Tuktuks and Turian

So today is the day of my goodbye party in Thailand. I've been dreading it all week because everyone in the house is so busy getting ready for it that they are always tired and I don't actually get to spend time with them. You may wonder why would you dread your own goodbye party well. Here's the thing it's not really mine and I know it's for me but I feel like it's so that my family can say look we liked her so we were able to throw her this big party look what we can do. Not to mention the fact that only a few of my friends are coming and my brother and sister invited the same number of their friends. I guess parties are just really different here. Anyway today I started to look at it in a different light. Even if it is awkward and weird and not what I would have done at least I get presents! :( I feel a little evil but hey it's true. And well it will be interesting. So with that new view and optimism I head forward into my goodbye party.
I know I have a ton to catch up on and that I haven't been writing for a long time. Things have been crazy here. So much travel and packing and just trying to fit everything in before I leave.
Just quickly and I promise to add more in the next few days.
In the past few weeks I've gone to Hat Yai for the weekend with P Nu. Then later that week I headed to Phuket and this amazing resort with P Nu Pet Ploy and my host mother. There I was blessed with an amazing 3 hours of my own time to enjoy the ocean. Perfect completely relaxing and much needed. my school was closed this past week in celebration of the man who founded it so I was able to got to Joy school twice to say my goodbyes to the students there. I've also been trying to spend time with my family since soon I will be so far away.
This week brings quite a lot of travel but I can't wait to be home and see everyone again. As the departure time gets closers it's actually gotten much harder for me. The emotions just keep going in that roller coaster. Well I'm going to go help get ready for this party. Wish me luck!

I’ve been having trouble with my blog recently hence the no new posts and I apologize.
There is quite a bit to catch up on and I’m not quite sure where to start. I guess the most recent.
This past Saturday I piled in a van at 6 in the morning along with my host mom, P Nu, Phet, Ploy and 5 of Ploy’s friends. We were off to Nakon Si Tammart for the day. All of Phet Ploy and all her friends were going to test for an English competition. A good part of the morning was spent driving then sitting around waiting for the test to begin and then more sitting while they tested. To take a break P Nu and I went off to a local temple. It was nice and a lot like those I had seen in the north but with the main part being shaped differently. We then went back to the school to pick up everyone else. Off to lunch and then back to the same temple again. This time because it was so hot I stayed and played with Phet in the car while they walked around and tamboned. Next the journey home. The car was much louder on the way back since no one was worrying about the test anymore and Ploy and her friends seemed to be having fun. Every now and then we would turn down a side road in search of the beach only to have it deemed “my souy” by my host mom. After about an hour or so of driving around we finally found a beautiful beach and it was very beautiful. Ploy and her friends played on the edges of the water and Phet wrote in the sand. I went in search of shells and sea glass. The waves were smashing in and it turned out to be the perfect place for my search. I ended up finding 16 pieces of sea glass and countless beautiful shells in only a short time. Too soon we were all getting called back to the car. I could have spent hours there. I’d forgotten how much I love beaches especially deserted ones. It was the perfect place to have some time for thinking.

The week before I had been away with my school so it was nice to have a day with most of my family.
The trip was a 6 day bus tour up to Chiang Mai, which is very far north and Surat Thani is pretty far south so a good deal of the 6 days was spent getting north and then south again. There were three buses once again. It was the same three classes M5/1 5/2 and 5/3 the math and science classes of my grade. Like I said a lot of the time was spent driving which meant there was much of the following 1 karaoke 2 movies 3 sleep 4 eating and in general a lot of messing around and bonding time. We stopped at the 7 Elevens along the way as is key in any Thai road trip lasting more than 45 minutes. The main stops on our journey were Lamphun, Lampang and Chiang Mai. We also stopped at numerous temples and OTOP shops where the teachers did most of the shopping and students continued to sleep. In Lamphun and Lampang we went to the two largest temples which were very beautiful and different than most of the temples I had seen. Then we continued on to Chiang Mai where we spent two nights. The first night I went out with a large group of my friends to the night market and to eat dinner. We ended up eating at Fuji which was very filling and well worth the little extra it cost. Then it was back out to the night market where I learned first hand just how badly farang can be ripped off. My friends would bargain things down to ¼ the price originally asked of me. Oh boy do I love my friends.
The next day we spent at the Royal Flora show put on in honor of the King and opened only the week before. It’s some ridiculous number of hecta acres and really is extremely large. There were three buildings/tents devoted entirely to orchids, gardens from around the world, one for the kind and another for the queen, house built to show the 4 regions of Thailand, farms recreated and tons more. We were there from 9 am when it opened until it closed with a light show at 7 pm and I still didn’t get to see it all. I walked around in the morning with my friends. Then in the afternoon we took one of the carts around the parts we hadn’t seen and stopped to play in some of the air conditioned buildings until the sun went down and it cooled off a little. In that one day I think I took some 400 or so photos. That night we were all extremely tired and most of my close friends stayed in and went to bed early for once. I went out with another group and ate a light dinner before heading back to sleep too. Most nights a big bunch of the girls would pile into one room and have a “meeting” They all spoke in Thai and normally too quickly for me to understand much but it felt good because they all wanted me there and every now and then some one would explain one of the more “important” things being discussed. One thing I learned is that not matter where girls love to talk and it’s pretty much all the same.
All for now!

Crazy! that's about all I can muster, that and Wow.
Yesterday I left with my host mom, Phet, Ploy, P nu and Dana to go to Thrang to see the Gin Jai festival. It's a special festival for Chinese Thai people where they eat Vegan for 10 days and celebrate.
Okay so I'll jump right to the Crazy stuff. Today we went to see the parade where I was told people would but knifes through their cheeks. Well it wasn't just that it was bicycles, chairs, trees, spears, knives. And these people feel that they are possessed by the spirit of the gods and so they cannot feel the pain. It was horrify. Afterwards they don't even go to the hospital to get the huge holes in their cheeks fixed. the best way I can describe it is to just show you the photos. i think i may be able to write more later but for now here you go.

