Thailand Newsletter #4 - February 24, 2001

Thai Trainee Tidbits: 

1. The story goes that during his first week at home-stay, one PC trainee mistook the 4-foot high water storage container (found in every Thai bathroom) for a bathtub.  He proceeded to climb in and take a bath.  What he didn’t understand was why the “tub” was so high, since Thai’s are typically shorter than Americans.  What he later discovered was that everyone in the family had to scoop out that water to shower for the next few days. Yuck! 
2. Byron, the 22-year-old ex-Bostonian in our village, went walking one day.  He had told everyone that he has a terrible sense of direction.  Now we believe him!  He ended up lost and in village #7…5 kilometers away. Because Thai’s are so protective of their American “family” members, the word spread quickly from village to village that he was lost until someone saw him and escorted him back home.
3. In Thailand, women wear a “pahsin” as a sort of wrap-around skirt and men wear “pakamah” as a short loincloth, usually for after showering.  “Pahsins” are usually bright batik or floral colors, while the male counterpart comes only in boring solid or monochromatic checks.  One male PC trainee thought the “pahsins” were “neater” so bought one of each.  He drew quite a crowd at the local village market the day he wore the “pakamah” on his head and the “pahsin” around his waist!

Thai Night

   The Thai Night Party went well.  Food was good.  Dancing was fun.  Small groups performed short skits.  Ours was about the flight to Thailand complete with Bobby McFerrin singing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”  The only downfall of the event was the Thai version of Montezuma’s revenge that I came down with the next day.

Teaching English

  We’ve been in the classroom teaching three times now for a total of two and a half hours.  Both of us hit it off well with the students and teachers. Every kid in the village seems to know our names.  They greet us each morning with a respectful bow or curtsy and with a “wai” (hands pressed together below the chin).  Norbert’s eats it up! In the picture here he is demonstrating “Head-shoulder-knees-toes” sweating profusely. The Thai teacher apparently felt sorry for him and started fanning him.

Health Update

  Aside from the one-day problem mentioned above, we continue to be healthy.  Karen , our friend from Colorado, is out of the hospital and feeling much better.  Get this…her total hospital bill for 10 days inpatient was only about 200 Dollars.  Her care was terrific to boot and her doctor visited her twice a day!  Many doctors at that Bangkok hospital are American and all (as far as she could tell) speak English.

   Because of the number of trainees down with Dengue Fever, the local health department sent a truck around to the schools and villages in the area, fogging against mosquitoes.  We had to clear all the clothes out of our room, because they sprayed inside as well as outside.  Neither of us is sure it helped much.  We were bitten plenty in the first 24 hours afterward.

 Kanchanaburi Trip

  Our one-day outing last Sunday was wonderful.  It took us two hours to get to Kanchanaburi by non-air-conditioned bus.  The bridge over the river Kwai is quite a tourist spot!

  We spotted busloads of Americans, Germans, French, and Japanese.  The area is surrounded by open-air markets hawking mostly “kitsch” for tourist dollars.  We did see lots of those large appliqué, sequined panels of elephants (etc.) for $12-20. The chopsticks looked interesting and were very cheap.  They also had brass dinnerware with rosewood handles for almost nothing. 

   We were struck by how much camp workers and POWs suffered building the bridge .  The museum there is interesting, if a little primitive. It was well worth the trip and three of the five of us ended it with (legitimate) wo-hour massages for only $5. 

 Coming Up…

  Sunday we head out of town again in small groups, this time in a/c Peace Corps minivans.  Our destination is a model school wo hrs away. Monday and Tuesday we will tour the school, visit classes and with teachers and administrators, then prepare a report to be used as a resource later during service.  In all, seven schools will be visited over the four-day trip. We will return to U-Thong on Wednesday. 

 Excerpts from Sticky Rice (the Thai Peace Corps newsletter)…

• Things to love about Thailand…
• Having 3 New Year’s each year.
• Banana leaf wrappers.
• Is there anything they can’t do here with a banana?
• Enough shades of green to fill a crayola box of 64 colors.
• Coca-Cola in plastic bags.
• Villagers gaping at you as you ride by on your bike, then giving you a thumbs-up and saying  “wery goot.”
• Lizard’s theatre:  every ceiling, every night – its more captivating than TV
• The way you are never more than 5 minutes or 50 meters from a snack.
• The neighborhood posse of kids.
• Those 3 days when it feels cold.
• The Thai alphabet.
• Jasmine garlands.
• Standing in tribute to Rama IX (the king) before every movie.
• The places and positions in which Thai people can sleep.
• Plastic bags as rain gear.
• There’s always room for one more person (i.e. in the car, on the motorbike)
• The Thai squat (as in toilets)

                                                            .            …only a sampling from 105.

 Cultural Corner 

… a quick lesson for would-be visitors on what is culturally offensive to Thais.

1. women touching monks
2. licking postage stamps (the king’s picture is on it).
3. pointing your feet at someone or at pictures of the king or Buddha
4. women’s bare shoulders
5. wearing shoes inside private homes, temples, and internet cafes.
6. touching people’s heads
7. waving someone to come with the hand turned up (used only for dogs)
8. couples touching in public ( any touching…not just the sexy kind)
9. underwear and socks hanging higher than shirts or blouses  (i.e. to dry)

   Thanks for all the letters and updates.  Weather is still dry and hot.  Our room today was 88⁰ and we weren’t even sweaty.  I think we are finally acclimated.

            Love to you all!   Norbert & Carol