10-11

Saturday Morning

(I had to wake up at 6:45am to get ready for this....)

Today we went and presented bikes to a small school in a village about 45

minutes from Muang Ubon. The kids did Thai dance for us and then we

presented them with bikes, soccer balls, and food. They were SOOOOOOOOO

cute!!!!!!! I don't think there was one kid there over 12 years old. They

were such angels, and they were so thankful. After we presented the gifts,

we ate lunch at the school and they had a FEAST prepared for us. The food

was so good. They gave us Som Tam and it was SOOOO spicy!!! The Thai

people were like, oh, it can’t be THAT spicy—and I was like YES it is! And

Champ took a bite and he said (and I quote:) “Holy crap! That is so

spicy!!” And I was like THANK YOU!!! …lol… sometimes the Thai’s

underestimate the exchangers….lol…. Today it was 35C and sunny. It was so

hot and of course the school wasn’t air-conditioned, I thought I was gonna

melt!!

Ps- what is the conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit—Kirby, I know you have

that on your conversion sheet for chem…. So please let me home.

10-15

Hey Guys-

Today was my first day back at school and there were so many things to do in such little time. First of all, I needed to meet with a bunch of the teachers and figure out my schedule. Second of all, I had to explain to practically the entire student body why I wasn’t in school on Tuesday (the answer to that question is that I didn’t know that I had school on Tuesday cuz the bigger Ubon schools get a full month off—not just 2 weeks, so all my exchanger friends don’t have school—just me n Thisie cuz we go to school in Warin Chamrab). Everyone was excited to see their little fulong again, and actually, it was really great to see all of them too…My foreign exchanger friend, Katy (from Canada), came to school with me cuz she doesn’t go back til Nov. That was really fun. And the first thing we did was go and make up my new schedule with some of the teachers… when the schedule was about half way finished Ajan Mam was like “okay, are those all the classes you want”… and they were and then she said “good, then we’re done”…. UH WHAT??? Then she proceeded to tell me that the rest of the time is free time and I can sleep in and come to school late since I don’t have a bunch of morning classes… and I can go home early on days that I don’t have a last period… and any other free time I can do whatever I want, go to the library, go to the computer lab (that takes 45 minutes to check ONE email!!!)… but still… I just want you all to think of me when you’re sitting at your desk in the office… or perhaps in physics? ...calc? ....history? .....english? ....doing homework? Think of me ;-) MWAHAHAHA!!

I have “english” class, volleyball, Pakaw (a thai sport), Thai dance, traditional thai instrument, choir, thai cooking, ONE Thai class, ONE social studies class, and a Latin dance class (that should be interesting—thai people don’t even hold hands of the opposite sex—not even husband and wife!!) Yep, that’s my tough schedule… and I only have to come to school on time TWO days a week… and I only stay the full day TWO days a week… On Friday, I sleep in, have two periods and lunch and go home… yup yup yup-- I can hear Annie singing now “it’s the hard-knock life for us, it’s the hard-knock life for us….” HAHAHA The most periods I could possibly have occupied by classes in (not including homeroom and lunch) a week is 24… and I have 12!!! HA HA HA… okay, I’m done gloating about my AMAZING class schedule… After Katy and I left school (an hour early by the way), we went jogging in the park and then danced hip hop… then I had to go home cuz my mom likes me to come home and eat dinner with her every night. And we had a really good dinner. It was the first time I’d had salad and salad dressing since I’ve been in Thailand and…. I had COW PAT… okay, that means fried rice—thai style and its SOOOOOOOOO good!!!!! Not to mention, it was beautiful today. I think it was maybe in the 70’s—actually, it was pretty chilly. I was REALLY cold at school for awhile, so I walked into a thai dance and danced to warm up… yup yup yup, what a day, what a day. Well, I gotta run.

I love and miss you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muitos beijos!! (that means “lots of kisses” in Portuguese)

~Kati~

10-17

Hey everyone-

Well, today was pretty cool. I don’t have school til 10am on Fridays and I get to leave at noon…so that’s cool right there… On Fridays I have gym which for me is a sport called Pagaw—I can’t explain it cuz I haven’t played it yet… the gym teacher wasn’t at school today (go figure…) so I decided to go to class with Oun (my best friend in school). Little did I know, he had MATH… YUCK… oh well. I don’t know how Oun makes decent grades in school cuz he never takes notes or anything… and almost the whole time all he did was talk with me… which was really nice cuz we had a lot to talk about cuz we didn’t see each other over fall break….

Anyways, then I went to thai dance and we reviewed “thai dance technical terms” along with hand and feet positions… During math I made plans with Oun and Pat. We decided since I didn’t have classes in the afternoon and they had the dreaded SCIENCE and PASA THAI….. we decided to skip (well, actually I wasn’t skipping—but they were) and go shopping and eat out at Big C. Katy (from Canada) went with us. Before going to Big C I stopped at home to change out of my uniform and my mom told me that she, Bow, and I are all going to Khoen Khaen this weekend. That should be really cool…

WHAT SHOULD I WEAR???!!! Just kidding. I’m gonna meet up with the two other exchangers that are there. If I can only meet with one of them, it’ll most def be Jessica (Jess) from Australia. She’s one of the few people I actually connected with in Korat and she wasn’t even from my city—figures… Well, not like it matters cuz I ended up loving everyone that came to my city—so whatever….

Yeah, so I doubt I’ll be able to email this weekend… but who knows. Well, after Big C (I bought face wash and at thai fried rice) we met Thisie at SP house which is a cute little restaurant that sells every kind of food under the sun. It’s actually quite a random place…I got a pineapple Sunday there—I was really craving one and it was SOOOOO good… yup yup yup… that’s about it for today… I need to pack for Korat and we leave early in the morning and I have to do my stretches and crunches and Thisie’s coming over in two hours… so that’s a lot of stuff to do before she gets here to chill from 7-9pm…. Yup yup yup… latas.

Luv,

Kati

Ps- Lizz, don’t worry—I’m most def still calling you on your birthday. At

10am your time!! Can't wait to talk to ya saturday!! ;--)

Hello everyone-

A friend of mine on exchange in Japan asked me what our school uniforms are like and I realized that i haven't told anyone what these lovely things look like... so here ya go... here's the school uniforms...my school uniforms are horrendous!! They are the biggest "fashion NO" of all time... and keep in mind that it's hotter than hades here..... We wear light purple shirts and our names are in the top right hand corner in a bright blue color. The sleeves come just short of your elbow and their pleated and poofy and then they snap tight at the end. (of course this is a button up shirt with a color that you tuck into these hideous skirts). The skirts are heavy, dark navy, pleated, and go to your mid-calf. It doesn't have belt loops but you have to wear a black belt with it. then you wear tall white socks, folded over and black mary-jane shoes. I mean really... it couldn't get much worse than that... oh yeah, girls have to wear an additional t-shirt or undershirt of some sort under their shirt, otherwise you're "too sexy"... the shirt isn't see-thru or anything... I most def can't figure out that one... and everybody (but me) has to have their hair cut a certain way, their nails a certain length (with no nail polish), and absolutely no make-up or powder (girls sneak it anyways, but if they get caught they get in big trouble).... even tho I don't have to get my hair cut, I do have to wear it in a neat bun everyday...sometimes I can get away with a ponytail...

yup, that's our uniforms

-Kati-