week one of PST

Sorry for the delay in updates but life in Thailand has been insanely busy! I only have time now for a brief update with some highlights of the last few days because my host mom is waiting for me to practice Thai with her.

I moved in with my host family on Sunday and they are AMAZING. I have a mom, two grandparents, and a 19 year old brother. The house is beautiful and I even have my own room with a bigger bed than I had in America. The only person in my family who speaks any english is my mom. We have a very hard time communicating so I basically never have any idea what is going on. I smile and laugh all the time. They feed me insane amounts of food. For example breakfast yesterday consisted of hot dogs, chicken wings, chicken fingers, eggs, and shrimp. Yupp I said breakfast not dinner. After I eat all of this food they keep telling me I will get fat and I keep trying to say then feed me less but it is not working! Today we ate dinner outside and the mosquitoes were attacking me as usual. This apparently means I am the dirtiest one according to my host mom. So all of a sudden I start getting zapped by a tennis racket looking mosquito zapper. All through dinner my mom electrocutes me to get rid of the bugs and it doesn't hurt but I laugh so hard and she thinks I am crazy. Then, I am in the living room and try to open the trash barrel. Apparently you are just supposed to wave your hand over it and then it opens. So when it flies open at me I yell and jump back and then when it shuts I jump again. This of course sends my grandmother into fits of laughter. I am a constant source of entertainment around here.

Every day I get woken up around 6. I am then supposed to shower and get dressed then have breakfast with my mom. Then I bike to training (about 7k). My grandmother rides in front of me on her motorcycle and I have to bike behind her so I don't get lost. She goes very very fast and by the time I get to school I am drenched in sweat. I then study Thai with my 4 person language class from 8-12. Have lunch until 1 where I bike or walk to a nearby restaurant and eat pad see-oh because it is the only thing I know how to say. Then return to school for technical training from 1-5. Curfew is at 6 so I go right from school back home and hang out with the family the rest of the night. My family is usually worried that I will get lost so they meet me on the road on my way home. My mom teaches me Thai all night and I am attached at the hip to a notebook and Thai dictionary. I am usually exhausted and in bed by 9.

I will try to update more later. I have lots of amusing stories! I also need to figure out how to put pictures on this thing.

I miss you all!