2 weeks in Thailand

It’s been a while and a lot has been happening, so this might get long (but there’s pictures!)…

Last Saturday I moved in with my host family, my home for the next 8 weeks.  My host family is great – it’s my host mom, two aunts, grandma, older sister, and father, who I’ve seen maybe twice since I’ve been here.  The house is right along a river and the scenery is fantastic.  My host sister is the only one who speaks English – and she also lives in Bangkok and only visits the house on weekends.  She understands most of what I say and it’s nice to have her around to help with some new translation on the weekends. My host mom cooks breakfast and dinner for me everyday and I feel a little spoiled (the food is delicious). I communicated to my host mom how much I enjoy spicy food and she usually includes something spicy at most meals. I try something new at least once a day and I’m discovering new favorites all the time.  I’ve also eaten more rice in the last 2 weeks than I have in probably the last 2 years (it’s included with breakfast and dinner everyday, and sometimes lunch as well).  I could devote an entire blog post to food/meal time happenings (maybe next time).

My home for the next several weeks!

Part of the backyard

 

Mangkut...'the queen of fruits' and my new favorite.

Thai kids teaching us card games...

Rice fields on one of our bike rides

The river right behind my house.

Training is exhausting but informative.  Our days are generally split into two parts: language learning and technical (job-related) training.  Our training hub is right next to a market, which is absolutely fantastic – we’re able to get all sorts of amazing treats for lunches and snacks during the day. The language part can definitely get a little frustrating, but it seems like they way they’re teaching us is the best way for us to get out there and start speaking.  Our teachers are also amazing, which helps a lot. We’re not allowed to use English during our language sessions, which is frustrating but effective. It’s a lot of call and response and repetition, and our teachers aren’t supposed to directly translate for us, so basically I make up my own meanings and dialogue based on pictures, questions and context clues (super frustrating for me, but I’m learning to deal with it).  I’ve had a few successful interactions with my host mom using my very limited Thai vocabulary (at least I consider them successful; I could very well be making things up to make myself feel better).  My host family likes to talk at me in Thai and laugh at me a lot.  Thai people smile and laugh a lot, and I’m learning to laugh at myself along with them.  I still get frustrated not knowing what they’re saying or how to respond, but we’ve been told so many times not to take anything here too seriously, and to just smile and laugh.  I’ve thought a lot about how many times in America I’ve heard people say the same thing over and over to someone who doesn’t speak English, expecting that saying the same thing 5 times the same way (increasingly louder and slower) will eventually lead to comprehension – that happens to me on a daily basis, and all I can do is laugh.

The weather is hot and getting hotter.  I heard a lot about how cool it was the first week we were here (it was averaging probably mid 70’s to 80).  The ‘hot season’ starts around March, and given that it was in the low to mid 90’s this week I can’t imagine what the hot season will be like.  We bike everywhere and have to change clothes at least twice a day (skirts and collared shirts are required for training and not appropriate for biking), so by the time I get home a cold shower is one of the best parts of my day.  

Thai people are so nice and welcoming and seem happy for us to be here.  We get a lot of stares, waves, greetings, smiles and laughs.  The kids are curious and friendly as well. We were able to talk to some kids doing homework and I was able to have a few very basic conversations…I loved it and can’t wait to start doing a lot more with kids.

I’m starting to develop a new routine as I settle in a little bit more here.  I’m up at 6am everyday (very strange and new for me) – I have coffee, sweep the kitchen and eat breakfast by myself (my host mom is always around the kitchen cooking things).  I bike to our trainings with several other people that live near me and we have training/classes from 8am – 5pm with a few breaks in between.  Evenings usually consist of dinner with my host mom, limited Thai conversations using what I’ve learned so far, and any homework I have (she’s always eager to help me with it and asks every day if I have any), then some time to decompress/journal/watch Friends before I go to sleep. 

The weather this weekend was almost perfect (seems a lot less hot when I’m not biking everywhere).  We went to a big festival on Saturday (see pictures below) called Don Chedi, and saw a show that was like a reenactment of the final battle between Thailand and Burma like 400 years ago (pretty interesting story - you should google it).  I didn’t understand what they were saying, but my host sister helped point out some of the highlights for me.  The festival was fun (and super crowded) and it was a nice break from everything else. 

I don’t have internet at my house, which was quite frustrating the first few days, especially after finding out how many volunteers have wifi available at their homes.  As much as I’ve felt the withdrawals of being so disconnected, I’ve realized that I’ll survive without it for a few days at a time (although I’m definitely planning to get internet for myself once I move to my permanent site in a couple months, if possible).  It’s hard to believe I’ve been living here for 2 weeks…it’s also hard to believe I’ll be living here for another 2 years.  There’s so much more to talk about but not enough time - or internet access - to do so, but I’ll update again soon!

