Even though this festival was a month ago, I'm a little bored, and figured I'd type this out.
Song Kran is the Thai New Year celebration, which is celebrated by throwing water on everybody you see, because it is so hot out. It's really a crazy holiday, and many things close, but everyone's hospitality and generosity are as abundant as ever. Song Kran started in my city on April 12th, but because it was my birthday I didn't participate. April 13th however was really amazing.
It was my first day on Song Kran, and so I didn't know what to expect. I hauled along a back pack with lots of gear for the day, and left it at my host aunt's house so it wouldn't get wet. Then I walked over to where my host cousins were throwing water and other people. After a couple hours of being soaked to the bone, occasionally the water was cold enough to involve shrieking, my cousin and I hopped in the back of a pick-up truck to do drive by soakings. We drove around town for a little while, then reached one of the big main streets. Everybody was throwing water like crazy, and also part of Song Kran is to put baby powder on other people's faces, so many people were wandering the streets with a bottle of baby powder, and getting soaked with water. When I was still in the original truck, I spotted some friends, so I ran through the street to jump into their truck, and then we continued driving around town. Eventually the festivities came to my white friend's house, so we all got out of the truck, and started pouring more water everywhere while blasting music, and having a great time just enjoying Thai culture.
The next day I decided to go to Khon Kaen to celebrate more Song Kran, where I had heard was really amazing. I got to the bus station, and I could already tell I was in for a crazy couple of days. I was riding in a Song Tao (a pick-up truck/bus thing used to travel around town) and everybody was throwing water at us, and my backpack filled with clothes got soaked. Eventually I made it to my exchange friend's house, where I dropped my bag off, and continued with my farang friends and some of their Thai friends to go walk the streets. Our faces and necks were completely covered with baby powder (sometimes talcum powder! Ouch!) and drenched. There was live music everywhere, and it was quite an enjoyable day. We all headed back to the hotel to get ready for the next day of craziness.
The next day was just a repeat, but was equally fun and amazing. The Thai people were just so happy it was Song Kran, and were all just so happy to be enjoying a beautiful sunny day; it was great. There is no holiday like this anywhere in the world, and it was so much fun. I wish I could do it again, but alas, it only Song Kran comes only once a year.
I'll be back in a month and a half!! :(
-==-James
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
OH MY GOD A NEW POST!!!!
The Southern Tour.
We went so many places, and it was so amazing. We spent two nights in Krabi, which is a province North of Phuket, and we spent a lot of time sight seeing, and snorkeling there, which was so amazing. I got reallly sunburnt, but it wasn't too serious to have to go to a doctor. But it sucked a lot. After Krabi we spent one night at...a bay. I forget exactly where, but from there we took another sight seeing boat to go and see more islands, including James Bond island. We walked around in some of the markets, and did some more sight seeing. After that we traveled down by boat the the Similan islands. We stayed specifically on Koh Si, which has a beach resort on it. We slept in tents on the beach, and did a lot of relaxing on the beach, and in the ocean. We also went snorkeling even more while we were on that island, and we traveled throughout the entire group of Similan islands (there are 7). The fish there were beautiful, and the water was so amazingly clear, it was like living in a dream. After that we went to Phuket, where we spent some time seeing sights, and stayed at a really nice hotel. We also had the chance to go to the Phuket Fantasea. It's a theme park, but with no rides or anything, and it's all about Thai culture, and a bunch of other stuff. It was really cool. After that we started heading back North, and stayed one night in kind of the middle of no where on the beach, which was nice as a bit of a warm down for the trip, then landed back in Korat where we started.
Overall, this trip was probably one of the best weeks of my life. It's just too bad that I only have 3 more months to enjoy Thailand. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Feel free to ask any specific questions, or just say hi. My E-mail
I send my best as always, and wish you well. Sorry for not posting in so long, I've been really lazy, and when I'm not lazy, I've been busy.
--Jamie--
We went so many places, and it was so amazing. We spent two nights in Krabi, which is a province North of Phuket, and we spent a lot of time sight seeing, and snorkeling there, which was so amazing. I got reallly sunburnt, but it wasn't too serious to have to go to a doctor. But it sucked a lot. After Krabi we spent one night at...a bay. I forget exactly where, but from there we took another sight seeing boat to go and see more islands, including James Bond island. We walked around in some of the markets, and did some more sight seeing. After that we traveled down by boat the the Similan islands. We stayed specifically on Koh Si, which has a beach resort on it. We slept in tents on the beach, and did a lot of relaxing on the beach, and in the ocean. We also went snorkeling even more while we were on that island, and we traveled throughout the entire group of Similan islands (there are 7). The fish there were beautiful, and the water was so amazingly clear, it was like living in a dream. After that we went to Phuket, where we spent some time seeing sights, and stayed at a really nice hotel. We also had the chance to go to the Phuket Fantasea. It's a theme park, but with no rides or anything, and it's all about Thai culture, and a bunch of other stuff. It was really cool. After that we started heading back North, and stayed one night in kind of the middle of no where on the beach, which was nice as a bit of a warm down for the trip, then landed back in Korat where we started.
