Greetings from Southeast Asia!
The past week was spent in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai, Thailand. We spent the week taking a variety of classes: thai cooking, jewelery making, Muay Thai (well we wanted to try it, but to keep a long story short, it was an epic fail). Our first night in Chiang Mai landed on Camille’s birthday, so to celebrate some of us went out to a karaoke bar, but it wasn’t so much of a bar. There were different rooms, which each had a theme (underwater, graveyard, jail cell, etc.), and the one we choose was “bed room.” We also happened to be in Chiang Mai for Halloween, so we all dressed up (cats, hippies, ourselves) and went out dancing for the night. We also completed our last week of Thai class. As a finale we learned the popular Thai pop song, Duu Ter Tum by Jobbunjob. It is one of my favorite songs now.
The Thai cooking course was an amazing experience. We each got to pick our own appetizer, stir fry, noodles, curry and curry paste. Also, we each received a cook book at the end, so we have the option to cook dishes we missed out on in class. It was really nice knowing the AMAZING food I was eating was made by me, except now my family will probably make me cook all of our meals once they find out.
Some of us also attended an event called Monk Chat. We went to a Wat (temple) and simply just found the monk chat sign, went inside, approached the monks who were sitting behind tables, and asked them questions. Most talked about Buddhism, others asked more about our culture in the US, or just life.
On our last day, some of us also did a jewelery making class. We chose to either make a pendent or a ring. We first drew a design, then manipulated our piece of silver, cutting out our designs with a saw. Sawing was difficult-I actually broke the saw blade twice! Oops! Everyone’s jewelery turned out beautiful though, two people made pendents, while the rest chose rings.
We have finally now crossed the border into Laos. I was saddened to leave Thailand, but envisioning our adventures quickly returned me to excitement. Already today we took a six hour public bus ride through the mountains in Northern Laos, some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen to date. I am excited to see what Laos has in store for all of us!
SEIZE THE DAY!-
Olivia
…(edits by Alejandro… because I dislike writing)
