An unexpected turn of events

I think it’s safe to say that most PCV’s eventually learn not to get their hopes up about ‘doing stuff’ at their site.  By ‘doing stuff’ I mean having something legit to do during the day, saving the world, or simply having a feeling of purpose at site.  So, often PCV’s come here thinking they will make a huge, clear and tangible impact at their site, when in reality that’s probably not true.   I am by no means saying that we don’t make an impact, it just may not be one described as above.  I think that PC presence in Thailand is necessary and positive, as I am someone who views the cultural exchange as extremely important…even more important than the idea of a tangible ‘project’.  This doesn’t mean that I myself haven’t experienced ‘work-related’ disappointments.  Thailand’s work ethic is very different.  As in many other non-Western countries, everything that happens in Thailand happens much slower, if at all.  You may find yourself dedicating so much time and engery to plan for a meeting or writing a project proposal, to realize you never get the opportunity you thought you would have to do something with it.  I have learned to roll with the punches and not to take anything that happens or doesn’t happen, personally.  With this as my preface, I would like to share a story of complete Thai irony with you.

My very good friend and fellow PCV, Meechee, comes to visit me at my site to discuss and work on a recycling idea that has been brewing amongst a small group of PCV’s (and let's be honest, we really just wanted to hang out too!).  Our plan is a large-scale plan, yet we’ve brainstormed small-scale ideas as well that are feasible for each PCV to implement at their site.  With that, Meeche has been looking into things that can be made out of recycled goods, particularly pocketbooks.  Recycling is something my community doesn’t do (formally, at least and certainly not regularly) and I’m interested in sharing some cool new ideas about recycling and hey, while we’re at it, extra income (selling the pocketbooks).  So, I asked Meechee to bring her crocheting materials so she can teach me to crochet pocketbooks out of plastic bags.  My mom’s friend in America makes these very same pocketbooks and my mom brought one to me during her visit, ironically enough.  The bag is wonderful and I was excited to show Meechee (I love this bag!) and maybe teach some ladies in my community one day.  The day before Meechee comes, I get a call from PC and due to some miscommunications, I randomly tell them that Meechee is coming to my site to teach a group of women in my community how to make the bags and share ideas in general, about things they can make with recycled bags.  I don’t know why I told them this, but I am now in a situation in which I had 1 day to find a group of people to come together for this training. This is how things go down:

1.    

1.       1.   I call Meechee immediately while I’m biking on my way to the office.  I’m kind of freaking out, but we laugh at this situation we have somehow created and decide we have to whip something up.  I’ll find the people, Meechee will take care of the actual ‘training’.

2.     2.  I get to the office and see my counterpart at the office…. I’m lucky to catch her at this time because she was leaving the office for the day.  So, before she leaves I tell her Meechee is coming and we should take advantage of having another PCV come to exchange recycling ideas.  I get the go to round up about 10 women for a meeting the following day at 10am.

3.      3. A few weeks ago I am told that there is a group of women who recently learned how to make pocket books.   One of the ladies who makes the bags, who also happens to be the emergency health staff at the SAO, shares with me that materials are expensive.  I share the idea of using plastic bags instead (they are everywhere b/c people frivolously use plastic bags here) but she shows little interest.  Regardless, I figure I have to get her at this meeting because she’s at the SAO every day and I can easily contact her and tell her to invite her friends.  After some question asking, I learn she’s not at the SAO that day – seriously, c’mon! 

4.      4. I go to my friend at my SAO, her name is Fuun, who I ask to help me somehow find this woman.  As we are discussing this, a different lady, who never comes to the SAO, but also makes the bags walks into the SAO.  We tell her about the training, she lights up and says she’ll make sure to bring a bunch of ladies to the training the following morning.  Thank God.

5.      5. I then ask Fuun if we could get in touch with somebody from the HIV/AIDS group as I’d like to share this information with them as well.  She works some magic and contacts my favorite lady from this group, Metda to join us.  Funny.  Metda just returned home from Bangkok after living there for 3 months.  Metda is game.  Yay!

6.      6. What is happening right now?  Is this what we call ‘perfect timing’? 

7.      7. But, then I realize I have another concern: will they show?  Thai people often say they’ll come and then never come.  I keep my fingers crossed.

8.      8. Game day: 8 women show up.  I’m relieved as I was praying for 5. 

9.      9. Between the bag from America and Meechee’s awesomeness, the women basically figure it all out and start crocheting themselves.  Women in Thailand know how to do everything, they shock me with the things they know, so it’s no wonder they all already knew how to crochet.  They sat there for 2 hours crocheting, teaching each other, helping each other and asking lots of questions.  I was like a proud mom.

