Saturday, December 27, 2008

Bai Tiow Yuk Yuk leaw (Go traveling alot already...)

Yes I did. I got back late last night from a two week vacation and tour of north eastern and norhtern Thailand. I spent 14 nights in hotels and 15 days on a bus. I visited over ten cities and slept in at least 8 hotels. I made countless friends.
I'll start from the beginning, so whoever is reading this is in for a long ride.
16 days ago, I slept at Emma's house and woke up early the next morning. We got on a bus and rode all the way to Korat, a city over 8 hours away. At 3 pm, I met all the other exchange students. Most were girls named Kate,Kalie, Katie, Caity, Cathren, Kathren or Kat. Most came from the U.S. or Canada. Most were very nice. Most had never met me before and so when I introduced myself they all apologized for not remembering my name. I had to remind them that I was new. For those of you that have been following my blog, remember the trip to the south to a town called Chantaburi that I wasn't allowed to go to? Most exchange students, with the exception of myself and Emma, met there.
A boy named Chris from florida bought me coffee and we spent some time together. He's a nice guy, but after the entire trip was over he had gone after two other girls and is currently dating a girl from france. Hey, if I was a boy on exchange and in the minority,I would make my way through the girls too.

After a night in Korat, the group got on it's way. Just for clarification, here were the rules we started out with.
No drinking,
No drugs,
No dating,
No boys in girls rooms,
No girls in boys rooms,
No new peircings or tattoos,
No stealing,
No staying out past eleven,
No leaving your room after eleven,
No switching rooms,
No being late,
No skipping an activity,
and most of all,
No pissing off the tour guides, rotarians or chaperones. : )

The second and third nights we staying in the Tohsang resort outside of Ubon Ratchatani. The rooms were beautiful, the pool was beautiful and the food was expensive ($5 for dessert...).
I learned that Freddy (freiderika from germany) also played the violin. She had brought hers along, I asked if I could play it. Turns out she has the music for the bach double concerto and on the next trip, I promised to bring my violin and we'll play together. I can't wait.
I also spent some time with Kate (an older exchange student that already graduated from highschool) and James or Jamie from Salem, Oregon. Kate plays the guitar well and I loved listening to her play.

After Ubon, we spent as night in Nakhon Phanom. I talked to my rotary counselor and he smiled at me for the first time. He even told his grandchild to kiss my cheek. I think he's warmed up to me. I'm so happy about that.
I took the Lena, Nina and Freddy (the german girls) and Chloe (from Washington), Coletter (from hawaii) and a few others that I can't remember right now, to Meringue(my favorite coffee shop in town). The entire group went there later that night for ice cream. I think we had to pull up four or five tables to fit everyone. I felt a bit sorry for the owners of the shop. I think we overwhelmed them.

The brazilian boy that most of the girls gawk over bugs me a little. He once called me a stupid american barbie over the internet before he met me and he was trying to be overly nice to me in person. He would stare at me from across the table and when I turned to look at him and ask why he had been staring, he said "I want to talk to you but I don't know what to say."
This behavior continued through the entire trip. In the end I just avoided him. Maybe I'm not as nice as I think I am.

The next day the trip moved to Udon thani for lunch and the "best vietnamese food" in all of thailand. I beg to differ. The food was okay, but I'll take my vietnamese food from Nakhon Phanom instead.

We slept in a family resort in the Leoi province. I had a conversation with the owner of the hotel. She was worried that the students would buy alcohol and drink and party because her family lived on the grounds and she even went and got her 5 year old daughter to show me. I reassured her that nothing would happen. That night I sat with Chloe, Des (from South africa) and a fe others came and went. Des is a Zulu and I tried to talk to her about south african politics. The current Prime minister is a Costa (said with a tongue click that I can't do) and from what she told me, the Zulus and Costas are enemy tribes but the youth are much more open-minded about it. I made tea from orchids and the whole group sat around on the floor drinking tea, eating chocolate and laughing about a thai TV show. That night Chloe, Emma and I shared a room and our room had a door to the outside. We walked out onto the porch and coul hear the rotarians talking outside so we ran back into our room and closed the door. Something squirted on my arm. I shreiked and it turns out that I had closed the door on a slug. Not appealing at all! The next morning her 16 year old niece or daughter asked for my e-mail and a picture.

The next day we stayed in a hotel in Phrae, a small town in a province that I don't remember. Some of the kids went clubbing. Colette and I really bonded and I slept in her room that night with Lena and Nina. We have a group now, called the PG girls and what PG stands for NOBODY KNOWS! Well, we know but it's hush hush. Don't even try and guess. And no,it is not parental guidance.

The days started to blend together after that. We visited ruins and waterfalls, went shopping and sat on cliffs.
I saw the golden triangle, a sandbank that shares borders with Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. We visited the White Temple, a temple made entirely out of white plaster, mirrors and stone. Inside the temple was a completely different matter, we weren't allowed to take pictures. The walls were murals of demons and sin, people having sex and shooting up heroin, the twin towers were even painted up there. bombs descended from the sky and a two headed demon snake twined around the towers as they collapsed. One was drinking blood dripping down from the clouds while the other cried. The body twisted down and ended in a gas pump labeled with a skull and twined around the horn of another devil. I was so shocked to see such a seen painted in one of the holiest places in Thailand.

Chiang rai had a lovely market. Colette and Josh and I went shopping. The entire group was doing secret santa and Josh was my secret santa. The poor guy had no idea what to get me. At one point Colette and I got seperated and lost. We made jokes about how she was asian and got lost in the crowd. But we somehow always found each other.

The next few nights we stayed in Chiang mai. We rode elephants and watched the elephants play soccer, play harmonicas, and paint pictures of trees, elephants and flowers. We visited an umbrella factory as well as more ruins from the old capital of a country called sukkothai.
We ate lunch at an orchid farm where one could buy orchid necklaces. The orchids were laquered and preserved. They were so beautiful. One of the girls spent over $200 buying necklaces and earrings for every woman in her family.

At one point we visited the hill tribes and the longnecked villages. Old women in traditional dress smoking opium grabbed at my arms to buy things and young girls sat weaving scarves. The place disturbed me. It was entirely for tourists. We were their lively hood. I couldn't wait to leave and I felt horrible for feeling that way.

Chiang Mai is famous for its night bazarre. It was truly amazing. Most amazing of all was the amount of foreigners. At the night bazarre, I heard some thai teenagers playing the violin. I asked if I could join them. They asked if I could play pachabell's cannon. I nodded and one of them lent me a violin. We started to play, but halfway through the song I got lost. At the end I asked what had happened. The boy conducting the group told me that they couldn't play the second half so they had just repeated the first half and hadn't told me. SO much for communication.

Later that night I noticed 5 gorgeous young men getting foot massages at the edge of the market. I must have walked past them every 5 minutes so I could glance at them again. When I was just about to leave for real, one of the asked if I could take a picture of them. Another girl on exchange appeared from nowhere and stole the camera from my hand and took the picture of them for me. I was a little disappointed. Turns out, all those cute boys were from New Zealand. They had just graduated from college and were here on a vacation in between school and real life (so they said). Four of them had dark hair and blue eyes and the one on the end was blond. They pointed to him and told me it was his birthday the next day. I did not pick up on the invitation. Instead I started the age conversation.... They were twenty two. Of course they wanted to know how old I was and honest me, I told them I was too young for them, 16 years old and then I walked away. My exchange student friends weren't very happy with me. "They were going to invite us to party with them!!!"

The next day we went to a Khan Toke dinner., It's a traditional northern Thai meal with a show. The food was delicious. Probably the best we had on the trip. The dancing was amazing. Some was slow and graceful, others were strange and fanciful. I saw men dance with 16 knives in their teeth and children play a type of double dutch jump rope with bamboo sticks.

After the show, Nina, Chloe and I went downstairs to dance in the hotel and made our way through each floor pretending we were bond girls. When we reached the tenth floor, Colette came out of her room, stared at us and I sheepishly went with her into the room.

The last night in Chiang Mai, Colette and I spent more time together. Truth be told, I spent most of the trip with her. We just connected.
Anyway, we were walking around one of the night bazarres and saw some gorgeous korean boys. More and more kept showing up. A shop keeper noticed our interest in them and after finding out that I could speak thai insisted on trying to set me up with one of them. I had the strangest conversation with that shopkeeper.
"Where are you from?"
"America."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No"
"Why not? Are you lesbian?"
"No ,I'm not lesbian, I just don't have a boyfriend."
"Do you want a boyfriend?"
"Not really. I travel a lot."
"So you like to have boys for one or two nights and then move on. no?"
I wasn't sure how to answer this question, so just to see his reaction, I agreed.
"Yes, that's it."
The shopkeepers within a 20 ft radius all burst into laughter.
The shopkeeper than asked me if I liked thai men and I said, "No, Old thai men stare at me and I don't like it."
He got the hint. Colette finished negotiating with a nearby stall and we made our way to the food plaza. We ran into the japanese girls and asked them if they thought the koreans were handsome. They grimaced and pretended to puke. Different cultures have different tastes, I guess.

In the end I went to talk to one of them, but it turns out he couldn't speak thai or english so we said goodbye and walked away.
Colette and I hopped into a TukTuk and made it back to the hotel. On the way back, a falang on a motorbike saw us and shouted. "YEEE HAW!"
I do get a lot of attention in this country....

Christmas eve was spent in a resort that Khun Prapart (the rotary chairman) had said was the most beautiful resort in all of Thailand. When we arrived the entire group realized that it was the prettiest for thai people because it was entirely western. All the flowers were western, the rooms were western. It looked like a ski lodge. Prapart made a huge deal about some tulips. "THE ONLY TULIPS IN THAILAND!!"
I tried to explain that tulips weren't a big deal for me, we have so many tulips in oregon and washington. I felt a little bad that his prized tulips seemed a little pathetic to me. I guess he'd feel the same way if he saw orchids in the U.S.
Christmas eve, we set off fireworks and played on the cutest little playground.
I had Jan ride a bicycle back to my room with me on the back. When we first started to ride, we fell off because the chain had fallen off. I sat down on the grass and starting to put the chain back on the gears and a female rotary chaperone came over to tell me that girls couldn't fix bikes.
"Boys are better. Girls can't fix bikes, only boys can."
When I told that I could, I stopped listening to her, finished putting the chain back on the girls. I stood up, looked her in the eye and told her that foreigner girls were better and that we were perfectly capable of fixing bicycles. Sometimes living in such a conservative patriarchal society can really get on my nerves.

