"We're crossing a giant island on the crappiest road in the world!"

It's been a while, and I do have my reasons. This past week Suzanne and I went travelling in the Central part of Thailand with Peter, the coolest man I have met in my life. He's a Rotarian friend of Suzanne's from her city in Oregon and he has a Thai wife and two Thai kids who live in Bangkok/Pak Chong. We set off last Saturday in the morning to Korat, got picked up by Peter, his wife Julie and the kids Poy [19 year old girl] and Spy [14 year old boy - PSYCHO! (translation to Thai: ba jing jing)]. We spent the rest of the evening buying movies for 3 dollars to watch for the rest of the week and going out for dinner.

The whole week, Spy, Poy, Suzanne and I sat in the trunk of the pickup truck while it whizzed down the highway at 110 km an hour. Completely exhilarating. On Sunday we went to Kao Yai National Park - one of the few reserved parks left in Thailand. We spent the day swimming in waterfalls [that Suzanne got kicked out of], trying to take pictures of monkeys sitting on the side of the road as Peter flew up the side of the mountain, abrubtly stopping so that a giant lizard could pass in front of the truck and standing up in the trunk, leaning over the cab so the wind blew threw our hair and we could see the sunlight gleaming through the trees. It was absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to go back. Sunday night we went on a mad hunt around Tesco Lotus while Peter and Julie picked up some things for the house in Pak Chong. Poy even bought some crazy jelly popsicle things, Thai things never cease to amaze me. We returned home that night with a trunk full of boxes and groceries and four teenagers perched on top, singing while we offroaded through the dirt trails to the house.

Monday was horseback riding day. I've never ridden a horse in my life, but I think I did pretty well. By the end of the day I could trot, canter and gallop all on my own :) We went on a walk with our horses around the dirt roads in the area at the end and my horse "Snow" FINALLY decided to not be lazy and quite stopping randomly. I took everyone out to Swensens that night and got Starbucks, before another adventure at Tesco Lotus - this time with Suzanne, Poy and I searching the aisles for makeup and nailpolish for a "girl's night" while Spy and his friend ran around with shopping carts.

On Tuesday after accidentally backing into a ditch and going through a quite extensive process of getting the truck OUT of the ditch, we were on our way to Bangkok, stopping at Chok Chai farm on the way. Chok Chai farm is like heaven on earth - the best icecream I have ever had. When we arrived in Bangkok 3 hours later Suzanne's Dad's friend Steve picked us up to take us out for dinner at an Indian restaurant. I've never had Indian food before, and it was DELICIOUS! I ate much more than I should have and had a great time talking with him and his cousin who has relatives who live in Burlington! I can't believe someone else has actually been to Burlington, it's quiet exciting.

Wednesday we went shopping in Bangkok and 18 discs of Sex and the City and a lot of wandering later we went out for Japanese food.

Thursday we were up bright and early at 5:30 am [I didn't sleep at all, I stayed up and watched my Japanese drama and Sex and the City - I have horrible sleeping habits in Thailand] to head to Ko Samed, a beautiful island in the gulf of Thailand, just off the coast of Rayong. It was a 2 hour drive there so we packed and were on the road right away. I had to act as the map person [for the first time in my life - Thailand has a lot of firsts] and we actually got to the right spot without getting lost! YAY EMMA! We arrived in Rayong at a fishing dock, payed for a motorboat to the island and set off. The motorboat ride itself was amazing, and the water that sprayed up over the sides was not ice cold like it is in Canada - it was warm!
The boat pulled up into a little bay with crystal blue waters, white sand and beautiful beach bungalows rising up in the hills. The trees were as green as ever, the water was as warm as a pool and there was a breakfast buffet waiting for us at the resort.

For the rest of the day we lounged on the beach, played chicken in the water with Poy and Spy, went snorkelling over a coral reef so full of life that I couldn't pick a single fish to watch and sat in the rocky tide looking over the bay. It was a day to remember. To finish it off, I got an hour long foot massage and I talked to the masseust for the whole time - in Thai. It was just one of those "feel good" days.
Unfortunately at one point in the morning I had fallen asleep on the beach with my back and legs exposed to the scalding sun - I now have a horribly painful sunburn. We took an offroading truck to the other side of the island - backpacker paradise; this is the Thailand I like the best.

We bustled across the dirt roads [occasionally getting hit in the face with tree branches, and nearly falling off the truck] looking at the "not - so - posh" side of the island [ie. it didn't cost $200 dollars a night]. Restaurants, bars and the beach were alive with people, quite unlike the peacefully quiet resort we had just left. But I liked this side better. A ferry ride across the gulf at sunset and a 2 hour drive back to Bangkok later we went out for dinner with Peter's friend, and an Emma so sunburnt she couldn't walk. They took me to get some cream for the burn [the skin had risen by then], which added another hospital trip to my adventure in Thailand. I wonder what will bring me there next.