1    10. The ladies proceed to discuss the business prospects of this new-found gem, all on their own with no provoking from me, who desperately wants this to be a business prospect for them.  They spoke about how everybody in Thailand is already making the bags they’ve been making, but nobody in Thailand makes ‘things’ like pocketbooks, rain jackets, wallets, etc. out of plastic bags and other recycled goods.  If they do this, there wouldn’t be competition – they get it!  They profusely thank Meechee and I for sharing this information with them.  I felt like a real PC volunteer!

     11.  Metda, the lady with the HIV group, spent 2 hours crocheting like a bad-ass.  We arranged that Fuun, Metda and myself will teach the rest of the HIV group, all of the possibilities with recycled bags at their next meeting on October 21^st.

Can you sense my excitement?  Can you sense that I’m now bordering this fine-line of hoping that this could actually be something and how dangerous it could be?!  Yes, it’s true…..although I’ve learned not to get my hopes up, I still get my hopes up.  Idealistic by nature J  But even if this ends up just a fun morning of exchanging ideas and getting to know some of the ladies in my community, that will be more than enough.  Who knows how the group of women inspired each other?  It could possibly be something someone said or did unintentionally…..or the simple comraderie they shared for those2 hours helping each other.  During my parents visit, they gave me some good advice: “All you can do is plant seeds – you may never see the results but you never know what could happen 20 years from now”.  I hope a seed or two was planted.  

** See facebook for photos!

E-mails to another Peace Corps volunteer

So, this week I went to the ladies house with the scarves.  Let me preface with that I'm good friends with the scarf ladies neighbor and best friend - I don't know the actual scarf lady as well, but I've had a few chats with her....meaning, I've done my fair share of IRB'ing (for non-peace corps readers, this is: Intentional Relationship Building – an acronym often used in PC).  I've also previously learned that the scarf lady is interested in selling outside of Thailand. So, I went there with the intention to take pictures of the scarves and hopefully start a conversation about her website, selling to western countries, and how if we translate her website she'd have to be open to working with credit cards and deliveries, etc.  When am I going to learn that I'm not in Kansas anymore?  When will I realize that nothing like the sentence I just wrote above EVER happens here?  Nobody talks like that, nor do they want to....especially when it's practically the 2nd sentence out of my mouth.  When will I learn that I can't go in for the kill so quickly....I mean, who wants to talk about business, websites and credit cards when we can have a photo shoot with the farang and dress her up in all of the clothing in the shop?  Exactly, nobody does.  So, that's what we did: they dressed me up in a variety of outfits, changing pasins and scarves, changing the scene, sit here, stand there, put your hands like that, etc.  And let's be honest, I loved it.   This isn't the first time this has happened either....every time I go and bring up the clothes, a photo shoot ensues.  I thought the 3 we've already had would've been sufficient, but I guess not. 

Outfit #1

 After the photo shoot, we looked at pictures and then she started to work on something that had to do with the clothing material.  There was my in...if I had just jai yen yen'ed (relaxed) from the beginning.  Either way, I  re-brought up the conversation and she's totally interested, she's already working on selling to other countries and she'd love it if i could help - she'd like to do it in the next year and half, so I should still be here for it....and so on and so on.

#2 - this one was a big hit with the ladies

 Monday night, I wasn't feeling well - so my Thai people boiled up some Thai herbs for me, told me to stick my feet in it, then sleep with crushed onions in a wash cloth on my pillow and relax on Tuesday.  So, I did all the herb and onion stuff, was in my yai (grandma) pajamas all day Tuesday, the village kids hung out all morning, I did some work on the comp, just chilled out.  Would you believe that it worked?  Wednesday, I felt completely back to normal.  I'm telling you, these Thai's have some secrets up their sleeves :)  


One of the boats!



                                                                                                                       We had a boat festival in my province on Oct. 12th.   Every district builds a boat out of bamboo...and I mean like 4 stories high.  Then they take the little 'coffee' tin cans and stuff them with some stuff that catches fire.  Then they create a picture out of hanging these things on 1 side of the boat.  It's legit art.  So, they've been sitting in the Mekong River for a while now....took a while to work on them.  The last night of Buddhist Lent, the boats are lit up and sent down the river.  And when I say lit up, there are men with bamboo torches that are climbing the boats, lighting up each 'coffee' can at a time....so dangerous!  Anyway, they were gorgeous.  I was so unbelievably impressed.  Laurie (fellow PCV friend) helped her community stuff the cans and her boat came in 2nd place! 



The initial lighting...it was a little windy!



My PC program manager suggests I meet with the non-formal education place in my community as they do things with disabled people and we are trying to get some of that going here.  I tell my counterpart I’d like to meet with them, of course, she has a friend who works there and we can go whenever we want.  I know we have one in my sub-district as well, but I don't know anything about it. Either way, I went to one of my village Wats to wait for the nurses I was meeting so we could go on a house visit together (the health workers make house visits to the disabled and chronically ill).  I got there early and went to say hello to the daycare teachers.  The pants lady who sells pants was there, I buy a pair (people go to offices, schools, etc. selling all kinds of stuff).  Some guy, who’s like a regular villager comes over and says he wants to buy pants too, but he needs a certain color for his work.  We start chatting about his work....wouldn't you know he works at the non-formal education center in my sub-district?  And he knows sign language! He travels all over the province to teach groups of deaf people.  So while I waited for the nurses, I learned how to sign in thai!!!!  Isn't it such a small world?  You do something just to help pass the time and something like that happens – I now have a new contact at this center.  I also learned, through him, that all the teachers in my sub-district non-formal education center are lazy and never show up.....awesome! 

