Some Things That Will Be Weird When I Go Home

Originally, I was going to leave my ICU reflective assignment post as the last one, as a way of smoothly transitions to a close. But, this has happened two nights now, and I find it amusing.

 

Jess, Maia and I went to the Sunday night market last week, and there happened to be a lot of farang men. I turned to Maia and asked her "Why are all these tall farang people around?" and again, yesterday night, Maia and I went the market near carrefour, simply because it was the last time we could go, and there was a group of American men standing in the middle of the foot traffic. Again, I looked at Maia and said "Seriously, White men, they're really really tall." Now that I think about it they were probably of average height. All in the 5'10- 6'2" range.

Which got me thinking about some things that I am already anticipating being weird when I go home:

Not being of average, female height. In particular, standing next to my friend Sam, who we all affectionately call "Smashy" due to his intensely large height, will be be extremely unsettling. 

Grocery stores. When we go to Carrefour to get groceries they put the dairy food next to the isle that is farang food and I can't imagine an entire store being composed of the things in these isles alone. 

Going home to summer after experiencing Thai summer.

Lack of uniform. As uncomfortable as they are, uniforms make my waking up process go faster. 

Being able to fully understand the conversations that are going on around me.

Not being able to drink this strange tea from seven-eleven, which I have found myself addicted to

A campus I know like the back of my hand. After about 24 hours with my parents, I'll go back to Sarah Lawrence to see half my friends graduate, and remembering what its like to be on that campus.

Going home to my dog, and walking by other dogs with out wondering "Does that one look like it might bite me, or  like it wants me to pet it?"

Not constantly worrying if I am staying hydrated, which probably means I am more likely to become dehydrated. 

Leaving Thailand, yet still eating Thai food. Luckily, my parents house has a full stock of dehydrated "Mama noodles" in the basement. Not to mention my mothers home cooking. Even if its not a Thai dish she's cooking there is still something Thai in the flavoring. 

Knowing EXACTLY where I am going. Not just having a vague idea about how to get there, and some how succeeding in getting there.

Driving. Driving on the right hand side of the road. I-I think I want to wait a day or two before I hop back in the driver's side of a car.  

When people ask "How was your trip?" figuring out exactly what to say. 

There are more things, I am sure. But those are the ones that immediately come to mind. They aren't meant to be particularly good or bad. Just things that will feel strangely familiar, yet different...

Highlights of my stay in Thailand : In pictures con't

Silly baby in Nan

Allie came to visit

Markets, In general (This is Warorot)

Bangkok

The Zoo

Highlights of my stay in Thailand : In pictures

Beautiful fabrics--> all hand made

Elephant show with Ploy Ginny and Ploy's family

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

Muay Thai

Mae Chaem

ICU: Reflective Blog

1. Refer back to your post regarding you arrival expectations of your study abroad experience in Thailand. Have they been realized are they realistic or not? Do you feel you met your goals?

I set my expectations relatively low, but not with out reason. I did not want to put anything on the semester that, if it did not happen, I would be disappointed. I can say that I can efficiently navigate the old city, but outside the gate I can get a little turned around. However, when your only mode of transportation is a Song Tao or Tuktuk, it is hard to orient yourself. The most helpful day was when Dr. Jenjit took my out in her car and drove me around the city and pointed out landmarks. 

As for my other goal, well, that is less successful. I realized within a two weeks of being here that somehow, my brain still retained the memories of how to read and write basic Thai. This became useful when I started to learn the vocabulary for what I was reading, however, I know that I still spoke better Thai (in terms of pronunciation and vocabulary) when I was younger. Than again, when I was younger, the vocabulary that I knew surrounded modes of transport, and reading basic stories from a children's book.  So while I know that I cannot hold a conversation with me mother, or her friends, I feel as though I could make my point to my brother as we both spoke broken, poorly worded Thai. And frankly, that will still be a help. 

2. What is the greatest learning outcome you have come away with from this experience?

In terms of cultural adjustment, I had to make myself a blank slate. Any preconceptions I had abut Thailand and Thai culture had to be erased so I could fully take in what I was seeing, feeling and experiencing around me in day to day life. It is hard to convince yourself that you know nothing, especially when you are so convinced that you do, however, I feel like it is well worth it. It makes learning about other cultures easier, and I feel as though I was more receptive and aware after doing so.

3. During the next phase, re-entry, how do you intend to continue maximizing your study abroad experiences once you are back in your home country? 

One of my main reasons for coming to Thailand  was the language. I hate the question "Oh, your half Thai? You speak Thai than right?" Not fun. Its a question that always gets asked with such enthusiasm and one that always gets answered with embarrassment. For me, continuing to study the Thai language will help me stay connected to Thailand in general.

4. Of all you have experienced this semester what lessons have you learned or thing have you experienced that you never want to forget?

The other night, we went out for Seashia's birthday, in front of a stand that advertised Turkish coffee Nick started a conversation with a man, who was saying, what I found to be, ignorant farang judgments made by not understanding what he was seeing around him. I was outraged, but kept my mouth shut and listened hoping I would begin to understand where his insights were coming from. I didn't although at one point I agreed with one thing he said, but I would not say it in the way he did, because I would never say it out loud. I was looking at the few other Thai Studies  people around me, and none of their faces showed any agreement, but no disagreement either. I began to wonder if I was upset on a personal level, or if it was just that I perceived his statements to be highly inaccurate. when I began to realize that I was taking it personally, as he was specifically attacking the generation of my mother and that above her (aka, the generation of the family I still have here) there was a part of me that felt silly, because I would say I am fully American, but the other part of me wanted to tell him to stop talking and/or slap him... preferably in the face. The point of this story is that although I never feel Thai, I know that I have internalized that its half of me, and my mother did raise me with the culture, I was just unaware of it when she would throw something Thai in there. I know that a lot of my blog has been about being half-Thai but the truth of the matter is I never really thought about it. In the states its kind of a novelty to be half something, but for some it doesn't matter after that. But I want it to. And I want to remember that, that is the way I want it, and that I want the culture here to be part of my identity. 

