Dear Khun Chairat,

This is Mai, Premika Phantawesak, the exchange student from the Rotary club of Sathorn, Bangkok, in Fort St John, Canada, District 5370. It's been a while that I haven't sent you an e-mail. I've mostly been busy.

Is it a year already? I can hardly believe that. My exchange year goes so fast and I have less than a month left in Canada. It has been a great opportunity for me to come here, in Fort St John. People in here are very nice. I fit very well in the school. I love all my three host families and my Rotary club, Fort St John - Sunrise.

About school I attended in grade 11 at North Peace Secondary school. I enjoyed this school very much. The teachers were amazing. We got to do lots of cool stuff. I wish I could come back and graduated here. On June 13 th , it was the Awards Day. I got awarded in an Honour Roll of grade 11. I got a pen and a key chain, which says Honour Roll on them. I was very proud of myself as same as my Rotary club. There were about 30 students that got this award from all of the grade 11 students. At first my host dad was teasing me that I would got awarded as a student with the most absents, because I was gone a lot with the trips and all the traveling I've done. We will also have the graduation ceremony on June 29 th , which I got to participate it too. I'm very excited for that.

The next day after the awards day, June 14 th was my 17 th birthday. My third host family, the family that I'm staying with now had a birthday party for me at night. They invited Rotarians and their families. We had burgers and a cake! I also cooked Thai food. It went very well. I had lots of fun. I got lots of presents too! Unfortunately my first and second families and the most two Rotarians that I spent lots of time with couldn't come at night. So, five of them took me out for lunch. We had a little party. I had two birthday parties!! I'm so lucky!

As I told you before I've been busy, I had been away on the Rotary trips. Started from the Spring Orientation, which we meet in Edmonton. It was the weekends for the students, all inbounds, rebounds and outbounds. I met Jon, who is coming on the exchange in Thailand on year 2007-2008. It was a fun weekend. We did lots of stuff… we went curling, visiting the University of Alberta (U of A), and swimming. The next thing with the Rotary was the District Conference which was set up in May 10-13. We visited the Aviation Museum and of course, we went on the plane ride around the city. We also went to the West Edmonton Mall, which is the biggest mall in the world. We went to the water park. There were lots of people. In the water park, they have lost of waterslides, hot tub and the most important thing that shocked me was the artificial waves that they make. People were screaming and so exciting about the waves that were coming. I felt like…oh my god. I wish they could have come to Thailand. These people would love our beautiful beaches with real sea water, waves, sands and all that stuff. I felt that I was so lucky that I was born in Thailand. Then in May, one of my busiest months, there was a district conference. I got to carry our Thai flag in the conference. The weekend after, my first host family took me down to Vancouver and Victory. We were down there for a week. We stayed at Vancouver for 4 days then we took a ferry to Victoria. We were on the Pacific Ocean, which was the closest place to Thailand that I've ever been. We visited the Royal BC museum, the wax museum and other more places. I was very lucky. The day that I was in Victoria, it was Victoria Day. So they had a big parade. I took lots of pictures! I loved Victoria. After Victoria, I went on a Canoe trip, the last trip of me with all the exchange students. It was hosted by the Rotary Club of Camrose. We canoed down to the North Saskatchewan River. We canoed for 7 days and we went hiking at the All Stones for a day. The weather was very nice. It was very sunning. I got my tan back!

Last week I did a goodbye presentation to my Rotary club - Fort St John, Sunrise. It was about half an hour long. I got lots of pictures. I showed them what I have done during this year. It has been a great pleasure to be here, in Canada. I really enjoy it. I love all my host families, my Rotary club, which supports me a lot, my teachers and my friends. I've showed Canadians about a beautiful Thai culture. I've made them want to come to Thailand. This year has been a great, great year for me that I would never ever forget it. When I go back to Thailand, I'd love to help with the exchange program, public speaking training program, and those programs with Rotary.