 

 

Bicycles.

Yesterday was bike day!  We've spent the last two days becoming intimately acquainted with our new rides.  This morning we rode about 25 miles around some of our host family sites, and it was absolutely awesome.  The weather has been perfect and it was so great to get out and explore things a little more.  I also got some pretty ridiculous tan lines today from our bike tour (can't really complain I guess, considering that meant spending the day in the sunshine).  Training has been pretty exhausting so far - long days filled with copious amounts of information and an introduction to learning to speak Thai ( the other day we got to go introduce ourselves to the Vice Governor of the province we're staying in right now, and we had to do it in Thai - slightly anxiety provoking, but awesome).  Tomorrow is the day we meet our host families and move in with them.  It's been a little surreal so far, living in a hotel with 49 fellow volunteers, and it's still not really sinking in that I live here.  I'm excited to meet my host family and be off on my own for the first time, but it's also a little scary.  They probably won't speak any English, and so far the only things I really know how to say in Thai are hello, my name, where I'm from, thank you, numbers, and a few other random words/phrases that likely won't be much help, so this will be an interesting experience in cultural immersion.  Sunday is our first real day off from training where we don't have anything scheduled besides spending the day with our host family, so I'm excited to see what the weekend will bring. 

I had my first experience with a squat toilet yesterday.  When someone first explained to me what it was I was concerned that it was literally just a hole in the ground - which it is sort of, but it's more like a toilet seat that has been lowered so it's about 6 inches off the ground (and there's no running water and you can't sit on it....hence the name).  There's an art to using one, which they taught us the other day in training (along with how to take a bucket bath - I'll save any details of that for my first bucket bath/shower experience). 

There's a chance I might not have internet access again for several weeks, so I'm soaking up the last night of internet, air conditioning, electricity, running water and all the other basic amenities I might be going without very soon (there's also a chance my host family will have all these things, but I'm setting my expectations low so as not to be disappointed - and who knows, it might be a great experience to do without all that for a while).  Judging by our training schedule and the potential for no internet access in the next few weeks, it might be hard to provide many updates, but so far it's amazing (albeit slightly overwhelming sometimes) and I can't wait to go native.

Here's a few photos to get started...our volunteer group prior to going to meet the vice governor and a few from the bike tour today...I promise I'll add more later!

Thailand.

We made it to Thailand! Hard to believe we've only been here a little over 12 hours with as much as we've done already.  Our flight from San Francisco was delayed a couple hours due to mechanical problems so our flights spanned over three days - left on the 11th and arrived on the 13th. I haven't slept much in the last few nights and am looking forward to my first full night of sleep in a bed tonight.  This first week we're staying in a pretty nice hotel, which includes wifi and air conditioning, and I think we're getting spoiled a little bit compared to what's to come, but it's nice while we're adapting to everything. The weather is warm and amazing....although considering it's the 'cool season' I can't imagine how hot it's going to get in a few months. The food we've had so far is pretty fantastic as well.

Our first day of PST (pre-service training) was a lot to take in.  Introductions, pictures, language intro, medical stuff, shots....the staff we have here is amazing and really excited about our arrival.  We got a few language basics today, and the language teachers are awesome - hilarious, engaging, and supportive. This is a whole new way of language learning that seems like it'll be pretty effective.   The Peace Corps staff (here and in San Francisco) has mentioned to our group multiple times that we 'won the lottery' in terms of country assignments.  So far the people seem great and I can't wait until we're able to see more of the country. 

We get introduced to our host families at the end of this week and move out of the hotel and in with them on Saturday - a little scary considering they might not speak any English.  We also get our bicycles in a couple days and have two whole days of 'bike training'....curious to see why we need two days for that, but excited to get a bicycle again. 

Hopefully I'll get a few pictures on here eventually....still trying to figure out this whole blog business.

9 months.

The wait is finally over...5 years of dreaming, 9 months of the application process, 3 months of knowing where I'm going and waiting to leave, and 36 hours of staging. Today I met the 50 other trainees going through this whole crazy experience with me, and it makes me more excited about leaving.  Such a diverse group of people, yet so similar in ambition, ideals, and dreams.  It's still somewhat terrifying that I have a one way ticket half way around the world, but knowing that I'll be surrounded by 50 other people going through the exact same thing for the next 10 weeks is comforting.  I still can't believe I'm doing this, and I probably won't believe it until I'm actually in Thailand - and even then I still probably won't. Words can't express the crazy emotional roller coaster this has been so far, but I'm happy to be surrounded by 50 other volunteers who feel the same way and who will experience all of this with me. 

America, it's been real.  See you in a few years.