We're about to get started on a project to build a new bathroom in my community (woohoo!). Please check out the details here:
Tree and Medicinal Plant Orchard Bathroom Project - Thailand
The funds have been graciously donated by a group called Water Charity. This group was started by a former Peace Corps volunteer and works very quickly to pre-fund water-related projects that Peace Corps volunteers want to do. They have pre-funded $500, which should cover most of the costs, and now we are looking for donations from those of you who would like to sponsor this project. If you would like to adopt this project and have your name forever immortalized in the annals of this bathroom (enticing I know), please feel free to donate any small amount of money you can by following the instructions on the link above. We would really appreciate your support!
We plan to finish the bathroom in about a month, in time for the Father's Day celebration that will be held at the site on December 5. By pure coincidence, my dad will be here visiting during that time. My community wants him to be the one to open the bathroom, and I told them he'd be more than willing to oblige. Better start working on that squat :)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Cats!
I've always been a dog person, but these two cats are on the verge of converting me to the other side. A few months ago, sadly, they were left for dead after birth. But they now have quite a comfortable home at our office, as you can see.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Stayin' Alive
First of all, I would like to apologize for taking so long to get to this entry. Granted, it has been a crazy busy month in which I can count on one hand the number of days I've been at site, but that's no excuse for taking over 2 months to update you all. That being said, I'll admit I'm not really sure where to begin with this one considering all that's gone on recently... so I guess I'll just type freely until my fingers or brain give out.
Carly came to visit. It was beyond great having her here. In the time she was here, I'm not sure she could've gotten a better Thailand experience. Meeting both my host families in Surat and Chainat; lounging on a beautiful beach as we could see a rain storm coming towards us in Koh Samui; getting treated to genuine Thai hospitality when my Chainat host family, in response to a request for nail polish remover, took her to get a full manicure and pedicure; staying at a cheap hole in the wall guesthouse one night in Bangkok (run by a couple of the friendliest Thais around), and staying in one of the best hotels in the world the next night (The Oriental, thanks to the one and only Meema); experiencing some genuine Thai nightlife with a bunch of other volunteers at an all-Thai club until the sun came up; screaming at the hand-sized spider that found its way into our bathroom; partying with some new friends from Israel; and stuffing ourselves silly with the best breakfast buffet we will probably ever have. It was an amazing vacation, and couldn't have asked for a better first visitor.
Let's see... there was an English camp that I got to help out with last week at Zerina's site. They were easily the most tiring 3 days I've had as a volunteer, but I thought equally as fun. We had about 150 students each day, 4th through 6th grade. Plenty of singing, playing games, and of course being paraded around the school with hero status. The kids were great. The English part of the camp was kind of pointless, because they all seemed to know the vocabulary beforehand. Which was nice, because that meant more time for fun and games. The most memorable part was how awed the kids were at our presence. A few of them came up to us on the first day and asked for our autographs. When the other students caught wind, they all flocked to do the same. Before we knew it we had close to a hundred kids swarming us with their little English camp booklets and pens. It brought me back to the days I would wait with my dad after Phillies games for the players to come out and sign stuff. What a crazy experience to be on the other end of that. I've felt like a celebrity quite a bit in Thailand, but never to the extent that these kids made me feel like one... and I gotta admit, I loved it.
Of course, sometimes I actually do find the time to be home, hard as that is to believe. My typical day goes something like this: I get up at 6:30, ride my bike to a local shop to eat kao dtom (rice soup) and pau-dong-go (fried dough) with some of the village leaders (which generally means I sit quietly while they all talk in an impossible-to-understand Southern dialect). Then I go home, take a cold shower, and ride my bike to the office around 8am. The first hour or 2 I generally sit at my computer and check email, update myself on sports and other news, etc. Then the rest of my work day is really up to me. Most of the time, I try to find some excuse to get out of the office - today I rode my bike around to talk to people about the organic farming project explained in my last post (more on that in a sec). Some days I'll check out what's going on in the schools. And there are no doubt plenty of days where I will stare brainlessly at my computer screen until lunchtime rolls around - I call that "adapting to the general work environment in Thailand", which is just another form of cultural integration and hence me being a good Peace Corps volunteer. Ahem. Anyway, I then go to eat lunch at one of any number of little shops in the area. As you are probably well aware by now if you've been reading this blog, I love all the food here with very very few exceptions. But if I had to choose, my favorite lunchtime meal is a dish called "laap muu". It's basically minced pork meat with some liver and intestines thrown in if you're lucky, and my host sister Pii Lek makes it better than anyone else in Thailand. So more often than not, I find myself at her shop. Of course, you have to eat it with kao niao (sticky rice) which you ball up in your hands and dip in the juice before eating. Yum. After sufficiently gorging myself, most afternoons I'm scheduled to teach at one of the schools here. But, much of the time when I get there the teachers tell me that they aren't learning today because they have to practice for the Mother's Day show next week, or the sports day in two weeks, or they are learning muay thai (Thai boxing) today. Oh the wonders of education in Thailand. After teaching or not teaching is completed, it's really just more of the same - either sitting in air conditioning on my computer, going around the village on my bike, or sitting at my host sister's shop to chat with my favorite group of local Thai women (the Thai desperate housewives, which may not be too far from the truth). Most nights I like to go eat dinner at my host mom's house, not only because she's hilarious to be around but also because she makes the best food in town (your mom's cooking always tastes the best, right?). Get home just before dark, cold shower, and spend the rest of the night reading a book or watching a freshly-downloaded movie. That pretty much covers 95% of my life here, so consider that retribution for taking so long to post this blog.
Finally, an update on the organic farming project. Things are looking good at this point. A month or two back, I had a surprise meeting with someone from a fruit exporting company who was in town to check out the organic farm mentioned in the previous blog entry. Turns out this guy is interested in how we're trying to promote organic, and he has committed his company to buying and exporting our fruit as soon as we get a new farm up and running. Pii Peera, who has his existing organic farm, is confident that we can do this within 1 year as long as we have the land. So this Friday at my office, we are having a meeting between everyone who may be willing to help out with this project, and also 11 people who are potentially willing to convert their farms to organic. My SAO has already committed to funding around 30,000 baht, so it all looks pretty promising at the moment. Hopefully it will stay that way...
Until next time (and I promise next time will not be another 2 months).
Carly came to visit. It was beyond great having her here. In the time she was here, I'm not sure she could've gotten a better Thailand experience. Meeting both my host families in Surat and Chainat; lounging on a beautiful beach as we could see a rain storm coming towards us in Koh Samui; getting treated to genuine Thai hospitality when my Chainat host family, in response to a request for nail polish remover, took her to get a full manicure and pedicure; staying at a cheap hole in the wall guesthouse one night in Bangkok (run by a couple of the friendliest Thais around), and staying in one of the best hotels in the world the next night (The Oriental, thanks to the one and only Meema); experiencing some genuine Thai nightlife with a bunch of other volunteers at an all-Thai club until the sun came up; screaming at the hand-sized spider that found its way into our bathroom; partying with some new friends from Israel; and stuffing ourselves silly with the best breakfast buffet we will probably ever have. It was an amazing vacation, and couldn't have asked for a better first visitor.
Let's see... there was an English camp that I got to help out with last week at Zerina's site. They were easily the most tiring 3 days I've had as a volunteer, but I thought equally as fun. We had about 150 students each day, 4th through 6th grade. Plenty of singing, playing games, and of course being paraded around the school with hero status. The kids were great. The English part of the camp was kind of pointless, because they all seemed to know the vocabulary beforehand. Which was nice, because that meant more time for fun and games. The most memorable part was how awed the kids were at our presence. A few of them came up to us on the first day and asked for our autographs. When the other students caught wind, they all flocked to do the same. Before we knew it we had close to a hundred kids swarming us with their little English camp booklets and pens. It brought me back to the days I would wait with my dad after Phillies games for the players to come out and sign stuff. What a crazy experience to be on the other end of that. I've felt like a celebrity quite a bit in Thailand, but never to the extent that these kids made me feel like one... and I gotta admit, I loved it.
Of course, sometimes I actually do find the time to be home, hard as that is to believe. My typical day goes something like this: I get up at 6:30, ride my bike to a local shop to eat kao dtom (rice soup) and pau-dong-go (fried dough) with some of the village leaders (which generally means I sit quietly while they all talk in an impossible-to-understand Southern dialect). Then I go home, take a cold shower, and ride my bike to the office around 8am. The first hour or 2 I generally sit at my computer and check email, update myself on sports and other news, etc. Then the rest of my work day is really up to me. Most of the time, I try to find some excuse to get out of the office - today I rode my bike around to talk to people about the organic farming project explained in my last post (more on that in a sec). Some days I'll check out what's going on in the schools. And there are no doubt plenty of days where I will stare brainlessly at my computer screen until lunchtime rolls around - I call that "adapting to the general work environment in Thailand", which is just another form of cultural integration and hence me being a good Peace Corps volunteer. Ahem. Anyway, I then go to eat lunch at one of any number of little shops in the area. As you are probably well aware by now if you've been reading this blog, I love all the food here with very very few exceptions. But if I had to choose, my favorite lunchtime meal is a dish called "laap muu". It's basically minced pork meat with some liver and intestines thrown in if you're lucky, and my host sister Pii Lek makes it better than anyone else in Thailand. So more often than not, I find myself at her shop. Of course, you have to eat it with kao niao (sticky rice) which you ball up in your hands and dip in the juice before eating. Yum. After sufficiently gorging myself, most afternoons I'm scheduled to teach at one of the schools here. But, much of the time when I get there the teachers tell me that they aren't learning today because they have to practice for the Mother's Day show next week, or the sports day in two weeks, or they are learning muay thai (Thai boxing) today. Oh the wonders of education in Thailand. After teaching or not teaching is completed, it's really just more of the same - either sitting in air conditioning on my computer, going around the village on my bike, or sitting at my host sister's shop to chat with my favorite group of local Thai women (the Thai desperate housewives, which may not be too far from the truth). Most nights I like to go eat dinner at my host mom's house, not only because she's hilarious to be around but also because she makes the best food in town (your mom's cooking always tastes the best, right?). Get home just before dark, cold shower, and spend the rest of the night reading a book or watching a freshly-downloaded movie. That pretty much covers 95% of my life here, so consider that retribution for taking so long to post this blog.
Finally, an update on the organic farming project. Things are looking good at this point. A month or two back, I had a surprise meeting with someone from a fruit exporting company who was in town to check out the organic farm mentioned in the previous blog entry. Turns out this guy is interested in how we're trying to promote organic, and he has committed his company to buying and exporting our fruit as soon as we get a new farm up and running. Pii Peera, who has his existing organic farm, is confident that we can do this within 1 year as long as we have the land. So this Friday at my office, we are having a meeting between everyone who may be willing to help out with this project, and also 11 people who are potentially willing to convert their farms to organic. My SAO has already committed to funding around 30,000 baht, so it all looks pretty promising at the moment. Hopefully it will stay that way...