Just a thought

If Thailand is half way around the world from my lovely home in the northeast and after May 19th I will have been here and back three times, and Europe is almost a nice half way point, at least for the European places I've been, and  I've been there and back two times (with my flying to california to fill in for any lack of miles) then I can say that I have, distance wise at least, travelled around the world three and a half almost four times. Who knew?

Songkran and Koh Chang

Songkran is Thai New years and it was last week. Its a three day festival where people are meant to anoint Buddha images, however, it turned itself into a city wide water fight at some point in time.  Magically a million more farang than you have ever seen before flood the streets. Water is everywhere, plastic bags are being sold at outrageously high prices so people can throw their wallets and cellphones into  a slightly more water resistant land, music is constantly playing from several directions and it is impossible to get anywhere on time let alone with out being soaked. 

People got excited early, the water throwing began on sunday before the official start of the holiday.  The first day we went into the old city people were throwing buckets of water into the Song Tao we were in. There were drunk Thai men screaming "welcome to Thailand!" and this was all I was able to see. The following day it seemed to be more of the same, we started at the south gate and wort our way west to Tahpae  gate, where we were the day before. and where the heart of all the action seemed to be taking place. However, this day a road was blocked of for a reason I wasn't able to discern at first. However, Around three in the afternoon a parade started with several Buddha images, people in traditional Thai dress and other things began to pass by, which served as a reminder to all the farang that there was a reason for the holiday, and a religious one at that. I decided I might as well make some merit and anoint one of the Buddha's passing by with water. But as I headed toward the procession of Buddha heads I saw bobbing up and down a woman stopped me on the way and gave me a bag of brown liquid which I later realized was a oily/watery substance of some sort that had jasmine in it. Someone else handed me an ahms bowel and I shared the bag of jasmine water as we tried to get the Buddha's wet. A harder feat than one might expect. 

On the third day, not many of us went into the city because we were leaving for Koh Chang that evening. We were worried that because of the protests that our trip via Bangkok would be less than safe, but everything worked out. We took a bus overnight from BKK to Trat to arrive at sunny sunny beaches. 

We got to Koh Chang around six in the morning on Wednesday. We checked into our bungalows at The Sunflower, a resort owned by a German man and his Thai wife. They had an adorable two year old daughter that was carried around by various staff members. No one seemed to have a specific job; one day you were the cook the next someone else was making eggs and you were raking the grass.

None of us escaped the island with out some sort of unpleasant aliment. I got a really bad head cold, most people had some sort of stomach or digestive issue and everyone got sunburned. (A first time sensation for me, and one I hope never to have to repeat.) But we all seemed to get through it with minimal verbal complaint because we were on a gorgeous island, where no one could understand our Thai, hard as we tried, and had nothing to do all day but rest and swim and eat. We swam one day, snorkeled the next, more swimming, more eating, and while we all had plans of the great stuff we could do, I think a combination of exgsatsian, sicknesses and general content allowed us to sit around all day.

 We did check out different parts of the island, but the water seemed clear in all the varying parts, it was warm and only slightly choppy. The jungle on the east side, that is now a national park area, was only quickly visited. We payed 500 Baht to be taken around all day to various other islands in the area that had good snorkeling (Meals, coffee and water provided). As I looked down I thought of various ways I could steal fish from the sea to show my brother, who has quite an extensive amount of pet fish. But reality  prevailed when I started to think about explaining to customs why I had big fish in my bag that I was trying to keep alive. I don't think they would look kindly upon that. 

Five days later, I found myself back on a plane headed from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The difference between the cities as seen from above at night are ridiculous and beautiful. When our plane took off all of Bangkok was lit up and looked like a living organism. It was as if I was staring somebody's veins and circulatory system all lit up by that radioactive goo they make you swallow in hospitals when they need to see your insides working. The streets where the veins but even than the random patterns of lights from shops and buildings seemed to be moving with a purpose I did not understand. Chiang Mai, on the other hand, looked like little LED lights had been placed very deliberately on a map, or on some sort of art piece. Every light was in its own little area for its own little reason. Even though it's Thailand's second largest city the difference is clear, even before you are on the ground and see the different kind of people who rush around you. 

Its crazy to think that I only have a month left before I go back to America to watch half my friends graduate and to reunite with the other half. I know that there will be a build up of work, but Ive been trying to think of how I can make this last month really count. I can't think of anything yet, and I'm sure I won't have time for half the ideas, but there is more to do, and I know I don't even know it. 

ICU: Relate yourself to Bennett's Ethnorelativism

Reversal. Bennett states that the role of "reversal" is not experienced by all who go through some sense of culture shock, but it is not uncommon. In this stage Bennett says that the individual is likely to find ways in which the culture which is not his or her own is superior to his or her own, but does so in a defensive way.

One way in which I find this stage applicable to my own experience in Thailand can be found in my roommate's and my relationship. I fear any serious confrontation. Thus, I find the Thai way of passively sending messages superior to the typical American say-what-you-mean mentality. I was, and still partially am, convinced that Americans are much more abrasive than they need to be and there is a better more subtle way to move through the world. And while I fully embraced my opportunity to be as passive as I like with Ploy in our room and being able to have her naturally pick up on the slightest hints, I found myself frustrated with nearly every other American student in the Thai Studies program for the first month and a half.

