Thai wedding

Went to a thai wedding. I've been to a few, but this was the nicest. They are huge affairs with up around 7 or 800 people. I didn't know the couple. i wasn't even invited! But that doesn't matter. They plan for about 100 misc. people to come. All the teachers in my town were invited, so I went with them. It was a big shot wedding as it was the little sister of the town mayor.

There's no dancing at Thai weddings. Just lots and lots of round tables where people sit around and eat and drink. And there is always a big stage where people come up and do Kareoke, and there are girls doing dance routines. These are usually outside with neon lights hanging from trees.

From L-R: Highschooler (one of the girls performing), she used to go to our school; my co-teacher, 'Pee Arisa'; me; another teacher at my school

Burma

I went up North for a little trip w friends. We were right up next to Burma. The guesthouse was on the river that divides the two countries, so we were about 20 feet away. It was cool to watch the people wade across the river to avoid customs. We never went across because it would have been a one way ticket to the states if PEace Corps ever found out, even though it would be a really easy process to go in for the day.

Here is a picture of me w Burma over my sholder. I just discovered how to upload picts in a much easier way, so more to come.

training

Well it has been a while since I’ve updated so hold on to your seats, I think I’ll just spew a lot of thoughts at you.

I was gone for almost 3 weeks at Peace Corps Training. I was hoping I would come away with a more positive attitude about Peace Corps then I left my initial training. I did. In fact staff was apologetic about how badly we were treated during our first training (if you recall there was a lot of spying on volunteers to gain negative information and lots of threats to kick people out of Peace Corps). Mostly I got to hang out with some staff (both Thais and Americans) in a more casual way, and think of them more as friends, than people out to find a way to kick us out of Peace Corps.

This second training we were put up in a really nice hotel in the old capital of Siam, so on time off we were able to check out the centuries old ruins. Amazing history in this country. But it was also a treat just to stay in some air conditioning and watch MTV! We didn’t have a lot of free time though, our days were fill from 8 to 5 or 6 or 8…. The best part of the training was being back with all my friends that I got to know so well the 1st three months of training, but who have been scattered across the country since April. We certainly checked out the nightlife in Ayuttaya too.

We had a lot of language classes. We did some team building activities. One guy game and gave us a interesting lecture on the history of Thailand. We talked about cultural issues in Thailand. We did workshops on student centered learning. We learned a lot about the AIDS situation in Thailand.

AIDS patients in Thailand was growing faster than most other countries in the early 90s and the government threw a lot of money into the situation. And things got a lot lot better. But since the economic crash in 97 there hasn’t been an increase in funds. My group took a trip to a temple that is a hospice for AIDS patients. Many are healthy and functioning well, but can’t go home because they are shunned in their communities. People are afraid of being near them and catching AIDS.

The activities I enjoyed the best were the reflective or group building ones. We did one where all 50 of us were stranding in a circle holding a rope. We were blindfolded and had to then get the circle into a complete square. What would you do?

fat calling

During our training we had a session about communication with Thai people from our towns. In very general terms we talked a lot about how Americans are so direct and Thais are so indirect. There is a term in thai called “Grang Ji” which I have had hours of conversation with fellow PC volunteers trying to translate and understand. It is not a easy concept, but important as its the basis of the ways Thais speak. It is a way of being gracious, of not imposing, of looking out for the other person. The best translation I can give, is that ‘Grang Ji’-ing is saying what you think the other person wants to hear. It is a neutral word. Neither always a good thing, or always a bad thing, although more often it is a good thing because in Thailand it’s seen as good to be generous and giving.

A good example is escaping me, but for instance if a Thai said he was going on a trip tomorrow, he would immediately follow it by, do you want to go too? And this gets into a tricky situation, because I can not yet (maybe never will) be able to tell when they sincerely want me to do something or are just ‘Grang-Ji’-ing (offering to be nice). Very often they really do want you to sit in last empty seat on the bus, or finish the food you are sharing, or take the present they are offering. The Thais are just that way.

Although, in a confusing twist of things they love to talk about things that we deem as “sensitive” to talk about. Weight is the number one example. They LOVE to say people are fat. “He’s Fat.” “The fat student.” “I’m fat,” but the kicker is they love to say “You’re fat.” Or “You’ve gained weight.” It does not have the negative meanings it does in the states, but I have yet to wrap my mind around it. I am pretty sure being fat is a negative thing here. It certainly is becoming more so, as I hear anorexia is on the rise w all the western pop images they see, and people talk about wanting to lose weight. It’s hard to not look at the Fat calling through my own perceptions of calling someone “Fat,” but I don’t think it’s as negative here. Part of the fat calling is that it’s a way to say you are close enough friends w a person to call them fat. I really don’t get it.