4/29 Priceless

Two T-Shirts: 280 Bhat

Jewelry (2 prs. earrings, 3 string necklaces, 1 beaded necklace, 3 hand-painted wooden bracelets, 5 anklets and 2 rings): 360 Bhat

Coconut Ice Cream: 10 Bhat

Assorted Gifts for Family and Friends: 500 Bhat

Leather Flip Flops: 49 Bhat

A night at the Sunday Walking Street Market in Chiang Mai, Thailand… Priceless

As you can see, we ended a great weekend with another trip to the Sunday Walking Street, which is just about the cheapest shopping you can find. The most I spent on one item was on a cute Chiang Mai T-Shirt which was about 6 dollars. Its so ridiculous how cheap stuff is, I am still not over it. We shopped non-stop for 2 hours, I got tons of stuff and spent maybe 30 dollars. Awesome. Besides shopping, this was a great weekend. Christy, the ERC in Bangkok, came up for a visit. We met her Saturday after our meeting with the Ex-Pats Club, which is going to really help with host families! We had a great lunch and went off to explore. We ended up taking a red truck taxi to the orchid farm and a monkey center. It was great. A little monkey named Danny came at sat on our laps and played with us. He dug through Paloma’s purse until he found her water bottle and then he opened it up and started drinking. They also had a small show where the monkeys shot hoops, rode bikes and did all sorts of crazy stuff. I will upload pictures soon. Saturday night we met some new friends for dinner (had yummy French crepes) and went to a cute wine bar for a drink. Christy and I then stayed up to 3 in the morning talking. It was great to have not only another American around, but someone who is going through the same things as me with work. Christy is awesome and I am so glad she could make the trip up, as short as it was. Today we went with our friend Boong to a small village about a half an hour outside Chiang Mai. This is a village which does homestays for travelers like exchange students and just people who want to experience living in a Thai village. Boong is helping them learn English, so we came along to help. We played games, talked, laughed, had lunch and rode bikes. I think they will host some Up with People students, which would be such an awesome experience. The people were so sweet and friendly and just love Farang (foreigners). I have so much more I want to say, but I’m very sleepy and we have a busy day ahead of us.

Happy Birthday Bob!

Yep, I ate a worm! Salty!

I can’t remember a time where I have woken up to the sound of rain and been so excited about it. Usually waking up to rain means ruining plans you had made for the day, or at the very least, a dreary sort of day. One of the things I love most about Colorado is our 300 sunny days a year- we rarely have a day where you wake up to rain and it never clears. However, it has been SO HOT here lately, that waking up to rain was just about the best thing ever. Last night we were treated to an awesome thunderstorm. It was pounding down rain and Carla and I went outside in the driveway to dance in the pouring rain. It was so nice and cool and smelled so great, we couldn’t help but go splash around in it. Our host family looked out the window and thought we were absolutely nuts! They shooed us inside because they were worried we would get hit by lighting. They were so cute, you should have seen the expressions on their faces. When our host sisters got home a few hours later, the first thing Ma Mitra did was tell them about our crazy rain dancing. They were shocked too- why would anyone purposely go out in the rain and get drenched!! I guess I won’t try to convince them to go wash their hair in the rain like my cousins and I used to do in Iowa….

We had another elephant run in the other night. Paloma and I were driving back from the store with our host sisters when we looked out the window and said “There is an elephant! We then looked behind the elephant and said “There is Carla”. She had been walking to 7-11 and came across the elephant as well. We stopped the car to give the elephant a hug and try to talk to the handlers about bringing the elephant to host pick up- how cool would that be?? The cast arrives in Chiang Mai and we are there to greet them with an elephant. We’ll see if they come. Besides elephants in the street a few other interesting things about Thailand…

• Everyone here wants white skin. While the store shelves in the U.S. are filled with lotions and creams to make your skin tanner, or brown, everything here is whitening! It is hard to find body wash or lotion that does not say whitening. Our host sisters look at us like we are crazy when we ask them to come to the pool with us and they carry an umbrella everywhere they go to shield them from the sun.
• Not only is the driving crazy, the parking too. In parking garages when all the spaces are filled, the cars park behind the filled spaces, parallel. If the cars in the spaces need to get out, they simply push the cars that are parked parallel out of the way!
• No one uses knives at the tables, nor do they have big napkins to put on your lap, just small ones to wipe your fingers and face.
• There are stray dogs everywhere!! Some of them are kind of scary… it makes me nervous walking sometimes with this huge dogs barking at you, just waiting to infect you with rabies.