I could not understand why the other American students could not pick up on the Thai student's "hints" about what was culturally acceptable. I was determined that I was more privy to certain and specific Thai culture because of stories I heard from my mom, and the fact that other Americans could not pick up on these hints was proof that we, in American culture, are simply to used to being as brash as we like. And while I still prefer the more passive route (although, I am probably more American than Thai in terms of certain aspects of my passive aggressive personality), it took me far too long to even try get to know the other Thai studies students because they were "too American" in my head.

Home stays in Nan: Hmong, Mien, And Lua

In the 4 hour+ air conditioned vans, watching American movies, it was easy to and from Chiang Mai to Nan that we were Thailand at all. We arrived , were greeted by Jacob (The coordinator of this second home stay) and told a little about what he is doing in a Hmong village with his wife and child (Work for his doctorate, by the way). We are given an inaccurate  map of the villages and how they relate to each other, and off we went to either a Hmong, Mein or Lua family. Most of us got put with Hmong families, I, along with Reid and Eva, were put in the Mien village which we were told the boundaries of were drawn up after the Mein settled. So the village is completely drawn around families houses in a squiggly line and declared a village.

My host father worked as a silver smith and my host mom worked at what people kept calling "the baby school" which I could only assume was a nursery. The first night the three of us and Pii Neung were driven up our street and then assigned houses as we passed them. Pii Neung came over to help settle us in, translate if need be and eat dinner with all of our families. Everyone in the Mein village seemed to speak Thai perfectly, if not a little bit of English as well. 

The next morning I woke up at seven a.m. to a knock on my door with my host mom on the other side saying "Maragodt, Gin Caow." I sprang up from my bed, afraid that I had over slept and kept the waiting threw on some clothing and looked at the clock on my cell phone and realized it was only seven. Turns out, I did keep them waiting. I could never be sure what time they ate breakfast, because as hard as I tried my body would wake up no earlier, and my host father always seemed to devour his food than have to run off to work. Anyway, Eva and I went walking around after breakfast, after stopping by Reids and being told he was still asleep. We wondered for a while and just as soon as we decided we should go back because we had nothing more to do we ran into Seashia and Laura riding on the back of motorbikes, pulling into their driveway. Their host brother took the four of us out for the day.

Our first stop was to ride up one of the mountains near by in which he stopped three different times so we could get a picture of a the best views. 

Next, he took us to the school where he worked and we climbed up a large hill/ small mountain to get to a spirit house. some how all of this took up a rough three hours, and then he looked at us and said "the next place we go is beautiful, scary, but also beautiful." The next place was a cave with some Buddha images in it. When we first took off our shoes and entered the cave we were greeted by 4 different Buddha images, but off to he left there was more cave, and a monk statue. 

It took a little more walking until the cave just became a cave that someone had set up lamps in.  At one point we had to turn around and just go back because the electricity had simply stopped. As for the "beautiful but scary" part, I would say, beautiful: yes; scary: no. Just a cave, some bats, I'm sure some snakes and spiders in there somewhere but none that I saw. WE did, however, get to one point where we had to cross a mildly significant hole in the ground via a bamboo bridge made by tying some bamboo together and then nailing boards into it. Seashia and Laura's host brother turned to us and said "mm.. okay. Only one person on the bridge" and while we all made it and I'm sure it was safe, made us all a little wary about crossing the gap. 

The next day Thai Studies took us to what used to be a Hmong refugee camp. The leader of one of the Hmong villages  pointed to where his house used to be, which is now a tree or too, and we were told that the UN had bought out some of the land to help the agriculture in the area that at one time had 20-30 thousand people living on it. And if you saw the actual area, that is far too many people to be living in that space. Next we went to a waterfall for lunch and some swimming. Mostly the latter. Even some of the Ajans jumped in. At night, we returned to our Mien village,and the man I believe to be Eva's host father showed us how he catches fish. I went home to my family who, after dinner, tried to teach me how to count in Mien. I'm guessing I did not do to well as my nawng saow and host Ma giggled together at my mispronunciation. After, my nawng saow brought out her Thai to English book for beginners  and we flipped through it, pointing to pictures and saying them in our respective languages correcting each other on pronunciation. 

The fourth day we once again had to ourselves. Eva and I started the day out the same. We walked to the end of the street, asked for Reid who was apparently sleeping. Decided we'd probably luck out and run into someone else again if we walked toward the rest of the villages, but we were wrong. So we sat by the lake, still no one passed by, so we walked back to Reids, who was awake, and just then Shannon, Ashley Kathy and Mercy strolled up. We went to the silver show in the Mien village, which happened to be Eva's host parents house. Then we went to Ashley's home stay where we went spent most of the day, partly because Marcy and I curled up on an outdoor bed of sorts under the building where Ashely slept, and decided then was a good a time as any to take a midday nap. We woke up, went to Mercy's homestay, where he host mother dressed us up in Hmong clothing for fun. Later Mercy's host brother drove us around with Jacob and Ajan Marcus, and took us to several Hmong shops. By the time we got home it was time for our community dinner.

I was told that Eva was going to get dressed up in traditional Mien clothing. I was not expecting for me to be dressed up as well until my nawng saow came in and told me to take a shower. I went down to Eva's house after my shower and had the villagers swarm Eva and I as we had heavy silver jewelry, headdress and costume placed on us. The below picture is one of my host ma and I.

