10;22-11;7
10-22
Well all-
I'm headed for Nakhom Panhom this morning.
(actually i should be
getting ready right now-- not EMAILING--lol).... Mom,
to answer you question, I was going to go to KHOAN KHOEN whith
my mom. Nakhom
Panhom is a thing for rotary inbounds, outbounds, and rebounds.
My sister and mom are going also and it'll most def be a blast. There's gonna be
like 50 exchangers together!!! I'll be
back Saturday night and be able to check my email on sunday. Well,
can't wait to hear from all yall... Yeah mom, don't
send receese.... i don't
know what i was thinking... just the peanut butter...
no i don't need any gifts for families, at least not
until my third host family... and even then i might
not need anymore. okay,
thank you so much for everything everyone!!!
ChrLOVEist,
Kati
10-26
Well all…
Nakhom Panohm was a
blast. Nakhom Panhom is a city in northeastern Thailand… farther north than ubon—it’s
about 5 hours away. We arrived Wednesday
evening. We swam and talked…. Put our
stuff in the rooms… got caught up with some of the other exchangers… Then it was time for dinner. Brendon was
presented an exchanger award (he’s an oldie from south Africa)… We
received our rotary backpacks for participating in the tours (none of which
have occurred, but we have paid for them.) and ate. We had a short meeting about what would be
happening tomorrow. Then we crammed into
a couple rooms and talked and danced.
The next morning we were split into teams and we played games all
day. In the morning we played games that
helped us learn more thai
and practice the thai we already know. We had to read, draw, and speak…. Then in the
afternoon we had a thai
scavenger hunt. Then we went to a dinner
party that we had to sit through for FOUR HOURS… We all had to present our home
countries to the outbound thai
students. America and Canada had the
shortest presentation because 45 out of the 50 thai outbounds want to go to America and they wanted to
encourage them to go to other places because there aren’t enough slots for them
in America. Then we all went to back to
the rooms and talked and the Brazilians showed up and put on brazilian music and we all did the
brazilian dances.
I now have 3 brazilian
dances and songs memorized from that night….
It was a blast. Then on Friday we
went traveling. We visited a temple that
was really beautiful and many people made wishes on the Buddha. Then we went to this tower and the elevator
wasn’t working so we had to climb the stairs…. There were well over 200 stairs…
I honestly thought my legs we going to break.
And I run everyday. I have no
idea how the other people made it up there.
They just kept going…and going….and going….. like
a little energizer bunny… But the view was really beautiful. Nakhom Panhom is a small town and it’s right on the river. It was really beautiful. After the tower we went shopping near the Laos border and everything was really cheap but
I didn’t get much—just a pair of cute earrings.
But I had fun “window shopping” (ok, ok…. So there weren’t any
windows…). Then we headed back home and
went to another dinner party. This time
it was outside and there was traditional thai
dancing. The thai girls were so beautiful. And they had the traditional thai band playing, singing, and
dancing behind them. We were right on
the river and the stars were out. The
weather was perfect and the food was spicy and the tea was sweet. That was Thailand… that was the Thailand that I love…. I can’t explain the beauty of that night in
any other way. Saturday we ate breakfast
and said our sad good-byes… it was hard to believe it was all over—hadn’t we
just arrived? Well, here I am in Ubon. This morning I
had thai dance and we all
ate at KFC… it was surprisingly good….
Then we rented movies, went to SEVEN (7/11—our favorite place) and
bought food and drinks…then we walked home and watched “Life or Something Like
It” and “The Emperor’s New Groove” (I’ve already seen both…). Then… I wrote you
all this… So that’s it—that was my week.
Tomorrow I’ll go to school… What a life…what a life… well, that’s
it. later,
everyone!
Luv y’all,
Kati
11-7
The Farm:
Well, as you all
know… I haven’t written for awhile cuz I just spent a
week at a Thai farm. We had sooooooooooooo much fun!!
We all loved the experience so much!
We got there on Saturday afternoon…
Saturday
8 people went and
we stayed at three different houses.
Mike stayed at one house. Me,
Megumi (from Japan), and Gwen (from Canada) stayed at another house. Alwyne, Mirjam, Thisie, and Katy stayed
at another house. Our family had a small
house in the village and then a “house” out on the farm where the buffalo,
ducks, chickens, cats, dogs, and cows were.
