The Chase. Is it really worth it?

I think it’s fair to say that many people like a good chase.  Whether chasing a job, a promotion or the hottie at the other end of the bar, it's usually a lot of fun.  Peace Corps is no different.  As Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) we are always chasing ‘The Big Project’ that will somehow impact our community in a big way.  In the past couple of weeks I’ve coordinated 2 events that one could consider ‘projects’.  Maybe not necessarily 'big ones', but projects none-the-less on issues that I feel extremely passionate about and that my community has expressed a need for:

1) An educational activity focusing on sexual health, substance use and making healthy choices with Thai adolescents at my local high school and

1) Painting murals about drugs and safe sex

2) a community-wide environmental awareness event that focused on waste and proper disposal in Thailand, including “Reuse, Reduce and Recycle”. This was to promote volunteerism in celebration of Peace Corps 50th Anniversary in Thailand. 

2) Garbage pick-up and later separated into the  4  recycling groups

I worked really hard and dedicated a lot of time and energy, yet somehow felt extremely disappointed after each one, rather than feeling the elation I was expecting.  Some who know me well may say that I’m notorious for having unattainable high expectations (which I must admit is true and to some degree a fault of mine) and that the lack of elation I felt was because of those expectations.  Don't get me wrong, there were many wonderful things about each event, but I also think there are sufficient reasons for my disappointment.  The long and short of it: Activity 1) Erica's style and Thailand's style struggled a bit with each other. Activity 2) Because the head of the Peace Corps came in support of the 50th Anniversary, my SAO prepared an afternoon of cultural performances.  This was absolutely lovely, but of a 3.5 hour event only 30 minutes were dedicated to the actual activity and therefore, it was not completed in full.  I view these activities as products of The Chase, which inspired me to write this blog.

The Chase (verb): physically, mentally, emotionally trying to reach/achieve/get something or someone (written by me). 

I've come to the conclusion that impacting my community in a ‘big way’ via a ‘big project’ (this is a perfect example of The Chase) is just not happening during my time in Thailand.  This could be just for me, but I do think there is some truth to this for the overall Peace Corps experience.  No, this is no  Debbie-Downer or Pessimistic-Patty moment, instead this is a Realistic-Rosie or Take-the-Unnecessary-Pressure-Off-My-Shoulders-Sally kind of a moment.  Most of us PCVs joke about the ‘small victories’: 1 successful 60 minute lesson in the classroom, a new friendship with a Thai person, 1 dedicated person who digs crocheting pocketbooks out of plastic bags, or 1 village kid who regularly throws their milk carton in your recycle bin.  But, why do we, as PCVs, minimize that?  At the end of the day, the small victories make me feel the best, the most successful and the most happy. 

As I write this, I ask myself “What the hell is wrong with you Erica?” mainly because I’ve written previous blogs and yapped away for hours about the significance of ‘planting seeds’ and that impacting just one Thai person is truly a success.  And that’s not just BS, I really do believe that.  So, why am I here again? Why is all of that so hard to believe when you are on the other side?  I can't tell ya, because I have no clue.  So, to help me move forward wouldn't it be best to focus on what is important?  Yes, I think so too.  What’s important is how the things I do make me and others feel.  If we all feel like The Bomb and start singing 'Kumbaya' after those small victories, well then maybe they aren’t so small after all.  And the things I'm chasing, aren't all that big.

So, there you have it: No, The Chase is not worth it.  Focusing energy on the things that make you and the others around you feel good and inspired is worth it.  So, I’m officially over The Chase.  I’m kicking it like a bad habit (although I typically have trouble kicking bad habits, so you may see a blog post like this again sometime soon).   I’m back on the Small Victories ban-wagon, folks! But, before I do this, I think a good "Re-charge, Re-energize and Re-fresh" is in order....and home (as in NY, to be with my amazing family and friends - YAY!) is where I'm going to get it.  When I come back, I'll be ready to Go-Get-Em-Earl! Cheezy, I know - but it's Saturday night and I'm spooning Peanut Butter (thanks to loved ones back home who send me packages) out of the jar writing a blog - cut me some slack ;)