There is a lot more, but that is all I can think of right now. More later…

Everyone join me in wishing my Step dad, Bob, a very happy birthday!!!

One of those "I'm in Thailand!" moments

I cannot believe I have been in Thailand for almost 4 weeks. It has gone by incredibly fast, and I'm sure the next 8 weeks will go by just as fast, if not faster. Work is really starting to pick up by now, which is good. We are not in the office much- constantly running out to go to appointments, meet new people, all sorts of stuff. While its not the most exciting work, it sure beats anything else I could be doing!! The real fun happens at night, when we are home with our host family, seeing things and meeting more people. Last night I went with my host sister Mind to aerobic dance, which I'm trying to do everyday to counteract all of the ice cream I eat here. It is so cool to be in a huge gym with all of these women exercising and I am the only American, the only Farang (foreigner), the only person who looks completely out of place. I feel totally comfortable there- its just fun to be so different, I don't think I've ever felt that way before (except maybe when I was the only girl on my 4th grade basketball team... but that wasn't so much fun...)
After class (and a much needed shower) we went to dinner where we met up with a cute British guy that Carla and Paloma had met on their tour the day before. He was with a Thai guy who he had met randomly and had taken him sightseeing all day on his motorcycle. Just because, he didn't get paid, he didn't know the guy, he was just being nice. That is sooo cool. Anyway, right when we were finishing dinner, we looked off the deck we were eating and there was an elephant!! a small one, not quite a baby, but a "teenager", I guess. It was so cute and friendly and his handler was selling sugar cane. So we bought some to feed him and he proceeded to stick my finger up his trunk and got elephant snot all over. It was awesome. After we oohed and ahhed over the little guy for awhile he went on his way, but as he left we noticed he had a blinking red light attached to his tail so cars could see him in the road. How smart! That was just one of those "Oh My God, I'm in Thailand!!!" moments. You feel it deep down in your heart and it is just so amazing. I still love everything about this country, even though I miss little things about the states. Some of the food, Colorado blue skies, hot baths, driving, and my friends and family of course. I miss being able to pick up my cell phone at anytime to reach Kelly or my family in a matter of seconds. However, as much as people talk about "Culture Shock" I really haven't felt it yet. They said it hits after about 3 weeks... but I'm in week four and still doing okay. I guess I should be prepared, but hopefully it will be fine. I think my host family really makes the difference, they are just so kind and fun. Okay, off to another round of aerobic dance!

a Thailand Turtle for Mom

4/22 I like Sundays

There is something about Sundays I just love. It is a day I rarely work (unless a cast is coming the next day!) and it always seems very peaceful and relaxing. Today was a much needed day of rest after a pretty hard week. Between the VT Shootings, the Columbine Anniversary and getting sick (just a cold, don’t worry) I haven’t been quite myself this week. But, yesterday was good, we found out we got some pretty good press coverage about host families in both the English Newspaper and Thai News, so that’s good. Today, my roommates went off on an all day tour, while I chose to spend some time with me. I slept in, did my laundry (which is also great exercise- walking from the Laundromat with 20 pounds of soaking wet clothes!), and then went to the pool. I went all the way downtown and back by myself (don’t worry moms and dads, it is perfectly safe to go about by yourself here during the day). It was a small accomplishment, but a big one for me, since I’m not always the most independent person. I got a nice tan (and a bit of a burn, since I sweat off sunscreen the moment I put it on) and cooled off in the pool- its very hot here today, 102 degrees. I’m at the office, since it’s the only place with internet and A/C, but heading home soon to do some cleaning and prepare for the busy week ahead. Lots of love from Chiang Mai!