The Treacherous Travels of Thailand

"The more I travel in Thailand, the more I long for the NYC transportation system, which is sad.”  This is a text message I sent my good friend and fellow PCV, Lizzy this weekend.  And it’s basically because the transportation system in Thailand, if you could even call it a system, can drive someone nuts!  When I lived in NYC, everybody complained about the MTA:  ugh, services are cut again,  the prices are up, the trains are running all screwed up, or the trains are filthy, or….there was always something to complain about.  But, my travels this weekend made me long for a NYC subway.  Ok, I live in Esan which means I’m far away from everything.  The overnight buses are probably the greatest invention because, if you have to travel for 12 hours you might as well do it at night, sleep and not waste a day on a bus.  So, in some cases, the bus transportation here is a beautiful thing.   But, the ‘city’ buses are different story….here it is:

My friend and fellow PCV, Meechee and I are at the bus station in my provincial capital so we can go to our friend and fellow PCV, Kyle’s house.  Kyle was hosting a Mexican night with delicious Mexican food, fun and friends.  So, shall I preface that not only am I excited to get there, I forgot my book leaving me with nothing to keep me busy on the supposed short bus ride. 

Meechee and I wait 1 hour for the 2pm ‘city bus’ that is clearly running on what us PCV’s like to call ‘Thai time’ because the bus actually leaves at 2:20pm.  Tallied wait time: 1 hour and 20 minutes.

We drive around the block, yes folks, around the block to another bus stop to pick up waiting commuters.  My bus driver, let’s call him Bob, has a few friends who own the shop right by the bus stop.  Well, of course Bob has to get out and go hang out with this friend of his….God forbid Bob picks up the commuters and carries on his merry way.  But no, we must stop for approximately 12 minutes and sit there while Bob shoots the shit. Total tallied time: 1 hour and 32 minutes.

This week, there is a festival in my provincial capital which means markets.  We drove through the market at a speed in which a tour bus would take a group of tourists through a new place.  One would think that the bus driver never saw a market before, at a festival he has probably seen every year for his entire life.  Not to mention that every market in Thailand has the same stuff.  Bus driver Bob, must you drive 1 mph with your head out the window as though you’ve never seen anything this exciting before?  Takes what feels like an eternity to get to the next bus stop.  Total tallied time: approximately 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Bus stop #2: well, now it’s been about 17 minutes since Bus Driver Bob has had a cigarette, so it only makes sense that he would get out at the stop to have a smoke.  All Thai people know each other, so he is talking to somebody at the bus stop, probably his cousin, and they are looking at a magazine together.  So Bob finishes the cigarette and proceeds to review the magazine with cuz.  I’m staring this man down about to take over the wheel and drive ourselves there, and then he finally gets back to business and we continue: Total tallied time: approximately 1 hour and 57 minutes. 

We finally get out of the city after Bob’s dilly dallying and me wanting to scream.  We are on the main road and Bob is seriously crawling….people, the man is driving way too slow for me to remain sane on this trip.  But somehow I find some calm in me, and tell myself that at least we are moving.  I suck it up and reside to the fact that I lost this battle. 

Thai people rarely get upset about things, but I often wonder if that’s sometimes a cover up.  Because some of the commuters were looking around, wondering where Bob was, why weren’t we driving, etc, but didn’t look nearly as crazed as I did and certainly didn’t say anything.  Could you imagine a NYC bus driver stopping in the middle of a route to smoke a cig, hang out with a friend for 15 minutes or read a magazine with his cousin?  No, never, not in a million years.  In NY, people would have been all over that bus driver, but not in Thailand.  People don’t do that here, meaning, they don’t complain or get involved in any kind of confrontation period….they just let it happen and let it be.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get it or if I’ll ever fully adjust.  Sometimes, you can take a girl out of NY, but you just can’t take NY out of the girl. 

mama and papa dukes visit thailand

Is it possible that I've become so accustomed to Thailand and life here that when my parents came to visit and they made comments on how different it is here, I actually responded with: 'Is Thailand, really that different?'  Both of my parents looked at me like I had 10 heads and then I snapped back to reality and was like, 'Yeah, I guess it is!'

