Second homestay

This time around we each lived with a family by ourselves in the city. I really enjoyed being by myself at the homestay. It created the opportunity to really development intimate relationship with your family while it also pushed you out of your comfort zone and rely on your simple Thai skills for your every need.

This is our house

Meh never stops working.

She cooks the good food. This is breakfast.


We were paired up with either a little brother or sister (about 3rd grade) who we went to school with everyday. Everyday we would line up in the front courtyard and sing songs in Thai and do this weird song/self massage. The first day we had to stand in front of the school and introduce ourselves in Thai. I introduced myself as Ling Lek Lek. This means little monkey. They really liked me after that. A lot.

One day we didn't have classes. We had a "Fun Thai Activity". We didn't really know what was going to mean (While on that note, we don't really know what anything is as far as the schedule goes until its happening. Actually sometimes we don't don't know whats going on while it's happening either). So this "Fun Thai Activity" ended up being the 3rd grade class teaching us short children songs. Sounds fun and innocent right? Well, actually not so much. There was dancing that goes with the songs.

We also drew some pictures with some students. If you look closely there is a "chicken burger" on the left hand side and "chicken nuggets" in the top left corner. Admittedly, Melissa and I both started drawing the picture being critical of meat consumption, but the students took it to a whole new level and added a lot of gore.

One my third day at my homestay I met my pee-saw (oldest sister) for the first time. Well we got to talking and I asked her where I can get some flip flops. Of course she has to show me, so at about 9:30 we went out on a motorcycle ride to the night market. Riding a motorcycle in Thailand is maybe the most exhilarating thing in the world. Also maybe the most dangerous thing. Every other person is either in the hospital from a crash or their best friend is. So like I said, it's really fun. Although, my older sister kept asking me if I was single, which was weird.


Sometimes we wash dishes together. It's pretty romantic.We also did an exchange with an HIV+/AIDS clinic. Their organization was impressive. Since Thailand has a universal health care system people only have to pay 30 baht for a check and medicine (including the arv). Maybe someday the US can learn a lesson, but probably not. They also focus on a holistic approach which includes mental support, counseling, focus on health eating habits and home visits. We went on some home visits, this picture is of a 8 year old girl living with HIV+. She's super sweet and happy.

myspace motorcycle

First Home Stay: Village Life

So our first home stay was in Nong Jon, a illegal village in a National Park. These people took us in their house without knowing anything about us in order to teach us about their way of life. We were nervous and excited having no idea what to expect from our first homestay. We just had survived our week of "Thai boot camp" and well...the experience left us hunger for more lessons.

(some of these photos are Tyler's)

The first order of business was the making of a giant feast. Here is the making of Som Tom or Papaya Salad.

The chopping of garlic

They have these amazing stoves. I want to bring one back.


This is was Tyler, Luke and I's family's house. We would make attempts at Thai and get decent amount of laughter in response.


The next morning our Pa took us farming. But you see the thing is, we couldn't speak Thai at this point and got the directions wrong. So after filling up a basket of produce we picked Pa came over, frowned and dumped it all out. Fail. We did a little bit better the second time around. Then we helped cook our pickings for breakfast and listened to Thai radio while drinking coffee. The coffee was "turbo coffee " and our Pa poured us three packs worth per cup. Thanks for looking out for us Pa.





Then Planet Earth happened.

This be the Golden Temple inside the Bangkok

Many of these types


This guy means business


These are the rolling hills where our orientation was. Pretty, but not hobbit habitat.


Yay, off we go to our first home stay! Ekk?

Well, there is so much to say. Let me just start out saying that in situations like this where you're constantly being challenged to your core I find words fail to grasp the the reality of your experience. I want to pinpoint the perfect word that accurately describes the emotions and feelings running through me during this trip, but they always seem to fall short.
I've also been struggling with whether or not I should maintain a blog or not. I have been fearful that having such a strong, constant connection to my life back home would limit my ability to totally throw myself in to a new environment with a open mind. By temporarily cutting off those bonds I feel that I can be challenged the most and therefore growing the most. But I love everyone back home and feel that it is important for everyone to know what is going on in my life and that I am safe (specifically my family). Additionally, I literally have no time to write or even call everyone, so I hope this blog will suffice (especially for my fam).
Time
We live off of the "industrial time structure". That is, we don't observe weekends or the standard "9 to 5" workday. Our director David describe it as " instead of working intensely for five days in a row we work everyday, but at a slower, consistent pace". Its really interesting to step outside that frame of mind and not really be aware what day of the week it is, but just be focused on what is happening here and now. We definitely work longer days. Everyday our schedule is planned with events from (give or take) 7am to 5pm. Our weeks are so intensely packed full of homestays, thai lessons, group discussions etc., etc. that I've stopped planning ahead and only look at what is on tomorrow's itenerary. It's all I can handle. You just have to go with the flow or it all just overwhelms you. Its wacky.