So I have officially been living with my host family for more than a week. I love it. My khun mee is great, and my nong chaay (little brother) is quiet and loves computer games...but I try and force conversation upon him. I think he enjoys my company, or his mom just makes him hang out with me, but either way its been fun going swimming and playing badmitton with him.
This weekend was a CRAZY one! My khun mee graduated from graduate school at MaaChaa (maahaawitiyali Chiang Mai..Chiang Mai University). Graduation here is a HUGE deal. And when I say huge, I mean ginormous. The Thai people consider education the most important thing that you can do, so when you graduate it is considered by many as the most important day of your life (maybe even more important than your wedding.) This event was also special because the Crown Princess of Thailand was coming to give the diplomas.
On Friday, I went to a party with my khun mee's department (information sciences). Me being the only farang (white person), I had to converse with everyone because they all wanted to test out their English or quiz me on my Thai. Farang here are always put on show..which gets a little exhausting. Random Thai people always come up to me and ask to have their picture taken with me. People are always staring and pointed and taking about the "farang american" in Thai. I always get complimented on the lightness of my skin, or my "beautiful forehead." Random, I know. But Thai people want to have light skin and dark eyebrows with a big forehead, so there you go.
On Saturday, my khun mee was out all day so me and a couple of friend walked around the city. Thai people hate walking.. or any kind of exercise. My khun mee will take her motorcycle to go visit her friend across the street. But, the still manage to always have food in their hand and be WAY smaller than the average American person. I have no idea how they do it. My khun mee always makes fun of me for walking everywhere. She also tells me that I'm too skinny and need to eat more, and then puts food on my plate. When I eat it all, she tells me I eat to much and am too fat! These are both compliments in Thai, but it is very hard to get used to. Even the smallest American (or Thai for that matter) is called fat when they eat, but are too skinny when they are no longer hungry.
Sunday was the busiest day I've had here yet. I walked to church, and I when I came back my whole house was filled with relatives. I greeted them all in the traditional Thai fashion, and then we went out to lunch. At lunch, they proceeded to tell me that I needed to visit their village in northern Thailand so I could be in their Buddhist ghost festival. Apparently there is a huge festival to celebrate the ghosts of the ancestors, and 200 people dress up as ghosts and dance around one particular person they want to bless. Apparently they want me to be that person.. so I we'll see how that goes!
After that, more relatives came and we all headed to campus to take graduation pictures. It was the day before graduation, and the campus was PACKED. Every graduate was there to take pictures the day before, all decked out in their get up. My khun mee got up at 3 in the morning just to get her makeup and hair done for her pictures! There was literaly hundreds of thousands of people all over campus. I can't explain to you how filled it was. And me, being the farang, was asked to be in pictures with probably 20 different graduates.
After that, we went out to dinner, and they had a karoke machine. The relatives all pushed me to the front and said "FARANG SING FARANG SING" I sang one song, and tried to sit down, but they wouldn't let me. They made me sing for 30 minutes. That was interesting. There were only 10 songs in english, so I had to keep singing the same ones over and over again.
Monday was the big day. My khun mee got up at 2 in the morning to get her makeup and hair done, and left to go get her diploma from the Crown Princess. The ceremony is very different here than in the states. The best way I can describe it is like a conveyor belt. They all stand in a line, curtsy really fast, get handed their diploma, and then run away. No shaking of hands, no taking pictures, and its all very serious. If they as much scratch the Crown Princess with one of their fingernails, they could be arrested.
Afterwards there were parties and more parties. My khun mee probably got 30 different bouquets (of fake flowers...yeeps.) There were bouquets of money, bouquets of chocolate, bouquets of stuffed animals..stuff I would probably throw away but they are in the place of honor around the house.
ANYWAYS, I hope that wasn't too much rambling for you all. I found this weekend very interesting, but exhausting.
NEXT POST will include my internship (which I have now been working at for 2 days) and pictures!
-Kitty
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The day I got a new family
On Saturday night, I had a terrifying dream. I moved in with my host family, but was just one man in his 60's with really thick glasses. I sat in the seat across from him, as he stared at me while stroking his cat (I hate cats....). Not a word was spoken, and the only noise in the place was a clock ticking in the background.
So I woke up Sunday, packed my things, and went to the maahaawityialay (univeristy in Thai.. basically i'm fluent) and waited to meet my new family. I was terrified. That dream did not help things, and I was afraid they wouldn't like me, or I would be too boring, or we wouldn't be able to communicate.... lots of things were running through my mind.
