Last Days in Thailand

A few days ago, I returned from the oceans course, which was a whirlwind of sun, sea, host families, meetings and so much fun.

The first week was spent in Baan Jao Mai, living with Muslim host families.  It is a very outgoing community, and it was such a pleasure to spend the week there.  While there, we visited mangrove conservation forests and sea grass beds (a favorite meal of the endangered dugong) to learn about  local conservation efforts.  We also visited a shrimp farm to see what effects shrimp farming had on the surrounding ecosystem.

Me with my host mom from Jao Mai

From Baan Jao Mai we caught a ferry to Koh Lipe, an island in the Adang Archipelago.  Our original plan was to stay for 2 nights to learn about tourism on the island, which is rapidly increasing.  But a visit from a tropical storm kept us on the island a couple more nights as we could not kayak to our next destination.  Eventually we did get out and paddled in beautiful weather to Koh Rawi, a camping spot of the Urak Lawoi, local people who formerly led a semi-nomadic, sea-based lifestyle.  In fact, when we arrived, most of the beach was taken up by Urak Lawoi families, so we set up camp on the end of the beach and hunkered down for the next 5 nights.

While camping on Rawi, we spent 4 days snorkeling the reefs surrounding various islands, being motored to various locations on a longtail boat by P' Khan or P' Tain, Urak Lawoi men that camped with us.  It was the first time I have been snorkeling, and the diversity of life found beneath the surface of the sea is astounding.  I saw sea anenomes, a barracuda, a stingray, eels, starfish, as well as a huge number of tropical fish, displaying bright colors and dizzying patterns.

One of our snorkel sites...not too shabby

After 2 1/2 weeks in the South, soaking up the sun, it was time to pack our bags and tents and take a ferry, van and 2 planes back to Chiang Mai.

In Chiang Mai, we had final seminar, farewell dinner, I handed in my final essay, and had my final Thai test.  A flurry of activity to keep my mind occupied.

And now, I am on the brink of departure, heading home tonight at 11:20 pm.  As I have been packing, the reality has set in that this semester has truly come to a close.  I have already seen 3 friends leave, and the apartment is looking more and more sparse.  I have grown to love this country and these people, so saying farewell to the most amazing semester of my life will be tough.

But I am so looking forward to greeting Grand Rapids, and all that it brings: family, friends, cooler weather, and much more.  As this is my last day in Thailand, I believe it will also be my last post on this blog, regaling my adventures here.  I hope I have managed to convey a small portion of what I have experienced here.

-Grace

Prateht Thai: Chan ja kittung mak mak.

Forests.

I am now back from forests, on spring break, almost ready to start my last course at ISDSI: oceans.  Time flies so quickly!

Forests began with a week of lecture in Chiang Mai, where we learned about the political ecology of forests.  We discussed the issue of who has the right to access the resources found in the forests of Thailand.  At the end of lecture every day, we spent some time learning the basics of the Karen language.  And so, supported by our new base of knowledge, we headed out into the field.

Our trip started with an 8-hour bus ride to Mae Hong Son on a cramped bus.  Upon arrival, we walked to a guesthouse in the city of Mae Hong Son.  We stayed two nights so that we could spend the next day in meetings with and NGO, and the former and current Obadaw (leader of the local government.)  After these opportunities to talk to people with varying perspectives, we were ready to head to the villages for our first home stay, in Huay Tong Kaw.

Sarah observing our Pati feeding the pigs in Huay Tong Kaw

I stayed with a woman named Mugaw (Aunt) Naypaw, and she was quite the personality.  She taught me and my friend living with me a song, and would proceed to sing it in the voice of a woman, then a man, then a small child.  We would sit by the fire and laugh and laugh.  The first full day in Huay Tong Kaw was a free day to spend with families, and I along with most of the village walked to a nearby village for a wedding.  We sat in a house and watched the ceremony, a large group of farangs (foreigners) amongst the friends and relatives of the couple.  But, we were welcomed very happily, and served a delicious lunch afterword.

