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BUSARA’S DIGEST #4 Sawadee ka. Tan Patarn Lek_sama_chick Rotary Charoen Nakorn. Lek tan poo me geea tee ka rop na ka. Di chan me quan yin dee, tee dai ma pa choom nai wanee na ka. Ca pa jow cow gow teung sing_pa_tap_jai tee dai pope ma cur Wat Pra Gaew le Pa Tee Nang Pee Man Make na ka. Pen sing tee suay ngam ma pa ta jai le jop_jum na ka. Ca pa jow ja caw lao luang sanook tee dai pook boi_boi na ka. York toe yam tee "Longlian Ladwinit" na ka. Khorb kun mark ka. Sawadee ka. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Good Afternoon. President of Rotary Club of Charoen Nakorn, other board members, Rotarians and guests. It is my pleasure to come here once again and enjoy this fellowship. Since my last visit, I have spent my days exploring this country and enjoying this culture. On September 24th, I went to Wat Pra Gaew and Pa Tee Nang Pee Man Make with my fellow Y.E. inbounds. We had a fantastic time learning about Thailand. That is about it, but before I go, I would like to share a funny story that I have encountered upon many meeting many Thai People like my friends at "School Rajavinit". Thank you very much. Good_bye. Well, it’s the end of another month in the"Land of Smile" for me. Above is a short speech that I gave to my hosting Rotary Club a few weeks ago. Every month I visit I am expected to give an update about what I have been doing. The first time I was allowed to speak in English but now all of my updates must be in Thai. So really I must thank my Kun_meh (host mother) because this was the first time I did it in Thai and she really, really helped me. The month of October was extremely slow for me since school was closed and everybody was on Mid_term break. Really, the only highlight of this month was my trip to RYLA, which is basically why I am writing this report. On October 20th I excitedly woke up at 5:30am to make my way to Ladprao (an area on the outskirts of Bangkok). I thought this was a little bit early for Ton (host_brother)to have to wake_up and drop me but afterwards I realized that I was lucky; other exchange students had to travel for up to 6 hours from other provinces to get to the meeting point. Anyway, when I arrived at Central Ladprao (the mall which was the meeting place), I met 7 buses waiting to take over 300 students to Cha_am in the province of Petchaburi. We departed at about 7:30am for a four_hour drive that waited ahead. On my bus was one other exchange student, Anton from Russia but I didn’t realize this until about an hour later. (LOL!!) We arrived in Cha_am at approximately 11:30am and the ROTARY YOUTH LEADERSHIP AWARDS began. This conference was held at The Rama VI(6) Police Training Camp which was also the home of one of the previous Kings. The housing was not exceptionally well but what could you expect in an army camp? However, it was a beautiful day and the camp also happened to be on the beach. Instantly we ate lunch at exactly 12:00pm, then were given name tags, two RYLA T_shirts, a handbook, stationary and placed in our groups. Unfortunately, this was when all problems began. Unlike last year, Rotary did not have a bi_lingual program for the exchange students so the entire 5 days would be in Thai. Meetings after meetings, discussions and more discussions: all in a language that we were just learning. However, they realized that it would be extremely boring for us so they apologized for overlooking the presence of the exchange students and allowed us to be rather free during the meeting times. The first night we had an opening ceremony where they dimmed the room and lit candles. Then we had to go up to the front and keel in lines where Rotarians tied strings around our wrists. This was to give us/represent good luck and happiness during RYLA. The next morning, we were awakened from our army beds at 5:30am to exercise. It would have been a pleasure for the"falangs" (foreigners) if we did real exercise. But Thai people know and admit that they are very lazy so real exercise was out of the question. Basically we clapped for about a half_hour as our morning exercise. Afterwards we proceeded to take showers. Now this was a real Thai experience."Bucket showers" are what they are called and are found in some Thai homes and most camps. There is just a big room and three very large bathtubs (that look like swimming pools with green looking water) and a lot of buckets. For girls, you must wear a wrap under your arm that looks like a long skirt and bathe with the skirt on. Then you put a dry wrap over the wet one and change your clothes. For the boys, they wear very short skirts to take a bath with the same style bucket showers. I do not think I have ever mentioned the toilets here in Thailand either. They are