I'm sitting writing this from my hotel room in Koh Samui. We caught the mid day ferry yesterday. We hung around the hotel, saw the beaches and relaxed. For dinner we went to a brand new health and Spa. First things first they had amazing bread. Whole grain I mean the real stuff it was spectacular. That's one thing that is impossible to find in any stores here all they have is horrible white bread. I had a pumpkin coconut soup that was fantastic. I finished off the meal with spinach ravioli which was okay. By far the best was the bread and pumpkin soup. So Good!! Ahh!!! I didn't get to post this as I had to run off with my friend shortly after. Overall Samui was fun but it was also really awkward. My host family didn't take to my friend Dana who came down to visit and go on the trip with me. In fact by the end of her stay they weren't talking to her and were being very rude and hostile towards her. My host mom even called AFS Bangkok to complain about her. She did this without talking to me or to Dana. Of coarse Dana then got a call from AFS Bangkok telling her all that my host mom said and saying they needed to have a meeting with her. Here it's not good to call AFS Bangkok like that it can cause a lot of problems and it really offended me. I was annoyed by the way my host family treated one of my closest friends and then went behind my back and called AFS possibly getting my friend into trouble. (She even said at one point to AFS that she hoped my friend wouldn't have to go back to the states early) luckily things worked out in the end and everything is okay for Dana. But this made the trip even weirder and not all that fun. Dana and I did get to have amazing massages, time in the pool, and a Mexican dinner all to ourselves and those times were fun. I really enjoyed having one of my friends there and having someone to talk to and figure some things out. Anyway the hotel we stayed at was really nice and had two pools and a bit of beach. Unfortunately it was quite cold the first day (I might even say cold) so Dana and I weren't in the mood to swim. The second day was a bit nicer not as cold but still cloudy. My host family took us out at lunch time to see a bit of the island. They said they were going to take us to see amazing rocks. Amazing Rocks okay sounds interesting. Well when we got there and walked out to the ocean they said there amazing rocks and pointed. I was well speechless. Amazing I'm not quite sure if that's how I would chose to describe a giant penis rock. Dana and I were in awe. It was perfectly okay for my host family to take us to this, but I'm not aloud to where a skirt that doesn't cover my knees or a tank top. Okay not really sure where the disconnect is. Then they called us down and we realized that at least rocks aren't sexist as there was also one for the girls. Don't worry I have photos but that's all I will say about that. Then we went to this waterfall that was quite nice but we didn't spend much time there.Phet wanted lunch which meant he was going to KFC as all that boy eats is fried chicken or noodles. So Dana and I headed back to the hotel where we had hour long massages and then went for a dip in the pool. Dana went back to the hotel room earlier than me and I stayed out and swam. It ended up starting to rain and that made the swimming even better. The pool was huge and very relaxing just what I needed. That night we went off from my host family to go and eat some Mexican food. It was really good and so nice to have something other than Thai food and to not be the only foreigner there. In fact the place is called Gringos Cantina :) The next day we left at 1030 after a delicious breakfast of pancakes and french toast to head to the ferry to go back to Surat Thani. Dana then left on Saturday night to head back up to Bangkok and then on Sunday back to her town way up in the north. Because of the issues with my host family and Dana it was awkward between me and them. I really was offended by the way they handled it and treated my friend. AFS had kept talking to my host mom and to Dana. Then later in the week I got a call from them and I talked things out. It's hard in Thailand because you cannot be direct. You really don't discuss things face to face. At one point my host mom tried to talk to me but it consisted of her just telling me that I would agree with her in the future when I was older and understood more. She couldn't even listen to me. Okay well she would at least she would listen but she wouldn't hear what I was saying. It's hard because she is very confident in herself and very controlling and I don't think she has every experienced someone disagreeing with her, ever.
Since then things have been awkward with her but I'm making an effort to try to get things back to normal. On the cool side though AFS explained to her that she doesn't need to worry so much and that it's okay for me to go out on my own. So today for the first time I went on my own really. I walked to the local coffee place and had coffee with Dana (Pet's teacher not the other AFSer) and now we are sitting at the local internet place where I don't have anyone reading what I write. And she has said that once school starts its okay for me to walk home or to come home with my friends. I'm excited! It's so weird how even little things like that mean so much to me. It's hard to believe just how little freedom I got used to. Very different than things back home. I mean it's actually a big deal for me being aloud out. I never would have thought I would put up with that (I certainly wouldn't back home ;)
Now I have to run of to go to a Dan Beam concert which I just learned is 4 hours long. I'm planning on bringing a lot of Advil and my camera. Ah well it's just another experience to add to the list.
I will write more soon. Sunday I head off to an English camp where I will get to see some of the other AFSers and that should be fun. Photos really soon promise they take so long to upload here :(

Wednesday: I joined my Aunt and Uncle on a trip back up to the Precadet school to pick up my cousin Ake. It was a beautiful day so I got to really see the mountains and lake. And I got to do zip line and kayaking. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. The area was so beautiful it would have been nice to camp there for sometime but I don't know if that is possible. It's so nice to see country after living in cities here.

Thursday: Yay!!! Dana came!! I woke up ridiculously early for no apparent reason since her train wasn't coming in until 9 am. But no worries. I picked her up we headed over to my other aunt's house and dropped off our stuff. We jumped over to Siam Paragon and spent the afternoon and evening there. We ate pizza and saw 2 movies. We saw Death Note which was this really awesome Japanese movie that had both Thai and English subtitles. After that we grabbed some Starbucks and then went to see The Devil Wears Prada.

Friday: We hung around the house in the morning. Then went out to Kao Suan road and Siam Paragon again to eat Japanese food and catch another movie. The food was amazing. It was so nice to have a few days of just western food. We also found the huge supermarket in Siam Paragon and did a little shopping there, which was awesome. We also had the weirdest run in with another AFSer. We were just getting on the escalator and suddenly Dana pulls me back and turns and says “hey Max” Max is a German AFSer who we hung out with at the last camp and who I believe lives in the Northeast. Turns out that he was in Bangkok to visit his host cousin and had just arrived. I don’t know how it is possible that in a city of 10 million in the biggest mall we could just happen to run into another AFSer especially one that doesn’t live in Bangkok. We caught up a little and then he had to go to his cousins house so we split up. Then we headed over to Kao Suan Road to see it at night.

Saturday: We went to Jatujak market in the morning and did some more shopping. Then we headed off to central mall to grab lunch. The place was crazy. It looked like any mall in the States. All the signs were in English only the directions had Thai along with English. We ate pizza hut, had Starbucks and then it was time to meet my aunt. We meet and then ran off to the airport. We left from the new Thai airport which is huge and definitely not close to the city. I'd say at least an hour and a half away. It was however quite beautiful. We didn't get scanned until we reached the departing gate and so movement was fast no lines. It is made mostly of glass and Dana and I spotted some guys up on the glass roof cleaning and fixing things and took some pictures. The flight was short just about 1 hour. We reached my house around 7 and then had dinner. It was a special night of this huge festival that's going on in my town to celebrate the Buddha. And I have to say that this festival is actually festive and is quite fun. We drove and walked around my town until about 10 30. There was a competition for these huge displays showing the life of the Buddha. They were awesome. Most were done in a mix of glow in the dark and black light paints and had waterfalls and parts that moved.
Sunday: We got up to tambon with my family. Then we headed out to see the boat parade (both with the floats and with actual boats on the river) The parade was pretty cool. Each float had people in front of it the first group dancing in costumes and then the second holding signs and the last right before the boat were pulling it along. They believe that if you go and help them pull the boat it is a big tambon and brings you good luck. Unfortunately Dana was pick pocketed at one point. Luckily we discovered she still had here drivers lisence and she was able to cancel her bank card within the hour so all should be okay. It was scary and it sucked but it ended up with the best possible outcome. After doing everything we could for that situation we went out on a boat to see the floats in the river and to see boat racing. It was cool to be able to see my town from the river and it gave me a different look into the set up. After that it was home and napping thank god.

Monday:
Dana and I slept in. I had gotten way too much sun the day before but luckily I woke up feeling better. We hung around the house most of the day trying to organize our stuff and just relax. We went out in the afternoon to see my town and more of the festival. Then we came back home and made an amazing box of macaroni and cheese thanks to my parents.

Tuesday: (today) Getting ready to hopefully head off to Koh Samui tomorrow with my family. And who knows what else.

Pictures to come soon!
Bye

I've been staying at my Uncle house for quite a few days now and well I don't want to leave. He lives smack in the middle of Bangkok close to everything. The main road is about 5 minutes walk and kaow san road maybe 10. There are museums, everything. But best of all he has two sons one in University and one in high school so his house is used to teenagers and since they are boys they give more freedom. If I want to go somewhere all I have to do is ask but otherwise I'm left alone. It's so amazingly nice to be able to read my book, watch tv or go on the internet without someone coming over and saying "what are you doing Pim" "Pim" Pim" in fact most people here use my real name. It's all just so refreshing and is really giving me my much much needed break. Today I'm going off with my other Uncle again to try to do activities at Ake's camp before we bring him back.

Then tomorrow Dana comes and they arranged it so that I'll stay in the Bangkok house with her. Everyone already said that we have all of thursday together for me to show Dana around bangkok with no other obligations. So different than life in Suratthani. And our trip was extended again instead of leaving on friday night we will now fly back to Surat on Saturday one day before the festival begins. Then we have until wed. when we'll go off to Koh Samui!!!

Well yesterday I went with Luong Utt to Samut Sakorn. He made these three assistants take me out and show me around. I felt bad for them but they were really nice. One spoke a little english but had a friend in Bangkok who does tours so we would call her to tell me what we were up to next. We went to a mangrove forest on the Gulf of Thailand where they have 3 species of the walking fish. One was really huge and there were tons of then all over the mud fighting and such. Then we went to another temple and it was covered in bird s*it. I guess it was okay because all the birds have nest inside the temple and I think they think it is good luck because these are the birds they make birds nest soup from which is very expensive. Then I came back and in the evening we went to eat dinner in the local China town. It still doesn't beat the one in San Francisco but it was a lot of fun.

