Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Weeks Left

So, I now have less than seven weeks before I leave. I have a ridiculous amount of stuff left to do. For instance, I need to make a PowerPoint about me, my friends, my family, my town, my state and my country, in Thai before I leave. I have to learn Thai. I have 4 more papers that I need to sign and my host guarantee form hasn't come back yet. I need my visa and my passport back from the travel agency. I just found out my first host family has a maid. My host sister is going to be on exchange to the united states while I'm over at her house so, I'm basically her replacement. And although SHE (my host sister) said that I could call her parent por and mae (dad and mom) I just got an e-mail from por that says I should refer to him as Mr. Surachat and his wife as Mrs. Janthorn. I prefer por and mae, but I don't want to be disrespectful, it's just that I'll be living with them.
I'm worried about weight-gain. Don't laugh. It's known as the "rotary roll." I DON'T want to gain 15 pounds, or 20 or 25 or even 30 like some of the girls I've talked to. I hope I can go jogging with Mrs. Janthorn. Or play basketball with my host brother or do SOMETHING.
...The tours are really amazing. I can go on two tours in Thailand with the rotary group. The north eastern and north tour goes all around Isan and up into the golden-triangle. I'll get to see Burma (maybe) and the hill tribes as well as the long-necked tribes (you know the ones in national geographic with the really long necks with gold rings? yeah, those people) and when I go on the southern tour, I can go snorkeling and diving in the coral reefs and go on cruise ships to resorts and hidden islands.
I'm coming out of my skin in excitement. But nobody wants to hear about it. I get remarks from friends like, "I could never leave my friends behind." and "there are great people here too."
yes, well, there are great people everywhere and what is wrong with getting to know them?
Now some of my friends are distancing themselves from me. They are pretending that I'm already gone. I'M NOT GONE YET! They should invite me along instead of pretending that since I'm leaving, what's the point in hanging out with me. You would think it would be the other way around, I'm leaving and every one would want to get a piece of me before I leave. When you're an exchange student, don't think that way, it's wishful thinking.
I had my last rotary orientation last weekend. The other exchange students are having the same problem with their friends. I'm fine though. I'm almost out of here.
~Suzanne

Friday, June 13, 2008

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. This is my first blog EVER! Yeah, that's right. I will be using this to document my exchange trip in Thailand. This is what I know so far.
I'm a rotary exchange student from district 5510. Through this program, I've met people from all over the world... and I haven't even left yet.
The town that I am going to be living in is called Meang Nakhon Phanom or Changwat Nakhon Phanom depending on whether you are speaking thai, or khmer. It has 30,000 people in it and is along the Mae Kong river on the Thai-Laos border.
My First host family consists of parents, a brother and a sister. The sister (who goes by Horn) is going on exchange too, so I might not meet her. The brother (who goes by harp) is seventeen. My host mother or mae (mom in thai) is a school teacher and teaches thai dancing and art. She likes to go jogging and to garden. My host father or phor ( dad in thai) is also a public school teacher. He teaches english. He likes to play badminton and is part of a traditional thai orchestra. My host brother and sister like to play basketball and computers.
I'll be going to school until February. That's all for now, I'll check in later.