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.
Rememberance
14 years ago
3 comments:
Dear Suki:
Surely, a foreign devil of your calibre can "vacate" more creatively.
Do Rotary rules prevent you wandering about without a chaperone?
Is anyone in your host family willing to act as tour guide?
Claire's going to Mexico in January for three weeks. Part of her days she will be a volunteer in an orphanage. Perhaps you could find or cultivate a mitzvah of your own?
Does NKP have a library? Perhaps they need someone to catalog English resources?
Can you tutor English?
Have you considered learning an Asian art forms, such as t'ai chi? Are venues accessible to you?
Is shopping nearby (you indicate NKP is a small town)? A plethora of vendors must be selling lots of things you don't commonly find in Oregon or the United State.
Does NKP have a park system?
When I lived in Paris in 1966, I discovered three years of primary school French lessons hadn't prepared me for the reality of communicating in French. I couldn't even buy a loaf of bread without a lot of gesticulating.
In the year and a half I was there, including study at the Lycee & French language immersion, I explored & wandering extensively. I had to learn the Metro (subway) & bus system; my parents didn't drive me to cello or bnai mitzvah lessons (I became reliant on public transport). I wandered as much as time allowed.
New contractor started today. Alternating sub-siding planks were removed to access & extract old insulation. We get "foamed" next week.
We're renovating a house. You're renovating your perspective. Don't be shy about pulling things apart or making boo-boos. Getting dirty is half the fun!
g'Mar hatima Tovah!
Love, Papa Char
papa char has very good suggestions :)
but you will watch a lot of movies.
a LOT>
of freakin movies ..
Dude. I totally feel what you'Re going through. I have fall break right now too. My host sister just reads all day. I, however, can't do that.
I don't know what I'm going to do. I know that once school starts again, everything will pick up. But right now I'm pretty bored.
I never thought of you as the bored type, but then again, i never thought of me like that either.
My love to you,
Emma
(not your new friend Emma, but your old one ;D)
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