20 Days Later...

So it's been a while! Mes apologies. This months been so full of everything, it's incredible. One Saturday, my host family randomly asked if I wanted to go on a day trip, which took us to the huge, beautiful white temple in Chiang Rai and across the border into Myanmar, where we shopped for hours. Street markets are officially the best place to buy anything.

School is still awesome. I'm slowly becoming less of "the new white girl", so it's easier to feel like an actual part of the class. Although there's still enough of "the new white girl" for everyone to want to be friends with me still. The braver, funnier girls are the most fun because they try to piece words together in English to communicate, and you're trying to piece words together in Thai, fully aware you're both sounding bizarre, but still trying to help each other along - those moments are the most fun! The younger girls are sweet because they try harder than anyone to be your best friend. The ladyboys... oh my goodness the ladyboys! I've never met anyone so hilarious and so outgoing than the ladyboys. If that saying where everyone needs a gay friend is true, then everyone needs 5 ladyboy friends - they are honestly the most interesting and down-to-earth people I've every met, and they are unbelievably funny. I know this is stereotyping them, but really... it's usually pretty obvious when someone's a ladyboy.

BY THE WAY: อรจีรา (and no, I did not get help typing that. That says "On-ji-ra", my Thai name)

I was invited to judge an English demonstration contest at the local technical college! It was a little awkward because there were only 3 judges (myself included), about 50 contestants, and this was their final project worth a huge percentage of their mark, so screwing it up would be reeeaaaalllly bad. It was great though, and everyone was so energetic!

Thai speaking (as opposed to writing) class is great because they want to take me on trips outside of school to teach me new words (FINE BY ME :D). So random day trips to super interesting new places in Thailand is preeeetttttty awesome! Also, sometime in the near future, the super attractive guy teacher will be taking me by motorcycle to the top of a mountain... :D

Traditional Thai Art is so difficult, but so beautiful! But it's honestly ridiculous how many times you can draw a curvy line the exact same way 5 times and still have your teacher say "No! Have to be the same!" Still, it's a really great class and his drawings are remarkable.

You know what's disgusting? Actually, I have no idea what because I randomly picked it up from the school store and the package is all in Thai, but it tastes like earwax. Gross enough to lose inspiration for blogging.

Sawatdee ka :)
Anneke

Gardening with Ajan Rampai!

Marching in a parade for women's rights

Can't believe this was actually on the internet, because it's pretty much exactly what my Thai Art book looks like. This is MUCH harder than it looks.

Looool my exchange friend found this and it is so true. This songs plays EVERYWHERE (supermarkets, car radio, school loudspeakers, iPod speakers, everywhere) and this is sooo true! (Reuben, this can be your {complimentary} honourable mention. A little less impressive than it could be, but Gangnam Style will have to do. Nick, for you too!)

Awkward Girl Things 10x Worse in a Foreign Country

First of all, they do not use tampons in Thailand; they are considered "unclean" with the whole "penetration = virginity" thing. And now that we know the topic of this lovely post, let the humiliation begin!

So I was at this really interesting guiser basin where you place a little basket of eggs in the naturally boiling sulfur water and have a little egg picnic. It's actually pretty cool! After that, there's this whole spa resort type thing that surrounds the guizer basin. They offered me a swimsuit and said "No we go swimming!" You don't want to say "no" and sound like an unenthusiastic exchange student, but you don't exactly want your whole extended host family to know your time of the month. So after they told me that, I awkwardly walked over to the only lady in the family who spoke English enough to understand (who I'd only known since that day and sure wasn't going to tell my host father), and whispered it to her. She then gave me a look and said (quite loudly), "Right now?" I gave an embarrassed little nod. Then she turns back to face the table where everyone else is sitting and says something to them all in Thai. Immediately, they all give me a sympathetic look and my host father says, "okay, you can't swim this week. You stay here." So yea. Apparently that type of thing isn't as awkward as it is in North America, which makes it MUCH MORE awkward for the North American visiting Thailand. Now my whole extended host family knows when I get my period. That's just lovely (and now the whole internet, but that's beside the point).

And then yesterday, my friend invited me to go swimming and I, unthinkingly, said yes. Then later I was with my host father and I remembered and said "oh wait! I can't go swimming", gesturing downwards. My host father responds: "that's right, you can't", gesturing to the same place. EXTREMELY AWKWARD MOMENT WHEN BOTH YOU AND YOUR HOST FATHER ARE POINTING AT YOUR LADY PARTS.

Seeing as we're on the topic of awkward bathroom things, I'll add that I can now use the butt-hose in place of toilet paper. Whooooo ;)

Now then. Time for bed. Fun dee naka!

Yea, I can't believe I actually posted this either.

Anneke

School!

Well it's been a while. I'm sitting in the English Department at school right now making like 5 thousand photocopies for Ajan Rampai, so it feels like a pretty good time to blog.

