Jordana "Jordi" Sell

2008-09 Outbound to Thailand

Hometown: Port St. Lucie, Florida

School: Morningside Academy, Port St. Lucie, Florida

Sponsor: Stuart Rotary Club, District 6930, Florida

Host: Charoen Nakorn Rotary Club, District 3350, Thailand

Bio

Jordi's Bio

Sàwàtdee!! I am Jordana Sell and I am an 11th grade student at Morningside Christian Academy in Port St. Lucie, FL. I am a member of the National Honors Society, Morningside Academy Youth Group, and have been involved in Acquire the Fire Christian conventions, 30 hour Famine, and head of the “See You at The Poll” committee. In my free time I coach my younger sister Cassandra and a team of Cheerleaders through Pop Warner. We cheer for my younger brother John’s football team (John and Cassandra are 10 year old twins). After school I work at the aftercare program at my school’s lower campus.

I have studied Spanish, French, German, and I am currently learning Japanese. Learning new languages has always been a passion of mine. This past summer I traveled to Spain, France, and Italy and plan to travel more in the near future. The Rotary Club has selected me as a Rotary Youth Exchange student and I will be traveling to Thailand for my Senior Year of High School.

My main hobby is traveling because I love learning different languages and delve myself in diverse cultures. I also have a passion for drawing anime characters which is an art form of the Japanese culture. My other hobbies include roller skating, playing guitar, and reading.

I am excited and honored to be involved with the Rotary Youth Exchange program. I have already met so many exuberant people that have helped me get to where I am today. I am very excited about my trip to come. Thank you for this opportunity!!

August 5 Journal

Sawatdee Ka!

How to describe Thailand sufficiently, I think will always be impossible. You think you figure out everyday life and suddenly, “OH! IT’S TUESDAY! YOU HAVE TO WEAR PINK!” Everyday the Thai wear different colors representing the king. The Thai gave me a nickname because they couldn’t say my name. It’s Joy. I just hope that I can fulfill the requirements of that name. I have been here for 4 days and already I have learned so much. I will start with my arrival here.

After going through customs and getting my bags, my group of exchange students and I went through the gates to meet our families. Waiting not too far away were many, many groups of Thai people all holding up signs. You feel like a celebrity walking down a red carpet, everyone was within inches of you, but no one dared to cross over the carpet into your space. Everyone seemed so happy to see us.

Finally a young girl (I think she was young, all Thai look young here) asked me my name, and suddenly I was being dragged into a huge group of people all happy and talking fast in Thai. At that moment, all the Thai I have ever learned went out the door. There was no way I could understand a thing they were saying! I wish I could have had a picture of my face. A mixture of exhaustion, confusion, and awe, mixed with about 20 Thai. Shaken not stirred. There I met my first host mom, Kanokluck, and my dad, Somchai. They are very nice. They have five sons, all older than me.

Did I mention that the Thai drive on the other side of the road? That was very disorienting at almost 1 am. I thought my mom was going to drive but then I realized that the wheel was on the other side!!! My host father is an eye doctor and he owns his own store. My house is four stories tall, and it’s connected to the store. When I say connected, I don’t mean by a door, it’s so connected in fact that the customers can see and walk right into our living room and often do to watch TV on our couch while they are waiting!

The next morning when I woke up and went downstairs looking for my mom, to my surprise, there was a ton of people here that I had no clue as to who they were! They all stared at me and laughed. Soon my mom woke up and made me breakfast. An egg and toast with apricot jam. It was really good. My mom introduced me to soybean sauce. It is similar to soy sauce. Maybe it is the same thing? Well she had me put it on my egg and it was extraordinarily good. Then she told me that the store opens at 10 and usually she doesn’t get up until 9:30, and she eats breakfast later than that. She eats a mixture of yogurt, honey, and lemon juice. “Good for your health” she says.

