The weekend after the Northeastern Trip, my dear friend Alica spent four days with me. During that time we wrote our monthly reports, watched movies, and ate lots of chips. The day after she left I changed host families. My first few days were spent figuring out things like what to do with dishes after I eat and where the toilet paper is kept. I was initially told that I was going to be living with this host for a week, but then a week turned into two, which turned into a month, and is now going on three. They're wonderful people, and with their help, I've been learning more Thai, and have been on some adventures.
One of those "adventures" was on January 19th. We (Eri, Japan; Vaula, Finland; Crystle, USA; Zak, USA; Alica, Mexico; Waldir, Mexico) met at Crystle's house and made food from our countries. We had pancakes, mac 'n' cheese, tacos, banana bread, and Eri made a Japanese dish but I can't remember what it was called.
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| From left to right, Crystle's host grandma, cousin, Eri, host brother, Vaula, Crystle, Waldir, me, Zak, Alica |
That evening, Vaula, Zak and I met up with my host cousin Zinny and went bowling. It's safe to say that I'm REALLY not good at bowling. It was a fun night though. I also bought a set of purple contacts (and blue ones). I spent that night at Zinny's, and the following day we went to Phuket.
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| Bowling!! (Vaula, Zak, me) |
Phuket was great. We stayed at the Zign hotel, and had Japanese food for dinner. The restaurant was SO COLD though, that it almost wasn't enjoyable. The hotel was super nice, and the pool was awesome.
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| Zinny and I (with blue contacts) |
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| The lobby at the Zign |
Breakfast on Monday morning was the best. They had waffles! With actual maple syrup! After breakfast, my host picked us up and we went to the dolphin show.
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| Kisses! |
After the show we drove back to Bangkok, dropping off my host sister at her university on the way. My hosts talked to Zinny's parents for a bit when we dropped her off, and then we went home. It was so late by the time we got home that I didn't go to school the next day. It was worth it though, I had a great weekend.
In February I went to Alica's new house for the first time. She lives in a mansion! It was so cool! And of course it was great to see her for the third weekend in a row.
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| The mansion |
The following weekend Alica and I went with my host family to Sai Yok Yai waterfall. My cousin back in the USA had a school project called Flat Stanley where the kids make a paper doll and send it to friends and relatives in different places. At the waterfall, Alica and I made sure to take photos with Flat McKenna, my cousin's Flat Stanley doll.
That brings me to March. March went by SLOWLY save for a couple of adventure-filled weekends. To start I went to a Thai wedding. That was... interesting; a good learning experience, and also kind of awkward (for me at least) because I wore jeans. Jeans! At a wedding! The fact that I wasn't the only one in jeans either... I dunno.
The next weekend I spent with good friend and rebound exchange student Patt. Patt took me and two of her friends to Bueng Chawak zoo and then to the aquarium there. If I remember correctly, almost half of the zoo was large cats. They had so many lions and tigers! They were all absolutely beautiful.
It was also really cool that we got to feed bananas to the giraffes, ponies, and camels.
After we went to the aquarium we had lunch, and that evening Patt took me to the tower in Suphanburi and we spent some time in the park. It was finally starting to cool down outside, so we were actually able to enjoy it. For dinner that night, Patt and I ate ice cream at the Swensen's in Robinson.
The following day was also really eventful. Patt and her mom took me to see the museum that's in the shape of a dragon. The tour talked mostly about China's relations with Thailand - they're very good by the way, and have been that way for generations. During the tour I realized that I actually did learn alot in my AP World History class last year (thanks Mr. Powers!!).
When we were finished at the museum we went to an incredible restaurant for lunch, and after lunch went to the Hundred Year's Market where we got to look around a really old house, watch people make ice cream, and buy a stuffed monkey for my blazer. :)
I think that's it for March. I'll talk about April in my next blog because the Northern Trip was a big part of that. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this post up!!