Friday morning Suzanne and I were up bright and early for a very uncomfortable 13 hour busride home, on a supposed "VIP" bus that picked up illegal passengers while the driver and stewardess pocketed the money. By the time we arrived home at 9:30, I hadn't eaten anything all day except for a donut at 7 that morning and half of a sour mango. On our way out for food we biked by the end of Tony's birthday party at a small bar by the 7 Eleven. Our plan for fried rice and nam nueng ended up with a buffet of party food, punch, socializing with Thai friends of Tony's and wishing him a Happy Birthday.

Beaver Tales

So it has come to that dreaded Beaver Tale time. Not that writing my Beaver Tale was at all dreaded, but that it meant that a third of my trip was already over. It makes me quite sad to think that I am that much closer to going home - I don't want to leave Thailand... ever.

So here is my Beaver Tale and the URL to the website with all the Beaver Tales from the exchange students in Rotary District 7080. Enjoy :)

http://www.clubrunner.ca/dprg/dxprogramhome/_programhome.aspx?did=7080&pageid=625

To say I am following my dreams would be a lie; never have I dreamed of trees such a crisp green, of blood red sunsets that take my breath away, or of mountains so stirring and full of life. I have never dreamed of this moment. For at this instant everything I ever thought impossible, everything I ever thought was a dream, is certain. Reality in Thailand is flawless, which is why this country has been named “The Land of Smiles.” In Thailand, the smells are more potent; the aroma of sticky rice wafts through the house and there is no need to lean down to smell the flowers, for their perfume grabs you as you walk by. The taste of Thai food intoxicates you; apples are juicier, rice is softer and desserts are sweeter than you could have possibly imagined. But the landscape takes the prize for the most indescribable. Every rock and every blade of grass puts me in awe, as if every small detail of the country was planned to form the most stunning of all landscapes. Taking a picture of the rice fields or the river view of the mountains of Laos is impossible. A photograph of such beauty is unattainable.

I have not let the passing time catch up with me or take me off guard, but it is fleeting past me by the second. I try to create photographic images of everything I see and do in my head, so that at the end of the most amazing year of my life, I will remember all of it.

All stories have a beginning, and mine launched at the start of August; a time so near in proximity, but was over 3 months ago, when I left my family, my country and my language behind. My first moments in Thailand set my adoration for my new home; I could not love anything as much as I love Thailand. Everyone I met was so friendly and curious; a group of strangers sitting next to my host family at dinner asked me what country I was from. I told them I lived in Thailand – it just felt right. My first day at school was just as filled with curiosity and excitement; I was introduced to every teacher and then I was placed at a podium in front of the school to give a speech. I gave my “I’m from Canada” speech in Thai which impressed both myself and my host mother – I couldn’t help but grin that I had spoken in Thai, and they had understood me. The students seemed so eager to speak with me, take my picture and teach me languages. Today, they are just as eager, curious and as friendly as ever; I find myself making new friends and going out to eat with new people everyday.

When I signed up for Rotary Youth Exchange I really didn’t know what I was getting into. Sure, I knew that I would be going on a year long exchange, acquiring a new language, a new family and a new view of life, but I didn’t realise just how much of an impact this year would have on the rest of my life. Not only have I changed as a person, but my outlook on life has changed; I guess you could say that I am becoming Thai. I have forgotten all my wants and needs, now I focus on enjoying life and savouring every second as it passes. It was only until the end of my second month here that the culture shock started to wear off; everything here is so remarkably different that I can’t drag my eyes and mind away from how special it is. However, now that I consider myself a Thai person, I feel more comfortable than ever; the familiarity of my life here is astonishing, but settling. I consider my host family an essential part of my life and not just the people I will stay with for the next month, my friends are more than just people to go out with and passing a temple without a wai seems strange and inappropriate. Nothing throws me anymore; seeing stray dogs wandering the streets is as normal as a squirrel running up a tree, eating sticky rice for breakfast everyday is as simple as a bowl of cereal and I can no longer imagine using a bathroom without a “bum squirter”. Existence in Thailand is anything but mundane, I fear the time I waste with dreams that aren’t filled with the smell of the Mekong River, or the sound of birds and traffic in the early hours of the morning. But most importantly, I dread the day when I will leave this fantasy world.

There are no more words to depict just how refreshing this experience is. I could write for days about my adventures and my passion for this country, but the only thing I have left to say is thank you to Rotary district 7080 and district 3340. My utmost gratitude goes out to you for providing me with what is surely to be the most stimulating year of my life.

Peace and Love always,
Emma

"There's no telling where we'll be in a day or in a week, and there's no promises of peace or of happiness." - Patrick Park

"1 Litre of Tears"

Today was a bonding day with my host father.

Over lunch we chatted about a bunch of random things - including the fact that I want to study Chemistry and Psychology in University. He found this very interesting and proceeded to say "NaCl - what is it?" I would answer, he would say "GOOD GOOD!" and give me another one. At one point he pulled salt out of the cabinet and asked me for the formula for that.

