Kat's-eye View

MAN I WISH!

I just can’t seem to get to sleep lately. Here, it’s 5:30 AM currently, and for the past week I haven’t been able to sleep before at least 5 AM. PROBLEM! My sleep schedule has been SO crazy- but while I’m awake, and can currently access the internet- I’ll let you guys in on what I have been doing!!

Well- since I got back from Koh Phangan, I had my down weekend that I told you about last time- and it was much needed. That Monday, we all went out for Mexican food at a place called Sunrise Taco- I’d put it about par with Chipotle (anybody familliar?? GIANT Burritos that literally give you a food baby- because they weigh about five pounds each! haha) Anyway, we just thought that we should get in the SANTANA mood! Which brings me to my next point- the concert. It was STELLAR! It lasted three hours, and when the crowd called for an encore, he came back on stage and played for 30 minutes more! It was a great show! He played all his hits, and you could tell he still loved every second of it. After that, we hit up McDonalds (here it delivers 24/7, and isn’t greasy, and is more fresh? for whatever reason..) Then Wednesday, I had a review for my mid-term in Beginning Thai that took place on Friday (it went as well as can be expected…), and had a paper/presentation for my Thai Cuisine class- it went well, I think. Some feedback from our peers said ours was more entertaining than other presentations- COOL! Then on Thursday, my Media and Society in Thailand class went to the Channel 3 television station and we got to see them film the next morning’s news, and tour a couple of the news studios! SWEET- it was a really cool field trip, actually. Then FRIDAY- Friday- a bunch of exchange student friends and I went to a big party-thing that apparently is thrown every Friday for the ex-pats in the BKK- it’s called the Bangkok Club Crawl. We went to 3 different clubs and got VIP wristbands and discounts on drinks- three expensive clubs (normally). The first one was called Nest, and it’s on the rooftop of a building in the middle of Bangkok with an amazing view. There were lounging beds and sand, and it was a really cool place, actually. My favorite of the three. The second place was called Q Bar. This place was just really crowded- I think I spent my whole time there loosing and looking for my friends. ugh, it was stressful! The last club we went to is supposed to be a really awesome club that normally costs 700-1100 Baht to get into- Bed Supper Club- honestly, I was not impressed. It was crowded, okay, I expected that- but the music was consistently terrible, and it was actually a pretty small place. The club the group of everyone normally goes to- Narz- is much better than those ones- but hey, it was definitely an experience, but the only one of those I think I will be going back to is Nest. It was just a cool place to go and chill. ANYWAY, that night a few of us stayed at our friend’s apartment because it was just a few blocks away from where the BKKCC went down, and instead of playing for a 130 baht cab ride back to our place at 2am- we just stayed at her place. The next day, we went and swam in her pool, ate some mexican food (again, at sunrise taco), and made it back to our apartments.

It was lots of fun-but maybe my sleep cycle mess-up is caused by my increased intake of western foods this past week- Count on my Western food intake= 5x Mexican food; 2x McDonalds; 2x pizza; and the rest was street vendors. But that’s still lots of western food, especially when my body is SO not used to eating it.BUT I had good reason- I was homesick this last week. AND I was kinda sicksick. My emotions were all over the place. I was talking to my friends and they think that the increase in stormy weather is what caused it. (OH YEAH- this last week also happened to be the first week it has actually really rained in BKK, there was rain, and thunder, AND lightening- that never happens…) It made me miss home, and then lots of other things were put on my plate that make being so far away from home just, in a word, inconvenient. 

HOWEVER- the sun still comes out, even if it is hidden by all this BKK smog (there is LOTS of it.. and new things make the days consistently brighter. New places, new faces, new dreams, and still the promise of the old dreams, faces, and places to keep me comfort.

Not sure if those pictures are going to show up- but if not, I’ll post another post with ‘em! Anyway- thanks for reading guys!

Stay tuned,

BIG love,

K.

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Anyone ever read their horoscopes? Mine seems to be scary accurate these days. I mean, how can one description fit a twelfth of the population? Well- however it works, it seems that I seem to fit the Aquarius model with ease… goodness.

