- bottle of green tea with milk
To quickly catch us up on the last three days, on Tuesday (1/20) Emily and I spent the morning working on our Human Rights readings for a-jaan John (a-jaan being Thai for teacher). We decided that we wanted to wander for a place to read, because sitting in the guesthouse felt like a waste of Thailand.
The first couple of readings were somewhat frustrating. First, I disliked the way both authors wrote. They came off as rather western and condescending. Second, I feel the authors placed too much emphasis on certain rights, at the expense of more basic rights/needs. They were awfully focused on civil/political rights (like voting, protesting, unions, independent free press, etc.) rather than whether or not people have food, water, shelter, a means of living. I'm not saying civil and political rights aren't important or necessary or deserved, but how can you worry about whether or not someone can protest their government if they don't have food to eat? And, to repeat the oft-asked African Politics question, why is western/American democracy the only "right" way to govern a country? Third, the reading was extremely dense and, I would submit, a bad choice for a first class. Especially when you view how class actually went, but I'll get to that in a minute.
In our wanderings Em and I found ourselves in a residential area, fairly free of farong. We stopped for a while at a shop where the matron did not speak english and the three of us used some pretty kick ass pantomiming skills to buy/sell drinks. She was the sweetest lady too, very smiley and friendly.
We stayed there for a while, but we really wanted some coffee or milk tea, so after about an hour we wandered some more, and found a guesthouse cafe, that was full of farong. They sold coffee grown by a nearby hill tribe, which was okay - tasted kind of like espresso. I miss Costa Rican coffee. As we were contemplating lunch, a-jaan John (whose homework we were doing) walked into the cafe and asked to join us. Turns out the cafe was one of the premier vegetarian eateries in Chiang Mai. Who knew? We all tried vegetarian versions of northern Thai specialties. Emily had some sort of curry. I had finely chopped tofu-meat with spicy veggies over rice. John was so excited that they served brown, instead of white, rice.
After lunch it was time for Thai class at Maw Chaw, so we boarded our song-taow and set off across town. Now, each year, as western bodies adjust to eastern bugs, the students all get some rough stomach ailments. A-jaan Bob guesses that we either bring the stomache flu with us from Coe, or its Asian digestive bacteria kicking the American digestive bacteria out of our GI tracts. Each year, the ailment is named after the first student to get it. This year it's named after my roommate, Holly (nickname Holly-Bolly) but the best being sick story goes to Chris, Bolly victim number two. As we rode to Maw Chaw on Tuesday, the Bollys caught up with Chris and he vomited out the back of the song-taow all across the city streets of Chiang Mai. By the end of class three hours later he was fine. So the Bollys (or Woerhles or Claytons as previous years know them) go.
Tuesday in Thai class we learned how to introduce ourselves, say how we are feeling and where we are from. Here's what I know:
Sa-wa-ti kha. Di-chan chuu Heather kha. Di-chan naam-sakun Lewis kha. Di-chan mai chuu-len kha (I don't have a nickname).
Sa-bai-di (I am well).
Di-chan maa-jaak muang Mahtomedi, rak Minnesota, pra-theet America kha. Baan di-chan yu thii tha-non Wedgewood kha (My house is on the street Wedgewood).
I can also ask for all of that information. Pretty sweet.
After class we went to a-jaan Bob's favorite place to sit and write. It's a fantastic tea shop a couple of blocks from the main gate of Maw Chaw. I asked if there was a bathroom in Thai and was understood; I'm pretty proud. Emily got the most amazing peach tea - it tasted like biting into a warm peach, no joke. Bob said this was his favorite place, because it's the only shop in Chiang Mai that can successfully make western cakes; everywhere else they taste like cardboard, but these were delicious. Along with the great refreshments, we also had a really fantastic conversation, granted about Coe and Cedar Rapids, mostly, rather than Thailand, but thought provoking nonetheless. It was nice to talk with our two a-jaans for a while, rather than simply asking something about Thai or how to get somewhere.
After the tea shop, a group of us went to the mall. Along with exploring, we had a pretty diverse list of purchases to make (sandals, towel, alarm clocks, shower curtain, cell phones, phone cards... ). The mall here has (I think) four floors. The bottom floor is mostly food stalls and technology stores. On the third floor we found a department store. I bought sandals from a shoe shop on the second floor. The only real difference from the malls at home was that the open areas of the mall had been taken over by vendors of various items. Some appeared to be overflow from nearby stores, but others were independent. It was kind of like having a kiosk at the malls back home, but bigger. Think outdoor market meets mall kiosk. The food court area was this way as well.
