One Month

I have been away from home for 31 days. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? In a way it feels just like yesterday that I waved goodbye to my family, hopped on a plane weighed down with a Tommy Hilfiger rucksack [courtesy of Chelsea deLeeuw], a carry on suitcase and my not-that-attractive-but-definetely-noticeable Rotary blazer. Now, a month later: I am living with caring parents in a house that is three stories high and full of pictures of the King I have a pink bicycle with a basket and a little bell that I feel mortified to ride, but am grateful for since it provides me with transportation everwhere I have a key, a cellphone, an intercom number and a bulletin board about me at my school I have my own room that I have organised and attempted to decorate complete with all my cards along the back of my headboard The couch in our den has my backside imprint in it I am attending a school that cares whether or not I show up I have friends who invite me out to dinner with them, or to teach me sports I know my way around well enough that I can bike to the market, the coffee shop, to get crepes and to drop off friends without having to ask for directions I make myself dinner sometimes, I pack my own lunch and I buy groceries I no longer find the bathrooms, showers, lack of ovens or stray dogs weird I considered asking my host parents if I could buy a puppy [though I didn't because I remembered there would be no way of bringing it to Canada] I find my own transportation whether by motorcycle, sam law, bicycle or walking to get around the city I have been to a Buddhist mass and have visited too many Wats to count on my fingers I have changed the way I do my hair, the way I dress and the way I get ready in the morning I am much more polite with my elders, and much more outgoing with my friends I have learned to cook some Thai dishes Though it seems like the time has flown by it feels as if all of this could not have happened in only one month. I have started to wonder how close of friendships I will have by the end of the year, and I know I will be heartbroken to leave all of this behind. I feel like I belong here. I feel like a part of a family, a normal student, a normal citizen [despite the stares]. One month out of twelve and I can already say this is the most liberating and heartwarming experience of my life. "We are who we protect; What we stand for"

Peace and Love always, Kulap