SO- this could either be one really long blog, or many shorter blogs- my decision: I’m making this one blog separated into sections, so you can read the title, and decide if you want to read that section, and move one. sound good? alright, here we go…

HOSPITAL TIME

That’s right, hospital time. The reason being- I had an allergic reaction to what is still a grad mystery- but I have had little itchy red dots all over my torso- for a few weeks… after going to the hospital four times- they are almost gone. All the little red dots have turned into little white dots on my now tan stomach after being at the beach for four days- honestly I think the sun helped more than the hospitals. But that’s not the point- allow me to let you in on how my experiences went with these two different hospitals- different every time…  First, I went to the Thonburi hospital, a private hospital that my international program recommends because they will take care of us farang. And it’s true- they did take rather good care of me. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted with smiles and “how can I help you“s- I was then escorted to the doctor, given medications (the pharmacy is IN the hospitals here) and there for less than an hour, and only out about 2,000 THB (roughly 65 dollars)- not bad for an emergency room visit, huh? WELL, I was diagnosed with hives caused from an allergic reaction, given an antihistamine and a booster to take for the next five days… BUT THEN, three days later, it got worse. I had eaten one of my favorite meals- (something about cashews, chicken, and a really tasty sauce)- and my reaction spread from my torso to my arms and legs, and got lots worse… SO it was almost midnight, and I was talking to my mother who said I needed to go to the hospital immediately- so that’s what I did. Unfortunately, the one I had been to before wasn’t open, or something like that… so I was shuttled to the public one- Siriaj (the King is currently there). And this was another great experience. After some trouble with language barriers, I finally got a medical card (so they can just scan it and get my information if I return), and taken to the doctor. After seeing the doctor, she said I was probably allergic to cashews, gave me a stronger antihistamine, an antihistamine shot, another sort of booster for the antihistamine, another injection to take back to the hospital and get later, and calamine lotion to help with the itching. Again- I was out in less than an hour, and only out, guess how much. Just guess. 114 THB. (that’s about four dollars… woah). Well, I went back the next day to get the other injection- I wasn’t really sure why they had given it to me, and not just told me to come back, (it was a bit confusing, and the directions were in Thai…) Well, they were also confused when I showed up- looked at the medicine, confused. (also, this was mid-day, not in the middle of the night) I was ping ponged from room to room like a hot potato, “who wants the ‘farang’ that barley speaks Thai?” seemed to be the game… The hospital was packed with locals running every which way, and finally I was told to wait just outside the room until I was called. ugh. Then, after over an hour of being shuffled around and ignored- I was almost falling asleep in my seat with the hot humidity and lack of sleep I had gotten from the night before when a guy came up to me and asked if I was okay- I told him I was just waiting in line, and I was alright. He told me I was the last person he expected to be there, I explained my situation, and he decided to check and make sure I was in que, I wasn’t. :/ Well, he got me in line, kind of, gave me his phone number to have just in case I was still stuck a long time later, and let me be. Half an hour later- the nurses got to me, only to find that the medicine they had given me to bring back to get a second injection was given to me by mistake- the pharmacy had read the doctors call to give me an shot, and disregarded the fact that I had already gotten it- all that time wasted. They didn’t even pull out my file until I had already been at the hospital for two hours. It was the most pointless thing ever. Well, my throat had been hurting since that morning, and I thought I might have picked up something at the hospital the night before, so I wanted to just make sure it wasn’t another symptom to my reaction- after finding out I didn’t need the extra shot, they FINALLY gave me a number in the que, at that point, I was a little more than frustrated, I was leaving that evening for Koh Phangan, and just left. I could deal with a little sore throat. GOODNESS. It was so terrible during the day to be there and be blond and blue eyed, speaking very little of the Thai language. THAT is why they tell us exchange students to go to the other hospital… even if it costs more, if you have an actual emergency, they’ll talk to you and make sure you’re taken care of. ANYWAY- So I had to go back to the hospital a fourth time, (back to Thonburi) because once I got back from the island, my reaction got worse again- something in Bangkok, I suppose… but it all worked out. I got another shot, and now it’s all going away. What an experience though. Oh- and this was all during my birthday week… what a present. goodness.

