The rest of spring break was amazing! My happy spot under the palm tree on my beach mat was so relaxing and wonderful. I do love the beach! :) The last night in Kho Chang we went out to eat at a cute Italian Restaurant. It was so yummy. I had penne vodka! YUMMY! And it had real cheese in! Oh man, it was great!
We left Kho Chang around 10am on Wednesday morning to head back to Bangkok to catch the night train to Chiang Mai. We made it, but 5 people missed it because they left the island too late. Thankfully we made it with about 25 minutes to spare. The train left at 7:35pm. I navigated the way all the way from the island to the platform. I was very proud of my map reading skills.
The night train was super cool. Not really what I pictured. I think I pictured a train a little too much European style and it was a bit more Asian style than I thought, but I am in Asia. It was fun though. I had my own little bunk.
I met a nice Thai family on the train too and talked to them in Thai for a while. It was cool to see how much Thai I actually do know.
Sorry this post is so short and detailless, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed.
Tomorrow morning we head to the villages! I will be offline for a while so expect a good update when I get back. And maybe a few more details about the rest of spring break.
Check for pictures are dropshots.com/mkinthailand2
Friday, March 26, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Pictures
I've uploaded pictures from the field trips and spring break to both dropshots.com/mkinthailand and dropshots.com/mkinthailand2
mkinthailand is now full...so from now on, be checking mkinthailand2 for picture updates!! :)
mkinthailand is now full...so from now on, be checking mkinthailand2 for picture updates!! :)
The Amazing Race
Right after we were done at the royal palace we hailed a cab and had it take us to the sky train. We had all divided up into smaller groups so we could all fit into cabs. We left at different times. My group had 3 other people in. I felt like I was in the Amazing Race. We all were headed for the same place and it was a question of who would get their first. We all had the same directions but had to figure it all out on our own. It was exciting!
The cab we got was super small. We sat with most of our stuff on our laps....But it was ok. It wasn't too far. Just 4 kilometers. We got to the sky train and got tickets and got on the skytrain. Where we met one of the other groups. It was like ending up on the same train in the Amazing Race and meeting the competition. Only not really, but I kinda felt like it was.
We took the skytrain past the "Outback SteakHouse" and to the bus station. We just missed the 11am bus so we had to wait til 12:3o. But it gave us time for lunch. The bus ride was about 5ish hours. It took us to Trat where we took another taxi to the pier to get a ferry to Kho Chang. We all squished into this little taxi bus like a rot dang to get to the pier. The ferry had just come in so we got on it and took our final major transportation of the day to get to Kho Chang.
We got on Kho Chang and had to take another taxi to the hotel. It was a pickup truck with seats in the back and this island is all hills...so it had a bit of hard time getting up the hills, but we made it. :) We got to our hotel....and checked in. Which basically included having someone give us our keys. There was no lobby or front desk....it was an interesting place and definitely not worth $40 a night! We booked two nights there before we came so we would have a place to go to. Oh well....we moved to another place after two nights. This new place...has free wi-fi and is wonderful! And 1/2 the price of the other one. :)
I've been just relaxing and hanging out at the beach. I found my "happy place"! It is under a palm tree in the late afternoon laying on my $3 beach mat watching the sun go down. It is wonderful. And they have swings on the beach. Huge rope swings with wooden seats that swing high! So so fun!! :)
It's a nice vacation and so relaxing. I'm not sure how anyone can jump into a rural village after this! Should be interesting.
I'll be on Kho Chang (Elephant Island) til Wednesday and then Wednesday night we are all taking the night sleeper train back to Chiang Mai. Then on Friday we head to the hill tribe villages!
Good bye for now!
The cab we got was super small. We sat with most of our stuff on our laps....But it was ok. It wasn't too far. Just 4 kilometers. We got to the sky train and got tickets and got on the skytrain. Where we met one of the other groups. It was like ending up on the same train in the Amazing Race and meeting the competition. Only not really, but I kinda felt like it was.
We took the skytrain past the "Outback SteakHouse" and to the bus station. We just missed the 11am bus so we had to wait til 12:3o. But it gave us time for lunch. The bus ride was about 5ish hours. It took us to Trat where we took another taxi to the pier to get a ferry to Kho Chang. We all squished into this little taxi bus like a rot dang to get to the pier. The ferry had just come in so we got on it and took our final major transportation of the day to get to Kho Chang.
We got on Kho Chang and had to take another taxi to the hotel. It was a pickup truck with seats in the back and this island is all hills...so it had a bit of hard time getting up the hills, but we made it. :) We got to our hotel....and checked in. Which basically included having someone give us our keys. There was no lobby or front desk....it was an interesting place and definitely not worth $40 a night! We booked two nights there before we came so we would have a place to go to. Oh well....we moved to another place after two nights. This new place...has free wi-fi and is wonderful! And 1/2 the price of the other one. :)
I've been just relaxing and hanging out at the beach. I found my "happy place"! It is under a palm tree in the late afternoon laying on my $3 beach mat watching the sun go down. It is wonderful. And they have swings on the beach. Huge rope swings with wooden seats that swing high! So so fun!! :)
It's a nice vacation and so relaxing. I'm not sure how anyone can jump into a rural village after this! Should be interesting.
