Final days.

I legitimately have 4 days left in Thailand, you guys. 4. Freaking. Days.

I’ve certainly had an adventure while I’ve been here, but first, I’ll fill you all in on what I’ve been up to since Na Nong Bong and my Thai assignments.

Basically, we had 2 weeks of final project time. Since our group was so small, there were lots of projects to do. So I signed up for the Na Nong Bong campaign project (with Katie, Brett, and Alex) as well as the Baw Kaew legal report project (with Katie).

So first, the Na Nong Bong project consisted of all of us working on campaign materials and activities for a high school and a university back in Loei, all facilitated by the Dao Din kids that we worked with during the last unit. It was supposed to be a “fun” informational campaign for those in the area to raise awareness about the mine and how awful it is. It was pretty smooth sailing for us CIEE kids, since we went through the whole planning process a million times over the semester and knew what was going on. But we ran into a bunch of problems while working with the Dao Din kids this time. First, only the first years were able to do the event with us because the older, more dedicated members weren’t free. So there were varying levels of participation and engagement right from the get-go. Also, apparently these kids don’t know what a freakin’ clock is. With the exception of 2 kids, everyone else would come to meetings from 30 minutes to even 1 hour late. Or they wouldn’t come at all, which presented even more issues. A proud moment came when I facilitated the students IN THAI. It really just shows how far I’ve come since the beginning of the program – with no facilitation experience and little Thai speaking abilities to being able to do both at the time. So anyway, with this project, we CIEE kids basically just worked on our materials and activities, action toolkits for people who were interested at the high school and university, and other CIEE-y materials while the other kids did their regular school thing (which is so weird to me because I’m going to be returning to that in like 2 weeks…).

But even before we could go to Loei for the campaign, Katie and I had to do our legal report on Baw Kaew. On the 6^th and 7^th, we were able to go back up to Chaiyaphum (where all the nasty mosquitoes were…) to do some further research on the charges of contributing to global warming that the villagers were facing. I know, I know, it sounds ludicrous. But it’s true. Thanks to the Land Reform Network and Ajaan John, who was our translator and pretty much our saving grace for both the Na Nong Bong campaign and this project, we were also able to visit a few communities in Phetchabun province to further get material to write our report.

Essentially, the villagers we visited had lived on their land for generations upon generations but didn’t have full land ownership through specific land titles. Though the villagers had officially been given the land by the King himself, the central government decided to make the forest around their land into a wildlife sanctuary and national park. They are also currently trying to make that land into a World Heritage site, which costs money and also requires for the villagers to vacate the area. So, for the past few months/years, the government has been charging the villagers with global warming and fining them ridiculous amounts in order to try to force them off. For example, the government told one villager to cut down all of his rubber trees or else he would be charged for global warming. After doing what he was told, he was charged with trespassing and damaging government property (criminal) in addition to contributing to global warming (civil). No, I’m still not kidding. After performing some ridiculous “environmental tests,” they determined the exact fines in baht that he would have to pay for his apparently horrible deed. The charges included loss of water, increased in temperature, loss of soil, and loss of potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus in soil, and the guy had to pay over 400,000 baht. And do you know how they conducted those tests? Well, for the loss of water, an officer from the Ministry of Natural Resources would come into the area, pour 2 liters of water on the ground, and wait until all the water has evaporated. Then, he would take that number, put it into a computer program designed by academics (not necessarily scientists, from our knowledge), and then come up with the fine for that amount of time that the water took to evaporate. And if you think that sounds crazy, the other tests were, you know, just as ridiculous.

We were also able to visit a community of villagers who went out one day to pick corn for their private employer. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by government officials and driven away by the police, who didn’t even give the villagers time to tell someone to take care of their children. They were all charged for trespassing, destroying government property, and contributing to global warming. One was charged with obstructing the duties of an officer or something. And they were all pretty baseless claims.

Needless to say, Katie and I were pretty riled up. So when we got back from the Loei campaign, we sat down and wrote a monster 26 page paper when we were really just required to write like, 5 pages. Mostly, it was a pass-on for future students and a very detailed account of the information we received so that the program can use it in the future. We’re pretty proud of that. :D So here are some pictures!

Oh, PS, we also got to see an amazingly beautiful view of the national park and wildlife sanctuary while we were in Phetchabun. Pictures are courtesy of Lindy and Katie because I forgot to charge my camera battery.

When the time came to actually go to Loei for the campaign on the 8^th, we were only expecting our most dedicated first years (ชมพู่ ท๊อป โต้ง what up?!), but ALL of our buddies came along, despite not coming to any of the meetings. Thanks so much for your hard work แคน แท็ก สมา ทราย!

