Marissa is Learning New Things...Every Day!

So three more weeks have flown past without any blogging by me...Sorry again, y'all!!!
A lot has happened, and I am so in love with this place, and it's so crazy to think that I'm leaving in three weeks!
Okay so this is not going to be very well organized, but here I go...

Some recent activities:

• English Camp a couple of weeks ago for our English students--It went really well! We got to know several people better because of it, had a ton of fun and bonding time with people, and some people possibly learned some English!
• New commitment to going out to jog in the mornings...yes, I'm confessing that I haven't been very good about that until the past two weeks! But it's actually been pretty cool--I usually see several people I know and get to say hey.
• Marvin, the Australian apprentice, left for Germany to spend time with his grandparents for a month...so I won't see him again before I leave! Sad!
• Last week (Thursday), a group from Boerne, Texas came and they'll be here until Tuesday...so this past week has been especially crazy and filled with activity!
• On Saturday we went to a really cool waterfall...The rocks are not slippery at all, so you can walk up and down easily! It's a strange feeling, walking on a surface covered by rushing water, but so so so neat!
• Thailand Fourth of July party! We had a party with tons of people from both Christian zones and the Boerne group...I ate one hotdog, but I must admit that I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the papaya salad that I went and ate later!
• I learned how to write my name in Thai! Yay!

Some really cool firsts:

• First experiences with live Thai music! Several of the guys that hang out around here are in a band, and last Monday I went with them to their practice. And had tons of fun! It was pretty loud, but sounded great. And then on Friday night we went to hear them perform at Freshy Camp for law majors. In addition to learning a bit more about Thai music, it has been great to get to know these guys a bit better. They're good at English and love spending time around here, playing guitar, chilling, and asking questions...so they've gotten to be pretty good friends with us and come to cell group and other activities!
• First Fried Thai Bugs!!! Yay! On Friday I ate a fried bamboo worm and something that looked like a wasp...They weren't the greatest ever, but I didn't die!
• First Student to come twice! Wednesday was a very special day for me because, for the first time since I've been here, I had a student come for a second time. Her name is Nan, a hotel & tourism major in her third year, and apparently I haven't scared her off yet! I've had about 14 students total, but they are all either really busy, shy, or forgetful...so they aren't very consistent about coming to English class...It's been good to have time in the afternoons to just be downstairs and hang out with whoever comes around, but it's also nice to know that I have at least one person who will come!
• First visit inside a Buddhist temple (wat). On Saturday I joined the Texas group for orientation, which included going to look at different temples. So my group went inside the oldest temple in Chiang Mai (Wat Chang Man). It was an interesting experience, to say the least--going into a place of worship as a tourist, with a couple of Buddhist students as guides...walking in there with them and seeing them go and bow down and pray to a gold statue of Buddha...I wonder what goes through their minds when they join us for the first time in our worship...
• First time to watch a movie (well, part of a movie) totally NOT in English. One night several of the Thai kids decided to watch The Classic, a Korean movie, dubbed in Thai...
  Since there wasn't anyone else around, I watched about half an hour of it with them...even though I didn't know exactly what was going on, it was pretty funny to watch and guess!

Great questions I've been asked:

• Are you half Thai?
  My name sounds really similar to a Thai name, so I've started introducing myself with that name. So people always comment on the fact that I have a Thai name, and one girl looked very puzzled and asked me if I'm half Thai! And I laughed....
• Why are you so big?
  This guy named Bob was shocked when he found out that I'm only 18, so he asked me why I'm so "big"...and then speculated that it's all the hamburgers in America...
  It's so funny to have people think that I'm older here! Definitely not what I'm used to...
• Are you slim?
  I honestly have no idea what my friend Nok meant by that one, but it made me laugh a whole lot!!
• Why are you white?
  Uhmmm...because of DNA?!?

Interesting conversations and interactions:

• One of the new girls around here, Wiew, came with her friend Dome...they're both pharmacy majors, studying English with Mark. Wiew is really shy, but Mark discovered that she and I are exactly the same age--same day, same year! There have been a couple of times when I have gotten up and been on my way either to jog around campus or to go get breakfast and then ran into Wiew, waiting by her dorm for Dome to come and walk with her to class. Those times have been pretty cool random opportunities to wait with her for a while and try to talk (with the little English that she knows and a tiny tiny bit of Thai)!
• Speaking of people I see when I go out jogging, one time this week I saw two of our new friends, Bank and May, while I was out getting sweaty and gross. I hadn't really talked to them much, but it turned out that later on (that day or the next), Casey and I hung out with them for a long time at the milk shop, and they really enjoyed talking with her! It's really cool to see that even though I did't have much to say to Bank, he connected with Casey really well (they're both crazy and love to laugh! : D)
• People are a bit more straightforward about some things here. For example, I have been told things like "I like your skin color," "I like your hair better this way than that way," "You look fat," and "You're cute" by people that I barely know. It seems kinda weird at times, but I'm getting used to it!
• Sunday night, Walking Street (huge once-a-week market):
  I was walking around with Pun when we were suddenly greeted enthusiastically by five giggling university students (from another college, not Payap) who needed to interview an English-speaking foreigner for a class. So I got interviewed a couple of times, with a whole lot of laughing and asking them to repeat so many questions! Well then we decided that, since they needed one more person, we could go find someone else from our group for them...well....we walked...and walked...and talked and laughed some more...and walked...and then finally we found Adam, so they interviewed him, told him he is handsome and smart, and said good bye...
• Conversations with Ball (pronounced Bon): He is the crazy funny guitar player in the band, and occasionally he starts asking questions and talking so much! His English is pretty good, and he works a lot to improve it (possibly to impress his girlfriend, who is from Australia)...anyway...we have had conversations about difficult English words to pronounce, his family history, how to say "not funny" in Thai (which inevitably makes people laugh when I try to say it), and hair. That's right, we had a long conversation about how we care for our hair, how often we get it cut, etc...this guy has shoulder length hair, styled in layers once a month! Crazy kid!
• Today I explained (or tried to explain) the difference between "every day" and "everyday" to some Thai people...I don't know why I even tried! : P
• I've been so blessed by getting to know the Christians here, and hearing their stories. Every Thursday at cell group we have people share their testimonies with us, which has been so so so amazing! It's also been wonderful to have Casey and Erika around! I've learned so much from them and definitely enjoyed friendship with them!

Prayer Requests:

• All of these new people!!! For the really new ones to build closer relationships with everyone...and for the people who have been around for a while to be more interested in learning about God! We always have a lot of visitors in cell group, some Sunday morning, and one kid even came to a prayer time we had last Wednesday! Also, there are several girls going through "the red book" (a Bible study for people learning about Christianity) with some of the Thai Christians!
• Pun, a very sweet Christian girl, is having a very stressful time right now. Her mother just found out she has cancer and wants Pun to quit school to go take care of her as she goes through treatment.
• For all of us to stay motivated, not get worn out or distracted!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and encouragement!