so this is my first blog from THAILAND. its amazing. we spent a couple days in bangkok kind of getting to know the program and doing tourist things and going out. then we had this retreat in the mountains and did intense thai lessons and get to know you stuff. everyone in the program is really great including the ajaans (teachers). the food has been AMAZING, sooooo much garlic and seasoning and flavor. we did our first homestay in this village that is living illegally in a national forest. they don't have electricity but it was just amazing. i'm pretty sure my meh and paw (mom and dad) were some head honchos in the village because their house was the most spacious and they were kind of old. they have a daughter who is in america. or else it was our meh's little sister. those words are very similar. communication was a bit of a challange but we got it and it was such an amazing feeling when we could understand eachother while barely speaking the same language. its been great. yesterday we finally moved into our rooms at the university in khon kaen but tomorrow we're going again to another homestay. this one is in the city and its for like a week. all of our families have kids in them so that should be fun. my thai roommate is really sweet. she's 27 and getting her masters in sociology. ok, so i still have about 56 emails to read before my thai lesson. but the basic summary is, thailand is AMAZING. i never want to leave.