I realize that I have neglected my blog lately and this post is very late in coming but better late than never right? My last post was about a month ago, right after my 3rd month in Thailand, the anniversary of my 4th month in Thailand is fast approaching and I can not believe it. One of the things I was told by past exchange students is that the exchange goes by way too fast, at the time I brushed off their comments thinking how could 10 months go by fast? Now I understand what they mean I would give anything to have time slow down and be able to stay in Thailand forever. A lot has happened in the past month so I will give a brief update on the highlights.

I had my first rotary trip with the other exchange students to Phukradung National Park. It was so much fun! It was the first time all of us had been together and it was so great to meet so many people from all over the world. Phukradung is about 6 hours north of where I live. It is a mountain that we had to hike to the top of. Thailand is a very flat country their mountains would be hills in Oregon but hiking up Phukradung was the hardest hike I have ever done. We hiked about 6 Kilometers straight up and since this was Thailand there was no straight clear path, we had to climb over rocks and around trees which made it that much harder also the Thai people have never hear of switchbacks. I am proud to say that I was part of the 2nd group that made it to the top and we did it in about 3 hours, it took some people all day almost 9 hours. We stayed at the top of Phukradung for 3 days during those days we hiked from one side of the mountain and back again to see waterfalls and cliffs. It was absolutely breath taking and I loved every minute of it even if I came home exhausted, leech bitten and sick. At Phukradung I saw something that will stay with me for my entire life. As I said it was extremely difficult to walk to the top but the only way to get up to the top is to walk. That means that all the supplies used at the top of the mountain must be carried up by a person. There are men and women who carry up to 50 kilos tied to sticks that they carry on their backs everyday. Seeing these people walk up this mountain carrying everything from tourists bags to the water and food we'll eat and drink and even propane tanks was completely insane. It was something from one of my history books but it was happening right there in front of me. I don't think I can ever accurately explain how hard those people work or how you feel when you see them but I will never forget them. Being with the other exchange students was part of what made this experience so awesome and I can not wait to see them all again in 17 days for our Christmas trip to the North of Thailand!

The next thing that happened was Loy Krathong day and honestly I think this might even top Phukradung! Loy Krathong is celebrated in the eleventh month of the year on the first day of the full moon. It is a day to give thanks for the river and to let go of any bad things inside you. This year it was on November 28th, last Wednesday we had the day off from school because every year there is a parade through town. I being a foreigner got to be in the parade dressed in traditional Thai dress and I got to be part of the...well I'm not sure what you would call it but it was our school honoring the king. I had to wake up at 2 am to go and get my make up hair done which I was not very excited about but it ended up not being that bad because I got to hang out with some friends from other classes. We went to the parade grounds at about 8 am but our school was the very last school so even though the parade started at 9 we didn't actually start to walk for a long time after that. I was the center of attention and I took pictures with so many people, it was crazy but I loved it! The parade itself was very, very hot and tiring. I got a very lovely sunburn because my outfit covered one arm but not the other. After the parade I went to lunch with friends to celebrate and then when home to get ready for that night. At night is when you really celebrate Loy Krathong, the Thai people go where there is a body of water in my town it was the park right across the street from my house. I went with my friends to Loy Krathong because my host mom was in Bangkok and my host dad had to work. During Loy Krathong you make these little boat things from banana leaves and flowers called Krathongs and then you float them in the water. I wasn't able to make my own since I was in the parade but one of my friends was very nice and him and his brother made me one. At the park there were lots of activities like a futsal tournament, beauty pageant, live music, people selling things and as always lots of food! There were even fireworks and it was so cool to see them because in Thailand there's not much thought about how far away the fireworks should be set off from all the people so they were literally right above us, my friends got scared cause they were so close! Another part of Loy Krathong day was the famous paper lanterns that you always see pictures of. Lighting a lantern and letting it go was one of the coolest things I have ever done it was so magical and dream like I loved it! In all I think me and my friends ended up lighting 6 lanterns in one night! So all in all I had a blast on Loy Krathong day and I hope to celebrate it again in Thailand one day!

Some other smaller details from the last month. I am having a tough time with the language. I mean I'm definitely progressing just not as quickly as I would like to be. Thai is a very hard language because of all the tones. I'm trying my hardest and hopefully in a few months I will be more fluent. School is great and I've become very close with many of the kids in my class and now, especially after the parade, kids in other classes are starting to talk to me more and more. I have become very close with the  2 girls from my city who are going on exchange next year and they are kinda like my little sisters in Thailand. It's very strange to be so popular! The girls in the younger grades look up to me and everyone is always yelling at me telling me they love me. I will be moving host families soon, which is both happy and sad. I really like my host parents but I am not very close with my host brother and sister in my first family. So I hope to be close with everyone in my second family. My second family is much younger speaks even more fluent english than my first family but I am going to ask them to speak only Thai with me as much as possible. Maybe I'll try to post some pictures from Loy Krathong, Phukradung and just my daily life in Thailand in another post!