Never Forgotten

Matt
Danny
Kelly
John
Kyle
Rachel
Lauren
Dan
Cassie
Steven
Isaiah
Corey
Mr. Sanders

May you all rest in peace.

Songkran (Water Festival) Pictures

4/19 Back to work

After the incredibly long holiday, we are finally back to work. I enjoyed the time off, but I am so used to going 24/7 that it was a little slow for me at times. On our last few days off we enjoyed some more shopping and visited the most famous temple in Chiang Mai, which is at the top of a mountain. It was a long, windy drive up and made me a little nauseous- Carla even more so. But the view was worth it. Many, many people were there to visit and pay their respects to Buddha. I think this religion is so interesting, I really want to learn more about it. I see all this interesting stuff and wonder why- like they have this blue statute that looks like a Buddha, but has an elephant head and four arms. What does it mean? My host sisters try to answer all my questions, but unfortunately their English and my Thai skills aren’t good enough to give me a good understanding. I’ll have to read up on it.

The past two days we have taken an aerobics dance class that the supermarket gives for free- everyday at 6:30pm. It is brilliant! Hundreds of women (and a few men) gather in the parking lot of this giant supermarket to take this one hour class. They blare techno music and get everyone to exercise. Why don’t they do this in the states? Seriously, it is awesome. Even after all my days of taking Step at 24 Fitness, I am still having trouble following along, but it is so fun. Last night two guys were teaching us some moves which included flapping your arms like a chicken and shaking your butt. It was soo funny! Tonight we are going to try a different class at the Chiang Mai Sports Club.

Work hasn’t been too exciting- meeting with CI facilities and schools, trying to get details finalized and find host families. Today we were on the radio- get this, its called T.I.T.S. It stands for Thailand Information Tourism something, but I think they know perfectly well what their clever little acronym means. It is the only all English radio station in Chiang Mai and I don’t know what kind of following they have, but I guess a little publicity is better than none. This morning we were on the jazz show which has an American DJ and this afternoon we are going back in a few hours to be on the air with one of the Thai DJ’s who speak English. Oh what fun!

As soon as I get the pictures from Songkran (taken by Carla’s waterproof camera) I will post them! Hope everyone is well. Miss you all! xoxo

I do have more pictures on my picasa site: www.picasaweb.google.com/samantharoman7

It puts things in perspective

I am so incredibly saddened by what has happened at Virginia Tech University. Unfortunately, I know first hand what they are going through and it is a pain and sadness that I wouldn't wish against my worst enemy. I always hated how the word 'Columbine' was synonymous with school shootings, but in a way I was glad because I was always thankful that Columbine was the worst school shooting. I hate that this is no longer true. What is wrong with our country that these things happen? What could have been done to prevent this? I just don't understand what could make a person so angry.
I found out today that my friend Christy, who is the other ERC in Bangkok, has a brother who goes to Virginia Tech. Thank God he is safe, but there were several hours where Christy didn't know if he was and I feel for her so much. To be so far away from home and not be able to know if her brother was safe or not. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
It is inevitable that this school and community will be forever changed. I just hope it is for the better. I truly believe that Columbine and Littleton is a better place because of what happened to us. It was a horrible thing that we all went through, but we did it together and we learned a lot from it. I believe the Virgina Tech community will do the same as they begin to search for answers and heal.
It is my hope that programs like Up with People are out there making a difference in people's lives to prevent these types of things from happening. Now that might sound ridiculous, but our 'Stand for Peace' program was developed after Columbine to help kids realize they can solve their problems peacefully and to help them understand their differences. Now, there are always going to be those few crazy people out there who will do these things. Is there anything we can do about that? Probably not. But, we can be the best people we can be and try to be understanding of others and do what we can do make this world a better place.
Please join me in praying for the victims and families of this senseless tragedy.