The next day was one of two “culture days,” in which we had the opportunity to learn and practice some of what the Karen do.  So we began the day with blacksmithing.  There are a few men in the village who still blacksmith, making machetes and swords as well as agricultural tools.  That day, the men were going to make two machetes out of a piece of scrap metal, and so after watching for a while, we each got to try our hand at pounding on the red-hot metal.  Although fun, I don’t think I’ll be making a career of it anytime soon.  Next, we moved to the salah (meeting place) to learn the Tah, or traditional songs.  We learned courtship songs that men would sing to women, and women would then repeat the song if they were interested.  Unfortunately, we did not pick it up very easily because it seemed like each syllable had about 10 or 15 different notes; a bit hard to transcribe onto paper.  The final activity of the day was a visit to a man in the village that continued to practice herbal medicine.  He showed us some of the plants that he collected from the forest, and told us what uses they served.  It was really fascinating, the variety of ailments that were said to be addressed through the use of local forest plants.

Eva trying her hand at blacksmithing

Our teachers who taught us the Tah, and Pi Toto

Learning about herbal medicine

The second culture day was focused on men and women’s traditional crafts.  In the morning we got to participate in the entire weaving process.  Starting with the collection of leaves to dye some cotton string.  We made a dark green color.  While waiting for it to set, we got to try making loose cotton into string.  It’s a bit trickier to keep the cotton from breaking than I had thought.  From there we moved on to setting the loom and then the weaving itself.  I have to say, weaving is quite satisfying, watching a scarf or purse grow in front of you.  In the afternoon, we practiced the men’s traditional task of basket weaving.  I ended up with a bamboo basket, which actually became very useful to have in hikes to come.  That evening was spent in a “cultural exchange” with the villagers.  They started us off with very impressive sword dancing by a few grown men, followed by the younger generation.  They also played instruments and sang various songs.  We, on the other hand, coming from various states with no universal cultural offerings made do with a few songs, and juggling bamboo cups.  It was a very fun evening nonetheless.

Me spinning cotton

Pati Souchai has sword dancing skills

 The next day was our first hiking day.  We said goodbye to our wonderful host families in Huay Tong Kaw, and made our way to Huay Hee, in two different hiking groups.  That first day was pretty rough, especially as I have never been backpacking with a giant pack before.  The last couple hours of the hike were spent in pouring rain.  It may sound awful, but it was actually very refreshing as the heat was quite overbearing, and the rain made us move faster towards our destination.  We managed to reach Huay Hee before dark, dry off for a minute by a fire in the salah, before following our new host family home.  After a shower, we were told to “gin khao yeu yeu” which means “eat a lot of dinner,”  (literally eat rice a lot) which we did happily.  That night was an early bed.

The next day we spent a large portion of the day writing essays and reflections as they were due the next day.  But in the afternoon, my friend and I went to our Pati’s rai fields (swidden agriculture plots) with a bunch of little boys to go shoot down birds with slingshots.  They did not end up finding any good birds, but on the way back, the boys eagerly showed off their knowledge of the area by telling us plant names and their various uses.  So the trip was not entirely unsuccessful. 

We had reached mid-course by the next day, which was marked by a hike to the top of the tallest mountain in the area, Doi Pui.  It was actually quite chilly upon reaching the exposed top of the mountain.  But it was so beautiful; we just had to eat lunch at the peak.  After lunch, Ajaan Laura (Our professor for the course) gave her mid-course seminar, at the top of a mountain.  Pretty amazing.

The next day found us ready to survey some rai fields.  Rai agriculture is more commonly known as “slash-and-burn” or “swidden.”  It involves clearing a field, and then burning it in preparation for planting.  After the field is used once, it is left alone for about 10 years, during which time, it turns into a secondary forest.  So, our project was to measure the growth of a 2 year, 4 year, 10 year, and 35 year fallow rai.  We measured the diameter of trees and counted all the different tree, seedling, and sapling species.  This was also our last day in Huay Hee.  So the evening was spent in another cultural exchange.  Huay Hee is a Christian village, and so they had the advantage of just reading songs out of their songbook.  Once again, we pulled together a few songs that we all knew, and ended with a rousing game of the hokey pokey.