October 3rd marked 2 months since I left for Thailand. The time has flown by and even though I look ahead at the rest of the year and it seems so long I know it will go way, way too fast. I was in Bangkok 2 weeks ago, I was so excited to go to Bangkok because I would be meeting my host sister for the first time. She is my age but lives and goes to school in the city. We took a charter bus to BKK and that was my first experience taking a bus for longer than the ride to school. I felt like I was on the night bus from Harry Potter! Unfortunately almost immediately after we arrived in BKK I got food poisoning. Which was no fun and really cut into all the plans I had to see rotary friends in the city. I was really sick for about 2 days and then the rest of the week I still just didn't feel 100% better. I left BKK on Saturday late at night. I was going home by myself because Sunday night I left again. This time I was going to district 3340's RYLA. RYLA stands for rotary youth leadership awards all though we did not learn much about leadership at the camp, it was more of a military boot camp. This years RYLA was held in Sattahip which is about 8 hours away from Kantharalack it is right on the gulf of Thailand. We stayed at the military base in Sattahip. It was amazing right on the beach and even though it was a little bit frustrating because they whole week they only spoke Thai, I had a blast meeting the other exchange students and even making some new thai friends.

Now I know I haven't posted in a while so I'm gonna make a list of all the interesting things that have happened to me i the last month or so!

• I was able to hold a baby sea turtle and then let it go free in the ocean! This was such an incredible experience I still can't believe it really happened!
• In Sattahip they took on the Thai students onto a Thai aircraft carrier and they usually don't allow foreigners on to them but they made an exception for us exchange students. I was really fascinated by the whole military base and so happy they let us go on the carrier. 
• I met some of the most awesome exchange students from all over the world and I can not wait until l see them again in November!
• I went swimming in the gulf of Thailand. The first ocean I've ever seen that I've actually been able to swim in!
• Right now, for the month of October, my school is on break but I'm still hanging out with all my friends and continuing to be Kantharalack's very own superstar, as my host dad says. 
• I was the leader of the parade at a sports day that our school attended. They dressed me up in traditional Thai dress.

That's all I can think of right now! And now I'm gonna go to the milk shop with friends, all they do is eat here!

I know This post is very late in coming! I apologize but I have been terribly busy the past few weeks. My life in Thailand has started to have some routine to it, but it is still an adventure with new experiences everyday. This week is my fourth week at Kanthalak Wittaya School. I love it there! I am in class M. 5.1. The grades are all different here and very confusing I still dont understand it myself. But grade 5 is the equivalent of junior year and each grade has a certain number of classes with the same students in each class I am in class 1. I am the most popular kid in school! The first weeks of school students would literally stop what they were doing to stare at me. They have become more used to me know but I am still very popular and everyone stares at me tells me I'm so beautiful.  There is only one other white student at my school of 4,000. Her name is Vivian and she's from South Africa but she isn't an exchange student she actually moved to Kantharalak. She's younger than me so I've talked to her but she hasn't had quite the same experiences as me.

 Here's a brief outline of a usual day. I wake up at about 7 o' clock, get ready for school and eat breakfast. They have school uniforms at every school around the entire country and they are all pretty much the same a long blue skirt a white button up blouse and mary Jane shoes, boys uniforms are pretty much the same just shorts instead of a skirt and tennis shoes. We have one day a week where we wear our sports uniforms.msports uniforms are sweatpants and a different colored shirt depending on your grade, grades 1, 2 and 3 wear yellow and 4, 5 and 6 wear blue. Around 7:45 I leave for school. Pinot, who works for my host dad in his clinic, usually takes me on the motorcycle. My school isn't very far away about 2 miles or so and eventually I might walk to school with some of my friends who live near me. In the mornings, at school, we line up by class and sing the national anthem and listen to announcements. After the announcements I have various classes  until 12 o' clock which is when lunch starts. All my classes are in Thai so I have no idea what's happening but I usually sit in the back and talk to friends or sleep. Next week during English class I will have Thai class which I'm excited for! The language is so hard and I would love to have some actual instruction on it. I buy my lunch at school. Everyday I have either rice or noodles which costs me 20 baht then I get either a water for juice for 7 baht. There is about 30 baht to the dollar! Everything is so cheap here it's awesome! Me and my friends eat lunch in the canteen then go back to class to hang out until 1 or whenever the teacher gets there to start class. School ends at 3:45 and I go home around 4. Sometimes I'll stay later to hang out with friends. When I hang out with friend Iusually just sit and annoy them while they try and do homework :) Depending on the weather either Pinot picks me up on the motorcycle or my host mom picks me up in the car. When I get back to the clinic I have a snack then take a shower and change. We eat dinner at my host moms parents house everyday at about 7:30. My host grandma, Amma, always cooks some delicious homemade Thai food. That's a pretty typical day but definitely not everyday is like that! Everyday is still pretty different. 