Christmas day we had a small celebration and the secret santa gifts were handed out. Josh got me a very nice black clutch bag and some hair chopsticks. It was so sweet.
Remember those orchid necklaces? Colette knew I really wanted one, but wouldn't buy one for myself and so she bought one for me. I put the orchid pendant on the necklace that I never take off. It's actually Madeleine's necklace.

Colette's secret santa's present was left on the boys bus which had broken down on a mountain side and was going to come the next day.

After christmas, the group had come full circle. We went back to Korat and everyone split up immediately. It was so sad.
Emma and I were forced to stay an extra night in korat (yay!) and we had fun with the girls and boys on exchange that live in that city.
Colette would have stayed too, but one of the girls in her town wanted to go home early even though she would arrive in the bus station at 2 am. The rotarians didn't want her to go alone and they didn't want to fight with her so they sent all of the girls living in that town home.

Yesterday,
Emma and I had the longest day of traveling yet. We were told to go with a man who lives in Sakhon Nakhon, a town near ours. He had to go to Udon, a town in farther north. I wish I could draw a map and show everyone how ridiculous this trip was, but in the end, I'll just say, that because the thai people didn't want to send us on the bus earlier in the day, they added an extra 5 hours to our trip. I was not happy about it.

So now I'm home in Nakhon Phanom and it feels like the trip was just a very long dream. Now I'm back in reality and life goes on. I'll miss those kids a lot.
More happened in those two weeks than what happens in two months in corvallis. I've been so many places, talked to so many people and had so many expereinces. Each day felt like a week.
Rotary tells us that christmas is the turning point. When you stop counting up the days, weeks, months you've been in the country to when you start counting down the months, weeks days until you go home. Time is supposed to fly by. Time has already flown by me. I'm grasping at every day here. Next month and next year, I will have to book my flight home. I have to start thinking about dates and times and events. Should I spend my birthday in Thailand? Should I make it home for my birthday? Should I try and make it to Oregon for the Oregon Country fair? Are there any festivals that I don't want to miss in Thailand?
The rebounds I've talked to have all said that they wish they could have spent even an extra week in Thailand.
I feel like this year is a break in time. Life is put on pause and I can be who I want to be. I don't have to worry about the future or my family or even myself. I'm relaxed. But when I get back to the U.S. everything will come at me in a big wave. High school, college, family, and it scares me.
More will come later, but I don't know when. I'm not expecting anything big to happen in the next few days.
Love,
Suzanne

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Heatstroke

geeleesee (Colorsport competition) day. Or rather three days. Yesterday was the opening day of four fun filled, no study days. I take that back. Classes have been cancelled for the whole week.
The students have been preparing for months. Cheerleading practices and designing T-shirts, building floats and having basketball and soccer practices everyday. I'm part of the yellow group (ce looung).
Since girls don't really play sports here and I'm too tall to be a cheerleader (so says the short girl) I was the "drum major" in the parade. I held a baton and wore gold platform boots, a short poofy dress with a giant,puffy sleeved jacket and a feather headress. Hells yes! Everything was yellow. The girls in my class took me to get my hair and makeup done at a salon and once again, I found out that I had to pay for this. The day before they had told me that my dress was rented and cost 800฿ out of my pocket. The hair and makeup was another 200฿. When the hair and makeup were finished, I was a little disappointed. Thai people love rosy red cheeks, so they loaded my face with blush, dark brown eyeshadow up to my eyebrows and bright red lips. Yes, I had to pay for this. I felt like a transvestite, but this wasn't the first time I'd had my makeup done this way. In Thailand, that's what they think is beautiful. It's very 80's.

According to Fashion magazines, asia is on the cutting edge. Everything travels from east to west. So I guess I'm giving all my friends a head's up. In two or three years, 80's will be back, FULL BLOWN. I'm not talking tame legwarmers or big sweaters. I'm talking mullets (very popular here), frizzy, frizzy hair, blue eyeshadow, oddly shaped shirts, giant bows and weird colors.

So anyway, I looked like a "tart" and after walking with a baton for three miles in the heat, having hundreds of people take pictures of and with me, I was told to stand in a field with all the other students as the directors of the schools gave speeches. I'm not sure what happened, but I started to feel woozy. I got a headache and soon felt like I was going to throw up. The other girls looked fine so I tried to hold out, but it became too much for me. Just as I turned around to tell the girl behind me I was feeling sick, my vision closed off. I can't describe it any other way. Darkness closed in on everything and my hearing changed. What little I could hear, sounded so far away. The thai people were shouting "she's going to fall!" and instantly I lost control of my legs. I felt a two girls supporting me, on eon each side as they carried me behind the parade float.
A few minutes later, some water and a piece of gum and I felt fine, but I spent the rest of the day trying to rest. At around 6 pm, Emma called me up to go out for namneuang. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'll descirbe it now. A vietnamese salad roll with a sausage type thing, lettuce, garlic, chili pepper, sour starfruit, green banana, lettuce, mint and rice paper. You make the roll yourself. Nakhon Phanom has a ton of vietnamese immigrants so vietnamese food is really common. As common as getting chinese take out in the U.S.
I asked Pooh for a ride and pooh decided to com with us. Emma, Pooh and I all crammed onto the back of Pooh's motorcycle and we drove to Meringue. Meringue is a bakery/coffee shop/restaurant/ice cream shop that Emma and I go to for almost everything. It's not as cheap as street food, but dinner for the two of us still comes to under $4. While we were finishing up (Emma eating her three ice cream scoop sundae as an appetizer to cake...) my third host mother and host sister walked in. I ran up to say hello and the next thing I know, my host mother is buying me two loaves of hearty whole wheat bread, ice cream cake and rolls for my current host family. She would have bought more if I let her. Emma and I just looked at each other.
Pooh: "She must really like you."
Today, is another colorsport day. I went to cheer the yellow basketball team and I'm going back out there when I finish this. Maybe. It's hot and I'm wary of heat stroke. Anyway, Love to all.
More on the way.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

So, yeah

So, I had a whole blod written out about how I switched host families and how the political situation doesn't affect me at all... BUT, it got deleted by accident and wouldn't save due to a computer glitch. Basically, I'm too lazy to type it all up again. Instead, here is a brief overview.

Tuesday night I switched host families. Emma came with my old and new host families out to dinner and we had korean barbeque. A korean barbeque is both a barbeque and a soup and my parents probably have pictures of one from my friend Aom's birthday party (remember that? WAY back in august?). My host parents decided to take the group there because it's the only all you can eat buffet in town, that and something very similar called suki (but emma had eaten suki the night before).

Emma and I ended the dinner in fits of giggles and I don't think either of us even know why.
There were lots of jokes about getting fat and eating ice cream. My first host mother thinks I should eat lots of icecream (I've gained 6 pounds... OH the horror). So I had a final farewell scoop of icecream with her and Emma. Emma and I tried to talk to my host brothers but they are both so shy.

The whole group drove out to Ban Klang, the village that I now live at. It's nice and has lots of mango trees. Every morning at 6 o clock a truck drives through the village blasting advertisements and the news, there are also many, many roosters. I've started sleeping with earplugs. This means that I can't hear my alarm though, and my second host mother comes and wakes me up every morning.

It's a twenty minute drive to school every morning and half the time I fall asleep in the car. Today, we left the house at 7 am. I haven't had coffee in three days. We'll see if I lose my coffee addiction.

Yesterday, Mae Thorn (my first host mother) brought me my tea that I had forgotten at her house. She was worried that I wouldn't have my morning and afternoon rooibus. It was sweet.
(yes mom, this is the rooibus you sent me... you think I can find loose leaf tea in Thailand?)

Life is pretty good. I go to school, I take my classes, I go home and I write in my diary, re read a book, maybe watch a movie, and then after dinner, I sleep.

My second host brother (Ping Pong) wants to be a singer. He has requested to hear me play violin.... I might get roped into playing at graduation. Which is fine, as long as I don't have to play pomp and circumstance.

Love to all,
Suzanne

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Whoo, it's been a long week.

Last saturday, Emma and I got on a "Super VIP" bus to Korat, there we met up with Peter Nyholm (british, american, australian rotarian married to a thai and old friend of the family) his wife Julie, and her two children, a girl named Poy and a boy named Spy.

Poy was my childhood pen pal, she didn't speak much english at the time, so mainly we just exchanged gifts. I always got really excited when I received something new, like a funky washcloth or purse. Now, she's 19 and coming to America in January. Her brother is moving as well and will start school. Spy is CRAZY!! I love that kid. He loves to speak english, but his favortie phrases are "Big ass" and "come on boy!" I told him that I was a girl, and he switched to "come on baby." I have no idea how the american school system will deal with him.

Emma and I stayed with them in their house in Pak Chong, near Korat for 3 days. During that time we hiked in the jungle, I swam illegally in a waterfall, we took pictures of monkeys, went shopping, and bough pirated movies (shhh, don't tell anyone). After 3 days, the whole family, including the grandmother, packed ourselves into the truck and drove to Bangkok. We stayed in Bangkok for a few days and on thursday morning, we woke up very early and drove to Rayong, a beach town two hours south east of Bangkok. We even drove past the airport that had been taken over by protestors. They've seized the airport and all flights are cancelled. I saw no protestors and I saw no policemen, just an empty highway.

We took a motorboat from Rayong to an island by the name of Ko Samet, we landed on the west side, the posh side. Beach bungalows made up a resort on white sand beaches and teal waters. It was stunning. After swimming for the first time in a warm ocean, our bodies were covered with salt. Snorkeling shortly followed. Peter, Spy, Poy, Emma and I swam from one side of the bay to the other in our flippers. Floating over dead coral reefs, we wondered at the size of purple glowing sea urchins and giraffe spotted fish. Poy held my hand on the way back, the sea urchins scared her.

On Friday morning, emma and I caught a bus out to Nakhon Phanom from the Moshit bus station. Poy has a dog name mosheet, but his new nickname is No shit, Mo Shit. He's pretty cute (a toy poodle). Emma and I made the mistake of not taking the 99 bus and taking the 44 bus instead. This bus stopped in every little town and picked up passengers illegally, filling the isle way for 20฿ a pop. The money went directly into the pockets of the bus stewardess and the driver, welcome so Thailand. It took 14 hours. Meanwhile, both our cellphone batteries died.

