The Bangkok art trip was really fun. Even though it was the weekend before exams, it was worth it. Everyone had an awesome time. The hotel we stayed in was really artsy. Each room in the hotel was different and designed by a different artist. All of the rooms were cool. We went to about 10 different art galleries and two art gallery openings. 

I gotta go. This was a really short post, but whatever.

Next week on Friday is my birthday, and it happens to be that the Bangkok art trip is the same weekend. So I will be having my birthday in Bangkok. We are actually going to be on an overnight train on the way to Bangkok for my birthday, but I still think that's pretty cool. 

We have exams in two weeks and then I'll be back in Dallas in four weeks after exams. So six weeks in total. It's weird to think that these 6 months are winding down so quickly. Right now everyone in Dallas is taking the APs and it makes me feel like I should be taking them also. But not taking the APs was one of the sacrifices I made by going to an IB school this semester, so oh well. I'll probably end up taking an AP next year. Good luck to those who are taking them. 

It's getting pretty hot over here. Right now its 95 degrees and I think it's supposed to get hotter. Oh yeah, and I've also started playing basketball again. I've taken a long break from playing since basketball season ended here. But I've started playing again. I'm not quite as good as I was, but I'll improve.

Alright, I'm got to go. Check in with you guys later.

It has been over a month since I last posted, and I feel really bad about that. Since that last post, spring break has passed, and I have now been back in school for two weeks. I f eel so out of touch with this blog and I really don't like it. Not quite sure why I haven't updated, but anyways I'll go ahead update now.

Spring break was incredible. The whole family was here and we had a great time together. A lot of conversation regarded the looming college application process, which isn't the best topic but a nonetheless a necessary one. During spring break we took a trip to Luang Prabang, Laos. You generally would think of Laos as a scarcely populated, impoverished third world country, which is true but Luang Prabang is an exception. Luang Prabang was great. We spent four nights there and it was the most calming place ever. To appreciate how calm it was there you have to first understand where it's located. Luang Prabang is on the Mekong river, and the guest house that we stayed at was also on the Mekong. Luang Prabang has a lot of guest houses for visitors to stay in. There are no high rise hotels or chain restaurants in the city. The Mekong mixed with the charismatic Laoasians make Luang Prabang so relaxed. The setting alone is remarkable. UNESCO established Luang Prabang as a world heritage sight so everything is intact and not globalized. There are also an endless amount of Buddhist temples all throughout the city. At one of these temples there were two monks from the United States there. It was weird to see Western monks among all the Lao monks so we started talking to them. One of the monks told us that one of the biggest Buddhist centers in the United States is in Keller, Texas. Probably one of the more random facts I learned about Texas.

We took a two-day slow boat on the Mekong to reach Lung Prabang. The slow boat was filled with all these post college backpackers, most of the had quit there jobs and were taking a break to travel Southeast Asia (who wouldn't want to do that?). They were from all over the place and we didn't run into many Americans. The one American we met was half Israeli and from New York. He was a really cool guy, and it ends up that he had spent a semester abroad in Israel when he was in high school. I asked him if he went on EIE and he said no. A lot of the other backpackers were just looking for a party to go to, so they mainly socialized among themselves. But anyways, I'm getting side tracked. The slow boat on the Mekong was really great. Even though we were on the boat 8 hours a day it was still awesome. Everything in Laos was extremely inexpensive. The currency exchange rate was 8,500 kip to a dollar. So a meal was usually four dollars around 34,000 kip. All of the paper money had a lot of extra 0's on them. After being in Laos for so long it made Chiang Mai feel like New York. I wonder what Dallas is going to feel like when I get back.

Then, once we returned to Chiang Mai, it was Songkron, which is Thai new years, which means a citywide water fight for three days straight. In Chiang Mai this is a huge traditional celebration and everyone gets into it. It was exactly what it sounds like--a ginormous water fight. During Songkron everyone literally walks around with water guns or buckets of water and you immediately get soaked. There is no escaping it. Songkron epitomizes a great time, and Chiang Mai is the center of it. A lot of other places in Southeast Asia celebrate it but Chiang Mai celebrates it the most intensely. During Songkron you literally get soaked once you step outside. In the middle of Chiang Mai is the old Lanna city, which is surrounded by a moat. That moat is the source of a lot of the water used during Songkron. We met up with a lot of our friends and went around with them. It was really fun. In front of Central, which is one of the shopping centers, they set up live concerts which were also really fun. 

