Abroad Trip Day 11

Last night was pretty fun. We all piled in a seelaw, and stopped to get pad thai and roti and drinks on the way to Maria's. Then we walked about 15 minutes down the road to Maria's house. We were supposed to meet Surat at Maria's street, but we walked so fast that we passed her before she came to meet us. We got to the end of the street, and were very confused. While lost Farang may be a target, 19 lost Farang are not. We were just a spectacle for the kids who live in the houses around there. It was a pretty fun night, and we were home by 10 for a short nights sleep.

We got up at 5:15 to go give alms to the monks who walk by the morning market on their morning alms run at 6am. I paid 30 baht ($1) for a ready-to-eat meal and a flower.

“Nimon-ka” I said to the monk, wai-ing.

He stopped, and open the alms bowl monks carry with them. I put the food in there, careful not to touch the bowl, put the flower on top. Then I wai-ed really low to the ground in a crouch as he blessed me, and went on his way with his food. All monks are not allowed to eat after noon, and many only eat one meal a day which they cannot ask for, nor can they purchase (they have no money). If I were Buddhist, I would have earned some merit for my family, so my parents would have better karma, and improve their next life. I think that's how it works, anyway. Not so sure. The Sanskrit translated to Thai translated to not-so-great English with a thick accent loses some meaning along the way.

After feeding the monks, we went back to the hotel, and most people went to bed. I stayed up and did homework, though. I was a little behind on reading and writing, nor was I that tired. When breakfast opened at 7, I had quite a bit of coffee, then went back to work until it was time to leave.

We went to ISDSI, got a lecture on:

(1) Why we should dress modestly while with ISDSI (and I mean really modestly. Minimum cap sleeves with a crew neck, preferably pants but as long as our knees don't show, we could wear a skirt or capris)

(2) Thai Buddhism (this was the main lecture)(also a very thick accent, but he was funny). I got chosen (mid-yawn) to answer the pop quiz question from the speaker, Saemwang (sounds like “someone”) about what causes suffering in the world, according to Buddhism. I answered correctly with “desire.” Craving and desire cause suffering because of greed and hate. I have adopted a few precepts over the years to my “meligion,” and most of the Eightfold path is on there. Google it. I'll blog about it some other time.

(3) What to expect at our temple stay tomorrow night. No makeup, no perfume, no deodorant. Sounds like my kind of place! I am not sure what to expect actually, because they just told us stuff to bring and what not to do, so I still have no idea what we're going to do. Sabai Sabai! (It means “It's good, it's good!).

After, we ate delicious lunch with curried chicken, cooked cauliflower and cherry tomatoes, and rice with peanut sauce. Yum! We piled into the seelaws, and went to a temple for Monk Chat.

Monk Chat is a time where people can come and talk to monks and ask them questions. None of the 4 monks I spoke with were Thai, though. They were Burmese or Cambodian. There are different rules for Thai monks. Thai monks must shave their heads more closely and their eyebrows. Thai monks are not allowed to touch women, even indirectly. Putting food in the alms bowl is ok, as long as women don't touch the alms bowl. Burmese monks can touch women directly, as long as their heart is pure. We asked a lot of questions for well over an hour, about technology (monks can only use technology to help communicate with lay people, so cell phones and internet), education (all the monks we talked to planned to be monks for life, but “future cannot see,” and they were all getting bachelors degrees in Buddhist studies), communication (all of the non-Thai monks speak English as their primary language at the wat, because they can speak better English than Thai), and differences between Thai and other nearby culture. The monks say the Buddhism is the same as their countries, but that the culture changes how it works, like the touching women rule, for instance. That is only really in Thailand, not in Burma or Sri Lanka.

We also bought outfits for our trip to the meditation center. We must wear all white, loose appropriate clothing, so the best place to get it is at temples. We got a white t-shirt and a pair of white fishermen pants. Should be a comfortable couple of days at the center. Like I said, not sure what to expect, but you'll find out when I post next!

