Host Family Gifts

Today I went to school. Needless to say I could have not gone, and it probably wouldn't have made a difference. The first two periods I had free, so I went to the computer room and chatted on MSN and what not for a bit, but the internet connection is sooooooo slow that I just gave up on that. For periods 3 and 4 I was supposed to have FlowerMaking, so I went to the classroom and sat where I usually sit. I waited around for the teacher for about 20 minutes, during which my classmates were all kind of looking at me and talking and I could tell they had something to tell me but didn't know how. Some random male teacher walked past the classroom door and they told him what it was to see if he could explain to me in English, but the best he could do was to tell me to go to Ajan Tassanee (my AFS advisor). So I just went to the English room, and visited with the student teachers/read a bit of my CultureShock Thailand book until lunch. I had lunch with Cherry and Nink. I had these noodles that I've had a few times before, basically because they aren't spicy and they're a change from rice, but I think the food had alot of MSG in it (alot of the food here does, like Papaya Salad, but it's okay if I only eat small amounts of it) but since I ate a whole bowl of the noodles, I had a mad headache/just felt crummy all over for the rest of the day. Patch wasn't there at school today, at least not for the morning, because she had to go to the airport to pick up her friend Lindsey. For my free period after lunch, I went to the computer room and just played solitaire and free cell on the computer. I went to my Thai Music class, played the song I was supposed to practice for homework on the Thai Flute for my teacher, and then she began to teach me to play the Thai version of a xylaphone (spelling? ack). It was a beautiful instrument, and sounded really cool, but I think I sucked at it. She just taught me to hit each note four times moving first up and then down the whole thing. Then she tried to teach me the song which I had just played on the flute, but after about 30 seconds of that she gave up and just told me to practice hitting each note four times.... For my Thai Cooking class (this is the one where it's just one-on-one with a teacher), she made some kind of salad, while I watched. The salad involved this (this is for you Alyson, so you can try to re-create it, because I actually have memorized how to make it!!):

Those weird see-through Thai noodles mixed in with boiled ground pork and shrimp. The sauce was a combination of lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and cut up chillis. Added to the mixture was some chopped up onions and tomatoes, and some herb which I'm not sure what it was. By the way, apparently Thai's don't ever measure anything out. They just go by what they like. i.e. if they like things spicy, they will add more chillis. That reminds me, after lunch when I went to the computer room, they were all eating papaya salad (really spicy though) and they were all crying. I swear, if you didn't know they were eating you would think something horrible had happened. They offered me some, and I was like, "not if it's going to do that to me..." It was nice of them to offer anyway though... Anyways, back to the salad, it looked like this:


Since Patch wasn't there, I just kind of sat and ate my salad alone (the teacher dissapeared, I'm not really sure where to), and then Patch showed up with her friend and her cousin. Her friend Lindsey is from Ohio, and apparently lives just down the street from where Patch lived in America. She has been here for 6 weeks in Chiang Mai teaching, because apparently in America she is just finishing up her teaching degree. She is here to spend a week with Patch, I think they were going to the beach for a few days, then going back to America. When I was done eating (well, I was super "im" (Thai for full) so I didn't really finish the salad, I just packed it up and brought it with me) the four of us went to Tops for Patch and Lindsey to do some shopping for their trip. I didn't buy anything, but in the market there was a stand selling deep fried ice cream! I didn't get any, but I plan on going back sometime. I tell you, you can find ANYTHING in these markets here, it's so convenient :)

When I got home from the market, I spent the next couple of hours looking through a Thailand tourist guide book (which one of Cherry's teachers lent me), learning how to play Stairway to Heaven on guitar (Rick you will be so proud of me, it was soooooo out of tune, and I actually tuned it by ear! and we all know I'm not the best at doing that, but I think it came out alright... haha), and reading this Kurt Vonnegut book my mom bought for me. When Cherry came home around 730 we had dinner, and since it was one of the few times when alot of the family members were actually together, I decided to give everyone who was there their gifts from Canada. I gave Cherry the hummingbird necklace, P'Keng and his girfriend Calenders, P'Klang the maple leaf keychain, and Amma the black dreamcatcher. I gave my host parents the box with the wooden box and the canoe made of bark, and figured they could figure out who would have which one. Everyone opened their presents except for P'Keng and his girlfriend, which I was okay with, because I know Thai's traditionally open presents in private. I was glad I saw some open theirs though, because honestly when Amma opened hers, she was so excited. I don't think I've seen anyone that excited to open a present in a long time.... I could also tell my host mom really liked both the wooden box and the canoe. And Cherry told me she will wear her necklace everyday, although I advised her to take it off while she showers...

The student teachers invited me to go with them tomorrow morning (since I have the first 3 periods free) to another school nearby which apparently the Princess in Law (she is married to the Prince, and apparently she is his "first" wife, not meaning he divorced her, but since she was unable to provide him with a son, he married a "second" wife to do so...) is visiting, so I will get to see (probably not meet) her.