week one!

---

Made it through week one in Thailand and it has been awesome! The first few days were a bit difficult to adjust to, but I feel like I fit in better and don't feel so out of place anymore, yay! The first week of classes were pretty slow. My Thai language class is tough..the language is so different and its a struggle trying to remember all of the words and tones that you speak in. On Wednesday we had our welcome dinner at this place called Kantoke Palace, which is a traditional thai restaurant (and complete tourist attraction). They served a variety of thai dishes, including stir fry veggies, fried pork, fried bananas, chicken, this weird chili paste, and some other things. They also had a performance where they showed a bunch of traditional thai dances, including swords, a butterfly dance, a peacock dance, this crazy drum dance where the guy played with drum sticks as well as his knees and elbows, and the most well known dance called ram wong. On Friday Rowan, Kara, Grace, and I took a walking tour through Chiang Mai and the ancient part of the city that I found in one of my guide books. We saw tons of temples (they are everywhere!) that are hundreds of years old and are all very decadent and beautiful. My favorite temple was Wat Phra Sing, which is the most ancient and famous temple complex within the city. It is also the place where men become monks, so we saw hundreds of monks of all ages there. On our walk there we stopped at many shops, my favorite was called the tree house and was thousands of pieces of artwork on cloth that had english sayings on them. I bought a few to bring home with me! All of the artwork was made by one man and was incredible! There is a tapestry that I am going to go back and get that is all hand painted and only $60! The shop was really like a treehouse, with narrow passages and a very complex design that made you feel like you were in a tree sort of. We got great pad thai for lunch also! I called it a night early on Friday becuase I haven't been feeling very good and have had a sore throat for the past few days (but am finally starting to feel a little better!). For dinner we have found our favorite street vendor on Suthep Road that makes the most AMAZING noodles in the world! I am slowing adding more and more spice to my food so I can begin to order the spicy dishes when we go out to eat..still taking baby steps with that though.
Today we took a city tour with our USAC group, Thai buddies, and program director. Luckily we got to ride an air conditioned bus from stop to stop (hallelujah!!! it is so incredibly hot and humid). Our first stop was an elephant camp located in the hills and jungle. The location was surrounded by trees and had a river running through it- amazing! We got to feed all of the elephants, see and elephant nursery (and a 9 day old baby!), and see an elephant show. The things the elephants could do were incredible, they are so smart! They could help the people on and off their backs, sit/lay down, kick a soccer ball into a net, play basketball, build this fort thing of huge logs, hula hoop with their trunks, and play the harmonica (yes, they could actually play it!). Of all the amazing things they could do, they most surprising thing was they were able to paint pictures (with better art skills than I could ever have!). They drew 3 pictures of flowers/trees, a picture of an elephant, and an entire portrait landscape of the jungle. I can't believe the things they taught the elephants to do! Afterwards we stopped at an orchid garden which had thousands of orchids. Chiang Mai alone has 900 species of orchids, and it was quite a sight to see! I wish my grandpa could have been with me because I know he would have loved it more than I did!). They all smelled so beautiful and had the most intricate, bright colors.
My favorite part of today was the trip to Doi Suthep, the famous temple on the top of the mountain overlooking all of Chiang Mai. Doi Suthep was created when elephants climber the entire mountain (CRAZY if you saw how big and jungle-y the mountain is) and got to the top and died there, so they built a temple. It was BEAUTIFUL! You had to climb almost 400 stairs to get to it and then it was huge! Sadly, my camera had died earlier so I don't have any pictures, but I will get some from friends so everyone can see! The temple has this tall golden pagoda, surrounded by hundreds of buddahs of all shapes, sizes, and colors. While we were there we were blessed by the monks, given good luck bracelets, got our fortunes (mine was very good!), and got to see the most beautiful view I have ever seen in my life! There are many bells at the temple and so I got to make lots of wishes and ring a few bells, hopefully they will come true! Doi Suthep was so amazing and has been my favorite place I have been to so far. The last stop of the day wass at an umbrella making factory. They handmade crafts were very pretty and intricate, but pretty unexciting compared to what we had previously seen. I am so exhausted after such a long day! Tonight we are going out to the city, and then we are planning on doing a hike in the mountains tomorrow. I am having such a great time and am so glad to be here. The trip just keeps getting better. On another good note, Rowan and I got our room switched so we aren't woken up by roosters every morning anymore, YAY! Sorry this is very undetailed, I am going to try to update my blog more so the entries aren't so long. That way I can add more description, but honestly no description will ever do what I am experiencing justice! Miss everyone at home lots😊

---