Miss In Thailand... Peace Corps Adventures.: Out and About in Thailand.

Our first few days in country were spent mainly at the hotel undergoing various training sessions. Yesterday we got to venture out for a bit to meet the governor of our province. It was a really nice outing, we had all been practicing introductions, and we had the opportunity to individually introduce ourselves. Here is what I said: Sa-wat-dee-kah. Di chan chuu Michelle nam-sak-un Swanston ka. Di chan madjak muaang St. Croix, drat US Virgin Islands, bpra-ted America ka. It was our first public presentation in Thai, and I had a few butterflies, but I think I did well.

Our Peace Corps Country Director introduced our group to the governor and expressed gratitude for the province's hospitality and generosity, he did so in Thai and at the end, the governor commented, "Your Thai is very good, better than my English," he also seemed very impressed by our ability to introduce ourselves so well after just two days of training. He spoke about his experiences in the United States (he has visited more states than I have), he extended a welcome and best wishes to our group, and he his gratitude for the service that we are here to perform. It was a lovely meeting. See pictures from yesterday's trip below.

Today was our bike riding/training day. My grandmother bought me a bike when I was seven years old. That is the only bike that I've ever owned, and back then I was only allowed to ride it up and down the road as far as my mother could see, so I'm a little out of practice. My ten year old brother has a bike, and when I learned that I would likely be riding a bike in Thailand, I decided to take his bike for a spin around the block to find out if I could still ride. Apparently it's true when they say once you learn to ride a bike you never forget. Successfully riding the bike around the block one time gave me a boost of confidence, so I wasn't too worried about our session today.

Each volunteer received a mountain bike, a helmet, a water bottle, and some biking tools. We started the day with a session on Biking in Thailand -- ride on the left side, two to three feet in from the curb; if you get too close to the edge of the road, you risk riding on thorns or snakes or falling into a canal; if you see another biker riding towards you in the wrong direction then pull to the right, but watch out for oncoming traffic; if you're ambushed by soy (street) dogs spray them with water or yell bai which means "go away" in Thai (apparently the dogs won't understand if we yell in English). Once we got our bikes adjusted for custom fit, we got to ride around the field for a bit. This went well for me, after a couple laps, I started practicing how I would grab my water bottle from it's holder. That still needs work. After a little break, we were told that it was time to take our skills to the main road. That was tough.

Thankfully, nobody fell into a canal or had to be defensive against a soy dog, but there were a few accidents and incidents along the way. The route was 10k, but after 5km (3 miles), we were given the option to return to the bike site, I was among the less adventurous souls who decided to return early. Partly because I was pretty weary at that point, I had ran out of water, and didn't have the stamina or the endurance to continue for a total of 20 k (12 miles), also the seat of the bike was super uncomfortable, in fact, I doubt that I would be able to sit properly for the next day or two, and I couldn't bear to sit on it for longer than necessary. Apparently, I'd been riding on a boy seat, and the site attendants were able to change it to a seat that is supposed to be more comfortable for girls. I tried it for a minute, but I couldn't tell if it was more comfortable or not, because right now, sitting on the bed is pretty uncomfortable, so I'll check it out again in a couple days.

We were riding through one of the communities that we will be doing training and service in. There were many beautiful sights along the way, unfortunately, I am not yet skilled enough to take pictures while riding, but we did see very lovely homes and fields along the way, as well as snakes, both dead and alive. There were children biking at the same time as we were, and they yelled "farang, farang!" which means foreigner. It was nice to finally get out of the hotel and get into the community for a bit before we move in with our host families. Check out a few pictures from the day.