After about two months of school I finally found out why we sit outside the room on the floor for 5 minutes every day after lunch. I was finally told it was for meditation, which just made me laugh. No on is silent, everyone is talking and fighting and doing homework during this time. I would have never guessed it was meditation time. Another thing is that Thai roads have no speed limits. It's drive as fast or as slow as you want and pass whenever you feel like it. My host father even passes on the curve and every time there is a car coming at us and at just the right moment he pulls back into the lane. It gets my heart racing every time. I also found it weird that they put blinkers on to pass other cars but no to turn. This makes every drive very dangerous. For my host mother the only two speeds are way to fast or slammed on the breaks. This is especially scary because no one wears seat belts. I'm trying my best to remember mine every time so I don't get out of a good habit. Also there are motorcycles everywhere and they don't just hold one person. Sometimes a family of four will be on one. The toddler standing holding the handles the rest sitting. I find it crazy and not healthy at all. Anyways these are my revelations for the day! I'm off to Mae Sae today to do my Visa stuff, so no school! The head of the Youth Exchange here invited me to stay with her if I can just get a ride to her town past Chiang Mai. We will work out the details and then maybe I can go stay with her and on the way back pick up my friend in Chiang Mai to come stay with me for a little bit. I'm super excited and things once again are looking up!
Until Later, Dacotah Smith
Your description of the driving habits over there had me laughing so hard that coffee almost came out of my nose. I remember much of the same thing when I lived in Japan. I was in Tokyo and needed to get to the airport and told the driver that I was in a hurry. He drove on the sidewalks. Keep using those seatbelts!!!
ReplyDeleteHugs, SusanC