Saudi Arabia comes to Washington

I told you I wouldn’t be able to stay away for long. I am temporarily coming out of my blogging sabbatical in order to relate my latest adventures, this time right next to home.

It’s been two months since my return to the States and while I haven’t gone through much reverse culture shock, it is strange to be back. Sometimes I wake up and think I’m back in Chiang Mai and I often find myself comparing the people and places of Spokane with those of Thailand. Being home has a unique set of frustrations, even while it is providing me a chance to rest and process everything I’ve experienced. The holidays have been wonderful, although I may say they have also been a bit anticlimactic. It’s hard to explain. The holidays just aren’t the same when you’re away, but I think after looking forward to something for so long I didn’t really remember what to expect. I think part of it has to do with my state of transition. Things will feel a lot more “right” when I am more established, but for now I simply have to navigate a lot of difficult questions, both from others and myself.

That isn’t to say home isn’t everything I had hoped it would be. It has been great to see family again and reintegrate myself into their lives. I’ve also had a fantastic December what with many of my college friends coming to town to visit. I have had many enriching and encouraging conversations while visiting my favorite haunts in Spokane. There is no substitute for the friendship between individuals who know each other well. It is this fellowship that I have missed so acutely and experiencing it again is being home.

So life continues to be busy, even though I have much less on my to-do list. I have no leads on a job as of yet, but in the meantime I’ve been finding ways to volunteer or earn some spending money through babysitting (yes, really) and housesitting. Because my sister recently moved away, I am getting all of her old assignments which has been a big help. The family I am housesitting for again next month has two big dogs, two kittens, several outdoor cats, three horses, four cows and some chickens. It has actually been kind of therapeutic to be out in the country at their house and be around all these animals. I love the nature of the work and being outside. It’s just very “grounding” as one friend expressed it.

Now, the reason I’m writing this update and the source of its title is my latest odd job. Through a series of connections, I have been called upon to do some tutoring out at Eastern Washington University. I was told they have an ESL program that is booming and was expecting it to be (not unreasonably I think) a lot of Spanish speakers. But it’s not. It’s students from Saudi Arabia.

Apparently the Saudi government sponsors some of their students to come and study in the U.S. and, since it’s a great money-maker for the university, Eastern isn’t putting any limits on their program. How or why the tiny, rural town of Cheney Washington has been chosen as a study site for students from Saudi Arabia I have no idea. There certainly isn’t much to do and while I suppose it is quite the cultural exchange for them, I can’t see them integrating particularly well. Yet there it is.

My student is a 20-year-old Saudi guy who I am supposed to help with English conversation in the afternoons. He is very polite and works hard, but the job has ended up being more hassle than it’s worth because of the schedule and the fact that he is often late. Still, it has afforded some interesting opportunities to learn about his culture and to observe his reaction to American norms. He is curious about how I feel about Islam, whether or not I am married, and how much I paid for my car, among other things.

The car was really the tipping point for me deciding to blog about this little experience. After our first session, he followed me out of the library and I did my best to make small talk with him. We made our way to the parking lot where I assumed we would part ways. Instead he continued to follow me, somewhat hesitantly. When it became apparent that he was coming with me to my car I realized that he wanted me to give him a ride home. Now I know it sounds creepy as I write it, but I promise it was perfectly fine, just a bit awkward since I didn’t expect this to be part of the arrangement. Yet, being a sucker, I didn’t feel I could make him walk home in the cold (really, what was I going to say?) and so I offered him a lift.

This pattern continued the next couple of days, somewhat to my chagrin, but the tutoring arrangement is only temporary so I went along with it. However things took a turn for the ridiculous when he asked me to drop him off at Eastern’s central building. Surely this was close enough for him to walk? He kept trying to explain something to me and I couldn’t really understand what he was getting at until we pulled up to the PUB as it’s called and he flagged down two of his friends who proceeded to get into my car. Their English was quite a bit better and they thanked me profusely for giving them a ride back to their apartment, so I forgave them. But so it was that I found myself driving through Cheney Washington of all places with a carload of guys from Saudi Arabia.

Lately my student has not been asking for me to give him a ride home, which I am thankful for. I was surprised at him being okay with it in the first place. For one thing, men and women don’t approach each other at all in Saudi culture. It’s okay for me to work with a student of the opposite gender because neither of us “approached” each other, but outside of that I don’t imagine he is supposed to be spending time with me. Besides that, women aren’t even allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps it was the mere novelty of seeing a woman behind the wheel that was his motivation. 

Anyways, the point is that I may have returned from my year abroad, but my life is definitely different from what it was before I left. One thing that hasn’t changed though is my ability to find myself in bizarre situations.

Decisions, Decisions

 

 "'I've never HAD to make a decision before.'
'Think of it as a challenge,' said Tom, from between pursed lips.
'How do you go about it?' asked Roger...
...'You just- You put together all the- You think this way and that- You make a list- You weight the alternatives-" Tom fell silent. 'I'm a peasant,' he said at last. 'I've never had to make a decision. People like you are supposed to make them for me.'
'What if I make one--and it's wrong?"
'I'm not an expert, but if a decision doesn't work out, my guess would be that you have to make another decision.'
'A SECOND decision?' cried Roger in alarm.
'I'm not an expert, but my guess would be you keep making decisions until you get one that works.'
'That could take YEARS!' said Roger the Toad.
'That's another reason why I don't make them.'

~A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer

 

(Okay I know this post is cheating since I said I wasn't blogging anymore, but I forgot to link to my final album of Thailand photos. As long as I was posting I decided to share this excellent Garfield Minus Garfield comic and quote from a favorite children's book of mine. Hurray for career planning.) Click on the link below for pics. 

 

Thailand Album #3

There and Back Again

Well I’m back. I’ve traded in my flip flops and  sun block for slippers and sweatshirts. There’s a sharp bite in the autumn air and instead of palm trees with coconuts I’m met with the fall colors when I go outside. It’s been a trip and no mistake. It’s very strange to look outside and see freshly plowed farmland and evergreen trees. My parents’ house is very quiet and peaceful. I’m settling into my sister’s old room for the time being. Mine has turned into a sort of play room for grandchildren, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

I’m unpacking slowly and rediscovering my winter weather clothing. I’ve been fighting some pretty serious jet-lag since my arrival on Thursday. I’ve heard it takes about a day for every time zone, so it might be a while. I’ve been waking up at 5:30 a.m. most days, which for me is unheard of, and I generally crash hard around 2:00 p.m. Today I forced myself not to nap, helped by some leftover honest to goodness freshly ground coffee. Yep, I’m home.

I got to see my siblings and niece and nephew on Saturday. It was wonderful to catch up and see how much the little ones had grown. Well, technically I was seeing my nephew for the first time and let me tell you he is cuter than should be allowed and one of the happiest babies I’ve ever seen (and Gwen was a pretty happy baby so that is saying something). Gwen looks about tall enough to be five years old and, while a bit shy at first, didn’t take long to warm up to the strange new aunt from her unremembered past. I gave her presents. I can’t believe how much she’s talking. She’s amazingly articulate and bright. I got to hear a few more details of my sister’s new teaching job and my brother’s new position with fire dispatch as well as relate some of my own stories in person. It was good to catch up and have the entire family together.

I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends in the area. A lot of folks are out of state right now, but there’s a remnant here in Washington and I’ve been trying to give myself something resembling a schedule by making play dates with all of them. Right now there’s not much else for me to do, which is fine because I’m pretty exhausted. It’s going to take some time for me to process everything and re-center myself. And there’s always the dreaded question: What’s Next?

Right now I honestly don’t know. I’m just trying to get back on my feet and adjust to 50 degree weather (yes, I’m freezing, but it’s a wonderful sensation). My short term plan is just to find some sort of job to sustain myself. I’m not too particular as to what. Other than that I don’t have any big plans or goals. I know I need to start looking at my options and making some decisions, and I’ve decided that’s what this year will be for: planning my life. Granted, life and plans don’t generally go together that well, but I can’t just sit around waiting for it to happen. However it’s going to take some time, especially for my indecisive self.

