One Week In

Here stands an official United States Peace Corps Volunteer in service to the
Royal Government of Thailand

Following my last post was my Swearing-In Ceremony in conjunction with the Close of Service Ceremony for the group that came in two years ago. Apparently, this is the first time that the two ceremonies took place at the same time, and I can't imagine a better way to begin or end my service. It was inspiring to hear their stories and look forward to what is to come, and I would love to be able to experience looking back when I reach the finish line. After the ceremony, we got to mingle for a bit, have lunch, say goodbyes, then finally, hit the road. My journey to my new home was nine hours long but I made it, safe and sound.

Newly Sworn-In Volunteers

Saying Goodbye to my first aa-jaan and language classmates

Meeting my RanNayoke (Deputy Mayor) who was our driver for nine hours.

I've been at my site for about a week now. My new community is so very different from my training community. Here we have wider roads and fewer rice fields, houses are less traditional, there is a different variety of food, and the list can go on and on. The people, as before, are very warm and welcoming, and are very impressed by my limited language ability, even more so by my even more limited ability to speak the local lingo. I'm experiencing the novelty of being the new kid on the block all over again, and trying to establish some sort of a routine.

My New Home :-)
The neighbors come over to play badminton every day.
They've been teaching me the game, and
I've been teaching them Sudoku and English! 

My new family is very nice, and I haven't had any difficulty fitting in. My host mom is really cool and trendy, and she is beyond happy to have a girl around. She has two sons, one my age, but he is away for college, and the other is nineteen and lives at home. Her husband died three years ago, but there is family is around and they help out with different stuff around the house. My first two days at my host home, my host mom dressed me up from hat to shoes, and over the weekend, we did each other's nails. I set up a phone meeting for her and my first host mom, I couldn't understand most of the conversation, but it was over an hour long, and there was lots of laughter on both ends. My host mom said "Kui gap meh suphhan sanuk sanuk" which basically means that she enjoyed the conversation very much. She's made reference to the conversation several times since then, I heard you like to eat fried chicken, we'll eat that tonight, I heard you like to wash your hair with hot water (unresolved misunderstanding) there is hot water in the shower (yaaay!). I'm glad they got to chat, I think that they would like each other in real life, and I hope that they can meet each other soon.

My host mom next to me, my brother and his girlfriend right across from us,
next to them, a cousin who speaks English, and at the end,
cousins/neighbors who help out at the house sometimes.  

I'm getting a new mosquito net soon, and curtains.

A flushing western toilet, and water heater!
I actually got comfortable with the old squatty potty,
but I'm happy that cold baths are a thing of the past.

For the next two years, I will be working out of the Oh-Boh-Tor (OBT), which is kinda like City Hall. I will work with community organizers to plan events and activities for youth in the community. The OBT will be my hub, but I also plan to work with schools in the area and the local health center. I've met a few key people so far, and the next couple of months will be spent mostly building relationships within the community and finding where I best fit in. The folks at the OBT are pretty cool so far, we've done some outings and activities with the health center, and I've visited a couple of the schools, including the Non-Formal Education Center. In quite a few cases, I thought that I was going on a quick school visit and maybe a short meeting with the principal, or maybe an event that I can observe and even participate in, but I somehow end up with a microphone. Fun times.

My New Hub

Speaking at a senior aerobics event
I had a little help with my outfit ;-)

Speaking at a school's promotion exercise.

My Nayoke (Mayor/Supervisor) and officers that I will be working closely with

So far, I haven't had any significant problems with the language difference, apparently, there are four languages spoken around here -- Passa Thai (Standard Thai), Passa Isaan (Local Lingo), Passa Laos (Laos, which influences the local lingo) and Passa Khmer (Cambodian, as Cambodia borders my province). So far, I haven't had any encounters with the latter two. The majority of my time is spent in the work environment where Standard Thai is the norm. At home, I can tell that an effort is made to speak Standard Thai around me, even so, there are some differences, and when folks are speaking among themselves, it's a completely different. I'll get the hang of it eventually, but that's not my focus right now.

As far as food goes, sticky rice is the standard staple here, and it is the norm to eat without utensils, and sometimes without individual dishes - each person reaches into the big bowl of sticky rice, grabs a fist full, ball it up, dip the rice ball into whichever sauce, pick up a piece of meat or veggie, and eat... My first host mom actually demonstrated this to me before I came here, and I laughed and thought "No way" but here I am, and I'm doing it!!  I have tried a few new dishes since I've been here, many of which are pretty tasty, I've also been offered several delicacies, including kai-mot-deng (ant larvae), maleng-saap (cockroach), and gop (frog). I've been advised that the best way around this is "Kəəi gin lɛɛ-o, deh mai chop" (I've eaten it before, but I don't like it - which is true in some instances). This strategy works well, seeing that I've obviously been in country for awhile, and have some degree of acclimation to the culture, otherwise, the pressure would be on for me to 'chim-chim' (taste).

I'm looking forward to experiencing more and sharing more as I go :-)