I would say the campaign was a success, despite there being over 100 students (when we were expecting like 30 students) at the high school (which really wasn’t a high school and actually had those from 2^nd – 9^th grade) and despite there being a super boring powerpoint by the villagers which drove tens of people away every 10 minutes or so at the university. Our activities ran well, and the Thai kids did really well in facilitating. Speaking of, after the event, we all sat down back in the village and did a +, -, delta, which is a tool we CIEE kids were familiar with. It consists of a notetaker/facilitator on the board and then everyone throwing out ideas of what went well, what needed improvement, and what we could change for those things that needed improvement. I was doing the main facilitating, and I decided to do it JBO-style. This basically consists of setting time limits on each section and putting pressure to stay on task and get things done. The namesake is JBO, who famously does this style of facilitation whenever we need something done quickly yet still thoroughly. When I said, “Okay, you all have 2 minutes to think about good and bad things about the program and what we can change. GO,” and then later, “30 seconds,” the Dao Din kids got pretty freaked out. On a positive, we got the whole process done in 30 minutes instead of the regular 2 hours that we probably would have spent. Another proud facilitation moment for me. So yeah, here are some pictures. J

สมา and ท๊อป at the high school

โต้ง , freakin' rockin' it at the high school

ท๊อป and ชมพู่ emcee extraordinaires.

Villager panel at the university

Ajaan John, P'Fac Sam, and Alex with some girl answering a question for our Q&A prize game

So that was kind of it for project time. Don’t get me wrong; it was 2 weeks filled with stress, work, and sleep deprivation, but looking back on it, that was the simplest explanation I think I could have given about the whole process.

Last, we had a human rights festival on the 10th! We partnered with the law faculty and put on an awesome conference! Certainly not Bangkok/unit 3 level, but much, much better. :P

Now, I just got back from a “retreat” where we discussed the program – what we liked, what we didn’t like, what we’d like to change, etc. It was a nice place to reflect on the entire semester and provide insight as to what we could potentially change for next time. I’m also proud that next semester might have a land reform unit just because of my and Katie’s final project about global warming charges! Yay! So essentially, that’s all for the actual Thailand bit. I’m probably going to write one big reflective entry once I get back to the states, but for now, bye~ ^^

Landfills, slums, and old friends.

So last unit, we learned where all of our food comes from. This unit, we learned where our food goes when we're done with it.

First in the urban unit, the group visited Kham Bon landfill right here in Khon Kaen. Many of our Thai friends don't even know where the landfill is, as it's tucked away off of a highway in the middle of seemingly nowhere. But here we were, standing on, quite literally, mountains of trash.

As soon as I got out of the van, the stench of rotting food and something I can only describe as just yucky attacked my nostrils. I looked up and towering over me was tons upon tons of waste. After putting on some fisherman's boots, the villagers said that we would have to walk down the road to get to the entrance of the landfill. But apparently, the dumptrucks got lazy one day and just dumped all their trash in the road. So we would have to walk on a road of trash to get to the mountains of trash. Great.

About 3 minutes into the trek, my friend walking in front of me stepped on something and half-rotted tomato and some questionable vomit-looking substance spewed on my left leg. That made for quite an interesting walk around the landfill for the rest of the day for sure. We ended up climbing a mountain of trash, and I stood on top of it feeling like the king of the mountain. You know, that game that we played as elementary school kids. Remember? Anyway, that's neither here nor there. As I looked down on my kingdom of trash, I saw a green field which was... a field of sugarcane and cassava, it seemed. I'm sure the rainwater mixed with the most likely toxic and, again, yucky substances doesn't do those plants justice. Or so I thought until our tour guide decided to pick up a Thai melon off its vine on the ground. He said the melon grew thanks to the water right beside the landfill.

Oh. Okay. Makes total sense.

We then went back to the entrance to the landfill to look at the incinerator which looked pretty dangerous... You know, not to mention the blood vials that were haphazardly strewn around it.

Picture thanks to one of our program facilitators. I was too creeped out to take one.

Then, the villagers explained that lots of hospital waste was dumped there, too. As we walked along the trail, we couldn't help but notice all the catheters that were either visible under the flimsy piece of red plastic that the villagers used to mark the hospital waste or obviously poking out of the ground. We climbed a smaller mountain of trash when my right boot got caught in a boot trap. Yes, that meant that my boot fell off into the trash, and I took one careless step in the pile of... well, I don't know what. That was also extremely uncomfortable, to say the least.

We finally got to our host families' houses. There, the smell of the landfill was gone! Living arrangements weren't bad either. And Sam, my roommate for the urban unit, is a vegetarian like me, so we had super delicious food there, surprisingly, including the best som tum I've ever had. Other students got to eat some grasshoppers and veggies that the families found in the landfill.

