look for some vocabulary for the Quizbee they are attending on Thursday.
After school I went to dinner with my host dad's brother and his wife. Once home, I took a quick rest and got ready for the Rotary meeting. My host dad and I arrived and I was sat down at a table with three vibrant women. I came to learn that this was the women's table. They came and went, but it was full for the most part. There was one woman who spoke very quietly and seemed to always been frown, except for when she forced a smile. She sat right next to me. At first I was intimidated by her, but then she held out and handful of sunflower seeds to me. "A loi". I accepted the sunflower seeds and ate them slowly. I was very distracted by all these laughing, gossiping women asking me all kinds of questions. I soon noticed she had switched seats to the other side of me. At this point I had finished my little handful of sunflower seeds and kept my hands in my lap. I noticed her look down at my hands, then she grabbed one, held it on the table with one hand and used the other to fill my now open hand with sunflower seeds. "A loi" she said to me, in the same tone as before and no expression on her face, just the same from. She then took it upon herself to make sure I had food the entire rest of the night. At this point in my day, I am usually very tired, of course being in a room full of important people and at a table of people all trying to talk to me at once, in broken English and Thai, I was very tired and quite bored. Soon Big arrived and came over to distract me from the women. This was when I found out I had to give a speech and introduce myself to the Rotary Club. Oi. If you know me, you know that I am not one for public speaking. The real meeting was about to begin and I had to sit at the Rotarian table with all of the other important people. Thankfully I was seated between Big and Manit. This was the real boring part. Fortunately for me, I've had many PIG meetings to prepare me for this sort of thing. I am an expert at being bored while feigning interest. I also had Big's occasional comments to keep me same. Alas, the moment of truth came. It was time for me to give my speech. Big told me to speak in English, but to incorporate Thai words into it, and he would translate for me to the rest of the Rotarians. If I had to stand at that podium alone, I probably would have gone mute of fright. I have learned through my experience here so far not to be afraid to be embarrassed, because it will happen, a lot, and you have to learn to just laugh at yourself and get over it. I was presented with a pin and finally allowed back to my seat where I could sit there half asleep and zoning out at the wall just behind the speakers head. I was brought back to reality by the ring of the bell symbolizing the end of the meeting and much clapping. Big informed me it was over and we rose from our chairs. No sooner was a out of my seat, the Rotary President was beckoning to me. "Photos!" He said to me as he directed me to the spot. We started out as five, the president, the former mayor, Big, my host dad and I. Then Manit joined in, a few other men, and some women. Then a few more, and a few more. Eventually we had almost everyone in the room standing around me in the photo. Then the group diminished back to our original five for some more pictures. They love taking pictures here. When everything was said and done, it was time for me to go home. There was a party at the end for the Rotarians and my host dad had wanted to stay, so Big brought me home. Today was a very long day.
Day 11: September 7:
Today was my second day of school. I went to school with my host dad's brother again, but this time just him, and he simply dropped my off. Ai corumba! As he tried to send me off, one of the girls I had shadowed yesterday came to my rescue. She linked her arm in mine and whisked me away to the English department office. There I awaited what I thought would be my doom; I had to give another speech. This time, it was in front of over 3,000 people. They wanted me to speak only in English, which made it easier, but I had to speak slowly and I had to say it twice, and then answer questions. After my speech, I was presented with flowers by the director. They were the most beautiful flowers I have ever received, and they smelled amazing. After that lovely moment in spot light, I went back to the office. Today Nick, the teacher from Minnesota, was there. He was so happy to see me. I talked with Nick and Tina for a while about America and they told me about the things they miss and so on, until I was given a task. I, being the young filan who spoke English and had nothing better to do at the moment, was sent to surf the web and find Environmental quizzes and vocabulary. Going through all of the websites and Environmental articles brought me back to my days in AP Environmental Science. I remembered most of this stuff too, Dr. Hess would be proud. At this point they announced to me I would be going with them on Thursday, not to compete, but more as an intimidation factor. Nick was so excited by this. "Imagine when they see two filans! And she'll be in a school uniform!"
