My birthday (a month later)

I turned 17 in China, and the people there made that birthday absolutely incredible. It was filled with unforgettable moments with friends from all over the world.

My 20th birthday in Thailand couldn't have been more different, but it was equally wonderful.

The day started at 5:30 in the morning (sadly, that doesn't seem absurdly early to me anymore). I had to wake up early to prepare food to give to the monks. That's a very Thai thing to do. Usually they go to the temple and give food there, but nobody had time to take me that morning. I gave food to the monks when they came on their morning rounds of the village.

Then I went to my favorite school for a while. (I teach at 3 different schools, but I like the one closest to my house best.)

The 4th grade gave me their little gifts in the morning. Mostly they gave flowers or little trinkets, but some gave worn-looking stuffed animals. I wish there were a polite way to return these clearly-treasured gifts.

Then I went to the district office, at their request. They'd been telling me for weeks that I had to be there, but wouldn't tell me why.

Here's why:

Each employee gave me a rose or two. By the end, I could barely wrap my 2 hands around them all.

The head of the office (and the village, I think) gave me this bouquet.

Then I went back to the school, and the 5th and 6th grades gave me small presents.

(6th grade girls)

At night, my host mom made spaghetti and some other food. We invited my uncle, aunt, and 2 friends over for dinner. Then we had another cake. I ended the night with another very traditional Thai activity.

In Thailand, it's expected that the birthday person will take care of everyone else. Buy dinner, provide entertainment and refreshments, clean, serve, etc. I played my farang (foreigner) card, because I just don't have the money to take 30 people out to dinner.

But the above picture is an example of this difference between Thai and Western cultures. In the West, it's customary to make the birthday person feel special. Tell them you're happy they're around, etc. In Thailand, the birthday person makes other people feel special. Thank them for everything, etc. So the person sits on the floor while the parents and/or relatives sit in chairs, gives them flowers, and talks for a while.

Part of what was so great about my birthday here was that it involved so many things that could never happen in the US. And the outpouring of affection from everyone was overwhelming.

Then I lost my camera. Life had to bring me back down to earth somehow I suppose!

Leia Mais…

Don't get sick in Thailand

I don't want to insult the entire system here, especially with a sister in medical school (Palm!). But a recent experience has made me think twice about getting hit by cars or falling down stairs during my stay in Thailand.

My left eye was having some issues here. It would get real red and painful for a few days, every few weeks, so finally I let them take me to the hospital. Going to the hospital isn't as serious here as it is in America. People go for allergies, colds, and apparently eye pain.

When we got there (I went with a teacher from school), I filled out a short form. They had me write my parents' names on the back, but wouldn't explain to me why. They took my passport and international ID card and processed everything. It didn't take long. This all happened in a huge, open waiting room. There were probably about 50 people there, most of them staring at me.

Then they took my blood pressure and asked for my weight. I don't know my current weight in pounds, much less kilos, so they took me over to the scale. It was in the middle of the big waiting room. The whole room focused on me, but I thought luckily, they can't read the number!

"Whoa!!! 62 kilos!!!" shouts the nurse. Thanks.

Then I waited for the doctor. The teacher I came with had left me long before to visit with some friends at the hospital, so I waited with some older women who kept asking me if I had a boyfriend. That's a common question, usually from mothers with sons. These women were asking me because, according to them, the doctor I was about to see was extremely handsome!

The doctor was in a dark, dingy little room, open to a bunch of offices behind the waiting room. He was really young, and spoke excellent English. He asked me a few questions about my eye, typing all the answers into the computer. Then he said he needed to look at my eye. In America, eyes are examined by eye doctors, in sterile environments, with expensive tools. Unnecessary in Thailand! Why use expensive equipment when everyone has a flashlight laying around? So he used his bare hands, which had just been typing on an old keyboard, and prodded around my eye with his flashlight.

After all this, he concluded that my left eye is allergic to bike riding and sunshine in Thailand. He prescribed some allergy medication and told me to wear sunglasses.

The whole affair cost me about $2.60. Probably for batteries for the flashlight.

Note: My eye still has problems. My host mom wants to take me to see an actual eye doctor this weekend...I'm a little scared.