So, I was blessed enough to have my parents visit Thailand and we spent 2 weeks together!  They had a long and trecherous 22 hour flight here and they continued to be troopers for the next 2 weeks.  We spent our first 4 days down south in Phuket.  We stayed at a glorious hotel called 'Boomerang Villa' which we all kind of laughed when we said the name....but it was beautiful.  The hotel was away from the action, but not too far that it was difficult or long to get to, provided a great view and surrounded us with beautiful landscaping.  The staff were so sweet and I think we all felt at home there.  Although we weren't all that impressed with Phuket itself (not the most beautiful place we've ever been and we felt as though we were in Europe as everybody there were European.....aka it was way too touristy and not the 'real Thailand'), we did enjoy ourselves and had a few 'firsts' and interesting moments:

1. First ride in a tuk tuk (a primary cab transportation in Thailand)

Mom and dad in the tuk tuk

2. Saw a great Thai band singing American music (in English) fabulously as though we were in a bar in NY

3. Got screwed over into a tourist trap (that was my fault!)

4. Rode a 'public bus' (mom loved this b/c it was so small and the bus station was simply the side of the road!) and met some great Australian people

5. Went to see a nice show that included Thai culture, dance and theatre

6. Took a boat tour to Ko Phi Phi and met a trans-sexual woman from Kuwait - she goes to Thailand to get all of her surgeries because it's cheaper and more acceptable here. 

7. Swam in the Indian Ocean!

Mom and Dad's feel in the Indian Ocean!

8. Dad comments regularly about how bad Thailand smells. 

Needless to say, it was interesting.  We leave Phuket, say our farewells to our newly beloved friends at the Boomerang Villa and head for the north for a visit to Chiang Mai, where we were meeting 3 fellow Peace Corps Volunteers as well.

Chiang Mai was absolutely lovely.  We once again stayed in a hotel that was off the beaten path, but not too far away with a lovely staff that was extremely helpful.  The owner was a flaming gay man and all of his staff followed suit - they were all just so cute!  In Chiang Mai we were able to leave the city one day and see the beauty surrounding us...it is very mountainous and green.  We visited the 'Long Neck' village, which are groups of people that are typically from Thailands neighbor, Burma.  The woman where the heavy metal rings around their neck from the time they are young girls until adulthood to elongate their necks as it is viewed as beautiful. 

1. Took mom and dad to their first Wat (Doi Suthep) where mom made merit and paid her respects to Buddha!  They also got to see a group of young kids performing traditional Thai dance. 

2. Ate some legit Thai food at a restaurant owned by a ladyboy.  As dad was  paying, she asked my dad where he was staying (wink, wink).

Eating kaao dtom!

3. Mom and dad ate their first 'kaao dtom' which is a very popular Thai kanome (sweet/dessert).

4. Dad still thinks Thailand smells awful and makes sure to tell everybody throughout the day.

5. First traditional Thai massage....aaahhhhh!

6. Markets, markets, markets!

7. Mom and dad ride an elephant!!!

8. Two great days having my parents and my PCV friends get to know each other and share stories - it's great to share my world back home with my world here, and vise versa.

We sadly say good-bye to Chiang Mai, spend 18 hours on a bus (12 of them, thank God was an overnight bus and we all slept well!) to visit my site, Donnanghong.  I'd love to read a blog written by my parents about their experience at my site, but at least you can read mine:

1. 'God, this country stinks!' - Dad

Mom and I roll our eyes, even though we both know it's true.

Out to dinner with my host family

2. My host family takes us to a nice restaurant on the water where my parents have their first experience eating dinner while sitting on the floor.  My dad says his body just doesn't move like it used to :)

3. Mom and dad sleep under a mosquito net for the first time, mom laughs at this and so do I!

3a. Mom and dad are woken up at 3am by the monks at the Wat (about 50 meters from my house) banging the gong proceeded with 1 hour of chanting.  They look at each other and exclaim: What the f*$# is that?  The following morning I say: 'Welcome to Thailand!'

4. Mom and dad are totally wonderful and go along and meet so many people on day 1 we can't even count.  Lots of excitement that my parents were here, lots of pictures were taken and lots of wai'ing and hugging!

5. Mom and dad eat on the floor AGAIN!  They finally get some good home-cooked food at the home of my host family....Esan style, sticky rice and all....which means you eat with your hands.  Dinner was followed by each family (meaning my parents and host family) exchanging photos and talking about our families.  It was a really nice moment.

6. My parents spend an entire day at an organic farm that raises organic turkeys. They didn't think that was on the agenda....but unexpected things happen in Thailand all the time :)

7. We go to my provincial capital to go on a boat ride on the MeKong River and see the sunset.  We wait around for 1 hour (as per the boat staff) for them to eventually tell us that they have to go to Laos for something and so the ride was cancelled....so we ate instead.  Cnce again, Welcome to Thailand.  But, they got to see the River and saw Laos from Thailand.....pretty cool. 

