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.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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.
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