Since then I went to a beach in Pattaya. It was very beautiful and we had lots of fun there. After the beach, we went out to dinner, but don’t ask me what I ate. I have no idea. The only things that I recognized was a crab and the water I was drinking. I ate something that looked like a scallop with a small red puffy thing attached and it had curly tentacles. It tasted very good though. I learned not to ask what I was eating. Here in Thailand, only two or three people order when you are in a group. they order many dishes (about 8) and everyone gets what they want off that dish.

For breakfast I had shrimp soup. The shrimp was wrapped in wanton. They do drink milk, just not a lot at all. No cereal, no peanut butter, usually not butter, they use water to cook eggs, no spaghetti. I did eat green bean noodles though. I haven’t seen chips but I am sure they have them. The night we came home from the airport, one of my brothers was eating KFC. I also had Starbucks after school was over. My mom went and got me a danish and she got a coolatta. Almost all the food here is fishy, and VERY flavorful. Very different. In Thailand, they don't have one shopping store like we have a Publix. They have the market for fresh food and flowers weekly to give to their statue of the king, and Buddha (I'll post pics) or they go to stores along the street. One store per group of items. Like one hair store, one fish store, one noodle store.

Yesterday I went to visit my school. It was exciting, but everyone stared and pointed at me. I am the only student in school that has blonde hair, and who isn’t of Asian descent. Another exchange student from America goes to my school, but she is Korean, and blends in very well. Everyone tells her that she looks Thai. On Monday, Jess and I have to introduce ourselves in front of the whole school. Classes start at 8:20, but we have to be there at 7:20 for daily morning assembly. We sing the national anthem, the school song, raise the flags, and often there are speakers. I am in M-6/2. M means high school, 6 is equal to 12th grade and 2 is the level of the grade. I was told the level 2 was really hard.

My uniform is a knee length blue pleated skirt, a belt, and a baby blue button shirt. It’s kind of cute though. The high school girls are allowed to have long hair, and all of them do. Lower schoolgirls have to have their hair cut at their chin! My hair has to be in a ponytail with a black silky ribbon. I had to present a ring of flowers to my director. He is very important at Thai schools. We had to stay on our knees and he had his own separate wing in the school.

I can’t believe that I have only been here four days. I feel like I am already a part of my family. I can’t wait to start school, and to be able to understand what my brothers are saying to my parents in Thai.

Thank you Rotary so much for choosing me to be an exchange student. I could never thank you enough.

Bye for now!

September 7 Journal

“You may wonder, 'How can I leave it all behind if I am just coming back to it? How can I make a new beginning if I simply return to the old?' The answer lies in the return. You will not come back to the 'same old thing.' What you return to has changed because you have changed. Your perceptions will be altered. You will not incorporate into the same body, status, or world you left behind. The river has been flowing while you were gone. Now it does not look like the same river.” ~ Steven Foster

How do you pack a lifetime of wonder, journeys, unbelievable stories, friends, and confusion into only one year? Become an exchange student.

So far, I have been in Thailand for a month and a little more than a week. I can’t believe that already that much time has passed, yet at the same time, I feel that I have been a part of this culture forever. In the past 5 weeks, I have traveled across Thailand, got lost in the middle of Bangkok and experienced more foods than you could ever believe.

On August 7th, I went with my third host mom Poolsuk, and her niece, Boom, and Boom’s grandmother, to plant a tree in a marsh to prevent global warming. In addition, there was a big group of students from Japan. I got to eat real pad thai. It’s only a little different from the pad thai in America. After that, I met my second host mom and dad. Not Pensinee, my family changed because Pensinee is too far from Yannawate, my school. They have 2 sons, 16 and 17, and a daughter, 12. I took a 5 hour trip with my club president, counselor, my second host family, and a few others. We went to northern Thailand in a city called Petchabun. On August 8, I assisted my 2nd host father, who is a doctor/surgeon, in a surgery on people’s hands who have trigger finger. He created his own method of curing it without having to make an incision. Doctors come from all around the world to meet him and learn his method. After we finished about 40 people, 10 minutes each, we went to our hotel. It was beautiful. On Saturday, we went to 5 poor schools in Petchabun, and presented them with the “Clean water project.” We presented a big machine that makes water drinkable for the schools. Most of the schools in this area have dirt floors and even some had to sit on the floors!

