Trip home

    So I am finally home... So far all I have done is unpacked and rested. But it has been great seeing my family again. I do miss Thailand a lot already, but it really hasn't had time to hit me hard yet. Getting home was a long trip, and it started out with a LOT of goodbyes and tears. If you have seen my facebook you already have probably seen most of the pictures. The airport was filled with students and Thai waiting to see me off before my departure.

One of my classes.

A different class.

They even circled around me a sang my school song. Was powerful.

My last host family before I left their house.

    So after lots of goodbyes I went on my way. I went to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand first. A few more friends met me there, and my host father came along with me.

Only two came, but they were great. 

     Then I flew to Korea on a 5 hour flight. I think I just watched movies the whole way, but I did find out that three other Americans were flying home with me.  After Korea I flew on the 12 hour flight to Chicago. I found out when I got on the plane that my seat was a middle seat... But it wasn't all that bad. I found out after we took off that the two people sitting on either side of me where from Thailand (not Korea), so I got to speak Thai the whole way. It made leaving Thailand behind just a little bit easier.

    At Chicago I had to go through customs, where I found out that if you claim meat on you entrance forms you will be stopped and they will confiscate it from you. That took almost an hour! But I finally got through and got to wait for another 3 hours at the gate. There I found out that I was lucky enough to have a bathroom and a McDonalds right next to me (lucky because I had no one to watch my bags for me, so I had to take them wherever I went). Then I flew on to St. Luis for my final stop. I am sad to say that I did not get any pictures of my reunion with my family, but it was great to see them.

This was my luggage arriving at the airport in St. Louis.

   So again, I have now been home for around a day and a half. It has been full of sleeping and unpacking. I have lots to look forward to though. I have a party (that I mentioned on my last post), my college, and spending time with my family to look forward too. I will miss Thailand a lot, and I already do.

   I hope all have enjoyed reading my blog. I think this might be my last post. It has been a great opportunity to spend time abroad, and I'm glad I could share it with everyone who read. I wish for the best and look to the future.

My Last Month (and Last Days)

    Well it's down to my last month here in Thailand. I hope all have enjoyed the blog. In the last month, I have started school again, gone to Bangkok for some last minute sit-seeing, said goodbye to many friends as they return home, had a farewell party at my school and tried to do as much as I can with my friends here because of the chance that I might never see them again. It's been a great year, and this month has not shied in comparison.

    First I went back to school. I got to start seeing all of my friends on a regular basis again. I didn't realize how much I missed going just to see my friends, but after the first week or so the feeling started wearing off. My Thai language skills had improved over the break, but I still didn't know enough to understand the teachers in class. I found myself starting to daydream or nod-off in the middle of class, but I still had my friends.

Just a random day in class when someone had a camera.

One of the days I wore my jacket to school, and of course pictures were mandatory.

 
     Finally I got a break from school, and I went on a trip with my friend Joao to Bangkok. We went with some of the members of our host families, and we stayed with friends or family of our host families (We didn't stay in the same place the whole trip).

We got the chance to visit China town in Bangkok!

We met up with some friends and went to a temple in Ayuttaya, the old capital of Thailand.

This was at a show of old-time soldiers in the floating market of Ayuttaya. It was really cool.

This is the Siam Museum. We went, and because we had our passports we got in for student prices! It was all about the history of Thailand.

      We did some other cool stuff while we were there as well, but for some odd reason Joao and I both forgot our cameras so we don't have very many pictures. After our return from Bangkok, we began to start seeing some of our friends off at the airport. They were all sad occasions.

The first to go that was close to us was Diego. He is also from Chicago. He is second from the left.

The second to go was Raul, the exchange student from Mexico. There were a lot of people at the airport. 

As you can see we like to do one final group hug before we all depart.

This was the last one to leave before me: Fabio. He is from Venezuela. Rest assured we did do the group hug, but no one got a picture of it.

    After saying so many goodbyes to people that were leaving, it was time for me to start saying goodbye to the people that were staying while I was leaving. I did a kind of farewell ceremony at my school. It wasn't that big of a deal, but the director of the school gave a speech, I gave a speech, I performed a song on my trumpet, and some of my friends sang a song for me. It was a great way to say goodbye.

A video of me playing the trumpet at the farewell ceremony.

After the ceremony my teachers took a picture with me. My host mom slipped in the picture as well (she is the one in the pink sweater).