Songkran, Day 745....

Okay, not really, but it feels that way. Today we had a mission… go downtown to do some shopping without getting wet… ha! Our taxi driver wouldn’t take us to our destination because of the horrible traffic, so after cutting though fields, backstreets, dodging motorcycles and buckets of water, we eventually made it to the street we wanted, only to find ourselves in the middle of a parade. It was like we were spies running from the government or something- ducking behind cars, running like crazy… pretty funny. We managed to stay (somewhat) dry. All our hard work flashed before my eyes when a guy came at me with a huge bucket of water—I pleaded with him “Mai Ow Ka” (no… please) but it was too late… he started to tip it, so I did the only thing I could, hit the bucket with my hand to dump the whole thing on him! Ha!! I win! So, after we watched the parade from a safe location (Wawee Coffee- the Starbucks of Thailand) we got to do some shopping. I got some t-shirts for my brother and sister, a wedding present for my friends who are getting married at the end of the summer and a few shirts for myself ( a grand total of about $15). We then went to the supermarket to get stuff to make a Mexican dinner for our host family. It didn’t turn out too bad, even though they don’t have the right kind of beans or cheese, no cilantro and a few other key ingredients. Paloma had the brilliant idea of buying tortillas off of the Mexican restaurant that we have been to a few times, so all in all it worked out well and our host family seemed to enjoy it. Right now, I am about to crash… back to work tomorrow!

P.S. I ate a worm today. It was salty and not as disgusting as you would think.

Songkran, Days 2 and 3

So the first 100 times someone dumps a bucket of freezing cold water over your head its pretty fun… but the 101^st, not so much. Yes, Songkran continues here in Chiang Mai. Yesterday we got out of the city and went to Pongtada’s village- Lamphun. We had a nice lunch with his family and then drove down the streets in his truck water fighting. Man, people are vicious with that water!! After we were sufficiently drenches we went to dry off and then attended a small gathering of Pongtada’s family. 5 monks came to bless the grave of the grandparents, which is on their property. It was very interesting. Then all the older family members get presents, like juice, oil and toilet paper. Mmmmkkk…

Today, we just hung out in the morning (I went to the office to do my taxes and for a run) and then headed back downtown for some more water action. This time we took our host sister, Mew, with us. On the way home we took a Tuk Tuk, and we learned that this was only Mew’s second time riding in a Tuk Tuk- I guess it really is a tourist thing! After getting dry we went for a nice dinner with the sisters and then they took us to Karaoke. Now, this isn’t like Karaoke in the U.S- standing up in front of a bar, embarrassing yourself in front of lots of people. Nope, they take you to a private room with a TV, couch and microphones (why you need mics in a 5X10 room is beyond me) and you choose your songs and sing with your friends. It was fun to see what English songs we (an American, two Thais and two Mexicans) all know. We rocked out hard core to Cher, Madonna and Hoobastank. Oh yes. Now I’m in bed, 11 pm, way past my bedtime. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, its Sunday and still the holiday. Hopefully sleeping in and sneaking off for another run.

Songkran, Day 1

The Songkran Festival celebrates the Thai New Year. It is officially April 13-15, but celebrations started early today. The way people celebrate the New Year here is not with champagne, fireworks and a ball dropping… oh no, its by dumping lots of water on each other! Today we did some work in the morning, but then went downtown in the afternoon to partake in the celebrations. We came across a giant dance party in front of a hotel where they had giant fire hoses spraying everyone as we danced. It was so fun! I don’t think I could have been wetter! It’s a good thing it is so hot here! After shakin’ it for awhile, we decided to walk by the moat, which encircles (not sure if that is the right word because it’s a perfect square) the old town. It was crazy, everyone spraying and dumping water. Trucks would drive by that had a giant bucket of ice water and people would pour it down your back. Carla and Paloma bought $6 water guns, while I settled for a 50 cent bucket that had a string attached, so you could throw it in the river and get water. We spent about an hour walking and decided we couldn’t get any wetter so we should head back. We took a Tuk Tuk home, but proceeded to get more water dumped on us on the way home. Lots of ice water and even some water that smelled like fish!! Luckily we were almost home. Right now I am laying downstairs on a “couch” (made of wood, so not so comfy) listening to and smelling the rain. This is the first time it has rained since I’ve been in Thailand. It’s like God is celebrating Songkran along with us!! Tomorrow we have big Songkran plans as well, which of course I will be sure to write about. Happy New Year!