So no, I don’t know what I’ll be doing this year and I don’t have any plans or goals to reach for. I kind of don’t like that, but I’m learning to be okay with it. Jon Foreman, that amazing songwriter whose songs seem to read my mind sometimes, wrote an article recently that I’d like to share here. It’s called “Making a Living” and despite its poetic language, it’s a pretty down-to-earth expression of how I feel. So when people ask me “what’s next?” I’ll probably tell them “I don’t know,” but what I’ll be thinking is “well, I’ll be making a living.”

Thank you all for following my adventures and putting up with my ramblings. It’s meant a lot to know that you guys were out there, reading along and occasionally commenting on my posts. This blog has been a wonderful way for me to express myself and to process through all of my many experiences in the last two years. Yes, the last two years. This blog holds many of the experiences of the last two years of my life. They’re there, online, for anybody to find and read (although they’d have to look pretty hard). I find that to be a bit strange and so I’ve decided, for many reasons, that I’d like to give blogging a break for a little while.

It’s not just for that reason. My internet access is more limited now and I’ll need to devote more time to job hunting. I’m no longer living out of the country so I won’t have as much to write about (not that life will be any less interesting, just that it will be less interesting to read, or maybe just harder to write about). Plus if I do get a job in the area I will feel less comfortable about publishing myself online, not that I wasn’t wary of this before but I felt a little more justified in writing a personal blog overseas than I would here at home. Plus I just feel that it would be good to live less of my life online and to spend less time writing about myself :-). I may pick it up again at some point, but for now I’m signing off. So thanks for reading and I promise that I will be in touch.

Blessings and Peace,

Heidi

Last Days in Phuket

After our mad scramble across the country, our time in Phuket was a lot of sabai sabai living. We went to the beach several times per day, swimming in the ocean and eating fresh seafood at one of the many seaside restaurants.

We did manage to schedule a boat tour of the surrounding coast on Tuesday, our last full day in Thailand. For this we were crammed into a bus with a bunch of youngish Thai people and carted around to various touristy locations. For me the main attraction was just seeing a little more of the surrounding area. I didn't really care too much for the actual stops. The first of these was at a sort of cave with some Buddhist statuary, which was kind of neat, and some very friendly and overfed monkeys, which were also kind of neat. We then got herded onto a boat and went to visit "James Bond Island," which was featured in a James Bond movie in the 70's and which marketing types are still milking for all its worth. Even in the low season it was overcrowded and rather underwhelming I thought, but the boat ride was pretty and it was neat to see a different side of Thailand. We then stopped at a Muslim Thai village, which I think stopped being a legit fishing village a long time ago and is now filled with market stalls selling the usual souvenirs. The village was built entirely on stilts over the water, a la Venice, and we wandered through the residential section, which was made of some pretty nice houses and some not so nice houses and featured a lot of pet cats and caged birds. I couldn't help imagining a bus load of Muslim Thai tourists being dropped off at Fairfield, walking the streets with their digital cameras and taking pictures of Kelly's Thrift and weird lawn ornaments. The locals would be out selling "America" t-shirts and hats, the town mayor pushing to get more tours scheduled to save the town's economy. It made me smile to think of this alternate universe. I felt like a strange sort of intruder, interested, but ultimately finding it weird to think of someone's home as a tourist attraction. We had a good day though, touristy as it was, and I was glad we'd done the tour. 

We had perfect weather for our entire stay except for the very last day. On our final day in Phuket, I woke up to gray clouds and drizzling rain. Usually to get to the beach we had to go on an unglamorous walk past various construction sites before getting to a smaller path sheltered by a tree canopy. It was always kind of refreshing to make your way through this after the initial slog on the pavement in the sun, but after the rain it became something between a swamp and an obstacle course. Once I reached the beach, I hoped that the clouds would disperse, but after sitting it out on my beach towel for a while I gave up hope. The light drizzle was turning into actual rain. The clouds glared down at me menacingly, as if telling me my time was up and it was time to pack for home. I grabbed my things and headed back, tiptoeing around the mud and catching my bag on the barbed wire fence on the right. Yes, Thailand was no longer welcoming and it was time to go. 

We did have one last meal by the beach. I ate a fantastic crab curry with rice and a mango shake to wash it down. Later in the evening we got cocktails and appetizers, enjoying one last evening by the beach. Memories of right before I came to Thailand kept playing in my head: the guy at the spokane airport who told me to try some "dang mo," getting lunch (or was it dinner?) at the Greek/Italian restaurant next to Whitworth with Laura and the book club, saying goodbye to my brother and niece... I can't believe it's been a year. Our taxi will arrive in 30 minutes. soon I will be flying back across the Pacific. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. Can't wait to see home. 

sunday, October 16th

We spent most of  saturday in transit, we spent most of the morning hanging out at the hotel, waiting for 3:30 to roll around so we could head to the sukothai airport. We checked out from one of my favorite hotels in the entire world (seriously people, they had pet rabbits that hopped around the parking lot) and bid farewell to our gracious hosts. The sukothai airport was tiny but super nice with a well-furnished open-air lobby, plenty of free reading material and even complementary snacks. We boarded our small plane and made a seamless transition in Bangkok. 


We arrived in Phuket around 10:00 p.m. on the 15th and got settled in our small but comfy rooms. We were a ways from the beach but beachside accommodation was a bit spendy and it was a short walk away. sunday morning we headed down to the beach for a day of sun and sand, still blessed with some amazingly cooperative weather. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and after swim in the sea I stretched myself out thinking it would be nice to even out my horrendous farmer's tan. What ended up happening is I got well and truly toasted. Let this be a testament to the fact that I DON'T TAN! I knew this to be true but I thought that maybe, just maybe, with spf 50 sunscreen the worst that would happen is I would be just as white as before. Not so. My back turned a lovely shade of magenta and I got to spend the rest of my vacation wincing whenever I changed in or out of my swimming suit. But hey, it's a battle scar, it's what happens when you put a scandinavian in a tropical climate, it's vindication of my sun-phobia this entire year. so yes, it was not a good day for my lily white skin and I'm coming out of Phuket a little on the extra-crispy side, but now I never have to feel pressured to try and get a tan ever again. 


We needed to figure out how we were going to finish the last leg of our trip. After carefully monitoring the flood situation in central Thailand, I thought it would best to avoid Bangkok as much as possible. Therefore we came up with the idea of grabbing the latest flight we could out of Phuket and avoiding staying in Bangkok at all. 


We decided to make a quick trip to Phuket Town in order to finish up some souvenir shopping and sort out our final travel arrangements. We got dropped off at town's day market and had some difficulty finding information about a travel agency or airline office. Finally we broke down and asked the extremely annoying taxi drivers if they knew of a nearby travel agency. Their English was pretty basic and so when I tried to explain what we wanted they kept saying "up to you! up to you!" "I don't know!" I responded. It was getting pretty frustrating. After a few minutes, one of them pointed us around the block and, when continued to look lost, he offered to drive us for a ridiculously high price. I negotiated to make it a round trip fare and a few minutes later we were pulling up to the travel agency named "Up To You Travel." Oh. We had to do a lot of monkeying around in order to reserve our flights as they didn't have a computer system and their credit card machine wasn't working, but we got our reservations and the flight was late enough that we wouldn't even have a very long layover in Bangkok. Back we went to the market, which was crazy and crowded and a cultural experience in and of itself. After only a little bit of that I was feeling pretty drained, so we finished making our purchases grabbed some dinner and negotiated a fare back to the northern side of the island. 

Friday, October 14th

We had to wait for the travel agent to open at 8:30 in order to book our flights, but we got up, had breakfast and began to prepare to leave. When 8:30 finally came, the receptionist made our call for us and this is when we discovered that there were no flights available that day. I suppose we should have forseen this since the floods made flying the only option if you had to travel south. There were seats available the next day but we couldn't book them over the phone, so we hurried down to the agency where I discovered that those flights were also filling up fast. I grabbed the first option I could, which wasn't until the next evening and which would squeeze our beach time considerably. At this point though I was mainly concerned with getting south of the flooding so that we wouldn't miss our final flight out of Bangkok. I figured that if something happened to the Bangkok airport between now and the 20^th, we would be able to work something out, but if we missed our flight because of poor planning it would be a different story.