Emma was in pain from getting the worst sunburns of her life and I was hungry. We slept through the lunch stop and our dinner consisted of a mango, shared between the two of us.
After we got back to her house, emma and I politely explained to her host father that we were starving and wanted to go eat at a restaurant because there was no food at home. Off we went on our bikes. Just in time to catch the last of our friend's birthday party. We thought that it had finished, but were lucky enough to be riding past the outdoor bar it was held at when the cake candles were being blown. We were tired, hungry and wearing our lounge clothes, but the party welcomed us and gave us food and cake.

I slept at Emma's house that night and this morning we talked about switching houses. Emma is switching tomorrow and I'm switching on Tuesday. I'm a little worried about the living situation. One house is 30 km away from town and the other house is on the school grounds. I've heard that there's no running water at the school house. I'll give it a try and if it doesn't work after two weeks I'll be on the rotary tour and I'll talk to Mr. Peter (the one in charge ish) and ask for advice.

I came home today to a house full of relatives and three letters. One from my mother, one from my grandmother and one from my friend Breanna. I'm listening to the CD that breanna sent me at this moment. My best wishes go out to all three of those amazing women and I hope that all are doing well. I know I am.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

My latest....

Sunday, I climbed a mountain and talked with monks about the subconcious and the origin of morals in a cave temple at the top.
I don't even want to write about it, because I'm afraid that by doing so, I'll lose part of the memory. So, this is all I'm going to write.

P.S. The head monk warned me not to become like George Bush's daughters.. Apparently the DUI stories about his daughters a few years ago have come even to monks sitting on top of mountains near the border of laos. We live in an incredible world.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

DAY 102

Loi Kratong Festival.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSkriTLhM7A
Watch first... then read.

Anyway,
Loi Krathong festival= day 102 in Thailand.
All of my classes were cancelled today, but my host father still wanted me to go...
I slept in instead. After sleeping in Emma and I met up at the Chah yen shop. We made cookies and met our twin friends Kate and Klao.
The twins handed us a sparkler before we set off for the governer's house (a museum) and said, "for your krathong!"

A Krathong is something that floats along the river. It's made from the banana tree. Emma and I spent the better part of the afternoon making a floating boat out of banana leaves, stalks and flowers. Jing Jing.

Loi krathong festival is a bit like valentines day. You give the krathong to your boyfriend and place it in the river together so that in the next life you will be together. Emma and I went on a search for pupubow (two loi krathong partners). We ended up with our friends Keng and Ood. I was with Keng, but I scared him away. I don't think we will be together in the next life....

Emma and I need to watch out because when there are festivals we get excited about boys. Cute boys from all over the country side show up, especially the "bad" boys, i.e. high school drop outs.
Some of them call out to us first, but Emma and I have such a hard time finding cute boys in school that we say hello to any slightly cute boys (Emma screams across crowds to boys, asking if they have a girlfriend o what their age is... the wrong boys always answer).

I get hit on by the policemen and the mullet boys wearing bomber jackets.

Emma and I decided that for today, we'll be a lesbian couple simply because all the couples came out of the shadows. Every cute boy was attached or too old or too young or too gay or too much of a stalker ( trying to take pictures of us) or too shy.

After much confusion with my host father, waffles, ancient coffee, rotarians with husky puppies and lit up devil horns, emma and I made it home to find my host brother doing laundry for the 5th time this week. Thai people confuse me.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Update in the baking, if you don't know what I'm talking about, see the post prior to this one!

First attempt: Chocolate cake, recipe from barefoot contessa. Normally amazing, WHY then, did it bubble over and explode inside the toaster oven?

On a side note...This was amusing and a lots of fun to watch, but made me doubt my baking skills alot. And the cake was going to be heart shaped too...

Second attempt: Making brownies later that day, we were heating up the oven when the bubbling over mess from the cake before caught fire...Emma saved us with her mad baking soda skills.

Third attempt: Brownes made in a pan that is buttered with shortening but with no parchment paper. The toothpick came out clean, but when tipped upside down on the cooling rack, the brownies are not done and half the brownies stick to the pan.

As the shopkeeper said, "Excite three times!!!"

On the plus side, I now make my own smoothies and don't get charged for them. Everything else I buy is discounted now too and soon I'll be taking orders.

Monday, November 10, 2008

When you don't know what to do...

you befriend the shopkeepers!
And today, my friends, that is exactly what I did. I went down near the river to a smoothie shop that Emma and I call the "chah yen place" because we don't know what else to call it. It's bright and cheerful. Yellow walls and white tables rise up from graffitied concrete floor that's speckled with green or yellow topped white stools. The woman in the kitchen area knows my name, and my normal order and when I try to test out thai that I've learned from a book and mispronounce horribly, she still knows what I'm trying to say.
This afternoon, she sat behind a mess of bowls and pans, bemusedly looking at a notebook. I asked her what she was making.
She smiled up at me, "I'm making a cake. Have you ever made a cake?"
"yes, I've made cakes. Can I help you?"
She laughed, "Really, You've made cakes in America? Did you give them to your boyfriend?"
"I don't have a boyfriend."
She's curious now. "Jing Lor?"
"Jing."
Jing is like really, but more fun to say. If you are surprised about something, you can even repeat it. "jing jing lor?"
And then the affirmative is, "jing jing."
I love the thai language. It's going to be a bad habit to break when I get back to the U.S. I'll start using thai phrases and people will look at me strangely. Jing Jing.
ANYWAY,
I asked if the woman had an oven and she pointed to a tiny toaster oven. She was so excited. This was her first cake.
Befriending shop keepers is the best, because eventually, you begin to get free things. Today, after I showed my enthusiasm in baking a cake, she brought out her experiments from the days before. Yesterday's brownies...Saturday's cheesecake. Tomorrow, she's making banana bread.
My baking gears are set in motion. I promised to bring in a chocolate cake recipe for tomorrow. She didn't like the chocolate cake from today (not sweet enough).

Befriending shop keepers also means that you can ask them to teach you how to make all the thai food. Today, I learned how to make a thai tea smoothie (chah yen ban). Granted, one or two of the ingredients is impossible to find in the U.S. but I think I'll make do.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Just saying....

I know this blog is supposed to be about my exchange in Thailand, but I just have to say...
Obama won the presidency and I am so proud of the american people and happy to say that I live during this era. This point and place in time is so significant, life is going in a new direction. I just saw an article on a car that runs on compressed air. We are finally changing into a community concious of our actions and our effects on other people and this earth.
I am glowing.

Monday, November 3, 2008

You know you've been in Thailand too long...

I'm stealing these from other people's blogs and adding in my own.
SO, You know you've been in Thailand too long when...
You begin to enjoy Thai TV programs.
You look four ways before crossing a one way street.
You put salt and chilli on your fruit
Someone tells you that watching Thai politics is like watching two chameleons making love and you understand the analogy.
You aren’t upset when the bar girl next to you eats beetles as a snack.
You wake up in the morning and realize that you have nowhere to go and all day to get there.
You see an insect crawl out of your salad and you continue eating it (the salad.
You consider the lizard in your apartment to be your roommate.
You consider crazy bus and truck drivers that endanger your life to be part of the experience.
You get excited when you see street vendors selling bugs so you can take pictures.
You like to drink out of a bag.
you forget just how bad fish sauce smells.
When the thought of using toilet paper instead of a bum squirter repels you.
When you no longer giggle at the thought of eating a 'Cow Pat' or combing your hair with 'Wee'.
A smile comes to your face when a fat guy wearing a wig and dress appears on a tv programme.
You don't take any notice of ladyboys.
when you start speaking pidgin english like a Thai even though your're talking to a farang
when you start calling caucasions farangs
When a potato becomes an exotic vegetable
You think of taking the dog on your motorbike.
When you start eyeing the skin whitening cream.
When you start wiping the fork and spoon with a paper napkin before using them.
when you see three elephants walking down Sai 2 and you don't even slow down to look.
When leaving the dinner out on the table no longer seems strange, and then the next morning you eat it for breakfast.
When eating toast with butter, condensed milk, and sugar doesn't seem at all weird.



yep...

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween

Tomorrow is Halloween. There will be no party, no trick or treating. Emma and I plan to have a sleepover, but that's about it. Maybe we'll pig out on candy and watch a horror movie, but probably not. We will go to eat dinner at the home of a rotarian at five o' clock. Our first invitation by a rotarian! And finally, we were invited to a rotary meeting. Normally we just show up and "crash" it. Half the time it's a party that we didn't even know about. Well, what can we do? We're the exchange students, we don't know anything better. Next meeting though, we are supposed to bring pictures of us at the temple from the thai dance performance.
Our plans for traveling are hatching.
Rotary rules state that you can stay or travel with anybody that is rotary approved or part of your family. This means staying with other exchange students is no independent travel. SO! If we want to see Udon thani, we can call up one of the three girls there. Same goes for Ubon Ratchatani, Khon Kaen, Sakhon Nakhon, Mahasarakham (although considering that every single exchange student is a boy, I doubt it), Korat, Yasothon, maybe even Pattaya or Chantaburi. All we need to know is how to work the system...
In April, we don't have school AND I will be switching over to my third host family. They have a house in Chiang mai and in Bangkok, as well as the house in Nakhon Phanom.
In December, we have the rotary trip with all of the other exchange students. In January, the school from Renu Nakhon is also going on a trip to the North for two weeks, they want us to come along as well. February seems a little dull, but my host father says the english program might take a trip to the beach. March has a trip to Phuket and April has Songkran, the thai new year and a giant waterfight that lasts for three days. The year will shape up with lots of oppurtunities and experiences. I can't wait.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Hai Tam Ahan

Hai Tam Ahan, basically cook food for some one else.
Today, I finally got up the courage to ask my host parents if I could cook some western food for them. I know my host father doesn't really like anything else other than steak, and since finding decent steak meat is not only really expensive (because it has to be shipped from Australia) it's also almost impossible in our tiny town of 30,000. So instead, I thought, why not try something easy that everybody loves... PANCAKES! So yes, I'm making pancakes and my host cousin is so excited, she wants to learn how to make them.... from a box.
I'm lazy and since Pancake mix is available, that's what I'm using.
I plan to make pancakes, scrambled eggs and fruit salad. Sounds good, no?
Thai people don't have syrup, so I'll have to make my own, but that's about the hardest thing.
Strangely enough, in the western food section of the supermarket, there are at least FIVE different betty crocker mixes. Most thai people don't have ovens, so why would they buy betty crocker box mixes? Can they be made in the microwave? The possibilities are beginning to get interesting.
So, I went out shopping for ahan falang (foreigner food). I ended up with pancake mix, powdered sugar (in case I decide to make french toast some day, or for the syrup), butter, eggs, milk, chocolate chips, bananas, a pineapple and some apples.
The fruit is for fruit salad, but I might make some chocolate chip banana pancakes....
I'm just excited that I actually can cook again. I've missed cooking.

