Events of November

This post was prepared to be published on Thanksgiving Day, but various events prevented that from happening. I must say that the month of November has been one of the most eventful (and exhausting) months to date, but it's been awesome! Hopefully, you'll see some of that below :-)
 
 
It's that time of the year, when most American families come together to express their gratitude for all of the blessings of the year, and of course, to eat a huge meal and watch football, American football that is. Although I've spent most of past several years living away from my family, I've always managed to find a home for Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. This year, I enjoyed a Pre-Thanksgiving potluck dinner with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers in Bangkok. It was a really nice get-together, a much larger crowd than the usual, but I had a great time with my fellow group members and got to meet some of the senior volunteers for the first time.

 

pretty awesome time with a pretty awesome group :-)

As is custom, I've taken time to reflect on my year, and as always, I have so much to be thankful for. On my long list of blessings, here are three that I am especially grateful for this year.

 
1. The opportunity to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand.
   Cliché as it may be to say this, I am truly having an experience of a lifetime, in so many ways. A few years ago, even in my wildest imagination, the thought would have never crossed my mind that I would ever come to Thailand or that I would even consider becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. I look back at the events , situations, and circumstances that led me here, and I am so sure that I am right where I am supposed to be and I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and I'm thankful for every moment.
2. Family
   My family has been so supportive of my decisions, and that has been such a blessing. In the beginning, naturally, there were a few questions about whether or not I was sure that this was something that I wanted to do at this point of my life, partly because I'm not exactly the adventurous, journey-across-the-world-for-two-years type, and also because it meant leaving really good employment behind, but once everyone was sure that I was sure, it's been 1000% support. I've realized that this isn't the case for everyone, and it makes me appreciate my family even more.
   
   I'm also extremely appreciative of the Thai families that have taken me as one of their own. I can go on and on about how at home and how loved I've felt in my time here, but there's just so much more that I can't articulate. I couldn't imagine more perfect matches than the families that have adopted me since I've been here, and I am extremely grateful for them.
3. Friendship
   Over the past several months, I've developed some pretty incredible friendships, among my fellow volunteers and within my community. I have a feeling that these friendships will extend way beyond my two years here in Thailand. My pre-Peace Corps friendships have been put to the test of time and distance with various outcome, but I'm thankful for them all.

The month of November has actually been quite eventful. I'm glad that schools are back in session, while that's been great, I've had a few pretty awesome adventures outside of the schools as well. At some point, my camera went missing, so some pretty awesome moments are undocumented, but I'm glad for the memories. Thankfully, I found my camera hiding out oddly positioned in a corner of one of my bags, I was so relieved when I found it, almost to the point of tears. Here are some moments that were captured this month.
 
Lao Border Market

 

 

 
My host family had told me that we would bpai-tiiao (take a trip) to the Lao border market, it wasn't until we got there that I realized that we would actually be crossing the border into Laos. Luckily, I had my passport and the Peace Corps director was gracious enough to grant me last minute permission to leave the country. It seems like ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) nationals just need to show ID to cross the border from one country to another, so my family just waited patiently as I completed visa applications and went through all of the customs clearance procedures. I got nervous when my host cousin started taking pictures (despite the sign) but the customs officers didn't even flinch when the flash went off (quite a contrast to my travel experience through the US, Canada, and Caribbean where officers threaten confiscation at the sight of any recording device). We had a fun time shopping and afterwards we had a nice lunch on the river market. As we ate, we were amused by the 'banana boat' riders getting drag raced through the river by little speed boats. Once we were finished eating, my host brother and cousins convinced me to take a ride with them, I sat securely in the middle and received the least splash (and whiplash) and we all had a screaming good time. Twas a great day!
 

Loy Krathong Festival
 

 
Loy Krathong is the annual floating festival. It was a beautiful event. River floats (krathong) are made from banana leaves, flowers, and other natural materials, then a candle is lit and the floats are sent down the river. We release negative emotions into the river along with the krathong and make a wish. There are also huge lanterns that are lit and sent floating into the sky (same concept as the hot air balloon), my host mom and I got to release a lantern together, and we were told to make a wish as we did so. The lanterns were so beautiful floating away in the sky. I couldn't get many clear pictures, but it was a beautiful night. The main event was a beauty pageant, it was somewhat similar to pageants in the US (minus swimsuit and talent exhibition). 



Ten contestants from the villages competing



The contestants are dressed gorgeously from head to toe in traditional Thai wear

As they get to end of the stage, they receive flowers from their family and village supporters

 

Everybody gets involved!

 

It was a lovely event

 
 
 Giiao Kaao
 
 

 
It's rice harvesting season out here. I was invited to giiao kaao (harvest rice) with students at one of my schools. It was nice to do something outside of the classroom with the students. Mr. C, the Cameroonian English teacher, was there as well and it was also his first time harvesting rice. Many of the students (4th through 6th graders) already had experience with rice farming and harvesting, so most of the teachers just supervised and it was up to the students to be our teachers and correct us when we made mistakes, they got a kick out of that, but they were great and we all had a really good time.

