Smile. Let Fate Take Your Heart and Soar!: Where has the time gone...

Good grief, all is well here in the land of smiles!! The time just keeps slipping away from me, as I am keeping very, very busy! Well, here is a quick recap since I last blogged!! I am now in my host city of Lampang and am heading to my first Rotary meeting tonight, so I hope that goes well. I will give my PowerPoint presentation to my host club on family night, which will be in two weeks I think. But way back a few days ago, I was in Hua Hin on vacation with my host family. On Monday morning, we drove to Bangkok and then at nighttime we took the plane up to Lampang, my host city. Below I will have a picture or two of the flight, absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. We arrived late at night and I got to my home around 10:30 I would say. I got showed to my room and just put my suitcases in my room, journaled, got my uniform, and went to sleep because...I was to attend my first day of school the next day! So I got up bright and early at 6:45 to go to school, uniform and all. My first day was the best first day of school I have ever had. Senior year here I come right!??! It was so great and everyone was always smiling and laughing. So different than what I would have expected school to be like in Asia. In the classroom, it is such a great time, and I have now attended school two days, and I have gotten up to speak about four or five times in front of the class. Apparently on Monday, Emily (another exchange student through Rotary from New York) and I are supposed to get up and introduce ourselves to the entire school, roughly around 5,000 to 6,000 students, not a big deal!!!!!! So more coming on that later!! So far throughout the two days I have gone to school, I have attended Thai dance class (which is actually very hard and I am terrible!!), Chinese language class, and three English classes. I will get my official schedule tomorrow, so we will see what happens. I told them I would like to take culture classes, so I gave them suggestions of dance, cooking, art, language, etc. I may end up being on the school volleyball team? I have no idea, so I will keep you updated once I find out and have enough time to write again! I am keeping so busy, but loving every minute of it. Since you last heard, I have tried so many different foods from traditional Thai dishes, duck for breakfast with noodles on my first day of school, and one night for dinner a bite of squid, but hey, I atleast tried it!!! It was funny, because I told my host family that I would take a bite and then they could tell me what it was!!! But yes, turns out, it was squid. It is very interesting how people across the globe are so similar and yet, so different, but yet still all people. I am having a hard time grasping my mind around this concept. The language, good grief, well...it is coming! Slowly, but surely, with a little Chinese thrown in the mix! But we went to the book store today to buy a little kid Thai letter book, so I could keep practicing with that. I am starting to pick a few words out of sentences that I know, but I am not understanding a thing. A simple smile and laugh when everyone else does. I have been saying the words “Chai ka” a lot, which means “yes”!!! When in Thailand, do as the Thais do! I have not seen too much of the city, other than my way home to and from school and out to dinner last night. It is interesting because time itself has been so weird here on my journey. I never look at a clock so time just gets ahead of me. I feel like I have been here forever, and yet, I have to remind myself it is only my second day in the city. I have been busy with so many things that I forget to take a step back, and realize how much I have done and accomplished in the last two days. Exchange is such a great, great thing. My sister Yui, will be heading for Vermont next week when I am at my first conference, but she and I hang out all the time. Tookta, my other host sister, is very busy studying a lot, a lot! I have made friends even though I have no idea what they are saying. But today, my second day of school, Emily and I taught them a game from the United States, so that was so much fun! It is interesting because the students at the school all have such good English, however, many are too shy to speak English to Emily and I because they are afraid of making a mistake. We constantly tell them that their English is very good because it is! We understand them perfectly and they are all so willing to help us with Thai! Well, we will see what happens with my Rotary meeting tonight and my schedule tomorrow. I hope everyone is well back in the States, and please feel free to email me any time with questions you may have! Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day! Xoxoxo Always, <3 Sarah