the world begins to exist when the individual discovers it. -carl jung

11 march 2009

our first day back in class found me sleepy, per usual. i thoroughly enjoyed my first class, english as a global language, because we discussed our experiences with english in india. the use of english is widespread in india and is highly valued, making it easy for us to navigate chennai. i decided to skip global studies today and watched it from the room after i showered quickly. i needed to wake myself up! it was far too late a night. my last class, languages of the world, was interesting and we began watching a movie about the origin of man and language; who knew that they make movies about that sort of thing?

i met a girl in class today from connecticut, and when i asked where, she replied "northwest corner." being that we're close enough to the area, i asked her what town & she is from bethlehem. she said no one ever knows where she is from, and i was the first. we promised to play the name game later, and i'm looking forward to it. its always fun to meet people and have friends and acquaintances in common.

lunch on the ship was not looking so good to me, so i stuck with my favorite: shredded carrots and cucumbers with a side of toast. i love the carrots because they remind me of the 'carrot salad' mom makes in the summer time. dessert was great, as it always is: a chocolate brownie.

i was planning to go back to the room to nap and type but distracted myself in the library instead. i used the computer and a travel guide for bangkok to come up with some ideas of what to do in our 5 days. i am fairly sure that my travel group will be mckendree, rennika, kelsey and myself and i'm excited for the small size.

as of now we have a round trip bus ticket to bangkok from the port, laem chabang, which is nearly two hours away. there is simply no place to dock large ships and boats in bangkok, so they are all routed to laem chabang. we have tickets for the first and last day, so we need to find a hostel/hotel to stay in and figure out things to do.

some of our ideas include: a half day cooking class, some time at a spa, a visit to several of the temples and buddhas, time in the large night market, kelsey wants to ride an elephant so we'll try and figure that out and a possible day or two at the beach. i am so so so excited to take a cooking class, as are the other girls, so we will most definitely try to make that happen. there is an extensive public transit system in bangkok made up of a sky train, metro, water taxis, ferries and buses; so i think we'll be able to get ourselves around fairly easily.

i'm excited for thailand, i've heard that we'll be there for just enough time.

after spending quite a bit of time cutting and pasting wikipedia articles, finding maps and hotel listings, i retired with my packet to the room. i tried watching some of braveheart, which i've never seen, and chatted with mckendree. i got a call on our phone from one of the home stay girls, that i had something waiting for me at the front desk.

turns out their home stay dad made a dvd and photo cd for all of the participants in the rotarian home stay. i immediately popped in the dvd and watched the meeting which we had attended. i'm so glad to have the dvd, though its very long, because it captured the dancing and the speeches that we had missed. on the photo cd are all the group photos taken as well as some great candids. it was a sweet thing to do and i'm so happy to have received them! it was a great surprise.

after watching the dvd, i took a short nap before dinner. naps on the ship are certainly becoming a way of life, especially with all the time changes.

i ate dinner with my usual crowd: mckendree, kelsey, rennika, brian, chandler, caitlyn and teresa. we had sherbet for dessert, which was a great treat. sometimes i think i should just fore go dinner and stick to the desserts -- they are the only thing that seems to be consistently good! the sky was incredible and i'm so glad that i thought to bring my camera! i'm getting much better about simply toting it around all day, just in case a photo opportunity presents itself. i'm turning into mom!! (that's not a bad thing, by the way)

i now am sitting on the 7th deck, under the canopy, enjoying the smell of popcorn from the snack bar and listening to the rain sprinkling around me. this entire trip has been incredible but the times that i simply sit, listen and enjoy the surroundings are the best. its so peaceful! the sound of the ocean surely doesn't hurt.

i'm not sure what i'll be doing this evening but i think some alone time sounds good. maybe i'll watch pride and prejudice and type away. i really want to be done with my india blogs; i have school work that needs to be completed too. it seems that i am always typing a school paper or my blog! i'm getting very good at typing! it's like mavis beacon! (a learn-to-type program from elementary school)

tomorrow brings global studies, which sounds interesting and nutrition. nutrition is painful to me but i need to start studying differently-- his tests are so hard! there is also a karaoke night tomorrow, which everyone is very excited about. i won't be performing, but i'll be watching :)

off to type & enjoy the breeze!