Oh, didn't I mention that? Our families were all scavengers, meaning they rake through ALL of the trash that comes into the landfill looking for plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic bags, copper wire, and whatever else can be sold to be recycled. So the next day, we all helped our families scavenge. Sam was absolutely incredible at tearing the bags open to find even the smallest bits of plastic as well as adept at using the two-pronged rake-looking thing to easily move away food waste, dirty diapers, and other things that were just distractions to finding the good stuff. I, on the other hand, worked for about two out of the 5 total hours and spent the last 3 hours gagging and trying not to vomit. I know, I'm weaksauce. But during the time that I did work, I felt like I was really straining myself. Whenever a new garbage truck came by, tens of villagers flocked behind it and crazily raked through the fresh grossness. Some of the students found huge red, poisonous centipedes, and others of us just found dirty diapers and maggots everywhere. I fell into the latter category. Even enduring the sweltering heat and unbearable smell all day and night, these villagers take shifts; some scavenge during the day, and some do the deed at night. And to think that these people do this every day? I couldn't even imagine.

Sadly, we only spent 2.5 days with this community. I really wanted to stay longer, I really did. But my stomach was telling me otherwise. So we moved on and spent the other half of the day exchanging with the villagers in the Nong Waeng Slum community. Slums can be defined by the fact that the residents don't technically own the land but reside on the premises. In this particular community, no one owned the land, and it was built around railroad tracks. Now, the railway company "needs" to build a high-speed railway, so they are evicting the residents, who couldn't get a lease on the land. Though the government is helping them find new land, many are bitter that they have to leave the place that they've always called home. Here are some pictaurz.

Last, we spent 2 days and a night in the slum community close-by called Theparak-1. Though I'm not sure why it's a slum because many of the residents owned the land. I stayed with a woman who singlehandedly supports a family of 2 daughters and 1 granddaughter through cooking and selling at a local market. Oh, yeah, and she's also a public health representative who goes around her community to see if children need any immunizations or if the elderly need any special medicines. Then, she delivers super detailed reports to the government. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that she only has a 4th grade education? Basically, homegirl was a badass. Freaking. Badass.

Sam and I got to help her at the market. And guess who else came? Our homestay kids from Suan Sanuk school! YEAAAAH. It was certainly nice to have them around! They helped out a lot with the families, too, even though they didn't have to. Love the kids. More pictures!

The slum community.

Host mom doin' her thang. Took these for a photo essay assignment.

Crazy kids. Pictures belong to Brett and Sam respectively.

Next unit is human rights. IN BANGKOK. Sadly, I won't have much free time in the city, but it should be fun nonetheless!

Urban livelihoods and... massages?

Right now, I'm in Khon Kaen and will be staying here for the next week.

Yesterday was my first personal day in about two weeks. One thing about our program is that they really, really keep us busy. They don't give us weekends off, and they randomly give about 2 personal days every two weeks. But even in those days, I feel like I've had to work at least a little bit to keep on top of my assignments and such. I finished half of the work I had to do, so I decided to capitalize on the free 2-hour Thai massage that the program allowed us to have.

In order to find a picture of this, I had to google "thai massage." For future reference, don't do that. So here's a nice picture of Khon Kaen city shrine that walked by today when I participated in a protest. Will get to that later.

So I get to this place, and I immediately had my feet washed and had to put on a loose-fitting white cotton shirt and huge brown, loose-fitting linen fisherman pants. The woman that was preparing to do the massage asked if I was Korean, as usual. Seriously, I don't even get Chinese anymore. It's either Korean or Japanese. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.

I laid down on a super comfortable mattress-ish pad and pillow, which was quire a relief from the floor that I've grown accustomed to sleeping on. The massage started at the feet and legs and went all the way up to the head. At the feet/leg and arm/hand stage, they would be massaged and then put into odd yoga positions and then lotioned with some mint/lavender mix. For the back, she also massaged it and lotioned it. And, oh yeah, there was an outside-the-clothes butt massage. I mean, it was fine but.. I was super caught off guard, mostly because I had been falling asleep until that point. And honestly, the head massage was kind of weird because it was like a scalp massage that turned into rubbing my temples and neck. Also fine, but kind of strange.

After the whole ordeal, I was treated to a cup of tea that tasted kind of like the herbal tea that the herbalist in Yasothon gave us during one of the exchanges, except this one had an extra kick of vanilla. Overall an awesome experience, I would have to say.

Our next unit is about urban livelihoods, which includes a homestay at a landfill as well as exchanges with the members of the Khon Kaen Slum Network. We're also going to visit a community of people who live beside the railroad and have a market over those railroad tracks. Whenever a train comes, they quickly close up their things and... Well, just take a look at this one in Bangkok.

