Oh, yeah...

A couple things...
First: I'm back. Sorry the like, HYUGE delay. I actually wrote a really awesome closure blog for returning home... but I don't have the heart to put it up. I always end up in tears. I'll put it up one of these days... but, seriously, the exchange is NEVER over... even when you return... you're always exploring your own culture even more than you thought was imaginable before you left.
:)

Thailand has, does, and will forever affect my everyday life, how I think, how I act, etc. Even when I speak. When I came back, I even was talking to my scholarship interviewer in Thai by accident, and I keep wai-ing [Thai courtesy greet/thank you motion] to everyone. It's built into my system. I can't help it! Ahhh!

I finally checked my lottery ticket tonight.... for January 20th's Mega Millions. I lost. Guess it doesn't really matter, though, does it?
...I think not. :P

I think I'll go back and say that upon return, within a couple months, I was back out of the house, basically living on my own again. I shared an apartment with my cousin... but it didn't work out so well, so now I'm back at home. I think it's better to live at home anyway, even if it is a 15 or 20 minute drive to then from nearly every day; no rent, just gas; I get to see my kitty, Sugar - I love her; I get to see my parents - but I think it's more like my parents get to see ME [ Lol ]; my mother occasionally cooks some RAD meals, as well my dad - and I get to eat them, too!; back to my queen sized bed. :D

Now about the queen bed... while I was at the apartment, I had a twin bed, for room size reasons; well... I didn't know at the time, but my parents bought two then. They kept one, gave me one. Well, now I'm back home. Where's the twin bed going to go? My sister's [old] room already has one!
Solution: stack the two twin sized box springs and matresses!
Yeah........no.
No one would be able to sleep in there, then!
Other solution:
Let's rip Moni's room apart to get to her queen sized bed, take everything off it, and do the same to Vanessa's twin bed; take apart all the bedframes and headboards; put the headboards into auction because they're super ancient and partly broken anyway; move the queen bed to my sister's room, move the twin to mine. Add the other twin bed... add a king-sized bedframe... Badda bing, badda boom:
MONI HAS A KING-SIZED BED!
That Sugar is now grateful for.
...and me, of course.
My giant 4 foot stuffed horse takes up a good chunk of it, but there's still of lot of roll-around-room left. :D

Another update: This is my second semester of student-ing at Carl Sandburg Collge. Ja, it's awesome! I have the coolest teachers evuhr.
...and I made lots of awesome pots in ceramics class. :D
I has a job.
I work dietary at Rosewood Care Center. I do lots of things in that job. - including wearing this AWESOME hat they prefer to call a "hairnet" - it's rad - and they're really useful for summer time - keeps all the hair out of your face and off your neck! :P

Talent show is on Tuesday.
I'm one of like, 5 people in it @ a chance for $100!!! Oh my gosh. =D
Wish me luck! [ I'm dancing... don't laugh!!! :P ]

Weeeelllll, thought I'd update. Now I have.
Oh yeah - and I'm in an auto body class, too, but mostly just for fun, since it doesn't even count as an elective course... :(
...and we're going on a field trip tomorrow! Er... later today, rather!!!! :D

Bye!

Moni

P.S. - forgot to mention: I got a Juror's choice award in the Carl Sandburg College Student Art Show!!! :D
...along with the accommodating $50 Dick Blick dollars! I can't wait to use them at our awesome DICK BLICK OUTLET!!! Heck yeah! Be jealous of our superb locations of outlet stores! :D

Sprummer Fruit Juice

http://picasaweb.google.com/gecko.on.the.wall/SprummerFruitJuice

Sprummer = Spring + Summer combined. Late Spring / Early Summer.

Hi-yo. Sorry I haven't written in awhile! Michelle came to visit me in Udon for 8 days, she left this morning at about 9. [Right now it's 18:22, or 6:22 PM on the 6th of June, with only 25 days left in the exchange, and not WHOLE days, to be exact.]

So, we went around Udon, had a blast, and took a bus about an hour away and explored the land on our own. We succeeded in navigation and translation, not to mention a lot of hefty-good bargaining and chartering.