As I said I'm just really enjoying how relaxed and laid back all my family is here. Now they are talking about having me up more often which I would love. It's so nice because even though I'm doing all of this traveling none of it is counting against me for AFS. AFS gives us 2 one week of exchanges where we can go and live in another part of thailand, and 2 weeks of independent travel. Since all of this is with my "host family" it doesn't count same with the trip to Koh Samui. It's so perfect since well after December I still have another 6 months and I want to make sure I can travel.

For now I'm off!

So my trip to Bangkok has turned out to be two weeks in Bangkok! It also was a 3 day trip to a neighboring province of Muak Lek where my father's twin is the sheriff (head of police) I arrived on Sunday after a hour long flight where I saw Koh Samui for the first time and the other neighboring islands. Which only made me want to go more. The water was perfectly blue and the islands covered in lush green trees. Aah Utis is an officer in the Thai air force and so once we where off the plane we took a short cut across the the airport on the military side. Here in Thailand most airports are split in half one for civilian travel and one for the air force. Then we headed into the air force base. We stopped to take photos of me with the first tank we saw which just happened to be commandos (special forces). I gave them roses and took photos which I will try to get up once I'm back in Suratthani. We went to their house put out stuff in and then were off to Jatujak market. It's this huge weekend market in the middle of BKK. After an hour or so there I realized what people said was true. You could spend two days there and still not see everything. Well it was also way too hot so we decided we had had enough and headed off to my other Uncle's house. I meet more cousins and extended family. Lung Utt has two sons P Golf, Gab(15) and a daughter Nong Gip(9). As per usual the family tried to get them all to speak English to me which just made the boys more shy and the girl nervous. That night I went to Kau San Road to have dinner. It's the famous road in Bangkok where all the tourist especially backpackers go. It was strange to be there with my Thai family see all the tourist. It was fun though to see all the things they sell. On t-shirt which I hope to pick up soon that says "same same" on the front and sometimes "but different" on the back.
The next day I spent most of the time sitting around the house while my host cousin Ake pronounced more like Egg played video games. I did get to go to the Air force museum. We walked around and Ake talked about all the planes and such. He knows most of them if not all. I guess though if you live right next to an air force base and your father is an officer and mother works for Thai airways you should. On real cool thing about the museum was they make models of the planes from paper and give lessons. So I tried to make one. I got a lesson along with Ake and P Bop. It was rather interesting and required a lot of patients and care. Tuesday was much of the same until we got a call from Luong Ut and he said okay lets go to Muak Lek today. WE had planned on going to Muak Lek on the weekend with both families but plans changed. We packed our bags and by 1 were off. For this trip it was my Uncle Luong Ut, Ake and P Bop. The trip up was a little over an hour and we stopped in a town to eat delicious noddles with fish. Let just say that before I left I was told that Muak Lek is cowboy country. now I'm not really sure what I expected that to mean as none of the afsers have seen any cows and well one doesn't think cowboys when you think of Thailand at least I didn't. So we went to my Uncle's house in the city and then to his office. Then we drove around the area. It was all truly beautiful. All country with mountains an rolling hills and fields of corn which reminded me a lot of home. Over the three days I saw Conestoga wagons named for states that are also rooms at one cowboy place. Lots of horseshoes, listened to the most awful American country music, rode around in the back of pick up trucks. Went to an ATV place and almost rode horses. We ended up staying at the Muak Lek resort and Spa instead of at my uncle's house per my aunt's request and well I didn't argue that one. It was really a lot of fun. Much more relaxed and laid back than the normal atmosphere of my home in Thailand and a much needed break.
Since then I've gone to the huge mall in Thailand Siam Paragon. I discovered it has an aquarium and I went there for a while. I spent one night in my uncle's house in Bangkok and I'm actually back there again for two nights with his family while my cousin Ake goes to Precadet school. We went to another district Nakron naiuk, I believe I'll check on that one later, to have sea food which was delicious. I went to Wat Prat Gaow and Wat Pho with Gip. I also talked them into letting me go back to Jatujak market for an extended time. Which was so much fun but my wallet isn't too happy about that trip, but I'll justify it by saying in Bangkok I can actually buy clothes that fit and find cute things to bring back home.
Yesterday I went with Ah Chou and Ah Utis to bring Ake to precadet camp. Gip came with us as we were planning to do zip lines, kayaking and parachuting. Once we got there we went to the house of the head of the Precadet school as he is a good friend of Ah Utis. I met his family and then he took us to the camp. Just as we stepped out of the car it started to pour. We waited for 5 or 10 minutes and it didn't let up at all, so we decided to try again another time and instead went to have dinner. We said goodbye to Ake and drove back to Bangkok rather late. Gip and i grabbed our bags and headed to her house back in the city. Today I'm staying at the house where luckily I have Internet and can update you all. I went on a nice walk to see another temple. Oh yes i forgot before we went to eat seafood the other night they took me to two different temples where apparently my host father always goes. Now I'm relaxing while my two host cousins Golf and Gab study and sleep and Gip is at school.
I''m hoping to get a few more walks in around the city today and tomorrow before I head back to Ah Chou's house for the end of the week.
Yesterday a new Prime minister was announced and it looks like even more of the tanks left the city. The city is just a little awkward. There aren't too many tanks around though there are some. There are many many soldiers all over with guns which is strange and weird for me. No one seems to really notice except to take photos and move on. Life here like back in Suratthani seems to be going on as normal.
One really awesome thing that came out of one dinner with Ahh Utis, Ah Chou and Luong Ut was a call to my host mom to convince her that my friend should visit me after our trip to Koh Samui but that she should come with us. Okay so next week is the planned trip to Koh Samui and my friend Dana (AFS not teacher) wanted to come to the south for a week to see another part of the country and we had planned for the week following. Now Dana is coming down from the North to spend two days with me in BKK before heading back with me to Suratthani for 4 days and then on to Koh Samui. We also lucked out because Suratthani is apparently having a festival this weekend and we will be back just in time. So not only have I had an awesome time in Bangkok but I have great plans for the future. I send a big big thanks out to Hilary for answering her phone when i needed to vent about the hours of TV and boxing that I had to endure to also get the good things.
Something I learned during this trip. Some of the most frustrating parts of American culture can be found all over the world. Country music and WWF wrestling were not expected on my part.
Well thats all for now. Pictures to come and I'll try to remember what I forgot to write!

So I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow morning and I can't wait! I'll live with (aunt) Aa Chou, (uncle)Aa Utit and their son Ehg for 10 or 11 days. They live in the middle of the city and already have tons of plans for me including trips to near by provinces. Awesome. Oh and by the way.
Pim chawp cycle mak mak! I love motorcycles. The fear has truly turned into a love. Too bad I can't learn to drive here :( Today was fun. I went to breakfast with my host parents, grandparents and Aunt and Uncle who I'll live with. Then I spent the rest of the day with them and my little brother Pet, it was a nice change of pace. Well I have to go pack my bag. Hopefully I'll be able to get at least one post up while I'm in Bangkok.