So today, at 8 AM, some of the members of my group and I went to a march for World Habitat Day, where members of the Slum Network as well as other organizations that are similar came out and marched around downtown Khon Kaen. They were fighting for more money devoted to the slum community as well as other rights. They appealed to the mayor at the municipal office, and theyw ere promised that the upper levels of the provincial government would also look at their demands. Then we listened to a few speakers who went into more detail about the issues at hand. It was super hot, but I was really happy to see so many people coming out and participating on a Friday morning. Can't wait to learn more about it! :D

14 again: First homestay, part 2

At some point, we visited Wat Nong Wang, which is jokingly called the Eiffel Tower of Khon Kaen. I was able to take two pictures, so here they are!

The next day (Wednesday) was probably my favorite day this week.

N'Tha and I arrived at school via sawng tao as normal again, and we participated in a flag-raising ceremony that apparently happens every morning before school starts. All the kids gathered in the courtyard and did marching band/military-esque lineups, sang the Thai national anthem, and recited some stuff I couldn't understand. Then, we all had to stand in the front of the entire student body and introduce ourselves. There were some fun moments here, but I'll get to them later. So, the schedule said that we had, "Thai Fun Activity I" for 3 hours that morning. Hmm, suspicious.

I met with the rest of the group, and we were led up to a pretty large classroom within the, "Mini English Program," building at Suan Sanuk. About 50 kids filed in through the sliding glass doors, all in the same uniform, signifying that they were all in the same grade. All of our host brothers and sisters were there, as well as representatives from the Urban Youth Organization in Khon Kaen (3 really chipper 20somethings, 2 girls, 1 dude). We started out with some ridiculous hand-holding, get-in-touch-with-your-feelings activities, and we of course did some simple ice breakers. We also did some fun drawing activities in small groups of about 10 people (2 of us CIEE people and 8 kids) where we had to draw a picture of something that represented us. I was drawing some mountains and a lake representing Western NC and Lake Michigan respectively, and my friend's host brother, N'Dong, was drawing a river with, like, a green log on it or something. This kid literally had me rolling on the ground laughing the entire time; he told a bunch of jokes/puns that would only make sense in Thai all while making fun of how badly I speak Thai. Seriously, this kid was awesome.

We ended the session with building boats out of posterboard, a few sheets of paper, some string, some oil pastels, and pingpong balls. It was like OM all over again. Then, we had to name our boats in the form of a 6-syllable rhyme. I don't really remember what my group's was, but it had to do with food. And another group's had the phrase paht fuck in it, like, 3 times. The phrase means to cook or stir-fry a kind of bitter melon, but it obviously sounds, y'know, obscene. We then played a game where each of us said part of a sentence which, in English, goes like, "Sink a ship! Load the gunpowder! Pull the trigger! Bang! Boom! Bang! I want to sink the ship, 'Whatever the name of the opposing group's ship was.'" Out of five groups, my group made it to 3rd place because I messed up; my phrase was, "load the gunpowder!" but it's tongue-twister-y in Thai, so I let my team down. :( But afterwards, we reflected on everything, and these kids were so mature and said so many wise-sounding statements about our time together.

The whole time, I was just surprised at how well these 14-15 year olds accepted this alternative form of education. These activities were meant to teach us that there are other forms of communication other than language (okay, I obviously cheated on this one; I spoke in Thai with the kids the entire time...), though I felt that we were doing it in the most elementary ways possible; for example, when I was in the eighth grade, I don't think I would have wanted to draw and hold hands and share my feelings for 3 hours. Yet these kids stuck it out and really seemed to enjoy our presence and our companionship. Brought tears to my eyes, it did.

Afterwards, we had a 3 hour session with just the CIEE kids, and I went to the hospital. My feet were still swollen and bug bite-infested that I thought I should get it checked out. Thankfully, the doctor said that it was just an allergic reaction and that it might be slightly infected. So she gave me some ointment with antibiotics and steroids so all is well. Mosquitoes are still biting me like crazy, but I've learned to not itch things that itch and to instead slather on some Golden Cup balm or the ointment.

My lifesaver.

N'Tha and I then went to this lake called Bueng Kaen Nakhon and rode bikes. We actually met up with her sister (!!!) and her best friend. Her sister, er, my other host sister, is still my nong, so she went by N'Nam. So, that was weird. Here's a picture of the lake!

That night, nothing particularly exciting happened. The next day, the CIEE group had to attend an exchange with members of TNP+, a nonprofit organization that caters to individuals living with HIV through support and lobbying (for better access to medicine, etc.) efforts. It was a tear-jerking and extremely educational experience. Ask me if you would like to know more.

The next day, we had to leave our host families. :( At Suan Sanuk, there were kids crying and taking pictures and asking for email addresses. They really, really didn't want us to go, for reasons I'll go into later. Baww. :( At Thai that day, though, Ajaan Maliwan gave me some Vietnamese coffee, and it was literally the most delicious thing I've ever had. Ever. And some people in my group decided to go to Central again because one of the girls had to get some sea salt to clean out her new nose piercing that she had gotten at a night market. So I decided to finally get my ears pierced for like, $5. It was a deal, I tell you. A deal.

