"Tou Tung!"

Today was my last night with my host family and it went incredibly well. When I got home I took my last routine bike ride through the town of Doisaket, stopping to take photos of the rice fields and wat (temple). After hand washing my clothes by hand in the large water bins outside, I sat down to a magnificent spread. We ate the biggest fish I’ve ever seen and lamb moo, which is supposed to bring good luck to whoever eats it on their journey. My host father bought Heineken beers for us to share.

Before we began to eat I read a little paragraph that my Thai teacher had helped me compose. I thanked my host family for having me, feeding me such excellent food, helping me with my Thai homework and taking me to visit beautiful wats. My host mother became teary eyed. Then I gave them an enlarged, framed photo of the three of us in front of about 20 golden Buddha statues at wat Lamphun. I also made a card with a mango on the front of it, because I love mangoes so much, and they joke about it all of the time. On the inside of the card I wrote thank you in Thai, Krap Kuhn Ka, and drew little pictures of things that reminded me of my time with the family (and might similarly remind my family of me). When my host mother saw the drawing of the fruit gnoc (a word I have a horrible time pronouncing), and me with a flashing headlamp, she lost it and started laughing. The laughter soon turned into tears as she looked at the other photos that I printed to give the family (a few of me in the traditional Lana outfit).

My host mother got up and gave me a hug, which is a big deal because Thai people don’t hug. I then shared an awkward hug with my host father, who I could tell wasn’t used to hugging, and began to eat dinner. My host mother had to leave the table for a few minutes to dry her tears and regain her composure. It was really dear to see her react so strongly to me leaving. I knew that she and I had bonded over lots of confusion and laughter, but I didn’t know how much she enjoyed having me around.

Dinner was a combination of comfortable silences and small talk. I felt extraordinarily proud when I understood my host father on my own for the first time in five weeks (he said that he was glad I decided to eat in, rather than go to a restaurant because the atmosphere was much more relaxed).

After dinner we did some homework. Even though Ajaan Sasitorn hadn’t assigned any homework I asked her to give me some extra work to do with my host family on our last night because they’re favorite activity is helping me with my homework. When I look back at my home-stay I will remember my host mother and father crowded around me in the evenings helping me with reading and writing. My host father’s voice saying, “Tou Tung!” (correct!) will be stuck in my head for quite a while.

The Golden Triangle

Leaving the villa we drove along a mountain range at one bend in the road I emitted a sound of awe. Ally’s host father pulled the car over and we hopped out to look at the view. With mountains on the left, I looked down at a vast valley. The view was incredible and I could see so much. In the distance Ally’s host father pointed out the golden triangle, where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. Even though I couldn’t pin point the triangle, I was delighted to be looking out at three countries at once.

King's Mother's Villa

After visiting the temple in Chiang Rai we drove to the villa of the king’s late mother. My ears popped several times as we climbed higher and higher through the mountains. When we arrived I could hardly see more than 3 feet in front of me because of thick fog. Once again, I was in a cloud.

We walked around the exquisite garden, full of foreign flowers, as the fog cleared and sun came out. The Villa itself was large, made of wood and seemingly simplistic. In the main room there was a large photo of the king’s mother. Everyone on the tour bowed, and did the wy (hands clasped with head bowed) three times. I did it incorrectly at first, so I had to do it six times. In every photo of the king’s deceased mother she was wearing red because she was born on Sunday.

In Thailand there are certain colors to wear for each day of the week. Sunday: Red, Monday: Yellow, Tuesday: Pink, Wednesday: Green, Thursday: Blue, Friday, Black, Saturday: Purple. Every morning that I get on the song tao to go school at least two thirds of the occupants are wearing the color of the day. Wearing the color of the day, however, tends to be a tradition to which only the older generations adhere. The daily colors started as something that only members of the royal court paid attention to, but the lay people have adopted it as well.

The most impressive part of the king’s mother’s villa was the balcony that looked out over the most beautiful mountain range. The view took my breath away. I could see mountains beyond mountains with low-lying clouds in between. Walking through the gardens I looked out over a ledge and could see into a cloud. Looking up I’d never felt so close to the sky while firmly standing on the ground.

