Well, like most first days of school I was nervous. This day was different however, I had to put on a uniform for the very first time since elementary school. These uniforms though were different in that you actually needed to assemble your own outfit. There were silver buttons given to us that we needed to figure out how to put on our shirts. This involved scissors and razor blades believe it or not haha. Luckily a very nice Thai student helped me. They are so generous here. In America, people rarely seem to want to do nice things for others without getting anything in return. Especially her, a stranger, she was not required to help, but she did. That to me is so amazing. Even though I am what they call a "Farang" or foreigner she helped no questions asked. Later today I went to class and met Thai students who had trouble understanding a lecture given in English. They asked me what encouraged meant, and I answered "Well like motivate", and then I soon realized they had no idea what that meant either. It was really interesting to see them in class, and to see how they think. Our teacher showed us photos and asked what they thought of each picture, the meaning behind it. Their answers were so different than what I would have said. There was a photo of a happy Asian family, some of the Thai students answered with happy family, but then someone said they saw warmth. To me that was really refreshing. Just to see how deep some of them thought. Even though they were struggling to understand the lecture, they still managed to use words like warmth. To me being an American, I would have said a family or a happy family, but I know deep down I wouldn't have responded with warmth right away. They are such hard workers, and I can see they really want to learn. I feel so lucky to be here with them. The next course was Thai as a Foreign Language. Now that was interesting. I definitely will need to study hard for any exams in this course. I struggled a little with the tones, but she asked us later to identify which word she was saying by circling one of the two answers. I only missed one. I was pretty proud of myself for day one anyway. The tone is everything in this language. Saying Maa with a high tone, low tone, mid tone, etc. means totally different things. This is going to be a challenge, but I am so excited to learn. After class it was time for dinner haha. I arrived back at my hotel where I will be staying for the next month, and needed to have 12,000 baht paid today. However, I have been having problems with getting cash out from these ATMs. I was trying to explain my problem to the receptionist, but she had no idea what I was saying. Luckily a Thai student who spoke English very well, came and helped translate. Again I experience tremendous generousity. She asked me what was wrong I explained why I didn't have the money and she told me she would be willing to drive me to eat, and try to go to another ATM that might work. I was in shock! She had no idea what my name was yet she was willing to get in her and drive me and my friends around town. This doesn't happen in America...not sure if it ever has. I understand that there are safety issues, but I was just so surprised. She was so very helpful, I was even able to ask her for help with pronunciation on some of the things I learned in my Thai course this afternoon. She was such a sweet girl. I was very fortunate to meet her. She offered to drive us any where any time and gave us her contact information and now we are facebook friends. I am can hardly wait to be around people with such big hearts. This is going to be an amazing experience. I'll be back with more! Until then... :)
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