We decided today that we would try to do something new each day. NEW THING: So today went digging for bugs for
Sunday’s breakfast and fed the buffalo and looked for and caught crabs. (I couldn’t bring myself to eat a whole bug…
but I did eat the legs and such that were in the bowl with the veggies…). Megumi, Gwen, and I sleep in the same bed
with MOSQUITO NETTING (yay God!!!). We sent to an Eson
or Ison (there is no really spelling in English… but
in any case, it refers to the northeast region of Thailand… and it’s its own language…) in any case,
we went to an Ison wedding reception. The bride and groom were so adorable. Yeah, so all in all… it was a really good
day… tomorrow we wake up when the rooster crows… around 6:00am…
Sunday
…and the rooster
crowed…and crowed…and crowed… this morning Thisie, Alwyne, and Katy showed up at our house. By the time we got out of bed… it wasn’t even
7am yet… we got up and walked to the little
market to buy food for the week. Then we
(including my 2 little sisters at the farm) went out and NEW THING:
transplanted “gourd like” plants from the forest to a field… it took about
three hours. The kids were so cute so we
had a blast… and of course we found frogs and other exciting things of that
sort… and I got attacked by trillions of spiders… there are soooooooooooooo
many bugs here… Afterwards we rested and
ate random things the kids picked and gave to us (don’t’ worry mom, they know
what they’re doing…). We ate lunch and
then headed out to the farm. We fell
asleep and when we woke-up… nobody was there but the calf… so me n Megumi… (and by “me n Megumi”—I mean Megumi… cuz
I’m too slow n dumb…) caught some chicks.
We came home, talked to mike, bought milk and a coke, ate the most
amazing cowpat EVER (cowpat is “fried rice” but it’s not like what we have in
the states…) and headed for bed.
Monday
NEW THING: Today
was the first day we picked rice. We
picked in dry fields today…. Twice… We cut the rice
with sythes (i kinda felt like captain hook!). After you have to
much to hold in your hand, you start making rows of small piles of rice cuz they have to dry.... Afterwards...we played cars and
chilled during our break… and of course we ATE and ATE and ATE…. Uh, did I
mention EAT?? and
we drank lotsa coke…… and then we came home and ate
traditional Korean barbeque… if you’ve never had it… you should!! It’s SOOOOOO good! Oh, and I cut myself on my right arm… but no
worries….. it’s not infected and it’s not deep ;-)… I refuse to tell you why I got cut… (let’s just say I was acting like an idiot…)
Tuesday
Today we picked
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH RICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone except for me and Megumi were burnt to a crisp… but I did get a
really nice tan… A baby cow was born and
I got to see it like an hour after it was born… it was sooooo
cute… we named it Ella Moomoo..
don’t ask… well, nothing else really exciting happened
today… so I guess that’s it. oh, almost forgot…NEW
THING after my night time shower I didn’t wear deodorant (don’t worry I put
some on in the morning) so that my skin could breathe (“doctor” Gwen told me to
try it.)…
Wednesday
Well… today was
mostly a blah day… we picked rice in the morning and lazed around in the
afternoon (I slept in a hammock)… oh and my NEW THING for today was I ate
(live??) snails out of their shell…. WARNING… they have no taste… but texture
most def causes gagging.
Thursday
NEW THING: today we
picked a wet field…barefoot… we had rubber boots… but no one actually wanted to
wear them… We were totally muddy… the
mud was up to our ankles… we did find lots of interesting animals… some frogs,
some crabs, some cute little fishies… a really cool
spider… I wasn’t \very motivated today so I didn’t go back to pick in the
afternoon. Mike sliced his foot while
gallantly saving to damsels in distress from an angry buffalo (SLASH… he
stepped on a rice stalk… LOL). In the afternoon we danced hip-hop and played
cards… yup… well, tomorrow I leave… and I’m really sad. I love it here!...
but I think I am ready to head home.
Friday
This morning I ate
breakfast and headed home. I acquired a
head-cold over the night from shivering so much (it was in the low 70’s at
night)… I wore pants, long sleeves, and three heavy blankets (including my
fleece tiger blanket) and I was freezing every night… It’s kinda
strange how at the farm… we used the same water to brush our teeth, shower, and
flush the toilet… and it was FREEZING (the water I mean)!!... and the room that we took showers in had big holes at head
level for Thais… but breast level for foreigners…. Enough said.
Well, like you can
see… we had an amazing experience… I loved every moment of it… even the burning
of my back as I was up to my ankles in mud… I loved it! Well, I’ll let you all go now!
Love,
Kati