I awoke on Sunday with the same hopes of having a productive day that I had, had the day before. I went for a run then I set to work on my papers and made a fairly significant dent before lunch time came around. I went out to the cafeteria on the corner of my soi (tiny strett) and got some kao pad gai (literally "rice fried chicken") to go.
I had just started eating when there was a familiar knock on the door. I opened it to find Tom and Oom, her older son at the door with a tray of food. They had come to join me while I ate my lunch. We spread out some newspapers on the floor and Tom proceeded to tell me about the food she had brought up. While she repeated the names of the food a couple of times, sometimes Thai words just slip in one ear and out the other. I do know how to describe them in English though. One item was a flat, crunchy rice cake. She told me in her fabulous part English, part Thai, part miming way that she usually talks to me that it was sticky rice with sugar mashed up then spread out and cooked until crispy. The rice cakes were delicious. There was also a stew almost of ground pork, morning glory (a green, crunchy veggie), chilies, and some fabulous spices. She had bought some som tum and explained the differences between the kind we had made on Saturday and the kind she had just bought. She had some fried rice for herself and she brought up some fried eggs for us to share. We ate well.
After lunch she asked me, as the three of us found comfortable positions on my bed, if I wanted to learn how to cook Thai food. This was my moment. I have been trying to find the right time to be able to ask for some cooking lessons. I guess I some how did a good job of conveying this desire because she asked me instead of me having to ask her. I was so happy to know that more cooking lessons would be coming.
Fat and happy Oom began to play with my computer and Tom laid down with my pillow to take a nap. I popped in my new copy of Mulan and Oom and I watched it together in Thai as I slowly continued grading. We sat like that for nearly two hours until Tom got up to go find Oi.
They returned as the movie was ending, towels and fresh clothes in hand. I knew what they were planning, but I still have yet to figure out why. Occasionally my landlord or her sons will shower in my bathroom. I don't really know why, but it certainly makes me wonder. I have no problem with it whatsoever, but it is a little curious. The boys took their turns showering and made sure to take full advantage of the spray hose attached to my toilet. They love that hose. They like spraying it all around my bathroom, filling up the my bucket and my toilet. What little boy wouldn't love this? What fun...until they spray my new roll of toilet paper until its thoroughly drenched. Ah I guess there had to be some down side.
As the showers were ending, I had to rush off to meet a friend. I felt perfectly comfortable leaving the three of them in my personal apartment to finish up their showers and leave when they wanted. I've found true comfort with my little Thai family that lives across the driveway. They make my home away from home complete.
Monday, December 15, 2008
While my landlord's son used my shower....
I came to realize my true reason for wanting to leave my perfectly comfortable existence in the states, my loving fiance, my supportive family and friends, my cats and every part of my life as I knew before June 29, 2008. I came here to be able to start a new, yet oddly temporary life. To make new friends and even a makeshift family. To create a new community different from any other I had experienced before. I came to explore myself in a place drastically (or is it really?) different from any existence I had known before.
While my previous rantings are over course overly idealistic and simplified, I did reach a point this past weekend that in some ways makes my journey here and any tribulation I've faced thus far worthwhile.
Saturday morning I had planned my day to be exceedingly productive. I was going to grade, grade, grade; write in my blog; respond to emails sent long ago; and many other very important tasks. All of my desire for productivity vanished when my landlord (I can't even think of an adjective that perfectly describes the wonder that she is) knocked on my door and came in just to chat. She wanted to know where I was going over break, to see where I lived on a map, to find out what state in the US was the most similar to Thailand, and a few other things to satisfy her ever present interest about me, English, and other parts of the world we share.
We spoke together about many things while both of us speaking in our own broken Thaiglish. She made herself comfortable on my bed and slowly flipped through my Thai/English dictionary in search of new words. We found a type of comfort with each other than made me feel right at home with her, like she was family.
