10/11/12 How Could Today Not Be Awesome?

So today absolutely rocked! I got an extra hour of sleep (didn't have to wake up until 7am!) and then I just about went straight to the gym. Instead of driving to Bangkok, we took a mini bus. I recommend against sitting in the back "seat" in one of those if you're traveling for more than about ten minutes if the bus is full. Just don't do it, it sucks, especially when you can't move for two and a half hours.

Anyway, we arrived at the stadium around noon and had lunch before the fights started. I got to go back and say hi to Moo before the fights started. They were in the middle of wrapping his hands.

The stadium - whoot!

And of course, Moo getting his hands wrapped before his fight.
There were other preparations that I didn't witness because
there was something going on in the stadium, and I had to eat lunch

Moo's fight was second, but because I wasn't too sure about the battery life of my camera, I didn't take any pictures or anything of the first fight. I tried so hard to get good pictures of the fight, but my camera wasn't being co-operative, and there were a ton of people, I eventually resorted to videos. I have five videos, but I'm only going to post one on here. If you want to see the others, I might upload them to Youtube, but I haven't decided yet. Also, I plan on uploading at least one to Facebook, but after four tries tonight, I gave up. I'll try again tomorrow if I have time.

So here are some photos and a video of Moo's fight. He won by the way. :)

This one was the most in focus... Moo is the one in red

No joke it took me a day and a half to upload this video. I really hope it worked, and that I clicked on the right one. If not, then I will not be a happy camper.

วันนี้

I was kind of in not the greatest mood today, even though nothing bad happened. I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, if you will. However, I was able to get some great photos, so I'll post them and just put captions because I don't feel like writing a lot today. Besides, I wrote quite a bit yesterday.

Crepe! Filled with chocolate and jellies

Chemistry test!

Chemi!

Normal day...

เพิ่มคำอธิบายภาพ

The twins!

I love this photo so much

Me and P'Nae!! :)

Abigail's son!

Training!

I don't remember exactly what was going on here

He loves cameras!

A brief pause during after-training soccer

This is Sitmonchai Gym :)

The camera decided to focus on Moo's knee...

Words Cannot Describe...

Ok, so I'm way too lazy for my own good.... I'm not going to write about my trip to Pattaya. It was great, mini road trip with my host family, and the hotel was really nice. Ooooh and my host family took me touring a bit. I posted pictures on Facebook.

What I am really here to talk about is this past weekend leading up to today. Saturday was... interesting. In the moment I wasn't the happiest camper -- I was slightly dehydrated (my own fault) and I was a little sick-ish. But hey, looking back, I had some great experiences, and I got a fair amount of reading done. So Saturday morning was flower arranging at the park near my tutor Ajan Somsong's house. It was shaded, which was nice, but I didn't drink nearly enough water that morning, so I was uncomfortable. But, I think my flowers turned out quite well!!

I really wish I knew how to turn photos... this is sideways... but you get the idea

After flower arranging we went bowling. I was a little upset with this. I was sick, so I just wanted to sit on the couch, but I also wanted to watch my friend P'Nae's fight. It was on TV, and I missed it (he won by KO in the third round). But bowling was pretty great. Well, kind of. I wasn't able to actually bowl because of the blisters that formed on my ankles from walking to the gym. Did you know that Mary Jane shoes (for our uniforms) are not really designed to be walked it? Particularly before they have been properly broken in. So I missed the fight, but I started reading Frankenstein, which, by the way, is quite good. Thanks Mom and Dad for the Kindle that you gave me for my birthday, I love it! And it's so much lighter than actual books. However, I still have about twenty of those to get through too....

And after bowling was Skyfall!! Firstly, at movie theaters here, they have candied corn. It was kind of like caramel corn, but it wasn't caramel, it was something else, and it was AWESOME! All of the previews for the movies in English were in English with Thai subtitles, so at first I was SUPER excited that I was going to be able to see Skyfall in English and be able to understand everything. I can say I almost cried when Bond started talking and he was voiced over in Thai... but I couldn't do anything about it, so I watched the movie in Thai. I payed WAY more attention to the actual movie since I wasn't able to understand all that everyone was saying. It was a fantastic movie, and I would love to see it again. In English, so that I can know what they were saying. If you haven't seen it yet, please do! And Adele's song for the title sequence was spectacular. Wishing I had iTunes money so that I could buy it.

Sunday I went to a Chinese temple, where I met Hector. He of course slept through his alarm because he left the headphones in... genius... Anyway, so we talked, walked, and ate for four hours. I managed to get chocolate syrup all over my favorite white skirt... Mae called me a baby because only babies make that much of a mess (it's not my fault that they put too much chocolate in the pancake thing!!!). Uhh... we were talking about Thanksgiving, and how we were gonna miss the giant meal, and then we started talking about all of the Thanksgiving foods we wished Thailand had... and then we saw this...

