guitar etc...
Hey everybody,
How's it going? I'm just posting because I'm really excited to tell you that I signed up to take guitar lessons...I signed up for 12 lessons at a music school in Rayong...the lessons come out to about $14 canadian per hour...thats not really expensive is it? Anyways, my teacher apparently got her university degree in classical guitar so i'm quite excited...
Oh, and I hope you like the bangkok pictures, although I didn't take too many...
Right now my biggest concern is keeping busy...so far i've already read about 600 pages of my book, lol...so that's taken up alot of time...and hopefully my guitar classes will help too...
One thing I wanted to ask...is there anyway that some time before christmas someone could send me some x-mas music...I realized that I don't hava any, and i'm sure I'll want to listen to some around christmas...even if it was juts a burned copy of the n sync x-mas album or something...acutally, i do like that cd, or just a burned mix cd or something, that would be awsome....you can even give it to my mom if you like, she's going to be sending a package hopefully in the next couple of weeks...anyways, if somebody could do that it would be awsome, thank you so much...I haven't seen any here, and I doubt I will, since buddhists don't celebrate christmas....
I miss you all, and I'll post again soon,
-Lauren
Lumphini park (basically Bangkok's central park)
Lumphini Park in Bangkok
A catholic church near the blehoe's house (isn't it beautiful?)
traffic in Bangkok...and It gets much worse than this too...
streets in bangkok
bangkok
Hey everyone!
I spent this last weekend, well, almost 5 days actually, in Bangkok. It was really really great. I stayed with the Blehoe’s, who are friends of a friend of my family in Canada. They’re really wonderful people, and I really enjoyed spending the weekend with them. It was also really nice to be in a more western environment. I mean, even the way that thai families interact are completely different, so it was really nice to be with the Blehoe’s for a little while.
Oh, and they had hot water, which was really nice…I have to have cold showers all the time here. Having food from home was also sooo nice. My second day there I had a huge bowl of pasta for lunch, and it was sooo good, and lasagna for lunch the next day...mmmm….I also had cheesecake a few times, which I was really craving!
I also really like Bangkok. It’s such a huge city, and there’s so many people (and a lot of traffic), but it was great. I actually spent a lot of time alone while I was there. The Blehoe’s had a busy weekend, so I did a lot of shopping and walking around by myself. The funny thing was that I actually really enjoyed it, and it was quite liberating to know that I can take the skytrain and taxi’s by myself in that huge crazy city. I didn’t get to see anything touristy though, like go to the Grand Palace, or take a boat ride on the canals, but I think I’ll get to do all of that if I go to visit Itt in a few weeks. I did get to see him this weekend, but just for a few hours because he was studying so much for his exams coming up. So if I go I’ll be going after his exams are finished.
I actually surprised myself and didn’t spend that much money. I think it was because I went to a lot of the expensive malls, because I started with the closest one and worked my way outwards (I didn’t want to wander too far on my own). I did buy 7 books though, and borrowed a bunch from the Blehoe’s too…I won’t run out for a while now! I’ve already read 8 since I’ve gotten to Thailand, lol…I have a lot of spare time…
I also went to a meeting of a Bangkok Rotary Club...The meeting was actually in English! I was so surprised! Apparently there's a couple of english speaking rotary clubs in Bangkok...thats pretty cool...
Oh, there’s a couple of other things, completely unrelated…When I get home I’m going to be making a scrapbook of my exchange, I’m trying to get a bunch of quotes together that can somehow relate to it…so if any of you happen to come across any on travel, change, culture, etc…just anything that you think could possibly relate, could you send it to me? Thanks so much!
Oh, and I only took a few pictures in Bangkok, but i'll post them soon.
I am now on a break from school for an entire month...I start again on October 31st. I'm pretty excited to not have to go to school...but that also means that I have way more free time. I have no idea what i'm going to do with myself for an entire month...I have a feeling I may be extremely bored...but i'm going to try to figure something out...anyone have any ideas?
