Little Wonder - Modified with Pictures

I didn't know what to title this blog entry, so I titled it to the song name that's playing right now on my mp3 player. "Little Wonder" by David Bowie. I love Bowie. I'm currently questing for the "Earthling" album cover-poster. Yes, I am. I want to find it and put it on my wall back home. I love that album - my favorite of his.

Anyway, onto Thailand matters:

Picking up where I left off; It's a good thing I write in a journal...

Day 5 in Thailand [August 8th]

I went to the mall again. This time, I got another pair of sandals (you'd understand why if you lived in Thailand), a pair of shorts (I didn't bring any, thinking girls weren't really allowed to), and these hair tie things that have these huge pon-pon things on them. They're cute, really.

For lunch, I had Mama. I was really good. It's a lot like ramen, but it's not ramen; it's hard to describe. Later that day, Kun-pah needed to go the mall to pick something up and Moei and I went with (we were on our wa to our relatives' again). We got a special treat for going with him. They make these waffle things there, with different flavors. They're weird, but really good. I got maple.


Day 6 [Aug. 9]

I wore one outfit, but ended up changing into another. I had to change into my yellow shirt and a skirt, then wore a little flower thing. Rotary went to the jail for this huge donation thing. We donated some women's' stuff to the women prisoners, as Mother's Day was the 12th. Some of the prisoners put on a Thai dance. We ate there, and after we ate, there was some coconut milk ice cream, and a male prisoner was a fortune teller, he came over to us and 'read' a couple people's fortunes using a chess board and one player's worth of chess pieces. It was interesting, even though I couldn't understand what was going on. The whole thing was recorded, and some of it was on TV the next day, at about 11:30 AM. It was pretty cool.

PICTURES:
Rotary here donates stuff to the women in the prisons for Mothers' Day, on August 12.
It wasn't on August 12, but it was still a big deal.
During the celebration under the tents.
Thai Pepsi can.
Some of the women prisoners did some Thai dancing for the gathering.
The guy on the right is a prisoner as well. He's also a fortune teller, and the lady on the left is getting her fortune told. The chess board is part of the whole thing.

Later we went to a Rotary Club meeting, and I gave a 2-minute speech on who I was, where I was from. I presented the Monmouth's Rotary Club banner to Vinai (host club's president), and was surprised with a small birthday party. This time it was a "regular" cake, but it was still pretty good. The candles had a little trouble getting snuffed, though.

PICTURES:
I am presenting the Monmouth Rotary Club's banner to Vinai, President of my host club in Udonthani.
There ended up being another surprise B-Day party for me at the club meeting.
I already blew out the candles, 2 of them actually went out. A couple others [wax and all] burst into flames like rockets crash-landing into my cake.
I had some help getting the candles out, because they wouldn't go out. They weren't trick candles, either! [laughs] We eventually got them out by dodging our hands in, pulling a candle out one by one, and putting them out cigarette-style.
Cutting the cake with my host family. Brothers Tang and Teng in the back, then dad, me and mom in the front. It was a normal cake this time.

Day 7 [Aug. 10]

Only 24 more hours and I've officially been in Thailand for a full week.

I'm not used to having a maid. Seriously. I woke up hungering for some Goober & Grape on some bread. I knew we got bread the other day, so I started looking for it. I was on the hunt. I couldn't find it, though, so I asked the maid. She looked around and couldn't find it, either. She told Kun-Pah. He came in and looked for the bread. At this point, I'm feeling this is unnecessary and I can do without. It was okay, I could make something else instead. No need to fuss over bread. Kun-Pah insisted I get bread though, so he looked a little more, then gave the maid some money. The maid came back with a loaf of bread and change. She gave me the bread and Kun-Pah the change. I made my Goober and Grape sandwich feeling awkward, but at least my appetite was fixed.

I went to Holly's and hung out with her and her host dad, we talked and watched some TV. They took me out for supper, and we had this huge issue with fish heads. It's a huge inside joke, but it was really funny. Good food, too. Holly's host family presented their mother with the floral 'wreath' and did the whole Mother's Day ceremony to the moms. Then Holly and I presented our wreaths and did the ceremonial thing. The rest of the family gets on their knees facing the mother who sits in the chair. The children and husband tell the mother how wonderful she is, and how much their love her, then present her with the wreath of flowers and bow their heads as the mother hands out hugs and pats on the head. Sometimes the mother gives gifts of money to the children after the ceremony.