All of my fears were shattered as my khun mee appeared. She screamed "ARE YOU KITTY?!" and ran towards me and gave me a hug. I immediately waied her (bowed with my hands pointed to my chin.. very traditional and polite) but she pulled me up and said I was making her feel old. She won't even let me call her khun mee (mother) but I have to call her Phii Noi (older sister Noi). It was nice to meet someone so relaxed, but she is definitely anti-tradition which goes against everything I was taught here. She drove me to her house, which is 5 minutes away from campus and in the middle of the city, which is awesome! I have one of the simple, really small houses, while all of my friends in the program have mansions. But they are 45 minutes away, and I'm right in the city. I don't mind it at all! I have a younger brother named Guy. He's 13 and spends most of his time on the computer playing some war game. I tried to ask him what the name of the game was, but I have no idea what he said. He doesn't speak much English. There are also three bunnies in the house: Chopin ( who lives in the house.. and poops everywhere) Khaw Khaw (white rice) and Khaw Niaw (sticky rice) who live outside.
Phii Noi speaks really good English, which makes the transition really easy. She works at the library on campus, and its just her and her son living in the house. They sleep in the same room, while I get my own room (which makes me feel kind of bad..but apparently its common for Thai families to all sleep in the same room). The biggest things to get uesd to was the shower. The shower head is right over the toilet, with no shower curtain, so I can literally take a shower and use the restroom at the same time! Gives a whole new meaning to peeing in the shower.
Phii Noi is a very independent lady. She's very into politics, and was divorced 8 years ago (which is very uncommon in Thailand). She has worked hard to make a life for herself without men assisting her, and she really is an inspiration. She graduates on Monday (from grad school? or college.. I haven't figured that out yet) for Information Systems and she gets to meet the Crown Princess of Thailand! we are having a huge party next friday to celebrate.
Its still hard to feel like I belong and not feel like a hassle, but it gets more and more comfortable each day. I keep practicing my Thai, and although they laugh at me, I keep going. Phii Noi is also a great cook, so I never go hungry. And she brings different fruit for me to try each day. Thailand has over 40 different fruits and vegetables that the United States doesn't have, which makes each meal exciting!
If anyone wants to send me letters you can send it to:
Kitty Robinson
c/o Chiang Mai University
Faculty of the Humanities
Chiang Mai, 50200
Thailand
OR you can call me! I have a cell phone.. its probably alot cheaper for me to call you than for you to call me ( its like 1 baht a minute.. so basically like 1/30th of a dollar) so if you want me to call you, tell me sometime!
<3 you all!
Kitty
So I woke up Sunday, packed my things, and went to the maahaawityialay (univeristy in Thai.. basically i'm fluent) and waited to meet my new family. I was terrified. That dream did not help things, and I was afraid they wouldn't like me, or I would be too boring, or we wouldn't be able to communicate.... lots of things were running through my mind.
All of my fears were shattered as my khun mee appeared. She screamed "ARE YOU KITTY?!" and ran towards me and gave me a hug. I immediately waied her (bowed with my hands pointed to my chin.. very traditional and polite) but she pulled me up and said I was making her feel old. She won't even let me call her khun mee (mother) but I have to call her Phii Noi (older sister Noi). It was nice to meet someone so relaxed, but she is definitely anti-tradition which goes against everything I was taught here. She drove me to her house, which is 5 minutes away from campus and in the middle of the city, which is awesome! I have one of the simple, really small houses, while all of my friends in the program have mansions. But they are 45 minutes away, and I'm right in the city. I don't mind it at all! I have a younger brother named Guy. He's 13 and spends most of his time on the computer playing some war game. I tried to ask him what the name of the game was, but I have no idea what he said. He doesn't speak much English. There are also three bunnies in the house: Chopin ( who lives in the house.. and poops everywhere) Khaw Khaw (white rice) and Khaw Niaw (sticky rice) who live outside.
Phii Noi speaks really good English, which makes the transition really easy. She works at the library on campus, and its just her and her son living in the house. They sleep in the same room, while I get my own room (which makes me feel kind of bad..but apparently its common for Thai families to all sleep in the same room). The biggest things to get uesd to was the shower. The shower head is right over the toilet, with no shower curtain, so I can literally take a shower and use the restroom at the same time! Gives a whole new meaning to peeing in the shower.
Phii Noi is a very independent lady. She's very into politics, and was divorced 8 years ago (which is very uncommon in Thailand). She has worked hard to make a life for herself without men assisting her, and she really is an inspiration. She graduates on Monday (from grad school? or college.. I haven't figured that out yet) for Information Systems and she gets to meet the Crown Princess of Thailand! we are having a huge party next friday to celebrate.