We even hit up Lotus for the toilets [which failed us as there were none this time around!], but walked just a few feet further into the mall and went there. Then we proceeded to Starbucks, where I tried their new Dark Chocolate Coffee drink, and delved into a toasted blueberry muffin. They even gave Michelle a free duplicate of what I just ordered! How sweet is that? Okay, yeah, it was smaller, about 2 or 3-shot espresso-sized, but hey, that's pretty freaking awesome. We enjoyed ourselves so much, too!

Leaving Nong Khai took some thinking. We had to located what part of the mall we were in, what lot we need to walk out of, and which street to cross. We thought about going all the way down the road [about 100 meters or so], onto the bridge walkway, but fearing we may miss the bus [it picks us up on the road or at the station, either or], we decided to dodge traffic [hey, we're good at that - we live in cities!], cross the median, and dodge just a couple more metal beasts. I thanked the Heavens it wasn't pouring rain... yet. The bus came just seconds after we made it to the other side of the 4-lane + median with ease - barely any cars. We got picked up, we paid our tickets, and got sent to the back of the bus where two open seats were left. We were a little uncomfortable, so we moved back another seat and sat next to some Thai people who were going to the same place! Good, we got on the right bus! Then it started raining, then it started POURING.
I sure missed the rainy season... I'm glad it's back. That's one thing I'm sure going to miss when I get back home, Thailand's rainy season. I love it...

Anyway, I got a lot of gifts and souvenirs and stuff, and now I just have two more people on my list, which won't be hard.

Michelle and I also had a blast in Udon as well! We watched a lot of movies [falling asleep during them as well], ate some popcorn, cookies, and experimented with Mama, while I learned to make a soup along the same lines of Egg Drop Soup, mighty tastey and great with rice.

We did a lot of other stuff, like I took her to my Muay Thai class and she learned a couple basic punches, and a few other things... way too much to mention. We had a lot of fun, though.

25 days of Thailand before I'm homebound... but actually it's more like 23! My host dad is taking me to Bangkok a day before I leave and we're going to the Crocodile Farm, then I'm off the following morning, onto a plane, back into the blue yonder of the sky, and destined for my home country.

It's coming up fast...

Moni

P.S. - Also, there is another album, "May Randoms." Feel free to check those pictures out, as well.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gecko.on.the.wall/MayRandoms

Mel Visits Udon!

I don't know if I mentioned it before, so I will quickly list my first and third/final (same) family's names...

Last name: KUNAWONGKRIT
Kun-Meh [KM]: Suporn
Kun-Pah [KP]: Somchai
Nong-Sao [Younger Sister]: Moei
Nong-Chai [Younger Brother]: Tang (currently in Canada as an exchange student)
Pi-Chai [Older Brother]: Tong

Pronunciation help (pronounce whatever is between hyphens as its own word, same as spaces):
Kun-Meh ["Koon May"]
Suporn [Sue-porn]
Kun-Pah ["Koon Paw"]
Somchai ["S-oh-m-ch-eye," but faster - "Sohm-ch-aye"]
Nong-Sao ["No-ng S-ow" - "ow" as in "Ow! That hurts!"]
Moei [This one is harder... it's like a quick sound of "Mow" as in "mowing the lawn" plus "eye" - sort of like "My" but with the sounds of Mow+eye together...]
Nong-Chai ["No-ng Ch-eye"]
Tang ["Dtang" with the "a" sounding like the "a" in "sack."]
Pi-Chai ["Pee Ch-eye"]
Tong ["Dtong" with the "o" sounding like the "o" in "orange."]

Moving on.
Tang [younger host brother who's in Canada right now as an exchange student if you didn't read the above] has a host family, of course. One of the members of one of his host families has a few daughters, one of them named Mel. Mel decided she wanted to come visit Thailand, and while doing so, she "stopped by" Tang's house [my current host family] and stayed for a week. She arrived before I left to camp, and left a few days after I got back. During her stay - while I was here - we had a blast, and I can only tell you that you should look at the pictures, because that tells you our story.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gecko.on.the.wall/GawpMel
*"gawp" is phonetic for "with" in Thai

Camp lasted 4 days and 3 nights, about an hour and a half's Songtao Ride from Korat to Saraburi. It was at a boyscout camp thing.
It was also the inbound exchange students' last travel together, though we shall see each other in the near future.
Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gecko.on.the.wall/Camp

That's it for now. :P
Thanks to my sister for lending me her older camera. :D

MoniNeko