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Made it home :)

Time to go!

Guess what? I'm at the same gate for departure in Korea as I was over four months ago! Crazy. The time has flown by. I had a amazing time in Thailand. And I just traveled around Seoul for the day and that was great as well. My adventures have been life changing and I want to thank you all for reading about them. It's been quite the experience. I didn't love every minute of it but I wouldn't trade my experience in Thailand for anything. Thanks for all the support and thoughts. Expect some more updates, especially for the last few days, but for now, it's been a blast :)

Dec 14th

Lamphun! Had breakfast at the yellow place on our walk to the bus station. About our hostels real quick: our first place was kikies. Pretty nice. A little dirty but overall good. In the north of the city and close to more Thai stuff and less touristy. Next place was Chada house. Nicer place but the woman who ran it all seemed real tired. She warmed up to us after she learned I could speak some Thai and we would talk about the annoying farang (white tourists). So now we're good friends :D but anyway, Lamphun was awesome! Great Thai bus ride. So cool to experience local travel methods. And 20 baht each! Ride was about an hour through beautiful Thailand. Got to Lamphun where no bady speaks English and there are no Farang. So nice!! We walked around and got lots of stares lol went to beautiful temples an enjoyed being in real Thailand instead of tourist central. Caught the bus home and went to a beautiful temple in Chiang Mai and listened to monks chanting. Then we played with cats and a young Thai boy. Then we walked past a street performer playing drums. He gave me a go. Not nearly as well lol headed to a Saturday market I was previously unaware of. Turned put to be pretty touristy like the Sunday market so a bit of a let down but we still had fun and bought good gifts. Headed back late and walked past a beautiful temple that was open. Got to pray at any time of day! There was a magnificent temple that was holy ad women weren't allowed inside because the temple would be ruined and the women would be ruined. So, naturally, neither of us entered. After that we headed home to sleep for Chiang Rai the next day. 

Dec 10th

Breakfast at "yellow place" (Thai place with great prices and great food). I had mashed rice soup. So good! Then went to a bunch of temples: wat Chiang Mon, wat Chedi Luang, wat Pantao, and the recycling temple. Then headed to Loi Crow to walk through the redlight district. That was rough but good for E to see. We went to a beautiful bridge and a riverside restrant to lighten the mood and checked out the night Bizzar and the Muslim part of town, then headed to sleep. 

Chiang Dao

Chiang Dao. Love it! City of stars :) Thaton tomorrow!

Dec 16

Went to 5 beautiful temples in the morning, the kings monument and the black houses: an artists huge collection of animal skins, bones, shells and crazy other things!

Had a great time! Then headed back to Chiang Mai for a bus to Chiang Dao tomorrow :)

Dec15th

In Chiang Rai right now. Night Bizzar and white temple. Really great day. Traveled around Thai style by using public buses! Adventure! Lamphun was great. No white people! We're tired of Chiang Mai with that aspect. Not ganna try and sleep there again. Going to Chiang Dao tomorrow. Literally the "city of stars." Can't wait!!! :D

Dec 13th

Had a late start but got a lot done. Finished an essay for my study abroad requirement, went to market, the tailor, and figured out what we're doing for the rest of our time here. No Laos. Bus ride would be like 15 hours one way. No thank you. Going to Lamphun tomorrow instead. Half an hour seems much nicer :)

Dec 12th

Hiked to wat Doi Suthep! We both did real well and had a great walk to the base of the mountain through the lest touristy part of Chiang Mai :) Then went to traditional Thai dinner with Payap where I wore my long gee :) said goodbye to everyone in te program after. So sad!

Dec 11th

 Moved to new hostel today. Then presentations back at Payap. Good stuff. Then promenada for American food at Dukes

then back to city. Went to a temple and picked up Evelyn's tailored dress from Myanmar. Then went and released lanterns at the ping river. Then we went to the markets and talked to all the Thai people in Thai! Loved it :) sleeeeeep. Hike to wat Doi Suthep tomorrow :D

Dec 9th

Great brunch at a vegetarian place called Aum. Then we saw Catching Fire at promenada. Real good :) super intense though. Zero happy moments. But we got some rosemary buns from the store at the mall and headed home. Got amazing Burmese food back in the city and then headed in for an early night. A good and relaxing day :)

Dec 7th/8th

Evelyn got here just fine :) we headed to the hostel and dropped off out stuff before heading out to get some food! Evelyn slept through dinner on the plane! Lol the place we went was cheap and packed. At midnight...lol The hostel is a nice place. Today we slept in and got brunch at the same place as last night. Then we headed to the flower market! The way there was slow but fun: Evelyn was taking pictures! Lol she's learning Thai very well. Much faster than me! Lol the market was nice. I bought some food and she bought some presents for her family. We also saw Amy on the way there which was really cool :) but we were both tired after the market of all the walking so we headed back to the room for a nap! Then the walking street market for food and gifts! Great day :)

Finished!!

