Sundaes and Sundays

Hello Hello,

I am sitting in the lobby of my apartment building because it gets a better internet connection than my room.  There is a loud echo because of the flooring.  Cait and Sha said I sounded like I was talking from Heaven when we were skyping the other night.  I wanted details about how Shannon was voted by her 750 classmates both "most likely to succeed" and "most likely to be a hip-hop mogul."  I hope there is not a picture of a sweaty king, a stack of mysterious cardboard boxes, or multiple lizards on the walls of my apartment in Heaven, but the rest would be okay, I suppose.

Last weekend, Meredith, Alison and I went on a little girl-bonding adventure to Chaiyaphum, which is about two hours by bus from Khon Kaen.  Alison and I had seen a show at U-bar on Friday night, so we yanked ourselves out of bed bright and early Saturday and forced ourselves onto a bus.  The bus ride was amazing; the windows were down and I got a window seat early on in the trip.  The scenery was undeniably Asian: rice paddies and their workers in circular, pointed hats.  It was very green and pretty rural, despite a couple towns that pretty much all looked the same.  Chaiyaphum, too, looked very similar to Khon Kaen, but smaller.  We splurged on a really nice hotel, which cost us about 7 dollars each for the night.  Saturday, we went looking for this traditional village where you can see people making silk the way they have for many, many, years.  How many? I have no idea because we never made it to our destination.  We bought some silk and we walked through some village, but we never actually found THE silk village until we passed it on the way home on the last departing song-tao...oh well.  Saturday night, the hotel bar turned into the Chaiyaphum hotspot and we saw a live band and danced until the wee hours with all of the rest of Chaiyaphum's teens and twenty-somethings and one really friendly but slightly creepy old man who I have pictures with. Sunday, we went to a national park and saw Tad Ton Waterfall.  Unlike Costa Rica, where half of the thrill was the hour long hike/climb to the scenic falls, Thai people don't like the outdoors, the heat, or exercise (okay, maybe aerobics).  Thus, you can almost drive right up to the falls and get in. Even though the travel nurse told me not to swim in fresh water in Thailand, the current was moving swiftly, although not dangerously swiftly, and I assessed the situation as only mildly dangerous; I hopped right in and swam under the waterfall.  The park's brochure makes the tiny thing look like Niagara falls, but it would have been easily jumpable if there were not so many jagged rocks below.    

I had been planning on going to Laos this weekend because Meredith had to renew her visa, which requires leaving Thailand and I said I would accompany her.  Since I will be traveling the next two weekends, I decided to lay low instead.  Meredith ended up coming home yesterday and we went on another Saturday mall excursion with the crew (Neuki, Ing, Toffee who is Neuki's boyfriend, Leng who is Neuki's brother's friend and a potential boyfriend for Ing).  It seems to be becoming a pattern to eat huge sundaes at the mall on Saturdays with that crew.  After the ice cream,  we had a little Guitar Hero session in the arcade, which was fun for me since I kept winning...which only makes sense since there is no possible way that Neuki or Toffee could have accumulated as many hours in the arcade playing Guitar Hero as I have in the dorm or my house over the past years...or it would have been a pretty pricey feat at 10 baht a game.  After the mall, it was torrentially raining, so we rented some movies and went to Meredith's for my first home-cooked Thai meal.  We made suki, which is the same thing as a hot pot, like I talked about in my previous blog.  It was even more delish at home, but we were all dripping with sweat since the house does not have air conditioning downstairs and we were inhaling soup like there was no tomorrow.  Today, I ate some vegetarian food, graded some papers, sat and read at the most marvelous coffee shop, went to the campus night market and went on a "run" if you can call jogging for fifteen minutes before my body gave out a run.  Good Sunday.  

I began lessons with my Thai tutor on Friday.  I have homework, too.  I have to memorize some possible answers to the question "khun ja pai nai?" which literally means "where are you going?" and "pai nai maa?" which is "where have you been?"  These are common greetings in Thailand, like "How are you?" for us.  Right now, I could say "pai talaat maa kha" and "chun ja pai rian kha" which would be "I came from the market" and "I am going to study,"  which I really should since I had to look at my sheet to figure out how to say that.  Everything in Thailand ends with kha (for women) or khrap (for men), which makes the sentence more polite, but is used most times.  There is a lot of respect around these parts.  For instance, we call Leng "Pi Leng" which is a sign of respect for someone even slightly older than you.  I told Neuki that I would call her "Pi Neuki" if she wanted me to since she is 23, but she said no.  She also lets me touch her head which is not allowed in Thailand either.  She's a real nonconformist, haha.  

My love to all of you.  

