On the 10^th of September I and Cienna went to the Silapakorn University Wednesday market. We walked around and bought 10 million types of food and drinks and snacks we walked through the whole market looking at shoes and shirts and bags and CD’s and pretty much anything you can think of. When it felt like we might melt of the heat we found a spot next to the dam under a tree and ate all of our food. We talked and laughed at people walking by and then ran away from a huge iguana that came out of the water. We went to say hello to P’Nong at her office and then we went to get a Thai message. We spent two and a half hours in the message place being twisted and turned into weird positions, being squeezed and tickled and then we had some amazing Thai tea. Simple days like these make it feel like you are living a normal life, like you are doing things that people who live here would do. You feel like you are a part of the community. On the 11^th we went to hospital go to and see the new little baby that was born early that morning. My host aunt got pregnant a few days after I got to Thailand and I have been here for the whole pregnancy seeing the baby grow, I am so happy that I got to see the healthy little cute baby! He was beautiful, small and fragile and innocent and just perfect.

On a different note my Rotary district in Thailand changed the traveling rules in the district this year so I decided to take full advantage of it before I go home. We arrange for me, Cienna and Caroline a girl from Denmark to go and visit a Rotary club in the South of Thailand called Hatyai.  On the morning of the 14^th P’Nong dropped us off at the bus station and me and Cienna took a bus to Bangkok. When we got to Bangkok we took a Taxi to the Airport, met Caroline and got so brunch. Then we flew an hour and 15 min to Hatyai the most South province of Thailand. When we go there we got picked up by Rotarians and another exchange student Kelly from America. Then we went to the biggest dam in the South of Thailand. We took so many crazy pictures and then went to sit down next to the water and have dinner. I just need to say that food in the South of Thailand is so much spicier than food in the central and we almost died! On the 15^th we got a city tour of Hatyai. We went to see the biggest reclining Buddha in the South; we went to see the slums of Hatyai so we could see what people live like. We went to a restaurant and helped make Thai style doughnuts as well as meet some more Rotarians from the Rotary club. After lunch we went to a Chinese style temple. It was raining during lunch so when we got to the temple we played in the water for a little while and we went to see the temple, t was huge and beautiful and amazing to see. They have these big gold statues around the temple that look like warriors. Bpa Emma told us that people pay to have the ashes of their relatives’ put in there to keep them at the temple and I will never forget Caroline’s face when she asked if they put whole people in there, I laughed so hard. Then we went to a market at the university and walked around all over the market while it was raining eating everything we could get our hands on. That night we went to a funeral and then went eating again. It still amazes me how nothing in the world stops Thai people from eating.  On the 16^th we went river rafting two hours away from Hatyai. I and Caroline shared a kayak and we didn’t have a tour guide on our kayak to help us paddle or tell us what to do. 2 seconds into paddling it started raining and we figured out that this was harder than it looked. We kept turning around, going into bushes and bumping into Cienna and Kelly. Believe me when I say none of these things stopped us, we had such a great time figuring it out. We got stuck 20 million times and got out of the kayak to have a little swim and laughed at Cienna slipping on rocks. At some point we went into a bush and a spider fell on me, I screamed so hard and almost fell out of the kayak but eventually got the spider off me. Just a few minutes later one of the guides pointed out that this part of the river had snakes so we should try and stay away from the sides, so comforting I know. A few seconds later we saw a snake in the trees!! And then we saw a snake in the water!! I and Caroline FREAKED OUT. Right then and there we started putting some serious effort into figuring out how to work this kayak. Many screams and frantic paddling later we finally figured it out and had an amazing day over all. That night we went karaoke singing and then basically sat there sleeping because that’s how tired we were. On the 17^th we went to the botanical gardens and went to feed the monkeys. The monkeys were crazy some were so cute and others stole all our banana’s and looked like might come and kill us in our sleep but it was an amazing experience, then went to the beach in a nearby city. We swam for a while and then saw every single boat coming back to shore; we even saw big boats turn around on the horizon. We got freaked out because we had been hearing about a possible typhoon hitting on the shores. We got out and got dressed, when we walked out of the bathroom it started raining and seconds later you could hardly see the car right in front of you because it was raining so hard. We immediately started driving inward away from the beaches and soon got away from the worst rain and wind. When we got back to Hatyai we went to the black market, yes that is what you think it’s a market where you can buy anything and everything you can think of. It might be knocking off, it might be slightly wrong or illegal but you can get it there.  We had a great time and shut our eyes quickly and just kept walking! But we also saw some cool things. Then we all went to dinner together and walked around the funniest market ever. That night I had to say goodbye to Caroline and Kelly and that was so so hard, you meet people and you become good friends and you make memories and then you need to say goodbye, it sucks. On the 18^th P’Boy came to pick us up and drive us to Nakhon Si Tamarat. We went to lunch we went to see a temple and then we went home and got dressed to go to the Rotary meeting together. Taking a shower with a bucket and ice cold water seems like fun in the hot Thailand heat but believe me it’s not fun and having Cienna hold up the towel for you laughing herself to death doesn’t make it any easier! We went to meet up with Maia from Canada and Raul from Mexico before he Rotary meeting and then went there together. We were super bored and Maia started a one word story in a book she had with her.  We walked on that story for 3 hours and then Raul read it in a typical Mexican voice and we almost died of laughter. Small little things that Exchange students do and love doing make the most amazing memories. Exchange students are a special breed of people and I am so happy I got to meet them all.

