Bashayer and Christmas

Sorry for the long time between posts. At first I had nothing to write about, then when I got something I was so busy that I didn't get the chance. 3 weeks ago was exams and also a horrible week for me. I am not going to go into detail but it was a rough week. Then on the 20th Bashayer came to stay with me. I picked her up in Bangkok at 7:30 AM and then we went to some street markets for breakfast and to look around. My host mom left us in Siam, the large mall center in Bangkok, so we went to the international market and to a movie. We got to see the first half of Whip It before realizing that if we didn't leave we were going to be late for the van, we had to get home before 6. We ended up being late anyway but at least we tried to get there on time. That night we went for a walk on the beach and we talked about a lot of stuff. It was nice to have someone I could talk to and share all my problems with and who would understand. We ended up going in earlier than we wanted because we were being eaten alive by mosquitos.

Monday we had school and so she got to meet all my friends. It was a little weird for me all the attentiont they gave her, but it was alright. She immediately liked Sai and she liked my other friends too. School is school so we didn't have loads of fun, but I think she liked it.

Tuesday we had English with this one teacher who doesn't know anything, but she is really nice. In the afternoon we have 6th and 7th period free because boys have military training so the teacher took us to the palace of Rama V. After school went went the the big palace in Petchaburi and then ran errands with my host mom. After we got home we helped to cook and then spent the night together having fun and talking.

Wednesday nothing special happened. After school we went gift shopping because I had to Preaw a gift since I drew her name and I still had to get Bashayer's gift so went to this one shop and I made a cool key chain for Preawa nd then Bashayer and I decided to make eachother bracelets. It was a lot of fun, but took a long time and so we couldn't go out for dinner like they wanted.

Thursday was Christmas Eve and the next day we were planning on baking so my host mom dropped us off at Big C to buy some things we still needed. After we got home we prepared everything for the next day and then helped cook. After dinner I opened a few presents. I opened the things from Macy, which were amazing thank you! and the pacakge from Germany, love the shirt and already started the jam thank you! I also opened Rummikub from Mom and Dad and taught Bashayer. I also traded gifts with my friends and got a pretty picture frame from Kaw. It was a fun day.

Friday was Christmas and so I was full of energy. I went to assembly and it was cool. The Chinese, English, and French students did some little pieces for Christmas. After assembly we went to class and I gave my friends their stockings, they were so excited it was really cute. After lunch Bashayer and I went to the bakery to cook, we asked if we could use the oven and they said we could so we were excited. We made brownies, pimpkin pie, and cookies. The brownies turned out well and we gave them to the teachers who all said they were good. The pumpkin pie was good, in our opinion, my host family didn't like it much. The cookies didn't turn out so well, they got over done. After school then we went to the market and bought the last several things for the dinner we were making. We then went home and cooked. We made pork burgers, mashed potatoes, corn, baked beans, and canned peaches. It was fun to cook with Bashayer and to teach her how to bake and cook, she doesn't do any of that in New York so it was all new for her. After dinner I brought down all the christmas stuff and we opened presents while I video chatted with home. It was fun. After that we stayed up late and talked and had fun.

Saturday Bashayer and I took the tuk tuk thing to Petchaburi and climbed the mountain. It was a lot of work, which was good because we ate way too much the day before. I got sunburned, but for the first time ever it turned tan after it went away. On the mountain we saw a lot of foreigners, the most I've ever seen in Petchaburi before. I also lost two bottles of water to the monkeys. After the mountain Bashayer dropped her camera and broke the screen so she wasn't in a good mood after that. We also got lost looking for the school. We had to stop and ask the police directions to the school, which after getting them made me feel stupid because I knew exactly where to go. We then went and waited at the school for Peach to pick us up, she was going to her grandparents which is five minutes from my house so she offered to give us a ride to the house. After we got home we goofed around the rest of the night and just had fun.

We didnt go to bed till 1 and we got up at 3 to go to Bangkok. My host dad had to go to school on Sunday so we went to Bangkok too. We got there at 6:30 and had nothing to do so we went and ate at Dunkin' Donuts and then went and sat in front of Siam. We both started to fall asleep there so we decided to go to Bon Au Pain and get some more food. I got an amazing Peacan Roll and she got a chocolate croisant. We sat on the upper floor on the couch like bench. After we finished eating we decided to sleep until 10 when the mall opened, so we slept in the restaurant for 2 hours or more. We left when this one lady kept staring at us. We then went to the mall and checked out what movies were playing and when. Paragon didn't have New Moon so we walked to Central World. New Moon was to play at 1:50 so we decided to go to Sherlock Holmes and eat before seeing it. The movie was really good and then we went to eat at this steak place. It had really good food. Then we went and saw New Moon, which was amazing!!! Then we went and tried to get Bashayer's camera fixed but the people who fix the cameras were on vacation till after New Year so we left. We took the van back home and arrived at the same time as my host dad so that was convenient.

On Monday we didn't do much of anything. We goofed around and stayed up late talking and spending the last of our time together. Tuesday we left school at 12:30 after changing and headed for Bangkok. We arrived in time to get some ice cream from Swenson's and to get Bashayer some dinner (she had to carry on because she wasn't going to get any anywhere else). We underestimated the amount of time to get there and ended up being 20 minutes late and missing her bus. They were able to squeeze her on the bus an hour after her original time, but she wanted to come back with us and stay for New Year. We had it all worked out with everyone but Gayoon and so her host sister called Gayoon to try to convince her to let Bashayer stay, but Gayoon said no so she had to go. She arrived this morning at 7:30 after a 14 hour bus ride. She said that when she got off the bus she was shivering because it is cold in her Province, meaning in the 60's!

Well I'll do an other post soon about today and the New Year but right now I'm tired and I have to get up early tomorrow to go with them to temple to give food to the monks for New Year.

So till 2010! Happy New Year!

Lots of Love,
Allyson

P.S. I am posting photos and will post the link soon.