PICTURES:
I guess Holly just doesn't like fish heads.
Holly's family in the background, Holly's head is the furry thing in the bottom left corner. She -really- doesn't like fish heads.
Holly's head escaped from camera view. She was too low, avoiding the fish.
Holly's dad doesn't mind. He kissed the fish head.
Traditional Mother's Day ceremony. The rest of the family kneels and gives the mother (who sits on a chair) a traditional wreath of flowers.
Holly's and my turn.
A group photo.
Yumm... Fish head wasabi raw salmon ice cream. [Inside joke, it's really not all that tasty, trust me - don't try it.]


Day 8 [Aug. 11]

I was woken up early today.

All the family piled into the car and we drove about a hour or so outwards of Udonthani, to another relative's of ours. We hung out there for about a half hour or so, went into the back yard and talked. I sat in the swing and looked out from the backyard. It was beautiful. The house was on a hill, and right at the end of their property, the hill drops to reveal a huge valley-type ordeal, with a lake, lots of trees, and mountains in the distance. It was beautiful.

PICTURE:
Me on the swing, looking out from on top of the hill in the back yard.

We all piled into the cars again, this time with more relatives, and drove some more. About 40 more minutes or so out. We drove to the lake and I thought I saw the houses on stilts that I've seen in books, but we drove through a little water and up onto the hill near the houses. As we got closer, I realized they were more like floating rooms. They were wooden floors, with railings, a roof, and a table in the middle. Pretty cool, I thought. We piled into one, ordered some food, and pushed the table-boat-thing into the lake, and relaxed. We talked, then we went back shore, got the food, ate, and relaxed some more.

PICTURES:
Boat-table-room thing.
Inside the boat.
My 'Mentor' and Julie.
We're steering the boat away from shore. You turn the wheel (it's harder than it looks) and the boat thing moves on a rope.
Thailand has Bugles, too. [laughs]
Relaxing in the boat and waiting for our food to cook (back on shore).

I found a sandal by the rope when were in the lake, and I told them. It turned out our boat was leaking sandals (you take your shoes off in this little area on the boat thing), and one of them was even mine. My 'monkey feet' came in handy though, as I reached out with my foot and brought it back aboard the ship when no one else could.

PICTURE:
Someone's sandal is overboard.

On the way to and from the lake were TONS of potholes, twists, turns, bumps and hills. I don't think I've been on many roller coasters that were better than these car rides. Especially when you can't dig out the seat belt fastener from under the seat. Oh well, on the way back we had to slow down because there were cows in the road. The farmer was herding them around with some cow-dogs. They're like sheep dogs, but for cows. One dog was even a cute little wiener-dog-looking dog.

PICTURES:
Some cows in the road.
Rice paddies to Thailand are cornfields to Illinois. There are lots of them.

We dropped off the rest of our relatives at their house, then went home. On our way, we saw an elephant in the outskirts of the town. I thought it was cool, but everyone else was like "eh, they're everywhere." I guess elephants in Thailand are like tractors in Illinois.

When we got home, Holly called, and I went out to play badminton with her and her host family. I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my life. I got a sore on my hand from the racket, and I felt gross. Holly was the same, minus the sore on her hand. Then we looked at the Thai people. Barely hints of sweat on them. I guess we're just not used to playing in this weather.


August 12

Mother's Day in Thailand.

Presented Kun-Meh with the flower wreath ceremony thing, met up with some relatives and ate lunch. Went to relatives', napped, went home. Kun-Pah, Kun-Meh, Tang, Moei and I went to thsi restaurant where we 'grill' our own food. It was pretty fun, but it's really hard to explain. PICTURE. Click here.


August 13

I made my dad's birthday card, and translated it on the other side.

Picked up my school uniform pieces, including the skirts, shirts and shoes.


August 14

I left at 7:30 in the morning for my first day at Kanchanaphisek. It was interesting, but kind bad, too. The bad part being my new shoes have given me sores on my feet, so now I have to wear sandals for the time being. The rest of the day was fun, though, and I even got to help teach in English class.