After the grand temple I had a few days of normal life before my next grand adventure. On the 26^th of August I and Cienna went with a Rotarian from our Club called P’Mook, to help plant trees in the King’s elephant conservation. We left on the morning of the 26^th and drove all the way to a province in the middle of Thailand. Almost as soon as we got there it started raining but we would not let that get us down. We drove to the conservation park and got a short tour of the park on the back of a pick-up truck in the rain. I sat there with a useless umbrella, laughing because we were wet, trying to look for elephants in the rain and trying to understand what the guides were saying. It sounds horrible when I’m writing it down but it was soo much fun. When we got to one of the lookout points the rain stopped for a while and we got to see the most amazing view. The grass and trees were so green it looked like they might be able to glow in the dark, there were grass fields and mountains and fresh air and I loved everything about it. We only saw two baby elephants out of the corner of our eyes, 200 meters away, in the trees but hey we saw them. This conservation is believed to be the home of a white elephant, a magical Royal symbol but we will have to try again next time to find this elephant, no luck this time.  That night we had dinner with all the volunteers who were helping with the project on the beach. While the people were singing karaoke in typical Thai style, I and Cienna watched the ocean. We saw a lighting storm on the horizon and it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, the clouds light up and become an orange/pink colour just for a moment and then it’s all black again, it was amazing. The next day we woke up very early and went to the conservation again. We stood in the very hot sun for an hour and talked to schools and took pictures with all the people who were there.  After a while we all got onto pick-up trucks again and made our way to an open field (no rain this time thank goodness). Every person got a small tree, me and Cienna called our tree Harry. We walked with all the little kids from the schools out into the field and started digging a hole to plant our little tree. We planted our tree and gave it some water and then went to help dig some more holes as well as make a salted pit for the animals to get vitamins from. We slid around in the mud for a while and then made our way back to the pick-up trucks; we didn’t see any elephants on our second day. It was a pretty amazing feeling to know that the trees we planted might grow up and make some shade for an elephant or maybe carry some fruit. I really hope I get to go back there someday to see if our little Harry grew up. It was a short but amazing trip. On the 28^th my school had sports day and my class had to dress up like zombies. The zombie looking part I’m not so sure of but we did have a lot of fun. We all got dressed up and then walked around the town centre to build team spirit and die of heat all at once. When we got back to school we played basketball, volleyball and had to run a lot. When we all finished we decided now would be a good time to go and take a nap in the French office. My friends from school are amazing and crazy and I will miss them so very much. On the 29^th I and some of my friends went to Bangkok to spend a day together and so that I could do some gift shopping. We walked until it felt like our feet were going to fall off, we got ripped off more than once, we had some really good pizza,  spent way too much time in the make-up shop and tried to get into the Hello Kitty Café. We made the very best of our last trip together before they start their final exams and I am so grateful that I can call them my friends! On the first of September I got invited to go out to dinner on a boat with a lady from my Rotary clubs daughter. When we got there it was raining really hard. We got in waited for the rain to calm down and then we stared making our way down the main river in Bangkok. We had a great dinner and enjoyed some horrible singing. After about 30 min the rain stopped enough for me and Cienna to go onto the top deck of the boat and look at the most amazing view ever. We drifted past temples lit up with lights and huge buildings and under enormous bridges. We waved at the captains and did a happy dance in the dark just to express how happy we were that we got to have this amazing experience. After the boat we drove around Bangkok for a while and then we went home. Once again it was a night that I could so easily not of had and I am so very blessed that I got to have that experience. On the third of December I did my goodbye speech at school. I wrote a whole speech and got all my teachers a small present and then I got up there, my heart stopped for a second when I saw 3000 faces stare up at me and then I opened my mouth and did my speech. I’m pretty sure I didn’t breath for my whole speech and I felt like I was going to faint when I was finished but at least it was over and done with. The 5^th of September was my last day of school. On my last day my class had to do a performance for school so we had most of the day off and I got to spend some good quality time with my friends. It’s amazing how much they mean to me in such a small amount of time. I can’t even imagine what school back in South Africa is going to be like without them. Walking out of school that afternoon was a mixture of “Thank goodness I’m free of this place” and “is it okay if I stay for another year?” all the memories good and bad were going through my brain and the only thing I knew for sure was that I would miss it all dearly. The school and the people from that school will forever be in my heart

