New kids: PST revisited

I'm halfway done with my Peace Corps service.  The group ahead of me is getting ready to finish, travel the world a little bit and return back to America.  The group behind me is well into their pre-service training, on their way to becoming volunteers in a few weeks.  I'm somewhere in the middle and struggling with what I hope is the end of what Peace Corps refers to as a 'midservice crisis': the time when you reevaluate, come to terms with what you've done so far (or more likely haven't done) and the fact that you've got another year of service ahead.  During our two day staging event in America before leaving for Thailand, someone offered a bit of advice to the tune of, 'when you're up, blog about it; when you're down, journal about it.'  My journal has seen a lot of love in the last month (thanks to my brother for giving me such an awesome one), but to be honest, Peace Corps is hard and everybody has their fair share of bad days.  It's an experience full of ups and downs, a constant roller coaster that has an as-yet-to-be-determined course and destination.

A couple weeks ago I got to travel back to the place it all began in central Thailand to help the new group of volunteers with their training for a week.  A year later I’ve got perspective, experience and more than enough stories to share as I quickly realized I’ve become part of the group of ‘older kids’, the seasoned veterans of Peace Corps Thailand that the new group has already started to look to for advice, support, and answers for all the weird questions that are unique to the life of a PCV.  Spending a week with the new group of volunteers gave me a lot of perspective and a good opportunity to see how far I’ve really come since I was sitting in their shoes at this time last year.  It also gave me a bit of renewed inspiration as I was able to see their excitement, curiosity and anticipation of everything to come in their experiences. I remember what it was like to be where they are and I appreciate my current perspective based on all of my experiences.

Flashbacks from my own PST last year - nice to be on the other side of things!

Observing Life Skills activities facilitated by the trainees 

I couldn't help but reflect back on my own arrival in Thailand just over a year ago as I began this crazy journey.  I remember the exhaustion from well over a full day spent in airports and airplanes and the few hours of sleep we were afforded before jumping right in to training.  When I started PST, 27 months seemed like a daunting commitment - even the 10 weeks of training seemed overwhelming (and subsequently proved to be) and I looked at the training schedule thinking that the end of it seemed so far away.  I remember all of the new things and 'firsts' and sometimes feeling like my head was going to explode for so many reasons and doing this all with a group of 50 strangers that were supposed to be my new friends.  Now I'm halfway through my 27 months and have formed friendships with people that will last beyond our time together in Thailand.  There's a new group of people sitting where I was a year ago and it makes me appreciate everything I've experienced in the last year (and realize that I wouldn't trade places with them for anything).

Prior to the week with the new volunteers, I stopped to visit my Thai host family from PST last year.  I got to spend some time with the people who hosted me for my first few months in Thailand and taught me a lot about culture and family life.  My host mom made my favorite Thai dishes and I enjoyed much richer conversations with my increased language skills. It was great to go back.

My original Thai host mom and sister

Live Like a PCV Challenge

Inspired by a 'Live Like a Peace Corps Volunteer' challenge created by PCV's in Mongolia, I've adapted it to my Peace Corps experience to come up with 'Live like a PCV Challenge: Thailand Edition' as a way of sharing a some of my daily experiences here.  If you're interested in completing the challenge, please do - and tell me about your experience!

Live like a PCV Challenge: Thailand Edition

*Peace Corps currently has volunteers serving in countries all over the world.  While every country is different, every Peace Corps Volunteer makes sacrifices and adjustments from the country and culture they come from in order to successfully integrate into their host country and culture.  All volunteers in Thailand have unique experiences with varying levels of difficulties and sacrifices.  This challenge is based on some common experiences of Peace Corps Volunteers serving in Thailand, specifically the experience of a PCV living in the northeast region of Thailand. Choose a week that you want to dedicate to the challenge and pick the level you think you can complete. Keep a journal, write a blog, or find a challenge buddy and share your experiences throughout the week.  It’s up to you to keep yourself honest (think about it: PCV’s live with a lot of these situations for the majority of their 27 months of service – this is just 7 days)! 