Hiking again the next day, this time while hiking we had to take careful note of our surroundings to compile into a transect later in the course.  Our hike brought us to our next home stay:  Nam Hoo.

Nam Hoo was a very small village (only 9 households) but it was full of life.  On our day with the families, all the little kids in the village took us to a bat cave and a small waterfall to explore.  After eating lunch, my roommate practiced our basket weaving skills by helping our family make part of a chicken cage.  We only spent one full day in Nam Hoo, but everyone left wishing we could have stayed longer.

The next day was back on the trails, heading to Hua Nam village.  The family day in this village was marked by the exciting event of falling through the floor.  There was a porch outside the house made of wooden boards, and there were many people sitting on the porch, eating a delicious tray of som dtam (spicy un-ripened papa ya salad).  About 5 or so teenage boys were looking to partake in the som dtam as well, but as they began to pile on the porch, the weight of many hungry people cause the porch to give way.  The supporting beam fell out, and everyone slid down the wooden boards to the ground.  Not only that, but the porch was also the dishwashing station, so we were all quite wet as well.  Luckily, everyone was fine, and the porch was re-built within 15 minutes.

School in Hua Nam

Playing a game of Ta Graw (like volleyball, but you can only use your feet)

 Our last hike brought us to the village of Pakolo.  Quite different from the rest of our village stays, Pakolo is located just 5 km outside of Mae Hong Son city by paved road, and so most people work as laborers in town rather than farmers.  My house had tiled floors and cement walls, as well as an indoor bathroom, all firsts during the forests course.  We only stayed the night in Pakolo, the next morning going on a short hike to Mae Hong Son city.

On our way to Pakolo

Loving those river crossings

 We finished up our course with one more meeting with an official from the Royal Forestry Department (RFD).  We had been hearing a lot of negative things about the RFD from the villagers, so it was interesting to get a different perspective.  Our last night on the course, we all went our to dinner at a restaurant in Mae Hong Son and feasted on an array of delicious foods.  The next morning as we were getting ready to leave, we witnessed a very elaborate parade celebrating the event of some young boys going to become monks.  The boys were dressed very elaborately and carried on shoulders all through the city.  Quite the send off as we packed up and hopped in vans, embarking on an 8 hour drive back to Chiang Mai.

Whew.  Forests course complete.  Such an incredible few weeks, and I am very grateful to all my host families along the way for providing me with such good hospitality and delicious food.

I will try to make one more blog post about Songkran, the Thai new years celebration before I leave for the last course of the semester: oceans!

Rivers!!

Rivers course is complete. Wow.

I am now halfway done with my time at ISDSI.  Time has flown by, so I am trying to savor every moment. 

Now to summarize the last three weeks…this is going to be tricky to do succinctly, so I apologize if this turns into a lengthy post.

After spending a week in Chiang Mai having lectures about rivers, and more specifically river management and dams, we headed out to Don Chai, a village in Northeast Thailand.  This village was different than most in Thailand in that they were actually quite rich.  The main export from the Don Chai is rice whiskey, and apparently it is a popular drink in Thailand because they do quite well for themselves.  All the houses are made out of teak, collected from the forest just outside of the village, before they started conserving it.  My friend Emily and I stayed with a Paw and Mae from the village, and together we tried to hold complete conversations with our host parents, which proved to be more difficult than we had hoped because Northern Thai is a different dialect than Central Thai, which is what we have been learning in school.  