I hope that everything is great back home!
Miss you all!
-Lauren
another great weekend...
Hey Everybody,
I had another really good weekend. Ohh, first of all, on Friday, I passed my ballroom dancing test…yay! It was a bit stressful because I had to dance with the teacher, but it went alright…
On Saturday I got to go to a Thai wedding with my host family. It was really interesting. Unfortunately, we had to leave the house at 6am to go to the first part, which lasted about 3 hours. Through the whole thing we sat on the floor, which is usual here. I even got to take part in a bit of the ceremony (sprinkling flowers and beans in a circle on this piece of cloth…I’m not sure what it meant). My neighbor took me up to do it. Nook and Kun Mae didn’t get to. After some more things like that they moved and went to sit on another mat and the bride and groom gave gifts to all of their close family. Then all the monks came in. They were sitting in a line at the back of the room. There was lots of chanting and wai-ing, and then the monks ate. After they ate we went outside and ate. Then the monks left and we went back inside. The bride and groom were kneeling next to each other and there was a long piece of string around both of their heads and between each other. The monks had blessed (I think that’s what they did) earlier. They had their hands out and people were coming along and pouring a tiny bit of water down each of their hands with a tiny pot. We didn’t do this because we had to get home.
After we got home and changed (well, Kun Mae changed…Nook and I were in regular clothes…it wasn’t really formal at all) then we went to Laem Tong (the big mall) Nook and I took the mini-buses there and met one of her friends on the way. We did some shopping and went to see “The Brothers Grimm” with Heath Ledger and Matt Damon. I actually really liked it. I wasn’t sure if I would, but it was pretty good. And it was nice that it was in English with Thai subtitles.
Then at 6:00 we went to the dinner part of the wedding. It was at a hotel. We got more dressed up for this part. Basically it was just a huge dinner. There were singers up onstage while we were eating, and then the bride and groom went up onstage and another man came up and spoke and then they each spoke (of course I had no idea what they were saying). Then they came down and cut the cake. They gave pieces out to the people sitting at the big table (close family I’m guessing) and some of the children that came up and asked. My neighbours son got a piece so we all had a bite…it was really good. The rest of us didn’t get cake, there was this dessert thing, with sticky rice and figs (I think)…but it wasn’t very good. Meanwhile, people had been going up and singing onstage. Just anyone that wanted to, it was pretty funny, some of them were terrible…After that we went home, because we were exhausted after being up for so long. Oh, did I mention that Nook and I had out picture taken with the bride and groom. So when they get their pictures there’s going to be this random white girl in them, lol…
On Sunday Kun Mae, Nook, Cheer (which is how you spell Chia) and I went bowling. It was fun…especially since we’re all terrible. I think it was Kun Mae’s first time bowling, and she really liked it.
Oh, and yesterday was such a weird day. It was just Monday (which I usually hate because of thai language and thai dance) but it was such a good day. I really don’t even know why, it was weird. My friend Pu even told me that I seem happier than I’ve been on any other day. I really have no idea why, but it was really really good, lol.
On Thursday I’m going to Bangkok for a few days to stay with friends of friends of my family in Canada. I’m really excited. I think its going to be a lot of fun. I’m also going to be going to a Bangkok rotary meeting on Thursday, so that will be interesting. I’ll post and let you know all about it when I get back…
I‘ll post the wedding pictures after this…
I miss you all!
-Lauren
food that people brought
thai wedding
thai wedding...I know its blurry, but it shows all the colours
great weekend
Hey Everybody,
I’m sorry if I worried you at all with my last post. I was just venting.