We all ate dinner at tables, that somehow sorted themselves out by village and ethnic minority group. Most of us had been dressed up by our families in traditional garb, although the people of that group themselves wore their everyday clothing to the dinner. 

The next morning it was already time to leave. I walked to Eva's house and saw the clothing we had worn hanging out to dry. Reid Eva and I were given a ride to the center of all the villages, and goodbyes were said. On the way home we stopped by the wat wher Ajan Rebecca did some of her doctorate work, she continues to frequent the village, so some of the people at the Wat looked perplexed as to the amount of farang students that flooded out of some vans, until they saw our ajan. We hoped back in the vans, but not after buying some goods for sale in the back of the way, such as hand woven fabrics that the local people had made. 

We got back to our dorm just before dinner time, although I dont think that many of us ate dinner, and half of our roommates were gone. Summer vacation for them. Mine leaves tomorrow, but only for two weeks before she is back for the summer session, which is not something all students partake in. However, by the time she gets back, I should be leaving for our Songkran break. So we will see how that over laps. 

And that was our trip to Nan.

Back to being a tourist

Ginny and my friend Allie has come to visit for 2 weeks, until we leave for the hmong village on the 25 of March. She has been a good excuse to do all the touristy things that we did, or wanted to do in the beginning of the semester over again. Her only requirement of her trip here was to pet a baby elephant, which we did when we saw one walking out on the street during dinner. We went out pet it bought the over-priced sugar cane to feed him. Allie commented on how bristly his head was. 

For once I am finding it nice that PIH is half dorm half hotel. Allie rented out a room, much nicer than any of our dorms. So I've been sitting in her huge bed getting my work done. Although, this is something that I normally find a great inconvenience (like when a korean soccer team comes to stay and takes up every inch of free space outside of our dorm rooms) PIH is proving itself a great hotel. 

So far we have taken her into the old city, tons of markets, carrefour, to get Thai massages and are planning to take her to ride elephants and on the "flight of the gibbon" tour. The Flight of the gibbon is a huge tourist attraction in which people essentially zip line in the in the rainforest, see a waterfall, and other such things. It will be an interesting shift from showing Allie around to experiencing living in a hmong village.

ICU: Language Lunch Exchange

I went to my second language lunch exchange last week, and some how ended up sitting next to the same Thai students. There were a lot fewer of them and there were defiantly more farang students than Thai. Once again, I was next to a boy who was very into American pop-culture and knew about pop stars, actors and actresses I had never heard of. This is mostly what we talked about, and much like last time he found my lack of knowledge of popular culture amusing.  Thats okay by me, I learned the name of quite a few people via him. 

Went to the tailor

So, I figured I would get all of my pants shortened while I was here because its cheaper and none of my pants fit me because I have wee legs. After class, still in mu uniform, I bring some pants to a tailor that I found behind the seven eleven near campus. I try to use some Thai to tell them I have pants theyre too long, blah blah blah, and the woman looks at me with a very confused expression on her face,  the man who was fixing his motorbike in the shop laughs hysterically to himself for 3 seconds and looks at me and says "Tell me what you want and I'll tell her." So I'm putting jeans on and they tell me to roll them to the length  I want and she hands me a pin so I can pin them. They tell me I should come back in an hour. 

I come back in an hour and the woman isnt there but I see my pants finished and I see the man, still working on his motorbike. He looks at me and the only words I understood him say are Nacseuksaa (Student), and farang. They hand me the pants and then she realizes she only got halfway through one of them, so I take a seat while she is finishing up and the man is making small talk asking me questions. At one point he asks me where I am from, which, when asked in certain manners I have learned my answer should now automatically be, "I'm from America but my mom is from Lopburi" After I say this he looks at the woman sewing my pants and say "oh! loog kring" She looks at me, then back at the man and shakes her head no, at which point he gestures very specifically at my neck, and I realize he's looking at the necklace I was wearing which is my mom's Buddhist amulet from when she was a girl, and the woman still looked very doubtful. In fact, she told the man that I was not half Thai looked back at me, shook her head, and gave the man a look dripping with sarcasm. I cannot pass, and I am not sure how I  feel about that.

And now, all my pants fit me.

ICU: Language Lunch Exchange

The language lunch exchange is a chance to interact with some of the Payap students outside of the Thai studies program. We sit, we eat lunch at the canteen, its very casual and a lot of fun. There were mostly Thai students, however, there was one Turkish guy, but I didn't really get the change to talk to him.

The Thai students that I got a chance to talk to were very polite in conversation, and spoke English pretty well, or at least at a level that is infinitely better than my Thai right now. We talked a lot about music and when one person asked  me what my music taste was he laughed and said "Not at you. You're a girl. I was expecting you to say pop. and R&B" which makes a lot of sense after thinking about my roommate and all her friends ring tones. 

Speaking of which I asked Ploy if she was staying for the summer session classes and she is. But apparently there is a month in between semesters. So I will be roommate-less from late march until I get back from Songkran break. 

a pro and a con

The pollution is getting worse and worse everyday. I walk to class in the morning and I am walking in what looks like a grey fog but it's definitely not fog. I didn't used to get winded walking up the four flights of stairs it takes to get to all of our classes, but now I do, and its not because I don't go the the gym here. Everyone has been talking about how its harder just to breathe. Its gross.

On the plus side people are friendly enough to offer you rides to get you out of the heat and smog. Walking back from getting groceries at the Seven or Carrefour isn't so bad, because normally someone will stop and ask if you're heading to the dorms, regardless of how well you know them. I suppose riding around in cars is not a way to fix the smog situation, but I'll take what I can get. 