After I spent the afternoon reading, some of us went to find a place to do laundry. I had the hotel do some vitals, but it's expensive, like 50baht for a pair of pants, and 20baht per shirt. So I took the rest of my laundry to find a laundromat. The closest thing we found was Laundry House, where you put 20baht into the machine, put soap in, and either wait or leave. If you leave, the attendant will take your clothes and hang them to dry. You pick them up the next evening and they're dried and ironed. However, I just stuffed them in a plastic bag, and brought them back to the hotel to hang dry. Who needs neatly pressed clothing?

On our way home, we decided to stop and eat. We decided to try the Italian place Charlie said would be good. Turns out it's super fancy and expensive. Fancy enough where they unfold your napkin and put it on your lap for you. And here we are, backpacks and bags of wet clothes in hand. We learned a new phrase during the ISDSI lecture: farang kinoi. Birdshit foreigners. That's what we felt like. But, we ate there anyway, because we couldn't leave. Luckily, it was happy hour, so the wine was BOGO! I got the cheapest item on the menu: broccoli and potato soup, 120baht. Total, I paid 270baht, to include tip. $9 at a fancy restaurant isn't bad, but the total came to almost 1700 for 4 people, which is around $55. “It could be worse,” I said, remembering how I sometimes ate $40 one-person dinners in Italy and Slovenia nightly last interim trip. Very awkward time, overall, but very funny. We felt very out of place. It also felt weird because it was for tourists only. There was no Thai on the menu, only English and Italian. Strange!

Abroad Trip Day 11

Last night was pretty fun. We all piled in a seelaw, and stopped to get pad thai and roti and drinks on the way to Maria's. Then we walked about 15 minutes down the road to Maria's house. We were supposed to meet Surat at Maria's street, but we walked so fast that we passed her before she came to meet us. We got to the end of the street, and were very confused. While lost Farang may be a target, 19 lost Farang are not. We were just a spectacle for the kids who live in the houses around there. It was a pretty fun night, and we were home by 10 for a short nights sleep.

We got up at 5:15 to go give alms to the monks who walk by the morning market on their morning alms run at 6am. I paid 30 baht ($1) for a ready-to-eat meal and a flower.

“Nimon-ka” I said to the monk, wai-ing.

He stopped, and open the alms bowl monks carry with them. I put the food in there, careful not to touch the bowl, put the flower on top. Then I wai-ed really low to the ground in a crouch as he blessed me, and went on his way with his food. All monks are not allowed to eat after noon, and many only eat one meal a day which they cannot ask for, nor can they purchase (they have no money). If I were Buddhist, I would have earned some merit for my family, so my parents would have better karma, and improve their next life. I think that's how it works, anyway. Not so sure. The Sanskrit translated to Thai translated to not-so-great English with a thick accent loses some meaning along the way.

After feeding the monks, we went back to the hotel, and most people went to bed. I stayed up and did homework, though. I was a little behind on reading and writing, nor was I that tired. When breakfast opened at 7, I had quite a bit of coffee, then went back to work until it was time to leave.

We went to ISDSI, got a lecture on:

(1) Why we should dress modestly while with ISDSI (and I mean really modestly. Minimum cap sleeves with a crew neck, preferably pants but as long as our knees don't show, we could wear a skirt or capris)

(2) Thai Buddhism (this was the main lecture)(also a very thick accent, but he was funny). I got chosen (mid-yawn) to answer the pop quiz question from the speaker, Saemwang (sounds like “someone”) about what causes suffering in the world, according to Buddhism. I answered correctly with “desire.” Craving and desire cause suffering because of greed and hate. I have adopted a few precepts over the years to my “meligion,” and most of the Eightfold path is on there. Google it. I'll blog about it some other time.

(3) What to expect at our temple stay tomorrow night. No makeup, no perfume, no deodorant. Sounds like my kind of place! I am not sure what to expect actually, because they just told us stuff to bring and what not to do, so I still have no idea what we're going to do. Sabai Sabai! (It means “It's good, it's good!).