Just in case the thai people don't like the pancakes, my host cousin Piatt is making Tom Yum Goong. Tom Yum Goong is a spicy, sour, soup with tomatoes and shrimp. Goong means shrimp, Tom means broth and Yum means sour. Everything in Thailand is spicy so there's no need to put it in the name.
We went all over the city in search of fresh shrimp and ended up with still living shrimp. WE thought they were dead, but two or three started flopping about in th bag. The flopping stopped after the shrimp were left in the car for an hour or two....

Next week, I'm going to try and make no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. Piatt wants to eat them.

Earlier this week I was having dreadful premonitions of the month to come. No traveling, no festivals, no trips. Just school. Until I realized, I'm going to Korat with my friends! In late November there's thanksgiving and there are plenty of places I haven't gone yet. I'm planning lots of long bike rides and picnics. Life should be good.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Just thinking...

I've been having my make up done. Alot. Mainly because I'm part of the thai dance group and so I have to get all dressed up for performances, but what's interesting is how thai people say "open and close your eyes." When I'm supposed to close my eyes they say, "come back or go back" and when I'm supposed to open my eyes, they say "forget."
Is this some buddhist remnant? Where do we go when we close our eyes? Do we go back to ourselves? Is it a reminder that when we close our eyes we go back to a place only we know. I'm not sure. What surprises me is "forget." What do we forget when our eyes open? In western culture, opening ones' eyes means a realization, an epiphany or simply noticing life. It means in no way, "forget." Yet in buddhism, the point of life is to escape into our psyche, solve our faults and fade away into nirvana. Is that what I'm supposed to forget? Nirvana?
It's a strange choice of words to use when putting on pounds of eyeshadow.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I want one...

http://powersports.honda.com/motorcycles/cruiser_standard/model.asp?ModelName=Nighthawk&ModelYear=2008&ModelId=CB2508

Or something cheaper. I just want a motorbike. I want to travel more, but if I need a way of transportation that's cheaper than a car when I get back, this is it.

I'm Lazy

Yes, I'm very lazy, so instead of writing my own blog. I'm going to steal Emma's already written blog about our thai dance performance. don't worry, I'll add in some comments.

October 14th 2008 - The day of the biggest festival in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand; also known as Lai Rua Fai.This is the day that my dance class, host parents, rotary club and friends had been talking about and preparing for over the last two months. Suzanne and I have been going to Thai dance class everyday for the past three weeks to practice for our performance in front of Wat Phra That Phanom [at least we were supposed to be there everyday, but we weren't]. Wat Phra That Phanom is the most sacred temple in the Northeast of Thailand because apparently, the chedi holds Buddha's left pinky (And according to a different guidebook, one of Buddha's ribs instead ).My school's Thai dancers weren't performing at the temple this year, so I was invited to dance with Nakhon Phanom Witayakhom school's Thai dancers. Suzanne goes to that highschool and her mother is the Thai dance teacher (which is good and bad, it means that I had to go to twice as many practices as Emma) There are about 30 dancers from NPW and Thai dancers go over the top with their hair, accessories, costumes and makeup. This meant that we had to go the night before the performance to get our hair done so that we wouldn't be rushed in the morning.So last night Suzanne and I headed to NPW to get our hair done at around 7:30pm and when we got there Suzanne immediately was taken over to get her hair done, and I ate dinner with some of the girls on straw mats outside. To do Suzanne's hair they took a big ring of black yarn and pulled all her hair up around it (Don't forget they teased it SO much, my hair was in huge knots) and then pulled it into a bun; the classic Thai dancing hairstyle. It looked nice (AKA 6 inches tall, it was GIANT), but I wondered how they were planning to do my hair asa . my hair is too light and thin to cover up a big black ring of yarn, andb. my hair is not long enough to cover up a big black ring of yarnIt turned out that they just teased the life out of my hair and made a "Emma's hair ring" out of the teased hair. It didn't look quite as tidy as Suzanne's;(She looked fine, but it was slightly more punk rocker than thai dancer) since it was held up on it's own the front of my hair swooped up like a mohawk and I didn't have a bun in the middle. This was solved by the girls finding a fake black bun and spray painting it gold. Gold, not blonde (My how we laughed at the rat' nest/elephant turd, OH at the Ayuthayya elephant house they actually have an elephant's turd that has been guilded in gold and displayed in a glass box. No joke). Gold. Suzanne and I still laugh about how the giant spray-painted fake hair perfectly resembled elephant poo. And it was going to sit on my head. The colour was no where near the same colour as my hair, but I guess it was better than wearing a black bun. Emma also met the young english teacher at my school and remarked on how cute he is. It's true, he is really cute, but he's hit on me one too many times and sings terribly. At my welcoming party he sang karaoke the WHOLE time. I asked him if he liked my hair. He replied that he didn't like my hair but he liked my face. This morning we had to be at the school for 2:30 so that all the dancers would be dressed with their hair and makeup done and ready to go at 6am. Most of the dancers slept at the school, but Suzanne and I slept at her house becuase her mother is the teacher and would be waking us up anyways.We didn't end up going to sleep. We arrived at her house at 11pm, ate cornflakes, avoided the cockroaches in the kitchen while we did the dishes and then we sat on the computer and drank coffee for two hours until her host mom came out to tell us we needed to wake up. We were still up.Once we got to the school at 2:30, the adventure began.[Photo] First I had to get my hair fixed with another can of hairspray, some bobby pins and a hair dryer. It was fixed 4 times before we left [note to self, grow your hair long - it makes life much easier]. They put two big yellow sunflowers in it to dress it up nice and fancy - I kept them though I'm not sure if we were supposed to or not.Station 1 - Foundation. Suzanne and I took turns going from station to station where students [usually boys] would cover our faces with layers and layers of makeup. Station 1 was foundation where a cute Thai boy [I think he's gay, most of the male Thai dancers are] (pee Deum, don't forget to make you're voice go up when saying his name. I was so disappointed that he was gay, because he really was very cute and he kept saying how beautiful my nose and smile were) smudged foundation all over our faces, ears and necks. After I was finished I looked in the mirror and it felt weird to have such a perfectly blemish free face.Station 2 - Eyebrows. Good Moses, I scared myself when I looked in the mirror. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had the proper colour of eyebrow pencil to somewhat look nice with my hair colour. But instead they used the same eyebrow pencil [that they use on the Thail girls who have BLACK hair] for Suzanne and I, leaving us with extremely chiseled eyebrows that did not in any way match our hair. One eyebrow was drawn higher than the other, but they were drawn perfectly on my eyebrows so maybe my eyebrows are just naturally lopsided. Either way it looked rediculous.Station 3 - Eye Makeup. Another male Thai dancer perfected our highlights and shadows all over our faces. He started by putting red along my eyebrow/eye crevice, then brown and purple and finally finishing with white on our eyes as well as all along our nose to make us look like the sun is on our faces. We tried to explain that we are white skinned, we already have these highlights and shadows when we go outside, but they would not listen. There is a rule of thumb for makeup - make it look like you're not wearing any. This does not apply for Thai dancers, I swear I had enough blush on my face that someone back in Canada could see that it was abnormal if they peered over to Thailand with a telescope. However, he was probably the most talented makeup artist ever, though it was hard not to laugh while he was doing my makeup becuase Suzanne and I kept talking about how stupid we looked. Thanks to Emma I couldn't stop laughing. Mostly about our purple eyebrows. [Photo] Station 4 - Fake Eyelashes. With the amount of makeup we had on, we would have looked stupid if we hadn't had some excessive eyelashes to go with the excessive pounds of makeup. So we were given some [Suzanne got one's with rhinestones on them.. lucky!] and I got my eyelids superglued together a few times until finally the girl doing them said they looked fine and she covered up the glue with eyeliner. Thick eyeliner that was not drawn straight. She then proceeded to put black eyeshadow all along the bottom of my eye.. it was hideous. Suzanne was not given the pleasure of the ugly black makeup so I decided it was not needed and took it off. It looked much nicer once I had finished.[Photo] Station 5 - Costume.First, there is one thing you need to know about Thai people - they never admit when they are wrong, and they like to keep the falangs out of the loop for practically everything so we are usually surprised with a change of plans everyday. Today's surprise - they had made us custom costumes becuase we are taller than Thai students, but they had not asked for our measurements. Another thing to keep in mind is that I am not only shorter than Suzanne but I have th emost odd proportioned body of anyone I know - super long torso and short legs. So when they brought in two custom skirts for us that were too long for Suzanne, there was NO WAY IN HELL that it would fit me. The skirt dragged on the floor and instead of giving me a regular Thai skirt [that I would fit in since I have the same length legs as them] they decided to roll it over 4 times and completely resew it - while we are supposed to be leaving for the temple.They SEWED me into it. Ihad to go to the bathroom too. The costume was a three quarter length, yellow, collared jacket with a long green skirt and sash. They also seemed to think we were much skinnier than we are because they could not tie the belt around and had to pin it and make it look like it was tied. Much too much effort when they could have given me a Thai student's skirt, or else asked for our measurements three weeks ago when we started learning the dances.The whole situation baffles me.Station 6/7/8 - Lipstick. That's right, there was not just one station to perfect our lips, there were three. The lipstick process was practically pointless as 2 minutes later I had lipstick all over my teeth and ended up wiping most of it off. I also fell on Suzanne while taking a picture on the moving bus and I had a nice pink lip mark on my yellow jacket. Classy.[Photo] We were on our way to Wat Phra That Phanom.When we arrived there we sat for a little bit and then walked all the way down the street [in our bare feet on the concrete ground] and lined up to dance towards the temple. One of the things I am still frusterated with is how many people ask for pictures. They don't even know me, where I am from, what my name is or why I am in their country; they just want a picture of me. They want pictures of me by myself, with Suzanne, with them and with their children.This one man without even a professional looking camera came up while we were dancing and got right in my face. I was so annoyed that I asked him what his name was and didn't add ka for respect. He backed off, but I never learned his name... It blows my mind why they would take pictures of a complete stranger. I can just imagine them showing the picture to a friend saying "This is some falang I saw at Phra That Phanom"."Oh really, where was she from?""I'm not really sure""Why was she there?"I don't know"Now honestly people, honestly. Does that make any sense? So after we took a bunch of pictures with a ton of different women who literally dragged us to different people for pictures [they also put their arms around me and touched my butt!!!] Thai women have this thing. Tehy want to put their arms around our waists but are too short to do so. Instead they put their arms around our butts. It's a little awkward especially when you don't even know their name.we started dancing. Horribly enough, the dancers from the 5 other schools knew a different version of this first dance and our school had no idea what was going on. We caught on eventually and had to be on our toes for when they changed hand movements, then finally we stopped and chanted for what seemed like forever! It was so hot outside that I was sweating buckets, and sweating with that much makeup on is extremely itchy. By the end of it half my foundation was smudged and i had drips of skin coloured sweat on my jacket. They fixed my hair [for the sixth time] and fixed my makeup but adding another pound of foundation on my chin, cheeks and forehead.[Photo] After taking a break for a little while [and taking pictures with a billion more people who I was never introduced to] we did the peacock dance. We were all equipped with two long peacock feathers each which we flung around and waved. After the peacock dance we were pulled over to take a group shot.For the record, I would officially like to say that I hate women who dress in all pink. Every single woman here who has dressed in all pink has made my life hell, and a particularly frilled pink woman took literally 100 pictures of us. She kept dragging us around, walking in front of the other paparazzi members to fix our peacock feathers or move us and each different pose she took 10 pictures. She kept changing us around, moving us into different photos and taking us off by ourselves until finally, I looked at Suzanne and said "run away... seriously, run". Half of them don't even ask for your picture, they just pull you beside someone and snap a bunch of pictures then run away. It took us 10 minutes to get back to our straw mat at the temple where we could eat. People kept pulling us to take pictures and at that point I was so tired from lack of sleep, exhausted from the heat and pissed off from being pulled all over the place that I finally just walked away from everyone and whenever someone asked for a picture I said "NO". I felt horrible saying no to people, but if I had kept saying yes I would never come back to Canada. We took a bunch of pictures with friends [which I don't mind so much, since I know them] and then we lined up for our third and final dance. We stood outside the big doors leading outside of the temple and we were all jumping around dancing and hooting. It was so much fun. After we left the temple grounds and walked out to the crowd, boys from our school would start chants of "OH! OH! OH! OH!" and everyone would join in with clapping or cheering or shouts of "Areeba!!!" on my part. The spectators were allowed to come into the dancers and take pictures, and within 30 seconds Suzanne and I were swarmed with people trying to get us to stop dancing to take a picture with them. (SO annoying. I wanted to dance. I told them so too, but they didn';t listen. The rest of the group was dancing and having fun and I just had old men trying to get my picture) Dancing at Wat Phra That Phanom was over by 12pm and the day hadn't even begun, but it was the most amazing thing I have done in a long time. I will write a different blog post about the rest of Lai Rua Fai later this week."So won't you tell me why you live like you're afraid to die. You die like you're afraid to go"

