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I seem to have a habit of posting a new blog immediately after posting another, but I just can't help it. As soon as I stopped typing my last update my main-co-worker burst into the room with tape measure ready to record my measurements. Of course, in usual American fashion, I asked why. She said "it's because we have to report our weights and measurements to the provincial office"...again I asked but why? "It's the health project, we can't have fat government workers! They want to make sure we aren't too fat."

Of course, I thought to myself. 

The Day Stops (literal translation of weekend in Thai)

Many Peace Corps volunteers gathered this weekend for an annual bowling tournament and general volunteer debauchery. I was unable to attend. I am realizing more and more how far I am from certain volunteers and certain locations. Luckily, I love my site and my village and the only downfall is that I will really have to pick and choose which of these weekends I can make it to. 

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!

A Turn of Events

So the manicure place wasn't open and my friend didn't want to play bay dtong because she had just got back from the doctor and thought it was going to rain. I chatted with the villagers for a bit and arrived at home to see a yard full of people just in time to see a pig get slaughtered and a chicken get boxed up to be taken away for cock fighting. Mind you I have already seen a cow get slaughtered today. Luckily my host dad brought me some actual real salad for dinner, no meat! No plans to become a vegetarian (I already tried that once) but I've seen enough for one day, well really one year. 

A Day at the Office

This morning I arrived at work expecting it to be a normal day of studying Thai and trying to read the resources that they have here at the office. Around nine am a teacher friend of mine and her husband popped in and asked if I wanted to go visit some schools with them to get some signatures to turn into the government. As I have mentioned I jump at any opportunity to get out and drive around the community. We visited two schools in my area, and while she got the signatures I entertained the children. This involved trying to get them to ask me questions about myself and America, and a couple rounds of songs. Pretty fun, but I have to admit I don't like standing in front of the classroom. I am much better suited to small groups of children and tutoring. After our visits to each of these schools, my friends graciously took me to meet the village headmen near each of the schools. In the first village I met Mr. Boon Chom by a large pond at the restaurant he owns. He could not have been friendlier and he seems dedicated to his community. We discussed population logistics, the community group and the problems facing the village. Mr. Chom wants the pond where his restaurant is to become a tourist attraction for fishing. He would like to have a boat service there as well. He also wished that they could have a drainage canal developed to prevent the constant flooding of the village during the rainy season. During this time many children cannot get to school, the farmers cannot get to their farms, people get sick and the foundations of houses rot. It's a big problem in my area. He also said the community group was struggling. They weave mats to supplement their income but cannot find a strong market in which to sell them. The group is not sure what to do and has sort of given up. When I asked what was the best thing about his village, he said that he had never thought about that before, that he usually just thinks about what is wrong and then moves on. This sounds like the perfect village for a Peace Corps volunteer to make a difference. I couldn't help but get excited and was glad that the headman was open to communicating and working with me. 

At the second village/school area my interview went a bit differently. The head man was friendly and hospitable but kept stressing that he was retiring from his position soon. He was also distracted by the cow being slaughtered by about 12 men in his front yard. I was too! One good part of the interview was when he asked what would I teach America about Thailand. He was obviously very proud of his country and wants America to have a good impression of it. I explained to him that one of the goals of Peace Corps was for volunteers like me to teach Americans about the countries that we serve in. I guess this blog is even a teaching tool for such a goal. 

We traveled on to visit 3 more schools in a different Tambon (ie different county). Though this was not my community I still smiled and entertained the students. The students were all VERY shy with me except for at one school. This school was way out in the country and I was the first foreigner that they had ever met. I couldn't believe it! And they weren't shy at all. The funniest questions I got were "why are your eyes blue" and "why is your skin white". I had a lot of fun with this group and things got even funnier when all 60 of the students asked for my autograph. I had to set up a table like a celebrity would do at a book signing or something. 

Arriving at the next school, I was surprised at how quiet things were. When I finally saw the students, about 60 1st through 6th graders were sitting Indian style meditating. This was a school centered around Buddhism. I have never seen anything like it!

At lunch with my teacher friend we started throwing around ideas for a Life Skills camp. This is a pretty popular activity with PC volunteers and it involves 1-3 volunteers throwing a camp for 2 days to teach Thai youth about life skills like team work, self-esteem, career planning, etc. At our lunch we decided to have a Life Skills camp in which we train teachers to host their own life skills camps at the schools around the area. The date is tentatively set for mid-July. I'm really excited about developing this project. 

Today was definitely one of my best days at the office yet! After work I'm off to get a manicure with some co-workers and then going to play bay dtong (a bowling game) with some villagers. Things are good and life is great!

Learning Thai, Snakes, Lizards, and the Godfather.