ISLAND TIME

Alright, so like I said in my last actual blog post- I spent the weekend on the island of Koh Phangan, known for the FULL MOON PARTY held monthly. Well, I had never heard of it before I got here and all the other exchange students had mentioned it. I though it sounded cool and decided to go. Well, let me just try to describe my experience. Getting there was pretty painless. We (being a group of my friends Anna, Rick, Hillary, Lyndsey, and myself) took an overnight bus that would take us directly to the island. We got on the bus, were given nice blankets, constantly given food. For me, I wasn’t so excited, because my throat was REALLY swollen- I was convinced that I had picked up strep from the hospital- I couldn’t swallow anything without it being mega painful, but I didn’t want to miss out on the trip- so I bought some halls (the lemon/honey ones are the BEST), bought some hot tea (chaa ron- in thai) when we stopped, and decided to tough it out. Well, the bus was full of foreigners (farang)- and not just foreigners like my exchange friends and myself, but really loud, annoying, and slightly disrespectful foreigners. Little did I know this was going to be forshadowing almost my entire Koh Phangan experience… awesome. After I was sufficiently dead asleep at about midnight (our bus left at 8) we stopped at a rest point for people to get food and such- I was roused by the lights flashing on and a loud woman walking the island yelling in Thai. Then, once I was happy with my hot tea, settled in my seat, and ready to leave and get back to sleep… the lights were left on, and EVERYBODY and their mother was on their cell phones and being quite noisy. Not so fun. Not so fun at all. Well, about an hour later, everyone had settled back down, and I finally got to sleep not to be disturbed again until about 9am when we arrived at the ferry station. Our bus boarded the ferry, and we went upstairs, I read a little of my book The Bridge over the River Kwai (told you I felt like I needed to read the book- THANKS MOM!), and fell asleep only to dream of being on a boat, then it capsizing, and having to be a hero with a jet pack that saved everyone… (yea, you could say my dreams have been a little crazy and WAY too detailed since I arrived…) Next thing I knew, I was on Koh Phangan. SWEET! Well, the five of us then got into a taxi to take us to the northern side of the island where we were staying. Though the party was on the southern side, we wanted pretty beaches since we were going to longer than just the party- However, if you go just for the party, I recommend you stay closer to the party beach. About thirty minutes later, we arrived at the Coral Bay Bungalows where some of our friends had arrived the day before- at first there wasn’t enough room for us, but the guy that owned the place offered to call around to find somewhere that had spots, but said if worse came to worse, we were welcome to sleep on the floor in the room above the cafe. We were down with that, so we got the one open bungalow (one double bed, mosquito net, and roof over head- for 200 THB a night total-that’s about 7 dollars…) so we ditched our stuff in the room and went to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful- you can check out my pictures below, or go to my facebook to see the beach where I spent my time. It was SO AMAZING!! Plus, there was a giant pig named Tsuk-tsuk, I think, that roamed the grounds. (there is also a picture of the pig…) It was the funniest thing. ANYWAY- Saturday night was the Full Moon Party, and although the actual full moon was on Friday, Friday was a holiday, no one could sell alcohol, so they moved it. haha. We arrived at the party beach in the group of twelve that were staying at Coral Bay, bought neon Full Moon attire, got neon body paint, and covered ourselves with it. haha. Well, the next few hours we were there, we spent trying to find our other group of friends/painting new friends that were intrigued by our artistic creativity displayed on each others’ appendages. Unfortunately, my camera battery became exhausted before we left for the party, so I don’t have any pictures from the evening- but really, it was probably a good thing, given LOTS of people that went to the party with items, left with nothing/broken electronics… However, if I ever find those Lebanese guys on facebook that my friend Anna and I painted- I will have some pictures! That’s kind of how my evening went from then on. My friend Anna and I met groups of guys from all over the world- Lebanon, Israel, England, Scotland, France, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, English guys that pretended to be from Sweden (strangely, that wasn’t uncommon…), and I’m sure I’m missing some sort of nationality… Also- apparently I look like I’m an Aussie, and sound English- because Anna and I got lots of “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!”s all evening- and I got asked more than once if I was from England (I also got asked last night if I was from England.. maybe I speak too proper?). Anna and I kept to our buddy system, and stayed until the sun was fully up! We made it all night roaming around making new friends from all over the world. We spent more time in the streets than on the beach though- the beach, was full of people- they say around 25,000- fire shows, fire signs, fire jump-ropes, little lemonade-looking stands that sold only buckets of mixed drinks with quite the misleading signs, TONS of djs playing every sort of music you can imagine, and oh yes- lots of trash, shoes, clothing, passed out people, and people peeing in the ocean- this is how peoples’ cameras/phones got broken, by ”swimming.” I chose to pay the 10 baht to use the nice washroom… A wise choice, I believe. ANYWAY- after Anna and I found our friends Olivia and Mariagrazia, we made our way home to Coral Bay around 8 in the morning. After returning to our bungalows, I decided I wasn’t all that tired- for whatever reason I wasn’t- and went for a peaceful morning swim. This was probably my favorite part of the weekend. The water in our bay was crystal clear, cool, and amazing. I made a few laps from one side of the bay to the other, and back, It was amazing. Absolutely breath-taking. Not because I was out of breath, but because it was so stellar. [look for my next picture blog- remember my bench one? there is another describing my swim!] ANYWAY, after about an hour of swimming, I laid out on the beach for a while, and then went and got some delicious breakfast. Some of our group went home on Sunday because they had class on Monday, and it was a good 14 hour trip home to Bangkok. Luckily I didn’t have class until Wednesday, so a group of us left Monday evening. The rest of my time there, I enjoyed finishing my book, sitting by the beach, becoming gorgeously tan (ha!) and just relaxing. It was quite wonderful. That’s the cool thing about Thailand, well, one of the cool things… is that I can do these things here, take trips to islands on the weekend for a price MUCH cheaper than traveling to another city in the states where you have to pay a hotel fee. 5 days in paradise- 160 USD. not bad, eh?

