Exchange to Thailand

To say my exchange to Thailand this winter was amazing is an understatement. My exchange to Thailand was a mix of crazy adventures, the best friendships and a life changing experience.

Thailand was constantly humid and hot with the sun blazing fiercely. There were Buddhist temples everywhere, gold leaf painted on and blue and red gems sparkling in the sunlight. There was a constant smell of diesel and spices mixed together in the air, and the drivers were always crazy on the roads. But it was also endless fun.

When I first got to the Regents School in Pattaya I have to admit I was a bit nervous and doubtful. I was most anxious about how my roommate would be. This fear was unnecessary though; thankfully Hannah Kleindienst turned out to be my best friend at the Regents School and would be coming to Canada in the next year. She was on exchange from Germany and was as nervous as I for the first day of school. We were in year 10 which actually turns out to be Grade 9, so the other students were a year younger and their studies didn’t exactly match up.  But that didn’t bother me much, since I had brought some work with me from Lakefield. Hannah and I became fast friends with Ploy Ottesen and Travis Birgan, and soon we were getting signed out of boarding almost every weekend. The Regents School was mostly focused on the arts and drama, rather than on sports as much as LCS is. Travis and Ploy were both dramatic, while Ploy played the piano and Travis was a talented singer. Hannah and I, we were rugby girls and not as adept in the arts or drama departments.

The second week of school at Regents was Round Square Week. Hannah and I went to an orphanage for children who were HIV positive. We were building a coconut plantation for the orphanage for the children to enjoy and harvest. It was sad seeing the children suffer from something so serious that they hadn’t deserved, and without parents, but they all seemed so happy and cheerful. I think this is mostly due to the house mothers who treated the children as their own, and gave them much love and a better life. The next day, Hannah and I were both sick from food poisoning, but on the final day of Round Square Week we went to a different orphanage and painted a mural for them on the concrete fence surrounding the buildings. When we were finished it looked fantastic. During this week we met many people and made some new friendships with those who we wouldn’t have met any other way.

The weeks passed with classes, after school activities on Mondays and Thursday (which for Hannah and me, was Zumba and reading club), Friday night shopping trips and weekends, where we either got signed out by our friends or went on the boarding school trips. These trips consisted of visits to the beach, wake boarding, go karting, etc.

One weekend we went to Ayutthaya which is the old capital of Thailand, about an hour northeast of Bangkok.  We visited the ruins of hundred year old temples, newer temples, markets, and traveled around seeing the sights. To end the trip, we went on a boat ride all the way up the river back to where our buses had been left, had lunch and then listened to a guide who told us about the history of the Wats and the attractions along the river banks.

The last two weeks of February, Hannah and I went on a service trip in northern Thailand. We went to a hill tribe school in Baan Mae Lid which was four hours north of Chang Mai. Although I did not realize it in the beginning, this trip would teach me a great deal about kindness, love, gratitude and hospitality.  It would also teach me many things about myself, and in fact, would change me for the rest of my life. The purpose of the service trip to Baan Mae Lid School was to start building a community centre for the village, although in the end, it turned out to be a lot more than that. We traveled by night train from Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, for about 13 hours and then took buses up to the school. When we first arrived the students were just finishing classes so we attended our first line up, which happened to be them singing the Thai national anthem while lowering the flag, singing some traditional Karen songs, and then saying thanks for the things that were important in their daily lives. We happened to miss their aerobics activity which they do at the end of each day, but we didn’t miss it after that, as we had to participate in their dance/aerobics session every afternoon - as embarrassing as it was! The morning line-up was much the same, without the aerobics, and they raised the flag rather than lowering it. There were four classes every day which we rotated through with the students. These were:  English, where we taught different age groups basic English through songs, demonstrations and games (by the end they could say a little bit and each and every student was very keen to learn). Then there was Karen, which is where the Baan Mae Lid students taught the Regents teachers and students about the Karen language, songs and games.  My favourite was a simple game with rocks, which was all about hand-eye coordination and the quickness of the hand. By the end, I had bloody knuckles. Then there was Sport, in which the students prepared games to play with the Baan Mae Lid students to get their blood flowing and heart pumping, keeping them healthy by having some fun. And finally, there was the building of the Community Centre. We completed the job of building the water tank.  It was hard work carrying buckets of sand and rocks up the long, steep road to the site, and then mixing the concrete and building the water tank. During these periods we developed close friendships with the Baan Mae Lid children, bonding while working together to build the community centre, teaching each other games and songs, and just by talking and getting to know one another. On our final day in Baan Mae Lid we went on a trek, on which we hiked up the side of the mountain, visiting a few hill tribe villages and seeing how the Karen people lived.  We visited their rice patties and the temples, and along the way, I made friends with a 15 year-old girl named Dion. That night we had a huge celebration, which consisted of a traditional Thai feast and performances around the fire.   Traditional Thai dances and songs were performed by students from the two schools. Leaving the Baan Mae Lid School and children was difficult and heartbreaking, as they had accepted us with wide open arms and had shown us immeasurable kindness, love and hospitality. They were amazing people and I hope one day to go back.

The following weeks passed much too quickly, finally ending with Hannah leaving a week before me.  We had a celebratory dinner to say goodbye, which ended with everyone crying, and finally I left on the following Saturday after a fun filled Friday night with Travis , Ploy and others, and then leaving the Regents School forever.

My exchange was incredible and I am so grateful that I was able to do it.   In the end, if changed my view on a lot of things, and also me as a person. I want to thank Mr. Bird, my parents, and the exchange coordinator at Regent’s, Mr. Miller, for making it possible for me to go to Thailand. It was an amazing experience and I recommend anyone who is thinking about going on exchange to do it, and ideally to choose somewhere that has a strong and very different culture - somewhere you know nothing about. If you do, then I’m confident that you will have an amazing time too!