Orientation

    Last weekend was my inbound orientation... Man what a weekend of contrasts. It wasn't just paper work and information gathering the whole time, it was also full of exciting activities that the Rotarians put on.
      It started out with the information gathering part: the speeches and paperwork. I have no pictures of that (and I know all of your must wish for them). But after a few hours of all of the almost brain overload we got to get on this huge double decker tour bus and go to a silk factory! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Raul, the boy from Mexico in my town, is on the first floor of the double decker buss.

This may look like hair, but it is really dyed (I think that's how you spell it) silk.

This is rolls upon rolls of colored silk. There were many more throughout the factory.

This person is making a pink, yes pink, silk cloth.

 After the silk factory we went back to some more information gathering, but it didn't last long until the Rotary showed us out to a nice dinner. The next day was even more learning, but then we got to the goodbyes and group hugs/pictures...

This should be everyone in my district of Thailand, but some of them might have gotten cut out.

The Brazilian, the American (Me), the Mexican, and the... I dunno, but she was probably the most help and most fun.

The Guys (All of the Exchange Students in my City... No Girls)

 On the way home we decided to stop at an old temple. I think this part was the most fun. Again I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

The name of the park where the temple was.

This looks like it is already in a picture frame, but this is a window and we are outside

.

That is John, Exchange student from Brazil, taking a picture up close of the big temple.

Just a cool picture of me with the temple.

Part of the temple from afar.

 After the temple we went to a local market and had a look around. We found some cool musical instruments and exotic animals for sale.

Raul, Exchange student from Mexico, tries out a local musical instrument.

The market had eels for sale. Let me tell you, they were slimy!!

 Then it was back home and back to normal life (well as normal as living in Thailand can be).

  

A Day of Firsts

    Tuesday was a day of firsts: my first day of school and my first Rotary Club meeting (Rotary is the group of people sponsoring my Foreign Exchange Experience).
   I started the day out by getting into my brand new uniform and surprisingly enough taking a picture with my grandmother.

First day of school: sorry there is no lane mom.

   Then my host father drove me to school, and I was introduce to the English department. There were many different teachers there, and they reminded me of my high school days with my English teacher Mrs. Miller. The English department director kind of became my personal advisor and councilor at the school.

Mrs. Orapin: English Department Director

    After a while there I got bored and asked for a tour of the school. One of the teachers said that would be ok, and we began to walk. I found out that there are four buildings for classrooms; a gym with an outdoor arena; a lunchroom they called a canteen; and a huge outdoor soccer field or, as they called it, football. There are over 3,000 students at my school. The teacher and I kept getting stopped because many of the students wanted to practice there English, and finally a small group of students stopped and wouldn't leave us. I came to appreciate that later when I found out that they were going to be my new friends!

The main core of my new group of friends: Ploy, Mo Mo, Daw, and Sam

   They took me on another small tour, then it was time for me to go home. I lounged around the house until my next first thing: My First Rotary Club Meeting. The meeting was very fun, because it was more of party than a meeting. There were many things to celebrate that night: Mine and other Exchange students' arrival, someone's birthday, mother's day, and (for all you Rotarians) the change over of the President of the club.
    To celebrate there was lots of food, any amount of drink that you wanted to have, and above all else (I know it's hard to believe) Karaoke.

This lady was one of the main contributors to the Karaoke.

    Overall the Rotary club meeting was a blast. And for all you Rotarians here is a little something special. This flag was from a different Rotary club than my own. I will get one from Rotary club, but now I have many different ones.

Flag trade for Rotary club.

 

