Last Post of the Semester

Well, after 3 and a half months here in Thailand, my time is quickly coming to a close. After I work on papers and presentations this weekend, and spend my 5 days (luckily almost no class) next week, my friend from America will be coming and we will travel to Laos, Cambodia and an Island in southern Thailand called Koh Pangan. I cannot believe this time has already come. It seems like years ago, but as the same time like yesterday that I arrived here. I remember flying in late at night into Bangkok (luckily no protests at that point), getting a cab to Khao San road, walking past all the western tourists with my huge bags until I finally found a hotel. I remember getting into bed, turning on the TV and wondering what on earth was going on, and where I was. I remember getting up early the next day, being approached by far to many Lady Boys on my out, and spending all day on a bus, waiting to get to my destination. I remember my first few days here, wondering what I was doing, who everyone was, and what would possibly happen to me this semester. Well, the semester is pretty much done, so I thought I would reflect on the big things that have happened.

First, I learned a heck of a lot about Thailand and Burma. I had already learned a lot about China, so this semester definitely helped me gain a greater understanding of the Asian continent as a whole (which I hope to continue with a class on Indian history next semester). I learned a lot about social issues, such as ethnic minority problems, the environment, health, human rights, prostitution, rural-urban divide, religion and gender.

I learned a lot about teaching, and in what areas I need to improve. I was amazed every time I went to teach at Wat Don Chan at the energy that all the students had, even though they go through so much, and their futures are so bleak. I think if I got a little more training on how to teach, and spent some more time learning guitar and making some creative games, I could be a pretty good teacher.

I learned about the awesome night life here in Chiang Mai and Thailand. The word here for fun implies a certain element of relaxation, which is very evident when I go out. While the night clubs also have loud music and a ton of people, no one there usually goes to crazy. Going out to the bars is really relaxing, much nicer than going to loud house parties where the goal is to drink as much as possible and be as loud as possible.

I had a great time playing softball with the team here. They are a great bunch of people, and they helped me a ton with learning Thai, and showing me around Thailand to all the cool things that people can do here. I also loved having a sport to play everyday, as it is similar to what I do in the US and helped keep me somewhat in shape (although I will get my ass killed by my handball coach when I go back).

One of my fondest memories was my road trip for 3 days to Nan. It was fun to just go an explore, without a huge group or any supervisors. It was a lot of fun, but quite scary too, to drive on the opposite side of the road, and sometimes having NO idea what the road signs meant! It was also one of the most beautiful rides I have ever taken.

All the trips were pretty good. I did not like being in big groups and having a plan set for me, but it was a great way to see so many places (Chiang Rai, Mae Sot and Mae La refugee camp, Fang, Thaton, Phitsanulok and Naresuan University, Sukhothai and the ancient ruins, the village stay in Mae Jaem, the Lisu village near Wawee county). It was great to see so much of northern Thailand. I really want to come back to Chiang Mai (Thailand's second city) and explore the rest of the country, especially Isan in the Northeast, and the southern area.

I definitely enjoyed my night last week when I went to a charity event and got to pretend like I liked drinking wine and meet several expats who clearly had too much money and were quite full of themselves.

I made some really great friends here, and hopefully can keep in touch with them after I go back, and maybe if I can come back to Chiang Mai get back in touch with the Thai friends I have made here. I will definitely miss nights at Warmup night club, and at the bars around Carrefour. I will miss some of my teachers a lot, and will definitely miss studying Thai. I would like to come back for sure, and feel I have changed a lot in these four months. I am more independent, a little bit more mature (I would like to think), a lot more knowledgeable about Thailand and Southeast Asia, and feel I have a better understanding of the direction I would like to take after I graduate. I am sad to leave, but realize that I can always come back, and find the uncertainty of going back to the US at least a little bit exciting for its possibilities.