Its still hard to feel like I belong and not feel like a hassle, but it gets more and more comfortable each day. I keep practicing my Thai, and although they laugh at me, I keep going. Phii Noi is also a great cook, so I never go hungry. And she brings different fruit for me to try each day. Thailand has over 40 different fruits and vegetables that the United States doesn't have, which makes each meal exciting!
If anyone wants to send me letters you can send it to:
Kitty Robinson
c/o Chiang Mai University
Faculty of the Humanities
Chiang Mai, 50200
Thailand
OR you can call me! I have a cell phone.. its probably alot cheaper for me to call you than for you to call me ( its like 1 baht a minute.. so basically like 1/30th of a dollar) so if you want me to call you, tell me sometime!
<3 you all!
Kitty
Sunday, January 16, 2011
The day I let someone give me a massage for 2 hours
Too much has happened within the past few days for me to write one post about, so this one is going to be about going back to classes and the weekend, and the next one is going to be about my host family and my internship!
After missing the first three days of our 5 hour intensive Thai classes, I finally went back to work on Thursday. It was definitely not the easiest thing to do- everyone in my group had done nothing but learn Thai for the past three days, while I was lying in a hospital bed. But I tried to play catch up, and I'm almost now on the same page as everyone. Our ajarns (professors) are awesome, and they have really helped me reach the same point as everyone else. And, those night classes of linguistics paid off! Since Thai is not written in Arabic lettering, we learn by reading phonetics. Because I had to make all of those awful noises in my linguistics class, I am now on the same page as everyone else pronunciation wise! Who knew.
This weekend was another one we had all been looking foward too. We got to climb the CRAZY steep mountains of Chiang Mai to reach Wat Dot Suthep (a famous Buddhist temple) perched at its peak. This is a trip that every Chiang Mai University student does when they are a freshman. I was not allowed to climb yet, so I took the rod-tang up the crazy, curvy roads to meet everyone at the gorgeous temple when they finished. This temple is one of the most famous temples in Buddhism, and lots of people travel there to burn incense and lotus flowers for their ancestors. It had a gorgeous view of the city of Chiang Mai, and the ornate decorations were outstanding. It was also interesting to see Buddhist people in a place of worship, and I learned a lot about the background of Buddha from Ajarn Add. I can't wait to learn more in my Thai culture classes!
After that, we were taken to our 2 hour deep tissue full body massage, given to relax after our muscles had gone under such strenuous pain from climbing (I definitely got the best end of the deal...not having to climb and still getting a massage!) But WHOA that massage was amazing, but it hurt like CRAZY. And they massaged some areas that were a tad uncomfortable...haha. It felt so good afterwards, and it was a feat for me that I let someone massage me for that long! We then went to Ajarn Mike's house to celebrate his birthday, which was a blast.
I have finally started eating real meals again, after a week of eating nothing but crackers, and I feel great! Definitely on the mend, and thank you all for your prayers.
Many have been asking to Skybe me, but unfortunately I can't :(. I did not bring my own computer, and none of the Internet cafes and computer labs at CMU have video chat. You'll just have to deal with reading my blogs and pretending like I'm talking to you! haha
Also, I posted pictures on facebook! Don't be expecting a lot of pictures, because those took me 3 hours to upload...on the fastest internet connection here. haha. I'll probably add more next week.
Next blog post about my host family and my internship!
Kitty
After missing the first three days of our 5 hour intensive Thai classes, I finally went back to work on Thursday. It was definitely not the easiest thing to do- everyone in my group had done nothing but learn Thai for the past three days, while I was lying in a hospital bed. But I tried to play catch up, and I'm almost now on the same page as everyone. Our ajarns (professors) are awesome, and they have really helped me reach the same point as everyone else. And, those night classes of linguistics paid off! Since Thai is not written in Arabic lettering, we learn by reading phonetics. Because I had to make all of those awful noises in my linguistics class, I am now on the same page as everyone else pronunciation wise! Who knew.
This weekend was another one we had all been looking foward too. We got to climb the CRAZY steep mountains of Chiang Mai to reach Wat Dot Suthep (a famous Buddhist temple) perched at its peak. This is a trip that every Chiang Mai University student does when they are a freshman. I was not allowed to climb yet, so I took the rod-tang up the crazy, curvy roads to meet everyone at the gorgeous temple when they finished. This temple is one of the most famous temples in Buddhism, and lots of people travel there to burn incense and lotus flowers for their ancestors. It had a gorgeous view of the city of Chiang Mai, and the ornate decorations were outstanding. It was also interesting to see Buddhist people in a place of worship, and I learned a lot about the background of Buddha from Ajarn Add. I can't wait to learn more in my Thai culture classes!
