We started classes this week, and it's very strange. The first thing is that we all wear uniforms, so when you walk through the school everyone looks the same (except the foreigners who stick out like crazy, even with the uniforms). It also doesn't feel so much like "home" the way Mac does. I go to class, and then I come back home to the house. I'm taking Thai language (very difficult, but very important to be able to order food and direct taxis), cross-cultural psychology (pretty awesome so far, and I really like the prof), archaeology (haven't had it yet, it got postponed) and macroeconomics (has no pre-rec here, but the prof expects us to know calc, which I don't, so it's ridiculously hard. I had to call my Dad to help me with the first day's homework, and he couldn't remember how to do it! Luckily one of my friends from high school studies math, and he taught me the rules and stuff.)
Anyway, so classes are classes, and some are more fun and others are more awkward, but that's life. Socially, things are getting better but I still feel like it's difficult to make conversation with a lot of the students whose first language isn't English. Last night was a bit of a breakthrough on the social front though - we had a party, which was okay, and then a bunch of girls went out to the foreigner party street in Bangkok. We went to a couple bars and clubs, and danced until about 3am and it was great. Also, I got a great compliment from a Dutch guy who was surprised when I told him I was from the US. He said he throught I was from South America because, apparently, I dance like a Latina. =D Of course, he was Dutch, so maybe he doesn't know what he's talking about.
It's also weird to think that people back at Mac are getting ready for finals and graduation (!) and most of you who are studying abroad are also nearing the end of your terms. I feel like I have been here for a while, but also like it's been no time at all even though it's been almost a month now.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Happy New Year!
Since I last wrote, we went to Chiang Mai for several days (which was totally amazing - see facebook for photos) and Songkran festival has begun. Chiang Mai... I can't even begin. It was so nice to be in a place where I could walk around to explore, instead of relying on taxis to get anywhere, and to have a tourguide who was so friendly and outgoing to show us around, translate things, and take us to all the coolest places. There was some social tension building between one of the girls on the program and the other two of us, starting with a heated discussion in the taxi on the way to the airport, and building to an argument that led to Nicky and I leaving the room because we couldn't handle her. However, since returning I haven't seen much of Alyssa, and Nicky has been hanging out with me (they're roommates) most of the time. Hopefully we can just stay out of each others' way. It's just frustrating. The city however, and the trip, were great. I wish our program were based in Chiang Mai actually, instead of in Bangkok - it felt so much more like a place that I could actually live. And I got to see Lisa! We were only both there for a couple overlapping hours, but it was still sooo great to see a familiar face from Mac. And if you're reading this Lisa, I can't wait to see you again!
We left Chiang Mai with a little bit of drama. The red shirts (protesters loyal to the PM who was ousted in 2006 on corruption charges) had brought Bangkok to a stand-still on Thursday, blocking off a major traffic circle and bus hub. From there they spread out to protest in several other places, and the ones who were still in Chiang Mai decided (apparently) to protest at our hotel, which is owned by a supporter of the current government. We got hurried out of the hotel an hour earlier than we were supposed to, and taken to the airport in an unmarked car instead of one of the vans with the hotel logo. The driver said he was afriad the red shirts would damage the car if he tried to drive it past them. However, we didn't see any red shirts, just a lot of policemen, so I'm not sure if anything happened after we left or not.
Anyway, now it's Songkran - Buddhist New Year! Thai people celebrate by splashing water on each other and smearing goop or baby powder on each other's faces. Nicki and I went to a place nearby where they were celebrating, and it was totally insane. The whole road (6 lanes) was filled with barely-moving cars, most of which were pickup trucks with people in the back. They also had large barrels of water, so the people could scoop it out in buckets and throw it at people in the backs of other trucks, or people walking by on the street. There were also tons of street vendors, selling food and stuff to make the goop out of (I have no idea what it was, but some of it smelled and felt like it had menthol in it. Totally weird.) There was loud music, and people dancing in the streets with hoses and tons and tons of people with that goop stuff, all of whom wanted to put it on me and Nicki. The goop ritual was actually really interesting. There seemed to be 3 types: the respectful smearing on the cheeks, the rough-fun smearing all over the face, and the creepy caress. We got about an equal amount of each type, and mostly from groups of young men. For people who are usually very reserved and well-mannered, it was extremely odd. However, we had fun dancing and getting soaking wet and smearing stuff back on the people who smeared us. I also got sunburned (again) even though we weren't out that long. I really need to start putting sunscreen on all the time.
