The Rock Star Effect

Well, today was my second day at school. So, as it turns out, some of the buildings are air conditioned. Not just little ice cream shoppe thing. The art room is air conditioned, as is the computer lab. But it didn't matter today because it wasn't nearly as hot. Just my luck to be in the air conditioning when I don't actually need it. I'm starting to figure out Thai (my friends are helping a ton) but it's a slow process. They laugh at me a lot when I do stupid things, like when they had to teach me how to eat noodles... they thought that was very entertaining. I'm soooo glad I learned to laugh at my own mistakes a while ago, otherwise all of this would have been torture. I still have issues with my shoes (I can't just step into them... because of my brace). Which, by the way Mama, if you're reading this, I've been wearing it EVERY DAY. My friends here are really worried that I'm going to fall down the stairs... I think they think that that's how I hurt my ankle, not by walking on a flat surface.

But anyway, the food at school is actually really good. When you buy it, it's not spicy, which is good since I'm trying to give my stomach a break after the chili incident last night. I had such a bad tummy ache this morning that I couldn't eat breakfast. Back to school though, all of the attention is really weird. A girl a couple of years younger than me came up and shook my hand, then screamed like crazy fans do at a concert. It really doesn't make sense to me, and I continue to wonder if I'll ever get used to it. One of the girls in my art class told me she loved me today, as well. And walking to the restroom before lunch I heard "Pailin, you're beautiful" of course it was in Thai though, and my friends had to translate for me, lol. It's just really bizarre getting all of this attention. I can't say I like it, but it's not all bad.

Today in physics the teacher asked me if I had studied physics at all. Well, some of the stuff they were going over I recognized from chemistry (just PV=nRT really) but he thought I had already taken physics, so he gave me all this homework. I can tell you right now that it wont get done. I can't read Thai and I don't know physics in English even. Mai pen lai (it doesn't matter).

It's really weird learning a new alphabet. How to write it, how to say it... I feel like a child. But nobody seems to mind. They're actually glad that I'm trying. And I really am trying, but Thai is so different from anything that I'm used to that it's really been a challenge. Most of the students at my school know a little bit of English, so I say something in English, and they teach me how to say it in Thai. They teach me Thai and I teach them English. It's a good set up, and there's lots of laughing involved when one of them says a word wrong and somebody else knows how to say it. My friends at school love it when I sing, and they always want me to sing, which in a way is really annoying because I always have a song stuck in my head, but when they ask me to sing I always forget the lyrics. I'll just write down some lyrics or something tonight so that I'm prepared tomorrow.

I really like the English teacher. We had English yesterday, and she offered me some books to help me learn Thai. She was saying that she's been in Thailand for 3 months and that the books have really helped her, and that the last exchange student (from Mexico) used them, and her Thai ended up really good. It's weird in class when the teachers talk about me. With the English teacher, if she says my name, she says my English name, and I know what she is saying. With all of the other teachers, it's my Thai name, and I have no idea what they say. And that happens a lot, I hear my Thai name, followed by a string of words I don't understand, and then the class giggles... Sometimes I kind of know what's being said, but most of the time I have absolutely no idea.

But everything is great. The people continue to be great, the food is still fantastic (but I have to stay away from the chilies) and the weather isn't all bad. I love the rain storms.

This weekend I'm going to be taking the train to the inbound orientation near-ish to Phuket, on the beach. I know that there will be a few other exchange students on the train when I get there, and that there are others that will be picked up along the way. I can't wait to meet more people who are in the exact same boat as I am. Last night I talked to one of the guys that I sat next to on the plane about how his exchange was going. He was saying that all of the attention at school doesn't go away after a week. He's been there two weeks and now has some completely ridiculous nicknames. I guess there's just something about exchange students. All of my friends at school say "you so beautiful, so white," and I can't help but think "haha Jessica and I spent an entire week last year trying to get tan," of course, she succeeded in getting tan, and I looked like a lobster for three days. And now everyone wants to be white... so much is completely backwards! The roads... it's taking a while to get used to it all.

SCHOOL

OMG I forgot the pictures!

It wont let me rotate them, and I'm too tired to figure it out. 'Night y'all

Shiny Things

We said goodbye to Ploy last night. The whole family was there. Ploy was very nervous, May was saying that she'd never been out of the country before (but maybe to Korea).