My host mother brought home a TV series that one of her students lent her. I decided to watch an episode with them and it turns out that it is a Japanese drama based on a book. Japanese language + Thai subtitles = No English. It was quite odd, but I could understand most of it just from the body language and tones of their voices. It's a great show, probably my favourite so far.

Plus, I am now in love with the main male character <3

HE'S SO GORGEOUS - and now I want to marry a Japanese boy, quite similar to this one :)

The Mountain

I am sore again, but this time not from running a race; from climbing a mountain. This was not just any mountain, but a 4km hike up the steep side of a thickly forested cliff - lots of climbing from rock to rock, lots of falling and lots of sweat. It took us 2 hours to get to the destination and by the time we got there I had said numerous times how I was "never going to climb this damned mountain again." But once we did get to the destination, and I saw what the 2 hour drive to the mountain and the 2 hour climb was for, I immediatley took my comments back and vowed to come back to this spot many more times before my exchange was over.

At the top was a cavern, dressed as a home for some monks. We spent the rest of the morning talking with the monks in their cavern home about righteousness and the path of life. I can't say much more, it was too much of an incredible experience to put in words - plus the whole experience feels very personal to me; it was me and the cavern. What happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain.

So I will leave this post at that, and if you want to see what put me in awe of life itself, you'll just have to come to Thailand.

"Come roll in all the riches all around you, and for once never wonder what they're worth"
- Pochahontas

See Muang

I am sore, and I feel as if I should be covered with black bruises though my skin is as white as ever.

Thursday was Colour Sport Day - day 3. The day of my big race, the day of the final competitions and the day that the results of the three day competitions were announced. I woke up at 8, biked the 4 km from Suzanne's house to the school and crossed the large field to the bleachers overflowing with colourful students. My cheerleader friends were there all dressed up - the boys in jeans and white flannel shirts with cowboy hats, and the girls in black tight pants, tank tops and big black hats covered in fishnet. My other friends were there in their school gym pants, and their purple shirts, all of them wearing matching painted Vietnamese straw hats. They had big tents set up with CD's hanging from them, and our display was set up at the back of the bleachers. Everyone was excited and full of energy. The other colours were also set up similarly to ours along the same side of the field, on the other was the marshalling area for the runners, in the centre of the field was a painted track and a tug of war rope.

Ai told me that instead of just running the relay race with her and our other two friends, I also had to run a 200m sprint by myself. My first race was in the morning and the relay was in the afternoon - lots of time to recooperate between races. I haven't run a race since grade 8 so I wasn't feeling particularly confident, but my legs are longer than the other girls' so I was hoping that would give me an advantage. I was taken to the marshalling area and we sat around for a while as we watched the younger students take turns racing around the field. Apparently in Thailand, you don't wear shoes while you race, you go barefoot. I decided to go against my natural instinct to wear running shoes and ran the first race barefoot. The race didn't go quite as spectacularly as I had hoped, running on grass really isn't my preference and neither is starting at the sound of a gun. Guns scare me, even in elementary school I had to run last for relays because I can't start when they use guns. I did end up in second, only a metre or so behind see luang [yellow], but it was a little disheartening, my team had been counting on my long legs to get first. Oh well, I tried.

Some boys in the shade called me over to sit with them and for a while we sat and made small talk in Thai while watching the races. I wanted to buy them icecream but they wouldn't let me - it was seriously no problem for me to buy them icecream, it isn't expensive at all but they kept saying no. We lost the tug of war - 15 girls from see muang [purple] vs. 15 girls from see luang. We really didn't have a strategy - "JUST PULL!" was what we said, but a strategy is probably the best idea for tug of war. Our boys won however, so that was exciting. We had lunch in the shade of the tents, I finally persuaded my friend Wut to let me buy him icecream and we cheered on the cheerleaders as they performed. The girls were now wearing green flowerprinted dresses with big sunflowers in their hair.

In the afternoon, Ai came to get me to go for our relay race. Unfortunately during the race one of the girls rolled over her ankle and I had to try to catch up to a 60m gap between us and the colour in 4th. We ended up in 5th, but we were still happy that the other purple team got 2nd. By then, I had run too much in one day, I was feeling faint and my legs were sore. But 10 minutes later as I was lying on the ground, a few girls from purple came up to tell me that a girl on their relay team had a stomach ache and couldn't run. They wanted me to run with them, in the next race. So I was off again, running 100m this time and our team got 2nd. YAY! :)

To finish off the day all the colours gathered on the field with flags and signs and the director called out all the winners for every event. The big one was last - the winners of the cheering [cheerleaders, clapping students etc.] And the winner is.... SEE MUANG!!!!

It was utter pandemonium, the ladyboys next to me screamed at the top of their lungs - shrieking. Everyone was throwing their Vietnamese hats, waving flags, screaming and P'Four was in tears that his cheerleading team had won. Hugging broke out, kissing [?!!!!!!!!!!] and high fives all around. Then the entire school formed groups of circles and swayed back and forth as we sang - the circles broke out into the konga.