Until next time (and I promise next time will not be another 2 months).
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Something to do for 2 years?
I know it's not good to get your hopes up in the very early stages of an idea, and that holds particularly true when dealing with project ideas in Peace Corps Thailand, but nevertheless I am excited about a potential project just uncovered at site.
The project is promoting organic fruit farming and exporting in my area. The idea came about because of a villager named Peera. Peera's brother met me at a village meeting a few weeks ago and requested help exporting fruit. I visited his house, met Peera, and a few days later got a long tour of his model organic farm. It's a really cool place. Some highlights are:
-He makes organic fertilizer out of manure and material from palm trees.
-The farm feeds a lot of frogs. At night, the frogs are let loose in an enclosed space in the field to eat bugs, which are attracted to the area by purple lights. This helps control the bugs without chemicals. He also breeds the frogs and sells them when they are big enough.
-To also help control the bug situation without chemicals, he has a tree that grows a certain type of fruit that birds like, and the birds eat the bugs too.
-He plants a lot of bamboo on the farm, for multiple uses. He plants it around the perimeter to block chemicals from neighboring farms, because it grows very tall very quickly. He plants it in areas of unwanted grass/weeds so that it will grow and block the sunlight, killing the grass without chemicals. He also sells the bamboo once fully grown.
-He plants a lot of "ya-fek" grass, which helps draw minerals and water into the soil. The grass is distributed for free at every province because of its good environmental impact.
-He has a bee house that feeds a small, non-stinging type of bee which pollinates the flowers on the fruit trees.
Peera claims that this farm is unique to the entire province of Surat Thani. He has a background education in organic farming, and is passionate about promoting it in the community. Besides the environmental benefits, growing fruit organically means you can potentially export it at more than double the local prices. Peera already exports, but he is looking to expand.
This is a potentially big project because Peera already has a successful organic farm of his own, and he is willing to share his knowledge with the community. He claims that the SAO is not willing to help him, that it is more interested in building roads than helping farmers - but when I presented this to the top people in the office, they were on board from the start. They are willing to use budget money to support it, and have set up a meeting to tour the farm with a local professor who has a background in agriculture. Now I'm just hoping to get outside support from an NGO, and also connect with some other contacts the Peace Corps gave me who have experience in organic farming and exporting. We'll see where it goes from here...
Speaking of fruit, another equally important project in the community was helping to decorate a car with fruit to be entered into a competition. We came in 5th out of 30... pretty decent showing for sure. Maybe a waste of fruit, but well worth it for the sake of the art and fine craftsmanship that went into it.
The following is the car that won...
The project is promoting organic fruit farming and exporting in my area. The idea came about because of a villager named Peera. Peera's brother met me at a village meeting a few weeks ago and requested help exporting fruit. I visited his house, met Peera, and a few days later got a long tour of his model organic farm. It's a really cool place. Some highlights are:
-He makes organic fertilizer out of manure and material from palm trees.
-The farm feeds a lot of frogs. At night, the frogs are let loose in an enclosed space in the field to eat bugs, which are attracted to the area by purple lights. This helps control the bugs without chemicals. He also breeds the frogs and sells them when they are big enough.
-To also help control the bug situation without chemicals, he has a tree that grows a certain type of fruit that birds like, and the birds eat the bugs too.
-He plants a lot of bamboo on the farm, for multiple uses. He plants it around the perimeter to block chemicals from neighboring farms, because it grows very tall very quickly. He plants it in areas of unwanted grass/weeds so that it will grow and block the sunlight, killing the grass without chemicals. He also sells the bamboo once fully grown.
-He plants a lot of "ya-fek" grass, which helps draw minerals and water into the soil. The grass is distributed for free at every province because of its good environmental impact.
-He has a bee house that feeds a small, non-stinging type of bee which pollinates the flowers on the fruit trees.
Peera claims that this farm is unique to the entire province of Surat Thani. He has a background education in organic farming, and is passionate about promoting it in the community. Besides the environmental benefits, growing fruit organically means you can potentially export it at more than double the local prices. Peera already exports, but he is looking to expand.
This is a potentially big project because Peera already has a successful organic farm of his own, and he is willing to share his knowledge with the community. He claims that the SAO is not willing to help him, that it is more interested in building roads than helping farmers - but when I presented this to the top people in the office, they were on board from the start. They are willing to use budget money to support it, and have set up a meeting to tour the farm with a local professor who has a background in agriculture. Now I'm just hoping to get outside support from an NGO, and also connect with some other contacts the Peace Corps gave me who have experience in organic farming and exporting. We'll see where it goes from here...
Speaking of fruit, another equally important project in the community was helping to decorate a car with fruit to be entered into a competition. We came in 5th out of 30... pretty decent showing for sure. Maybe a waste of fruit, but well worth it for the sake of the art and fine craftsmanship that went into it.
The following is the car that won...
Friday, June 4, 2010
(Re)-Settling in at Site
I guess when you look at the time in between when I wrote the last entry and now, a lot has happened - but it's hard to reconcile that with how little seems to be happening on a day-to-day basis. Most of my days have been spent sitting in an air conditioned office with internet access. Hard to believe I'm in the Peace Corps sometimes. Then again, other times it's pretty easy. Just ask the several dozen pet lizards who are running (and defecating) throughout my house at this moment.
Since my last entry I have moved out of my host family's place and into my own house. Unwanted pets aside, the house is great. It's perfectly small, everything I need and nothing I don't, and it came just about fully furnished. Even have my own washing machine - not nearly like the ones in the states, but infinitely better than washing clothes by hand. And the best part is, of course, the sit down toilet and overhead shower which will relieve me (so to speak) from squatting and bucket showering.
My water source is a small water tower outside my house. Since I can't go within 50 feet of it without being eaten alive by mosquitoes that apparently love American blood much more than Thai blood, it's fortunate that I don't have to refill it myself. The first time I ran out of water, it was at night right before I was going to take a shower. I called my landlord to tell him, and he said the tower would be refilled the next morning and invited me over to his place to shower. I thought that was odd that his house had water, because it's right next to mine and gets water from the same tower, but didn't bother asking to clarify before going over there. What followed was another one of those moments that helped convince me I'm actually in the Peace Corps - bucket showering outside, completely in the open, with water he had stored in a big outdoor container. Was actually kinda fun, notwithstanding the fact that I think his creepy older brother was watching me the whole time.
As for my daily activities, things actually are starting to pick up a bit. School has been in session for a couple weeks now. I went to visit the principals at each of the four schools here, and set up a schedule where I'm teaching two hours per week at each school. I was originally thrilled to actually be getting out and doing something - and then I was completely overwhelmed when I actually did it. Most of my students are elementary-middle school age, and sometimes they can make the kids in Lord of the Flies look docile. But there has already been a marked improvement since I started, probably resulting from a combination of me being more comfortable in a classroom and them being more comfortable with me (and me being more selective about giving out the conch shell). By far the most useful item from the states, besides the conch shell, has been a bingo game that my mom bought for me to play with the kids here. It keeps them entertained, in their seats, and (theoretically) learning numbers in English. Thanks a million, Mom.
The other day after teaching, I stopped at a place to buy some fruit (which is excellent here by the way). The nine year old daughter of the woman who runs this fruit stand is named Noon, and she always lights up when she sees me. So this day, I decided to spend some time there, play some games, etc. Noon is a wonderful kid. Besides being very smart and grown up for her age, she is really enthusiastic about learning English. I told her I'd teach during the weekend, and the next day she had a group of 15 kids lined up to come as well. Definitely a worthwhile visit to the fruit stand, and all the free fruit they supplied while I was there didn't hurt either.
The Peace Corps has taken the stance that community development volunteers, which I am one of, should try to avoid teaching English in the schools. My view is obviously a bit different. Teaching English is helping me meet teachers, who in turn can help me with other youth development activities. Not to mention that it's the easiest way to get face to face with the youth themselves. For these reasons and others, teaching is a very useful community entry tool. It's true that everyone here automatically assumes I'm just here to teach English, even after explaining that I'm here for "community development", but ultimately I think teaching English is as much a part of community development as anything else - so why fight it?
The following story may illustrate the general attitude here as it relates to that. There was a meeting one day at the SAO with all the council representatives from each village (in Thai, their title is Samachik Au Bau Tau). These are the people who, in theory, should be very in touch with the villagers and the needs of the community. I asked my Nayok for a spot in the meeting to introduce myself, explain why I'm here, and get input from the Samachik. After explaining that I am here for two years to do community development and use my resources to help address needs of the community, I handed out a worksheet in Thai (that office staff helped me type) asking for their suggestions on problems or issues I can help with. Everyone filled it out and returned it to me, and I was thrilled to have received all these potential leads on projects I could do. Then I went to the office staff to help me translate what they wrote. All of the sheets except one said something like, "Teach English in the schools for several hours each week". And the one that didn't say that said, "Help with community development". Turns out this whole thing might not be so easy afterall...
Since my last entry I have moved out of my host family's place and into my own house. Unwanted pets aside, the house is great. It's perfectly small, everything I need and nothing I don't, and it came just about fully furnished. Even have my own washing machine - not nearly like the ones in the states, but infinitely better than washing clothes by hand. And the best part is, of course, the sit down toilet and overhead shower which will relieve me (so to speak) from squatting and bucket showering.
My water source is a small water tower outside my house. Since I can't go within 50 feet of it without being eaten alive by mosquitoes that apparently love American blood much more than Thai blood, it's fortunate that I don't have to refill it myself. The first time I ran out of water, it was at night right before I was going to take a shower. I called my landlord to tell him, and he said the tower would be refilled the next morning and invited me over to his place to shower. I thought that was odd that his house had water, because it's right next to mine and gets water from the same tower, but didn't bother asking to clarify before going over there. What followed was another one of those moments that helped convince me I'm actually in the Peace Corps - bucket showering outside, completely in the open, with water he had stored in a big outdoor container. Was actually kinda fun, notwithstanding the fact that I think his creepy older brother was watching me the whole time.
As for my daily activities, things actually are starting to pick up a bit. School has been in session for a couple weeks now. I went to visit the principals at each of the four schools here, and set up a schedule where I'm teaching two hours per week at each school. I was originally thrilled to actually be getting out and doing something - and then I was completely overwhelmed when I actually did it. Most of my students are elementary-middle school age, and sometimes they can make the kids in Lord of the Flies look docile. But there has already been a marked improvement since I started, probably resulting from a combination of me being more comfortable in a classroom and them being more comfortable with me (and me being more selective about giving out the conch shell). By far the most useful item from the states, besides the conch shell, has been a bingo game that my mom bought for me to play with the kids here. It keeps them entertained, in their seats, and (theoretically) learning numbers in English. Thanks a million, Mom.