As soon as I was assured we had a ticket out of sukothai I began to relax a little. I was still a bit anxious that our flight might get cancelled, but I figured we'd done what we could. The travel agency was beginning to fill up with customers at this point, one of whom was a little girl who became enamored with me the moment she walked in. since I was a white person and since white people generally teach English, she assumed I must be an English teacher and decided to practice her English on me. “Thaaaaank yoooouuuu teeeeaaaacheeerrr,” she repeated over and over. It just about killed me it was so cute. I tried to ask her what her name was (in Thai) but she got confused and started asking me what my name was. Then she pretended to be a butterfly. As we left the agency I heard her tell her mom in Thai, “Teacher's going home.” she waved goodbye and I felt considerably less stressed due to the encounter.

Now we had an extra day in sukothai and had to figure out what to do with it. There was another historical park further from the city and the hotel manager (who was a really nice guy) recommended we go there. We had nothing better to do so we went and it was really pretty cool. You could tell it wasn't as popular of a destination and that it was the low season because we were probably the only tourists around. As we approached the park I heard the vendors tell each other “foreigners are coming!”

Again we rented bicycles and cycled around a mostly deserted park. Both my parents seemed to agree that this day was even better than the one before it, so it turned out that our delay was a good thing. There were some truly impressive ruins at this park, which at times seemed pretty removed from civilization. I felt like some sort of 19th century explorer as I climbed overgrown steps up to temple ruins, surrounded by the calls of exotic birds and the musty smell of jungle vegetation. But 19th century explorers didn't have convenient paved paths, old-fashioned one-speed bicycles, or an ice cream cooler waiting for them at the end of the day. 

Thursday, October 13th

Let me begin by saying that I really, really loved our hotel in sukothai and that at this point I was beginning to understand why so many people love vacationing in Thailand. The hotel was really nifty and had a lot of antique items on display. More to the point, the staff was amazing: super friendly, informative and helpful.

The thing about Thailand is you can have a really good experience for not too much money. With an exchange rate of 30 baht to the dollar, everything comes out to be super cheap. I've enjoyed watching my dad go through a different kind of sticker shock as he initially receives bills for hundreds of baht before realizing it only comes out to about $20 or so. Of course, I wouldn't be able to afford much on my “volunteer” salary, but that's what parents are for, right?

I thought one day in sukothai would be enough time to see the ruins in the historical park, which was basically the reason we had come. When we arrived at the park, we were able to rent some bicycles in order to get around, which was a good idea because the grounds were pretty expansive. It was overcast and I was worried about the threat of rain, but this also meant the weather was cooler and cycling in the fresh air surrounded by green trees and old temple ruins was one of the most pleasant experiences I've had in Thailand.

Around noon we began to hear some thunder and so we hurried back to the shelter of the park museum. We managed to time it perfectly because just as soon as we paid our entrance fees it began to pour. We were able to remain nice and dry as we looked at all the museum artifacts and, conveniently, the rain stopped just about the time we had finished.

We grabbed lunch at a street-side place where I tried “guey tiao sukothai,” which is basically a noodle soup sukothai is famous for. It was okay, but a little bland. Then as the weather had cleared we hopped back on our bikes and toured more of the park. We didn't manage to see everything because the grounds were so big, but we caught the major highlights and had a very satisfactory day.

On returning to the hotel it was time to figure out what we were going to do for the next leg of our journey. I had thought it would make the most sense to go to Hua Hin, which is a beach location just a few hours away from Bangkok. Originally we were going to take the train or the bus down there, but the flooding in central Thailand meant this wasn't an option. Luckily both sukothai and Phitsanalok have airports so we decided to book a flight down south. This meant our options were considerably more open and we began to consider whether or not we wanted to try for something further south. Enjoying a leisurely dinner while studying my Lonely Planet guide and considering whether to go to Hua Hin or Phuket has to be one of the most enjoyable decision-making process I've ever gone through. We decided that as plane tickets were cheap and this was our one chance to travel in Thailand, we may as well go for Phuket.

After a perfect day of sightseeing, I relaxed my sore muscles in the pool before heading to bed. “I could get used to this,” I thought. Unfortunately things were not going to continue so smoothly.

Wednesday, October 12th

I had decided to take the train down to sukothai, our next destination. I guess this is a bit weird as it's not as fast as the bus and probably (in retrospect) more hassle. But I love trains and I wanted to do it and my poor parents were too greng jai and too overwhelmed to do anything about it. I had booked 2^nd class tickets but on arriving at the station I learned that there were no 2^nd class seats that day and we would have to take 3^rd class. Well, there was nothing to be done so I got a refund and we climbed aboard. Anisha and Katie came to see us off, which was extremely nice of them as it was 6:45 in the godforsaken morning. We got settled in the carriage, which was definitely bare bones transport. The seats were hard as a rock, there was no air con and one of the windows seemed to be stuck open. My parents were good sports about it all (as always) although I'm sure they were less than thrilled. I, however, was a happy camper as the train began to build speed, rhythmically rolling along the tracks. Trains have an old-fashioned charm for me and there's nothing like traveling in one. After spending a good portion of my childhood in transit, I have mastered the art of scenery-appreciation, and so I put in my headphones, pulled out my camera and began to watch the world go by. It didn't even matter that I hadn't had breakfast.

It began to matter though as we realized there was no edible food to be had for the entire seven hour journey and while I didn't mind this hardship I felt bad for forcing my parents to endure it. As we continued along, the train car began to fill up, making us realize we were more than a little out of place. I headed to the dining car for a bottle of water and when the man there discovered I could speak Thai, he actually shook my hand. Back in my seat next to the open window, I decided to put on some sunscreen. A Thai guy in a camo jacket saw me do this and almost immediately got up and put down the metal “shades” on my window in order to protect my delicate white skin from the sun. It was very thoughtful of him, but it meant I couldn't see anything anymore. But I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I contented myself with my iPod for a while. I couldn't help noticing though that he kept staring at me and after awhile I got too self-conscious and switched seats. Only a few minutes later a Thai woman moved up in order to take my spot. Before sitting down she thoroughly scrubbed the entire seat with a piece of newspaper, making me wonder if I'd left some sort of farang contamination or something. Yet she was very nice and even took our trash from us when she saw us looking for a garbage can. I didn't really want to make this woman throw away my trash as I was perfectly capable of doing so, but she didn't really give us much choice.

Finally we pulled into Phitsanalok around 2:30 p.m., where we would have to catch a bus to sukothai (like I said, probably more hassle than it was worth but I had to do it). On arrival I thought the most important thing to do was find a place to get some food. I didn't imagine we would have to go too far but nothing immediately outside of the station seemed promising. We had eight pieces of luggage between the three of us. Before you start thinking that we are particularly high-maintenance travelers or complete idiots, let me be clear that most of these were carry-on size and that my parents had brought an extra at my request. But it was not particularly fun to wander down the street with them all while the tuk-tuk drivers hassled us. I managed to ask someone where a restaurant might be and he simply pointed down the street and said the word “hotel.” I left my bags with my parents and ran ahead to see how far it was and when I discovered it was only around the corner we managed to make our way there and squeeze inside.

The hotel/restaurant was less than busy as Phitsanalok is not a very popular destination and it is the low season. There was a flurry of excitement when we came in the door and one employee started grabbing our bags while several people seemed to be speaking in rapid Thai. After some confusion I surprised myself by communicating in Thai that we didn't intend to stay but wanted to eat. They were a little disappointed I think but they gave us a table and we were able to order some decent Thai food. I was thanking the heavens above for my intensive Thai classes at this point as their English was pretty much nonexistant. From there it was pretty straightforward to get a songtaew to the bus station, except that we ended up in a tiny vehicle with barely enough room for ourselves and our luggage. I wasn't sure how long we would have to wait for a bus to sukothai but the answer turned out to be about 0.1 seconds. As soon as we arrived at the bus station an attendant hurried up to us shouting “sukothai!” and practically shoved us on a departing bus. That's what I call good timing.