We left Chiang Mai with a little bit of drama. The red shirts (protesters loyal to the PM who was ousted in 2006 on corruption charges) had brought Bangkok to a stand-still on Thursday, blocking off a major traffic circle and bus hub. From there they spread out to protest in several other places, and the ones who were still in Chiang Mai decided (apparently) to protest at our hotel, which is owned by a supporter of the current government. We got hurried out of the hotel an hour earlier than we were supposed to, and taken to the airport in an unmarked car instead of one of the vans with the hotel logo. The driver said he was afriad the red shirts would damage the car if he tried to drive it past them. However, we didn't see any red shirts, just a lot of policemen, so I'm not sure if anything happened after we left or not.
Anyway, now it's Songkran - Buddhist New Year! Thai people celebrate by splashing water on each other and smearing goop or baby powder on each other's faces. Nicki and I went to a place nearby where they were celebrating, and it was totally insane. The whole road (6 lanes) was filled with barely-moving cars, most of which were pickup trucks with people in the back. They also had large barrels of water, so the people could scoop it out in buckets and throw it at people in the backs of other trucks, or people walking by on the street. There were also tons of street vendors, selling food and stuff to make the goop out of (I have no idea what it was, but some of it smelled and felt like it had menthol in it. Totally weird.) There was loud music, and people dancing in the streets with hoses and tons and tons of people with that goop stuff, all of whom wanted to put it on me and Nicki. The goop ritual was actually really interesting. There seemed to be 3 types: the respectful smearing on the cheeks, the rough-fun smearing all over the face, and the creepy caress. We got about an equal amount of each type, and mostly from groups of young men. For people who are usually very reserved and well-mannered, it was extremely odd. However, we had fun dancing and getting soaking wet and smearing stuff back on the people who smeared us. I also got sunburned (again) even though we weren't out that long. I really need to start putting sunscreen on all the time.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Adventures
Spending a few days on a tropical island was amazing. It was like the classic college spring break I never had (drinking on the beach, lying in the sun, etc), and the kids who came with us as our local guides and interpreters were awesome. Since there are only 3 of us on the program, and the program is short-staffed due to a maternity leave, we haven't spent much time with official types. Instead we went to Ko Samet (the island) with 3 Thai students from Mahidol University International College (where we will be taking classes starting on the 20th) and one French guy who went to MUIC a couple years ago, graduated, and is now living in Bangkok and dating one of the Thai girls. Anyway, the trip was basically a party, and it was fun to hang out with Thai people who are our age (and who speak really fluent English). Adventure on the island = awesome.
We came back from Samet on Saturday, and Nicki (a friend on my program) and I weren't feeling too good. We think maybe we got food poisioning or something, but we both spent Saturday night feeling miserable and expelling the contents of our stomachs. I was really glad I don't have a roommate that night, since I hardly slept at all and kept getting up to go to the bathroom. It was gross. Sunday morning I was feeling a little better, but still not great. However, there's a market in Bangkok that's only open on the weekends, and we'd been planning to go, so Nicki and I weren't going to let a little bit of residual yucky-feeling-ness stop us from going into town.
We got to JJ market easily, though it took forever since we had to take a cab in to the city, and then the skytrain to the market. Once we got there, we quickly discovered that we were in no way prepared for this type of shopping. The market takes up several blocks, and the stalls are covered with a celing-thing so it feels like you're indoors. This is fine for shade, but sucky for heat - too many bodies, not enough air circulation. Anyway, they were selling everything from t-shirts and sandals to bongs and bras, including pets, pashmina scarves, and food around every corner. The smells alone were overwhelming, never mind the maze of paths through the endless stalls. Not long after entering the market, Nicky and I got separated from Alyssa (the other girl on our program) but we figured we'd catch up with her later. This turned out to be a mistake.
We wandered around, bought some stuff (I got a very cute wrap-around skirt, and we found a stall selling school uniforms for way cheaper than the place we'd bought our first ones, so we both got another set) and then started feeling like we needed to get out of there. The heat and our stomach troubles were combining to make us feel rather faint, and we just wanted to get back on the skytrain where there was AC. But when we tried to call Alyssa, we got this weird message in Thai, and a prompt (once we pressed 3 for English) to press 1 to leave a number. Confused, we did, and went back out of the market to sit in the park and wait. About an hour and several calls and texts later, we got a text from Alyssa saying she had already left and she would meet us at Siam square, the next stop on our planned trip. We were a little peeved that she'd just gone without us, but we got on the skytrain and went to Siam. Once there, we ate some lunch and we still couldn't contact Alyssa, but she could contact us - turns out the number we had stored in our phones under her name was wrong (2 didgets switched) so we had been calling and texting a wrong number all day. Frustrating.