I'll be on Kho Chang (Elephant Island) til Wednesday and then Wednesday night we are all taking the night sleeper train back to Chiang Mai. Then on Friday we head to the hill tribe villages!
Good bye for now!
Chiang Mai to Bangkok....
It has been a crazy past week!! And as I write this I can't even believe it's only been 8 days! It's Monday here and we've been gone from Chiang Mai since last Sunday...wow. So there is lots to share with you all....
We left Chiang Mai on Sunday morning....in typical Stone family fashion, when my host family and I went out to the car to leave for CMU to drop me off, the car battery was dead....no surprise really. This happens quite often in my real family. I just kinda laughed about it. But we had to push the car out of the drive way and then my host father had to jump start it and then we were good to go. We went to CMU and they helped me with my luggage. Eventually the time came to say goodbye and we exchanged hugs....can you say AWKWARD. Oh well though. I was outa there!! :) :) :)
We all boarded the tour bus where we were instantly transformed from "students who are not foreigners" to "tourists". Our bus was lovey withFinding Nemo painted all over the sides of it. It was a sight to see and very difficult to miss.
We visited a few more temples and some of our first of many many ruins on our way to our first stop for the night in Sukhothai. There we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Pailyn Hotel. We went swimming there and had a wonderful dinner!! That whole day is a bit of a blur in my mind now....I guess nothing to exciting happened.
The next day we got up bright and early and were on the bus by 8am! We headed straight for the Sukhothai Historical Park where we rented bikes and rode around all the ancient ruins! This was one of the funnest things EVER! I had a hot pink bike that I named "Charming" because it had a sticker that said that on it. We rode around all morning and saw some of the big Thailand attractions! The huge talking buddha. After returning the bikes we went to the buddha casting factory where we met the guy who makes most of the buddhas that we see around Thailand. It was kinda crazy! We learned all about the process of making one...first you make it all out of wax...then you cover it in cement then burn the wax out and then fill it with bronze or some type of medal...then you shine it all up and sometimes they cover it in gold. It seems like quite the lengthy process. And how sad it is that these are all idols.
After that we headed for another hotel in Pitsanulok...still not sure where that is. But I was there. haha. We saw some more temples and took a nice swim! The next morning , we headed for a folk museum with random stuff from old Thailand. You know how I love museums! NOT! We went to way too many for me on this field trip. haha. The museum didn't open as early as we had thought on this day because they were having some buddha statues blessed by monks, so we had to go across the street to the "Bird Garden". As much as I hate museums, I would have taken the museum any day over this bird place. This place had tons of exotic birds. They were kinda cool, but with my huge fear of birds and only being blocked from them by this tiny little fence, it was SCARY! The birds I saw were birds that only could be thought up in a nightmare...scary huge birds! Check dropshots.com/mkinthailand for pictures of these beasts!
After the museum and the bird garden we got on the bus and went to Lopburi. We saw our first "khmer" style temple...which we called a "khmer kobb" because the chedi looks like a corn kobb. The only reason one would go to Lopburi is to see this temple because it is covered in monkeys.... 4,000 of them. Yes, that is 4 with three 0's. It was insane. They climb all over you and take glasses and anything they can get their little hands on. I am now officially creaped out by monkeys. I didn't buy any food because I did not want them to touch me. haha. I walked through the ruins of the temple and on the ceiling were tons of bats....so on the outside were tons of monkeys and on the inside were tons of bats...my favorite combination....
I survived and it was quite the experience. One that I will probably not need to do again. haha.
We went to the hotel in Lopburi where there were huge monkey statues everywhere. Even the room was monkey! The lamp was in the shape of a monkey and the bed frame had monkeys on...I couldn't get away from monkeys! We went swimming and had some fun. Then for dinner we ordered PIZZA!! It was so worth the 120 baht....$4!!
The next day we headed for Ayuthaya! This was the capital of Thailand after Sukothai and before Bangkok. We saw some more ruins. These were my favorite ruins of the trip. They were so huge and so grand! We hit up some more museums and historical study centers....my favorite. haha. Dinner was so fun. We had it on a boat. We saw all the ruins on the river at night and had an amazing Thai meal. Then there was dancing and karoke on the boat. Super funny.
The next day we headed for Bangkok. We stopped at some more ruins and then at the summer palace. The summer palace was super fun. We took a golf cart around it to see everything. To go into the ordination hall you have to put on a skirt...so we borrowed some free ones and walked in. It was pretty cool.
From there we went to Bangkok. Took a little swim in the pool and then in the evening we took a canal tour. We bought bananas on the "real floating market"...but since it was all closed up for the day it was just a man in his boat. But it was still fun. We fed some fish...I think it's the thing for tourist to do...they sell bread on these boats and then you feed the fish...and these fish are HUGE!! and UGLY!
Our hotel in Bangkok was the nicest of the trip. We even got a welcome drink. haha. It was some interesting fruit juice. Not the greatest thing ever, but free.
Finally on Friday we left in the morning by river bus....we boarded it with all our stuff and went to the royal palace. We dragged all our luggage around so we could go to spring break right after we were done.