FARANG TIME

yes, farang time. This section is where I get to tell you of all the irritations of being a “farang local” and having to deal with the just plane stupidity of the “tourist farang.” Yes- there is a difference. Going into my trip this past weekend, I knew it was a tourist trap- that’s all Full Moon Party is about- so I though I had prepared myself. But, not really. It started on the bus there when people that were just traveling were incredibly rude, loud, and inconsiderate of everyone around them. That was frustrating, but manageable because we were asleep the majority of the time. But then I got to the island, where my first experience was with the taxi drivers. We tried to haggle, because being a farang local- we know the trick- they overcharge, but when there are 5 of us, we can usually get the price down about 20-40 baht a person- well, we weren’t successful, but we didn’t really care, we just wanted to get to the beach. What was irritating- the group of six girls that piled into the taxi with us thought it was “such a good price!”- My group laughed- we all payed the same price, we went a little farther than the opposite end of the island, and they went maybe a mile. So ignorant. THEN we were pretty “farang tourist” free until we got to the party. My friends and I are here to learn about the culture, learn the language, talk to the locals, and take more of an anthropological approach to our stay in Bangkok, as well as our trips outside of the city- like to this island. Well, when we tried to speak Thai to the locals at the party beach, they didn’t even want to make the effort to talk to us- they just wanted our money, and they made that clear. charge to use the washroom, charge to do this, charge to do that, everything was about being charged. Half the time we were just glanced at with a disapproving look. But at that point, we are with 25,000 tourists that are there just to get wasted on the beach- what do you expect… However, I wasn’t significantly irritated until we tried to get a taxi back to our side of the island the next morning. We couldn’t get a hold of the guy who had driven us to the party and promised the same price- so we found one, and tried to haggle- well, it resulted in us getting yelled at loudly, waiting for half an hour so the driver could play “lets see how many people I can physically pack into the back/inside/on top of my pickup” (it was 17), getting ripped off- treated like we were idiots, and shuffled to a different taxi half way through the trip. I wasn’t fond of this guy at all. Nor was anyone else in the taxi. Well, it was alright again until we had to go back- an experience like none other… We got a ride to the ferry where I believe about half of the Full Moon Party population was waiting to get tickets to shuffle themselves to the next island to, guess what, get wasted. We got on an overcrowded ferry that lasted two hours, with our legs dangling through the railing and over the side of the ferry- I was sunburnt and covered in sea salt by the time the ride was over- also, dehydrated and hungry. :/ After the ferry was over, we had to wait for three hours before our bus came to go to Bangkok, or so we thought. That was alright, we just sat around reading our books (the only ones in the station reading…) got some water and a sandwich, and was definitely ready to get back and take a real shower and sleep in my bed. Well, we finally got on our bus- a rickety old aluminum can at max capacity for two more hours- it took us to another station to wait another hour for another bus that would actually take us to our destination. wow. this was definitely not the same travel that got us to the island… Well, then our luck turned up a little. One friend that was with us- Ryan, went down to check his bag after the other three of us has already claimed our seats in coach- complimented the main woman on her shoes- and got us seats in the VIP seating area- the bottom area of the double-decker bus taking us home. Turns out- no one acutally pays for that area, you just have to ask!! This area had six of us in it- complete with four bucket seats, wrap-around leather couch, television (the in-bus movie= G.I. Joe-if you’ve never seen it,  just wow…)  We shared this area with two backpackers from Germany that had been traveling for six months already. They were super cool. It would have been a much nicer ride if I hadn’t been newly sunburnt due to the overcrowded ferry, and if I had actually been able to sleep- it was one of those “i’m way to tired to sleep” situations that is just unfortunate. We arrived back in Bangkok at around 6 in the morning- it took us 18 hours to get back to Bangkok- next time, maybe the flight out is worth the extra cost… I was so tired of people speaking English, it’s comical. Actually, the whole trip back from the initial ferry ride was just a quite comical situation- we were being herded like cattle by the Thai ‘drivers’- ha! all you can do is laugh about it. Over all- the frustrations of the trip are grossly outweighed by the positives, but the frustrations as well as the conversation with the German backpackers comparing countries,  made me think about how here, in Thailand, if you are a “farang” you will always be one. It doesn’t really matter if you speak the language- if you are thrown in with a bunch of tourists- or in any sort of place where tourists are common- you will be treated like a farang if you aren’t ethnically Asian. My experience- “oh! you speak thai? oh! you’re tall, pale, blue-eyed and blonde- farang pricing…” A lot of farang pricing is smarts though- like the taxis that see you and stop and offer you a “good price” to go somewhere that is just around the corner- when really they are charging you with a 300% profit. Like I have mentioned earlier- stick your ground with pricing in cities like Bangkok- you’ll get the right price (also, never take a taxi without a meter)- but other places like Koh Phangan, it almost isn’t worth it to mention you go to school in Thailand and that you’ve been here for two months- or ten years- you’re always farang. The German backpackers mentioned this was a contrast with the areas in South America they had been- they had spent over three months of the six they have spent traveling there, and based on their experience, if you learn the language, and are there long enough- it doesn’t matter so much your ethnicity- you begin to gain a sense of belonging-  here, as much as you may love every second you are here- you are still farang, my friend. Anybody have any feedback on this one? Any different experiences that contradict what the few of us have observed??