Bai tiao'in

Bai-tiao: it means to take a trip. This concept of ‘taking a trip’ in Thailand is so different from anything Americans do, it’s going to be hard for me to explain, but I’ll try.  First, Thai’s use it in a variety of situations including literally going on a trip/vacation or taking a trip to the supermarket in the main district (about 20 km away).  No matter what, you spend more time in the car than you do in the final destination.  Many volunteers have gone on bai-tiao’s with their school and/or governmental office in which an enormous double decker bus, fully decked out with disco lights and a rockin karaoke system is rented.  I have only done this once – the round-trip was 10 hours and we were at the destination for approximately 2 hours.  I considered myself lucky as many volunteers have sat on the bus for a round trip of 24 hours to stay at the destination for just 2 hours.   Oh, and Thai’s don’t sleep while on these bus trips  – so that rockin’ karaoke system is rockin’ for the entire time you are on that bus – 4am or 4pm, time means nothing….I mean this literally.  

A regular old bai-tiao usually consists of packing in too many people in a truck of some kind, and no karaoke (thank God!).  Whatever the estimated arrival time is (if there even is one), add a minimum of 3 hours to that – this time reference should be used for doing anything and everything in Thailand.  Us PCVs call this “Thai Time”.

My very good friend Pii Dtang invited me to bai-tiao to take her daughter, Gung (who I love) to her first year of college in a near-by province and the itinerary is to go like this: leave at 8am, arrive 12pm, stay for 3 hours (eat, settle in, etc) leave at 3pm and arrive home by 7pm.  I immediately tacked on the minimum 3 hours and figured I’d arrive home by 10pm – either way I was excited.   I now bring you the story of the bai-tiao to the University.

1                .       

      1.  Pii Dtang and Gung pick me up (at 8:30) and proceed to tell me that we are going with Gung’s boyfriend (his name is Ek), who is going to the same university, and his family.  My enthusiasm level drops a notch or two, as I knew this meant that we’d be packing 2 families into 1 car, along with their freshman college belongings.  Also, as lovely as his mom is (I’ll be referring to her as Mom throughout this story), the woman LOVES to talk and is just exhausting. 

      2.       We arrive at Ek's house and Gung realizes she forgot her registration paperwork – now she must go back home.  When she returns 30 minutes later we begin packing the truck with all of their stuff, including a motorcycle (for the guy), 1 year worth of rice for 2 people, too many pillows and blankets, some food and 2 ridiculously small suitcases of clothes, etc.  I’m told I’ll be sitting in the back seat of the pick-up truck along with Pii Dtang and Mom, when all I really wanted was to sit in the pick-up part with the kids.  Dad is in front and the hired driver is driving.  We are ready to leave at 10:30 and I’m already exhausted.  Apparently so is the driver because he drinks his first of 23 energy drinks throughout the day.

Gung and her boyfriend, Ek

      3.       We are squished in the back, literally my legs are so cramped the pain begins about 5 minutes into the trip.  Pii Dtang and I look at each other and she announces she’s tired and going to nap (I think she finds mom as exhausting as I do).  I announce the same.

      4.       As I’m “napping” Mom is continuously asking me questions and I continue to “nap” and avoid having to answer.  I think Mom is just someone who doesn’t like quiet, so she’s always making noise to fill in the gaps.

      5.       The first of approximately 24 stops at 7-11 is about 1 hour into the trip.  I’m surprised it’s taken this long.  I’m starving and break out my raw carrot sticks and sweet peas for all of us to snack on.  Proceed to have a conversation about how strange, yet good, my eating habits are.

Gung in the back of the truck, passing time :)

      6.       Second stop is to eat lunch.  We pass a trazillion markets, but nothing is good enough for Mom as she claims they are all dirty, so we stop at 7-11 for them to eat 7-11 food which is full of crap. But, Pii Dtang is the bomb and brought lunch so we ate sticky rice and fried eggs in the back of the truck.