Overall, this trip was probably one of the best weeks of my life. It's just too bad that I only have 3 more months to enjoy Thailand. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Feel free to ask any specific questions, or just say hi. My E-mail
I send my best as always, and wish you well. Sorry for not posting in so long, I've been really lazy, and when I'm not lazy, I've been busy.
--Jamie--
Sunday, October 19, 2008
This past month
This past month has easily been the greatest month of my life. I just wish that I was able to share it with you. For you to fully understand, I'm going to start from the very beginning.
School had begun to seem mundane and boring, but I still was going every day, just for the sake of going to school. But one day, my Rotary counselor, who works at our school as an English teacher, called me up to her room. The other two exchange students staying in my town, Jean-Phillipe, and Daniel, were there waiting for me. She then asked if I was liking school, and I told her the truth. After that question, she asked an even more peculiar question. She asked if I would want to skip the next month of school, and travel all around Thailand, and get paid for it. I thought it was a load of crap, but I listened anyways. Turns out, she was right. Based in Bangkok, there is a company that runs English Camps called AYC (which stands for Amsam Youth Center), which our counselor sent her students every year. The three of us all agreed immediately to go, and we asked when we would leave, and she gave us two days.
I was ecstatic, and so I went home and told my host mom. She was a little sad, but agreed with it. The next day the 3 of us went to buy bus tickets, take pictures for Rotary, and just hang out all day. But the day after that, we took an 8 hour bus ride from our city to Bangkok. It was alright, with lots of sleeping, and once we got there, we got off the bus and looked for the representative from AYC who was going to pick us up. She found us, and we loaded into her car. From there we drove straight to their office to sign forms, and to be briefed on the camps. They told us all about the camps, and also how much money we'd be making. We were all really happy about it, then they showed us an apartment complex down the road where we could rent a room for a night. It was 500 baht (18 USD about) which was pretty expensive, considering it only had one queen bed with no sheets, a really dirty A/C, and one big closet. But that was fine for the night. After putting our bags in the room, showering, and changing, we looked around for one of the long-time AYC staff, who said he would show us a place to get some food. So we grabbed something to eat, and then went back to sleep, anxious for the coming day.
The next morning we had to be back at the office by 6, so we woke up around 530, packed our backpacks with clothes, and headed to the office. Once at the office, we were split up into our assigned camps, and Daniel and I headed down to climb into a van. We had 14 people in the van total I think, I don't really remember. Regardless, we watched a movie on the way to the sightseeing area, where we would meet the kids, because they were coming from way up north. After sightseeing, we got onto a big VIP Tour Bus with the kids, where we sang songs and played bingo with them. The kids enjoyed it a lot, and whenever they spoke English with us, or got a question right, they would get $100. For winning bingo, the first person got $1000, second $800, third $500, until they just got $100. Once we got to the hotel, all the kids got off the bus, and took their bags to their rooms, then went to the meeting room. The Staff had a quick meeting before that, so there was no time to take our bags to our rooms. Once the kids got to the meeting room, we all introduced ourselves to the kids, and then played one more quick game before we released them to have Sports Time. Since this hotel was on the beach, almost all the kids went in the ocean, or they played football (soccer) on the beach.
When finished with sports time, everybody ate dinner, after which we had a short lesson. The lessons always differed, but it wasn't the subject matter that we were trying to teach them, because it was simple things. The whole point of the lessons was to speak English, and get the kids to speak English. After the lesson there was a break for snacks, then a second lesson. After that lesson, we ate lunch, after which there was the third and final lesson. Once finished with the third lesson, we had the "Amazing Race". This consists of 8 bases, and the kids are split up into teams, led by the staff, and you have to run the bases in order. First team to finish wins. The games are really crazy, and are things like charades, filling bottles with water, popping balloons, throwing ping-pong balls into pen holders, writing words for every letter of the alphabet, unscrambling a song, building a tower with newspaper and tape, and dropping a nail into a bottle filled with water. As soon as the kids were finished with the base, the staff would lead them to the next base. The race wasn't just between the students though, it's a competition between staff as well, but it's really fun.