I had such a good weekend. On Friday my host mother took me to meet Nook and her friends to go bowling. First we had dinner and I met a few more of her friends. Then we went over to the bowling alley and again, we couldn’t bowl. It was really busy in there. So we just went to the huge market across the street. It was a lot of fun…and guess what?....I fed an elephant! It was sooo awesome! I had to pay 20 baht (less than a dollar)…and it was sooo worth it. I was so excited. Unfortunately, in my excitement I forgot to take a picture, unfortunately…oh well…
Then on Saturday morning I went to my friend Pu's house and she taught me 2 thai dances (that we were supposed to present in class today). When I got home I went swimming with my host sister and had dinner with alot of the family, then we went to a huge market. The difference about this one was that everything there was made in Thailand. They had such beautiful stuff, and for great deals. Oh, and A Su...my neighbour (and host mothers cousin's wife, lol) bought me these beautiful pink stone earings. They're soo nice. She's so sweet, always giving me things. She even told me once that she feels like i'm the sister she never had (i think she meant daughter). Isn't that so sweet? People are so nice here.
Then on Sunday we went sightseeing. My host mother, host sister, Na Pik, and Chia and I. First we went to the site of all of the statues of Sunthon Pu. He was a great Thai Poet. According to my host father the best, and first in the world (i'm not sure about that though). Then we drove all along the sea. We just kept driving by all of these beautiful things so finally I asked Nook if at some point we could stop to take some pictures. Na Pik pulled right over, and it just happened to be a perfect spot. I took a bunch of pictures, which i'll post after this. We stopped again to take pictures and walk around a bit too. The last time we stopped Kun Mae told me that we were going to wait for the family to come for dinner. While we were waiting I took a bunch more pictures. Then Chia's family, Kun Par and Nook's Grandparents came and We had dinner along the beach. It was all fresh seafood. I even tried sushi (uncooked shrimp). It was actually pretty good, but I only had one because I was afraid to get sick.
It was such a good weekend. Oh, and today, I got emails from my other 3 friends from district 7090 that are on exchange here. Thailia, who is in the south, is absolutely loving it here. She loves everything about it, including school. Bailey (in Korat) says that Thailand isn't for her, but she's making the best of it. Katrina (in Udon Thani) seems to be having similar feelings as me. She loves it here, but really doesn't like school. I seem to be the most homesick out of the 4 of us though, from what i've heard anyways. Apparently some of the exchange students in Katrina's city are really really homesick. She said that the other day during lunch at school, one of them just started bawling for no reason. I've never been that bad, luckily.
I'm going to post the pictures after this, and I'll post again soon.
I miss you all!
-Lauren
Kran (on the right...my australian-thai friend) and her friend
i like this picture...
view from the peir (we ate dinner at a place along the left)
a boat, and Ko Samet
my first time in the Gulf of Thailand (well, my feet anyway)
my host sister, host mother and I (thats Ko Samet in the background on the right)
plaque of Sunthon Phu
Sunthon Pu (on the right)
My Life at Bankhai School...
Hey everybody,
One of the teachers asked me to write a little article about what my life is like at Bankhai school to put in the newsletter. I agreed of course, I wasn't going to say no. I'll post the article at the end of this, but its really bad. I had to simplify my writing, and also alot of it is exagerations, or bending the truth...alot...But its what they wanted to hear. Either that or my autobiography...because when they talked to me yesterday thats what it sounded like they wanted. But there was no way I was putting all kinds of personal stuff in there, as well as my address. I have enough people staring at me at school, I don't want them all knowing where I live.
Sorry, I'm just in kind of a bitter mood, I really don't like school. I feel like i'm not getting anything out of it. Mostly its just stress and bordom. And its so hard to put on an act all the time. I'm generally a very happy person, so i've never really had to (and definetly have never wanted to) act fake before, but I have to hear. Its hard because I need to make everyone think that i'm happy every second of everyday, because if they see me not smiling they'll think i'm not happy and it will all get blown out of proportion. I feel like I have alot more fun and learn and experience much more when i'm with my host family, or with my host sister and her friends. And all the people staring, lol...I still don't think i'll ever get used to it...Oh well, I guess I just have to deal with it. I only have the rest of this month and then I get a month off, so I'll just try to look forward to that.