Tom left a short while later, but returned soon after telling me to go buy "gai bing" grilled chicken from the stand down the street. She was going to teach me how to make som tum (Thai spicy green papaya salad) and we would eat together with her kids (her babies, as she calls them).
When I returned with the chicken, she took me into her covered outdoor kitchen and told me to sit on the floor. She has out her big, earthen mortal and pestle, small tomatoes, limes, long beans, chilies, and a big bowl of shredded green papaya. She instructed me to cut up the tomatoes and proceeded to show me how to perfectly pound together the aforementioned ingredients with some sugar, salt, fish sauce, and to my surprise her own home brewed fermented fish sauce.
We gathered up our feast of chicken, som tum, sticky rice, omelet, and some sort of vegetable that came from a vine to dull spicy things and sat down on a wooden mat outside of her house. We feasted with her too sons in the shade. Tom and all of the her many neighbors who game to visit were quite impressed at my ability to handle spicy things. (I guess I can thank my father for the ability to stomach spicy things).
After lunch, Tom's sons Oom and Oi came to play in my room and spent another 30 or 40 minutes giggling in my room as I attempted to finish my work. While I can barely communicate with the two of them, I guess there are certain things that are universal with kids. We thrive on those connections and I'm so glad to have them around me.
Saturday ended with a few more random visits from the boys and Tom. I felt like I was just up in my bedroom in a house that I shared with them. While sometimes the lack of personal space in annoying, on Saturday it was a wonderful gift.
(the moral of the story to be continued later)
While my previous rantings are over course overly idealistic and simplified, I did reach a point this past weekend that in some ways makes my journey here and any tribulation I've faced thus far worthwhile.
Saturday morning I had planned my day to be exceedingly productive. I was going to grade, grade, grade; write in my blog; respond to emails sent long ago; and many other very important tasks. All of my desire for productivity vanished when my landlord (I can't even think of an adjective that perfectly describes the wonder that she is) knocked on my door and came in just to chat. She wanted to know where I was going over break, to see where I lived on a map, to find out what state in the US was the most similar to Thailand, and a few other things to satisfy her ever present interest about me, English, and other parts of the world we share.
We spoke together about many things while both of us speaking in our own broken Thaiglish. She made herself comfortable on my bed and slowly flipped through my Thai/English dictionary in search of new words. We found a type of comfort with each other than made me feel right at home with her, like she was family.
Tom left a short while later, but returned soon after telling me to go buy "gai bing" grilled chicken from the stand down the street. She was going to teach me how to make som tum (Thai spicy green papaya salad) and we would eat together with her kids (her babies, as she calls them).
When I returned with the chicken, she took me into her covered outdoor kitchen and told me to sit on the floor. She has out her big, earthen mortal and pestle, small tomatoes, limes, long beans, chilies, and a big bowl of shredded green papaya. She instructed me to cut up the tomatoes and proceeded to show me how to perfectly pound together the aforementioned ingredients with some sugar, salt, fish sauce, and to my surprise her own home brewed fermented fish sauce.
We gathered up our feast of chicken, som tum, sticky rice, omelet, and some sort of vegetable that came from a vine to dull spicy things and sat down on a wooden mat outside of her house. We feasted with her too sons in the shade. Tom and all of the her many neighbors who game to visit were quite impressed at my ability to handle spicy things. (I guess I can thank my father for the ability to stomach spicy things).
After lunch, Tom's sons Oom and Oi came to play in my room and spent another 30 or 40 minutes giggling in my room as I attempted to finish my work. While I can barely communicate with the two of them, I guess there are certain things that are universal with kids. We thrive on those connections and I'm so glad to have them around me.
Saturday ended with a few more random visits from the boys and Tom. I felt like I was just up in my bedroom in a house that I shared with them. While sometimes the lack of personal space in annoying, on Saturday it was a wonderful gift.