Level 1 – Mosquito (choose two)

• No microwave
• No washing machine (hand wash clothes only)
• No credit/debit cards – all purchases must be made with cash
• No hot showers

Level 2 – Monkey (choose two, plus one from level 1)

• No use of the oven.  You can use a single stove-top burner only
• No television
• No internet at home (internet at work or school only)
• Buy all food and produce locally
• No fast food

Level 3 – Dog (choose two, plus one from level 2 or two from level 1)

• No navigation systems – if you need directions somewhere you need to ask someone how to get there
• No temperature adjustments at home or in the car (air conditioning, heat)
• Start and finish a book
• Eat all dinners at home with family
• Dress code for work/school: females – no shorts/skirts above the knee, no revealed shoulders.  males – collared shirt and long pants

Level 4 – Tiger (choose two plus: one from level 3, or two from level 2, or three from level 1)

• No running water for showers
• Greet everyone you encounter with personal questions (without any small talk introductions) such as: Where are you going? Where have you been? What are you doing today? Have you eaten yet? What are you having for dinner? Where are you going this weekend? What did you eat for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner)?
• No driving.  You can use a bicycle, public transportation, or rely on rides from friends or family members
• Internet access for only one day
• Listen to the national anthem every day at 8am and 6pm, while standing respectfully (times may be adjusted slightly for work/school schedules)

Level 5 – Elephant (choose two plus one from each previous level)

• No English, except at work/school
• Eat rice with at least 2 meals per day
• No electricity two nights this week.  You can use only the battery life of electronic devices (this includes no internet)
• No refrigerator use
• No running water for three evenings (can be consecutive or not)

Keep a journal during the week and make notes of your experiences at the end of each day.  Write down any questions that come up during the week about your personal sacrifices or cultural differences.  Be honest! If you find one day particularly challenging or are unable to complete the full challenge, do what you can and tell me about it! See what happens and take a look at the questions below. 

At the end of the week, take a few minutes to reflect on your experience and consider the following questions:

1. Were you able to complete the challenge at the level you chose?  If so, do you think you could complete a higher level? (Try it!) If not, what stood in the way of completion?
2. What was the most difficult thing about this challenge?
3. Did your personal challenge affect other people in your life?  If so, how?  How did they respond? 
4. What did you learn during this week?
5. What questions came up during this challenge or after completion? 

I'd love to hear about any and all experiences you might have with the challenge, whether it's succeeding at level 5 for a week, doing level 1 for a month, or trying level 3 for 2 days and hating it.  Feel free to e-mail your experiences, comments, or questions to mamie.tisue@gmail.com.  Chok dii (good luck)!

Want to learn more or share your experiences with more people? Check out/join this Facebook group and share your thoughts!

These kids survive without internet...can you? 

BTF, Phu Kradung and the one year mark

January has somehow flown by as I’ve now passed the one year mark of arriving in Thailand.  This month has included one of the most memorable activities I’ve participated in so far during my Peace Corps service – a BTF camp.  BTF (Brighter Thailand Foundation) is a non-profit organization based out of the University of Missouri that supports leadership camps for youth in Thailand.  The six day camp includes local University students, global ambassadors (such as PC volunteers and in the case of this camp, a few University students from Korea), and local high school and primary school students.  They’ve done several camps throughout Thailand, and this one was held in Nong Khai, the northernmost province in northeast Thailand.  The first few days serve as a ‘train the trainer’ model of working with 15 high school students on various games and activities, preparing them to facilitate camp activities for the primary school students who arrive on the 4^th day of the camp.  Each day includes activities, songs, and games that run all day and through the evening.  Evenings provided opportunities for many games of mafia and a few open question/answer sessions for the campers to get to know the University students and global ambassadors.  The students were great, each day was full of smiles and laughs and by the end of the week none of the kids wanted to leave (I didn’t really, either).  It was a great experience for all and I was really happy to be a part of it.

Group work: 5 most important things in life

Human knot 

Act it out: each person acts out a word for the next person with no words; the person at the end has to try to guess the original word - usually wound up in laughs 

Primary school campers arrive!

