Jamison’s Misadventures In Asia

Today marks the start of my third week teaching, and I’m beginning to feel somewhat comfortable with my role as a "co-teacher".  In an effort to create a sustainable model, the Peace Corps has defined our role as teacher-trainers that work alongside selected Thai teachers in the classroom.  Of course, working out this classroom dynamic would be difficult in any circumstance, let alone crossing cultural and language barriers.  The amount of work and planning that goes into co-teaching is far more than the amount necessary to teach a class alone, but the aim is that after two years, my co-teachers will have improved their English and adopted student-centered teaching practices to share with their counterparts. 

Okay, I just got distracted and lost my train of thought.  Some quick tidbits because I have to go in a minute:

I went to Koh Samet last weekend.  It’s an island in the gulf.  It was a pleasant and fun weekend, but the island itself was nothing too spectacular.  It would have helped if we left our piece of beach and didn’t spend the entire time drinking Beer Chang out of metal buckets. 

I’m recovering from my second major bout with diarrhea since arriving in Thailand.  I never thought that pooping 20+ times in a day could seem normal;  I did not realize that it was possible to poop pure orange gatorade; and I was amazed to defecate something resembling an alien miscarriage once I recovered. 

I apologize for that last little bit–I may have crossed the line. 

In my previous postings, I forgot to mention that I electrocuted myself a while back.  I was plugging in my phone charger and managed to have my finger across both prongs as I did.  This sent a wonderful jolt of 220 volts (roughly twice as much juice as the states) up my arm.  The shock made me drop the charger, so it wasn’t too bad, but it was certainly one of the stranger sensations I’ve experienced.  I would actually recommend it to people, should one gain the courage.  It was kind of fun.

Another thing I’ve been meaning to mention is my practice of teaching my former language teacher, Chaturon, about fictitious American customs.  This first came about when he asked me why my toenails are abnormal (I’ve had minor procedures on both of my big toes to take care of ingrown toenails).  I told him that in America we have a coming-of-age ritual where seven year-olds are placed on a table and have their toenails sliced with a hot knife.  The children are not given any anesthesia, nor are they allowed to show pain or discomfort.  I told him that the ritual signifies the child growing past the age of crying and approaching the stoicism that adulthood brings.  He bought it.  Silly Chatty.  Of course this blatantly defies one of the main goals of Peace Corps: to share my lifestyle and customs with people in Thailand, but I figure I’ll let him in on it before I leave. 

Okay, that’s it for now.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  The start of your summer marks the end of our hot season and the beginning of the rainy season, and for that I am thankful. 

Last week I went on a four day trip (a third of which was spent on a bus) with my Educational Office. This type of trip is called "du ngan", which translates to "watch work", and we did visit two Educational offices while on our trip–one was conveniently located near the beach, the other near a scenic river.

We left at 5pm on Saturday and many of my co-workers didn’t wait to get on the bus to start their drinking–I was a minority in my decision not to drink on the ride. As soon as we boarded the bus, the karaoke started. Over the past several months, as I have learned about Thailand and the lives of Thai people, I have arrived at far more questions than answers, but there is one thing I can say with certainty: Thai people should not be allowed to operate equipment of amplification. They simply abuse it: not setting p.a.’s, stereos, or televisions on reasonable volume levels; not understanding that when using a microphone, one need not yell; and of course, the karaoke. So a good portion of my ride to Phetchburi province was spent wearing very large headphones to avoid the aural assault of my co-workers singing and telling jokes on the industry standard Thai bus, full with p.a. and karaoke. When I bought the Sony knock-off headphones in Bangkok two weeks ago, I was feeling a little bit of buyer’s remorse, but now, several busrides later, I consider the purchase one of my wisest investments.