Wat Don Chan Stay Overnight

Because it was my last day working at Wat Don Chan, I decided to stay overnight at the orphanage to get a greater understanding of the daily life of the students. I arrived at 5:00pm on Tuesday, and it was a bit akward as I was suddenly placed with 250 young boys. I started talking in Thai to some of the older kids, while eating the usual meal of plain rice and mama (noodles with some vegetable). They eat the same thing pretty much every day, with a little variation in each meal. After eating for a short while, we went back to the boys dormitory. The conditions are not that great. The older boys each have their own bed and a clothing rack for their things. They arent great, but they are something. They live on the third floor, while a majority of the kids live on the second floor. The younger kids all sleep together, they have fewer things, and the floor is much dirtier. A few kids sleep on the first floor, but overall conditions arent that great. I spent most of the night teaching some of the older kids useful phrases such as "Do you have a girlfriend," and "Are Japanese girls beautiful." A lot of the kids were Karen, and taught me a few phrases in Karen language. I asked them some questions about their lives. Most of the older kids had been at the temple for only 2 or 3 years, and they were split between liking their homes and liking the temple better. On the one hand at home they have their families and support system, on the other they cannot make money back home, and feel they have to come to the city to make money. It was a fun night that ended at 10pm. Before they went to sleep though, many of the students went to pray with the monks. They have a very full day, and it doesnt seem like they get much time to do homework. The government provides funding for the school during the day, but they also receive a Buddhist education every evening.
They wake up everyday at 4:30am. The older kids go play soccer, while the younger kids do their exercises. At 5:30 they shower, 6:30 eat breakfast, and 7:30 head over to school for the morning speeches from the supervisor and other teachers. We were lucky enough to get to say goodbye to all 600 students, I spoke in Thai a little bit, but speaking in a language I barely know isnt something I like to do in front of 600 students. We spent the rest of the day teaching as usual, and afterwards said our last goodbyes. I have a lot more respect for the students, to be able to do so much everyday without their families. Some go there because they cannot afford eduaction, some dont have families, or their parents are in prison. They sleep very little, learn all day, cook their own food, wash their own clothes, and still have energy and a smile on their face everyday. I know by 2pm I was lagging and needed a massive amount of coffee. I find it sad that the prospects for these children are not great. Most end up working at gas stations or in restaurants. They stay in the city mostly because they cannot earn money in their villages. The temple provides them with an basic education and a place to live and learn, but it is not nearly enough. These children are obviously not a priority for the state, and until that changes their education is simply a bandaid, not a solution to the probelms of minority peoples being left behind.

Interview with my Thai Friend

One of the other assignments we had was to interview a Thai person this semester. While I talked to Thai people a lot throughout the semester, I never conducted a formal interview. Because the issue that is most precedent right now is that of the protests in Bangkok, I decided to ask a few people about their opinions. One of my friends was very pro-red shirt (the PPP, the ruling party which just got dissolved). He felt that Thaksins policies had helped the North, and thought that even though Thaksin may have committed a few illegal acts, the pros outweighed the benefits, and that he should be forgiven because of all the good he had done. One of the taxi drivers here, probably greatly helped by Thaksins policies to give health care to the poorer classes, was also very pro-red shirt, and was thinking about going down to Bangkok to protest against the yellow shirts (the PAD, who do not support the current government). My friend felt that the PAD did not have the right to protest this government, felt that they were not accomplishing anything by protesting, and that all that was coming out of this situation was a damaged Thai international reputation, and greater problems inside the country. I also talked to some of my other friends, and came away with the impression that many college age students are in the middle. They feel that both sides are too polarized, and wish for some kind of policy in the middle. However, I would say that this was different from that in America's last election, where people wanted a reconciliation, but were also greatly involved. It seems that here in Thailand the overall mood of today's students is that of a non-caring one. They are not nearly as active as students were in the past. The protests in the airport are over and flights are starting to go out and in of Bangkok again, but great damage has been done to the country, economically and image wise. I know my friend, who is from the north (the north is very pro-Thaksin, because of all the things that he did for the lower classes to promote development, self-sufficiency, and health reform) is definitely not happy about the events of the past week or so, but once again did not really do anything to voice his opinions.