After that, we were taken to our 2 hour deep tissue full body massage, given to relax after our muscles had gone under such strenuous pain from climbing (I definitely got the best end of the deal...not having to climb and still getting a massage!) But WHOA that massage was amazing, but it hurt like CRAZY. And they massaged some areas that were a tad uncomfortable...haha. It felt so good afterwards, and it was a feat for me that I let someone massage me for that long! We then went to Ajarn Mike's house to celebrate his birthday, which was a blast.
I have finally started eating real meals again, after a week of eating nothing but crackers, and I feel great! Definitely on the mend, and thank you all for your prayers.
Many have been asking to Skybe me, but unfortunately I can't :(. I did not bring my own computer, and none of the Internet cafes and computer labs at CMU have video chat. You'll just have to deal with reading my blogs and pretending like I'm talking to you! haha
Also, I posted pictures on facebook! Don't be expecting a lot of pictures, because those took me 3 hours to upload...on the fastest internet connection here. haha. I'll probably add more next week.
Next blog post about my host family and my internship!
Kitty
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The day I got really sick.
Well.. this trip kind of took a down turn for a couple of days. 3 nights ago, I got really sick. Throwing up..plus other bodily functions you don't want to know about.. the whole enchilada. I woke up on Monday and tried to go to school.. but Ajarn Ann and Phii Stacy saw that there was definitely something more wrong with me and took me to the hospital.
The hospital..ChiangMai Ram.. was actually really nice! Bright colors everywhere, and I didn't wait that long in the emergency room. The doctor saw me within 20 minutes and after pressing down on my stomach (which was SERIOUSLY painful) decided that it was probably appendicitus. He ordered a room for me, and I had to take x-rays, catscans, blood tests, and a whole other slew of tests, and all the while I was praying that I wouldn't need surgery. I feel bad for my poor mom.. I had to call her in the middle of the night and let her know that I was in the hospital. Not exactly what she wanted to hear.
I got put in my room.. which was actually beautiful. I had a nice view of the city, a pink comforter that matched the pink wall paper, a fridge, microwave, couch, table, and a bathroom. On the door it said VIP, so I was kind of a celebrity for a couple of days. No big deal.
After a couple of hours, the doctor came back with good news and bad news. Good news: it wasn't appendicitus. Bad news: It was colitus, an infection in the colon (gross..) and it takes about 5 days to heal with severe antibiotics. He assured me that I would not leave the hospital for at least 2 days, and maybe longer if my fever didn't break. That was kind of sad to hear. I missed the first couple of days of intensive Thai language, and shopping for traditional Thai outfits. But one of the leaders from the program was always with me, which was really nice. They really took good care of me :).
The hospital is actually really good, and people from America actually come there to get surgeries done because it is so much cheaper than America. I had a little trouble with the first IV.. I was really dehydrated and they used a HUGE needle. Those of you who know me well know that I despise needles more than anything. Needless to say, it wasn't easy.. and it was really painful. On the second day, my hand was swollen twice its normal size and it was blue... so they moved the IV from my left hand to my right hand..using a MUCH smaller needle.. and that made me happy :)
The nurses were really funny. They would always smile and they didn't really speak English that well. They would always come in and throw a thermometer in my mouth, while slapping on a blood pressure machine and a oxygen measurer, and then ask me "How many times peepee this hour? poopoo?" They did this every hour.. even in the middle of the night when they would throw the lights on...startling me like no other. But they were very efficient with their job!
Four of my fabulous friends here came and visited me, and tried to teach me Thai. That was interesting. We got in trouble with the nurses for "having a party." Hahaha we were probably really loud. but I love them to death. Some of the best people I could be in a differnet country with.
I was discharged this morning.. on my birthday :). Stacy stayed the night with me and gave me a card and a Thai purse which was really sweet. When Ajarn Mike and Ajarn Ann picked me up, they came with flowers and smiles, drove me back to the hotel where I was greeted by everyone in the program. I watched everyone get ready for the traditional Thai dinner tonight.. they all looked SO cool. I'll have to get myself one of those outfits. While I am really sad I cannot go to the dinner, I'm happy I get the opportunity to rest and get healthy.
Thank you so much for your concerned messages! I felt all of your prayers here, and they were very appreciated. Love you all so much, and I hope this is my sick quota for the trip! :)
The hospital..ChiangMai Ram.. was actually really nice! Bright colors everywhere, and I didn't wait that long in the emergency room. The doctor saw me within 20 minutes and after pressing down on my stomach (which was SERIOUSLY painful) decided that it was probably appendicitus. He ordered a room for me, and I had to take x-rays, catscans, blood tests, and a whole other slew of tests, and all the while I was praying that I wouldn't need surgery. I feel bad for my poor mom.. I had to call her in the middle of the night and let her know that I was in the hospital. Not exactly what she wanted to hear.