Sunday, October 12, 2008

So much to say, so little time.

Alright, SO I spent the last week in Bangkok, met my Dad's friend Steve and basically had a whirlwind time. I think I'll write about it later.
Yesterday, I had my first day back in Nakhon Phanom. I was whisked away to Wat That Pranom (a temple) 50 km away at seven in the morning. Thai dance strikes again. I went with my thai dance group and Emma to a giant thai dance practice with five other girls. It was hot and we were dancing barefoot--on concrete. One teacher walked around with a peacock feather and hit the girls that weren't in formation with it. Her hair is spiked up strangely and she's very grumpy. It's frustrating when someone is waving around a feather at you because he/she assumes that you couldn't possibly understand them if he/she used words. The group took a break for "5 minutes." After ten minutes of waiting, emma and I decided that it was safe enough to buy an ice cream from the mulitple ice cream trucks around the temple. As we were eating our ice cream, the massive group of boys and girls began to congregate outside the temple in the street. Once again, we were whisked away with the crowd, still holding our ice creams. The next thing I know, I am transfering my ice cream cone back and forth from left hand to right hand as I am trying to keep up in the dance. My feet are burning and the lady with a peacock feather starts walking around again. The final touch was during the last move when we prostrate ourselves in front of the temple and my bare legs (I was wearing capris) must rest on the roadside for a full five counts.

This grueling routine of dancing barefoot on concrete holding peacock feathers is in preparation for a festival called Li rua fi. The festival itself (shops, food vendors, crazy rides) has already started. I missed the opening while in BKK. Li rua fi is also called the dragon boat festival. HUGE bamboo boats have been in the works for over a month. On Tuesday, they will be lit up and will float down the Mekhong River. It's the biggest festival in Nakhon Phanom and tourists have come from all over the countryside. On Tuesday, at the temple, I will dance in traditional Thai costume. That's what all the practices have been for.

After dance practice, Emma and I met the Australian boys for an almost goodbye lunch. They leave early monday morning. We decided to go the the festival and somehow I got talked into bungee jumping (of sorts). I was placed in a harness and attached to bungee cords on both sides. The next thing I know, my stomach has gone up and down several times and I am flying. People are watching and the announcer is describing me as a beautiful falang exchange student that can speak thai. I did a flip or two and decided that my legs couldn't take it any longer. The harness was very tight and feeling almost zero gravity does weird things to one's legs. The couldn't stop shaking for almost twenty minutes.

We walked around the festival and eventually ended up at the balloons. I call them balloons because there really isn't any other word for them. They are big air bubbles that people can go inside. They float on a pool of water. Emma and I went in one together and as I got up, she fell down, or she stood up aand walked and I got forced into a somersault. Imagine being inside of a hamster ball. Now, put two hamsters inside the hamster ball. That's what we were. I have to say, I laughed so much my sides hurt.

After all the fun, we went back to bungee jumping and I got up my courage and stepped back inside the harness. Flying is an amazing feeling. Ben, the older australian went up twice in a row, but after doing one two many backflips he actually blacked out. He came back to conciousness really fast but still felt dizzy. Even though Emma and I had to go home, we felt like we should at least deliver him to his parents. So we did so and when we finally got home at about ten thirty, Emma told me to be relaly quiet inside the house. I was going to sleep over at her house and both our host parents said that it was okay. At eleven, Emma got a phone call from her host mother asking us where we were. When we said we were at the house, her host mother was really relieved. I think we're dealing with a cultural difference. In Thailand, we should announce that we are home. In the U.S. if everybody is asleep, no matter how early it is, you just go to your room and go to bed. So, it's about eleven and Emma and I are not sleepy yet, so what do we do? We have a fashion show. Fun times.

Just a word: I know that it seems like I spend all my time with Emma. In reality, I just spent an entire week with thai friend and I have a lot of time that I spend with thai people. I'm praised for how well I speak thai. So I think I'm okay.

P.S. I love you all. Thanks for commenting and being supportive.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The five questions

Where are you going?--- I'm asked this by random strangers as I bicycle home, or to eat lunch or to a friends house. Most of the time it comes in the strange thai version of english, i.e. "Where you go?"

Where are you from?---- Also comes in strange thai english " where you from?" I always answer america, because the United States is too strange.

Have you eaten yet?--- Most of the time, I have. and this question comes in thai, the other questions come in thai about half the time.

How long will you be here?-- I used to say one year, I think I should start saying ten months.

Do you have a boyfriend?-- First they ask if I have one in thailand. No, I say. Then they ask if I have one in the U.S. I also say no. Then the thai people laugh and giggle.
Emma's host father asked me this. I answered with my usual, "No, I don't have a boyfriend."
He's decided that I should marry his 25 year old son [correction: Pee-Ok, that's the son's name, is 19] . I am now referred to as "The daughter in law."

We laugh a lot about it.
I laugh a lot.
I'm happy here.
Yes, there are hard moments,
Yes, there are sad moments and angry moments,
But mostly, I realize that this is my time. This is my time to figure out who I am and to accept myself. I love having this time. I smile a lot here. I am in the land of smiles so that's not surprising. In the U.S. I wear something I call my thinking face all the time. It looks like a frown. My grandmother once said something to me about it when I was six. I remember she had just flown in and I was trying to firgure out how I could pull her giant suit case. She leaned over and looked at me, " if you keep frowning like that, you'll get wrinkles in the spot between your eyebrows. Just like me."

I'm sixteen now and I still make that face. When I was a baby, people told my parents that I never smiled and was very serious.
My dad used to make comments, "smooth your brow suzy, you look angry."
I'd have to focus on not frowning.