Leaving Thailand Soon

As the title indicates, the semester is winding down. This could be the last thing I want. I am having the time of my life right now, and really want to stay, but unfortunately have one semester left at school and have to graduate. I wish I had come my junior year, as I would have had the option to stay for a second semester, but I still think my China experience was very valuable and taught me a great level of independence, even if I did not enjoy it nearly as much as this one. I like most of the classes here, am finally starting to enjoy my volunteer work, love playing softball with the Thai kids, learning to speak (and now write a little bit) Thai, and just going out very often and having a great time. I could easily stay here, eat Thai food everyday and not watch and American TV or have feelings of homesickness, or a want to experience American culture.
I know going back last year was very hard for me, as it was a completely new experience for me, and it was hard to reintegrate back into American culture, after being in one so completely different as in China, and having little foreign influence in the city. This time should be easier, as I know what to expect, and Chiang Mai is far more western than Chengdu was. However, the last few weeks have been quite hard as I realize my time is running out, and this does not make me happy at all. I have been more irritable, and at times quite angry at people for simple things. I know my last day here will be quite sad, and while I try not to think about it, I cannot ignore it. I will enjoy traveling, and now that I can drink in the US will finally feel without great restriction, but would definitely rather be here than in Chicago. Lifestyle here is more laid back, things are more open, and the best part is the lack of snow and cold weather :) The next few weeks will involve a lot of writing papers, preparing my final presentation, and trying to eek out as much as I can before I leave. I would like to try and find a way to come back and work, and try to learn Thai really well, maybe do a master's in international business or politics as well. However, who knows where I will be in 4 months? I certainly did not expect to be in this position a few months ago. Only time will tell, but I feel that I at least have a good idea now.

Guest Teaching for ICU

Another requirement for the ICU class (which teaches about differences in culture between the US and Thailand) is to teach for two one-hour segments. I chose to teach the Nursing students, who study at a different Payap campus, and the second teaching Divinity students. The first segment was after a very sleepy day, and we did not talk about many important things. We met with about 5 or 6 kids. They were all girls, and all spoke English pretty well. It was a nice change being able to teach by just conversing, instead of trying to throw a few vocabulary words at students who could not understand me, and most of whom do not care. We talked about their lives mostly. They were all from around Chiang Mai or in Northern Thailand. They all were first year students, and as such had to join the cheer team, go to aerobic dancing and do yoga, on top of their hard studies. They kept commenting though on how they had bad health, because they got so little sleep. One girl said she got three hours of sleep a night. If I slept that little, I would probably not be able to get up in the morning. They all enjoyed their studies, and wanted to return home afterwards to work near their families. It was interesting, but they seemed to be very tired, which would make sense if they had only slept the normal few hours a night before.
The second night we taught the same students again, but this time only three showed up. These students were the ones who had talked the most the previous session, and we had an interesting second talk. I learned of their fear of and belief in ghosts, their homes, and more about their families. One of the girls was from Tak province, and was ethnic Karen. She talked of learning Karen in Sunday school at her church and home, but learning in Thai at the public school. She talked of the very diverse languages in her area, as many ethnic minorities flee the situation in Burma to the Thai-Burma border. The conversation went on for an hour and a half, and I got to learn a few useful Thai words from them as well. Overall, it wasn't as much teaching as It was just practicing discussion, which is sometimes more useful. I have been just using what I already know a lot lately, and while I pick up a few new terms and words, I have become much more comfortable and quick at using what I know. The students at Wat Don Chan that I teach need to practice speaking a lot more than anything, because even though they are in class for an hour a day, the amount that they actually speak is close to zero. They have a very hard time answering simple sentences, even though their curriculum talks about such things as environmental protection and living a health life. It was a cool experience, as I got to meet some very determined students, and see daily life from a new perspective.

