My Brother, the Monk

My host brother became a monk this weekend and the 2 day ceremony to celebrate his becoming a monk was a feast for the senses. Spices filled the air as enough food for 700 people was prepared. Beautiful chanting resonated from the temple and rock music blared as the dancing spilled unto the streets. But the biggest treat of all was reserved for the eyes. This weekend was a vast array of images: the older women of the village making a Baysi; the younger women getting up as early as 4:00 AM to begin preparing the feast; a community taking turns cutting a young man's hair and an older monk finishing it off; a mother praying for her child and a relative being moved to tears; family members proudly carrying the monk-to-be on their shoulders; and a young monk, under the watchful eyes of his elders, donning the robe.

I was very fortunate to witness such a beautiful cultural experience and I'd like to share the pictures. It was such a joy taking them (my camera has this beautiful feature that allowed me to isolate certain colors) and I hope you all enjoy! If you'd like to see more pictures from the ceremony, check out http://ataruc.multiply.com and click on photos

Its all about...the Hokie Pokie!!!

Yesterday, we had a couple of current Peace Corps volunteers share about their experience in Thailand. They were a wonderful older married couple with alot of experience teaching back in the US and have been teaching in Thailand for a year. It was a great presentation and they outlined the best reasons for teaching in Thailand. One of them was "Beer is served in School" Apparently, beer over lunch is a common thing for Thai teachers. How awesome is that?

The number one reason they gave however (as if the beer wasn't enough) was the students. And at first I thought it was a bit cheesy but as I reflect on the past few days here, I have to agree. I've met some of the nicest kids in my language school and today was my first day of teaching in another school. So I've been to two school and the kids in both have been great! Plus... they all enjoy my singing (I am a horrible singer) I've introduced the Hokie Pokie as a way to teach "right" and "left" and they ABSOLUTELY love it. Even kids from the other classes would run over to check it out. For 2 glorious minutes, I felt like a pop star.

Thai Night

Last Monday we had Thai night where we all got to hang out and have some traditional Thai food and just have fun! We were asked to prepare a presentation and a group of us figured that since we had been learning so much about Thai culture from our teachers, we could switch things around and show them some stuff from America. So we each grabbed a teacher and taught them an "American" dance step (I taught mine the Roger Rabbit...she did it amazingly!) After teaching them, we all gathered in a huge circle and started yelling "Go Ajan, Go Ajan" (Ajan is teacher) and they each had to jump in and do their move. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. People were doing the "Sprinkler" and the "Cowboy" and the "Running Man" and the "Lawn Mower"...basically every ridiculously funny steo you could imagine...and the Thai teachers loved it! Traditional Thai dancing is very delicate and gentle and it was so great seeing them bust out and be rowdy. Talk about some cultural exchange. Unfortunately, since I was up there dancing with them, I wasn't able to take pictures of their moves. Hopefully someone else did and as soon as I find some pics, I will post them. But here are a few that I got to take.

Earlier that day, we had a Medical session that was pretty depressing (there are some pretty messed us diseases in Thailand) so Dr. Rit cheered us up with some goodies

With Ajarn Rumpai

Garrett and I with Ajarn Wipada

The guys

We had an inspiring traditional Thai ceremony (I forgot what it was called...I'll find out) where we were blessed by our Ajarns in an elegant candle procession of sorts

Part of the blessing was the tying of a white piece of string on our wrists with some words of encouragement. It was very touching. I shed a tear...well not really...but it was touching.

Game Fishing in Thailand

So I'm drinking with my host family on a Friday night (I seem to become more fluent in Thai when I drink so I try to drink as often as I can) and they invite me to go fishing the next day. Using sign language (I've become quite fluent) I tell them I'd love to fish and I even act out casting a fishing rod out into the sea and reeling in a big one. I should have known this wasn't going to be "conventional" fishing when they all laughed and in sign language (they've become fluent with me around) told me rods would not be needed, indicating that we would be using our hands. Well, I figured that we would be in a nice stream of some sort catching fish with our bare hands--an idea that appealed to me. So I got up early the next day and my host brother was ready to take me fishing but I had to do a quick project with my PC language group wherein we had to map out our community. The project took a little longer than I thought and I got home at noon. But it was really pretty out--a little overcast so it wasn't too hot--and I told my host brother I'd love to still go fishing though its later than we had originally planned for. So we hop on his truck and I'm all excited to hang out by a stream in the heart of a Thai province and I have my camera all ready to take some amazing pictures when I begin to notice the road we are on isn't exactly the type of road one might imagine leading to a nice stream. But we keep on going past sugar cane fields and eucalyptus farms until we get to what seems to me to be a rice field. Well, it turns out to be a rice field--a very muddy, and mucky, and muddy rice field...and as much as I start to wish that maybe...just maybe... he wanted to show me what an old rice field looked like or maybe he was picking up a few friends or that maybe my host dad was a planter and they actually owned this field (at this point of my homestay I still don't know what my host father does. My sign language skills, while good, aren't that great...yet) But as he begins to turn off the engine and invites me to head out, I realize that this IS THE FISHING GROUND. So we head out and I figure "when in rome..." so I'm ready to start grabbing for fish in the mud (though I'm still holding on to the image of a nice stream) but we are told that most of the fish have been caught already. Of course I'm wondering how many fish could possibly be caught in this site and wondering even more what type of fish could possibly live here. But I see that there are 5 huge barrels and when I take a peek, I see literally hundreds of fish! I had never seen fish like these before...well, I also never really expected fish to live in mud...and it was actually pretty cool seeing them swim around the barrels. I took a pretty cool video but I can't seem to upload it unto this blog so I'll try to put it on youtube under scary mud fish so you guys can check it out.

