April 12
So I forgot one kids name. His nickname is Blue. like the color. Also tonight I met a guy who i've met a couple times and he's always drunk and someone told me his nickname was Drunk and I thought it was great until I realized they didn't speak english so they must've said something else. So I checked for understanding(like were supposed to do when were teaching) and they said yes Drunk like gap gap gap gap. At this point I realize that they are saying duck, so they do know some english and it's actually the english that I taught them last week when they were all sitting around in a circle at my house getting drunk. So i guess the point is they learned something and I'm still gonna call this dude Drunk.
Also today I learned that the naam at lom kiao or what they call naam kiao here is not in fact the green sweet sugar water I thought it was but in fact it's cream soda. It's not that I am necessarily excited by this fact but more perturbed. Why should cream soda be electric green? There is no part of cream nor soda that should be green. Let alone be called green water. Also the reason I thought it was green sugar water was because naam deng or red water is often actually water with some red syrup in it. But today I also learned that that is different from what they called naam deng tonight which was the red soda(still unclear on the flavor of that one). Apparently they call them both naam deng but it depend on the situation what you're talking about. At this point I just want to ask someone to get me some naam deng and see what shows up. Knowing thailand like I do it would be a totally different new thing that is either the best thing ever or something that immediately makes me want to throw up and poop out all my insides at the same time.
Today my sister was wearing a shirt that had a big picture of minnie mouse on it. At the top it said OH SHIT ITS(the its was partly covered by a pocket) all the way around the large minnie mouse in a circle it said WHERE ARE YOU FROM? and then below that it said MONDAY TOMORROW. It took me all day of staring at it to try to figure out that 'oh shit its monday tomorrow' went together, but it still makes absolutely no sense. and why is the word shit on a tshirt with minnie? I mean thats just the first of a whole load of questions. I kinda want to talk to everyone who touched that shirt and see if anyone can speak a single word of english.
Also tonight I made fried chicken for my sisters birthday and it was super fun and cute and awesome and we grilled meat on this little grill/soup maker thing and it was awesome. I also had a really good talk with my pii gop's boyfriend who's a nurse who works at the tessabaan and asked him about problems in trat and he said AIDs and teen pregnancy and drunk driving and I was explaining what my job was and it reinvigorated me to actually do my job which is awesome.
also today I learned:
-Pii Dip- is the thai word for the spirit of the uncreamated dead which is a really stupid and complicated and debatably incorrect way to say zombie, but zombie is what it means
-My 26 year old sister Get is terrified of thunder and lightning and if theres a thunder storm when she's supposed to come home from work she either waits it out or makes her 70 year old dad come get her. Today after about five minutes of a thunder storm she said 'okay thats it. I'm not taking a shower tonight. because she was to scared.
-the us government requires a bank guarantee for thais to go to the US for travel. aka the US government has to confirm that thais have enough money in their bank account that when they go to america they aren't going there to work. (Now I take this with a ton of salt because it was said in a conversation where most of the individuals with the information were drunk and seem to enjoy teaching me things but besides that I think it could be true.)
April 13
Today I learned:
-instead of hugging everyone for new years Thailand had a country wide water fight and then smears baby powder on your face often aggressively and wishes you a happy new year
-I have broken my public masterbation cherry - in that I saw it. I did not do it.
-Two new ways to be cold in thailand: water fights with ice water and taking a shower after a sunburn(its only for like a second but it still counts)
-I never knew how many people could fit in the back of a truck. I think the fewest I counted was 7.
-Apparently I'm wei-ing all wrong when i'm at the wat.
-Everyone I introduce myself to remembers my name and says hi to me every time they see me which is lovely but often I have no idea who they are. Also I recently figured out that some of them I haven't actually met but they have heard about me and will act as though we have until I ask.
-best DIY zombie makeup is wake up a 5 am and then in the afternoon hold a 5 hour water fight or until all your digits are super wrinkled and then dry off and put some baby powder on. add color if needed.
Today was super fun. First we woke up 5 and made merit aka went to the temple and listened to monks chant and gave alms and ate breakfast. Then we came home and I immediately took a nap because we had nothing to do til noon. Then at noon we all went to the dal at in amphur muang or downtown Trat and literally had a water fight for 5 hours. I'm not sure I can do it justice but I will try. So the first time we showed up we had two trash cans full of water in the back of a pickup and literally just poured water on anyone we saw which was fine because everyone else was doing it too. As I learned throughout the day there are people who have cold water, warm water and there are a bunch of people selling ice so there's also the ice cold water. Also a bunch of people siphon water up from the river so once you are downtown you can refill your trash cans and you don't have to go all the way(5-10 minutes) back to your home. I got a couple good pictures that I will put up(mostly on fb because its the easy one stop shop for my photos). Its pretty crazy. Also I had a cut on my arm so I put on a band aid this morning and I don't think I would've known I had gotten any color if I hadn't but not it's pretty obvious. Also because I was a farang actually playing in the water fight I got a lot of special attention too so I got extra wet. Also at some point in the day the baby powder came out, I don't remember it happening earlier but maybe I just didn't notice. Anyway they make a paste like thing out of baby powder or cooling powder or prickly heat or some thing else that I don't know and put it on your forehead and cheeks or sometimes you're whole face. Now this is usually basically fine. I mean you get your usual creepers that always have to tell everyone they are beautiful before they do it or the ones that try to have a conversation with you or even the super aggressive ones that seem to think they have to get your whole face white and pretend they are knocking you out with ether. All of those aren't so bad. But when it's the cooling powder that's the worst. Best case scenario its burning your cheeks, worst case scenario you can't see and every things burning.