Have I mentioned that I suck at speaking Thai...I really do, I don't think that i'm doing very well with it at all. I wish people would just stop speaking so much english to me.
Ok, sorry, just one more thing, and then I'm done my rant...I just want to say that the question that I hate most in this world is "What can you say in Thai?" I don't want to stand there spouting off random words. If they would just speak to me in thai they would see what I could say. Ok, sorry, i'm finished. Don't start worrying or anything anybody...bad days happen...especially when i'm at school, lol.
Oh, one more thing, I'm going to post my "article" after this, but just keep in mind that the one that I write for the advance (yes, they want me to write one for the advance) will be much better....
-Lauren
My Life at Bankhai School
By Lauren Crickmore
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
I arrived in Thailand on August 5th, 2005. My experience since then has been amazing. Thailand is a very beautiful country filled with the friendliest people that I have ever met. It also has very delicious food. I’m really enjoying experiencing and learning about the Thai culture.
Coming to Thailand, and Bankhai School, has been a very big adjustment for me. I come from a very small town in Canada and a high school with only 400 students. At my school in Canada I knew everyone, and had grown up with most of them. Bankhai School very different, with over 2000 students, and I didn’t know any of them. Added to that was that I didn’t speak the language. It was not hard to see why I was very nervous on my first day coming here.
I learned quickly that I had no reason to be nervous. Even though I came to Bankhai School speaking no Thai (and I still speak very little) everyone has been extremely welcoming to me. The teachers and students have been so kind and helpful, whether it is helping to find my classes, buy lunch, trying to help me learn Thai, or just saying hello to me. I am incredibly grateful for this.
I have really enjoyed the school activities that I have had the opportunity to take part in. Being in the drama presentation of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” was wonderful. It was a little embarrassing to be jumping around as a monkey, but I had a lot of fun. I also liked meeting all the new people. The Sport Days were really wonderful. It was an honour to carry the school sign in the opening ceremony, and I enjoyed the chance to wear the traditional Thai dress. The two days were incredible. Bankhai School has so much school spirit, enthusiasm, and talent. I’ve never seen anything like Bankahi School’s Sport Days before. I’m sure that there are going to be many more wonderful activities to come.
Overall, I’m really enjoying my time here, and I’m looking forward to the coming months. I’ve already had many amazing experiences and I’m sure that my time in Thailand, and at Bankhai School, will only continue to get better.
sport day, friends, shopping, etc...
Hey Everybody,
I think that this is going to be a long one…I’ve got a lot to talk about…I’m just warning you now…
First of all, just so that you all know…I’m not sick anymore! Yay! I’m so glad that I went to the doctor’s because the medicine that he gave me really worked. I’m pretty much as good as new.
On Friday I was feeling better, so I decided to go to school. It was the second day of sport day. Unfortunately the first day was the best day, but it was still a lot of fun. I didn’t do any sports (because I was still recovering, and it was track and field sports). Everyone had so much spirit and enthusiasm and were always cheering and dancing. It was great. And the shirts are great, there were so many bright colours. It was really really hot too, but it was good. I met some new people, which was good. In the afternoon there was a bit of a concert. 4 bands played. The first band was alright, You couldn’t hear the singer very well. The second band was pretty good. Neil was playing the bass for it (I’m not obsessed, he was just the only one that I recognized) and the music was kind of screamo, but not quite…I don’t really know what to call it exactly, but thai screamo will have to do. The third band, I was told, is the best band in the school. It was the band that Neil’s in that I had heard in the music room. They’re really really good. I’m impressed. If they were in Niagara they would definitely be getting shows. I really like the sound of Niel’s voice, and the guitarists in the band are really good. They played 3 or 4 songs. I liked the first one the best, it was the hardest of the ones they played. The last few were more dancing music. Everyone was dancing and my friends were trying to get me to, so finally I gave in. I felt ridiculous though, (even though I thought they all looked ridiculous). They dance sooo differently here, completely different than me. And everyone dances too, out of my class there were many more of the guys dancing than girls, I think all of the guys were dancing actually. It made me feel even more self-conscious though, because ppl were watching me…and I’m not just saying that…there were actually a row of girls sitting on the ground behind me watching me and telling me to dance…Anyways, it was a really good day.