After, we ate delicious lunch with curried chicken, cooked cauliflower and cherry tomatoes, and rice with peanut sauce. Yum! We piled into the seelaws, and went to a temple for Monk Chat.

Monk Chat is a time where people can come and talk to monks and ask them questions. None of the 4 monks I spoke with were Thai, though. They were Burmese or Cambodian. There are different rules for Thai monks. Thai monks must shave their heads more closely and their eyebrows. Thai monks are not allowed to touch women, even indirectly. Putting food in the alms bowl is ok, as long as women don't touch the alms bowl. Burmese monks can touch women directly, as long as their heart is pure. We asked a lot of questions for well over an hour, about technology (monks can only use technology to help communicate with lay people, so cell phones and internet), education (all the monks we talked to planned to be monks for life, but “future cannot see,” and they were all getting bachelors degrees in Buddhist studies), communication (all of the non-Thai monks speak English as their primary language at the wat, because they can speak better English than Thai), and differences between Thai and other nearby culture. The monks say the Buddhism is the same as their countries, but that the culture changes how it works, like the touching women rule, for instance. That is only really in Thailand, not in Burma or Sri Lanka.

We also bought outfits for our trip to the meditation center. We must wear all white, loose appropriate clothing, so the best place to get it is at temples. We got a white t-shirt and a pair of white fishermen pants. Should be a comfortable couple of days at the center. Like I said, not sure what to expect, but you'll find out when I post next!

After I spent the afternoon reading, some of us went to find a place to do laundry. I had the hotel do some vitals, but it's expensive, like 50baht for a pair of pants, and 20baht per shirt. So I took the rest of my laundry to find a laundromat. The closest thing we found was Laundry House, where you put 20baht into the machine, put soap in, and either wait or leave. If you leave, the attendant will take your clothes and hang them to dry. You pick them up the next evening and they're dried and ironed. However, I just stuffed them in a plastic bag, and brought them back to the hotel to hang dry. Who needs neatly pressed clothing?

On our way home, we decided to stop and eat. We decided to try the Italian place Charlie said would be good. Turns out it's super fancy and expensive. Fancy enough where they unfold your napkin and put it on your lap for you. And here we are, backpacks and bags of wet clothes in hand. We learned a new phrase during the ISDSI lecture: farang kinoi. Birdshit foreigners. That's what we felt like. But, we ate there anyway, because we couldn't leave. Luckily, it was happy hour, so the wine was BOGO! I got the cheapest item on the menu: broccoli and potato soup, 120baht. Total, I paid 270baht, to include tip. $9 at a fancy restaurant isn't bad, but the total came to almost 1700 for 4 people, which is around $55. “It could be worse,” I said, remembering how I sometimes ate $40 one-person dinners in Italy and Slovenia nightly last interim trip. Very awkward time, overall, but very funny. We felt very out of place. It also felt weird because it was for tourists only. There was no Thai on the menu, only English and Italian. Strange!

Abroad Trip Day 9 and 10

Today was our first overnight visit. We got to sleep in, but I got up at 7:45, ate breakfast and headed to 7-11 for water and snacks and flashlights. Good idea, too. Our ride there were 3 vans, which were super comfortable, because the seats reclined. One of our running jokes on the trip is “This is more comfortable than our beds!” because anything with a cushion is more comfortable than our beds.

We left at 10am to head to a dara ang village. It was only a little over an hour away, but we stopped for lunch on the way there. ISDSI staff ordered us several kinds of food for us to share, such as papaya salad. That is actually the only thing I recognized, but the rest of it was good, too. I also got a coffee, which turned out to be iced heaven in a glass. Cold and sweet and caffeinated. Amazing!

