Culture shock does not even begin to describe what I have experienced here. Trang is a large city but the 20 volunteers staying at CCS and I are the only foreigners in the whole city. It is quite an experience to be walking in such a metropolis and to be the object of everyone's eyes. From young children to old men and women, the Thai people will stop us on the street to see Sawatdee kah/krap (Hello) and wai (bow with hands pressed together as if in prayer). Thais are very eager for us to learn their language, a language whose tonality is complicated and difficult to reproduce. Yesterday we had a Thai language lesson which was VERY overwhelming. With practice I will hopefully be able to retain more.
The group of volunteers is very diverse. There is a family of 6 consisting of two parents (the mother is a Brown grad and now a college counselor), a grandfather (who lives in Boca West-- I am so exciting for him to meet you, Grandma Rose.. you both will get along wonderfully, I know it), a six year old boy and adorable nine year old girl and a 21 year old who volunteered in India before coming here. I really like the family- I feel comfortable with them and they have very similar travel styles to my family. There is also a (minor) celebrity volunteering here.. Kate you will be SO excited to hear this... her name is Emily VanCamp.. she starred in Everwood and is now in Brothers and Sisters. She also dated Ryan from the OC and they are good friends (!!). She is so nice and down to earth- her fame does not affect her at all. The other volunteers are great. We have a lot of college students as well as a singer from Brooklyn and a trainer from Stratton Mountian School (her name is Kate.. there always seems to be a Kate in my life..). Casey, the girl I am travelling around with after the 4 weeks is great. There is also a girl from Wellesley whose father runs the Pines Theater in Northampton (so cool) and who knows Laura Weyl and who says wicked every other word.
At first I was disappointed with the group because no one stuck out as a "rachel" person (as Dad would say) but now I am really appreciating our differences. We all have different backgrounds and bring a different element to the group dynamic but also have a common interest in non-Western perspectives, Eastern relgions, and Thai traditions. Instead of having one person whom I feel more comfortable with, I have a large group of people who fascinate and challenge me. This new friend dynamic is definately growing on me and I think is very good for my own development.

I could describe everything in detail, but I tend to obsess over one small event and ignore others (ie my entire comment about losing my camera haha).. I will just relate some basic things we have done:

- Orientation scavenger hunt in Trang. We took a tuk-tuk ( a three wheeled taxi/truck) to Lotus, a Thai version of Target that I was surprised to see in Southern Thailand. I bought more conditioner and some crazy Thai chocolate there. Everyone's reactions to us was nice but the children in particular looked thrilled to see us farangs (foreigners).
- trip with Duk-Tang, one of the Thai woman who work at the homebase into town to buy a digital camera.. a jetlagged conversation with the salesperson filled with language barriers but a common sense of humor about the whole transaction
- WONDERFUL Thai food served at all meals.. and really cool exotic fruit (I'll put up pictures soon of them).
- Great runs on backroads.. views of rubber trees (Trang's biggest industry), tons of wild but friendly dogs, cows, roosters and very friendly Thai people on motorbikes.
- I saw an elephant on the side of the road yesterday.. it was just chilling.
- Mackenzie, a surfer from SoCal and I went on a bikeride in the rain this morning.. it reminded me of bike rides in Nantucket.
- This morning we drove an hour into the mountains to visit a Buddhist monastary. Beautiful views, incredible gold statues (I took lots of pictures)
- We then had Pad Thai in Trang.. much egg-ier than in the US, but delicious.
- This afternoon during our Thai cooking lesson, I'm learning how to make Pad Thai- I know Julie and everyone at Brown will be excited about that.. delicious meals next year? I think so!

We made travel plans for our weekends off..
Ko Muk next weekend and Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao the weekend after next.. we're going to the Full Moon party I think.. WOW. those islands are where The Beach was filmed, to give you a mental picture.

Ok this post of HUGE. I love and miss you all and wish you were here experiencing this with me!