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.