8. Attended a Thai festival that takes place once a year to preserve Thai culture.  So, it's a day full of women in beautiful traditional Thai outfits, Thai dancing and singing contests, contests for students who have the most beautiful wai (for real, this was a contest) and which village makes the most beautiful bai-sii, which are made out of banana leaves and flowers.  Bai-sii's are used at monk ordinations and other celebrations to hold the white strings they use to provide the welcome ceremony.  The welcome ceremony is when they take the string and wish you good luck and happiness while wishing away all things negative and tie the string around your wrist.

9. Received the strings of the welcome ceremony, by my neighbors.  Grandma was so happy, she cried.

10. Ugh, it freakin stinks!

11. Mom and dad rode bikes....on the dirt rodes in the rice fields no less!

12. Mom and dad were celebrities for 4 days, got touched and grabbed a lot, were fawned over, were told what to do a lot, in Thai even though everybody knew they didn't speak Thai and told how beautiful and young they still are.  That's life in Thailand!

I had a great 2 weeks with my parents. I can't believe it has already come and gone, but it was amazing to show them my new, temporary home and the people in my life here.  It was really important to me for my community to meet my parents as well and see first hand how important they (and my familly) are to me.  It was most amazing to just have them around, talk, hug and laugh for 2 weeks straight.  Always good to know I'll be going home to amazing people in 1.5 years.  

Things happening in my hood

So much has gone on the past few month (more than me just having a good time rockin out in Thailand) and I apologize for lacking in the sharing department.  I'm breakin this one down by some of the things I've recently done and some of the things I hope to do over the next 1.5 years I have left here in the Land of Smiles :)

One of the amazing families I've met here - took me in as their own.  This was at a beautiful Wat they took me to.

In a previous blog I've mentioned that my Balat (supervisor) has taken me to visit some of the disabled people in our community.  We were both strongly moved by a little girl, Noong Kim, who has an underdeveloped brain and cannot speak or move much - she can hear though.  She was very cute and after about 3 of our visits, she would smile when we spoke to her.  Our office and the community donated many things to this family, as they are much less fortunate than most other families.  This is the case with most families of disabled people.  Due to this realization of the needs of those with disabilities, we are creating a disability group in our community and plan to provide them with opportunities for extra income.

Noong Kim.  That is her grandma and some of the SAO staff in the background at one of the visits when we delivered some goodies for Kim.

In the Peace Corps worldwide, there are 4 special committees that focus on the following: HIV/AIDS, youth development, ICT and gender and development (GAD).  I am a member of the GAD member and we are hoping to provide a train the trainer conference in 2012 for PCV's and their Thai counterparts.  We hope to provide others with the tools and the skills to teach youth in their community about sexual health, gender roles, sexual identity and peer pressure.  I am responsible for the gender roles component and will implement my activities addressing this complex topic at the secondary school, before the end of the year. 

To go along with this topic, I recently met the Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PHA) group of my district (where I live is a sub-district of this district).  I just hung out with them all day and got to know them a bit.  They shared their stories of how they became infected, how long they've known of their positive status and how the villagers segregate themselves as they are afraid of them.  These brave people do go to many of the secondary schools in the district and share their story, but there is still much stigma associated with HIV and more people, outside of students in the school, need to be educated.  The group also got to know me a bit more and asked why I am so interested in working with them.  It was hard for me to express my true feelings with them due to my amateur language skills, but I just kept clutching at my heart as I told them that it makes me so sad to hear their story and I want to teach others so they can be treated just as any other person.  They told me they were afraid I would hate and despise them because they were HIV.  We all shed a few tears and by the end of the afternoon, despite my language, I think they know I'm on their side.  They were amazing and I hope to work with them in the future as well.  For now, I will continue to attend their monthly support group meeting.



Just chatting it up



If you ever make it to rural Thailand, brace yourself for the worst teeth you've ever seen.  Yes, they are worse than the English. Mainly because Thai's love sweets and other foods that just turn into sugar (i.e. rice 3 times/day) and never brush their teeth.  If the kids have teeth, they are usually brown and rotting out of their mouths anyway, so you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I found out that my community has been in the midst of a dental healthcare campaign at the schools to teach the kids how to brush their teeth and also give them toothbrushes. They've dabbled in teaching parents and elders but I don't think it's been too successful.  Anyway, I was lucky enough to observe the dental nurse teach the kindegarten class at one of the schools.  

I was even more shocked when they told me to slap on some gloves, squeezed some fluoride gel on my finger and told me to clean the little guys teeth!  I was scared I would mess up but it was a lot of fun!  The kids were so good.

There's actually quite a bit more in the works, but will wait to tell those tales until after the fact.  Till then, choke dii ka (Good luck)!

Kuhn Da cares for Yai - July 28, 2011

I know I haven't posted for a really long time and I really have to because there is SO much to update on - but so many updates means I'm busy so I apologize for not being more dilligent, but glad that I'm busy!  I will update you on all that has gone one the past month or 2, but I wanted to share this brief story with you all.

