A quick summary...

It’s been quite along time since we last updated this blog so I’m just going to talk a little bit about what’s happened so far. We arrived on Thursday morning very early and met with some of the teachers from the school. We then took a bus to a hotel in Suphan Buri. It was a very nice hotel close to our school. Later in the day after we had slept a bit we met our host families for lunch. I met my host (or billet as the Thais refer to them) mother and sister. Fah, my host sister, is incredibly well versed in English and after modifying a few phrases and such she can understand me perfectly. My host mother does not speak much, if any, English but I can tell she is very nice and she always makes sure things are going well. After eating lunch we then talked for a bit and went to the school. Here we were shown a huge billboard type poster at the front of the school that had our program on it with all of our pictures. That was quite a surprise. After this we had a little introduction to the program and such and went home to stay with our billeting families. Some of the kids did other things before going home but since Fah lives around 45 minutes away from school (as do a few other billets) we went straight home after eating dinner out. Fah’s home is very nice and I’m pretty much at home. There are definitely some subtle differences though, most in the bathroom! Fah’s house has an America style toilet but no handle for flushing. This greatly confused me the first day and after asking (I had to figure it out someway) I was told that the basin of water and small bowl next to the toilet was used for flushing it. You take a bowl of water and “throw” the water into the toilet, which semi-effectively flushes the toilet. The shower is also not enclosed and gets everything wet in the bathroom, which in turn means that the rugs on the floor are outside the bathroom to wipe your feet because the bathroom always gets soaked after someone takes a shower.

The next day we went to school and started with a general assembly. This was the day that we got introduced to everyone and some important people from the Suphan Buri government came to meet us. Mr. Shimshak gave an incredible speech in Thai that Fah told me was really good and then, believe or not, I got up to give a shorter one that Fah had helped m prepare the night before introducing myself and telling the Thai students we were very lucky to be here and hoping we all could be friends. The Thai people are so friendly and it truly has been a joy here so far. There are around 2,600 students at the school grades 7-12 (or something like this) and of those only 100 are boys. Very interesting let’s put it that way. After this we got a short school tour and ate lunch at the school canteen, which only costs around 50 cents a meal if you go all out.



After this I went to Astronomy class with Fah and some of the other girls in her EP (English Program) class. The teacher wasn’t there so we played Super Mario Bros on the computers for a little while which isn’t shunned by the staff whatsoever (and let me tell you, if anyone from the US tells you they are the best at SMB you watch one of these girls play it and it’ll blow your socks off). I was very surprised at how good they were and even that they were allowed to play it. Thailand is very ironic because some things are very much more relaxed than in the US and some things are much more strict. To great a teacher you must put you hands to your face as if you are praying and do a half-body bow and say Sahwatdii Khrap. This is very respectful and should always be done if you are passing a teacher. After the teacher arrived we watched a movie about some of Earth’s forces for half an hour and since it was a special day (I was there) we got to sing some Karaoke with English songs on a big projection board. The school has some very nice technology, which I suppose was a bit surprising. After this we played soccer for gym class and went home.



The next day (Saturday) all of the students got together with a few of the mothers and one father and went to Dreamworld (the Thailand equivalent of Disney World only much less expensive). We took a van, which is very common in Thailand (they are rented but also very cheap) and headed to Bangkok (only about an hour and a half drive). We had a lot of fun here going on rides and taking pictures in their picture garden. Tori, a foreign exchange student from Alaska who is going to our school also accompanied us as she is obviously friends with some of the people in the EP program. After this we went out for a bit of shopping and took the van home.



Today we have some of the sights to see in Suphan Buri such as the museum, 100 year market, and Aquarium and I must be off to get ready. Hopefully I’ll be able to write soon but I can’t really promise anything because our schedules are so packed full and the internet access is a bit limited. I’ll see what I can do. Over and out. Cope Khun Khrap (Thank you, generally used to end anything).




PS I know the pictures are out of order. Sorry.