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!