I love my school here. In addition, almost unfortunately, EVERYONE loves me. Everyone knows who I am, and I can’t walk down the hallway without people screaming, “HI JOY!” It’s funny, people will come up to me and say, “Hi what’s your name? How are you?” and when you respond and ask the same thing back they freak out and run away because they only know the two sentences of English that they asked me. I’m not sure that I can honestly say that I have made friends, because a friend is someone who stands out more than the rest of your acquaintances, and EVERY person in school wants to walk me to my next class, and they all try to talk to me. All at once. And sometimes even in English! I get loads of candy too. Usually I don’t know what it is but it always tastes good. I try to say no, and they even end up sneaking it into my bag! They are crazy! But so funny too. One English class that I helped in, the teacher from England was teaching them to say “OH YEAH” instead of yes, and “HEY BABY!” Instead of hi. So random guys and girls come up to me and say “HEY BABY!” In school, I have many unique classes. English, Thai, French, Chinese (everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day for an hour each class!), Thai dance, Thai cooking, Buddhism class, and Thai history.

I had quite an adventure my second week in school. My host brother brought me to school by bus, and it was very easy, so I decided to take the bus home alone. He was a bit surprised but told me what bus number and then left. I was told to take a bus going in the opposite direction than this morning so I waited across the street from the bus stop. After about 20 minutes, and no bus yet, I got very impatient and decided to take another form of transportation very commonly used by Thai students. It is like a red pickup truck with a roof over it and seats in the back. I did not realize that each one had a different number so I just took the first one I saw. Well before I knew it, I was about 20 minutes across town. Luckily, I knew my address and about where I needed to go. I got off the truck at the next stop and had no idea where I was and I knew very little Thai. I was able to ask a nice looking young Thai woman how far Sathon soi suanphlu 3 was and she said I was very far away and she tried to explain (in very fast Thai) what bus I had to take. I did not understand her so I decided to take a Tuk back home. Finally, on the Tuk, I figured out where I was and was able to tell him where to stop (yoot dtorng nee korp koon ka!) Finally, I was home. They asked me how my bus ride was and I told my parents it was long. Was I going to tell them and get them worried? Of course not. Therefore, the next morning, I got on the bus and went to school alone. Easy. I found out that the bus stop I needed was just down the street of where I went the day before, so in the pouring rain, after waiting over 25 minutes, I got on the bus, and made my home. Safely this time. Only a little confusion when I was trying to figure what side of the street I was getting off, because here, the streets are backwards. That was the biggest adventure so far, but it was also a good learning experience. Make sure you know all your facts, be patient, and it was a good thing that I knew enough Thai to communicate.

Awestruck…
That’s exactly what I was as I stepped into the meeting room filled with about 100 Thai, and 50 exchange students from ALL over the world. At that moment I finally realized how big Rotary is, and how lucky I am to be a part of this program. How often can you say you sat at a table filled with Germans, Brazilians, French, Americans, Japanese, Thai, Taiwanese, Mexicans, Swedish, Finnish, Italians, Austrians, Australians, Norwegians, Hungarians, Polish, Spanish (from Spain), Slovakians, Canadians, AND FINALLY the Swiss??? Only when you are an exchange student. Not only did I just sit at the same table with them, but also I personally met each and every one. We didn’t always speak English, instead us exchange students found out some weird language including frantic pointing, waving of the arms, a high-pitched squeal and a head shaking in amazement when you finally figure out ONE WORD of the sentence they are trying to use. Somehow, many of us became close friends, and we didn’t let something as simple as language get between us. After learning all the rules of Rotary once again (for about the 100th time!), it was time for lunch. And how do you insure that all these people from around the world will like the food? FEED THEM SPAGHETTI!

