My Arrival

The flight to Thailand went by quickly. After that 15-hour flight, anything seems to fly through time. After going through customs and getting my bags, my group of exchange students and I went through two tall walls that brought us to the outside world. Waiting not too far away were many, many groups of Thai people all holding up signs. You feel like a celebrity walking down a red carpet, everyone was within inches of you, but no one dared to cross over the carpet into your space. Everyone seemed so happy to see us. Finally a young girl, (I think she was young, all Thai look young here) asked me my name, and suddenly I was being dragged into a huge group of people all happy and talking really fast in Thai. At that moment, all the Thai I have ever learned went out the door. There was no way I could understand a thing they were saying! I wish I could have had a picture of my face. A mixture of exhaustion and confusion mixed with about 20 Thai. Shaken not stirred. There I met my first host mom, Kanokluck, and my dad, Somchai. They are very nice. They have five sons, all older than me. I think the oldest is 22. One of the sons lives in San Francisco. Did I mention that the Thai drive on the other side of the road? That was very disorienting at almost 1 am. I thought my mom was going to drive but then I realized that the wheel was on the other side!!! It’s about 30 minutes from the airport to my new home. My host father is an eye doctor and he owns his own store. The store is located on a soi, or a side street. I have yet to venture outside. It makes me feel a little better that I also live across the street from a small police station. My house is four stories tall, and it’s connected to the store. When I say connected, I don’t mean by a door, it’s so connected in fact that the customers can see and walk right into our living room! Past the living room is our kitchen. I was greeted at home by two brothers. Later I met a third but I forget his name. One is in the university (college), the other just graduated, and he gets his diploma in November. The younger of the two’s name is Tent, and the older is Paul. Paul seems the friendliest. Tent was an exchange student to Germany last year, and a few years ago, Paul went to Japan. Paul now works in a Japanese restaurant and aspires to come to America to work in another restaurant there. Paul said that he would show me his manga (Japanese comic books) and teach me Japanese, but the manga is in Thai and I told him that I would love to learn Japanese but I think I should learn Thai first. My room is on the third floor. Mine is the only room on that floor. You walk up the stairs and at your left is my room, and if you keep walking straight, there is a large sitting area with a HUGE window looking down at the soi. My room is also big. It was the room of one of their sons that isn’t at home anymore. In my room, there is a big drum set with five cymbals, my bed, a big bookshelf filled with manga, a wardrobe, a big desk, a small desk, a stereo, and there it looks sooo empty! You could play 8 games of twister in here and still have some room! My bathroom is on the third floor. It has a normal toilet. (I had to put that in there) I went to bed around 3am. The next morning my mom said to wake up at 7 because she thought I would be really hungry from my long trip. I woke up and to my surprise, there were a ton of people here that I had no clue as to who they were! They all stared at me and laughed. Soon my mom woke up and made me breakfast. An egg and toast with apricot jam. It was really good. My mom introduced me to soybean sauce. It is similar to soy sauce. Maybe it is the same thing? Well she had me put it on my egg and it was extraordinarily good. Then she told me that the store opens at 10 and usually she doesn’t get up until 930, and she east breakfast later than that. She eats a mixture of yogurt, honey, and lemon juice. “good for your health” she says. After breakfast we both went back to bed and here I am in my room typing this journal waiting until 10 o’clock, so I can see what the day has in store for me. Tomorrow I think I start school. Also the family has a few maids. Im not sure how many yet. I will try to keep everyone updated as much as possible. Feel free to comment or e-mail me! Miss everyone back home! Bye for now!