Tuktuks and Turian

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.