I went to the school director, and he drove me home. Tang took me to the post office, and I mailed my dad's birthday gift. Unfortunately, it won't arrive by the 17th. At least I mailed it before his birthday, though. Wow, 51!!! Geez, you're getting old, dad! I'm just teasing you. I love you; Happy Soon-to-be Birthday!

On our way home from the post office, Tang took me to his school and I got to meet up with Tan again!!!

PICTURES:
Thai cheer leading is better than American. Trust me. It's more fun, too.
I told you cheer leading in Thailand was more fun. That's the leader. [giggles]
Me and Tann. I love her! She's awesome.

She's awesome, probably my first Thai friend. She goes to a different school, so I don't get to see her too often, hopefully that will change. I took Tan to their school's "Canteen" and I bought us both some ice cream and a Pepsi; I know, healthy, but it sounded good at the time. We hung out a little, then Tang took us back home.

We piled into a car (Click here for picture) and traveled to the outskirts of Udonthani again, to a different relative's. Huge house, with a balcony on top that was part-patio. You could see the main part of town from there, it was really cool. We ate there, then there was Karaoke in the other room. (Click for picture) I didn't dare touch the microphone. I like to sing, I'm just not very good at it. [laughs]


August 15

School again. Woke up early again. Actually, I woke up earlier today, because the director picked me up after breakfast and I went to school. I gave a speech to the entire student body and faculty. That's well over 1,300 people. I have never spoken to so many people before. It was a small speech, but it was very grade-school-leveled. I had to speak slow, loud and with elementary words so I could easily be translated.

Later there was a boy scouts thing. There were girls involved, too, so I would just call it 'scouts'. I learned how to tie bamboo together with rope to make short bamboo longer when you don't have a long enough bamboo... I learned how to tie a rope to slide on your belt, to easily get to, like while you're camping and such.

PICTURES:
Me tying some small bamboo together.
Some Thai Scouts doing the same thing.
A small glance at how many Scouts are in my "small" college.

There was also this little section where there was a miniature festival going on. A couple of the scouts filled a fish tank with water and put glasses in the bottom. You drop a 1-Baht coin and try to get it into the glass. If you made it, you got a little prize. Right next to them was another acitivity. You had to ring the bottle-necks with a plastic ring-tied to a string-tied to a bamboo stick-which you held, and pull the bottle up onto its base, from its side. If you understand me, good, if not, sorry, I can't explain it further. If you got the bottle up on it's butt, you got a prize. If not, you got a Trick-or-Treat-sized KitKat-type thing. That game was 5 Baht for 2 tries.

PICTURES:
My English teacher, "PiWi," playing "The Bottle Game."
"The Bottle Game" in slight more detail.

Then they set out some plywood on the ground as a runway. Some people from their major (accounting, auto mechanic and marketing) modeled off some clothes made by their departments. It was pretty cool. The first guy was from Computers & Software, he modeled off a skirt made of CDs and a jacket made of floppies, with a had made of milk-cartons (more like juice-boxes). Then there was a girl from marketing who modeled off a skirt of weird plastic and a shirt with corset made of the wrappers of various foods/drinks. Then came the lady-boys, guys dressed in skirts, shirts, wigs and heels modeling for accounting. That was pretty cool and funny. Then last, but no least, the guy from the Auto Mechanic department. He looked rather normal at first; but then I remembered I was from America and this was Thailand... that's why is was unusual for them. I wonder if they realize that's how some Americans dress? [laughs]

PICTURES:
The Fashion Show begins!
He turns. Look at his floppy disk vest! Computers & software dept.
Lady-Men representing the accounting department.
Girl models for marketing dept.
Auto Mechanic Dept.


August 16

I woke up and went to school early in the morning, again. I know how to write all of the Thai numbers by heart now, and how to speak most of them.
Kun-Meh left for Bangkok on the train; won't be back until Monday.


August 17

Woke and went to school. I learned some Thai dance.
Came home. Later, we took Tang to the train station. Dad and Tang boarded the train. Now I won't see Tang until July, when I have come back home, and we have gone back up to Michigan for the Grand Rapids thing. Tang is an exchange student to Ontario, Canada! Ah, the luck to be part of the Grand Rapids thing. Kun-Pah won't be back until Monday.