That evening the M5 and M6 students from see muang all went out for Japanese suki. We sat at the restaurant eating buffet for hours, drinking slushies and eating seafood. Afterwards we went to the karaoke shop next door and 30 of us crammed into a tiny room where they blared Thai rock, pop and rap while dancing and singing along. It was the most fun I've ever had singing karaoke - even though I didn't know the words.

"We will, we will rock you"

No, we don't have the "Pom Pom Dance!"

I never thought I would be, but I am now a cheerleader; or was as I finished yesterday.

Before I start, you must not be mistaken with the notion that cheerleading in Thailand is remotely close to cheerleading in Canada. In fact, nothing is - and from reading my blog you should all know that by now. When my host mother thinks something is "cute" and that you would be very "na rak" [cute] if you do it - that is pretty much an order. My host mother thought that cheerleading was "na rak" - so, naturally, I was dubbed into the cheerleading cult almost instantly - a long three weeks of practices both during every one of my lunch periods, as well as gang meetings at the dark school, every single night.

Instead of having sports throughout the year, Thai people have "Colour Sport Day" - a three day track & field day where every sport is played by the students in the school. The school is split up into four colours - yellow, pink, blue and purple and the colours compete through each sport [including cheerleading]. I am on the purple team, and our cheerleading practices are very different during lunch time than they are at night. During lunch we meet outside of the English department on the lawn and they teach me a new cheer every day. Apparently I am learning fast - but as Thai cheerleading requires only the movement of your arms, I don't feel remotely proud of this accomplishment. The practices usually last 30 minutes in which there are frequent breaks, most of which involve me running away to play volleyball with the boys, or talk with my friends. The students who are not involved in a sport or cheerleading sit on the lawn and learn cheers! Just imagine, 100 students all chanting and clapping together, run by a 17 year old equipped with a megaphone and her band of troops. They call themselves "Staff" and wear nametags; some of the cheers they teach are rendered from English cheers ie. "We Will Rock You", "I Feel Good", and a Thai cheer to the tune of "When The Saints Go Marching In". Our choreographers is a boy in M6 named P'Four, a ladyboy who has better style than me and also has a twin brother - another ladyboy choreographer for "see chompoo" [pink].

At night time however, when there are no teachers and the hundred students cheering are at home studying [or sleeping] we gather on the patio at the school. Practice is much more intense; there are less frequent breaks, more yelling from P'Four and more boys show up. Some of the boys are cute, and most of them are considered "gangsters" - according to Suzanne's host father. They drive in with their truck, blaring Thaitanium [Thai rap] and on the back of their motorbikes. Then they dance on top of their truck for a good 15 minutes before coming to join the practice. I had the pleasure of joining them once with a few other girls on my team and they were more than surprised to see the falang's version of dancing to rap. The girls on the cheerleading team don't talk to me very often, so I usually talk to the boys. They are very nice - I always find the ladyboys the most entertaining though, they also dance the best.

Yesterday was our performance and it was slightly bitter-sweet. After going through the long process of makeup and hair for Lai Rua Fai I was less than ecstatic to have to go through the whole thing again. This time I had to be up for 4am, so again I stayed up all night, one of the boys picked me up at my houst 45 minutes late in the blackness of the early morning and I arrived in my school uniform [like the told me] and they were all still wearing jeans and sweaters. It is now cold here, so wearing a skirt and t-shirt was much colder than I had thought - but I should have guessed, Thai people never tell you exactly what is going on, they tend to leave bits of information out. They put my hair in a mullet [trendy in Thailand] and 4 pounds of makeup later, donned with different coloured [and different sized] earrings we were ready to go. As Thailand is a country where anything is possible, even the boys had loads of makeup on - glitter on their lips and everything. I told them they looked pretty and giggled at their purple eyeshadow and sparkly lips - they told me they would rather be handsome :) One of the girls had bought purple sashes but forgot that I was on the team with them and so I didn't wear one. They also forgot to buy me matching black stiletto shoes - so I wore gold ones.

We walked out in front of the student body - which was split up into colours with everyone wearing matching shirts and pants in their colour - and danced. It was exhilarating, the students sang the cheers faster than we had practiced so I found my arms flying at an alarming pace, and watching my friends in the front row cheering the loudest. It was quite amusing, but after we finished performing and cheered at the endless line of basketball games for hours on end, I was exhausted and the lack of sleep was catching up on me. We were the only cheerleading team that cheered throughout the entire day; the other colour teams got tired and left. I left for a few hours and took haven in the nurse's office where I slept for a few hours [with the nurse coming in every once in a while and putting her hand on my side] before returning to my team still smiling as wide as ever [except that two of the boys had left].

