Feeding the Monkeys!

I forgot to put this in my other post but here it is...its soo cute, watch all of it.

Warning: This video will make you slightly dizzy.

The place is called Cao Tan Quan :)

Rachel

A morning at the beach :)

This morning Kwan (my host sister), Got and I woke up super early (like 6am) so that we could get down to Samila Beach and be there while the sun was rising :) Well, the sun was already up when I got up at 6, but we still went anyway and took some pictures. I slipped on a really mossy rock and fell on my butt...here are some of the pictures we took.

After we got from the beach we surprisingly met up with the club president who was eating breakfast with her parents, brother and daughter at the same restaurant we came to!

Some dog just sitting in the water ;)

Breakfast with Club President

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My Day at the beach with Jackie: Sep 21, 2011

(If you want to see a picture closer, click on it)
Yesterday, Jackie and I had an awesome time at Samila Beach. Jackie is from Mexico also here for an exchange year!

We got to see Cao Tan Quan, the mountain where the monkeys for some reason congregate and we got to swim at Samila Beach. I did this before but the first time I forgot my camera (teehee).

So, first my country counselor Ba Oui had to pick up Jackie from Hat Yai, about 45 minutes away from where I live in Songkhla. Then we all had lunch at a restaurant that belongs to one of the rotary club members. When we finnished eating my host mom dropped us off for a day of being ripped off by vendors, being scratched up by monkeys and carefully walking though the sea water trying to avoid starfish and crabs!

I got to wear some clothes my host mom bought for me at the Sunday Market. Clothes here are incredibly cheap.

Me and Jackie:

The monkeys were sooo cute but really aggresive :) They get your attention by tugging at your bag or touching your skin with those creepily soft hands. Some were bold enough to take the basket of food right out of our hands. One basket of food was 10 BHT. CHEAP. We got a basket of bananas and a basket of peanuts.

Some mean monkey grabbed Jackies wrist and made her drop the basket of peanuts. Meanie...

The Mean Old Man

Look at those EYES!!

That thin green net is a bridge for the Monkeys to cross the street.
Now less of them get hit by cars :)

Some stupid bird pooped on my bad, see if you can find the little white speck :)

Jackie at the base of the mountain.

Jackie :)

This is a playground they made for the monkeys :) Nalac! 

Me at the base of the mountain :)

 From there we walked to the beach where we changed in a little crummy bathroom that you have to pay to get into and we paid the owner of the restaurant near the bathroom to keep our stuff while we swam. We paid like 20BHT which is like, nothing.

We 'swam' and we had a lot of fun wondering how far we could go before we were in danger of sharks. We saw these people in the water who looked like they were looking for something. We found out later they were looking for starfish and those crabs with the swirly shells. One of the guys that was looking in the water showed us what they were looking for. That was the first time I touched a starfish, it was squishy.We had seen a starfish in the water earlier and we didn't touch it because...well, I didn't touch it because I didn't want it to like stick to me or something :)

After the beach we got our stuff back and we got some pins made for our rotary jackets. I will take a picture of mine later :) We asked the lady to write Samila Beach on them :)

A big cat and a mouse next to the beach. I am sitting on the mouse :)

Me and a Mouse :)

SO, we kept walking and we found another sculpture, and this time it was a mermaid :)

This is the Tuk Tuk, its a little bus that can take you pretty much anywhere and its really cheap :)

 ROTARY MEETING!!

Jackie and I in our YE jackets at the Rotary meeting. Our meetings are held in
a Hotel.  I am about to make my presentation about my home :)

I made my presentation to the rotary club in English and my counselor translated for me. Most of the people in my club speak English anyway.

Me giving my presentation :)

Me giving my rotary clubs flag to my host clubs president!

Well, that was our day. I made quite a few posts today and I still have soo much more to write about...*sigh.

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I GOT A PACKAGE FROM HOME!!

Thanks Parents :)

It was mostly gifts for my host parents but I got my Thailand pins that I left and a coach purse that I left and $$ :)

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My Student Uniform!