Things have continued to go on as normal here. I've had a few conversations with my host mom about the coup and they've been hard. It's hard for me to figure out where I stand on this issue. I know that most of the Thai people wanted Thaksin out because of his horrible corruption but it's still hard for me to agree with something so drastic and undemocratic as a coup. The Thai people though seem to think this was preserving the democratic process and will help to clean up the corruption, but no elections for a year how is that democratic. This is exactly what is hard to explain to my host mom. I understand the need to get Thaksin out and that the people have tried but because he is so corrupt it has been impossible. Elections have been rigged and people paid off. I guess I'm asking myself the same questions that many of the Thai people are asking how to you form a working democratic process and how do you at least limit the corruption. I guess all I can do is watch and listen to the beliefs of the people and try to figure out what I believe and what I can tolerate. I really wish I was going to Bangkok so I could get a feel for the city and see what happens first hand, but for now my trip has been delayed and I hopefully will be going next week. I guess I never thought that a coup would be part of my experience in Thailand I probably should have learned more about Thai politics. Other than that as I said things are normal. Today there is no school because it is a special festival for Buddhism in the south of Thailand. This morning I went to temple with my host mom, Phet, Ploy, P Nu and Yai Watit. We gave lots of food and money a big part of Buddhism here is giving things to the monks or releasing animals (like birds to the air and fish back to the river) a process known as Tambon, it's supposed to bring you good luck. My host mom explained that they believe that relatives that have died have been visiting for the past 2 weeks and that today is the day that they travel back to heaven and so families bring them food and gifts for their journey. Some people also give gifts to the dead who no longer have families so that they won't bother anyone. She said they believe that if a gift is not given than the ancestor will stay. It was interesting to watch, but very very long over 2 hours. Now my parents are at their offices doing work since they both are always so busy and Phet and Ploy are studying for their end of term test that are this week.
For now my only plans for this break is a family trip to Koh Samui for 3 days and I can't wait. It will be mine and Phet's first time there.
Oh yes so a little about the COC camp. The camp ended up being a lot of fun. We had to play so stupid games and do activities but those aside I had time to hang out and talk with my friends. It was so amazing to see everyone again and I really miss being at that hotel. One good thing that also happened was I made better friends out of other people than just AFS USA, who I know I already adore. I know have a better idea of who is in the south and hopefully we will all be meeting up at many English Camps. I also started to plan more travel to go and visit my friends in other parts of the country so that I can experience a different style of living in Thailand. One of my favorite parts of the camp was the last night. A bunch of people piled into my room to watch movies. We all just crashed around the room and stayed up all night watching stupid movies and just in general having an awesome time. It was weird to look around the room and be like oh he's from Germany/Belgium/etc. and she's from Iceland/Norway people from all over in a hotel room in Thailand laughing at the same movie. Pretty sweet.
For now I think that's all. I'll be sure to try and keep everyone informed as much as possible about my situation and what's happening in Thailand.

Alright well given the circumstances I felt I should make sure to let you all know that I'm fine and everything appears to be okay. I woke up late this morning to come down stairs and see my host family all home except for my father. My host mom tried to explain something about military and government and then my sister grabbed the dictionary and pointed to coup I was like what ? what ? I immediately tried BBC but nothing was on so I hoped on the internet. And thanks to CNN and BBC I learned of what happened. Right now I'm not sure how the coup is going to turn out how it is going to affect me. I do know that I probably won't be going to Bangkok next week as planned :) probably a good idea. It's so strange and hard to even comprehend what is happening. I guess we will all learn how far they plan to take this in the up coming days. I promise to keep everyone informed as much as possible.

ahh well it's been much longer than I had planned. I just got home from my COC ie Cultural Orientation Camp where I got to see all the other AFSers again except for the ones who are home now. Anyway back to finishing that first story before I get to some more. So as we were finishing up the walk and almost back to camp we stopped at this place where you could either walk around and continue on the trail or you could cross the river on these small cement and wooden poles that were stuck into the mud. Well I you can guess what I choose. Two of my friends started to follow one of the guides but then quickly stopped and turned around, I figured that they were just scared so I said "Okay I'll go first" I started on the first and then the second and it was much harder than it looked. The pilings were not too close together and well I have big feet so it was hard to balance. Then I got to the 4 or 5 piling and I started to put my weight on it when it started to wobble. I managed not to fall and got steady. Then I looked at the next one and it was no longer made of cement but actually a log and not a complete one it had half rotted away. Well I was half way over already and I didn't want to freak out and look like an idiot so I decided to keep going. A few more logs and I was almost there. Then I realized one that no one was following me and I remember why I had never gone close to the river area before it had 4 CROCODILES!! Well some of you know my history there, but for the rest of you I'll just say they are the one animal I am terrified of I can't even really watch them on TV. So then I kept thinking oh shit what if I see a crocodile what if I fall in the water Shit! All this going through my head as I'm trying to balance on these small pilings that are half rotted. So I make it to the almost very end. I'm standing on the last piling looking at the cement push out that I need to get to. There are our 2 guides standing there and a bunch of my friends on the other side watching. I go to take the step onto the cement and I realize it is an even bigger step than I thought. I decided the best thing I can do is to just go for it. Well this next part all happened very very quickly. I took the step and I made it with one foot but I was still off balance and falling and falling off the cement into the water just as I almost fell off the cement my guide grabbed my hand than the other guide grabbed me and they kept me out of the water. with there help I managed to stay dry but I also managed to through my thigh right into the cement corner. Well realizing what had happened I quickly got up brush myself off responded to the"Sabi (okay comfortable)Sabi?" and turned to my friends and said "Hey well at least I tried" I felt fine just a little scrapped on my hands but well I didn't fall in the water. Later that day I tried to sit down and jumped up with a quick JEB (sore/hurt) I gave myself a big bruise but well like I said at least I tried. The next day I went back to look at where I had fallen and to take some photos, that's when I realized if I had fallen in the water it would have been bad. The water wasn't deep but well there was a lot of scrap metal and junk right in the area I would have landed it. But I guess it was all just another experience.
Speaking of different experiences. The night after my accident we had to do performances. The class performances were all funny, but the most unforgettable performance was done my all our guides. It started will all the lights going out and then just one light coming on and flashing and club music blasting in the back then our guides came into view. 3 guys in tiny tight skirts, boots, and tank tops with fake boobs and then they started to dance. And I mean dance. It was quite hilarious though I don't think any of the Thais found it too funny. They were all so embarrassed and so quiet. Well it kept getting weirder and soon there was a motorbike driven by a guy in bright pink spandex pants who then drove around with another guide carrying a huge umbrella. The skit then started and it was very very odd. It's hard to really explain how this all happened but then some guides pretended to hit on the ones in skirts, then another guy came in in multicolor spandex pants and was pretending to be a teacher and it ended with more crazy dancing, and it seemed like the guys in skirts had forgotten that they were now wearing skirts and so they went crazy. It was a mix of being hilarious and horrifying and I'm still not sure which one won out.
All that now is very much in the past. On Wednesday I went to Phet's school and taught a lesson and helped out as much as I could. I headed home around and then my friends Eve came with another AFSer Natalie who also lives in her province to the south of me. We walked around town and did a little shopping in some of the stores that I know. Then we headed back home and ate dinner with my family. It was so nice to see Eve again and to catch up on how she has been doing. Eve is one of the Americans that came at the same time as me back in July. We were all excited for the next day when we would get to camp and were all already to be at camp already so the evening went by pretty slowly. We stayed in my room and finally went to sleep. Thursday we left at 6 to go start on the trip to Pratuab Khriri Khan. Around 8 we arrived at Maren's house in Chumpon where she and Belinda another AFSer from Germany were waiting. Maren has been having a tough time with her family so it was nice to see her and for her to excited and happy. The trip took in total about 4 1/2 hours and we got in earlier than I had thought. The whole time though we all just wanted to be at the hotel, we were ready to see all of our friends.