Also a great moment: I was walking around with my younger sister(the one who studies in bangkok) and watching the parade that randomly happened in the middle of the afternoon and were basically walking in the parade and she stops and points up and says, 'look farangs' and in the lane next to the parade was a tour bus full of farangs. Like literally probably 100 white people just staring at me. Honestly I was kinda excited to see a farang because I haven't seen one since I got here and then I was all proud of myself for being 'integrated' into the culture and 'really experiencing' it and not just sitting on a tour bus going from place to place. So I responded with a laugh and, 'yeah, far-' and got hit in the face with a huge bucketful of ice water from the car I was like a foot from. So I guess that's what I get for being all holier than thou and whatnot.
April 14
I think sometimes I forget to be funny because I'm trying to be professional. Just fyi, also things are less funny when none understands them. Like something that I would usually make fun of here isn't funny to all the thai people because its just the way it it. Like for instance the fact that they drink everything out of straws. They drink EVERYTHING out of straws. you want some milk…heres a straw. you want some beer. heres a warm bottle, a cup that holds about 6 ounces that is full of ice and yep can't forget the straw. All of these things are funny, but not so much to thai people because its just what they do.
I just killed three bugs that were crawling on me and I have no idea what they were and I didn't think anything of it. This is what Peace Corps all about. This is what I call adapting.
Today I met an awesome old man on my bike ride. Well actually I stopped to get food because I realized it was 3 and I hadn't eaten lunch so I stopped at the market and realized it was the first time I have gotten anything for myself since I have been to site(which is insane). Actually side note I thought about this today and I have earned money since getting to site(minus rent) because I have danced at two different venues and given 100 baht each time(a little more that $3). I have now spent about 45 baht. So I have made 55 baht since I've been here. CRAZY. Anyway so today I spend 45 baht on lunch which I decided I wanted to try one of everything so I got a skewer of everything the lady had and a pepsi. So I had like 8 skewers of meat. All pretty usual. Fish balls(not actual balls but its ground up and formed into balls), pork balls, hot dog, gai yang or grilled chicken and some other stuff that I wasn't sure what it was but it didn't taste weird so I assume it was some form of the above.
Anyway I suddenly hear, hello. you. hello. you. and I get dragged into the neighbors house because she speak english. I meet this lovely family that is full of teachers. The dad Kuuson is 87 and he adorable and old and came outside with him walker with a beautifully bright smile to say hi. He is also super touchy for a dude. He was touching my like the yaais usually do(minus the boob touches and the butt slaps that they yaai's seem to love). He kept holding my hand and then putting our hands in his lap a little close to his crotch that I was comfortable with but he was such a cute old man that I couldn't believe it was with malicious intent. Also Old people can basically do whatever they want in thailand.
Here are some pictures:
This is Kuuson
This is his english teacher daughter.
So this afternoon I was lying in our 'living room' which is really just a 12 by 12 wood bench in the middle of what I would have probably called a garage in america. I was doing this while all the other adults in my family were distributing dirt in the garden so that they could level it before the rainy season. They wouldn't let me help. Okay to be honest I only offered once and they said not to worry but I'm pretty sure even if I had insisted they wouldn't have let me help(or at least I'm gonna delude myself into thinking that). So they were doing that for a couple hours and then they all came in to the living room(garage) and my paw walks to the middle and just undoes his belt and unzips his pants. I start looking around being a little weirded out and feeling even weirder because no one else is reacting. Also weird interlude. He's wearing dark like black pants that I would usually associate with business attire. They aren't super nice but they were pressed at one time and they are still a somewhat respectable shade of black so I don't really understand why these are his work pants(I've seen some other pants of his that would make way more sense to work in. at least in my humble opinion). So yeah he drops trough and it turns out he has his shorts on underneath. So it's like 100 million degrees outside(okay today it was actually a cool 80, but still) and he is doing yard work with two pairs of pants on. I sooo don't understand.
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April 15
Today was just an all around great day. I woke to the usual rooster outside my window at about 5:30 in the morning. Which by the way happens every day and I'm not sure how I have forgotten to mention it until now, but it's actually kinda awesome because that is the really loud alarm that wakes me up. And ya know when you bolt upright at like 7:30 on a saturday and then realize you get to sleep longer, I get that every day. I can't even believe myself when I say shit like that but I actually have that thought every morning. Oh fuck! Oh wait nope it just the rooster that is outside my open window(like literally 4 feet from my head and no I can't close it because then it would be balls hot and smell like a moldy laundry basket in my room) and now I get to sleep for another hour.
