Staying Happy and Healthy

Last night, we ran to Lumphini Park. Perhaps the video will show it best. I am very happy here, finding myself motivated to stay fit by my fellow Fulbrighters. Check out the video.

After running, we went to dinner with Pi Nan, our Thai langauge teacher. She said it was the first time she has ever gone to dinner with students. The food was great. The laughter at dinner was even better. Good times for sure.

The group

Ahna reacting to the tom yum (spicy thai soup) on fire!

LEFT: JR, Pi Nan RIGHT: Me, Chike, Brad

LEFT: Kate, Audra RIGHT: Ahna, Zoe, Karen

Homestay with a Thai Family

All of the Fulbrighters went last weekend to stay with local Thai families connected with the Bangkok Rotary Club. These families are incredible for opening their homes to us. The weekend was fantastic. I really felt welcomed into the family during my two-day homestay. As it worked out, my original homestay family had other obligations, and I ended up spending the weekend with the homestay family assigned to Audra. No worries at all, it was a fantastic experience.

I look back now, smiling about the many memories I accumulated in such a short stay with perfectly hospitable strangers. I was lucky enough to spend time with their kids, Gikko (age 10) and Pah (age 14). As you will see in many of the pictures, they were always good for a smile and a laugh. The parents I stayed with sent their children to an international school in Bangkok, where they speak in English on a daily basis --this helped them teach me Thai. The parents spoke great English in my opinion and were very easy going people. Audra and I enjoyed an exceptionally adventurous weekend as we travelled with the family back and forth from Bangkok to their home outside the city and back again.

Here's a brief recap:


FRIDAY
Friday evening we arrived at the house to put our stuff down. We went to the local fresh market near their house to pick up things for dinner. Dinner was delicious as Thai food usually is. For dessert was cow neow mah muang (mango sticky rice...I know it's your favorite mom, it's so much better in Thailand, potentially deadly), YUM. After dinner, we went this German-style brewery/concert hall for drinks and entertainment. The hall was so large. I would estimate there to have been nearly 300 or more people there that night, with room for more. The stage provided the bulk of the entertainment, with everything from American Idol type singing, dramatic dances, one of my favorite numbers from Chicago ("All that Jazz"), acoustic guitar. Nearly all of the talented performers were Thai, yet a surprising number of the performed songs were in English. It was such a great night.

SATURDAY
In the morning we went to a place called Sathira-Dhamastan, a local meditation center near their house. As I was getting dressed for the day, I realized that I had never before been to a 'meditation center', and began to wonder if I would be able to fit in, or more importantly, connect to the ideas they would be practicing. I came to Thailand knowing that I am interested in Buddhism and meditation, but nevertheless concerned with my own ability to jump right in and feel a true connection. I can't explain fully how incredible it was that Pi Pikul (our homestay mother) introduced me to such a wonderful atmosphere. The center is aesthetically beautiful, and spiritually comforting. The center is run by nuns (essentially woman monks in my book), and focuses around a particular theme, if you will --the love between mother and child, and all that is sacred in bring a child into this world. I do not have children yet, but I was moved, I was connected. The ceremony, in progress when we arrived, was of course in Thai, and was being shared with one or two hundred women and children. We sat in the back. At one point, everyone turned in their seats to face the back of the person in front of them. I followed suit, a bit confused at first, and then smiling ear to ear as I realized what was happening. Everyone was giving and receiving shoulder/back massages by the people directly around them, be it strangers or not.

What an incredible concept to share --the idea of unbridled community, and the willingness to physically care for your neighbor. As we came back to center, these English words scrolled across the projector screen:

"To be happy and content is to give and share with other people the essence of what can make this a more beautiful world."

Water for the tree.

Making clay fruit with children. Yeah, I'm a big kid.

Later that day, we enjoyed lunch, and then went to the Siam Museum. The museum covered an exceptionally interactive account for Thai history and the concept of "Thainess." The building itself, previous home to the Thai Department of Commerce, was also very impressive.

Outside of the museum.

That night, Pah, Audra, and I stayed up late watching a DVD of Andre Rieu's Wonderland Concert. It's very hard to describe what it was like, but definitely something I will never forget watching. It was a great night to end an equally great day.

SUNDAY
We drove into Bangkok to visit a newly opened art gallery, in the vicinity of were I am living actually. The art gallery was great. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Gikko and Pah, talking about the art work, and taking pictures of them goofing off with me. After the museum, we went to MBK across the street for a quick snack. Then, we said goodbye to the family when they dropped us off at our dorm, and promised to meet again at the end of our grant in March.

So, the weekend exceeded any expectations I may have had. I was even given my first Thai nickname (nicknames are very very popular here). Wanna hear it? PenPahk. That's the name my homestay father gave me, and the name the family called me last weekend. I have already shared it with Pi Nan and the rest of the Fulbrighters...everyone seems to like it. PenPahk --the literal translation is "Moon Face", but it means something along the lines of beautiful face.

