Time to get down to business!

WOW, where should I even begin! There is tons to report! I will start with the last bit of training. As training was winding down, we found ourselves with more and more work. We had our language exam, with official testers in from Bangkok. I got just the score I needed, but was disappointed that I did not get a higher score. I really have learned a lot of Thai though. The day before our language exam, my technical work group presented all of our research and potential project suggestions to the local administration, in THAI! I had invited my host family and many of our friends from the community were there. Somehow everything turned emotional as the community thanked us and we thanked them. There were a few tears and lots of smiles. Our presentation was successful and we were able to present several possible projects to the community. The next week was spent doing evaluations, learning about self-directed language study, safety and security procedures and planning a thank you party for our families and communities. For this party I was part of the American performance group. Our group decided to perform different American dances from different decades. For the 50s, Mike and Charlotte did swing dancing, for the 60s we had some volunteers play a Bob Dylan song on guitar, for the 70s, we did disco and the YMCA (I was in this group), the 80s included Michael Jackson's Thriller, for the 90s I was in the Macarena group, and then finally for  2000 and on we led the whole party in the Cupid Shuffle. The whole party turned out great, with thank you speeches and a slide show. After the party, all the volunteers moved back into the hotel for our last 4 days. Seeing a chance to spend time together, the beer drinking and jam sessions ensued every night for that week. Our days were spent at another hotel, where we had a conference with our counterparts from site. This conference was fairly productive if not a bit stressful. I found my counterparts to be cooperative and to be on the same wave length as me in terms of projects. 

Thursday morning was the start of a big day. All the volunteers got dressed up for our swearing in ceremony with the US Ambassador to Thailand, all the Peace Corps staff and our counterparts. We took an oath, the same oath that the US President takes, and then were official volunteers! It was quite exciting but a bit anti-climatic as we soon loading our co-workers cars with our belongings and bikes and then hitting the road before lunchtime! The ride to my site took just about 9 hours. I was exhausted and spent a lot of time sleeping or listening to my Ipod. There was just too much to think about, to talk in Thai for the whole time! I arrived at my site to find another wonderful host family and a new room waiting for me.

The next day I spent time unpacking and getting to know my new home. I have a real bed, desk, chair, and shelves. There is a western toilet and hot water shower. The TV even gets American sports! My host father is a retired army officer and his wife is a school teacher. They both speak English to varying degrees! They have a daughter who is recently married that has a cottage on the property. Her cottage is completely modern with AC and a really great bathroom; I can use the cottage to relax in when she is not there and she had stocked the fridge with snacks and drinks for me! She only comes home on the weekends. 

The Sunday after arrival, the family's daughter, Ni and her husband, brought me some things for my room, toiletries and food from the big city. This included peanut butter and jelly and Diet Coke!

Sunday night I was whisked into with my family to learn some traditional dancing. I soon found out that I would be performing in a parade the next day and would have to wake up at 4am to get my hair and make up done. All this turned out to be true and on the first day of the Thai New Year's festival, Songkran, I was dancing in the streets! This was fun and I wasn't half bad. I also got very sunburned as was exhausted by the end of the day. The next day, I headed to a local school to take part in some more New Year's activities; this included serving noodles to old villagers and making a speech in Thai. The next morning I headed to the Wat (the temple) to pray with the villagers. After all these activities I was feeling worn out and overwhelmed. I would have some time to relax before starting work the next day. 

Because of protests and violence in Bangkok, the prime minister extended the holiday for the rest of the week. Thus boredom ensued. I was to have the next four days with absolutely nothing to do and no Internet. I couldn't really hang out in the community, because it was too hot to ride my bike for fun, lots of people were traveling, and lots of people were drunk. I read books, studied Thai, biked a bit, sat around outside talking to neighbors, and tried to make a map to my house. I was really, really, really bored!

I am now at my first day of work. I biked in at about 8 this morning and have been using the Internet ever since. It's great! Though I will probably get bored soon enough. We are told not to expect too much work in the first few months. I will be using this time to integrate into the community, keep learning Thai and the local dialect, and to do community assessments. For this first week I will be mostly be in the office, setting up a bank account, and creating a six month plan with my co-workers. It will be slow, I will have to remember to remain upbeat and motivated, most current volunteers say this is the hardest time. At least I have a great house and family to keep me happy. As of now I am ready to take everything in and start building some relationships. 

I am also looking forward to a long weekend in Bangkok in Mid-May. This will be the first time we are allowed to travel. I was elected to represent my fellow volunteers on a volunteer action committee and we will have our first meeting in Bangkok with Peace Corps staff on a Monday. The other member of the group and I plan to meet up on Saturday and sightsee and chill in Bangkok until our meeting on Monday morning. I really am so excited to travel some and will be very glad to see the other volunteers come May. 

As always, thanks for reading, and keep the emails coming! I have much more access to internet now, so will update more often and be able to write more emails!