Orientation part 2

On the first night of the orientation we got our schedule for the rest of the week, yes we had a lot of 15 min breaks but we only really had a significant amount of free time on the last day. We were all pretty bummed out, and after the great excitement of the first day none of us were looking forward to spending the next 4 days in a conference room. Small things make a big difference in my eyes, small things are what pops up first in my brain when I think of memories, one of those small things was eating dinner with this group of exchange students, I am so used to eating with my group of exchange students were we push tables together, steal each other’s food and always start some sort of competitive conversation that normally leaves everybody in stiches laughing. Eating with this group of people that barely knew each other was very tense, nobody really knew what to say or what food they were eating, nobody had made really good friends yet and nobody felt like they could speak up.  Being in the middle of that atmosphere really made me miss my group of exchange students. Being right next to the beach and not being able to swim was just too much for me to handle so at lunch I asked one of the organisers if we could take the free time we should have had at  night away and go swimming in the afternoon, right there I screwed up the whole schedule because we went swimming every afternoon after that. Being in the conference room all morning meant we didn’t see the tide going out but when the time came for us to go swimming the water had gone out easily 60 meters, I have never seen such a huge difference in water level just because of the tide. Standing there it is almost hard to believe that such a huge mass of water could just move and be somewhere else. The Rotarians said they would take us to another beach and to the market while we were at it. Being at the market was so strange, I walked up to a stand and bought the drink I like, walked on and bought the snacks I like, walked on and got the lady to sell me a hairbands at half price. Then I looked around and the other exchange students looked like they were just dropped into a different world, following the Rotarians around and taking pictures of everything then I realised how this extremely Thai way of life had become normal to me. We then went to the beach and I have never seen anything like that before. I, Cienna, Flora and Alex walked straight into the ocean for 45 min and only got chest height into the water. It’s flat, you can just walk and walk and get nowhere. After 45 min we were sure nobody could even see us chest height in the water because we were just too far away, we decided to lie around in the water and then head back to the beach. Walking back to the beach myself and Cienna were walking behind Alex and Flora and the mud was getting in-between my toes, me being me I bent down picked up a hand full of mud and threw it at Alex. Things escalated quickly and all four of us were in a mud fight, after playing for a few minutes we walked onto the beach covered in mud and I asked two locals to take a picture of us. Not even seconds later more people came up and took pictures of us. We were not in a tourist area of Thailand at all so I am pretty sure seeing four foreigners walking on the beach covered in mud laughing is not a sight they will forget soon. We needed to get the mud off of us though and considering we had just walk 45 minutes to get chest height into the water that seemed like too much work. We walked about ankle height into the water laid down and rolled over. Needless to say it didn’t work very well so we walked up to the road and I asked people where the closest showers were. The lady who owned the shop where we were asking was so nice and told us we could use the shower behind her house (the shop is the front part of her house) so we took a shower behind a random Thai ladies house. We saw her mother cooking in the backyard, she was cooking in a traditional pot over a fire and talking to the lady on the other side of the small fence. She started talking abo us in Thai and I turned around and answered her, at first she laughed then she started asking me questions. After a while of talking an awkward showering we took a picture with her and she told us to come back if we needed another shower. Such a unique memory and such a rare experience in my eyes, I don’t think I will ever forget it. Later that night a few of the exchange students were sitting in my room looking at pictures of the trips we had been on, Alex called me and told us all to come to the beach. THANK YOU ALEX YOU FOUND THE MOST AMAZING VIEW EVER. We got to the beach and our jaws dropped, there was a super moon and it illuminated the sky. We sat there and you saw the dark ocean moving as if it was alive, the islands look like shadows in the water, you saw the silver clouds lit up by the immensely big moon, you saw the glittering stars fighting to be visible under the shower of light from the moon, you felt the water of the waves splash up against your legs while the sound of the waves fill your ears. I just sat there in a daze, afraid to look away because I might blink and wake up from this dream, sitting there talking to Cienna and Alex that view brought us closer to each other.  