      7.       30 minutes later, Mom has stomach pains from having to pee so badly.  Mom had about 2 sips of water the whole trip, yet had to pee every 30 minutes.

      8.       5.5 hours later, we arrive at our final destination at 3pm, which if you refer back to the original itinerary, is the time we were supposed to be leaving.   Either way, I’m super excited for Gung and taking pictures of the campus, the kids and reminiscing about my college days.

     9.       We move Ek in first and realize that none of his roommates have arrived (4 people to a room) and this is cause for much distressed conversation.  They were all concerned because he ‘has no friends yet’.  When I found out, I said he was lucky because he got first dibs on beds.  Another moment that made me realize how American I am.

     ** I have to note that in colleges in Thailand, boys and girls live in separate buildings.  At most American colleges, boys and girls live on the same floor of the same building, but are separated by sides of the floor.  As usual, I was asking a million questions (I wouldn’t be surprised if Thai people find me exhausting as I am always asking umpteen questions) and learned that girls are not even allowed to enter the boy’s dorm building and vise versa.  They must wait outside.

The female and male dorms are all the same
but on different sides of the campus 

All the rooms are the same

The move-in help....only at the female dorms

      

     



     10.   We hang out in Gung’s dorm room for 2 hours, say good-bye to the kids (originally I was the only one who hugged Gung, as in Thai culture there is no hugging, only wai’ing. But then Mom gave them awkward hugs and forced Pii Dtang to hug them as well) and leave to eat dinner at 6pm.  I must note that when leaving Gung’s dorm room, we discovered that somebody had taken my shoes instead of theirs.  So I was shoeless until we hit a market J

Gung, me (shoeless), Ek's sister, Ek's Mom and Dad

11.   We are on the road at 7pm (please note this was the time we were to be home).   Now the back of the pick-up is empty and Pii Dtang wants to sit back there with Mom’s daughter –so do I but Mom can’t sit in the car by herself even though she has dad and driver to hang out with.  Either way, I’m made to sit in the cramped car with her.  I immediately “fall asleep”, she continues to ask me questions and talk to me while “I’m sleeping”.  I’m also freezing, as Thai’s blast the A/C in the car and never lower it.  I don’t know if it’s because this is the only place they have A/C and so they relish in it, but regardless, I am freezing every time I’m in a       
                                                                                       car/bus/van that has A/C.

      12.   We stop at 7-11 another 14 times for the bathroom and regular snacking.  The driver drinks an energy drink at each of these stops.  He also smokes a cigarette and then sprays himself with what smells like old-school car air freshener.  He sprayed so much each time, I thought I’d lose a year of my life from loss of lung capacity due to the fumes.

      13.   I enter my home at 12 midnight on the dot, 5 hours later than anticipated…..not too bad.   

      14.   It was a really cute day at the college.  Gung was excited but said she also felt ‘strange’…..I remember those days in college.  I also remember those regular moments here in Thailand, so I can relate to her!

Friends in Thailand

One of my greatest fears about going into the Peace Corps was not making good friends. Typically, I don't need much in life, but people and relationships is something I find I can't live without.  I knew there'd be tons of barriers, language just being one of the many, and I was uncertain if I'd overcome them.  Now, having lived here for 1 year, I’d say the friends I’ve made is one of my greatest Peace Corps accomplishments.