Since it had gotten dark while we were shopping and getting massages (yes we stopped for Thai massages at the mall - proceeds went to the senior citizens' club), we decided to ride back. Instead of taking song-taows, we decided to live on the wild side and take tuk-tuks. While song-taows are most definitely road worthy and safe, one questions if tuk-tuks can claim the same, being glorified tricycles. As we drove through the mall's parking garage ramps, it felt like we were on a roller coaster and going around curves always made you wonder if the tuk-tuk would stay upright, but it was so much fun and also 5 baht cheaper than a song-taow once we haggled down the price.
When we got back from the mall, Kacie, Emily and I went to a local bar and had a couple of drinks and discussed homesickness and our mild culture shock (really inspiring conversation, huh?). Kacie and Emily got one of the best cocktails I've ever had. Next time we go out I'm writing down what's in it so I can add it to the Cocktail Hour bar book, right next to the Agua de Sevilla.
Once back from the bar, we watched the inauguration proceedings. What was with John Roberts fumbling the oath of office? Congratulations to our new President!
Wednesday (1/21) everyone slept in after our late night watching the inauguration. We had our third day of Thai class, where the highlight was harrassing a group of Thai CMU students so we could practice asking and receiving answers about names, nicknames, where people are from, and where they're currently staying. It was one of the most awkward experiences of my life. For a very descriptive retelling by Chris,
click here.
Wednesday afternoon Kacie, Emily and I went to a cafe by CMU to finish our reading for a-jaan John's Human Rights class. The cafe described itself as a milk bar and served a strange assortment of milkshakes, toast, garlic bread and mashed potatoes. Needless to say we binged a little on the American flavors. Then we flagged ourselves a song-taow to get back to the guesthouse. As with each time we manage to do something on our own, we were a little proud of ourselves.
During our song-taow ride, Kacie initiated an interesting discussion about culture shock. She feels that Thailand isn't really all that different from the U.S., that it is just as consumerist, citing the malls, markets and the expensive trinkets our Maw Chaw buddies have. I guess I feel differently. Wandering the city (both here and in Bangkok), you do see many shops but most are selling food and other things people need for their daily lives. There also is not the largesse and excess that is so rampant as you wander the streets of Minneapolis, Washington, or Chicago. People here aren't forming corporations, dealing with imaginary money, building high-rises. They're doing what business they can to make a living. I realize this is a generalization; there are well-off Thais and a lot of resources go to keeping the temples dazzling with their gold-leaf everything. But I guess I, unlike Kacie, feel a difference. I can't go buy a bottle of champaigne at 10 pm (like we tried to do for the inauguration); the mall closes at 8 so everyone can go home, see their kids. All the drinks you buy at cafes or on the street are tiny - they last me five or ten minutes, versus the at least a half hour at home. At the 7-11 people buy one drink or one snack at a time, versus us Americans who go in and buy three or four things at once. Yeah, our student buddies have the newest cell phones and Mo has a wicked expensive car, but I'm not sure that's the rule either; and I'm pretty certain the huge markets are at least partially for the benefit of tourists.
Long story short, perhaps the cultural differences are not as pronounced as we had been lead to believe they were, but I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say that I feel totally at home here either.
Yesterday, (Thursday 1/22) we didn't have Thai class because Maw Chaw was having their graduation ceremony, complete with a visit from the princess. So, instead of Thai class we each met with John and Bob to discuss our independent studies. Mine has changed a bit from the original topic. Bob and John suggested, as we were in the Chicago airport, that I direct The Vagina Monologues in Chiang Mai. It seems that it will end up working out, since there is a group of English majors that need to do a performance-based final project. My final project then, would be to write a monologue based on the stories of the thai women I meet. I think it has the potential to go very well and be extremely interesting, but a lot of the factors that would make it successful or not are out of my control, which makes me nervous. I don't really like resting my grade and graduating GPA on circumstances I can't control, but John and Bob seem to think it will be amazing, so here goes! I still plan to try and learn as much as I can about kateoy culture, and hopefully integrate that into my monologue, but John thinks focusing on TVM will be a better use of my time right now, which is probably legitimate since I had been wanting to do a soc-like project, but really had no idea how to go about it.
Also with our free day, we went to wat Jedii Luang so we could participate in monk chats. Monk Chats are basically what the name implies. English speakers go to the wat and talk to monks who want to learn or practice their English skills. Most of the time we discussed monk life and Buddhist thought. Probably the most interesting tid-bit we learned is that the only monks who can participate in chats are the younger monks and novice monks. Fully ordained/higher level monks can't have fun or talk to women, which excludes them from the chats. When our monk told us this, I kind of felt like I was helping to lead him away from his goal of attaining enlightenment. But he seemed good for a chat, so I didn't feel too guilty.
Today (Friday 1/23) we go back to CMU for language class. I think this next lesson is on food.