Okay. Yesterday I got home after spending 3 days in the middle of the jungle with about 100 students from my school. Besides Grace and Well and a few of the other kids from my class I didn't hear any English the entire time. It was nice but also overwhelming. The camp was really a lot of fun. We started at 6 30 am on Monday when we all piled into three buses. Then I quickly learned that buses in Thailand have karaoke. For 3 hours students from my class sang and tried to get me to sing. We stopped at 7 eleven picked up Junk food and were off into the middle of nowhere. When we got to camp we were told to put are bags where we would be sleeping. There were a few different buildings and we were split up into 2 groups of girls and one group of guys. I slept in the main building. Like all buildings in Thailand it had a roof but not complete walls so we were still opened to the night which was nice but as I found out a little cold. The first day we went on a short hike and learned or well they learned about the ecosystem. At night we had to do presentations of what we learned during the day. And best of all we played games. So I can't remember if I ever talked about the games we played at orientation in Bangkok but these were even better. The thing about Thailand is most of the time they are very very conservative and you have to be polite but once they are in the proper place Thai people are crazy. Alright so they do these games where you run around and have to get into groups and put your heads together or you have to sit in a huge circle and they come and scream at you and you scream something back and raise your hands. anyway games a lot like camp games back home. But then they separate the winners and the losers and make you do a dance. You have to do the most awkward things and no one no one in the US would do it because you look so ridiculous but one thing that is really nice about it is that in Thailand everyone does it, so you don't have to worry about looking stupid and then having everyone else laugh at you because in the next second they probably are going to look worse that you just did. It made it so much more fun and I was able to let go and just laugh and have a good time. And let me tell to you Thai people know how to shake their hips and love to do so, especially the guys. We had a bunch of advisors that would take us around all young mostly guys and just 3 girls. These were the people that first showed us the dances. All this went until about 11 30 at night and then it was off to bed. We had yoga the next morning at 6 but first came showers. Well I finally got to see what most of Thailand is like except for when your in a city they use buckets of water to take showers and just pour the water over yourself. The bathrooms I saw on the first day we really really dirty and the Thai girls were all avoiding them as well as I was and we found that inside the building they had 2 showers that were much much cleaner and that's what I used. It actually was refreshing but let me tell you I'm just so so happy I got placed with the family that I did and that not only do I normally have a real shower but I have hot water. Now I know even more just how lucky I am. So the yoga was fun but then came the best part. My friend Earth said she was going to lead aerobics. The aerobics they do here is intense and very entertaining. Soon however it became even more entertaining. One of the advisors put on music and My Humps by the Black Eyed Peas came blasting out. So in the middle of the jungle I watched about 50 Thai girls do aerobics to My Humps and then a remix of Que Sera Sera it was one of the most entertaining and odd things I had ever seen in my whole life and I don't think I will ever forget it. After that we had breakfast and prepared to go out on a 7 km hike in the jungle. Yup that's right 7 km! Oh I also forgot to mention that at this point I had one bottle of water and I found out that they didn't have any and everyone was drinking water that they had just put in a bucket that came from a hose on the side of the hill. At this point I have to admit I got worried. how was I supposed to go 3 days on one bottle of water let alone go on a hike through the jungle and how do I explain that there is no way that I could drink that water without getting very very sick. Luckily I talked to Grace and I found out they could boil the water for me and then shortly after I saw a teacher with bottled water and asked for one for the hike and he gave me 2. I don't know what I would have done but I lucked out. Alright so then we headed off to get started on our hike. I went with Grace and our group which was about 15 people with one teacher and 2 guides/advisors. The hike was amazing we followed this stream up a mountain thought the jungle and then passing by a rubber tree forest and then back into jungle. At the top we climbed this muddy bank so that we could see just where the river began. while they listened to one guide two girls showed me this tiny little crab among the wet leaves. It was so weird there was a crab in the middle of the jungle at the top of a hill. It was so amazing. Everything was very beautiful and quite a lot of it reminded me of hikes I did last year in Hawaii and reminded me when I started to think about study abroad. We started to head back down and stop at a little clearing to sit and eat our lunches. I ate lunch looking out to the amazing Thai mountains that I just love to look at and was now in the middle off. It was so nice to finally be outside really experiencing natural Thailand. The hike was fun and hard but as we headed back to the main camp I realized I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. Then came some thing that I know I will never forget, but that will have to wait for another day. I'll try to finish this up before I leave next week for AFS camp and I'm working on getting some photos up. More soon.

Well today I'm sick again! I'm still not feeling well so this will be short. I just wanted to write while yesterday was still fresh in my mind. So I when I got to school my class was surprised because Film came to school again. His flight to Bangkok wasn't until the afternoon and he needed to finish up some testing and wanted to say goodbye. Around lunch time my classmates started to talk and then I finally said okay what's going on. They wanted to go to the airport to give Film a real send off. Then we got approval from the teachers the only thing was we needed a way to get some 30 students to the airport. At first we thought we had a bus that would take us and then we only had one van which meant about half the people could go. So well I heard that and I thought my host father is deputy governor for nothing. I called P Somchai and asked if there was anything that could work. Well we got another van. So 2 packed vans and another car headed off to the airport. They gave him a photo album and all said their goodbyes. They sang again and it was amazing. Then I talked to him and gave him the little I've learned already and said goodbye and good luck. I think the hardest thing for me was when he made his final wave. He had to got through with his mom and it reminded me suddenly of what that was like for me. To take that last look at your family and know that you have no real idea of what your getting into. Ahh well I have to go try to eat.

So yesterday was interesting. I woke up to find myself sick! Yay joy of joys. On the day I had plans to go out with friends I finally got sick. Well the morning was fun but luckily after much rest I felt better enough to still go out. My friends were having a send off party for a boy in my class named Film tomorrow he leaves for Belgium he's doing an AFS year program too. It was a lot of fun over 30 of my classmates came. At the end they made a circle around film and sang to him. My friend Puay has an amazing voice and she started it off. I couldn't understand the songs because they were in Thai but I could tell they were filled with love and good wishes. It was so moving to watch 30 people sing and send their love to one. Soon they were all crying. When they finished they gave him a big hug. Then they made him put on a white shirt and they all signed it along with a big poster for him to take with him. It was weird to be sending off a friend to another country and reminded me of my going away party. It also made me realize that I'm so lucky because now all these people are my friends and they are all really amazing. Well other than that I don't really have to much to add. Other than that my host brother got jipped in a competition for speaking english. It was judged only by Thai teachers and I'm pretty sure his enlgish is too much like that of a native speaker so they couldn't understand him. Still he came in 4th out of 18 and was the youngest by 2 years so I'm very proud.

Okay so I just figured out how to add pictures easily and I will be putting up more in the coming week for now enjoy the first slide show. I'm off to Batic!