Before I get into my story, I must preface a bit with some Thai culture and history.  In Thailand, there is a hierarchial system making age, social status, gender and appearances the end all be all.  I don't mind the age hierarchal thing, but everything else related to this system is probably my least favorite thing about Thailand.  All the people who are socially 'higher' are usually the assholes and do the least, yet they get the most respect.  And in my eyes, this system has added to the stereotypical gender role problem.  Typically in Thailand, the women run everything....they do all the work in the house and they work the fields, in addtion to taking care of the kids while the men hang out together smoking cigarettes, lounging around and often getting drunk (alcoholism is a really big problem here).  While living with my host family, I was expected to help in the kitchen and do all the 'womanly' things while the men literally came into the kitchen to eat and then left and never lifted a finger.  I didn't mind helping at all, I mean these people were housing and feeding me so I tried to help as much as possible.  But there were a few instances when I wanted to deck my host dad - a few arrogant moments on his end when I guess he thought we could treat me as his 'Thai daughter' and have me cater to him....because women cater to men, it's just the way it is here. 

Although I see this stereotypical gender role issue in my community, I do think the men in my community do not fully fit this stereotype.  This could be because most of the men I spend my time with at my site are really great men who are patient with me, respectful towards me, work hard in the fields and are involved in the community (my community is still dominated by men - there are 5 female leaders out of 40).  These men I am referring to are also 40-45  years old + as many men 20-40  years old move to Bangkok to work, so the age could be a factor also.  Overall, I love the men in my community but I certainly don't love all of the dynamics.  Although they are great men, there is still the mind-set that women and men have certain roles and doing anything outside of that box is viewed as not beautiful or not good.  I also rarely see a man taking care of a child - if I do it's the grandfather of the child.  Now that I'm comfortable at my site, I will try to use these situations to explain what it's like in America and how woman have equal opportunities and men actually wash the dishes. 

Sorry for the cultural rant - back to my original story which is short. Today I went to visit friends of my Nayoke to deliver a wheelchair he was donating to them.  I did not know the situation, I just went along for the ride. As it turns out, we were giving the wheelchair to an older woman who was diabetic and had been in some kind of accident that caused a lot of damage and she couldn't do much for herself, including walking and eating.  So when we got there, I see this elderly woman (Yai=grandma) sitting in a chair and her elderly husband (Da=grandpa) sitting on the floor in front of her (Note #1: this scene alone was rare for me to see) WHILE HE IS FEEDING HER!  It was one of the sweetest things I've seen - he was so gentle and sweet with her.  They were so genuine and so grateful for the wheelchair - he helped her into it, they tested it out and he was teaching her how to use it.  I told him that he took very good care of his wife and that he was doing a great job.  I actually cried and had to compose myself to not make them feel uncomfortable.  It was just so nice to see all 'expectations' and typical scenes of the woman catering to the man, washed away.  Gender roles no longer existed at this point and he was just taking care of somebody that he loved and cared about.  It was really nice to see such a tender moment. 

1 week in the life of a Peace Corps Thailand Volley

I'm often asked what my typical day is like and I find it difficult to give a simple answer.  I could have my day planned out and then, whoops, nothing goes as planned.  So, I had a bright idea while taking my bucket shower tonight to give you all a taste of my life in the span of a week - enjoy!

Monday: I go to the SAO office (the sub-district government office) and hung out with my co-workers, checked email, learned some Thai and ate lots of food.  After dance aerobics (every night at 5pm) I went home, ate some dinner and went to clean my dishes.  I don't have a sink or a water source in my kitchen (I have 1 faucet in my bathroom) so I wash my dishes in a bucket from the water source outside in my little backyard.  I found this spider chilling in my water bin and nearly fainted.  Quickly composed myself so I could grab my camera and share this atrocious creature with you all :)

 Tuesday morning: I went to teach some English at the daycare centers.  When I got to there, the kids were lined up to brush their teeth as they do every morning.  One girl immediately began crying because many Thai toddlers are afraid of farangs (foreigner = white person); a few more kids followed in the crying, but most of them were a little stunned and stared at me with their adorable faces.  I began playing with them, showing them how to brush their teeth while beginning an improv English lesson. 

My morning continues with the letter 'A' and we had a lovely time singing songs about apples, alligators, axes and ants.  In Thailand everybody takes off their shoes before stepping into a home, building, school, etc and so I was barefoot.  I really enjoy this aspect of Thai culture, except for when you step in a fresh puddle of pee from the little 3 year old who happily just handed you the picture of the apple she colored.  And I'm not talking about a little dribble down her leg - she had no pants on and it was quite the puddle - so I assume she took her pants off with the intention of just going to the bathroom in the classroom. This is not uncommon as I see children practicing on their training potties in the front yard, or naked kids squatting in front of their house, or anywhere for that matter,, to relieve themselves.  I always want to take pictures but feel like that would be creepy, so I just laugh and carry on.  