I knew that the Thai language had different tones, but what I learned was unbelievable. The sentence “Bad wood will not burn” translates to “Mâi máai mâi mâi” Each word is only different in what tone you use, and how long you say a certain letter. It was quite amusing listening to how some of the different accents from around the world sounded so different when we were all trying to say the same thing, the same exact way.

After language orientation some friends and I went to MBK mall which at one time was the biggest mall in the world, but now it’s only the biggest in Thailand. First of all, I thought shopping in NYC was amazing, but once you go to Siam Square, your shopping life will never be the same. You name it, they not only have what you’re looking for, they have it in every color, texture, size, scent, and origin you can think of! “Hmm…I want a really big lollipop, fermented milk flavored, no chunks, from Antarctica. Can you get that for me?” “Got it. What color?”

Speaking of fermented milk, I seemed to have fallen in love with it. It comes in a small container with a foil seal on it. You poke a straw through the seal and drink away! It’s similar to yogurt but its drinkable and the taste is a little different. Anyways, we didn’t do too much shopping, instead we just explored the many many floors of shops, and stores. (Yes, there is a difference. Shops tend to be smaller but cheaper, while the stores tend to be twice the price.) MBK even has a Cinema, a bowling alley, an arcade, and karaoke! And that’s only the stuff that we had time to see!

In school, I had a Thai dance exhibition. Of course, me being the “farang” I was placed in the first row. I only practiced the dance about 10 times and I already had to perform it in front of 2500 students and the director of education. Jessica (exchange student from Massachusetts) and I had to be at school at 5:30 am for our hair, make up, and costume. Two hours later, we were ready to perform. After the dance I felt like such a celebrity, EVERYONE wanted to take pictures with Jessica and me. It was chaos, but the kind of chaos that I enjoyed instead of loathed.

This past weekend Jessica and I went to Jakutjak (JJ) Market. It is currently the biggest market in the world. They have EVERYTHING there. I saw a LING!! (Monkey) It was so cute! We spend the day there in the dying heat and got the chance to see some REAL Thai culture. Many, many pictures, and minus a few hundred Baht, we safely made it home.

The food here is interesting. In the past week I have eaten fried fish skin, octopus, pig stomach, squid I think some kind or worm, and that’s only the things that I asked the names of.

It seems that I will have to post these journals more often so they will not be so long. This “short” journal has only begun to touch upon my experiences here. Already I have had trouble remembering some English words when I talk to people back home. Simple words like dog, and come. My Thai has been improving dramatically. I am one of the lucky few who have not become homesick. Not a single day I have been here, did I want to go home. On Tuesday of last week on the bus ride home, I realized that I belong here. I finally fit in and know how to get around without help. I know enough of the language where I can participate in conversations and answer questions I am asked. I love my brothers and they take care of me as if I have been their sister forever. My Mami and Papa are so kind and generous and never forget to remind me of how much I have already learned. At dinner the other night I got the best compliment of my life: “You act like you are naturally a Thai.” Thank you Rotary for this experience, and all those lessons on homesickness, but I am not home sick, I AM home.

October 15 Journal

Wow, it has been forever since I last wrote! I had some computer issues but for the most part they are solved. I say for the most part because I lose ALL my pictures I had!!! I had some saved on the internet and I am in the process of resaving them onto my computer now.

So let’s see, from what I remember September wasn’t too busy. I had a Rotary meeting which I didn’t know they would want me to speak at, so I had to make a speech up as I went…IN THAI. I actually did pretty well. Everyone understood me and clapped. (Which you wouldn’t usually do in Thailand.) Next time, I am going to have a speech ready, just in case.