I have made very good friends with some of the boys on the team - one of them even took me out on a date. After practice one night he drove up beside me and my bike on his motorcycle and asked me if I had eaten yet. I had, but told him I could go eat if he hadn't yet. He wanted me to go out for icecream with him, so we dropped off my bike and I hopped on the back of his motorcycle. This was quite a sight for Thai people, as a girl usually only sits on the back of a boy's motorbike if they are dating. We had icecream, and then went to visit his cousin at her music performance where I ran into Suzanne. Then we went on a ride around the city, stopping off at the markets and then ending up at Suzanne's school where their cheerleading team was practicing. Cheerleading at N.P.W is much different than at Piya, it is much closer to Canadian cheerleading. Suzanne was there as well, and after attempting to take part in their practice [and almost dropping one of their cheerleaders] we tried to get them to play Red Rover with us. They didn't understand and instead shunned us while they continued practicing.

Tomorrow, I will be running in a 200m relay race with three of my friends from M5/1. They liked the fact that I have long [compared to Thai people's] legs so I was inducted into their team.

When my host mother enquired about cheerleading in Canada she asked
"Do you have Pom Pom dance?"
"No, we don't use Pom Poms"
"You don't have the Pom Pom dance?"
"Nope, that's only in movies"
"Really? But I see in movies..."
"Yep, in movies, but not in real life - school's don't have cheerleading teams"
"NO POM POM DANCE?!"

"Music's the reason why I know time still exists"
- Elisa

The Magician Monk

Quite spontaneously, my friends invited me to go to the Wat in Ban Paeng this weekend. I've wanted to go to Ban Paeng since I got here because it's less than 2 hours away and it has waterfalls, so when they invited me I immediately packed my bags before even asking if it was okay - it was though :)

Before I left yesterday afternoon I came down the stairs to find my host father sitting at his desk smiling at me wearing a rice harvesting straw hat. Seriously, I don't understand all his crazy costumes but he makes me kill myself laughing, so he's a pretty cool man.
Klao and Kate are my twin friends, and I set off with them, their Khun Yai / Khun Ta [grandmother/grandfather], Khun Loong [Uncle] and Khun Mae [Mom] to Ban Paeng. The entire way there, Khun Mae and Khun Yai marvelled at my ear piercings. It was a very funny conversation. Khun Yai also tried to speak to me in Laos [which I can't understand] which ended up with the weekend being devoted to teaching me Laos. I shall be quite fluent with languages by the end of the year. We picked up Khun Na [Aunt] and their two cousins [one of which is the smallest and most adorable 13 month old I've ever seen] and headed to the Wat.

I love Thai countryside. Not only are there cows and buffalos wandering everywhere, but it was amazing to watch all the people harvesting the rice in the big fields. There were so many streams, ponds and mountains that were breathtaking. I didn't have to speak with anyone, I just stared out the window in awe for almost the whole drive.

When we arrived at the Wat there was a party going on. It was dark by then and there were lights strung up everywhere with tents set up with food. Free food. We wandered around the temple grounds, eating deep fried sticky rice and I was introduced to many people who ALL happen to be Kate/Klao's cousins; even the head monk who built the temple is their cousin. But more about him later. We then went to Khun Yai/Khun Ta's house and Klao and I went to the market to buy some food. We got roti and mangoes. They refused to eat my mangoes though, because they weren't sour like the unripe ones. That's right, Thai people eat sour, unripe mangoes and dip them in fish sauce. Khun Mae set to work making Chai yen and Iced Coffee to give out to people at the Wat the next day. Kate and I slept in a small room and she seriously increased my Laos vocabulary.
The interesting thing about this house was that it was completely open. Half of the walls were chain link fences that were attached to the roof and the walls didn't fit together, so there were foot wide cracks between the rooms. It was really interesting to spend a night in a village house, where the kitchen is classicly Isaan [outside with none of the luxuries, like a fridge], there's no air condtioning, the TV is black and white and gets no reception and to shower you need to pour buckets of water over yourself. Needless to say, I now have a lot of misquito bites, but it was an experience.

This morning we woke up at 5am to get ready to go to the Wat. We packed the truck with all the drink supplies and Kate/Klao's Khun Paw [Dad] and little sister arrived in their truck, equipped with their dog that hates me. The dog stayed at the house and we sat on the tail of the pick-up truck to get ice. More cows wandered by, oh how I love the cows.
Once we arrived at the Wat, we set up our drink station and bought Chinese doughnuts. I have now found something MORE fattening than toast with butter, condensed milk and sugar - doughnuts covered in condensed milk. But it's delicious, so I don't even care. The iced coffee was also delicious; it's ancient Thai coffee mixed with condensed milk, and then evaporated milk poured on top. SOOOOOOO yummy, especially when you dip condensed milk covered doughnuts in it - I'm going to get fat.

We organized our merit bowls and then got in the line to give our food to the monks, and there were a lot of them! Klao and I shared a bowl of creme puff desserts and sticky rice - apparently since we were sharing we will meet each other in our next life. After giving the monks our food we handed out free drinks to everyone [and ate a lot too] until there was none left - then we went to the service. We prayed for a long time, we donated money and then all the money that the Wat had recieved was counted. The monks live at the temple and have nothing except for what they are given; they don't eat anything unless they are given food. So, there was a big table with mats and buckets and gifts for the monks as well as the people walking around collecting money and food.