School in Thailand is great and so different from Canada, plus my first day was a huuuge kick start! I arrived in the cute little uniform with my host father, later joined by my second host father and they were introducing me to the school teachers. We walked outside to a stage in front of like 4 thousand kids (actual student population) and then my host father leans over to me and says, "you are going to introduce yourself and talk about yourself for a bit to these people". So that was QUITE the surprise, and by some miracle I even spoke a little Thai in that much-shorter-than-expected speech. And they even gave me a bouquet :)

Other than that initial terror of speaking to all of them, school is actually really great; both the students and teachers are incredibly kind and welcoming. For the first week, students were always looking at me and waving at me and would giggle shyly every time I waved or smiled back. The younger girls would ask for photos with me, nominating the braver ones to do the talking. One time I was sitting in the office and a girl shyly wedged the window open and handed me a box of chocolates! Everyone was so sweet to me. I was introduced to at least 200 students that week, and remember probably like 10 names.

After that, I started to join actual classes and make actual friends, which was very nice haha. The classes are sooo awesome! My counsellor, Ajan Rampai, arranges for me to have more hands-on classes, which is great! I could actually write a whole post on Ajan Rampai because she is so awesome and motherly to me. At 7:30-8:30 every morning, I have Lam Thai (Thai dance). It is so hard even though we have to start at like kindergarten level for me, but everyone is so patient and excited to teach me. This is usually my favourite part of the day, and watching the other students dance is wonderful. Then there are various classes scheduled throughout the week (it's not a daily schedule). I just recently had my first Lanna Food class (local food). We made crispy pork - it was delicious and so much fun to make! I'm going to try to remember these recipes. Banana Leaf Folding is really interesting and I love how they have a class for it! My clumsy fingers are not used to the tiny folds at all, but again all the students and the teacher are very patient haha. The finished products look so intricate and beautiful! I am also taking French sort of as a TA because French is very difficult here. The teacher doesn't speak Thai and uses English to explain things, so the students are learning this third language (with a completely different grammar system than their own), IN their second language which is not fluent. So I try to help explain things and teach them songs and tricks to remember things. I haven't actually joined the gardening class, but have been there many times for events such as harvesting rice or lettuce. The gardening teacher is also REALLY good - he has won many awards from all over the country and all the students love him. Other interesting classes: soon I will also join Woodworking and PingPong, in a few hours will have my first Thai Dessert class, and next semester there will be Fencing and Takraw.

The actual atmosphere of the school is really different than Canada. The whole Thai culture seems to be based in community and mutual respect. Because this is so accepted, there is a much more relaxed system of rules regarding things like punctuality, but students rarely break these rules anyway because they know it's important to show up. Rules regarding respect however, are highly important, such as waiing before a teacher or spirit house, taking your shoes off before entering the school, and (in the more traditional classes such as Lam Thai) sitting in the polite way (legs folded to the right).

Lunch!! Ahh it's delicious and 18 baht (little more than 50cents) for the whole thing. There are about 15 counters to choose from, each having like 10 different options, yet the lines are still huge. The "basic choice" is noodles or rice, but there is also fruit, fruit shakes, somtam (papaya salad), shishkabobs, and lots of other things. I'm slowly adding more spices to mine haha. A bottle of water is only 6 baht (20 cents).

There are often random school events I find out about the day of (everything is so relaxed - it's so nice!). I'm usually supposed to take part in these, and find the pictures on the school website a few hours later. Check it out for more frequent photos: http://www.sby.ac.th/
The constant attention is still kind of uncomfortable, but I'm getting used to it; everyone is so happy and enthusiastic it's hard not to be as well. It's really exhausting though, and when I get home at around 5, sleep is the only thing on my mind.

Side note! Have I mentioned our house is completely surrounded my giant, green mountains often coated in a thin layer of mist. It is so beautiful and so Asian - just standing by the window for an hour is breathtaking.

Anneke

Pictures!

"ka-nom-pang" (bread) with "sang-kai-ya" (green goo)

Notes that were on my door from Ice, now on my mirror:

Girl somehow connected to Ice's family and I in the mountain temple, in front of the monument with Buddha's bone inside:

In the walkway around the temple:

Ice's brother, mother, friend, and I above Chiang Mai

Temple gardens:

These stands are everywhere (it's how you buy fruit here):

Temple exit:

Squat Toilets and Mountain Temple

Done so many things these past 3 days! Stepping right into a completely different culture is like stepping into a whole new world. I couldn't even begin to describe all the sights and feels and new understandings the last few days have brought. And it's only been 4 days - I will be a completely different person by the end of 11 months. Undoubtedly.

