Saturday, January 22nd
Today all I wanted to do was stay in bed. This week has been so long and so tiring that I just wanted to chill. Have a little me-time. But no. We had to do 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, of course, is helpful when we're trying to do projects. So, I met my group at 8 a .m. where we went over some key vocabulary before setting off. We needed to know how to ask who the village leaders, or poo-yai-baans are, what certain buildings are, etc. Plus, this was a good opportunity for us to check out where the noodle shops are, kind of a big deal to me.
Our group of five didn't stop at too many other places other than our host family's houses. We stopped at Chris' place to learn about a lot of different plants because his dad is an organic farmer. From there, we went and saw the wat in our area, which is pretty, as most of them are. They're kind of like the Catholic churches in Italy, very elaborately decorated but far more colorful. I want to return tomorrow to take pictures. Then we went to Kylene's house. Her dad was able to tell us 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 people in the community were giving food to about 8 monks during a ceremony to celebrate his host brother becoming a monk. Different from what I previously thought, becoming a monk is not like becoming a priest. For most men, it is not a lifelong occupation. In fact, they are encouraged to leave the monk hood and marry. It is just a way for men to devote themselves to the teachings of Buddhism and grow up. Men are considered raw before being a monk and cooked after, finally able to take on the responsibilities and challenges of being an adult. The ceremony was pretty interesting. Although, I felt like a bit of intruder since I'm not a Buddhist, but the Thais didn't seem to feel that way. They gave us some food to offer to the monks.
The whole experience made me anxious to get to site and discover my own community.
*Edited version of previous post. Completely forgot that I already posted this, but I was able to provide more information about the Buddhist ceremony this time around.
Sunday, January 23rd
Today I stayed in bed until the late hour of 6:45. Lazy me. Actually, I would've laid around longer, but the family wanted to take me to the market with them. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I was definitely the only pale face in the bunch. We picked up some things for dinner and our breakfast. Jame, Bone and I each got sticky rice with shredded pork. Surprisingly tasty.
After we got back home and ate, my mom taught me how to do laundry by hand. I must have done a pretty decent job because she kept telling me, “Geng ma ka,” very good. That, or she just felt bad for me and my lack of clothes-cleaning ability. After that, she wanted me to meet some of her friends, one of whom owns a pork noodle shop. Anyone who owns a goy-dtiao moo restaurant is all right by me. We all sat around and chatted, me spittin' Thai phrases like what?! Not really, but I aspire to eventually have those kinds of chats with people where I can actually participate and not use the verbiage of a two-year-old. Actually, there was a two-year-old there, and I think she was able to say more than I could. Anyway, I ate lunch there, which was excellent. At this point, I could write a Zagat entry on pork noodle restaurants, I've been to so many.
After lunch, Jame wanted to take me to what I thought would be her friend's house. Nope. She took me to Megan's. Then she wanted to take me to Chris' house, where Megan had just returned from because I guess their families are trying to set the two of them up. It's a really tiny community. I actually think Jame just wanted to go there, so she could use the Internet, I was just her convenient excuse to go. It's all good, though. I needed to get out of the house. The three of us went to explore a wat down the street and relaxed on Chris' porch, while he played the guitar. Meanwhile, everyone at home is bundled up in sub-zero temps. Suckas.
Monday, January 24th
Today we had to put condoms on bananas and learn a Thai dance. Enough said.
Tuesday, January 25th
This morning we went to observe a local prahtom, or elementary school. The TCCO group separated into three smaller groups. Each went to a different school. Of the 12 in my group, eight of us interviewed the principal of the school. He seemed like he had the right ideas about what education should be. He wanted a student-centered approach in his classrooms versus teacher-centered.
To give you an idea, American schools are student-centered, wherein unique ideas and critical thinking are encouraged, even expected. For most of Asia, though, rote memorization is the norm. A teacher will stand at the front of the class and lecture on English, mostly focusing on grammar. However, most of these teachers don't even know much English themselves. In math, this may not be such a bad thing, but children will never learn how to converse in English using this method. Hence, the reason we are here. Our job as volunteers is not really to teach English but to help our Thai co-teachers at site develop more effective teaching strategies so as to create a sustainable and long-lasting impact in the community. Also, for those of you who may think that this is just another case of America barging in and trying to impose themselves on different countries, the Peace Corps only goes into countries where they are wanted and into communities where people have indicated a desire to have an American volunteer.
The principal we visited sees the merit in the student-centered approach. In fact, as an example, this year his students made their own shampoo and soap after deciding, as a group, what kind of each they wanted to make. This school seems to be rather esteemed in this area as only 70 of the 269 students are local; the rest come from other districts. It was an interesting conversation. Plus, I got to use some of my rusty journalism skills.