The other day after teaching, I stopped at a place to buy some fruit (which is excellent here by the way). The nine year old daughter of the woman who runs this fruit stand is named Noon, and she always lights up when she sees me. So this day, I decided to spend some time there, play some games, etc. Noon is a wonderful kid. Besides being very smart and grown up for her age, she is really enthusiastic about learning English. I told her I'd teach during the weekend, and the next day she had a group of 15 kids lined up to come as well. Definitely a worthwhile visit to the fruit stand, and all the free fruit they supplied while I was there didn't hurt either.
The Peace Corps has taken the stance that community development volunteers, which I am one of, should try to avoid teaching English in the schools. My view is obviously a bit different. Teaching English is helping me meet teachers, who in turn can help me with other youth development activities. Not to mention that it's the easiest way to get face to face with the youth themselves. For these reasons and others, teaching is a very useful community entry tool. It's true that everyone here automatically assumes I'm just here to teach English, even after explaining that I'm here for "community development", but ultimately I think teaching English is as much a part of community development as anything else - so why fight it?
The following story may illustrate the general attitude here as it relates to that. There was a meeting one day at the SAO with all the council representatives from each village (in Thai, their title is Samachik Au Bau Tau). These are the people who, in theory, should be very in touch with the villagers and the needs of the community. I asked my Nayok for a spot in the meeting to introduce myself, explain why I'm here, and get input from the Samachik. After explaining that I am here for two years to do community development and use my resources to help address needs of the community, I handed out a worksheet in Thai (that office staff helped me type) asking for their suggestions on problems or issues I can help with. Everyone filled it out and returned it to me, and I was thrilled to have received all these potential leads on projects I could do. Then I went to the office staff to help me translate what they wrote. All of the sheets except one said something like, "Teach English in the schools for several hours each week". And the one that didn't say that said, "Help with community development". Turns out this whole thing might not be so easy afterall...
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Settling in at Site
It's now almost three weeks into my assignment at site and all's going well. Initially my biggest concern, shockingly, was the language. It's a different dialect down here. Instead of five tones, there are eight (and even the original five tones are spoken slightly differently). People also tend to speak really fast. It's frustrating at times but slowly getting better.
Overall, the people here are as welcoming as I've come to get used to in Thailand. My host mom constantly shoves food in my face. People invite me to monk ordination parties (ngaan buat) whenever they're happening (three so far) and compliment my unfortunate attempts at Thai dancing. As awful as I am at soccer compared to everyone here - and I really am terrible, pretty much turn the ball over whenever I touch it - they want me to come play everyday.
Last week was the Sonkran festival, which is the celebration of the Thai new year. People celebrate by throwing water on each other, and generally take the whole week off from work to do so. The first day we went to the temple to participate in a "rot naam" (literally, water car). The elderly sat down together in a long line, while everyone went up to each one individually to pour water into their hands. In turn they wish you happiness and good luck, and many times splash the water back in your face. It was all pretty low-key until someone snuck up behind me and drenched me with a bucket of ice water. Might've been annoyed if it didn't feel so good.
The next day was the start of the official celebration. I joined a group of people in the street, and after dumping water all over each other we soaked everyone that passed by on motorcycle, foot, or in the back of a truck (most of the time these people had their own water to dish out). We also had face paint to pretty up the drivers. At around noon, the Nayok came by unannounced to take me to another temple for another rot naam. He even put me on the spot to introduce myself in front of the gathering... all the more fun considering I was drenched head to toe and had all kinds of colorful paint on my face.
When we went back to the street, it got crazier. Some people had made their way into the middle of the street, stopping all the passing cars so as not to leave out anyone. They offered swigs of beer to the drivers and passengers. At one point, a wild pack of transgender folks (commonly called ladyboys in Thailand) joined us. Every time a car went by, they would scream, dump water, and sometimes grab men in inappropriate places. It got even more nuts when a drunk, older woman was brought to tears yelling at the ladyboys for doing these things around children. Thais are typically very low key, but people seemed to let loose a bit on the biggest holiday of the year.
There have been too many other experiences in the last three weeks to fully recount. The first weekend here I took a bike ride to explore a cave and waterfall that are part of a nearby national park. Really beautiful... some pics are below. During Sonkran, I played in a game of soccer with the women. I didn't score, but I managed to literally kick the ball into my own face while trying to do a bicycle kick. Most nights here I play soccer with some local neighborhood children, much more appropriate to my skill level. I've done karaoke at the Puyaiban's house (village head), danced more than I should be allowed to, and have quickly become acclimated to using a squat toilet and bucket shower... both really not so bad once you're used to it.
Most days so far, I've been spending my time in the SAO office getting to know the staff here and learning to read Thai with some books the Peace Corps gave us. No projects to be involved with yet. Right now the schools are on break, but once they re-open I'm planning to do some teaching and other activities there. The youth here always seem really excited when I'm around, so I'm thinking of starting a community youth group. Most projects will have to wait until I have a better command of the language. But overall it's fun being here. I enjoy the people and the fact that they yell out "Mr. Joel!" whenever they see me on my bike. And I have enough internet access to stay up to date on the Phillies and South Park episodes... all of the essentials in life.
Overall, the people here are as welcoming as I've come to get used to in Thailand. My host mom constantly shoves food in my face. People invite me to monk ordination parties (ngaan buat) whenever they're happening (three so far) and compliment my unfortunate attempts at Thai dancing. As awful as I am at soccer compared to everyone here - and I really am terrible, pretty much turn the ball over whenever I touch it - they want me to come play everyday.
Last week was the Sonkran festival, which is the celebration of the Thai new year. People celebrate by throwing water on each other, and generally take the whole week off from work to do so. The first day we went to the temple to participate in a "rot naam" (literally, water car). The elderly sat down together in a long line, while everyone went up to each one individually to pour water into their hands. In turn they wish you happiness and good luck, and many times splash the water back in your face. It was all pretty low-key until someone snuck up behind me and drenched me with a bucket of ice water. Might've been annoyed if it didn't feel so good.
The next day was the start of the official celebration. I joined a group of people in the street, and after dumping water all over each other we soaked everyone that passed by on motorcycle, foot, or in the back of a truck (most of the time these people had their own water to dish out). We also had face paint to pretty up the drivers. At around noon, the Nayok came by unannounced to take me to another temple for another rot naam. He even put me on the spot to introduce myself in front of the gathering... all the more fun considering I was drenched head to toe and had all kinds of colorful paint on my face.
When we went back to the street, it got crazier. Some people had made their way into the middle of the street, stopping all the passing cars so as not to leave out anyone. They offered swigs of beer to the drivers and passengers. At one point, a wild pack of transgender folks (commonly called ladyboys in Thailand) joined us. Every time a car went by, they would scream, dump water, and sometimes grab men in inappropriate places. It got even more nuts when a drunk, older woman was brought to tears yelling at the ladyboys for doing these things around children. Thais are typically very low key, but people seemed to let loose a bit on the biggest holiday of the year.
There have been too many other experiences in the last three weeks to fully recount. The first weekend here I took a bike ride to explore a cave and waterfall that are part of a nearby national park. Really beautiful... some pics are below. During Sonkran, I played in a game of soccer with the women. I didn't score, but I managed to literally kick the ball into my own face while trying to do a bicycle kick. Most nights here I play soccer with some local neighborhood children, much more appropriate to my skill level. I've done karaoke at the Puyaiban's house (village head), danced more than I should be allowed to, and have quickly become acclimated to using a squat toilet and bucket shower... both really not so bad once you're used to it.
Most days so far, I've been spending my time in the SAO office getting to know the staff here and learning to read Thai with some books the Peace Corps gave us. No projects to be involved with yet. Right now the schools are on break, but once they re-open I'm planning to do some teaching and other activities there. The youth here always seem really excited when I'm around, so I'm thinking of starting a community youth group. Most projects will have to wait until I have a better command of the language. But overall it's fun being here. I enjoy the people and the fact that they yell out "Mr. Joel!" whenever they see me on my bike. And I have enough internet access to stay up to date on the Phillies and South Park episodes... all of the essentials in life.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Recap of Last Days at Training
Today is my third day as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I'm writing from my site in Surat Thani, having arrived on April 1st after a full day of traveling. It's been a week full of excitement and all kinds of emotional swings. As always, there's way too much to say and not enough time to say it, so I'll try to hit the high points:
Without exaggeration, I think I can say that the last few days of training were near-perfect. On Saturday night, my tambon hosted a goodbye party for the 12 volunteers residing with families there. There was music, dancing, and great food. The volunteers put on several skits and performances, and undoubtedly the highlight was supplied by the four males of our group. We decked ourselves out in women's clothes, grabbed our pom-poms, and did a surprisingly well choreographed dance to the popular Thai pop song "Rawn Jing Jing", which basically translates to "really really hot". And we were. Check out the pics below to prove it.
We left our host families the next day, as we all stayed in the hotel for the last three nights of training. That was initally sad, but it turns out it was far from goodbye... a few families came back to the hotel that night to kidnap (or Thai-nap, as we call it) their volunteers to take them to dinner. My family was one of them. We had dinner again the next night, when I decided to call them because I had nothing better to do. The next night was the same, except that this time they invited my Thai counterparts from Surat Thani, who were in town for a Peace Corps conference along with the counterparts of all the other volunteers. That was a cool experience - my old family meeting my new family. Finally, the next day they were at the hotel to drop me off at the bus station... more on that in a second.
On Monday we had the official Swearing In Ceremony. Here, we took the swearing in oath administered by a US Embassy representative and in doing so officially transitioned from trainees to volunteers. What I haven't mentioned up until now is that the Peace Corps staff had asked me a few weeks ago to make a speech, in Thai, at this ceremony on behalf of my CBOD group. Another volunteer, Emily, spoke on behalf of TCCO. We wrote our speeches in English, the staff helped translate them into Thai, then we struggled through practicing. We didn't have to memorize our parts, thankfully, but nevertheless it was a huge challenge to get the pronounciation and tones right. It was about 15 minutes worth of speaking between the two of us, which meant a lot of words to mess up. On the day of Swearing In, I still didn't feel fully prepared. But we did it, and I think we pulled it off pretty well. Afterwards we got to represent our group during lunch with the government big wigs, including the Governor of Chainat Province, the Embassy person, some Royal Thai Government people, and the Peace Corps Thailand Country Director. Cool experience, undoubtedly a bit awkward, but the food was great.
Our last day in Chainat was Wednesday. The previous night was a lot of fun with all the volunteers, but that also meant virtually no sleep leading into our day of departure. Somehow we made it through the agonizing morning sessions, after which we went to finish up our last bit of packing. My family came to the hotel at noon. Given that I had to make a 1:00 bus, this unfortunately didn't leave us much time to chat. 12:30 rolled around, and we were still hanging at the hotel. My family assured me it was only a two minute drive, we'd be fine. At 12:45, after my counterparts called wondering where I was, my family finally decided it was time to leave. At 12:55, a funny thing happened - we were sitting in traffic and saw a bus driving the opposite way down the street. After my family frantically urged me to get out of the car, I realized that was probably the bus I was supposed to be on. Next thing I know I'm running down the street chasing the bus, with all my luggage in tow. My host mom sped ahead on her motorcycle and caught it before it was too late. I had just enough time to hug her goodbye before getting whisked onto the bus by my laughing counterparts. Once on the bus, my family pulled up alongside it. We saw each other and waved goodbye one last time. My host mom started to cry. It was quite an end to quite an emotional few days.