After praying some more we went to feed the fish in the river nearby. The river was home to the cutest turtles ever [if turtles can be considered cute] and fish the size of a human. I would be lying to say I wasn't a little scared, but I had a massive urge to go swimming with them. There are so many animals at the temple! It turns out, that lots of people get "bored" of their animals and so they give them to the temple. The Wat is now home to two monkeys, three birds, a bunch of chickens [I'm assuming those just wandered in on their own accord], many cats, a golden retriever puppy named "Cornai" and another litter of puppies that were born just a few days ago in a garbage can in one of the monk's houses. It made me sad to see the birds and monkeys locked up, and frusterated me that their owners just didn't want them anymore.

We returned to the Wat after wandering the grounds and Ruang Paw [the head monk] was throwing money wrapped in ribbons around the room. Everyone was scrambling to catch them, but he HANDED me a handful of them... HANDED THEM STRAIGHT TO ME!!!! [For everyone who doesn't understand this significance - that is something monks DON'T do. They are not allowed to touch women and they NEVER hand anything to a woman, they put it on a surface nearby and you pick it up. So that, my friends, is the coolest thing since sliced bread]. Meanwhile everyone was running around taking things that were tied to the poles in the hall - coconuts, sugar cane, banana bunches, decorations etc. We ended up with two coconuts and I got hummingbirds made out of palm leaves.

Then we were off to the waterfalls in Ban Paeng, and they were beautiful. Again, even just the ride up the mountain pass and through the fields and villages was enough to confirm my adoration for Thailand - but the waterfalls were beautiful! Neither had very much water because it is now the dry season, but there was enough for them to still make me fall in love with them. I definetely will be going back, even if I have to take the bus all the way out into the villages. The first waterfall was short but opened up into a giant pool where I went swimming [in my jeans and tshirt]. The pool is usually much bigger in the rainy season so the land area was covered with giant tree roots and rocks - it was gorgeous. The second waterfall was much bigger, it was set on the side of the mountain face with huge rocks along the bottom and a small stream. We climbed up through the forest on the mountain to the top and it was just as beautiful at the top as it was at the bottom. The view was spectacular.

When we returned to the Wat we went to go see Ruang Paw and pay our respects. Instead, we saw a bunch of Thai celebrities who came to the Wat for the special ceremony, as well as visiting Ruang Paw, who the Thai people believe has Cosmic Power and can perform magic. I also happened to see the most gorgeous Thai man I've seen yet. He smiled at me a lot, it made me happy - to think, a Thai celebrity SMILED at me. OOOOOOOH it was a good day. We got to watch him have this really special ceremony with Ruang Paw and his girlfriend [oh yes, I was very sad when I found out]. This is how it went step by step:

1. Ruang Paw wrote on his scalp, rubbed oil over top and blew on it
2. Ruang Paw wrote on his chest, rubbed oil over top and blew on it
3. Ruang Paw put gold on his chest and forehead, put oil over top and rubbed it until the gold went into his skin - they believe that by doing this, Ruang Paw is putting gold into your body and giving you good luck.
4. Ruang Paw sprayed special perfume on his scalp, put his hand on it and blew on it.
5. Then, his girlfriend came over and he put gold on her forehead, rubbed it in and Ruang Paw blew on it [He had to help out Ruang Paw because monks can't touch women].
6. Ruang Paw put gold on his palms and rubbed it in.
7. He put gold on her palms and rubbed it in.
8. Ruang Paw wrote on her arms [not touching her] and then the boy rubbed in the oil to wash away writing].

I believe the girl had more done to her, but then we were distracted because the boy was getting something else done by the other monks - getting silver inserted into his arm. It was quite disturbing, but mesmerizing at the same time. Kate/Klao's mother has silver in her arm, Buddhists believe that it will make them rich. They pulled the skin from around his biceps and pushed a pin through it, then inserted a ball of silver. They asked me if I would like to do that too, and I did, but not today - I will do it before I leave though, I am determined. Then, we had to go because the rest of the celebrities needed to hurry back to Bangkok - Ruang Paw gave me special stones to protect myself and handed them straight to me AGAIN! All I can say is, wow.

To top off the amazing weekend, when I returned home I found my host mother singing Kareoke VERY loudly by herself. My host family is hilarious - I love them.

"Love, I need somebody"

Fatty Fruit Platter

Another random, fun-filled blogpost. Because my life lately is so random and fun-filled. WOOT.