Today, we went to the Forest Temple for some meditation and group bonding. I know, I know, it's like the forest temple in the Legend of Zelda... But not. Here are some pictures!

So a few more things about Thailand.

You may have been familiar with motorcycles. Thus far, I've been on one with two other teenage girls, wearing a helmet. I've also been on one with my language ajaan, without a helmet. And lastly, I've been on one with 2 17 year old girls and 1 14 year old girl without a helmet. The whole time, I was absolutely terrified. In my mind, I kept picturing the headlines of a Thai newspaper or in my Google Reader, "4 girls die in tragic motorcycle accident, was their own fault."

Also, I mentioned the sawng tao before, the pickup truck that functions as a bus. Not only have I sat in one, but I have also stood on the edge of one before, with cars tailing the truck and almost touching my backside or backpack or what have you.

I've also been in a tuk-tuk going down the highway. Did I mention that the only traffic rules that I've seen has been 1) stop at red lights, and 2) drive on the left side of the road? Yeah. And taxis and most cars don't have seatbelts. D:

Additionally, five things that Thailand should adopt are:

1. Toilet paper,

2. Tissues/napkins

3. Trashcans

4. Easy-to-locate recycling areas

5. Normal toilets. Like, not squat-toilets, which are prevalent in homes around here. I don't want to feel like I'm going to slip and fall butt-first into the toilet if my feet or toilet seat are slightly moist, okay?

Last, if there's anything I've found that are similar about kids in Thailand, it's that they're just as hormonal and ridiculous as teenage girls in the US. At Suan Sanuk, girls were going absolutely CRAZY over my friend Alex, who apparently bears a slight resemblance to Robert Pattinson, but I don't get it. And they also went fangirl-style crazy over the other guys for similar reasons. For example, the first time we had to introduce ourselves during the flag ceremony, Alex goes, "Pom chuh Alex," which means, "My name is Alex," and literally every girl in the courtyard squealed. And they always rushed to take pictures with him and the other guys. Plus, the girls liked to pet one of the other girls on my program's hair, mostly because it was blonde. This is one of the only times where I'm GLAD to finally fit into a society; only some of the kids I was close to wanted pictures with me, and if you know me, I'm totally okay with that and only that. However, N'Dong, who I mentioned before, definitely asked me for my address in the US, my phone number in Thailand and the US, my email address, and... asked me if I had a boyfriend. Yes, a 15-16 year old boy asked me this. I kind of headdesk'd myself when that happened and told him that I wasn't going to pedo over him, but I didn't really communicate it well in Thai. Mostly because I don't know the word for pedo in Thai.

Anyway, tomorrow is filled with Thai class and other random classes. I MISS YOU ALLLLL.

14 again: First homestay, part 1.

Wow. Each week seems longer and longer... It's ridiculous.

Anyway, since I last wrote, I did a whole bunch of things. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries on the first day away from KKU, and I didn't bring my charger... So, I took, like, zero pictures. Sorry. :/ So on Monday, I finally took a tour of the city of Khon Kaen with the rest of my group. We then went to Suan Sanuk Municipal School right here in Khon Kaen to meet our first homestay families! The school, from what I gather, caters to kindergarten-age kids to 15-16 year olds.. I should probably look up the whole Thai education system at some point. Anyway, here's a few pictures provided by their website, since I failed at bringing my camera charger.

The front of the school!

Courtyard area where the kids have recess.

Classrooms, another view of the recess area.

So we awkwardly found our host brothers and sisters through a long process of introducing ourselves in Thai in front of a crowd of chattering children and having our respective family members come up to the front and introduce themselves to us in English. My little sister ended up being the most adorable girl EVER; her nickname was "Tha" which, I'm assuming, comes from the fact that her eyes are gigantic ("tha" is "eye" in Thai. Or grandfather. So yeah). She stood at a height of maybe 4'0", even though she told me that she was 14 years old. In fact, all of the host sisters looked way, way younger than their counterparts in the US, I think. We then took a van ride to their homes, which varied in distance from a short drive to a 1+ hour excursion into the forest. For example, my sister lived in a urban-y area that was a 15-ish minute drive away from the school, whereas the family of another guy in my group lived on a farm on the outskirts of town, and it took him about an hour and a half to get there.