The royal palace was pretty cool. We saw the emerald buddha which I must say was kinda anti-climatic. It was a lot smaller than I had thought it would be. But it was all decked out in gold. Definitely something to see if you go to Thailand. We walked around the palace grounds for a little while and then it was off to spring break!
We left Chiang Mai on Sunday morning....in typical Stone family fashion, when my host family and I went out to the car to leave for CMU to drop me off, the car battery was dead....no surprise really. This happens quite often in my real family. I just kinda laughed about it. But we had to push the car out of the drive way and then my host father had to jump start it and then we were good to go. We went to CMU and they helped me with my luggage. Eventually the time came to say goodbye and we exchanged hugs....can you say AWKWARD. Oh well though. I was outa there!! :) :) :)
We all boarded the tour bus where we were instantly transformed from "students who are not foreigners" to "tourists". Our bus was lovey with
We visited a few more temples and some of our first of many many ruins on our way to our first stop for the night in Sukhothai. There we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Pailyn Hotel. We went swimming there and had a wonderful dinner!! That whole day is a bit of a blur in my mind now....I guess nothing to exciting happened.
The next day we got up bright and early and were on the bus by 8am! We headed straight for the Sukhothai Historical Park where we rented bikes and rode around all the ancient ruins! This was one of the funnest things EVER! I had a hot pink bike that I named "Charming" because it had a sticker that said that on it. We rode around all morning and saw some of the big Thailand attractions! The huge talking buddha. After returning the bikes we went to the buddha casting factory where we met the guy who makes most of the buddhas that we see around Thailand. It was kinda crazy! We learned all about the process of making one...first you make it all out of wax...then you cover it in cement then burn the wax out and then fill it with bronze or some type of medal...then you shine it all up and sometimes they cover it in gold. It seems like quite the lengthy process. And how sad it is that these are all idols.
After that we headed for another hotel in Pitsanulok...still not sure where that is. But I was there. haha. We saw some more temples and took a nice swim! The next morning , we headed for a folk museum with random stuff from old Thailand. You know how I love museums! NOT! We went to way too many for me on this field trip. haha. The museum didn't open as early as we had thought on this day because they were having some buddha statues blessed by monks, so we had to go across the street to the "Bird Garden". As much as I hate museums, I would have taken the museum any day over this bird place. This place had tons of exotic birds. They were kinda cool, but with my huge fear of birds and only being blocked from them by this tiny little fence, it was SCARY! The birds I saw were birds that only could be thought up in a nightmare...scary huge birds! Check dropshots.com/mkinthailand for pictures of these beasts!
After the museum and the bird garden we got on the bus and went to Lopburi. We saw our first "khmer" style temple...which we called a "khmer kobb" because the chedi looks like a corn kobb. The only reason one would go to Lopburi is to see this temple because it is covered in monkeys.... 4,000 of them. Yes, that is 4 with three 0's. It was insane. They climb all over you and take glasses and anything they can get their little hands on. I am now officially creaped out by monkeys. I didn't buy any food because I did not want them to touch me. haha. I walked through the ruins of the temple and on the ceiling were tons of bats....so on the outside were tons of monkeys and on the inside were tons of bats...my favorite combination....
I survived and it was quite the experience. One that I will probably not need to do again. haha.
We went to the hotel in Lopburi where there were huge monkey statues everywhere. Even the room was monkey! The lamp was in the shape of a monkey and the bed frame had monkeys on...I couldn't get away from monkeys! We went swimming and had some fun. Then for dinner we ordered PIZZA!! It was so worth the 120 baht....$4!!
The next day we headed for Ayuthaya! This was the capital of Thailand after Sukothai and before Bangkok. We saw some more ruins. These were my favorite ruins of the trip. They were so huge and so grand! We hit up some more museums and historical study centers....my favorite. haha. Dinner was so fun. We had it on a boat. We saw all the ruins on the river at night and had an amazing Thai meal. Then there was dancing and karoke on the boat. Super funny.
The next day we headed for Bangkok. We stopped at some more ruins and then at the summer palace. The summer palace was super fun. We took a golf cart around it to see everything. To go into the ordination hall you have to put on a skirt...so we borrowed some free ones and walked in. It was pretty cool.
From there we went to Bangkok. Took a little swim in the pool and then in the evening we took a canal tour. We bought bananas on the "real floating market"...but since it was all closed up for the day it was just a man in his boat. But it was still fun. We fed some fish...I think it's the thing for tourist to do...they sell bread on these boats and then you feed the fish...and these fish are HUGE!! and UGLY!
Our hotel in Bangkok was the nicest of the trip. We even got a welcome drink. haha. It was some interesting fruit juice. Not the greatest thing ever, but free.
Finally on Friday we left in the morning by river bus....we boarded it with all our stuff and went to the royal palace. We dragged all our luggage around so we could go to spring break right after we were done.
The royal palace was pretty cool. We saw the emerald buddha which I must say was kinda anti-climatic. It was a lot smaller than I had thought it would be. But it was all decked out in gold. Definitely something to see if you go to Thailand. We walked around the palace grounds for a little while and then it was off to spring break!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Field Trips
Top of the mornin' to ya.....
and the rest of the day to yourself...