When we got to the village, we dropped our stuff at the longhouse where we would be sleeping, and sat outside in the picnic benches for a lecture from UHDP, Uplander Holistic Development Project, which works with uplander farmers to create a sustainable farm and lifestyle. Instead of a corn monocrop with a lot of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, they rehabilitate the soil and grow local plants in a way the local plants are supposed to grow. They have fruit trees for a canopy level, coffee and rattan for a mid-level, and pineapple and lemongrass for a ground level. They are all integrated into each other, so there isn't one area that has only one kind of plant. The areas that grow corn also grow rice and beans so the soil doesn't get depleted, and the family is still able to feed itself. We also talked with local farmers about the dara ang culture and how they live.

After, the farmers gave us a tour, and we walked along the beautiful mountain path to the farm, where we ate coffee berries fresh from the tree, and they knocked down a papaya to cut up for us. They even gave us lemongrass to repel mosquitoes. It was so cool to see this beautiful area where all the plants were useful. Even the bamboo was helpful because it controlled the moisture in the ground so plants wouldn't rot and needed less irrigation during the dry season. They could also use it as a building material.

Then we went back and were fed. Hill rice (short grain) and chile bean paste, with fish tail palm sprout soup. It was delicious and filling. After dinner, we did a cultural exchange. Some local girls did songs and dances for us, and we sang and danced American songs like the Hokey Pokey and the Star Spangled Banner. All of us from both cultures knew Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, If You're Happy And You Know It, and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider.

Then it was an awkward bedtime. It gets dark at around 7, so the candles came out during dinner. By the time we had to go to bed, we had to coordinate flashlights and squatty potties, teeth brushing and face washing, then bed-making and finally, the couple hours between when we were ready for bed and when we were tired enough for bed. The squatty potty wasn't bad, except toilet paper doesn't make it down, so we had to keep a bag with dirty toilet paper next to the bathrooms. We can use the water to wash our faces and shower (Thai shower=dumping buckets of water over yourself, scrubbing, then dumping more buckets. Needless to say, no one took a shower there), but not to brush our teeth. So we have to somehow get toothpaste on our toothbrush, pour water on it, brush our teeth, rinse off our toothbrush all while holding a flashlight. Good times.

The longhouse is a one-room building with a lower middle aisle and two long sleeping platforms. It's made from bamboo with the roof from fan palm leaves. The village set up 18 areas with mosquito nets, thin mattresses, 2 blankets and a pillow. ISDSI also brought sleeping bags for us. It was fine sleeping at first, but by the time 1 or 2 am rolled around, we were freezing. Luckily I brought my winter coat, which was a good blanket, but my feet and legs froze. Also, the roosters started crowing at 4am. There are probably 100+ roosters in this village. It was impossible to sleep, but no one wanted to get up because we were tired and couldn't see anything. We got up around 7.

We were fed a breakfast very similar to the night before, with delicious squash along with our rice and greens soup. Then we went to the K-6 school, where we split into groups of 2 or 3, and went to different grade levels. Katrina and I went to 1^st grade. They already knew the ABCs and how to count to 10 in English. So we taught them animals, colors, body parts (Head shoulders knees and toes was sung around 5 times). It was very fun and cute.

Then we had another hour or so of Q&A with the villagers, lunch (again, delicious rice, squash soup and fishtail soup), and then back on the buses for a relaxing afternoon. In an hour or so, we're going to a party at an Ole alums house. She teaches English at the University here, and invited us over for the evening. Should be fun!

Abroad Trip Day 8

Today, we got to sleep in! Our morning meeting time was at 9:45, so I woke up at 8 to a leisurely breakfast of rice soup with chicken. Ryan (the prof) and Lori (the guest who is also the administrative assistant) decided to buy a lot of fruit and cereal and milk for us, so I also had pineapple, papaya and cornflakes with breakfast. Yum yum!

