 There have been plenty of things that I have done since the last
journal was written, and a lot of them were new for me.
Thanksgiving was a memorable event, basically it was the
very first time for all the exchange students this year. There were a lot of
food that night, however the best food could not be anything else but the
turkey, because turkey is not our common dish in Thailand. I got to meet a
lot of people that were friends of my host parents.
Disney World could be considered as the most spectacular
event for all the exchange students in Florida so far. There is absolutely
no exaggeration for that statement. There were so many rides and wonderful
things to do. The ride that I like most was the "Rock 'N' Roller Coaster".
It was extremely fast at the beginning, and trust me everyone that rides
that thing would cry to own it in their backyard. It was a very special
weekend for all the exchange students. Disney makes everything perfectly,
they make us want to buy everything they have, like Bill Learn said, "Disney
World is a money sucker machine", and there is no doubt for that. All the
stuff was super expensive, but nobody complained about that. We understood
that we were at Disney because of the generosity of the Rotary. Thank you
very much!
Christmas eve and Christmas, it was the first time in my
life. On Christmas eve, my host family and I went to the same house that we
went to on Thanksgiving, and again the food was delicious. A lot of adults
were there and I had many interesting conversations with them. After that
mouthwatering dinner, my host brother and I wrote a gift list to Santa Claus
and the next day it really came true. I was amazed and wondered when did my
host parents buy those presents? That day was special and I am now jealous
of kids that have Christmas every year.
Surprisingly, I have been spending my time with my host
family and adults more than friends in school. This is unusual for a
teenager, especially a teenager who is an exchange student. The main reason
is because I am not that outgoing. The different habits between American
kids and Thai kids, according to those on the soccer team: American kids are
louder, crazier, and more fun than Thai kids. I really like that, but in a
way they are not as sincere as Thai kids, and many times they do not really
mean like what they say. That makes it difficult for me to rely on someone
and find a real friend.
I just moved to my second host family, and it was a good
change for me. I wish to thank the McWilliams family for a wonderful five
months. My new family has kids that go to St. Augustine High School which is
another school in St. Johns County. I got to meet new friends and be more
socialized. My new family has many relatives and they were reunited on the
first week that I was there. I was having a very good time, and it was very
warm and enjoyable.
Overall my life seems to be fine, however life is not
always a fairy tale as you expected.
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As the time goes by during this year I have become a "slacker",
that is why this essay is written so late. I had been living with my second host
family, the Woolbright for three months, I have had a lot of fun with them.
At the end of February, the Woolbright family took me to
Disney World, it was the second time for me. I had so much fun this time. It
was not as crowded as the last time, but the weather was very cold. The best
part for this time was, having lunch at the Italian restaurant in Epcot. The
appetizer we ordered, Artichokes with Mozzarella cheese, was extremely
delicious. At the Magic Kingdom, I had a gigantic turkey leg. It took a lot
of effort to finish that thing, but it was another challenging American
experience. Thank you for my host mom, Cindy Woolbright for the trip.
Two weeks later, the Woolbrights took me to Melbourne, to
a huge elegant hotel next to the beautiful beach, we had a lot of fun
staying there. I met my old American friends whom I have known since last
year in Thailand. They were planning to travel down from Michigan to Florida
to see me. It was very nice to see them again, and I got to tell them about
my American experiences. However, the main reason of going to Melbourne, was
to attend a wedding. It was my second wedding in America, and this one was
actually better than the first one. At the hotel, I got to walk along the
beach, but I did not jump in the water, because it was still too cold. We
had a great time at Melbourne, thank you for my host mom, Cindy Woolbright.
On spring break, the end of March, the Woolbrights took me
out of Florida for the first time to Georgia. On the way there we stopped at
the Jacksonville's zoo, it was such a cool place. There were plenty of
animals, and also people at the zoo. After visiting the zoo, we had a 6
hours driving to a resort called Callaway Garden, I was totally exhausted.
The next day we went riding bicycles around the resort's area. Most of the
area was covered by trees, there was a golf course, a lake, a tropical
garden, and a butterfly garden. The butterfly garden was the best one, it
was very pretty inside, and the butterflies; colors were various and exotic.
From the Callaway garden, on the next day we headed up north to Ellijay. We
drove past downtown Atlanta, the city was filled with buildings and people,
in fact that is the kind of city I like. We arrived at a cabin rented by my
host mom, it is located deep in mountains in Ellijay. On the second day at
the cabin, my host brother and I went hiking in the woods. We had been
walking along the trail for almost five hours, it was very quiet and
peaceful out there. Then we stopped at our camping place, we built a
bonfire, and tried to catch some fish.
The bonfire was successful, but catching fish was a
failure, however, we had some food that we brought with us too eat. At night
in the tent, I was afraid that there would be bears coming to the tent, but
the only thing that came to the tent that night was my host sister, Jo Jo
and my host mother, Cindy. They snuck up on us at 3:00 in the morning to try
and scare us. It was their revenge for what we had done to them before. It
was really funny in the end because Jo Jo was trying to make ghost and bear
noises as they snuck up on our tent. I was surprised that they, two ladies,
would walk in the dark woods in the middle of the night just to play a joke
on us. We've laughed about it a lot many times.
