The first week in Thailand...plus some:

Each moment since I arrived, in fact even a little before (ie the airport in Japan), has been more unexpected and rattling as the last. First and foremost, I can honestly say I’m glad that my peace corps group got to meet and greet each other in San Francisco and have a night out with each other before embarking on this journey of ours. That really helped in the getting to know you, bonding hooplah that was to come. None of us really cared about the lack of sleep considering the 19plus hour journey to Thailand, most of it requiring no more that a keen ability and determination to sleep on planes.
We arrived in Bangkok around midnight, gathered our bags and piled onto a rather festive looking bus. We finally arrived at our hotel in the LopBuri province where we were going to be staying for a few days while our host families prepared their homes for us. After getting a few hours of rest in our new rooms, we began getting to know each other, meeting the staff, talking technicalities and rules, and finally embraced the new Thai cuisine....What?!?! Sunny side up eggs and toast?!...Well, at least they gave us local fruits, of which names I still have trouble pronouncing...apparently we haven’t gotten to that part of language training yet.
We were also given bike lessons, followed by certification (if earned) to Ride a bike in Thailand. Yeah....it can be that dangerous. There are no real street rules here....simply que paso paso, what happens happens. If you just happened to get run over by that motorcycle carrying an entire family (yup, mother, father, kids and all), well, I suppose that’s how Buddah wanted it. So careful training was very neceesary. So...they broke us up into groups after an initial (kind of BS sort of ) test: novice, intermediate, and advanced. Well, I know I was no advanced, but SURELY intermediate. I mean, I DO know how to mount the damn thing, start and stop it! But alas, I caved under pressure and the 50plus pairs of eyes staring at me, started to laugh hysterically and literally ran straight into the entire glob of cones that I was supposed to swerve around, landing me triumphantly in the novice group. Whatever...I’m still here, ain’t I?!
We began our technical and language training immediately. By the end of the few days at the hotel we were able to introduce ourselves (name, where we were from, how old we were, how many people in our family, etc) and ask the same of others and numbers. I’ll just say this now...THAI IS HAAAAARDDD!!! Guaranteed, no amount of practice would have helped with what we’ve encountered. Well, maybe a little, but only until about the second or third day! We also learned the Thai version of the chicken dance, which is actually quite different than the American version. My PC group is actually doing two skits on Monday for the Thai staff, and I thought doing the american version would’ve been funny....but instead we’re doing some intense look into America in the 60's....and guess who was nominated to be the poster child for that skit?...you got it...your very own hippy child, a’thank you very much. Hey man, I got the look, I got the ‘tude...and the smell....well yeah, that’s coming along quite nicely, thanks to the relentless heat!
Those days at the hotel were busy, yet, needless to stay, sublime, compared to living with the host family. We had warm showers with shower heads, flush toilets (and toilet paper for that matter!) of which we sat (not squatted) on, and each other. Of course, this isn’t saying that I don’t enjoy being with my host family! On the contrary, it is very enjoyable, but VERY different to Anything I’ve even been accustomed to. But this is a leeway into living at our sites, so in that way, this is very helpful. As opposed to waking up and seeing everyone in our group first thing and lastly before going to bed, I only get to see SOME of them daily, and all of them about once a week.