A meal at of spicy bamboo salad and sticky rice

The first day we met with village leaders in the morning, who told us about the history of their village, and their fight against the dam that is proposed to be built on the Yom river, which runs by the village.  If the river were to be dammed, Don Chai would be flooded, and all the villagers forced to move to a different location.  But these are a feisty bunch of people, and I don’t think the dam will be built any time soon.  We heard a lot of sentences similar “and then another official tried to sneak into our village after we told them not to come back, so we made them leave.”  In the afternoon we heard from the youth activist leaders, and their quest to teach youth about conserving their valuable teak forest, as well as leading protests against the dam.  The next day was a free day to spend with our families.  My parents had to go to a funeral, so instead Emily and I spent the day with some other student’s family.  We went a pig farm and fed some pigs, and then went to a papaya and mango plantation.  While the boys we were with hauled dirt around, Emily and I went to explore the Yom River.  Later in the day we had lunch and then toured the rice whiskey making facilities.  Our last full day in Don Chai was packed.  In the morning we tested our canoes that we would become quite familiar with later in the course on the Yom River.  As we canoed we watched a couple of Paws from the village pull in their nets.  One of them held a surprise—an already dead Burmese python.  Yes, it was cooked and eaten.  In the afternoon, we visited the actual site on the Yom where the dam would be built, which really solidified how much is at stake.

This is some of the catch of the day

The next day we travelled from Thailand to the neighboring country of Laos.  We stayed in a guesthouse in the capital city of Vientiane.  We were lucky enough to be able to meet with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) the next day.  The MRC is an intergovernmental organization that coordinates international efforts of managing the Mekong River.  It was very interesting to see the ins and outs of such a large organization.  The next day, we met with a representative from CRWRC working in Laos to see the perspective of an NGO working in Thailand.  The next couple days were spent with an old Australian man named Gary Oughton, who brought us to Lak Xao, Laos so that we could see a dam in progress as well as a resettlement village.  We really got to see every side of the issue we were studying.

Our guide Tony showing us the rice fields in the resettlement village

Then, we said goodbye to Laos and traveled back to Thailand to stay overnight in Don Khai, in preparation of the beginning of our paddling adventure the next day.  Don Khai proved to be one of the most fun days on the trip.  We all rented brightly colored tandem bikes and rode around the city.  While exploring we encountered a parade that was in celebration of a wat in the city, and so of course, we joined in.  Some people hopped off the bikes to dance with the locals, who were getting down in a way I have never seen Thai people dance before.  That evening we sat by the river eating our sticky rice and grilled pork, pondering the days ahead.

Bright and early the next morning we set out to the riverside to haul our boats to the river’s edge.  We set out excited for the day ahead.  The first day was the longest, with 8 solid hours of paddling.  We stopped for a hearty lunch of crackers and banana chips with peanut butter and nutella as well as some homemade jerky, which we became quite familiar with, as it was our lunch every day on the river.  Upon making it to our destination, we had to haul our boats quite some way, and clamber up a steep hill to fall exhausted at the top steps of our guesthouse.  Luckily, they had dinner prepared and ready for us, so we ate and quickly fell asleep.  The next four days were similar stories to this, although none quite as long as the first day.  We spent our final day in the field working on catching up on reflections and essays that we were supposed to be working on throughout the course, before heading back home to Chiang Mai in an eleven-hour car ride.

A day on the Mekong

First field course completed.  I learned so much in three weeks time.  And now, I am beginning reading for forests, which we will be leaving for next Monday.  Here we go!

Busy Week

This past week has been a blur of activity.

On the weekend, we had a farewell party for the host families.  It was at a lovely hotel, with delicious food.  The students were encouraged to perform something they learned from their host families.  My performance was a little different, in that I taught my host sister (nong Indy) a short ballet and performed it with her.  Matching skirts and all.  I felt a little silly, but she was loving the opportunity to perform, so it was great.