Leia Mais…

Direct vs. Indirect Communication

Before coming here, many sources informed me that Thai people don't communicate as directly as American people. Americans have a reputation for saying exactly what we're thinking. Thai people are very careful about the consequences of what they say, I was told, and try very hard to be polite and considerate. So that was the general consensus: American-direct, Thai-indirect.

Not true. It took me a long time to figure out what the actual situation is, but I think I've got it figured out.

Americans are direct about many things. Direct criticism is often appreciated rather than horrifying. Personal feelings, like not liking a particular dish on the table or particular project at work, can be expressed in an acceptable way. Furthermore, emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, etc.) can be expressed. In these areas, Thai people are very reserved and indirect.

But there are things that Americans just don't say. If a friend's new baby is ugly, you do not tell that friend that they have an ugly baby. Anything negative that is obvious is considered rude to call attention to. I'm not sure how much sense that makes, but that's the way it is.

Not so in Thailand. For example, there is an overweight girl in the 4th grade here. The teachers don't just call her fat, they actually call her Fat. As in, "Come here, Fat." Thai people are shockingly open about obvious things, and excessively reserved about everything else.

It took a long time for me to get used to things like this, but I think it's simply stating facts. Thai people aren't offended by these things, so there's no need for me to be.

Leia Mais…

A Few Tidbits

I'm watching a really creepy show right now with puppets and miming and giant mosquitos, waiting another hour before I go to bed. I've thought of little things I've wanted to share over the past few days, so I'm going to do a common post for all of them.

No Thai babies for me...

I will not be bringing any little Thai children with me when I go back (despite them being ADORABLE, I think I will have my fill with approximately 17 classes per week). 

Instead, I plan on stealing this little thing:

SO CUTE!!! She's my uncle's little toy poodle.

Sleepy baby...

Thai accents

I speak Thai with most people here, but they often ask me how to say certain things in English. They have a hard time with certain sounds, like ch, sh, th, r, and final consonants. Most of the time they drop the final consonant, but not always. The letter t at the end of a word usually comes out as an s sound. This makes words like peanut slightly awkward for me when I'm teaching my uncle, my boss, or little children.

Go Alex go!

The other day, a few of the teachers at one of the schools were talking with me, and they agreed that my Thai was the best of all the foreigners that have come here!

Alright, that's all for now.

(I wish I could share this TV show with someone. It's really creeping me out.)

Good night!

Love,

Alex

Leia Mais…

The Best Funeral Ever

First a story...

(Molly?)

I left my fingernail clippers on the table downstairs last week, and I'm pretty sure my host mom did something with them. But I don't want to call attention to the fact that I forgot to pick them up, so I don't want to ask her for them back. My nails were getting really long, and I didn't know where to go to buy new ones. And I didn't really want to spend money for something I already owned.

Anyway. I went to a funeral with my host mom the other day. The dead man was a principal at a school not far from here, and apparently he drank a lot. Death is an interesting thing here. Nobody seems too concerned. Funerals are a common, and often lively, occasion. I don't know if it has to do with their religion's view of death, or the hugely-inclusive family atmosphere. (How much does it really matter when you have 800 other villagers in your family?)

Anyway, the funeral was at a temple. But not just any temple...Monkey Temple! (No, that's not the official name.) So while everyone else is listening to monks chant and people speak in Thai (both get old after the first 10 minutes or so), I watched monkeys try and steal decorations, climb on the temple buildings, and play together.

Then they gave us small souvenirs at the end. Nail clippers! Luckily my elation at this funeral didn't stand out too much, as everyone else seemed to have a pretty good time too.

I'd add pictures, but they're still on my camera and I don't feel like dealing with that now. Another time maybe.

Love,

Alex

Leia Mais…

Monkeys, Floating Markets, and Weddings

But not in that order.

Last weekend I was in Bangkok. I like the city less than I remembered. I guess when I was there, I was forced to see the best in it, because I was there, like it or not, for six months. It was beneficial to like it.

But it's huge, the traffic is exceptional, and the air is stifling. I couldn't wait to get back to my village where the air and water are clear, and the people and pace are relaxed.