Since I've already written quite a bit, I'm not going to go into my first few days at site just yet. Suffice it to say, everyone is generally nice, but it will take a good period of adjustment to feel totally comfortable. I'll try to update within the next week.
Oh, and of course the highly anticipated pictures:
Without exaggeration, I think I can say that the last few days of training were near-perfect. On Saturday night, my tambon hosted a goodbye party for the 12 volunteers residing with families there. There was music, dancing, and great food. The volunteers put on several skits and performances, and undoubtedly the highlight was supplied by the four males of our group. We decked ourselves out in women's clothes, grabbed our pom-poms, and did a surprisingly well choreographed dance to the popular Thai pop song "Rawn Jing Jing", which basically translates to "really really hot". And we were. Check out the pics below to prove it.
We left our host families the next day, as we all stayed in the hotel for the last three nights of training. That was initally sad, but it turns out it was far from goodbye... a few families came back to the hotel that night to kidnap (or Thai-nap, as we call it) their volunteers to take them to dinner. My family was one of them. We had dinner again the next night, when I decided to call them because I had nothing better to do. The next night was the same, except that this time they invited my Thai counterparts from Surat Thani, who were in town for a Peace Corps conference along with the counterparts of all the other volunteers. That was a cool experience - my old family meeting my new family. Finally, the next day they were at the hotel to drop me off at the bus station... more on that in a second.
On Monday we had the official Swearing In Ceremony. Here, we took the swearing in oath administered by a US Embassy representative and in doing so officially transitioned from trainees to volunteers. What I haven't mentioned up until now is that the Peace Corps staff had asked me a few weeks ago to make a speech, in Thai, at this ceremony on behalf of my CBOD group. Another volunteer, Emily, spoke on behalf of TCCO. We wrote our speeches in English, the staff helped translate them into Thai, then we struggled through practicing. We didn't have to memorize our parts, thankfully, but nevertheless it was a huge challenge to get the pronounciation and tones right. It was about 15 minutes worth of speaking between the two of us, which meant a lot of words to mess up. On the day of Swearing In, I still didn't feel fully prepared. But we did it, and I think we pulled it off pretty well. Afterwards we got to represent our group during lunch with the government big wigs, including the Governor of Chainat Province, the Embassy person, some Royal Thai Government people, and the Peace Corps Thailand Country Director. Cool experience, undoubtedly a bit awkward, but the food was great.
Our last day in Chainat was Wednesday. The previous night was a lot of fun with all the volunteers, but that also meant virtually no sleep leading into our day of departure. Somehow we made it through the agonizing morning sessions, after which we went to finish up our last bit of packing. My family came to the hotel at noon. Given that I had to make a 1:00 bus, this unfortunately didn't leave us much time to chat. 12:30 rolled around, and we were still hanging at the hotel. My family assured me it was only a two minute drive, we'd be fine. At 12:45, after my counterparts called wondering where I was, my family finally decided it was time to leave. At 12:55, a funny thing happened - we were sitting in traffic and saw a bus driving the opposite way down the street. After my family frantically urged me to get out of the car, I realized that was probably the bus I was supposed to be on. Next thing I know I'm running down the street chasing the bus, with all my luggage in tow. My host mom sped ahead on her motorcycle and caught it before it was too late. I had just enough time to hug her goodbye before getting whisked onto the bus by my laughing counterparts. Once on the bus, my family pulled up alongside it. We saw each other and waved goodbye one last time. My host mom started to cry. It was quite an end to quite an emotional few days.
Since I've already written quite a bit, I'm not going to go into my first few days at site just yet. Suffice it to say, everyone is generally nice, but it will take a good period of adjustment to feel totally comfortable. I'll try to update within the next week.
Oh, and of course the highly anticipated pictures:
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Rao ja pop gan iik...
...means we will meet again. In just over a week, we're leaving our host families in Chainat to go to our sites. There's no doubt I'll be back to visit. Here are some of the more memorable stories from Chainat that I haven't yet written about...
A few weeks ago, Brooke and I decided we wanted to cook a meal for our host family. We went with spaghetti. We bought ground pork, mushrooms, and onions to cook before adding a couple cans of tomato sauce. We boiled the spaghetti, and when it was all said and done I thought it tasted pretty decent. Then we took it to the family... and even though they said it was good, it wasn't hard to read their non-verbal cues. And those cues said "How can they possibly expect us to eat this." But my dad insisted on taking more, and made a point to show us how much he "liked" it. Even so, we had a lot of leftovers for the dogs, who never turn down any extra food. Until they ate absolutely none of the spaghetti.
There have been a few funny language mix-ups. One day my host sister had a test at school. The Thai word for test is "sawp". I asked her how the test was, but instead of saying "Wan-nii sawp bpen yang rai?", I said "Wan-nii sop bpen yang rai?". I didn't understand why she was laughing, until I later found out I had asked her "How was the dead body today?"
Yesterday during my final language interview, I thought everything went really well. Then my interviewer gave me feedback and I found out that multiple times during the interview, instead of saying the word "Kui" (which is the verb for "to chat") I said "Kuai" (which is a very, very vulgar word for a certain male body part).
Early on in training, our medical officer gave us the ever popular Peace Corps sex talk. He gave everyone a condom, then gave everyone a banana. You can probably figure out where it went from there. It was an awkwardly fun time. But, with a total of 60 volunteers, we had a lot of condom-clad bananas to dispose of. Everyone piled them in the middle of the floor to be thrown away. Fast forward three weeks. Our country director was there to talk to us about our upcoming site visits. He moved a table at the front of the room, and made a most unexpected discovery - a totally black banana wrapped in latex, which he proceeded to show all of us while facetiously reiterating the importance of safe sex.
One day, we went to a school to do a "life skills" activity. Basically we played a few games with them, and had a lot of fun. But when it was over we didn't know what to do next. We asked them to teach us something. Together they decided to teach us some Thai songs. They put on quite a performance. They had a perfectly choreographed dance, and one little boy did a solo that had us comparing him to Michael Jackson. Then they asked us to teach them an American song. We all proceeded to do a legendarily awful rendition of YMCA. When we were done, the kids didn't really know how to react... but they gave us some light applause, for which we were both grateful and undeserving.
Last Thursday our ajaan (teacher) treated our four person language class to dinner. Afterwards, she took out two gifts from Chiang Mai. I don't remember what they're called in Thai, but basically they were two mini hot air balloons. The pictures below will explain it better than I could. The idea was to light the fire underneath the balloon, and let it fly away once enough hot air accumulated. Sounds easy enough. But after we lit the fire, the wind started blowing. We almost set the restaurant on fire. At one point, my ajaan put her head inside the balloon. It was crazy. Then when we all let go because our hands were about to be burned off, somehow the thing flew away. And it was awesome. The first picture below is during the near-disaster I just described, while the second is during our much better controlled second balloon launching.
A few weeks ago, Brooke and I decided we wanted to cook a meal for our host family. We went with spaghetti. We bought ground pork, mushrooms, and onions to cook before adding a couple cans of tomato sauce. We boiled the spaghetti, and when it was all said and done I thought it tasted pretty decent. Then we took it to the family... and even though they said it was good, it wasn't hard to read their non-verbal cues. And those cues said "How can they possibly expect us to eat this." But my dad insisted on taking more, and made a point to show us how much he "liked" it. Even so, we had a lot of leftovers for the dogs, who never turn down any extra food. Until they ate absolutely none of the spaghetti.
There have been a few funny language mix-ups. One day my host sister had a test at school. The Thai word for test is "sawp". I asked her how the test was, but instead of saying "Wan-nii sawp bpen yang rai?", I said "Wan-nii sop bpen yang rai?". I didn't understand why she was laughing, until I later found out I had asked her "How was the dead body today?"
Yesterday during my final language interview, I thought everything went really well. Then my interviewer gave me feedback and I found out that multiple times during the interview, instead of saying the word "Kui" (which is the verb for "to chat") I said "Kuai" (which is a very, very vulgar word for a certain male body part).
Early on in training, our medical officer gave us the ever popular Peace Corps sex talk. He gave everyone a condom, then gave everyone a banana. You can probably figure out where it went from there. It was an awkwardly fun time. But, with a total of 60 volunteers, we had a lot of condom-clad bananas to dispose of. Everyone piled them in the middle of the floor to be thrown away. Fast forward three weeks. Our country director was there to talk to us about our upcoming site visits. He moved a table at the front of the room, and made a most unexpected discovery - a totally black banana wrapped in latex, which he proceeded to show all of us while facetiously reiterating the importance of safe sex.
One day, we went to a school to do a "life skills" activity. Basically we played a few games with them, and had a lot of fun. But when it was over we didn't know what to do next. We asked them to teach us something. Together they decided to teach us some Thai songs. They put on quite a performance. They had a perfectly choreographed dance, and one little boy did a solo that had us comparing him to Michael Jackson. Then they asked us to teach them an American song. We all proceeded to do a legendarily awful rendition of YMCA. When we were done, the kids didn't really know how to react... but they gave us some light applause, for which we were both grateful and undeserving.
Last Thursday our ajaan (teacher) treated our four person language class to dinner. Afterwards, she took out two gifts from Chiang Mai. I don't remember what they're called in Thai, but basically they were two mini hot air balloons. The pictures below will explain it better than I could. The idea was to light the fire underneath the balloon, and let it fly away once enough hot air accumulated. Sounds easy enough. But after we lit the fire, the wind started blowing. We almost set the restaurant on fire. At one point, my ajaan put her head inside the balloon. It was crazy. Then when we all let go because our hands were about to be burned off, somehow the thing flew away. And it was awesome. The first picture below is during the near-disaster I just described, while the second is during our much better controlled second balloon launching.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Birthday, Site Visit
When I posted the birthday picture below, I realized I didn't make any mention of that day yet on this blog. The quick highlights are: That day, we had a field trip scheduled to a huge rice farm / snack-making / soap-making place in a neighboring province. On the bus ride over, everyone started singing happy birthday and my language ajaan (teacher) brought me the watermelon cake you can see in the previous post. Really awesome. Then, the highlight of the rice farm was getting the chance to plant rice by hand. We took off our shoes, rolled up our pants, grabbed a handful of rice sprout-lings, and walked into the warm, muddy field to do the dirty work. It was great because of how great it felt. The mud gave us all a foot treatment that most people would have to pay for. When we finished planting all the rice, we were reluctant to leave the field.