PICTURES:
Tang before leaving
Group photo number 1 before Tang's departure.
Group photo number 2. LEFT TO RIGHT: Me, Tang, Holly, Holly's host mother, Holly's host aunt, Holly's host father, Ing.
I admit this one was posed; Princess Di wave.

Dad's 51st B-Day. Happy B-Day, Pops.

August 18

Woke up around noon. The lastest I've gotten up in Thailand so far during my stay. I pretty much read Harry Potter all day. I finished the book at 10:01 PM today. It was an awesome read. Did you know there's going to a "Harry Potter" island in Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure? They start construction soon, it's supposed to be done somewhere between 2009 and 2010. I'm definately going when it's done, that's for sure. I don't care what the critics say, I'm going to go and see how it is myself.

That was an awesome awesome series... ZOMGR HSFKLdJSALFKDJSaklfjdsl;ajfdl;sa WHY DID IT END LIKE THAT..fdjskalfjdlksa!?!?!?!


August 19

Woke up around 10 this time. I watched the movie "Cars" in Thai on the TV in my room while I got ready for the day. I've noticed that the best-dubbed movies, both real-life and animation, are Disney movies. They do an awesome job at dubbing. Every now and then it's obvious it's dubbed, yet sometimes, you think it was originally made in Thai. I'm surprised in Disney. They did a good job.

I also helped Moei bake some banana muffins today. They don't have an oven, but they have a broiler thing. It works just as well, but there's only room enough for about 7-9 cupcake-sized muffins, in a circular pattern. I guess I don't get to bake cookies for them, unless a toaster oven would work for baking cookies? [I'm going to e-mail my mother about that one...]

PICTURES:
Moei makin' muffins.
I made the one in the third row, third column. ...Stop staring at it like that.
We're makin' MUFFINS.

Well, I'm going to call my parents now. It should be late enough in the morning over there in America. It's about 8:18 PM here, so it should be 8:18 AM there... I hope they're up and ready. I hope my phone card works, too. Maybe I should get some help...

"Thida"

First huge batch of Thailand photos.

OKAY... here we go!

Starting off is... [drumroll]... my host family's house/store front.
Next, my host family, the Kunawongkrit.
My bedroom.
More of my bedroom.
More bedroom... Yes, a TV AND a DVD player!!!
Mulan. A somewhat distant relative, and adorable.

Mom plays tennis almost every morning with her buddies. She's won a lot of awards, too.
She's really good.

[Front] The higher-ranking Thai wear yellow on Mondays for the King.
[Back] Mom gave me this shirt.

I visited my host sister's, Moei's, highschool.
I was instantly popular.

Moei took me for "show and tell" to her later-hours English class. It was kind of fun, really.

There was a surprise B-Day party for me at a relative's house.
I was ecstatic.
Best ice cream cake ever. Thai ice cream rocks.
Yes, those are real fruits. Check out the strawberries, cherries and pineapple.
Yummmm.

Travel Buddy, Kitty, is theif-eating my Snow Jellies! It's okay, I let her. [wink]

There you go. Well, lunch time. Gotta go!

Monica.

4-Story Mall Discovery

August 7, 2550 (That's the year over here right now.)

I ate breakfast that morning when I got up. Over here, I'm an early bird. It's weird. In America, I'm a night owl. Oh well. I ate breakfast, including tasting one of the fish that... well, it definately looked like a fish - eyes and all. It was kind of creepy, having your food look at you while you eat it...

Kun-Pah and I dropped Moei (host sister) off at school, then went for a walk around the park a little. We fed the fish and tons of pigeons, had brunch (I told you Thai people eat a lot!), then went to the bank to deposit my emergency money and vacation money. They took us to a different bank to exchange the USD to Baht, because that bank didn't exchange. So we waited in line and I transferred my travelers' cheques to Baht, then we took that money and the original bank took us back to the original bank (they drove us to the exchanger's bank and back), and then we were finally able to open two bank accounts. We got that taken care of, and I took my ATM card to the machine (ATM card from USA!), and withdrew some money. I ended up having a little white safe in my closet, so I stored a lot of money there so I don't have to pay a lot of money every time I withdraw baht from the machine. By the way, "baht" is the Thai currency. Then when we were done, we walked home (right across the street).