We all converged at our training hub to discuss our experiences at the three schools. All of the principals seemed to care a great deal about their schools. A lot of what determined a good class seemed to be the teachers' classroom management skills.
After learning Thai, this is my next biggest fear. Only after a year of practically begging students to listen to me did I finally get control of my classes in Korea. That was definitely the worst part. And my one class of eight fourteen-year-old boys never did come around. I think I've learned some things, though., which I'll put into effect here.
After lunch, we had language class, where I not only learned how to order at a restaurant but also the words for 'dick', 'boobs', and to do someone. My next restaurant experience should be an interesting one.
Wednesday, January 26th
Language today in the morning. I love Ajaan Sarita. She's so cute and sweet. I really couldn't have asked for a better teacher. She's so well-traveled too. Se spent a year in Australia, and she's been to the States four times to work during summers. She's really patient and moves at a good pace for the three of us.
In the afternoon, Carol and I watched the English class that we'll be doing a practicum in over nine days. Turns out, my little brother from my host family is in my class, which I think is pretty cool. The teacher has only been teaching English for a year and doesn't know much English, but she did a really great job using what English she does know. The class is 15 six-year-old’s, whom I love. There's just something about the little kids that's so refreshing to me. It might be because they're so unsullied by anything negative in the world. They still love school and love their teacher and haven't become bitter about the educational system yet. There's a lot of positive energy in those young classes. I'm looking forward to being there.
Friday, January 28th
Today we had our dry-run for the first day of our practicum. I think it went pretty well. I think we just need to polish it up a bit so that it goes more smoothly in practice. We're teaching some animal words and the numbers one, two, and three.
To tell you the truth, I think everyone's feeling a bit dull this week. It seems we've fallen into a bit of a routine and the honeymoon period is over for most of us. The next two weeks of practicum will hopefully shake things up a bit and get us out of this rut.
Saturday, January 29th
So, on Saturdays we have half days. After this week, I really didn't want to do more PC stuff. This week was stressful because we had to interview the principal of a local school, observe the Thai teacher we'll be co-teaching with, create and present a lesson with our partner for the Thai classroom as well as present a food and do a skit that represents America for Thai Day today. There was a lot going on. I was initially dreading today because I was afraid it would just be a gigantic waste of a precious Saturday, but it turned out to be really fun.
We had to be at our hub site at 8 a .m. wearing our pasins and pakamas. Pasins are the fabric that Thai women wear, mostly to lounge around their house or cover themselves up when going to take a shower. Pakamas are the male versions, but most men I see just wear them around their heads. We sat around chatting with one another for a while and then we all did the Thai dance we had learned earlier in the week. My host dad was at the hub for a meeting of host families and saw me doing the dance, so now every once in a while they want me to do a little bit. Just for a good laugh. We listened to some traditional Thai instruments and then watched as the ajaans did a little rendition of “New York, New York.” It was Frank Sinatra's version, which reminded me of my dad making dinner back at home. It made me a little sad.
After their cute song and dance number, it was the volunteers' turn to present our version of America. We had split into our two technical groups. As it turns out, though, each group did a similar thing, where we split the states up into regions and then each did a little skit from each one. Ours was pretty funny, just fun facts about the Midwest. And a joke knocking Iowa for having only corn. All in all, everyone's was pretty entertaining. I thought that they would all just have stereotypes about how awful Americans are, but we painted a pretty accurate picture, with the occasional bad American culture reference, i.e. the South has a bunch of drunks who love Nascar and all people on the west coast are either hippies or self-obsessed valley girls.
Then, we each had to present the Thai food we had selected earlier in the week. My group had picked a dessert, which was basically coconut soup with bananas. I had bought a version at a local market and brought it home for my family when my host mom told me that she would help me make it. The next day I came home, and she had a couple of neighbor girls scraping the meat out of coconuts with this crazy tool, which is like a little bench with a rounded knife attached. The knife has a serrated edge, so you sit on the bench and scrape out the coconut meat.
Side-note: Coconuts are so much more than I originally thought. First, you have the very inside, which holds the water. Coconut water is really good for you, really hydrating. Then, you have the cream, which is slightly gooey. Towards the outside, is the meat, which is what Americans associate with coconut. By the way, I hate coconut in America. Here, I can't get enough of them.
Anyway, after removing all the meat, you put it into a bowl and then pour hot water over it. Squeeze the liquid out of the coconut, creating milk. Do this a few times until you have the desired amount of liquid. Trash the meat. Put the liquid into a pot and heat it on the stove. Add sugar until it's sweet enough. Slice up bananas and add to the pot. And there you have it. It's so simple but really delicious. Only a small sample of the great foods I've had here.
After our food presentations, we ate lunch, and then headed home. A few of my friends' families as well as mine were at a birthday party, so we headed there and ate more. So much for losing weight here.