I've been learning more Thai! It's an amazing feeling when someone is speaking in Thai to someone else, and you can catch words and phrases. A scary moment though, was on Saturday when we were at a restaurant in Chiang Mai. Everyone had been speaking relatively good English with me before, but when we got to the restaurant they randomly started speaking only Thai to me! It was like host parent intervention or something, to help me learn faster. It didn't work though; my mind went completely blank when they gave me expectant looks. Then they seemed almost disappointed in me when I couldn't respond. I probably would have burst into tears if Ice hadn't texted me from across the table: "Do not be uncomfortable. Be only comfortable. Only want happy. Okay? :)". God bless Ice - saving my exchange from the moment I arrived. Yesterday my host father and his wife were talking and I understood the general gist of what they were saying - that was an incredible feeling!

Yesterday was Thai Mother's Day. In the evening, we went to Ice's family's restaurant, where we ate a very large meal. Her parents had many, many different kinds of delicious food like bacon, pork, shrimp, octopus, and things I don't know the name of all frying on a wok and we picked off what we wanted. I was full pretty quickly, but everyone seemed to take lots of pleasure in putting more food on my plate. When Ice's two little brothers saw that I had difficulty peeling the giant shrimp, they took care to peel the shrimp for me... and keep peeling shrimp for me... and more and more shrimp. I was going to explode with food, and only stopped eating when I actually did gag. Then there was the whole ordeal with the squat toilets that night. I asked where the washroom was, ended up in the shower room, thought it was the washroom but didn't know what to do, stood there for a few seconds, and walked out. Then Ice arrived and I asked her what to do. She showed me the real bathroom and even demonstrated how to use the squat toilet. Good lord the girl has no shame - I love it! On the way back, I finally managed to not hold on to her while riding the motorcycle. Whheeewwww so much fun!! :D

Today we bought my school uniform! :D Then we drove to Chiang Mai. I feel kind of bad because when they said "Now we go to temple", I kind treated it like nothing because that's pretty normal. I didn't realize they meant THE temple. As in, whenever we drive into Chiang Mai, I look up in awe at this temple on the top of Doi Sutape ( the mountain) and say "Wow! Can we go there sometime?" It was...incredible! It is really advantageous visiting it with Thai people because they know what to do so you can copy them (like when to wai, when to kneal, how many times to bow, where and how to offer the flower and candle to Buddha, etc.). I also made very good friends with another Thai girl somehow connect to Ice's family today! I really need ask Ice what her name is, because now we're far too good friends to ask her her name. Anyway, the temple was incredible - the giant gold monument in the middle holds one of the Buddha's bones. The monument is surrounded by giant, colourful walls and little rooms and lush mountain vegetation. It's just amazing!

The drive home was terrifying. You have not driven with an insane driver until you've driven with my host father. His usual speed is 140 km/hour (not exaggerating one bit because my eyes are glued to the speedometer). He doesn't need to speed up to pass because he's already going so fast, and won't hesitate to pass with oncoming traffic. If there isn't enough time, the oncoming car will pull over onto the other lane.
This doesn't change when driving down a very steep mountain road with sharp turns - he still passes cars when he can't see the other lane. I don't even think he sees the lines on the road. Also, this is Thailand; no one wears seatbelts. And he falls asleep while driving at night. His eyes will slowly close, then open again and sometimes he'll give his head a jerk to wake up a bit. He takes little naps at red lights (pretty much the only rule of the road he follows). And there's no such thing as speeding tickets here. Why? Because he's the freaking chief of police!

Anneke

First Day in Thailand!!

I suppose I probably should have posted before this, but oh well :) I arrived in Thailand on August 9 very late at night. There were so many people at the airport to welcome me and they gave me a big bouqet of flowers and each put a wreath of Jasmine around my head. They were so welcoming and kind!

Yesterday was my first day. I was so scared to get up and walk into a world where I know nothing! But do you know what is so wonderful for building confidence? When there's a little note on your door welcoming you to Thailand :) So many people ride motorcycles here! You see people from ages 10 to 60 riding them and very, very few wear helmets. It is so much fun! Although it is a little scary when nobody who rides the back hangs on to the person in the front. I have started to not hold onto the person driving because I think it might be a little awkward for them, but it is scary not holding onto anything! Ice is going to teach me how to drive one! :)

I went out walking by myself twice yesterday and each time Ice's brother, Nye, picked me up. Haha I'm starting to get the impression I'm not supposed to do that xD

The food! It is very good, but my stomach is not used to it yet so I eat very little. I feel bad sometimes because they sometimes think I don't like it, but it's just that my stomach isn't used to it. Last night though, Ice and I took the motorcycle to meet Ice's family at their restaurant. Afterward, we biked around Lamphun. It is so nice to ride the bike! It is now my favourite way to get around. We ate this kind of food called "ka-nom-pang" and "sang-kai-ya" - it was so good!!!! We sat in my room for hours last night eating it and talking :)

This morning I was scared to get up again, but guess what was waiting on my door? Another note from Ice :)

Anneke