I stayed with Palm and her family though, which was great. The first and third nights were at her aunt's house on the river. The house is new, and gorgeous. The second night we all went to Ampawa, about an hour and a half away from Bangkok. I've heard about the floating markets in Thailand, and I was really excited to go to one!

Palm and her dad (not a great picture to show them, but I like this picture anyway) eating bread in sweet dip at an old-fashioned coffee place:

Palm and her brother, P'Ban (again, not a good picture for seeing them, but I really like it):

I came back on the overnight bus, arriving in Sisaket around 5am. It's great being back. Oh, and my visa stuff went fine. I'm set for the next three months.

Today I went to a wedding in the morning with P'Pawn. Apparently the bride is only 17-years old. Kuen Mae said that people suspect she's pregnant...I didn't know that happened here. It was completely different from anything you'd see in the States, but I don't know all the rituals enough to explain here.

Then I went to see monkeys with P'Pawn!! We gathered [what seemed like] hundreds of mangos from the temple grounds first, loaded them onto her milk cart, and drove to the city. I've been wanting to go for weeks, so this was very exciting.

MONKEYS!

Monkey eating mango:

Hold on, little monkey!

I'm really eager to get back to work tomorrow. I'm not actually a fan of weekends, unless I have work to get done. What I'm really waiting for is the start of the school year again. The excitement of my English classes has worn off and I'm quite without students to teach lately. I've been working on the website for the office instead, which is fine with me!

With my host mom, my cousin, and their dog:

To the Wolverines: HAPPY SUMMER! GO BLUE!

Love,

Alex

Leia Mais…

Thai Food

(Very long, but mostly pictures.)

Thai people eat almost everything. For a most part that's a really good thing. Food here is delicious, and unlike anything I've ever eaten before. Thai people use tons of spices in their cooking, and the combinations of flavors are bizarre and extremely good.

FRUIT

The fruit here is incredible. There are literally dozens of fruits that I'd never seen or heard of before coming here, and they are almost all wonderful. Thailand is very tropical, and they grow almost everything here. Bananas and pineapple, in particular, are so good here. I don't even like those fruits back in America-- the flavor and texture is very different here. And here in Somboi, we are absolutely drowning in bananas, coconuts, and millions of mangos. All of those are growing in trees in my backyard right now!

They also have these apple-like fruits that I love.

Mmmmmmmm..coconuts:

I don't have pictures of the other fruits, especially the mangos. We eat yellow, ripe mangos (YUM - my new favorite fruit) and green mangos. The greens ones are pretty sour, and we eat them with a mix of sugar, salt, and chili. Sometimes we add fish sauce to the mix. I won't lie - I'm not crazy about this strange dip, but I eat it. It's growing on me.

MAIN COURSES

3 kinds of pork with a sweet and sour sauce, with soup:

They think this is like Chinese food. It's not, but it is good. Noodles with a sauce. If I was even a little bit of a cook, I could probably describe the taste a little bit, but I'm at a total loss. Come and taste it!

This is either chicken or pig blood. The particular animal that the blood comes from isn't too important though. They boil the blood until it becomes a solid. It's like jello. Blood jello. (Yes, I did eat it!)

Squid (yes, I ate this too; it's very chewy):

Somdom is a staple food here. It's made from papaya (not similar at all to the fruit we have in the States), fish sauce, chili, tomato, peanuts, lemon, and sugar. You eat it with sticky rice, and it's really delicious! Very spicy.

I cooked this meal with P'Pawn older sister. The pumpkin dish is one of my favorites. Americans don't make very good use of pumpkin...

On a raft on the river with my uncle, aunt, and cousins. You buy food on the shore, they bring it to you in intervals, and you can just sit and relax for as long as you want. Lots of people swim in the river too. It's so much fun!

Eating a slightly Thai version of Chinese food, where you put raw meat and vegetables into boiling broth and it cooks. That's Palm and her dad!

KANOM (Thai for deserts, treats, snacks, etc. Basically anything that's not a meal.)

The banana-leaf wrapped things are great, but the pink milk is NOT. Thai people love to drink this stuff that they call "Red Water" but it's actually this thick sugary syrup that they add to water. It's bright red, and tastes exactly like cheap cough syrup. Mixing it with warm yogurt-milk doesn't help.