Right now I am in Ayuthaya, Thailand. And while it may not be morning here (it's actually almost tomorrow here already), it is morning somewhere where someone is reading this. So Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!
We have been to some major cities the past few days and see so many things! Tomorrow we head to Bangkok (and incase there is any concern, we will not be in any of the parts where the political stuff is going on...and if things are not good, we will skip straight to the beach and not see Bangkok. but not to worry, we'll be fine! :) ) Anyway, after Bangkok we are headed on spring break. I'll be spending a little less than 1 week on the beach of the island of Ko Chang...also known as Elephant Island! It's gonna be WONDERFUL!! :)
I posted some pictures from the field trips so far on dropshots.com/mkinthailand
so check them out. And I'll post some more stories when I have time. It's GO GO GO here right now. But there are definitely some crazy stories to share...and some crazy stuff to share about before I left for the field trip...moving out of the family, etc. So anyway, check back soon for some great laughs! Haha. So until then...whenever that may be...Good night world! :)
and the rest of the day to yourself...
Right now I am in Ayuthaya, Thailand. And while it may not be morning here (it's actually almost tomorrow here already), it is morning somewhere where someone is reading this. So Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all!
We have been to some major cities the past few days and see so many things! Tomorrow we head to Bangkok (and incase there is any concern, we will not be in any of the parts where the political stuff is going on...and if things are not good, we will skip straight to the beach and not see Bangkok. but not to worry, we'll be fine! :) ) Anyway, after Bangkok we are headed on spring break. I'll be spending a little less than 1 week on the beach of the island of Ko Chang...also known as Elephant Island! It's gonna be WONDERFUL!! :)
I posted some pictures from the field trips so far on dropshots.com/mkinthailand
so check them out. And I'll post some more stories when I have time. It's GO GO GO here right now. But there are definitely some crazy stories to share...and some crazy stuff to share about before I left for the field trip...moving out of the family, etc. So anyway, check back soon for some great laughs! Haha. So until then...whenever that may be...Good night world! :)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
AH! Where has the time gone?
Wow, this week has been insane! Thursday was my last day of classes and I had my final exams, so now I am offically done with classes in Thailand. That is insane! I remember the first day we had class. We all put on our uniforms for the first time and climbed in the rot-dang and went to the school...and now, it's over! And tomorrow I will be moving out of my host families house and turning back into a college student instead of the middle schooler I have felt like since living here. In another post I'll share with you things I've learned while living with my host family. I've learned to appreciate so many little things about my real family! :)
Also this past week we were able to go to a few other internships. On Monday we had a party at Bon Patsowan...it's a school for slum kids and a bunch of SST students were teaching there. It was so awesome to see the school they've been at and have a visual to back up all the stories. Then on Tuesday we were able to go to the Juvenile Center. I can't remember if I wrote about that the last time I went there or not. But we did another talent show. That place is awesome. I wonder if I had gone to visit it also if I would have chosen to do my internship there. But Agape was awesome too! We did a talent show there and some of the people who live there did some acts too...like fire blowing! It was insane! I'll post the videos if I can figure out how to make it load faster.
Also there was a clown show while we were there. (A little background on that. THere is this lady who lives in Minnesota and runs an arts center for mentally and physically disabled adults. She also helps them put on plays. Apparently they are really cool. There is a similar place here in Thailand. The people go there and weave things. So Aj Mike invited this lady, Jeanie, from Minnesota to come and work among the disabled people in Thailand and put on a play. So she's been here for about a month and has been going around to all the disabled places and working with them and the one place that has two students interning at put on a clown show. It was so cool. It was neat to hear the stories about how these people started to open up. So they put a show on at the Juvenile center. Jeanie is trying to work with some of the BIG (i'm talking huge people...head of disabilities programs for all northern Thailand, friends of the King, etc) people to create a center like the one in Minnesota for the people here. In Thailand if you have a disability like down syndrome or something else, it is very looked down upon. It is thought that you had bad karma in your past life and that is why you are how you are in your current life. So with this mindset it is difficult to get people to help them and see that they can really do things. Its a sad mindset, but very Buddhist. So anyway, that's the background on the clown shows.)
Wednesday I went shopping at the Mall in the afternoon and got a few awesome nail polishes! Then I met some people at a coffee shop to study for our exam on Thursday. While we were there we met some other foreigners who had been living in Thailand for 10 years are were teachers. They had some interesting perspectives on Thailand. The one did not even speak Thai...this amazed me.
Thursday after our exam I went shopping at the school store...and got myself a wonderful CMU t-shirt. Then we went to lunch at the Boat Bakery....Aj Mike's treat. It was birthday lunch for two people. I love birthday lunches! I had a cheese burger and fries! Wonderful!! :) Then Ty, Dascia and I went to the mall and I got a pedicure while they got foot massages. My feet are so amazingly smooth! It's wonderful! And the good news is that it was less than $3. I also asked about getting my eye brows waxed and they all looked at me and laughed. Then looked really close at my eyebrows and pretty much said...you don't have any! They are blonde! But I asked them to fix them up anyway. The lady came out with a little razor and cleaned them up...interesting. They looked much better... but really who shaves your eyebrows! I guess we'll see what happens when they start to grow back...