But anyway, it was funny because the next day, I was hanging out with a couple of PC volunteers in a little shack sipping on beers and exchanging stories when EJ, one of the volunteers arrived and was like, "Guys, you'll never believe this but my family invited me to go fishing and..." Turns out his family didn't use just their hands. They actually had this little electric rod that they'd dip in the water and the fish would all jump out.

Ah, the simple pleasures of living in a province in Thailand!

P.S. Dinner that night was fried fish...I didn't need to bust out my ENglish-Thai dictionary to ask where the fish came from!

Our fishing grounds

A water buffalo chilling with the fish

We had a post fishing party over here. Had a couple of brewsky's with the fishermen

Peace Corps life

When I accepted the invitation to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, I knew I was in for an adventure. I imagined that I would see new places, meet some interesting people, and experience some pretty exciting stuff. Barely more than a week into my stay here, I can say it has been exactly as I expected and then some. Here is a look into my first several days in the Land of Smiles!

Departure

Caitlin came to SFO to see me off. We both knew this day would eventually come and while I think we both did a good job preparing for it, it was not easy saying goodbye. But we both also knew that we were in for some pretty exciting times so that helped...sort of.

Stopover in Japan

After the long flight to Tokyo, a couple of us needed a few beers to unwind!

Collin, Mike, Peter and Anton enjoying a couple of Sapporos

Arrival

We got "layed" pretty much as soon as we got off the plane. Dr. John Williams, the PC Thailand country director, was there to meet us along with several of the PCT staff. A bigger surprise awaited us at the exit as a bunch of current serving volunteers were there to welcome us into the Peace Corps family with lots of signs and even more energy.
Then it was off to Kao Yai National Park (a 2 hour bus ride). At this point, I was just so exhausted since I didn't get too much sleep on the plane. It was so much fun traveling with 55 other people after being so used to flying alone for so long.

1/12/07 1st Day

We got in Kao Yai at about 3:30 AM and had a session scheduled for 10:00 AM. Naturally, we were all in a bit of a daze so the PC training staff were kind enough to give us the afternoon off. 56 volunteers+ a pool with a diving board+ a beautiful day+ an awareness that the next 2 years of our lives would not involve some of life's "finer luxuries"= FUN IN THE SUN!!!

1/13/07

Alot of information today. Mostly info about what the next 3 months of our lives were going to look like (intense)

We were taught one of the most essential things for assimilating into Thai culture--the WAI. Essentially, the wai is a greeting used by the Thai people where they place their hands together in front of their faces and bow to acknowledge a person. Thais are VERY polite and EVERYONE wais.

At night we had some karaoke fun with the PST staff. It started off with the Thai staff singing Thai songs but it didn't take long for the PC trainees to take over. A couple of the guys and I did a choreographed rendition of "I Want it that Way" by the Backstreet boys. Sadly, I knew the lyrics and the dance moves...yikes! The Thai staff loved it!

Backstreet Boys..Peace Corps Style

1/14-1/16

The next 3 days were mostly sessions on a bunch of information i.e. policies, medical, language, cultural, etc.

1/17- Meeting the Governor, HOMESTAY

We met the governor of Sakeo province today and had to introduce ourselves in Thai. Dr. John said he was very impressed with our group. Good stuff! The afternoon included a few crash courses on using the traditional Thai toilet and shower and how to set up our mosquito nets during our homestay.

Looking all professional for the governorGroup shot Squatting Toilet 101
Setting up the mosquito net

A big part of our training includes living with a Thai host family for the next 2 months. It will be a total immersion into Thai culture plus a good way to pick up the language. I'm currently about 4 days into my homestay and while it has been difficult at times--the language barrier can be tough--it was been a very rewarding experience, one I will probably never forget. Here are a couple of pictures of my new home! First picture is of my family, 2nd--my room, 3rd--my toilet and 4th--my bath room. Pretty intense stuff but actually alot of fun. I was a little worried about the squat toilet at first but I've gotten used to it (when you gotta go, you gotta go!)