I have 3 uniforms but this is the most important one and this is the one that I have pictures of me in :) It's literally called the student uniform :) We also have a sports day uniform and then there is the activity day uniform :)

The student uniform consists of a light blue button down cotton shirt with your name printed on the right side. Then you have to wear a black belt, and this HEAVY navy blue cotton skirt that goes mid calf and covers your knees when you sit down. Then you wear white socks that you have to roll and black marry jane shoes :) Beautiful.

My host sister Kwan and I :) We are both wearing the student uniform :)

Me and my classmates, on my second day of school. I don't stick out at all :)

I am wearing the student uniform and my 2 friends Gle and Ob are wearing the sport uniform.

My friend Than and I are both wearing the student uniform :) 

Yay :)

I just want to thank everybody for supporting me on my journey :) I am truly having an awesome time :)

Rachel

My Name in Thai

So, I was requested to see exactly how to write my nickname and my full thai name, in both languanges...soooo, I had my friend write it for me :) Thanks, Ing :)

Dow is the nickname, Ratchada is my first name and Phetcharat
is my host familys last name :)

Rachel <3

Celebrating my Host dads B-day!!!!!

My host sister Fon, my host dad Mr. Udon and Me :)

My host dad, mom and Kwan and Fon, my 2 sisters. The other sister, Fah is in Ohio on her exchange year :)

Yummy food at a Japanese restaurant :)

Sillyness :) Me, Fon's boyfriend and Kwan :)

Rachel

September 15, 2011

Well, I've been here a month now. I got the first of my allowance from Rotary last night at the weekly meeting. I saw my Rotary Youth Exchange country councelor again. Her name is Oui. She tells me to call her Ba Oui, which is Thai for Aunt Oui.

So, I have alot of random things I wanted to talk about. Just catching you up. Lateley, I'm finding it hard to write in my journal. It just seems easier to jump on Blogger and type whatevers on my mind :)

When I first came to Woranari Chaloem, well, when I began to make friends, I was watching how the people in my class interacted. First of all, everybody looks alot younger than they really are. Like, I look at someone and to me they look like, oh mabe 13? Then they tell me they are 17 or 18. Oops :) Well, I was watching how everybody talked to everybody and there didn't seem to be any clicks or 'loners' like there tend to be in the US. It seemed like everybody just liked everybody.

Well, anyway, I learned that that was not completeley true. I was sitting with 5 of my friends after school and we had just gotten something to eat so...lets just say gossiping in that gossiping in Thailand is just as entertaining as gossiping in the US. I found out during that conversation that even though it seems like everything in hunky-dory, thats not completeley the case. Some people do have problems with other people, I just didn't notice it until someone told me :)

Oh, and one more thing on that note, some girls were fist fighting in the bathroom. It was um....interesting. It was probably about some boy. My friend told me it happens a lot :)


SOOOO, this weekend I was at this presentation that the seniors had to make for their art class. It was soo funny. Remember me talking about Nek? Welll, he's a senior and he was ALL UP in that presentation :) He was wearing a shirt that was cut off under his pecks, and black skinny jeans, that were sooo tight on him that I almost lost respect for him :) Then he proceded to do this belly dance to this Thai song. Oh, and he was wearing makeup. Hmm, Thai culture.. gotta love it... literally because I have to live with it at least another 10 months :)

September 9, 2011

Talk about freakin anoying. Ohhh myyy gooshhh. If your in a situation like me where people are always either trying to get your attention and giving you alot of atention, its not a good idea to be tired. Today I was really really tired.

First, it was people asking me if I was sad. How many times do I have to tell you I'm not sad for you to freakin believe I'm not freakin sad. *sigh

Then, it this girl. I'm not going to say her real name, though I'd like to. That girl is so freaking loud. Like.. oh my gosh, I CAN HEAR YOU, IM  NOT DEAF. She would be standing right next to me and be yelling in my ear. Then she'd pull at my clothes...

Your probably like, "Rachel, why didn't you just ask her to stop?" Ummm...I did, in as many languages as I could including the one she spoke.

As you know, or at least probably guessed, I'm taller than most people here. So, me getting pissed I got up (I was sitting, talking with friends) and I started walking towards her, and she backed up sooo fast, I was a little confused. My height must be intimidating.

The rest of my day was ok...I have alot to catch up on (writting wise) but...well yea. If there is something you want to know more about let me know.