4/8 Elephants, Monkeys and Mosquitoes- oh my!

Today was an amazing day. I know I use that word a lot, but I don’t know how else to describe it. We went on our trek today. We started off by taking a one hour drive in a van with 6 other tourists to an elephant park. I rode on an elephant with Paloma for about an hour. They went up and down hills, through the water, all around. It was fun, but it made me sad at the same time that these beautiful creatures have to do this day in and day out. Plus, the “drivers” often hit them on the head with this big stick they carry, it even has a sharp hook on it, which thankfully I didn’t see them use. Maybe there isn’t a better way to get control of them, but I just felt so sorry for the poor guys. After we got off, we went over to where there was a baby elephant. It was close to its Mama, but she was tied to a tree. He was soooo cute! He was playing with us, trying to knock us over. So much fun- that was definitely better than riding the poor guys. After the elephants we went bamboo rafting. The 3 of us got on a raft with a guide who took us down the river on a simple raft, made of 10 long pieces of bamboo, tied together with leather. We got so wet- not so much from the ride, but from all the locals in the river who thought it was fun (and it was!) to splash us. Also, the guide of the boat behind us kept splashing us with his paddle. When I got annoyed, he just said “I like you. I like you”. It was pretty funny. After rafting we had a nice lunch with our group and then continued on our journey. We hiked a good hour through a village (where we saw a baby monkey in a hut) and eventually arrived at a beautiful waterfall. We jumped in and swam in the freezing water. It was such a beautiful experience I don’t even know how to describe it. When we were hiking back, I started talking to one of the guys in our group and found out he was from Littleton! How crazy is that? He went to Littleton High School, and his parents actually live right behind mine! Small, small world. We then made one more stop at a Karen Village. This is the most populous “hill tribe” in Thailand. There were chickens, roosters and pigs running around all over. There were the cutest little baby pigs. It is so interesting to see how simply they live- they sleep in small wood shacks, sleep on the floor, make everything by hand, yet they have cable TV! So interesting to see how Western culture influences Thai culture. Although our tour was rather, well, touristy it was still a great time and I would recommend it to anyone who comes to Chiang Mai. Later in our trip we may go on a longer trek, maybe 2 or 3 days- where you get to camp out in the villages and see lots of different stuff. I better bring extra bug spray- the mosquitoes love me here! J

4/7 Happy Birthday to me!

I had an amazing birthday here in Thailand. My roommates (Carla and Paloma) and my host family came to my bedroom door around 9am banging on plates and cups and singing happy birthday. They had a cake and everything (which they then smashed my face into, Mexican style)! They sent me around the house on a scavenger hunt to pop balloons for my next clues and I found gifts along the way. It was so sweet. I almost cried, it was so nice having a family here away from home. We then spent the day at the pool- no one else was there, even though it was a hot, sunny day. I guess the Thai’s do not like to get sun. I found it very relaxing to get in the water and do some reading. Later that evening we went to a party for the Royal Prince School alumni (our host sister Mew and Pongtada are alumni) that had lots of free food and some good Thai wine. We then went to dinner at the Riverside Restaurant where Pongtada’s band played. It was beautiful scenery and good food (although we were pretty full from all the food at the party). We went to drive home, but on the way passed the International Culture Festival where a very famous Thai singer was performing- Jennifer Kim, a favorite of our host sister Mind- so we stopped to watch. She has a very beautiful voice. All in all, it was a wonderful birthday. Also- thank you to all my friends and family who sent me warm wishes from far far away! I miss and love you all bunches!

