So, this week was filled with more fun adventures. Wednesday we ate dinner in a Thai home. Super fun and super nice people. Good food too. My favorite Thai food has to be Som Tom. It's a type of spicy papaya salad. I hate actual papaya though :P.
Friday I had an interesting adventure to the dentist. I've been having problems in my mouth since I got here so I figured I'd go see the dentist cuz it's way cheaper here than it is at home. She was very nice and spoke pretty good English. She was able to understand me when I told her what was wrong. She was a little shocked when I told her that America's healthcare system wasn't good. Then I had to go on to explain that the healthcare itself is great but for those of us without insurance it's impossible to pay. She then proceeded to giving me the most painful cleaning I've ever had. Never again. lol. I'll stick with gentle American dentists from now on.
Saturday we plaid soccer with slum children. Those kids are so good! I was awful. lol. But we had so much fun playing anyways. The kids are super cool even though we don't speak the same language. They try hard to communicate even though it isn't verbal. We APSAI students have a new favorite song called "Too much. So much. Very much." It's mostly in Thai with just a few English words but we jam to it all the time. We had an epic time jamming with the Thai kids to the song in the van on the way home from the soccer game. They thought it was fun too! It's heartbreaking to look at the teenagers who were in their place just a few years ago. I pray these kids don't grow up to make the same mistakes, but instead will do better and make something of their lives. I hope they escape that black hole.
Also, this Sunday was our church's first week in their new building! Oh my goodness it looked amazing! We've had the opportunity to help a little bit but last time we were there it was still a mess. God has blessed that church and is alive and well within it.
Random emotions of the week, well and the week before, I just never got the chance to talk about... Being 3 weeks in now a lot of the luster and newness is wearing off. It's becoming increasingly frustrating that I can't speak the language and even the little bits I learned in class I'm still messing up. The people aren't like Americans. Americans think that English is like an uber language and either you should speak it or leave the country and if you don't speak it then they just won't speak to you or they'll treat you like you're stupid. Here, though, the Thai people are very kind. They try with all their might to speak English. In fact, sometimes random Thai people in places like McDonalds will sometimes practice their English with you. Still though. Most don't speak much English and if they do, it's very choppy. It's so frustrating. I want to make friends and stuff but I dont even know how because I can't even communicate with them.
A new fear has crept over me. Like a week ago I was followed back to my dorm. It was super scary. Some guy shouting "Darling, you can have me." Or "Darling can you help me?" Either way, creepy. Then while out with one of my other friends, we got full on creeper status checked out by some guy. And then the whole way home there were people staring at us. I know we're white in a non-white country but still. The looks they were giving us were creepy as all get up.
Also, homesickness is beginning to set in just a little. I miss my friends and family back home. I love the people who are here but still. It's hard to hear about all the things I always thought I'd be a part of that I can't be because I'm here. It's hard not to be able to find things like cheese for less than 10$ a brick. I want Mexican food. They have it here but it's more expensive and far from where I live. I miss not having to have someone translate for me. It's all bittersweet. Like we're still having tons of fun, but its hard. The sad part about it is that this week I bought a package of pasta and it pretty much made my week. When I went to read the instructions on the back, the whole back was in Spanish. They just placed a little Thai sticker over part of it so the Thais knew what they were buying. It threw me off guard because I could read it. lol. I miss hearing Spanish. Spanish is easy to understand. Thai is filled with tones and words that all sound the same to me. It's kind of frustrating to have to go shop in "big people stores" because the people here are like 1/4 my size at their fattest. It's also not so easy on the self-esteem. It's frustrating not to be able to get a hold of my family or friends any time I want. It's hard not to be able to just text someone when I need them. Communicating with my professors back home is equally frustrating. I send them an email and have to wait at least 12 hours for a reply. Some teachers I have to wait more like 4 days for and by then the assignment that I had questions on is way past due and I no longer have time to do them. And, since that guy followed me, I'm too scared to go anywhere by myself which I hate.
On the reverse side of this, I have a great family here. All of the APSAI students get along great! We have family nights Saturday and Tammy makes real American food for us. It takes the edge off of homesickness. And all the fun we have together, all the laughs and love that I feel between us and the missionaries and even just between us is amazing. So even though I feel homesick, it definitely helps to have so many great people around.
Furthermore, God is good and he has a purpose for bringing me here. I'm going to push through this homesickness and get back to loving it here. :)
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