Thursday, October 12, 2006
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 :(
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 :(