When I told people I was going to be spending a year in Thailand the number one question I got asked was, "Why did you choose Thailand?", and I always gave some vague answer about hearing what a wonderful place it was and how everyone had been there had loved it. But truthfully I didn't really know why I chose Thailand and since I didn't really know why I had chosen this country I obviously had doubts about coming. But now I have been here for 4 weeks and I can say with absolute certainty I still don't know why I chose Thailand but I already never want to leave this amazing place! I am so happy here and honestly I am not homesick at all. Well that's not true sometimes I'll miss my family or the weather in Oregon or my friends. But I have a wonderful family here too (they are constantly telling me that i am they're daughter and they will always be there for me) and the most amazing friends I could have asked for! 

Oh and I'm trying to put pictures on Facebook but have been having some technical difficulties and it takes forever to load them onto my blog. I'll keep you all posted about where I end up putting them!

So I'm in Thailand! I got here on Friday the 10th at about 5 pm. My host family met my in Ubon which is a city about a mile away from Kanthatalak which is where I live. My host family is very nice and have been so understanding about how tired I am due to the time change. Yesterday was the Thai mother's day so we drove to SiSaKet to visit my host father's family. They were all very sweet. And his two nieces followed me around everywhere. One of them was 9 and the other 10. The 10 year old had learned english at school and talked to me and even taught me some Thai. The 9 year old was very shy and even though she had learned English also she didn't want to talk to me but she did show all her favorite things at the mall we went to. We went to lunch and then to Swensen's for ice cream with the whole family then the adults sat and talked while the kids walked around. Apparently Swensen's is from the US but I'd never seen it at home. After desert we said our goodbyes and drove back to Ubonto have dinner with my host mom's family. We ate at  a very fancy restaurant/lounge called Fee Ling. we ate outside right on a little lake and since Ubon has many temples you could see the tops of them in the distance it was  very pretty when they were all lit up. Yesterday was not only mothers day but the Queen's birthday so there were fireworks to celebrate that. They set them off right over the lake and it was very cool looking. 

Everything is so different here! I've learned to not pay attention to how they're driving because they drive very, very differently from how we drive in the US and it works for them, but let's just say most of the time you're not in a lane but driving on the middle of  painted lines. They are always eating here. When you say hello to someone the first thing they ask you, like small talk, is what have you eaten today. They haven't had me eat to much because the Thai food here is nothing like the Thai food back at home, What I've had is delicious though. There are also lots of dogs running around uh the streets and when I told them we kept dogs in our houses as part of our family they thought I was crazy. Here even if a dog is owned by your family it doesn't come inside and you don't pet it or touch it because it's dirty.  The area where I live is greatly influenced by Laos and its culture, which is very cool. In a few weeks my host mom is going to take me to visit her daughter who lives in Bangkok 
and I'm very excited for that! I really like Thailand when I first got here it was very hard and i wasn't sure about the country. It still is very hard and I miss home a lot but it's getting better and I know when I start school and make some friends that will get even better. 

Welcome to my blog! I have never been a journal keeper, a blog writer or anything else were you write down your feelings and thoughts consistently. So I will just jump into this!

A little background on my rotary exchange adventure. Last September I received a letter in the mail asking me to attend a meeting about going on a rotary youth exchange. Unfortunately the night of the meeting I had already agreed to babysit, so I begged my mom to go for me. And being the awesome mom she is she went and took lots of notes about everything that was said at the meeting. And the next day I was filling out the application.  I was originally selected to go on a short term exchange during the summer. But then in January I attended the first orientation and it was there that I made up my mind that I absolutely had to go on a long term exchange. I was accepted for the long term exchange a week before the next orientation at the end of February. The ski trip, this was the trip where we would tell the rotarians our final choices of countries and then they would tell us where we would be going. This is also the trip where I became with my two best friends in rotary, Amanda and Arielle. It feels like just yesterday that I was getting to know them and now the three of us are off go three differet continents. To this day I am not sure why I chose Thailand, but as I learn more and more about the country, I feel like I will love it there. We had one other orientation event it was held at the end of May at George Fox University, it was the district conference. At this event I felt like I became closer with lots of other exchange students and I had a blast putting on a talent show, going swimming at the water park in McMinnville and just hanging out talking about everything and anything with my fellow exchange students.

When I was first applying for a rotary youth exchange all the way back in September 2011 I had to fill out an application. One of the questions on the application was to write a short paragraph or two explaining, essentially why the Rotarians should pick you to go on exchange. I agonized over what to write about, I couldn't figure out how to put my feelings into words. Then one day I was sitting staring at my book shelf (not to brag but I do have a pretty impressive book shelf) and I thought about all the books I had read and how each book was set in a different place. I had been so many places in the world without stepping foot outside of the U.S. and I was ready to go explore the rest of the world. I realized I was in love with places I had never been,people I hadn't even met, and food I had never tried. And for all those reasons, I want to go on exchange. 

I have always wanted to go on an exchange but most exchange programs were way out of my price range. When I heard about rotary I was so excited. I am so grateful to rotary for giving me this opportunity to travel and experience a whole new world. Also thanks to every single person who has supported me throughout this whole process, I would not be leaving for Thailand in 6 days if it wasn't for all of you!