The not-turning photos thing is really starting to annoy me...

So this week I've been able to walk to the gym. I have permission to do so because it is located so incredibly close to my school (10 minute walk). So, naturally, when I finally remembered I had my camera in my backpack (after a week) I took some shots of the view on the way there. I really really love walking to the gym. It's hot, and I get all sweaty, but it adds to my warm up, so it's all good. It actually hasn't been too hot out the past couple of weeks, and being outside has actually been pretty enjoyable. However, it is still VERY nice to be able to get inside to an air conditioned room, and having the fans at the gym continues to be insanely helpful.

The street I walk down to get to the gym

I walked past this field and couldn't not take a photo

Oh my gosh today at school was absolutely amazing! Actually, not just school, everything today was wonderful. I slept in a little too much, but on the way to school I talked to my host mom in Thai. And my friends met me at the gate to my school, I sat through the morning routine, and first period was computers. I busied myself with heart-shaped Pocky and Space Pinball. The Pocky was amazing, and the pinball I hadn't played since I was in the 7th grade. Good times, good times...

POCKY!!!

This game made my morning

And that brings us to early lunch! After double-period of Tech, we had lunch at about 10:45. Since it was still early, and I wasn't particularly hungry, I bought PANCAKES! Yes, my school has pancakes, ฿10 for 10 pancakes! And we have ice cream! And shaved ice! But I only had pancakes today. :) And ice tea.

PANCAKES! Beam put too much chocolate on them though....

This afternoon we had a study hall. I had a small snack, and then decided to be a creeper with my camera. After they noticed I was taking pictures of them, we all sang Price Tag (I forgot half the lyrics) and then I listened as they sang songs in Thai. I love it when someone has the sense to bring a guitar, and I really wish I knew how to play. Maybe that's something I can learn this year... guitar and ukulele.

Non playing the guitar, he's the one who played Price Tag for us

My friend and her girlfriend, they're so cute together!

So it's not only in America where students get bored in class and draw on the desks...

Group guitar!!! In Thai, so I took photos and listened.
They played a song that I recognized from an album I have,
but I don't know the lyrics to that particular song

So every day after school I go to the gym, and today, since I finished my workout early, I had a chance to take some photos. More will be coming soon, tomorrow is going to be a light day. But here's a glimpse into life at Sitmonchai Gym. :)

There's training, lots of training. The guy in the black shorts has a fight on Saturday that I GET TO GO TO!!! :)

This is P'Nae, a good friend of mine. He had a fight this last Saturday.
He won, but came away with two black eyes (faded now) and some stitches.

Some of the guys playing soccer. My camera decided not to focus...

These flower bushes are everywhere, and I love them, and  there's one at the gym  :)

And that's all for today! The webcam on my laptop has decided to hate me, as has the microphone... so, when my little sister isn't using her laptop, I am allowed to borrow it to Skype people. Her laptop is INSANELY nice, and I'm really happy that she trusts me enough to let me use it. 

Phuket pt. 2

Friday of our trip in Phuket was spent at Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island). It takes a couple of hours by ferry to get to Phi Phi but it is totally worth it! I really wish I had a waterproof camera that I could have used to take pictures when we went snorkeling, but alas, I am without. I found a pouch thing that I can put my camera in, but a friend of mine knows where I can get one for cheaper, so I decided to wait.

Roberto and I on the way to Koh Phi Phi

I'm jealous, this girl can sleep ANYWHERE!!

Finland and Brazil <3
Isn't this what exchange is about?

The Canadian writing on the Brazilian flag in incorrect Spanish...

We passed this on our way to the main island...

America and South Africa. Sasha and I. I love that exchange students collect bracelets :)

I love Thai spelling, most of the time it is wrong 

BEACH!!! Haha I love these people. 

So sad!! --no farting sign

Shopping, snorkeling, spending more time with exchange students, it's so much fun to be with everyone!!!

Saturday was another great day, but much more emotionally taxing. We started the morning by going to the Vegetarian Festival parade. On Wednesday night, we went to a mini lecture thing about the festival in general, and we got kind of a back story. I say kind of because the woman presenting jumped topics alot and it was really hard for me to follow her, and to focus. Sitting still for two hours on a good day is hard, when I'm with the 14 other exchange students it's near impossible. But we did it. So anyway, Saturday... I'm really glad that I was behind a camera. At least I was until the fireworks started. After about 15 minutes I had to go inside. I now know that I can't handle sharp noises like that though. My left ear hurt SO bad, but hey, now I know.

I actually go to see these people twice,
once early in the morning on my way to the temple,
and again as they walked past the hotel

the Chinese temple where the parade started

I really don't know how to explain these photos... I know that the belief is that they cannot feel any pain. Well, that if they are a good person or whatever that they can't feel the pain. If they aren't good enough, then they can feel pain, and they bleed. I still haven't had time to research the why part of all of this. It is believed that during the festival, nine gods come (or are coming). During the festival people don't eat any meat (the soy-based whatever is super convincing, so I got to spend my weekend breaking out). But anyway, supposedly they can't feel any pain...