ICU: Bangkok

Came back from the Bangkok trip today. It's been a while since I've spent any real time in Bangkok. 11 almost 12 years actually. But it was oddly how I remembered it. The only thing that I couldn't find was that smell. There is an odor deeply engrained in me memory of how Bangkok smells. Don't get me wrong, where were plenty of smells and other things to stimulate the senses, but I couldn't find this one.

On the first day, we came off the train and were not allowed to check in to the guest house right away. So we changed into our uniforms in a storage room and off we went to a canal tour. First thing I noticed was Bangkok's public transportation system. I had never been on it before because my mom's friends own cars. These were by far the cleanest subway and trains I have even been in. Everything ran on time, there were ample amounts of trash cans (something I find Chiang Mai lacks) and for Bangkok itself being a not so clean city, it has the best public transport system I have ever experienced. 

For the canal tour we took a long taxi boat and at first we just rode around the canals. There was a dramatic switch from city to residential and back again. Along with this switch you could see the switch in levels of poverty and wealth but it was never a subtle shift. Just different levels of wealthy and different levels of poverty, but still very clearly in those two spectrums only. There were big Buddhas and Wats spread through out and eventually we got dropped off at our first stop which was to look at the Royal Barges Museum. 

Big boats. Very Thai. The museum itself was a pier that had a roof with about 8 or so boats. There were many that referenced the Ramayana in some way, which I'm sure made Ajan Rebecca very happy. Our next stop was Wat Arun, where we got quite a work out going up very steep steps. There were not that many steps, but it was almost verticle.

 Next we went to the Siam Museum. It was aimed toward younger students, but I liked it for that reason. It was more interactive and they used technology in a way I would not expect to see in a museum. It was a good basic overview of the history of Thailand before it was Thailand. 

When we got back to the guest house we watched a movie about 14 October 1973. I wondered where my mom was on that day. The documentary was in Thai with English subtitles and I wondered what we lost in translation, something I wonder a lot recently. After watching the film, we were talked to by a Thai university student named Tony. We were informed before hand that his beliefs were controversial but interesting. 

The next day we went to Duand Prateep Foundation to learn about what they do to help the slums. However, their work was not focused solely on the Klong Toey slum, but to the general well being Thailand. The foundation is lead by Prateep Ungsontham Hata, who was a slum dweller herself and has been helping her community since the age of sixteen. After we had a lecture about what the foundation did we had a tour of their kindergarden where we got to play with some adorable children who would speak to us like we were all fluent in Thai. Then they took us around the actual slum. I hated this. I knew what were were going ot see and how I was going to feel before we even started. We were paraded through the slum in our university uniforms, clearly farang students and  we were meant to look at these people like specimen. They wondered what we were doing there, I wondered what we were doing there, I smiled if I made eye contact as we walked by but mostly people looked irritated to our presence there. I felt rude by being there, like I was saying "yes, you are something to look at." And while I understand the importance of seeing with your own eyes I think there was a better way this could have been done with out alienating both parties. 

Next we went to the Bangkok Refugee center. It was really interesting to hear about refugees and asylum seekers, and how we don't normally think of their struggle in urban settings, but on the borders of Thailand and Burma, for example. But they had so many kinds of refugees, from all around the world and I could not figure how they ended up in Bangkok. We walked around the center and people seemed happy to talk to us, there were some teenage boys who just got out of their english class who practiced speaking with us. We learned more about the logistics of the center then we learned that Duang Prateep Foundation, but I feel like that was because of the nature of each of the organizations. 

That night Maia and I walked around the market near the guest house. There were a lot of people who pointed at me and said to some one near by loog klirng. I didn't know how to take this, but its something that hasn't happened to me in Chiang Mai. When I was buying presents or food from vendors, they would ask me where I was from, I would answer American and if they gave me a funny look I would respond in Thai that my mother is from Lopburi, to which they would give a big head nod and a big smile and continue to talk to me in English. But this didn't just happen at the market, I noticed it whenever I went out. First off, I don't even look Thai, so I don't know how they knew, but this two, now I'm not sure how common it is to be mixed race. Apparently is uncommon enough for people to stare and point. 

The next day we had a "democracy tour" with Dr Paul Chambers. We looked at houses, statues and monuments. Two of the most memorable was the 14 Oct monument, as it was not built until 2001 and there was a big fuss about even building it. The next was the deocracy monument. As Dr Chambers pointed out there are many ways that people actually view this monument and "what it is really depicting". We had lunch at Thammasat University after Dr Chambers showed us around a little more, including the red lift. This was an elevator in which students were massacred by the police when student protesters once again met at Thammasat in October 1976. The students were trying to esacape to the hopped in the elevator and the police ran down the stairs, beat the elevator down and as soon as the doors opened the police opened fire. 

After lunch we went to Wat Prakaew the Royal palace where the Emerald Buddha lives. He was very very tiny but up at the top of a lot of gold big icons that were bigger then him.

 On the walls there were stories of the Buddha's life and out side ordination hall, but still in the Wat there was an amazing mural of the Ramayana which our Arts of South East Asia class took a look at while everyone else went with a tour guide around the wat. Next, some people went to Siriraj Hostpital, to see the forensic museum there. I however, opted to go to Wat Pho, as Philly as the Mutter museum (a fantastic museum that is attached to a medical school. The museum only focuses on medical oddities.) Wat Pho is were the famous reclining Buddha is. It was funny to see the difference between the attention the tiny little Emerald Buddha gets opposed to the attention this huge Buddha gets.  