Oh, just one thing…I still can’t get used to everyone staring at me. It seemed worse on sports day. I had more than 10 ppl ask to take pictures with me (and this was the day that I wasn’t dressed in thai dresses)…and more people staring at me than usual. They stand right in front of you, like 1 foot away and just stare. They don’t even try to hide it…its like I have something on my face or something…or even worse than that. I really hope that they get used to me being here, because sometimes I get sooo annoyed that I just want to shout “Leave me alone!” But I don’t, of course…and then the feeling passes.
On Saturday I went to my friend Kik’s house. I was so excited, this was the first time that I hung out with my thai friends outside of school. I went to her house and she tried to teach me to write a bit of thai (unsuccessfully) and we played some computer games and then another girl in my class, Noot, and her boyfriend Non came over and brought food. We cooked lunch, well, mostly they cooked it…I wasn’t very much help…I tried though. While we were cooking Ci came over too. The food was really good. It was noodles (which I cooked) and shrimp and tomatoes and carrots (which I cut up, lol) all in this really really good sauce (I don’t know what it was) and there were potatoes on the side. It was sooo good. When we were done eating another girl, Flat came over too…We watched some movies (anaconda 2 and the beginning of The chronicles of Riddick) and ate fried bananas and barbecued bananas (both are sooo delicious) and some other desserts. It was a lot of fun. They’re all sooo nice.
Ohhh, and on Saturday night I met another “farang” (foreigner). His name is Michael and he’s from Pittsburg. He knows my neighbors (who are my extended host family) because he lived down the street for a month. He’s been here for 6 months. He came to visit his thai friends (who used to live in the states) and got offered a job as an English teacher so he’s staying the year. He’s really nice, and it was nice to speak real English. I speak English to the thai people, but you have to simplify everything and speak really slowly. He also had a bunch of pointers to give me, and gave me his email address if I ever need anything. I’ll probably see him again in a month or so, when he comes back to visit his friends down the road (his teaching job is in another city). Oh, and he told me that Bankhai isn’t like most cities in Thailand. He told me that he feels bad for me and understands if I’m bored because they don’t have anything within walking distance. You have to drive into Rayong. It’s pretty much like I live in the country. He also told me a bunch of restaurants that he says that I have to try, and a few things that I should do. And he let me know about a few things there that I didn’t know.
Oh, and yesterday my host mother, host sister and aunt took me shopping at the big mall in Rayong. Its really big; 3 floors and tons of shops. There was a big sale going on too…you can guess what happened I’m sure. I ended up buying a pair of jeans, a tank top, a skirt and a halter top and t-shirt (the last three 50% off at a “designer” store), a hand sewn purse, a journal, a few little things for people, and an iced tea (I’m addicted to thai iced tea, its soo good). I bought all of this for about $100 Canadian. If I were in Canada I would have been able to probably get the jeans and the iced tea for the same amount of money. It was great, and the clothes here are awesome, they’re really different than the clothes in Canada. I love it. I think, before I go back to Canada I’m going to buy a lot of clothes, because I can get 10 times as many for the same price, especially if I buy clothes in the markets.
Oh, and today, after school, Ba Owen took me to play tennis. It was great. I’m terrible (I can’t remember the last time that I played), but it was a lot of fun. I miss getting exercise, lol. I eat so much here and don’t exercise its terrible. I’m going to play tennis again on Wednesday, and I think I might go swimming again on the weekend.
