Baan Chow mai ben mai mai

So I suppose I will try again to let everyone in on my life – basically, I’ve had a rough couple of days. I was living with a host family for close to a week but moved into my baan chow about 4 days ago. Through my frustrations with the Peace Corps for placing me in a city when I directly told them I didn’t want to be in a city, I hastily chose a baan chow without really looking around – I was just simply ready to be out on my own, in my own house, have my own freedoms. When I got to my baan chow I discovered that it is located in an industrial district – the cows that grazed in my backyard stole my attention from the main road directly in front of my house that I would later come to find out boasts "bit rote" which, literally translated, means stop/off/end car or to us city folk: rush hour. In addition to this, the house was just too modern – granted it was modern Thai style but I had a flushing toilet and that was jut too much! Also, I found myself separated from an actual community, there were no kids around. Who was I going to play soccer with? So I decided to move. There was another baan chow that I saw the day I went looking for houses. It was all wood, very Thai but the bathroom was not attached to the house and because I have to follow Peace Corps rules (they won’t let volunteers live in houses with detached bathrooms due to security reasons) I quickly passed on the house. BUT! This is the very house that will, in a week or so, become my new, permanent location. The landlord is currently, as we speak actually, working on building me a bathroom that is attached to the house. 3 (almost 4 – wow!) months ago, I would have said no to this generosity but I have sense learned that it is just what they do…so I gratefully accepted their offer to build me a bathroom (at no extra cost to me).
Now here’s the thing. The volunteers here in Thailand, my group and all groups that have preceded me, as well as our training staff (most of whom have been volunteers in Thailand themselves) consider service in this country to be more "Posh Corps" rather than Peace Corps. The kindness and generosity of the Thai people make transitioning easy. My life here in Thailand has had nothing worth complaining about and I feel that my blogs have been pretty darn positive…..but today, I want to explain about a struggle that I have had to deal with because of the very generosity that I speak of. I have mentioned many a time that the Thais are genuinely concerned for my safety and that they are a very communal society. These two aspects cause a lot of ben hooang (concern) about me living on my own. People are sent over to check on me at any time of the day. I am always stopped and questioned when I want to go somewhere by myself and often times, they won’t let me go by myself. I was beginning to feel extremely congested and that my space was cramped to its extreme. But I realized one day as I was sitting in my own sweat in my baan chow at a time when no one else was around that I didn’t want to be alone….I didn’t come to Thailand to be alone. I am moving to a new place where I will most definitely not be alone…my house shares land with another family, whom I am already in love with. I am already their luuk-sao (daughter) and they have a daughter of their own who is 27 and very awesome. This house is in an actual community. I can walk down the street and have 20 people to talk to. And there are kids! So many of them too! It is going to be a fight for me to get privacy and alone time but I decided that my desire for this is entirely trumped by my desire and need to live the Thai livfe – to live in a COMMUNITY.

So here are just a couple tid-bits that I think you might enjoy
1. Near and far are the same word: glie- just said with different tones
2. Mai can mean at least 5 things: wood, new, a mark, a window, and a question indicator. Get this for a question: "baan chow mai ben mai mai" Literally translated: baan chow new is wood "?" Is your new house wood?
3. There are gas attendants at gas stations. Typcially high school aged kids who fill up your tank and clean your windows while you wait in the air conditioned car.
4. When you order at a restaurant, you either write down what you want on a piece of paper yourself and hand it to the waitress, or you just tell your order to the waitress who actually doesn’t write anything down but goes and tells someone that’s what you want. When you are done, the waitress will come back, ask what you ordered, THEN write it down and then tally up how much it costs.
5. They do use toilet paper in Thailand…just more so as napkins.

Mom or dad, or Jess you might have to do this…..could you send me an absentee ballot form? I would so very much love to be able to vote in the upcoming election!

Ok, so an explanation of the pictures. The first one was sent to me by my friend from my tombone back in Sakeo. This was the road we got the absolute pleasure of biking together everyday. In this picture the cows are all huddled together on the right side of the road but often times, they were scattered and we had to stop and wait for them to pass or make our way through them like a pizza delivery boy in New York City traffic. The second picture is of all of us when we first got to Sakeo almost 3 months ago. The picture was taken in front of the Governors building. They gave us lais and sang and danced for us when we first arrived. It was quit the welcoming.