Pii Dtang cooking for a ceremony at her Wat 

Pii Dtang in a nutshell, is the bomb.  I first met Pii Dtang when I walked into a meeting, looked around and this lady and I caught each other’s eye.  She gave me a little smile, hit the seat next to her and gave me this head nod that said, ‘Sit your hiney right here next to me’.  So, I did.  Most people giggle when I sit with them, or ask me what I ate for lunch, if I’m hot (as I have sweat dripping off of my face)…stuff like that.  But not Pii Dtang – she went right in for the kill: who am I, what am I doing here, why did I join PC, etc?  She gave me one of the warmest and most sincere smiles I’ve seen in Thailand as well as a piece of candy…..I was sold.  She is 47, a mother of 3, cares for her 81 y/o mother (just fyi: 81 in Thailand is ancient, they just don’t make it that long here….her mom is a hoot too and strong as hell!) and older mentally handicapped and diabetic sister (they live with her).  She’s been married for 19 years and although she lights up when she talks about her hubby, they have never lived together as he has either lived outside of Thailand or in Bangkok (currently) for work.  She is the assistant village headman (but does all the work of the village headman), village accountant, leader of the women’s group, raises cows/ducks/turkeys, has every kind of food you could imagine growing outside her house and grows rice every year for her family.  You name it, Pii Dtang can do it.  As busy as she is, she always makes time for me.  Her family invites me everywhere, and she does special things just to ensure I experience Thai culture.  She cooks me special vegetarian Thai food, taught me how to raise cows, taught me what Thailand was like 30 years ago when she was a teen (no running water, no electricity) and has told me her smart philosophy on raising kids in Thailand.  We take naps after we eat lunch and end up chatting like teenagers instead.  If I need advice or I’m having a rough day, I go visit Pii Dtang because she just gets me and she’s so rational.  She’s got a heart of gold and has become like my older Thai sister.  I always leave her presence feeling lighter.  I was doing breast cancer checks at the health station one day and someone said to me: ‘You have to talk to Pii Dtang because she hasn’t gotten checked yet’.  I was in deep thought as I was feeling for lumps and I said ‘Pii Dtang who?’ and her response was ‘Your Pii Dtang’.  I thought it was cute and realized that yes, she is my Pii Dtang.  My Pii Dtang, the bomb.

Pii Dtang and I at Loy Kratong Festival

Pii Dtang's children at a ceremony her daughter was dancing in.  We are  dropping her daughter off at her 1st year of college this week!

Pii Jaloo and Pii Wan

These two fabulous, strong, lively and energetic women are sisters and both in their 50’s.  Pii Jaloo is very involved in her village as a village council member and the leader of the community investment bank (everybody in the village contributes money on a monthly basis to pay for funerals and such in their village - everything is a community effort here).  Her husband died from cancer about 2 years ago.  Pii Wan has been battling cancer for 3 years – first she had breast cancer but had those bad boys removed, then some chemo/radiation/the whole bit, for it to come back to her lungs last year.  She has completed chemo for the second time and has been working on getting strong again and has just found out that she still has cancer and must continue her treatments….it’s been a trying time.  I should also tell you that she has to travel 4-5 hours away, in another province, to receive the chemo and visit the doctor.  Her cheating husband left her about 2 years ago in the middle of her health crisis and she was probably better off for it.  Despite all of this, they are both always ready for a good time and they love to laugh.  I visit them a couple times/month and I’m greeted with genuinely warm hugs (note: hugs are uncommon here), kisses and gentle butt taps (which remind me of my grandma and so I happily welcome them!).  When I’m there, we usually do one the following: play dress-Erica-up, take photos, sing karaoke, dance, serve Erica cold water and fruit because she’s always so hot, make flower bouquets out of banana leaves, talk about farting, laugh, dance, sing some more.  I adore them and feel so comfortable with them.  Also, they are looking for some foreign boyfriends – I told them I’d ask around ;)

Pii Jaloo and I singing karaoke at their house 

Pii Wan (left) and Pii Jaloo (right)

Pii Dtou and Grandpa

My mom with my neighbors :)