That night, I went out to dinner with everyone in my host family and extended family - 15 people in all. The restaurant was spectacular. We had a couple whole fish, some curry, a delicious pork dish called lap muu, and soup called dom yam. The funniest part was my host mom, who had assured everyone throughout the last two days that "Joel ya liang tu-kon" (Joel will treat everyone). I knew she was kidding - and then the waitress brought the check directly to me after dinner. After the family noticed a momentary nervousness on my part, they all burst out laughing and my mom grabbed the 1,700 baht check. And the Peace Corps told us Thais were not accustomed to sarcasm...
Earlier this week we got back from our visit to Bangkok and our future sites. Some highlights of that are: Bangkok was crazy. After being couped up with our host families for the previous few weeks, everyone was understandably ready for a night on the town. We went to Ko Sahn road, which was probably the wildest scene I've ever witnessed. People, mostly foreigners, packed the entire street. Each step we were approached by someone trying to sell something, including a lot of suit salesmen, which I found funny that anyone would consider buying a suit on that road in the middle of the night. We ate pizza for dinner, hopped around between bars, danced a little, then took cabs back to the hotel - which, I should mention, is an experience in and of itself, especially if you catch one in mid-day traffic. New York cabbies are light years behind Bangkok cabbies. But anyway, Bangkok was fun on the whole, but not a place I will need to perpetually revisit.
The next day, I took an overnight, 10 hour bus-ride from Bangkok to Surat Thani. Before going to our sites, everyone spent two nights with a host Peace Corps volunteer who had already been serving for at least a year. It was fun to see how a Peace Corps volunteer generally lives, and mine was very hospitable. The area is much more rural than our training site in Chainat, which is good and bad. Bad because it won't always be easy to get food and supplies, but good because you can actually see a sky full of stars at night. That was the first thing I noticed after getting off the bus at 3AM, and it was a refreshing site at that hour.
A couple days later I got picked up by some future co-workers to go to my site. I'm in a unique situation at site; there was actually a Peace Corps volunteer from the previous group who had been serving in that exact place. She started her service about a year ago, and just left for America this past January. This means people in the area are generally familiar with seeing a white person around town. It also means that there's less initial work on my part - I already have my housing situation figured out, because I'll just move into her old house. It's a nice looking place, and the best part is it happens to be the only place I saw in all of Surat Thani with a sit-down toilet instead of a squat toilet.
The one night I spent at site was with a host family. I stayed with a 30-something year old man who serves as the Samachik Moo - the person who finds out what the villagers want/need and reports to the SAO (Sub-district Administrative Office, the local administrative building where I will be working out of) - and his mother. Squat toilet and bucket shower, but overall comfortable place and very friendly host. I will be staying with him for my first month at site before moving into my own place.
The situation at the SAO is not overwhelmingly good or bad. People are generally pretty nice, but somewhat shy. It's characteristic of the South for people to leave you alone a little bit and not constantly be chatting away. This is kind of nice, but in all honesty I missed my overly personable host family (who called me twice while at site to check on me) and the people of Chainat. Right now I don't think there's much of an opportunity for me to get work done at the SAO. I have a lot of language learning to do before that will be possible. And I have a feeling I'll tend towards spending time at the area schools, which is how the previous volunteer spent much of her time. During the visit, I got to know a few people in the area who were either village leaders or involved in community agricultural groups (including a group that produces and promotes the use of organic fertilizer, which was interesting to see). I'm excited to get to know more people once at site and see how I can best help.
And oh yeah - the people in the South speak a different dialect of Thai, and talk incredibly fast. Woo-hoo.
Always more to say, but I'll cut it off for now. One thing to note is the tense political situation in Thailand right now - I'm sure there are news stories about it if you look. But it seems like an interesting time to be here.
That night, I went out to dinner with everyone in my host family and extended family - 15 people in all. The restaurant was spectacular. We had a couple whole fish, some curry, a delicious pork dish called lap muu, and soup called dom yam. The funniest part was my host mom, who had assured everyone throughout the last two days that "Joel ya liang tu-kon" (Joel will treat everyone). I knew she was kidding - and then the waitress brought the check directly to me after dinner. After the family noticed a momentary nervousness on my part, they all burst out laughing and my mom grabbed the 1,700 baht check. And the Peace Corps told us Thais were not accustomed to sarcasm...
Earlier this week we got back from our visit to Bangkok and our future sites. Some highlights of that are: Bangkok was crazy. After being couped up with our host families for the previous few weeks, everyone was understandably ready for a night on the town. We went to Ko Sahn road, which was probably the wildest scene I've ever witnessed. People, mostly foreigners, packed the entire street. Each step we were approached by someone trying to sell something, including a lot of suit salesmen, which I found funny that anyone would consider buying a suit on that road in the middle of the night. We ate pizza for dinner, hopped around between bars, danced a little, then took cabs back to the hotel - which, I should mention, is an experience in and of itself, especially if you catch one in mid-day traffic. New York cabbies are light years behind Bangkok cabbies. But anyway, Bangkok was fun on the whole, but not a place I will need to perpetually revisit.
The next day, I took an overnight, 10 hour bus-ride from Bangkok to Surat Thani. Before going to our sites, everyone spent two nights with a host Peace Corps volunteer who had already been serving for at least a year. It was fun to see how a Peace Corps volunteer generally lives, and mine was very hospitable. The area is much more rural than our training site in Chainat, which is good and bad. Bad because it won't always be easy to get food and supplies, but good because you can actually see a sky full of stars at night. That was the first thing I noticed after getting off the bus at 3AM, and it was a refreshing site at that hour.
A couple days later I got picked up by some future co-workers to go to my site. I'm in a unique situation at site; there was actually a Peace Corps volunteer from the previous group who had been serving in that exact place. She started her service about a year ago, and just left for America this past January. This means people in the area are generally familiar with seeing a white person around town. It also means that there's less initial work on my part - I already have my housing situation figured out, because I'll just move into her old house. It's a nice looking place, and the best part is it happens to be the only place I saw in all of Surat Thani with a sit-down toilet instead of a squat toilet.
The one night I spent at site was with a host family. I stayed with a 30-something year old man who serves as the Samachik Moo - the person who finds out what the villagers want/need and reports to the SAO (Sub-district Administrative Office, the local administrative building where I will be working out of) - and his mother. Squat toilet and bucket shower, but overall comfortable place and very friendly host. I will be staying with him for my first month at site before moving into my own place.
The situation at the SAO is not overwhelmingly good or bad. People are generally pretty nice, but somewhat shy. It's characteristic of the South for people to leave you alone a little bit and not constantly be chatting away. This is kind of nice, but in all honesty I missed my overly personable host family (who called me twice while at site to check on me) and the people of Chainat. Right now I don't think there's much of an opportunity for me to get work done at the SAO. I have a lot of language learning to do before that will be possible. And I have a feeling I'll tend towards spending time at the area schools, which is how the previous volunteer spent much of her time. During the visit, I got to know a few people in the area who were either village leaders or involved in community agricultural groups (including a group that produces and promotes the use of organic fertilizer, which was interesting to see). I'm excited to get to know more people once at site and see how I can best help.
And oh yeah - the people in the South speak a different dialect of Thai, and talk incredibly fast. Woo-hoo.
Always more to say, but I'll cut it off for now. One thing to note is the tense political situation in Thailand right now - I'm sure there are news stories about it if you look. But it seems like an interesting time to be here.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Surat Thani!
The verdict is in... and it's as shocking as it is awesome. I'll be spending my 2 years in Changwat (Province) Surat Thani. Out of everyone in my CBOD group, it's the southern-most site.
After my site placement interview last week, I was almost certain I was going to be placed in Isaan - the northeast territory that's the poorest in the country. Needless to say, quite a huge shock to find out I'll be within striking distance of some of the nicer beaches in Thailand.
As exciting as this all is, it's won't be a cakewalk. The most realistic housing site the Peace Corps identified for me gets its water supply from a well. That would almost certainly mean squat toilets and bucket showers. The surrounding area is largely rural. Will get a chance to see for myself this weekend, when we will all travel to our sites for a two day stay... stay tuned.
After my site placement interview last week, I was almost certain I was going to be placed in Isaan - the northeast territory that's the poorest in the country. Needless to say, quite a huge shock to find out I'll be within striking distance of some of the nicer beaches in Thailand.
As exciting as this all is, it's won't be a cakewalk. The most realistic housing site the Peace Corps identified for me gets its water supply from a well. That would almost certainly mean squat toilets and bucket showers. The surrounding area is largely rural. Will get a chance to see for myself this weekend, when we will all travel to our sites for a two day stay... stay tuned.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Unanticipated Excitement
Everything in Thailand is still great, but there's been some unanticipated excitement. I was involved in a bicycle accident about a week and a half ago. Long story short, everything's fine. I was going relatively fast when a car merged into my lane and inched over towards me. I swerved to avoid it, but swerved too hard, lost my balance and crashed in the middle of the street. What complicated matters was a motorcycle coming in fast from behind that couldn't avoid me. The motorcycle hit my bike (luckily not me) and the two riders (not wearing helmets) flew off it. It looked like one of them was hurt pretty seriously at the time. Quite luckily though, no one had any major injuries. Lots of people stopped to make sure we were ok, and an ambulance arrived pretty quickly. Peace Corps staff was waiting at the hospital when I got there. Afterwards, the three of us involved in the accident met at the police station to relate our stories for the accident report.
The only physical thing that worried me was my wrist, which I thought was broken. After a visit to the hospital in Bangkok, turns out it's just sprained. It was pretty painful for about three days following the accident, but then it got better quickly. Other than that, just have some scrapes and bruises. I was able to start riding again a week after the accident - and will be riding slower needless to say. All in all it could've been a whole lot worse than it was. Actually it worked out well since I was able to see a little of Bangkok during the hospital visit. Thai food is good, but it was excellent to be able to eat McDonalds and Pizza Hut for lunch (yes I ate both... and no Wing Street here unfortunately).
The consequence of the accident is that I gained instant fame in my Tambon. When a farang gets into a bike accident, it takes about three minutes for everyone in the area to know about it. I got a lot of support and well-wishes from the volunteers and staff here. Was really lucky to have avoided anything too serious. Was in relatively good spirits during the aftermath, after finding out the motorcyle riders were ok.
Other than that, the language is starting to pick up. More and more I'm able to communicate with my host family. It's definitely gratifying. We find out our site placements in a little over a week. Excited to know where I'll be spending the next two years.
The only physical thing that worried me was my wrist, which I thought was broken. After a visit to the hospital in Bangkok, turns out it's just sprained. It was pretty painful for about three days following the accident, but then it got better quickly. Other than that, just have some scrapes and bruises. I was able to start riding again a week after the accident - and will be riding slower needless to say. All in all it could've been a whole lot worse than it was. Actually it worked out well since I was able to see a little of Bangkok during the hospital visit. Thai food is good, but it was excellent to be able to eat McDonalds and Pizza Hut for lunch (yes I ate both... and no Wing Street here unfortunately).