Saturday morning was the last morning with my host family.  We went to nong Indy's ballet class, and then had lunch at an Issan restaurant for lunch.  Issan is where I will be heading on my rivers course (the eastern region of Thailand, and most of Laos), so it was a good precursor to what I will be eating a lot of over the next three weeks.  After lunch we headed to the apartments.  My host family stuck around for awhile to make sure I was settled.  Then we said an extended goodbye...I miss them already!  After they left, I stood for a minute, reveling in my first taste of freedom since coming to Thailand.  I could do whatever I wanted.  I ended up going to the mall with a couple other newly free students to purchase some apartment supplies such as hangers, toilet paper, etc.  We later went to a market, where I bought sheets...in time for my first night sleeping on my bed with my overstuffed pillow.

Sunday morning I ate breakfast at a coffee shop, took a nap, and went to a really cool place called free bird cafe.  They had used clothes and bags under the shop, and tasty eats on top.  I made a mental note to go back soon.

Monday morning Thai class started an hour later...ahhh. We can walk to school now, which is really nice.  In the afternoon we started rivers lecture class.  It is very interesting material, mostly focused on dams.  But, we have been receiving a lot of homework, which is one of the reasons we moved into apartments.  So that we had the ability to stay up later and focus on homework.

We leave for Issan Sunday afternoon.  Tonight I have to work on an essay due for tomorrow, and over the weekend we have to prepare our belongings to head out on the first field course!

I am excited and nervous, and I have no idea what to expect from these next 3 weeks.  I do know that we will be canoeing down the Mekong river, into Laos.  We will be staying with host families in the villages along the way, and visiting a dam.

Just as I get settled into the apartments, we pack up and move out!  I have gotten used staying on my toes here.  Sunday we head out into the unknown!

Family. Hiking. Animals.

This past weekend consisted of a lot of all three. Over the weekend, we had family visiting from Bangkok. An Aunt, and an Uncle and his daughter.  This made for a full house!

On Friday, we hiked up a mountain just outside of the city.  After the first hour or so, we reached a beautiful wat located in the heart of the forest, overlooking a waterfall.  It was so peaceful, I loved exploring, with the added bonus of finding a pile of adorable puppies to hold while waiting to get picked up for lunch.

After lunch, we hiked the rest of the way up the mountain, stopping a couple times to take field notes about our surroundings.  It was pretty steep in some places...but we made it through.  We ran out of time to visit Doi Suthep, a wat located at the top of the mountain.  Luckily, I went with my host family before, because it is really an amazing sight to see.

On Saturday, we paid a visit to the Maesa Elephant Camp. It was incredible.  First, we saw the elephants taking a bath in a river before heading to the show.  The elephants played soccer and basketball, and some painted surprisingly adept artwork, mostly of flowers.  After the show, the elephants went to the outside of the ring to interact with the people.  I got to pet and feed elephants bananas and sugarcane.  To top it all off, the smallest of the elephants put it's trainer's hat on my head! Elephants are such intelligent creatures.

Sunday was another animal-centered trip: we went to a small farm.  The workers were all wearing plaid shirts and cowboy hats, which is an outfit I was not expecting to see in Thailand!  We rode in a horse drawn carriage around the farm, fed alpacas, looked at ostriches, and took a whole bunch of pictures.  It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 My host family and I before heading out to the farm

 A baby horse peeking around a post

My host mom and I in the carriage

That evening we had grilled seafood for dinner--yum yum! I had fish, crayfish, and squid for the first time.  Didn't taste bad although the texture was not my favorite. Rubbery.

This is my last week with my host family.  On Thursday we have a farewell dinner with all the host families, and on Saturday morning, we move to apartments.  I will be sad to leave my host family--but I am looking forward to the freedom of the apartments.  I will definitely be visiting my host family for dinner while in Chiang Mai though!

Three Weeks

Another weekend has come and gone.  I can't believe it's almost February! Crazy.

Friday, we paid a visit to a fish farm.  In the morning our task was to help collect eggs from the tilapia being raised there.  They store their eggs in their mouths, so we had to open their mouth to get them out.  Before heading into the water, I thought I understood the basic concept.  But fighting with a wriggling fish proved to be very difficult.  Good thing the Thai workers were there to finish up the job.  For lunch we had steamed tilapia.  The most fresh fish I have or will ever taste.  It was delicious.  In the afternoon we helped move fish from one pond to another.  It was quite the day.  I enjoyed learning about how aquaculture works first hand.