My first night at N'Tha's house was... awkward, to say the least. She told me that she lived with her aunt, uncle, and older sister. For the rest of the afternoon, we watched some awesome Thai dramas and gameshows, and I found KBS World! So she and I watched the episode of "Invincible Youth" (SUBBED IN ENGLISH), while I attempted to summarize what was happening in my broken Thai. It was quite an adventure, to say the least. Then, we decided to do something easy for dinner and cook some ramen (I'm assuming at this point that her aunt and uncle worked late or something). Finally, after taking a shower (okay, it was kind of a shower and kind of a bucket bath, where I had to fill up a bucket full of cold water and pour it on myself. Yeesh), my host aunt and uncle come in. I greeted both of them with a wai and my friendliest "Sawatdee, ka!" and got... nothing. My aunt asked N'Tha who I was and the uncle just walked upstairs without a word. I awkwardly stood there, and then N'Tha told me that she had to do her homework upstairs. I followed her, and then while doing my Thai homework, she asked me to help me with her English homework. Her class was apparently working on superheroes, so I had to try to explain what "invisibility" and "walk through walls" was in Thai to her. But my crowning moment came when I had to explain "burst into flames." I asked if she knew what Pokemon was, to which she replied with an enthusiastic nod of her head. Then, I said, "Charmander. Flamethrower attack," and she went, "OHHHH," and proceeds to write the phrase, "burst into fire" in Thai beside the phrase "burst into flames."

After watching a particularly intense drama (it dealt with the gruesome murder of some ridiculously skinny, pretty woman in skimpy clothes and how her best friend was the one who murdered her. Or something), we decided to go to sleep. On the floor At 9 PM. And we woke up at 6 AM. Hm, I forgot what it was like to be a middle school student. Anyway, I woke up and saw a random girl sleeping in the bed while N'Tha and I slept on the floor. Apparently, this was random 17 year old older sister.

We took a sawng tao into school, which is basically a pickup truck with two rows of seats on either side of it. It functions as a bus here, and here's what one looks like.

Dangerous.

I promptly had to get into the CIEE van after arriving at the school because I had a Thai lesson with another professor, Ajaan Maliwan. She's the official Thai as a Second Language (TSL, f yeah!) professor at the university and usually works with students studying abroad from China. And she's probably the kindest, most warm-hearted people I've ever met. EVER. She told me not to worry about my broken Thai and to just speak, even if it's wrong... And I guess my biggest fear is speaking incorrectly, so in the past, I just never spoke Thai in order to save face. But she told me a story about when she was studying abroad in Australia (SUP BILLIE.) and accidentally asked like, 5 people in her dorm, "Excuse me, where is the chicken room?" when she meant to ask, "Excuse me, where is the kitchen?" You can see how that made me loosen up a little bit. Then, before we even began the lesson, she bought me some kanom, or treats! One was a sushi-shaped paste made out of taro and topped with some gelatinized coconut milk, all wrapped in strips of banana leaves. The other was some fried dough with some filling on the inside that I wasn't able to quite identify. It was absolutely delicious, though. She then told me that her lesson plan was based on listening and speaking, since those would be most practical; so for 3 hours, we spoke in Thai, and if I didn't know a word, she would write it up on the board in Thai, and I would copy it to study later. She even wrote up the karaoke spellings so I would know how to pronounce the words, too! :D

After the lesson, I went back to meet with the rest of the group and had a 5 hour meeting. We all then returned to our homestays, and I actually talked to my host aunt for a bit! That night, she explained that she worked at a nearby open-air market and thus woke up early and came home late at night. The uncle is some sort of businessman, but I didn't catch what exactly he did. Keep in mind that I still haven't met the 17 year old sister that supposedly lived there.

Anyway, this is getting super long. I'll continue it in another post!

Heat, Hallyu, and Happiness: First few moments in Khon Kaen

So, now I'm at Khon Kaen University! Yesterday, we had an excruciatingly long orientation session in which we received our cellphones, bedding, and motorcycle helmets. And we met our roommates! My roommate goes by Tik! She's my age and is probably the most adorable, generous person I've ever met. AND she likes K-pop and stans 2PM too!! She speaks English fairly well, but I still want to try to speak Thai more, for obvious reasons.

Saturday evening, we participated in a welcoming ritual (I'm not going to lie, I don't remember the name of it), in which a monk held a piece of string and unravelled a gigantic piece of string so that each of us held onto it (us = everyone in my program, our roommates, and the program staff). He chanted something beautiful, yet something I completely didn't understand -- although I did catch something about wishing us luck and protection while we study here in Thailand, so far away from home. After that, everyone in the program staff and our roommates came by and offered us their best wishes as we start on our journey. They each tied a piece of string around our wrists symbolizing their wishes, so I have a bunch. Lookie!

