Classical Music PSA

I've decided that these should be weekly. Or at least continue on a regular basis. So this week I'm posting my favorite "carol" from Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols. Enjoy!

Shopping in Thailand

As with everything else, shopping in Thailand is an adventure.I think I've mentioned before the difficulties of shopping when you can't actually read the packaging.The other day I was looking for stain remover for my laundry (sweat stains are an unfortunate reality here) and was terrified of accidentally getting bleach. I mean, many things have English on the packaging (if you can find it) but apparently not the laundry supplies. 

Thai marketing is also pretty entertaining. Case in point, I needed a mug for coffee and tea. This is what I found. 

As far as actual food is concerned, If you're not getting food at a street vendor or a restaurant, which is what I have to do about 75% of the time, the place to go for groceries is Carrefour. It's a challenge. I get so disoriented there. There are at least two sections for everything (possibly more). The two I'm aware of are imported and domestic. Two cereal aisles. Two dairy sections. Two produce sections. Price comparison is really fun this way. It's like a relay race. 

Carrefour has a huge area in the middle of the floor devoted to rice. And allow me to introduce: the soy sauce aisle. 

One thing about Carrefour that I have yet to experience but can't wait to witness is that apparently the employees do a dance routine at a certain time of the night. Although maybe that is just the other CVs taking advantage of my gullibility. 

And Carrefour isn't just for groceries. It's more like Wal-Mart. In fact, it's kind of like the French Wal-Mart. Except that's changing now and it's being taken over by something else. In any case, I was rather surprised to discover apples bearing the Washington sticker. They were the same price as all the others, so I went for a taste of home. 

Anyhow, just a few tidbits of my everyday life here. Also, I have finally managed to take a few snaps of campus. If you're interested in seeing what that looks like, click here.

More Music

Whiskey is the alcoholic beverage of choice in Thailand and I have recently become obsessed with the Punch Brothers. I decided those were good enough excuses for this.

Classical Music PSA

I went to Payap's Christmas concert today. Not quite the same level as Whitworth's Christmas Festival Concerts but still wonderful. And it reminded me of how much I love Vivaldi, which I am now going to force on you for your own good.

Theology Department Christmas Party

The Masters in Theology student I am tutoring invited me and the other volunteers to the department's Christmas party. It was a pretty good time. Apparently our performance at the Christmas service went over well as we were asked to sing again. :-) After which we were given a box of snacks.

Thailand is a weird place

Living in Thailand is kind of like living on another planet at times. There are occasions when I can't help asking myself: is this place for real?

For instance, last weekend several people decided it would be fun to go to karaoke. I groaned inwardly. Karaoke is not my favorite, but I decided I needed to be more social so I went. I was told we were going to "the" karaoke place in Chiang Mai. This place was not a traditional karaoke bar. Instead, you go there and rent private "booths" with their own tv and sound system and perform for your friends. Well, I'd never heard of that before but I supposed that it made sense.

The karaoke place was located in a mall. With that single word "mall" I have conjured up in your mind a certain image. Scrap it. Well, not all of it. I guess the best way to describe the malls here is "funhouse style." Organization is... lacking. And the logic of the buildings' layouts escapes me. There is generally a plethora of escalators which lead to floors that have a random smattering of shops and occasionally to nothing at all. To get to the karaoke spot we went up a couple rounds of escalators and then took an elevator up a few more floors which I found really disorienting because none of the buildings in Chiang Mai seem that high. Then we went up another flight of stairs that kind of went in a circle and through an empty hallway. It was super sketch. By this point there weren't many other people around except for when we passed some boys doing aerobics. Like I said. Bizarre. Once we were in the hallway it really felt like I was in some sort of carnival maze. Certain areas didn't have any lights on which added to the Twilight Zone creepiness factor.

We finally made it to the spot and were told to choose a room. They all had themes like "outer space," or "night club." We chose "under the sea." The attendant led us to a door which, upon opening, revealed a tiny room decorated with what looked like spray-painted foam to look like it was underwater. "This Love" by Maroon 5 was playing, but with a Thai singer singing the lyrics! (In Thai of course). It took us so off guard that we burst out laughing.

There were two microphones and everyone took turns choosing songs from the playlist to sing. Yes, I sang one song. However they didn't have the greatest selection. Plus every song had a music video playing on the tv along with the lyrics and since we were in the water themed booth our videos often featured women in scandalous bathing suits. It was hilarious but also really awkward.

The most astounding thing about the whole evening to my mind is that absolutely none of us had had anything to drink. I cannot believe we went and did that stone cold sober.

This weekend I got to see the new Harry Potter movie at another mall (or maybe it was the same one) and it was more of the same. We were running late and Anisha was really anxious not to miss the beginning so all I can remember is haring it through this labyrinth of escalators and elevators and deserted hallways painted with weird murals before ending up at this nearly empty theater to watch the movie. Upon leaving it felt like we were emerging from a bomb shelter and were the last humans alive on earth. The mall was completely deserted and dark and we followed the one other family back to the entrance while walking past creepy looking mannequins.

Anyhow, Thai malls? Strange. The new Harry Potter movie? Not my favorite.

Homesickness

Don't get concerned! This blog title is simply an honest reflection of the reality of living abroad. You will get homesick. It is part and parcel of the experience. It is almost one of the reasons to travel: because you come to appreciate your home that much more. But it's also one of those things that people who haven't lived abroad for an extended period of time can't really understand completely.

I'm writing about it now because 1) I'm officially one month in. This is when (in my prior experience) the reality starts to set in that this isn't just a long holiday and you start to become fatigued by all the things that are different. The excitement kind of wears off. 2) There have been a lot of events lately that remind me of home, friends and family. 