Mom and Dad with Grandpa and the fishing
device he makes out of bamboo

Because of Pii Dtou and her dad/my grandpa (and also because of my other fabulous neighbors and great noodle shop across the street) I am thankful I moved to the house I live in.  Pii Dtou is a 47 y/o single woman who lives with her 73 year old dad who is phenomenal.  All of my visitors from America have met him and just love him: he goes to his field/garden every day and sits there and makes ‘stuff’ out of nothing.  The man can do anything and I’ve seen him go to great and impressive lengths to pick me fruit off of a very high tree…..anybody who does that to give me food is good in my book!  He also reminds me of my own grandfather and I warmed to him instantly.  The best thing about Pii Dtou is that we can hang out and talk for hours.  She’s patient with me and always finds a way to teach me something, mainly language.  I’ve shared some personal things about my life with Pii Dtou and I trust her with all of it.  She is a tailor and can pretty much do anything with her hands (I guess like her dad, she can make ‘stuff’ out of nothing).  She is 1 of the women who now crochets pocketbooks out of plastic bags – but hers are the most beautiful!  She has also begun to recycle and now we sell our recyclables together, comparing our plastics and metals!  She’s been a huge supporter of my recycling escapades.  She understands the importance of taking care of our environment and feels strongly about educating our village as much as I do.  She has recently helped me communicate this to the head monk at our village Wat.  He has agreed to let us begin a collection point at the Wat.  Pii Dtou has been essential in helping me create the information board and grandpa is making the recycling bins our of bamboo and banana leaves – gotta love it!  Basically, Pii Dtou and Grandpa are simply great people and has made my time here extra special.

Pii  Dtou and her first recycled pocketbook

Grandpa picking linchee - the rickety ladder made of bamboo

Cartoon - Because most people in their 20's and 30's go to bigger cities for work, that age group is hard to find in the village - the main reason why my friends are all 13 and younger or 45+.....except for Cartoon.  She is my Thai host sister and I lived with her the first month at my site.  She speaks English very well, has 2 adorable kids (they are all over my facebook albums!) and really took care of me when I first came here.  I don't know how I would have survived without her.  She took me everywhere, showed me the ins and outs of my village and community, introduced me to everyone and Thai life and cooked me some amazing vegetarian Thai food.  She is like a sister to me and I don't know if she'll ever know how much her time and dedication means to me, especially during my first month at site.  The transition to my site the first month was a very difficult time for me; I was so uncertain, vulnerable, scared, frustrated, lonely and in desperate need of a friend.  Cartoon was always there.  When I struggled with my Thai Supervisor, Cartoon let me vent and understood, but wasn't afraid to be honest in telling me to jai yen yen (literally means 'cool heart' - basically, 'be patient').  She helped me understand the hierarchical system here in Thailand, during a time I was experiencing and struggling with it.  She also is the only person here who knows the 30 year old American woman in me: meaning, we go out to party and dance together! I hope one day she comes to New York, so I can share my home with her, the way she has shared hers with me.  

Me and Cartoon 

Cartoon and her adorable kids!

Site, site, site

I made a New Years Resolution to stay at my site unless I had to attend something related to benefiting my community. Here are some updates on what I've been doing since being 'all couped up'!

Recycling - working with a group of 3 other PCVs to learn about waste management and recycling in Thailand.  We call ourselves the Eco-femi-warriors!  We have visited an international recycling plant, 'Wongpanit', and the "City of Recycling" in Phitsanulok, Thailand. We are doing this to to increase knowledge and to raise awareness about the variety of projects in Thailand for our communities and other PCVs.  At the end of March, we are visiting a project that makes roofs out of milk cartons for poverty-stricken families.  

3rd to the left - Wongpanit himself! The 3 ladies on both sides of Wongpanit and myself are the Eco-femi-warriors!

In the interim, my more-instant gratification comes from educating my own community about recycling.  

Pii Dtik completes her 1st pocketbook

Teaching how separate garbage and to make mosquito traps as dengue
fever prevention and recycling (uses plastic bottles)

 Gender camp: The issues of gender and all that's included (sexual health, healthy relationships, gender roles and gender respect, homosexuality, alcohol use and how it affects behavior and decisions, self-esteem) are so broad and complex.  Thai culture adds another aspect that complicates it even more.  Because of this, the current GAD GIG (Gender and Development Global Initiative Group of Peace Corps) members have struggled with 'how' to address these issues.  We decided we needed to really hash out our thoughts and have a long, open-ended discussion.  The boys came over my house last weekend and although we had tons of fun, we did work the whole weekend and made progress.  We decided to host a gender camp in October for youth all over Thailand - this camp will address all of above-mentioned topics.  We are all very happy with this decision - can't you tell? :)