That night, we went to the night market with a few of our roommates. I didn't buy anything, but everything was so outrageously cheap! Want fake Ray Bans? 15 baht, please. How much is 15 baht? $.50, no joke. Want a huge coconut smoothie? 20 baht. Skinny jeans? Not more than 70 baht. That's a little more than $2. My roomie got an shaved ice + sweetened condensed milk confection topped with lychee and chocolate brownie pieces. Mmmm~

Saturday was our first day off. Ever. And our next one is at the end of next month, I think. So, after sleeping in, doing much needed laundry (forgot to mention that the whole time we were in Loei and Baw Kaew village, we all stank of BO and... well, more BO), and getting some cheap 20 baht food at the dining hall-esque complex behind my apartment, I finally got a chance to catch up on reading my unread items in my Google Reader, answering emails, and facebooking, of course. Then, Tik came in with P'Fai (I'm assuming she's my P', since Tik calls her P', and Tik is my age. So yeah.), her good friend and the roommate of one of the other girls on my program. They said that they were going to go to a concert at Central Plaza, the close Khon Kaen cousin of Central World in Bangkok. So we and three of Tik's other friends were picked up by P'Rung (SUP, RUNG FROM NU). She was basically the HBIC of the group both in terms of age and behavior; plus, she had good taste in kpop! One thing I've learned is that most Thai people have a basic understanding of kpop which is.. absolutely amazing. So when I first entered the car, I heard SNSD's Run Devil Run and then some SHINee (Replay and Romance). I recognized every song except for one by IU and another by F4.

Anyway, we arrived at Central Plaza! I heard a mixture of Mister by KARA in an electronics store, Tik Tok by Ke$ha on the 1st floor stage, and then Change by HyunA and Bad Romance by Lady GaGa on the same stage later. Mmm, pop culture.

So, okay, sidenote. Thai people apparently really like ice cream/confectionary shops. There was Gelate, Ice Monster, Dairy Queen, and many, many others.

Here's a picture of the 5 floors of the complex:

Oh, what's this?!

OMG.

This was actually what I had today (Sunday) when I went shoe shopping with a girl on the program (yay time discrepancies.. I wrote this entry last night, haha). Regular original + lychee + coconut jelly cube thingies. Nomnom.

Anyway, we went to the concert. It was a vocal duo called Boyd-Nop. Lookee.

There was also this musician/comedian that played in the middle. So he wasn't an opener.. More like a middler. I didn't catch his name, though. But he was pretty funny. For some reason, my video upload thing is all broken and OTL. So I'll try to upload the silly videos I recorded next time I get internet~

After that, we hightailed it back to KKU to celebrate the birthday of a girl on the program. We went to various Thai bars, which was. It just was. I also rode there on a motorcycle with P'Fai an Tik. It was my first motorcycle ride.. And it honestly wasn't too bad. Still kinda scary, though.

Anyway, tomorrow we're taking a tour of Khon Kaen and then going to our second homestay location, near Suan Sanook School. I won't have internet until next week, so wish me luck!

I'm gonna be the very best...

Back when I didn't think that I would get to study abroad this fall, the super awesome assistant director of Asian American Studies at NU advised that I should take the time to actually think out what I ultimately wanted to accomplish before diving headfirst into the country as well as the program's curriculum. So, I thought. And then I had to take finals. And when I found out that I would actually get to go this fall, I kinda said, "Meh," to the whole idea and decided that I would kinda wing it when I get there.

But today, I was perusing the Northwestern Alumni magazine that routinely gets mailed to my house despite the fact that no one in my household has graduated from NU. It contained listings of what alumni/ae are up to these days as well as the plans of the newly graduated class of 2010. In addition to making me feel ridiculously incompetent and guilty about my hours upon hours of TV-watching this summer, it also encouraged me to actually think about my goals for when I get to Thailand. Here are some potential ones.

A picture from the program's website. I hope to see all of this soon. Complete with adorable doggie.

Goal 1. Complete the CIEE curriculum

Well, it kind of goes without saying that I would have to complete the curriculum set by the program. Basically, my classroom curriculum deals with development and globalization on both the academic and the grassroots/community level. It heavily focuses on the society's relationship with the environment as well as the roles that various NGOs play in the area. Somehow, mixed with all of this, peace and social justice studies will be covered through the community stays, field trips, and larger group projects (they're calling it a field-study practicum, so yeah).

Now... in terms of expecting something in the form of an agenda or moment-by-moment itinerary of the whole experience, I don't. Whatever the program decides to do, I'll have to go by anyway. So I really have no choice in this matter, but I hope to learn through observation in order to...

Goal 2. Change the world - Go into NGOs/non-profits

Here at SESP, we do things differently. And by that, I mean we do things more awesomely. Sure, lots of people go on to be lawyers and teachers and what-not, but there are certainly others that have gone above and beyond by entering into organizations like the Peace Corps or even founding their own non-profits and NGOs. We have had amazing alumni/ae that have done wonderful things with their lives and have helped out so, so many people.