Blindfold obstacle course: practicing directions in English

Campfire night

Teamwork

Who can make the longest line?

Team Free Style 

Capture the flag

Jumping pictures: always a must 

Global Ambassadors and High School students 

Me with a few of the campers

Korean University students 

Last day goodbyes

Last weekend I took a couple buses a couple hours away to climb a mountain and go camping.  Four of us (a fellow PCV friend, his sister and her fiancée) hiked up the winding paths and after about 4 hours, reached the top where we walked almost another hour to the campsite.  After setting up my newly purchased mini-tent for myself we all set out for another 9k hike to see some cliffs and the sunset.  A long walk and a few short runs later, we made it to the sunset cliff just after sunset, but just in time to see the beautiful view against the evening glow.  After a brief rest, many pictures and a few snacks, we headed out for another 9k hike back to the campsite.  Being at the top of a mountain during cold season proved to be pretty cold, though I’m trying to appreciate the chill as I know the sweaty days of hot season are creeping closer.  The next day we packed up and headed back down the mountain and back to site. 

Phu Kradung Conqueror: at the top

Made it to the sunset cliff just after sunset

Sunset cliff 

View from the top

Sunrise 

Tisues in Thailand

It's hard to keep track of seasons and time of year when you live in a climate where the seasons are jokingly referred to as hot, hotter, and hottest.  When December and 'holiday season' rolled around, it was hard to think about Christmas time, baking cookies, shopping, trees, lights, and everything else that goes with the holiday season when I could still walk around in a t-shirt during the day and had no visual signs of Christmas anywhere.  Being primarily a Buddhist country, Thailand doesn't celebrate Christmas as a major holiday.  The only reminders of the holiday season were in Bangkok, where Christmas displays showed up in all the shopping areas and holiday music played strangely in the background (I found it strangely annoying for some reason - maybe because I wasn't home? because it just didn't belong? because most of those songs are just inherently annoying?).  I didn't mind being so separated from all the holiday stuff, surprisingly, and I was also looking forward to a visit from my family during Christmas time. 

After being in Thailand for almost a year, I forgot just how much I've learned, adjusted, and adapted to everything here.  My family arrived and I kept finding so many things to tell them about regarding culture, language, and every day nuances of my life here.  We spent their first day in Bangkok - visited a couple temples, ate some street food and my family tried to deal with the exhaustion that comes after flying for a full day and now being 13 hours ahead of the time zone they're used to.

All of us at Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok 

Like the locals: dabbling in the smelling oils for a mid-morning boost - a must-have for many Thais (I think I got these two hooked, as my sister subsequently bought several more for 'gifts' to take back home)

After a full night of rest we headed to my site.  I'd already told my family about the hospitality and generosity of Thai people and all the things they'd do for us/with us during their visit, although I think they had no idea what to really expect. Their first impression of my site was a visit to the local area sports competition between government organizations (such as my office, the local health stations, and other government offices in my area).  It was an hour full of food, soccer, drinking, dancers, and the overall over-stimulation that comes with so many things in Thailand - in general, a great first experience and introduction to my life and community.

Lunch at the sports competition while the game goes on, largely unnoticed beside us

One of my favorite people in my community, my first host mom, had invited my family for breakfast on Christmas morning.  She came and picked us all up, took us back to her house and offered us a meal full of all my favorite things and then some.  When I asked if she was going to join us to eat, her response was that she was too happy and excited to sit and eat.  After breakfast we walked with her through the orchards in her backyard as she talked about how much she enjoys working (she's a retired government officer but sells fruit at the markets every evening) and gathered some rose apples and pomelo to send home with us.

Post-breakfast blessings 

Discussing fruits and labor with a walk through the orchards

The rest of the time at my site was full of meeting people, visiting schools, dabbling in some of the local sports and eating non-stop.  My supervisor and his family prepared an amazing Thai meal for us on Christmas Eve, determined to make our holidays away from home warm and enjoyable.  We enjoyed some local beer and a fantastic home-cooked Thai meal outside under the stars at his nephew's outdoor cafe.