1. On Saturday after our horrible attempt at a bike ride, my host mom took Suzanne and I to get our hair cut. My hair was getting super long, and to the point where I could no longer spike it up and make it look all "punk-rocker" like [or like a duck's ass... thank you mother :)] so it needed some trimming. Plus it is still super hot and humid here, so hair that is long enough to stick to your neck but not long enough to put in a ponytail is a real pain. Anyways we arrived at my host mother's hairdresser [it turns out that my host mom gets her hair washed and set every week and then doesn't wash it in the shower until the next week]. Odd. At least I thought it was, I've never heard of that before. I was a little scared about how my hair would turn out because the trend for female hairstyles tends to be mullets of all shapes and sizes. I did not want a mullet, so my host mom and I searched some magazines for celebrities with nice hair and we FINALLY found one. I was the first to get my hair done; no luxurious washing of the hair - just an attack from a spray bottle. They also didn't use scissors, just the little razor thing to make the ends all razor like. They used that on Suzanne's hair too, which is LONG, so it did not make sense at all. Then came the process of blowdrying my hair into the perfect Thai school girl bob and curling it in; not quite as "punk-rocker" as I had hoped, but I fixed it when I got home. My host mother thought it was adorable though, and whatever she thinks is cute... goes. As a bonus, it only cost me 50 baht! ie. $1.75 for a haircut that would cost $35 in Canada. Oh, I love Thailand.

2. My host mother enquired about my eyebrow/eyelash colour the other day. She wondered why my eyelashes were brown when my hair was blonde, same for my eyebrows. I explained to her that my eyelashes and eyebrows are just that colour. She seemed confused that they weren't "same, same". She proceeded to tell me that if I coloured my eyebrows darker they would be much more beautiful. So much for my self esteem :)

3. We went to a Rotary meeting yesterday and I had my two guy friends drive us on their motorbikes. You have no idea how exciting it is to sit on the back of a motorbike [unless you've tried]. Driving one is even more exciting. When I get back to Canada I am buying one because they are just SO awesome. It was nice riding on the back of a boy's motorbike, it felt like I had good guy friends - usually they don't offer me rides because I have my sexy, pink "Hello Kitty Turbo Racer" bike [with a bell and basket.. all the works.. oh my ego]. At the Rotary meeting we showed everyone our pictures from dancing at That Phanom and Suzanne and I devoured an entire fruit plate to ourselves. Next meeting I need to video tape our eating - the other fruit plate [shared by 15 people] was over half full by the end of the meeting - ours was completely empty along with the plate of fried durien and toffees. The night ended with two Rotarians driving us home while I mimicked the voices of Prison Break characters and broke into fits of hyena laughter. Suzanne couldn't help but laugh at my obnxious laugh and then I laughed even harder - we scared the Rotarians.

4. We now have a new door to the house! *ADDITION* I came home from school to find my host dad sitting in the garage wearing a blue hard hat, watching 4 men rip apart the door. He's such an interesting, little, man. If that wasn't enough he put a block in front of the door so "no maeo!"[cat] While I was watching TV my dad wandered into the TV room, still wearing the hard hat. I love him, he completes my life. *ADDITION END* So my parents decided that getting out of the car to unlock the padlock on the garage door and then getting back INTO the car to drive in the garage was too much energy [and I agree] so they put in an electrical door with a button and made a small door on the side for me to come through when they aren't home. I now have to unlock the padlock on the gate, pull my bike through into the tiny alley between the gate and the side of the house, then lock the gate and walk my bike through [occasionally lifting it up through places the handlebars won't fit] to the door where there is ANOTHER padlock. I still don't understand why the gate that comes up to my waist and anyone could easily hop over needs a padlock, but I don't ask questions. Like I said, "It's Thailand, enough said". It's crazy how many padlocks there are on doors here and how stressed out all the Thai people are about thiefs. The other day I left my purse in the kitchen when I went to the bathroom and when I came back out my host mom freaked out about me leaving it lying around. I said "But we're in the house" and she continued to tell me that a burgaler would walk in the house and steal my purse. As if the burgaler wouldn't go after the TV or the DVD player in plain sight first.. he'd go after my purse that has a total of 100 baht in it [3 dollars]. Leaving a bike outside the house and not in the garage is also unacceptable. It's crazy to think that in Canada people leave their cars and doors unlocked at their house and how people leave things on their porches all the time. Here, that is not an option.

5. My computer is fixed [HOORAH] and I have hooked up my webcam and registered on Skype. I bet you're happy, aren't you mom? :)

6. Christmas is coming soon [not in Thailand of course, but back home] and I have been very busy writing letters and getting gifts together. It's a lot of work when you have to do everything so far in advance. My family already got their giant box of presents that I sent in September so now I just have to send some for a few more people. I've been to the post office 3 times this week, I've spent more money on letters than I have on food. But that's okay because my goal to not buy anything else until December is holding up beautifully.

7. I am the English teachers' slave. It is quite frusterating sometimes. They pull me out of class to check their grammar on things, they fight with me about how to properly spell words like "neighbour". They insist that I am spelling it wrong because I don't use American spelling. Why would I? I type up their tests, their lesson plans and help them teach their students. I should start asking for money :)

"I wish that all my life I'd be without a care and flying free" - Don Besig

"It's Thailand, enough said"

I never thought that I would be writing one of those blogs where I just ramble about a bunch of different things that are hardly related. But I feel very talkative today, and I have lots to say about a lot of different things so I am going to astound myself and write a random blog post. Be prepared.