After the Amazing Race is sports time, after which is dinner. After dinner the fun begins. The kids have one hour to finish preparing their talent shows, which they were told about the first day, then everybody goes to the meeting room, staff included. Once in the meeting room, the kids write the name of their show on paper, and put it into a container. Once they do that, one of the staff or a teacher from the school will pick a talent show out. After doing two or three shows, the lights turn off, black lights turn on, music blares, and we have a dance party for about 15 minutes. After those 15 minutes, the lights come on, and we do a few more talent shows. We repeat the process until all the shows are done, and when there are no more shows, the party goes on until the teachers tell us to stop. After that it's time to sleep and prepare for tomorrow, (usually finished between 9:30 and 10).
The next day is the final day of camp, and in the morning, the kids split up into groups and go with a staff to finish preparing their story or preparing for "The Great Debate". The older kids debate, and the younger kids tell stories. The topics are always different, but usually interesting. The staff pick the 2 best story tellers from each class, and 1 or 2 best debaters to present themselves in front of everybody in the meeting room. After the debate is over in the meeting room, and the kids have told their stories, we have the Auction. The kids have been accumulating money throughout the camp, and then we have them break up into groups, and pool their money. They are buying snacks, which is a pretty big incentive for them. Some groups have had $200,000 before, which is really amazing, and most bags sell for around $30,000 depending on the kids. After the Auction, everybody loads back up on the buses, staff included, and we drive back to Bangkok.
Once back in Bangkok, we drop the kids off at their school, or if the kids don't live in Bangkok they're already gone, then head to the office. There's always pizza and pepsi at the office, so we eat that, then usually go find a hotel and sleep, because generally we get back around 6, hang around at the office for an hour or so, then take an hour to get settled at a hotel, which puts us at around 8. Not including time spent washing clothes or eating food, because the pizza is scant. The next morning it starts all over again.
It's really really really great fun though, and I can't wait to do it again. If you would like any more specific details or anything, feel free to ask. I'll be posting new pictures as soon as possible.
Thanks everybody, sorry for taking such a long time to post some more. I might post one more blog today, but I'm not sure about what. So we'll see.
--- Jamie ---
School had begun to seem mundane and boring, but I still was going every day, just for the sake of going to school. But one day, my Rotary counselor, who works at our school as an English teacher, called me up to her room. The other two exchange students staying in my town, Jean-Phillipe, and Daniel, were there waiting for me. She then asked if I was liking school, and I told her the truth. After that question, she asked an even more peculiar question. She asked if I would want to skip the next month of school, and travel all around Thailand, and get paid for it. I thought it was a load of crap, but I listened anyways. Turns out, she was right. Based in Bangkok, there is a company that runs English Camps called AYC (which stands for Amsam Youth Center), which our counselor sent her students every year. The three of us all agreed immediately to go, and we asked when we would leave, and she gave us two days.
I was ecstatic, and so I went home and told my host mom. She was a little sad, but agreed with it. The next day the 3 of us went to buy bus tickets, take pictures for Rotary, and just hang out all day. But the day after that, we took an 8 hour bus ride from our city to Bangkok. It was alright, with lots of sleeping, and once we got there, we got off the bus and looked for the representative from AYC who was going to pick us up. She found us, and we loaded into her car. From there we drove straight to their office to sign forms, and to be briefed on the camps. They told us all about the camps, and also how much money we'd be making. We were all really happy about it, then they showed us an apartment complex down the road where we could rent a room for a night. It was 500 baht (18 USD about) which was pretty expensive, considering it only had one queen bed with no sheets, a really dirty A/C, and one big closet. But that was fine for the night. After putting our bags in the room, showering, and changing, we looked around for one of the long-time AYC staff, who said he would show us a place to get some food. So we grabbed something to eat, and then went back to sleep, anxious for the coming day.