I got put in my room.. which was actually beautiful. I had a nice view of the city, a pink comforter that matched the pink wall paper, a fridge, microwave, couch, table, and a bathroom. On the door it said VIP, so I was kind of a celebrity for a couple of days. No big deal.
After a couple of hours, the doctor came back with good news and bad news. Good news: it wasn't appendicitus. Bad news: It was colitus, an infection in the colon (gross..) and it takes about 5 days to heal with severe antibiotics. He assured me that I would not leave the hospital for at least 2 days, and maybe longer if my fever didn't break. That was kind of sad to hear. I missed the first couple of days of intensive Thai language, and shopping for traditional Thai outfits. But one of the leaders from the program was always with me, which was really nice. They really took good care of me :).
The hospital is actually really good, and people from America actually come there to get surgeries done because it is so much cheaper than America. I had a little trouble with the first IV.. I was really dehydrated and they used a HUGE needle. Those of you who know me well know that I despise needles more than anything. Needless to say, it wasn't easy.. and it was really painful. On the second day, my hand was swollen twice its normal size and it was blue... so they moved the IV from my left hand to my right hand..using a MUCH smaller needle.. and that made me happy :)
The nurses were really funny. They would always smile and they didn't really speak English that well. They would always come in and throw a thermometer in my mouth, while slapping on a blood pressure machine and a oxygen measurer, and then ask me "How many times peepee this hour? poopoo?" They did this every hour.. even in the middle of the night when they would throw the lights on...startling me like no other. But they were very efficient with their job!
Four of my fabulous friends here came and visited me, and tried to teach me Thai. That was interesting. We got in trouble with the nurses for "having a party." Hahaha we were probably really loud. but I love them to death. Some of the best people I could be in a differnet country with.
I was discharged this morning.. on my birthday :). Stacy stayed the night with me and gave me a card and a Thai purse which was really sweet. When Ajarn Mike and Ajarn Ann picked me up, they came with flowers and smiles, drove me back to the hotel where I was greeted by everyone in the program. I watched everyone get ready for the traditional Thai dinner tonight.. they all looked SO cool. I'll have to get myself one of those outfits. While I am really sad I cannot go to the dinner, I'm happy I get the opportunity to rest and get healthy.
Thank you so much for your concerned messages! I felt all of your prayers here, and they were very appreciated. Love you all so much, and I hope this is my sick quota for the trip! :)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The day I wore huge pants.
Well things just keep happening. Seriously a day does not go by in this country that is jam packed. I feel like I've already been here a month, but I've only been here 3 days. WHAT?! That is unreal.
Today I got to sleep in until 8 (YAY!) and then I went to Church. Thailand is 89% Buddhist, 85% Muslim, and barely 1% Christian. There are Buddhist monks literally on every corner, decked out in their bright orange robes and bald heads. They live in huge Wats (Buddhist temples) and have very high status- even the King has to pay respect to them. Anyways, I went to my first Catholic mass! It was a gorgeous church- one of three in Chiang Mai- with water falls and stained glass. The Buddhist monks actually built the church for the Catholics in the community because they wanted them to have a place of worship. Religious inclusion is a big thing here, which is why we were still allowed to take Communion, even though we are not Catholic.
Then began our day of shopping. First we went to the worlds largest gem and jewlrey store. Fine gems are native to Thailand, and it is very easy to find sapphire jewlrey for around $30. I was a little stressed there- they had an apprasier who would follow me everywhere and would push things at me. Oh well, you live and you learn.
Next, we went to an umbrella making store. They made the paper, crafted the bamboo, and painted designs on the site. You could get anything you wanted painted- so I got orchids painted on my TOMS! They look awesome, and I want to wear them all the time. The lady was very friendly and gave me a discount, and even wrote Chiang Mai 2011 on one shoe and the Thai lettering of Chiang Mai 2554 (the Buddhist year) on the other shoe. I'll have to put up pictures. They rock. I also bought a painting of elephants there for my painting collection I have, and a pair of elephant pants! Seriously, everyone in the world should own a pair of these pants. They are made of lightweight cotton and are GINORMOUS. You have to fold it in a special way, and then tie and fold some more, and BEHOLD. The most comfortable pants known to mankind. I tried to find a picture on google to show what they looked like, but all that came up was elephant boxers. SO you'll just have to wait til I put up my LOVELY picture of me in my pants online. (P.S. Friends...If I cannot find a better souvenir for all of you, you might be receiving some of these pants..haha)
We then continued on to a Silk making factory..where they boiled silk worm caccoons right in front of us! Apparently if the silk worms reach maturity and leave their caccoons, they ruin the silk thread, so they have to boil the caccoons with the poor worms inside. That was weird. They also showed us how silk is made..and WHOA were those things expensive.. even in American dollars. The nice thing about Thailand is that the exchange rate is freakin awesome and I can usually buy whatever I want, but wow was that silk out of my price range.
