RIP Puppies

This morning, after the whole standing in line segment of the day (during which we actually STOOD in line! Usually we sit, but because it was raining this morning, and the ground was all wet, we actually stood, which means my legs didn't go to sleep so I didn't walk like a mad-man afterwards... anyways) I met up with Natalie and Jessy who were accompanying the school marching band to another school nearby for the whole Princess greetin ceremony thing. I'm not sure why the Princess was in Nongchok today to be honest, but I was kind of excited about getting to see her. So we left the school at about 830, and when we got there they told us the Princess would be arriving at 10. We waited around with a group of little kindergarteners (Thai kids are the cutest, I've decided. They all had on their little school uniforms, and the girls all had their hair in cute little hairdos. I think I scared them a little though, just being the only white person they've probably ever seen...), and the whole time I just tried not to fall asleep. The school we were at, I'm guessing, is a Muslim school, because all the girls were wearing those things that cover their heads. Sorry I'm not sure what they're called. Everyone was lined up along the side of the road, standing and waiting for the Princess to come. However, they then informed up she would be delayed until 1030. We waited until 1030 and they told us she would be another half an hour. Jessy got kind of mad about it all, I could tell. She was all, "it's not fair to make this many people wait for one." So the 3 of us just went back to the school, and I didn't see the Princess. Although I honestly wasn't too upset about it because it was super hot out and I was tired.

We made it back to the school just in time for my Thai Language class with Ajan Suppanee. She is really nice, and I like my classes with her because every class she brings me a new Thai dessert to try. Yummy. Today she brought me these super good Thai baked things, that were inside a banana leaf. However, I'm not really too keen on learning Thai with her. Although she is super nice, my classes with her pretty much go like this: She teaches me a bunch of new words at the beginning of the class, then I try to memorize them, and then she quizzes me on them, and I never know all of the words. We all know I'm not the best at learning foreign languages...

I ate lunch in the cafeteria with Cherry and company. My lunch was actually super good. I had rice with a fried egg (I eat more fried eggs here than I've ever eaten in my lifetime) and this good stir-fried stuff with carrots and cauliflower and such. It didn't seem Thai at all, which is probably why I liked it so much haha. After lunch I had a free period and then my Flower Making class. In Flower Making, I began making Orchids. All I did today was paint the petals, and then cut the leaves from green fabric stuff. Painting the petals was kind of neat. They were already cut into shape, but they were just white, so I would dip them in water, and then brush them with this purple paint, which would soak into the leaves, kind of like with a water-color painting.

Apparently P'Kla phoned Pylynn today and told her that he wouldn't be able to pick me up from school, and asked her if she would be able to give me a ride home. So she met up with me at the school at the end of the day, and then drove me home. I was kind of hoping she could stick around and visit for a bit, but she had some class to go to. I just sat around and began reading The Pillars of the Earth, which I'm already loving. Beam came in to visit me, and I gave her the Canadian Rockies Calender as a gift. This morning before school I gave P'Kla the book about the Canadian Rockies, and I gave Korn a keychain. They both liked their gifts, I could tell, but Kla REALLY liked the book. I thought he deserved it since he seems the most interested in where I come from. Beam really liked the calender too. We spent almost an hour looking at all the pictures in it, and she would ask me about all the different holidays which were labelled on it. Some of which I haven't even heard of in my life. I tried to explain to her about Easter, and how the whole Easter Bunny and Easter Egg hunt thing works, but how there really is no Easter Bunny (or Santa for that matter) and I pretty much just confused the hell out of her. Anyways, she invited me to go with her on Saturday to Wat Phra Kaew, AKA the Temple of the Emerald Buddah. It is in Bangkok, and is apparently the most famous Temple in all of Thailand, so I'm pretty excited about it. Also, on Saturday evening I've been invited to go to Manda's school where there is some sort of party going on, I'm not really sure what it's for. But both Manda and Juan are going, so it would be nice to get to visit them a bit. Apparently we have to dress up nicely and the whole dinner thing costs 500 baht. It should be fun. Also, next Tuesday is Thai Mother's Day/The Queens birthday, which means we have no school. However, we still have school on Monday, which kind of sucks. I don't know if my family has anything special planned for that day, but from what I gather they don't. Since Cherry didn't go to her extra studying on Sunday, she has to go tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So I'm hoping maybe on Tuesday me and her can go out and do something to bond a little. She really is nice, however, she is obsessed with Thai pop music, and since now she has her computer in our bedroom, she has taken to blasting her music whenever she is in here. Like for example, last night when I was trying to sleep. I just listened to my iPod super loudly, so it was okay. I really don't think I will ever adjust to the music here though. I hate to admit it, but I almost prefer Creston and it's obsession with country music over the Thai school kids and there obsession with pop. The other day, when at the market at Tops, there was a DVD of some Thai boy-band playing on a TV, and Patch said to me "I like this band, they are really good dancers!" It wasn't until I told Keith about this later that he pointed out to me how funny that statement is...

On a sader note, the dogs puppies all died. I'm not really sure why. Beam tried to explain to me, and what I understood from her was that the mother stepped on them.? I'm not really sure if that's how they died though... Then Cherry warned me to watch my shoes because of the puppies. I'm not really sure what that meant either, but apparently the mom dog is mad about her puppies, so I should look out for her with my shoes. :S

Oh, and heres a fun fact, the average life-span of a dog or cat in Thailand is 3 years. Everyone here seems amazed at the fact that our dogs live to be teenagers....