The next morning we had to be back at the office by 6, so we woke up around 530, packed our backpacks with clothes, and headed to the office. Once at the office, we were split up into our assigned camps, and Daniel and I headed down to climb into a van. We had 14 people in the van total I think, I don't really remember. Regardless, we watched a movie on the way to the sightseeing area, where we would meet the kids, because they were coming from way up north. After sightseeing, we got onto a big VIP Tour Bus with the kids, where we sang songs and played bingo with them. The kids enjoyed it a lot, and whenever they spoke English with us, or got a question right, they would get $100. For winning bingo, the first person got $1000, second $800, third $500, until they just got $100. Once we got to the hotel, all the kids got off the bus, and took their bags to their rooms, then went to the meeting room. The Staff had a quick meeting before that, so there was no time to take our bags to our rooms. Once the kids got to the meeting room, we all introduced ourselves to the kids, and then played one more quick game before we released them to have Sports Time. Since this hotel was on the beach, almost all the kids went in the ocean, or they played football (soccer) on the beach.
When finished with sports time, everybody ate dinner, after which we had a short lesson. The lessons always differed, but it wasn't the subject matter that we were trying to teach them, because it was simple things. The whole point of the lessons was to speak English, and get the kids to speak English. After the lesson there was a break for snacks, then a second lesson. After that lesson, we ate lunch, after which there was the third and final lesson. Once finished with the third lesson, we had the "Amazing Race". This consists of 8 bases, and the kids are split up into teams, led by the staff, and you have to run the bases in order. First team to finish wins. The games are really crazy, and are things like charades, filling bottles with water, popping balloons, throwing ping-pong balls into pen holders, writing words for every letter of the alphabet, unscrambling a song, building a tower with newspaper and tape, and dropping a nail into a bottle filled with water. As soon as the kids were finished with the base, the staff would lead them to the next base. The race wasn't just between the students though, it's a competition between staff as well, but it's really fun.
After the Amazing Race is sports time, after which is dinner. After dinner the fun begins. The kids have one hour to finish preparing their talent shows, which they were told about the first day, then everybody goes to the meeting room, staff included. Once in the meeting room, the kids write the name of their show on paper, and put it into a container. Once they do that, one of the staff or a teacher from the school will pick a talent show out. After doing two or three shows, the lights turn off, black lights turn on, music blares, and we have a dance party for about 15 minutes. After those 15 minutes, the lights come on, and we do a few more talent shows. We repeat the process until all the shows are done, and when there are no more shows, the party goes on until the teachers tell us to stop. After that it's time to sleep and prepare for tomorrow, (usually finished between 9:30 and 10).
The next day is the final day of camp, and in the morning, the kids split up into groups and go with a staff to finish preparing their story or preparing for "The Great Debate". The older kids debate, and the younger kids tell stories. The topics are always different, but usually interesting. The staff pick the 2 best story tellers from each class, and 1 or 2 best debaters to present themselves in front of everybody in the meeting room. After the debate is over in the meeting room, and the kids have told their stories, we have the Auction. The kids have been accumulating money throughout the camp, and then we have them break up into groups, and pool their money. They are buying snacks, which is a pretty big incentive for them. Some groups have had $200,000 before, which is really amazing, and most bags sell for around $30,000 depending on the kids. After the Auction, everybody loads back up on the buses, staff included, and we drive back to Bangkok.
Once back in Bangkok, we drop the kids off at their school, or if the kids don't live in Bangkok they're already gone, then head to the office. There's always pizza and pepsi at the office, so we eat that, then usually go find a hotel and sleep, because generally we get back around 6, hang around at the office for an hour or so, then take an hour to get settled at a hotel, which puts us at around 8. Not including time spent washing clothes or eating food, because the pizza is scant. The next morning it starts all over again.
It's really really really great fun though, and I can't wait to do it again. If you would like any more specific details or anything, feel free to ask. I'll be posting new pictures as soon as possible.
Thanks everybody, sorry for taking such a long time to post some more. I might post one more blog today, but I'm not sure about what. So we'll see.
--- Jamie ---
These past 2 months... (Part 1)
Sorry I haven't posted in forever, but this is the first time in the past month that I've had access to the internet for more than about 5 minutes. Although I've been asked a few times, I'm not going to describe my house, or my school, but I will post pictures of both. I will however, start by describing a normal school day. First off, my brother wakes up around 6, I wake up around 7, then I go downstairs, usually take a shower, then iron my clothes. If after ironing my uniform I have time, I'll grab something to eat. But I always get a mug of hot chocolate. That's usually what my breakfast consists of, but if I get actual food, it's always the same. Fine or sticky rice combined with pork, or sometimes leftovers from dinner the night before; i.e. barbecued chicken, or vegetables. After that, I'll get my uniform on, which consists of special shoes, special socks, a special belt, a special pair of khaki/brown shorts, and a special bluish white button-up shirt with my Thai name and school stitched onto the chest.