Coming home from trips is always hard. I remember coming home from my first trip and feeling completely empty. The trips average at 10 days but in those 10 days you get so used to being around all the foreigners, you get used to feeling at home, you get used to speaking English again and not worrying about the culture that much, you just get used to being in a group of your friends. When you get back to your host family it’s like you have to adjust your mind all over again and it’s hard. This time coming home from the trip was easy, yes I had fun, yes I was with a group of foreigners but for the first time it felt like I was going home after a trip not like I was going to a host family after my trip and that is an amazing feeling. We got home and went straight to the new shopping mall that opened close to my house to go and get some things for Tata who was leaving for Canada soon also to go on exchange. Sitting in the car one the way to the mall we had four people, all exchange students at some point, P’Nong 20 years ago, myself almost at the end fr my exchange, Cienna in her first month and Tata 2 weeks away from starting her exchange, sitting there you realise how the exchange program really brings people from all of the world together. Shopping is always fun and if you get to spend time with amazing people and have great food while you’re at it why not. On the 16^th we went to Cienna’s school to see what subjects she would be taking and once again it was like sitting right in the middle of a flash back, the confusion, the fear, the uncertainty it seems like it just radiates out of new exchange students. On the 16^th we went to another shopping centre and this one I know pretty well so myself and Cienna got to walk around while P’Nong and Tata did some more shopping. There is something about walking around alone and being able to pick what you will be doing that day without a care in the world that makes me feel so free. We walked around the whole day did some shopping, ate a lot of food and drank an insane amount of coffee. This might be hard to understand if you are reading this but days like those mean the world to me and I want to remember days like those. On Sunday die 17^th Joy took us to the Royal Palace Wat Pra Kreaw. Walking to and around the Royal Palace is like walking in an oven, it’s about 40°C outside and you are walking in the sun. walking around at the Palace feels like you are in another time, yes you are around all these people but it feels so calm, so quite. You hear monks praying, you see the sun glistening on the shiny tiles and gold and silver these temples are made from. You are in-between these big buildings that have been there for the longest time but you still can’t believe they are real. When you walk into the temple grounds it seems like you walked into a mystical magical world and you struggle to keep your mouth from hanging open. We walked around we took pictures with some Palace guards and almost died of heat but it was amazing to see. We escaped the heat for a few minutes by going inside one of the temples, once you step in there it’s like all of your worries were left outside the door. The inside of the temple is painted so well it’s hard to imagine a person could actually paint that, the gold and silvers trees and ornaments are so beautiful it’s hard to wrap your brain around them being right there in front of you. It’s so nice and cool in there and you walk into complete silence, you sit on the floor and you just get lost in it all, it’s so peaceful, so calm it’s such an amazing feeling. We saw the clouds getting quite dark and decided it would be best to start leaving so we got onto a boat and made our way to the train station by boat. A river boat in Thailand is the most chilled out transport system ever. If the boat arrives at the dock somebody blows a whistle and you jump on, there in so limit to the amount of people that can fit on that boat if you can still stand there, there’s still space on the boat. A lady comes around and you give her your money and then you jump off wherever you want to jump off, it’s scary and great. We then mad our way to Central World by train and had lunch at my favourite restaurant just when it started raining outside. There aren’t a lot of days that go perfectly from beginning to end but that day was. The Monday afternoon after school I and Cienna had a few minutes to get ready for our Rotary clubs birthday event; we did our hair and our make-up and then went to the venue to be dressed in traditional Thai outfits. I love traditional Thai outfits they’re so pretty and so ladylike and I love it. We ate, danced, laughed, saw some of the other exchange students and I threw a glass of water out on myself classy right? We got some pretty nice photos out of it so I’m thinking it was well worth it. The rest of the week was filled with monsoon rain and school and I loved it. On Sunday the 24^th I stayed up all day and all night, partly because Cienna talks in her sleep so I couldn’t take a nap and partly because we were waiting to take Tata to the airport. We left the house at 2AM and got there at 3:10AM. We then checked in her baggage and sat in a coffee shop until it was time for her to leave. Seeing her face when she was saying goodbye to her family broke my heart because I knew just what she felt like in that moment, I knew how much it hurts. I gave her a big hug and she whispered this might be the last time I see you and that made my cry, she is such an amazing girl and I hope I will get to see her again someday. Then she made her way up the escalator and didn’t even look back, she was on her way to a year in Canada and I hope she has the time of he life. In just a few days I will be going up that same escalator, into the same international departures gate but I will be going home. I will be saying goodbye to this home and going back to my family. I can’t even wrap my brain around the fact that this year is almost over.