Missing the comfortable

A month ago, I was running around doing last minute errands and saying goodbye to family and friends. It has flown by so quickly! Right now, I am in a really strange stage because by the end of this week it will be the longest time I have ever spent away from home. Things are no longer new and so they have kind of lost that thrill and excitement; however, things are not quite familiar yet. Therefore, I find myself missing aspects of my comfortable and familiar life back home.

I can’t even express how thankful I am that I was placed in this homestay with my Mae and Paw. They have made sure that I feel completely at home and help me a lot in adjusting to a completely new culture. My Mae is always joking around with me and my Paw is still always smiling and laughing. I am actually pretty stoked because gradually I am able to say more and more to my Paw as my Thai improves.

Saturday was GIRLS DAY OUT and it was so much fun. My Mae and I were dropped off at Kad Suan Keaw, which is a big mall in the middle of the City around lunchtime. In the bottom floor of the mall, there is a Tops Market where we ate our lunch. I had Pad Thai Gai, which is Pad Thai with Chicken and it was delicious. To make things better, my Mae bought coconut ice cream! When we finished our lunch my Mae decided that we should go to a movie. She let me choose between Revolutionary Road, Hotel for Dogs, the war movie with Tom Cruise (I am blanking on the name right now), or Benjamin Button. I thought it was kind of funny because on our way to the mall there was a street vendor who was selling three out of the four movies for sale for like 50 baht. I chose Revolutionary Road, which was a good movie and really emotional. During the movie, I was frequently thinking about what my Mae was thinking. It is silly but I wanted to know if she took this movie as a testimony to how American’s live their lives. The movie took place awhile back and it constantly showed drinking, smoking, and sex. Granted the movie is relevant to people’s lives today, but if I knew more Thai it would probably be an interesting conversation to have with her.

After the movie, we went SHOPPING! It was a lot of fun, especially because I was needing a nice shirt and I honestly missed shopping around and trying on different clothes. Everyone here dresses really nice and stylish. People don’t go out in extremely casual clothes like we do in the states (sweatpants and sweatshirts), instead people here always look like they are ready to go out. I did not bring any of my nicer clothes from home that I usually wear in the summer, instead I brought outdoorsy clothes (like Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear, Marmot) and sporty clothes (like shorts and t-shirts). I actually regret not bringing more clothes because now not only do I stick out as a farang (foreigner), but also a farang who can’t dress well haha. We got home around 5:30 pm and after showering we (Mae, Paw, my cousin Yok, Emilie (another ISDSI student) and I) went to Johnathan’s house for a Thai fondue party. I guess this style of cooking, which is typically in restaurants is popular among locals. It was really chill and relaxed and a great way to end the evening.

Sunday reminded me of one of the old Calvin and Hobbs comic books because it was truthfully one of the laziest Sundays I have ever experienced. I just felt like I was eating all day long and I only left the house once with Mackenzie to go to Wat Doi Saket. Wat Doi Saket sits at the top of Doi (mountain) Saket. It has one of the tallest Buddha statues I have ever seen, it is so big that you can see the back of its head from many km away. It would have probably been a beautiful view if it wasn’t for the thick smog. The past week or so there were warnings in the news against exercising outside because the air quality was so poor. I am unfamiliar with the air quality ratings, but I guess it is more than triple what Europe would assume to be dangerous. You can definitely feel the difference when you travel the 25 mins from Chiang Mai to Doi Saket. It has made me appreciate that I have lived away from the traffic and the city.

Thai is a difficult language to learn. A lot more difficult then I thought it would be. Just like with any other new languages, I get frustrated a lot, but maybe it is only making me want to work even more to understand it. The foundations course is always captivating. I love learning all about the culture here it is rich and detailed. We spent some time discussing the economic situation and learned that minimum wage is around 200 Baht a day, which is about six dollars a day!!! And it is not easy work, a lot of the work is in the factories or on construction sites. I made more then $6 in an hour and all I did was sit on my butt and guard people’s lives. The whole class I had a song stuck in my head by Amos Lee where he says, “Baby I need a plan oh to understand that life ain’t only supply and demand.” Music is definitely another thing I am missing a lot of, too.

To end this blog, I am going to address a few questions that people have asked me. First, the toilet situation… I live in a fairly westernized house, so I use westernized toilets, but most other public places are these porcelain rectangles on the ground that have two spots for your feet and a hole in the middle. Usually there is not a handle to flush, but a basin full of water with a floating bowl, which you use to pour water into the hole to manually flush. And typically there is no toilet paper, so it has become a vital necessity to have in your bag. Second, the food… I have only had Pad Thai twice. My favorite foods are all curries, Tom Yum and Coconut soup. I have rice for every single meal and it definitely fills you up. There are two types of rice that are most commonly eaten: regular white rice (which is found at all Asian restaurants) and sticky rice. They are not kidding when they say sticky rice; it is eaten with your hands and has to be rolled into balls and then dipped into each dish. I have yet to master this skillful art because rice ends all over my hands and I usually find myself resorting to the old spoon and fork method. I have been offered some crazy foods, fresh live shrimp (which I mentioned in one of my past blogs), ant eggs, fermented pork, and pork liver. But from what I have heard the later courses when we are living with hill tribes have a much more adventurous menu like monkey, wasp larva, and rats. haha. I can’t wait! And finally, I have decided to cook spaghetti for my family next Sunday!

This past week I have received facebook messages and emails and even had the chance to Skype with some people from home and it has truly been wonderful and made a difference in my days J I can’t thank you enough for all of your prayers and support.

ally j