On the 3^rd day of the orientation we had some more speeches and some more presentations and then we went to the beach again. This time we didn’t go to the beach far away we went to the beach right in front of the resort and I think I need to take a moment to explain how much the water really did go out. The night before when we sat on the beach we had the water splashing up on our legs, that afternoon standing on the same spot the slightest bit of water was sooo far away. We stood there looking at the islands and took it as a challenge. We started walking and decided not to stop until we got to the islands that seemed unreachable the night before, so we walked and walked, screamed when we thought we might lose our toes thanks to crabs, we got into fishing net and saw the strangest looking things in the sand. After forever we got to the island and I and Alex were the first two on the island and claimed it for ourselves as the United African Island. What looked like this magical rocky forest island turned out to be not so very magical and much more rocky than expected, proving that sometimes things look better from further away. Dinner that night was better, the tables were pushed together, people were talking and laughing and it was actually nice. On Wednesday we were talking about the rules and regulations, all of a sudden a Rotarian put on some popular Thai songs and told us all to stand up and dance. At first everybody was just standing there a little bit shy and awkward, but after a few seconds everybody got into it and we had a really great time. That afternoon we had quite a lot of free time so we decided to walk all the way to the other beach we went to on the first day. We walked past a lady selling candy floss and all bought some, we walked along the beach and run in the water, we walked in the streets and through people’s parties next to the ocean until we got to the swimming beach. I really wanted to show all the exchange students just how fun it is to play a game called banana boat; it’s a game where you sit on an inflatable tube and you get pulled by a jet ski driven by a mad man with the goal of throwing you off and you just need to hold on (in my opinion falling off is half of thefun). When we were walking I was so sure I saw the banana boat in the water so when we got to the beach and it wasn’t there I wasn’t going to give up so easily. I took Cienna with me and went walking around the beach to look for the banana boat, because of pure luck I saw it next to a house and walked up to the house to ask if we could go for a ride, the guy told me to come back in an hour and he would take us out. We killed time for an hour playing chicken fight on each other’s shoulders. When the time came we all went over to that guy’s house and practically harassed him until he took us out for a ride, we had soo much fun and I’m pretty sure I proved my point that it was more than worth the wait. I got hurt playing on the banana boat so walking back to the resort was a pain in the bum but we got some ice cream that naturally made everything better in the world. Thursday was our last day in Trang so we pilled on to a few pick-up trucks and made our way to the botanical gardens. We walked through the coolest rain forest looking botanical garden and walked on a skywalk in the trees. About 10 min into the walk im sure it looked like I had taken a shower, it was so very hot and it was slightly raining just to make it worse. Im pretty sure if it wasn’t for Alex I would of fallen on my face at least twice, there was a moss layer on the floor and I had chosen the most horrible shoes to wear typical me. We saw monkeys, love trees, a cute squirrel and had some more ice cream and then we got back on the pick-up truck and made our way through the city singing All summer long by Kid Rock. We went to 7 eleven because how can we sit on the train for 14 hours and not go to 7 eleven, and then we said some sad goodbyes. The train ride was filled with homesick tears, card games, laughter and joking, after I was so sure I would not like these people I had found space in my heart for them and there they will stay. It’s amazing how quickly friendships can form and just how much people can mean to you after such a short amount of time. I am so grateful that I met them

Orientation part 1

The trips I went on during my exchange are where I made some of the best memories I have about my exchange year. The trips are where I made friendships with the other exchange students that will last a lifetime. The trips are where I got to see some places in Thailand that I would never have been able to see otherwise. When I heard I would be going on a trip to the south of Thailand I was more than excited because had never been to the South and I really wanted to go. When I heard I was going to attend the orientation for the new exchange students I was happy because I would meet new people but I was also a bit apprehensive about these new and strange people. I don’t know why I always think new people are strange? I don’t even know them yet why in the world would I think they are strange, but I do. I never expected it to end the way it did.

