Normal

Before I went on exchange I talked to as Thailand rebounds(people who went on exchange) as possible to try to figure out what my life would be like this year. And I was always shocked at what they had to say.
For example, they would say stuff like "Yeah, it's about 40C outside but you wear pants anyway."
And they would say it like it was a completely normal action. Like they had been doing it their whole life.
But the thing is, on exchange, things do become normal, and the strange thing is that you don't even notice it happening.
For instance...
1. Elephants in the street.
2. Dog fights outside my house.
3. Getting lost on the bus.
4. Getting lost on the street.
5. Getting lost on a boat.
6. Eating rice during every meal.
7. Showering more than twice a day.
8. Wearing pants when it's 40C outside.
9. Drinking soda out of a bag.
10. Always drinking from water bottles with a straw.
11. Always using a fork and spoon to eat everything.
12. Calling something more than $1 expensive.
13. Forgetting English words and how to use proper grammar.
14. Finding holes in the floorboards on the buses.
15. Eating foods and not knowing the contents of the food.
16. Lizards, spiders, flies and mosquitoes in my room.
17. Saying Thai words instead of English words.
18. Eating just fruit for a day.
19. Not knowing the date/time/location I am in.
20. Eating when I'm not hungry and not eating when I am hungry.
21. All my friends here are from different countries/states.
22. My worst and only fear is being deported.
23. The outdoors being hotter than the indoors.
24. Buying everything from 711.
25. Spending hours a day on public transportation.

And then there are things that used to be normal, that I now find bizarre.
For example.....
1. Finding a bathroom that has a western toilet/toilet paper/soap/a sink.
2. Eating western food for every meal.
3. Driving instead of walking places.
4. Places that are super clean.
5. Drinking tap water.
6. Taking warm showers.
7. People enforcing safety rules/laws.
8. Speaking in English all the time.

There are more things but I am just so used to life here that life in America seems so foreign to me.
I guess I am slowly becoming Thai and so far, it's not so bad.

Book: Finished where the Red Fern Grows, The Da Vinci Code, Someone Like You by Roald Dahl (it's his book of short stories) and another book of short stories of which I forgot the name. And now I'm reading Remember me- its a murder mystery/sci-fi thing? I'm not really sure but so far it's pretty good!
Thai: Kit kum........................................................................................................................Belt

Shrimp

I successfully switched host families!

And so far I like it.
The house is smaller and doesn't have air conditioning but the living room is full of antiques and I have two big windows in my room. I now have five ginormous pet goldfish and A DOG! The dog is named Look Joop, it's the name of a Thai desert. I have a host mom, Mae Gai and a host aunt (she's a relative but I don't know how my host mom is related to her), Pee Ju, and a host sister who is already out of college and working, so she doesn't live in the house anymore. They are all so nice and they speak Thai to me! But probably the best part about living here so far is that there is a....
a.....
A WASHING MACHINE!

Those seven months of washing my own clothes has finally paid off! I can now just throw in all my clothes into the giant glorious metal machine, and stand by while it brightens my whites and removes stains. No more scrubbing or stretching, pulling or rinsing! Ah, how I love washing machines.

Another nice thing about my new family here is that Pee Ju can cook! So I get to eat home cooked meals again!
They told me that breakfast is around 8:30 to 9ish but if I oversleep they will put some aside for me so I can eat it when I wake up. How nice, right?
So I set my alarm for eight o'clock, determined not to miss my home cooked breakfast with my new family.

I woke up at 9:30.
Humbug.

So I slumped down the stairs and slid into the kitchen and long behold breakfast was not served yet! I made it in time! Because this is Thailand, 8 actually means 9:30, no matter what family you live with.

But this was no ordinary Thai breakfast. I see the usually things on the table: rice, vegetables fried in oil so that they are limp and no longer green, pork- always pork and wait a second....
I see a full sized, bright orange, face and all- SHRIMP.
My host mom comes into the kitchen already dressed for work and looking professional, a juxtaposition of what I looked like this morning. I was fashioning a bed head, a fabulously frumpy bright orange t-shirt from a much needed English camp I went to, black floral boxer shorts and thanks to Thai weather- I was sweaty all over.
"You can eat," she said, as she motions to all the food on the table.
So I start scooping some rice on my plate and some limp veggies when she takes THE SHRIMP and places it in front of my face. She sets it down on the table, scooting my plate over so THE SHRIMP is front and center.
"You can eat," she said, as I sat there gawking at the orange beast.

I manage to mutter "How?".

