sobs to smiles

You may have noticed that Im a little out of date on my blogs... Ive been on a rollercoaster of a ride the past few days, and I apologize for the delay. Honestly, the last three days have been amazing. Ill do my best to explain. I left off on Tuesday night...

Waking up in the morning on Wednesday is still pretty easy from the jetlag. Another first day of classes awaits me at 9:30am. Although waking up is easy, I am still very uncomfortable in Thailand. Most of the day I think about how I want to be back home. How life in Thailand is new and different, but that I just want to retreat into the arms of HG if I was to be honest with myself. I force a smile on, and head out the door.

Conveniently, many people live in the mansion, and someone heading to campus is downstairs in the lobby. She shows me how to walk to campus. I was correct by going over the bridge, but I had the direction wrong. I walk for about 20 minutes to the ferry, and then take the (3 baht) ferry across the Chao Praya River. This ferry takes me directly to campus! We all have the same class at 930 (as many exchange students do), Beginning Thai Language. The first day is about buying books and meeting people, so not much happens. I do learn that sawatdeekha actually does mean hello in Thai! Thanks for teaching me, I was ahead of the game :]

Then we go get something to eat along the river. Picture this... I ride the ferry to class, because Thammasat is located right beside the Tha Prachan Dock. On the other side of this dock is a row of (hole in the wall) restaurants that line the river. Great, cheap food (between 35-60 baht for a meal and drink). In the picture below, you see the ferry that I ride to school everyday. Behind the ferry (look closely) you can see tables and people. They are eating at the restaurants along the river. Yes, you literally sit right beside the river and eat with the fish. Took me a while to figure out why fish are clustered by the restaurants... until I saw the owner scrape leftovers into the river. It was sink or swim out there, if you know what I mean.

The rest of the day is filled with an international student orientation. My first Thai Cuisine class is canceled. Trust me, Im just as bummed as you are. The guy who is leading orientation is from America, Edward, and he has enough sarcasm to fill up the Panthers Stadium. He provides a great welcome to Thailand -do this, dont do this- speech and the talk ends around 6:30. Peikko (Italian) and I have agreed to head to MBK to try and get some stuff for our apartments. We grab Josh and Steve and head out to the giant superstore (its ginormous... 7 floors of EVERYTHING imaginable). I buy a bedsheet, a towel, a cell phone, and sushi! Realize that I need to get some money out of the bank, we stop by an ATM. hmm, thats odd... my card didnt work. Oh well, Ill go to another ATM. I finally get the picture after 4 ATMs and no money. Okay now, stop judging me. Yes, I did tell my bank I was going to Thailand.

Bummed out by my card not working, Im ready to go home. We took the ferry to the sky train to get here. Its about 8:30 when we are heading back, and the ferry is closed. No problem, we will just take a taxi. I dont know if we crossed into the no taxi zone or what, but there wasnt one to be found. We talked to about 2 or 3 in 30 minutes and none of whom knew where we were going (or were willing to take us there). All four of us are frantically trying to tell these taxi drivers where we live, and many of them dismiss us within seconds. Im freaking out. We cant ride the sky train close to the mansion, we dont know bus routes, and we cant get a taxi. We are doomed. And I have a skype date at 10. Ive been waiting all day for this and now Im going to be late. We finally take the sky train as far as we can, and then pay a taxi driver a ridiculous amount of money to get us home. I am not in a great mood by this point.

Get on skype with dad and break down. The tears just keep coming. First of all, Im broke in a country that is on the COMPLETE opposite side of the world from everyone I know. Second, I want to go home. I remember telling Dad that I hated it here and just wanted to go home. He promises to get the card fixed, and sets up a skype date with Austin and Scarlett (my neice and nephew) in 10 hours to cheer me up. Then I get on skype with HG. Thats when I really lost it. A real low point for me. everything is hitting me at once... forcing a smile every morning when I wake up, trying to navigate through a city that doesnt speak english, not being able to hold the ones I love, and being embarrassed about my inability to handle the new situation. This was probably the worst feeling I have ever had. Mentally lost and alone... Im tearing up just thinking about it again. I get off skype and continue crying, and crying, and crying. Im blubbering, and there is no classier way to put it. (sorry to be so graphic, ladies). And I prayed... on my knees... harder than I have ever prayed before.

Thursday morning I wake up to a wonderful phone conversation from Dad, Anne, Scarlett, and Austin. Needless to say, I am feeling a bit better, and they are cute as ever. The card has been fixed (although I havent tried it...) and today should be better. You know who sends me off to school with a pat on the back and some skype kisses.

Im late (as I am every single morning for class). I blame skype conversations and the lacksy-daisical (does that make sense) attitude of class tardiness. No worries, I get a ride from someone on exchange who has a car. Id get sideswiped, Tboned, and rearended all at once if I had a car, no joke. My Macro class is better this time, and I sit beside Bomb. Now that I have a cell phone, Im giving my number out to my Thai friends. They are excited, and I am too! I have 1.5 hours between classes, so I decide to run to an ATM.

Same error message. CRAPPPPPP! Im repeating bible verses in my head to keep me from losing my mind all the way to the BE office. I start to explain my situation and... tears. more tears. I HATE CRYING! stop crying, Jennifer. Just do it. Be a big girl. is the only thing I keep thinking. Pipe is frantically trying to figure out what is wrong and how she can help. I remember that I have a cell phone, and use it to call my dad at 11:30pm his time. We finally got my card working, and I stopped crying. Went straight to the ATM to take out 5000 baht. check plus.

I head to my next class of the day with a snack pineapple bag. Street vendors right beside the university have fresh chilled pineapple that they cut up for you and give to you in a little plastic baggy with a pokey stick... all for 10 baht (or $.30). I probably eat fruit this way at least twice a day! Class is not eventful, and the day drones on.

Then four of us decide to go walking. We walk, and walk, and walk. The other two girls decide that they want to go back to the Mansion, so it leaves just Josh and I to walk. We have good conversation, and both share a love for exploring. Many things are still reminding me of home by this point, and I havent gotten over the longing desire to get the heck out of BKK.

Walking toward a popular temple (temple=wat), Wat Pho, in Bangkok. Oh how beautiful Thai architecture is!

We walk through the fish market, but not for long. Fish does not smell good when it is rows upon rows of this.

This is the large reclining buddha of Wat Pho. You have no idea how huge this thing was. Ill upload another picture below, try to see the people all the way at his feet for scaling.

more of Wat Pho.

Eggs! This reminded me of a boy in the states who used to cook for me all the time. We had many meals with egg... more with shrimp, but plenty with egg and cheese. I thought he might enjoy knowing how the Thai's eat their egg, since everyone does it differently!