(the moral of the story to be continued later)
Monday, November 3, 2008
My first Thai island: Koh Samet
Just a few short weeks after I arrived in Thailand, my friends and I planned a fabulous little get away over a long weekend we had. We were going to head to Koh Samet...an island that is a measly 11-14 hours away by bus and fairy from Khon Kaen.
James, Christina, and I hopped on a late bus around 8:00pm on Thursday night. We arrived in Bangkok at about 2:00am and made our way to a friend's apartment. We amused ourselves from 2 until about 5:30am when we decided it was time to go get breakfast a McDonalds! After a lovely feeding, we hopped into cabs with a few more new friends and headed to the bus station.
After being ripped off by a taxi driver, we caught a three hour bus to the sea side that left at 6:30am. Upon arriving, we hopped right onto a fairy to take us to the island. At this point James, Chrisina, and I have been up for over 24 hours. We were going strong though!
Upon arriving on the island we made our way by sawngtao on very bumpy, dirt roads. We caught glimpses of beautiful beaches outfitted with on beach restaurants and bars. The forests were lush and green filled with tropical trees. Upon arriving to a beach whose name I can no longer remember, with much help from our fearless leader Phil, we found our accommodations for the weekend. Our cabins were slightly shady, aircon-less, and small. Christina and I ended up staying in a cabin with a large bed and fairly scary, dark, damp bathroom. The bathroom had no hot water or sink. It had a Thai style squat toilet for us to use. We later found out that we shared our humble home with a mother kitty and her babies who were living above our ceiling. (I discovered this when one of the poor kittens fell from their perch under the roof onto our porch and made quite a fuss at 6am one morning.)
While we were less than please with our accommodations, they were cheap and just a stones throw from a beautiful beach. Our small cove had beautiful white sand, palm trees, and lovely blue water. Along with the beautiful natural surroundings, we had the comforts of two different restaurants, a bar, chairs and umbrellas for rent, and endless walking vendors selling their wares. Soon we were bathing suit clad and covered in sun block (it's incredible with the sun near the equator will do to poor, pale people like me).
Over the weekend I experienced a few firsts: 1) I had my first piece of fresh fruit delivered to me by a walking fruit salesmen (check out my photos of Koh Samet to see what I'm talking about); 2) saw my first beach side fire show; 3) experienced my first bucket of fun; and 4) enjoyed my first tropical island.
At the end of our adventure James, Christina, and I left early in the morning to catch what we thought was going to be a 9 hour bus ride home. After 12 hours of random stops and one viewing of the new Rambo move, we arrived back tired in our new hometown of Khon Kaen.
Pretty much everyone that was a part of our group was PIA. It was a lot of fun getting to know other PIAer's in such a beautiful, relaxing environment. We were quite a diverse group, but really enjoyed each others company.
James, Christina, and I hopped on a late bus around 8:00pm on Thursday night. We arrived in Bangkok at about 2:00am and made our way to a friend's apartment. We amused ourselves from 2 until about 5:30am when we decided it was time to go get breakfast a McDonalds! After a lovely feeding, we hopped into cabs with a few more new friends and headed to the bus station.
After being ripped off by a taxi driver, we caught a three hour bus to the sea side that left at 6:30am. Upon arriving, we hopped right onto a fairy to take us to the island. At this point James, Chrisina, and I have been up for over 24 hours. We were going strong though!
Upon arriving on the island we made our way by sawngtao on very bumpy, dirt roads. We caught glimpses of beautiful beaches outfitted with on beach restaurants and bars. The forests were lush and green filled with tropical trees. Upon arriving to a beach whose name I can no longer remember, with much help from our fearless leader Phil, we found our accommodations for the weekend. Our cabins were slightly shady, aircon-less, and small. Christina and I ended up staying in a cabin with a large bed and fairly scary, dark, damp bathroom. The bathroom had no hot water or sink. It had a Thai style squat toilet for us to use. We later found out that we shared our humble home with a mother kitty and her babies who were living above our ceiling. (I discovered this when one of the poor kittens fell from their perch under the roof onto our porch and made quite a fuss at 6am one morning.)