I finished my work! I packed in the morning and then moved out if my room. After that I headed to the chiropractor. He fixed my up very well :) Turns out my public bone was out of wack which was pulling my back out of alignment. So my back was fine the whole time! Weird lol then I headed back to the library to finish my essays and everything was good until all the computers stopped connecting to the internet!! Ugh! Hurried back to the dorms and the computer there worked! Thank goodness! It wasn't working in the morning and that's why I moved out early instead of working on my essay. But I was able to finish my Econ essay and I liked it :) then I had my last pad Thai dinner at the dorms and wrote my cultures essay. Much more thrown together but I finished! Then I got all my stuff and got in the car with pii Jiew. We headed to his house first where we dropped off my bike he bought back from me then drove to the airport! Waiting for Evelyn now! Her flight just landed! It still hasn't hit me she's here. I guess it will when I see her! :D the moon is beautiful tonight by the way :)

Test!

Studied for the Thai test this morning. Then headed over for class. But no one was there except for me and the professor because everyone else was out to lunch at another professors house. I didn't go because I was studying. So Jenjit and I talked for a bit and then she asked if I wanted to take the first part if the test. I said sure! I did well :) Amy came back from lunch while I was taking it but I was able to finish while Amy talked with Jenjit outside. The reading part was hard! Hope I did alright. Then I did the oral part if the exam in Jenjit's office. I did a fine job when it was my turn to talk but I should have studied question words more. I was at a lose for words sometimes when asked questions because I wasn't sure what I was being asked. But I managed to scrape by! Reading Thai out loud was much easier than I expected. Tones we're used that much so it was easier. Then I got my overdue weekend meal stipend and found out that the farewell dinner will have vegan food so I can go. And Evelyn was invited so we can both enjoy nothern Thai food and performances with everyone :) then worked on my essay and had dinner. Then some rugby and soccer watching followed by more essay work. I'm all packed up so I don't need to worry about that but the essays are my two priorities right now. I have a chiropractor appointment tomorrow but besides that I'll just be writing. I want to get the essays done so I can focus on being with Evelyn! I can't wait! It's going to be so great :D got to work now. Last night in the dorms!!

More work

Today I reworked my Econ essay. A lot of really good stuff. I'm much happier with it now. I've got my Thai exam tomorrow so I need to study for that tonight. Working all these days makes each day seem like the last lol all the days are the same! But it's worth it to finish my work early so I can travel. Evelyn leaves today!! So excited :D can't wait to see her. It's been 6 months. It's going to be quite the experience to travel with her and get to know her again. I'm so glad she's coming :) just got to get my work done before she gets here!!

Work!

Today was a lot of work! Woo! No chiropractor because he was all booked. And my back feels much better so we'll see what happens with that. No class today so I spent the day working on my essays. I have two I need to finish by Saturday! I know I'll get them done but I want them to be good! I also have a Thai final on Friday so I need to study for that. Also I decided to do two quick presentations next week so I can get six credits of upper level asian classes. Good call I'd say. Had lunch with Glenna before she left. That was nice :) four people have left the program so far and I'm next! Ahh! I was taking a soccer break when I started to be watched by a Thai guy. After a while he came over and said he was impressed with my skill and asked if I wanted to come and play with his friends. I said yes! It was a lot of fun. Him, his friend and I drive over to a real nice turf court and played with Thai and US friends all around college age. A lot of fun :) scored a goal! :D but the field cost money which I didn't know about. But because he invited me, my friend said he would pay for me and that's why he didn't tell me to bring money. So nice! It seemed like a very "Thai" thing to do. And then I drove back to the dorms with them and ate dinner with them and their friends. Very nice :) and hw and sleep. Real good day :) it's the kings birthday/Father's Day tomorrow so no school just more essay work! 

Presentation

Presentation today in Econ. I did well I think. I hope I wasn't too boring lol I learned a lot from what others had to say and a lot about where I needed to impove by presenting my argument. But a lot of it was sad to listen to as well so I took a break on youtube afterwards. Ho is a great professor and it was an amazing class :) then more presentations for practicum. Good stuff. On Thai sex education, an NGO, and a Burmese school. I'll do mine next week. Ganna be about racism in Thailand! Then I worked on my paper for Econ. A lot of grammar stuff lol never quite learned that... Then eating out at a really nice vegetarian place with great food for great prices. Erin left for the US tonight so we were saying good bye. Crazy that she's going home already! But the food was great and we had good toasts to the group :) then Erin and I rode home and I saw her off. Good luck Erin! Then my back started to hurt again so I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. Should be fine though. Night! :)

Last dance class!

Today was my last Thai dance class! Crazy. We practiced our final dance a lot and then I took the test of pro forming it. I hardly knew the dance at the begening of the class because I missed a class where we learned a good part of it but I was able to learn and pick it up in time to take the test. Sweet! Then Thai language where we reviewed for the final that I'm taking on Friday. Not ready yet! Then I did a peer review for the Econ essay before dinner. Talked with friends and then did some work. Sleep time!

Last Sunday in the dorms!

Finished my paper! Ya! After breakfast and some Skype I was able to edit well and turn in what I hope was a pretty good rough draft. Then I booked a hostel for our first few nights in Chiang Mai and planned more of our adventures. Then dinner and watched the build up to a live Manchester United game. But when they switch to the game it's just commentary and no live video. Total rip off. But it gave me chance to do more work and I reviewed Katy's essay for her as I am one of her reviewers. Turns out ManU tied. Ugh. Not what we needed. Off to bed! I'll be sleeping somewhere else in less than a week! Crazy!