February 2, 2011

So, PC training thus far has been lots of language lessons in small groups of 3-5.  My group is 5 people (Erin, Kanji, Bobby and Tanner) who are all very different and interesting.  We have been through a lot together in a short period of time, so we know each other quite well at this point.  We have language 4 mornings (8-12) every week and although it’s necessary, it’s exhausting.  Our afternoons vary, as sometimes we are in the community IRB’ing (intentional relationship building) which is a key term and essential for any CBOD volunteer as relationships with community members is a priority.  So, we’ve been using a variety of community integration tools, which are basically ‘get to know your community, the resources and the people’.  So, in the afternoon we struggle to speak with villagers, village heads and government officials in our little Thai.  We always have our language teacher with us but she is only a 2^nd translator…meaning she’ll only step in if we really need her or really want to ask a question that we can’t put together in Thai.  Although it’s such great practice for us to get out there and just do it (because that’s what we’ll be doing when we are at site alone), it’s still quite exhausting.  After school, a bunch of volunteers often hang out for 30 minutes or so, but we have a curfew of 6pm so I’m home no later than that (for safety reasons and also so we’ll spend time with our families, speaking Thai).  I really enjoy being home with my family because they are so great.   Although we still sometimes struggle to communicate, I’m slowly getting to know them all better and really become a part of the family.  We joke as my host mom now introduces me as her oldest daughter – it’s really sweet.  It’s comforting to come home after a long day, and I’m grateful for that.  After dinner, homework, getting to know you convo (I joke that what I know about my Thai family in 2 weeks of living with them, I could have….I’m that cool J

Peace Corps also has a different volunteer who is currently serving in PC come in every week to talk to us about techniques, their projects, their experience, how they deal with language, etc etc.  Every person has been such a wealth of knowledge and proof that we can all do this and although it’s really hard, we can actually do it well J  On Monday, we had a Buddhist monk come speak to us about Buddhism. He’s no ordinary monk, however.  He’s the secretary to the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, equivalent to the Pope.  He was ordained as a monk at 14 years old and was educated in England (PhD) and now teaches all over the world about Buddhism.  It was great to hear this lecture the day after I visited the 9 Wats of Ayutthaya.  (Ayutthaya is a province/state and was the capital of Thailand prior to Bangkok) Wats are a key staple in every village and all over Thailand.  They are like churches in Italy or Starbucks in NY…on every corner.  Needless to say, Buddhism is a huge part of life in Thailand and it’s been interesting to learn about and visit these beautiful and unique Wats.  Each of the 9 Wat/temple were different and unique – 1 of them was a Chinese Temple as there is a large Chinese population in Thailand.  In between visiting the Wats and paying our respects (wai’ing 3 times to the monk/Buddha statue, bringing flowers, lighting incense) we went to a water market.   The market sellers park their little boats around the pier in the water and cook and serve food, etc  - very cool and of course, delicious food.  The last Wat we went to was actually in the place of ruins – the area had been burned hundreds of years ago.  One of the King’s (I can’t remember which one) had his ashes buried there.  Pretty cool. 

We are learning about Thai sports this week and this weekend is sports day for the PC trainees.  I’m on the Green Team and we have to make up cheers, play Thai games and stuff like that – sounds like fun!  I think I may be able to bring a little Daler cheerleader spirit to my team!  

Today, we met with a rice farmer to ask about rice farming and he invited us to go out to the farms with him on Sunday to watch and help!  I’m so unbelievably excited!  After that, I’m cooking for my language group and our families and we are having a big dinner.  Wish me luck!

Love you and miss you all