The consequence of the accident is that I gained instant fame in my Tambon. When a farang gets into a bike accident, it takes about three minutes for everyone in the area to know about it. I got a lot of support and well-wishes from the volunteers and staff here. Was really lucky to have avoided anything too serious. Was in relatively good spirits during the aftermath, after finding out the motorcyle riders were ok.
Other than that, the language is starting to pick up. More and more I'm able to communicate with my host family. It's definitely gratifying. We find out our site placements in a little over a week. Excited to know where I'll be spending the next two years.
Pics
#1 - Ronald greeting the patrons of the McDonalds in the Bangkok hospital
#2 - The riverfront view from a restaurant some of us ate at last weekend
#3 - My breakfast one morning
#4 - My language group
#5 - WARNING - Not work friendly...
#2 - The riverfront view from a restaurant some of us ate at last weekend
#3 - My breakfast one morning
#4 - My language group
#5 - WARNING - Not work friendly...
Monday, February 15, 2010
Eventful Past Week
It's been a really crazy past week, which unfortunately means I had no time to write about it. I'll get around to it eventually. Want to post some pics but it's not letting me at the moment. For now I'm posting something I wrote about a week ago.
Saturday, February 6
The weekend's finally here (although we still had our 4 hour language class this morning - Sundays are our only full day off). Class is mentally and physically draining, but overall well worth the effort. We are broken out into language training groups of 4 people. Each group has its own Ajaan (teacher). My language class is progressing at a nice pace. We're a fun and capable group, and we mesh well with each other. Our Ajaan also makes class more entertaining than it would be otherwise. Nevertheless, it's a slow process that usually finds me ready to pass out at some point during each class. For whatever reason (the heat, the biking, the unfamiliar food, the new surroundings, the hard Peace Corps mattress that makes good sleep tough to come by, the 8 hour days) most volunteers are lacking energy. A number of volunteers have gotten sick - I've fortunately been able to avoid that. (EDIT - I actually got a stomach sickness shortly after writing this. Go figure.)
Afternoons are generally technical trainings. Our group of 60+ volunteers is split into two technical training groups, based on our designated assignments: CBOD (Community Based Organizational Development) and TCCO (Teacher Collaboration and Community Outreach). I'm a CBODer - when I go to site in March/April, I'll be working in a municipal office and within the community to help with projects and build capacity among people. TCCO folks primarily work with designated Thai teachers to teach English in Thai elementary (and maybe also secondary?) schools. The aim of each program differs significantly, and so do our trainings. While TCCO is already doing hands-on activities in Thai classrooms, CBOD has been largely subjected to more abstract lectures to familiarize us with Thai government structure, the economy, and our possible community functions. It's somewhat necessary to teach in theory because every CBOD assignment will differ greatly, but it's hard to look forward to these lectures after morning language classes.
This week's technical training has been better, though. For two days during the week we went with our language group and Ajaan to interview some key figures in the municipal offices, villages, and community groups. We rehearsed a few questions to ask in Thai, but all the answers had to be translated for us. We talked to the Nayok (the elected mayor, my host grandfather), the Bpalat (a government-appointed chief administrator), a Puyaban (village head), a monk, and a couple community groups involved in researching and assisting the local rice farming. The Nayok and Bpalat didn't give a ton of useful info. The Puyaban was interesting. At 40 years old, he is the youngest Puyaban of the 7 villages in our Tambon. He criticized the municipal office for failing to give his village needed budget money for community improvements to help with flooding. He said the Nayok is older, uneducated, and out of touch with the villagers - even after knowing I live in his house.
The monk was interesting in a different way. He took us into his air conditioned bedroom for the interview (complete with a raised mattress), showed us pictures on his cell phone, and played a recording of John Lennon's "Imagine" for us. Of the 227 rules monks are required to obey, this particular monk probably broke about half of them just in the time we were there. We later found out monks like this are termed "urban monks", who may take on monk-hood more to make a living than to gain spiritual enlightenment.
Despite some of the challenges, I can honestly say up to this point that everyday I'm happy to be here. The people make the experience what it is. It's a funny culture here. Hospitality towards guests is built into Thais. I saw chicken feet at the market the other day, mentioned that I like eating them in the states, and tonight they were on my plate (trust me, that's not even too high on the list of werid things I've eaten... maybe I'll get around to writing about that topic). They also worry about us like we're their children. Last week after class one day, I rode around the area with a friend of mine so we could scope out where we were meeting for language class the next day. We both got home late - around 6:30pm. Our families were both outside waiting for us when we got home, wondering where we'd been. The police showed up at both our houses right after we got home (although it wasn't exactly clear why...). Like many other volunteers, We learned our lesson.
But what's interesting about Thais is how they won't hold back on things that would be insensitive to mention in the states. For example, if you're overweight, chances are you'll get called "uu-on" (fat) to your face. It may even become your nickname. But what's hard to understand is they do this in an endearing way, without passing judgment. It's just the way the culture is, as complicated as that may be to understand. And it doesn't mean they aren't quick to compliment. In the past few days two people in my host family told me I speak good Thai. I don't necessarily believe them, but it's still good to hear.
Saturday, February 6
The weekend's finally here (although we still had our 4 hour language class this morning - Sundays are our only full day off). Class is mentally and physically draining, but overall well worth the effort. We are broken out into language training groups of 4 people. Each group has its own Ajaan (teacher). My language class is progressing at a nice pace. We're a fun and capable group, and we mesh well with each other. Our Ajaan also makes class more entertaining than it would be otherwise. Nevertheless, it's a slow process that usually finds me ready to pass out at some point during each class. For whatever reason (the heat, the biking, the unfamiliar food, the new surroundings, the hard Peace Corps mattress that makes good sleep tough to come by, the 8 hour days) most volunteers are lacking energy. A number of volunteers have gotten sick - I've fortunately been able to avoid that. (EDIT - I actually got a stomach sickness shortly after writing this. Go figure.)
Afternoons are generally technical trainings. Our group of 60+ volunteers is split into two technical training groups, based on our designated assignments: CBOD (Community Based Organizational Development) and TCCO (Teacher Collaboration and Community Outreach). I'm a CBODer - when I go to site in March/April, I'll be working in a municipal office and within the community to help with projects and build capacity among people. TCCO folks primarily work with designated Thai teachers to teach English in Thai elementary (and maybe also secondary?) schools. The aim of each program differs significantly, and so do our trainings. While TCCO is already doing hands-on activities in Thai classrooms, CBOD has been largely subjected to more abstract lectures to familiarize us with Thai government structure, the economy, and our possible community functions. It's somewhat necessary to teach in theory because every CBOD assignment will differ greatly, but it's hard to look forward to these lectures after morning language classes.
This week's technical training has been better, though. For two days during the week we went with our language group and Ajaan to interview some key figures in the municipal offices, villages, and community groups. We rehearsed a few questions to ask in Thai, but all the answers had to be translated for us. We talked to the Nayok (the elected mayor, my host grandfather), the Bpalat (a government-appointed chief administrator), a Puyaban (village head), a monk, and a couple community groups involved in researching and assisting the local rice farming. The Nayok and Bpalat didn't give a ton of useful info. The Puyaban was interesting. At 40 years old, he is the youngest Puyaban of the 7 villages in our Tambon. He criticized the municipal office for failing to give his village needed budget money for community improvements to help with flooding. He said the Nayok is older, uneducated, and out of touch with the villagers - even after knowing I live in his house.
The monk was interesting in a different way. He took us into his air conditioned bedroom for the interview (complete with a raised mattress), showed us pictures on his cell phone, and played a recording of John Lennon's "Imagine" for us. Of the 227 rules monks are required to obey, this particular monk probably broke about half of them just in the time we were there. We later found out monks like this are termed "urban monks", who may take on monk-hood more to make a living than to gain spiritual enlightenment.
Despite some of the challenges, I can honestly say up to this point that everyday I'm happy to be here. The people make the experience what it is. It's a funny culture here. Hospitality towards guests is built into Thais. I saw chicken feet at the market the other day, mentioned that I like eating them in the states, and tonight they were on my plate (trust me, that's not even too high on the list of werid things I've eaten... maybe I'll get around to writing about that topic). They also worry about us like we're their children. Last week after class one day, I rode around the area with a friend of mine so we could scope out where we were meeting for language class the next day. We both got home late - around 6:30pm. Our families were both outside waiting for us when we got home, wondering where we'd been. The police showed up at both our houses right after we got home (although it wasn't exactly clear why...). Like many other volunteers, We learned our lesson.
But what's interesting about Thais is how they won't hold back on things that would be insensitive to mention in the states. For example, if you're overweight, chances are you'll get called "uu-on" (fat) to your face. It may even become your nickname. But what's hard to understand is they do this in an endearing way, without passing judgment. It's just the way the culture is, as complicated as that may be to understand. And it doesn't mean they aren't quick to compliment. In the past few days two people in my host family told me I speak good Thai. I don't necessarily believe them, but it's still good to hear.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Musings from the Past Week...
First of all, a big thank you to my family and friends for your comments on this blog and overall support. Your messages make writing this blog worthwhile. Wish I could be in more contact with everyone individually, but internet time is very limited these days. We are generally stationed in the hotel only once per week, so I will try to post weekly updates as I can. Below is what I've been writing throughout the week. All in all everything is still great here, although learning the language looms as a constant struggle.
Wednesday, January 27
A few mornings ago, I saw 3 monks walk by the front of the house. A few people in my family met them and dished out rice into the bowls they were carrying. I found out the monks come by each morning. Yesterday morning Brooke and I were there to meet them with two others in our family. As they were coming we took off our shoes and stood on them. The family members had given us each a little food and bottles of water. When the monks arrived, we gave them the food and water one by one. When finished, the monks blessed us through prayer while we crouched down and waiy-ed.
On Monday we went to another market. This one was a huge collection of vendors selling clothes, games, food, etc that happens once a week. It was mobbed with people, and needless to say I drew attention from pretty much everyone we passed. I bought a shirt for 150 baht ($4 or so) and am pretty sure I got totally ripped off.
Last night we broke out a deck of cards and taught the family how to play crazy eights. It was a resounding success. We must've played close to 10 games straight. It was the most fun I've had at the home, just because everyone was into it and having a good time.
The food is still excellent. Our family is very careful to warn us which dishes are "pet" (spicy). It seems like Thais generally assume that westerners have no tolerance for spicy food. I happen to prefer it. So initially each time I went for the spicy food, everyone assumed I didn't understand it was spicy and tried to stop me. They seem impressed now that they realize I like it.
Each day I have to bike to our meeting place, generally about a 20-30 minute ride. Although I'm still far from an expert, I'm definitely starting to settle into a comfort zone.