June 18th, 2552

Hello my loyal followers,

You can see some photos below. There are captions if you put your mouse over each photo. Enjoy! And no, that is not a typo. It really is the year 2552 here. The Thai calendar is different...its B.E. or Buddhist Era. The year is based on the death of Gautama Buddha...So, I am 543 years and 11 hours ahead of the East Coast.

 

“Ohhhkay so….” When asked if I am loving it here, I have to be honest, I forget to realize that I am loving it.  My routine has become just that, a routine.  By no means am I claiming that I have seen all there is to see in Khon Kaen, but I feel like I have settled in here in much the same way as I settled in to South Bend: I have what I need, there’s stuff to do, but I am not rushing around seeing the sights or anything. Whereas in Cape Town, I had a “bucket list” of things to do before I left (and could have made one for 10 years of things), I don’t think such a list will be needed for Khon Kaen. My list of things to do here involves more personal-growth goals, haha.  At the end of a busy day I have to stop myself just to say, "You're teaching in Thailand, that's so weird... and awesome."

Last weekend seemed like any ordinary weekend in South Bend (minus a few people who I miss terribly): two trips to the mall, lots of eating, and out to the bar on Saturday.  There is not an English movie theater in Khon Kaen, at least not until December, or I'm sure a flick would have been included in the weekend’s activities.  Khon Kaen does not offer an endless strip of chain restaurants like the thriving metropolis of Mishawaka, but there are probably more places to eat within walking distance of my apartment than in all of Indiana…and downtown Khon Kaen has many many more.  On Friday, Neuki, her boyfriend Toffee, Frank, Jeff, Meredith and I went to this “hot pot” restaurant.  I love hot pots now.  Basically, you order what you want to eat and it comes raw.  We had some shrimp, some meat, some noodles, some tofu and tons of vegetables.  Then, you place some food in a your own personal ladle with holes and submerge it into a pot of boiling water that is being heated in the middle of your table.  When it’s cooked, you put it in your bowl, add some broth, season it up the way you like it and eat it.  It’s sort of like making your own little “cup of noodles.”  De-lish.

The bar we went to, U-bar, is apparently the nicest bar in the city and neither the crowd nor the décor caused me to think otherwise.  It’s funny; there were two live bands during the night, but no dance floor.  If people danced at all, they did so between tables.  Mostly, people sat on small stools at small tables drinking whiskey and coke.  Don’t worry about lines at the bar, you simply buy a bottle of Johnny Walker to share with your pals and the waiters continuously refresh your drink with more ice, whiskey, or coke while you listen to fantastic Thai pop music.  I tried to have one of my new favs play on my blog but to no avail.  Hopefully, you will be able to experience the magic soon.   Neuki translates songs for me and the teenage heartthrobs in Thailand are singing about all the same stuff they sing about in the USA: mostly exciting new love and broken hearts. 

Neuki has also been teaching me Thai idioms, which I think are very interesting.  Here is what I have learned so far.

1. An old cow chewing new grass = robbing the cradle…Happens often here with old Western men and young Thai women.
2. Mud covering the pig’s tail = procrastinating, digging yourself into a hole with homework, etc.
3. You can’t cover a dead elephant with a lotus leaf.  Neuki’s example: If you do something bad and then you try to make it better or make excuses, your mom might say “you can’t cover a dead elephant with a lotus leaf.”
4. A frog under half a coconut = living in a bubble; sheltered
5. Riding an elephant to catch a grasshopper = doing unnecessary things, being illogical.  

Interesting window into Thai culture, huh? 

This week, I spent most of class time learning my students’ names. I have 161 students right now.  Despite using their nicknames, I manage to mispronounce almost all of them.  Even when their names are American words like Dear, Bank, Mix or Big, I apparently say them wrong.  A lot of students have sound effects for names: Pla, Aui, Au, Ou, Oy, Aum, Aof.  I also have two Nongs, one Nang, a Noo, a Nood and a few Nooms, not to mention a student with almost every letter of the alphabet from A to Z as a name: A, P, K, Y, O, M, you name it.  I have three Tums, a couple Toms and a few Tops.  Even though Thai people have more distinctive and unique features than the people I saw in China, they all have dark eyes, dark hair, and my students are all in uniforms, which really complicates the name-learning thing.  Today, I took their pictures so I have little flashcards for them now and should have their identities mastered by the week’s end.

 

I also found out first hand how Thais think cheating is helping others.  I had two groups of students in different classes perform the exact same dialogue that they were supposed to have written themselves.  The group mentality thing…

I do not “talk Thai” yet.  Since I am tone deaf, I am at a great disadvantage.  I start my Thai tutor soon and am looking forward to it almost as much as my next good bagel though when that will come, I do not know.