Current GAD'ers! Left: Joe, Center: Kyle, Right: Erica

Breast checks anyone?  Well, if you'd like one, I can now do that for you as I am the designated breast checker at my health station!  Oh, the things you'll do as a PCV!  I can go into the story of how this happened, but who really cares?  Fact is, it happened.  Breast cancer is a big problem in my community and something I've been concerned about, especially since it's affected some of my good friends here.  I was really nervous my first day but have been really happy that I somehow ended up with this task.  The ladies come in now and tell me their friends have told them the farang is checking breasts, but they didn't believe it....until now!  Since last week, I have checked about 50 women, 4 of whom had to get mammograms because of abnormalities and have provided 1:1 education to all 50 women on how to do monthly breast checks themselves.  I checked my friends breasts yesterday and she asked me if my breasts were the same as hers.  She's a funny lady and we've gotten into all sorts of interesting conversation, but I was tired and hungry and to save time, I told her yes.  She's now telling everybody her and I have the same breasts :)  Oh Thailand!

World Map: never thought I'd teach geography, but here I am.  Four 2-hour lessons on America, Thailand and the world and then the painting of the World Map with 30 4th, 5th, and 6th graders = a really good time!

More to come on the health day at the secondary school in June - it will focus on sexual health and how drugs/alcohol, gender respect and relationships all factor in.  For more information on Diabetes and Disability Group, please patiently await the upcoming blog-post titled 'Frustrations'!

Random conversations

As I sit at my computer, killing mosquitos with my electric zapper racket, trying to come to terms with the fact that the ‘cold’ season is coming to a tragic end, I reflect on the conversations of today.  I hope they give you a little inside scoop to my life as someone who will forever be a farang (foreigner), but so different from every other farang my people know they ‘kinda’ consider me Thai.

Story #1:

Every Peace Corps Volunteer knows the term “Intentional Relationship Building”, aka, IRB.  It’s used freely since we view everything we do involving Thai people as IRB’ing – always hopes of building a (working) relationship. This afternoon, after a day chock-full of IRB’ing, I go to my SAO (government office) and chatted with some of the daycare center teachers and the woman I’m ‘supposed’ to work with at the SAO - her name is Pii Boy and she’s a pisser.  Chatting up with these ladies is usually a good time with a guaranteed few laughs – it started with the usual: “where are you coming from, who’d you talk to, what’d you talk about? Erica is geng (good), Erica can talk to people, geng maak (very good)” and so on and so forth.

Pii Boy proceeds to tell the daycare center teachers that my ‘project’ while being here in Thailand is to ‘entertain’.  I bike around and hang out with people all day long simply to provide Thai people with good times because I’m a farang that speaks Thai ( wait a second, I thought that was called IRB...?!).  Thank you Pii Boy, for summing up this dream we call Peace Corps, into an entertainment job J

Story #2:

After the discussion of my ‘entertainment’ project, I was then asked to start a new project – I’ve never been asked to start a project.  We could say that I’m usually standing (tippy toed) on the fine line of begging people to get into an idea of mine, so I was waiting on her suggestion with baited breathe.  Drumroll please: create a farang man catalogue.  I was asked to hand-pick farang men that I knew were ‘good men’, and make a book with their pictures and credentials.  This way, all the single ladies (and for a culture that thinks you’re an old maid if you’re not married by 23 years old, there are a large amount of single “older” ladies in my community….) can have their pick.  Any takers?

Story #3:

A few of the ladies in the SAO asked me to teach them how to crochet plastic bags and it turned into a girly session.  The conversation of food came up (shocker!) and they asked me what I was eating for dinner.  I had just experimented with chili since my bestie back home, Jill, sent me chili powder in a recent package, and I would be eating the left-overs tonight.  I proceeded to tell them the ingredients:

Me: garlic, oil (just a little), salt (just a little), any vegetable you can find, tofu, chili powder, black beans…

Pii Boy: ooohhhh, black beans?