While we were less than please with our accommodations, they were cheap and just a stones throw from a beautiful beach. Our small cove had beautiful white sand, palm trees, and lovely blue water. Along with the beautiful natural surroundings, we had the comforts of two different restaurants, a bar, chairs and umbrellas for rent, and endless walking vendors selling their wares. Soon we were bathing suit clad and covered in sun block (it's incredible with the sun near the equator will do to poor, pale people like me).
Over the weekend I experienced a few firsts: 1) I had my first piece of fresh fruit delivered to me by a walking fruit salesmen (check out my photos of Koh Samet to see what I'm talking about); 2) saw my first beach side fire show; 3) experienced my first bucket of fun; and 4) enjoyed my first tropical island.
At the end of our adventure James, Christina, and I left early in the morning to catch what we thought was going to be a 9 hour bus ride home. After 12 hours of random stops and one viewing of the new Rambo move, we arrived back tired in our new hometown of Khon Kaen.
Pretty much everyone that was a part of our group was PIA. It was a lot of fun getting to know other PIAer's in such a beautiful, relaxing environment. We were quite a diverse group, but really enjoyed each others company.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
My Living Situation
On average my life here isn't too, too much different than it was in the states. One major change is that I don't cook here. There are two main reasons as to why I don't really cook anymore 1) I don't have a kitchen in my apartment (my food preparation station consists of a lot of easy to make breakfast food, packs of noodles, a few eating utensils, plates and bowls, and a microwave) 2) it's really, really expensive to sometimes cook even the most basic of meals. I can go out and eat a very filling, delicious meal for about 40-60 baht. It would cost upwards of 3-4 times that, if not more, for me to cook a meal. Crazy huh? Needless to say it's going to take some getting used to, to get back into the groove of cooking when I return to the states.
If I do want to cook I usually head to my friend Christina's house. Right now she doesn't have a full range (though a full stove and oven are coming soon) nor does she have an actual oven. Though, we've made some tasty items by using the convection feature on her microwave.
You may be asking yourself why does Mary Beth live an apartment without a kitchen? Well it's actually a fairly common thing here to not have a full kitchen where you live. It's just not that cost efficient. Most apartments consist of one main room, a small outdoor area for drying clothes or cooking, and a bathroom. My main room has my bed, a medium sized wardrobe, and two small shelving units that house my microwave; a small black and white TV (hey it was free); my supply of food and dishes, and my toiletries; and my faithful air conditioner. My outdoor area has a fabulous 6 feet long clothing line and if I wanted to get really ambitious I could get a rice cooker and a hot plate and setup my microwave. Then I would have the relatively standard makeshift kitchen some people setup. The bathroom is one room with a slightly sloping floor, a drain, toilet, sink, mirror, and a showerhead with a water heater. When I shower my entire bathroom gets wet, but I guess it keeps things fairly clean.
While my living situation might seem a little meager, it’s quite comfortable and it's in a great location. The best part of living here by far is my landlord and her family. Pi (a necessary, polite word used when addressing elders) Tom (pronounced kind of like Td-om) is an incredibly friendly woman whose house is just across from my apartment building. She speaks a little bit of English, but has no problem having complete "conversations" with me in Thai. Her sidekicks, her 3 1/2 and 5 year old sons, are adventurous and full of energy. They like to randomly visit and see what I'm up to. Her sons love to search through my selves and find a movie they want to borrow or explore the buttons of my computer. Pi Tom cleans my room once a week and does my laundry. She returns my clothes to me smelling great without a single wrinkle. She leaves my room spotless and freshly organized. I love her.