No class today because it's Wai Kru, which is a holiday designated for students to honor their teachers.  I am bowed to (or “wai”ed, pronounced “why” not “way”) many times throughout my normal workday, but this day holds in store intense bowing and probably some flowers.  I am trying not to get used to all the respect I am shown here…  

If I do not die crossing the 10-lane road on my newly-acquired bicycle, I will write again soon. If I do, this blog will be extremely morbid.

Chun rak kuhn…That’s I love you.

Erin

 

 

Phinally, Fotos

Aerobics: The Universal Language

Sa wat dee kaa,
Yep, yesterday I went to aerobics. Picture at least 50 Thai women under a pavillion next to a 7-11. And me. And Meredith, another Princeton Fellow, who is equally as uncoordinated as I am. I am not sure if I can blame the fact that I could not follow on the intensity of the teacher or his counting in Thai because the truth is it was fairly similar to an aerobics class in the States (except that it costs 5 baht or 1/6 of a dollar!) There was even techno you would hear in the States, mainly multiple re-mixes of the YMCA, Cher, and Dragostea din tei ("Maya heee Maya whoo Maya haaa maya haaa haaa"...Should ring bells to you if you are under the age of...30??...or a raver...or an intense work-out-er...and ESPECIALLY if you spent a large majority of weekend nights in high school loitering in 7-11 parking lots listening to Romanian techno like I did). The funny thing is that aerobics class takes place outside at 6 pm, which is around the time that the rain should start during the rainy season (now). Yesterday, the rain held off until class was over, which only meant that the humidity was palpable in the 85-degree air for the hour-long jazzercize meets ballet meets kickboxing meets yoga session. Oh, and it's inappropriate to show your shoulders or most of your legs in Northern Thailand so many people were in pants and long sleeves. Even in my semi-scandalous attire, I was literally soaked head to toe in sweat after 10 minutes...and Thai people don't sweat so it made my freckled, uncoordinated, already really out-of-place self stand out even more. Regardless, it was the most fun I have had since I have been in Thailand and I am going again today. It is a must-do in Khon Kaen and I am looking forward to having my able-bodied visitors join me.

Neuki (reference previous blog: first and only Thai friend, nicest person I have ever met) came with me to aerobics, which is not something she normally does. Her mom, on the other hand, goes every day. After class, I met Neuki's mom, "Shenai," and discovered hers were the feet that mine were attempting to copy during class. Shenai teaches Physical Chemistry at KKU and their house is on campus. She offered Meredith and me a ride home and since it was thundering we accepted. Instead of taking us directly home, we went to dinner at T-Bone Steak House, which is an all-you-can-eat buffet that costs 109 Baht (a little more than 3 dollars), a semi-expensive meal here. There were all kinds of American-y things to choose from: steak, pork, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, french fries, green beans, spaghetti, fruit, veggies and tons of Thai delicacies as well. After the meal, we had some fruit that Neuki had been carrying around all day with the intention of giving to me, since she knew I had never tried either a mangosteen or a rambutan. Rambutan is golfball-sized and spiky on the outside, sooo cool-looking. On the inside, it looks a bit like a delicately-peeled grape, but whiter and with a pit. Tastes sort of like a lychee. A mangosteen, "the queen of fruits," is one of the most delicious things I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. On the outside, its purple with a green stem. On the inside, its white and divided into small sections. It tastes a bit like passion fruit...hard to describe but de-lish. I know it does not do much good to describe the taste of these interesting fruits with other interesting fruits, but it's the best I can do. Here, you can buy a kilo of mangosteen for a dollar. I am not sure what it would cost you Statesiders, but it's worth it to try! Wikipedia says about mangosteens: "Botanically an aril, the fragrant edible flesh can be described as sweet and tangy, citrusy with peach flavor and texture."

This week flew by. Teaching is still going well. My students' ability-levels vary a lot both in the classes and between classes of the same level. Now that I am beginning to understand which classes are more advanced and which students understand English best and can help translate, things are getting a little easier. Apparently English is seen as just something to get through by most Thai students who will probably stay in Thailand to work and will not need much English in their real lives. The students who will need English, like business students, (who apparently all want to be flight attendants, haha) some of the medical students, and other various faculties, are not in my classes...Great, I get to teach English to kids who, for the most part, think of it as a formality and do not give a rat's behind about it. That being said, some of my students are working hard and showing a desire to learn the language. My beginning speaking students literally DO NOT SPEAK A WORD OF ENGLISH! It's hilarious. We started with hello and goodbye. It's a pretty easy way for me to monitor their progress and my abilities as a teacher when they started with zero words in their lexicon.