But I'm smiling more and more and I'm laughing a lot.
This place is beautiful and life moves more quickly than I'd like to admit.
Signing off for now,
Suzanne
P.S. Thanks Rotary for the postcards, so far I've gotten six.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

School Vacation

Yes, I'm on vacation, already. Yes, I have vacation for two weeks. No, I do not have any activities. Yes, I am rather bored. Being bored is something I was warned about. Rotary asked us, now what will you do when you get bored?
I replied, "I'll go down to the mcdonald's and laugh at the Ronald McDonald clown waiing."
THERE IS NO MCDONALD'S in NAKHON PHANOM!! Yes, that's a good thing, but it means that my clever response, or so I thought, is actually, not an actuality. Well, if I lived in a city of more than 80,000 people, then I could find a mcdonalds to laugh at. But I live in a very small country town on the border of laos.
All my thai friends are either out of town, or taking college entrance exams, all day. Which leaves me with Emma. Although I love Emma dearly, I worry that she's getting sick of me.
I have to get out of the house. That's just who I am. I cannot stay home, alone with a computer and a tv. Otherwise I get depressed. So I bike outside my house, I venture into town. I go to Emma's house. I'm at Emma's house probably more than I should be. Her host parents have started making jokes about how I'm their second daughter from North America.
This morning, I went to pick up coffee from the CO-FF, my favorite coffee shop. I knew it was closing, but I didn't expect to see a moving van and the entire place dismantled. So I settled for coffee flavored bubble tea from the place next door. Bad choice, when choosing bubble tea flavors, ALWAYS go for fruit. ALWAYS.
Anyway, I went to Emma's house, woke her up at 11:30, gave her some bubble tea (I bought her Kiwi flavor, a much better choice) and after she went back to sleep did a sudoku, straightened my hair and experimented with liquid eyeliner.
Emma got out of bed, we ate, we watched a movie, we ate some more. We went out and bought food and watched another movie. I taught her how to knit.
Now I'm home. I'm thinking about a shower.
And THAT my friends is a typical day of school vacation.
Tomorrow, I hope, is different.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Noises

Cockroaches make SO MUCH NOISE! Oh my, it is creepy too. they chitter and chatter and hiss and scurry. You can hear their every movement. The kitchen is now a place I will not go at night.
That's all.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

A bit of home

Today, after much frustration due to a lack of information, I went to dinner at the house of an english tutor of a friend of Emma's. Confusing, no?
His name is Tony. He's about 60 years old, originally from England, spent 25 years in Canada and is now living in Thailand married to an extremely educated thai woman. We were invited over for steak.
Tony is obviously from the upper class of Britain ( you can tell by his accent) and reminds me of Penny (my violin teacher) in so many ways. It was comforting to be around him.
His wife had traveled in Oregon and knew where Portland was and asked if I had been to Astoria. She actually had been to OREGON! It was so nice to be able to talk about the mountains and the ocean and skiing and be around people that actually knew what I was talking about because they had been there.
The steak was great, and there was salad and steamed vegetables. Tony promised us cheese as a dessert. After dinner, out came the cheese and during a conversation about karaoke, Tony heard that I was a fan of stefan grapelli. The next thing I know, he's going upstairs, and finding cd's of music for us to listen to.
He puts in the cd and we're guessing which singer is on now, ella, billy or sarah. We go back in time to Bessy and Ida. I'm in heaven.
Emma's friend from school has to go home to eat dinner with her family (after eating a GIGANTIC steak) and Gale, tony's wife drives her home. On her way back she picked up a "treat" for us. I assumed the white box holds a cake, but as it is opened I gasp in disbelief. There are roast chestnuts inside.
Tonight was blissful, it was western culture that I appreciate. Although I love eating crab, sardines, sticky rice, bamboo, mint, curry and chili powder while listening to thai music, a bit of home was welcome.
The great thing about Tony's house is that it has... an oven. Emma and I are welcome to use it to bake or cook whenever we like, as long as we give them two or three days warning. After I complained about my inability to make kugel due to a lack of cream cheese, Tony asked, "you mean philidelphia? Or cottage cheese? "
Emma is the one to gasp this time. I am simply speechless.
Emma: "You HAVE cream cheese?!?"
Me: "............"
Tony simply stands up, walks to the fridge and pulls out a package. "I'm sorry that I don't have any bagels, but here are some more crackers."
I shouldn't have eaten so much, but when you haven't had cream cheese, chestnuts, cheddar or decent crackers for 6 weeks, it was feast now or miss it later. So emma and I both ate until we almost felt sick. We both decided that tomorrow is a no bread day. Probably the whole week. I'll be eating a lot of soup.
I was also given an Ian McEwan book that I can't wait to read. My reading material has been the same book for the past 5 weeks. I have actually memorized some parts simply because I've read it so many times.
Tomorrow, I don't have any classes at all. I hope I can leave school and run errands. I need to make a trip to the bank, the post office and I also need to buy gifts for the holidays. The ground shipping takes three months so I need to find my father that Rolex fast.

Monday, September 15, 2008

English Camp

I'd like to start off by saying that with the exception of Rob and Sara, YOU PEOPLE are REALLY bad at commenting. My last post has been up for 5 days and nobody has commented. Now I KNOW people have read it. PLEASE, comments (and letters) make my day. So get to it, comment or on wednesday (for those of you with facebook) my blog will be the only note you will see all the way down. I will upload EVERY SINGLE ONE, unless you take the time and comment here. Because I KNOW you'll comment on facebook.

Alright, now that's over with, on to the main point.
Bai See Su Quan. It's the string tying ceremony. I did it for a second time on saturday night and this time have pictures, but am too lazy to upload them. Teachers and students told me they loved me, or wished me good luck, or even that I find a handsome boyfriend, as they tied my strings. I was given so many roses, eggs and a banana leaf dumpling (that's the closest english word there is, they called it banana bread, but it isn't). I'm keeping the strings this time. I think they might make a nice addition to my blazer, along with the feather mask on the back and the fairy wand on the front.

So on friday, I went to the english camp to help out with Emma. I'm pretty sure these children (teenagers really) had never seen a white person their own age. They must think all white people are fat woman and middle aged men because they were so excited to see us.

Emma and I are celebrities here. I should change the title of th eblog to My Life as a Superstar. Thse kiddies not only wanted pictures of us, and with us, they wanted autographs, our names, our skin, to touch our cheeks. They wanted our phone number and our e-mail (BIG MISTAKE) and they wanted us to remember them. Two days later and I get eight phone calls from the same girl. I can't understand a word she says because she doesn't even speak thai. She is speaking another dialect. I handed the phone over to a friend and it turns out her name is Fa. I think, "which one was Fa?"

I have a new friend named Poopey (yes that is actually her name, no, she doesn't think it's funny) and I gave her my cell phone number because I actually liked her. I have six text messages from her. They are all cheesy and they all RHYME! After talking to Emma, it turns out that she got the same messages.

Oh, the aftermath of a great experience.
During the camp I learned so much. I learned a tongue twister in poothai (the strange dialect of the region) and I learned the thai version of the chicken dance, the banana dance, and the row your boat song. Look at Emma's blog and you'll find the chicken dance lyrics. It starts out with "CHICKEN IS DEAD!" There's a lot of bongo drumming involved.

On the last day, we had a closing ceremony for the english camp.
The students one by one, got up, waied to us, and shook our hand. One girl got up the courage to ask if she could hug us and the next thing I know, Emma and I are in the midst of a giant group hug with people fighting to get to the center. Girls are kissing my cheeks and I'm kissing theirs. "Magic Kiss," they say. They all want pictures. I gave over two hundred hugs in thirty minutes. I almost cried from happiness and just from the sheer amount that these girls cared for us after three days together.
"Don't Forget! Don't Forget" they cried.
I'm trying not to.
Because of the huge success that we were, Emma and I are invited to join them on a trip to Chiang Mai in January. We both gleefully accepted the invitation.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Days Like These

There are good days, there are bad days, and then there are days like these, that make up for ALL of the bad days. Today was simply wonderful. Sure, I was late to school, had plans cancelled on me and had math class, but I also met people, remembered names, learned new words, laughed, sang, danced, bicycled, took pictures, drank tea and went to a party. It doesn't get much better.

I'm sorry Dad. I thought I was getting better at being punctual. I realize that what made me late to school every day in corvallis was a fundamental fact about teenagers. We like to sleep. Even though I'm in a foreign country, that fact about me does not change. Tomorrow, I will try to get up earlier because I have an appointment! There are two boys in class 5/2 and 5/3 that live in my "village." I am in 5/1, which is the english program, so because neither of these boys are in the english program, they know about as much english as I know german, i.e., nothing. Which is good, because I'll learn thai. I was riding my bicycle home yesterday when I recognized one of them and then the other showed up about five minutes later. Both have been asking me if I have a boy friend almost every time I see them. I tell them I can't. THANK YOU ROTARY!!! I like these boys... as friends only. Thai relationships between teens are very platonic, even when dating. If a boy and girl are dating there is no touching, no hugging, no kissing, the only difference between friend and boyfriend is a long late night phone call every night. That and sometimes eating lunch together at school. Having a boy friend here (considering that a long late night conversation is impossible at this point in my year) seems rather pointless and I'm glad to have an excuse.

I should be going to bed earlier, but tonight I had a rotary meeting. Emma and I thought that is would be a normal meeting that consists of sitting at a long conference table and eating fruit. It wasn't. Instead it was a party in the banquet hall of the hotel with karaoke dancing and a full buffet dinner. There were also three young men only too ready to fill my class of water or hand me a new one. Once, when I was trying to prolong their actions (I tried to drink my water as slowly as possible because having them reach over my shoulder every five minutes was slightly embarrassing) they came and replaced it even though I still had half a glass. One in particular kept ogling me (he does this every week) and although he was trying to be discreet (looking through mirrors and around other people etc) it was still rather obvious.
When a person sings Karaoke it is perfectly normal to receive roses, even if your voice is absolutely terrible. Thai people like to make each other happy. I get a lot of compliments. There is one woman in the rotary club that always leads a thai line dance. We do the same line dance with a slight variation in steps again and again and again. When we have a regular rotary meeting, this same woman shows up with false hair around her head in a twisty braidy headband/headdress thing. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it puzzles me, because this woman is not bald...

So emma and I dance with her and with every other woman. They have couple dancing, but consists of standing opposite your partner and waving your hands around in thai dance fashion and well, I'm anything but good at the hand motions. You'd think that since I play violin it'd be easy, but no. Imagine drawing a circle with one hand and drawing a rectangle with the other. That's how hard it is.
There were also women at the rotary meeting/party that run a yoga center! And, yet another perk of being a rotary exchange student... the classes are absolutely free. All I need to do is buy a ridiculously expensive yoga mat ($15). Mom or Madeleine, will you be in need of one in a year? I already know that you have a blue one Dad.

Before the Rotary meeting, I had extra classes. I had a math class which, unfortunately, I'm not doing so well in. It's in english, but I haven't really reviewed because we don't have a text book and my teacher will simply say, "you know? Just use Pythagorean theorem." and I feel like I should know how to verify that tangent of theta multiplied by secant of theta minus one all over tan of theta minus sec^2 theta cos theta equals something else equally confusing, and in america I feel like I would have been able to do it without a problem. Here, my mind goes blank and I find myself trying to figure out if the new words I've just learned are thai, isan or lao. I try to learn thai, but everyone here speaks isan and lao and I end up with a mish mash mixture.
I think I'll ask for private tutoring, or get my friends to tutor me in math so that I can catch up.I have to remember that I arrived mid-semester, without having done math for two months.