After my brother, my mom, and I are ready to go, my mom drives us to school, because she works there as an English teacher. The school day is different every day of the week, so I'll just give a general synopsis. For me, most of the classes are the same, there's a teacher, and the teacher teaches the class while speaking... either Thai, or Isaan. I'm not completely sure which. But for the most part I just listen to my ipod, and read a book, or play my Nintendo DS. I also have 1-3 hours of Thai classes everyday from one of the Thai English teachers. That's helped my language a lot, and is really helpful. Also, on Thursdays and Fridays, I have a Pre-Calculus class in the English Program (E.P.), taught by a foreigner from Camaroon, I believe. That will help me to keep up a little in school. After school my mom will drive me home, and my brother goes off somewhere to study practically everyday, or talk with his girlfriend, or both.
When I get home, I usually grab something to drink, then sit down at the computer, or work out. Depends on the day. Everything is different everyday, and yet, it begins to seem routine. I'm starting school again for the first time in a month tomorrow. We'll see what happens...
--- Jamie ---
After my brother, my mom, and I are ready to go, my mom drives us to school, because she works there as an English teacher. The school day is different every day of the week, so I'll just give a general synopsis. For me, most of the classes are the same, there's a teacher, and the teacher teaches the class while speaking... either Thai, or Isaan. I'm not completely sure which. But for the most part I just listen to my ipod, and read a book, or play my Nintendo DS. I also have 1-3 hours of Thai classes everyday from one of the Thai English teachers. That's helped my language a lot, and is really helpful. Also, on Thursdays and Fridays, I have a Pre-Calculus class in the English Program (E.P.), taught by a foreigner from Camaroon, I believe. That will help me to keep up a little in school. After school my mom will drive me home, and my brother goes off somewhere to study practically everyday, or talk with his girlfriend, or both.
When I get home, I usually grab something to drink, then sit down at the computer, or work out. Depends on the day. Everything is different everyday, and yet, it begins to seem routine. I'm starting school again for the first time in a month tomorrow. We'll see what happens...
--- Jamie ---
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Bangkok (English Play)
After Korat I went to 2 days of school, one of which wasn't really school because there was a festival, so there were no classes. The night of the 2nd day, I came back to school around 10 to meet up with the cast of the school's play The Wizard of Oz (in English). I waited around for an hour or so, then vans came to pick us all up at midnight. From there, we drove to Bangkok, which took 6.5 hours about. I really don't remember much, I had my ipod playin tunes, and I was sleeping. We got to the AUAA campus (American University Alumni Association) and headed up the their auditorium so the actors could practice on the new stage. After they practiced, we headed to the hotel for lunch, and clean clothes. Once we had eaten, the girls went shopping, and me and a few guys went to go look for something to do. We ended up settling on going to see a movie: Death Race. It was pretty awesome, and after that we went back to the hotel for more food and down time. The next day, we got up pretty early to eat, and go back to the AUAA for the actual competition. There was more practice in the morning, and at 2:30, the real competition started. None of the plays were full length, most of them were under 20 minutes. Ours went 2nd, and did the best I've ever seen them, which still wasn't very good. After all the plays had finished, the best in my opinion being Hamlet (translated into normal English), performed by the regional winner from Bangkok. There was a short break, then the judges made their decision. We got 4th place out of 5, and Hamlet ended up winning. From there, we got into the vans, and drove to a market for food and more shopping. After we'd eaten, we started the long drive home. We didn't get back to the school until 3 in the morning, so I didn't get to sleep until about 4, then woke up at 10 this morning. Overall it was a really fun and relaxing trip, and I got to see Oam; he came to watch the play. Hopefully I'll get to go on another trip soon; but thus far, I haven't known until a day or two before, so who knows.
