School - First Impressions

This past week was my first week of school. So I figure I should talk about it a bit so you guys can get an idea of what it's like. Now I don't have pictures because I think taking them around the school/during class would be a bad idea. Sorry~

Anyway, it's the school's first year having exchange students therefore everything is kind of new and easy going. With there only being two of us (my cousin, Jill, and I), this also makes it easy to get our needs handled without being over shadowed by other exchange students. And since Jill and I our really good friends, this makes it even better. We sort of help each other survive the struggles of school. Together we both are able to speak quite a bit of Thai. She knows some words and I know some different ones, so when we communicate together, it becomes much easier to get by. Pretty much we both try to stay close to each other while in school, but sometimes I have to go to classes on my own and such.

This isn't so bad though. For while I have to do well in my classes, it is much easier for me. As one of my advisers put it, "You have to get good grades, but it's easier for you to get those good grades." Pretty much all I have to do is sit there and look like I'm listening and I get credit. Now I'm sure this won't last for long, so I'm enjoying it while I can~ All my teachers so far have been nice and understanding about our situation. Except one, who told us to sit in a room alone, calling our advisor and telling her she was scared to teach us since we didn't know much Thai. I'm not quite sure why she did that since all I have to do is listen, but hey, it got me out of class for the afternoon, heh.

My classes are fairly simple ones too. The only core subject I have is Science, because it's taught in English. The rest are art, Thai dance, volleyball, French, Chinese, English, and other similar kinds. We also have times where we work in the school shop that sells various supplies for the students. Both Jill and I get a lot of math and Thai practice here. I know my Thai numbers so well because of it. LOL And because we're here working a lot, we can buy school supplies for even cheaper prices than what the other students have to. The store manager even gives us stuff for free occasionally~ Sometimes we have periods called "self study", which is code for "not do anything". LOL Basically as long as we stay on the school property, we can do whatever we want during this time. Our favorite hang out seems to be the English building's teacher office. It has AC and the teachers always end up feeding us each time we visit. We once even had pizza here~

Lunch here in general is good too. Instead of the usual "3-to-2" choice lunches we have in America, we have a full house of shops selling at least 40 different kinds of food. I think it will take me a year to try everything at least once. The food is cheap too. One meal is about 20 baht, which is equivalent to less than 1 American dollar. The only thing I don't like about lunch is how we have to eat with our uniforms on. Yeah, at all Thai schools, students are required to wear uniforms. Unfortunately during lunch if you should accidentally dribble something on your shirt or skirt, then you gotta wash it off well because you only have like three sets of uniforms. So far I haven't gotten anything on my clothes I couldn't get off, and I'm hoping my luck will stay that way.

On the subject of uniforms, the school's uniform for girls consists of a light purple dress top with a long black skirt with folds. The shoes are also black with a loose strap over the top of the foot. And finally a belt is to be placed just above where the skirt sits on the waist. For boys, it's about the same except instead of a skirt, they wear shorts. Each day when I come home, I must wash my uniform by hand. And then, once I hang it up to dry, I have to pick out another set to be ironed. After all, you can't have one of your few sets of uniforms get all messed up. For unlike most of everything here in Thailand, uniforms are freaking expensive. So I'll be sure to keep all three of my uniforms well taken care of.

With the uniforms on, Jill and I basically look like everyone else. However, our looks outside of the clothing makes us stand out and so everywhere we go, the students stare at us. It's not bad though. I find it's more like they're curious and intrigued. Some of them will randomly say hello to us and I've learned it's a nice gesture to say hello back. Those that can speak English are especially eager to talk to us. They ask us where we're from, our names, why we're here, etc. And when I see them again in class, they always ask me to sit next to them. With my fellow peers and teachers so nice and my classes easy, I think this school year will be a lot of fun for me~

Well I think I covered the basics of school. If you would like to know more, just send comment a request here or in the awesome request post I put up not too long ago. As always, thanks for checking this out~