1. Suzanne and I have started this joke that whenever something happens that is super messed up or weird we just say "It's Thailand, enough said" - because NOTHING is the same in Thailand. If you gave me anything to talk about I could tell you how it is different in Thailand, and I mean everything. So, humour me if you will - give me ANY topic and I will tell you the difference, I am sure I could give you at least one.

2. I swear that the bugs [particularly the ants] are on steroids. Either that or there is some form of toxic waste in the air that has transformed them into super bugs that can fly and crawl so fast that you can't even tell if it is an ant or a spider. The misquitoes are black, not brown like in Canada; and misquito bites hurt, they don't itch. The ants haunt my nightmares. I have become so "Thai" that when there are ants on my food I just shake them off and keep eating, but that doesn't change how much they creep me out. The most disgusting thing is to walk into the kitchen to make scrambled eggs and find hundreds of ants crawling all over the stove, the pan, the utensils and the counter. They also like to crawl along the edges of the kitchen table until someone puts food on top. I have stopped eating sticky rice at my house because hoards of ants keep appearing in the jar. Nothing is safe from them. My mom sent me a giant package of food from Canada and the ants had gotten through the giant cardboard box, then into the smaller graham cracker box, then through the PLASTIC! How, I don't know, I told you they were on steroids. I saved the crackers, but it was still gross and made my stomach churn. They find food EVERYWHERE and no matter how much ant poison you spray, they find their way through it. I swear if I die from anything here, it will be ant poison; I have to spray down the sides of my bed so I don't get attacked in my sleep. Though I don't eat in my bedroom, they're curious little buggers and like to run around my bed.... nasty.

3. In Thailand, a funeral lasts a minimum of three days and increases in time depending on how important the person was. For the first two of the three days the family of the deceased holds celebrations and ceremonies at their house, and then on the last day they have a ceremony at a temple where the body is cremated and half of the ashes are let out into the river. It turns out that the Princess of Thailand [The King's sister] died in January and they have had celebrations for her everyday since. They have yet to cremate the body but I believe that the time will come soon.

4. There is a dog following me. He does not have rabies and won't bite me, but he follows me. The first time I saw him he was at my school and I played with him and he followed me around that day. Over the school break I saw him another three times: twice at the market and once outside a restaurant. He just wandered right up to me and jumped up wagging his tail. Now that I am back in school he comes to see me everyday in the English Department - wagging his tail and letting me play with him. He usually follows me around all day, only leaving when the teachers get really mad and push him out the door. He has fleas and strongly needs a bath, I think I will sneak him into the girls' washroom and give him a shower. The teachers don't like dogs, most Thai people don't, so I get yelled at for playing with him.
"HE'S DIRTY! DON'T TOUCH HIM!"
There are some teachers that are nice about it, they feed him fish and sticky rice and put food outside of the English Department door for him to eat. Everyday when I come to school he is waiting for me, asleep on the ground in the Department and as soon as he hears me come in, or as soon is I pet him he is up and following me around. His name is Rusty :)

5. Suzanne and I have been attempting to make No-Bake Cookies because we don't have ovens here. Both times they turned out very well; the only problem is that we keep eating them. I think I must have gained some weight, my legs are much more muscular from biking everywhere, and I have gained a bit of a tummy. It needs to go. I have been slacking on exercising lately because of the school break, and now I am not allowed to go to yoga for a few more weeks because I have cheerleading practice at the same time [that will be explained in my next blog post, I can assure you]. So, for now, I am eating a load of candy, icecream and cake and exercising by watching tv and "cheerleading" [if you could call it that]. I might start running or something in the mornings before I go to school but I can barely get up on time as it is so I think that is HIGHLY unlikely.

6. On Saturday Suzanne and I wanted to be healthy and go on a long bike ride. We were planning on biking to Wat Phra That Phanom which is 50 km away, roughly an hour long drive. We figured it would take us 2 1/2 hours there, we could stop for food and to walk around and then 2 1/2 hours back. Not too bad. We got about halfway there [20 km] and we stopped at the side of the country road for water. As we had biked by people we knew they said "Where are you going?" "Wat Phra That Phanom" we replied. Then there was a gasp, a lot of giggling and we carried on our way. While we were stopped it started to rain. Slowly at first and then harder as the time went by. We didn't know whether we should keep going or not, we were both pretty tired and it was raining, but at the same time we would still have to bike back in the rain when we were tired either way. While we were sitting there pondering a truck drove by us and stopped at the side of the road. We figured it was some person offering us a ride, but we didn't want to socialize with strangers [who were probably old men] so we waved them to go away. They ignored us and got out - it was a boy from my Gym/Guitar class. We took the ride and he laughed at the fact we were going so far away in the rain. Maybe next time we should aim a bit lower than a 100 km bike ride. Today when I came to school, my entire Gym/Guitar class made jokes about my excursion - of course he had told them. Oh well, maybe we can find some other Thai people to join us on our bike ride next time.

"I feel good, na na na na na na na"