I have pictures to post but the Internet has been a little whacko at home and I keep forgetting to bring my camera to work. Hopefully, they will be up soon.

I am thinking lots about all of you, especially the Murphys who are all gathering together now for Colin and Emily's wedding. If I figure out how to bi-locate in the next 48 hours, I'll be there! Otherwise, enjoy. I know that "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" is going to be the best ever since you all have been practicing since January.

Chok dee la gorn,
Erin

Chelsea follows me around the world...again

Yes, for those of you who know Chelsea Burns, it will not surprise you that she arrived on Thursday, three days after my arrival.  For those of you who have not had the "pleasure," Chelsea is my friend from childhood/high school who joins (invites herself, haha) on my adventures.  She showed up in New Orleans, twice to South Africa, and the list goes on...She just can't get enough of me.  Actually though, she had her trip planned to Thailand before I did, and I am happy that she tacked on a little Khon Kaen time at the end.  It's been fun exploring the city with her and really nice to see a familiar face, especially since hers is one I won't see for a while.  She heads off to the the Peace Corps to do health education in Central or South America in January.

Since I last "blogged" I have gotten to know the city much better.  Even though there are apparently 150,000 people in Khon Kaen, it seems like there would be more, because its fairly crowded everywhere.  The city is not that big though.  Yesterday, Chelsea and I practically walked the entire length of it, both on purpose and by accident.  In the morning, I had a meeting to go over how to teach speaking and writing to beginners, took some hideous visa-sized photos for my work permit, and met Chelsea at this coffee shop near my house.  We had some lunch at this place I had been before and knew that the waiter, Boy, spoke some English.  Then we headed into town with the intention of seeing Khon Kaen National Museum.  We eventually made it there, after some intense map-reading and gesturing sessions.  When I first arrived here, I was instructed never to ask a Thai person to read a map because they are not taught how to...I have since experienced this phenomenon.

We made it to the Museum, blistered and sweaty, but in good spirits.  The Museum is described in the Lonely Planet Guide as the first destination a tourist should visit.  We were not at all disappointed, but it's pretty funny that this little non air conditioned Museum with only semi-correct English explanations is the city's best tourist destination.  We learned about dinosaurs, cavemen, Buddhism and lots of things in between, and then headed to the city center.  We visited the mall, bought some cheap DVDs, and poked around in an outdoor market selling everything from underwear to grilled bugs.  We had dinner at a night market with another Princeton fellow, Frank, and this guy Jeff, who is here from New Zealand teaching at a grade school.  We had pad thai for the first time since my arrival, mostly because that is one of the only foods I can pronounce and the consequences of a meal-gone-wrong at the night market could be gut-wrenching.  

Next, I had my first visit to the Pullman Hotel, the nicest hotel in the city (formerly the Sofitel).  I had my first karaoke session in Thailand, and potentially my first sober karaoke session ever.  I know what you are all thinking...God bless those poor souls who were karaoke-ing with me.  I know, I felt bad for them too, but they still forced me to perform even after hearing my terrible voice.  I am sure they were asking the age old question (eh-hem, Jessie Walker) "You do know you are tone deaf, right?"  On the way out, I had my first potential run-in with a Royal Princess, but our elevator was diverted for security reasons.  Boo.  My new and best Thai friend, Neuki, who is the coolest and nicest person I have ever met in my life (sorry everyone), drove us home, and Chelsea and I caught up on some much-needed sleep.

Today we lazed around for a bit, and then went downtown to this lake, Beung Kaen Nakhon, and walked around and had some lunch.  We were constantly monitoring the skies, because it looked like it was going to downpour all day, but it never really did, and was sunny most of the time.  Good day.

There will be pictures next time.  I have already taken some of my street, my apartment building, my room, a song-tau, and an elephant walking down the middle of the road.  For now, use your imaginations.  No dreadlocks or tatoos yet, and I haven't turned into rice, but will probably start soon.

For now, I leave you with this.  Be warned.  The next charades game that I am a part of will be completely unfair.  I will be the most supreme pictionary and charades player of all-time after this year.  On Thursday, actually, there was some sort of mix-up, and I ended up with a class of eighty, yes 8-0, students.  I taught them how Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum turned Bilbao, Spain into a vibrant tourist destination, and revitalized his career after some budget and scheduling trouble during the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  All with pictures and charades. Hahahaah.

Peace and Love, 

Erin

Getting here and being here...

I suppose a blog is an easier way to track my trials and tribulations than email, although I must admit even a mass email seems more personal than this. I am going to give it a shot...