So we made it! When we arrived at the bus station I was able to call the hotel for a free transfer. While we were waiting for this, we were entertained by a small child playing with a bouncy ball. The child soon decided that we were far more interesting and began playing with our luggage. For a moment, I thought he was going to try to come with us! He seemed to like my mom in particular. But his own mom recovered him and our ride arrived. We got settled in our rooms and so our travels began. 

Tuesday, October 11th

For my final day in Chiang Mai I had scheduled a visit to an elephant camp near town. This is something I had already done with Zoe, my friend from New Zealand, but it was fun to take my parents up there. We had a great tour guide who, when he discovered I had been living in Chiang Mai for a year and still didn't have a Thai nickname, took it upon himself to christen me with one. He decided to call me “Malee” for the rest of the tour, which means Jasmine. “It's white, like you,” he said. Once again the weather was perfect and we had a very enjoyable day which ended in bamboo rafting down the river. I had been so worried about the flooding in Chiang Mai the week before and what this might mean for my parents' visit that I was very grateful for the weather we got. In fact, I felt a bit guilty for being so selfish about such a thing when I knew that the floods were far more dangerous and damaging to many people while all I had to worry about was whether or not we would have fine weather for our leisure time. This year has done a lot to take me out of my sheltered American bubble, but I am obviously still a spoiled brat at the end of the day.

During the raft ride, one of our “captains” started asking me questions and I was able to have a conversation with him in Thai that basically used up most of my vocabulary. I really didn't get many chances to practice my conversational Thai this year because I was usually either teaching English or hanging out with native English speakers, so it was fun to actually apply what I'd learned. In fact, many of the places I've gone I've overheard people turn to each other and remark “she can speak Thai!” which is utter bull but still good for my ego.

What with all my activities, I hadn't had much of a chance to arrange a final goodbye with my coworkers, not to mention Esther and Rob. So on returning we worked out a way to meet Esther and Rob for dinner and then I resolved to try and meet up with the other volunteers, who were celebrating a birthday. It was good to officially say farewell to Rob and Esther, who have in so many ways shaped my experience of Chiang Mai and who I owe so much to. I will miss working for Esther, who was less like a boss and more like a mom, and I will miss Rob's curmudgeonly presence. I will miss hanging out at their house and their amazing suppport and guidance. They are the ones who ultimately made this year possible for me by creating this position. I have gained so much through it and am very thankful. But all things must come to an end and so I turned in the keys to my motorbike and received goodbye hugs despite my contagious condition. I'm really pretty awful with goodbyes under normal circumstances and in this instance I think I was even more quiet than usual.

By this time it was pretty late so I decided to head back to the dorm with hopes the other volunteers would swing by. I walked my way back from the Nawarat Bridge, a familiar walk for me, while reflecting on the year. I wasn't disappointed when I returned. After a few minutes of packing, Katie informed me that the other volunteers had come to say goodbye. We spent some time shooting the breeze outside the gate of the nursing campus. My friend som took one look at me and said, “Don't cry.” “I'm not,” I replied matter-of-factly, which was apparently not the correct response because then she got offended and hit me over the head. Again people insisted on giving me hugs, so if the entire team has pinkeye I refuse to take any responsibility. I also made sure to say goodbye to Jew, my former student and coworker, and to Yaweav, the nursing student who had so kindly shown me around when I was new and confused. Then I finished packing my things and prepared for an early departure in the morning.

Monday, October 10th

I left my parents to their own devices this morning as I had several errands to run. I needed to visit the Immigration Office for one more check in, sort out my bank account (did I mention I also lost my bank card right before my parents came?), visit the doctor, and arrange our transportation out of Chiang Mai. I managed to get everything done except the last task before noon, when I met my parents for lunch and we sorted out what to do for the rest of the day. I had been wanting to visit the museum, but unfortunately we discovered it was closed on Mondays (Of course. Are you sensing a pattern here?) so we decided it would be best just to take it easy so we could go souvenir shopping that evening. For dinner I was going to take them to a neat restaurant I knew of by the river, but it also was closed, probably due to the previous week's flooding so we ended up eating at the market. Otherwise the weather really didn't inconvenience us much. 

Shopping with my parents was an interesting experience because it was so different to be treated like a tourist and so fun to surprise the vendors with my knowledge of basic Thai. I did my best to haggle with them for cheaper prices, but while I generally failed to get much of a discount I was always guaranteed to get a smile. During this entire trip it has been fun to inform people that I've lived in Chiang Mai for a year and to show off a little bit of my Thai. People on the tourist circuit are generally very surprised and pleased. 

sunday, October 9th

I had a full day planned for sunday, so I was very dismayed to find that both my eyes were red when I woke up that morning, which meant I probably had pinkeye. Lucky me. Of course that would happen at the beginning of my two weeks of travel. I reluctantly reached for my glasses, which are not quite the right prescription, and mentally altered the day's plans to include a visit to my most favorite place in Chiang Mai: McCormick Hospital. After meeting my parents for breakfast next to the east gate of the city, we all took a songtaew back up to the hospital where I discovered that the eye clinic was closed on sundays. Of course. Well there wasn't much I could do except continue with my day's itinerary, so we hailed another songtaew to take us over to Chiang Mai University where we chartered another one to take us up Doi suthep, Even though my health wasn't cooperating, the weather certainly was and we had a beautiful day for sight-seeing. After visiting the temple on the mountain, we continued up to the Phuphing Palace to look at the gardens. Unfortunately not much seemed to be in season, but it was still pleasant to be out of the city and up in the cooler, fresh mountain air.

That afternoon I had planned on attending Chiang Mai Community Church with my parents, both so they could visit it and so that I could say goodbye to people, but we were pretty tired by the time we made it back from Doi suthep. I didn't particularly want to spread a pinkeye epidemic around Chiang Mai's Christian community and, probably more to the point, my vanity didn't really give me a desire to go and interact with lots of people. I didn't really want my last impression on anybody to be me looking like something out of a zombie movie. Really the entire time I had pinkeye was pretty miserable as I felt like I should have been ringing some kind of warning bell and possibly shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” at intervals. This was also the day that I found I had shared my unfortunate affliction with my roommate, so I basically felt like a terrible person and a menace to society.

After a nap, I chose to take my parents to a restaurant on the roof of the Pornping Hotel (Are you laughing at that? What are you 12?) We had a beautiful view of the city at night and it was dark enough that no one could see my eyes. Getting there was a bit of a trick and we ended up taking a three-wheeled “Tuk-tuk,” which was a new experience for my parents, who were only just getting used to Chiang Mai's ubiquitous songtaews. After dinner we went to check out the sunday night market, but I was tired and neither of my folks are really into shopping, so after a brief look we called it a day.

saturday, October 8th

My parents were scheduled to arrive early on saturday, October 8. Mai had found a really good deal on a very nice hotel in town that her mom had stayed at, and so I made reservations for them there and arranged for an airport pick up. I was pretty anxious and excited the night before their arrival as I hadn't seen them in a year and as there was so much to sort out regarding our travel plans, not to mention the prospect of saying goodbye to everyone in Chiang Mai and the looming job search that will greet me when I finally make it home. I didn't sleep well that night and when I woke up that morning I noticed that one of my eyes was bloodshot. Choosing to ignore this unfortunate and forboding symptom, I hurried down to the hotel where I anxiously awaited my parents arrival, only to discover that their original flight had been cancelled and they wouldn't arrive for another hour or so. So I went back to my room and took a nap before driving back down to the hotel where I was able to greet my parents and make sure they got settled okay.