On the afternoon of the 9^th only a few hours after we had picked up Cienna from the airport me and Cienna got on the train in our city and started a 14 hour train ride to the province of Trang in the South of Thailand. When we got to the train station it was like my first trip all over again, there were these foreigner people and your pretty sure they are exchange students (after a while it’s like exchange students give off a certain type of energy that other exchange students can pick up on) but you don’t know if you should talk to them or just wait until they talk to you and you see them and you know they see you and you know they will be the people you spend your whole year with but right you have no idea how to handle the situation. Luckily we had our host parents who knew each other and pushed us all together for our first group photo. There is something about a group photo that breaks the ice in a weird way, you have something to talk about and usually that something is how irritating it is that we have to take another group photo! At the train station I met Paula, Paula is from Estonia and the very first thing you notice about her is that she is very tall; the second thing you notice about her is she is very pretty. Next to her I saw a shy looking girl called Imke, Imke is from Germany and sadly she is only a short term exchange student but she proved to me over and over again just how wrong first impressions can be, she looked shy and a bit unsure and turned out to be amazing. Then I met Johanna, Johanna is also from Germany, she is quite and caring and really nice. Hiding behind most of the girls was Kenny a boy from Taiwan who hardly speaks any English but who I think is so nice. The person who was impossible to miss was Caroline the super pretty girl from Denmark, she is sooo pretty and has the longest blondest hair she is just so nice and so funny and I learnt to love her very much. After we all met and talked a little bit we got on the train and talked about what they thought about their families and their homes and what they had seen of Thailand so far. The next person to get on the train was Daiki, Daiki is from Japan and I think Daiki should have his own fan club he is just the coolest person ever and he doesn’t even try. The last person who got on the train somewhere around 2AM was Zack, Zack is from America and a pretty weird but nice guy. When we got to our train station we got off got some snacks (witch I did not eat who on earth can eat at 4 AM??) then got into a van and drove to our resort right on the beach outside a small town in Trang. We got our room numbers put way our stuff away and then met the rest of the exchange students. The first girl I met at the resort is Kelly, Kelly is from the US. The next girl is Mia, Mia is just such a nice, real, funny girl from Canada and she made my day so many times. Next was Alex, Alex is also from the US and Alex became such a big part of my last months! The first day the Orientation proved to be one of the best days of my exchange; we all got into a boat and made our way through the water. The whole time we were on the boat I kept thinking these are not my people I have my people already and these are not them, they are nothing like my people I wish my people where here. I really missed the exchange students so much right then. We stopped at a place that just looked like a huge pile of rocks in the ocean and all got off the back of the boat wearing life jackets and found a rope in the water they told us to look for. We held onto the rope with one hand and onto each other’s lifejackets with the other hand and made our way into a cave. As soon as we went into that cave my jaw dropped. The rope only goes about 2 meters into the cave after that you are on your own. As soon as you are inside the cave you can hardly see the person right in front of you but you can see the crystal clear emerald blue water, you can see your legs moving around, you can see the water rippling because of all the people trying to move through it. You can’t see the roof of the cave but you can hear  the water bashing against the sides of the cave, you see the roof every time the water comes in and pushes you up and then halfway out again though, you can feel the walls of the cave covered in clams and your heart stops a little bit every time a huge leaf touches your body. You take three steps forward and two steps back every time a wave makes its way into the cave and the whole time you are trying to hold on to the person in front of you trying not to be ripped in two. It’s so pitch black but every now and then a flashlight or something makes some light and you see all these shadow figures on the walls. The out of nowhere there a light at the end of the tunnel and once you move out of the cave you are in a secluded little beach with a jungle like area just behind the beach, huge rock walls on all sides some covered in plants some dripping with water. You just kind of sit on the beach with tiny little waves going over your feet and you know you are there but you struggle to believe your eyes because it’s all just so picture perfect that it seems impossible that you could really be where you are almost blinded by the ice blue water of a private beach. Eventually we all had to snap out of our daze and start making our way out of the cave again and I kept looking back as if I just needed to save it into my brain just a little bit more but at some point you are just surrounded by black again. We got back onto the boat and all you could hear around you was people saying wow, wow, wow. We all got our snorkelling gear