-Jamie
-Jamie
Korat (Project Work Expo)
Sorry that I haven't posted in a couple weeks, I've either done nothing, or been really busy. The busy was fun busy though, and recently I've taken two long road trips to two separate competitions. The first of which, was the Project Work competition, which is where a team of 3-5 people research a topic, really any topic they want, and make a presentation about it. I went along, because there is a seperate section of the competition for English Project Works; so I was there to help with English, and to carry things. It was pretty fun though, and there were a lot of kids from my school that went. The Expo was inside one of the college's buildings, and right across the street, there was a really big hotel that we stayed 3 nights in I believe. But before we got to the hotel, we stopped at Farm ChokChai on the way. This farm was very interesting. First thing we did was get off the bus, and go find something to eat. Me, Tata, and some of his friends walked around looking for somewhere to eat that wouldn't kill our wallets, and we took a few pictures too. Eventually we settled on the ChokChai hamburger house, or something along those lines. I ordered a beef burger, and it definitely didn't taste like the beef does back home, but there was cool music playing (My Sharona and Kung Fu Fighting) so it was neat. After that we walked around the gift shops waiting for our turn to do the Farm Tour. The school paid for the tickets, so there was no reason not to go. Once we got inside, we watched a short film about the founding of the Farm, which again, was very interesting. After that, we went outside, walked through some antibacterial solution, and headed to the milking parlor. When we were there, the farmers milked the cows by hand a little, then showed us the big milking machine, then let a few of the audience try to milk by hand; I got a few pictures, and will be uploading a ton once I get the right adapter. Anyways, from there we got onto this big train of wagons attached to a tractor, and drove off to see a cowboy show. There was gun twirling, and lassoing, and horse back riding. After we watched that, a few of the guys went over to a bunch of ATV's, and paid 180฿ to ride them slowly around a track once. After that we got back in the wagons, and saw about 4 different mini dog shows. Jumping through hoops, counting, obstacle course, etc. The whole thing took about 2 hours and 30 minutes. After that we got back on the bus, and went to the factory outlet, where some of the people got off the bus and bought stuff, but I didn't. Then we headed to the hotel, and the next day all the Project Works were presented, and the day after that they were judged. After the judging we packed up the bus with all the projects, and headed home.
P.S. Sorry if you've emailed me and I haven't responded; I'm trying to only answer them once a week. I'll reply to everybody's emails in 3 days.
-Jamie
P.S. Sorry if you've emailed me and I haven't responded; I'm trying to only answer them once a week. I'll reply to everybody's emails in 3 days.
-Jamie
Monday, August 11, 2008
First School Day
School for me is not really educational... for two reasons today. I don't speak Thai enough to understand what's going on, and there was only one one hour class today. Maybe more, there wasn't a clock in the room and I didn't care. Instead of back home where the kids move classrooms, all 40 of us kids were in one classroom, and the teacher came in about an hour after everybody got there. Basically how it works is: we got to school, met up with some of Tata (My older, but younger than Toto, host brother)'s friends, and got to the classroom. Once there, they kind of introduced me to some people, and people introduced themselves to me; simply because I was the whitest person in the school. After socializing for an hour, the teacher came in to teach math. Not just math though, Trigonometry, and it was weird Trig, so I pulled out my reading book and drifted off into fantasy land. After the teacher left we mingled for a little while, then Tata said he was going to go meet with his girlfriend, so I went with some of his friends to get some lunch. We walked over to a noodle cart while it was "raining"(a light drizzle by Oregonian standards :) ) and got noodle soup. It was really, really, really good. Probably some of the best food I've had since Bangkok, and this was just from a street vendor by the school. After everyone was done eating, we headed back to the school, and found out that there wasn't going to be another class, so we decided to go shoot some hoops. Since I was the white kid, I was automatically the best in their heads, and as it turns out, I pretty much was; even though I'm average in America. After a game or two, we were all hearded into the actual gym, which has concrete floors by the way, and sat down. It wasn't just sitting though, we sat in rows and columns cross legged. We sat like this for 3 whole hours. It was interesting for everyone else, but again, I still can't speak Thai. Near the end of the 3 hours, some type of tradition something something was going on, I have no idea, and nobody can figure out how to explain it to me. Still sitting cross legged, we bent over and put our foreheads and hands on the person in front of us' back. We sat like that for a good 20 minutes, with the leaders shouting at us; why? I have no idea. Some of the instructor people came and got me, again, because I'm white, and made me introduce myself to everybody. The introduction however, was not just an introduction, it was a song and dance routine. Literally. That was embarassing and interesting, but I lived. After that, school was over. We were going to get ice cream, but there was a KFC right across from the ice cream parlor, so everyone else wanted to go there. It is not our KFC, but oh my god was it nice to eat fatty greasy American food. It was the standard chicken, but one kind was breaded with chili batter. Also, they had regular fries, and the Ketchup was sweet. It was weird, but still amazingly good to get some fast food in me. After KFC, we went home on a pick-up truck that was basically a taxi bus. Then, I turned on the Olympics to see the Womens 150m freestyle, and some weightlifting. I tried to use the laptop at the house, but it gave me a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death for those of you n00b5), so I asked my brother to take me on our cousin's scooter to an internet cafe, which is where I'm sitting now, shoeless, telling you all about my day. Hope you all are having fun!
Jamie
Jamie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)