The busride down more or less set the tone for the trip. There was plenty of drinking and plenty of karaoke. I dabbled in both but kept things mellow. The beach wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was nice to get in the water. The river trip was certainly enjoyable. When I was told that we would be spending the night on a raft, floating down a river in Kanchanaburi province, images of a Huck Finn style raft made of bamboo came to mind. I have seen pictures of such rafts while in Thailand, so my expectations were not unfounded. However, if there is one thing to avoid while in Thailand, it is expectations, and for good reason. When we arrived at the river in Kanchanaburi, floating shacks lined the banks. I soon realized that all of these shacks were actually rafts, and there were at least fifty of them. The raft was actually two barges tied together. One barge was the sleeping area, consisting of a two level hut with straw mats on the floors. The other barge was a dining area, that doubled as a dance floor with lights and a wall of speakers. After dinner, we tied up on a bank along with 8 or 9 other barges, and the party began. Music played into the wee hours, and my Thai co-workers were not shy in showing off their unimpressive dancing prowess. It was a great time. The rest of the trip consisted mostly of a busride. Luckily the audio/video system broke, and we travelled home in peace.

Which brings me to this week, the first week of school. Things are going well, and it’s nice to be busy. I will be celebrating the end of my first week of teaching by travelling to the Island of Ko Samet.

I’m back in Thoeng for a day after being gone for more than a week.  Last Tuesday, I headed to Bangkok for a Peace Corps conference concerning our "Emergency Action Plan".  I took the overnight bus on Tuesday night and arrived in BKK at 5 a.m., having slept little more than an hour.  These buses are fairly comfortable, but between karaoke dvd’s being played at a ridiculous volume, midnight noodle stops, and the bus company feeling the need to wake us up with music one hour before we arrive at our stop, it can be very difficult to sleep.  So I arrived in BKK on Wednesday feeling a little less than chipper.  It was nice to see some other PCV’s, but Bangkok is never kind on the wallet, no matter how hard one tries. 

On Thursday, I spent the day with Chaturon, and we had lunch and went shopping.  It was good to see my old language instructor, and I now refer to him as ‘Nong Chatty’ (meaning little brother Chatty) instead of the formal and respectful ‘Ajaan Chaturon’ (since he was my teacher).  More often though, I refer to him using vulgarities and derogatory terms, because he likes to swear in English and doesn’t mind my swearing at him.  This raises more than a few eyebrows when shopping at a mall filled with foreigners. 

Thursday night was spent on a bus once again, and I arrived in Thoeng early Friday morning.  I spent a couple hours running errands and packing clothes before I headed to Mae Jan, a town in the northern part of Chiang Rai Province.  I went to Mae Jan to help pack up the belongings of a fellow volunteer who is leaving Thailand due to the loss of both her father and her boyfriend inside of a three week period.  It was a somber stop in my week of travelling. 

On Saturday, I stopped for the night in Chiang Mai, on my way to Tak to help fellow PCV Mike run a teachers’ training.  I met up with my friend Ryan, and another friend, Geneva, showed up in the evening.  Nothing too exciting to report, but my appreciation for Chiang Mai is even greater in contrast to my Bangkok visit earlier in the week.  Also, we had our first bloody mary’s in Thailand, adding tabasco and pepper to tomato juice for the mixer.  Late Saturday night, Ryan and I almost debuted our band, "Tweezer" (short for Thai Weezer), but Ryan couldn’t feel his fingers and was unable to play the intro to "My Name is Jonas". 

On Sunday, I headed to Tak and was impressed by what is Thailand’s hottest province.  Mike lives in the Amphur Muang (provincial center) of Tak, which is located along banks of the large Ping River.  Hills and mountains lie to the west, offering a dramatic sunset looking over the river.  The teacher training was hard work, but we enjoyed ourselves.  We were treated very well, given hotel rooms, and taken to nice meals.  It was a vacation in some senses, but the three days there certainly carried a bit of stress as well.   Yesterday I returned to Thoeng, exhausted from a day on the bus and a week of constant travel.  Tomorrow I head to the beach with my Tessaban (Educational District Office).  Happy Cinco de Mayo.