 





Drying out rice from my host mom's field in front of our home



Bagging rice with my neighbors at another neighbor's home

The rice irritated my skin, so I had to sit out with the little one

 

Road Trip

 

I invited two of my teachers to attend a Peace Corps hosted workshop with me. We were meeting at a site about five hours away, but we made a few stops and bpai-tiiao'd (had some fun adventures) along the way and extended our road time to twelve hours. It was exhausting, but fun, my teachers are pretty cool.

 



Our first stop was an ancient palace and temple in our province, the
Prasart Wat Sra Kampaeng Yai, the largest in this province

 


Our last stop was "The Verona" - a gorgeous spot that mimics the Italian city. 
We were all tired at that point, so we had dinner on site and went straight to the hotel.
"The Verona" is actually still under construction, but I can already see this as a
neat little wedding spot.

   

Student Friendly Schools

 

Peace Corps hosted a workshop to address gender based violence in schools. We learned a lot from the conference and from each other, and  we had fun too!

 

Wonderful workship

 

The food was amazing too



We had a pretty great and successful time together.

 
Bangkok Randoms... It's always a great time when I get to hang out with other Peace Corps Volunteers :-)



Hanging out, chit-chatting after pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

The Christmas Spirit :-) Outside of a Bangkok Mall

So glad we found these super awesome scarf shirts



In good company with Peace Corps Thailand's
Country Director and new Training Director



With all of the happenings of the month, I especially loved sharing Thanksgiving with my students towards the end. I taught about blessings, gratitude, and Thanksgiving foods and traditions. We made thankful hand turkeys and/or colored Thanksgiving pictures as we watched "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving" in English and Thai. Here are a few student masterpieces...



This creative masterpiece is my personal fave



 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Suuk-San-Wan-Kob-Kun-Prajao!

First Semester Moments

While most schools in America are still getting into the swing of a new school year, most schools in Thailand have already wrapped up the first semester and are gearing up for the second. It seems like it wasn't that long ago, I was standing in a meeting room with all of the school directors from the sub-district, nervously introducing myself and presenting the Peace Corps framework with proposed activities for the year. I anticipated that maybe one or two may not have interest in me and my proposal or may not be able to accommodate me, but it was a flood of a relief to receive their unanimous approval, enthusiasm, and willingness to have me and to incorporate me into the schools and their various schedules. 

Moving forward, I was nervous about meeting the students, wondering how they would respond to me, and whether or not they would like me. I don't think I've ever been so anxious about the approval of others or how much they liked me, or if they liked me at all, especially not about the opinion of children. In my previous experiences, I typically dealt with children in serious and even messy situations and being in my presence did not necessarily translate into a fun or smiley event. I'd gotten used to that role, but this time around, I'm playing a different role, which is quite the opposite, and I wasn't sure if or how I could pull it off. 

So, it's been several months since this anxious lady showed up in the schools, riding a bike, lessons in hand, claiming not to be a teacher, and speaking broken Thai. If anything, the students seemed intrigued, and it wasn't long before I realized that my anxieties were all in vain. They asked their questions, I taught my lessons, we had our fun, we certainly had our moments, and we all made it through a pretty non-catastrophic first semester. The first quarter of my service, in the books, and I have a really good feeling about what is to come. Without repeating anything that has been mentioned in previous posts, here are ten very random, yet very memorable moments of my first semester.

Teachable moments... Out of the mouths of babes...

1. Are you really from America? Americans are pretty and have pretty white skin. You have black skin, but you're pretty. (So, everyone knows that Americans have white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. And I obviously have none of that, so I understand their confusion. Students have some familiarity with black race since there are Cameroonian teachers in the villages, but until now, children have been lost on the concept of African-Americans or Blacks in America. Adults, however, are at least familiar with Barack and Michelle Obama, and to a lesser extent, Beyoncé and Michael Jackson. Cultural Note: Thais in general have an obsession and fascination with white skin. Every skin product, from body wash to deodorant, has whitening agents because apparently white skin is pretty skin. Darker skin is symbolic of lower socioeconomic status, specifically of farm worker, even though some Thais are naturally darker than others.)
    
2. You and Mr. C should get married. You both speak English, and you're both black. (Mr. C is a Cameroonian man, the foreign English teacher for my village. He's also very nice. As if speaking English and being black aren't reasons enough for marriage.)
    
3. Please teach us to do our hair like yours. (This said while playing with and sniffing at my braided hair during a break. The thing with homogeneity is that "my hair is different" only leads to more bafflement and questions.) 
    
4. Teacher, do you have Ebola? (This said quite innocently while holding my hand walking to lunch. My guess is that she made the association after watching some news coverage.)
5. Why are you so tall? You're tall like a man. (Simple answer, because my father is tall. Yes, I'm taller than all of the female teachers in the school. Probably taller than every female in the village, daresay country (just kidding, I know I'm not). So they don't realize that 170cm or 5'7" isn't necessarily tall-like-a-man standards in most non-Asian countries.)