Thai Christmas Eve Dinner

Christmas dinner was a mix of America and Thailand.  My current host family had been convinced that we should eat pizza and french fries and had invited us out to the local pizza place 30km away.  I explained my family's desire for Thai food and suggested neua yang (literally - grilled meat), a meal often reserved for special occasions and 2 hour lunches.  Determined to give us a taste of home, we had an appetizer of french fries before dinner.  My family had brought me a suitcase full of treats and things from America, one of which was ranch dressing mix.  Reminded of my love of ranch dressing with french fries (with most things, really), I mixed some up for everyone to try, and consequently got my host family hooked on it at first taste.  Of all the things I've made for them/introduced them to, this one received the best review by far.

Christmas Dinner: grilled meat and french fries 

Our visits to the schools were short but fun and included games, sports and some surprise songs by the kids that had been prepared for us in advance (one of my favorites: an original, mostly improvised despite being practiced several times, 'merry christmas' song by a class of 1st graders).

The message that came with the Christmas song

Petanque (like bocce ball) with the kids

It was great to finally show my family the community and people I've gotten to know during the past year.  I was able to appreciate how far I've come, despite my own critical views of my lack of perceived progress at site.  I realized just how much my Thai language skills have progressed as I translated everything from Thai to English and then back again, which was great but exhausting.  The experiences shared between my family and the people throughout my community were pretty amazing, and seeing them interact with each other was something for which I had a special appreciation. It's easy to doubt my success and question my impact on a daily basis when nothing really seems like it's happening; but with my family's visit I was able to see the connections made and slow but definitive progress made in more areas than just my designated project assignment.

After my site we headed south, at which time I greatly appreciated the pampering of a short airplane flight (all the free things!) as opposed to many long hours on a bus next to a stranger that will inevitably spend the better part of the ride asleep on me.  Phuket is Thailand's biggest island, and I'm not really sure it can be considered an 'island'.  We drove over an hour from the airport to our hotel, through a maze of busy Thai communities alongside many, many minivans and buses full of farangs.  We spent a day on the beach - the water was beautiful and the perfect temperature.  We also spent a day on a guided tour of a few neighboring islands via speed boat. The islands were beautiful, the snorkeling we did was absolutely incredible, and we ended the day at the island where "The Beach" was filmed, along with too many other tourists and their accompanying tour boats.  It really was beautiful and makes me anxious to explore the many islands in the south.  The 'speed boat' ride was no joke: my sister and I ended up sitting at the very back of the boat, the prime spot for getting mauled in the face with salt water every 10-15 seconds.  Luckily we were able to make good use of our snorkeling equipment and used it to block the non-stop barrages of water from our eyes.

Hazy view from the top of Phuket

Beach.

Thai style: me and my siblings 

With my parents at Maya Bay

No filter - it really looks like this

It was great to be able to do so much with my family in a short amount of time, and I think we were all able to take some things away from the trip. It was amazing to me to see how my community made such an attempt to make Christmas special for me and my family in so many different ways.  Despite being a very non-traditional celebration, I think it was rather enjoyable for everyone involved and I was happy to be able to celebrate Christmas, in a very Thai way, with my family.

The one where I got cold in Thailand

It’s cold season in Thailand.  At least once a day someone asks me ‘nao mai?’ (are you cold?) and my answer is always no, with a smile.  I explain that ‘cold season’ in Thailand is like my summers in America - the weather is perfect and I love cold season.  Students come to school with jackets and long sleeves under their school uniforms.  I see people in the community putting on scarves and hats and wearing what look like winter coats.  They think it’s funny that I still walk around in short sleeves with no coat on.  They laugh at me and discuss the fact that the farang isn’t cold yet.  My office building, the local government administration building, recently held a meeting to pass out bundles of blankets to village representatives to distribute to people in their communities to keep warm. It was a lot of blankets, and most people receiving them were dressed in coats and hats.  It's funny to think about Thai people getting cold when it's 75 degrees outside. 