Then we hung around the mall for a while and met up with two other guys. We found the donut shop and got some snacks and then decided to see a movie. So we went to the other mall where the English theater is. There were about 45 min of previews and they had all these previews of movies about monks...but these were monks gone wild. haha. Then there were a few previews about how great the king is and then finally the movie. The ticket was less than $3 and you chose your seat number. But no one reads the seat number in the theater anyway. The theater looked just like a the Lowes in East Hanover. And was bigger than Caldwell...so funny.
Friday I had the day off. So the Agape ladies took us out for lunch! That was a lot of fun! I had cashew chicken...which has become one of my favorite foods in Thailand and sticky rice...another great food that I will miss back in America. Then for dinner Dascia's host mom invited me over to have dinner with them (she has been so generous to me this trip...she has driven me to school and back everyday this week b/c my host mom wouldn't for some reason, and has bought me coffee at markets and is just so sweet. i think i will miss her). So she invited Ty (Dascia's boyfriend) and I over for some traditional stew thing. It was called "muupa"...which is pork something. Basically you have this huge bowl and you put hot coals in it and then over top you put another bowl and it has a ledge in it where you put "naam soup". Which is water soup. It's basically just broth...then you put veggies and "fishballs" and "porkballs" which are just meat balls. And then on the top there is like a grill part where you put pork and you wait for it to cook and then you eat it. It was really fun. We all sat outside with some of Dascia's host family extended family and just ate it. It was like camping in the front yard. But it was so fun. Then her mom made us shaved ice for dessert!! :) A snow cone in Thailand when it is 95 degrees outside is amazing! It was lots of fun.
So today, is Saturday. I did some laundry this morning and am hoping that it will be dry enough to pack in a few hours. It should be because it is so hot outside.
And then tomorrow morning we leave for our week long field trip followed by spring break! I'm so excited. I remember looking on the schedule when we first got here and thinking about how far away this field trip was going to be...but now it's here! Only 6 weeks left in Thailand. I've been here for 9 1/2 weeks! Insane!
Over and out for now...time to go pack!!
Also this past week we were able to go to a few other internships. On Monday we had a party at Bon Patsowan...it's a school for slum kids and a bunch of SST students were teaching there. It was so awesome to see the school they've been at and have a visual to back up all the stories. Then on Tuesday we were able to go to the Juvenile Center. I can't remember if I wrote about that the last time I went there or not. But we did another talent show. That place is awesome. I wonder if I had gone to visit it also if I would have chosen to do my internship there. But Agape was awesome too! We did a talent show there and some of the people who live there did some acts too...like fire blowing! It was insane! I'll post the videos if I can figure out how to make it load faster.
Also there was a clown show while we were there. (A little background on that. THere is this lady who lives in Minnesota and runs an arts center for mentally and physically disabled adults. She also helps them put on plays. Apparently they are really cool. There is a similar place here in Thailand. The people go there and weave things. So Aj Mike invited this lady, Jeanie, from Minnesota to come and work among the disabled people in Thailand and put on a play. So she's been here for about a month and has been going around to all the disabled places and working with them and the one place that has two students interning at put on a clown show. It was so cool. It was neat to hear the stories about how these people started to open up. So they put a show on at the Juvenile center. Jeanie is trying to work with some of the BIG (i'm talking huge people...head of disabilities programs for all northern Thailand, friends of the King, etc) people to create a center like the one in Minnesota for the people here. In Thailand if you have a disability like down syndrome or something else, it is very looked down upon. It is thought that you had bad karma in your past life and that is why you are how you are in your current life. So with this mindset it is difficult to get people to help them and see that they can really do things. Its a sad mindset, but very Buddhist. So anyway, that's the background on the clown shows.)
Wednesday I went shopping at the Mall in the afternoon and got a few awesome nail polishes! Then I met some people at a coffee shop to study for our exam on Thursday. While we were there we met some other foreigners who had been living in Thailand for 10 years are were teachers. They had some interesting perspectives on Thailand. The one did not even speak Thai...this amazed me.
Thursday after our exam I went shopping at the school store...and got myself a wonderful CMU t-shirt. Then we went to lunch at the Boat Bakery....Aj Mike's treat. It was birthday lunch for two people. I love birthday lunches! I had a cheese burger and fries! Wonderful!! :) Then Ty, Dascia and I went to the mall and I got a pedicure while they got foot massages. My feet are so amazingly smooth! It's wonderful! And the good news is that it was less than $3. I also asked about getting my eye brows waxed and they all looked at me and laughed. Then looked really close at my eyebrows and pretty much said...you don't have any! They are blonde! But I asked them to fix them up anyway. The lady came out with a little razor and cleaned them up...interesting. They looked much better... but really who shaves your eyebrows! I guess we'll see what happens when they start to grow back...