It was strange and a little surreal to have my parents staying in Chiang Mai. After they'd had a chance to rest and recover from their long flight, I took them up to the nursing campus where we had lunch at my “usual” restaurant and I showed them around my adopted home. Then we went back to the Old City and did a brief walking tour of some of the highlights of the city. It was fun to show off my knowledge of Chiang Mai and see my parents' initial reactions to Thailand. We had a bit of difficulty making it back to the hotel, but we made it in the end and arranged a time to meet for breakfast in the morning. 

Goodbyes

It feels like these last two weeks are one long goodbye. The nursing dorm hosted a nice farewell party for me, which was attended by most of the Christian cell group and several nursing staff. It was very touching, but very surreal. I have worked with and lived with these people for an entire year, and yet in many ways I still know very little about them. I'm sure there are things I will miss about living and working in the nursing dorm. Teaching English has been rewarding and I know I'd be hard pressed to find a more fulfilling job. Yet I never really felt established enough in this position to really feel connected to it. I'm happy with what I've learned and accomplished and have really been blessed by the people here, but it just feels like it's time to move on, if that makes sense. 

Last week we had a retreat for all the volunteers. It was a mix of the newbies, Caitlin, Katie and Aki, the current volunteers Eric and Anisha, and those of us who are leaving, Mai, sarah and myself. We were all given a chance to reminisce and reflect on our time here and to evaluate the position as well as give recommendations on how it could be improved. It was weird to think back to our first "meeting" of this sort when we were all introducing ourselves. 

Then this weekend my friend som organized a farewell party for me. It was a bit weird to have it when I still have several days left in Chiang Mai, but it was also kind of nice as it made it less of a big deal. I don't really like big, emotional goodbyes. I always feel like I'm expected to feel a certain way and I don't like making a big show of my emotions. so I'm always caught between trying to conform with people's expectations and feeling like a big phony or like there's something wrong with me for not getting all emotional. It's not that I'm a robot, I just get self-conscious. 

But now the final goodbyes have begun. sarah and Mai leave for a one month bike trip tomorrow. I said goodbye to sarah, my original roommate, tonight. It reminded me of saying goodbye to Zoe in Franz Josef. I just have this feeling that I'll see sarah again, just like I did with Zoe. I was right that time, so hopefully I'll be right this time too. I'll bid Mai goodbye tomorrow. Thursday will be my final spaghetti dinner (depending on the weather) and quiz night, so I'll say goodbye to a lot of folks there. Then my parents arrive and it'll be the real deal in one short week. It's kind of exhausting. I understand the need to mark these transitions, that it gives closure and all that, but this is why I kind of dislike these events. It's tiring to continually be attending them. 

I was thinking about taking a short trip this week, but I've decided just to hang around town. It'll be less stressful and gives me more of a chance to wrap up any loose ends. I'm glad I have all of you waiting for me on the other side of all these goodbyes. 

Classical Music psa

I've finished grading! To express my happiness, here is a favorite piece of mine by Chopin. I think Chopin is my favorite composer for solo piano. He's so diverse and expressive and he makes such a great use of the instrument. All of his pieces have a lot of different colors and voices to them. This one is one of his etudes, which is basically supposed to be a boring finger exercise but in this case it's an exercise in awesome. This particular etude is in Gb Major and is known as the "Black Keys" etude. I like the way it builds around 0:20. Listen for the pentatonic scale around the 1:00 mark. Fun stuff and expresses my current mood.

Working with non-musicians

Trying to provide music to the people who need it can be a challenge, especially when they have no idea how music works. I have been helping to lead worship music on piano twice a week for chapel. It hasn't been too difficult as the service is only for half an hour and usually only includes one song, but there have still been some awkward moments. For example, the times when the person leading the singing has looked over to me, during the service, just after I've played the intro, and said "lower please!" While there are very talented pianists who are capable of accommodating such requests, I am not one of them. Especially not when I am trying to sight-read a hymn.

 This brings me to yesterday. On arriving at chapel I was informed that the speaker wanted to use "Amazing Grace." This wasn't what I had chosen, but I didn't mind too much as I know it pretty well which would make sight-reading easier. But then I was informed that the students would be reading the English lyrics off of a slideshow. Not a powerpoint presentation, a slideshow that automatically switched from one slide the next. I pointed out that I would have no idea what tempo to play at in order to synchronize with the slideshow and it would be better if somebody changed the slides manually. At this realization, it was suggested that I play along with the music that accompanied the slideshow. Not only was this a bit unnecessary, this time I had to point out that the music was in a completely different key from the hymnal. so we ended up singing along with the prerecorded music and I kind of just laughed to myself about the whole thing.

Happily, the occurrence did give me a great excuse to share this video. I saw it because one of my fellow music majors posted it on facebook. Oh so true.

More things you cannot do on an airplane

I started writing this several weeks ago, and only now have I found the time to sit down and try to finish it. so here is a list of more things you cannot do on an airplane. 

• hip hop dancing
• play guitar
• fly the airplane
• touch the flight attendant (!)

Oh my students... They had to make a second list of things you cannot bring on an airplane. One particularly creative group said "people who are die," by which I figured out they meant "dead people." Okay. This actually sparked an argument with another group over whether or not ghosts counted as "dead people" since someone claimed to have seen a ghost on an airplane. 

This brings me to an interesting cultural observation. Pretty much everyone in Thailand believes in ghosts and many people will claim to have seen one. During my time here at Payap there have been several sightings and people take them very seriously. Nobody would ever be laughed at for such a claim. 

Thailand is a very superstitious country. There is a very sincere belief in the supernatural. People consult monks or perform rituals as a way to interact with these forces. It's very different from contemporary Western culture, where such beliefs would probably be considered childish and unscientific. Not so in Thailand.

While I'm generally a skeptic regarding these sorts of thing, this pervasive belief in the supernatural has given me some food for thought. I mean, I could laugh at such beliefs, but let's face it, I'm a Christian. That means I automatically have some pretty crazy beliefs in the supernatural myself. Coming out of Western culture, I'm more used to the skeptical approach. While it may be that many people believe in God or spirits or "forces" or whatever, not being a hardcore materialist pretty much seems like intellectual suicide. It is often touted as the only "rational" approach to thought, and I suppose I might agree depending on what people mean by "rational." Unfortunately though, by "rational" people often mean "intelligent" or even "sane," as if anybody who believes in anything outside of nature ought to be stripped of all credibility. so while I have found the emphasis on ghosts and spirits a bit unnerving, rather weird and somewhat laughable, it has been interesting to live in a society where the supernatural is still taken seriously.

Here is an article from a local magazine about superstition and the workplace. While I haven't experienced any of the examples in the article (except for hearing news about a need for ghost-protection) it does give you an idea of how different attitudes to the supernatural are here.

http://www.chiangmainews.com/indepth/details.php?id=1406

When students learn too much about you

I have a lot of things I could post about. I simply haven't had time to blog, and you know that means I've been seriously busy. What else would keep me from the self-importance of obsessively writing about my life? While there are better things I could write about,  today's post will be devoted to a technological mishap in the classroom.

It all began when I temporarily lost all the files on my thumb drive due to a virus. The files have since been restored and no harm done, thankfully, but it meant I was in a tight spot this afternoon and had to use my laptop for my Critical Thinking lecture. What I'd forgotten was that I had the screensaver set to My Pictures slideshow. so while my students were completing an in-class exercise, this rather interesting photo from freshman year at Whitworth came up.

My students were baffled, to say the least. My response? "Oops. Um, that is my friend Libby from college. she got taped to a wall once..."

In which I accidentally commit a major theft

This morning I was dozing in bed, in denial about the start of another day, when Katie returned from an early breakfast with symptoms of food poisoning.

"Heidi? I just came back from the restaurant next door and I feel like I've got food poisoning, could you do  me a favor?" she asked.

"Huh? Wha? What's going on...?" I mumbled incoherently.

"I feel like I've got food poisoning and I need you to do me a favor."

"Oh no! sure, what do you need?"