Okay so yeah I woke up and I decided that I didn't want to go make merit this morning, but the problem is no one is really downstairs at 6 in the morning so I set a new alarm to wake up to tell my family I wasn't gonna go to the wat(temple) this morning and then went back to sleep. I puttered around all morning and read and slept and slowly woke up. And by the time everyone came back from the wat they had a project. We were making kanoms. So I don't know the name of these kanoms but they are super fun to make because you basically make a sugary paste and then make little mini fruit and paint them with food coloring. But when you are making them by yourself you can make whatever you want. At first I started with fruit that they arent very common here like strawberries or blackberries(that was hard because they have to be super small and I have man hands). but then it quickly turned into mustaches and dinosaurs and glasses and snow men. It was super fun and now we have like 17 tupperwares full of mostly fruit shapes but also my weird ones and the Dat's awesome creepy bunny/joker face and other such gems.
Here are the pretty adult made ones:
Here are mine and Dats aka some of my favorite ones:
There were some good funnies today too. Get today forgot an english word I taught her and I've been trying to wait a little longer and try to let her figure it out before I just give her the answer so she said, law law law(the thai word) oh right man some. --I want to believe that you can figure out what she means but just in case the word was handsome.
oh and some family members came by to honor my ya today because I guess thats what you do around the new year(thats why old people day is right before new years). And it was super cute two of my cousins came and they were both slick dudes with slacks and collared shirts and seemed very much so Bangkokians and they walked in and kneeled on the ground and hugs their grandma and were kissed her and were just in such adoration that I was so amazed. In their honoring of her they poured water over her hands and washed her feet and then put her feet on top of their heads while kneeling in from of her. That is huge. The head-foot concept in thai culture is a huge deal and to put someones feet on your head is basically saying that even their shit is better than anything in you. It was adorable. Also afterwards they were joking with her and it was the first time I've really seen her lighten up or even really talk. Also we had our first conversation today which involved a couple back and forths and then one of my cousins egged her on to speak english and she turns to me and in barely an accent she says, Thank You. And everyone erupts in laughter and smile. I've decided I'm gonna try to make her laugh more because I think thats the secret to long life.
On the subject of laughter. One of my aunts is awesome. She is a farmer so I sometimes see her on my bike rides and she always want to sit and chat. She also is my meh's closest sibling/friend. She comes by the house almost every night to visit with my meh. But its kinda weird because she almost always comes to our house to visit for about 15 minutes only to then have my meh go to her house to visit for another 20 minutes or so. I've done it with them a couple times and I can't see the rhyme or reason to it but it works for them so I let it go. So anyway, back to the story, so I'm sitting in my room after my shower counting the number of bug bites I got in the 15 minutes that I was outside helping my meh harvest peanuts(over 20, and they covered all the worst places. toe, knuckle, knee, 5 on my butt) and the room to my door opens. In walks my aunt, not really noticing or caring that I am only half clothed, telling me we're going to her house. This is one of those things that I've forgotten to mention also. Often things will be said and sometimes they're phrased as a question but most of the time they aren't. This does not mean that you are required to do them, but often it is easier than the alternative. In part because people will probably ask you what you will do and saying you were just gonna finish counting your bug bites is not really an acceptable reason to not go visit with family. So yeah. I went over to her house. She automatically wanted to feed me so I have to try everything she gives me and it was all awesome and I was utterly stuffed already. And I know that this sounds like I'm complaining about eating delicious food(her food is delicious!) and I am. You will understand if(aka when) you come here. I had just eaten two bowls of rice with other things and a handful of sugar filled kanoms. I'm so stuffed in fact that at the next house we went to the joke was made that I am going to have a baby. They loved that one. They pointed out I don't have a boyfriend, I don't have a husband but I'm gonna have a baby and laughed and laughed and laughed.
Also, backtracking a little bit, before we went over to the house we were all sitting at my aunts house and she turned and asked me something but I didn't understand part of it and I turned to get and she turned to me and gave me a hilarious evil rich man laugh. Which I immediately cracked up at but completely understood to mean laughing. Which then made me pause because I understood everything else in the question so it turns out she was asking me if I wanted to go over to the neighbors house to laugh. I mean, really? How can you say no to a question like that? And so we went over and laughed and killed mosquitos and packed turtle eggs but I'll leave that for a different day.
Also, theres a bag of frogs in our kitchen that my older brother caught the other day and I'm pretty sure they are just slowly dying. They haven't had water in like 3 days and I feel like its inhumane and its not like I really care about frogs but I feel a little weird about it. Not to mention the fact that I think thats a really weird way to kill them. Why not just knock them out or stab them or something? It also just doesn't smell very good. not that they ever smell very good. I don't know. I feel weird about it.
Also I'm really into pictures these days so here are some pictures of the frogs from before:
number one: they are huge, and once again half of them were pregnant.
This is me helping prepare them.
This is the preparation. aka only taking out the hind leg bones and just breaking everyhting else up into bite size chucks.
April 16
At this point if I touch unexpectedly or if something unexpectedly touches me I assume it is a bug. There's a 50/50 chance that I'll look at it and there's a 100% chance that I don't want to know what it is. Its usually an ant but it could be a moquito or any of the other basically innocuous bugs or it could be any of the terrible horrible no good very bad bugs that kill you(or so my brain says in the middle of the night. but also I'm pretty sure we don't really have that many of those). The other day I convinced myself I had dengue fever for no other reason than I remembered that they had a dengue fever prevention program here and I was tired.
