September 7, 2019

Well, I am officially speaking like an egotistical narcissist, because I’ve been told that when I speak I need to refer to myself by my name instead of the translation for “I.” In Thai, the word “chan” is used as “I” when you are a female speaker, but I’ve been told to use my name instead. Apparently it’s also a different situation for males, who use “pom” as “I,” and they don’t speak in the third person like I’ve been told to do because it’s, and I quote, “kind of gay.”

And I personally find that to be hilarious.

Also, everyone seems to curse in English and I don’t know why. I’ll hear a ton of words in Thai, followed by a pause and then a curse word/phrase in English, and then more Thai. And I don’t know why that happens, but I still find it funny.

Two weeks ago was the orientation in Khon Kaen, and I actually really liked it. The car ride was ridiculously long, but I really enjoyed meeting the other exchange students. We have a lot of kids from America (Oregon in particular), and we also have students from Taiwan, Japan, Belgium, Mexico, France (French people can’t say ‘beach,’ by the way, they end up cursing), Brazil, and other places as well. Nearly all of them can speak English to an extent, so communication wasn’t too problematic. After the meetings on the first day, we went to one of the temples in Khon Kaen, which was nine stories high (and, may I add, had no elevators). We later went to a competition of some sort, where the organizers just kind of shoved us onto the stage and waited until we sang a random song and got off. Actually, no- one student sang, the rest of us clapped to the beat and we were all very nervous and awkward and didn’t want to be on stage with people looking at us when we had no idea what was going on. After that was more meetings, and then the other inbounds pooled their money together to get stuff from McDonalds for dinner because they missed American food.

To be honest, I actually blend in really well here, as long as I don’t start speaking. Once I do, people know I’m not Thai, but everyone says I look like I’m Thai and I don’t have a problem with that. One of the kids at school even asked me “why do you look so Asian if you’re from America?” and I didn’t exactly know how to respond. That’s another thing- people are up front and direct with what they are asking. Things that would be considered rude to say/ask in America are perfectly acceptable here. For example, my host mom noticed I didn’t eat quite as much as my host brother and asked me if I was afraid to get fat. And that just kind of happens here.

There haven’t really been a lot of huge events since Khon Kaen, and the past two weeks have just been me getting accustomed to life in Thailand. Starting tomorrow, it will have been one month since I arrived, and in all honesty I thought I’d be better at speaking by now, but I’ve been told that I’m making good progress. I’ve also spent a little bit of time volunteering for Rotary to help victims of flooding, and I also spent some time at the mall with friends. It’s similar to any mall in America, but I thought it was really fun. Also, Friday (the sixth) was the school’s 108th anniversary. It was inspired by the fifth king, and I guess there’s something special about the number 108 (something about there being 108 beads on a certain necklace). The entire school day was just a giant ceremony, and I felt out of place the entire time because everyone else was wearing a special occasion uniform and I only had my everyday school uniform. There were speeches, dances, I think we did some stuff for the Bhudda at one point but I don’t really know, and then we were released from school by around 11:00 or 11:30.

So over all, I still really like it here. I’m working on my speaking ability, I’ve nearly memorized the entire alphabet, and I’m looking forward to whatever happens next!
The temple in Khon Kaen
Inside the temple in Khon Kaen

The view at the top- oh, and look at the background, too!
Gathering supplies for flood victims (I got out of school to do this! And it really helped me realize how much effort volunteer workers have to put in.)

A feast of champions or something

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