*First, I have to begin by explaining the long drought between my last post and this one as well as the deluge of posts that is about to occur. I am currently in my home stay and as with most of the underdeveloped world, I am without consistent Internet. So, if you thought I was dead, I'm not. If you thought I was too wrapped-up in my own business to care about updating you, I am.
Perpetually kidding,
Ashley
Saturday, January 15th
First day in Thailand with no Internet. I'm in my home stay now. I'm almost too tired to write this, but I think I should get everything down now. Today I woke up in the hotel and did some yoga in the room before Christine and I headed down to our final buffet breakfast. It was nice to get in one last piece of toast before the onslaught of rice. We ate, and then at 8:00 a.m. we headed up to our morning training sessions.
We discussed our home stay at great length. We found out in which sub-district we would be in Ayutthaya, the district in which our training is taking place for the next two months. I'm a pretty short distance away from our hub, so the bike ride won't be bad. I was looking for more of a challenge in my ride, but I guess that's what you get when you only score a 3/5 in signaling on the bike test. Ouch.
Before our first language class today, we had four sessions on different situations we'll encounter during home stay. First was the bathroom issue. As in using the toilet. Three things differ between westerners and Thais, at least in the bathroom. Thais squat, don't use toilet paper and flush with a bucket. Thais that haven't embraced the western ways that is. So, the whole potty thing plays out like this: first, you walk up to what is essentially a hole in the ground. Position yourself over said hole. Do your business. Wipe yourself with a combination of your left hand and water. Use your right hand to draw water from a nearby bucket and use it to push waste down previously mentioned hole. Apply ample amounts of soap to scrub excrement off of hands. I haven't had to deal with this issue yet, and luckily, my host family also has a western toilet on the premises, so I may not have to.
We also discussed washing our clothes. In order to observe the hand-foot rule (the feet are the dirtiest part of the body, and the head is considered sacred, so these two things should never meet), clothes should be washed in order from top to toe. Communal eating was brought up as well as going to bed. All of these everyday tasks seemed full of cultural implications. For example, when sleeping, your head should be pointed towards the house shrine. Again, the head-foot rule. The session made me wonder if any of these things done in America have any exact rules. The closest thing we have is don't mix your colors with your whites.
After all of these mini lessons, we had two language classes. My group was only three people, which makes learning awesome. Language was my biggest fear coming over here. It's made me very thankful that I spent a year in Korea for a couple of reasons. First, I know that just being in the culture helps you to pick up some words. Second, I have been able to really hone my context-reading skills. I've come to realize that you don't have to hear and understand every single word to be able to figure out what someone's talking about. It's made me a much better learner because I can keep a more open mind about the whole process.
After our lessons on numbers and family members, we all met in a big room to meet our host families. Even though I've stayed with families before, I was still really nervous. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. My family is so sweet. The car ride and introductions were a little awkward, but luckily in Thailand, everything can be smoothed out over a meal. I have two parents, a sister, 15, and a brother, 7. My sister, Jame, showed me around the neighborhood. After unpacking, I took my first bucket shower, which was surprisingly refreshing. They're really helping me with my Thai. Tomorrow I'll spend all day with them. With our very limited communication, I think I was able to deduce that we'll be going to the Buddhist temple, wat, tomorrow. Who knows? Who really cares? I'm in Thailand. All is right.
Sunday, January 16th
First night in the home stay. Loudest morning ever. There is a rooster (or 12?) right outside my window that starts crowing at 4 a .m. At least I don't have to worry about setting my alarm.
Sunday, January 16th
Today I spent my whole day with my family. It's nice, but I think it would wear on me after a while. I know...I just got here yesterday, and I'm already planning my escape. I can't figure out exactly how they're treating me. They offer things to me like a guest, but today, my host dad pointed out that I needed to brush my hair, which made me feel like a daughter, I guess. By the way, I know there are more than a few of you who are a little relieved that he told me to brush the rat's nest that is my hair. Anyway, then, when we went out to lunch, he hit my shoulder to get me to say hello to one of his friends, which made me feel like a little blonde puppet. I didn't appreciate that role much.
