Thursday, August 31, 2006
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.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
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.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
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.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
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!
Monday, August 14, 2006
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.
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. Sunday, August 13, 2006
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.
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. Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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.