Me: Yep, black beans

Pii Boy: Do you know what black beans means in Thai, other than black beans?

Me: No, but please, do tell

Pii Boy: It means (and the rest is said in English), make love-gay-back door.

Me: laughs hysterically and proceeds to take out my language notebook and pencil – Tell me everything you know!

And so, I got a little lesson in Thai slang J

Story #4

The SAO has 2 kinds of people working there:  1) government officials: educated, and most of them (although not all) are on their high horse because of it and 2) ‘my SAO guys’ as I like to call them: uneducated villagers who work as the ground-keepers, chauffeurs (yes, the SAO has chauffeurs), the turkey farmers, the garbage

pick-up guys, 24/7 security and emergency/ambulance squad.  These guys are the bomb: down-to-earth, hysterical, beyond helpful and they love me.  In comparison to most Thai men, they are sober at work most of the time, but they do enjoy their drink every now and again.  As I was leaving the SAO at 6pm, I run into my favorite guy on his way to the bathroom – he’s 50 years old, on the emergency squad, approximately 4 feet 7 inches tall with a shit-eating-grin on his face all the time (he’s so cute!)and he happens to reek of alcohol.  I hear music playing over in their little shack and I know that they are having themselves a good time.  If I were back home I would’ve skipped right into that shack to hang out and enjoy a happy hour beer with them, but unfortunately woman don’t do things like that in Thailand and so I chatted with him as I put on my helmet for my bike-ride home.  He, ever so graciously, reminded me that if I was in any kind of trouble to call the emergency squad at 1669….with that shit-eating-grin on his face.  So, I gave out a real loud cackle (which the Thai’s happen to love) and said ‘But Pii, you’re all drunk….if I have a problem, how will any of you come pick me up?’ I wish I had a picture of his face – it was as thought this was the first time this thought ever occurred  to him. Gotta.love.it!

This night I hung out with my SAO guys after our New Year party.  I broke the 'gender rules' for once and just let loose and was totally myself hanging with the boys, drinking a beer and dancing.  My fave is the right of me :)

Left: the 2 bookends are SAO workers and next to me is my fave - we are the same height only when I bend down!

Sticky Rice article

Peace Corps Thailand has a quarterly editorial, Sticky Rice, that is sent out to volunteers and staff in Thailand.  It is written and edited by volunteers and it's often used as a source of information, story sharing and a variety of other tales about life in Thailand.  I've been wanting to write something on the the topic of the need of Peace Corps in Thailand as a blog entry, and ended up writing an article for the most recent editorial of Sticky Rice.  But, why not blog it anyway?  So, here it is.  

So here we are, almost one year in.  I’ve heard many discussions and have participated in a number of them, as to whether or not Thailand needs Peace Corps.  Everybody is entitled to their opinions, but when I hear this I automatically think “Are we living in the same country?”  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve listened to the arguments and understand the points made, but the more I live here, the more confident I am that PC should not be leaving Thailand any time soon.

I started to look into the Peace Corps directly after college when I was 21 years old.  It was one of those ‘Sooooo, what do I do with my life now?’ phases.  There was stuff going on at home and I knew I couldn’t leave for two years at that point in my life.  So, the natural progression of work, grad school and more work eventually took place and Peace Corps became a distant goal.  Despite that, I always wanted to live within a rural community in a foreign country, live the simple life, learn about a new culture and its people and above all else, help people.  I’m sure this sounds familiar to many Peace Corps volunteers.  So, life happened and seven years later I found myself back at the point of “Sooooo, what do I do with my life now?”  I clicked on the Peace Corps website after leaving it stagnant for years and began the application process immediately.  