Cindy's sister, Teresa Chupp and her kids who live in
Kennesaw, Georgia came to join us at the cabin on the next day. Teresa has
two goofy, funny and playful sons, and a sweet, teasy and extremely
ravishing daughter. I enjoy hanging with them a lot. The third day at the
cabin, we were walking around the woods, and the waterfall. At night we
built a bonfire, then burnt some sausages for dinner, and marshmallows for
dessert. After hanging out at the bonfire we played man hunt around the
cabin. The last day at the cabin was Easter, the first Easter for me in
America. Like the American tradition, we were searching for some Easter's
eggs, it was a lot of fun and another memorable experience. In the
afternoon, we headed down to Kennesaw, and stayed at Teresa's house for the
night. Unfortunately, time of enjoyment was over as we had to leave Georgia.
When we got back from Georgia, I felt like a part of me was missing.
Strangely enough, I even felt like I do not want to feel enjoyment or have
an excessively fun time again, because the transition afterward when the
ennui comes to take place, put me down so much. Anyways, my spring break was
magnificently wonderful, and I had to admit that it was one of the best part
of this exchange year. Again thank you very much for my host family and
their cousins.
The main reason that I had had such an awesome time with
the Woolbrights was not, because all the trips they had taken me too. There
was a big influence from my host sister and my host brother. My host sister
is loud, silly and funny, she always makes me laugh. My host brother is
quiet, nerdy, unique, mature, and easy going. Both of them always take care
of me, and keep me company. And, the biggest reason was that the Woolbrights
did not treat me like an exchange student, they treated me like a family
member. Once again thank you the Woolbrights for all the hospitality.
One week after the best time of my year, was probably one
of the worst time of the year, because I had to move from my second host
family. It totally has nothing to do with how my third host family is. As I
have written before, I am afraid of transition, because I am so sick of it,
but this whole experience is all about it. I did not see the point of
moving, because I only had two months left, and it would not be enough time
for me to fit in as perfectly as I had done at the Woolbright's. However,
there was no other choice but to move on, and I knew that sometimes, I just
had to sacrifice for the other people. It had taken me a little while to
settle in with my third host family, it was not as difficult as I thought to
settle in, but I also did not fit in as perfectly as before with the
Woolbright. Living with my third host family is different, my host dad cooks
very delicious dinners, my host mom is very kind and always able to help me
out, and my host sister is very outgoing. But, whatever the outcome would
be, in the long run it would fall into the same category as, "another
experience to learn from".
About four weeks ago, my third host family took me to
Tampa Bay, the main point was to go to Busch Garden, the best Rollercoaster
theme park in Florida. The night before we visited Busch Garden, we went to
have dinner at the Ruth's Chris steak house. It was the second most
expensive restaurant, I had ever stepped my inferior foot in. I ordered the
Ruth's Chris classic, and chose lamb for my steak. It was the most delicious
steak, I had ever had in my life. The next day at Busch Garden, it was a
very hot day, luckily, there was not very many people there. My host family
and I had gone on this ride, Montu twice, it has three giant loops that make
people who are riding turn upside down. After riding it twice I felt a
little dizzy, and I supposed, it was not a very good idea, as we went
straight to the food line for lunch. I felt very sick after lunch, and my
stomach was very grouty. The sad news was, we had yet to go on the newest,
scariest and the most popular ride in Busch Garden, the Sheikra. I had been
waiting for about thirty minutes for my stomach to get better, while my host
family went riding another ride. Then we headed to the Sheikra, although the
line was long, but I was truly happy that it was. When we were sitting in
the roller coaster, I only hoped that I would not puke during or after the
ride. The roller coaster goes up about 200 feet, and then moves on the
curved track to the other side. Before the roller coaster goes down on a
90-degree vertical drop, it stops to let the passengers gaze down for a
beautiful view, or should I say to be freaked out. At that temporary moment
when the roller coaster went down, my feeling was indescribable. I did not
know, if I was nervous or excited or having fun, but I surely knew that I
was scared. The result was not as badly as I thought, I did not puke! We
went to some other rides after that, and headed home. I had so much fun at
Busch Garden, I was very glad that I got to go there, because so many people
had talked about it. Thank you for my third host family for all these new
experiences.
I cannot believe my year in America is almost over, now I
am regretting many things. I keep thinking that I should have prepared
myself more before I got here, I should have tried harder in terms of
socializing and making friends. However, I am extremely glad that I have
such an awesome host family. While I am writing this journal, I am in
Georgia with my second host family again. I have had a wonderful time with
them at Lake Lanier with their extended family at a large beautiful lake
house. We were there for one week. Time went by so quickly and it was so
much fun. We swam in the pool, went tubing in the lake, hiked to a
waterfall, stayed up until one o'clock watching movies in the theater room
and had a family volley ball game. In a few days, I will be going on the
West coast tour that all the exchange students have been waiting for the
entire year. Truthfully, although I am looking forward to the trip I also am
realizing how much I will miss leaving the Woolbright family and their
cousins. Unfortunately, I have to move on, it is the most difficult choice,
but it is the only choice. The sun will rise, and tomorrow will be
different. All the things I have done, will only be by my memories from the
past, and in the end they will fade away. No matter what awaits me, I have
discovered that the time cannot be stopped, eventually, I just have to move
on. It has been a wonderful experience that I will treasure for ever. I
can't wait to tell my family at home about all of my adventures. |
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