But there are crazy things here. My friend found a tarantula in his bed and scooped it up in a bag and showed it to his home stay sister and she just shrugged and there the bag in the trash. But I have gotten uncomfortably comfortable with insects crawling on me at all times. I'm still just amazed at these ants. They are everywhere. All the time. There are like 5 different kinds too. Sometimes you get multiples. I went to the store this weekend and got in the car afterwards and found an ant on me and I got crazy excited because I realized I hadn't seen an ant on me for like a whole hour. I don't remember where that place was but I want to live in the magical place where ants don't live.
Also I would like to live in a place with no mold. This has only recently become a problem. but it is becoming a very annoying problem because my room now smells like I'm growing a sweaty fetus in wet wool. I think I've found the culprit: my winter jacket(srsly what the hell was I thinking, the record low in bangkok is 50 degrees F) that was still in the bottom of a box. Anyway, my room still smells like buttonhole and I haven't figured out how to dry my laundry between the 85 degrees with 80% humidity and the 75 degrees and pouring.
April 17
So guess what was on the dinner table last night! The frogs! I decided not to eat them despite the fact that they were fried and when they are fried they are awesome. I kinda thought eating them would make me gag and I do that at the dinner table enough already when I'm not expecting to.
Also there's a crazy chorus outside my window tonight. Like sounds I've never heard. It kinda makes me think of that scene in the Little Mermaid when it's kiss the girl and all I need is Sebastian to come in right about now. Anyway, I made a little video. I hope it works: UPDATE: it got cute short but here it is:
(Also that thing that kinda like a frog and kinda like a toad is a bullfrog and its thai name is ung aang because thats what it sounds like.)
So its been raining for the last two days straight. I don't miss the rain any more. I'm actually almost cold. I was actually cold twice today because apparently when its raining and a pleasant 70 and pouring people forget to turn off the ac in their cars so you go from kinda wet but still comfortable to freezing in a matter of seconds. Ohhh woe is me!! Also I was supposed to go on a bike ride this morning and instead I was driven around town doing Luk's errands with Luk and Eye, who at the tessabaan, but don't worry all our bikes in the back of the car so they went for a ride at least.
Today I learned:
- The word for turtle dove. Its Nok kao. This also happens to be the word for penis. I can't wait to have that misunderstanding. "I sell penises."(penii?)
-Drug addition is a problem in Trat but from what I understand there is not really anything anyone does about it. I have yet to figure out if this is a communication issue or the reality of the situation. I'm leaning towards the latter. In addition, I will probably not be able to work with the addict community because my wrong nayok thinks its not safe. She is often over protective but I will wait and see about this one.
- Today all the pu yai bans(village chiefs) set up a rest stop on the highway because it was the end of a long holiday weekend. I think the idea is a lot of people would be traveling home after the holiday and may have been driving for a long time. They had food, water, juice, coffee and food. I'm pretty sure no one except villagers stopped by. But hey I got a free lunch out of it.
-teaching family relations is difficult in thailand. they have one word that signifies any kid within the extended family thats not your offspring so in thai lan is niece, nephew, granddaughter, grandson, cousin's son, etc. And yet they have 3 words that mean aunt: bpaa- father or mothers older sister, aa- fathers younger sister, naa - mothers younger sister and 3 words for uncle: lung - father or mother's older brother, aa - fathers younger brother, naa - mothers younger brother. So yeah.
April 18
Today I had to go to the plus size stall at the market in order to find shorts. I was told my fingernails were not pretty(they don't use the word ugly) because they were too short, which is another thing that I will go into sometime. Fingernails are weird here. and often grossly long but different lengths. Okay I guess I'll go into it now. So I've been told that they want all their digits to be the same length because its regal/godlike/buddhalike so because their fingers aren't all the same length (ya know bc that would be weird) some people grow their shorter finger's nails out so that their hand looks like it has finger all the same length. So this never really works but that was the explanation I got for why some people have really long finger nails. Like everything here I take it with a large heaping bag of salt but I thought it was interesting none the less. Anyway back to my day. I was asked by my nephew Dhat why I had fur on my legs. And I was told by two different women that they could find me a fan(boyfriend) if I wanted one. They already knew guys who were law(handsome) and thought I was suai(pretty). Also, I got absolutely no work done, but I ate about 3 lunches while 'working' in the community aka getting to know people aka people telling me to eat things and watching me and asking if I think they are delicious. Also I found out that the kids in the house will be leaving when school starts again which makes me sad.
That was my day. It wasn't a great one, but they're were some gems. Also I'm always tired. Mostly until about 5 pm and then I'm wide awake. I don't understand it. I wake up anywhere from 5 am to 7:30 am and yet I can't seem to be tired when its time to sleep.
April 19
My brain hurts. I can't understand thai anymore. I'm hitting a wall. I'm too tired to try.
Also today I thought I was going to lunch. As I did technically eat lunch but I actually went to the wat and make merit. I think my favorite thing about this culture is making merit means going to a temple eating and then dancing around the wat three times with a bunch of women over the age of 70.