Okay well I haven't posted in awhile as things got kind of crazy here but I will try to catch this up. Last weekend my Uncle Jack visited!!! Yup that's right I'm a lucky girl I already got to see family. It was really nice to spend time together and I finally got to be outside and walk around town a little. He also gave me advice on how to face learning a forgetting language and it's already started to help and I've become more focused. My family took us out for lunch last sunday and we saw "walking fish" they are really cool and they fight it was pretty awesome. The week went really well. I'm enjoying my cooking classes though I'm not sure how much I'm learning they are really fun and my classmates in them don't really speak English so that is also forcing me to speak a little more Thai which is great. This week we made cupcakes though they were more like pound cake they were quite good if I say so myself. Wednesday I spent the whole day at Joy school!!! I actually taught one lesson for Dana and it was a lot of fun. I definitely hope to do more but it is so much harder to teach an ESL class especially ones so young. It will be interesting to see what else I can do and I hope to learn a lot from Dana and the other teachers. Since I spent the whole day I got time to talk to all of them which was really nice. Then on Thursday it was sport day at my school so another whole day without any classes. They seem to have quite a lot of events that take a lot of planning and time to get together but they are always fun. I helped my friends get everything ready for Friday's parade. Then on friday as I already mentioned I was in the parade. It meant getting up at 3 am for hair and makeup but some of my friends had to get up at 1 am so I was lucky. The dress was so beautiful and I loved it but the parade was so so long and it was really hot then they made us stand around in a field for half an hour in the direct sunlight and some girls fainted but they still made us stay there. During the parade people were coming up to me and taking my photo which was really odd but I was told to expect it. In the morning before we went my host mother said I should charge 10 baht for every photo and let me tell you if I had I'd be sitting on a beach in Koh Samui for a week. After 2 and 1/2 hours I got to finally go home. Then I had to figure out how to get all that make up off and all the hair spray out and boy was that a job. My hair is still not back to normal yet. The next day Saturday the 12th here was H.M. the Queen's Birthday so it was mother's day. In the morning I go to sleep in but when I woke up we went right over to my host father's parent's house and oh there was his sister from Bangkok! It was nice to met her and her family she has one son and her husband speaks really good english. She works for Thai airways and he works for the Thai airforce. In the afternoon we went to the military academy and I found out once we arrived that someone from the top of the Thai government was coming for a special mother's day ceremony. My parents went on the stage with him and other officials and for pretty much the whole night left me and my sister alone. We had no idea what was going on and they just kept saying oh just wait here 20 minutes later we were still waiting and this happened multiple times. My sister Ploy started to get really annoyed and angry so I had to deal with trying to get her to calm down at one point she started to cry. I mean it was kind of weird but it was so bad that you should cry. And oh friends from my class were there to sing a special song so I had to deal with my sister with all of them watching. One good thing that came from it is now I think my sister finally likes me. When it was all finally over we had to go to the airport another hour away to wave goodbye to this official and have a formal send off. It was interesting to watch this all and it showed a lot about Thai culture and the class system. The whole time though I was still exhausted from the day before and just wanted to be lying down but I'm glad I didn't stay home.Then we got home ...Oh my mother's younger brother and family were visiting! It was nice because they have 2 young children a 5 year old girl named Bua and an 8 month old son Poom. Pet finally had some one his age to play with so he was excited. Since it was mother's day we gave my mother flowers. First Ploy went she sat my mother down then got on her knees and gave her jasmine flowers and talked to thanked her mother I guess I couldn't understand but when she was done her mother had tears in her eyes. It was so beautiful. Then I did the same and thanked her for how wonderful she has been. Truly I couldn't have asked for a better host mother she tries so hard and has been so helpful. She said she has loved having me as her other daughter and we hugged for the first time. Pet then did the same. But I think the most moving was when P Nu thanked her. Nu was crying from the start and then they were both crying. My host mother took her in 10 years ago when her father died and is now sending her and her brother to college. It was so amazing to see how much they all love my host mom and the whole idea was so moving I think it's something that should happen everywhere truly thanking our moms for all that they do for us. Okay well lets continue. Sunday we went to breakfast with everyone that was visiting and it was really nice. Now they are all planning for my break in October. My host mom wants me to go live with her brother for 1 week which will be nice. His wife runs an extra school for math and english and she said she would love to have me to help. It will be fun to do that and then I get more teaching experience. Then my father's sister said I should go stay with them. So I will spend 1 week in Bangkok and they said if it works out they will fly me up to Chang Mai so I can see the north which would just be too awesome. So now out of my 3 weeks off I already have plans for 2 and then should be fun. Oh crap that reminds me. One of the best things that happened this week which really cheered me up was I found out that in the beginning of september there will be an AFS camp. at first it was going to be 2 separate camps one for the people from south and central and one for the people from the north east and north. Thankfully they changed their mind and now we are all going to be together for 5 days which should be so great. My host parents are sending me up by private car and Maren is going to join me and hopefully Eve. That way we don't get in at 3 30 am with no one to get us and no idea where we are and now we get to have more time together and room to relax. Yay for my host parents! And the next day my classmates asked me to go on their nature camp with them at the end of the month. We will spend3 days and 2 nights in the jungle and raft down a river. Should be awesome and I finally get nature. Anyways back to this weekend. Sunday in the afternoon we went to a Rambutan garden. I picked rambutan from the trees and my host father, sister, brother and I all climbed around in them which was fun. I also saw a bunch of other fruit trees and got to eat fresh fruit from all of them. It was so beautiful. Everything here is just so so green its amazing. At night we had seafood again. Did I mention yet how good the seafood is here. Today hopefully I will get some free time. It is a holiday here since this weekend was mother's day.

I was in a parade ....
the other costumes were all interesting I don't have pictures of the best ones yet but I will try to get copies from my friends. These are all girls from my class (Me Puay Grace and I can't remember hehe) Well this weekend I'm very busy we have a lot of family visiting. But I will try to write more and get more photos up tomorrow.

Today was so amazing. I was a little annoyed at first because I had planned on spending the whole day at Pet's school but last night my host mother told me I would be going with my father at 11 to another funeral (I went to one on Sunday and though it was interesting to see it was also very long) and I tried to explain that I really didn't want to go but she just said "No I think you go" so that meant I was going. Luckily it turned out well. We only stayed at the funeral for maybe an hour where I got to see monks drink juice boxes and I found kind of funny. Then my host father took me to the ocean to have sea food and then to a silk factory. It was so cool to see them making these beautiful silks and to see the whole process. Now I want them even more. It was interesting to since the village where the silk was made was Muslim so I saw my first mosque in Thailand. The best part came next. We went to a historic temple which holds some of the bones of the Buddha and has over 180 Buddha statues surrounding the stuppa where the bones are. Outside there are 3 huge Buddha statues and then there is also a museum that has relics that date back to the 7th century and go up to today. It was good because they had some in English so I learned a little about the history of the Surat Thani area. After spending time there we went to Suan Mokkha its another famous temple where a monk taught and this year if he was still alive he would be turning 100 so all around Surat Thani there are pictures of him and books being sold. Everything was so beautiful and intriguing.

This weekend was interesting. On Saturday my host parents had to go to a wedding reception in Chumpon where Maren another AFSr is staying. So when I found out they wanted me to go with them I mentioned her and they invited her along. It was so great to actually see another AFSr and talk. I had a great time because of that though the dinner was very strange. Dinner was in a big room but the room was packed full of tables and a small stage was shoved in the corner. The bride and groom went on stage for all of 5 minutes to get these flower necklaces (like a Hawaiian lei) and then someone said something to them and they were seated again. For the rest of the time random people just got on stage and sang and there were Thai dancer for maybe 10 minutes. But the weirdest thing was that no one paid attention. Everyone just sat at their own tables and talked like being at a crowded restaurant. After being there for maybe an hour we left and went out to dinner at a seafood place downtown. The food was really good and I had the whole night to talk to Maren which was perfect. One thing we both talked about was how much we miss the ocean and swimming and how weird it is that we both live close to the ocean here but have not been yet though we've been here almost 1 month. We ended up staying at the restaurant until 10:30 and then I had a 2 hour drive back home. The next day we all just hung around the house since the day before we had a long day and it was nice to finally spend one day relaxing sort of. In the evening though I joined my host parents when they went to a funeral for a distant relative. Well the person who died was a millionaire and own a hotel in town so the funeral was huge and this was the last night. They had multiple tents set up for people to eat in and screens set up so that people could watch the services. We went into the tent in front of the house so we didn't have a screen. There were a lot of monks who chanted and that was amazing eerily beautiful. Then a lot of people went up and talked but I didn't understand it, my host mother said they were talking about all the good deeds he had done in his life. It was remarkable how huge this service was there were thousand of flowers donated by different people and there were hundreds there on this night and it had been going on for 7 nights. It was interesting to go to my first wedding and funeral all in the same weekend and it gave me a lot to think about. ....Well I just stopped to watch my host father being interviewed on TV. He is still talking and has been on for over 15 minutes. It's really cool to see him on TV and P. Nu explained a little about what he is talking about. I'm going to end it here for now I have to get ready to introduce myself to over 3,500 people tomorrow morning at school.

Hopefully this will be a photo post.... the first one is of the children in Dana's class that I will be helping to teach and the second one is of me by a beautiful river in a National Park I visited with my host father.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday (I mean my Mom back in Jersey) and so I got to call home. It was great I loved talking to everyone so much. I just wish it wasn't so expensive so that I could do it more often. So I just wanted to wish you(Mom) a Happy Birthday again... Anyways this week I started my new schedule and I've really enjoyed it though I already made a change. Wednesday is by far my favorite day as I got to go Pet's school Joy school and watch Dana teach and help a little. It was so much fun and the children in her class are adorable. I also met the two other Canadian teachers that work there and helped them for a little bit. I can't wait to go there every week! I definitely love teaching children and I think I want to persue it further when I get home. I was also lucky because my father had to go to another district on Wed. so he decided to take me with him. It was great though in the future I think I want to stay at Joy school for the whole day... Eeek I have to run school is over!

Yesterday I made up my schedule for school. As of right now I'll be taking 3 different cooking classes, batik, Thai music, math (probability), social studies, ballroom dancing, 2 English classes for me and helping in 2 others and Thai. I also have a day where I don't need to go to school so I will be going to my little brother's school to help teach and watch the teachers so I can gain experience. I think that's my favorite and it should be fun to have time with little kids. Today I took my first music class. I'll be learning how to play a Thai instrument named Kim. It should be fun. My next class is Batik and I can't wait. I've really enjoyed the little I've done and I would really love to learn how to improve. After school yesterday I also got to talk to a fellow American AFSr in Thailand and it was great. It was so nice to talk to someone who is going through similar things as me but who still has had different experiences. Well I have to run to class!