Saturday I got to eat at a restaurant specializing in salads! It was quite a treat--my first completely vegetarian meal in quite some time.  After salad for lunch, my host dad, sister, and I went to a really nice place for tea.

I had rose tea for the first time.  It tasted exactly like roses smell...beautiful.

Sunday we made a trip to the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Gardens.  It is a very beautiful and expansive place.  We explored on foot and with the help of buses that drive around the gardens.

There were gardens for different countries, so of course we stopped by the one representing the Netherlands.

This coming week is another week of classes.  I don't think we have anything special planned, but we'll see. Only two more weeks with my host family before moving into apartments.  That will be a nice change of pace, although I will certainly miss my host family!

Retreat

This past weekend we went on a retreat to a national park in the mountains.  It was time to relax and get to know each other better.  Before getting to the park, we stopped by a reservoir to take a swim test.  We had to swim out to a buoy and back, and then tread water for 15 minutes.  The redeeming part of that experience was that we found some adorable puppies to play with afterwords.

Also at the swim test location, we were served a beautiful lunch with some interesting dishes...one of them was a jar with little shrimp that were still jumping around!  In order to eat them, you shook that jar to stun the shrimp and cover them with spice, and then took a bite.  They were pretty good, actually.

From there we headed to the park.  We were in a really beautiful location, with a waterfall about a 10 minute walk away.  The weekend included bananagrams, nutella, bonfires, s'mores, badminton, waterfall trips, as well as practicing some helpful scenarios such as evacuating a hurt person (in our case, a "broken leg") from the forest.

A weekend well spent.

Today, as part of our foundations class we went to two different markets to observe what was going on.  It was a fun outing.  Tomorrow I believe we are visiting a temple and learning a bit about Buddhism.  Friday we are visiting a fish farm.  I've got a full week ahead of me, and I'm looking forward to it!

-Grace

Weekend!

This past weekend was the first weekend I spent with my host family.

On Saturday, I went to my host sister's ballet lesson.  When she was done, my host dad took us to a wat at the top of a mountain that is visible from the city below.  It is so beautiful!  Apparently Chiang Mai University students walk all the way up the mountain to visit the wat every year.  That must be quite the hike, because it took us a while to make it to the top driving on the winding street that leads to the top.

On Sunday I went to Indy's ballet lesson again in the morning.  Then we went to a supermarket to pick up some groceries, I stopped by the bank to exchange some money, and we ate lunch at none other than McDonalds.  The menu was pretty much a paired down version of the ones in the U.S.  The inside was much nicer though...we sat on upholstered chairs and couches with cushions.  Classy.

Later in the day, my host dad and I sat at a coffee shop while Indy had a piano lesson, and then we stopped by a store so that I could by a couple more uniforms for school.

This week, we start a lecture class in the afternoons.  Now it's starting to feel like regular school again, as we have received our first assigned reading of the semester.  Tomorrow is another cross fit day.  Hopefully I hold up a little better this time!

-Grace 

First Week

These past few days have been very busy!

On Wednesday afternoon, we had a city orientation in the form of a scavenger hunt.  We were given a list of locations and a time to leave and return.  So, in groups of 3 and 4 we set off.  We walked to the main road, and waved down a rot dang.  It is a like a red truck with benches and a roof, with an open back to jump in.  First we stopped at Chiang Mai University and took the necessary pictures to prove that we were there.  Next was on to a mall.  It is the biggest mall I have ever seen.  I'm not sure how many stories there are, as we only went up to level 3.  We had to find a post office, and search for a photobooth, which we never ended up finding.  Next we stopped by a hospital.  We were supposed to take a picture with a staff person, but when they started calling their superiors to ask permission, we thanked them and left...didn't want to cause too much trouble!  Then on to a wat, which is like a temple, in the old city.

