9-12

Hello Everyone!

I'm having some problems with my home computer. It won't let me access my yahoo account, but I've never had a problem accessing my hotmail account. Therefore, I'm going to ask if all of you would email me at this email address instead:

kesari_ubon@hotmail.com

Thank you so much for your cooperation. I'm really sorry about the inconvenience. I'm going to an internet cafe today to check my yahoo account but that costs money, so I don't want to have to keep doing that... For the next couple days I'll check my yahoo account to make sure you got this message and then I'll just stop checking it. Thank you again... and again I apologize for the inconvenience.

-Kati-

9-13

Hey all! Well—this email was actually written on FRIDAY (yesterday) but my internet wasn’t working (yet another annoying thing that occurred that day….but in any case—here it is:)...

Well, as I believe you already know, I get out of school at noon on Fridays. That’s the only reason why I actually went to school today because I’m still sick. Well… I waited at the gate until 12:30 (in the rain and I’m sick with no coat and no umbrella) and finally call Bow and ask her to call the driver and ask him to come get me… because obviously he forgot… Well—at 12:45 my parents show up. I went to lunch with my friends at school but literally ate like 4 bites because I just wasn’t hungry because I’m feeling so yucky… and my parents were like (in Thai of course) “kati, we’re gonna take you to lunch now!” (I’m thinking “great… as if I don’t feel bad enough I’m gonna have to eat a bunch of spicy food… normally I would’ve been excited, but like I said, I’m sick and therefore, most def NOT hungry…). So they took me out to eat in Ubon and I ate until I thought I’d most def puke if I ate another bite… and then my mom force fed (literally) me like another 5 bites. I seriously thought I was gonna be sick all over the floor. It wasn’t that the food wasn’t good… I just wasn’t hungry… and I’M SICK! It’s funny because when I look at how much I eat here and what I consider “a lot” of food and literally feeling like my stomach just might explode… is still WAY less then what a normal serving would’ve been for me in the USA. We really eat too much in the USA. I mean seriously… bigger isn’t always better. Our portions are ridiculously HUGE! On Fridays I have “guidance” which is just like “careers class” except the people aren’t total and complete morons… then I go to Thai dance, then Thai, then English, then I GO HOME! I was in such a bad mood today. I can’t help being grumpy when I feel like crap… I really don’t think that the Thai’s were being anymore annoying than usual… but it sure seemed like it… I told off like 4 Thai people (in English) and then walked away… That’s basically what I did today… repeatedly got irritated with them treating me like I’m a moron and laughing at me so I’d just keep walking away… I’m surprised I lasted until noon… or maybe I’m surprised I let them last until noon… *shrugs* just not my day today, I guess.

Yesterday my aunt took me to the store and bought me milk and orange juice and stuff like that because I’m sick. It was soooo sweet of her. At least my family isn’t obnoxious, eh? Okay… at least not most of the time… the only thing that I truly can’t stand about my family is the fact that my mom tells me I need to shower, even if I’ve already showered. Bow says she tells everyone… but I don’t care… uh, excuse me—I’m a junior in high school… I think I can handle bathing myself!! Oiy, this really turned out to be a venting email, eh? Well, sometimes you need those… Just like in the USA, things aren’t always perfect, ya know? Well, I’ll let ya go know!

WAIT!!!!!!!

Well, I did it. I went to see a Thai doctor. He gave me a buncha meds (that I made sure I wasn’t allergic to…) he checked my breathing and all that jazz… and he said… uh, yup you’re most def sick… okay, okay—so those weren’t his EXACT words… but that’s besides the point. Are ya happy now? I’m not… I have to take like 3 different pills like 3 to 4 times a day depending on each one because I got pain-killer/fever reducer, penicillin (antibiotic), and something for my stomach problems… He’s not sure if it’ll actually help my stomach…. Well, let’s just hope that it doesn’t make it worse, eh? Ok, for real now, I gotta go!

Love and miss you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love always,

Kati

9-16

HI Everybody!

Sorry I haven’t written for a while, but the emails weren't working again. Hopefully this one works. This is a picture of some of my friends. Sounds like the weather is getting a bit better there in Anderson. Over here we're getting SOOOO much rain. Most of my province is majorly flooded. Maybe you've heard about it. It's not flooded in my city though. That's what all the weird square ponds (the size of half a city block) and Toong Sing Muang's moat is for. It is omewhere for all the water to go.

Next week I'm not going to school because they all have exams. Then after that we all have about three weeks holiday!!!!!! After that it'll be term two and I get to choose all my courses. hehehe No academics for me.

On the 26th we're going to that hotel for Alwynes Birthday on the Two Colour river by Laos then on the 3rd of October we're giving bikes to le fortunate children (for Rotary) and presenting our dance we're learning at Ratchaput AHHHHHHHH. It's going to be the funniest thing they've ever seen. On the 5th we're going to the National temple for a few days to learn meditation and then we'll go live on a rice farm for a few days. (don't worry, only very northern Thailand is Malaria infected, this is northeast). On the weekend I went with Nooy, Nui and Lek to the Nevada Cineplex (excuse me if I'm saying things twice, but I don't remember what sent and what didn't). It was really nice and the seats were like big padded office chairs that lean back. It was a really funny movie even though I didn't know what they were saying for the most part. Anyway, write to me ALLLLL of you and I'll try to send more pictures soon.

Bye from

KAty

9/16

Well, mom, dad, and lizz-

I was so excited to hear your voices! (to fill Liz in, Mom and Dad called me today) I think the temple will just be a good experience for me to meditate-- and it's not like I can understand their prayers and chants because they're in Thai... so instead it will be a calming experience for me.

Because of Thai flooding we won't be able to go to the farms until November, but because we're going in November, there will be more work for us to do-- like picking rice, so that should be really cool. Plus, I can work on my ison until then (ison is a northeast Thai dialect-- that really doesn't share any common words with Thai... so I don't know how it's supposed to be considered a "dialect")....

PLUS "winter" here starts in November so the rain should chill and the cool weather should arrive—which will be nice because the farms most def don't have AC-- they don't even have floors! I'm sooooooo glad you called me. I was really feeling crummy/grumpy/homesick since I was sick and it really helped to talk to you. The swelling has gone down a lot in my hands and feet (I never had any swelling anywhere else) and the hives are much better... I think I'll actually go to school tomorrow. Because after tomorrow all I have is my half day on Friday and then we have a long break-- plus I really enjoy the people and classes on Thursdays, so even if I'm still feeling crummy, it'll be a nice pick-me-up to go to school again.

I haven't been to school since last Friday... Lizz, you asked me if my family here cares... I think they do, but Thai people just don't really CARE about anything. They don't even hug their own children-- they're just kind of cold like that. They know I'm sick, and they took me to the doctor-- now they figure I should magically get better, well as we all know, that doesn't work out too well... I'm mean right as I was at the peak of my fever and stuff, my parents took a 2 day vacation to Bangkok for no reason whatsoever-- they just "felt like it".... Yea, now there's a way to show you care... in any case. You can't hold Thai culture against Thai people-- this is the way they know how to act. So how can I be angry? Well, I hope I start feeling better soon... thanks for you thoughts and prayers. I love and miss you all soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love always,

Kati