I have seen plenty of people rip open shrimps in my life, but I still don't really know how to go about ripping a head off of a crustacean.
She starts laughing at me, and takes THE SHRIMP and calmly breaks it open for me and sets it on my plate. Luckily I got the tail and she took the top half.

Next thing I knew, she was asking if I wanted to go to work with her today.
YES YES YES!
It's been so long since anyone has offered to take me anywhere that I was so excited!
I had thirty minutes to get ready and then we were out the door.
We dropped Pee Ju off at her office and then Mae Gai and I went to a hair dresser where she got her hair curled for work. I asked her if she went there a lot and non nonchalantly responded with "about twice a week."

While in the car, sitting in traffic, she turned on the radio to 105.5. Which happened to be the international hits station so we tapped our toes to the beat and bobbed our heads along. Then my host mom asked if I liked Japanese food and I of course said yes.
We then picked up her friend and drove to this fancy hotel right across from Lumphini park. I pass this hotel every time I go to the park and think "That is one fancy place."
So here's the thing about hotels in big cities, it's super easy to sneak into them. Just walk right in, go to the elevators and pick your floor and you're golden. Now I don't sneak into hotels to do anything bad, I just try to get to the top floor so I can see the view of the city or figure out if they have a nice pool. But this hotel is different, you walk in and they ask if you need anything and where you are going. So I don't recommend sneaking into this hotel, but I do recommend staying there if you ever do come to the city.
Anyway, so I figure that we are just parking at this hotel and then walking to a restaurant to market.
Nope.
We are eating at the hotel restaurant.
My host mom leads us through the huge luxurious lobby and to a fancy Japanese restaurant where met another man for lunch. It turns out he was a Rotarian, who was Japanese and I assume he is living in Thailand because he can speak Thai.
All the waitresses were wearing Kimonos with white socks and wooden flip flops. I checked if any of them are dead.
Thanks to my lovely Japanese friend, I found out this funny fact: When wearing a Kimono or any other traditional Japanese robe thingy, cross the left side over the right side panel. If you cross the right over then you're dead. Whenever Japanese people bury their dead in the traditional robes, they place the right side of the robe over the left to signify that they're dead.
None of the waitresses were dead.
So I'm skimming the menu, looking at all the funny words that I can't pronounce when I come across what I wanted- raw tuna on rice. Yum. But then I see something I didn't think I would ever see in Thailand.
UNI
Uni are sea urchins.
Uni is also a name that my mother wanted to name either my sister or me.
My father saved us from that tragedy.
I asked me host mom if i could have either the tuna or the uni, she ordered the tuna for me, unfortunately. Although she was concerned about me eating raw fish. Which I kind of understand but you should see some of the things Thai people eat.
After this she actually went to work on the 21st floor of one of the skyscrapers in the city. I waited by the front desk. Then we went to a mall where Pee Ju, Mae Gai and I got facials- which was really REALLY nice. And went to a market where we ate Pad Thai for dinner.
The next morning I woke up and alas, no shrimp.

Book: Page 196 of Where The Red Fern Grows, Lydia lent it to me and so far it's a very sweet book.
Thai: shrimp..........................................goon

Switch

Tomorrow I switch host families.

Switching host families from my first family to my current (second) host family was hard.
During the last month of staying with my first host family, I got really close to them. I felt like they knew me and I was comfortable. I was finally fitting in.
And then I switched host families.
That's what exchange does to you, it never gives you a chance to settle or to be emotional stable. But that also means that you don't get cocky and you learn not to presume things. It's a fair trade off, or at least I think so.

It was a Sunday when I moved. I spent the day before hanging out with my exchange friends.
I slept in and woke up to the glaring Thai sun peeking into my window. I took a shower, got dressed and started packing up the last of my things. And I packed the only way a teenager with way too much stuff for the size of her suitcase could pack. Throw everything in, close the lid, sit on it and pray that you can close the zipper without tearing the fabric.
I hear a knock on my door. The way my host dad has always knocked on my door.
knock knock "Too-ree!" knock knock "Too- ree!"
I open the door and see my host parents waiting. They ask if they can help me with my things and we all take multiple, MULTIPLE trips down the old uneven wooden staircase that's just big enough for one Thai person. My host parents of course laugh at me and all my stuff.
Then we go and take pictures with the old gals at the shop next to my house. These funny ladies at what I called the "Bingo Shed" always smiled and wai-ed to me when I walked to and from school.
And we drove over to my second host families' house.
We pull up to the house and my host dad hops out of the car. I have my hand on the car door handle, ready to get this meet and greet over with, when my host mom turns around and looks at me.
She doesn't speak English that well, I think she is just shy. And that made what she said next, all the more special.
"Turi, I love you like a daughter."