Sunday, January 30th
Today I woke up early to do the dishes because my host dad got it into his head that I should get prepared for living on my own for two years. Then, I did my laundry again. There is nothing quite so awkward as having your Thai dad watch as you hang up your bra and underwear. After that, he made me help with breakfast. I made pat pak, which is like stir-fried vegetables and kai diao, which is a fried egg, only more delicious because you use about a cup of oil to cook it. Ordinarily, I would hate the bossing around, but I can tell that my family is actually really loving and cares a lot about me.
After all those chores were finished, the family hopped in the old pickup truck and headed to Ayutthaya City. First, we stopped at a wat with a huge Buddha inside. I feel so awkward in wats. On one hand, I want to be reverent and respectful, but on the other hand, it's not a religion I observe, so am I being disrepectful to their beliefs, mine, both or neither? It's kind of tricky.
Then, we moved on to the market, where we looked around for a bit, then headed to lunch. After, we watched an elephant show, which was pretty cool. One was even able to do crow's pose, which I can't even do. I just hope they're getting fed regularly.
I thought we were going home after that, but we went to the floating market instead. It was just a bunch of stores on a boardwalk over some water, but it was still pretty. Definitely a place I'd return to with people that would like to visit me. :)
We left for home after that. I really do enjoy being around me family. My mom is pretty funny. I hope they like me as much as I like them.
Monday, January 31st
Today started our 4th week of PST. I can't believe we've already been here that long. Just 26 more months to go. Tomorrow starts our practicum in the Thai classroom, so today, during our morning session, Carol and I met with our co-teacher. Tomorrow we're teaching them the words rabbit, bird and fish and working on the numbers one, two and three. I hope it all goes well.
After lunch, we listened to a monk speak about how Buddhism plays into Thai society. It was a very enlightening talk, no pun intended, because it kind of clued me into why some things happen the way they do here. For example, scheduling and being on time is something that we take pretty seriously in the West, but it isn't so much a factor here. Some of that stems from the Buddhist principle that the moment is really what's important, so planning ahead is not really emphasized. Also, Buddha is not a god though some treat him as such, and Buddhism is not a religion. At least it's not a religion in the Western sense because there isn't a god that is being worshiped. In reality, Buddha was just teacher, who was able to reach enlightenment. Honestly, it's something that I am interested in reading more about because it sounded like something I would like to challenge myself with. It's really about living simply and getting rid of all of the desires and distractions in your mind that keep you from reaching an enlightened state. I'm not saying that I'm going all New Age-y on everyone. There are people that combine Buddhism with other religions, like Christianity or Judaism. Personally, I've never been too big a fan of having to choose one thing to believe in anyway. It's very limiting.
Tuesday, February 1st
Today, after morning language classes, Carol and I went for our first day of co-teaching. We had spent quite a bit of time planning the lesson, and I had drawn about four different pictures of birds, rabbits and fish each, totaling 12. I was really nervous beforehand because, although we had spoken to our Thai counterpart the previous day, we only went over the topic and words that we would teach, not the format for how they would be presented or anything. We showed up, and she had a completely different plan worked out.
The whole thing actually went pretty well. The kids got to sing some songs and do some dances. She has a great way of presenting the words to the kids that gets them really excited. So, it threw us for a loop, but Carol and I just kind of rolled with it. I'm learning to just listen to the Thais: mai pen rai. No worries. Hakuna matata style. This teacher knows her students better than we do, and who am I to go in there and tell her what to do anyway? At the end of the lesson, she told the ajaan who was observing us that tomorrow she would let us run the lesson more. I think she was just trying to get us used to the classroom atmosphere. I appreciate all the help I can get. Carol and I planned some more after class. Hopefully, we'll get to use some more of our ideas tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 2nd
Chinese New Year. R.I.P. slaughtered chickens.
Later, Wednesday, February 2nd
At language class today, I asked Sarita if we could take our show on the road one of these days and get out of our classroom. She said yes, so sometime next week, we'll get to go out and put our language skills to the test out in the community. Speaking Thai is getting better. I really enjoy going to class. At the moment, I'm just having some real problems with the pronunciation. My mouth just does not want to make some of the sounds. For example, the word for the fruit rambutan is “ngo.” I sound like I'm choking myself when I try to say it. I'm considering just never getting any while I'm here, which is a shame because they're delicious.
After language, I rode over to Carol's to finish our lesson plans. Although I had already eaten lunch at school, I had to eat some more at her house because her mom had made food. Here lies a value behind every Thai home: wherever you go, you will be invited and expected to eat. This is fine, if you have a huge appetite and your pants are too big. Not so much the case with me.
But I'm trying my best to counteract it. I wake up early to do some exercises and do yoga and more exercises before bed. Hopefully I won't have to invest in any new clothes before I move to site.
