International Motor Expo & My first day at School

Ill start of by saying that 10 days feel like 100000 years, it feels like this has been my life for so long but it has only been 10 days. How are all the other exchange students say time flies when it feels like its not moving at al ?

On the 7^th of December I went with family of my host parents to the International Motor Expo in Bangkok. I have never ever seen such a big venue in my whole life, the motor expo has bigger than I can ever explain and that did not even fill a ¼ of the expo centre. It took us an hour and a half to get there that is not bad at all for Bangkok traffic at all , when we got there we parked the car in a parking lot that is 3X the size of your average mall in South Africa. When we got in we went to the International food court that had everything from steak to seaweed on their menu’s, then the family split up to get whatever they wanted to eat and we would meet again in 25min. so I was alone in this huge place to find what I wanted to eat. After 10 min I decided on  fired chicken rice and vegetables I then spent another 10 min trying to explain to the lady behind the counter what I wanted and just decided  to show her pictures on the menu, she got it after a very embarrassing hold up of the queue. When we waited in the line to get into the actual motor expo I got a little taste of what was coming when I saw half-dressed drop dead gorgeous woman in 10 inch heals at the door. There was so many people , and the most amazing cars ever. From sports cars who give messages and the newest Bugatti’s, Ducati motorbikes, the new 400 S class Mercedes, cars with no back seats and on boot but full on movie theatres in the back to the vintage car club of Thailand. We spent ALL DAY in there and still had more to see. And the Family I went with are just amazing, friendly and funny and caring, a very very fun day.

My first day of school started with a tour of the school grounds from a lady (Crukuk is her name) from the Foreign Language Department ( The English, Spanish, French, mandarin and Chinese department). I almost had a heart attack when I learnt that there are 3560 girls in my school. I met some of the teachers and everybody was very friendly, then one teacher pulled me aside and told me I had my skirt on the wrong way. The embarrassment continued when 3 other teachers  joined us for the rest of the tour and we walked past a statue, I asked why there is a statue of a little boy only to find out that it is a statue of the 4^th Kings mother who fought for woman rights ad was the founder of the school. Yeah they did not think I was funny calling her a little boy but hey now I know to do research before I ask about statues! We then went to the cafeteria that looks more like a food court in a mall, there are 15 food and desert shops to choose from at lunch time. Best discovery yet on the tour!! When I walked onto stage in assembly I found out what it feels like to have +- 3560 girls look at you all at once and I wanted to turn around and run as fast as I can at that moment. But I waved Wai’d and joined my class. It’s a very strange feeling to know your standing out like candle in the night. We walked to class and people started clapping hands a cheering and taking pictures and completely freaking out and believe me I know it sounds like im exaggerating but I swear im not, its like most of them have never seen a blond girl before ?? It seems so unreal and I have no words to explain hoe shocked and confused and overwhelmed I was. But my class calmed down after 15 min and class could start, from then my 1^st day was a blur of stairs, Thai words, questions I don’t understand and really don’t know how to answer and confusion. It was great, something I can never forget and a huge experience but I never want a day like that again!

The next day was much much better, everyone started talking to me and not just staring like im something from outer space I found that me class mates are super friendly and super funny and now some of the most popular kids in school because they are friends with me.

I wish I could explain the feeling, living only an hour and a half away from Bangkok with millions of tourists every year and millions of blond western people. But where I live you would swear they have never seen someone like me before. I still cant quite comprehend it but im getting used to it.