(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...