Only in Up with People...

Would you go to a SALSA dancing class, taught by a GERMAN instructor, in THAILAND with your MEXICAN roommates and dance with a guy from NICARAGUA. Crazy!

4/6/07 A good ending to a good week

I have been sleeping so much here. You would think there would be so many things to see and do that the last thing I would want to do is sleep, or at least that it would be too hot to sleep, but that is not the case. Last night I went to take a “nap” at 7 and ended up staying in bed until 8 the next morning. I think I am over my jet lag, it is just my body adjusting to the heat. It really takes it out of me. So, anyway, we went into work today, but we can’t do much because it is a holiday and most offices, schools, etc are closed. So we decided to explore downtown. We visited many shops, temples and walked a lot. We had Mexican food for lunch, which is pretty funny in Thailand. It actually wasn’t too bad… very American (cheesy and greasy). We booked a full day Trek for Sunday which will include an elephant ride, bamboo rafting, lunch in a village, swimming in the waterfall and a lot of hiking! I can’t wait. It will cost 900 baht (which is about $27 US). Not too bad. Actually, Carla and Paloma paid for mine for my birthday- isn’t that sweet? I was actually pretty down this morning because I am sad I am not with my family and friends for my birthday and Easter and they happen to fall on the same weekend. I have never spent a birthday as long as I can remember without my friends and tons of phone calls from my family and friends I do not see often. It will be strange this year to not hear my mom’s voice sing me happy birthday or go out for drinks with my girls! Same with Easter- it won’t be the same without all of my family together eating Aunt Barb’s mashed potatoes! My mouth waters just thinking about them (the potatoes, not my family)!! But, I can’t be too sad… I am in Thailand and it really is the opportunity of a lifetime. I can’t believe one year ago I was living in Boulder stressing out about not having a job and a place to live. Never in a million years would I have dreamed that I would be working in Thailand!!! Life is good.

want to see more pictures?

http://picasaweb.google.com/SamanthaRoman7

First Week In Thailand

Thai Ronald McDonald

monks-in-training

He is not real- but he sure looks it!

very spicy!

First Week in Thailand

Carla, Mind, Olga and Me in our host families kitchen

We travel by Tuk Tuk for the first time

Our Host Family at the Green Terrace Restaurant

Good morning!

Time to get to work

While it is fun playing tourist here in Thailand, there is actually work to be done. Yes, sadly, UWP isn’t paying me to go to Thailand just to sightsee and shop. Today (Monday) we went to our office which is just across the road and met with Paul and Pongtada. We had several appointments, with one of our CI sites and beneficiaries, with an international school, and saw the show facility. It is huge. It holds over 4,000 people. We worked pretty steadily all day, stopping for lunch at the Green Terrace which is the restaurant which adjoins our office. I had yummy noodles with chicken and it actually wasn’t spicy enough for me so I had to add chili flakes. I am SO Thai. We had a lovely dinner with our host family tonight. They are so sweet, and while there is definitely a language barrier, we have tons of fun and seem to understand each other for the most part. Some of the food here is so good and some if it is so weird. Paloma wanted to order desert tonight and she ended up getting something which was pretty much iced tea with kidney beans in it! It was very strange. Well, I can barely keep my eyes open so goodnight.