During the break in Chiang Mai went to an elephant reserve national park. This place is unmapped and virtually unknown unless you are told about it from someone. It is about two hours away from Prem. Unfortunately a lot of the elephants in Thailand are cruelly mistreated and taken advantage of. So this place rehabilitates those elephants and helps them recover from previous injuries and mistreatment. What people don't realize is that the elephant shows that attract so many tourists are really terribly cruel and disrespectful towards the elephants. But this elephant reservation place was amazing. The elephants roam freely in a huge open field and are happy together. When you visit this elephant camp you stay the whole day and learn about the life story of all the elephants and the kind of abuse they undertook. There were some incredibly sad stories. Unfortunately, some of the elephants have dramatic limps and other physical problems. You definitely think about the elephant shows differently after visiting leaving this reservation. Unfortunately, I went to one of the elephant shows where the elephants are treated badly. The elephants aren't treated badly during the show, but after the show, once all the tourists are gone, they aren't treated well. Anyway, at this elephant park you really get the feel for an elephants intelligence. All of the elephants known when their meal times are and they know there mahouts, which is Thai for their trainer. Each elephant has a separate trainer. We also got to bathe the elephants in a nearby river. 

School is definitely picking up this quarter. I have a lot of papers to write and homework is piling up giving me barely any free time, hence my not posting on my blog these past two weeks. But everything is great here and I miss everyone back home. I'll start posting more regularly, so there won't be a month between posts. 

It has been officially two weeks since I have updated my blog, and I feel bad about it. There is so much that is happened these past two weeks that I can't even remotely recall even ten percent of it. But I'll try. Maybe as I write things will slowly start coming back to me.

A week ago, my parents and Katie arrived! So, now, it's the Lerer family in Chiang Mai. They are going to be here for 4 weeks. It seems like it would be weird after having an email and phone relationship with them for so long, but it actually wasn't. It was great seeing them. AND they brought a lot of food that we had requested them to bring from Dallas with them including but not limited to bagels, macaroni and jolly ranchers. It's weird what you miss. It was pretty crazy when they opened the apartment door after not seeing them for so long, and greeted us with a grocery store.

In two weeks we get out for spring break, and we are going to travel to Luang Prabahng, Laos. The transportation to Laos is a logistical maze. But basically we are going to be staying there for three nights after many hours of bus and boat rides. I'm psyched for the trip. We have some friends who live in Vientiane and Luang Prabahng that we are going to meet up with. But this is in two weeks so more on that later.

As of these past two weeks, we have not been in boarding so it has been a drastic change. We are now day students and take a 45 minute bus to and from school each day. The bus ride is one of the greatest things ever though. It's kind of hard to explain but for some reason I really enjoy them. Today my parents and Katie visited Prem. My parents had a thirty minute meeting with each of our teachers. Classic move on their part. This past weekend we went back and visited Doi Suthep again.  Unfortunately the elephant wasn't there but it was still awesome. Oh yeah, and randomly my Dad decided to rent a car for 30 dollars a day even though everyone drives London-style here and he is not used to it. So we drove all the way up the hill to Doi Suthep with him driving which was quite an uncomfortable experience.

Well that's all for now. More to come later.  

Oh yeah and everyone should read The Onion News because it is a great thing.

Tonight I have no homework! So I decided to post. Sorry for not posting this past week. I've been pretty busy. 

Today is Purim and I am unfortunately not celebrating it. I really wish I were. I was on facebook today and I saw an album of my friends from Yavneh celebrating Purim. It really made me miss everyone at Yavneh, in Dallas, and Israel. Hope you guys had a good Purim.

In history I am writing a paper on Che and how he really isn't as great as everyone projects him to be. He is presented as a microcosm of counterculture, when he was really a massive killer. Not too sure if a massive killer is appropriate for a counterculture symbol, but I could be wrong. He was not nearly as bad as Stalin, Lenin, or Mao but he should definitely be listed with them. For some reason the Che-images on posters, t-shirts, ect. have overshadowed his real personality and developed given him misleading one. It just goes to show how ignorant or indifferent people can be (me included. I have two Che shirts). I'm not really sure where I am going to go with the paper but I am interested in finding more dirt about him.

I also joined Model United Nations. It has been pretty good so far. It is mostly focused around modern events. There are five people in the club (We are trying to boost more interest. But I like the small group because everyone is really interested and wants to be there. Our lessons take place after school on Friday so it takes real interest to show up every week). I was assigned Russia so I've been catching up on my country's current events, not something I know too much about.

