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
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