I went on 3 trips in Thailand since I wrote last. My first was to Ayutthaya. I was supposed to be there at 730, and I was ready at 645 waiting and waiting for my brother. I was with my host mom, and she said that he would be down in a few minutes. Finally at 725, he came down. That wouldn’t have been a problem except that the university I had to go to was about 20 minutes away!!! On top of that we got lost and we had no idea where we were. I ended up having to take a motorcycle taxi, and I finally got there at around 845. HA! I love the Thai, no one was mad at all, and we still took our time even though we were all running late. Actually, in Thailand, if you are on time, they tend to make a stop JUST so they will be later!

In Ayutthaya, we stopped at a ton of temples. Our first stop was Bang Pa-in Summer Palace. The palace was decorated in both traditional Chinese and European style. Traditional Chinese and modern are very different. Traditional Chinese style has so much more detail. Our second stop was Wat Yai Chaimongkol which is famous for its line of golden buddhas. Next, Wat Lokayasutharam. The temple enshrines a largest Reclining Buddha image. After, Wat Phra Si Sanphet is known as the ‘Ancient Palace’ in Ayutthaya. It is one of the oldest temples in all of Thailand. Last, we all went to Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit. This Wat has one of the biggest standing Buddha images. Finally, it was time for the main attraction….ELEPHANT RIDING!!! The elephants were so cute, but it was really sad to see so many of them all chained up! I got to pet a baby elephant, and it pulled my hair! I decided not to ride an elephant because I have done it in America before, and it was pretty expensive, and I needed to save my money.

The next day, I went on a Bangkok tour. Our first stop was The Grand Palace. Before coming to Thailand, I always thought the king lived in the grand palace. Instead, I learned that when a foreign king or emperor visits, they stay there. In the grand palace grounds was Wat Phra Kaew or Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This is probably the most famous temple in all of Thailand. Once inside you are not allowed to take pictures. I found that they are VERY strict about that. I didn’t even have my camera on, and I guess they thought I took pictures of the emerald Buddha, so they made me delete ALL of my pictures. I had to go run all around the grand palace (about a square mile) and retake all my pictures.

Our last stop of the day was the Dursit Zoo. I think that was the most exciting part of the day. It was very hot. I got to hold the hand of a monkey! Now THAT’S what I call making all types of friends.

My most recent trip was a two day trip to Ampawa. It was called the “Firefly Trip.” We started off the day by traveling to a bunch of different temples. Most of them looked the same and aren’t very famous. We got to our resort in the evening, and when it was dark, we took a boat along the river and saw beautiful fireflies. It wasn’t until a few days later that I heard the story that one of the Rotarian’s boats stopped working and 10 of them got on a dock which was very small. The dock ended up sinking! I wish I was there to see that, everyone was ok.

After the boating trip, all us exchange students (about 10 of us) went into the girls sleeping room, and we played different card games from around the world. It was so much fun! We all learned that we have a lot of the same games, but just different names, like slap, and Egyptian rat slap, are the same game. (Most adults probably don’t know that game, it was very popular for a while in middle and high schools.) After playing cards, we moved into the boy’s room and drank red bull (very different than in America) and we all had a pillow fight. It was about 1am. After the pillow fight we caught a cockroach in a Pringles container, and when a random girl came in, we asked her if she wanted chips. She fell for the trick and ended up throwing it across the room almost hitting someone else!

The next afternoon, we spent the day traveling to more random temples and then spent the rest of the day at the floating market. You wouldn’t believe all the different things they have there! I tried a fried grass hopper, and it didn’t really taste like anything.

I have been out of school since September 16th, because of a school break. I will return to school on the 21st of October. On the 20th, I will be going to Pattaya. It’s a beautiful beach with lots to do there. As for my speaking ability, I am almost fluent in Thai. I can understand just about any conversation as long as they aren’t speaking too fast. Already, I have forgot some simple words in English such as purple (see mooang), Orange (the fruit: Somme) and mosquito (Yoong).

I am having the time of my life here. I switch families for the first time on November 30th. 5 days after my 18th birthday!! I love Thailand. I can’t believe I have been here almost 3 months already! The time is going by WAY too fast. Before I know it I will be on a plane again, heading off to a foreign country…America.