Very thin rice cakes, but the picture is mostly here to show the preferred cooking method here in the villages.

That's a cup! They put tea or coffee or whatever you want in it, and you get to keep it. But if you're thinking the twine might come out and the clay cup might shatter all over the ground, you are right. If you are white, it draws even more attention, and the story is told for the rest of the day.

(No explanation needed.)

That's ice cream, with corn on it! It was weird at first, but that's because it was my first encounter with veggie-deserts. They put corn and beans in ice cream, yogurt, cakes, etc.

That's a fried doughy thing with sugar and condensed milk inside. Horribly unhealthy but so good...

MY FAVORITE FOOD!!!!!!!! Mango with sticky rice and coconut milk. Doesn't sound like much, but it's oh-so-good.

OTHER ODDITIES

I went out to eat with my first host family (in Bangkok). They told me it was a typical American me. On that table, we had:

 - pizza

 - breadsticks

 - onion rings

 - french fries

 - spaghetti

 - mozzarella cheese sticks

 - garlic bread

 - ham and cheese bake

No wonder they think Americans are all fat!

This picture isn't much, except the scene of a story I want to tell. This was on my vacation with my boss a few weeks ago. We were eating dinner with about 10 people, and there was this dip for the sticky rice. Most people eat sticky rice with their hands, so that's was I was doing. I got some dip, and took a bit. Not bad. A little spicy, but nothing I can't handle. Then I looked at the clump of rice in my hand and there was a giant red ant on it! I panicked because I had almost eaten it, but my next thought was how to get rid of it without calling attention to the fact that there was a bug in their dish. So I played it cool and just set the whole thing down on my plate. I got some more rice, and went for more dip and then I saw. The whole dip was red ants. There was some chili paste mixed in, and a few vegetables, but it was a huge mass of giant dead red ants.

I emphasize the word dead there because this is what I was served a few days later:

I'm sorry to report that I just couldn't put the giant moving bugs in my mouth and crunch down. I did eat large ant larvae though! They pop, like grapes.

So that's a pretty good summary, I think! The food is really different, but most of it isn't too weird. I just don't take a lot of pictures of the normal stuff.

I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow to renew my visa, so I won't be online or near a computer until next week Wednesday or so. I'm trying to take more videos though, since people seemed to like that.

Love,

Alex

Leia Mais…

Monk Parade

This is during a parade about a week ago, for the baby monks pictured in the last post. It's kind of a good view of Thai culture, and of my village, Somboi. Mostly I'm just testing to see how a video will work though. I'll find some better things to upload later.

Love,

Alex

Leia Mais…

Songkran Festival

One of the biggest holidays of the year is about wrapping up here in Thailand. Songkran is the Thai New Year's celebration. It's most well known for getting to soak everyone with water all day! I think it started with using water to cleanse the body and spirit for the new year. It's also a huge family holiday, so people flock back to their hometowns to celebrate. I've heard Bangkok is a barren city during this period.

I didn't get to play with water though, because I was invited to participate in the Miss Songkran parade. I would have rather not, but it was a good way to meet new people in the village, so I did it anyway.

Getting ready in the morning (makeup):

Getting my hair done:

With my friend, waiting for the parade to start:

With my host mom:

This is a ceremony where everyone pours water into the older people's hands. The older people wish you happiness, luck, health, or whatever good things they want.

I mostly got people saying (in English): "Happy, happy, happy" but my uncle told me that he wishes me to be happy and healthy because he cares about me like his own daughter.

On my "float" (back of a pickup truck):

I'm not sure who the two kids are, but they were only 5-years old, and no reasonable person would expect them to be able to sit still for 2+ hours (the time it took us to go all around the village). So I played games with them and we sang and danced. Sitting still was too much for me too. All the other contestants just sat and smiled!

Everyone that wasn't in the parade stood by the road and played with water.

Baby monks (boys who become monks for a few weeks):

So that was my weekend! There were at least 20 people at my house this weekend, so it's been a little nuts. But everyone has been great, and they are really excited that I can speak Thai somewhat. They leave today though, so I should get back to them.

Happy New Year!

Love,

Alex

Leia Mais…