Here are a couple photos and a video:
I also spend most of the afternoon making merit. After I picked up trash on the side of the road with all my fellow tessabaan employees, I studied thai for an hour and then heard some music downstairs and it turned out the band and the dancers had danced to the tessabaan. So I joined in with them and the next thing I know I'm still at the wat 5 hours later. Sometimes when I hear myself talking about my day in my head(or sometimes out loud in english that nobody understands) I realize that my day is such a poster child Peace Corps Thailand day. I do leave out a lot of the miscommunications. It's not like I intended to go to the wat. I was just that everyone was making me dance and then suddenly we were at the wat. And I leave out the other the annoyances. I have like 17 thousand bug bites. Also when my sister went home at about 7:30, she told me I was staying. I explained(trying to be polite) that it was okay I didn't have to stay. I could go home with her. And she said it was okay there was about 2 more hours of it. Upon hearing that I was a little less subtle and said I don't know if I want to be here for another two hours. She seemed like she understood and said okay and 5 minutes later I realized she was gone with the car and I was stayinng till the end. Also at the wat there was the celebration that we were at and there was a funeral and there was a petangue tournament going on.
Also I'm pretty sure I have like six boyfriends ranging in age between 55 and 80. and none of them have teeth and they get kinda territorial when we're dancing. They're awesome. Also, I know none of their names.
also one of my coworkers has his specialized trash poker because we all use one when we clean the highway. but his is hand carved into the shape of a penis. It made me really uncomfortable mostly because I was half way through asking him what it was when I realized what it was. I tried to change my question but really I just felt awkward. I don't know that he noticed though. Its weird things like that that confuse the shit outta me. Girls aren't supposed to show their shoulders at work but can wear shirts with lace backs or sheer shirts with dark bras. there are a lot of weird double standards that I am only just starting to see and still have no clue how to begin to understand them. I also have started asking my sister if what I'm wearing is okay but a while ago when we went to the beach she said I could wear my bikini if I wanted. So I really really really wanted to, but I didn't because I thought it'd be weird. It totally would've been weird. Thais all go in the ocean in full clothes. Now Get says this is because they don't want to get any darker and that is probably true but as the only foreigner I wouldve felt naked in a bikini. That said I can't wait to go hang out on a beach with a bunch of PCVs and lounge around in my bikini.
April 21
Today I made some postcards and noticed learned some things:
1) I don't know if its intentional but Thai newspapers only put in really unattractive photos of basketball. Most of the time it's not even a bad picture of a cool thing. It's usually somebody tripping or sitting down on the ground trying to wrestle a ball away or having the ball leave his hand early for some reason and his face showing his frustration. anyway they are all terrible which is to say wonderful for me.
2) I don't really know when this was cool in america but it's still cool in ads to have the angel shadow lighting. like your really back lit but its an effect. and there are sparkles in it. Yeah I don't get it but its everywhere.
3) I for real want to take home all the kids. Only some of them want to come.
Actually there's this one that reminds me a lot of Aaron(one of the twins I used to nanny for) and it's crazy because he's super standoffish and just stares at me and when I look at him he hides behind whoever he knows the best thats around. The craziest thing is I was often that person for aaron. It make me miss him but it also just makes me want to be this kids friend and have him go everywhere with me.
also these bugs love me. I wasn't having any trouble with bug bites until recently. yes I was getting them but ever since the first rain I have gotten a bug bite every time I go anywhere. between the red ants and these weird beetle things and the flying ants. oh and the huge spider I found in the shower(like the size of my palm) and yes I did finish showering with one eye open and I have no idea where it went by the end and no I don't know what kind it was because my new tactic is not to look it up I'm not gonna go near it anyway and if I find out its gonna kill me then I won't ever want to shower or really do anything because there are bugs everywhere and they could all be deadly.
there are also things that happen every day that I forget to tell everyone about. like how every day right around dinner time my host dad walks up to my host mom and gives her a bunch of bills and she goes over to her closet/the corner of the kitchen and bends down and puts it in a safe place. every night. Now this is one of those times that I want to make up an elaborate story like he's a recovering gambling addict and she knows this so she helps him by limiting him. Each day she gives him 100 baht (around $3) and she limits him to that amount so he won't spend all their money gambling and most night he comes home with more than what he left with, but there are nights that he comes home with nothing. Thats the kinda story I want to make up. but I have no idea of whats actually going on. That would be kinda cool in a sad way though.
Also there's nothing to make you feel white and fat like hanging out with a bunch of thai people at the beach. This is what i did yesterday:
It occurred to me when I tried to look cool the other day and I put on my white vneck hands shirt and my coolots that I had officially become my mom circa 1991. And the thing is at first I was a little disspointed but then I looked at my coolots and they are awesome. It's coming back I promise.
Also if thailand has anything to say about it bedazzling, printed leggings, cat shirts, misspelled words, and mustaches are all coming back in full force. Also mickey mouse and winnie the pooh and yeah thats for adults too.
On that note, my office, keep in mind this is the local government office, has hello kitty labels on all of the binders and drawers. I know. This is the mayors office. Can you imagine if the Sam Adams had everything labeled with hello kitty labels? When I see my coworker walk up with his tan uniform that looks so very much like a soldiers uniform and then his green shrek feet slippers and opening a hello kitty drawer I have to just stop and laugh at the absurdity of it all.