On our last day, before we got on the train Ginny, Nick, Reid and I went to Chatuchak together. However, we all go unbearably hot and went to the Siam Paragon. It was a big mall, with upscale stores and we spent out time in the book store. Then it was time to get back on the train and head home to Chiang Mai. 

Dinner

So they day before we leave for Bangkok I get a text message from Pii Spam (my mom's best friend's son) Which read: Hey Evie. I'm Now at CNX  if this evening you free just gimme a call.

I call him and he tells me he flew out, just for the day, to see if he could see me. Very important for he mother that he sees me. Mind you I haven't seen Pii Spam since I was nine. So he and hi friends come to pick me up and take me out to dinner at some place by the zoo. They all work for Thai Airways, and are known as some what of a distinctive crew. Honestly, I have no idea what they really meant by this. They used the phrase "man" in most of there sentences. At one point I was eating with a fork and one of pii Spam's friend looks at me and says "Hey man, spoon. Eat with the spoon, its all about the spoon."

They also kept referring to my brother. At first I thought they were talking about 8 years ago,when my Brother came to Thailand on his own when he was 18 and Spam and him hung out. Then I realized, they were talking about Pii Spam as my brother. This took me a sadly long time to figure out when one friend made a dirty joke and then pii Spam laughed really hard mocked covered my ears and said "This is my little sister man, don't do that."

Thats really all I have to say about that night. Hilarious, ridiculous, fun people though. Good people.

The zoo and a cancelled parade

Last night Jess, Seashia, Ginny, Maia and I were going to the gay pride parade in Chiang Mai. Itwas supposed to really big and really fun, and it's been a while since I've seen the gay pride parade in NY but I wanted to compare to two, if nothing else. As soon as we are about to leave in the Song Tao Seashia gets a call that says the parade is cancelled, there was a protest, and there were a lot of Red Shirts. We decided to go anyway, to see the protest but yet again, Seashia got a call, and we were told it was too  dangerous to go. So instead we went to the saturday night market. But as we were driving there we passed a Wat where those who were supposed to be in the parade were being held against their will. As we drove by it didn't necessarily seem to dangerous for us to be there, but we took everyone else's word for it and kept going. Inside the dates of the Wat you could see Red Shirts with machine guns.

And on a much lighter note: Today I went to the zoo. The animals were spread out, and the place was certainly not meant for walking. We had to take a shuttle from place to place and for the zoo having so much property, they kept the animals in relatively small habitats. For anyone who knows me, it is needless to say that the penguins were my favorite exhibit. There was one who kept floating around in the water and trying to scratch and itch he had on his butt, and not looking where he was going he repeatedly swam into the glass. Penguin squish. 

There were otters we could almost pick up, an elephant all by himself who we could feed, another roaming around the zoo watering flowers with his trunk, a white tiger, lions,  primates, giraffes that anyone could pet, alligators, reptiles, rhinos, a nocturnal section and an aquarium. We spent about 5 hours there, and at least an hour of that was us lost trying to orient ourselves. All and all a very productive day. 

ICU : American culture and customs class and English camp

On the 12th Ashley, Misa and I went to be guests in the Cultures and Customs in English speaking Countries class. We introduced ourselves and eventually spit the class unit three groups so that they could ask us questions about American student culture. Because it was around valentines day, we mostly got asked about what we did in that regards. turns out its all very similar. What I found more interesting was the Thai students view on plagiarism. Apparently to plagiarize is common and one guy named Buff said "Of course I do that. I have many papers it is a part of writing them" We spent the second half of class making valentines by writing out names on a piece of paper that would get passed around, and every student would have to write a love phrase on it. Some phrases were written on the board that were taken from candy hearts and some students just wrote phrases that came to their head so I had a valentine at the end of class that had things written on it such as "text me" to "May you have a good love. God loves you." I'm still adjusting to the fact that this is a christian college and frankly I dont think it's something I sill adjust to. Religion has never been a consistent presence in my life. My mother was raised  Buddhist, my father is an atheist , I went to a Quaker elementary school and my grandmother took me to a Unitarian church for a few years just so I could see what a church was like. Actually at the sunday school there they took us to places of other religions just incase one of those really seemed relevant to us, and we wanted to convert, although most of us said we didn't consider ourselves a part of any religion. Really I was told by all of those religions it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are good to the people around you. But I digress...

English camp was fun.  It took place on the 19th at a wat/school. Ashley, Ginny, Kelly, Misa, Ray and I were all assigned a base to teach and play an English game. I was at a base where I would show the kids a piece of cardboard that had a color written on it like pink, but it was written in green. The children split into two teams and had to say the color that the word was written in rather then the one that it said. Whoever got it first got the point.  I explained the game in English and the students of Dr. Pearl translated what I had said. Then we played another game where I would show them a card with a verb written in Englsih and Thai to one student, he or she  would have to act it out, and the other children would have to say what the verb was in English. Some of them were quite simple like "jump" but some were hard to act out like "send". The kids ranged in ages but they were all primary school students. The Thai students of Dr Pearl's class  did all of the planning and most of the work, I felt like there was something more we could have done, but they took care of everything.  I look forward to speaking to some of them again at the language lunch exchange when I get back from Bangkok.

Doi Suthep

On Sunday Reid, Kelly, Ginny, Kanako, Rachel and I went to Doi Sethep, which is a mountain with a little village somewhere on it. As I've been told by the ethnic minority class that had a field trip there, the village is named after the mountain. We walked around and I saw a little bit of the houses but I mostly followed the others who have been there as they walked through the market. There was a lot of jewelry, clothing and food, but at the end of the winding streets (which I normally had to double back through as they lead to dead ends) there was a beautiful beautiful garden. At the last fork in the road you could either go left, and pay to see the poppy museum, or right which lead to the garden. Seeing as a I would spend a lot of money that day, I went to the free garden. 