We started by going to a lecture at ISDSI with a man from the government who works in the branch that deals with highlander issues. His lecture was … interesting. We have read many articles that share how 60% of highlanders in Thailand do not have citizenship to Thailand, or any country, because they have not been considered “real Thais.” The government has started to fix this, but it's slow going because the highlanders do not have a lot of taxable income, but they would demand a lot from the government in terms of services. By a lot, I mean schools, hospitals, public sanitation, etc. Necessities. Anyway, this lecturer basically said that everything is perfect with these quaint indigenous ethnic tribes. All of them are citizens, and they're assimilating famously. He irritated a lot of people in our class.

We at lunch at ISDSI and headed up the mountain to visit two Hmong villages. Three of the students on our trip are Hmong American, so they helped translate for us. The first village is the village closest to Chiang Mai, and is a tourist trap now. I had to walk about 5 minutes through sellers booths before I exited the market and walked around their neighborhood. The houses were mostly wood, but not very high quality. A few of the houses had glass windows and were made with cement. Pretty ritzy as far as highlander villages go.

The other village was made all out of wood. When we got there, we split into 3 teams, one with each Hmong American. The first people we talked to were a couple of boys, about age 8 or 9, who were cockfighting. Others were playing with spinning tops, and others were playing with action figures or sticks. Apparently Hmong new year ended yesterday, so the people had to go back to work in the fields. Overall it was a very cool place. Several places sold Ovaltine and coffee. Everywhere in Thailand sells Ovaltine.

Anyway, we then headed back down the mountain. At this point, very few people weren't nauseous from the altitude (we were on top of a mountain after all), the winding drive around the mountain, and the fumes from the seelaws exhaust that drifted into the back of the seelaws.

When we got back, we had 30 minutes before a language lesson. We split into 3 groups with Charlie, an Ole alum/expat, Surat and another former exchange student from St. Olaf. I was in Charlie's group, and we covered how to bargain with shopkeepers.

After, a few of us went to The Salad Express, which serves salad. Big big salads. It was a “build your own” salad place. You pick 5 toppings and they bring you a giant salad. I could only finish ¾ of mine. I also got a smoothie called a Relax Smoothie! It was good, filling healthy dinner. Expensive, though. It came to 125 baht, which is about 4 times the amount I usually pay for dinner. Probably because it was a Farang restaurant, not a local restaurant. Farang = foreign, colloquially. Farang literally translates to a kind of fruit, but farang sounds like foreign.

Abroad Trip Day 7

Today was our free day! Our day to sleep in, to walk around town, to do whatever we want! 21/22 of us decided to go on an elephant day. On the bus by 6:45, at the place by 8. However, when we go there, we have to cross swaying wooden footbridge with bamboo railings. I, with my bridge phobia, sucked it up and went across, grabbing the railings. Of course, I didn't notice the railing was covered, swarming with ants. Gross and icky and still on the swaying bridge. Eventually got across, but it was very unpleasant and not fun at all.

Then we walked through the elephant village where they bathe and perform, and where locals sell elephant souvenirs. We rode on the elephants 2 people per elephant, on a small bench with a safety belt on the elephants back. Emily and I rode together. It was a lot of fun! Except downhill areas, during which we had to cling to the back of the seat so we would stay on. I now have a bruise forming on my bicep. Wonderful!

Lunch was good. We sat at tables of 4, and were served 5 different meals to share: sweet and sour pork, hot and sour chicken soup, pad thai, spring rolls, and cashew chicken stir-fry. The vegetarian kid got a table all to himself, so the tour guide, Arty, ate with him.

We then went down to the river bank, and got on bamboo rafts. It was a very Huck Finn moment. The rafter let us push the raft with the poles. It was a lot of fun! Very relaxing to just chill on a sunny river for an hour.