Barely a half of an hour later, we got in the SUV thing and went to the mall, because I had to get a couple notebooks to write in (mainly to keep track of the Thai I should know first), a couple pens, and an English-to-Thai translation book. Little did I know, where we parked the car... was under the mall. We parked and got out and I was looking around for any sign of where we were, then we approached some escalators, and rode those up.

A 4-story mall. The only mall in Udonthani, but it makes up for it. It's huge. It's not just 4-floors tall because each floor is small, no. Each floor is huge, and there are four of them. There's even an Auntie Anne's, a DQ, and a KFC. All of which are considered "expensive" to the Thai, but doing the conversions, it's cheaper than America. My parents will laugh at this, but I probably won't eat at the KFC, because it still has trans fat in their stuff. They have a Mister Donut, though, and I can't stay away... I've only been there once, but I became hooked. Their toasted coconut donuts are delicious. It's like the Dunkin' Donuts of Thailand. They also have a Pizza Hut somewhere in town, but I don't know where; Holly does.

After the mall, we drove to Kanchanaphisek Udonthani Technical College, my school. We picked up my school uniform's belt and shirt buttons, and the pin that goes on the shirt. I met one of the English teachers, and she showed me "The Canteen" (cafeteria), and we went into a side-shop that's like a miniature grocery store/snack place, like the ones you find in gas stations. We got some pumpkin seeds, and I popped one in my mouth. The teacher stared at me and asked me how did I just eat the seed, and I showed her... She stopped me before I ate it the second time, though. I guess the Thai don't eat pumpkin seeds like Americans do. I was right. She showed me that you crack them open with your teeth, then rip apart the shell, get the seed inside it, then eat the seed and toss the shell. Not only does that sound more laborous to just eat one little, flat pumpkin seed, but there's no crunch, and less taste. The shell kind of gives it more taste. She thought it was gross how we ate pumpkin seeds. I don't know why, but then again, I was grown up eating them that way anyway.

Kun-pah (host dad, Somchai) and I went back home, picked the rest of the family up, and went to a relatives'. I don't know exactly how we're related, but we are. They're pretty cool, too.

We went to eat some dinner, which consisted of, you guessed it, noodles. Then we had dessert right next door that was pretty good - it was a fruit juice with ice, and some different fruits in it.

We drove back home and I showered and went to sleep.

Pictures, as promised...

Sorry it took so long to get them up on here, but this computer I'm using doesn't like Photobucket, so I cannot direct-route the pictures. I have to go through MySpace to use them. I can only give links, too... Sorry, no thumbnail pictures/samples of the photos. Enjoy!

Departure from America.
Waiting in O'Hare for my plane to Detroit.
Looking out the airplane window in O'Hare, waiting to take off.
Going to Detroit.
Leaving Detroit.
Flying over Alaska.
Flying over the ocean at 2x as high as a domestic plane. See the curvature of the Earth? Stunning, no?
Tokyo biddet. Funny story with this picture...
The magic armrest of the biddet.
Travel Buddy, named Kitty, with some Yen in Tokyo.
Me & Holly with Japanese drinks in Tokyo.
Tokyo airport magazine stand.
Travel Buddy figures things out in Tokyo.
Kitty washes hands after using Japanese toilet.
Travel Buddy helps stack luggage into luggage cart in Bangkok.
Me and 'Papa.'
Waiting 4 hours in Bangkok airport, Suwanapum, to see of an outbound.
Holly eating Cow Snacks - not made from cows, but just a picture of a cow. Made with rice, soy sauce, sugar and seaweed. Probably the best things ever.


Arrival in Udonthani.
Photo op. 1 in Udon. Yes,the leis were made with real flowers.
Photo op. 2 in Udon.
Photo op. 3 in Udon.
Photo op. 4 in Udon.

Pictures in Udon in next blog - I still need to upload them. Thanks!
Moni

Almost forgot to mention...