We finally concluded our trip with a lacquer store. This is where they make sculptures and jewley boxes and stuff with that black shiny stuff with gold leaf on it.
The process on to make these boxes is ridiculous! They have to apply the black lacquer 7 times, each time letting it dry. They then have to apply different glue and have to hand apply the gold leaf, then wash it in this special thing to make it shiny. I wish I could remember the whole process, because it really helped me appreicate what they do so much more. Ajarn Mike (ajarn means professor in Thai..we always have to refer to him at that as a label of respect) said that we are going to making these in our art class this semester. We'll see how that goes.. GPA dropper right there.
NEEDLESS to say, I learned that Chiang Mai is a city that specializes in the fine arts. Who knew so many talented, artistic people could live in one city!
Miss you all! I start my intensive Thai classes tomorrow at the university, and I have to get a traditional Thai outfit! Wish me luck!
<3 Kitty
Today I got to sleep in until 8 (YAY!) and then I went to Church. Thailand is 89% Buddhist, 85% Muslim, and barely 1% Christian. There are Buddhist monks literally on every corner, decked out in their bright orange robes and bald heads. They live in huge Wats (Buddhist temples) and have very high status- even the King has to pay respect to them. Anyways, I went to my first Catholic mass! It was a gorgeous church- one of three in Chiang Mai- with water falls and stained glass. The Buddhist monks actually built the church for the Catholics in the community because they wanted them to have a place of worship. Religious inclusion is a big thing here, which is why we were still allowed to take Communion, even though we are not Catholic.
Then began our day of shopping. First we went to the worlds largest gem and jewlrey store. Fine gems are native to Thailand, and it is very easy to find sapphire jewlrey for around $30. I was a little stressed there- they had an apprasier who would follow me everywhere and would push things at me. Oh well, you live and you learn.
Next, we went to an umbrella making store. They made the paper, crafted the bamboo, and painted designs on the site. You could get anything you wanted painted- so I got orchids painted on my TOMS! They look awesome, and I want to wear them all the time. The lady was very friendly and gave me a discount, and even wrote Chiang Mai 2011 on one shoe and the Thai lettering of Chiang Mai 2554 (the Buddhist year) on the other shoe. I'll have to put up pictures. They rock. I also bought a painting of elephants there for my painting collection I have, and a pair of elephant pants! Seriously, everyone in the world should own a pair of these pants. They are made of lightweight cotton and are GINORMOUS. You have to fold it in a special way, and then tie and fold some more, and BEHOLD. The most comfortable pants known to mankind. I tried to find a picture on google to show what they looked like, but all that came up was elephant boxers. SO you'll just have to wait til I put up my LOVELY picture of me in my pants online. (P.S. Friends...If I cannot find a better souvenir for all of you, you might be receiving some of these pants..haha)
We then continued on to a Silk making factory..where they boiled silk worm caccoons right in front of us! Apparently if the silk worms reach maturity and leave their caccoons, they ruin the silk thread, so they have to boil the caccoons with the poor worms inside. That was weird. They also showed us how silk is made..and WHOA were those things expensive.. even in American dollars. The nice thing about Thailand is that the exchange rate is freakin awesome and I can usually buy whatever I want, but wow was that silk out of my price range.
We finally concluded our trip with a lacquer store. This is where they make sculptures and jewley boxes and stuff with that black shiny stuff with gold leaf on it.
The process on to make these boxes is ridiculous! They have to apply the black lacquer 7 times, each time letting it dry. They then have to apply different glue and have to hand apply the gold leaf, then wash it in this special thing to make it shiny. I wish I could remember the whole process, because it really helped me appreicate what they do so much more. Ajarn Mike (ajarn means professor in Thai..we always have to refer to him at that as a label of respect) said that we are going to making these in our art class this semester. We'll see how that goes.. GPA dropper right there.
NEEDLESS to say, I learned that Chiang Mai is a city that specializes in the fine arts. Who knew so many talented, artistic people could live in one city!