Yesterday was Pet's 7th birthday! We started out by going to the Temple to give food to the monks in his honor. It was really interesting to watch and participate. There was one monk who sat behind a desk next to the shrine to the buddhas and monks. He started a chant and the other monks (there were 4 others) came in and it sounded so beautiful. Then Pet lit a candle. Pet presented the food to the head monk and the first monk. Then ploy presented food to the 2nd but she had to place the food on a cloth because monks cannot accept anything from the hand of a woman. Mother then had me present food to the 3rd monk and I did the same as Ploy and then Pet again. It's a little weird for me to actually see the discrimination in Buddhism even though I had read about it I always envisioned it to be fairer but then again there are many types of Buddhism. After that Pet and ploy went to more extra school (which they are both at again right now). While they were at school I went with mother and father to the opening of Thailand's Watercross Championship which is this huge jetski competition. The number 2 in the world and the number one in Asia were competing and I watched the first 2 races includeing one where the #2 in the world came in 3rd before we had to go. It was a lot of fun and so crazy. The jetskis go so fast and I watched a few flip over ( a little scary), I wish I could have watched longer but my mother and father don't like to be outside in the sun for too long which is normal for Thais, but a little weird for me because it is so beautiful here I don't really understand why they wouldn't want to enjoy it. For dinner we went about 20 minutes out of town down the Tapee River to go have "seafood" which actually was river food. It was a big group for Pet's Birthday it included Me, Ploy, P. Nu, Mother, Father, Somchai (my father's secretary), his wife, her mother, and their 1 1/2 old son. It was fun and the food was really good, but I'm not sure how healthy it was to eat since the river didn't look too clean and we past many oil companies on the way to the restaurant, hmm. Dinner included these huge river shrimp, crabs, fish, soups and shrimp cakes which were delicious. Well I have to go pick up Pet.

Tomorrow is my brother Pet's birthday so today we went out to the Pizza shop to eat dinner. After eating dinner we all stepped outside to see an elephant. Yeah that's right I stepped out of a pizza place and saw an elepant walking down the street. We bought some food to feed it which was really cool. Then when we finished he started walking down the street and we saw that he had a flashing red light attached to his tail like the one you would put on a bike. It was so weird to see an elephant in the middle of a busy city just walking down the street I guess you never know what could happen. Today was also the last day of my school's festival and it was a lot of fun because it was also a boy Tom's Birthday and another classmate Fan's Birthday on Sunday so we surprized them with a cake. Then I put a little icing on the tip of Tom's noise and then another boy Bon put more this started an icing fight that lasted for at least 15 minutes and resulted in about 20 kids needing to go to the sink to wash off all the icing. It was so much fun and extremely funny :) I think the pictures are finally working so I'm going to try to add a few this first one is of my sister Ploy, my brother Pet and me all in our uniforms for school. The next one is of where I ate dinner for the rambutan festival. Here are some of my friends from school on my second day. Well I'm going to post this so I know that you can see these I'll try to put more up again soon.

Today was the second day of my school's 100th anniversary celebration. It wasn't like I thought it would be but it was still a lot of fun. Yesterday we all lined up to the national anthem, school song and announcements as usual and I guess I was expecting there to be some sort of opening but there wasn't. The festival started at 9 am and went all day and at night they have performances. During the day there are competitions for different things and students come from different schools to participate. Other than the competitions there are games in many class rooms set up by classes. Yesterday I helped to set up my class (M5/1) room and helped run games all day, but not to many students came to play so really we all just played the games against each other, which was actually really fun. Today I started out in my classes room but then some AFS returnees who went to America came to the room and I spent the rest of the day with them. We walked around the school and played the games in other classrooms, by the way all the games cost money but you could win prizes. We walked around for awhile and then went to the art room where they were batiking. I made my first batik which was really fun and I can't wait to do more. It's been a little weird not having any classes really but it has also been nice since I can get to know my classmates more and get a feel for the school. Other than that things have started to get a little normal here which is nice. Saturday is my brother Pet's birthday so tomorrow we are going out to the Pizza place. It should be fun and he is really excited. Oh I was also finally introduced to the English program's foreign teachers and I found out that there are a lot more American teachers than I was first told I think there are at least 5 then there are a few from the UK and a bunch more from all over. The one I talked to just arrived over a month ago so it was nice to talk to another newly arrived foreigner and she said that I should feel free to stop over to the EP building anytime. It was really strange to be in a room where I could understand what everyone was saying and to hear english spoken by native speakers. Well it's getting late and I have school again tomorrow so I'll add again soon and I'll work and getting more pictures up.

Okay so I just looked at my house on google earth here in school in Suratthani Thailand. Wow that's too weird. I could see my house the barn and Mom and dad's cars. Hmm I though when I was about to do it it would make me homesick, but actually it made me feel closer to home.

Okay so I just wanted to post that just in case I have to leave or the computer acts up. That's actually a big problem I worried that everyone won't get my emails or that I won't get the ones people send so just in case if you haven't heard back from me just send a little note and attach the original message so you know I get it. I'll be sure to always send even a short message back whenever I receive something. Okay so other things I have been doing. I've gone shopping quite a few times with my mother now and the second time we came back my TukTuk. The driving here is very interesting. I have been on 2 motorbike and each time I get off I'm so glad that I'm alive. Here it is everyman for himself. You may be a good driver but everyone else isn't and you have to be careful but no one really is. I've been told that there are actually rules for the roads but no one listens to them. Motorbike swerve in and out the same with Tuktuk. Not to mention the fact that I have seen at least 5 people on one tiny little motorbike, 35 in the back of a truck and I mean just a regular truck just standing up and most people don't wear seatbelts or helmets. So the first time I went on a motorbike it was with Dana. She took me to the night market down the street from my house. It was great because I got to see the local scene and also talk to someone from home, well sort of. I can't remember if I said that she is Canadian or not but she is. Anyways she has been extremely helpful and supportive. She's been here for a year and a half now but came for the first time 2 years ago and speaks Thai. It's great to have her around and she comes to the house 3 times a week to teach Pet and Ploy and then I have time to talk to her. It's so nice to have one person who I know can always understand me.
Oh so I've explained half of the new title but not the other. Turian is the Thai name for Durian I thought it would fit to have two things that are fun and delicious (the durian) but also deadly, durian having a deadly smell. I've been really homesick so far but being in school and having things to do with people around me has helped quite a bit. Though every now and then I just can't stop thinking of home. School is so much fun but is also really hard because I can't understand and being white draws a lot of stares and giggles, but I'm starting to get used to that. The language still sounds really foreign but I'm starting to learn a few more words and I hope that soon I'll be able to understand a little. In general things here are extremely different from home and I expected that but it's weird to actually be here. I'm also getting used to things which is really odd to look around and think oh yeah this is home or this is my school. Hmm well I can't think of anything else at the moment but we waiting for the pictures I'll put them up soon.