This will be a repeat for those of you who have received an email from me so far...

So, I was delayed a whole day on my way here which was pretty nice, to be honest. An extra day to lounge around in D.C....The flights were uneventful: slept the whole way to London, sleepwalked (is that a word?) through Heathrow, slept half way to Bangkok with my head periodically bouncing off the shoulder of the giant Patrick (the nickname for the ex-pats who come to Thailand for the Thai women) seated next to me. I watched two movies and landed in Bangkok. I had some time to kill there, some bag trouble, but eventually made my way to Khon Kaen, which is only 40 minutes by air from Bangkok.

I settled into my apartment, which is basically a standard hotel room. Its marble-ish floors, two twin beds pushed together, a stand-alone closet, a desk, a small fridge, and a fairly good sized bathroom. The walls are a light mint green and the room came with three posters: two scenes of Thai beaches and one of seven asian men sitting on a fence. They don't use bedding here, just bottom sheets, which were provided. I never told them my nickname but they must have known because the sheets are bright green and blue with cartoon bears all over them. The green side is my bed, while the blue side is my home office. I am on the first floor so my "balcony" is in some bushes and breeds mosquitos but I can hang some of my laundry out there. My clothes will be washed and pressed daily for the exorbitant fee of 10 dollars per month, but touching other peoples' dirty underwear and socks is not something you do in Thailand so I will be on my own for those. My rent is 130 dollars per month (yes, that is exactly 10 percent of what my New York City-bound friends will be paying...) which includes my TV and internet, but not my airconditioning fee, which they'll tack on at the end. Considering its above 90 and sooooo humid you feel like you are swimming here, I could rack up quite the bill for the aircon.

I live in an area called Gon Sa Don, which is a popular place for students and faculty to live because it's close to school. There are food stands, restaurants, bars and shops. It's the Thai version of a US University with more of a college town than ND...myabe Ann Arbor or something... Most of shops you have never heard of but there is a 7-11 open 24 hours on my block, which has the necessities.

To get to work I take a song-tau, which I have been describing as the modern-day Thai version of covered wagons: a pick-up truck with benches installed in the bed and a metal covering overhead. It has been brought to my attention that it is often not easy to tell if I am being sarcastic in my writing. In this blog, I will try to stick to the truth. So, Mary, I was not kidding about the song-taus...or the aerobics. (yes, at 6 pm today I will be doing aerobics with old thai ladies next to "nung wang," the little lake in my neighborhood. If I do not die of heat exhaustion, I will let you know how it goes!) It's about a ten minute commute by song-tau to the University and maybe 15 to downtown where I went for the first time last night. We went to a popular ex-pat bar (Cheap Charlie's) for English trivia. When I say English, I mean English: half the questions were about either football, meaning soccer, or British history. Needless to say, I bombed, but it was fun and I met some other young people teaching around Khon Kaen.

So, school. Its hard to explain really. I have not come close to seeing it all because campus is HUGE. There are 30,000 students and faculty and the campus is fairly spreadout. I did not have any preconceived notions of what a Thai University would be like, but if I had, I would not have been too far off. They are not concerned about grooming or continuity of architecture like ND and the buildings are certainly not as pristine, but I am fairly impressed, but not overly surprised, by what I have seen so far.

I am teaching three sections of English 103: English for Academic Purposes II. I taught today for the first time and we are working on a unit looking at transformations. We read a passage about Frank Gehrty and his design of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and then answered some questions about it and worked on paraphrasing. Attendance took half of the class period since I was dealing with names like Watcharapol, Ninlakarn, Thitiporn, Thitipong, Chotrawee...and you get the picture. It was pretty entertaining to say the least. Lucky for me, all Thai people have "American nicknames." They are not like ones we have in the USA though. Here are some of the ones that I have learned so far: Oil, Blue, A, C, X, Aim, Key, Bank, Net, Far, View...and I could continue. I think any English word can be a nickname as long as its four letters or less. I met an "Arm" yesterday.

I will have three sections of 103, totaling about 90 students. I will also be teaching beginning level speaking and writing, which starts next week and I think will be even more challenging and hilarious than the 103s. Throughout the semester, I will have over 20 sections of those classes, but in different chunks of weeks. I think I'll have maybe 4 sections at a time for 4/5 weeks each. I am looking forward to the speaking sections most. At the end of each class I am having my students teach me some Thai. Today I learned to say "Excuse me/ Sorry" which is pronounced Khaw-Tot.

So Khaw-tot for this being so long. I will be updating frequently until I have more friends and classes...

Hope all of you are as happy as I am!