I had a surprise birthday party. Best cake I can ever recall. Ice cream cake, but not like DQ - much better. I got a pink scarf, an elephant money pouch thing, a little porcelin cow that says Happy Birthday on it, and a tissue-box cover that is a stuffed animal - elephant. Very cute.

It was awesome.

Sorry, but I promise pictures in the next blog, I didn't know I'd have to post this one. Pictures in next blog!

Monthida

Daughter of Fairy

Okay, so it turned out we went to a place not far from where I live. It was pretty good. I only found out what my food was after I took my first bite, but I would have tried it anyway. It was duck over rice. We all had Coke with it, too. It was pretty good, I might say...

I'm wearing long sleeves right now because I'm slightly cold here. It's currenly the rainy season, and it's been raining every day, sometimes all day, since I've got here. I have no big problem with that, though.

I've had food "shoved down my throat" a couple times, in figure of speech. They eat a lot, every day. It's like Thanksgiving every day. I'm surprised I think I'm actually losing weight... A lot of the food is good, though. Sometimes spicey, but very good. Lots of fruits, meats, veggies and rice. Lots of rice and noodles... Lots...

Tong and I went to the rent-a-book store, and I got 4 books. One on a movie, one on the King, and two Doraemon, "Gadget Cat." My favorite so far is Gadget Cat. It's the only book that's written in English, but it has Thai translations above/below speech bubbles. It's a funny series. You can check them out for a week, so they're due Saturday.

I figured out how to work the electric shower. I only use it at night though, because it's too cold in the morning - I use the bucket shower in the morning, as the water has been sitting there overnight. It's still cold, but it's warmer than the electric shower... (Western-style showers = showers with a shower head).

Mom here plays tennis almost every morning, she's won a lot of big awards for her tennis skills. I should have brought shorts and/or pants, but I think I'll pick them up today at the 4-story mall in town.

We tried some Korean food the other day, and I was doing things all wrong! I would pick up the rice wrap, but it would stick to my hands and not the food, unlike everyone else. Then instead of cutting the sausage thing up to put a SLICE in the wrap, I put the whole sausage in the wrap and was laughed at. I found it funny too, though, so it's ok. [laughs] Not to mention they had me try the sauce to make sure I liked it, but they didn't say it was a sauce. I liked it, so I was about to stick a spoonful in my mouth when they stopped me and said "That's sauce! Come on, Monthida!" They laughed again... By the way, my Thai name is "Monthida" or nickname "Thida." "Thida" means "daughter" - but only used for higher ranking individuals. "Mon" means "Fairy" or "of the Heavens" - pretty and "worship." So my name translates into "Daughter of Fairy," or lesser-known as "Daughter of the Heavens" or something like that. You pronounce it "Mōn-tee-dah." There's different pitches in how you say it though. Thai is complicated like that. Take "Kghai" for example - if you say it in one tone, it means "sell" - in another tone, it means "eggs" and in another tone it means "the" or "who." Same word, but different "song pitches" to say it. It makes them words just by how you "sing" it.

I went to my sister's highschool, I was instantly popular. [laughs] Even though I was clumsy. I had to get up in front of Maei's English class and say who I am, where I'm from, what I like to do, etc. I did, but on my way back to my seat, I tripped on the microphone chord. I was nervous, I'll admit, but I also admit that I don't know why I was nervous. Oh well. Her school was tons of fun, and I got a couple friends. Tan is probably my favorite. She's cool. We also went to Biology. It was hard enough to remember what I was taught 3 years ago, but in Thai, it's really really hard. Not to mention that period was a double-period, meaning it was 2 hours long. So it seemed more like droning than class. The teacher asked if I wanted to help my group, but I said I would probably make it harder for them. [laughs]

My bedroom is huge! I have a TV, a DVD player, and an air conditioner! The bed is a little stiff, but I can manage. I don't have to set my alarm. I have a better way of waking up - Grandma prepares breakfast in the morning - by scratch. I wake up to the chopping of food, the sizzles if there are any, and doors and stuff. Not a loud, annoying beep at 7. It's actually at 6, but it's a nice wake-up call.

We have a cat! Her name is Cake, and she's 17 years old. She's tiny, and SO CUTE!!! I love her.

