Please note this post was written in installments.

Alright, dang I got a lot to type about. Rotary arranges three trips for us exchange students and I just got back from the first one, the Northern Trip. I've got tons of photos (in addition to the ones from the first few months of the exchange) to post when I get home. Right now I'm in Phrae, at my fellow YE Christine's house. We're both catching up on emails and blogs ect. It's been a busy and until recently sleepless two weeks. Two days after the N. Trip ended we had Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Camp (RYLA Camp). Then I went to Phrae, my host mother's hometown, and met up with my host mom and sister. We'll be staying until Sunday morning and then we go to Chiang Mai for another dentist appointment (Nong Toy has braces).

About the YE's, there are about 20 of us, not all came on the trip though. There are seven American YE's, Elizabeth, Ryan, Tibor, Christine, Bud and I went on trip, and Micheal and Taba didn't go on the trip. Taba is from Hawaii and just got to Thailand the last day of the trip. There's one Canadian, Jenny. Five Mexicans, Sara, Zhayra, Polly, Heriberto, and Anahi, who are all really nice. Then one Brazilian, Leandro. That's all the Americans. From Europe there is Maxime (Max) from France, and two German girls Judith and Frederike, their English is amazing, sometimes I think Judith sounds Australian. Speaking of the country/continent, there's Laura our lone Aussie who's been here for 8 months already (Australia does Youth Exchanges differently because of the school year). Then there are three Koreans, the twins Pim On and Han Lee, and Ing On who, like Laura, has been here 8 months. None of the Koreans speak much English, but they're learning it as well as Thai really well. There's still one Russian boy coming soon, don't know his name.

The first thing we did on the trip was go to the Elephant Training Center. We saw the elephants do tricks and paint (they're pretty good too). Then we went for an elephant ride. It was two to an elephant and Christine and I went together. They had this kind of box on top of the elephant with a metal back, and armrests which a seatbelt harness attatched. At first I thought the harness was for little kids who'd want to jump off the elephant, then the elephant started walking. The word for elephants is surreal. They're huge, but friendly, beautiful and ugly at the same time, they look intellegent, but it's hard for me to believe they actually see anything because their eyes are crossed all the time. Surreal is also the word for riding an elephant. They look graceful, but you get thrown around a lot when your on top of one. I wasn't expecting that and was very glad for the harness. It was a lot of fun being so high and on top of a living thing, in fact the biggest living thing I've ever seen.

One of the best experiences I had on the trip was getting in a van with mostly native Spanish speakers and an American (Tibor) and a Frenchman (Max) who both spoke good Spanish. I was the only one who didn't speak Spanish. I could understand the subject of the conversation usually, which surprised me. I understood a lot, but couldn't say anything. It was a lot of fun, they put on really good Spanish music, we sang along, and talked over the music. I learned some Spanish (most of which I’ve forgotten already). If I had something to say I'd just say it in English (all but two in the van spoke fluent English and the other two understood the basics), but mostly I just listened and laughed. I tried speaking French-- ooh la la! I can't. I tried to say a basic French sentence and it came out in Thai. Oh well, my mom's friend Dr. Peter says it's normal when you're learning a new language. I hope my French will come back.

The other highlight of the trip was doing a homestay at an Akha hilltribe village. The Akha women wear an elaborate headress made of silver balls, beads and cloth and a dark blue jacket and skirt with tons of elaborate embroidery. Or atleast the older women wear it, most of the kids and all the men in the village wore western clothes. Most of the people in the village are illegal immigrants from Burma and are only allowed to be in the village and the nearby town because they don't have a Thai ID card. I got to stay with the village's medicine woman, Mae Mii Na and her family. It was an incredible experience. Mae Mii Na doesn't speak Thai and it was incredible to learn how to communicate without words. (I never really got this experience since I studied Thai before I came.) She was so kind, which considering all she's been through it's amazing that she could like a spoiled rich white girl.

After the trip it was waiting two days for RYLA Camp in Chiang Mai, then two days in RYLA camp. At RYLA they took us to a really beautiful wat in a mountain. It was really wonderful to walk around and take pictures. It had lots of rabbit statues, I don’t know why. I wish I would have asked. Rabbit’s my sign in Chinese astrology, so it was funny to see. They took us to Tesco Lotus, the Thai equivalent to Wal-Mart, and we bought a ton of junk food and ate it that night at the dorm. When RYLA was finished I went to Phrae where my host mom and sister were visiting relatives. We stayed three more days and I got to hang out with three of my favorite YES, Christine, Anahi, and Laura, as well as Laura’s friend Yana from Germany (she’s a YFU exchange student).

Now I’m happily back in Mae Sariang. (This was written on Wednesday the 24th.)

Today was a great day after all of this farang-ness. My first day back in Mae Sariang, I rode my bike to town (it’s about a 10-15 minute ride). I don’t seem to be able to make this journey without some kind of bike trouble though. Today one of my peddles fell off. Luckily it fell off only a few meters from the bike shop. After that I went to the restaurant of my third host mom, Mae Paeo. My host sister, Pii Mim was there too (she’s normally in Bangkok studying law, but it’s vacation time). They took me to the post office and helped me mail the package. It was good they came because one thing I had was too big for the boxes at the post office which meant we had to go buy a box at another store. I would have had no idea where to go if I even understood what the men at the post office said. Thai people are so kind.

After the post office Pii Mim, and I, with a little help from Mae Paeo, made kanom chan (layer snack). It’s made from rice flour, some other kind of flour they couldn’t explain what it was, sugar, fresh coconut milk, and a grass which name I can’t remember. First I washed the grass, and there was so much of it. I thought when I started it would take forever, I think it actually took like 10-13 minutes, when will I learn that if I actually do things they get done? Then I had to cut it into little pieces, and grind it with a mortar and pestle. After that we mixed the other ingrediants together, it was amazing to see it go from thick batter to almost water. Then we separated that into two bowls. In one bowl we put the grass in and squeezed the grass so it turned green. After that we put a coffee cup full into a pan in a steamer, and let it cook for five minutes. One layer of green, and five minutes later add a layer of white. Repeat ad nauseum. It was so good when it was finished though. Mmm… The whole process of cooking it was so unwestern. It’s amazing how many different things and ways of doing things in the world.
After that a group of American tourists (from Memphis of all places) came in and we gave them some kanom chan (which I mistakenly told them was kanom chang, which means elephant snack). Kanom chan looks a little like boogers so there was some food playing. They were all nice people, but only one two liked kanom chan, but hey, I didn’t like it the first time I ate it either.

Then we went with Ing-Ing, the cutest and shyest little Thai girl, to a little fair the town was having. Mae Paeo won a stuffed kitty for me. I haven’t named her yet, I love her despite the fact that she’s pink.

When we were driving to Mae Sariang from Chiang Mai yesterday, I was thinking about how I didn’t really feel at home in Thailand, but my life in America felt so far away. (Did I tell you all how I forgot I had had a job in America for awhile? This summer feels as if it happened a few years ago.) Now that I’m back in Mae Sariang, in my own room with Thai TV coming in from the other room I feel at home.

Thanks so much for everyone supporting me and especially the Rotary for giving me this opportunity. I'm really happy to be doing this, even when I'm miserable (which isn't much of the time).