Rieng kam sap mai. Learn new vocabulary.

Conversation here is impossible. Most of my day consists of pointing at things and saying "arai ka?" (what is it?). I am told what it is in Thai and I repeat it. Taew, my host sister, will often point to things and tell me the name in Thai. I tell her the name in English. In this fashion I am learning many new words. Learning new vocabulary (rieng kam sap mai) and learning how to speak are very different things though. I have not had a true conversation since the plane here when I talked for hours to other exchange students. It is good to be here and I think I am learning but I cannot deny that I am a bit starved for conversation. I remember now how the rebound students said it took them months to be able to carry a true conversation in their host language... then I remember that I have been here for less than a week. The road to conversing is far too long...

A few nights ago I went to a very cool restaurant. When we arrived in the parking lot it was very very full. A man ran out with a flashlight to direct us as to where to park. The lot was so small that when my host father tried to turn around he had to do about a 20 point turn... still he couldn't quite make it so the man with a flashlight just pushed a car out of the way so he could. It was pretty funny. You eat on a float that is tied out on the river (gai meh nam, near the river). You can buy fish food and when you sprinkle it into the water big fish (bpaa) come to the surface and eat it. When we arrived at the restaurant (ran a han) my host father saw some of his friends. He took me to meet them. They gave me a fork and told me to try everything. I just said "aloi, aloi" (delicious, delicious). All they wanted was to watch my face as I tried everything. Everything tasted pretty good except some strange chewy brown thing... I think it's made from fish but no one could explain exactly what it was and I didn't like it so I don't want to think about it too hard... haha. When they asked if I could speak Thai I replied by saying "Poot pasa Thai di nit noi ka." (I speak Thai a little bit.) They are shocked. "Geeng! Geeng!" (Excellent, excellent!) they say. They are very kind, I tell them it is nice to meet them in Thai. My host father and I return to our table. We are served food... an entire fish is on the plate but lucky for me we do not eat the head or tail. (Pheww. Only in Japan, Maya! haha) My host father drinks and after a while says "maew!" and shakes his head around. Taew explains that it means drunk, I can't help but laugh a little. My host father tells Taew to tell me two things; First that if I am hungry I should just open the fridge, even if it is midnight and second that if I don't like my other host families I can come back to his home. I think it is very nice but I'm not sure what will happen if/when I do get hungry and open the fridge... who knows what I will find in there! haha.

A few days later Taew took me on her motorcycle! It was so fun! Sanuk-sanuk (fun)! We drove up to little shops along the street and bought Thai desserts. It was funny because we did not even turn the bike off, we just drove right up, bought what we wanted and went on our way. So far I don't like Thai desserts... they are all gelatinous, not very sweet and strangely colored... it's seems bit unnatural to a girl who is used to cupcakes and cookies! Haha

Sunday (not Monday, oops)was the Queen's Birthday. That means it is Mother's Day (wan-meh). Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday (Tuesday) I went with some people from my new Rotary Club. We went to another town named Ban Mi. Here we met Rotarians from Japan and Ban Mi. Our Rotary club, the Rotary club of Ban Mi and two Japanese Rotary clubs had worked together to provide water filtration systems to 43 rural schools who  were negatively affected by a two month long flood last year. The Rotary clubs also provided lots of students with backpacks of schools supplies. It was very good to see Rotary at work in another country. I will go to my first Rotary meeting next Wednesday... I will present my powerpoint then. I hope they will understand my bad Thai...

Tomorrow I will go to school for the first time. (Prung ni chan bai rongriene). I have been told that I must introduce myself in front of all the students at my school. There are 3,300 students and I am not very good at speaking Thai. Oh dear. haha.

On Friday I will go to Pattaya with the president of the Rotary Club. She is my second host mom. i am very excited because Pattaya is on the beach and looks very beautiful. Also, I will get to meet her family. She has three kids and I am very excited to have host siblings in my second family. Her oldest son, Ohm, has just returned from California for Youth Exchange. I am so excited to meet him because he will speak English!

Also, I talked to Yin (the exchange student who lives in Bangkok who went to Palmer High School last year) on the phone. It was so good to hear a familiar voice. Hopefully I will be able to go see her in Bangkok sometime soon.

Kaohom. It doesn't really seem like my name, but then I realized that I already answer to it. Still, I wish people could call me Kearney. Kaohom seems so foreign. I suppose everything here is foreign though. I just have to get used to it. Also... I think the first time someone translated my name for me it was translated wrong... I've now been told that it means "rice and good smells" or "rice that smells good".

A friend of mine sent me a few questions she had so I will answer them here. If you have questions please let me know! You can comment below or email me.

I have seen very few Americans here. With my blond hair, height and white skin I stick out like a dragon at a petting zoo. Most people either stare at me as if they have never seen a white person before or pretend as if they haven't seen me, but keep looking up as if to check that I'm actually there. Young children often nudge their friends when I walk by. When I smile at them they smile back and nudge each other, whispering inaudible things in Thai. At the store the other day a young boy walked by me and said in a small voice "Hello?" and kept walking. I didn't think fast enough to realize he wanted to talk to me. His mother hurried him along and tried to act like she had not noticed me. In America, I am just another white girl walking down the street but here it is impossible to go unnoticed.

Anyways, I don't have much time to write. Wish me luck introducing myself tomorrow!

-Kearney