I've been in Thailand over a week now. It's really hard to believe but so much has already happened. Today is my third day in school. I'm in M 5/1 with the math and science group. But for right now there really aren't any classes. Suratthani High School will celebrate it's 100th year anniversary later this week, starting on wed and lasting until Friday. For celebration there will be a festival and so in order to prepare all of the teachers have meetings all the time and in Thailand they don't have substitute teachers so it means sometimes they send work but most of the time it's just a free period. Which has actually been really good for me because it means I get to send more time talking and getting to know my classmates. I will however (hopefully) be changing my schedule once all the festival is over because right now I'm in physics, precalc, chemistry, bio another math class, English and a few other classes I'm really not sure. All these classes except for the English class are taught in Thai and since I just arrived I haven't a clue what they are saying, not to mention the fact that I've taken all those classes already and I would really like to learn Thai arts. Well my advisor says that soon I will be able to pick where I want to be and it will all be classes that shouldn't be too hard for me so that I can better adjust to Thailand. Ok enough about school for now. This weekend I went with my family to a rambutan festival and my father actually opened the festival. That meant driving up in a van driven my his personal driver and being protected my guards for the entire night. We ate dinner on a sandy beach next to a beautiful river and mountain. Yup that's right I finally saw my first Thai mountains! They are amazing! I've never seen anything like them all of a sudden we were driving along and I looked out the window to see these mountains just jutting up out of nowhere. It was really weird because there weren't foothills of anything building up to them it was just these really steep mountains surrounded by basically flat land. Okay so back to the festival. It was amazing the dinner was delicious and the setting amazing. After dinner we were taken towards a stage where some children where playing Thai music. My father and mother were seated in the first row which was made up of special wood benches with coffee tables in front of them. I was seated in the second row directly behind them with Dana (Pet's English tutor) P.Nu (Pet's nanny) Ploy my sister, Pet and my father's secretary. Once the children stopped playing 2 people got up and introduced Thai dancers. The dancing was beautiful and was made up of two groups of women in different Thai costumes. Next came some officials talking (the ones I had dinner with) then my father went on stage. First he gave out awards to people for different things like cooking the best with rambutan and growing the most ect. Then he gave a speech. When the speech was over he hit a gong 3 times to open the festival. It was crazy I couldn't believe how important and honored he is, after al I eat breakfast and dinner with him every day. So odd. Once the opening was over he went around to visit all the booths set up for the festival. My mother had me go with so that I could learn more. It was so odd because I was already being stared at because I'm white and other than Dana the only white person around but now I was surrounded my guards and with public officials of very high rank. The good thing was I was given tons of stuff for free. I had fresh goat's milk, tons of rambutan, fresh salac (a Thai fruit) and learned about the industry in Suratthani. When it was all over we hopped in the car and drove back home. I have a bunch of photos to put on including ones from the festival and my first 2 days at school but right now I'm in school so I don't have access to the photos but I'll put them up soon. Oh and a note about the photos, if you click on any of them and put them in a new window they get much bigger and you can see them better.

Okay back again. Here is a photo of my brother Phet and Father Mr. Winyoo before school and work today. Here is one of the house and after thet of my mother's garden I'll take more photos and put them up soon. So I guess I should tell some stories. Hmm oh being a vegetarian in Thailand. Well that's something my stomach will have to get used to. Here it just means that everything is cooked with the meat but you just push it aside and don't eat that. But that means that all the soups taste like pork and chicken which hasn't been in my stomach in 4 and 1/2 years or so. Everyone has been careful about the spicy food but the meat oh no problem just eat. Two days ago I also ate street food when we were walking around Bangkok to see the palace and the emerald Buddha which I ended up not seeing since for one it cost too much, it also was closing early since it was a holiday and oh yeah my kapris which go down past my knee were still too short. Anyway the surrounding area was beautiful and I went to the museum full of Thai money new and old which was very interesting. I hope to get Back there to see the palace truly just maybe not the food places around it. Suratthani is actually a big city very busy and noisy which is something I'm not used to but I'm sure I will be soon. It is right on the river and my mother said only a short drive to the ocean which I will see soon along with Koh Samui. So much has been happening and in just a short time it's hard to remember everything. I've met a lot of people in these last few days from all over the world now all over Thailand and just yesterday I met people from all over Suratthani. I went to go visit my father's parents and saw many photos of him when he was younger which was fun and I also learned he has a twin brother. Then later at lunch I met his sister and her daughter. His sister teaches English at the school I will be attending which is good and her daughter is a dentist on Koh Samui her son is actually in the States studying at Cornell. Hmm I not sure what else I should write about I'll try to write again tomorrow as it is my first day of school. Oh that happened too. Yesterday I bought my school uniform and today I washed it while some of the shirts go to have my name written on them. Yes my Thai name. My father decided I should be named Pimthong as it means best or original gold and goes with Phet which means diamond and Pimploy which means best gems. But I will be called Pim. Well more after tomorrow.

I made it I'm it Thailand. Here it is 10:12 on the morning of the 12th and it is only my second day with my host family. Yesterday I arrived early in the morning by the overnight train from Bangkok. My family was there to greet me except for my host sister who is in Bangkok at a music competion. Before coming to Suratthani I was in Bangkok for AFS Thailand's orientation. We arrived at night on friday actually an hour ahead of schedule so AFS was not there and so for an hour or more we waited while people came up to us Taxi Taxi. Luckly it was a big group so I felt safe. The group consisted of the American year ans semester kids along with two Canadian girls we met up with in Tokyo who are doing the summer program. Everyone in the year and semester or 6 month program is amazing and I hope to keep in touch and maybe visit them as we are all now spread out throughout Thailand from the very south to the very north. I'll try to get as much in as possible but a lot has happened. Today I am home but tomorrow I will start school. Yesterday I was lucky because it was a holiday and both my parents and brother were home all day. My host brother Phet it great. He made me feel right at home and we played games all day. He likes to play bingo, connect four and shoot and ladders. He speaks beautiful english and is already helping me with my Thai. My host mother speaks very good english as well and she tried to tell me as much as possible yesterday and said to always ask. My host father speaks some english and is trying to learn more so I'll say something in english and he will repeat it and then tell me in Thai. I think that I'll learn it very quickly as I already can count to 10 say hello, thank you and I'm sorry along with some thai fruit. I'm not really sure if this is going to go in any order and I wish I could have written from the hotel in Bangkok as now so much as happened. So here is a picture of all the year and semester American AFSers . From left to right me behind me is Leah from the San Juan Islands, then next to me is Kate, behind here is Dana from Chicago (she was my roommate in Bangkok) then there is Audry from Texas, Eve from Alaska she is about 2 hours from me in Thailand, in the peace shirt is Ramona from all over but most recently D.C. , in the black skirt is Amanda or Mandy from Portland she was my roommate in LA, next to her is Hilary from Wyoming, next is Shayme our advisror then Shawn from Tahoe in Cali actually from a town near there I believe, next is Jessica. They are the most amazing people ever and I feel as though I have known them forever and I can't wait to get to know them more. Now I'm gonna put a picture of all the AFSers who are in Thailand from our orientation in Bangkok here are our advisors who are returnees I'm going to post this then try to post one with my photos of my family.

It's getting really close! I leave Wed. and I can't wait, but saying my goodbyes has been hard. This past week as been full of them. It started with going over to Becky's to say goodbye before she left for Ireland and that felt like ok I'll see you in a few weeks so it was hard. Next was a goodbye dinner with Ashley, Alexis, and Lisa at Applebee's which was a lot of fun and seemed more like just another summer night instead of I'll see you in 11 months. That's the way they all have felt but I think today it started to hit me in certain ways. A few days after that goodbye dinner Helen took me too Mahzu which was amazing I'm definitely a fan of sushi! Then we went around to Jersey Freeze , Battleground park and finally Barnes and Noble. It was perfect because I got to take more pictures of my home town to show to everyone in Thailand. The big goodbye was yesterday. I had a going away party and was surprised to find out so many people could make it. It was a lot of fun and I wish it could have lasted longer, but I collected all my hugs and took tons of photos so I'll be thinking of it these next months. I'm so glad that everyone was there and that I could spend time with them. I want to just thank everyone for their continued support all the notes, phone calls, and talks have been so warm and amazing and I will truly cherish each of them and they are helping to encourage me. Everyone keeps telling me I'm brave and as I said today to a friend I'm glad everyone else thinks I'm brave because I certainly don't and really I think I'm crazy but I still can't wait to go. Right now everything seems to be happening so fast and I can't believe that this adventure is really happening and that by the end of the week I'll be in Thailand in my new home. It was fun today to actually hear Melody tell her stories of Ghana and made the fact that I'll be doing something similar much more real. I'm glad she's home and I really wish I had more time to catch up and hear stories before I leave but next year we'll have to talk story. I also got to meet Sue Fershing which was great and helpful and throughout the night I got to talk with/ met a lot of people who have traveled and it was good to get advice and more encouragement. I think this is where I'll leave it for now, I'll try to write a least once more before I go.