My Thai Famly

We were given the option to stay with a Thai family for one night, I jumped at this opportunity. I was introduced to my family and I was told we'd be doing some kind of activity and to take plenty of pictures...this left me with lots of curiousity, but I was ready for anything. Luckily for me I was not alone one of my Fin friends had applied for the homestay as well, and we able to go together. Which was nice, I might have felt very lonely, if she hadn't have been there.We drove off, and we were told we were close to their home. We were pretty much off roading, they lived very far out from the road near the most beautiful mountains. As I was preoccupied with taking lots and lots of photos we had arrived. There home was basically made of cement. they had different rooms, but the walls were not attached and you could pretty much hear everything even if you closed the door for privacy. They showed us our room, then our bathroom, and the kitchen. The bathroom had no shower, but they seem to use a bucket of water to wash their bodies, then the toilet had no toilet paper, and no other way to clean yourself afterwards. This was going to be an experience. We were told dinner would be served soon so we could do whatever we wanted in the mean time. They had cooked fresh crab, shrimp, and some other kind of fish that they didn't know the English word for. I was very hesitant because I never eat seafood even in America, but I was willing to give it a try for once. I was happily surprised they prepared a lovely meal for us, and at the end of it all I was so full I felt sick literally. So when we got home I felt like I might be sick, their grandmother made me some kind of Thai remedy, and it fixed me right up. I am amazed with their culture. It was time to hit the showers. This was definitely one of those moments where I knew I had taken my precious hot water showers in America for granted. Having to use a bucket of water, and having to fill it each time I needed to wash the soap off my head and body was just something you only want to have to do once. I have been spoiled and I realize that now. After my shower, I looked in the mirror and my eyes were bloodshot. Note to self try not to open your eyes if you are taking a shower by bucket. Yeah, not so much. It was finally time for bed. The bed was pretty stiff, so I couldn't get comfortable right away, and then the grandfather seemed very sick and was coughing very loudly, and the crickets, and frogs, and dogs, were keeping me up...again it was an experience. I finally dozed off, and woke up to a beautiful day ahead. We were told to have breakfast, and then we would be on our way to the beach, a waterfall, and then we would come home for our things, and head back to the university. The beach and waterfall were absolutely gorgeous. There are no words to fully describe the beauty in everything I saw today. I will have to link this blog to my facebook album, because it's one of those things you have to see for yourself. We returned home, and were told to clean up for lunch. I had mentioned I loved green curry with chicken at dinner, and guess what our thai mother had made for us...she made GREEN CURRY! I was so happy :) They were so good to us. After lunch we headed back towards the university, but first we would go to the Chalong temple, and then to the Big Buddha. We had already been to the temple and didn't realize it haha so they took us to the big Buddha instead. It was amazing...after climbing up 80 steps, we could see all of Phuket in front of us. The view was breathtaking. Then they took us to the best place to watch the sunset in Phuket. We didn't stay to watch it, but it was absolutely beautiful. They were so happy to just be with us, and they wanted to take photos with us before we left for the university, it was so cute. I was really sad to go...I got kind of attached to them, I felt like part of the family. It was also great for me to practice my Thai, they said my Thai accent was very good, so I was pretty proud of myself haha. All in all it was one of the best experiences EVER, and I will never forget their kindness or generousity. Their family just wanted to know us, they spent more money than was necessary just to make sure we had whatever we needed, and that we were happy. I honestly hope that one day I can return the favor for an exchange student in America. I loved this, and think everyone should do it before they leave. It's not something you should miss out on. Until next time...keep in touch

The Thai people

So it's been a little while since my last blog, but I have been learning a lot. I have learned just how important looks are to the Thai culture. I always felt like it was bad living in Los Angeles with all the plastic surgery that takes place, but in Thailand, I feel much more self conscious than I do in the states. I have been told on several occasions by my Thai friends that I eat TOO MUCH. I have been told by any young girls here that they need to go and get there acne removed once a week and they try to eat one meal a day. They want to be slim like pencil thin. So me weighing in between 120-130 could be considered obese here. Also there are mirrors everywhere. They are always looking at themselves and very conscious of the way they look on public. I find it interesting because even on my flight over here I wanted to look at myself while I was sitting on the plane and I tried to hide my mirror. In the US I feel like we try to hide the fact that we want to be conscious of the way we present ourselves, because it might be taken as we might have low self-esteem. I also must say I miss the importance of hygiene. There is not a whole lot of that here. I was given a bowl last night with two ants crawling on the outside of it. Normally in the US if we saw that we'd be demanding a free meal, but here it's normal. They have no sense of time management here as well. Everything is Mai Pen Raj or Hakuna Matata. No worries! So if you tell a Thai friend to meet you at 2:00PM, they may be there at 3:00-3:30PM so yeah it can get kind of frustrating if you are one of those people who is always on time or keeps to a very strict schedule. I planned a party for my birthday at 10PM, but my Thai friend didn't pick me up until around almost 11PM and we still had to drive a good 15-20 minutes and other people had already arrived. So these are few things for me I find a little difficult to deal with, but I am learning and that's what matters most. I also had to learn how to wash my clothes in a bucket of water, and I got my first hair cut here. That was interesting. Have you ever gotten your haircut by someone who didn't speak your native language? Yeah it can be hard to get exactly what you want even when they can understand you, let alone when they speak very little English. I didn't get what I wanted, but I was happy with what I did get. It's all about learning, and maybe next time I'll know what to ask for :)

However, they are some of the most generous people I have ever met! They bought me drinks for my birthday, drove me to and from the club, they bought me a birthday cake, the sang to me...as much as I hate to admit it... I am not sure many people in the US would return the favor if a Thai came to study in the US. The circumstances in the US are different though. Here if you are a foreigner they know just by seeing your face, but in the US we have all kinds of different cultures that we wouldn't know if they were just visiting or if they lived here unless we tried to get to know them. Something to think about...until next time.