called "squatters" which is basically a porcelain hole in the ground that must be flushed with water from a side tub using a bucket. These can be found in most public places and some homes but my host_family has western toilets that we use. The first real day we did not really do anything since most of the time there were meetings. So we got to swim and swim and swim. The Thai students didn't swim but I believe that it is winter right now (85F)so it might have been cold for them. This is also when I really began to miss my home and our pink_and_white sand in the Bahamas. That night we went to the first talent night and watched the show of many Thai performers, most of who played the guitar and sang familiar Thai songs. There was lights out at 9:30 but I think that was just when the meetings ended because afterwards everybody was on the beach where we relaxed and talked to the other Thai students while looking at the stars. On day 2 (Sun. 22nd) there was exercise at 5:30 again. Some of the exchange students woke up but just to find that exercise was clapping (to music this time.) After exercise we went back to sleep since there were more meetings for the Thai students. After lunch all of the exchange students decided to do something other than waiting for the Thai people to finish their discussions, so we packed our bags and had a hike on the beach where we went into the town of Cha_am. There were hotels and restaurants and we rode the banana boats and even a few people tried the horses. That evening, there was another talent night where an exchange student for the U.S.A. (Alaska) and I did our talents. Basically I just showed all of the Thai people how to do Bahamian dances. It was sooo funny because they were running up to me and giving me flowers and stuff but I really appreciated it. Even more so when the song was over and everyone started shouting"ONE MORE! ONE MORE!" So we danced for one more song and then they were really happy. That night, there was another meeting after the talent show so when the Y.E.’s had to leave we went on the beach again where we talked until morning. On Monday there was beach sports but I do not know what happened during that time because I did not get up in time. However, this was the best day. Everybody had to jump from a 30ft tower and do some other stuff like climbing walls and swings over water and other army activities. This was basically bravery work and I must admit that even though I did not like jumping from the tower, I was really brave to do it. Afterwards, my hands and knees were shaking for the rest of the day while some of the other inbounds did it more than once. (LOL!!!) That night, there was a farewell party and the inbounds had to do a 10_min. performance for the Thai people. We sang a song or played a game from every country and it was really fun since Thai people are sooooo very easy to please and make happy. They especially had fun doing the "Chicken dance" from the U.S.A. and the song in French that Anne_Sophie, the Y.E. from Belgium taught. After the party, we made our way to a palace like structure on the beach where we sat, talked and fell asleep. The last day, there was free time at 5:30. Now I wonder what they thought everyone was going to do during that time? (LOL!!) It was really rainy and wet but we packed and boarded our buses to head back to Bangkok. On the way, we stopped at a market in Petchaburi for about a half_hour where we bought souvenirs and snacks. I slept most of the way coming back so I really don’t know what went on except for the minor accident that my bus got into. We are all safe though. I have come to the conclusion that this experience will be one that I will never forget. It was the first time that all of the Y.E.’s got together for more than just a 2hr meeting or a 5hr.day tip. It was also good for us because surprisingly we talked in Thai to each other, which I thought was odd since all of us spoke English. I know I can speak for my fellow inbounds when I say that RYLA may not have been the best in fun but Cha_am was the greatest. We took initiative, one of the things that it takes to be a leader and we learnt and discovered Cha_am and made our own fun. I also met a lot of Thai people and we made soooo many friends that I can be expecting a lot of e_mails soon from the business cards and souvenirs that I gave out. Ok, that’s all for the fourth issue of "BUSARA’S DIGEST’. Look forward to issue five (5)::::::::::: COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU, IN AN E_MAIL JUST FOR YOU! SAWADEE KA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Signed: BARBARA ZÁ FRANKS ºÒÃìºÒÃèÒ à« á¼Ã§¤ì R. Y. E. 2000_2001 Dist. 6990 (Grand Bahama) - Dist 3350 (Thailand)
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