April 22
Today I did nothing at work. I kinda sorta practiced thai. I keep trying to practice thai and then realizing that the words that Im learning I will either never use or don't know how to use or already know them. It makes self directed learning a little frustrating. I'm gonna have to give myself more structure in the future. Anyway, after 'work' today I came to a fairly quiet house. Not that people weren't here but the elder members of my family tend not to talk to me so much. I feel like Get and I have enough of an understanding that she basically translates everything for me from speedy crazy Trat thai to slowed down central thai. Now technically these are not different but there are different accents, which also means different tones and as much as I didn't really know the tones before this still adds to the confusion. Also on that note I'm refrustrated with thai because I was all confused with the tones because in learning the alphabet people were telling me(not the wrong nayok, she's still just crazy with her tones, but thats a different story). So first some back story. In order to learn the alphabet (because there are so many different letters that have the same sounds) you learn each letter associated with a word so when you see กอ - ไก่ thats gaw - gai (chicken). Now there are so many different complications with this language. I have already explained the fact that there are multiple letters for identical sounds and I actually mean identical, even the tones. So then theres the labeling of the consonant groups. First ก or gaw is in the middle group of consonants(at the top of the fidel chart, just to make it even more confusing). It's tone when it has a vowel attached but no ending consonant is a mid tone, but ไก่ has a tone mark on it so that makes it a low tone. So now I associate ก with low even though its a mid. It gets even worse. The high consonants aren't actually a high tone they are a rising tone and thats only when the syllable has no final consonant and of course there's no tone marker to say otherwise. And the low consonants. They are a mid tone when they are have no final consonants. Also keep in mind there are 46 consonants in these three groups and they all have thai words associated with them that may or may not be the tone that they are individually(or without a final consonants). Now this is probably boring to you so I'll move on but I just want to point out that we haven't even got to explaining the 29 vowels and what to do with all of these 44 consonants if they are at the end of the syllable(hint: they aren't the same at all, gaw turns into k) and also the tones all change depending on what kind of final consonant you have on the end of your syllable which once again just to make it harder on everyone the breakdown of the final consonants is a total different system its not as though they said all the highs and mids are gonna be this kinda ending. I swear if I get anywhere with this language it will be a raging success. After just writing this I'm tired and amazed that anyone can understand a lick of anything that I'm saying.
I have been practicing my typing though because I set it up so I can type in thai on my computer. You should get excited. You will maybe get letters written in that that you don't understand, but more likely it will be a sentence that took me like an hour to figure out how to write correctly.
Today I learned:
1) That the easiest way to clean your hands after peeling jack fruit is to put what I think is gasoline on your hands and rub it around a bunch and then wash them. They will still pretty much smell like gasoline, but they will no longer be sticky. Also, just in case you were wondering, no soap doesn't work.
2)Bugs have an amazing ability to bite me in the worst places. Today I have a bug bite directly under my boob, in my armpit, just off my tailbone and directly on the waistline of my skirt. I'm over the bugs.
3)I met my first water buffalo today. Ive seen a bunch but my nephews grandpa(not my dad) have a couple and I got to meet them. There are two ladys a male and a baby and the dad was lounging in the mud pit while the rest of the fam munched grass and looked on. Obviously I forgot my camera.
4) Monks make magically things. For real though. I have had these mosquito bite scabs that have refused to heal and I have been putting on this weird smelling magical balm that a wat(temple) in Trat makes for the last three days and they are almost gone.
Also that reminded me. everyone here sniffs oils. a lot of them are monk made mentholated something but they also sell them in grocery stores and stuff. It's kinda like vics inhaler kinda stuff but its not for a runny nose, its for whenever the hell you feel like it. I haven't tried it yet and I'm not sure if I want to jump on the band wagon but its really amazing. I will be talking with my coworkers and they nonchalantly one handed take out a 10 ml container and basically stuff it up one nostril and sniff and then stuff it up the other one and sniff. I can just imagine me now getting home and doing this all the time without even realizing it.
I got really excited the other day because I had meat that looked like pork. I was excited for two reasons. 1) it was actually pork because I have been unpleasantly surprised before. Note for the future: chicken intestines when grilled and not inspected closely look a lot like little chicken bites. 2) It was actually meat. It wasn't fat. it wasn't bone. I was real true meat. So upon reflexion I'm not sure you are getting the entire picture. This piece of meat was about a square inch in size and it loo med like pork and WAS actually pork and it looked like it was all meat and it WAS actually all meat. It was basically christmas. It actually made the rest of the pork, which basically looks and tastes like really thickly cut bacon was boiled, a little more palatable.
April 23
Today was a great day! I met a new counterpart who actually speaks english fluently which is awesome. he kept saying things that were so colloquial that it was weird. He said, I got it. about the check. Its a funny thing to notice but I was really impressed because thats the different between fluency (and having a cultural understanding) and not. He also is not from Trat. So anyway I spent the morning with him and it was lovely. Just speak english was awesome.
Also today was a big and wonderful day but I'm tired so here are the highlights. Today I saw an albino Thai person and it was kinda creepy but really cool. We are having a Tambon 'good things festival' on thursday and I'm pretty excited about it. We're gonna have a hen fighting(I think) and a chicken(beauty?) contest. Also if we get funding from the government we might get a really expensive incinerator that kinda looks like a pizza oven but its a trash burning oven. I'm still unclear why its so expensive. I'm pretty sure I could make something similar out of cinderblocks and sheet metal. Either way it's good because they want me to teach people how to compost and recycle once we have this thing. When I mentioned that I could teach them how to compost and recycle whether or not we get the funding for this incinerator my wrong nayok simply said, well, we will talk about it. Which is kinda a shut down but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do it anyway and she's gonna love it. Also then I rode 10 kilometers into town with Get and Op behind me on the moto to pick up Op's new bike and turn around and ride home. That was the awesomest part I think.