A visit to Wat Rong Khun, Chiang Rai

Saturday was a day packed full of things to do. At 6:30 in the morning joined Ally and her host family to travel to Chaing Rai—another city about 200 kilometers north. The ride through the countryside was beautiful we’d climb up mountains and then coast down. Small wats would pop up everywhere. We passed an enormous golden Buddha statue, for which the mountains made a stunning backdrop. The sole purpose of our visit to Chaing Rai was to see the Wat Rong Khun. It is a famous wat that is entirely white with many small mirrors to make it glimmer. Thailand’s most famous artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, built the wat and there was a gallery of his art on the temple grounds. His artwork is very colorful and has a distinctive style. Some of his later pieces tackle issues like poverty, globalization and global warming, but most of his work reflects his Buddhist faith. It was interesting to see Buddhist inspired paintings, in contrast to the many Christian inspired paintings that I’ve seen in the U.S. and elsewhere.

To see his artwork: http://www.rama9art.org/chalermchai/index.html

The interior of the wat has not been finished and there were apprentices working on the painting on the wall when we went inside. On the back wall there was a finished painting of a Buddha, then a white marble Buddha mounted on the wall, a golden Buddha sitting in front of it, and then even lower there was a seated monk in meditation. We later found out that the monk was a was statue, which explains why it could sit still for so long (although I’ve seen some monks remain still for a fairly long time in the past…they train for it).

The wat was very beautiful, but I got the impression that it was something Kositpipat had done to elevate his own status. The whole complex seemed self-glorifying. There were photos of the artist everywhere and the pamphlet I picked up talks only about him and his want to make merit. Having learned about and observed Thai society, I saw it a bit differently.

Thailand has a hierarchical society, with the royal family at the top, followed by monks and then lay people. Status is everything. So what could an internationally famous artist do to attain even more status without becoming a monk and giving up the comfortable lifestyle afforded by his riches? He could build a temple! But Wat Rong Khun is not just any temple. It is one of the most complex and aesthetically pleasing wats in all of Thailand. While I am convinced that his artwork, including the design of the temple, is inspired by his Buddhist faith, I am not entirely sure that his effort to make merit is not without some other societal motive.

Wat Rang Kuhn

Fun Adventure Friday

Fun Fridays just keep getting better and better. I thought that it would be tough to top rock climbing, spelunking, ziplining and rapelling through a cave, but the next Friday we were taken to the most perfect waterfall. This past Friday was even more stellar. We hiked up the mountain Doi Soithep, stopping at a forest monastery on the way and finally arrived at one of the most important temples in northern Thailand, Wat Doi Soithep. The hike was steep and incredibly exhausting. It was incredibly humid, raining on and off, and the altitude made it more difficult to breathe and many of us felt lightheaded. At one point I realized that we were hiking through a cloud. Once at the top we were able to explore the beautiful wat. The challenging hike was well worth it.

The wat had a long set of stairs that let up to it. The perimeter of the main temple had stalls were Buddhist nuns , maechi, sold lotus flowers and other things to offer at the temple. Buddhist nuns are rare in Thailand and are, unfortunately, not very well respected. As a religion major, it was quite a treat to see the nuns in their white robes with shaved heads. The temple had many golden Buddhas, an emerald Buddha statue, and a giant golden structure in the center in which a relic from the Buddha has supposedly been placed. The Thai people that were visiting the Temple clasped lotus flowers between their hands and walked around the golden structure with their heads bowed. There were lots of pharang (white/western people) at the temple and I felt embarrassed for many of them were not dressed riproy.

The concept of riproy is very important to Thai culture. It essentially means to be polite and proper. Unlike in the U.S. the clothes that Thai people wear are (usually) not a reflection of personal style, but rather a way of showing respect to the people around you.

At the temple women must cover their shoulders and shouldn’t wear shorts or short skirts. Those are the most basic clothing guidelines, but in general, you should look respectable. At Wat Doi Soithep I saw a man with his shirt half way unbuttoned and chest hair showing and another young traveler with his shirt off climbing up the temple steps. Going shirtless in public is a big no no. I am glad to have received cultural training from ISDSI and my home stay, but seeing all of the non-riproy pharang on Friday made me wonder how many times in the past I’d been blissfully unaware of cultural rules and had been inadvertently offensive.

While at the wat I had a neat multicultural experience when I eavesdropped on a tour of the temple being given in French.

Just outside the main temple, were the nuns were selling flowers, there was a look out and on a clear day you can see all of Chiang Mai. On Friday you could see nothing but white. As a friend of mine said, “It feels like we’re on a castle in a cloud.” Indeed sometimes I’d see parts of clouds coming down from above, slide over the roof of the wat, and feel the chill as the mist swept by me.