Thailand pictures

Let the adventure begin

So, the shower was quite the adventure. It is certainly not a traditional shower- shower head is about chest level, no shower curtain and no hot water. Just one knob, and what comes out is what comes out. Having a freezing cold shower is no big deal, its so hot here that it doesn’t really matter. So, after my adventure in the shower, we had breakfast which our host sister prepared. We had toast and some kind of big floury puff that had meat in the middle. I’m not really sure what I was eating, but it was okay. Great tangerine juice and cantaloupe, though! After breakfast we went with our host sisters for a little tour around Chiang Mai. They took us to some temples which were beautiful. I am really interested to learn more about Buddhism and why they do the things they do. I do know the temples are very sacred- you must take off your shoes and you kneel (with your feet pointing away from the Buddha or monk) and you must bow with your forehead to the floor three times. I did not do this- I don’t believe in doing things just to fit in- I am not a Buddhist, so therefore I do not pray to Buddha. However, I think it is all very interesting and beautiful. Once I get an internet connection ( I am currently typing all these blog entries into Word to later transfer to my website) I will find a way to post all of my pictures. Anyway, after the little tour with Mew and Mai we went to our office to meet with Mr. Pongtada and General Chevrolet and Paul to talk about UWP biz. We had a very interesting conversation and then went to lunch. This is where I feel like I had my first real Thai food. We had pork ribs on skewers with cucumbers and then a very spicy beef noodle dish. They added more sauce to theirs to make it hotter, but mine was just fine as is. They kept looking at me and asking if I wanted something different. But, it was delicious even though it made my nose run and sweat drip down my back. We had an interesting green drink that was pretty much unlike anything I had before. It was some kind of fruit and they called it “Waa Waa”. It is amazing how inexpensive food is here. The noodle beef dish was about 80 cents (US dollars). After lunch we met with Paul to go over our job responsibilities and then did some shopping for office supplies, at where else- Office Depot. We then had the incredible adventure of taking a “Tuk Tuk” home. It is a little taxi that is pulled by a scooter… it fits 3 people (somewhat) comfortably and is very hot, but very cheap. We live about 15 minutes outside downtown Chiang Mai and it was 150 bhat, which is a little over 3 bucks. Now, it is time to rest a bit before we go to dinner and do the famous “Night Bazaar” in downtown CM to do some shopping.

Welcome to Chiang Mai

The first thing I saw out of the airplane windows were mountains! It made my heart so happy to see them, as I have really missed seeing mountains. Although, they are no Flatirons, I still feel more at home when I can see mountains. We were met at the airport by our Chiang Mai Contact, Mr. Pongtada. Pongtada runs a foundation here in CM and will be very helpful to us in the coming months. We were also greeted by our host sisters- Mia and Mew who gave us lovely flower wreaths which smell heavenly. We took two cars to our host families house, which is right across the street from where our office will be, at Pongtada’s foundation. I am totally serious here when I say we SAW AN ELEPHANT on the road when we were driving home. It was a baby, about 5-6feet tall. I was so excited I couldn’t speak, I just hit Paloma to get her attention. Paul and Pongtada didn’t seem that impressed, but said this wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Anyway, after a short drive past the ELEPHANT we arrived at our new home where we met the mother and father who don’t speak any English. There is also a brother, but he was still at work. Pongtada and the sisters helped translate as we introduced ourselves. They showed us where we will be staying- a separate guest house next to the main house. An Alabama guest house this is not, but I love it just as much. It is two floors, a living area and bathroom downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. Paloma and Carla will share one room and I have a rather large room to myself with a double (very hard) bed, desk and armoire. There is no Air Conditioning in this house, so needless to say it is a bit sticky. It was about 90 degrees yesterday and the humidity is 100% so these are definitely the most uncomfortable temps I have ever experienced. But, I love it. I love how different it is than home and how I am totally out of my comfort zone.

We didn’t really understand if we were going to have dinner with the family and they seemed to want us to stay in our house so we talked a little and then decided to take a “nap”. It was about 7pm… the next thing I know, I wake up around midnight and I have all my clothes on, the lights are all on and I find Carla and Paloma in the same position. Oops. I guess jet lag hit us. I have no idea if they came looking for us, or what, I really hope we did not offend them, but I sure they understand that we have been traveling for a long time and needed to rest. I went back to sleep until about 4am when P and C were up to. We unpacked, talked and are now waiting until the right time to go and see if the family is awake.

