Classmates

This past month of studying at school as been fun. Module 5 is different from all the others, I feel more grown up. Now we're like in late elementary school. We have mastered how to read and write, so now we get to read stories about Thai culture. We learned about Thai fruit, the big weekend market, the temples, the canals that run through the city like Venice, and of course the elephants of Thailand. I love learning about other cultures and customs, so I really enjoyed it. The teacher speaks Thai the whole time, so my vocab and understanding has greatly increased.

Also during this module I made good friends with a group of Korean guys. Pretty hilarious. I studied with 2 of them in the past and this module I studied with the other 2- not knowing at first they are all buddies from South Korea. They are studying Thai because they are tour guides in Korea and have lots of Thai clients. We usually ate lunch together after class- introducing me to delicious Korean food, becoming one of my top favorites now. Each week I crave Korean food at least one day a week. One day they picked Subway to go eat at (I think because of me: American=sandwiches). I ordered my sandwich and quickly realized, they had never been to Subway before- had no clue how to order the sandwich. It was pretty funny, but they did say it was delicious!

They hardly speak English, so Thai is our communal language, which helps us all practice more. They are really sweet guys that looked after me like a little sister. It was funny to see me surrounded by these 4 Korean guys all speaking Korean, but it was nice to have that community. I know so much now about Korean culture (considering most of my classmates are always Korean) I really want to visit. It looks so beautiful, with four seasons and all, maybe now I'll have some places to stay when I visit. :)

Occasionally we would go bowling or play pool- they do that often- making them quite superior, which makes playing with me not too fun I'm sure.

At the bowling alley. These guys play 3-4 days a week,
at least 4 hours each time....ridiculous.

Kozue and I, we've studied together these last 3 months.

My friend Tea. We get along real well. He comes from a Christian home, his mom is a pastor in Korea, so he's able to understand that aspect of my life more than the others. We make each laugh a lot as we try to figure out this Thai language and use it properly. I checked out his Korean church (45min. long) and he came and checked out mine (3 hrs long)...I think I got the better trade off! ;)

I love watching good pool players, it amazes me. These boys are
huge competitors, every aspect of life is turned into some sort of competition.
And rock, paper, scissors is used to solve any decision- it really is too funny.

This has been a fun month, but sadly like all seasons there comes an end. 2 of them have left back to Korea. Oh, the ebbs and flows of life....I wonder what's next.