At the base of the temple stairs there were lots of vendors with colorful trinkets to sell. The vendors are accustomed to seeing lots of foreigners, so the prices were on the whole, a bit higher. With what little Thai we had, my friends and I were able to haggle and get the vendors to sell us things for more reasonable prices. However, my friend Erin and I had an experience that can be used as a good example for how pharang are viewed and treated by vendors:

The group was about to leave the hike had left up hungry. We went to a woman who was selling sticky rice that had been stuffed in bamboo and roasted. I’ve had these treats before and they are quite good. We repeatedly asked the woman how much they cost, but she kept ignoring us, so pressed for time, we got fed up and left. A few steps down another vendor laughed and told us in Thai that she was blind and hard of hearing. We asked how much they cost and he told us 10 baht. We returned to the woman, spoke more loudly and just as we were about to finish the transaction, another vendor a few steps us yelled, “Yee-sip Baht. Pharang!” The old woman stopped the transaction and demanded 40 baht. We were astonished.

Infestation

Ants have taken up residence in my computer. Ants are everywhere in Thailand and apparently computers are the perfect place to hide. Ajaan Mark warned us about this last week and he painted a pretty grime picture as to the fate of computers that get infested...blasted.

Cow Neow San Ky ya

Cow neow san ky ya is sticky rice with coconut milk and a sweet egg custard on top. It is one of my favorite Thai snacks. It is always a good day when I wake up and find Cow neow san ky ya wrapped in banana leaves on the table.

View of the valley

Low point on the W curve

Today I really came to appreciate the amazing people that are on this program and I fell so lucky to have the opportunity to get to know them more.

It’s our fourth week of the home-stay and things are getting rough. Even though we all like our families, communication is still exhausting. After a long day at school, we just want to go home and relax, but then, somehow, we have to muster up the energy to patiently listen to our host parents, pick out the words we understand and try to answer. Some of us can tell that always having a “stranger” around is wearing on our host families too.

Several nights ago I felt quite fed up with my host family because they really like to help me with my homework, but always tell me the answer before I can figure it out on my own. So I decided to ignore what they were telling me. It made them mad and me frustrated.

In Thailand, the students are not taught critical thinking skills in school and lessons are learned through rote memorization. As a result, my host parents don’t always understand that I want to read my homework on my own and figure things out by myself. They expect that I want the answer told to me so that I can memorize it. Cultural miscommunications, such as that, were what caused some tensions between my host mother and me yesterday.

But last night I had a great night with my host family. I think that it had a lot to do with the energy boost I got from having felt such deep connections with my new Kalamazoo-ISDSI friends. Tonight my host parents were patient with me and I was patient with them.

Plus, I used a "Thai" way to tell my host parents how I wanted to do my homework. At one point last night my host nephew would tell me the answer before I could figure it out and I asked him to go more slowly because I needed to learn it myself. I've had the same problem with my host mother, who was standing right next to my newphew. She heard me say this, told told him to stop and has now stopped telling me the answer as well. Because I was able to be direct with my nowng (my younger) in front of my host mother…my pi (my elder), I was able to let my host mother know how I wanted to go about doing my homework, without making her feel bad.

Road Rules

Stepping out onto the airport curb the first things you notice about Thai traffic is that every vehicle is going the opposite direction. Who knew? It only takes a few more seconds to realize that Thai traffic laws are nearly nonexistent. The lines painted on the roads are merely suggestions. When lines indicate that there are two lanes, there are really three, one for fast traffic, one for slow traffic and one for motorbikes. The vehicles pass extremely close to each other and motorbikes are always wizzing in between cars. Motorbikes are everywhere! Technically there is a law that you have to wear a helmet, but you’d never guess by watching the traffic. For motorbikes helmets and shoes seem to be optional. Girls wearing skirts (and aren’t the drivers) have to sit on the back of the bike side-saddle. I’ve done it before on the back of my host father’s motorbike and it is quite scary. Often times I see girls fly by with their heels inches from the ground. I hate to think of what would happen on a sharp turn. Traffic lights also seem to be pretty optional, except in really big intersections. Basically, if a Thai driver sees an opening, he or she will take it, regardless of the color of the light.

It is especially important to look both ways before crossing the street in Thailand, because even if traffic should only be flowing in one direction, I often see some motorbikes and bicyclists going the wrong way on the shoulder. This is usually because they only need to travel a short distance and don’t want to use the designated u-turn area. On all of the main roads around Chiang Mai the two sides of the roads are separated by a medium and you can only make a u-turn at certain places. For example, to get to my friend Mike Lee’s house my host father has to drive a kilometer or two past the actual turn for the neighborhood, use the u-turn and then drive back the 1-2 kilometers. Sometimes it seems inefficient, but I think that having the medium there probably prevents a lot of accidents.

