Culture day and long shirts

Saturday was "culture day".  We all went to the school and wore our newly acquired pasines (sp?) and danced, sang and did little skits describing American culture.  It was pretty awesome.  They guys didn't wear pasines, I can't remember what theirs was called, but I can tell you know that every girl was jealous that the guys just got to wear shorts/pants and wrap a piece of cloth around their waist while us girls had to step into a tubular piece of cloth and then wrap it around our waist to make a skirt.  I will tell you know that I kept my biking pants on, and I will be eternally grateful for that.  My skirt did not want to stay on no matter what I did.  I give props to the Thai women and what they can do with these things.  The ones that we were given are actually only supposed to be used for showering, but they made an exception for Saturday.  You are supposed to wear them to and from the bathroom when you are showering.  The only time you are supposed to really wear them in public is if you get it fitted to you.   I may get this done if I can figure out how to get them to stay up, because some of the cloth is very beatutiful.

Anyways, during culture day, we all got to show off our awesome Thai dancing skills.  We learned a dance that you do with a partner that is supposed to be kind of a love, flirting sort of song.  It was pretty funny to see 66 Americans, dressed up, dancing in a circle staring (and laughing) into eachothers eyes in the middle of a school.   I wish I had a video to capture this moment so I could share it with everyone that wasn't there.

Yesterday, I woke up and went outside to the kitchen to find my host mom making canoms (sp?).  There are various different ones, but these ones were filled with rice held together by coconut and slices of banana.  My mom proceeded to have me sit down next to her as she demonstrated how to wrap them in in banana leaves then use these thin pieces of wood (very thin and wet for flexibility) to bind two together.   I gotta tell you, I am a master at this now.   It may take me 10x longer to put one together, but I think they turned out pretty good.  Another PCer, Chris, showed up part way through and was helping out as well.  We believe that our families are trying to set us up with one antoher because they seem to find a way to get us to one anothers homes each weekend.  This weekend, when we had lunch, I went to put our dishes away only to discover the rest of my family eating their lunch on the front porch; far way from the kitchen.  I think they were giving us our "privacy" with only my mom as chaparone.  It is kind of funny to see them try to set this up.

I'm not sure at this point if my Thai is improving or not, but I certainly hope so.  My goal is to be able to understand my Da (Grandfather) before I leave my homestay.  I feel so horrible that I don't understand a thing he says and he tries so hard.  I hope he takes me on one of his bike rides sometime so I can see where he goes out to each morning and afternoon.  We shall see....but this is a goal of mine.

Its strange, and I can't help it...I actually felt cold this morning....and it was probably 77 degrees or something.   I am almost thinking I could wear a long sleeved shirt right now and I would be ok and it is probably in the 80s....does this mean I am aclimating??? I hope not, I don't have that may warm clothes and I wont know what to do....luckily, I did bring my bright orange sweatshirt to my homestay so I can put something on if I need to.  I know that my family here thinks its crazy that I am not freezing every day.  They will get a kick out of the first time I wear a warmer shirt.