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