The past few days have been really weird. I haven't had anything to do really. Since the minute I stepped off the plane (and got 3 hours of sleep the first night I was here), it's been go-g0-g0. This past weekend, minus the one hour verrrrry informal volunteer meeting (that was supposed to take a day and a half...question mark) I had nothing to do. Saturday night I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic with my host family for my birthday and had birthday cake, then went to bed early! It was looong way away from last year's birthday (copious pitchers of frozen strawberry margaritas at Lauriol Plaza) but it was refreshing and relaxing. Sunday, I woke up and went to the English tutor with my host brother. He goes to an extra class on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I thought I was going to sit in on class, but I just had do the mandatory zoo animal routine-say hello, have everyone giggle and stare at you, then duck out the back. After that I just hung out at the pharmacy, and then I got to make homemade green curry with the cooks!
I have been asking to cook since I got here, but I haven't had time yet. I was put in the charge of "May", one of the young women who works in the pharmacy. All of the people who work in my host mom's pharmacy also have second jobs as our family's go-to people it seems. I'm not really sure of the exact relationship, but anytime we need to be driven anywhere, or anything needs done, Na Pet, my host mom, just calls on someone working in the pharmacy and they snap to it. We desperately tried to find fresh soymilk at the market on Sunday morning for the other volunteers, but had no luck. We asked where we could find it, and before I knew Na Pet had ordered someone to drive and go get it for us. So Na Pet told them I wanted to cook, and May put me to work! Her English consisted of hand motions and smiles, but we had a great time. I love cooking-the whole process is calming. I sat and peeled Thai eggplants (little green bell-shaped veggies) and picked fresh basil and had the best time ever just sitting and doing something with my hands. The curry was surprisingly easy to make and it was SO delicious. Much better than Bangkok Bistro, although our Americanized version noticeably does not add the kilo of chicken livers that we did to ours (which stayed floating in the bowl after I was done eating). I'm also going to need to find an Asian food market to get the green chilli paste, but I am so excited to wow people with my Thai culinary delights when I get back to the US. This week, I am going to learn "Tom Yum Gun", a spicy seafood soup with lemongrass and ginger. Its so yummy, I can't wait.
I had a serious case of the Mondays yesterday (speaking of which I need to watch Office Space asap, its been too long). I think knowing that we had 4 days off put me in a funk. Also, only about half of my classes showed up. Teaching has been pretty good so far, but also disillusioning. The teachers don't really take us seriously-they are the ones constantly joking and laughing at us-so asking the students to take us seriously is really out of the question. In the teachers lounge it is SO painfully obvious everytime they are talking about us, laughing and pointing. My favorite is when this Thai teacher, who I think fancies himself to be the sort of "Big Man on Campus", finds it absolutely hilarious to walk up to us, speak quickly in Thai and ask if we understand. Well lets see, lets think about this. We have been here for a month now. Everyone knows that our Thai consists of please, thank you, hello, and I'm full. You know this. Yet it still amuses you to the point of incapacitating giggles (and lets remember you are a full grown man giggling at young girls) to speak Thai to us when we clearly do not understand. Why? Really? Can I help him find that missing something in his life so that this little routine becomes unnecessary? Also, most of the teachers weren't even told that we were coming to teach. The first few days there were multiple awkward, "umm hi, can I teach your class" situations in front of the students- really helped establish that authority.
Anyways, my students show up about half of the time. One of my classes was supposed to write letters to the younger students in Phitsanulok where the other volunteers are teaching for homework (it was our original, misguided and ineffective "service project" that has since been abandoned). So Friday, when I ask where the letters are, an entire class says oops, we forgot and by the way, we have Friday games and activities, so see ya later and everyone just leaves. I'm left in the classroom with a full lesson plan and no students. Monday was frustrating because I had to have other classes quickly write generic letters for the students in Phitsanulok, I kept trying to explain the situation and how they were doing me a "favor"-it was totally lost in translation. I just had them copy the generic letter. Oh well. My last class copied the letter with confused looks on their faces, and after attempting to explain the concept of community service to them (I need to create a service project at some point before I leave in 3 weeks, whoops!) and getting completely blank stares, I gave up. I pulled out my laptop, wrote down the chorus of the cupid shuffle on the blackboard, blasted the song and made them get up and dance. "To the left, to the left...". They looked at me like I was clinically insane and should be locked up when I demonstrated the dance. I just had to dance it out tho-it wasn't even a choice. After repeated and desperate "Cmon guys!", some of them got into it. The 4 boys in the class hid literally in the corner, but then again so do most guys at Tombs when people get onto the dance floor. My students might think I'm primed for the looney bin, but after a long Monday, in my frumpy teacher dress, sweating like a pig in a classroom in the middle of East Jesus, Thailand, it was exactly what I needed.
After a nice jog with my host uncle, I settled in at home. I tried to figure out the DVD player in the family room, but after failing at that I decided to watch some Thai tv. For some reason, its endlessly entertaining to me. Mostly, I love the commercials. They are all either for whitening creams or hair products. They are absolutely obsessed with being pale. Its almost creepy-all of the celebrities and models practically look Western-they have eye surgery to make their eyes bigger, and they work so hard at being pale, with crazy whitening creams and wearing long pants and long sleeves in the sweltering heat at all times. Different standards of beauty I guess! Seeing as how my 46 yr old host mother looks like she is about 23, literally, they must be onto something. Meanwhile, I spent most of my highschool years roasting in the sun smothered with baby oil.
All for now, I'm off to start cooking again! xoxo,
Stacy
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