Then we hung around the mall for a while and met up with two other guys. We found the donut shop and got some snacks and then decided to see a movie. So we went to the other mall where the English theater is. There were about 45 min of previews and they had all these previews of movies about monks...but these were monks gone wild. haha. Then there were a few previews about how great the king is and then finally the movie. The ticket was less than $3 and you chose your seat number. But no one reads the seat number in the theater anyway. The theater looked just like a the Lowes in East Hanover. And was bigger than Caldwell...so funny.
Friday I had the day off. So the Agape ladies took us out for lunch! That was a lot of fun! I had cashew chicken...which has become one of my favorite foods in Thailand and sticky rice...another great food that I will miss back in America. Then for dinner Dascia's host mom invited me over to have dinner with them (she has been so generous to me this trip...she has driven me to school and back everyday this week b/c my host mom wouldn't for some reason, and has bought me coffee at markets and is just so sweet. i think i will miss her). So she invited Ty (Dascia's boyfriend) and I over for some traditional stew thing. It was called "muupa"...which is pork something. Basically you have this huge bowl and you put hot coals in it and then over top you put another bowl and it has a ledge in it where you put "naam soup". Which is water soup. It's basically just broth...then you put veggies and "fishballs" and "porkballs" which are just meat balls. And then on the top there is like a grill part where you put pork and you wait for it to cook and then you eat it. It was really fun. We all sat outside with some of Dascia's host family extended family and just ate it. It was like camping in the front yard. But it was so fun. Then her mom made us shaved ice for dessert!! :) A snow cone in Thailand when it is 95 degrees outside is amazing! It was lots of fun.
So today, is Saturday. I did some laundry this morning and am hoping that it will be dry enough to pack in a few hours. It should be because it is so hot outside.
And then tomorrow morning we leave for our week long field trip followed by spring break! I'm so excited. I remember looking on the schedule when we first got here and thinking about how far away this field trip was going to be...but now it's here! Only 6 weeks left in Thailand. I've been here for 9 1/2 weeks! Insane!
Over and out for now...time to go pack!!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Weather Report
Just thought you all should know...but right now....10:22pm...it is 91 degrees F outside....and it feels like it too!! And tomorrow the high is going to be 98 F. Insane.... And apparently it only gets hotter from here.....All I did this afternoon was lay on the couch and watch movies because it was too hot to do anything else. You sweat just sitting and doing nothing.....Just to let you know!
Thailand Week 8 (63 photos), by Mary Kate Stone
I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos
Also check out dropshots.com/mkinthailand for more pictures of everything I just described here!
Host Family Dinner
My host family took me out to dinner on Thursday night because it was the last time my host father would have off work while I was here and while my brothers were home because they left for the south today. Basically it was the last time the family would be together for dinner. So they took me to this cute little jungle restaurant. It was like the rainforest cafe Thailand style. It was fun and we even had dessert. I had a chocolate ice cream sundae!! So yummy!! Check out dropshots for the pictures of the bathroom there....it was crazy!! The sink had water coming out of a tree!
Internship Wrapup
This past week I finished my internship. I have a little less than 100 hours logged. It's insane how fast the time went. I can say that I am really going to miss the kids at Agape. We were able to go and spend one last Saturday there yesterday. We made french toast and played jump rope and all sorts of fun stuff. In Aj. Mike's business with the farewell party he forgot to tell the rot-dang driver to pick us up. So one of the girls host mom's drove us, but then once we were there we had no way to get home. So we had to walk out to the main rode...maybe about 2 miles...or a little more. Then we had to walk along until we saw a rot-dang coming. The girls were on the opposite side of the street from me because I had to go home after Agape because I live so close so I was looking for a rot-kieow....a green truck instead of the red-truck. But I called the rot-dang over and tried to bargain the price down for the girls. I got him down from 500 baht to 1oo baht...not too bad I'd say. It's still really pricey but since we were so far outside the city it and there was no telling when another one would come along, they decided it was good enough. I kept walking towards where I would get the rot-kieow. And then I waited and waited for one to come along. It was so hot outside. I'm talking beastly hot! My black flip flops were burning hot where my foot didn't touch. So if I shifted my foot a little it got burned. Insane. Then once I got on the rot-kieow, I rode it home and then had to walk into my development from the front gate. Man was I hot and sweaty and gross when I got back. And the crazy thing is it's only gonna get hotter....AH!
Host Family
My host brothers left for my host mothers family today in Puket. So we went to the airport to see them off. My host mother will leave for vacation there at the end of this week after I leave and the my host father will leave a week later. The funny thing was that my host mother packed a cooler box full of meats and veggies to send down to her family. Apparently they don't have some of that stuff down south or it's more expensive. And coming home they will pack it was seafood. It just thought it was funny. Now I am an "only host child". Well see how that goes.
Gotta love Thai DVDs
Friday night I went home with a girl who lives in the same area as me and her host mother took us to the Night Bizzar. It's a huge shopping market that has everything. It was so much fun. I got a few more DVDs to add to my collection. I even purchased Valentine's Day. A movie that was just, or maybe still is, in Theatres. It looked cute and I wanted to see it so I got it. It's quite special. It was actually filmed in a movie theatre and then burned to a disc and sold to me. Such great quality...not. But it's ok. I could still watch it. I knew it would be like that because it's still in Theaters, I just thought it was funny. haha. Gotta love Thai pirated DVDs.
