First Lessons

This past weekend I had my first motorbike lesson. Its not that hard to actually ride a motorbike, but I'm still a little nervouse to ride one when other bikes (and more particularly) cars are around. The rules here are quite different, besides the fact that they drive on the left side of the road of course. Motorbikes don't really have to stop at lights if they are making a left and they can "cut in line" so to speak...which brings me to the point that Thai people don't understand the meaning of lines. We could be waiting to pay for something at a 7-11 (there is pretty much one on every corner, more so in Bangkok than Lampang), and someone comes right up and puts their stuff on the counter. Same goes for waiting for the bathroom or a table at a restaurant...but anyway back to the motorbike. The hardest part for me, as Margo can attest to, is actually starting the bike. Another thing I have to get used to though is switching gears since I've never driven a manual car.
Yesterday I also had my first Thai lesson. Nothing seems to really stick yet, unless I repeat it about 100 times. I'm learning a few words at a time, but I have 3 people helping me. We decided to have a Thai-English lesson twice a week. Each lesson being 2 hours- 1 for English, 1 for Thai. For the first hour, Margo's roommate Apple (pronounced more like "Bun") helped me with Thai, while another Thai teacher Dao helped Margo with reading and writing, since Margo has pretty much mastered the speaking and listening part. The second hour was quite fun since Margo & I could teach together and I found myself acting the part of a hostess, waitress, and moviegoer.
Monday was Sports Day. Sports day is a cross between homecoming/prom in high school and field day in elementary school. The whole school is broken into 5 teams (pink, blue, green, orange & yellow) that compete during the day. The morning starts with a parade of each of the teams lead by their own marching band. The homecoming/prom parts come into play with some of the upperclass girls and guys that get decked out in prom gowns and suits. Some were even towed in a horse and buggy! I mean, bubble-gum pink frilly barbie dresses (well for the pink team at least.) All the girls looked gorgeous, but I've never seen so many Thai barbie dolls in my life. Here's one of the girls dressed up...



After the parade there were dancing routines and races and more field day activities.



After that we went to Margo's house for lunch (which is on campus) and never really returned. So in essence, sports day was a free day for us.
Tuesday is definitely my worst day. I have 6 classes...the most is 3 in a row, which is so draining. Tuesdays deserve a nice cold beer :)