Rachel

An "OH MY GOD" Moment

Ok, so this morning we had to stay outside longer than normal. We sat on the paved ground area and watched this extremely boring ceremony, with this extremely old monk talking our ears off, and you would think he would get tired of talking eventually because he looks so old and tired but....no.

But while I was sitting there something happened there that 1) blew my mind and 2) made everybody laugh at me.

While I was sitting in between my 2 friends Pooky and Sainee I heard this buzzing. I looked around I saw that I wasn't the only one that had heard it. Except they knew what was coming...I didn't.

The buzzing got louder. It sounded like allot of little bugs. Then I heard this girl moan and put her face into her friends back which may have or not have had anything to do with what I was about to see.

You are probably thinking that some swarm of bugs came and tried to eat everybody, but...no. It was just one MASSIVE BUG. First I screamed. Actually, its hard to explain the size of this bug. I think it was a beetle. I thought it was a bird, then it got closer. When I saw that it was a humongous booty insect yes, I  screamed but I also proceeded to say, "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," about a million times very loudly when all the kids were quietly listening to the boring old monk.

That's why they laughed at me.

I just could not get over how big this bug was. I don't even know how those wings were holding that big bulky body. I am reading back what I have written and I seem to be having a hard time expressing how big this bug was. It was bigger than my hand but smaller than my head. I don't think that helps but, if I ever see that thing again, I might cry.

Rachel

September 9, 2011

Well, I finally got my phone! After a few weeks of waiting for Kwan after school in a school this big, getting lost trying to find her, finding her friends who tell me they don't know where she is and try to call her, her not picking up the phone, me sitting alone feeling lost....frustrating :)

Anyway, I love my phone. Its a touch screen. I can reach the Internet anywhere, it's a great mp3 player and it takes decent pictures. I was going to get the samsung champ but it was never in stock because it had just come out and it was so popular. Now I'm glad I didn't get it because everybody is saying now that its a piece of crap. I got an LG instead.

In school these days I pretty much do nothing. Its not like I can because I can't read or write Thai an I am still learning to speak. My rotary president had a very good idea to get me a private tutor so I can learn faster. As for progress so far, I can follow conversations and understand the jist of what they are saying and I know basic words. I hope I can also take special classes for music.

Lately, I have been trying the baby powder thing. I'm can't remember if I already talked about this but girls here seem to think baby powder is for the face. Some girls wear it was makeup which... well...as you would imagine looks great. Anyway, if you apply it lightly, the powder is translucent. It makes for a matte look and your skin feels extremely soft but I have noticed that the overall quality of my skin has diminished a bit. If I notice this continues as I use the powder I will stop, but for now, its an experiment :)

YOU HAVE TO READ THIS PART:

Ok, so yesterday my friend Comalee asked me id I wanted to try some thai sausage. I was eyeing it earlier because it actually looks really good, but I did not get because I had just eaten. Anyway, she asked me if I wanted to try it and I said yes. I smelled it and it smelled great, like a sweet prickly smell.

I think the smell should have warned me. I took a bit and began to chew. At first I just felt heat. Then my lips started to burn. The burning sensation filled my mouth and spread to my tongue and throat and the inside of my nose began to burn.

I saw my friend look at me in alarm  and I realized then there were tears running down my face. I gave her the sausage back. I couldn't speak. My friend ran to get me something to drink and I just stood there afraid to move or open my mouth. I swallowed the sausage which was a bad idea because I began to cough.

My friend came back with a coke. She was laughing and trying to say she was sorry at the same time. I tried to tell her I was ok but it just came out as a whispery scream.

She continued to eat her sausage while I tried to get it together and I watched her. She seemed to not even notice the spiciness, though her cheeks turned a little red. She must have thought I was crazy because I sure thought she was.

Until next time,

Rachel ดำว

House Tour

Again, uploading takes forever but I finally made this work! At the beginning It is hard to get down those blue stairs because the rail is sooo low. Anyway, enjoy, let me know if you have any questions ;)

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Room TOUR!

Sooo, I have been wanting to get this up FOREVER, but something always goes wrong. I couldn't edit the video though I really wanted to!! This is a tour of my host room here in Thailand I hope you enjoy!!!

Comment, comment, comment!!

Rachel