DOWN TIME

alright-now that I think I have sufficiently bored (or intrigued?) all you lovely readers of mine- Now it’s down time for me. Last week- all of this blog was observed- all within the last 12 days. AND also to mention, I sprained my ankle twice (luckily, it was each way, so now it’s okay), had my camera battery die when I wanted it most, my ipod die, when I wanted it most, my phone die, probably when it was the most inconvenient, my face break out worse than it has in a while- all my sickness stuff (allergic reaction/sore throat), my computer is being lame, and my flowers died while I was gone. :/ what a past 12 days, huh? MAN- I’m glad it has all started to look up- just in time for my mid-terms this next week! so now this is my down time. Not sure when the next exciting thing I’ll get to do is- I might buy a guitar this weekend, and maybe see Santana in concert next Tuesday- that stuff is always exciting! haha- anyway, thanks for reading guys, you are all wonderful. And if you have any questions about anything, or comments on something I have posted- just shoot me a message on facebook. I’d love to hear from ya! NOW- I have a bed calling my name, and lots of postcards to write soon! 

STAY TUNED-

BIG love,

K.

Hey all- sooo sorry I haven’t written in a while, but I PROMISE there will be more soon- I have a couple written out… I just have to find them..

ANYWAY, I just wanted to give you a little update to hold you guys over!

FRIDAY- as in last Friday, my friends Rick and Anna joined me in a fabulous night. It started out Anna and I going to see our Thai friend Jojo go sing at a concert at school- it was AWESOME (I’ll put pictures up when I get my camera back…) Then after that we joined Jojo and some of his friends for dinner at a place called MK- it was definitely an experience!! Then after that, one of Jojo’s friends that skipped on dinner invited the three of us to this place called Bluez Bar- so we impulsively decided we would go- SO glad we did! We walked into this hole-in-the wall place (you know the type) and it was wall-to-wall PACKED with locals listening to this group of guys singing and playing the blues! It was super stellar. Then the three of us decided to go explore for another live venue that our new friend Nui told us about- but instead we found multiple hole-in-the-wall places that we will definitely be returning to. Anyway, we ended the night at a private business party where the CEO bought us a bottle of “the best” whiskey (ga-ross, but it was a nice gesture) and my friend Rick and I sang “wonder wall” in front of the whole crowd- luckily all the private-party attendants were not quite sober enough to tell we DEFINITELY made up some of the lyrics… It was such a fun night, and we made SO many new Thai friends! After all, I didn’t come to Thailand to hang out with Europeans, as much as I love them!

SATURDAY&SUNDAY- Saturday everyone just took it easy, we watched movies and ate yummy food. It was definitely a great day/night. Then on Sunday, a large group of us went to one of the Floating Markets, ate some seafood, took a boat down the canal and saw the Temple of the Dawn, went to this really sketchy “zoo?” and to this place on the canal where there were upwards of 1000 fish in an area no larger than 30 yards in diameter… woah. At the ”zoo” however, I did get to hold a monkey, but the monkey also, after giving my face a hug, bit my nose, and took my hat.. My friend got a picture of it biting my nose, it is quite amusing!

Among all of this, I managed to acquire an allergic reaction so who knows what, and my torso was COVERED in little itchy red dots- so, as advised by my mother- I went to the ER, where I spent no more than an hour, was diagnosed with, not kidding, “an allergic reaction,” and sent home with some antihistamine and ranitidine… goodness. I’ve already taken three doses, and I’m getting better!! Looks like I can wear my swimsuit this weekend WITHOUT looking diseased… thank GOODNESS!

