Friday, April 14:

Today P’ Lynn and P’ Lucky gave us a Thai language lesson to prepare us for our upcoming homestays. We learned simple conversation skills and numbers. It was hard because there are different tones for words that sound the same and if you pronounce it wrong, the word has a completely different meaning. It was very fun and we were glad we got to learn some Thai. After our lesson and breakfast, we left for the homestays. It was an hour drive, and when we got there, our families were waiting for us. The homestays were in the countryside with large rice fields surrounding them. When we got to the homestays, our families welcomed us with open arms. They were very happy to finally meet us and they had everything prepared for lunch. We got to make our own noodle soup. They had two different noodles, pad Thai noodles and skinny vermicelli noodles. We put in veggies and the noodles in a strainer and we cooked them in a big pot that also had the broth. After it was cooked, we could put in pork and some fried garlic things and the broth. It was very good! But it was so hot out and the soup didn’t help! Then we made these really yummy coconut pancake things. We poured the mixture into the pan with a lot of molds. Then we let them sit for a bit and then took them out with a spoon. After dessert, we found out who our host moms would be. First, we clumsily introduced ourselves in Thai and then we got our host moms. Mae Sin was me (Kira) and Megan’s mom, Bodhi and Matt got Mae Win, Fallon and Riley had Mae Juan, and Jared and Jess had Mae Sa Art and they were all really sweet. Mae stands for Mom in Thai. After we met our moms, we got blessed by the elders. We sat in front of them when they were chanting, and when they were finished, we went around and got individually blessed by them and they each tied a string around our wrist. After the ceremony, we made art from banana leaves like little boxes and fish. They made it look a lot easier than it actually was. Then we went to our houses. It was a little walk from our lunch spot. We got settled in and explored a bit before dinner, but it was very hot, so we mostly just chilled out. We all met for dinner at Mae Sin’s house and the food was very yummy! After dinner, we had evening circle and had an early night.

Saturday, April 15:

Today was an early start as would the next couple of days. We had breakfast at seven and, after breakfast, we had free time until lunch. Today is my birthday, so me and the girls walked to a really cute coffee shop. They were really nice and gave us free fries. After our coffee stop, we had a group activity and we had to write a letter to our future self that we would receive sometime in the next six months to a year. It was a really nice and reflective activity. Then we had lunch, and after lunch, we went to the town’s Songkran celebration. It was really interesting to see the difference between the two celebrations. In Ayutthaya, it was crazy and everyone was on the street having fun and spraying water at everyone. In the town, celebrations weren’t as crazy, it was more chill. There was a boat that was filled with water and flowers. The water smelled so good and smelled like the flowers. The kids were so cute; they loved splashing us and it was really fun to splash them back. After we played for a bit, the moms gave us bowls with flowers and the flower liquid scent. Then monks came out and sat in a line and they started chanting. After their chant people started to fill up the buckets and went in a line to pour their water into the monks and elders hands. When my bowl was full I went down the line and poured my water on the monks and elders. Then with the extra water I poured on other people. Then we started to dance with the moms and other locals. We danced in a circle and everyone put their bowls on their head which was fun. It was really interesting to see people praying with the monks and being more serious and then right after having fun and spraying people with water. We played a bit more and it was really nice because it was refreshing. They also had this really good popcorn that was like kettle corn but better. Then we went with P’ Choc (the coordinator for the homestays) to his truck to drive around and spray people with water from the back of the truck. He filled up big buckets and then we got in and drove around. There weren’t that many people out but we did get to splash some people. Then we drove around a little bit. It was actually really nice to see the countryside. When we got back, we had a bit of free time and then we listened to half of the group present their Capstones! I presented my Capstone which was on food and I helped Mae Sin make papaya salad which was fun and very yummy. Fallon did hers on physical activity and fitness and Matt did his on waste management and spirituality. After the presentations, some of us talked to some of the families and that was very interesting because we learned that all of the host families we were staying with were related, and all live on one road. After we had dinner, everyone made decorations for my birthday and we had a little celebration which was fun and the host families got a cake for me and Matt! Then we called it a night.

Sunday, April 16:

Today we had another free day. Life at the homestays is very slow and relaxing which is a good change of pace. After breakfast, we went back to the coffee shop and stayed for a while. After we finished our coffee, we headed back to the house and just relaxed. For lunch, we got to help the moms make our own Pad Thai which was very fun. All of the moms were so cute because they were so happy that we wanted to help and they were so giggly which made making the noodles even more fun. They would always cheer with us when we did something good. With the noodles, they made the coconut ice milk dessert with the jellies which were very yummy! After lunch, we went with Megan to get her traditional Sak Yant tattoo that was part of her Capstone project. We made a stop at a temple to get offerings for the monk and when we got there, there were a lot of statues set up behind the monk who was going to do the tattooing. We were there for a while. First, we had to wait for other people to go and then when it was Megan’s turn, she got the tattoo on her back, and this particular tattooing process is supposed to be the most painful way to get a tattoo, so she was in a lot of pain. So much so that she had to pause to get numbing cream. After that set in, the monk was able to work faster. It was very interesting to watch him use the long stick to tattoo and to think about how precise he has to be. After he finished, he blessed her new tattoo with a prayer and holy water. It was a very cool process to watch. After, we went back to the house and got dinner, played a game called Mafia for evening circle, and went to bed.

Monday, April 17:

Today we got to do some farming! After breakfast, we helped water the field. We used this really cool boat contraption that we pulled along the canal between rows of crops and it used a motor to spray water out either direction and water the plants. We took turns leading the machine down the little pond. By the end, we all were wet and our shoes were caked in mud. After, we finished our Capstone presentations with Bodhi presenting on Songkran, Riley on traditional dances, and Megan on tattooing, and then had more free time. Sadly the coffee shop was closed today…. Then we got to help make lunch and we made Pad See Yew! All the moms were watching us cook and laughing with us. After we made these amazing coconut balls that were boiled and covered with shredded coconut. They were so good, especially when they were warm. After lunch we had more free time before we farmed again so some of us played heads-up on our phones and it was really fun and entertaining. After playing heads-up for two hours, we had more chill time. Then we helped plow the rice fields. We used this motorized plow, and we sat on the back and helped plow a row. Then we had, of course, more free time and dinner. After dinner we had evening circle and played mafia again, and then we got our things together and got ready to leave in the morning.

Tuesday, April 18:

Today was a big travel day and sadly, we left the host families today. The moms made us little snack bags with rambutan (a delicious fruit in a spiky green and red shell) and water. And we took a group picture with our families and P’ Lucky picked us up. Then we drove back to Bangkok, which was about an hour drive and we met P’ Lynn at the mall.  I was very excited about this because I’ve been wanting to shop for a while and we had a lot of time at the mall. After a couple of hours, most of us had a few extra bags and we met up to go to the train station. We got on the train, which was pretty nice. It had two seats facing each other and the seats turned into a bed and there was a bed above. We got on the train around 4 pm and we just hung out on the train and ate chili that P’ Lynn kindly made for us. Then the conductors came around to make the beds for us and we tried to go to bed. At 1 AM P’ Lucky woke us up to get off the train to catch the bus. We had to wait for a few hours at the train station for the bus so we just tried to go back to sleep. Then at six, the bus came and we took the bus to the ferry. At the ferry station, we saw the sunrise, which was really pretty. Then we boarded the ferry and took a two-hour ferry ride, most of us took a nap and when we arrived, we were at Koh Tao!! Diving here we come.

– Professor Kira