I woke up this morning and pretty much all day, Jame has been helping me with my Thai. I really appreciated it, but it really wore me out. This whole experience is kind of tiring actually. I feel like I'm on sensory overload. There are too many words to learn, too many people to know, too many customs to remember.
Around lunch time, my dad and sister along with some of their friends took me to eat lunch near a temple. There was a party going on to celebrate a new monk. The food was good; the conversation awkward. This was also around the time that my dad hit my shoulder. I know I'm reading too much into this, but it kind of offended me actually. I ran into Megan and Carol, two other volunteers, while I was there. They seem to be settling in well.
After lunch, we came back home and Jame recommenced the grueling studying schedule. I know, in the end, I'll be grateful for it, but as of now, I just want to hide my book from her and take a nap. A little later, some of the little kids around my house called out that two other foreigners were outside. Megan and Ellie had gone on their bikes with their two sisters and found me. We sat around here for a while and then headed out to find more of the volunteers in our sub-district. We found Chris, Kylene, and Josh. Chris definitely has the best set-up. His host family owns a large piece of property. Plus, he has a western toilet, which is really how I judge luck. I think, right now, I'm just feeling a bit claustrophobic. I'm used to being able to do whatever, whenever. This is a bit of a challenging transition to make. I just hope it gets a little better day by day.
Tuesday, January 18th
Today was our second day of PST staying with our host families. Yesterday my family dropped my sub-district's group off and picked us up from our training site, which they were supposed to do to make sure that we knew the way home. Great. Ok, but they did it again today, which was unnecessary. We have a large group of volunteers that know their way around, so they really didn't need to come get me again. I was actually kind of disappointed after I saw them because I had wanted to just decompress after the long day. I know they're just trying to be thoughtful. I think if it happens again, though, I'll just have to have one of the language teachers tell them they don't have to. It might seem as if I'm complaining about them; I'm not. I just need some time after all the hectic scheduled lectures to shoot the shit with other Americans.
I will say, though, this family is kind of growing on me. Tonight, I showed them pictures of my family, and then they showed me some of theirs. If everything kept on like this, we'll be just fine.
Wednesday, January 19th
Today was our first day back to language training, which I really enjoy. My dad took me to the school where it's held, and we picked up Kylene and Josh along the way. Sarita, our ajaan, or teacher, was already there. We took a little tour around the school with all the little kids staring and smiling at us. Better friendly stares than hostile ones, I suppose. I think this must be a wealthier school because they had a computer room, and the classrooms looked pretty well-furnished. Probably very dissimilar to the schools we'll be placed in at our permanent sites.
We lined up at 8:15 with the children to sing the national anthem and say a prayer. Then, the teachers wanted us to introduce ourselves. That was no problem, but the minute Sarita asked us where we are from, I immediately lost all my Thai and had no idea what she was talking about. Luckily, Kylene was able to rebound quicker and answered the question. I figured this little slip-up did not bode well for the language lesson, but it actually went ok. Today we studied more family stuff, age and money. Sometimes I feel like my mouth is so far ahead of brain and words just spill out. And sometimes, these words happen to be in the right order. Many times, though, I fumble through a sentence so badly that it seems like I'm just spewing nonsense.
The school where we're studying was so sweet and fed us lunch. It's part of their protocol to offer lunch to guests. I hope it doesn't happen every time as I would feel a bit guilty. I have to say it was good, though, so I'm torn.
After a very delicious lunch, we rode up to our hub for the TCCO classes. A current TCCO volunteer, Melissa, came to give a presentation today. She's very peppy and fun, which made it interesting. She gave us a lot of great tips about teaching English. It made me realize a lot of what I did wrong in Korea. I hope my morale says high here because in Korea, I felt so beaten down that I just gave up a little bit. Completely unfair for the students, but there was so much pressure on me to complete books, teach writing, plan activities, etc. that I was bound to collapse.
After training, Ellie, Chris, and I stopped to get a beer, which made me nervous, because I was sure my host family was out searching the whole district for me. What do you know, but that right after we dropped Ellie off, I got a call from the fam wondering if I'd lost my way. Actually, they are turning out really great. My mom did my laundry for me, which although I wanted to do it myself, is still awesome. Also, one of my favorite things during the day is hanging out with them after dinner. They helped me with my homework tonight. I showed them my American money. It makes staying here so much better when you have a cool family to chill with.