Oh, and school was much better today, my thai language teacher is being a lot nicer. And I was supposed to have 2 periods of thai dance this afternoon, but she couldn’t find anything for me to do for the second period so I just got to go to the library. It was great.
I’ll post all of my pictures after this…
Love, Lauren
what I bought at the mall (minus the stuff for other people)
the yellow tent
the green team dancers...the 2 in the middle are guys...yes they're in heels and pleather..and their short shots are shorter than that fringe...and they were better dancers than the 4 girls
my class with our 3rd place trophy...(oh, i forgot to mention that we got 3rd overall) and some other trophies from different events
the yellow group cheering on the runners
my class and the principal of the school
the concert (aren't all the shirts awsome?)
my friends dancing at sport day (there were 10 of them in the dance)
sickness
Hey Everybody,
I haven’t been able to talk to anybody for a few days because I’ve been sick. Actually, I’m still sick. It’s horrible. I knew I would get sick eventually...everyone does, but I was just hoping that I would be the exception. And I’ve discovered something…being sick leads to being homesick. Probably the 2nd most homesick that I’ve been (after when I unpacked all my bags, in my first few days here).When I first got sick the only thing that I wanted was to be back at home with my family and to sleep in my own bed. My host mother was really concerned, but its just not the same as having your own parents there. They always seem to know what to do to make you feel better, even if It was just giving you a hug. (I miss hugs, by the way, lol…people don’t seem to hug here at all).I’m better now though (the homesickness at least). And talking to my dad and brother on the phone Tuesday night really helped too.
I just want to stop being sick. I never get sick, so I don’t know what to do…I can’t even remember the last time that I was sick with a stomach related thing…I think that it might have been in elementary school. I never get headache’s either. I first got sick on Tuesday afternoon (I’ll spare you the details) and it’s Thursday now and I’m still sick. I got sick at school too…It was horrible. I didn’t know where to go, or who to get, but I didn’t want to walk very far because I felt really dizzy and had a really bad headache. And at one point my vision got really really bright and almost everything looked white. It was scary.
Even though my headache and dizziness was gone, I did cave and go to the doctor yesterday. He’s only 2 doors down from my house and he gave me 3 different medicines to take. They are helping though, so I’m really happy that I went. My host mother wouldn’t let me pay though. And I tried to pay her back a whole bunch of times and she won’t take the money. I feel bad…I hope that it wasn’t expensive.
I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Bangkok on Wednesday to get a thai massage. I didn’t end up going since I was sick, but I’m not sure if everyone else still went. They may not have.
So, this morning at my school it was “Sport of the year” and I was carrying the sign for the school for the opening ceremony (that means I was the first one, so everyone was following me). And I was wearing a thai dress. I had to go, even though I was still feeling a bit sick. I got up early and Na Su did my hair (she teased the whole thing, I was scared) and make-up. I took a bunch of pictures, which I’ll post after this. Everyone kept telling me that I looked beautiful, which I had a hard time believing because I felt kind of ridiculous. I’m not used to having my hair and make-up all done. And the skirt and shoes were kind of hard to walk in. The ceremony actually went pretty well. I don’t think that I messed up at all, which is good, because there were a lot of people there. It was really hot in the outfit too, and I’m lucky that it wasn’t even that hot of a morning. After the ceremony I came home though (which is where I am now). I want to be there, it all seems like so much fun, but I think it’s probably better if I hang around and take it easy today. And then hopefully I’ll be able to go tomorrow (it’s a 2 day thing). I hate being sick! Hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow...or at least in a few days.
I Miss you all sooo much!
Oh, just to let you know, in 4 days I’ll be 1/10 of the way through my exchange. That doesn’t seem like I have that long left…
And I just want to say Good Luck! To everyone who’s starting university and college in a few days! I’m so proud of you all and I’m sooo excited for you! You’re all going to have sooo much fun!
Love, Lauren
