I attempted to stay busy, so I wouldn't think about my friends reuniting in Central Thailand or those reuniting in Richmond. And stay busy I did!
Friday was an interesting day. Of course it started out like any other at the office, studying Thai and reading the news. Then I was presented with a jersey for our office, the SAO. We all loaded up in several pick-up trucks and headed to the capital of the province for what I deemed to be a parade at a sporting event. I was semi-correct but our group arrived late, and my sign-holding duties in the parade only lasted about 5 minutes. During this time I noticed another volunteer in the stands watching the proceedings. It was my friend Heidi! She live about 3 hours away from me and we have only seen each twice since training ended. It was so good to see her. Heidi is one of my favorite volunteers as she always has a smile on her face and is so optimistic about our time her. We always have a great time swapping crazy stories as well. Turns out the sporting event was a soccer game between students from Thailand and Laos. The Thai team was from Heidi's village so we got seats right on the sideline. There were young Thai children dancing for the opening ceremonies and then the game started. I didn't stay more than 20 minutes as my co-workers were anxious to hit the road. Or so I thought...
I rode back in a karaoke van with a chandelier with a built in bar. Not much more to say about that. Just use your imagination. Anyway we completely by-passed the village and headed on towards Ubon (the big city near us) and ended up at Big C (kind of like Target or Wal-Mart). I took the opportunity to load up on Diet Coke, soy milk and some accessories for my room. I thought the van was just going to be driving around the block while we were in the store but when I ran across the highway with my purchases to hop back in I found it to be full of toddlers. Pretty alarming, pretty much the cutest kids I had ever seen. Needless to say they didn't understand why I was there (they were terrified of me) and I did not understand why they were there. I finally gathered that the kids were from our village and the driver had offered to pick them up from daycare. Karaoke set aside for cartoons and we were on our way.
Next thing I know we are pulled over on the side of the highway to drop one boy off as his father waits in a car on the other side. Not sure if this is their normal pick-up drop-off spot or what, but at this point I was just along for the ride. Finally we made it back to the village (in time for a huge thunderstorm) and dropped off the other five children at their homes.
Saturday: I slept in until 9! Ate breakfast and then biked to a nearby school where I had plans to meet with a teacher and a girls group that she is in charge of. Once at the school I realized that my teacher friend is in the midst of a full-on English Camp. These camps are very popular in Thailand and occur on weekends so that students can practice their English even more. They usually have a theme, often involving lots of energetic games. I pitched in and even gave a little talk on careers and tried to explain community development. Next the girls' group showed up and we loaded up in the teacher's husband's truck and headed to the outskirts of the village. The event was to be a rocket festival. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about said event:
The Rocket Festival is a merit-making ceremony traditionally practiced throughout much of northeast Thailand and Laos, by numerous villages and municipalities near the beginning of the rainy season. Celebrations typically include preliminary music and dance performances, competitive processions of floats, dancers and musicians on the second day, and culminating on the third day in competitive firings of home-made rockets. Local participants and sponsors use the occasion to enhance their social prestige, as is customary in traditional Buddhist folk festivals throughout Southeast Asia.
Ours was a one day affair and consisted only of rockets and food. The girls and I found a safe, shady place to sit and watch. Not much watching occurred however, as they preceded to ask me anything they could think of about me and America. It was fun and we bonded. We made plans for the next two Saturdays to ride bikes around their neighborhoods and they have offered to help me with my community assessment of the area. This should be a good and effective way for me to get some work done.
Sunday I headed up to the highway bus stop to meet two co-workers as we had made plans to go into Ubon for the day. An hour and a half later we were dropped off at a mall. The first stop, a store called the Fat Story, in hopes that they would have some clothes to fit me. I immediately cracked up at the name of the store, and taking no offense started shopping. I got a cute shirt , size small. This is the first time I have been a size small, since, well EVER! Only in Thailand. We ambled around the mall and headed to the movie theater just after noon to catch "Night at the Museum 2". The film was dubbed in Thai and I was able to understand the plot and about 40% of the dialogue. Many of the scenes with jokes or comedic dialogue were lost on me as this requires a higher understanding of the language. Many of the "american" or cultural aspects were lost on my Thai friends and they had questions about who Al Capone and Amelia Earhart were. Either way, we were all glad we went. After the film, we headed to get some pizza (always a good activity in my book). I got home around five and felt happy, but exhausted from such a good weekend.
This weekend, in the spare time I did have, I read a great book: One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. I highly recommend it; this is some of the best writing I have come across in a long time.
In other notes, we have entered the rainy season. It rains every single day without fail. These rains come suddenly and are in my mind torrential. The rain lasts for 30 minutes to 3 hours. In my home there is a tin roof over the kitchen and the rain falling on it is so deafening that you cannot hear another person speak. I like the rain as when is stops I feel like there is a fresh start. Sometimes the rain is accompanied by much thunder and lightening, which is interesting watch across the very flat rice plains.
I am constantly struck by the hospitality of Thai people. I have never experienced anything like it. I don't know if I met extremely friendly people in my time here or what, but it's truly amazing. Sometimes even a little overwhelming. Thais find it hard to believe that a person would ever want alone time. The society is 100% communal. Luckily, my host family has an understanding of my American ways and give me plenty of privacy.
I am now geared up for another week at work, hoping to learn all I can about the community in preparation for a presentation I have to give at Pre-Service Training 2 at the end of June. Apparently I will be accompanying several of my colleagues as they conduct a community survey of some of the villages in our jurisdiction. This should be helpful in my preparation, but as usual who knows if it will really happen or if its at all what I would expect a community survey to be. Will update again soon!
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