Other Random Stuff
Last night was the farewell party. It was a huge party to thank everyone that has helped us in Chiang Mai so far. Our host families were all there, our internships, our professors, even our Rot-Dang drivers. This party was like a wedding reception with an MIA bride and groom. Seriously. It was huge. It was at a really nice resort at the lake side. And the music that was playing was hilarious. It was wedding reception music...I'm talking songs like "My Heart Will Go On".... It was so much fun. My host father had to work but he was able to make it at the very very very end so we could take a picture. It was so sweet of him to even come because he definitely didn't have to, but he did. It made me feel special.
I made a video of all the stuff we've done so far in Thailand and showed it. It got lots of compliments and I think it turned out well. Aj Mike is buying DVDs so I can make copies for everyone. I'm gonna try to upload it in pieces to youtube. It might be too big of a file to upload while I'm here because it would go so slow. But i'll try!
I made a video of all the stuff we've done so far in Thailand and showed it. It got lots of compliments and I think it turned out well. Aj Mike is buying DVDs so I can make copies for everyone. I'm gonna try to upload it in pieces to youtube. It might be too big of a file to upload while I'm here because it would go so slow. But i'll try!
Post Office
Ok, sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I am finishing up my time in Chiang Mai and finishing classes and finishing my internship and doing final projects...etc... basically that all equals that I have no time! So now I will fill you all in on the past week...
First I will tell you the stamp story... If you have been checking dropshots.com/mkinthailand you will have seen a picture of an envelope with like 4 stamps on it....there is a story behind that. I have had it forever and just needed a stamp. It took me a long time to find the time to be able to go to the post office. I found the time last week when I didn't have internship for a day. I walked myself down there and took a number. When I was called I asked for a stamp. The post office guy just stared at me blankly, so I said it again. Still blank stare... so once again I asked for a "stamp to America". This time I drew out a letter with my fingers and proceeded to point to the corner where a stamp would go. He then kinda understood and pointed me to another desk. So I waited in line there and then went through the whole process again....including the blank stares. It ended with that lady pointing me back to the first desk I was at. So I went back over and took another number. The guy behind the desk just kept laughing at me whenever he looked up from helping the person in front of me. I then went through the whole process again, speaking Thai and English and then he picked up a letter and asked me where mine was. I told him it was at home but I needed a stamp and would mail it at a mailbox...apparently you need the letter to weigh first to buy a stamp...well, no one told me that. So he weighed a random letter that he found and then told me a price. So I said fine, I'll take it. I reach for my wallet and start counting out the money, and he points to back to the other desk. I was so confused but when back over there. I thought I was finally getting somewhere, but then I had to start again. Back to the whole stamp to america thing and then I said the price and she gave me ,not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 huge stamps! There was no way they were all going to fit on my letter...but I took them and said thank you. I had to almost outline the letter with them because there were so many and it was such a small letter. But at least I was able to get them after spending about 15 minutes in the post office.
First I will tell you the stamp story... If you have been checking dropshots.com/mkinthailand you will have seen a picture of an envelope with like 4 stamps on it....there is a story behind that. I have had it forever and just needed a stamp. It took me a long time to find the time to be able to go to the post office. I found the time last week when I didn't have internship for a day. I walked myself down there and took a number. When I was called I asked for a stamp. The post office guy just stared at me blankly, so I said it again. Still blank stare... so once again I asked for a "stamp to America". This time I drew out a letter with my fingers and proceeded to point to the corner where a stamp would go. He then kinda understood and pointed me to another desk. So I waited in line there and then went through the whole process again....including the blank stares. It ended with that lady pointing me back to the first desk I was at. So I went back over and took another number. The guy behind the desk just kept laughing at me whenever he looked up from helping the person in front of me. I then went through the whole process again, speaking Thai and English and then he picked up a letter and asked me where mine was. I told him it was at home but I needed a stamp and would mail it at a mailbox...apparently you need the letter to weigh first to buy a stamp...well, no one told me that. So he weighed a random letter that he found and then told me a price. So I said fine, I'll take it. I reach for my wallet and start counting out the money, and he points to back to the other desk. I was so confused but when back over there. I thought I was finally getting somewhere, but then I had to start again. Back to the whole stamp to america thing and then I said the price and she gave me ,not 1, not 2, not even 3, but 4 huge stamps! There was no way they were all going to fit on my letter...but I took them and said thank you. I had to almost outline the letter with them because there were so many and it was such a small letter. But at least I was able to get them after spending about 15 minutes in the post office.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Exciting News!
I just found out last night that my mom and brother will be coming to Thailand for a week at the end of the program and I'll get to show them where I've been living!! I'm soooo excited but really wish my dad could be coming too....I told him to make it a business trip and come sell textbook to Thailand!
