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.