Now, how am I supposed to leave.
How does Rotary expect me to get out of the car, the car that picked me up my very first day in Thailand, say goodbye to people who love my like family and move into this new orange house in a gated community in the middle of no where and try to become apart of another family just so I can move in another three months?
Rotary expects this because they know you can do it. You decided to sign up for exchange knowing this, filled out applications knowing this, said goodbye to everything you knew knowing this and finally got on a plane to go live halfway across the world knowing this.
So, yeah, they expect that you can change host families.
And so I hauled my heavy heart out of that comfortable car and moved into my current host families house.
I said goodbye to my first host parents and gave them a hug.

And so I have been living here for three months now. I don't feel like I really fit in with my current host family. We had some problems when I first started living here with them but now its ok. I'm just ready to move on. To start something new. I don't have any nostalgia, I'm just kinda over it. Give me something new!

So I have a bright outlook for my third host family.
You could say that the class is half full. But you could also say that it is half empty. Why?
PACKING.
I have so much stuff. A ridiculous amount and I have no idea how I got all of it. Half of it I don't use but need- like warmer clothes that I can't wear here but I still need them back in Washington. I have a ton of books that I will probably have to ship back, which will be expensive and I already have to pay for an extra bag, great.
It's a new optimistic Turi, but she comes with a lot of stuff.

Book: Finished The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo and it was really really good and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I knew the book was going to be dark, but it took me by surprise. I also noticed how both the Swedish mysteries I have read take on the same plot points. Follow one character with special talent to figure unusual things out, follow another character, solve crime even thought the case is more than five years old, one character strangely enough saves the other characters' life just in time in a underground steel holding cell?, perpetrator dies in accident? and the end.Strange. But they both turned out to be good books.
Thai: backpack/purse...............................grup- pao

Sterotypes

There are a lot of stereotypes about farangs in Thailand. Thailand put Americans and Europeans together. Actually they put anyone not from Thailand in one group. But that’s beside the point. And I sort of wonder what stereotypical things I do as an American.

My first host dad noticed how I read a lot. And later mentioned how he always sees foreigners reading books, especially on public transportation.

I haven’t seen any foreigners reading on transportation.

Until yesterday, that is.

I have spent the last five days in the monkey filled town of Lopburi. It was a vacation away from my current vacation from school. I spent it swimming in lakes under a sunset by the moments, playing with monkeys at the temple, eating corndog balls at the King Narai festival, drinking smoothies at Noom’s, sleeping with Meow the cat and creating funny stories with my exchange buds.

So yesterday when it was time to come back home to the city, Sophie and I were going to take the train at 12:30, but since Thailand is never on time, our train was delayed an hour. So Sophie took a van back, I gave Sophie my sweater to take with her because van air conditioning is like the tundra winds on crack. I decided to wait with my friend Lydia (Rhode Island) until the train came. We took turns reading from this silly book of short stories about animals as we sat by some old temple ruins. To be specific we read a story about a particularly sassy fly who eats vomit, and another one about a motherless circus bear. Yeah the book was a little strange.

So I get on the train. And the train is so small, too small. Only about three or four cars and there were so many people that many had to stand- including me. Luckily this was the rapid train so it only stopped every half hour or so. I stood for the first two hours which wasn’t a big deal- I’ve done that so many times before on the bus.

So I’m standing on the train, leaning against a pole, reading a story about a mediatating raven, when these two old ladies over me a seat. Because that’s what old ladies do on trains and buses in Thailand. And so I squeeze myself between this two frail ladies and continue reading. I start speaking to them in Thai and they say “Put Thai die gang mak!”, which literally translates to “Speak Thai can clever very.” And that’s just what old Thai ladies say on trains and buses.

The lady on my right looked like one from an animated film. Ya know the old Gammy who is hunched over, has a sassy mouth and is the tiniest thing ever. Yup, I sat next to one of those.

The lady on my right was kind and spoke really fast and quietly. And since we were sitting on an open train car- I could not understand a word she said. And so I did what all farangs do- smile and nod.

And one point, the lady sitting to my right asked me if these two other foreigners on the train were my parents. I explained that they weren’t my parents and that I came to Thailand on my own.

The couple in question looked like they could have been my parents, I guess. They were both tall, they lady had blondish brown hair like me and they also were speaking in English.

They were also both reading novels.

And I thought to myself. Oooooooooohhhh, that’s how these stereotypes start.