When we got back to the hotel, a few of us decided to go to the Chiang Mai Zoo. We flagged a seelaw, told him where we wanted to go, he told us 20 baht each, which was reasonable, so we got in and were proud of ourselves for doing it on our own. Anyway, we got to the zoo, which is 100 baht for entry, and another 100 baht to see the pandas. Of course we wanted to see the pandas! So we walked around a bit, and looked at the animals. There was a big Ovaltine party happening. About 100 feet of Ovaltine booths, playing happy pop music for “Obartine.” It was a very odd moment. Also odd, you can pay 150 baht to go inside the Snow Dome for 5 minutes. It's pretty much a big freezer with manufactured snow, and you put on a big parka and take your picture inside “Xtreme Alaska!” which is approximately -7C. I suppose if you live in the tropics, snow doesn't happen, but I was not willing to pay $5 to go and sit in a cooler for 5 minutes.

The pandas were adorable. They were all in separate enclosures, but they were still adorable. The third one was a little sad. He was pacing and pawing at the door. He also took a poo in what seemed to be a designated toilet area, and then went to his pond and cleaned himself off. Very civilized. His poo is orange, by the way. There is a Mom, Dad and Baby panda at the zoo. The pictures on the walls showed in great detail how the baby was made by artificial insemination. They showed pictures of someone gathering the semen, and another putting the semen into the female panda. It's a little awkward and undignified for the pandas.

The zoo is on a mountain, so we got a workout. The funniest animal we saw was probably the Malayan Sun Bears, which look dopey, and have turned-in front feet. They just looked silly. The cutest we saw were the hippos. There's a little hippo family, but the baby hippo can't reach the top of the water without jumping and getting a quick breath, or standing on one of the parents. It was very playful. The enclosures there are not so secure. Not much is keeping the animals in, or out of reach from people. I could have pet one of the hippos if I had leaned in a little bit. The lions were just really far away, with two small pits in between us. At least they were just asleep the whole time.

We started walking back and stopped at CMU to see if their cantin was open, because they have meals for 15 baht. Alas, it was a Sunday, so only the dorm cantins were open. Instead, we took a seelaw back to the hotel to meet everyone going to the Sunday Night Market, in the old city. To get there, all 18 of us got in a seelaw. Two people on laps, 2 on the floor and 3 hanging on the back. It was fun, but hot.

The night market was insanely crowded. I got a pad thai omelet, which is some pad thai in the center of an omelet, and a papaya smoothie. Delicious, and surprisingly easy to eat with chopsticks. We walked around for a little while, but it was so crowded, it was impossible to get around. So we tried to find a seelaw to get back. Several tuk tuks offered to take us back for 50baht per person. Nope, so we kept looking and eventually found a seelaw, for 20baht per person. We hopped in, and a British guy was already there, who looked very uncomfortable to be sharing a seelaw with a bunch of loud American kids. He got out at his hotel, and then a bunch of Chinese women got in, all laden down with several bags and popsicles. They chattered a while, and didn't realize the seelaw had stopped at their hotel until the driver told them to get out. Finally we got back, and I had time to do homework for tomorrow.

Abroad Trip Day 6

Today has been a very long day. We woke up at 5:30, breakfast at 6 and on the bus by 6:30! We went on a guided tour of Northern Thailand. Our final destination, the Golden Triangle, is a 4 hours drive from Chiang Mai. We took lots of breaks. We stopped at a hot springs about an hour into our trip. We put our feet into the hot water. You have to just plunge it in. If you tippytoe it, you will just burn your feet. If you dunk them, the lowest layer of water along the rocks is cooler, and your calves have less nerves, so it doesn't hurt as much. I bought a pair of pants and a bracelet. This is my bargaining proud moment. They told me 850 baht, which is ridiculously peeng (expensive). I counter-offered with 150 which is ridiculously cheap. They went down to 750, and I went up to 200. They said no, I said no. I walked away, and they said “Ok! 200!” Win for Catey.

Then we went to a Seven Eleven. I used an ATM for the first time here. 5000 baht for $170 and a $5 ATM charge. I then bought a bunch of snacks, like cookies and candy and soymilk. The soymilk and cookies hit the spot. The candy (dried mangos, and hard plum candy) was a major miss. The dried mango tasted and felt like fingers, and the plum candy wasn't bad, but it was Old People Candy. You know, the candy that old people have in their house that only they like so the kids won't eat all of it.