Miss you all! I start my intensive Thai classes tomorrow at the university, and I have to get a traditional Thai outfit! Wish me luck!
<3 Kitty
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The day I rode an elephant.
I promised myself that I wouldn't be that person that writes on their blog every single day, but its necessary. Enough has happened today to fill a month.
Woke up at 6 freakin A.M. this morning...way to early for me too function. Good thing they believe in coffee and a hearty breakfast here. When I say hearty I mean chicken, rice, fruit, vegetables..basically what we would consider dinner at home. The fruit is the most amazing thing I have ever tasted- I could probably live purely off of the fruit. And there are so many new kinds! Rose apples, green mango, papaya, the BEST pineapple ever.. and sometimes you can dip it in spicy sugar..which is interesting. The coffee may be instant with non-dairy creamer, but its tastes like necter from the gods.
After we had eaten a substantial amount of food, we all climbed into the arod-tangs. These are our taxis..but really they are glorified pick up trucks with a roof. We pile into the bed of the truck and sit on benches, then our driver speeds off. The air flys around us and we weave in and out of traffic with no seat belts...it's very liberating :). Traffic here is crazy! Motorcycles follow no rules and go where they want. All though they drive on the opposite side of the road as us, people really drive wherever they feel like. Traffic rules are more like guidelines. Crossing the road as a pedestrian is crazy...we have been told to look both ways at least 8 times. Then we have to walk slowly...because if we run the motocycles will hit us. They speed up when we walk so they can pass ahead of us. Frightening.
After a crazy 45 minute drive, we reached the elephant camp. This camp is smack dab in the middle of the jungle. We crossed a rickety bridge that swang more than the Swinging Bridge at Messiah. On the other side is where we met our friends the elephants! Me and Jess hopped on Ernie, our new elephant friend, and rode around for an hour and a half. It was amazing...very shaky and a little terrifying, but SO cool. We sat in these little chairs perched upon the elephant while a driver in front of us sat on the elephants head, and steared the elephants with different grunts and tugging of the ears. After that we watched the elephants bathe themselves..which is a lot more entertaining than it sounds.. and then they performed a show. One elephant painted an amazing picture, which was better than anything I could ever do. Embarrassing.
Woke up at 6 freakin A.M. this morning...way to early for me too function. Good thing they believe in coffee and a hearty breakfast here. When I say hearty I mean chicken, rice, fruit, vegetables..basically what we would consider dinner at home. The fruit is the most amazing thing I have ever tasted- I could probably live purely off of the fruit. And there are so many new kinds! Rose apples, green mango, papaya, the BEST pineapple ever.. and sometimes you can dip it in spicy sugar..which is interesting. The coffee may be instant with non-dairy creamer, but its tastes like necter from the gods.
After we had eaten a substantial amount of food, we all climbed into the arod-tangs. These are our taxis..but really they are glorified pick up trucks with a roof. We pile into the bed of the truck and sit on benches, then our driver speeds off. The air flys around us and we weave in and out of traffic with no seat belts...it's very liberating :). Traffic here is crazy! Motorcycles follow no rules and go where they want. All though they drive on the opposite side of the road as us, people really drive wherever they feel like. Traffic rules are more like guidelines. Crossing the road as a pedestrian is crazy...we have been told to look both ways at least 8 times. Then we have to walk slowly...because if we run the motocycles will hit us. They speed up when we walk so they can pass ahead of us. Frightening.
After a crazy 45 minute drive, we reached the elephant camp. This camp is smack dab in the middle of the jungle. We crossed a rickety bridge that swang more than the Swinging Bridge at Messiah. On the other side is where we met our friends the elephants! Me and Jess hopped on Ernie, our new elephant friend, and rode around for an hour and a half. It was amazing...very shaky and a little terrifying, but SO cool. We sat in these little chairs perched upon the elephant while a driver in front of us sat on the elephants head, and steared the elephants with different grunts and tugging of the ears. After that we watched the elephants bathe themselves..which is a lot more entertaining than it sounds.. and then they performed a show. One elephant painted an amazing picture, which was better than anything I could ever do. Embarrassing.
After the show, we split into groups of fours and hopped onto bamboo rafts. Each raft had a guide with a long pole..kind of like a gondoleer, who guided us down the river. It was very relaxing and refreshing. We also got to wear silly hats made of bamboo. Our raft led us to our arod-tang, and our next stop was an orchid farm! This is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to. Orchids were EVERYWHERE, in all different colors and sizes. It was also a restraunt and a butterfly sanctuary. Orchids are probably the most beautiful flower. They are so graceful and delicate, and they come in so may colors and patterns.
