Charlotte's Web: Last Few Days

Last Friday for our Thai language class we were brought into the city and had to walk around and find several different places, all by asking directions from people on the street. We spoke to them in Thai and recorded our conversations that were later submitted to our professors. It was a fun experience to talk to some locals. Our little scavenger hunt ended at Wat Chedi Luang, that contains a temple originally built in the 14th century.

Saturday afternoon a few other students and I joined out Thai friend Prince to his home on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. It was so nice to relax in his house for a while before heading out for the nightly activities. I hadn't realized how much I missed sitting on a couch until I got to his house. The town his house was located in was celebrating the construction of a new temple, and so each house in the town had a party. We spent the night hopping from house to house and were offered a great deal of delicious food at each stop. Most houses had karaoke set up, and we sang a few songs at almost every house. It was so fun to talk with the locals who were so friendly and happy to see us. One person nicknamed me "cha-yen," which means iced tea in English, since it sounds like Charlotte.

We returned to Prince's house pretty late and enjoyed a nice sleep. Sunday morning we got up and made a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, onions and peppers along with toast and yogurt. We spent the day relaxing around the house and Jack and I did some exploring in the back yard. There was a small stream in the backyard that we walked through and even did some arts and crafts. We were surrounded by beautiful green flora and rice fields. For lunch we made salmon, pasta and garlic bread. For dinner we had chicken and haddock. I left his house feeling very full and satisfied with American-style homemade meals.