This is my second holiday season away from home in a row. I won't deny that it's a bit tough. Not that I didn't consider that going in. I've had many holidays at home and I will have many more, so it's worth it. But I still get that pang of regret when I think about being away. 

Thanksgiving was better than last year's. Esther had everyone come over and we had a potluck dinner of traditional Thanksgiving foods. It was gigantic and it was amazing. A group of about 25 American expats were there and it was great to be surrounded by people and laughter. But for me, the holidays are no longer so much about the traditions and the food as they are about being with the people I love. There's no substitute for that. So it was still kind of bittersweet and hollow. And the pies were not even close to being as good as my mom's. Still, it was better than spending it alone with a tv dinner watching the news, which IS what I did last year. So I was appreciative. Also, I've really missed using a knife and fork. It's the little things.

This weekend was also graduation weekend for Payap. Graduation is different in Thailand because they actually wait for their official diplomas, which means that students wait for like a year after they finish their studies and come back to walk in the ceremony. I should have taken some pictures of campus because it was nuts. Like Whitworth, there were flowers placed everywhere, but in addition to this there were cardboard signs and Hollywood-style letters scattered in random places that said variations on "congratulations." It's definitely different. Also, there were random arches and cardboard backdrops scattered around for photo opps. Yes I am serious. All the graduates and their families would run from spot to spot snapping about a million photos. You couldn't walk anywhere on campus without being in the line of fire. 

The actual ceremony was held on campus at a sort of outdoor but covered stadium. It was not a very big space, so I watched the proceedings from outside with a few of the others. The random thing though was that half of the seats in the stadium were occupied by potted plants. There were all these people queued outside and screens set up while inside a large number of perfectly good seats were taken up by vegetation. Oh Thailand. 

We didn't stay to watch the whole thing as it was in Thai. But we watched the procession before leaving to go check out a local market. I couldn't help thinking of my graduation though and of Whitworth in general, so I wasn't really that into looking at the stalls. 

On a more positive note, I'm starting to get to know a few students here. The day after graduation, one of the nursing students, I'll call her Nong, offered to take me to the Sunday night walking street in Chiang Mai. This is one of Chiang Mai's many weekend markets, but also one of the best ones. Nong (a general term meaning something close to younger sister) negotiated a red bus for both of us and I got to see just how much more they charge farang (foreigners). I would have had to pay three times as much to go half the distance we went. But Nong is a true Chiang Mai local and has promised to show me all the ins and outs of the city, which is pretty nice of her. I'll just have to be careful not to neglect spending time with the other students as well as I feel like the few I have gotten to know are more outgoing and could easily monopolize my time. 

The walking street was very crowded and filled with street musicians (some better than others, most playing unrecognizable instruments, a few playing kazoos) and performances. I got to see some traditional Lanna puppetry as well as a Japanese parade and performance because a Japanese festival was going on. It was all pretty interesting, but communication was a bit of a struggle and intercultural interactions are stressful regardless so I was pretty tired when we returned. 

Regarding said interactions I'll give a couple of examples. Both when I went to the walking street and when Anisha and I took our English Conversation students out to dinner the students have insisted on getting the bill. Thais don't really split the check. Whoever is of higher status is supposed to pick up the tab, which was my plan BOTH times as I am technically "pih" or "older sibling" or even "ajaan" which means professor, to them while they are all "nong" to me. However possibly because I am foreign they insist on paying for my food, which is okay when it's something small but they are students and I know what it's like to live on a student budget. After going around food stalls and having Nong pick out various items and pay for them I finally managed to pay for our orange juice and I must say she seemed a bit relieved. It's so difficult because you have to do it in a way that doesn't make them lose face. 

Food is also awkward because I can't politely decline anything they offer me. So when Nong innocently suggested I try fish-stomach soup, I did my best to disguise my unenthusiasm but didn't quite succeed. However, upon trying it I decided it wasn't all that bad. Weird, but not disgusting. I was however relieved when she passed up the fried bug stand. 

Another awkward interaction happened when I set my purse on the ground. Apparently this is a big no-no for Thais. The ground is dirty and they would never set any of their personal belongings on the floor. So Nong hurriedly snatched up my purse and set it on the table. "Pih Heidi, the ground is dirty!" she exclaimed. 

"Farang don't care," said her friend, who is engaged to a British guy. "My fiance does it all the time." 

Nong was absolutely perplexed and I couldn't explain to her why it wasn't a big deal for me to put things on the floor. Granted, maybe it should be, but I've been doing so for 23 years and I'm still perfectly fine.

Another cultural note is that twice a day, every day, they broadcast the king's song, which is basically the national anthem. If you are in a public place and can hear it, you are expected to be silent and stand still. I hadn't yet encountered this but sure enough at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday suddenly some anthemy sounding music began to play and everyone stopped what they were doing. Also, pictures of the king are everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Offices. Restaurants. Parks. Everywhere. That goes double for educational institutions, which usually have an oversize portrait displayed at their entrance. Payap has it's share of these photos.

One of these days I will get around to taking some pictures of campus. I think they would be different from what you might expect. TESOL classes are still going and will continue through the end of next week. I'm done teaching for the time being but now trying to structure what my and Sarah's duties will be on our campus. It may seem selfish and lazy, but I really just want to finish TESOL and then launch into new stuff after Christmas break. However I think the staff on this campus don't think we do anything all day... 

As I've mentioned, appearances are of the utmost importance in Thailand. What's important is that you give the impression of being busy and accomplishing something, even if you just sit at your desk and do nothing. But Sarah and I haven't had a chance to be over at this campus during the day and to be honest we're not contributing that much right now. But it's because we're being trained! Gah! However, this doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you weren't told about a meeting or event. What matters is if you don't show up. But at least Thais are also forgiving. So far I haven't forgotten anything major so hopefully I'll get in some desk time soon and put my official boss at ease.