Oh- wearing my swimsuit- My friends and I are going to Koh Phangan for the once-a-month FULL MOON PARTY!! We figured that since we are in Thailand, we might as well get the full experience, right?? We leave Thursday and will hopefully be there through next Monday/Tuesday- so I will be sure to let you guys know how it goes!!

Also- Let me get some feedback from you guys! Do you guys have questions or ideas for me to write about? Anything you wish I was saying, or something you wish I wasn’t? Find me on facebook and shoot me a message, I would love to hear from you!!

OH HEYYYY- I almost forgot- The title for this blog is Birthday Time, because today is my BIRTHDAY!!!! as I put on my twitter- “Gonna be a good day in the BKK!!”

Anyway, thanks for following-

Stay Tuned,

BIG LOVE,

K.

So, running around in Bangkok isn’t the best idea ever. It was at first. All the right songs played on my ipod, the breeze was just enough to keep the heat bearable, and I got the strangest stares from the locals with no doubt thoughts going through their minds questioning what the heck I was running from… such a ‘farang’.  Regardless, it felt awesome. Then I started being ambitious and jumping over things, sprinting through abandoned lots, and really pushing myself. I felt like I was on one of those movie montages with stellar music, feeling quite heroic-like Rocky, or Rambo, or Chuck Norris or something… But, I just tried to clear a few baskets/bike at a market- and face planted. I’ve never seen more confused/concerned Thai in my life- what’s the Thai word for oops?

Anyway- I’ll write you guys again soon. I just wanted to share this tidbit of my day. :)

Stay tuned,

BIG love,

K.

So, as you guys know, the main religion in Thailand (formerly known as Siam) is Buddhism. Cool. Means I feel completely safe here, all the time- walking around Bangkok at three in the morning- totally safe. Also means people are more trusting here- it’s kinda like the honor system here, except it works, because everybody actually follows the religion they claim too, and aren’t completely greedy crazy people like I tend to see in America a lot… (rough, but true). Well, Buddhism here is also mixed with Animism, meaning spirits- they are among us! Everywhere we go, there are drinks and food left for the spirits- most commonly a red Fanta with a straw (because everything has a straw if you drink it…) hoping to please the spirits.

Another part of this religion that is quite common here is the Monk life. It is very common for males to become monks at some point in their lives to gain merit for the family and for their past relatives. It used to be that they would become monks during the rainy season often between the year(s) of graduating school and marriage. However, now, it has decreased to men becoming monks as little as a week- just to get it in. Well, the life of a monk doesn’t exactly make profits, there is no allowance, they don’t make money. So how do they survive? Well, the people that follow the religion, and pretty much anyone with a kind heart (tends to be almost everyone here in Thailand) give alms to the monks every morning. This gets you merits. Merits are what the Buddhist followers do in order to, well, gain good merit for their lives, so when they are caught up in the wheel of rebirth-samsara- they will have a better chance of being born something better. The people give food and other things to the monks- but the food has to be completely fresh, and completely the BEST thing you make- otherwise it is disrespectful, and the act of giving alms is counterproductive to you- no leftovers from last night’s curry heated up in the microwave- FRESH and AMAZING!

This all sounds pretty cool, huh? Well, the one thing that I have a VERY hard time accepting here, or in any city, really, is the homeless situation. It seems that on every street, and anywhere you go, there are lots of elderly people that are begging for money to support their lives. Often times these men and women are disabled in one way or another- varying from blindness to absence of appendage(s)… And as I was being prepared to go abroad, they told us, (‘they’ being pretty much EVERYONE) that we aren’t to give money to these people, because once we are seen to show mercy, EVERYONE and their MOTHER will swarm us for the coins of baht we possess… and it’s true- I’ve seen it. But for any of you that know me, you know that this is the absolute hardest thing I can do- just ignore the people that need help? Just keep waking like they aren’t there? Keep thinking that they are ‘not my problem’?? It’s heart breaking. As you guys that have been keeping up know, I’ve been lucky enough to travel and do lots of fun things here in Thailand thus far- the beautiful Land of Smiles, the Land of Smiles that just happens to have people literally crawling on the streets begging for that loose change clinging together in your pocket like chimes of hope to them. But what can I do? I like to think that I am majorly a city person- because just being on the crowded streets of people puts a smile of my face and feeds me energy- but then I turn the corner to see a woman, legs folded and wilted, eyes glazed over, begging for that five baht coin I just misplaced- or might have unknowingly dropped five steps ago. Admittedly, I think I probably notice every single one of these people begging for hope- as the people I’m with seem not to notice.