I had my first real class today, it was flower arrangements. I assumed it would be flower arrangements in vases and such, as botanists do, of course I assumed incorrectly. This was far from it. As expected, I was in a class with much younger students. First, let me start off with saying, I had no idea how to get there when they sent me there. Thankfully everyone always wants to talk to me and one girl asked if I knew where I was going. I laughed and told her no. She and her other little friends brought me to a different office and spoke with this tiny little woman. She then came out of her office, all smiles, and announced that she would be escorting me to my class. She was so excited to meet me and talk with me; everyone always wants to practice their English with me. Now, back to class. There really is no way to describe what they do. I could say, the fold petals and put them on long needles, but that really doesn't cut it. They work magic with their flowers. Because we were beginners, we were started out with paper petals rather than real ones. I managed to impress myself and my teacher by learning quickly, despite the fact that she was teaching in Thai and they had been learning this for a few months. I was able to move up to real flower petals that day! "Geng!" They always say, "good!" As are all Thai people I have met so far, my teacher was very nice, and I liked her very much. I could spend hours in that room stringing petals onto that needle. I went to go to a cooking class after, but it had been canceled, so instead I went to Ajan's office. Af picked me up for lunch and we headed into the chaotic cafeteria. Lunch is always an adventure here. So many people gather around our table and insist I try everything. The love to feed me! Some of them literally feed me. They are all very close and friendly here. Everyone shares everything. I have to make sure though, before I eat something, to ask "Peck mai?" (is it spicy?) But now they all know that I can't eat anything too spicy. Now, if someone I haven't met yet tries to offer me something that's spicy, they all say "Mai peck! Mai peck!" (No spicy!) They always have a study class after lunch and today they brought me with them. First we went to an English class, which wasn't too interesting. Next they brought me with them to their Japanese class. They want me to learn Japanese with them! The teacher had his back turned to us when we came in and sat down, in the front row, always the front row. The look on his face when he noticed me, after I loudly said something to him in Japanese which I can't recall just now, it was priceless. The entire class burst out in laughter. He's a funny teacher, very animated. Despite the fact that I couldn't understand him what-so-ever, I could always tell what was going on by his expression. Af had a real class after that so I went back to the Language office and stayed there for the remainder of the day. It sounds boring, I know, but it's actually quite interesting. I talk to the Chinese girls there who are student teachers at the moment and they try to teach me Chinese as well as Thai. They are very interesting girls, and unfortunately will be returning to China soon. At the end of school, I waited for my host uncle in Ajan Leck's office. She is quite the character and so full of life. While I'm there she feeds me and tells me all kinds of stories. I love waiting there with her and her daughter.
Day 12: September 8:
Today I had a Thai class. When I saw it on my schedule, I thought it was going to be me learning Thai in the office, but I was wrong. I went to an actual Thai class today, much like our English classes. The teacher was very nice, again. I know I say it about all of the teachers, but they are genuinely nice. Of course, as always, I was completely lost. This time more so than usual because they were reading Thai. He was reading to them off of a smart board and teaching them to read the characters. Occasionally he would write things down on the board to better explain them. When he did this, I would copy them down on a piece of paper in order to practice writing. He noticed what I had been doing and stepped out of the class for a moment. When he returned, he had two pieces of paper in his hand which he handed to me "Thai alphabet" he explained to me. Ah! I was so excited! Now I could really practice! Later on in the class, after I had written the alphabet almost twice, I realized he had been talking about me. I noticed this by the way the entire class went silent and I looked up to see him looking at me, while the class began to laugh. Then he came up to me, with his microphone in hand. He said into the mic "Follow me." Then he said a word in Thai, which I repeated. We did this for about five more words. "Geng!" He said into the mic and clapped. Some students shouted something he laughed and put the mic to my mouth. He whispered "Follow me" then one by one, said the words again, which I repeated into the mic for all the class to hear. I received a standing ovation for this. They love when I speak Thai, even if they can't understand what I'm saying. "Geng, geng! Very good!" He said to me again. Perhaps I will become fluent after all! Or maybe close. We went to the long awaited lunch. I was very hungry today, "Hiu!" We went through the same ritual of finding our friends, putting our stuff at the table, then waiting in line for food. Today seemed to be more of an exciting lunch than other days, maybe because I'm becoming more acclimated here.
