รายการบล็อกของฉันที่สามจากประเทศไทย!
My third blog entry from Thailand!
Hello World! This is Christine from Thailand again just keeping you posted on my adventure!
Udon Pitt, my school schedule
Music anyone?
I am now taking a class at Udon Pit where I learn a thai instrument. The instrument is similar to an xylophone only larger in size and is called "Kong Wong Ya". I have been taking the class with another Rotary exchange student from Pensylvania. Learning a new instrument has been very fun and exicting but it also has taken quite a bit of patience. Practice is definantly key and I now understand why my piano or guitar friends were always taking the time to improve their skill. I can now play 3/4 of a song and am very pleased with myself.
Thai Dance
Well this dance has been in Thailand since the early 1800's. It is a beautiful and flowing dance.. that is when a Thai person dances it. I am definantly not built like the Thai people so immendiatly the dance looses some of its natural flow. My hands are not at all double jointed and my legs are probably 3 times the size of a thai's legs. I feel sometimes like I could trample my teacher. I also take this class with the Rotary Exchange student; Jazz whom is a ballet dancer. She is also trying to adjust to a completely different style of dancing.
The other day actually Jazz and I had a very unusual experience during class. We arrived at class like usuall and began to practice our dance. Our teacher then instructed us to change our clothes so we could "look the part". We did as we were told and after many size adjustments finally found a fit. The teacher then sat me down and pulled my hair back and placed a black wig on my head. It was.. hmm... hideous. Mostly because you could see my blonde hair above the black wig. Then came the makeup. It was white and and red and wasn;t very flaterring. After this I looked in the mirror and was honestly a little scared of myself. Jazz put it as well.. are we supposed to look like witches? I actually was a little confused to whether my teacher was actually trying to make us look bad because after he had dressed us up he would add a new addition to our outfits. Gold bracelets, head dresses, necklaces, eyeshadow.. every addition he seemed to laugh harder and longer then the last. By the end I felt tired and ready for a nap but of course he wanted to take a photo. So he lead us to the garden which by this time was surrounded by Thai students giggling and pointing. I dont think I have laughed so hard in a long time. Jazz was first to stand in the garden and did her photos very gracefully. Next was Christine... I stepped into the garden and thought it might be fun to stand on the trunk of the tree nearby. After about 2 photos I began to feel a burning sensation on my right foot. Looking down I was shocked to see that my foot was covered in little black spiders biting my foot. I screamed and fell into the bushes behind me. I was stuck in the bushes for a while before I finally could pull myself up. It was humiliating, awkard and hillarious all at the same time. My teacher thought it would be best if we finished the photo shoot inside the classroom. I agreed 100%.
Thai Cooking
I have been going to my Thai cooking class now for 3 weeks now and I have to admit it is not what I expected. I assumed it would be similar to my cooking class in Cnada but of coursee. it wasn't. The first day of cooking I went in and was pleased to see the ingredients to make Pad Thai sitting on the counter. I waited for my other classmates and the teacher to arrive so we could receive a recipe to follow and be divided into groups. Well.. the students arrived and immediatly started chopping, boiling and stirring without any previous instruction. Our teacher didnt actually show up until the students had assembled everything. It was almost as if they were little chefs. My first job was given to me by one of the smallest thai students, she was holding a knife with garlic. She instructed me to peel the garlic and when I was finished it would be blended in with the rest of the ingredients. There are about 10 others in the class and their was alot of garlic so another thai student helped me. I finished up with the garlic beaming with pride that I had completed my first task with no blood or tears. I looked around and was extremelly surprised to see the meal was almost complete. I didnt even see the rest of the ingredients. They added the garlic and before I knew it I had a beautiful plate of Pad Thai in front of me. So... I guess I will have to wait on the other ingredients until then I know that Pad Thai takes about 15 cloves of garlic.
Canadian dinner:
Last week I decided I would make a Canadian dinner for my host family. I was thinking about what I could make that would be Canadian and relatively simple to make. I decided on a good juicy burger. My host mom and I went to the local grocery store and bought ground beef, onions, tomatoes, lettuce. I ended up forgetting to get the actual hamburger buns and got my host mom to buy them after work. The bakery she went too only had the baby version so we had big patties with little buns. It was cute. I invited my Thai friend over to enjoy some homemade burgers and she helped me set the table and get ready for supper. I fried the onions with a little but of real canadian syrup which added a nice touch. The burgers were a little on the black side but a little burnt never hurt anyone. I brought some candies from Canada thank to the courtesy of my wonderful mother in Canada and they were a big hit at dessert. All together it was a big success!