Katie managed to explain that she had been eating at the restaurant next to the dorm when she suddenly felt very sick. she had slapped some money on the counter and hurried back to the dorm as fast as possible and now she needed me to fill up a couple of her water bottles and retrieve her new motorbike from outside the restaurant. I quickly performed the first task and then showered and got dressed before heading next door fetch Katie's bike. Katie had just purchased the bike, a red Honda Dream, the morning before. It was supposed to be in the alley next to the restaurant. I turned the corner and, sure enough, there was Katie's bike parked next to the restaurant. I put in the keys to unlock it and then, as it's a bit more complicated to start than what I'm used to, I pushed it back to the nursing dorm and parked it next to my bike.

After this I went for a late-morning walk to Bake'N"Bite for a nice sunday brunch. I took my time eating and then moseyed back to the dorm, not looking forward to all the prep I had to do for this week's lessons. Katie seemed a lot better and I told her where her bike was and that I needed to go to the library for a little while. I grabbed my things and drove to the main campus, did some work, checked out a book I needed and then came back to put the finishing touches on this week's lesson plan.

I had just entered my room when the phone rang. It was one of the house mothers. It was difficult to understand what she needed, but I made out that she had a message for me from security and it had to do with a bike. I had accidentally left my bike in the no-overnight-parking zone not too long ago and thought I was in for a lecture. Finally she made it clear that security wanted me to come downstairs so they could speak with me. Uncertain as to what this was all about, I went and found that a handful of people were circled around my bike in the dorm parking area. One of the students was there and started asking me questions in broken English. All I could figure out was she wanted to know why I had a red bike now. I explained that it belonged to my friend Katie, and why I had come to get it. I wondered what the problem was. They kept saying the word "restaurant" and indicating the bike. Yes, I had gotten it from the restaurant because Katie had left it there. What was the deal? Then, somehow, either because someone found the right word or because I recognized one of the restaurant employees standing in the circle of people, I realized the mortifying truth. I had taken the wrong motorbike.

A few moments of me covering my face, saying "oh my gosh," and apologizing repeatedly in Thai and in English followed while everyone else began to laugh. They wanted to know where the keys were because I had locked it. Well, Katie was no longer in the dorm but I told them I would go call her and fled the scene. I contacted Katie and found out she was at Esther's, but by the time I returned they must have brought their own keys because they had moved the bike. One of the house mothers insisted on taking me to the restaurant where we found Katie's bike, parked much further up the alley. I was able to prove that the two bikes were the same color and model. Then I went back and got my own bike and picked up Katie. We had a good laugh about it and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the story gets around to the rest of the dorm staff and all of my coworkers.

I mean, on the one hand it's quite a good thing that it was one of the employees' bikes. They at least knew who I was and where to find me. On the other hand, I may never be able to eat at that restaurant again. Or at least not for a week. 

Untranslatable Words

I had an inexplicable urge to look up untranslatable words tonight. It's something we were talking about a loooong time ago and I always meant to look it up and never did. so I Googled it and found a couple of lists and a blog called betterthanenglish.com These are words that cannot be translated accurately in one word in English. Many of them are words that identify with, although some are just words I found funny. I'll leave you to guess which is which. Anyhow, I wanted to share so enjoy!

I was inspired to include this in a blog post after reading this word:

Dépayser, French - The feeling of not being in one’s home country. Disorientation due to experience of unfamiliar surroundings. A sense in which one is “a fish out of water”.

As it turns out the French are pretty good at expressing things.

Dérive, French - An aimless walk through the city streets.

L’esprit d’escalier, French - The feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said. Literally translate to “the spirit of the staircase”.

Rire dans sa barbe, French - Literally, “to laugh in your beard”. To laugh to oneself quietly while thinking about something that happened in the past. (The question is, do they have a word for the weird look people give you after you do this?)

Tartle, Scottish – The act of hestitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name. (Ahem, I may or may not have experienced this recently...)

Scunner, Scottish - Expresses annoyance or disappointment. e.g. “My motorcycle has a flat back tyre, what a scunner.” “What a scunnersome wee boy that is, always misbehaving.” (Don't you want to experience annoyance or disappointment now just so you can use this word?)

Wabi-Sabi, Japanese – Much has been written on this Japanese concept, but in a sentence, one might be able to understand it as “a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.”

Tingo, Pascuense (Easter Island) – Hopefully this isn’t a word you’d need often: “the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them.”

Parea, Greek - Used to describe a group of friends that gather together purely for the enjoyment of each other’s company. The time between visits does not matter, the spirit between them is the same. (You know who you are.)

Pena Ajena, Spanish - Shame experienced on behalf of another person, even though that person may not experience shame. (Cross-cultural interactions made this an easily recognizable concept for me.)

Latah, Indonesian - Uncontrollable habit of saying embarrassing things. (I'm sure I often cause other people to experience Pena Ajena.)

Attaccabottoni, Italian - A boring person who corners people and tells long, sad tales.

Kreng Jai, Thai - Literally “deferential heart”. The desire not to see a friend go to any special trouble on your behalf. (The word that sparked my interest in untranslatable words.)

Moit, scottish - Pretended indifference/shyness while speaking about a thing one is very keen for.

Ladramhaiola, Irish - An Irish language term roughly translated as “wasted day”.

Gattara, Italian - A woman, often old and lonely, who devotes herself to stray cats.

Dostoprimechatelnost, Russian - A place you can take notice of a hundred times. It is generally translated as a “point of interest”, but it means much more.

Jibaku, Japanese - The act of unintentionally or inadvertently demolishing your own argument in the process of defending your view.

Nubie Yom, swahili - Literally translated as “finger farm”. The home, business, or especially the farm of a person who never finishes projects but rather points out (hence, finger) where he or she intends to start new projects and where things will go in the future.

Gökotta, Swedish - To wake up early in the morning with the purpose of going outside to hear the first birds sing.

Betsubara, Japanese - Loosely translates to “extra stomach”. It is generally used to describe a female who always has room for dessert.

And of course it wouldn't be my blog without some German.

Torschlusspanik, German – Translated literally, this word means “gate-closing panic,” but its contextual meaning refers to “the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages.” (Yay! A word I can use after I'm too old for a quarter-life crisis!)

Waldeinsamkeit, German - The feeling of being alone in the woods.

Backpfeifengesicht, German - “A face badly in need of a fist.” We’ve all met or seen that person whose face is just begging to be introduced to fist. The Germans were just smart enough to make a word to describe them.

Stammtisch, German - A social gathering of friends, specifically at a bar, to talk about life. (I very much want a stammtisch with you all with I get back.)

Fernweh, German - A strong longing to be away, to go somewhere. (My chronic problem in a nutshell. Thanks Germans.)

Things you cannot do on an airplane

As part of today's conversation class, my students had to come up with a list of things you cannot do on an airplane. Here is the list they came up with.

1. ride a horse
2. boxing
3. cooking
4. take a bath
5. smoke
6. play cards
7. drink alcohol
8. make noise
9. drive a car
10. fart

New Arrivals

They're here! The new volunteers all flew in on Thursday night and a big group of us went to the airport to welcome them. They're coming at the same time as the new Thai studies exchange students, so there are a lot of new faces around campus.

Having new folks around has already changed the dynamics of life here considerably. There's a new level of excitement both from the new volunteers and on our side because we're excited for them. I also feel a new sense of purpose in my job. My primary responsibility is shifting from being a resource for the students to being a resource for my replacement so that this new team can continue with this work. It's interesting to watch their initial reactions to Payap and Chiang Mai. It reminds me of my first few weeks here and how much I have grown in understanding life in this part of the world since then. In some ways, it's difficult to remember what it was like when I first arrived. Things that were novel then have since become familiar. But at the very least I'll be able to answer some of their questions.

We have a good mix of folks. Two of the new volunteers are here from Grinnell College and are taking over from this year's Grinnell Corps Fellows. The other two are the new CVs and will join Anisha and Eric on the team after sarah and leave. One is from Idaho and the other is a fellow Whitworth alum. (Hi Caitlin if you're reading this (-:  ) There's also another, current Whitworth student here as part of the Thai studies program. It was interesting to talk with him about the university and how it is changing. He's the first Whitworth student who has actually come as an exchange student to Payap.