Another piece of excitement is that Spring Break is just around the corner. We're still finalizing our plans but we know for sure that we are headed to Kho Chang. It's Elephant Island. It should be wonderfully relaxing. We're still working on a hotel and all that fun stuff, but we got train tickets to return to Chiang Mai after the beach. We are taking the Night Train from Bangkok to ChiangMai. We're gonna be in the sleeper car with a/c. I'm told it's an awesome experience. There are a bunch of us doing it so the sleeper car might be only us. :)
And...the farewell dinner is this Saturday night. That is gonna be a lot of fun. It's fancy and good food and just a huge party. So I'm working on a video of all the fun stuff we've done in Chiang Mai so far. So everyone is excited to see that! And I'm excited to see the final result too!!
Another piece of excitement is that Spring Break is just around the corner. We're still finalizing our plans but we know for sure that we are headed to Kho Chang. It's Elephant Island. It should be wonderfully relaxing. We're still working on a hotel and all that fun stuff, but we got train tickets to return to Chiang Mai after the beach. We are taking the Night Train from Bangkok to ChiangMai. We're gonna be in the sleeper car with a/c. I'm told it's an awesome experience. There are a bunch of us doing it so the sleeper car might be only us. :)
And...the farewell dinner is this Saturday night. That is gonna be a lot of fun. It's fancy and good food and just a huge party. So I'm working on a video of all the fun stuff we've done in Chiang Mai so far. So everyone is excited to see that! And I'm excited to see the final result too!!
Exams
I got my culture mid-term back and I got an A on that, which is wonderful!! :) And today we had our last Thai language thing EVER! We gave our final speech and did a final group skit. All of which are over now!! :) It's such a good feeling. In the Thai final speech I gave my little 4 minute talk and then they asked me questions. I was really happy because I knew what they were asking me and I knew how to answer and add a little bit more! So I think I did well!! :)
Week Wrapup
It’s been a long time since my last blog update. I guess I just haven’t had that many exciting things to share.
This week was pretty much your average week. Class, Internship, go home, do nothing. Yep…same old same old. It’s kinda crazy to think that parts of my time in Thailand have become that…same old thing. On Tuesday it is officially the ½ way point of my trip. It’s just so insane. I’ll be home in less than 2 months. Wow.
I can’t remember if I told you all this, but I have discovered the English channels on the TV. My family now has let me watch TV. So every now and again I catch an episode of monk on TV. It’s actually quite exciting. I have not been able to watch the Olympics… L sadly the TV doesn’t get that channel. It has Fox News which is good, but it’s basically all just political debates so it’s not exactly the news headlines. To get the news headlines I watch Aljezera TV. Yes…the Taliban network. Haha. But it gives pretty decent world news. Who would have thought?
This week we had art class again. It was much better than my experience with the watercolors. But not that much better. We did ceramics. It was a lot of fun. We toured a pottery village and then were able to make our own bowls with animals on them. After sticking my thumb through the bottom of the bowl 2 times, an art student decided I needed some special attention. So he called over another art student who helped me make a wonderful looking elephant bowl. Then later in the week we painted 2 plates and carved a mug. The painting doesn’t look all that great, but the mug looks good. I had an art student draw a fish on it and then I carved it. I’m excited to get them back. Hopefully nothing bad happens in the firing.
This week we also finished up our Thai language class!! What a wonderful feeling. My brain has been done learning Thai since week 2 of class, but now it’s all done. Tomorrow we have our final exam. We have to do a skit with a group…in Thai. We had to write it and then perform it. So hopefully that goes well. And then I have a final speech. I still need some help with that and it’s 12 hours away. So hopefully my host mother will be able to help me soon.
This is our last week of internship. We have only 3 days this week because tomorrow…Monday….is a national Buddhist holiday. It’s Maka Buja Day. It celebrates the spontaneous gathering of 1500 monks in front of the Buddha and the Buddha gave the rules of conduct for them. So no school for everyone else in the country. . We just have classes. Sunday…today is actually the holiday but tomorrow is the bank holiday.
This past Saturday we had one of our Agape Saturdays! They are always fun. We just went to Agape in the morning and hung out with the kids until lunch. We play jump rope and did balloons and face painting and Aj Mike came and played Santa and did magic tricks. Then after all that we had ice cream! So yummy!! J I’ll post pictures on dropshots! Dropshots is all full on videos so I’m gonna try to upload a select few to my blog! I can’t write the kids names online so that’s why the Agape kids won’t have names. But they are super cute kids!!
Today we had Thai cooking class. It was so much fun. We learned how to make green curry and pad thai and for dessert we made deep fried bananas. It was so delicious! When I get home I am cooking it all! We had the class at the university cooking school so every group of three had their own kitchen area to make it. So I actually got to do the work and learn how to make it.
I have 2 more weeks living with my Thai family. Which in some ways is a really nice thing. Recently it’s been kinda rough. I think my host family has just had too many prior host students and they’ve just given up getting to know people. So they don’t really know me and they are not really making an effort. It was like that all along but now I feel like they are just waiting for me to leave.
I’ll go from feeling really discouraged and then they will do something out of the blue…like invite me to watch Avatar with them. It’s so nice to be invited to do something like that with the family. It’s such a rare occurrence that it makes me feel so special.
I think that’s about it. I wrote a paper on the culture of my family which is pretty interesting if I do say so myself. So if you’re interested in reading it let me know. That’s all for now. Now it’s time for dinner…rice and ___.
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