...Wow. To think that I have to fill those shoes by the time I graduate seems impossible at this point. So as step 1 in my master plan to change the world, I hope to observe everything that goes on around me and take fieldnotes like crazy, SESP 372-style. Step 2: perhaps I'll find a topic that particularly piques my interest and make that into an independent study topic or even senior thesis. I would assume at this point that the topic has to do with some sort of social justice because that's the kind of thing I'm into these days, I suppose. I would love to work with the sadly salient issue of human trafficking in the Mekong river basin as well as other places in Thailand. And having this year's Thai Night support the cause of preventing human trafficking definitely increased this interest of mine [thanks, Pong!].

Up top, a Google Maps picture of Khon Kaen. On the bottom, an illustration of the Mekong river basin. Handy!

Okay, step 3. After graduation or something, touch base with an NGO like ENGAGE, a US-based NGO that we will automatically be working with when we get there, that shares my interest and/or mission to change the world. Alternatively, step 3 could consist of setting up a business plan and creating my own non-profit. And that would be incredible. Step 4 would be following through and making whatever I determine to be important as a lifelong commitment. And then change the world. Man, that'd be cool.

Goal 3. Pay the bills - Become a lawyer

As amazing as it would be to do the above option, I would probably still have to find a way to financially support myself. And my LSAT test prep book is telling me that law school is the way to go. I mean, I know how I perhaps sounded a bit self-righteous and all rose-tinted in the last bit that I wrote there. So isn't it a bit cynical that now I want to settle into a profession which society generally views as amoral and just plain... greasy?

Do I aspire to be the butt of all bad lawyer comic jokes?

Ehh. Well. I still want to help people. And I do plan to go into public interest law, where practitioners seem to have more of a soul than the run-of-the-mill corporate lawyers [though don't get me wrong; corporate law is important too!]. Plus, on a broader scale, don't all occupations intrinsically help others in some way? The physical therapist helps patients by aiding them in moving their bodies normally. The musician helps people unwind after a long day by playing his/her music. The high school janitor helps students by cleaning up waste and materials that might be hazardous to students' health. Sure, your neighborhood drug dealer helps people get high but doesn't help the community by doling out mind- and body-altering drugs for high prices. However, different kinds of neighborhood drug dealers like Walgreens and CVS also offer drugs that are meant to help heal people and are thus vital to a community. You might then argue that that the neighborhood drug dealer deals illegal drugs and is thus immoral. But then, are all of our laws based on ethics and morals? Okay, okay, I'm digressing like crazy.

So one way I could integrate my aspirations of becoming a lawyer into the study abroad experience is learn from the justice system there. I could further study deviance and sociological behaviors of the communities that I will stay in given each community's unique circumstances. Also, in the group projects, I hope to think in a different way -- perhaps in a way that's more organized (see above). Not sure exactly how this would help me become a lawyer, but acclimating to different types of thinking is certainly a good thing to have for life, right?

Goal 4. And now for something completely different - Study culture

One thing that differentiates Khon Kaen and the rest of the Isan region from Thailand (and especially the already developed Bangkok) is the culture. The region retains its Khmer and Lao influences - from the food all the way to Isan dialect of Thai that is widely spoken. Want some pad thai while you're in Khon Kaen? Nah, you'd have better luck finding some sticky rice with ลาบ (pronounced kinda like "larb") made from pork and the occasional worm or two.

Mmm. My vegetarian heart cries.

So I could focus on the cultural aspects that make Khon Kaen different from the rest of Thailand. Or, I could study how the people of Khon Kaen are perhaps dealing with the effects of globalization and modernization and how they are able to retain their unique cultural practices. I could even do some comparing and contrasting with other regions of Thailand, since we'll be travelling around a bit anyway.

Goal 5. Even more different - Study cultural appropriation... And pop culture.

Is anyone really surprised? I mean, where else am I going to use my extensive knowledge of k-pop and theories that my 3 previous classes about Asian American pop culture has taught me?

So, k-pop is really, really big in Thailand. And Thai TV networks get all of the Korean music programs [MCD, Music Core, Music Bank, Inkigayo... Is it bad that I'm excited to watch Thai TV for this reason alone?] on their regular cable channels. On the ~academic~ side, I could do a study on how Thais appropriate this Korean culture onto themselves and study their habits as consumers. On the other hand, I could study how the people of, say, random rural villages in the middle of Isan are perhaps not getting exposed to the same aspects of pop culture that their Bangkok-counterparts are. If this is the case, which I'm assuming it is, how do they consume pop culture?

Somehow I could make some grand, sweeping generalizations and then go on to study how Asian Americans consume culture from Asia and what that means for both the identity of Asian American culture and the reigning industries of pop culture in Asia [anime, k-pop, etc]. I would assume that this goal would be geared more towards an independent study, though, instead of a lifelong thing. But it would be fun to "study k-pop" as an occupation, right? Right?

Oh yeah, I promised Pokemon.

Okay, all done here. Next post will be about my love/hate relationship with the Thai language!