Saardloun, 16, a Rotary Exchange student, is living with the family of Milton and Tara Miller in Minot and attends Minot High School-Magic City Campus.

She has enjoyed her first Thanksgiving with the Miller family and is now getting ready to enjoy the Christmas season.

In Thailand, where most of the population is Buddhist, there are a lot of differences. Saardloun said there is a great respect for elders. A bow can serve as a greeting and a thank you. People usually do not talk while they are eating a meal, unlike in the United States where table conversation is common.

In Thailand, people in her home country celebrated the Loy Krathong festival last month. Different areas have different customs around the three day holiday, such as floating lanterns on the river.

In April, during the Thai New Year, Saardloun said everybody goes back to their hometowns to spend time with family.

In the part of the country she is from, one tradition is to pour out water on the hands of elders or to splash water on each other. Saardloun said it symbolizes throwing away what is bad.

According to Wikipedia, other people in northern Thailand might celebrate the new year with gunfire or fireworks to turn away bad luck. Some people might make offerings to monks at the temple or ask elders for the blessings as they pour water on their hands.

The holiday is celebrated every year on April 13, with the festival extending from April 12 to 16.

Saardloun said people in the United States have asked her a lot of questions about her traditions. She has also enjoyed opportunities to learn about the United States. She attended a camp for other foreign exchange students, where students loved to see her write in Thai. She has also visited sites such as Mount Rushmore. Saardloun also stays in touch with her family in Thailand while she is in the United States. She began learning English when she started school, as many children do, but her colloquial English has improved a lot since she came to the U.S., said Tara Miller.

Tara Miller, her host mother, said the whole family enjoys Thai cooking. One of Tara Miller’s favorite Thai dishes is Pad Thai.

The Millers have hosted other exchange students from countries such as Brazil, Germany, France, Turkey, Finland and Kyrgyzstan and they still stay in touch with the students they have hosted.

“We have family all over the world,” said Tara Miller.

(Prairie Profile is a weekly feature profiling interesting people in our region. We welcome suggestions from our readers. Call Editor Mike Sasser at 857-1959 or Regional Editor Eloise Ogden at 857-1944. Either can be reached at 1-800-735-3229. You also can send email suggestions to msasser@minotdailynews.com.)