Friday, January 29
I'm tentatively feeling like I'm starting to settle in here, although the challenges are really coming into focus. It starts and ends with learning the language. The only other language I've ever taken is Spanish and I consider myself far from competent in it. That being said, there isn't much I wouldn't give to be able to speak Thai half as well as Espanol. For the past three days we've been in intense language class for 4 hours each day. I've tried to study beyond that for a few hours each night, and have been moderately successful in engaging my host family to help. So far we've learned basic greetings, numbers, family, and food. Although there has been a marked improvement in my conversational skills with my host family, it's a grueling process with no instant gratification - 95% of the time I still don't understand what's being said to me, even though it's slowly getting easier to express myself.
If anything is gaining me favor with the host family, it continues to be my love of the food. They laugh at the fact that I eat anything and everything, and a lot of it. In fact, it's pretty easy to make Thais laugh. Having relatively no language skills, it would be really tough to get by here without a sense of humor.
Yesterday I was about to ride to class before realizing my rear tire was flat. They taught us how to change the front tire, which I've had some practice with by now, but the rear tire is more complicated because of the chains and gears. My host grandma walked me to a home-front repair shop 5 minutes away to get it patched up. So far it's holding up.
Other than that, it's amazing how quickly the biking has become natural. We ride in some pretty heavy traffic at times, but it barely fazes me anymore. It's starting to become one of my favorite things to do here.
Sunday, January 31
This morning I put on my shoe and felt a slimy lump with my toes. A frog apparently decided to make its home there. They warned us about scorpions in our shoes but failed to mention the possibility of frogs. Fortunately I didn't crush the little guy and let him loose near the house.
Last night we went to a big town party with music, food, and dancing. When we went in, we were greeted by a prestigious-looking group of Thais centered around a nicely dressed, tall bald man. They asked me something in Thai and the only words I picked up were "Prateet America" and "Prateet Thai" (country of America and country of Thailand). I tried to say I like Thailand a lot, but judging by their laughter I completely missed the point of the question (or just butchered the answer). I just laughed along. Later in the night the tall bald man was on stage being honored by all of the local village heads. Turns out this was his party before being fully accepted into monk-hood. As someone in our group astutely pointed out, the scantily clad dancers and rock music made it seem more like the Thai version of a bachelor party than the typical ceremony one might picture to swear in a monk.
Some random Thailand observations:
-The king's image is everywhere. Schools, houses, hospitals, beauty shops, markets, etc etc. You do not ever say anything bad about him.
-Many places around Chainat have western-style toilets, as opposed to squat toilets. But 99% of the time there is a hose - no toilet paper.
-I recently found out my shower actually has hot water through a separate electric heater. Regardless, I don't use it - cold showers are way too refreshing, especially when I need to wake up in the morning. Thais tend to shower at least twice per day and seem to always ask us to shower as well.
-Bugs are everywhere. My feet look like they have chicken pox from all the bites. Ants are in my house in abundance, mainly the kitchen and sometimes the bathroom. Little lizards also find their way in, but tend to stay on the walls and away from people. I keep my bedroom door closed at all times and the bugs generally stay out.
-Families spanning 3-4 generations tend to live together. Customarily a newly-married husband will move in with his wife's family, which is the case in my house.
-Cool fact: my host grandfather is the Na-yok (leader) of the Tambon (a group of villages, kind of like a county). Brooke and I apparently lucked out with our placement.
-Most people in our group, including me, haven't actually worn sunscreen yet. Maybe since it's winter and only a cool 85-90 degrees, the sun isn't as powerful. Haven't gotten burned at all yet.
-There are about 10 farangs (white foreigners) permanently living in this area. I met a few the other night. They were originally from England and Scotland. Their cute Thai wives/girlfriends seemed to suggest their reason for staying.
-There is a store close to my house called Tesco Lotus - a glorified Thai Wal-mart. In addition to the shopping, there is a KFC, Dairy Queen, and Mister Donut.
Wednesday, January 27
A few mornings ago, I saw 3 monks walk by the front of the house. A few people in my family met them and dished out rice into the bowls they were carrying. I found out the monks come by each morning. Yesterday morning Brooke and I were there to meet them with two others in our family. As they were coming we took off our shoes and stood on them. The family members had given us each a little food and bottles of water. When the monks arrived, we gave them the food and water one by one. When finished, the monks blessed us through prayer while we crouched down and waiy-ed.
On Monday we went to another market. This one was a huge collection of vendors selling clothes, games, food, etc that happens once a week. It was mobbed with people, and needless to say I drew attention from pretty much everyone we passed. I bought a shirt for 150 baht ($4 or so) and am pretty sure I got totally ripped off.
Last night we broke out a deck of cards and taught the family how to play crazy eights. It was a resounding success. We must've played close to 10 games straight. It was the most fun I've had at the home, just because everyone was into it and having a good time.
The food is still excellent. Our family is very careful to warn us which dishes are "pet" (spicy). It seems like Thais generally assume that westerners have no tolerance for spicy food. I happen to prefer it. So initially each time I went for the spicy food, everyone assumed I didn't understand it was spicy and tried to stop me. They seem impressed now that they realize I like it.
Each day I have to bike to our meeting place, generally about a 20-30 minute ride. Although I'm still far from an expert, I'm definitely starting to settle into a comfort zone.
Friday, January 29
I'm tentatively feeling like I'm starting to settle in here, although the challenges are really coming into focus. It starts and ends with learning the language. The only other language I've ever taken is Spanish and I consider myself far from competent in it. That being said, there isn't much I wouldn't give to be able to speak Thai half as well as Espanol. For the past three days we've been in intense language class for 4 hours each day. I've tried to study beyond that for a few hours each night, and have been moderately successful in engaging my host family to help. So far we've learned basic greetings, numbers, family, and food. Although there has been a marked improvement in my conversational skills with my host family, it's a grueling process with no instant gratification - 95% of the time I still don't understand what's being said to me, even though it's slowly getting easier to express myself.
If anything is gaining me favor with the host family, it continues to be my love of the food. They laugh at the fact that I eat anything and everything, and a lot of it. In fact, it's pretty easy to make Thais laugh. Having relatively no language skills, it would be really tough to get by here without a sense of humor.
Yesterday I was about to ride to class before realizing my rear tire was flat. They taught us how to change the front tire, which I've had some practice with by now, but the rear tire is more complicated because of the chains and gears. My host grandma walked me to a home-front repair shop 5 minutes away to get it patched up. So far it's holding up.
Other than that, it's amazing how quickly the biking has become natural. We ride in some pretty heavy traffic at times, but it barely fazes me anymore. It's starting to become one of my favorite things to do here.
Sunday, January 31
This morning I put on my shoe and felt a slimy lump with my toes. A frog apparently decided to make its home there. They warned us about scorpions in our shoes but failed to mention the possibility of frogs. Fortunately I didn't crush the little guy and let him loose near the house.
Last night we went to a big town party with music, food, and dancing. When we went in, we were greeted by a prestigious-looking group of Thais centered around a nicely dressed, tall bald man. They asked me something in Thai and the only words I picked up were "Prateet America" and "Prateet Thai" (country of America and country of Thailand). I tried to say I like Thailand a lot, but judging by their laughter I completely missed the point of the question (or just butchered the answer). I just laughed along. Later in the night the tall bald man was on stage being honored by all of the local village heads. Turns out this was his party before being fully accepted into monk-hood. As someone in our group astutely pointed out, the scantily clad dancers and rock music made it seem more like the Thai version of a bachelor party than the typical ceremony one might picture to swear in a monk.
Some random Thailand observations:
-The king's image is everywhere. Schools, houses, hospitals, beauty shops, markets, etc etc. You do not ever say anything bad about him.
-Many places around Chainat have western-style toilets, as opposed to squat toilets. But 99% of the time there is a hose - no toilet paper.
-I recently found out my shower actually has hot water through a separate electric heater. Regardless, I don't use it - cold showers are way too refreshing, especially when I need to wake up in the morning. Thais tend to shower at least twice per day and seem to always ask us to shower as well.
-Bugs are everywhere. My feet look like they have chicken pox from all the bites. Ants are in my house in abundance, mainly the kitchen and sometimes the bathroom. Little lizards also find their way in, but tend to stay on the walls and away from people. I keep my bedroom door closed at all times and the bugs generally stay out.
-Families spanning 3-4 generations tend to live together. Customarily a newly-married husband will move in with his wife's family, which is the case in my house.
-Cool fact: my host grandfather is the Na-yok (leader) of the Tambon (a group of villages, kind of like a county). Brooke and I apparently lucked out with our placement.
-Most people in our group, including me, haven't actually worn sunscreen yet. Maybe since it's winter and only a cool 85-90 degrees, the sun isn't as powerful. Haven't gotten burned at all yet.
-There are about 10 farangs (white foreigners) permanently living in this area. I met a few the other night. They were originally from England and Scotland. Their cute Thai wives/girlfriends seemed to suggest their reason for staying.
-There is a store close to my house called Tesco Lotus - a glorified Thai Wal-mart. In addition to the shopping, there is a KFC, Dairy Queen, and Mister Donut.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Host Family - Day 1
I wrote the following over the past day. I'm now back at the hotel for training, but my internet access will not be very much in the coming weeks... I'll try to be in touch as much as I can.
Sunday, Jan 24:
Last night was my first with my new family. Yesterday all the families came to the hotel where we were staying, and we were paired up one by one with our chosen hosts. I was assigned to the tambon (county) Ban Gluai, close to the hotel where we will be meeting occassionally to train. The mother of my household, Ohm, was there to greet me. We exchanged pleasantries to the extent that my Thai language skills would allow, then went off to my home for the next 10 weeks.
I'm in a 3 person household - mother, father, and 16 year old daughter. There are also 3 dogs, which really are more like strays that the family happens to allow in their yard. The house is nicer than I would have expected. Very clean, flushing toilet and overhead shower inside, and my own room with a stand-up fan. The house is adjacent to another house, where some extended family live - and they happen to be hosting another volunteer, Brooke. I really can't understate how much of a relief it is to have her here. I can imagine how rough it is for other volunteers who have no way of understanding their hosts or being understood themselves, and can't express their feelings to anyone. Just having someone to be able to talk to is the best luxury I could've gotten.
My family / extended family has been really welcoming. There are a couple cute little kids in the extended family. I'm having some fun with them - making faces, playing peek-a-boo, and playing with a Philadelphia Eagles fiki football game I brought. Before they left to go to bed last night, the 4 year old little girl "waiy-ed" (how you greet elders - hands together, head bow) and then blew me a kiss.
The matriarch of the complex is the grandmother, whose 3 daughters live here (one of which is Ohm). I was initially a little intimidated by her. She seemed serious and stern upon first impression. But When Brooke and I were getting a tour of the outside area, Ohm showed us the outhouse with a squat toilet. I squatted down as if to show I needed to practice. The grandmother saw me from a distance and burst out laughing, pretty much breaking the ice.
The food has been incredible. We ate dinner on the floor of the living room. Brooke and I were served first, and often after that. There was fried rice with chicken, fish soup, pork with vegetables, and an omelette. The meals are all rice based. They showed us how to mix the soup in with the rice, and add some spicy fish sauce. The words I've used most since moving in are "Alloy maak" (very delicious).