Whenever I thought about the PC, I always thought I would go to Africa as I have a public health background focusing on sexual health & HIV/AIDS and well, because that’s where I wanted to go.   So, not so ironically, I was nominated for a health project in Sub-Saharan Africa to leave January 2011.  Yet, due to medical ‘stuff’, when I received my formal invitation, Thailand was highlighted yellow.  I have to admit that part of me was disappointed, but I was also pleasantly surprised and instantly excited.  I started to spread the word to everybody and although there was a lot of excitement, I got a lot of the following: “Uh!  I love Thailand, the beaches are gorgeous….you have to go to that place they filmed The Beach with Leo! (what?); Thailand is one of my favorite places to vacation (wait - what?); Thailand, really? Peace Corps is in Thailand? (ok, seriously?)”  So, I started to get a little upset.   This didn’t sound like the dream I’d pictured for seven years of roughing it and helping the neediest people in the world.  I expressed my concerns to a RPCV China friend of mine and she said: “Erica, I served in China, one of the powers of the world.  Thailand and China may not be Africa and your lifestyle challenges may not be what you imagined, but believe me, the language and culture will be more than enough challenge.  And c’mon, every country needs Peace Corps, including America which is why we have Americorps.”  I still carry those blissful and honest words with me.

Countries in all stages of development, face a variety of challenges.  Some may say that third-world countries have it the worst because they lack all ‘the goods’ of a developed country.  But developed countries lack many of the wonderful things of a third-world country such as resourcefulness, survival skills, no television and all that other technological stuff that is beautiful, yet ugly at the same time. 

Developing countries, which is where I would categorize Thailand, falls somewhere in between that.  Developing countries are working so hard at becoming developed, that unfamiliar social, family, gender, economic and health challenges, creep up on them without recognition. 

Historically, Thailand culture is known to be quite conservative, yet many aspects of this are changing.  Youth aren’t finishing school - and most PCVs know it’s not to help the family in the fields; 15 year olds are losing the sense of responsibility to help the family (in a country that values family and everybody playing a beneficial role); youth are using drugs/alcohol and having sex at an earlier age; couples spend their entire marriage in separate cities or countries for better jobs to be able to give their kids opportunities they never had; people are leaving their children to be raised by Yai and Da so they can work in a big city and buy the newest phone, car and/or electric lights for their motorcycle, etc, etc.  These are just some social issues – I haven’t even mentioned the health and environmental stuff.  I’m not trying to bash on Thailand, as I jing jing love it here.  But, let’s be honest – after living in any country for a period of time, anybody could make a long list of its strengths and less-than-desirable traits.  Thailand, America or Togo, they’ve all got good and bad.  I’m sure we could all agree on this, chai mai?

Yet, despite these growing problems, some will still argue that there’s no need for PC Thailand.  It may depend on one’s definition of community development or one’s view of the PC purpose, but…..jing law?  PCV’s in Thailand may not do the volunteer work being done in Africa because the needs are different – but there are still needs.  Much of it depends on the volunteer, the community, and the interests of both. 

I realize many people join the Peace Corps because they want to make a large and tangible impact – in many ways, I’m one of them.  But we must look at the reality of that.  I’d say it takes a good solid year for us to be fully integrated in our communities.  That would leave us with one year to make this huge impact we all came here for.  Community development can take a lifetime - one year is NOTHING.  

My parents have given me some great advice since I’ve been here, and it’s simply ‘to plant seeds.’  They told me to just do the things I love to do, like cook without sugar, exercise, plant an organic garden, recycle, empower youth, carry around a pocket book made from plastic bags and carry all the materials to make it so when someone asks, I can show them on the spot how to make one, and one never knows who this impacts.  And let’s not underestimate the power and beauty of cultural and ‘life’ exchange.  It’s largely what PC is about (66% to be exact) regardless of what country you are in.   Even if just one Thai person is inspired by anything you do or say, they will have the power to make a change, one we may never be here to see.  

As idealistic as I am (and we are all idealistic or we wouldn’t be here) I also realize that nobody leaves any Peace Corps country after two years with their village being totally and completely different.  And why would we want that?  There is so much to love. 

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!