The home stay supervisor was around the area and stopped in to east as well, even though she had just eaten at a neighbor's. Even the Thais aren't immune to the constant offering of food. I asked if my host family mentioned anything about me that I needed to change. She said the only thing that they said was that I kept hitting my head on their low doorways. Unfortunately, shrinking is not a possibility at the moment.
Thursday, February 3rd
Today we had our language class and started out by working on pronunciations. I'm doing okay on sentence construction and vocabulary, but my pronunciation is really weak. Not only that, but I can't really tell the difference between what I'm saying and what my ajaan was saying. It wouldn't matter so much, but Thai is a tonal language, so one word can have five meanings depending on how you say it. For example, mai. It can mean new, not, silk, fine, and can be used to convert a statement into a yes-or-no question. Luckily, context helps a great deal, so people aren't likely to think that I'm saying that I want to eat silk when I mean that I don't want to eat at all. It can just be a bit much for the novice to take on.
In the lesson, my teacher kept correcting me, to the point where I was on the verge of tears. I'm not super-sensitive about it, and she's not picking on me, I know, but I was just incredibly frustrated. I think she saw that my face was getting red because she kind of eased up after that. I don't want her to stop correcting me or anything; I've just realized that this is an area that I'm going to have to put more effort into.
After lunch, Carol and I had our second solo teaching session. Today we worked on learning some more animals, using numbers to describe how many and three verbs for what they do. We both thought yesterday's lesson went better because the kids were more into it, but our observer, who is the TCCO technical instructor, told us she had no comments for us; it was that good. I was pretty pleased after that. Tomorrow we're helping them write and playing BINGO.
Saturday, February 5th
Today was Thai Sports Day. On Saturdays, we usually do something fun to learn about Thai culture. Today it was sports, which I was pretty pumped about. We got to the field and separated into our six teams. I was on the green team. We spent the first 30 minutes making up a cheer for our team using both Thai and English words. Ours involved repeating the phrase, “Green team” a lot and some cheer leading stuff. Personally, I would've liked to have put some spirit fingers in there somewhere. We also nicknamed ourselves the Green Cats because green in Thai is key-ow, which rhymes with the word for cat, mee-ow. Fierce, I know. All of our pictures involved cat poses.
After everyone performed their cheers, we played our first game, dta-graw, which is a combination of hacky sack and volleyball. There are three players on each team. One person pitches it to another, and they have to kick it over a net. One team is only allowed three hits to get it over, using any body part but their hands. I sucked at this one. I have terrible eye-foot coordination, which is why I always dread soccer games. My team didn't have the same issues, luckily, so we won the game.
Next, we played chairball. It's like basketball except a person stands up on a chair and holds a basket that others have to shoot into. I actually was pretty awesome at this one, being from basketball country and all. I scored the only two baskets for our team. Of course, some of that success is attributed to the person holding the basket, who can move it to make sure that the ball goes in. A few of us got so into it that the ajaans had to tell us to jai yen yen, which means be patient, but I think in this context it meant calm down. Alas, despite our intensity, the green team succumbed to defeat.
After that, we played a bocce ball type game called petanque. One team throws a smaller ball out onto a playing field, and then the other players try to get as close to it as they can. The team that gets the most balls closest wins. Our team won that one as well.
Last was a relay race. The first person had to blow flour off a coin and pick it up with their mouth or some business. I was waiting at the other end of the field, so I didn't see much except a cloud of dust. The next person had to blow a balloon until it popped. Then, there was a four-legged race to another person, who had to use a cucumber tied to a string around their waist to hit a lime to another person who continues to do the same thing. They called it “Thai Golf.” To me, it looked more like a form of fore-play. Next a person had to eat a banana fed to them by another person while blindfolded. For some reason, this relay race seemed replete with sexual overtones. To more wholesome challenges. Three people had to pass a ping pong ball to each other using chopsticks. This was my part. Typically, I am a pro with the chopsticks. This time, I was apparently buckling under the pressure because I couldn't control the shaking of my hands. I just dropped it on the ground, so the next person could pick it up. Terrible. The last person in line had to beat a box with a stick while blindfolded. We destroyed the competition.
After they announced the winners of the day. Yellow team won the cheer contest, but green made moves where it mattered most and proudly excepted our first place prize of a box of cookies.
We ate some coconut ice cream in a hot dog bun with sticky rice (better than it sounds), played volleyball, and then ate lunch. It was a really great day overall. Nice to be exercising instead of (just) eating, for a change.
On a sadder note, a while ago, my host dad cut his fingers really badly while out in the rice fields one day. He got stitches, and I thought that his hand was getting better, but now he's in the hospital. I think they got infected. My mom's younger sister is staying with us now. I'm really worried. I don't want to be an additional burden to them while he's sick.
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