 

Teachable moments don't always happen in the classroom

Moments that make me wonder why I let these kiddos have any breaks... But really, sometimes the breaks are more for me than for them...

6. After spending ten minutes of their five minute break running to the vendor to purchase then eat salty and spicy treats, I finally get the students somewhat settled down. Three students immediately request a water break because their mouths are supposedly burning from the spicy snacks. I try to offer them my unopened bottle of 'teacher water' but they decline and try to sneak out of the classroom door. I decide to continue the lesson from the doorway, then out of the blue, a student frantically points to the back of the room "Teacher look, look..." I turn my head "...elephant!" I turn my head back in time to see two rascals jumping out the window...
   
   
   
7. Students have a five minute water/bathroom break. Three minutes in, a student returns to the class crying, "What's wrong?" he shows me a patch in his head that wasn't there before the break. "Who did that?" Cue in two students following behind, one with scissors in hand and the other explaining that the boy's hair was too long and needed to be cut. Ummm... How is this okay? I turn to the victim "Do you want us to go to the principal/director?" as expected, he refuses. Okay. I turn to the other students and ask "Are you a barber? Is this a barber shop? Yes, you're in school, yes, you're a student. What did you come to school to do? Yes, you came here to learn, not to cut hair. Very good." They wrote in Thai ten times, then in English five times, 'I am a student, I am not a barber. I will learn, I will not cut hair." The next week's lesson was about occupations. Interestingly, the victim, who was sporting a new haircut, was the only one who wants to be a barber when he grows up.

Little Rascals

 

Water Break

 Awkward Moments

8. The question is frequently asked "Why don't you eat pork or seafood?" and when I say that it's because of my religion, I usually get a nod in response, or a chuckle and a joke along the lines of not being able to eat anything delicious because of my religion. The custodian at one of my schools took the conversation even further. "Why? What is your religion? Are you Muslim?" I explained to him that I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, and that some aspects of my religion are similar to Islam. He proceeded to debate me, "But the other foreign teacher is a Christian and he eats everything." I explained that there are different groups of Christians, and that all Christians don't do all the same things, but we study the Bible which instructs us not to eat certain foods. At this point I remember that my Bible app has Thai translations, so I showed him the chapter (Leviticus 11) that lists unclean foods. I smile as he reads on and nods his head in understanding/acceptance, then he smiles at me and says "Well, here it says you can eat insects." Really? He returned my phone and I changed the language back to English. Sure enough. Well... Americans don't eat insects.
    
9. During a community meeting, I noticed that one of my school directors had some documents in a book, upon second glance, I realized that the book was Black Beauty. He is quite literate in English and often insists that we speak in English, our conversations usually include him spelling out words when he is unsure of the pronunciation. That being the case, I wasn't too surprised to see him with an English book. I commented to him that it was a good book, a classic which used to be very popular in America.  I asked him where I can find English books around here. He told me that they are not very common, but he recently found this one at a little store in the neighboring province. He asked me if I wanted to read it, and without thinking, I told him that I've read it a few times before. He said "Oh, okay" and the expression on his face before he walked away made me wonder if he brought (or bought?) the book specifically for me. 
   

   

   Literary School Director

Moments away from school

10.  My host cousin invited me to participate in an English camp at his school in a nearby village. It was great to be in a different environment, meeting and working with new teachers and students, I even got to work with Miss E (Cameroonian teacher in my district who does my hair). We taught some fun English songs to the whole group of about fifty students, and when the students separated into smaller groups, I co-facilitated the Question Words station. I had a really great time and got some lesson ideas that I was able to take back to my schools.

Ms. E and I teaching Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

Teaching question words to a small group with my host cousin and one of his coteachers.

There are a few more away from school moments, but since I'm already at ten, I'll just share pictures...

Sometimes I get to visit other volunteers on long weekends. And sometimes we get to pig out at non-Thai restaurants.

Once in awhile, I get to be the shortest person in the group.

 

Amanda's site is famous for dinosaurs



Love in a hopeless place?

Andrew's site is famous for it's historical ruins

 

Beautiful park

Goofing around

Just having a goofy good time.



Burritos and Burgers in Bangkok with Amanda.

 

Pineapple Fried Rice in Bangkok with Katherine.
I made an exception to my "No Thai food in Bangkok" rule

  

This was actually the dish I ate at my Going-to-Thailand dinner at a Thai restaurant in Miami

My whole break has been spent hub
doing desk work, preparing for the upcoming semester, and hanging out with coworkers.
It's gotten pretty comfortable, but I am ready to get back out there!

This is actually the last week of my break, I've regrouped, and I'm ready to return. The break is three weeks long, quite similar to the Christmas/Winter/Holiday break in America (then the summer equivalent takes place from March to May). Semester 2.0 is right ahead, and I anticipate many more memorable moments to come!