Through my relationship with my landlord, I've begun to get to know the rest of her family and my neighbors. Pi Tom lives with her kids, husband, mother, father, and grandmother. Her mother loves to give me little things like cups and makes sure that Tom frequently brings me cold bottles of water. They are an incredibly kind and friendly bunch. In terms of my neighborhood, everyone knows who I am. I'm Ajarn (pronounced ah-jhan, meaning professor) Mary. I can hear people talking about me as I pass and everyone I meet for the first time already knows who I am. I've made friends with the owner of a cafeteria down the street and the local store owners. They are patient with me and my usually floundering Thai skills and always have a smile to share with me. As my Thai skills improve and I'm here for longer, I really hope that I can form little bonds with them all.
If I do want to cook I usually head to my friend Christina's house. Right now she doesn't have a full range (though a full stove and oven are coming soon) nor does she have an actual oven. Though, we've made some tasty items by using the convection feature on her microwave.
You may be asking yourself why does Mary Beth live an apartment without a kitchen? Well it's actually a fairly common thing here to not have a full kitchen where you live. It's just not that cost efficient. Most apartments consist of one main room, a small outdoor area for drying clothes or cooking, and a bathroom. My main room has my bed, a medium sized wardrobe, and two small shelving units that house my microwave; a small black and white TV (hey it was free); my supply of food and dishes, and my toiletries; and my faithful air conditioner. My outdoor area has a fabulous 6 feet long clothing line and if I wanted to get really ambitious I could get a rice cooker and a hot plate and setup my microwave. Then I would have the relatively standard makeshift kitchen some people setup. The bathroom is one room with a slightly sloping floor, a drain, toilet, sink, mirror, and a showerhead with a water heater. When I shower my entire bathroom gets wet, but I guess it keeps things fairly clean.
While my living situation might seem a little meager, it’s quite comfortable and it's in a great location. The best part of living here by far is my landlord and her family. Pi (a necessary, polite word used when addressing elders) Tom (pronounced kind of like Td-om) is an incredibly friendly woman whose house is just across from my apartment building. She speaks a little bit of English, but has no problem having complete "conversations" with me in Thai. Her sidekicks, her 3 1/2 and 5 year old sons, are adventurous and full of energy. They like to randomly visit and see what I'm up to. Her sons love to search through my selves and find a movie they want to borrow or explore the buttons of my computer. Pi Tom cleans my room once a week and does my laundry. She returns my clothes to me smelling great without a single wrinkle. She leaves my room spotless and freshly organized. I love her.
Through my relationship with my landlord, I've begun to get to know the rest of her family and my neighbors. Pi Tom lives with her kids, husband, mother, father, and grandmother. Her mother loves to give me little things like cups and makes sure that Tom frequently brings me cold bottles of water. They are an incredibly kind and friendly bunch. In terms of my neighborhood, everyone knows who I am. I'm Ajarn (pronounced ah-jhan, meaning professor) Mary. I can hear people talking about me as I pass and everyone I meet for the first time already knows who I am. I've made friends with the owner of a cafeteria down the street and the local store owners. They are patient with me and my usually floundering Thai skills and always have a smile to share with me. As my Thai skills improve and I'm here for longer, I really hope that I can form little bonds with them all.
Intro to my life in Thailand and why I'm here:
For this first post I've decided to write talk about why I am in
My last month in the states was whirlwind and wonderful. I was able to see and say goodbye to a lot of my family and friends. The company I worked also helped me a lot by making sure I had the time I needed to get my life in order before I left. Of course I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone and for some this may even be the first introduction you've to me even being in
I arrived in
I'm living in a fabulous industrial city called Khon Kaen in northeaster
So far I’ve enjoyed teaching, but it’s really tough. I’ve learned a little about my future career goals: I do not want to be an English teacher. I have a new found respect for teachers out there, especially those that teach English. Last semester I taught classes that covered listening and speaking and a very extensive business project. This semester I will be teaching two writing classes, two reading classes, and one listening and speaking class. All of the class I teach deal with the use of English in the business world. Many of my students want to be flight attendants (a highly priced career here), tour guides, or service employees.
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