There were tons of flowers that I had never seen before, and a tall but lightly flowing waterfall that had bamboo pipes that spat the water out in a more concentrated burst so that those who walked by could cool themselves down. Ray ran into one of her ajans from last semester who she really liked. He was playing in the waterfall with his kids when we found him. We worked our way back through the market eventually where Pii Ju was waiting in his song tao to take us to our next stop; Bhubing Palace.

Bhubing Palace is the king's summer palace (one of his summer palaces?) that tourists and I suppose Thais can go to when the king is not there, of course. (I asked Ploy about the name when I got home and she gave me a much longer one) We had to cover ourselves up: no short skirts no shoulders exposed. I was wearing a dress that went down to my knees, nothing short, and Kanako who was wearing shorts down to her knees, but she was told that she had to rent a long skirt before entering, I however was not. Apparently its more modest for a female to wear a skirt than shorts. 

None of us realized that the palace itself would be an all day event. There was a water reservoir were we spent most of our time, and most of our time getting to,  some giant bamboo, a fern garden and a lot of flowers everywhere. The weird thing was, at the kings palace I saw a lot more flowers that I recognized opposed to the garden at the market where I recognized none. Regardless, it was all still quite something to look at. 

Although the palace is closed to visitors at four fifteen, so we had to cut our visit short in order to get down to the exit in time. Our next stop was Wat Pharthat Doi Suthep. I have no idea why this Wat is/was important but it was huge, intricate, and had more icons of Buddhas and monks than I cared to count. I should really ask someone about that...

There was another market at the foot of the Wat. A lot of good food and a lot of shiny things for tourists to stare at. We eventually started to walk up a set of very long, very steep stairs to the actual Wat. There was a sign that says "foreigners this way" with an arrow pointing toward a ticket booth. We got to the booth and told them, in Thai, we were Payap students and they let us in for free. This is one thing that keeps coming up. I am in Thailand, I am a student here, I am a farang, yes, but I am still a student here. As much as I know that I have to haggle down the prices at street markets, I always walk away wondering what they would charge a Thai for whatever I was trying to buy. There is a part of me that enjoys just going to the Carrefour because I know that we are all paying the same fixed price. But this is all a side note. So the Wat:

On our way up Ginny and I got asked by a university student to take her survey about tourism. It asked basic questions like age and gender and what we were doing there and how satisfied were we with everything. In the purpose of visit section of the survey the options were tourist, pilgrimage, religious, art and other. Around the Wat there were people making merit and donations while others only took photos. There were monks roaming around and a few novice monks laughing loudly and knocking on the bells.

There was a gorgeous view of Chiang Mai that was covered by the thick air which made it hard to see. There were flowered trees and a lot of statues of something my mother has told me the name of many times, but I forget what they are called, again. They are the protectors of the wat though, and they look rather fierce. 

We returned to PIH exhausted and full well after dark.

ICU Assignment Two: Observational Exercise

Friday night (The 6th) Some of us went to se a Muay Thai event. I laughed to myself on the song tao ride over because before I left SLC my friends and I thought we would watch the movie "Ong-Bak Thai Warrior" with Tony Ja, which was a hilariously entertaining movie. Muay Thai for the western audience. 

We didn't stay for the whole thing but we watched 9-12 different fights as a group, and a few of us wondered around alone to get the feel of the place. There was even a guy from Iceland who went up against a Thai boxer. He did not fair too well.

From the point of view of a tourist, the two most interesting fights where the youngest boxer who looked six years old and couldn't have been more then eight and another fight that was labeled in the program as "The Big One." 

As I looked away from the fight, I saw a very clear distinction between what farang were doing and what the Thais were doing. Most of the foreigners sat and looked intently at t

he fighters, laughed loudly, made sound effects, and only looked away from the fighting in between rounds. All of them were sitting in the chairs provided. The Thais were more spread out. some wondered around for the best view, and while their focus was on the fighters, of course, they would tap each other in the arm and make what I assumed were jokes (about the fighting and the farang) But most of the Thais were centralized on the left side of the ring (in relation to the entrance) where all of official betting was taking place. There was not a single non-Thai in the bunch. This has been the first time I have seen Thai people get as animated about anything as I would expect an American. Those who were not betting though, seemed as reserved as the sitting  farang. Who would have thought farang  to be the reserved ones?

It was hard to tell who actually worked at the place, with the exception of the door guard and the two men who were wondering from the food stand to sell beer and chips. 

Even the idea of respect plays out in Muay Thai, and not just for the opponents. Before each fight the fighters would ritually warm up as they wore what I can only describe as an oversized ping pong paddle that was hollowed out to make space for their head. There was rope decoratively wrapped around the frame. I asked someone what it was for and he replied "to show respect to their teachers and the training camp they come from. Respect and the head." 

I saw no religious symbols in the are, but about half the Thais that I saw had a Buddha or pendent with a monk on it around their neck.

A interaction between two people I saw was between two of the three people I could identify as workers. One worker carried a bucket with ice and beers in it while the other carried chips in a small plastic basket. The area in which I was sitting had a lot of foreigners. The two did not yell over the crowd though to communicate. The language they used was much more  with their eyes. While they seemingly (and I assume some of the time really did) just wonder through the crowd seeing if anybody stopped them for drinks I also saw one look at one person then look at his co-worker. His co-worker would either nod, shrug or shake his head. If they nodded their heads or shrugged they would go in the general area of that person and spend an extra two minutes asking people around the person they looked at if they would like any snacks or drinks.  While it may seem like a silly example, it reminded me of the importance of body language and facial expressions and how Thailand is the place of many smiles, with many meanings. 

