Hi All,
I have had so much fun here in Thailand, and am so glad I was able to come. Below I will try to give you an insight into what I have been doing
for the last month.
From Perth I had a five hour flight to Singapore, five hours in Singapore and then a two hour flight to Bangkok. Then I had two days in Bangkok
on AFS orientation, learning a bit of the language and culture. By the last night when all the exchange students had to get up and give a
talk on their country (In front of all the student
advisors) I was able to introduce myself in Thai. Out of the twenty five exchange students, I am the only Australian, so I had to give my talk by
myself, while the 14 Germans did theirs in one big group.
The next morning my host family met me at the hotel and took me to see the sights of Bangkok. I was so nervous that morning that I lost my appetite, made worse because I had been told there were 9 of them coming to meet me. We went to a Buddhist temple, the Grand Palace, and then a new department store, which puts everything I have ever seen to shame. It was about 6 stories high, and more like a
massive shopping centre, with everything from car dealerships to clothing, computers and a massive food court.
Once we finally left Bangkok and completed the 6 or so hour trip
to Phitsanulok, It was about 11:30pm. I then told my host family
about Australia and gave them all Australian gifts. Luckily the
next morning I was able to sleep in.
Since then I have been settling into the routine of life here, which is very laid back, partially because it is school holidays. A few days after arriving in Phitsanulok, I was able to participate in the Thai New Year festival of Sunkrun. It goes for three days, and longer in some parts of Thailand. The main activity is a bit like a massive water fight in the streets. Some
people stand on the footpath, some walk along the road and others travel in whatever vehicle they have (utes, trucks, scooters, etc).Water is either thrown from buckets or sprayed from water guns. Other people make a water/powder mix which they put on other peoples cheeks with their hands. The festival is also a time of family gatherings, similar to the
European Christmas. Sowe (host father, mother, sister, brother and me) made a two night round trip to the neighbouring province (Kamphaeng
Phet) to see family, pray for my ‘dead host grandfather’ and to have a big party. Grand Palace, Bangkok Australian gifts Sunkrun Festival
Sunkrun Festival Prayers at Grandfather’s Tomb
After my first week I started having Thai lessons with a teacher
across the road. She teaches English to my host brother and host
cousin and so offered to teach me Thai. I have lessons for 2 hours
each weekday, which is good but quite tiring. On Wednesday, She
took her English students to Sukhothai (the original Thai Capital,
about 1 hour away) so that they could practice their English by
interviewing foreigners who come to see the city. I went along and
did the touristy bit of admiring the beauty of the city ruins.
Now that I have got the main events out of the way, I will tell you about my host family. The family consists of a Mother, father, grandmother, brother my age and a cousin living in the house.
When I first arrived, there were three cousins staying here, but since then two of them have returned to their homes as has my host sister, who is studying in Bangkok. Also living in the house is the house keeper, which is a pleasant change, though I still have to do some chores (Drats!!). Both my Host parents work full time, Mother in the convenience store she runs on the bottom floor of the house and Father at the bank which is within 2 minutes walking distance of the house. I
have become good friends with my host brother, who will be going on exchange to the US in August; so I am helping him with English and helps me with Thai.
Thai people generally have very long names, and thus have one syllable nick names. A few days after coming to my host family I got the nickname Us, which doesn’t mean anything (some of the other suggestions had meanings I didn’t really like). And then a few days later, I got the Thai name Asawin (pronounced Us-a-win), which means hero, knight, and winner.
At first I was surprised by how hot the weather here felt, and was very glad for the Air conditioning in the Hotel (in Bangkok), but now I am starting to get used to it, though am still very grateful for the AC in my bedroom. I had thought that having lived in Perth, the weather here would be no problem, but I think the humidity and lack of sea breeze
make it worse then Perth. I am also starting to get used to the Thai food, I now have rice at just about every meal and except for the very spicy dishes, eat most things. My favourite food so far is the sweet stick rice with fresh mangoes (Mangoes sell here for the equivalent of $0.50AUS/kg).
It is interesting being one of few foreigners in the town. I think that
most of the locals seem to have see foreigners before, but not
enough to make it common, so I manage to draw quite a bit of
attention wherever I go, though I am glad most of it is just staring and
I haven’t’ had to deal with crowds of people pointing and shouting
‘foreigner’.
I still have about 2 weeks of Holidays before School starts, so I hope
to learn a bit more Thai, and hopefully will be able to almost
communicate with the other students at school, though I am sure with
the aid of a Thai-English dictionary.