Anyway, back on the bus until we got to Chiang Rai, where we switched to seelaws because we were going to two villages. The first village was an Akha village. They build their houses out of bamboo, and they're elevated. It was really cool to see, but the kids and grannies followed us around, pestering us with bracelets they wanted to sell us and begging us to take pictures with them for a baht. There were a lot of cute dogs, though. And chickens.

The second village was a Yuan village, who originated from China. Their houses are also bamboo, but are built on the ground, not a platform. They also sold things, but didn't follow us around as much. They sold us sticky rice for 5 baht. Sticky rice is a sweet rice patty/taffy that is grilled, served with sugar, and wrapped in a banana leaf. You don't eat the banana leaf. It is very delicious. They decorate their houses with large dead bugs, too. Luckily, we haven't seen any of those bugs. Just mosquitoes and little biting bugs. I am still bug-bite free, however!

We got back on the bus, and headed north again. We stopped for lunch at the Golden Triangle on the Thai side, which was an international buffet. I had Myanmar chicken curry and Thai pancakes, among other things. It wasn't bad, but it also served chicken a la king, and sauerkraut.

Then, we got on speedboats to cross the Mekong River! I sat in front. They're low river speedboats, with a car engine for a motor. Toyota, to be more specific. Very very fast. We went upriver to No Mans Land, which is the area in the river between Burma/Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. We did not go to Burma, but we did go to Laos to the market that has sprung up there. The specialty there is snake whiskey. Or scorpion, or turtle or tiger penis, etc. Basically a bottle of whiskey with a dead animal (or part of a dead animal) inside of it. I didn't try any, but a lot of people did. Gross! They also sold a lot of opium pipes there, because of the regions history with the opium trade. Also, a lot of knockoff brands of clothing and jewelry, etc. I didn't buy anything in Laos.

After we crossed the Mekong again, we piled back on the bus for a long trip back to Chiang Mai. We stopped at a wat on the way, and Artie showed us how to make offerings to monks and temples. A monk there blessed us, gave us simple white yarn bracelets for protection, and we were on our way again.

4 hours later, we all got home and crashed. Very late night.

Abroad Trip Day 5

Today, we went to Chiang Mai University (CMU). We started the day in a conversation class taught by an Ole alum who graduated 2 years ago. Her conversation class is a class for English students (as in those learning to speak English) to practice conversations with each other, because you can know every word and nuance of grammar and still not be fluent because you don't know how to have a conversation with someone in that language. We paired up with the students, so Anna and I partnered and talked with “Claire” and “Kiss.” They are second year students majoring in English and Psychology respectively. Very nice, very friendly girls.

We then practiced our observation skills by conducting an observation in their school cafeteria, the canteen. Everyone drinks from straws, even with plastic bottles. It's a little weird. We also had a lecture from a professor who studies Japanese and Thai culture comparatively. His accent was very thick, but understandable. He didn't have time to prepare the English version of the lecture, so it was very good considering. His handwriting was scribbles though.

We ate lunch in the Humanities cantin. Every department (faculty) and dorm has their own cafeteria. We played “point and hope it's good” again. It turned out pretty well. I ended up with curried sweet potatoes, and squid with sugar snap peas, and a strawberry smoothie. It was very good. Thai portions are the perfect size. I don't feel hungry and I don't feel full.

After lunch, we went to the Old City. It's very ornate and decorative. There is gold leaf on everything, and monks in saffron robes are everywhere. There are also a lot of dogs. I donated 20baht to feed the Temple Dogs.

After we got back, we got coffee and went to an internet cafe/massage parlor. Less sketchy than I anticipated. Of course, we couldn't actually see the massage side so it probably was sketchy. I paid 20baht for an hour on a nice computer. Then, we went downstairs to “Organic Vegetables” and I got tofu broccoli stir fry for 30 baht. Yum!