After the extra classes I thought that I would be having dinner with my new friends Nam tip and Nam tan. But, they were busy doing something else and Emma called me and asked if I wanted to go to the Chah yen place (thai tea place) and the Night Market with kate and khlou. I said yes, but I needed to ride home, shower, and change for Rotary.

That's when I ran into Tum and Brees on their bicycles. Although it's nice to ride bikes with other people, those boy ride SO SLOW. I tried to get them to ride faster and ended up in a race with Tum ( I won). Tomorrow morning we'll ride to school together. Mosquito repellent is now acquired. As you probably have heard, I had a police escort one day, a postman escort the next (this one asked for my phone number) and when some twenty year old men on motorcycles slowed down beside me the next day, I was at my limit and I told them to shove off. Now, I'll be riding with two classmates and I wonder if it will be any better. I hope so. I even managed to explain to them that men liked to honk at me (in thai "Doop!").

When I arrived at home, my host brother was on the computer. Success is near. I had a WHOLE conversation with him. He gets excited when I receive letters (maybe...they are from a boyfriend). This letter was about 8 pages long front and back with an enclosed CD and picture of creepy frog from non other than BREE BREE ( who despises me when I call her that). I read the letter while listening to the CD and almost died of laughter. I love that girl so much. The picture of creepy frog was a nice touch. This friend of mine, has a colossal collection of stuffed animals, among them, creepy frog. Creepy frog is disturbing to me for some reason, I can't explain it, but she enclosed a picture of him holding an "I miss you" sign. Well, I don't miss creepy frog, but sometimes I wish BREE BREE were here to gossip with.

And so I read the letter, showered, got dressed, told pee-harp where I was going and asked him what he thought of my clothes. He looked me up and down and said, "okay." I have approval, sort of. Next time I'll try for better. Maybe by the time I leave this host family, I will even heard, "suay." I'm working on it.

So, I went to the tea place and met up with kate, khlou (twins) and Emma. We took pictures and then got on out bikes (to all those from corvallis, there's a new "bike gang" in the world) and rode to the night market. Emma and I found the COOLEST T-shirts for a dollar each. I bought three (I couldn't resist). One says (Suspect winners) and has four pac-man characters on it, another has weird monsters coming out of a boom box and says "Calm down soundtrack" and the third one has a picture of a TV, inside the TV is a Vespa and is says something, but I can't remember.
Emma bought the pac man shirt too. By the end of this year, our matching wardrobe will have grown to a size that even I don't want to think about. We already have matching shoes and sunglasses. The other exchange students on the trip won't know what to think of us with our wonka sunglasses, yellow pac-man t-shirts and pointy toed plastic flats. I think we'll rock the look.

Tomorrow, Emma and I are going to an English Camp is a province 50 km away. I'm not sure who recruited us to help out, but we're going. I'm a little excited, I get to meet more students.
Today was marvelous, I was busy, I learned and I even have new shirts. Not much could be better.

Anyway, Love to all, and SEND ME SOME MORE LETTERS! (It's the best conversation starter I have with my host brother so far... plus I love reading them (even the very long rants)).

Monday, September 8, 2008

Random experiences and advice

Although one month late, I did in fact, introduce myself to the entire school this morning. I stood up at the front by the flag pole and told 1500 students my name, my nick name, where I'm from and what I'm doing here-- in Thai. I'm sure that all of the students were already aware of my name and where I was from and that I was an exchange student. Hey, I've already been here a month.

Yet, after being here a month, I still have new learning experiences. For instance, yesterday, I made it through an ENTIRE Aerobics class. That's one hour nonstop dancing outside in the humidity and heat. I even stayed through the cool down. I had promised my host father that I'd be home before dark. The class ended ten minutes after the sun had set, so I rushed home on my bicycle. I've never peddled so fast in my life.

In the last post, I mentioned my prized cheese. I paid 200฿ for that cheese and when I looked in the fridge last night, some one had tasted it (which I don't have a problem with) but they had forgotten to wrap it in cling wrap. So my cheese was molding and dry on all sides.
I rescued my cheese. I cut off all of the bad spots and placed the cheese in a plastic bag. I was not about to lose my precious cheese. I' m possessive about my farang food. I shouldn't be, I know. But here is is very expensive and it's not as versatile as sticky rice. My British English teacher bought sausage and bacon in Khon Kaen. He has no room in his freezer, so placed it in the freezer in the teacher's room. To save energy the school shut off the power to the freezer, leaving Martin's special sausage and bacon to defrost. He was not happy.

Emma and I have started making bubble tea at home. We are learning how to perfect the bubbles. Our first attempts were disastrous. Last time we made a big vat, but left it in the pot too long and now they all taste burnt. Blending ice is not a good thing for the blender, just like it's not a good for your teeth (I've stopped chewing ice, I promise). I asked my friends for the word for crushed ice so I could buy it at a seven eleven. Nam kang bhot. I could not say bhot the way they wanted me to. I said it over and over and over again while they laughed and laughed. Granted, I was laughing too. One has to, otherwise you end up embarrassed at your lack of language skills. But when I finally got it, I turned around and said, "well then, tell me the difference between chair and share."
They couldn't hear it. It's a slight change that most English speaking people don't even notice. But the Thai people can't hear the difference. I had to try and explain how the mouth makes the sound and where your tongue goes. In the end, I taught my friend Pooh some tongue twisters and got her just as frustrated as she had made me.
To Sara, Rob, Charlie, Craig and everyone else on the rotary circuit, this is my advice for the next year's exchange students.
"Unless you speak the language flawlessly (which you won't because we're all American), you will have an accent. You will have trouble with some sounds or pronunciations and your friends will laugh at you. You will repeat the same sound a million times while they try and correct you and you can't tell the difference between what you said and what they said. Laugh, enjoy the moment, think of it as free language tutoring, but when it's over turn it around on them. Find what sound they can't say in English. Use that weakness to your advantage, exploit it. Teach them tongue twisters in English and suddenly they are laughing at their own incompetence and you feel much better about your accent."

You can change it, but this tactic has helped me so much. I even told it to my friend in China. Yesterday my friends and I were rolling on the floor laughing because of our accents in thai and english.

I'm rather exotic here, as most of you predicted. I have had at least 3 perfect strangers ask for my phone number. I answer with a "Mai dai!" and a smile. It means can't. They are normally fairly young men, but much older than me, punks on their motorcycles. They're the ones that honk at me on their motorcycles, although older men honk too. The men seem so happy with themselves, it's as if they think they are the first people to EVER honk at me or Emma. Some days I laugh, other days I get really annoyed and wish it would all stop. But it won't so I'll learn to deal with it.

This is the Tally of free stuff I've been given because I am an exchange student.

Som tam (spicy papaya salad)-- from a friend of my host mother's who runs a shop in my neighborhood.

Green tea-- from the women who run the coffee shop that emma and I are very loyal to.

Fruit-- from the women who run the bubble tea shop right next to the coffee shop. We are also loyal to this shop as well. And even though we are making our own bubble tea, we bought the ingredients from these women.

Coffee-- from the english teacher who teaches the kids that are not in english immerision. Sometimes he give me cake too.

2 polo shirts-- from my rotary club.

2 T-shirts-- from the Rotary Youth Exchange program in District 3340.

1 Backpack with a Rotary 3340 thailand exchange patch (I rather like it) -- also from the Rotary Youth Exchange District 3340.

Ice Cream-- from my Rotary Exchange counselor. He also owns the nicest hotel in town, on the same level as the Salbasgeon in Corvallis. I have a feeling that he would give discounts to my family should anyone come visit (not probable, I know and not necessary either) but in case anyone would like to know, a room in the Riverview Hotel (named so because it is on the Mekhong River and has a stunning view of Laos) is about 1500฿. That's during the height of the season and is roughly $45 a night for a double bed room.

That's it, but I've only been here a 5 weeks.





Saturday, September 6, 2008

Ahan Falang

Ahan= food
Falang= foreigner/ guava

Wan nee, kulap gap sai tam ahan falang. (Today emma and I cooked foreigner food)!!
It was exciting. Last weekend I went to both Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchatani (two big cities both at least 4 hours away). Because I live out in the boonies of Isan ( I love it here, but it's very thai, no foreign stuff to speak of), I took the oppurtunity to buy some neccessities.
1. cheese
2. more cheese (feta for emma)
3. PEANUT BUTTER
So, today emma came over to my house after I slept at her's last night. I'm not sure whether sleepovers are common here, but our host parents seemed okay with it.
After we woke up got dressed, ate the food emma's host mother made for us (even though we weren't hungry and we didn't ask for it) and went to the fresh market. This place is incredible, it is massive and has huge amounts of fresh produce. I had heard from the english teacher that potatoes were sold across from the smelly meat market. Sure enough, we found potatoes directly across from the pig's head sitting on a table next to (I'm assuming) the late pig's intestines. Emma took a picture to commerorate the moment.

We found the potatoes, and GARLIC, bought the two vital ingredients and went on our way to my house. Together we are quite a sight, two 5 ft 9 blonde girls on bicycles. WE rode out back to my house, past the trees, past the rice paddies and turned onto Ta-U-Ten road to find my little development of houses, 100 houses all place within 10 ft of each other with the same blue and gold iron rod gates and red roofs. The men at the exercise park waved at us as we rode past.

Once at my house we had a bit of a dilemma. What do you do with potatoes if you have no masher, oven, grater, peeler, or pot big enough to boil in? We decided on using the Wok, Margarine, garlic and salt. It worked well enough and they were fairly tasty. I even got a small cooking lesson from Emma.

Unfortunately, we could not figure out how to turn the stove on. My host parents were at a funeral and my host brother was at soldier camp. I had to go over to the next door neighbor and ask. I first got the cleaning lady who couldn't speak any english. I know the word for fire, cooking, help, friend, and many others, but I didn't know how to say stove or how. There were a lot of charades on my part trying to show a stove.