If I told you I took a carving class, you automatically think of wood right? When I saw it on my schedule, I thought to myself, "I hope I can learn to widdle a recorder!" I arrived to my class and they were carving pumpkins! Not carving pumpkins out of wood, oh no, that would be too easy. They were carving intricate flowers out of the pumpkins. If you've ever seen those edible arrangements, then you know what I am talking about. I am in love with this class. My teacher acts like she is one of the students, talks to them like a student, laughs with them like a student, and even teases them like a student. She sat with me for the majority of the time and would sing to me as we carved. She sang "making a circle making a circle" over and over. I'm really not that good at it, but everyone looks at my carvings and says "Suai! Geng ma!" (very beautiful! Very good!) At first, I actually thought I was good at it, because towards the end of class, some girls who weren't from our class had gathered around and were watching me. Then I realized the other girls were much better than I was and were doing harder designs. It turned out they were only watching me because I was a foreigner. A filan. After my carving class, I had Thai dancing. If you know me, then you know that I am not graceful what-so-ever. I once described myself to Sara Breiten during a Frisbee game that I was about as graceful as a drunken bum. I tried my best though, which is all anyone could ever ask for. At least I provided a little entertainment for the other girls. I think what got the most giggles was when we had to lift one leg, then bend the one we were standing on, every time we had to do that, it was all I could do to keep my balance. They also enjoyed watching our teacher, in vain, try to bend my hand into the proper position. I should learn how to say "my hand doesn't bend that way" in Thai. I left that class, thoroughly embarrassed, but such is life. I had fun and I tried my best; that's all that matters to me.  I went to the language office and talked with Ajan Tina. She showed me all of the pictures from trips she had taken here. They were all so amazing! My favorites were of the trip she took with her daughter. They went up north near Chiang Mai and rode elephants through the jungle. At some point, they left the elephants and got on a raft and rafted down a river. The pictures were all so beautiful! I want to ride an elephant through the jungle! I can't wait to see the rest of Thailand!!
Day 13: September 9:
Today I went with my adviser, Tina, and three other girls to a quiz bee. The five of us, plus another teacher and two girls heading to a cooking competition, piled into a van and made our way to Christian University. All of the other students seemed shocked when they saw an English speaking filan walk into the competition. The girl sitting next to me, Dream, leaned over and said "He wants to talk to you." I looked up and saw one of the college students smiling at me. We went through the usual conversation, he asked me the usual questions; I am very used to this now. We talked until it was time for the competition to start. They were relieved to see that I did not join my classmates for I was not participating, merely cheering them on. I watched and talked with Ajan Tina and Ajan Lee, they are such great ladies to talk to. I noticed that Ajan Lee was wearing a Canadian flag pin that Ajan Tina had given her. When I asked her about it, I learned that she loved collecting pins, so I gave them each one of mine. The look on Ajan Lee's face, she was so happy to have one of my pins. After the competition, which we came in 8th place in, out of 9, they had arranged an activity. They needed six people to go up, but there were only about four. It was the guy I had talked to earlier and his friend who were running the activity. He looked right at me and said, "How about the New York girl!". Of course everyone turned and looked. "Yes the New York girl! Come right up!"  I did what any good Rotary student would do and made my way to the front of the room. By then the other three girls from my school had returned from the toilet and joined me up there. It was actually a lot of fun. They mixed us all up so we wouldn't be with the same people from our school and put us into four groups of three. I was in the group with the most energetic kid in the room, he was the first to go up front and he chose to be on my team. I later learned that he had done AFS to America the year before. I should have known. No one won the game because no one scored any points, but we had fun doing it anyway and we all received pens. We decided not to stick around for the certificates to be given away because Ajan Tina had a class soon. We went outside and waited for our van back to school. Our van turned out to be a truck with bench seats in the bed and a roof over it. The three other girls, Dream, Prua, and An, and I climbed into the back. It was quite the ride home speeding down the highway and over bumps in that truck. When we got back to school, the cafeteria was closed so we went outside of school to get food and ate at tables in the cafeteria. Dream had me try something, it was small and fruit-like so I just popped the whole thing in my mouth, expecting it to be good. It was, at first, until I bit into it. It was bitter and awful. "A-roy mai?" (Is it delicious?) Dream asked me, trying to suppress a smile, "Mai! Mai a-roy! Mai chop!"(No! Not delicious! I don't like!" This must have been the response they were waiting for because the three of them burst into fits of laughter. She later apologized for having me eat that. No problem. I'm slowly learning through experience just what not to eat.