First Week

     Now I know that I left off with my home, but I could not upload the video tour that I wanted. So instead I will leave you with a brief description and try to upload the video later.
  My home is right on the main street of Udon Thani, it is 4 stories tall, and I live on the third floor. In the front room of the first floor is my host parents business (rice selling). The rest of the first floor is taken up by a living area, computer room, and two kitchens. The second floor is where my host parents and host brother sleep. The third floor is devoted entirely to me, and the fourth floor is basically storage. Whew! That's done... Now on to my first week.
    (Not so many Pictures this time, sorry) The week started with me arriving at my home. I was allowed as much time as I needed to unpack and rest. When I explained that I was done resting, my host mom, Mama Jing, immediately took my host brother, Nu, and me out shopping for groceries. While at the supermarket, I was able to one-up my brother, who did his exchange in Turkey where they had no milk, and buy milk. After we got shopping for other essentials, we drove to this side market, shabby looking thing that sold clothing. To my surprise the shabby market was well equipped and we bought my school uniform (on the first day!!) there.
     The next day was mother's day, or the Queen's birthday. I tried to impress my host mom by making her a home made card, but I don't think it worked. Not much happened during the day, but that night we went out to eat, and I got to experience fireworks in a big city and an elephant all at one time.
    The next day I awoke to the smell of burning incense, and well-prepared food. Later I found out it was Sojin, kind of like a Thai memorial day but to all ancestors not just military. The holiday consisted of giving thanks to our ancestors, and eating a lot of meat. I don't know why we ate the meat, but any holiday that requires eating is a good holiday in my book.
   Not much happened after that, but then one day I awoke, had breakfast, and was told that today I was going shopping again. This time I was going shopping with my two aunts and two cousins. I don't know why they wanted me a long, but it was something to do, so I grabbed at the chance. I don't know how many people have gotten the chance to go shopping in a foreign country where they don't speak English as a first language, but basically all I really did was stand there and be the bag carrier.
   The next day came and with it came the rain. We had a down poor by American standards, but by Thai standards I think it was a medium rain.

This was a waterfall created off the roof of the house.

Thai people still use motorcycles, even if it is raining hardcore.

 The rain created large pools of water in matter of minutes, and the laundry that was hung out to dry got soaked before we could do anything about it. This past week has been an amazing experience by its self. I can't wait to experience more.

Finally Arrived

I have finally arrived in Udon Thani!!!
         It all started on August 9th at 8 in the morning. My family and I set out for the airport. We had some emotional goodbyes (mostly mom), and then I was off to Chicago from St. Louis. I arrived in Chicago after a relatively short flight and went to my gate. There I was surprised to see a group of Foreign Exchange Students already there. They welcomed me warmly and then we all gathered in a group and waited for the boarding call. Finally we were called aboard and then started the 12 and a half hour flight that would land us in Korea.

 

We had a boring time in the airport, but some of us were smart enough to bring entertainment.

 We all got on the plane, and I was happy to find that every person had a personal T.V. built in to the seat in front of them. I sat down an i went to work right away at trying to figure out the T.V. I almost missed the take off because I was so taken by the T.V. To start off the flight I just put on a movie, and it lasted a good two hours. After that ended I decided to just watch another one. After another movie I thought it was time to take a break, and I looked out the window. Boy, am I glad I did... I got to see mountains in Russia, and glimpses of polar ice caps through extremely iced over windows and cloud covers. 

These are mountains in Russia.

    After a while I stood up and walked around a bit. I was able to go talk to some of the other Foreign Exchange Students who were on the other side of the plane. After a while I got bored and went and sat down, and I watched another movie. After the movie finished, and to my surprise the plane was starting to descend. The flight was almost over. I never slept once. We landed in Korea and we tried to stay in one group.

The group of Foreign Exchange Students getting off the plane in Korea.

      We found our gate together, and then we had a few hours to kill. After I was sure someone was watching my stuff I took a walk around the Korean airport, and I got the chance to exchange my money for Korean money. I walked around for a while longer, then I headed back and there wasn't much time before we boarded. We finally took off for the four hour flight to Bangkok. It also had T.V.s which surprised me, but I didn't use it much. Instead I had a great conversation with a Canadian who, weirdly enough, was also named Spencer. That lasted for a while, and then I fell asleep for the rest of the flight. I woke up and we were descending into Bangkok.

Bangkok at night, not too much different than the big cities of the USA

      When I arrived in Bangkok, I was blessed enough to have my host father be there to welcome me. He is a great guy and made sure my every need or want was for filled. After he welcomed me we set out for a hotel for the night, because I had a 12 hour layover in Bangkok. We got to the hotel by shuttle and then my host father ordered my first Thai meal by room service. After I was finished we went to sleep. We woke up the next morning and headed to the airport. There I checked in, found another money changer and got some Bahts, and had another glorious Thai meal for breakfast. After, we found our gate, and I found out that there were two other Foreign Exchange Students who were flying on the same flight. We boarded the flight and it took us only about an hour. Once we landed I found my luggage and we head for the exit. I was bombarded!!!!

This is my welcome crew, and you can see me as I am the one with tons of flowers around my neck.

          I met every person in the photo and every one of them gave me flowers. I was almost overwhelmed, but I just went with it. After about a half an hour of welcoming to Udon Thani, we all went out for lunch at a restaurant and I had my third Thai meal. After the meal I finally got to see my home...