Tuesday afternoon: the pleasure of sitting in my supervisor's (title is Balat) office having a 1-sided conversation (on her end) about my work.  She called in 2 employees (who I happen to love) and asked me to give her an assessment of how they work, as if this is my role here.  Typically, I would have told her I wasn't comfortable with this, but I only had positive things to say so I informed of her my thoughts.  I started speaking in Thai as a curtisy to the 2 women I was 'assessing' as they don't speak English but my Balat told me to speak English instead.  She thinks she can speak English and insists I speak only English to her, but she never understands me and tells me it's because I have a NY accent.  So, conversations about work and such, often result in frustration and disagreements.  I could write a book about my experiences with her, most of which are awful, and I'd throw in a few chapters about the ridiculousness of the hierarchial system that is Thailand...but, that's not what this blog is about. Anywho, I 'conversed' with her for 3 hours and went to dance aerobics with a headache.

Wednesday morning: Attend a training for the tobacco farmers in my village (farming rice and tobacco are the main source of income in my community) on using organic fertilizer and organic pesticides to make the cigarettes more healthy (are you laughing yet?).  We also had the health station come to test the blood of the farmers as a preventative measure for something that using farming chemicals causes. I'm always proud when we do things like this :) Some people say everybody uses organic products here, while others say nobody uses them.  Not sure if I'll ever get the real answer.

Wednesday afternoon: the SAO had many left-over lunch boxes and so my Balat suggested her and I go deliver the extra food to the 'disadvantaged' and poor families in my community.  This is the best suggestion she has made since I've been here.  We met this one grandma who was amazing.  Her daughter lives in another province to work and so grandma is left to take care of her 5 year old grand-daughter who has severe developmental issues.  She was born with an underdeveloped brain and can't speak and can barely move, but she can hear.  I sang the itsy bitsy spider to her, which I used to sing to my nephew Connor when he was a baby.  She didn't respond at all, but I have faith that she heard.  Not sure if this was a good thing, considering I wasn't blessed with a singing voice, but I do plan to go back and read to her.  I later attend a 2 hour meeting (in Thai, I practically fell asleep like 56 times) with some big-wig guy who wants to make a video of my community - guess who will be the main feature?  Yep, that'd be me.  Better get my "Sunday best" out for the video shoot next week.  I skip dance aerobics because I'm so tired I think I might keel over.  My friend Cartoon unexpectantly cpmes over - unexpected guests show up all the time, and I'm never really a fan soley because I'm toast by the end of the day, but it was great to hang with her and we made plans for her birthday party next week!  Oh, the pic below is 1 of the women's group I paid a quick visit to - they were sewing shirts that they sell to Tesco Lotus (kind of like a Wal-Mart in the states).

Thursday morning: did some prepping for the video shoot.  Was about to do bodily harm to my Balat and so after lunch, I hopped on my wheels *aka, bike* and went to hang out with the villagers.  This is one of my favorite things to do.  You never know who you are going to meet, what they will teach you or what they will feed you.  My first stop was the organic fertilizer and pesticide 'plant' I've been meaning to visit.  I hung out with the workers for a bit and they showed me around and explained how they make the organic products that they sell to the local villagers. With my barely there Thai, it was a bit difficult to catch everything and so I'll go back in August to see the process from the beginning.

Next, I was off to visit one of the village council members.  Her and her sister, who is recovering from breast cancer and is a riot, live together so I get the pleasure of both of them.  They decide they want to sing karaoke.  Now, I should preface with the fact that Thai's are OBSESSED with karaoke.  In the states, people get drunk before they have the cahuna's to get on stage, but in Thailand it's just the norm.  So, the 3 of us go to the computer and put on the karaoke program and begin to sing.  I keep my voice low, while they have a serious soprano harmony thing going on, when I'm told to get up and dance.  So I dance, because that I can do.  Then they bust out microphones and tamborines and before I know it we've got a 3-man band going.  I somehow have the mic in my hand and eventually my insecurities about my horrendous voice fade :) 

Oh, do not fret, the day is not yet over.  I go to this other ladies house who calls to yell at me if I don't visit often enough.  So, I hung out with her, lounging on her hammock for a while.  I'll be helping her plant rice on Saturday.  It's been set up as though I'm doing her a favor, but in reality she's doing me a favor because I've been dieing to get out to the rice fields.  Moving along, Thursday nights is market night - so I head to the market to get some food and as I'm buying my mangosteens and ma ngaw (2 of my favorite fruits here) a random old grandma that I've never met before, passes me and tells me I'm fat.  Oh man, you gotta love Thailand...Never dull :)

Randoms (May 25, 2011)

So, it's been a while since I wrote but couldn't really figure out what to write about.  I mean, how many stories can one really tell about monk ordinations, funerals and other Thai events?  That's much of what happens in my life these days, and although it's usually fun/strange/interesting for me, it may not be so much fun to read ALL the time.  So, for fear of disappointing my avid followers (thanks guys!) I thought that I'd have to write about something to keep you guys in the loop on my life in the hood.  So I figured I'd bullet out a few random things - here's my Top 10:

1. There's a lot of paperwork in Peace Corps (PC)....every time I complete something I feel like I'm back in NY, but not for the good stuff!  Sorry PC, I love you but there really is a lot of papework.