There are a few schools in town here, and the highschool alone has about 6,000 kids. My school is bigger, but it's more out of town. I visited it yesterday, and I got my uniform belt, pin for my shirt, and buttons for my shirt.

Oh, they drive on the left. Oh, there's no speed limits anywhere. Oh, and if you think your car, moped or motorcycle (whatever you're driving) can fit in whatever space available, you try it. There are very few accididents, amazingly, and it's hard to find an automobile of any kind with scratches, dents or anything on them. It's weird. Oh, and Thai people are the Gods of parallel parking.

I'll update later with more stuff. That's pretty much all of it for now.

Lots of pictures will be posted in my next blog.

I can over-hear the TV from here. Lots of Thai. There was a hen race on just a little bit ago. That was interesting...

XOXO
Monthida
Daughter of Fairy

I'm in Thailand?

What? I'm in Thailand? It looks like America... but people drive faster and on the left instead of the right. Then there's pretty Thai things all over... Not to mention everyone speaks Thai and barely anyone speaks English.
So I stepped off the plane not knowing what to expect. I had slept through breakfast on the plane, so I didn't get anything to eat. It's alright though... it was actually 4 AM when breafast was held on the plane.
I've been plane riding and hopping for over 24 hours now, and I'm sitting in front of a computer, feeling like I'm still in the air. Not the coolest feeling in the world, maybe I should walk it off.
When I got to my new home in Udon Thani, we walked into my host family's store, then to the back. That's where I live. It's actually quite big.
I just unpacked and put things in my new room, and then went downstairs to "take a shower." What that REALLY meant was "take this tupperware, fill it with water, and repeatedly drench yourself with it." Oh, and by the way - there's no hot water for "shower taking."
The only problem I'm having is with the language. Barely anyone, even in my family, speaks English, so it's hard to communicate with them.
Lunch time, they just asked me if I was hungry. They're taking me somewhere... I wonder where?

Monica.

See You Later, America.

Ok, it's my last night in America now...
I'm using my sister's laptop. We're in the hotel, which is only about a mile away from the airport. We can see planes take off every now and then out of the window, it's pretty cool, I guess.
We had Quizno's for supper, it was pretty good. I got a Honey Mustard Chicken sandwich, hold the tomato and bacon.
I'm getting up tomorrow morning, catching the shuttle from the hotel to the airport at 7:30 AM. I hope that's early enough to get my 10:08 AM flight.

Once I get on, it will head for Detroit, then Tokyo, then Bangkok. Don't ask about the weird routing system, I don't know either. [laughs] Anyway, guess what else is tomorrow?! My 18th birthday. Crazy, isn't it? Everyone knows it's the day I leave for Thailand. Only 3 people outside of my family have said Happy Birthday to me. Well, more and more people will realize it's my 18th birthday because I'll be singing it over and over to myself on the plane until they merrily kick me off at my destination/arrival point. [insert evil laughter here]

I don't really have too much to say, as I've already said the majority of it in one of the first blogs I already posted on here. Anyone can be an exchange student, you know. Check out our Rotary District's web address here: Click
The Monmouth page here: Click the link above, click on "District Clubs," then click "Monmouth."
and I even have my own page on there, too: Follow all steps above and then click on "Outbound R.Y.E." "R.Y.E." stands for "Rotary Youth Exchange."

Contact a Rotarian and ask them about it - they'll be happy to help you. Now would be the best time to sign up for it, too, if you wanted to go. Good luck, and wish me luck, too. See you in Thailand!

Monica

Last Night in Monmouth for a Year.

Tonight's the last night I'll be staying in Monmouth for a year.

I don't really know what to blog...

Guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought it was.

It's 2:22 AM.

I'm tired.

I'm going to bed.

For the last night in Monmouth.

Those of you who are new to my blog site, please browse around using the left navigation menu (list of things to click on). You'll find that the oldest "posts," or "entries," are at the bottom. The newer are at the top. Feel free to browse around. Enjoy.

Anyone can be an exchange student.
www.rotarydistrict6460.com

Go there if you wish to seek for further information on the matter. It's really quite a blast, and now would be the best time to sign up.

Thanks!

Moni.

P.S. - Poon wif shawk teef. I swearz. [inside joke]