So I started school today. I had to introduce myself to everyone first thing. Now, in America, I'm shy in front of crowds of about 20. Today I had to introduce myself to 2,700 people I had never met in my life. I already know that I spoke way too fast, and that I was supposed to say more than I did. Oddly enough, my English completely abandoned me, and I was stuck with not the nicest words in Spanish, go figure. After the torture was over, I was told a class to spend the day with. Let's say they're some of the coolest people I've met. They're so nice, and they made sure that I didn't get lost or anything. Of course, they did laugh when I told them I didn't need help walking up the stairs... they're probably right. Just watch, tomorrow I'll fall on the smooth tiles outside the little restaurant thing. It's one of the only air-conditioned buildings on campus, and it sells ice cream -- I love it!!

I don't think I've ever gotten so much attention. I've been complimented on a cute outfit or something, but this is a completely different thing. People at my school point at me, and if I smile back at them, they act like girls who just got glanced at by their first crush. They start giggling and talking to each other. It's so bizarre! But it really is nice getting compliments from people, "like being a rock star, huh?" My friends all wanted to take pictures with me, and they are all jealous of how white I am. Can you believe it, HOW WHITE I AM. Ok then. Well, I have also been called "gorgeous" and "beautiful" by complete strangers... Not a bad thing, but different from home.

But I'm really loving it here. The people, the food (mai ped!) and everything really. Just not the weather. I swear today, in Biology, we sat under the only disfunctional fan in the entire building. Oh, and that there's no A/C in the classrooms, that kinda sucks. Anyway, at this point, it's midnight, and I have to wake up at 6am, so I'm gonna finish this up. I absolutely love Thailand, and all of the people I have met here. Thank you to everyone who has helped in making this happen. BTW, internet is in Thai, so it's taken a while to figure everything out.

One Week

Well, I've been in Thailand for a week, so I thought it'd be a good idea for me to post a few pictures.Today my host sister and I went shopping in Bangkok, and she got her visa so now she's set for her exchange to Finland. The pictures I got today aren't great, but they're better than nothing.

It took us twice as long to get
home as it did to get to Bangkok

This next photo was on the door of the van, I can honestly say I've never seen this before. No smoking, sure...

And this last photo I took at dinner. It's a giant bag of chilies, and it reminded me of my dad, especially when I had to have ice cream after my meal because it was so spicy it made me sweat. Of course, I added the spice this time, because it just didn't taste right without it. I never thought I would add spice to something that was already relatively spicy, but here I am, adding most chilies..... go figure.

bag o' chilies 

I was able to find a gift for my mom today in Bangkok, and I found two dresses for myself. Ploy made sure that I didn't buy anything that was too expensive, and I helped her pick out some things to take to Finland since she's used to summer-like weather all year round. It was a great day. 

Almost One Week

 I can tell you that Thailand is not what I was expecting, whatever that may have been. The people here are amazing, the food here is amazing, and I still feel like I know almost nothing about it. When the family gets together for dinner, it's not just mom, dad, and siblings. The WHOLE family comes, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, its awesome, except I'm supposed to remember everybody's names.

Yesterday was a trip to Kanchanaburi where I saw the river Kwai bridge. Before the bridge we went to the memorial for the soldiers who died building the bridge. There were so many names from so many different places.  I also met Sittichai, the Rotarian in charge of making sure all of the inbound and outbound exchange students are well taken care of. He's very funny, and his English is fantastic.

The memorial

The bridge

Today was another adventure. Somsong and her friend took me to see the floating markets. I'd heard about them before, but being there was so cool! It's really hard to process everything. I've been mentally exhausted  for the past six days, trying to figure out the language, experiencing a completely different culture, so my apologies if this entry sounds super cheesy. 

a small portion of the market

It's been a busy couple of days... 

more market

One last photo...

coconut trees!

Crazy Things

I don't even know where to begin. I was too busy last night to post anything (and it was around 2am). At this point I am living with my first host family and I really wish I had studied more of the language before I got here.

I've learned a few things since being here. 1. it's not as hot as I was dreading it to be, 2. there were in fact to lizards on the wall when I got here, 3. I can't catch ice cream being thrown at me from 20 feet away, and 4. I'm very tired.

I will try to keep my blog updated, but that may not happen.