After lunch I finally decided to take matters into my own hands. All week I had been avoiding the bathrooms here because I did not know how to use them. Today, I ignored my embarrassment and asked Prua if she would show me how to use to toilets. She did not laugh, as I was afraid she would, or become embarrassed  herself, instead she was very understanding. These toilets are very different and very confusing. There is no flusher, instead you pour water into the bowl and it somehow causes the toilet to flush on it's own. I do not understand the mechanics of the thing so I couldn't possibly describe it to you, just believe me when I tell you it's not something one could figure out on their own. After my lesson on toilets, she brought me to her English class, which only had about ten minutes left. We sat in the back of the room and talked. It was the first time I had talked to someone about something other than myself in a while. I really enjoyed her company. I didn't have any other classes for the rest of the day, so she asked me to tag along to her Physics class. Oh Physics. Looking back, I actually enjoyed that class with good ol' Mr. Good. The Physics teacher here is a short round woman with big glasses that slip down to the tip of her nose. She is basically a female version of Mr. Good, coffee breath and all. She hobbled over to our table to talk to me, leaning on the table, she leaned in real close to me and spoke softly. One of my classmates said something that made her laugh and she leaned back and laughed with her entire body. I have found Mr. Good's long-lost fraternal twin. After Physics, I went to the language office instead of going to their dancing class. I'm glad I made that choice because the girls from China decided to teach me Thai today. They saw me practicing the writing and they told me what every character was and the accents on them. They told me each one twice and I wrote them down, now I can practice! I also helped them with their English. It's a win win! Everybody wins!

Day 14: September 10:
I am slowly finding my place here. I am making new friends and trying new things everyday. Today was a very good day. I'm not sure why, but today just feels better than the rest. I spent two hours in flower arrangement class, which I love. It was different from my last class because it was in a different room with a different teacher. I was also in a class with older girls than last time. I was directed into the room and plopped at the table with my teacher. I am always right beside the teachers so they can show me how to do things and make sure I don't hurt myself; they are always afraid I am going to hurt myself. Somehow they already seem to know just how clumsy and accident prone I am. The flower arrangement class room was right next to the office of the arts department. That's a room full of happy, artsy women. While I was sitting there, folding leaves and placing them carefully on the needle, Ajan Fon, my carving teacher, wandered in and sat beside me. She began to make something of her own. It was a beautiful garland made of rose petals. All the while, she was singing. She loves to sing. She sings silly songs in English to me, which usually consist of the same phrase over and over again. This time it was "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I love you". During class they were feeding me cake and other snacks. One of their favorite things to do is feed me. They want me to try everything. Just before I went to leave, Ajan Fon gave me the beautiful grland she had been working on, she is so kind! After my flower arrangement class, I had a cooking class. I arrived and there was Ajan Fon again. She was my cooking teacher! Today we made shrimp wrapped in bacon with pineapple and honey. Cooking class for me was basically follow some girls around and just do whatever they do. That's my favorite part of the arts classes, everyone knows very little English so I get to practice my Thai more. When we finished cooking and made it look all pretty, everything here is about pretty, we brought what we had made to the other arts teachers. I told them I had a camera with me so everything was pictures, pictures, pictures! They had the Japanese teacher take the picture so all of the other teachers could be in it with me. On one of the teachers' desks was a bowl that had been made out of banana leaves. It was so beautiful that I could hardly believe it was hand made. She offered to teach me how some day, but she said it is very hard, then she gave me the bowl! Gifts, gifts, gifts, and more gifts!! We went back to cooking class and instead of going to lunch, we just hung out and ate there. During our break, instead of going off to study, we watched some dancers perform. They were amazing! I expected it to be the traditional Thai dancing, but instead it was hip hop! I wish I could dance like that! They brought me back to Anjan who asked me to help with her English class. Instead helping to teach English or with pronunciation, it became a Q and A session where they asked me all sorts of questions about my life. It was incredibly personal, but I was completely honest with them, I had nothing to lose. Soon that class came to an end and Af had a test so I went with Aor instead. We went to her Chinese class together. Yes, they are trying to teach me Chinese in Thailand. Oi! It gets so confusing! It was just a study session so it was mostly me interacting with the other girls and us getting to know each other. Ah! I now have friends in school! And I know there names! I had nothing better to do, so I went with Aor to her free period, which is basically a study hall. We all sat on the floor in an air conditioned room. I wish our study halls were like that. It was a lot of fun, I enjoy her company a lot. Alas, school was over and Aor and I headed over to Ajan Leck's office. I love waiting for my host uncle to pick me up there. We have to most interesting conversations. Today she told me about how quite a few of the girls here feel as though they are boys at heart. They cut their hair very short and are always disheveled looking. I had noticed this before, because at first glance I had thought many of them were boys. My school strongly frowns upon this and makes an example of them every morning. After the school song and the morning assembly are done, they have to stand up in a row until classes start. I disagree with this, but they are going against the uniform. I have a Rotary conference thing this weekend at Trang,Pakmeng Resort. I'm not exactly sure where that is, I just know it is on the southern coast far away from my home. I will have to take a plane to get there. Ugh, more plane rides. It should only take an hour though. I must now frantically pack and make sure I have everything I need.