So i don't really have any funny or exotic tales to tell, but things are going well. I taught myself Thai all morning yesterday, and then visited one of the health stations after lunch. My teaching must have gone well because I was able to find out everything I wanted. I could even talk about preventing diabetes! (Note: diabetes is every common in Thailand; I think it has something to do with all the rice). I gave all the nurses my phone number and encouraged them to call me anytime they had an activity that I could help with. Also I am working on finding some funding for the health station to buy a stereo so they can start an aerobics class in the evenings. I already suggested several methods as how to obtain the stereo and they seemed overwhelmed with the ideas. The responded with the very Thai phrase, ja yen yen (cool your heart, Sarah!). We I got home for the evening I had some very productive conversations with my host parents about one's responsibility to the community. I shared with them the things that my family in America does to help the community and we decided that my family here and my family there share the same kind of heart. This conversation turned into quite another. My host father informed me that my host mom had killed a snake in the backyard when she got home from teaching that day. Not just any snake though, a KING COBRA!! Now, my host dad has a tendency to exaggerate so I'm not really sure what kind of snake it was, but it's still a good story. My host parents promptly called the neighbors over to look at the dead snake, decided that the couple down the street would get to take it home as it was now their dinner. Of course during the conversation, a lizard (gecko) crawling above me, relieved himself all over my blue jeans...hmmm...maybe this could be considered an exotic tale. Anyway, the night tamed down a bit as we looked at old family photos as a Thai dubbed version of the Godfather played in the background. 

Today is another day at the office, but I am feeling more productive than usual, because I have another visit into the community scheduled for this afternoon. I think I have also arranged some Lao lessons (quite informal) outside the convenience store in the village. I also hope to hone my bay tong (like bocci ball) skills in the evening this week. This weekend I am headed to a large city in Isan to meet up with some other volunteers for two nights, in the hopes of getting to go to the traditional beer garden in town and swapping stories on community development and life in Isan in general. 

That's all for now!

Reflection

I have always found that being sick while away from home is one of the worst feelings one can have. I have had the flu all week and powered through the work days and some traditional Thai ceremonies with only a bit of a problem. But now we have reached Saturday. I had grand plans of exploring some of the villages I hadn't seen yet and even interviewing those villagers friendly and interested enough. This morning I woke up burning up with fever, just when I thought I was getting better. In an attempt to be somewhat productive, I hate feeling nothing and unproductive, I cranked up some mood music and began to organize my books and papers. I found a letter that our training staff required us to write to ourselves as we left for site. Then Peace Corps mailed us the letter after we had been at site for about 2 weeks. Mine was super cheesy and I just shoved it away in my bookshelf. Some of you might think the letter is super duper cheesy, but it actually had quite an effect on me today. Even those of you who are in America, might start to think because of this letter. Whether you are worried about the economy, worried about finding a job, stuck in a boring job or routine, have stress with friends and family, or are even a little under the weather, I encourage you to slow down and reflect. As stated before, I would have never realized the value in this had I not been in Thailand and truly discovering as well as testing myself. Anyway, you all might think I am some sort of cheesy, weirdo, pensive type person, but I thought I would share the letter below:

April 3, 2009

Sarah, 

We are in PST now and hopefully when you get this you will be feeling optimistic and excited. Remember this is an excellent, god-given opportunity that can change your life. You deserve to be here and it really is the opportunity of a lifetime. Remember what inspires you, what makes you smile, what makes you cry and what guides your heart:

           Lord make me an instrument of they peace, where there is hatred let me sow love, where there is injury pardon, where there is error truth, where there is discord harmony, where there is despair hope, where there is darkness light and where there is sorrow joy. - St. Francis' Prayer

You don't have to been in the Peace Corps or living abroad to discover yourself or even pause for self-reflection. These words lifted me up and I hope they do the same for you.

I promise my next post will be funny....

Back from BKK safe and sound, but absolutely exhausted. It was a good time had by all, bowling, shopping (new Jimmy Choo purse!), a few beers here and there (haha) and generally spending too much money. I have to say that when I arrived back to my village at 6 am this morning and walked from the bus stop to my house in the rain that I was glad to be there. It was great to see all my friends, but Bangkok is OVERWHELMING and the American food there makes my stomach hurt. I was glad to get back to rice and fruit. Also while I was in Bangkok I was a part of my first VAC meeting. The meeting went well and I am so happy to be involved and representing my fellow volunteers. After the meeting we spent the day in the PC lounge playing Scrabble. My skills have gone way down hill. I totally quit after my friend Beau played all of his letters for the 2nd time of the game! While at the office we met a volunteer who is serving in Cambodia now. We all swapped stories and learned that most of our neighboring volunteers don't have electricity or running water. This volunteer powers up by using a car battery. It is interesting to think about how close we are but how our experiences are probably all so different.