I am so happy to be in Chiang Mai- Bangkok was exciting, but so busy and a very big city. Chang Mai reminds me of Boulder- still a million people, but beautiful. Not as much stuff was in English- a few shops and restaurants from what I can see, but none of the road signs like in Bangkok. Bangkok, although very different, still had Starbucks and McDonalds and Boots (the British drugstore). Chiang Mai might too, I have yet to see it in the daylight, but I think it is much more cultural than Bangkok.

The next few months are going to change me forever. I am going to experience and learn so much. Not only from being in Thailand, but from working with P and C who are so different from me- much more free spirited and relaxed. I think working with them will sometimes be a challenge because I’m sure our working styles are much different, but it will be a beautiful end result, I think. I cannot forget that I am here for one reason- to make this an amazing experience for Cast A 2007. I have no doubt that it will be, but it is up to us to make sure that everything goes well and that we develop relationships with people to continue UWP’s presence in this amazing country.

Ok time to shower, this should be an adventure...

Day One-Bangkok

So, we spent our first few daylight hours in Thailand walking around Bangkok. It was so hot, even at 8am. We found a little restaurant to have breakfast in- it was about half Thai food and half American. I had Garlic Chicken and Rice, something I think was fish and the best fruit and yogurt I have ever had. Plus lots of coffee (which is super strong) and orange juice which was fresh, but kind of tasted like Tang. We then continued walking around (this is Yamil, Paloma, Carla and I). We really didn’t have a plan, but just walked and enjoyed the sights, sounds, smells and people- who are SO friendly and are absolutely tickled when you try and speak Thai to them. So far I can say hello, thank you, no thank you. We returned to our hotel to have lunch (which was a Scandinavian Smorgasbord- very un-Thai) and meet with Paul who is our main contact and “boss” in Thailand. We also met up with Beata who traveled last semester and will be on the Bangkok team and “A” who is an UWP alumni and Thai native who has been very helpful in bringing UWP to Thailand. We met for about 3 hours, learning what we would be doing and learning about Thai Culture (ie: how to greet people, what not to do- NEVER touch someone’s head or use your foot to point at something). We then jetted off to the airport only 13 hours after we had been there that morning and set off for Chiang Mai- Paloma, Carla, Paul and I. Paul will stay with us until Tuesday night to help us get started. For those who know me, they know I don’t sleep on planes very well. However, for the one hour flight to CM I fell asleep before takeoff! I woke up near the end of the flight and couldn’t believe I was that tired.

The Journey

Our incredibly long travel day to Thailand started out with Meredith picking us up in Alabama at 7:30am on Thursday to take Yamil and I to the airport. We took a flight to LA and after switching planes were on our way to Taipei. I love China Air- American airline companies should take a lesson from them. I love the slippers they give you to wear on the plane, great service. It was a very long flight- about 13 and a half hours, I mostly watched movies and slept maybe 4 hours. We arrived in Taipei around 9pm, then took another 4 hour flight into Bangkok. When we arrived we went through immigration and customs (with our bags which all made it- hooray!) and met Khan who took us in a taxi to our hotel. Khan was my intern last semester in North Platte and it was so good to see her again! It was about 2:30 am on Saturday Bangkok time by the time we got to the hotel (which is 4:30pm Friday East Coast Time, so we had been traveling about 32 hours!). Bangkok is crazy- there was so much traffic, so many people- tons of cabs (hot pink and blue) and crazy motorcycles that weave in and out of the traffic. We got to our hotel where we met Carla and Paloma (Olga) who will be part of my Chang Mai team. They are sisters- Carla traveled with UWP in the 90’s and she is 31 and Paloma traveled last semester and is 25. They are from Mexico, but have lived all over, including Paris, LA, and now Carla lives with her American husband in Idaho. They had arrived just a few hours before. We talked a little before falling asleep. I woke up feeling like I had slept for days, but I had only slept about 3 hours. We were too excited to be in bed so we got up and were out of the hotel by 8am. The first thought I had when I woke up was “I AM IN THAILAND”!