Friday, January 21st
I'm pretty sure you can get used to to anything. That's what I've learned from these past couple of weeks. After being in the hotel for a week, I was really unsure about the whole home stay thing. At that point, I was used to western toilets, air conditioning, and my choice of food at the buffet. Since moving in with my host family, I've lost all of that. But, I'm okay with it. Each morning, I wake up freezing under my mosquito net to a rooster crowing just feet away from my window. I finally roll out of bed at about six and make my way to the bathroom.
As I've previously mentioned, it's a squat toilet, which is essentially a hole in the ground.
*The contents of this blog are about to get graphic for those of you with a weak stomach.
It took me a couple of days before my bowels would relax enough to let me go. I was so pumped when I finally did. Like parents potty-training their two-year-old pumped. The next day, I went into that bathroom with a bit of a swagger actually, knowing I could do it. My confidence was knocked down a peg or eight when I discovered that I had missed the hole. Not only the hole; I had missed the entire toilet. Mortified, I frantically searched around for something to pick it up with . Nothing. There was nothing. I took a deep breath...and dug in. Bare-handed. After a massive amount of water and toilet disinfectant, I was satisfied with my clean-up of the area. My hands were another story. I wanted to set my left hand on fire to be sure, but since no matches were to be found I scrubbed the hell out of my hands for about five minutes. (Later that day, at training, when we were asked about our most embarrassing story so far, I could only coyly smile. If they only knew the truth...no one would ever borrow a pen from me again.)
*You may now resume your previously excrement-free reading.
Typically, my bathroom experience is not so eventful. I shower in the evenings with a bucket. There's a large container of cold water and a bucket. Luckily, the weather here is so hot and sticky that it's not too terrible.
Meal times are on the floor. We each get our own plate of rice and take a spoonful at a time of any of the five or so dishes.
In the evenings, we usually sit around on the floor as a family and chat or watch TV. My Thai skills are not so great that I can get much from these shows, except when they make the obvious unrequited love look or bring out machine guns, so I usually spend my time trying to learn the Thai alphabet, which is currently making me it's bitch. My family is great about helping me though.
Each day I'm here seems like a re-affirmation that this is where I should be. One of these days, I'm going to reach a point where I am feeling so uninspired, hot or fed-up that I'm going to question that, but I just need to remember that I've already been up to my wrists in shit.
Saturday, January 22nd
Today, all I wanted to do was stay in bed. This week has been so long and so tiring, I just wanted to chill. But this is the Peace Corps, and down time does not seem to be on the agenda. Ever. Typically, we'll be spending our Saturday mornings learning Thai with our ajaan, but today we did community mapping. It's an exercise that will really help us when we get into our permanent villages because it helps us to determine the important people and places where we live, which will be helpful when we're trying to start projects. So, I met my group at 8 a .m. We went over some key vocabulary before setting off. Our group of five didn't stop at too many places other than our host family's houses. We found the wat and school and places to get snacks along with way.
We stopped at Chris' place where we learned a lot about different plants because his dad is an organic farmer. Most produce in Thailand has a lot of pesticides on it, so he's able to sell all that he has because people know they can trust his food. From there went to the wat, which is really pretty. I want to return tomorrow to take pictures.
Then, we went to Kylene's house, where her dad was able to tell us the names of some of the leaders in her village. My dad is the head of the village where I live. Riding on, we stopped at Rick's where a lot of the people in the community were giving food to about eight monks during some sort of ceremony. We watched for a bit. They sat at the front of the room chanting for the full time we were there and continued after we left, while people either watched or prepared food. The volunteers, me included, each got a turn to spoon rice into a bowl for them. The bowls would then be handed to the monks by only men because the monks aren't allowed to come into contact with women or else they have to do a whole cleansing ceremony. I know I'm describing this like some fifth grade field trip I went on, but I'm not entirely sure what I was watching. I've heard murmurings that they were celebrating a young man who has just become a monk.
We stopped by my house after that, but my dad wasn't home to answer questions. We all met at the health center in our town to map out everything we found. Then we went to eat guut di-ow muu, which is pork with noodles. Kind of like Vietnamese pho. Delicious.
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