So my problem with this? What about giving alms to the poor? I know that people will be swarmed when they show mercy, but what in the Buddhist/Animism religion says they aren’t to give to the poor? When I pass these people, I tend to notice they they each may have about 13 baht in their cups, enough to buy a piece of cake from my favorite ‘cake’ lady by school- but not much more than that. It’s rough, right? I just wish the people would focus more on those begging than the spirits- but what can you do? To them, the spirits control their destiny, and those that were born poor or find themselves in that situation deserve it, because they clearly have done something terrible in their past life/lives. Such a different view on things. Such a different view.

ANYWAY, aside from all of that which has been weighing in my mind more and more as I prowl the streets for new vendors and foods to try- I’ve been having lots of fun. :) Class is always exciting- (my Islam in Thailand prof owns a Muay-Thai [sp?] boxing place- and he is hooking my friend and I up with some boxing sessions!) We get to go places that are tons of fun- check out my pictures on my last blog, or on fb- there are lots! And I have a nice apartment with air conditioning, go to the most prestigious school in Thailand, and always have money for an ice cream cone. Life is good.

also- tonight is the second day of the Chinese New Year- guess who is spending it in Chinatown!?! AAAANNNDDD- Tomorrow I am going to a HUGE football (that means soccer) game at the national stadium- it’s my school [Thammasat] vs. our cross-town rival (and only other BIG university in Thailand), Chulalongkorn. I’m definitely painting my face to support my RED and GOLD! :) Other than that- I’m just going with the flow- being impulsive, and taking chances.

Stay Tuned-

BIG LOVE,

K.

Woah, Thai Time. A phrase I wasn’t familiar with until my second day of classes when I found out what it meant. Everyone around me would laugh about it, but I had no idea- well, here’s the skinny. Thai Time refers to the unspoken agreement that breaks will always be longer than expected, classes don’t really require punctuality, and everyone is free to take their time… This is crazy for me to think about. We have three hour classes once a week for our courses (except Thai language- there are two of those) and we normally have a break about half way through them. The profs normally say okay, take a ten-fifteen minute break… and everyone goes and gets food or coffee and comes back in about twenty-thirty minutes later. As far as punctuality goes, one of the things they told us off the bat was that on exam days- you can’t be more than 45 minutes late.. WOAH! 45 minutes?? that’s crazy- especially when at home, we have profs that close the door and lock it once the class begins. If I wake up late (during) a class at home, I might as well not bother going. And breaks that last that long? At Hendrix, profs may let you have a 5 minute break in our hour-fifteen classes, but they start rather quickly once they’ve decided it’s over. Everyone is so relaxed and easygoing here. It’s a pretty nice feeling. I rather like this concept of Thai Time, and frankly I’m kinda thankful for it. The other day- as in yesterday, my mind was clearly not in the right state. I woke up at my normal time, about 8:30, for my Thai Language class that begins at 9:30- well, for whatever reason, my mind was thinking that I didn’t have to leave my apartment until 9:30— oops… So I didn’t realize until I was waiting for the ferry at the pier (it was then about 9:45) that my class started at 9:30… Well, luckily I didn’t feel so bad, because I was only going to be thirty minutes late… oops. But I still got a bunch of learning in, and really, I didn’t miss that much. thank goodness!! Other than in class reference to Thai Time- we exchange students like to joke around about it when one of us is taking longer than everyone else- “oh, they’re just on Thai Time…” And it seems to apply to any situation that takes too long- oh the buss is late? Thai Time. oh, this line is taking FOREVER? Thai Time.- You get the picture. So if any of you back in the states are frustrated with something that is taking too long- no worries, they’re just on Thai Time. :)

Something else fun that happened yesterday- my friends and I went out to this really fancy club called Naris (I think…) Anyway, it was ladies night, so in addition to getting in free of charge, all the girls in our group got a little coupon book with five free drinks- pretty cool. Our guy friends took advantage of that, too. I don’t think they ever paid for a drink. HA. Anyway- the club was so suave, and none of us had our cameras! We wished we did so badly, because we felt so fancy just being there. It wasn’t real tourist-y and there were a couple different room, a couple upstairs areas, and they gave you your drinks in really nice glasses (in retrospect, that was probably a bad business plan… there were a few glasses dropped during the evening). In any case, it was lots of fun to go out dancing in a really nice club that played American hip hop- the Thai seem to like dancing to it more than their trance stuff. Globalization, anyone? Speaking of the music, we not only heard great songs like Ke$ha’s Tic Tok, but also some good ole 90s tunes like Jump Around- I kept expecting it to break into the GirlTalk remix, but no, it was the actual song… woah.

In other news, I am supposed to go bungee jumping this weekend, but I’m quite torn between going to a national park and going hiking with pretty waterfalls and going to literally the red light district of Thailand (prostitution is pretty bad here… go read about it if you don’t believe…) to go bungee jumping. Decisions, decisions.