Despite all of the close calls and tight two-way roads (that you thought were one way, but then suddenly see a motorbike zooming the wrong way) I’ve yet to see Thai drivers become affected by road rage. I think that the common goal of Thai culture-social harmony- and the idea of being jai yen has a big effect on traffic. To be jai yen means to be chill, quiet and subtle. These are all traits that Thai people value…much like my brother does. As a result, many Thai people don’t let things get to them. They may be bothered by something, but they wont get too upset about if there is nothing they can do to change the situation (although Thai people are on the whole passive people, they will work to change situations when the time is appropriate and they can do it without anyone losing face). I’ve seen this same attitude applied to traffic. The only times I’ve ever heard my host father honk the horn is when we are going around a sharp corner on a narrow road and he wants cars to know he is coming. I’ve seen the same use of the horn from many song tao drivers as well. I much prefer this helpful use of the horn.

Mokfah Waterfall

Visual Learning

Today in Thai class our Ajaan Sasithorn finally told us how we got placed in our class. During our first two days of Thai class--weeks ago--we learned Thai basics from several different teachers. Following our classes the teachers met and discussed our different learning styles. I am placed in a visual-kinesthetic class. It is so wonderful that we are taught based on our learning styles and I can feel affects already. Again today I felt great after leaving Thai class. We are beginning to read and write faster and faster. Next week we will have to speak in all Thai and won't be allowed to reference our notebooks. I am a little nervous about that, but I think that it'll do me a lot of good.

I am looking forward to our NGO visits tomorrow. I am visiting a school for Burmese immigrants/refugees. We'll be hearing their stories about life under military rule.  

Thai Class

I love Thai class. For the past week I've left feeling so happy. Our teacher, Ajaan Sasithorn is a goddess! She is adorable and so expressive. She a ninja warrior of Thai teachers. It is our third week of Thai classes and already have been given a short story to read and questions to write in Thai. I am so impressed by the speed at which we are learning Thai. I still can't believe that 3 weeks ago I didn't know a single word.

Thai host family

I am pictured here with my host family at the temple in Lamphun. The exterior is just as beautiful as the interior. 

My host family is so great and love helping me learn Thai. Last night we spent an hour working on reading and writing Thai. My host mother is so goofy and jokes around with me all of the time. Several nights ago we hung up my laundry in the dark and I wore my headlamp. She had never seen one before and she laughed and laughed. 

Excerpt from journal 9-08-09:

Ahh! I'm euphoric! My host parents are so great! Tonight the Thai was flowing. I even understood my host mother without even trying--granted the context helped. We were at the dinner table and she said to my host father, "Cody likes mangoes more than she likes rice." I laughed and she looked at me shocked and asked, "did you understand me?" 

I shouldn't have told my host mother that I'd be sad when mangoes go out of season because today she went out and bought 2 kilos of mangoes just for me. I had three tonight! 

My host father said that my Thai keeps getting better because each night I bring a notebook to the dinner table to practice new words. I feel like I've made a lot of progress for the first two weeks. There is still a lot that I don't understand, but I am beginning to communicate in full sentences.

Mokfah Waterfall

This past weekend ISDSI held a retreat for staff and students in the DoiSuthep National Park, near the Mokfah Waterfall. We arrived on Friday afternoon and went straight to the waterfall. It was beautiful! The water was deep enough to swim around in, but just shallow enough to feel safe. If you stood in between the two streams of water, you could feel the force of the waterfall, and the wind whipping the mist into the air. You could go behind the waterfall, climb up on the slippery rock and dive under the stream of water. It was so much fun! Gigi summed it up well, "It was the kind of waterfall I've always dreamed of."

The whole weekend was a lot of fun. After the heavy rains on Saturday, the waterfall became much more forceful and I felt less secure playing in it. I also went on a hike to a bat cave, but decided not to go in because it smelled so intensely of Guano. Sunday morning we went through a guided hike of the bamboo forest. We saw 2 day old bamboo shoots that were already 3 feet tall. We also saw banana trees, mushrooms (if ants are around the mushrooms, they're edible), and a poisonous tree that will make your skin burn if you touch it and will make you blind if you get the poison in your eyes.

The weekend was a lot of fun, but also exhausting.