Of course, meanwhile on our way to the meeting point.... Roberto, our pyromaniac

Gah I don't know how to turn the photo!!!

sure, lets kick the firework out of the street -- probably better than picking it up though...

This kid was awesome! He followed Roberto when he was gonna light the firework,
and as soon as he so what Roberto was doing, he ran away! 

And back to the more gruesome photos... I still find it hard to process this. I wish I knew the reason behind why they do this. I'll look into it and post a link or something. Eventually. Maybe...

The rhythm was really cool, and it was so nice to see something different

These kids waved at us as we took photos! 

Kids are exposed to this at such a young age... I dunno, it bothers me a bit...

Awesome dragon with a ton of people inside!

And all of this before lunch time... After lunch on Saturday was much more chill. We went to a temple (a Thai temple, not the Chinese one) and we went shopping before going to Phuket FantaSea. I bought a stuffed pink elephant. Her name is Nelly, I love her, she is mine, don't judge me.

Temple!! I was wearing a tank top, so I wasn't allowed inside.
Instead I had a conversation with an elderly Thai woman,
and I bought bracelets and a bag 

Ex-Exchange Student, Rotarian, Chaperon, and father of two ADORABLE kids who went to the temple with us

Group photo at the same lookout Bela and I went to on Wednesday!
I wish there hadn't been clouds on Saturday....

Class: eating pizza with a knife and fork with a napkin in the collar. At Pizza Hut.

"Pick up the goods"

shhhhhh

Dinner here!!!

the stuffed elephant store!!!

Gorgeous white tiger, but I think he's lonely, and I'm not a fan of the cage thing

We had to take a bus to somewhere... I don't remember where exactly, but I do know that several people were very tired...

Roberto

Alica

As well as Hunter, Sally, Chelsie, Sam, and Dorian, however they are not seen here (obviously). I remember talking quite a bit before having a nap myself. Buses are not particularly comfortable, especially when the air conditioner doesn't work particularly well (ok, at all) and the fumes from the "restroom" are filling up the entire seating area. I never want to have to smell that ever again. That's right, we were going to Nakhon Si Thamarat! Oooooh, we went kayaking that day... We camped one night at this little place... not a resort, but not like a campground either... They set up tents for us, but most of us ended up sleeping in hammocks. I missed the opportunity to buy one while on the trip, but P'Boy is going to let me buy one from him (pay him back, I believe). And I'm glad, because the hammocks are so incredibly comfortable!!!

It was too cloudy to see the sunrise...

but we got to see the fog clear out!

contemplating the view, and trying to get a good shot

The awesome view right before we left

My braiding skills remain intact!

I wish I had photos of the day that I braided Bela's hair, but I don't because I really didn't want my camera to get wet. We went caving, and saw bats (hundreds!!!) and climbed a mini waterfall, and "swam" in a underground pool thing that had fish!! I continue to be afraid of the dark, and I dislike heights in the dark especially.

After caving we hiked to a waterfall. Uphill most of the way there, through a jungle. I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen ever, and it's legs were tucked in at its sides. Just it's body was bigger than a doughnut hole. And the ANTS!!! There were the normal tiny red ants, medium red ants (I'd seen before). big red ants (not seen before), and HUGE black and red ants. The red ants bite, but if you leave then alone, you're pretty much good. The black and red ants... not so much. Those buggers attack. They're also fairly solitary, I never saw more than just one at a time. Luckily nobody got attacked, but I saw one as it was preparing to attack P'Boy's foot. Oh, the huge ants are an inch long at the smallest.

The waterfall was absolutely beautiful, even though getting there was kind of traumatizing. I'm not a huge fan of heights, and it had just rained, so the rocks on the path were super slick... On the way down (and on the way back) I had to keep stopping to remind myself to breathe. It was totally worth it though. We swam out to the waterfall. The water was so cold! It was nice.

And that was the Phuket trip. We missed the train, so we had to drive an extra hour to the next stop. I love traveling in the vans with everyone, especially when someone has an ukulele. It's great fun to play with harmonies on long road trips and on the train. I've been back for a week, and I have more to blog about, but I'll do that tomorrow. I love everyone I've met here, and the people back home who are supporting me on my adventure. Quite the adventure it has been! It saddens me that it is already November. The time has gone by way too fast! Is there any way to make it so I have more time, but also speed up time to the next trip when I get to see everyone again? Gah!! Mixed feelings about everything! All I know for sure is that I'll be coming back to Thailand in the future, and that I see myself traveling to Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Finland, and wherever this year's inbounds end up. :)