Last Weekend at UNDP and Lisu Village

Last weekend we went up north near Chiang Rai and to a Lisu (ethnic minority) village. It was our last group field trip, and without being overly critical my least favorite by far. The main reason for this was that we did absolutely nothing. To be fair I did not want to go on the trip. I felt tired of traveling. The program was set up to have us go on field trips all the Thai students were on their break, because their semester starts 2 months before the American system does. However, 3 trips in 4 weeks (some students had a trip all 4 weeks) is just too much. Traveling is great, and we get to see a lot of cool things, but I want to spend time in Chiang Mai and at least have a chance to get a little settled. I want to spend time with my friends here, and not be uprooted on so many occasions. Especially because I do not want to leave so soon, spending one of my last weekends in Thailand traveling to the middle of nowhere was not something at the top of my list. We first went to a place called UNDP. I cannot even remember what it stands for, but it was an organization that works with different methods of agro-forestry in northern Thailand. It was a cool place, but both nights there we went to the two neighboring towns of Fang and Thaton, both were quite quiet. The second day we watched a bunch of Thais kill, skin, and cut up a live pig. Afterwards some people went to the forest to collect bamboo and banana leaves for cooking. However, as I have no interest in cooking it was quite boring.
The next day we went to the Lisu village, far up in the mountains. We lived with a small family. Apparently the dad was Chinese. There was Chinese writing all over the house, and it confused me until I learned that. The son and the mom were the only ones left there, as the father had passed on (from opium addiction), and his brother and sister had both left to go work in Bangkok and in southern Thailand. The youth of the village steadily leaves, and I cannot blame them. The appeal of the big city, modern culture and material goods would be overpowering, compared with spending all day picking cabbage. The worst part of the village was that everyone drank local rice whiskey all day. It was absolutely terrible. It is one thing to drink a lot of beer, that can be delicious, but this stuff was horrible. It was pure fire going through my system, and as it would be impolite to refuse, I spent my time trying to avoid situation in which that would happen. That did not always happen, especially as our mom drank the stuff all day, and offered it to us at breakfast every morning! Add in the fact that I was allergic to something in the air there, it was freezing and I did not want to shower in the cold, and the cute baby pig in our backyard died of cold one night, and I was not too happy to be there. I was quite excited to come back. It is not that the trip was a bad idea, but the brevity of the village stay made it hard to learn anything about it, and the fact that we had traveled so much made me feel that a weekend in Chiang Mai would have been far more worthwhile.

Softball in Chiang Mai

As one of the requirements for my ICU class here is to join some kind of event with Thai kids and then blog about it, I figured I would blog about what I do almost every day here. It has been a great experience for me, mostly because it has allowed me to see many aspects of Thailand that I could not see by living in the foreign students dormitory on campus here. There is only so much you can learn from a book, but much more that needs to be experienced. Besides helping me with my Thai language skills, as I can practice speaking it everyday, I have learned a lot about food, gone to events such as Loy Krathong, and simply just chilled with them. It took me a while to learn all of their names because I would forget Thai names really quickly, and felt bad asking them over and over but I finally got it down. Communication can be a little bit hard sometimes, but unlike China most of them speak at least a little bit of English. Most of the students are Japanese students, and there are a few Japanese kids who play too, but there are two English students and most kids understand at least a little bit.
Everyday is pretty much the same things, which is probably why the team isn't very good. We always play the same university on weekends, MaeJo University (whose mascot for some reason is the cowboys, or as they say Home of Cowboys). We always warm up, and then do ground ball practice, but never really do any in game situations and don't practice much hitting. There are many limitations, such as the field size and equipment, but I think the lack of knowledge on how the game is played really hurts. What is worse than not making plays is not trying to make the right play, and that often happens during most of the game, when people throw it to the wrong base, try to throw people out with a dangerous throw when there isn't a chance, and don't know to throw it to the cutoff man. I think the team could be much better (it does practice every day for 3 hours +) if the players knew more about playing the game, but as I am only here for a short time I am not really in a position to comment.
Playing here is also good for me because it gives me something to do everyday. I do not have enough time, but it is better to not have enough time than to have more time than I know what to do with. It also makes Thailand feel a bit more like home, as I have always been involved in some kind of athletics in America, so this gives the country a more familiar feeling. It is also good to just get exercise everyday, as since I am eating more, drinking more, and spending more time sitting around, it is the little exercise I can get. Finally, when I am overly angry at anything, it always nice to hit things really hard with a metal bat. Playing softball here has really added a lot to my experience, I think more than anything else, just by getting to know a few Thai people and seeing a lot of places I would not know to go to by myself. I am very glad that I saw them playing while running one night a few months ago and inquired, and maybe if I come back I will still play occasionally. While the team doesn't win very often, its still a lot of fun to say the least.