Busy Weekend - Advisor's House

Back again~ This time to wrap up the "Busy Weekend" posts. Like I mentioned last post, since we couldn't get a ride home we ended up spending the night at our adviser's house. At first, I thought this was going to be horrible since I had not been at my host house for one night(and believe me, I love my house). However, it turned out to be a good decision to go.

P'Kii and her daughter P'Plaao drove both Jill and I to their home by motorcycle. Here I learned basic motorcycle etiquette that I had not been taught due to obvious communication difficulties in the family. Once we got to her home, I became all nervous again like I was when I arrived the first day at my host family. However, this quickly went away when P'Kii informed us that she always had exchange students over at her house and therefore did not adhere to Thai rules.

This was a great opportunity to relax and go back to my home culture where I could step on pillows and tap things with my feet as well as talk in English. I know I mentioned the feet thing twice, but it's just about the only thing I still have problems remembering. I'll make another blog post later detailed about the Thai feet etiquette once I know more about it.

Anyway, not only was the visit a good way to take a break from Thai culture, it was also a good way for me to see where I needed to improve in my experience here. The main one was how my Thai family wanted me to help out more around the house. However, they never would ask me to do much, so I assumed I wouldn't have a lot to do. In America, I would always wait for someone to tell me what needed to be done, where as here I have to find it and ask. As well, I found out my family is very energy conservative and prefers not to waste electricity when they can. My advisor suggested that instead of leaving my laptop plugged in all day, just to have it run on battery power for the day and charge it at night.

I am happy to report both of these changes have been easy to adjust to and I am living more closely with my host family. We all love each other so much!~

After we settled all that, I found myself getting a horrible headache and decided to call it a night early. When I woke up the next day, I expected to be going home, but unfortunately poor P'Kii was really busy that day. She suggested we go to a big mall in Ratchaburi called Robinson to shop for things we needed(my main priority being a wristwatch...) until she figured out a way for us to get home. Robinson was so cool! But there were a lot of people, so I thought it best not to take pictures, especially since my camera flash is practically blinding, heh.

Jill and I discovered a lot of cool things at the Robinson. Our favorite area was the food court though because it had shops that sold ice-cream, cake, coffee, donuts, and even pizza. All stuff I had grown to miss in the states! Yay! We first stopped to get coffee and some donuts, which were perfect I must say. Afterward we walked around the mall, trying to find stuff we needed at a decent price. I ended up buying a new pair of headphone(original ones broke) and a lime green wristwatch that I love so much~

Around dinner time, P'Kii picked us up from the mall and took us out to the local markets to buy dinner. I always find it funny how everyone asks me what I want to eat, but then forget that I probably don't know what I like. I mean, I do know what I like to eat here in Thailand, that's not quite the problem. The problem is that I don't know the names of what I want. LOL Thankfully P'Kii understood this and got me some food without asking me much other than what kind of vegetable I wanted.

When we got home, P'Kii said that she wouldn't be able to take us back home so we'd have to stay another night. Thankfully we had done the laundry during the day, so we had clothes use for the next day and that night. Once it was morning again, P'Kii and P'Plaao drove us to where my mom was at work and had my dad then take us home.

Everyone in my family greeted me happily and said how much they missed me. Having been away from my home for a total of three nights now, I was certainly glad to be back too. I was also eager to show them what I learned from P'Kii and started to help out a lot more, even if they didn't ask. Now I also only use the computer at night, and if I have to during the day for some reason, I make sure it's on battery. In learning so much about my Thai home, I am learning a lot about life itself. I can tell this year will make me a stronger person. I am so staying here the full year!~

*~*Miki of Feathers*~*