Fourth Month

So yesterday I finished my fourth month and started the fifth.

And something has changed. Something has changed inside of myself, I guess.
I think that I finally arrived. I have a daily routine now. I go out with my friends after school, have dinner with my brother in the evening. I get used to so many things, that were new for me in the beginnig. Like, taking off the shoes before entering the buildings of the school, singing the national anthem in the morning, feeling hot every minute I spent outside :D

I didn`t even realized, that I wasn`t completly here the last month. I mean with my heart and my mind. But now, after I feel so different, I think thats why.
But it doesn`t make things worse. Not at all. It got even better, if this is still possible!

I love my life here in Thailand and when I think about how fast the time goes by and that half of my exchange year is nearly over I could start crying.

Phu Kradueng & Loy Krathong

From 14. November until 18. November I had my first trip with Rotary.

For everybody who is not familiar with Rotary: Every country that take part on the Youth Exchange Programm of Rotary prepares one or even more trips in other parts of the country, to give the exchange students the opportunity to see more than just the place where they live.

The Rotary Distrtict 3340 planned three trips for us. Our first destination was the Phu Kradueng national park, located in the province Loei. I was very excited before the trip because it was also the first time, that I met all the other exchange studetnts.

We started at the bottom of the Phu Kradueng Mountain at 9:20. Our stuff got carried by some other people, so we didn`t had to take them.  Climbing the mountain was really hard and it took us a long time so a few hours later we reached the top where we stayed in a resort.

The following days contained a lot of hiking to see beautiful sunrises and the nature on the mountain.

At the 18.11 we went back to the bottom of Phu Kradueng, wich was much easier than climbing it up, in my opinion.



In the end I can say, that I had a really good and funny time at the mountain, I met a lot of nice people and made new friends!

Loy Krathong

The day before we started climbing the mountain we stayed in a resort on the bottom and celebrated the Loy Krathong Festival. The Loy Krathong Festival is a traditional thai ritual to pay respect to the water spirits.

On this day of the year, wich changes every year, thai people put "small container made of leaves" (to say it with the words of wikipedia) decorated with flowers on the water and let it float after they take a wish.

It was very special for me, to be part of this ceremony and moments like this always reminds me how much I actually love Thailand and it`s culture!

School

Second month is already over and third month started very well with three weeks school holidays!

So, let`s talk about this theme: School.

Honestly, I was very nervous before my first real schoolday. Not because of my classmates, I knew them already from a trip to Bangkok the day before and they are absolut kind and nice and a little bit crazy, which makes me laugh everyday and have a lot of fun! (Thank you so much for that, you are all incredible!)

But I was nervous because there were a lot of other things that were new for me:

First of all, there is this school uniform. I have three.
-the normal one: a blouse, a skirt, white socks and a hairbow
-the sport uniform: blue trousers (very hot but more comfortable than the skirt), a blue T-Shirt and white Sneakers
and one more, where I have to wear a colored T-shirt instead of the normal blouse.
I am still a little confused when I have to wear which uniform but I really like it! It saves a lot of time in the morning because I don`t have to decide what I can wear.

My schedule is very good. I dont have much to do and a lot of free time. I am very lucky that my school has an english programm, which means that a few classes got some subjects in english. When I actuall have a lessons (what is not very often, because the teachers don`t always appear to their lessons) it`s mostly thngs i already learned in germany.

For me, the school days are very long. The lessons start at 8:30 o clock but before they sing the national anthem and pray, so you have to be there at 7:50 o clock and the day ends for everybody at 16 o clock. In germany my longest school day ends already at 15 o clock! But I get used to it.

A lot of thai students take extra classes after school or even on the weekends and on holidays. This would never happen in germany haha!

Some people asked me about the heat, but it isn`t a big problem. All the classrooms have air conditioners and most of the time it`s is very cold!

The relationship between the teachers and the students is very friendly, same as in Germany and also the relationship between the students. As I already told, my classmates are great and at this point I want to thank you guys for taking care of me and making my school day more funny!






I hope you enjoyed reading!
If there are any question or wishes, feel free to ask!
Thanks :)

First Month!

So, it seems like I'm already here one month. I can`t really believe it, to be honest. It feels like I would live here for such a long time. I feel already at home in this foreign country, thanks to my incredible hostfamily!

In the last month I was able to see so many things that I've never seen before. I had the privileg to meet so many nice people and made many new experiences. It's amazing. Everything is so different from my life in germany but at the same time there isn't such a big difference.

Koh Chang

The first week after my arrival I spend on the Island Koh Chang, where I live in the resort of my hostparents, right in front of the sea. The island itself is very beautiful and I couldn't stop staring in the first days. Between ocean and tropical rainforest is just a small road full of cars, motorbikes, dogs and monkeys.



Slowly I get also used to the heat, which was very hard for me in the first days because it's a different heat than I know from Germany.
With the food I don't have any problems, honestly I really like it, there are many fruits and a lot of vegetables which is very good because I'm a vegetarian. I can even eat a little bit spicy haha:D

The highlight for me was the swimming with a baby elephant. It was such an great experience! I
never was so near to an elephant and even if it was a baby, I was surpriesed how strong he was. And to see, how happy this young animal was to go in the water, was really cute.

    

I also went to school already, but I will Talk about it in the following post next month!

Thai Name

In Thailand everybody has like a nickname, with they can choose by themselves or are choosen from their families. My hostfamily gave me the thainame: ทรายแก้ว (Sai kaew)

Sai - sand and kaew- glass/crystal 

Thailand

In my second post I will tell you a little bit about my hostcountry or rather hostprovince.

In general, Thailand lies in the southeast of Asia, next to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia and right at the Gulf of Thailand.
Thailand is seperated in 76 provinces. In my exchange year I will stay in the province Trat (ตราด).
Trat is located in the south-east of Thailand. It`s population is about 225,000 wich is much more than the population in the village I lived in Germany
The province includes 40 Islands, one of it is Koh Chang (เกาะช้าง).
My first hostfamily always spend their weekend at this Island because they have a Resort there!
Koh Chang is a Tropical Island, so I will see free- living monkeys and also elephants, it`s amazing!

P.S.: I`m already in Thailand but I decided to write just once per month like reflection for you :)

สวัสดีค่ะ !

Just to introduce myself: my name is Jana, I`m 17 years old and come from Germany. I always wanted to live a year abroad and now my wish come true! 😍

I created this blog so you can take part of my exchange year.

By the way, I will stay ONE YEAR IN THAILAND.

Some of you guys might ask yourself now: Why Thailand?

The answer is easy. I just wanted to do something different. Everybody wants to go to America (and nothing against america, it was my first choice too) but to be honest... America became kind of boring for me. I mean, I can speak English and heard so much about the country, it`s like I was there a thousand times.

But Thailand is different. Thailand is special. It is a really big adventure and I am so happy and excited, I can`t put it into words.

I never really thought about this country before I decided to liver there a year. But after I learned more and more about the culture and the mentality of Thailand I think that it will be a wonderful year and that I will meet wonderful people, like my three hostfamilies.

I will share my experience with you on this blog and hope you will enjoy it! In the next days I will tell a little bit about my hostfamily and the province I will go to.

Jana

P.S.: สวัสดีค่ะ means hello! You speak it (Sa-wa-dii (& kha if you`re a girl))