Can't Think of a Title

Sorry for the hiatus of sorts.  I was away for the weekend and the week has been busy.

Gifts From School

Friday I went to school for the first time.  It was a part day, I saw my classroom and met the students.  Then the all the exchange students at the school (4) went to the gym to give speeches (which I was not aware of until that moment).  The school gave us some flowers and Thai Bean Cake, very welcoming.  I was only at the school for two hours but by the end of it I had melted.  The uniform has long sleeves and a long skirt, who came up with that?  I've seen other school uniforms, they get short sleeves and short skirts, and the guys at our school get shorts and a t-shirt, its not fair!

First Night Resort

Nori Seaweed Flavour

After that we left for Korat, to go to a Rotary Inbound Orientation.  We took a half bus - half van, there were 8 of us and the driver.  Everyone in the car was shorter than me, so they had a comfortable ride because the seats are made for small people.  The top of the headrest, when I leaned back, was at my neck.  It is very hard to sleep like that.  On the way we snacked on butter cake, seaweed flavoured Lays and orange mango juice.
We live 6 hours away from Korat, so we went 5 hours to a resort on Friday and the rest of the way in the morning.
The orientation was fun, made lots of friends.  Mingles, networked, talked about my favourite things.  We learned a song about fruit and one about elephants.

Loom

Octopus thing

We visited a silk weaving factory and at one of the dinners I had like baby octopus or something, it was just so cute with its little tentacles that I had to eat it.

View from the second floor of my school building.
There's more than one building.
I'm on the third floor.

That Monday, I had my first real school day.  The students and the teachers are all very nice.  They made a sign for me that said "Welcome to Thailand and Streemandapitak School."   I am "taking" regular school courses at the moment (physics, chemistry, biology, history, etc), however the school is working on getting the exchange students into "not-classes" like cooking, Thai dance, etc.
I'm working on learning the alphabet mostly in class, and they give me books to read (in English).  School here is much more relaxed, sometimes the teachers just don't show up for class and then we play dominoes, chat or just hang out.

Bag-o-Pepsi

There's a market in the parking lot of the school that opens at the end of the day.  You can buy snacks, noodles, drinks and ice cream.  I bought a Pepsi, which they drink in bags with a straw.
A thing I found amusing to see on the way home from school was a young boy riding in the bed of a pick up truck eating noodles.

Saturday we had a party for my host sister, Preaw, because she is leaving on Wednesday for BC, Canada.  We went to the department store (a cross between a Walmart and a Costco).  There we bought meat.  They don't have their meat prepackaged for the most part.  It's just a cold table thing (like we would use for fruit) filled with raw meat.  I also saw a pile of pig heads for sale.  Later we ate the most delicious pasta I have ever had and I learned how to make sushi.  Then we did karaoke.

Park

Bridge to Park

Cafe across from Park

Today, Sunday, my younger host brother, older host brother, his girlfriend and Preaw took me to a park to see a victory monument for King Takshin (something like that) who freed Thailand from Myanmar's rule.

There's my poorly written blog for today.  I'll probably update weekly from now on.
Cheers

Flower from park

PS. I must reiderate how hard it is to put pictures where you want them in this blog

Victory Monument