2. I was attacked by a chicken a couple of weeks ago.  Most people are afraid of the stray dogs (which there are lots of) while bike riding, b/c they like to chase you, but I'm offiically more scared of the chickens. This particular chicken thought I was going to run over her chick, which I came close to I'll admit, but was able to avoid.  But mama wasn't happy with me and went balls out crazy.  I practically fell off my bike, screaming like a mad woman.  Seriously, my initial reaction was to scream and curse at it.  Once I got away and gained my composure I was completely embarassed and hoped that my neighbors were taking their mid-day nap and didn't see the scene.

3. In Ayutthaya during training, I washed my clothes by hand - literally the worst experience ever.  It takes hours, working hard in this heat is excruciating and once you are finished you question whether or not your clothes are even clean.  So you could imagine my excitement when my host family in Don Nang Hong (DNH) let me use their washing machine and agreed to let me come do my laundry even though I'm not living with them anymore. It's been a blessing.  But the other day, riding my bike home with my huge and very full basket of clean clothes after a nice down pour was difficult (rainy season has begun).  I was pulling into my 'driveway' and fell off of my bike and so did all of my clothes.  Oh well! 

4. The village I live in is quite compact with the houses being very close to each other.  But only about 50 meters away, the land opens into field upon field and it's beautiful and refreshing.  There are always cows and buffalo grazing and it's lovely to see.  Sometimes the cows cause a little traffic jam for me.....they like to hang in the middle of the road and lazily munch on their grass.  It's actually very cute.  One of the farmers takes his cattle for a walk every day and they pass my house on their route.  It makes me feel like I'm living a bit of a peace corps life, even though I'm in my house with my fan blowing on me because I'm fortunate enough to have electricity.

5. I had to leave work early today because I was having some stomach issues.  This is not all that uncommon here, but everybody at work was so concerned about me.  Three people called me tonight to see how I was feeling and if I needed to go to a doctor.  Thai people are kind.

6. I received a few packages from home including some of my favorite goodies (thanks Mom, Jackie and Mo!)  I ate a box of cheez-its in less than 24 hours - can you tell I'm missing cheez-its?  Good story, I was sent huge bags of raw nuts b/c Thailand just doesn't have raw nuts, it's a shame.  But some of the hood kids and ladies came over the other day and asked what I was munching on.  I offered the nuts and the older woman said no because they were fattening.  What I wanted to say was: "you just ate dinner doused in oil with 10 tablespoons of sugar, and you are concerned about my nuts being fattening?".  But instead, I said they are a little fattening but to eat a few are really healthy for you.  So, she caved in and tried it and so did the kids.  the kids loved them and came back for second and third helpings....another health victory for me!

7. I've been interviewing community leaders and other community resources to learn about the strengths and needs of my community.  There are 11 villages in my community, so I've been meeting with a lot of people and it's keeping me busy.  I've assessed that every village has stated that lack of exercise is a big problem.  Meanwhile some of the villagers have told me that they would like the community to have dance aerobics (this is huge in Thailand and great exercise). Apparently, we used to have it but they stopped - they wanted me to teach it but I immediately nixed that idea.  So, I spoke to the women who used to lead the class and she said if I get people, she'll teach it every day!  Now that I've interviewed most of the villages, I am aware of some resources, know some important people and have some great promotional ideas for this (i.e. DJ announcements on a local radio station - the DJ and I are tight; the daily morning announcements that each village makes through the information tower enormous speakers).  I'm so excited to get this started and give the people something they have asked me for.  And I'm  not doing much - I 'm doing what the CBOD program encourages.  Use the communities resources and strengths and make stuff happen that can be sustained when I leave in 2 years....check this one off as a hook up! 

8. I played dominoes Monday morning with some village ladies....they were really good and I lost 30 baht!

9. I helped some village women and young girls make baskets out of bamboo that hold the sticky rice.  I was excited to take part in something very traditional and cultural here.

10. I've been accepted to the Gender and Development GIG for the Peace Corps. There are a group of 5 (2 were just chosen from my group 123, me and my friend Joe) who meet regularly to talk about issues related to gender and development in Thailand (which there are lots of things to discuss).  From there, we have the freedom to do what we want to address these issues.  As a PCV, my work is limited to my tambon, but this is something that allows me to work on something a bit more large-scale/country-wide.  I'm very excited!

11. BONUS:  I skyped my sister and brother-in-law today and got to see my 2 beautiful nephews.  It was the first time I've seen them since I left in January and it gave me such a boost :)

Till next time.....