It's been a big couple of days for me and I think I was just about as tired as the jet-lagged newbies by the end of today. It feels like I've been going non-stop ever since chapel on Thursday morning. The new volunteers have had a packed day of orientation while I've been running back and forth between responsibilities. Basically, I think everyone's ready for a rest.

Talking shop

Four of us were gathered at Payap Coffee for a meeting and, as the conversation wandered, someone mentioned how they hate how the chalk squeeks on the blackboard. 

"Have you tried breaking it?" Anisha suggested.

"Does that help?"

"Yeah, you're supposed to break it in half." 

"some of the chalkboards are so bad, I can't even read what I'm writing. They don't erase all the way." 

"Has anyone used the chalkboard in Room #X? It's awful!" 

It was at this point that I strongly felt we needed to be in a teacher's lounge. Either that or get a life. 

Thai Names

Here we are, a post about what I'm supposed to be blogging about: Thailand. I don't believe I've mentioned what a headache Thai names can be. Luckily I've just had three packed English classes and the attendance record has risen to the occasion. 

You see, most proper Thai names are about four syllables long and impossible to pronounce. Think I'm

exaggerating? Try these on for size: Pattharasinee Buakaow, Phatchareeya Yotphean, Juthathip Pardubsridach, or Issaraporn Thunyakornpongpun. Yikes. Luckily Thai people generally don't use each other's first names, so I don't have to call on students by saying "Yes, Pattharasinee, do you have a question?" No, everyone in Thailand has a nickname by which they are commonly known so that it doesn't take five minutes to say hello to someone. so that should make everything much easier right? Wrong. Unfortunately, these nicknames tend to over-economize and sometimes are, to my ear, indistinguishable from one another. In class today I had Nam, Nan and Nai. That was my small class. In the big classes you often get people with the same nickname. If you've seen "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," it's a bit like the scene where the father introduces the family to his prospective in-laws. In my Monday morning class I have Baifern, Fern, Jay, Joy, May, May, Neung, Ning, Ning, Bens and Benz. Not confusing at all. Or how about my afternoon class: Amp, Amp, Amp, Aom, Aom, Ploy, Ploy, Poy somjeed, Jeed, Tor, Tor, Ying and Ying. It's like the 13 dwarves from the Hobbit (Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur etc.), except a million times worse. Attendance is a nightmare.  

some of the names have meanings. "Peung," means "bee" for example, "som" means "orange" and "suyai" means "beautiful." Animals, fruits and adjectives are common. For me, this gets kind of bizarre. One of the secretaries on campus has the nickname of “Gai,” which means “chicken.” Everyone calls her P' Gai, because P' denotes respect. First of all, I cannot get my initial reaction of “Guy,” out of my head. Second, I keep getting this image of walking into someone's office in America and saying “Hello Ms. Chicken, how are you today?” Can you imagine? Greeting people with “Hey Rabbit, how are you? Nice to see you Beautiful. How's it going sugar? Have a nice day sweetness.” (All real names!) You'd sound like the world's sleaziest politician. Sometimes I get a bit mixed up. A girl introduced herself to me as “Fai,” and trying to impress her with my Thai knowledge I pointed at a light and said “Fai, like light?” Apparently I got the tone wrong because she tried to explain to me that it actually means carton...?

Then there are the ones of English origin. I had a girl in class today whose nickname was "Nice." Except she pronounced it "Ny," because Thais struggle with the s sound at the end of words. similarly a boy in class had the name of "Arthur," but it sounded more like "Ahtoo." Or “Apple,” except it's pronounced “Appen.” I never know whether to pronounce it the way I normally would or if I should mimick the Thai pronunciation... You get some really weird ones. One of my first students had the nickname of "Air," although for the first few days I was baffled about it because it sounded like "Ayhh." Then she friended me on facebook and I saw that her full name was listed as "Onair sweet"! You get some awkward ones like "Gas," or "Porn." Porn isn't pronounced the same way, but it still takes a certain level of maturity not to laugh. Oh the names I have heard. One student's name is “Beer.” At first, with names like this, it was so hard not to do a double take. “sorry, your name is... Beer?” Now I just smile and take a stab at saying their name. Usually they correct me and I don't have to be awkward and say “sorry, say again?” Oh the names I have mangled.

Anyhow, it's been good fun and I've given plenty of trouble with my own name. Back when I had to go to the hospital the staff were absolutely baffled as to what they should call me. I didn't even recognize that they were calling my name at first. Finally, after a few of these mishaps one of them looked at me and asked “sorry, what is your name?” so I guess it all comes out even in the end.

If I had to pick a favorite, I think I would choose the name recently given to a newborn, "Ing." The baby was named Ing because it is the progressive tense in English. so, doing, walking, learning, working, playing... I think that's a pretty great message to send your kid, and as an English teacher I'm pleased that this child will have a leg up on understanding the progressive tense. 

Have I mentioned I hate shopping?

In 30 minutes it will be the first day of August. It will also be the first day of our "mandatory" conversation classes for the first year English students. Basically, the next five weeks are going to be busy as heck. In an attempt to stretch my weekend just a leeeetle bit longer, I'm blogging. There's a lot I've been intending to blog about, but I guess I just haven't been in the mood. 

Last week was midterms week, which for the students meant a great deal of stress and work while for me it meant a sort of holiday from teaching most of my classes. sort of a calm before the storm. Of course it also meant that I put off actually writing my midterm for "symbolic and critical reasoning" until the last minute. Procrastinators of the world unite tomorrow! But when I actually buckled down and tackled the thing, I must say I was rather proud of the result. My students will never know or appreciate the amount of tender-loving care I devoted to crafting their midterm. The time I spent coming up with reasonable and gradable questions, how I carefully considered everything we'd covered so far and what I thought was most important or what I had taught the most clearly, how I searched the web for identifiable examples of different fallacies or interesting arguments. That midterm is almost like my child. 


This is only the second time I've written a test and while I'm copying the format Ozzie used, I still feel anxious about if it's a reasonable level of difficulty, or understandable. I was even concerned about whether it would take too long or be ridiculously short. Then, afterwards, I have to actually grade the things which is another ordeal. Multiple choice questions are easy, but short answer, of which I had many, are another animal. It's often a question of how generous I want to be, and trying to be sure that all the students are being held to the same standard. But it's over and now I just have to get through the last half of the course, for which I have done absolutely zilch. Oh well, I'll get there. One powerpoint slide at a time. 

This weekend there was a free film festival being put on by the European Council or something like that. I love international films, so I headed over there with Anisha, Eric and his friend Mike to see a Polish film about a magic tree. Okay yes, it sounds rather ridiculous but it was actually an extremely cute, family-friendly movie of the kind that I haven't seen in a very long time. It managed to be interesting to adults without the adult references or humor that many kids' movies in America rely on these days. After this I attempted to shop and failed dismally. More on that later. Kevin, Vicky and sarah's friend Hanna joined us for a second film, "Exit Through the Gift shop" which is a great film about graffiti artists. Or at least, it's supposed to be documentary about graffiti artists. It's kind of hard to explain, but I was thoroughly entertained. It's directed by the notorious U.K. street artist Banksy, who has done  crazy things like create art or graffiti or whatever you want to call it on the Israeli West Bank wall. Anyhow, if you enjoy an off-beat sort of humor and/or think the modern art world is a bit of a joke, you'd probably enjoy "Exit Through the Gift shop." And that is my fifth grade report style review of the film festival. 

If any of you are still with me, the funny cultural stuff starts here. My clothes are getting increasingly gross and the people who interact with me are probably tired of looking at the same handful of outfits. I've needed to do some major shopping for a while. I've been trying to replace some of my stained, unraveling and/or torn clothing with new items, but I've been largely unsuccessful. see, I hate shopping for clothes in the states. I have a very difficult time finding clothes that I would actually want to wear. Unfortunately the problem is about ten times worse in Thailand. After an unsuccessful day of window shopping between films on saturday, I resolved to go to Tesco (kind of like Target, but smaller and not as flash) and really get serious. so early this afternoon I drove over there, the first task on my mind being to get some lunch. 