OOOOHH I forgot. this is mostly exciting for me but I got a new pair of shorts too.yay for me.That said I'm kinda getting into some of these asian styles and I'm debating how well they're gonna play once I get back to town. For instance I'm really into pleated shorts that kinda look like skirts and I have yet to buy one but there are so many formal jumper like things. They're kinda like the jumper version of a pant suit. I'm pretty tempted. Also they aren't nearly as 70s as they may sound.
Also it just occurred to me that 4 generations of one family are living in my house right now. That's awesome. The oldest is 92 and the youngest is 4. I didn't really realize that particular piece of awesomeness until just now. If you think about it in america I don't know anyone who knew their great grandparents. Many of my friends never even knew their grandparents. I guess I didn't know my paternal grandfather either.
Another thing. Thai people are super polite in certain ways and not so in others. So I've noticed that if I have any red spot anywhere they will always point it out and then ask if it's a bug bite. Usually its either a bug bite but today it was a pimple on my face. In the situation of the pimple its a catch 22. I tried it multiple times today because yes I was asked this question multiple times today. At first I tried to brush it off, knowing that probably wasn't gonna work but also knowing that I already felt self-conscious about it so I didn't really want to talk about it. That didn't work. They thought I didn't understand and so asked again and then asked someone else if they would ask me in english. Another person when they asked I answered, yeah its a bug bite and they went on talking about how that was weird because bugs didn't usually bite peoples faces. Usually you see them, and even when you are sleeping they still don't usually go for the face. and they sat there staring at my pimple at an utter loss as to why a mosquito would bite me there. Finally I answered one with, no it's not a bug bite. and of course that wasn't enough. 'what is it?' and I'm sorry to say the pc did not teach us the word for pimple so I had to act out popping a pimple and then two different people said two different words so I still don't know what pimple is. So yeah I kinda thought the resource volunteers were lying when they talked about how everyone at your site will point out all your physical flaws but given my experience with a pimple I'm now starting to believe every word they said.
April 24
So today I learned:
1) I'm happiest when I'm busy(relearning is still learning).
2) Alone. Its the only way to go. (I like this because its applicable to my day and its a good postcard quote. With like a gravestone or something in the back just to make the double entendre obvious.)
3) A lot of the good things here come with a fair amount of frustrating things, but such is life I suppose. (more on that later see visit to special education school)
4) Apparently as a teacher its okay to blatantly call out people as fat or skinny.
5) I don't have a high school in my Tambon aka village/town. So I don't really have any way to get to youth 14-18. So we'll see how that goes.
5) Meetings are a show, not a place to get things done. Things get done while your in a different meeting and your whispering in the background not paying attention to what the meetings about. Or ya know, at the wat. That actually where everything happens.
6) There are 20-30 people(mostly kids) who go to the special education center on a regular basis. There are 4000 disabled people registered with them within the province of Trat.
I forgot that my new counterpart yesterday when I asked him if he had to be back. he said, I already told you. I'm the big man. I don't know where or when Thai's got it in their head that big man is the new word for boss because I'm pretty sure that no ones says that in British or American English. That said I'm a huge fan.
Okay so anyway today, I went to the Special Educaation Center in Trat and it was awesome. There was a bit of a stand off beforehand about whether or not I was going to have Pii Eye(who I called Pii U, Pii E and Pi oo and in poo before someone realized I was talking about Pii Eye- thats was pretty embarrassing and I got laughed at a lot) escort me to the school which was 3 kilometers away. I spoke to a couple different people and assured everyone I could do it kon diao (alone) and I was heading out there door and then there was Pii Eye waiting for me. That's kinda how things are done here. That's what grang jai means to me so far. They will tell you one thing to your face and then still do whatever they want to do anyway, but that way they didn't break your face. Also at this point in time if I were to explain to Pii Eye that I didn't want her company that would break her face so now I have an escort.
So Pii Eye is really into biking and keeps talking about wanting to go bike riding with me. She said she biked every day so I assume she's in pretty good shape. It took us about 25 minutes to ride 3 kilos or about 2 miles. That a 15 minute mile for a flat paved bike ride. This shit is a snails pace. Srsly, I'm pretty sure Molly (my sister) could go faster than that and she would have to first learn to ride a bike. So I start out frustrated already and I arrive at the school and she immediately takes the lead. Now also just a a reference point, I have absolutely no idea what Pii Eye does at the tessabaan, but I'm pretty sure whatever it is it's not very important. She's got a desk in the back room that I never go into but usually I just see her lounging around the office. She's also not my favorite (in case you haven't already seen that coming). So we park our bikes when we get there and she takes charge and walks to the teacher's lounge and speaks to one of the teachers in Thai for a bit. I'm frustrated and annoyed and I basically say hello and then tune out and look around a bit. We then go to the principals office and we do the same thing. Here I'm more polite and I at least feign as though I'm paying attention but once again they are speaking fast and I probably don't care what they are saying and they clearly don't care whether or not I understand because they aren't really even speaking to me(Note: this is how I feel almost every time I'm taken places with an escort, I have no idea whats going on and I get introduced to 15 people and then they talk about me in front of me and often say incorrect things but I still don't have the energy or the desire to correct them. I have been introduced as a Math Teacher, a Nurse, a counselor, and never once have I been introduced as a Nanny.) So yeah we're in the principals office and they are talking about activities and me doing activities and then eventually we are escorted to the classroom.
