Orientation and First Misunderstanding~

I was going to do a blog for each day of the few day long orientation before I would go to my family, but there was so much I figured I should condense it once I'm done. And well, today was the last day of cultural learning in a classroom~ Tomorrow I go to my host school and then family, whom I am sure I will get along with well! <3

In basic terms though, the orientation was a few days of much needed rest from jet lag and culture shock as well as a way to get together with the other students. Okay, and there was a small bit used for learning and such, but it didn't seem like I was sitting there absorbing a bunch of info. LOL All together we had students from, USA(duh), Chile(1 student), Argentina(I think 2?), Columbia(1 student), Japan(4 students), Brazil(1 student), Germany(8 students! o.o), and Australia(1 student). If any of you are reading this and realized I forgot a country, please let me know and I'll just edit this post. LOL It got really hard to keep track after the German students got here.

Before I say anymore, here are some pictures of them:

 Fuki and Masashi from Japan, posing for picture while at orientation

 One of the teachers, Pii-Dai(background), Atsushi from Japan(front of table), and Karl from Germany(behind girl in front). The rest I am not sure. Sorry guys! Let me know if you should happen to see this. LOL

Fuki from Japan

From left, Karl from Germany, Atsushi from Japan, Masashi from Japan, and Fuki from Japan

From left, I think Carinna(?) from Germany, Jill from Germany, a student from Germany who I forget the name of, and Arisa from Germany. It was a German photo. LOL

Jill from Germany and another German student I forget name of...sorry!!

Tatiyana(SP?) from Columbia and Fuki from Japan

D'Stefano from Chile and Larissa from Brazil

From left starting with person turned and standing up, Arisa from Germany, Carinna from Germany, Jill from Germany, and sorry last person but I forget your name. x-x'

And that's all I could get for now. LOL One German guy named Rafael told me not to post pictures of him, so I'll be nice and respect his privacy. ;3

All the students here are really nice though. Although, I do prefer to hang out with the foreigners versus my own Americans. I get along best with the Japanese students and I think they are glad to have me too. In fact, the first night one of the Japanese students, Mitsuho, asked me, "Miki, please teach us English. We cannot understand the orientation." If anything, me going to Thailand certainly helped these students. Because, if there's one language I speak quite fluently, it's "simplified English". Plus, my ability to speak some Japanese gave them even more help. Though, I think the two Japanese girls are more worried than the two dudes... Hell, I always see them falling asleep while the teacher is explaining everything. LOL I don't blame them though, for not knowing the language and having people bombard you with info in said language will either make your life very tiresome and/or stressful.

When I first heard the orientation would be taught in English, I immediately felt sorry for all the other students who were not from an English-speaking country. I will say though, all the Germans, they speak English perfectly. o.o I mean, so perfect they have no accent that would even indicate they are German. They can also understand advanced vocabulary. Even more advanced than I. Go German folk! LOL

Unfortunately they're about the only ones who know enough to understand the whole orientation. Thankfully though, the learning is only a small part of the orientation. I think the orientation is more or less meant to relax and let the students ease into the country. Though, I still think about home occasionally, and still long for it, I really haven't felt bad about coming to Thailand. I'm certainly glad I am here and excited to meet all kinds of people and make new friends. <3

Though it might help if I don't give all money away to who I think says I should...okay, before I go I guess I should touch up on the first event ever in Thailand where I had a mistake that caused misunderstanding. XD

Basically, on the first night, the teachers took all the students out to buy food using baht they had provided. They took us to a food court where you would pay at a management and they would give you a card with your amount of money on it so you could buy food. I ordered a lemon ice drink all fine and well without using any English, but then I decided to get some noodles. At first, all was fine, until the cook asked for the money. Thinking I had enough, I gave her the card and she told me a needed more. Panicking, I shifted through my bag to find extra money that the teachers had given me and went back to the desk to put more on the card. I thought, yay done as I went back and handed her the card. She runs it through and then says something in Thai where the only word I knew was "95 baht". Instantly, I thought I still needed more money and ran to grab more, but I had run out.

Well now I had to slink to my teachers and ask them for more to which they looked at me like how I could have spent so much. When they went over to the lady and spoke in Thai, they turned to me and said that the cook said, "You have 9 baht left of the card." Insert facepalm here. LOL

Yeah, pretty scary and embarrassing, but so funny now that I look back on it. :D

Okie. I should probably go to bed before I keep Fuki awake any longer. Night and bye all~ Thanks for reading. :D

Right now, Mitsuho went to her host family early, I think, because she had gotten a bit sick. This left poor Fuki all alone in her room. I felt bad, so I asked if I could switch rooms, going from my American room mate, to a Japanese one for tonight. LOL