Anyway- I’ll let you guys know all about which one I choose in the next blogy blog. :)

Until then- stay tuned!

Big Love,

K

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! (or at least it says it everywhere in Bangkok, still… along with Merry Christmas… hmm)

ANYWAY, let me tell you what’s goin’ on. :)

My stomach aches have gone- but unfortunately I believe that my favorite early morning drinks- thai iced teas- are going to have to be cut from my diet. :/ reason being, that I am kinda lactose intolerant, and they use lots of milk in them… lame. But one every once in a while will do me just fine.

IN OTHER NEWS, life is cool. (just in case you didn’t know) And being here reminds me. This whole trip for me is just a reminder to take opportunities and to take chances. If people are going somewhere, go if you want to! Don’t sit back and try to fix your slowly dying computer… (that’s what I spent the evening and most of the day yesterday doing… lame.) And I’m glad that everyone here is just so chill. I have gone places with different groups of people almost everywhere I’ve gone. Simply because I go to the lobby, some people are going somewhere, and I join. It’s been pretty fun.

Man, it feels like I have sooooooo much to tell you guys, but no where to start!

Anyway, I shall continue about the Land of Smiles a.k.a. Thailand. Two days ago, I went to an an aquarium here called SIAM OCEAN WORLD- exciting, no?- and once we got to the mall where it was, we walked straight into… a Krispy Kreme line- seriously, the line was out the door, and we walk into the mall, in line, to buy a dozen kk donuts. (that were completely satisfying, btw) Also, we bought one dozen to split between three of us, but there were people in line and walking through the mall with bags containing three, four, or more dozen donut boxes like a trend fresh off the D&G runway, I mean really? What is a tiny Thai woman going to do with 60 donuts? We couldn’t even finish our dozen- really, I walked to the KK line and gave away the rest of our donuts to people waiting in line (I think they thought that was strange behavior… but hey, I’m foreign, they expect it…) Anyway- as the first picture shows, we not only walked into the kk line, but also, America? All that was in sight was the Krispy Kreme, Auntie Anne’s, Subway, Starbucks, McDonalds, Hagen-daz, Burger King… and this stuff wasn’t the normal fast food court we’re used to, but all the seating was really suave, and all the people were dressed in their night-out best to be there.. I felt slightly under-dressed, and I looked cute… (ha, kinda..) It’s so strange to think that Western food is practically a delicacy here. :/ Speaking of, I really need to do some shopping… for food things, anyway… (like some fruit!! it’s so fresh and delicious!)

——man, I’m terrible at getting off topic, if I have a topic…———-

So we continued to the aquarium in the basement of the jumbo-amazing-expensive mall, and got an AWESOME student discount for our tickets, making a normal 900 bhat ticked a 250 one! (being a student ROCKS!) We saw lots of sharks and other fishies, and they had an awesome tank that had the tunnel to walk under while all the aquatic creatures swam over you! (see my pictures! there are more of facebook if you’re really intrigued) It was pretty sweet. After the aquarium, I think we spent just as much time looking through the gift shop than we did looking through the actual exhibits, but it was still pretty awesome. We then ventured through the rest of the jumbo mall, to see stores of some of my favorite Vogue names. It was nice, too bad I totally can’t afford them, but it’s nice to look! Another observation, the malls here are really nice, it’s not just the suave-ie  Westernized eating area, but the overall building and structure. It’s like shopping is more than just an activity pre-teens do for fun here. The architecture of the building is beautiful, and everything inside was well thought out. There are fountains and ‘streams’ flowing through the malls, every coffee stand looks like it should have a bouncer, and it is just all an experience. It was pretty cool. (word of advice, they also frown upon throwing coins in fountains…)

___NEW DAY___

After returning to the mansion pretty pooped from the aquarium trip, I spent the evening trying to fix my silly computer, and then most of the next day (yesterday) sleeping and being lazy, BUT then around seven, I went downstairs to get some food, had a lovely conversation over dinner with another exchange student, then ended up playing battmitten with someone else, playing with some gorgeous golden retrievers that live across the street, watching Shutter Island in the lobby and then just hanging around with people until one or so this morning. A much better alternative to my original plan of just going and getting some friend rice to bring back to my room and eat like a recluse. THEN TODAY, I went to the zoo with a few people, fed a few elephants, a shark, and took lots of pictures of creepy ceramic statues… I mean really, look at that last photo… haha. Other than those activities, the zoo was a lot more western than I would have thought, but I still enjoyed it. :)

Anyway, it’s been lots of fun so far, and I reaaalllly  need to do some shopping, so I will talk to you guys later!!

Stay Tuned!

Big LOVE,

K