and got into the water again at our next stop. As soon as you put your face into the water and open your eyes it’s like you somehow made your way into a different and magical world nobody ever told you existed. There are fish everywhere, you see them all around, you feel then rub up next to you as they swim past you, there are so many colours and so many shapes and the water is so clear and so blue and then you see all the rocks and all the coral and all the crevices and little creatures and it’s all just so amazing that it feels like you need to remind yourself to breath. We broke into groups of three and me, Cienna and Alex went swimming saw the most amazing things and pointed things out to each other as if we wanted to make sure none of us missed a single little thing. After an hour in the water we got back onto the boat climbed onto the very top of the 2 story bus and jumped off. There are no words in the world that could describe that memory. You are surrounded by the most breathtakingly blue waters on all sides and it’s so clear that you can see the fish all the way from the top off the boat, u see all these little black and green islands and you feel the sun shining down on you then you count to three and you jump. The next stop we got into the water again and swam all the way to the little beach, ran away from monstrous looking crabs, found fresh cave water, wrote our names in the sand as if we could somehow claim the beach ours. Then we swam all the way to the other side of the island and started finding all the characters from Nemo. We swam away from scary baby jelly fish and tried not to step on deadly looking spikes in the coral all while trying to figure out how all of this could really be true, how all of this could really be right here, and always here. It’s like seeing magic for the very first time you can see it with your very own eyes but right then you can’t make your brain believe it’s real. We stayed in the water until they called us back and told us we don’t leave now we will be late. I looked back after a while and its like looking at a picture except you are in it.

After a very eventful day with my class I slept in the morning of the 8^th, I got up I cleaned my room and then I spent the day with my host family. that night at 9 PM we all got into a van and made our way to the airport to fetch the new exchange student in our family Cienna Wall. Cienna is from Portland Oregon in the US and I will be spending the last two months of my exchange with this crazy little girl. We got to the airport at 10:45 and went to get something to eat because in typical Thai style we were hungry. We ended up just getting bubble tea and then going down to get Cienna. Walking into the arrival area of the airport was like walking into a Rotary meeting. Rotarians everywhere, taking pictures, talking and laughing all waiting to welcome yet another exchange into their lives, to have somebody in their houses, around their family and their children and they all looked super excited! I wondered if I would ever be standing in the airport waiting to welcome an exchange student into my house.  Finding Cienna was super easy. We saw this little tiny girl walking next to this really tall guy and then she saw us too and smiled her big smile and that was it. We lifted up the banner with her name and her picture on it and she came over to us and her Thailand picture experience started with her first few pictures with us in the airport. Seeing her being all confused and disorientated and not understanding the people around her and not knowing what to do I just could not help but think about when I first arrived in Thailand, how scared I was, how confused I was, how badly I just wanted everything to be understandable and okay and I just wanted to help her and make sure she was okay. We asked if she wanted to eat (because this is Thailand) and then we went home. It’s weird when you were always the new one and now all of a sudden somebody else is the new one. All of a sudden it seems like people expect you to know everything, and be okay with everything and teach the next exchange student everything. Don’t get me wrong I don’t mind being the older sister but  I am also still learning, I am also still an exchange student, I am also new at this even if I have been here for a few months. Yes I want to help her yes I want to teach her everything I know and try to be the best big sister I can, I just want to still be learning as well and that is proving to be hard. Cienna is a mixture of caffeine and fire crackers crammed into a little body and covered in sweetness. She is so so nice and she seems to forever be smiling, sure she is A LOT to handle sometimes and sometimes I want to push her out of the car but at the end of the day she is just an amazing little girl and you can never really be sad if you are around her she is just so busy and so full of energy that she rubs off on you after a while! We got home on the morning of the 9^th at 2 AM and went to bed. At 11 AM we went to Cienna’s first Rotary meeting and once again I thought about my first Rotary meeting, getting flowers and smiles and pats on the back but I also remember being so intimidated by all the ladies looking at me like “mmmmm what will she be like? Will we like her? Will she try? Will she be worth our effort?” it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and nobody has even told you what they expect from you, it’s scary. Yet here I am, and I have been here for 9 months and I am thinking they don’t hate me? Nobody told me how hard exchange would be or just how much I would really get from it.