There was a shop outside the actual building where the fighting was taking place but it had boxing magazines in it along with overpriced boxing shorts, jerseys and other things that I can only assume a Thai would not buy. I briefly looked at the cover of the magazines and they all had fighters standing alone in a fierce pose, looking directly at the camera. While I did not get a photo of any of them, some of the magazines had English headlines with Thai written underneath it. 

Flower Festival and a Movie

So the flower festival in Chiang Mai was today. The amount of effort and labor that must have gone into the float alone is mind boggling. When I was told that the flower festival would take place when we were in town the first thing that came to my mind was a doctor in Bangkok.

When I was nine my mother sister and I came out for my mom's friend's funeral, as well as to see her friends and family. My mothers friend's decided to take us around to more touristy parts of Thailand as it was only our second trip in Thailand and I was 3 for the first one so needless to say the memories are fuzzy. Anyway, long story short we were in a water park in Pattaya and since safety rules run a little different here I broke my sister's nose (Its okay though, she had broken mine earlier in the year. I see it as Karma). Luckily my mother and all of her friends are nurses, and it was pretty easy to get Lydia into a room in the Bangkok hospital. 

Since she would be in there for a few days and, as my nine year old self perceived it, got some special treatment, there was a teacher who came in to teach Lydia and I how to make Malai. Her name was Apple, and we spent a few days with really long pointy needles folding rose petals, and although she only formally taught my older sister how to make the body of the  malai I was proud of myself for figuring out how to loop them around and attach it to the pieces that would dangle down (which is what I was taught to make). Before Lydia was discharged from the hospital the doctor told us that every time we smell Jasmine, we should think of him. I still do. My sister and I would go home to the states remembering this skill, one in which I took pride in. The flowers we learned to fold could not even compare to what I saw today. 

We left Paradornparp at 9:30 and didn't leave until 3. There were stands full of  Thai food (authentic and touristy), clothing, crafts ect. It was a good excuse to work on some of the phrases we've been going over in class which relate to bargaining prices down. Normally when I try to speak Thai everyone just replies in English but I'd like to say that only half of the vendors did that today. Improvement Woo! But I still get nervous and forget half the phrases anyway. I ate a lot today. A lot. 

Once everyone was ready to leave half of us went back to the dorms and the other half went to see a movie in the mall. Champ was able to drive us there in his car but it was a tight squeeze. We saw a Thai comedy called Red Cliff 2. It certainly was not an American comedy. There was a lot of slapstick, silly sound effect and some jokes I'm pretty sure I didnt get simply because the subtitles didn't translate to well. But it was interesting to see when the entire theatre burst into laughter and the farang just looked a little confused.

Tomorrow, my roommate, Ploy,  has her mother coming to visit. She wants to meet me and Ploy told me that I should bring Ginny along. (I can only assume that Ploy told her Ginny was my friend from home.) I have no idea what we are doing but I know we are going out, and I think Ploy mentioned something about elephants. One thing to know about me is that pretty much all animals (with the exceptions of spiders and centipedes) make me swoon. I love them all. When I decided I was coming to Thailand one of my first thoughts was, "man, I'm going to  get to play with elephants. I will make it happen." 

It seems a little weird to me that  Ploy's mom would take us out to see elephants, but if htat actually what's happening I'm pretty excited. Elephants. Yes.

Mae Chaem home stay

I just came back from the village in Mae Chaem and am now showered and clean. Yesterday was Ginny's birthday so were going out to eat tonight. 

It was good to have our "Thai buddies" there for the first half of the trip to help us get acquainted with our host families but when they left I had no idea if I just didn't know the vocab when my host parents would speak to me, or it was a mix of that AND they were speaking northern Thai. My host father seemed to get a kick out of saying a sentence to Ginny and I and than laughing hysterically when we gave him unsure smiles. Our host mother too, only she would sometimes use hand gestures. 

They raised roosters who were obnoxiously loud at four am, but officially they are retired. They also have two sons who moved off but they seemed very proud of, and our parents were among the oldest in the family. Our mother and two others were some of the only woman who wore a pha sin (tube wrap skirt). Their house reminded me of my Yai's in Lopburi except theirs had an extra story, but other than than it was pretty close with bucket for bathing and squatting to pee. 

The village just finished a crematorium. We were told that Thai people rarely get buried, and immediately I thought of the trip my mom sister and I made when we I was nine. We came to Thailand because my mom's friend had just passed away, but hte only memory I have from the funeral was her coffin. Her body was in this gorgeous, elaborate coffin that was white with gold accents of some sort of Thai design, and I remember thinking how beautiful it was and watching it get pushed into the flames and there were doors of some sort that closed and no one could actually see the coffin being burnt. Anyway, we tried to help finish work on the crematorium, but I feel like we mostly just got in their way. There was a ceremony the day after we tried to help: monks chanting, a talk none of us learning Thai could understand. We later we taken to see work that the Thai studies group before us had done. (Bringing  running water to a village that was near by the one we were staying in) 

We took a tour of Mae Chaem via song tao and saw some of the local art. This included food, cotton woven goods and a man who made traditional Thai hair pins by hand. Apparently he is one of the few who still knows how to and does make them.

Although Mae Chaem is much more rural, we still found ways to do touristy things such as get Thai massages, and go to a center were we got to learn how to cook Thai desserts. But I'm still exhausted, and I have to get ready for Ginny's birthday celebration, so that is all for now.