Sean

SEAN KELLY

Chris / Raji / Ramon / Max / Sean / Ailin

Me on my bike

Hello, my name is Sean and I have been in Thailand for 12 days now. I am here for one year as an AFS exchange student and my first impressions have been very good and a little scary when I look at the electrical systems. It is not the same as my home country of New Zealand. Anyway, I am hoping to write a regular spot here so that people can see how my time in Thailand is going.

I spent the first 10 days in Bangkok. For the first 3 days I stayed with this years AFS group to Thailand in a hotel called Rama Gardens. For the next 7 days I stayed in an apartment by myself. My host brother (Pee Kung) and two sisters (Pee Sai and Pee Kwang) were in an apartment downstairs, my host Mum joined us late the first night. With my host family I ate a combination of Western and Thai Food. Thai food is really good.

My host family took me to a drive through zoo which was really fun. I took some really good photos of all the animals. My host family also took me to a Crocodile zoo and farm which had more than just crocodiles. I got my photo taken with a tiger and saw an awesome crocodile show.

I was in Bangkok for Songkran, an annual Thai festival and also the world's biggest water fight! I went through Khao Sarn Road with my host family and 3 friends, we all got really wet, but it was ok because I had a water gun to shoot back at people.

So far I have had a really good time in Thailand and look forward to the rest of the year.

I have been in Thailand for just over 1 month now.

Today is the first day of school and assembly was quite painful for me as my legs were hurting from all the sitting on the hard concrete.

I haven’t done much of anything yet because I have mostly stayed at Ajarn Mayuree’s house with her son Op. He doesn’t do much .., all he does is watch TV and sleep, so I have recently watched loads and loads of movies.

Right now my Khun Mae, Ajarn Mayuree is in Bangkok and I'm not sure when she will be back, so right now I am missing her a little.

I went on an English Program trip to Kanom beach which was good fun except that I couldn’t run very fast, or stay longer in the water to beat up Ajarn Thomas, because of a very painful leg. I also did my school HAKA for everyone on the beach which I thought I did really badly but everyone else thought it was ok.

I have been to school quite a lot of times during the school break which is interesting because I would never go to my school in New Zealand during the school holidays. Thailand seems so different.

I haven’t learnt as much Thai as I thought. It is a very difficult language to learn as it is no relation to my normal language of English. I would have thought by now I would be quite good but unfortunately I'm not. However, now that school has started I’m looking forward to learning to read, write and speak Thai.

Peemai Temple in Korat

School show in our honour Me in Bangkok

Ahhhh! Kiwi ice-cream (expensive :-( ) Me on the skytrain

Tomorrow is the end of my first two months in Thailand.

I have been to Hat Yai and Koh Samui this month. Hat Yai was really interesting for me as there were many more markets than Nakhon Si Thammart, which were really fun to go through. I didn’t buy many things because I was going through the markets with Pee Op and his cousin and they were looking for clothes.

Koh Samui was very beautiful and fun except that the day before I went I got really badly sun burnt, because I went swimming for 4 hours with no sunscreen. I traveled with Poom, Pee Pui and their parents, we visited a beautiful waterfall and a nice stream where we had lunch. Poom, Pee Pui and I went swimming for a long time in the sea which was really fun.

I haven’t done many classes at school because I was afraid of not learning anything but in the process of that I didn’t learn much staying in the English office. So when I get back from the AFS camp of which I am leaving for today at 3pm, I will study harder. The journey will take 16 hrs……. ouch!!! I will follow my friend Ting Ting to her classes if she lets me. Either that or I will follow Saam to his classes because I’m going to be moving to his house as his host brother when I get back from the AFS camp in Korat.

It has been three months now and I have moved in with my new host family. I have had a lot of fun staying in my new home as I there are a lot of things I can do such as playing Playstation and going outside and playing with my slingshot.

I went to the camp in Korat and most of the AFS activities were quite boring but when everyone had free time it was heaps of fun because we all got to hang out and have a good time. There were two interesting activities AFS organized one of them was going to the very old Peemai temple. The other activity that they organized for us was to go to a school in Korat at which they taught us how to Thai dance, do flower arrangements and some Muai Thai.

After the camp I spent a few days in Bangkok which was fun because I went on the skytrain and found a New Zealand ice-cream store. I also went to Jatu Jak markets and spent a lot of money.

I also went to Surat Thani over a weekend and visited a friend there from Australia.

I still need to work very hard to learn Thai.

Another month has gone by very quickly.

At the beginning of this month we had Sports Day, where I dressed up in a traditional Thai costume and walked in the parade. The blue team won sports day followed by orange which was the team I was in.

Josh an AFS student living in Surat Thani stayed at my house for a week and a half, during which we went to Hat Yai for a day, we took a very uncomfortable van ride there. It was crammed full of people. We went shopping for a few hours that day and then took another more comfortable van home.

A big group of English Program students went to Phuket for an English competition. I got to be in the play about the Emperor’s new suit, I called out one line from in amongst the crowd “Look Papa, the Emperor has no clothes on”. Then I ran into the side dressing room of the stage. Everyone was really happy when we found out that we had won the drama competition.

My Thai has improved a little bit and people try to speak bits and pieces of Thai to me which is good because it helps me learn.

After the camp I spent a few days in Bangkok which was fun because I went on the skytrain and found a New Zealand ice-cream store. I also went to Jatu Jak markets and spent a lot of money.

I also went to Surat Thani over a weekend and visited a friend there from Australia.

I still need to work very hard to learn Thai.

Another month has gone by very quickly.

A big group of English Program students went to Puhket for an English competition. I got to be in the play about the Emperor’s new suit, I called out one line from in amongst the crowd “Look Papa, the Emperor has no clothes on”. Then I ran into the side dressing room of the stage. Everyone was really happy when we found out that we had won the drama competition.

My Thai has improved a little bit and people try to speak bits and pieces of Thai to me which is good because it helps me learn.

Sean's Singapore Trip Diary can be read HERE (Office 2007+)

Sean's photo album can be seen HERE