The wat we visited

I might be forgetting something, but the last place we went was a very large market.  You could find anything you needed there.  Food, clothing, shoes, and many other trinkets.  I could have spent much longer there, and I'm sure I will visit again.

Today was another eventful day.  Instead having class at ISDSI, we met at 7:30 in the morning and headed to the mountains as a group.  We went to crazy horse buttress to rock climb and explore caves.  It was sanuk, which is a bit hard to explain, but I'll boil it down to "fun."  We split into two groups, and in the morning, my group went rock climbing while the other group explored the caves.  Rock climbing was great.  I had never gone climbing on real rocks before, and it was wonderful! And the view from the top was worth the struggle to get there.

The afternoon brought more adventures as my group headed for the caves.  We got to rappel down 55 meters into a deep cave and walk around, with our head lamps on.

I have been having so much fun during my first week in Thailand; and I'm looking forward to my first weekend.  Now I am heading to bed...spending all days climbing wears you out!

-Grace

Getting Settled

This is my second whole day in Thailand.  My host family is lovely!  I have two younger siblings, Indy and Otto.  Indy is in 1st grade and helps me out, because she speaks almost perfect english.  Otto is 2, and adorable.  My grandma makes delicious food, and my dad is great.  My mom is in Bangkok right now, but I will meet her when she gets back.

Classes at ISDSI have been packed full of learning Thai.  We have intensive Thai class from 8-12 in the morning.  After lunch the first couple days, we have been having orientation, but I think that time slot will soon be filled with other classes.  Today was the first day of twice weekly cross fit training.  It kicked my butt, and left me feeling sick to my stomach.  But hopefully I will get in shape quickly, so I don't feel sick after working out.  Yikes.

Now I am just hanging out with the family after dinner.  I am looking forward to what tomorrow brings! The weather has been consistently lovely, in the mid 70s.  I am trying to appreciate this temperature while it lasts, because it will soon get very hot.

-Grace

I made it!

I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand!  And I am exhausted.  It took about 21 hours in the air to get here, but I made it.  All flights went smoothly, for which I am very grateful.  Upon arrival at about 11 pm Thai time, we (me and two other girls I was flying with) were met by two staff members from ISDSI.  We spent the night at a guest house, and were picked up at 7:30 to begin class.  We began learning Thai right away.  I don't think I have ever received such a large volume of information in such a short time.  Hopefully I will actually remember some of what I learned!

I haven't met my host family yet...they will be picking me up from ISDSI in about 10 minutes actually.  I am very ready to get my stuff settled and take a nap!

-Grace

P.S.  The weather here is lovely!  

Goodbye!

I have been saying a lot of goodbyes recently.  Goodbyes are a bit strange.  The strangeness lies mostly in their similarity.  Saying goodbye for 5 months is not much different than saying goodbye for a week or a day.  Perhaps the hugs last a little longer, but other than that, one goodbye is just like the next.  I have found myself wishing there was a certain procedure for longer goodbyes that would make them mean something more.  But as there is no such thing, a regular goodbye will have to do!

Goodbye!

Thank you for all of the love and support I have been receiving as I prepare to depart.  I leave tomorrow morning and will arrive in Chiang Mai Sunday night.  Just in time for class on Monday...
The next post will be from Thailand!

-Grace

Packing

Right now, I have a large suitcase sitting in my room, filled with just about everything I need.  I am still making last minute purchases and adjustments, and what is in there has been thrown in haphazardly.  Over the next few days I will more purposefully fold and place things in my suitcase, so as to make optimal use of the space. (I am trying to fit 5 months of my life into one suitcase!)
It was when I started packing that my trip started to feel real.  I have been thinking and preparing for this trip for a very long time now.  But when I started to set stuff aside, it felt like concrete evidence that it was really going to happen.

Only two full days left in the U.S. before I set out.  Two full days of travel, and five months of living in Chiang Mai.  I am very excited, and only slightly less nervous.  I can't wait for the semester to begin!