When we got to the hotel, a group of us girls decided to venture out on our own. We haled our own arod-tang (!) and headed to the mall.. which is the most lively place I have ever been. Half of it was an outdoor market, where we bought mango and sticky rice, and some chai tea. We then headed to the HUGE playgound they built for today, because today is Children's Day! Its a national holiday in Thailand where all of the children of the country are honored and they get everything for free. The mall built a huge playground out of paper mache (which probably took FOREVER) that showed all the areas of the world..my favorite was the paper mache Pyramid with the life size camel. We then decided that instead of taking a arod-tang, we were going to make the hour long treck back on foot. It was so much fun walking with the people of Thailand and parusing the shops along the way. Chiang Mai is such a beautiful, friendly, safe city. I could explore it for hours on end and never be bored.
More adventures to come tomorrow, and I'll post pictures!
Kitty
Friday, January 7, 2011
I'm HERE!
Hey everyone! After 3 flights that added up to 21 hours, and 2 layovers, I'm FINALLY in Thailand! The flights were pretty good. On my flight to Alaska, I was stuck next to an old Vietnamese man who was extremely drunk and then proceeded to get sick and pass out. So they had to call a medical emergency. Other than that, the only it was pretty uneventful. Except for the length- which was excrutiating.
As soon as we got there, we went straight to the hotel where we will be staying the next week and a half before we go to our homestays. After that we went to dinner where we met our Thai buddies! They are students at Chiang Mai University who are English majors, and their assignment is to help us with anything we need the next two weeks while we are getting acquainted with the city. They are awesome, and we are already close friends. They are very giving with their time, helping us with everything we need to do. They translate everything for us, help us order food (which is WAY difficult, espeically because we can't even sound out the letters) and today helped us by cell phones!
Thailand is SO warm and beautiful. Every surface is covered with flowers and greenery. Our Thai buddies were complaining that it was too cold outside when it was 75 degrees... it's their winter. They all wear jackets until its past 85. They also wear jackets because they do not want to get tan. In their culture, the more pale you are, the more beautiful you are. They buy lotions with whitner in it so their skin looks white. Even their deoderant has whitener in it. One girl was telling me that because she has dark skin- which we associate with Thai people- Thai boys do not want to date her. Thai guys find Thai girls attractive if they look white with Thai features- and the only way you can achieve that is buy being Khan- half Thai, half European- which is very rare. Isn't that so interesting that every is trying to achieve rarity when we in America think that being tan is beautiful? They are trying to escape the beauty God has given them because white is ideal in this world. I wonder why the way the majority of people are never seen as beautiful, but it always has to be a rare minority.
For dinner today, me and some other Americans ventured out into Chiang Mai without our buddies for dinner.. and it took us two hours to find food we could manage to order. That was interesting. Hopefully our first language class will teach us how to order food.
Tomorrow I ride elephants to the top of a mountain and visit an orchid farm! Can't wait, and love you all!
<3 Kitty
As soon as we got there, we went straight to the hotel where we will be staying the next week and a half before we go to our homestays. After that we went to dinner where we met our Thai buddies! They are students at Chiang Mai University who are English majors, and their assignment is to help us with anything we need the next two weeks while we are getting acquainted with the city. They are awesome, and we are already close friends. They are very giving with their time, helping us with everything we need to do. They translate everything for us, help us order food (which is WAY difficult, espeically because we can't even sound out the letters) and today helped us by cell phones!
Thailand is SO warm and beautiful. Every surface is covered with flowers and greenery. Our Thai buddies were complaining that it was too cold outside when it was 75 degrees... it's their winter. They all wear jackets until its past 85. They also wear jackets because they do not want to get tan. In their culture, the more pale you are, the more beautiful you are. They buy lotions with whitner in it so their skin looks white. Even their deoderant has whitener in it. One girl was telling me that because she has dark skin- which we associate with Thai people- Thai boys do not want to date her. Thai guys find Thai girls attractive if they look white with Thai features- and the only way you can achieve that is buy being Khan- half Thai, half European- which is very rare. Isn't that so interesting that every is trying to achieve rarity when we in America think that being tan is beautiful? They are trying to escape the beauty God has given them because white is ideal in this world. I wonder why the way the majority of people are never seen as beautiful, but it always has to be a rare minority.
For dinner today, me and some other Americans ventured out into Chiang Mai without our buddies for dinner.. and it took us two hours to find food we could manage to order. That was interesting. Hopefully our first language class will teach us how to order food.
Tomorrow I ride elephants to the top of a mountain and visit an orchid farm! Can't wait, and love you all!
<3 Kitty
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