Time is flying by right now and it feels like things are happening just one thing after another. On the 6^th of August my school was invited to attend a show on Thai history and Thai traditions and my class asked me if I wanted to go with them. Normally going to see this show would be very very expensive and foreigners love going to see that show because it is so amazing and holds a world record for the highest stage in the world and the sow with the 2^nd most set changes so clearly I said I wanted to go. Now you guys know I have complained about Thai time many times before but that day Thai time saved me! The morning that we were supposed to go to the show we had an issue at home and I was 20 min late for the bus and I was so sure I had missed the bus and I wouldn’t be able to go but hey when we got to the bus 20 min late the bus was still there, one time that I was grateful for Thai time. So we got onto the bus and made our way to Bangkok, let me just say that you have not seen Thailand if you have not been on a bus full of teenage Thai girls. They played Thai music and every single girl sang and danced along on the bus because hey who listens to road rules?  I laughed so much on that bus I think I started to get a six pack. Thai girls are so innocent and young it just feels like they don’t have care in the world and that is such a nice change in attitude I love it so much. When we got to the place where the show is we got to walk through a replica of a traditional Thai village and we got to try and farm rice and see the different types of traditional houses and see the way people make their living in different parts of the country and I thought it was really nice. Its so different to go to all of those places and seeing it all and then going to all of those places right next to each other and seeing the differences right next to each other you learn so much from it. We all got lunch from our school so I thought it was quite fun that we filled up the whole dining hall but we brought our own food. We went into the hall for the show and we were with 3 other schools in a 2000 seat hall. We were a bit early for the show so they put on a questionnaire on the screen and I have never seen high school students get so happy over a questionnaire before. Once again just the complete change in attitude you only get to see if you go to school in Thailand, the whole time I was thinking that if they showed that questionnaire to my school nobody would even pay attention to it but here they were like jumping up and down when they get one of the questions right. I wish I could bottle some of this childish optimism they have in abundance here and take some of it back with me and go and sprinkle it over my school. The show was more than amazing, not even the show the stage is enough to make it worthwhile! One second there is rain the next there isn’t, then there is a river then there isn’t, then we are in the forest then we are in the ocean then there are people flying over the sage then people are hanging by their feet from the roof. The show started by showing us the way people lived there lives a 100 years ago in different parts of Thailand and how trade was established between Thailand and China and how the King made the country better and how much everybody loves the King. The second act was about the different Buddhist traditions and how people celebrate them then and now with a short story behind each tradition. The last part of the show was about the different parts of Buddhist afterlife. The last part upset me a little bit, I’ not exactly sure why it just felt so strange to see what they believe afterlife is like, it’s the complete opposite of what I have always been taught the afterlife is and yes I have heard it so many times here in Thailand but actually seeing it and seeing how my friends around me reacted to it all hit close to home and it upset me a little bit but I just took a deep breath remembered my orientation before I came to Thailand and said the magic words “it’s not better it’s not worse it’s just different”  I am pretty sure I sat through that whole show with my mouth hanging wide open. That show was so much more than I ever could of imagined and I am so happy that I had the opportunity to go with my school because I don’t think I would have had another opportunity to go. It’s really amazing all the opportunities that come on your path that you could of missed so easily.