I still haven't really gotten over my dissatisfaction with Thai food so after perusing the food court for a while and with much guilt I caved and went to the one American fast food chain in the store: KFC. I don't really like KFC. I don't usually go there in the states. But a chicken sandwich sounded like heaven and... and... I caved alright! I'm sorry about all those poor little chickens living miserable lives in factory farms. I'm sorry to have supported an American corporation's invasion of Thailand. I'm sorry for my failure to embrace Thai culinary arts and my willingness to choose unhealthy fast food over any number of cultural food experiences. But I bought that chicken sandwich and heaven strike me down I enjoyed it! I enjoyed it while slouching as far down in my seat as I could while hoping that no vegetarian or anti-corporate-America foreigners would see me. 

My crime committed, I felt sufficiently fueled to face the daunting task of shopping for clothes. I looked for almost two hours and found one pair of shorts that I liked and that fit me. I looked at just about every item of clothing in the store. But for one thing, everything is sized to fit women the size of a pixie. I am just small enough to be capable of fitting into XXL clothing, or maybe XL if I'm lucky and have an empty stomach. The thing is, not all Thai women are actually that small. sure, on average there are a lot more women with petite figures, but I am by no means a giantess in comparison. It makes me feel sorry for truly full-figured women living here. But beyond the difficult sizing issues, the clothes here just don't suit me. T-shirts for instance. I have found a few solid-colored casual t-shirts that I can wear, but if I want anything cute or more interesting, I would have to buy something with grammatically incorrect English and many hearts printed all over it. But casual clothes aren't a huge problem. It's teaching clothes, the required skirt and nice top, that have made life difficult. I would love a few more nice blouses to mix with the skirts I have. I've had to throw out one of my old ones already. But all of the blouses here have overwhelming flower prints and weird frills down the front. Anne of Green Gables would be in heaven considering all the puffed sleeves. When it's not frills, it's oversized bows, or transparent lace that rather defeats the purpose of a shirt. Fake pearls and sparkles that wouldn't look out of place on a ballet costume are also a feature. Animal prints are common. And I've never seen so many polka dots in my entire life. 

The thing is, Thai women can pull it off. It doesn't look at all out of place, especially if they're small and thin. But my white and pink complexion isn't really flattered by the color palettes and patterns in the designs here. If I wore those outfits, I'd look a bit like a lost circus performer. I'll see Thai women wearing these outfits and they look positively classy. But it is beyond my power. 

speaking of my rather noticeable whiteness, as I was leaving the store a little boy riding in a shopping cart spotted me. With the innocence of youth, his eyes grew wide and and he pointed at me with a happy shout of surprise. It made me smile and I waved to him. His grandfather chuckled too and nodded a polite "sawatdi-krap" to me as he passed. Even though Chiang Mai has a pretty high number of expats, I still draw attention sometimes, especially from kids. 

The truth is, white skin is seen as the beauty ideal in Thailand. I'm not sure white and red skin is considered as attractive, which is my general tinge, but light skin, blue eyes and "Western" noses are considered beautiful. some Thai women get tinted contact lenses and at least half the beauty products here promise to "whiten" skin. With their characteristic bluntness about personal appearance, I've heard my students tease their friends about being "dark" or "black." Actually, racism seems like a bit of a problem. There aren't many actual black people here and a common perception seems to be that all black people are dangerous or untrustworthy. I've had a couple of surprising and uncomfortable conversations along those lines. But with regards to the teasing, it's hard to know how to react appropriately. It's the kind of thing that wouldn't fly in the u.s. due to our hypersensitivity about self-esteem. But here, students call each other fat or ugly with apparent good humor. I can't really tell if it's actually hurtful or not. 

And such are a few of my recent cultural observations. I could write more, but it's late and I have a big day tomorrow. 

Music psa

We watched Chocolat during a girl's night recently, which features "minor swing" by Django Reinhardt. Django Reinhardt was a jazz guitarist who, along with violinist stephane grappelli, created a new genre of hot jazz known somewhat unpolitically correctly as "gypsy jazz" or "gypsy swing." It's one of the funnest genres of music there is. I tried to find a somewhat more modern performance of it and found this one from the 2008  Django Reinhardt Festival. Dang these guys have chops.



And then I got carried away and found this video of two talented guitarists who I may just have to research a bit more.



Dear teenage pop artists with bad hair: this is how you play guitar.

short bedtime story

Today I was returning to my room when I ran across an odd scene. A group of students was on the stairs. There were several cameras, one of them was making a strange pose, another was wearing something under her shirt that made her look pregnant. I was intrigued and stopped to watch for a bit.

"Are you interesting?" one student asked. I love it when my students ask me that. I bit back a smile and gave her a confused look. "Exercise for pregnant woman," she explained.

"Oh, I see."

"so, are you interested," another student quipped, raising an eyebrow. I told them emphatically that I was not and received many shouts of laughter. What cheek.

What exactly am I teaching?

The title of "English teacher" is often misleading it seems. As an English Language Assistant, it is my job to help the students understand and communicate in the English language. But in the course of teaching "language" I often find myself teaching so many other things. Today is a classic example. During my afternoon English session, I had two students come in for homework help. They had a reading assignment that they couldn't understand. The passage was about the discovery of America and talked about the "Native Americans," Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and Leif Erickson. Could the textbook authors have found any topic more confusing or less relevant to the students' lives? And so it was that I found myself teaching geography and history in the course of my English lesson. 

How do you explain the term "Native Americans" to someone who has no context in which to place the term? What about "Viking"? I had no idea if these concepts were at all a part of my students' so-called "schema." This is something we covered briefly in tesol that affects reading comprehension. With my limited Thai, I knew the word for "country," but not "continent." How could I get the meaning across? Did my students have the geographical knowledge to know about the Bahamas or the Amazon? Perhaps they know the places in Thai, but in English? 

In this instance, I resorted to drawing a lot of pictures. I drew a very rough map of the Americas to help them understand the difference between continent and country. That worked pretty well, but when I tried to draw a picture of a Viking one of the students frowned and asked in an exasperated voice "What is it?" Drawing fail. 

Of course, I think part of the idea is to see how much the students can figure out from context. But so many uncommon terms were used I wasn't surprised they were having difficulty. set sail? set foot? Mainland? Voyage? Extension? Off the coast? How would the students be familiar with these terms? Why would they need to be? Especially at this level, it seems silly. I didn't focus on getting them to understand every obscure phrase. Instead I went for overall meaning. It's so hard to do this without giving them the answers. Homework help can be very instructive, but it's always a dangerously fine line. 

We actually had a lot of fun. They laughed at themselves a lot, which is always a good sign, and my inability to draw well meant they got to laugh at me too, which is even better. Yet I always feel I have to be careful in these situations. When giving meaning to new words or giving a context to something, I'm always aware that I'm not an expert and could be passing on false information. Either that or it could get miscommunicated and the students might get the wrong idea. I think this is part of what makes more PC people nervous, and rightly so. Being a teacher means you have a lot of power to change students' perceptions of the world. You can't teach language in a cultural vacuum and you will rely on your own "schema" to help students understand things. I guess it just makes me feel that I have to be careful. Language, culture and teaching. It's interesting stuff. Add in religion and you can see how challenging and interesting this position has been. 

The other day in chapel we did the story of the prodigal son. I was the prodigal "child" and in order to convey wasteful spending I scattered a bunch of Thai money on the floor. Our team had collaborated on the skit and no one realized until the moment of that this was a cultural faux pas. We didn't think about the fact that the king's picture is on the bills I would be disrespectfully throwing on the floor. Oops. Like I said, interesting and challenging with plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. 

In unrelated news, this weekend was Anisha's birthday and we had a great time celebrating together. Let's just say there was a girl's night involving the movie Chocolat and many brownies. It was a good weekend but I had a really hard time getting motivated this morning. But there are a couple of holidays coming up and I have a four-day weekend to look forward to, so I can't complain too much.