Book: Read and finished Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris, which was a bit strange but cute. Now I’m on page 151 of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so far love it. It’s strange though because this is the third book this read that I've read that was originally published in Swedish.

Thai: nung……………………...sit

2/15/13

Today was my last day at school. I will go back sometime around mid May for the new school year.
It was a good day.
I ate my regular PBOT, had a doughnut (it was one of my friends' birthday), studied a little Thai, studied a little Tagalog, finished my art project, and gave the teachers that were leaving the school a letter I wrote to thank them.
I also got locked outside of the art room for a half hour, my Thai teacher had a meeting and couldn't teach me Thai, a Thai teacher told me that I have a big American accent, and my Tagalog teacher told me that he finally had a real, normal conversation in Thai where he understood everything for the first time. He's lived here ten years.
Just another average day.
I finished it up laughing with Sophie and Saeko over our ridiculous Exchange Student eating habits.

Sometimes I've had a hard time going to my school. There are some weeks where I just wanted to come home crying but then this past month has been really good.

Here's the problem. I'm not a very good 'leaver'. Even if I hate a place, even if I feel miserable being there, when I leave it, it turns into the best, most magical place ever. Backwards, I know. I don't think its a great quality but I can't seem to get rid of that characteristic and honestly I don't think I want to. I think it's one of those imperfections that makes me, me.
But luckily I don't have to leave just yet. I have five more months to get even more nostalgic.

Book: Finished Footnotes by Tommy Tune and it was really interesting and a delight to read! I think I was a dancer in a previously life, or at least I pretend to be, so it was fun to read about his time on stage.
Thai: Khon Diow......................................................................by myself, alone

Pig

I have been learning Chinese at school. I love my Chinese classes- but more on that later.
Today I was reviewing food.
My teacher taught me the word pig.
So she asked me:
Ni shi zhu ma?
But I thought she asked:
Ni chi zhu ma?
So I stupidly responded:
Wo shi zhu.
And then she started laughing at me.

So, she asked me if I was a pig.
I thought she asked if I ate pig.
I said I was a pig.

Lost in translation, yet again.
I laugh at myself as well.

Book: tommy tune page 159- an autobiography which is surprisingly good!
Thai: mow.......... Pig

English

As one might have noticed by my past few blog entries, that my English speaking and writing skills are deteriorating. Unfortunately.
I was warned about this before I came to Thailand, but it didn't make much sense to me at the time. Now it does though. Now I understand this very well.
See what happens is that everyone is speaking broken English to you, and therefore you speak broken English back to them so they can understand you. And so sometimes I might go a couple days speaking a mixture of broken Thai and broken English.
This has been going on for the past 6 months.
I think it's pretty safe to say that I am terrible at speaking English.
ALTHOUGH
I now understand English better. A lot of times people will ask me "Is this right?" or "Why is it this way and not that way?" about English. Something I've never been asked and don't really have an answer. At first I really had to think about how to explain why English grammar is the way it is, but I find that I'm actually getting a better idea of the language that I speak. Yeah, I learned grammar at school and have taken English classes but they don't teach grammar the way you would learn it if it was your second language.I'm glad I get to learn about my own language because people often don't think about what language they speak, they just speak it.
And this has brought me to the conclusion that I hate speaking English.
I think English is a beautiful language and I'm very lucky that I know it so well BUT I did not choose to speak it. Everyday I am talking with people for are bilingual or multilingual and yet I can only speak English fluently. Yeah I can speak a little Thai, a little Spanish, a tiny bit Chinese, a bit German and a bit French but I so wish that I could speak these languages fluently or at least conversationally.
And so one day, I hope that I won't need English in my everyday life to function.
It's hard for me to explain exactly why I don't want to speak English but I think it's easier to say that I want to learn other languages.
So I'll start with Thai (obviously), and hopefully my Spanish will improve when I get home because I'm going to try to get my house to only speak in Spanish (they don't know this yet (sorry in advance mom but I guess you'll also be learning Spanish)), Sophie is teaching me a German word a day, my French is improving (I can read it fine but I can't seem to pronounce anything correctly) and I feel like in my Chinese classes I am always making progress.
It'll be tough but I know I can do anything- heck I've made it through six months in Thailand!
Also don't worry my blogs will continue to be in English.

Book: I stopped Adventure of State because I just couldn't stand reading it anymore. But Sophie lent me Eat Pray Love and I just finished it today! It was so amazing and beautifully well written. I definitely think its worth a read!
Thai: Go shower, bathe, etc.,................................am nom