"DA WAN means Perfect Eyes"

First sorry, that my thoughts throughout this post is all over the place ... it is 3 am right now And second, Sorry everyone for not posting for a while now, I do not have internet at my host family's house although that might change on weds but I am not too sure. There is a computer downstairs with a modem but apparently the modem has not worked for a while. A friend told me, through translating with my sister, that on Weds someone was going to come by to fix the modem so that I could get on the computer. So sweet, but let's just keep our fingers crossed.

So, what has been going on?

Two weeks ago, I moved in with my host family. There are six members in the Family "KroopKrua" Pso Thong. Mom, Dad (my host Dad n Mom obviously), Dad's Son (so my brother), the Wife to the son (daughter in law ie. my Sister ) and two boys (ages 7 and 10). For the past two weeks they have been nothing but amazing to me. I wake up in the morning around 6:30, shower and by the time I come downstairs Food (breakfast) is ready. Breakfast here equals Rice, Eggs, Chicken and some other dish. That is like a dinner back in the States right? although its SO SO delicious, I have learned to say " nit Noy Khao" which means a little rice. Gin Khao is the term for Eat Rice BUT it's used during everyday language as " Eat/food time". Well after trying to eat as little as I can without offending them, I ride my bike to my Language training site which is about 15 minutes. Our Ajan (teacher) is so so amazing, I can tell now already that I will miss her so much once PST is over and that I have to move to my Site. Yes, we are with her from 8-12, we usually eat lunch together. I try to go for noodles, Pad Thai, pad See-U, or nething noodle ish. Although I have realized thatI would have LOVED to have that variety home cooked meal for lunch instead because after lunch at 1 we bike another 30 mins to get to our Technical Training site at the Sub-district Administrative Office in Ta Chai. Therefore between, biking, sitting through tech til 5 pm and biking back by 6:00pm , a bowl of noodles does not get me through those hours. And plus, its HOT here. I mean it feels like it's 90 degrees n more. Even though, it's only the " cool" season. OHHHH yes, biking, changing into " appropriate skirt/blouse "Rap Roi" attire,and biking home at 5pm... baby powder becomes ur bestfriend.

That is our usual PST schedule (language and Tech skills training). I get home around 6/6:15pm. funny story, One day, I got home at 6:30 because after training we were being idle and wanted to take an adventure bike ride to find the location for our language training. Well, I get home at 6:30ish, my family was so so worried. My Brother told me he called twice and my Sister was out already looking for me . I felt horrible, unfortunately that was before I knew how to say "sorry" in Thai, so I just kept trying to explain to them that I was just trying to find somewhere. On top of all that, 2 mins after I got home, the police pulls into the drive way and I"m like " crap, they called the police?".... n then my brother said " go upstairs..wash up" YUP at 22, in Thailand as a PCV I got sent to my room. Yes, of course, Lesson Learned.

Overall though, I think my family thinks i'm just hilarious and goofy because anything that I think I know in Thai I say it. and I try to act it out in front of them when we are just chillin on the porch. They look at me, smile and tell me that they don't understand what I just said... haha even though I'm saying it in THAI... well that will only tell you how horrible I am right?

The little boy is so adorable, i think he genuinely got my back. He makes sure I get my coffee, my water, my snacks anywhere we go. He just brings anything he is eating to me , with a smile (no matter I wanted or not) ... so cute :)

So Why am I up right now?

Well, Today is Feb 1st and it is our first overnight stay at the hotel since our departure to our host families. Therefore, after an amaaaazing night of " Thai Culture" which included eating amazing food on the floor, dancing the Thai dances, performing couple of our own American culture (I sang" Don't Stop Believing" with couple ppl ) and receiving a good luck 'charm" from our Thai staff we all felt "reconnected" again. It's amazing to look around and realize that, Although you have a pool of people back home that has your back and support everything that u are doing here in Thailand, these 59 ppl are the ones that TRUELY understands and gets you. You are not just some girl with a pathetic dream of helping others......(yes you get the point) So, after all the festivities ended, no one wanted to go to bed, so we been hanging out with "the "P.C crew" until now.. and it's 3am, and I gota be up at 7am .... goood morning!

So all in all, I've been spending my days training, learning thai, speaking/communicating in broken thai/english (can it be Thainglish), riding my bike ( ALOT), spending time with my host family and BEING extremely HOT, DEhydrated and tired. ... No one said it would b easy huh? Gosh I guess because of all those reasons, I LOVE Sundays ... it's my ONLY day off. So I usually spend it with doing laundry (with my hand), going to different Temples, and sometimes even, going to funeral. Though, nothing seemed sad about this one funeral that I attended on Sunday, people were drinking, eating and talking. I will say, three monks did come and read through their funeral rituals n other than that I watched everyone drink and eat. I think out of all those nights that I am out with my family, that was one night when I really really just wanted to go home/sleep/read.....

I do miss everyone, and I really hope that you all are doing GREAT. please do email/update me about your life> it might take me a little time to get back to u but that doesn't mean you can't just throw in an message :)

OH also, DA WAN means "perfect Eyes" and that's the nick name that my host family gave me :)