This morning we went to the market. The family has a coconut farm on site, where they strip the bark to process the coconut milk and pulp to sell at the market. They made us a delicious treat that can be described as a coconut flavored mix between ice cream and water ice. The rest of the market was an experience in and of itself. Hanging pig heads, live frogs, whole squid, etc etc.
After that we went to the Chainat Bird Park. It's a very expansive and pretty place. Peacocks and ostriches roaming, all different types of birds in a huge netted area, and a small aquarium on site. The best was the fish foot bath. We took off our shoes to put our feet in a shallow tub of water, and all these little inch-long fish flocked to nibble at our legs. People apparently find it soothing - for me it was just really really ticklish.
Right now I'm inside after just helping a fellow volunteer change a flat bike tire. Realized it's really good to feel useful once in a while when you're being treated like family by complete strangers you can't even properly thank.
Sunday, Jan 24:
Last night was my first with my new family. Yesterday all the families came to the hotel where we were staying, and we were paired up one by one with our chosen hosts. I was assigned to the tambon (county) Ban Gluai, close to the hotel where we will be meeting occassionally to train. The mother of my household, Ohm, was there to greet me. We exchanged pleasantries to the extent that my Thai language skills would allow, then went off to my home for the next 10 weeks.
I'm in a 3 person household - mother, father, and 16 year old daughter. There are also 3 dogs, which really are more like strays that the family happens to allow in their yard. The house is nicer than I would have expected. Very clean, flushing toilet and overhead shower inside, and my own room with a stand-up fan. The house is adjacent to another house, where some extended family live - and they happen to be hosting another volunteer, Brooke. I really can't understate how much of a relief it is to have her here. I can imagine how rough it is for other volunteers who have no way of understanding their hosts or being understood themselves, and can't express their feelings to anyone. Just having someone to be able to talk to is the best luxury I could've gotten.
My family / extended family has been really welcoming. There are a couple cute little kids in the extended family. I'm having some fun with them - making faces, playing peek-a-boo, and playing with a Philadelphia Eagles fiki football game I brought. Before they left to go to bed last night, the 4 year old little girl "waiy-ed" (how you greet elders - hands together, head bow) and then blew me a kiss.
The matriarch of the complex is the grandmother, whose 3 daughters live here (one of which is Ohm). I was initially a little intimidated by her. She seemed serious and stern upon first impression. But When Brooke and I were getting a tour of the outside area, Ohm showed us the outhouse with a squat toilet. I squatted down as if to show I needed to practice. The grandmother saw me from a distance and burst out laughing, pretty much breaking the ice.
The food has been incredible. We ate dinner on the floor of the living room. Brooke and I were served first, and often after that. There was fried rice with chicken, fish soup, pork with vegetables, and an omelette. The meals are all rice based. They showed us how to mix the soup in with the rice, and add some spicy fish sauce. The words I've used most since moving in are "Alloy maak" (very delicious).
This morning we went to the market. The family has a coconut farm on site, where they strip the bark to process the coconut milk and pulp to sell at the market. They made us a delicious treat that can be described as a coconut flavored mix between ice cream and water ice. The rest of the market was an experience in and of itself. Hanging pig heads, live frogs, whole squid, etc etc.
After that we went to the Chainat Bird Park. It's a very expansive and pretty place. Peacocks and ostriches roaming, all different types of birds in a huge netted area, and a small aquarium on site. The best was the fish foot bath. We took off our shoes to put our feet in a shallow tub of water, and all these little inch-long fish flocked to nibble at our legs. People apparently find it soothing - for me it was just really really ticklish.
Right now I'm inside after just helping a fellow volunteer change a flat bike tire. Realized it's really good to feel useful once in a while when you're being treated like family by complete strangers you can't even properly thank.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Royal Thai Welcome
This morning we received an impressive welcome from the governor of the Chainat province. A van took all of us to the Chainat Provinvial Government Building, and we walked into a room set up as if it were hosting a UN delegation. We each had a microphone to introduce ourselves to the governor, in Thai of course. He gave a nice speech in broken English to welcome us to Chainat. Then after some photos, we were back at training. All in all pretty cool experience.
The other noteworthy event today was our afternoon bike ride. Earlier in the training I re-learned what I already knew quite well - that anything involving balance makes me look silly. I'm not the worst biker here, but definitely in the bottom 5. There are 60+ year old women volunteers who look like Tour de France riders compared to me, and I wish I were kidding.
That being said, today's bike ride was incredible. We were constantly surrounded by expansive, brilliantly green rice paddies. We also went on some back roads through the local villages. There's not much more fun than passing Thai locals, some saying "Hello" in English, and seeing their surprise and laughter when we greet them with "Sa-wat-dii khrap". At one point on the ride, we went down a dirt road where some cows were being herded. As we rode past them they started running along with us, and kept up for a good 30 seconds or so. It was one of those gratifying moments when you realize there aren't many places you could ever get an experience like this - on a bike surrounded by rice paddies with cows galloping by a few feet away. After all that, we rode a ferry back across the river to our hotel.
Tomorrow we find out our assigned villages for the next 10 weeks, and move in with our host families. It's a good thing too - a squat toilet may remind me I'm actually in the Peace Corps and not on vacation. Should be fun.
The other noteworthy event today was our afternoon bike ride. Earlier in the training I re-learned what I already knew quite well - that anything involving balance makes me look silly. I'm not the worst biker here, but definitely in the bottom 5. There are 60+ year old women volunteers who look like Tour de France riders compared to me, and I wish I were kidding.
That being said, today's bike ride was incredible. We were constantly surrounded by expansive, brilliantly green rice paddies. We also went on some back roads through the local villages. There's not much more fun than passing Thai locals, some saying "Hello" in English, and seeing their surprise and laughter when we greet them with "Sa-wat-dii khrap". At one point on the ride, we went down a dirt road where some cows were being herded. As we rode past them they started running along with us, and kept up for a good 30 seconds or so. It was one of those gratifying moments when you realize there aren't many places you could ever get an experience like this - on a bike surrounded by rice paddies with cows galloping by a few feet away. After all that, we rode a ferry back across the river to our hotel.
Tomorrow we find out our assigned villages for the next 10 weeks, and move in with our host families. It's a good thing too - a squat toilet may remind me I'm actually in the Peace Corps and not on vacation. Should be fun.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Training Day
The picture above was drawn by one of my Thai training teachers, Pacharapan. It's her vision of me before actually meeting me. All of the volunteers got their own portraits from our teachers. I'd say mine is spot on (hopefully the dog isn't part of the meal though...)
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Land of Smiles...
We arrived in Bangkok around 10:30pm local time. Had been awake for close to 30 hours straight before getting a refreshing 4 hours of sleep, but feeling oddly energized. Everything has been as good as can be expected so far... but of course the real work is yet to start. Will let the pics do the talking.
#1) The whole crew at LAX
#2) The Philly contingent arrives in Thailand. Me, Zerina and Nicole
#3) Hotel in Thailand
#4) Thai English
#1) The whole crew at LAX
#2) The Philly contingent arrives in Thailand. Me, Zerina and Nicole
#3) Hotel in Thailand
#4) Thai English
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Staging - Los Angeles
It's been an eventful last couple of days, to say the least. First of all, to everyone that helped say farewell at Ray's last night, it's hard to fully express my thanks. I'll remember that night for a long, long time because of all of you.
Right now I'm in my hotel in Los Angeles after going through a 5 hour staging/orientation. We mostly went over general guidelines of what the Peace Corps expects of us, what we should expect to get out of the Peace Corps, and some common issues we may face overseas. The clear highlight of the day was getting to eat at LA's famous In and Out Burger. The Dude abides...
The flight to Bangkok leaves tomorrow morning. We will be in the air for close to 20 hours total, with an additional hour and a half layover in Tokyo. Once we land in Bangkok and collect our bags, we will hop on a 2 hour bus ride to Amphur Muang, Chainat Province (north of Bangkok). We'll stay in a hotel for the first week, then move in with our host families. We'll stay with our host families for the duration of Pre-Service Training - about 10 weeks - after which we will be assigned to our individual villages to serve the 2 year assignment.
At this point I've gotten to meet my entire class of 63 fellow volunteers. The diversity is amazing. There are recent college grads, married couples, and grandmothers, of all different backgrounds from all across the country. Pretty even mix of guys and girls. All very nice people who I'm really looking forward to spending time with over the coming weeks.
This whole thing is very surreal right now, partly due to lack of sleep I'm sure. Will try to update once I'm in Thailand, but we may not have frequent internet access during the 10 week training. All the best until then...
Right now I'm in my hotel in Los Angeles after going through a 5 hour staging/orientation. We mostly went over general guidelines of what the Peace Corps expects of us, what we should expect to get out of the Peace Corps, and some common issues we may face overseas. The clear highlight of the day was getting to eat at LA's famous In and Out Burger. The Dude abides...
The flight to Bangkok leaves tomorrow morning. We will be in the air for close to 20 hours total, with an additional hour and a half layover in Tokyo. Once we land in Bangkok and collect our bags, we will hop on a 2 hour bus ride to Amphur Muang, Chainat Province (north of Bangkok). We'll stay in a hotel for the first week, then move in with our host families. We'll stay with our host families for the duration of Pre-Service Training - about 10 weeks - after which we will be assigned to our individual villages to serve the 2 year assignment.
At this point I've gotten to meet my entire class of 63 fellow volunteers. The diversity is amazing. There are recent college grads, married couples, and grandmothers, of all different backgrounds from all across the country. Pretty even mix of guys and girls. All very nice people who I'm really looking forward to spending time with over the coming weeks.
This whole thing is very surreal right now, partly due to lack of sleep I'm sure. Will try to update once I'm in Thailand, but we may not have frequent internet access during the 10 week training. All the best until then...
Monday, January 11, 2010
Welcome!
Thank you for checking out my blog of Peace Corps service in Thailand! There is still way too much to do and not nearly enough to say, so I'll keep it short.
Right now I'm t-minus 5 days from departure. Will be flying into Los Angeles at 6am Saturday for staging/orientation, staying overnight, then leaving for Thailand on Sunday for the next 27 months. The first 3 months will be intense training, during which I will hopefully learn a word or two of Thai, and maybe some other stuff too. After that I'll be on my own for 2 years in whatever village I'm assigned. Easy enough...
Stay tuned for more. Next time you hear from me I'll be in a much warmer place.
Right now I'm t-minus 5 days from departure. Will be flying into Los Angeles at 6am Saturday for staging/orientation, staying overnight, then leaving for Thailand on Sunday for the next 27 months. The first 3 months will be intense training, during which I will hopefully learn a word or two of Thai, and maybe some other stuff too. After that I'll be on my own for 2 years in whatever village I'm assigned. Easy enough...
Stay tuned for more. Next time you hear from me I'll be in a much warmer place.
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