Cheese feels normal again

Nothing could have brought down my mood today. Nothing made me upset, I didn't even feel sick this morning for the first time in two weeks. It wasn't too hot today and everything was perfectly spectacular. I have started to feel so comfortable here, it's really starting to feel like home. I have fallen into a routine unlike any vacation I have ever been on. This experience has stopped feeling like a vacation and more like home where there are just as many chances to do some soul searching as there are to get chili peppers with your food. I wake up every morning in the coolness of my bedroom, I turn off and reset the alarm a few times, take a shower and get ready for school. I have stopped forgetting things and it takes me less time everyday to get ready. Having a uniform really cuts down the amount of time I spend getting ready for school. School, though I have different classes everyday is always the same. We have role call at 8 when we line up in rows on the blacktop, sing the national anthem [sometimes multiple times], chant, pray, more chanting and then we sit while the director speaks to us. Until lunch I sit in classes where I have no idea what is going on so I read, write or practice Thai. When I don't have classes I sit outside under the banana trees or tag along to other classes and read, write or practice Thai. At lunchtime I joke around with my friends, sometimes we run around in the rain splashing each other and covering ourselves in mud and then taking turns shaking each others shirts to dry off. At other times we sit in circles playing games, or they take me to the cantina to try new and different food. After lunch I repeat the act of going to classes or having free periods where I read, write or practice Thai.
After school I go out with friends and we get coffee, bubble tea, food or wander around the city. Sometimes I come home after school and watch a movie before reading. I find I am still quite exhausted after school.

Today Bee took me to meet her English tutour. He is from England and lived in Canada for a while so we had a lot to talk about. I had cheese for the first time in three and a half weeks and it was the most glorious moment I have felt in a while. I know that sounds rediculously stupid seeing as it was nothing but cheese and crackers, but if you have ever had to give up something you love for even a week, the moment it comes back into your life you feel like a thousand fireworks went off in your chest and you can't help but smiling. The thing I love is cheese. I explained to him about my coffee situation and how my mom was going to send me filters and a funnel so I could brew my coffee here [they don't brew coffee, it's all instant] and he ran inside bringing out a funnel type device so I can brew it until my mom's package arrives!! I was so happy, I couldn't stop smiling. I also got to play with his dog which made me even happier as I haven't seen Caleb in so long and I had started to forget what a dog's tongue feels like on your hand. He has invited me over in a few weeks when he is going to have a barbecue with his wife and cook lamb! Oh I am so excited. He also told me where I can buy asparagus and potatoes so I can cook food here! He also is making lasagna in a few weeks for Bee's sister who is pregnant and he said maybe I could join them. He has offered to help me out with anything and I can go over whenever I would like. Tonight it was not hot at all and I enjoyed a buffet dinner with friends from school while we watched a group of energetic lizards chasing each other on the wall. I was able to print off some of my favourite pictures so that I can send them and I am so excited to send packages and letters to Canada. Almost as excited as I am to get them. I recieved my first postcard yesterday from my sister and I cried with happiness. I think I startled my host mother quite a bit.
When I get home from being out with my friends I check my email, sometimes I watch a movie and then I go to bed to read and update my journal. I have slacked quite a bit on my journal lately but I have made up for it in blog entries so I don't feel quite so bad. Nothing too exciting has happened in the past few days anyways.
This weekend Kate and Klao have invited me to their house so they can teach me how to make a few traditional Thai desserts as well as let me upload my pictures onto the computer. FINALLY!
So to all of you out there awaiting pictures, THEY ARE COMING.. AND FAST!

I have started getting used to the bug bites, they still itch but I have stopped itching them. I have also gotten quite used to the ants that are everywhere but I have a trusty can of RAID in my bedroom that I attack them with if they go anywhere near my bedroom. It is quite ant free at the moment. And when I can't find the raid, I attack them with bugspray until they are stuck to the floor and stop moving. I feel a little bad for being so evil to the poor insects, but since a bunch of ants ended up inside my iPod and it is now broken, I do not feel much remorse. Suzanne is off to Khon Khen tomorrow with her school to put on a performance about making the world a better place by getting rid of racism. I have watched them practice it a million times and I think it will turn out good but I can't help but feel slightly envious at the fact that they get to spend two days off school, a night in a fancy hotel and a day shopping in Khon Khen while I am stuck here pretending to pay attention in a Thai Calculus class and spending hours upon hours doing nothing. Oh well, it isn't that bad. I have been reading Harry Potter again and have practically finished it and I started it only yesterday. I've also read the entire Chronicles of Narnia, a book from Wendy Ernst and part of the Bible. I have been doing a lot of reading and I'm glad I brought so many books. I'm pretty sure I will run out of books in the next few weeks and then I will be forced to learn Thai as quick as lightening so I can resume reading books ... in Thai. My goal is to read Harry Potter in Thai by the end of my exchange. That could prove quite difficult but I'm up to my own challenge. At the end of the day I still miss my family, friends, dog, cats and Canadian food. But I have started to think less about what I miss and think more about what I won't have when I get back. I can't begin to think about leaving behind Pomello, Ngaw, Motorcycle rides, Sticky Rice, Markets, Roadside shops and banana trees. I know that the longer I am away from something the more rewarding it will be when it returns to me. Kind of like the cheese. "We travel, some of us forever to seek other states, other lives, other souls." - Anais Nin, The Diary of Anais Nin