Me playing the trumpet at the ceremony.

A picture with the head of the English department at my school.

  Like I said before, I am also doing as much as I can with my friends before I leave. I have done a lot already, and this upcoming weekend (my last here in Thailand) is full of plans. I think I only have one night (and only late at that) to do all my packing before I leave, but I think I shall survive (and enjoy every minute of my last days).
 
    I do believe I will miss all of the people that I have become close to here in Thailand. I have my families (three altogether), my mentors (teachers and Rotarians), and my friends (foreign and Thai). But that being said I do have a lot to look forward to. I have a college to prepare for, friends to become reacquainted with, and a family that is ready to have me back. But I have also been told that my parents are throwing a coming home party, and that anyone in the area is invited to come by.

    So now I am very close to going home. I can't wait to see everyone there, but I will miss my Thai friends and family. จะคิดถึงคนไทยทุกคน  คิดว่าจะเจอก้อนอีก My next post will be after I have returned. I do believe I am excited...

Third and Final Family

    I know this is kind of late, but as you can see from my previous blog posts I have been kind of busy to try and write anything about my family. But now I have time! This family is great. My host dad and mom work together as the bosses for a water distributor (Nestle).

A picture of my friends and me in the office of my host mother.

My host father is on the left. The president of my Rotary club is on the right.

      My grandmother owns a long-term stay hotel, and I have one host sibling. He is my host brother, but right now he is on his own exchange in Michigan (I will get to see him when I return home). 

My host Grandmother during a ceremony in Udon Thani.

My host brother participates in baseball in his high school in Michigan.

  
When I am with my host family I spend most of my time in my host parents' office. It is very near all of the hang out spots, and it always has as stock of snacks and drinks. 

   When I'm not in the office, I have usually gone out to eat with my host parents. This host family does not, as of yet, have a conventional house. We live in the hotel that my grandmother owns, so we do not have a kitchen do cook meals in. The hotel is very nice. My host parents live on the first floor, and I live in my own room on the second. The room reminds me more of the dorm rooms I have seen before than a hotel room (So it should be good practice for me since I am going to college in the fall).

    This family is really great. I have shared all of my host families with Joao and Raul, the other two exchange students from my Thailand Rotary club, and this host family has treated us all as their sons even when we stopped living with them. I now only have a few days left with them and will miss them a lot, but I will get the chance to see my host brother in the US.

Bangkok... With Friends and Family

   So I left off with my brother and I leaving on a train to Bangkok, and that is where I will start this blog post. The train was an overnight train, so we arrived in the morning. When we got there we took our bags straight to the hotel that my mother was staying at (which is where we were staying as well), and then I went off with my brother on a small tour of Bangkok. We stayed out all day and night, and didn't come back until the next morning. It was one of the most fun times I have ever had with my brother...

Like I said, we went on an overnight train. Luckily my brother and I got the bottom bunks.

The first thing my brother and I did was go to meet one of his friends who was also in Bangkok. While we waited for her we took a swan boat out in the park... 

That is my brother's friend on the left. That day we also went to some temples.

My brother's friend explaining about the Buddhas (even though I should have known better seeing as I have lived in Thailand for the past year).

My brother and I at the famous reclining Buddha.

My brother took me to a bar that was on top of one of the tallest buildings in Bangkok. There he proceeded to get a COKE for me...

    After the sleepless night, I went straight out with my mom. I was tired, but I knew I would be of great help to her if I went with her to be a translator. We went out for a little shopping at a local market, basically all that morning. Then I got some free time; I spent it with one of my Thai friends. That evening my brother was scheduled to leave. So my brother, his friend, my mother, her friends and I all went out with another one of my brother's friends to a nice dinner before he left.

My mom's friends, my mom, and me before the meal.

Everyone together at the meal before my brother departed.

   My brother, being my brother, had to make hasty goodbyes at the restaurant, and he almost had to run out to get to the airport on time for his flight. After that, we all said goodnight, and my mom and I went back to get some much needed sleep. The next day we basically spent entirely at the Rotary International Convention. It was great; it gave me a chance to meet people from around the world who work with the organization I am a part of, and of course it gave me the chance to meet all the exchange students from around Thailand.

This was the entrance to the convention center where the Rotary International Conference was held.

This was the opening ceremony. It kind of reminded me of the Olympics.

This Thai exchange student will be coming to my district in Illinois next year. 