I've also started studying US history by myself because I realized that I wanted to take the AP test next year. I am not too sure how self-studying is going to work out but I figure that it's better than nothing. My history teacher gave me some textbooks to help me study so that also helped a lot. 

Oh yeah and I recently bought some great music from itunes. So I've been listening to that a lot lately. 

That is all for now. Talk to you anonymous viewers later. Wait, that's not true... I know a few people who have been keeping up with my blog. That comment refers to the other viewers.

Chag Sameach!

View from Ban Jabo

A lot happened over these past five days in the hill tribes. I'm going to start from the beginning. The bus ride to Ban Jabo was about 7 hours long. We stopped on the outskirts of Pai on the Pai River and bamboo rafted to Pai. Bamboo raft was really fun. The river was really small but it was great relaxing on a bamboo raft with everyone. I was on a raft with Stan, Jin, and Ollie.

Bamboo rafting

 Then once we got to Pai we ate lunch. Pai is a really relaxed city about 3 hours by bus north of Chiang Mai. It is the reggae-town of Thailand. I was excited to go to Pai cause I hadn't been there yet and really to check it out. I think I'll return to Pai eventually because it's a pretty cool city. Then we departed from Pai and took the long and windy road (Beatles reference) over a mountain to Ban Jabo. It was about 4 hours. Supposedly there was 3,000 curves in total. But luckily I took a Tylenol PM so I was asleep.

Like I already said before, Ban Jabo is in the hills of northeastern Thailand right on the border with Burma. The border to Burma was walking distance from Ban Jabo, about 2 kilometers away.  The view was beautiful. The villagers were excited to have visitors and were very hospitable.

Once we arrived to Ban Jabo we met our host families and went to put our belongings in their house. The host families were great. They were a great part of the experience. Even though no one spoke Lahu, we communicated through sign language. It was actually pretty surprising how much you are able to relay through hang language. We had some pretty long conversations with out host families. Also our host mom spoke a little Thai and Thomas also spoke some Thai. Our host family's house was completely wooden with a bath house outside. The bathrooms  consisted of Asian toilets, and buckets of water that you use to shower with. This took the most adapting to.

Our house

We gave English lessons at the local school. Here's a picture of the kids:

Peace

Posin' like a gangsta' for us.

Jin, Stan, and I

 The lessons were great. We taught them fruit: apple, strawberry, banana, melon... and animals: rabbit, dog, cat. Then we played interactive games. It was actually really fun teaching them. They were energetic and lively once we got them interested. Unfortunately there is a sad story about the school. The government gives the school a annual salary to buy computers, books, and school supplies. But the principle of the school hoards the money and keeps it for himself. Apparently he drives a nice car to school everyday which is very unfair. It was too bad to learn about this. It made me sad for these kids.

There were a lot of wild animals in the area. You had roosters, pigs, dogs, cats, and cows. All the animals were stray and wondered around aimlessly all day.  The roosters promptly woke us up at 5 am every morning.

Every morning after being awakened by the roosters, instead of going back to sleep I got up and read on the porch of our house. Usually our host grandpa was on the porch cutting bamboo. He signaled to me that he didn't like reading and then started laughing. The noises of him slicing bamboo with his huge hatchet mixed with the sounds of the animals were definitely rememberable. He was a pretty crazy guy. I wish I had a picture of him because he was also cool looking. He was short and old and had a long gray goatee. The noises of him slicing bamboo with a huge hatchet mixed with the sounds of the animals were rememberable.

For some reason I expected the villagers to be tradition based but they were more community based. They had some tradition but they were more focused on the community. Meals were like a huge co-op in our host family's house. They had friends over to eat everyday.

We had a lot of relax time during the day. Pretty much after our main activity which usually ended around 5 we had free time for the rest of the night. Everyone didn't know what to do with all the chill time. Lilly and I were among the few who knew how to just hang out and relax without getting bored. Some of our friends couldn't freaking sit still for more than five minutes. 

The village was one road with houses on either side. It was extremely small. The lower village was a lot bigger. Our village had more of a community feel because of its small size. All the villagers were interwound in each others' lives. 

Old villager. This guy was 99 years old and still in perfect shape

From Left: Risa, Thomas, Lilly, and Stanley 

(I was taking the picture) 

   This was from our hike to Coffin Cave.