November

So it's been a long time since I updated which is because in the beginning nothing was happening and then I suddenly got super busy, ending with just not quite having the motivation to write everything down. Now I will try my best to recount everything but no promises especially in connection to the timeline.

Let's start where the last blog left off. Shortly after the holidays I met up with my friend and we went ice skating together. To be honest that was one of the things I really didn't expect to do in Thailand. Still we had a lot of fun that day and ate together as well as did some shopping before returning home.

After the weekend we had Halloween which meant a beauty-costume-competition. It is always kind of fun to have an event in the morning because you are very tired and it just lights up the mood.

Now there is one special thing that happened after the holidays. Every Friday girls from M4-M6 (10th-12th grade) don't need to attend school and get to stay at home. Why you may ask? Because of military training and scouts. M1-M3 both boys and girls have to participate in scouts which is like a pre-military thing. Once they reach M4-M6 the boys need to attend military training but because the girls don't need to do military they get to stay home.

This might seem like missing a lot of school but so that that doesn't happen they add an extra hour of school every day. So 10 hours of school including a 50 min. break versus 5 hours of school including 45 min. of break. I miss Germany.

But going back to the scouts I actually attended a scout camp. And while it was an experience I really don't need to experience it a second time. I mean I had a great time with the M3 students but just the conditions of the place we were staying at (and sleeping on the floor) as well as the hour-long sitting makes me glad to only have had to stay there for 3 days.

At the end of the Camp we even went to a floating market which was great.

*The fishes in the last picture are gigantic, over 2 meters*

When I returned I went to Bangkok with some other foreigners and we had a lot of fun. Though we aren't the biggest fans of the Christmas tree they have at central world. It's just too symmetrical. Now there was a little Christmas market looking market that apert from its looks has nothing to do with Christmas. Over all there is actually quite a lot of Christmas decoration but it's just a little overwhelming and has commercial background.

After that a really busy week followed. The week leading up to sports day. Sports day is a really big event in most Asian countries and in Thailand it is also connected to gaining sponsors. And now while you think that the day has to do with sports as it's name is sports day, you are wrong. All the games have been played before and the winner had already been decided.

That leaves the question what the actual sports day was about or what we did there.

We held a parade infront of the school principal etc. and sponsors/possible sponsors to the school. Especially since I stayed over with the German teaching assistant so that we could be there at 3:30 am for hair, clothes and makeup.

The parade consisted of 6 different trains. One for the school in general, the students in this group are the ones who are really good at studying (or us exchange people), and then one for each color of the school. All the other colors had different themes to them (like carnival in Venice) and the students in those trains are basically "the rich students" the students have to pay 2000 baht (60€) to take part in the parade and in addition to that they also have to pay for clothes, shoes and makeup.

Now once that day was over there were actually some pretty exciting news. Which is I changed my host family.Tbh I was kind of glad to change because I didn't really feel comfortable at the last house and also had some concerns about the hygiene there...

... as this was living the (not as a pet) and it is not normal in Thailand to have a mouse in your house and not take any countermeasures.

But I'm also really happy with my new host family because we get along greatly. My new host family is my host mom, host aunt, host brother, host sister and host grandma. Actually also the host dad but he works in a different city and only comes home on the weekends every 2 weeks.

Now during the past month a lot of things have happened and I went to many places.

The first thing we did was a day trip to Ayutthaya where we fed elephant and went to a monument as well as a place for prayers which I don't really know the name of.

Even though it was rather simple I really appreciate the day and my host mom always makes sure to explain the history behind the pictures.

This year I also took music classes again and I got to play a different instrument which I'm really happy about because it was the one I really wanted to learn.

This month there was also another school market.

The last picture are my Thai teachers who showed me some of their favorite childhood snacks and toys. Our Thai teachers are really cute♡

Now before I finish the month of November there was one more very big and important event. That being Loi Krathong.

Loi Krathong is an important Thai festival to honor the god/godess/god/goddesses of water and rain. You celebrate it by putting hand-made swimming things on the river.

This is how some of those floating thingies look. In other parts of Thailand (north) you also let lanterns ascend into the skies. Kinda like in tangled (Rapunzel Disney Animation).

I will try to update soon about December though it might take a while I will try to update rather soon! Either way see you next time!!

PS: this is my host cat Harry and yes Harry as in Harry Potter not Harry Styles