January 6th: Informal meeting with program personnel and buddies…Pad Thai lunch…Kad Laung Shopping and money exchange…Walking street

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Today I got up around 9 am and went down to eat breakfast. We ate pork and sticky rice which was delicious! After breakfast I got ready and went down to spend some time with my Thai buddies: Noon and Jha. We spent time getting to know each other and I asked them a lot of questions about school and about life in Thailand, and about their families. They both told me they are only children and throughout the day I heard a lot of the Thai buddies talking about how they are only children too. I think this is an interesting feature of their culture because in the United States it can be somewhat uncommon to find a family with only one child. After talking the Thai buddies left and we went down to eat lunch which was Pad Thai and mango sticky rice! I love Pad Thai and it was cool to finally get to have some that was authentic after having it so much in the States. After lunch we met up with our buddies again took the buses to the bank where we exchanged our money. It was very chaotic, and I was the first one to exchange my money so I was nervous that I was going to get cheated or not get enough money in return for the $200 I was exchanging. The teller who was exchanging the money was very particular about the dollar bills and they could not have a mark on them or a rip in them or else she would not accept them. She spent a lot of time making sure the money was real which I thought was interesting because she was questioning and double checking to make sure I was not cheating her just as much as I was doing the same when I got my baht in return for my American dollars. After exchanging the money we went to the outside mall where my buddies help me find a traditional Thai outfit. This was much more difficult than I thought it was going to be as the shops were very crowded and it was VERY humid! I am a pretty indecisive person so it took me a while to find a skirt and shirt that fit and that I really liked but my buddies were very patient with me despite also being hot and tired. After leaving the mall we went back and had dinner which was chicken stir fry and pork soup. After dinner we got ready and left for the Walking Street Market. I was so tired after dinner and really did not feel like going out again. The jet lag was very bad, but luckily, I got a burst of energy on the way to the Market! We rode in an open bus with the windows down which was so much fun! I felt the cool breeze and saw all the amazing lights of Chiang Mai and I thanked God for blessing me with the opportunity to come to Thailand. Even though I was having a hard time enjoying things to the fullest because of the jet lag, I was still so grateful to be there. Walking around the market with my buddies was really fun! I got some really cool pants and bowls and other souvenirs which I was really excited about. It was again very hot and very overcrowded, but my buddies were great in making sure I was okay. They helped me barter for some of my items and told me when things were too expensive. I tried some milk tea ice cream which was delicious and some sweet potato donuts. On the way home I talked to my buddies more and I was asking them where they would like to travel if they could go anywhere. One of them said they would like to go to England and the other one said she would not like to travel. When I asked her why she would not like to travel she replied that her family lives in the countryside and is very poor and before coming to the school she had not traveled at all. It broke my heart to hear her saying that she was poor and was not able to travel because of that. I realized just how blessed I am to be able to travel so far away from home and experience another culture. Overall, it was a great day and I went to bed exhausted!

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