I finally got my host uncle (married to my host mother's sister--they live in the house next door). He spoke a little bit of english, but didn't understand stove. I finally convinced him to come over and show me how to work it. He asked what we were cooking.
Since we didn't know the word for potatoes we showed him. He muttered under his breath, "oh, ahan falang."

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Wildlife Kingdom

Lizards, cockroaches and snails, OH MY! Yes, I see these everyday. The lizards are like little black or pink mice. They scurry around the kitchen and through the walls and ceiling. In fact, one rather large pink lizard lives in the trash bin in the kitchen. I'm sure he is friends with the cockroach that lives behind the stove. I've decided to name him AI (shy in thai). The cockroach is very shy, I turn on the light, and he scurries away. There are many cockroaches in Thailand. I just saw one climb into the printer. I tried to take a picture but my friend was too fast. The snails live on my shoes, on windows and on driveways. You can find them anywhere if you look hard enough. There arealso cobras, but I haven't seen any yet.

I have seen quite a few toads though. They come in all sizes, big at least 6 inches wide, or small, less than 2 inches wide. I even touched one in my front yard. This big mouthed frog jumped at least 5 feet away from me.

The other animals that I have seen a lot are stray dogs and cats. Neither are neutered or spayed. The males look so uncomfortable as they waddle around the school, the mall and the night market. The females have nipples that are so englarged, they touch the ground. Some looks so pathetic that you wish they could be given a home and a decent vet. But this is the third world. No such thing exists.

We do have policemen though. Many policemen. In fact, I was given a police escort this morning on my bike ride to school. He honked as I made a right turn and slowly came up behing me on his motorbike. Soon he was side by side with me trying to amek conversation. Most of it i didn't understand, but I did understand that he was asking me where I lived and where I went to schoo. He showed me his badge. I tried to answer in thai. He had seen me with Emma exercising on monday. He asked me how long I would be in thailand and how long I had ben in thailand. When we ran out of conversation he rode behind me-- THE WHOLE WAY. Apparently, blond girls need to be kept safe here. I understand, but when I pointed to my school and said goodbye, he drove off.

There is a korean soap opera witha girl who wears pants under her school uniform because she rides a bike to school. Once she gets to school she runs around trying to find a place to pull them off. That was me. I made it to my classroom just in time to pull off the exercise pants and run to roll call. While at roll call, I asked my friend Thanks what classes we had today. Since I'm not enrolled in any of the thai classes, I don't have class until the last period. It's an english biology class which might be cancelled because we have a visitor. Again. As I have mentioned to others, I never have class. Transferring credits is going to be a serious problem. Maybe I will try and sign up for private tutoring. It can't be that expensive.

I'm signing off for now, send me a letter or an e-mail if you have questions. Please be specific though, the general "How is thailand?" normally recieves a one word answer. If you want more than that, try to be creative.
Love to all,
Suzanne

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Teenage Hormones and Violins

Teenagers have them and they talk about them, but they never show them. Boys and girls have relationships, but the couple might not even touch or speak to each other in public. Holding hands is taboo. It reminds me of middle school when girls and boys would "date." The girls would stay in one group, the boys would stay in another group across the hall. One girl would pointg to a boy and say, "That's my boyfriend." She might smile or wave, but that's the end of the relationship. Maybe at a school dance they will stand two feet apart and sway to a slow song. Maybe not. It's all very innocent.

The boys don't know what to do with me. I pass them in the hallway and they call out my name, tell me they love me, give me a wai. They never come more than ten feet closer to me. If I smile at one, the entire group breaks into laughs and the boys jump around and pat each other on the back. It's like watching a bad disney show.

I went and visited other classes yesterday that aren't in an english program. The main question from boys was, "Do you have a boyfriend?" And the girls wanted to know what my school uniform was in Corvallis.

When I say that "No, I don't have a boyfriend." The entire class erupts into an "OOOOOOOOOOH!" And some of the boys point to me and then point to themselves. A few of the girls point out their boyfriends in a "He's mine, keep your blonde hair away from him way."

I'm not interested in anyone here and I can't date with the Rotary rules anyway. It's one of the four D's, didn't you know?

Sometimes, the boys assume that I'm a blonde bimbo and that I don't know any thai. They'll chatter away to a friend of mine abouthow cute I am in thai. I look at them, smile and tell them I understand-- in thai. The jumping, patting on the backs and the "OOOOOIH!"s start all over again.

Once a particularly unnattractive boy at the other school tried to make fun of me as he walked pass. "I no can speak thai" He said in a "girly" voice. I got so angry. I yelled after him. "Mai, Mai Chan dai cow jai laa poot pasa thai!" ( No, No, I can understand and speak thai).
His friends laughed at him and if his skin color would have allowed him to turn red, I'm sure it would have.

Today I went to the other school for a violin class. I don't know how well the teacher plays, but he made a joke in thai about how I should be the teacher. NObody plays violin here. In fact, the ones that do play violin can barely eek out twinkle twinkle. I don't think the teacher knows what to do with me. He asked me what I wanted to learn, scales or exercises or pieces, "Everything" I said with a smile. The entire class erupted into an "OOOOOH" and clapping.

He had me play for him. Which makes sense, he wants to know how well I can play. I drew a crowd. People started pouring into the classroom and staring in awe. Emma was there practicing guitar. When I finished I realized that one boy had been videotaping the entire thing. He videotaped everything, from my introduction to my performance, my scales and playing with the class. The teacher had the sheet music up on the wall with a projector and a green line showed what note we were at the whole time. I just thought what a great tool for learning how to read music. He had me sight read, it was like suzuki book one. Very simple. I didn't make any mistakes. I feel like I play violin so well here and I know that in America I'm not anything special. I'm good yes, not great, not amazing, not pursuing a professional career.
I wish I could have shown this class some of the other violinists in my orchestra in Corvallis, or simply other musicians. They have no concept of a viola or cello.

After I finished playing I was introduced to almost the entire class. Half of them wanted to take a picture with me. A few boys just stared from afar, a few wanted to have a picture with me too. Emma and I both had a free period. We sat in glen and quizzed each other with flash cards of the thai alphabet and ate hemp seeds. A group of kids sitting near us asked us what we were eating. "Seeds" we told them. "Ging dai mai?"(can you eat them?)" (Dai, alloy mak) You can, very delicious. They were so curious and so cautious. Some of the food I eat here would seem exotic to my friends back home, but western food and "hippie feed" is completely foreign here.
In the cantina where we went to get something to eat, a boy came up to us and introduced himself and all of his friends to us. One of them had the nickname Ai (shy). I asked, Are you shy? He blushed and looked at his food. Others were only to excited to have their names mentioned. Um and Jackie particularly. Yes, those are boys and yes, those are their names.

I rode my bike back to my school and was trying to figure out how my kick stand works (they're very different here). The bike kept falling on me as a group of teenage boys watched me and laughed. My face was bright red from the heat and I tried to smile at them but I ended up scowling. They asked me if I wanted help. In my own indignant way, I said,"no, I can do it myself." Just like I've been saying since I was two. I'm probably too self-reliant. I used to hate it when boys asked if they could help me carry my stuff or if they could open the door. "I can handle it." I'd say.

Now, unless the boy is patronizing, I appreciate it. I like having doors opened for me my things carried. I've become a romantic sap. I like being told I'm kind or pretty or a princess.
I'm sitting in the classroom by myself typing this and playing Michelle Shocked, the Campfire tapes, YesMom, yes Madeleine. I took your favorite CD. It's with me across the world playing in a classroom in Thailand. It's funny where your stuff ends up isn't it?
The other students are either at the military training if they are boys and at housework if they are girls. I'm not required to go to housework. And today putting leaves on a needle in a pattern didn't seem appealing (Although I can put fold leaves and put them on a needles in a pattern quite well...It must be my inner housewife)

Later today I will practice for a competition with Ajan Venus (ajan means teacher). I got roped into singing and playing violin. It's okay though, it means that this week I get to go to Khon Kaen and stay in a hotel room with 15 other girls. Slumber party anyone?
We're singing "a better world." I think that's the name of the song.

After school, I'm going to get crepes with emma, probably. It's my host mother's birthday today and I'm not sure if I should buy her a present. I asked my host father and he said that he wasn't buying her anything because he forgot that it was her birthday.

Yesterday was Aom's birthday. Emma and I took her and Pooh out to the fancy western restaurant in town. She didn't know we were paying when we went. Emma and I both got steak. The chef is french, a frenchman that married a thai women who can speak english but no french. Only god knows how they communicate. The steak was decent, actually it was heavenly because I feel like I haven't had steak in years. For thai standards it was expensive, 220 baht. Normally dinner is 40 baht. But in America 220 baht is maybe $5. Emma and I made Aom and pooh stay where they were sitting while we bought a cake and had it cut. We carried it to the table singing happy birthday in english. I think she was touched. Earlier she had told me that her birthday was her first day in American last year and her host family was really amazing and she missed them. So, I think it brought back a lot of memories.
After dinner Emma and I went back to her house and watched 27 dresses. I kept trying to say my comments in thai. Nan cha cheup kee lay. That dress is ugly. but cha cheup isn't dress. I forgot what dress is. I can remember shirt and skirt, pants, socks, shoes, but not dress.

Tomorrowis Aom's birthday party. I also have to cook steak for my host father's breakfast. He asked if I could cook. When I answered yes, he got excited. Maybe I can convince him to get potatoes and butter too so I can make real mashed potatoes.
Emma is going to help me. In Canada she did a three month cooking seminar.
Ajan Venus said she'd teach me how to cook phillipino food too. I'm excited.

I'm still the same old self. I still like to dance in the rain and be a little silly. I like playing sad music on my violin and so far, I haven't gained weight. It'll happen though, unless I can refrain myself from eating comfort food like, pancake and chocolate sandwiches that are highly processed and in a plastic wrapper and chocolate milk from a juice box.

Apart from being asked if I have a boyfriend, if I'm hungry, if I'm homesick, I also get asked how much my stuff cost. Like my violin, they wanted to know how many baht. Since the violin I brought isn't mine and even then, it's a family heirloom of a good friend so I don't know. But my real violin is probably worth over 70,0o0 baht. Too much to say outright.
I feel like the rich american here, but I'm sure that eventually I will get used to it.
Signing off for now,
Sunitsaa Rassamee (my thai name, because they can't pronounce Suzanne Katz)