Its awesome. I mean in all honesty its just a classroom but once again just like the first time I met some of the kids I immediately felt at home. It was awesome. We watched three of the older girls do a dance up on the stage while everyone else watched. Afterwards we got in a circle and I was introduced and we went around the circle and everyone told me their names. Then the teacher stopped and said, "Okay Rosie" and gestured to me…
I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. She said tam gitchagam chai mai (do an activity, right?). My mouth kinda fell open and I was sitting there trying not to look at Pii Eye for unintentionally throwing me under the bus. I politely said, 'I'm sorry. I think there's been a misunderstanding. I don't have anything planned. I have some activities but they are mostly in english and I could teach some english but it might be too difficult'. Now the fact is I could have probably done an activity but I was so blindsided and to be honest didn't particularly want to lead a class of people who were all over the board developmentally and physically and ranging in age from 2 years old to 39 years old and whom I knew none of. I wanted to come here alone to get to know everyone. To meet everyone and hang out while they do their thing and figure out what that thing is. So anyway, it ended up awesomely and we danced and sung and played some games. And they showed me their gangnam style dance which was awesome and I'm really excited to be hanging out there once a week. At one point they asked me to put baby powder on the fattest person in the circle as part of the game. I got really awkward and pretended I didn't understand. They pointed out a fat kid and so still pretending I didn't understand I put baby powder on him because they were telling me to. It was weird and I felt uncomfortable. I already have a not so secret plan but I really want to try to do a kinda special olympics thing with the school if they are interested and ideally have my future idealized youth group plan and organize it with the help of the student at the school. Maybe even have other disabled schools come too and it could be a weekend thing. Oh the ambitious dreams I have…
So that takes us til noon. I am now totally blanking on what I did this afternoon but I did have a meeting with my wrong nayok and my nayok and we talked about a lot of things and even planned some things only to unplan them before the meeting was through. I did get invited to see 9 temples in a day with the old people. Note: I have tried to teach them the word elderly many times, but its not seeming to catch on so I think I'm just adopting old people now. Also, apparently we can't schedule weekly meetings for the three of us because they might not have time. There was no way that I could explain it that if we made a schedule to have it every wednesday then we could build our schedules around that. Or worst case scenario miss one week but most of the time we could have it. The response was, I think next week I will have more time. Which had nothing to do with anything because we were already having this weeks meeting. While my wrong nayok was distracted I did however get the okay to go to Kohn Kaen next weekend which should be awesome.
Also giving feedback is are when they can't understand. I tried to explain that I wanted a weekly meeting with them and that I would rather not have an escort because it means that I don't speak as much Thai or English and therefore I don't build a relationship and I don't understand as much because everyone around me is speaking thai so fast. I also mentioned wanting to work with this new counterpart and not wanting to work with the primary school and she said well we will see what their plans are. Just like every other time I had voiced these concerns its almost as though she understands it perfectly and
I got laughed at because my nails were a different color than my toes. Like someone came over to me from across the room and was laughing saying, Rosie…Rosie and kinda shaking her head and knelt beside me and pointed to my toes and then pointed to my fingers and said they are different! As if I didn't know that. she stared at me puzzled when I said, yes? and she asked, why? I said I don't know. She said, they are supposed to be the same. And kinda shook her head at me like I was wearing underwear on my head. What a silly goose. If only she could see what I want to paint them. I'm really missing my multicolored nails.
Then I went on a longish bike ride and listened to my music really loud and it was awesome. Today was a good day.
April 25
Today I learned:
- a new sport.
- what a mango nut was(Cashew)
- that everyone knows my name
- everyone cares if Ive eaten lunch. I was asked no less than 10 times when I walked across the yard toward the lunch station.
- that my aunt was sad because I asked her to take a picture of me and the kids I was playing with and she wanted a picture of us too.
- that thai people/my family and neighbors like watching me do yoga(we'll see where that goes)
Today was "Good Thing Festival" or at least thats how my wrong nayok (the person that speaks the best english out of everyone I speak to) translated it to me. It was awesome. It was a little market festival kinda thing at the wat with a bunch of different things that were all made in our Tambon or in surrounding tambons. It was super fun and I realized that I knew most of the people there by face(very few by name but hey with 2 Frogs, a Bocce ball, 2 joys[they're actually called joy in thai, i don't know what it means in english], an Eye and a Thursday I feel like I'm doing pretty well with those). Also random: there's a word that sounds a lot like the english word smart but it's a thai word for handsome. I swear this language was designed with the intention of confusing me.
Anyway I learned a new game and its called saabaa law or at least when I say something like that people were okay with it. Its cool. Its played on a Petangue court and its kind...
I fell asleep. Sorry.
Also, while napping I realized I now have an elaborate system of pillows and folded blankets and whatnot to ensure no bruises and optimum temperatures. It hadn't occurred to me to get a different mattress until someone suggested it to be, but at this point as long as I have my four different specific pillows I have a perfect system.
Until next time I will leave you with this
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