Then today it got cold.  It hasn’t rained in quite a while here, and last night I heard sounds of torrential downpours outside my open windows.  I’ve been wanting rain and appreciated the sound.  This morning I put on pants and my one long sleeve shirt, thinking it’d be a little cooler with the continuous drizzle I noticed outside.  I grabbed my rain coat as I headed out on my bike, mostly so I wouldn’t get wet on the short ride to my Monday school (not because of the cold).  I still haven’t taken my coat off.  When the teachers commented on the weather I finally agreed with them that yes, it was cold.  I checked the temperature and it was 63 degrees.  I looked at temperatures around Thailand, expecting I might see similar numbers, but Bangkok was at least 20 degrees warmer.  My barefoot toes have been cold all day.  I’ve blown on my hands a few times to warm them up.  At lunch time I was told we were going home to eat.  We usually eat lunch under a little pavilion outside at the school, but today they said it was too cold for that.  I went home with the teacher I live with and we ate hot soup with rice and then had hot coffee afterwards.  On the drive back to school I noticed people bundled up outside and a few fires lit under roofs to keep warm.  I got a little concerned about my own wardrobe, as it’s not really suitable to keep me very warm (I never thought that’d be much of a concern here, but living further north is teaching me otherwise).  I’ve had thoughts all day of going home and getting under the covers in my bed and keeping warm the rest of the day.  I haven’t felt like that in almost a year, and it’s a welcomed experience.  It might not last long and before I know it I’ll be sweating uncontrollably again as hot season approaches, but for right now I’m enjoying being cold in Thailand. 

Angkor Wat and my first half marathon

Peace Corps has a way of challenging me in all sorts of ways and pushing me to try things I’ve never liked or always found a little scary - like running.  I’ve never really been a runner (mostly because it's hard and not fun for me) and yet I found myself starting to run out of necessity several months ago.  I don’t have many options for exercise and biking everyday only does so much for me.  I didn’t make it far the first time, nor did I really like it very much.  But it was something, and it helped relieve some of the daily frustrations and clear my head at the end of the day, so I kept at it.  It got easier and more enjoyable.  I got smiles and thumbs up from the monks I would pass on the small dirt paths behind my house and I loved it.  People from a neighboring village would give me high fives as they rode past on their motorbikes and kids would stare and laugh at me.  There's an older woman that I've never really met and yet somehow manage to see almost every time I run, riding one way or another past me on her motorbike, and she gives me the biggest smile, waves her hand in the air and tells me how great I’m doing.  I found myself running more days than not, and actually enjoying it every once in a while.

A couple months ago I decided to sign up for the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon along with several of my fellow PCV’s and I started a training program to prepare, not feeling totally secure in the fact that this was actually something I could attempt and accomplish.  At the end of November I traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia for the December 1^st race and a couple days of sightseeing around the temples of Angkor Wat.  We headed to the starting line at 5:30 am on race day in time to watch the sunrise over Angkor Wat as we waited for the race to start.  The course was easy and beautiful, full of groups of Cambodian kids eager to give water, waves and high fives (one of my favorite parts).  The race was great for the most part – I developed some knee and hip pains during the last few miles, which were discouraging (and pretty painful) but only slowed me down a little bit. I finished and I'm incredibly proud of myself.

Sunrise at the starting line 

Along the race route 

After the finish: Thailand PCVs

The rest of the time in Siem Reap was spent exploring the incredible temples of Angkor Wat, which were massive and beautiful.  At the entrances/exits to each temple stood a mix of women and children, each holding a basket of various souvenirs and handmade gifts.  They're relentless and won't stop asking you to buy their goods, even after you've said 'no, thank you' for the fifth time.  The kids are adorable and it's hard to say no, especially when they keep after you with their guilt-inducing pleas and everything is just "one dollar."  

Angkor Wat

Monks inside the temple grounds

Another view inside Angkor Wat...it's massive

Another temple - can you see the faces?

Another temple

The temple that was apparently in Tomb Raider...it has trees growing through it everywhere

These kids were everywhere...it's hard to say no

On top of another temple for the sunset

Watch them work 

Sunset on the train from the border back through Thailand

Siem Reap was great and Angkor Wat was incredible, but I've found myself anxious to go back for more exploration of many more parts of Cambodia.