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!