Until next time,
เพจ

Our Trip to Ayutthaya

This past weekend, the Fulbrighters took a trip to Ayutthaya, one of the previous capital cities before the current capital of Bangkok. Thailand (Siam) enjoyed great prosperity during the Ayutthaya period. After 400 years of peace, war with the Burmese eventually destroyed the city, forcing rulers to relocate the capital of Thailand. For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_(city)

Kate, Karen and I.

Thai flags

A city ruined by war.

The face of Buddha, entangled in the tree.

At a local wat (temple).

Let me tell you about an experience beyond the photographs, beyond the temples, beyond the tourism. At 3:00pm we arrived at Baan Suan Guest House. It was a beautifully warm Thai-style guest house. I decided not to take a shower, as the others were doing (I’m a dirtbag, I know). Instead, I went downstairs to introduce myself to the owner of the house, Sumate, as I soon found out. Within the first ten minutes of meeting him, Sumate eagerly agreed to help me study my Thai language notes from class. After a few hours of learning Thai pronunciation, simple Thai language structural ideas, and getting to know my new Thai friend, the others gathered downstairs.

We went to a restaurant around the block called Malakor, meaning papaya in Thai –very suiting, considering that Sumate helped me review fruit vocabulary.

I left the restaurant before the others (eight Fulbrighters) and went back to the guest house. Sumate was there when I returned. We talked more about his job running a guest house, his Thai background (a native of Ayutthaya), and even about his seven year stay in Dallas, Texas. We talked about Fuilbright, American and Thai cultures, the current Thai protests, the meat-packing/shipping industry (connected to his experiences in TX), and of course Thai language. As the other Fulbrighters watched the movie ‘21’ in the living room, Sumate and I sat outside talking, learning, and laughing. As I went upstairs to sleep, I got a great feeling. I applied for this grant knowing why I wanted to come to Thailand –I am here to get to know the people and share a bit about myself. It makes me proud that I am here now, and truly living out my dreams –not as an individual journey but rather an inclusive one. It is through people, in my current case, through Thai people, that I hope to gain different perspectives, ideas, and motivations to challenge my own personal growth.

The next morning, five or six of the women in my group including myself decided to go biking. Each bike was only 50 THB for the day, very cheap by international standards. The bike ride was incredible. We circled around at least three-fourths of the city’s interior as sectioned off by the surrounding river(s).

Sumate and I

When we returned, Sumate was at the guest house with a gift for me. I couldn’t believe his generosity. The night before, we talked about my slight knowledge of the Thai alphabet (an alphabet which has 44 consonants and 21 vowels). When we returned from the bike ride, Sumate presented me with a gift of two posters, one of which showed the entire alphabet, the other showed the numbers in Thai script. When we were checking out of the guest house, the group was asking “how much do we owe you for the bikes.”—Sumate’s response was “Paige paid for the bikes.” I couldn’t believe my ears…I had not paid for the bikes, but Sumate was such an incredible person that he told the group I had covered the expense. Kate, in her own words, explained it best – he was saying that my friendship paid for it, that my willingness to share friendship with him paid for part of our experience in Ayutthaya. I will never forget meeting Sumate, and I will never forget my first long weekend in Thailand. It was a weekend of fun, adventure, and strengthening experiences. The strengthening came from the re-understanding of why I am here in Thailand. I am here for Fulbright, for myself, for my future, my family, for the Thai people, and for the kind of cultural exchange that creates happiness and peace for our world.

Gratitude

Thailand is incredible. The people here are amazingly generous. We, our group of ten ETAs (English Teaching Assistantship, Fulbright grantees) in Thailand, are being treated so well. I only hope that scholars who travel to the U.S. on exchange from Thailand encounter the same generosity that we have been shown. As I sit in lecture, enjoying the smoothies, coffee, tea, fruit, and Thai (kanom) snacks that they gave us, I can’t find the right words to describe how grateful I am. Kawp khun ka (thank you) a thousand times over!

Our Thai language teacher, Pi Nan, brought in snacks for our morning lecture as well. The morning lessons are incredibly sanuk (fun) for me. Chan chawp poot pasa thai (I like speaking Thai). Thanks to the free LearnThai podcasts (http://learn-thai-podcast.com/) on my Ipod, I have been learning random Thai phrases. This morning, I said “than a-haan yen kan” (let’s go to dinner). The unanticipated result of practicing my Thai phrases: won jan (Monday), Pi Nan, who was very pleased by the inadvertent invitation, and the entire group will go to dinner. This is very exciting to me! Not only will I enjoy great Thai food with our Thai teacher from Bangkok, but I will have an opportunity to speak more Thai on Monday night!

view of Bangkok, from our dorm room window

smiles in the classroom

Yesterday was my first real experience creating a lesson plan. We were split up into five groups, into pairs actually, to present our lessons to the class. Kate and I taught our lesson on “Describing Family and Friends.” We had a few fun activities, and a reading and writing exercise. We received lots of positive feedback, and great advice from our instructor Pi Bobby.

I had such a great time teaching and designing the lesson plan. I feel extremely lucky to be where I am. Teaching is exciting, fun, and rewarding. And, cultural exchange, which is particularly successful in the “Land of Smiles”, can produce the kind of social progression our world dreams of. I am in Thailand. I will be a teacher. I am experiencing cultural exchange. I am grateful.