Whenever we had our blazers on we would be like a magnet for photographs. Everyone wanted a photo with us.

   The next day my mother and I started out at the convention, but we decided to take the afternoon off and travel with a fellow exchange student in Bangkok.

A picture of me and my mom in front of the most famous temple in Thailand.

My fellow exchange student that went along.

We even took a nice boat tour. I think we just enjoyed the relaxing time.

   That night we headed back to the convention hall. We were going to go on a dinner cruise with some other Rotarians. We had some problems, but in the end it all worked out. And in the end I got one of my favorite pictures with my mom from it.

I think this picture speaks for itself.

    The next day was the day my mother was scheduled to go home. We spent the morning and afternoon packing and relaxing. Then at night, my Thai exchange friend and his family picked us up and we went out for a nice dinner. They then proceeded to take my mother and me to the airport.

They were a very nice family, and I think my mother enjoyed the meal.

My final goodbye with my mother. I will see you soon mom, just one more month (I hope she reads this...).

    After the airport I went with the family. The next day I went to the Rotary International Convention for the closing ceremony. Afterwards I went on my last trip with my fellow exchange student. We went to Rayong, a southern city in Thailand. We spent a few days there, stayed at a nice resort, and went to a few gardens.

An elephant show at one of the gardens.

This was a cool garden, because they gave free samples...

Having fun at the resort swimming.

O yeah... And we did Paintball!!!!!!!!!

   This was the first time I had ever played paintball. For all of you who have never played, well I won't tell you if it hurts or not (try it first). For all of you who have played, you know. And you also know how much fun it is.

    As for the end of the trip. Well it was the last time for all of us to be together. There was a lot of tears, but we were rushed so much (because we didn't know when buses were going or anything) that no one got pictures. I will miss all of my fellow exchange students, and I hope to see them all again one day. 

   Now to look forward. I have one month left. I have school, time with friends, and hopefully a little bit more traveling. But to be perfectly honest, I think this one month will be the quickest I have ever lived. I can't wait to go home and see friends and family, but I am also reluctant to leave the easy life style I have here. O well, in the end I will have to go home anyway. Look for more posts, as I still have a little under a month left...

Family visit

    I know I haven't posted in about a month, but I have a very good reason: I have had no time. At the end of last month (April), my mother, father, and older brother came to visit me all the way out here in Udon Thani, Thailand. My middle brother was not able to come because of his studies, but I will get to see him very soon when I return home next month. My parents came together, and they met my brother in Bangkok. He had to meet them there because he was flying in from Korea, where he is a teacher of English. Then they all came to Udon Thani. All of my host families and fellow exchange students went to the airport to welcome them. I hadn't realized until the hour before they came how nervous I was to see them, but it was definitely great to see them after so long.

I made sure they got the same welcome as I did: lots of flowers.

    While they were here I tried to show them as much of what I do normally around Udon Thani as I could, but my father was only there for two days! I did get a lot in, and if you asked them I think they would say they had a great time.

We woke up early and got to give offerings to monks.

We went into a small national park near Udon Thani.

And we got to go to a temple in the process of being built.

     They of course tried all of the food as well. After all of our touring and traveling it was time to say goodbye to my father and send him off at the airport.

On our way.

The last point we can see anyone at the airport.

    After my father left, my mother still had another couple days. And what did we do??? We went shopping of course!

A little tired with all of the heat as well as walking.

Even one of my host moms bought stuff (the jacket).

There was so much to look at.

We all agreed we were getting tired, and we decided to eat.

Having my mother there, I realized how lucky I was that now I three extra mothers (and fathers...) as well.

Left: First Host Mother, Second Host Mother, Real Mother, Last Host Mother.

   My mother also got to participate in a Rotarian meeting, which she really wanted to do. Then she left in the afternoon, but not to go back home. She went to Bangkok to go to the International Rotary convention.

My mother conversing with the Rotarians as best as she could because of the language barrier.

The biggest international Rotarian tradition: Exchanging club flags.

We all got to come and say goodbye at the airport.

    After my mom went to Bangkok by plane, my brother and I had a little time left until we followed her. We were going to go by train instead.

Forrest decided he needed a hair cut. I got one too, but I thought these pictures looked better...

Forrest goodbye to one of my host mothers.

     Finally it was time for us to leave. We headed to the train station and said our final fair-wells. We headed off to Bangkok...