Time Flies

Here's an email I just sent to my mom, it will be my update as well :)

I'm going to try to post some pictures right now, so keep an eye on my photo page if you're interested (see my earlier post for the link).
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Sorry I disappeared for a bit! Things have been so busy! The days just fly by before I realize it, and I'm usually not sure of the date! haha I'm having a really nice time though. I think I just had my toughest experience yet, and maybe for the whole trip, as we just got home from an overnight homestay in a small village called Phayao (Paa-yow). No one spoke any english and we stayed with families with our groups from class. My group is me and these two thai guys, M and Art (those are their nicknames--everyone here has a long real name and a short nickname that they go by). They are really nice and considerate, like thai people in general, but speak little english, and are shy about trying to speak english and making mistakes, which makes it harder. I try to use some Thai, but of course my Thai skills are VERY VERY limited. It would be really nice to stay longer and learn the language. I've already picked some up here and it seems easier than some languages to learn, except for the tones, which I'm sure I am always saying wrong.So for a couple days i was completely dependent on these guys to know when we ate, where to sleep, what water is okay to drink, and to translate between our hosts and know our schedule and everything. It was all fine, just very stressful for me at times. I will talk to you more about it later, I might write about it in my blog. I just feel like there is so little time here I have a hard time sitting at the computer for long! I am going to meet my friend Moe (Mo-ay) soon to hang out. She's from Japan and is studying here. Its been really fun to practice my japanese with her! And she said she'll show me around and i can stay with her if i end up going to japan, so that is nice. I have made friends with some of the thai students too. Thai people really are some of the nicest people ever. Even if maybe they aren't in other ways, they always treat everyone with great respect and are very considerate in making sure everyone is taken care of and feeling good. It you complain about anything, they will try to fix it, so sometimes we have to be careful not to just complain in just making conversation. An example is at meals, someone chooses to sit by the rice pot and they serve rice to everyone throughout their meal and if you are running out they will ask if you need more orjust give you more. They often don't even up eating so much because they are making sure everyone is taken care of. Someone else fills the glasses. If you don't want to have a lot to drink here, you have to drink very slowly! If you finish your drink and set it down, intending to just leave it empty for a while, it will be refilled without you even noticing. there are a lot more examples too. it is interesting, it makes me think alot about whether or not i am considerate to people and how i could be more so.
anyway, tomorrow they gave us the day off since we were just with the class doing activities alllll day 6am-late night on monday and then 6am-5 totday, when we finally got home. I am going to rent a bicycle and visit a couple wats (buddhist temples), a big market i haven't seen yet called Warorot Market, and maybe go up to Doi Suthep, which is a mountain just outside of time with the holiest wat in Thailand at the top. it is supposed to be a good hike or bike ride, but tomorrow i might just get a ride to the top to watch the lights come on when it gets dark because it is supposed to be very beautiful.
After that, back to class for a couple days and then over the weekend a few of us are going to Mai Sae (not sure if I'm getting that right), which is near the Burmese border and the Golden Triangle (where Laos, Thailand, and Burma meet). We will cross just over into Burma to renew our Thai visas, and then stay there for the weekend. After that, just a few days of class and then our whole class will go down to Sukothai (which is the historical capital of Thailand), and we will get to do some exploring, and then have our final exam there and do presentations on the interviews we just did on the fieldtrip. We (as in, the Thai students :) interviewed the family we stayed with about their occupation and relationship with the land in the area, and then we stopped on the way home and interviewed some Karen farmers. The Karen are a hilltribe people in Thailand who have been dealing with land and water issues between themselves and lowland farmers for several years now.
After that, its south to the beaches! I love Chiang Mai, but I am ready for some beach action. I wish some of the students could come with us, but they have other classes, as this is their regular semester.
I hope you guys are doing well, and I will try to call soon! I'm going to try to upload some pictures as well, but its getting very overwhelming as I have almost 1,000 pictures!!! I will try to just upload a few good ones. No one wants to look through that many pictures anyway ;)