Dear.....I dunno....cultural experiences? (Day 3)

My first instinct was to roll down the window. Let down my hair and allow the wind to rush, just like my heart is. Four months preparation. A long day (two days without a night) of airports. Now, I was here. Driving through Bangkok. Bangkok! Did I ever imagine I'd be here? And yet here I was. Somewhere REALLY foreign. Not like Europe. Or even Israel. I had a few flash backs of where i was a year ago this time. But those memories didn't feel foreign. That feels like home now. But this was it. This was Thailand. I rethought my thought. I expect the breeze to be warm now.

The drive today was just what I wanted. 10 hours of nothing but an introduction to my new home. I tried to decide if I would leave here in 3 months with the same emotional connection I had to Jerusalem. That was a place I had emotional ties to before I even knew I had them. Stories from my childhood. Friends I didn't know I needed. But this was....I dunno. Nothing I've ever heard about. Who goes to Thailand? So I sat there, trying to take everything in, happy that it's impossible to get overwhelmed because there are so many wonderful to see each moment that you can hardly focus on the previous one.

I love that the processed banana bread I bought for my first breakfast at Seven Eleven tasted the same as home, but that it cost about 30¢. And that the inflection of the radio actors' voices are recognizable as advertisements, even though the only things I understand are "thank you", "ka", and telephone numbers. I'm sure the girl next to me is laughing at my attempt to study the alphabet. 3 months to learn this complicated tonal language? As if.

Car
Flight
Flight
Flight
Shuttle
Hotel
Taxi
Bus
CHIANGMAI!

Total time: 45.5 hours
Total cost: a few thousand Thai Baht and generous parents
Total result: No complications. 3 happy girls. A whole lotta culture and calmness.
Happiness: priceless

God is very merciful.

Love, Thailand Chloé.....or should I say โคลอี

waiting for the bus...from the eyes of three jet lagged girls

me, genevieve, kristen