Chanelling frustration:
I have been learning a ton about the importance of chanelling negative emotions on this exchange so far. The way you handle set backs in your life can really affect your spirit. At school I have found it hard to get into the groove of things because there isn't alot of places to go when you need a break. The longer I spend the more creative I become. I have been taking a neat buddhism class at school that starts off with about 30 minutes of meditation which I love. This has been one way that I have been trying to cope with stressful situations. Another way I have been finding very useful is reading. Before I left to Thailand my dad sent me off with a wonderful book called "love your life". Its all about enjoying the life you are in now. We are all equal and each one of us is full of amazing potential. If we are supportive to ourself then we can give back to others more full heartedly and feel better throughout the day. Music has been another tool that I have been using. I would love to hear how others handle a hard time in their own life!
Story of the week:
At school the other day I was feeling quite hungry at around 10:45 and at our school you are not permitted to buy anything at the canteen during class time. Only before school, lunch, and after school. I asked my thai friend where I could go. She said she knew of a good little place behind the school. Instead of walking out the front entrance we walked to the back of the school and went up to the cement fence that surrounds our high school. We peeked thru the small holes lining the top of the fence and saw a small little reaturant on the other side. My thai friend "Porche" called to the women across the street thru traffic and asked her to come here. The women crossed the traffic to meet us on the other side of the fence. I ordered sticky rice (Cow Neow) and chicken (guy). She went back and got it all organized and delivered me my meal thru the fence. I was so impressed by their service and I would definantly do that again. Although it is forbidden at our school it is easier getting away with things as a foreigner!
That evening my host mom picked me up from school and we went to the market called O-TOP. It is a huge market filled with authentic thai crafts, foods, clothing.. ect. It only comes to Udon once a year and it was great to see different styles of poduct of different areas of Thailand. I saw alot of shops selling things from the mountain people in the North of Thailand. I am incredibly fascinated by them and was considering buying myself a bag but decided otherwise. I was incredibly surprised when my host famity surprised me a few days later with a nicely made bag from that same shop. So considerate of her to do that!
My 18th birthday:
I am getting old. I am finally out of my adolescance and going into my adulthood. I am extremelly excited to be turning 18 in a foreign country and was happy to have a great day eating ice cream, cake and really good food. I woke up early so I could give offerings to the monks in the morning. I was very excited to do this because I haven't gotten an opputunity to do that yet. In the evening I arrived at a restaurant for dinner with the Rotary and saw a sign at the entrance that said Happy Birthday Christine. It was so neat! Everyone sang happy birthday and I received many gifts from the Rotary and the other exchange students. I am now officially in Adult! Its weird to think...
"Growing up, its something you can measure
Growing up, it happens everyday
Being young is something you should treasure."
The next monday my friends at school called me to come into the canteen and sang me happy birthday with cake. It was so thoughtful of ev eryone to buy a cake for my birthday! At lunch another group of friends did the same thing. I was very full of dessert after that monday.
Tennis lessons:
I have begun to take tennis lessons in thailand. My host mom signed my brother and I up and I was very excited to be be developing a skill. The coach who teaches us is great because he has been working with me one on one making sure that I know the motion of the swing. There are about 16 in each lesson and everyone is very inviting and very fun to be around!
Going to a school in Nong Khai:
My thai friend told me that her class was going to be going to a small village in Nong Khai and delivering supplies to the students. She asked me if I wanted to come and I was so excited to say yes because I really want to experience the village life in Thailand. In Nong Khai we end up going a school out of town but the school is in very good condition. The night before Porche and I had bought supplies for them. I bought toothbrush and toothpaste thinking they would need that in a village. I probably could have juyst brought candy but I fugured toothbrush was better for their health. It was so cool because we were in charge of these kids all day. We played games together and drew pictures together. It was so exhausting but incredibly fun.
Nong Khai #2
Today the exchange students headed to Nong Khai to do some sightseeing. It was beautiful but very hot. I was able to eat lunch on the mekong river in a little boat. It was very neat to go and I was pleased to be able to see some wonderful buddhist sculptures. It was a very scenic trip!
I am feeling rather tired and looking forward to a nice sleep. I will update again soon and until there
Je Gun Ka!
(See you soon)
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