At that point, we just wanted to go home. Too bad none of the taxis wanted to take us there! We must have told our destination to about 30 cab drivers, and all of them were like, What? All the way out there? (it's a suburb) No way! Very annoying. We finally took the skytrain back to the stop where it connects with the bus line and started trying to find the bus that goes out to Salaya, where we live. By then it had started raining quite heavily (which it does a lot, even though it's not supposed to be the wet season yet). As we were waiting to cross a street, a cab pulled up and since he was there, we asked if he could take us to Salaya. He said he could! We were really excited, and we got in the cab and showed him the little card we have that says our address in Thai. This is where our adventure, already difficult enough, took a turn for the worse. He nodded and smiled and said he knew where it was, but then he got on the phone and the only words we understood of his conversation were words in our address. He was calling for directions! Not good. We finally just opened the door of the cab when he was stopped in traffic, because he would not get off the phone when we tried to get his attention, because it was clear that he was not going to be able to get us home.
Frustrated, we were standing there on the sidewalk wondering where the heck we were and how we were going to find our way back to the bus stop, when another cab pulled up. We were a bit more wary now, but this guy said he could go to Salaya, and to make it easier for him, we just asked him to take us to Mahidol University. I was nervous the whole ride, because I still wasn't sure if he was taking us where we wanted to go, but he did! And even though being dropped off at the school meant we had a 20 min walk to get home, we were right on the street where all the food is, so we stopped for dinner at a noodle stand before heading back. Adventure in the city = a bit much.
However, we're going on an even bigger adventure tomorrow. We're headed to Chang Mai, but in the typical fashion of our inscrutable program, we're not even sure how we're getting there. I think we're flying, but we don't know our flight number or what time it leaves. All I know is that the school van is picking us up at 9am, and supposedly there's a guide who will meet us in Chang Mai to show us around on the first day. Then we have another 3 days or so to hang out there before (somehow) coming back here. Unfortunately, we couldn't even call the program people today to find out these details, because it's a national holiday and they weren't at work. So who knows? Anything could happen.
We came back from Samet on Saturday, and Nicki (a friend on my program) and I weren't feeling too good. We think maybe we got food poisioning or something, but we both spent Saturday night feeling miserable and expelling the contents of our stomachs. I was really glad I don't have a roommate that night, since I hardly slept at all and kept getting up to go to the bathroom. It was gross. Sunday morning I was feeling a little better, but still not great. However, there's a market in Bangkok that's only open on the weekends, and we'd been planning to go, so Nicki and I weren't going to let a little bit of residual yucky-feeling-ness stop us from going into town.
We got to JJ market easily, though it took forever since we had to take a cab in to the city, and then the skytrain to the market. Once we got there, we quickly discovered that we were in no way prepared for this type of shopping. The market takes up several blocks, and the stalls are covered with a celing-thing so it feels like you're indoors. This is fine for shade, but sucky for heat - too many bodies, not enough air circulation. Anyway, they were selling everything from t-shirts and sandals to bongs and bras, including pets, pashmina scarves, and food around every corner. The smells alone were overwhelming, never mind the maze of paths through the endless stalls. Not long after entering the market, Nicky and I got separated from Alyssa (the other girl on our program) but we figured we'd catch up with her later. This turned out to be a mistake.
We wandered around, bought some stuff (I got a very cute wrap-around skirt, and we found a stall selling school uniforms for way cheaper than the place we'd bought our first ones, so we both got another set) and then started feeling like we needed to get out of there. The heat and our stomach troubles were combining to make us feel rather faint, and we just wanted to get back on the skytrain where there was AC. But when we tried to call Alyssa, we got this weird message in Thai, and a prompt (once we pressed 3 for English) to press 1 to leave a number. Confused, we did, and went back out of the market to sit in the park and wait. About an hour and several calls and texts later, we got a text from Alyssa saying she had already left and she would meet us at Siam square, the next stop on our planned trip. We were a little peeved that she'd just gone without us, but we got on the skytrain and went to Siam. Once there, we ate some lunch and we still couldn't contact Alyssa, but she could contact us - turns out the number we had stored in our phones under her name was wrong (2 didgets switched) so we had been calling and texting a wrong number all day. Frustrating.
At that point, we just wanted to go home. Too bad none of the taxis wanted to take us there! We must have told our destination to about 30 cab drivers, and all of them were like, What? All the way out there? (it's a suburb) No way! Very annoying. We finally took the skytrain back to the stop where it connects with the bus line and started trying to find the bus that goes out to Salaya, where we live. By then it had started raining quite heavily (which it does a lot, even though it's not supposed to be the wet season yet). As we were waiting to cross a street, a cab pulled up and since he was there, we asked if he could take us to Salaya. He said he could! We were really excited, and we got in the cab and showed him the little card we have that says our address in Thai. This is where our adventure, already difficult enough, took a turn for the worse. He nodded and smiled and said he knew where it was, but then he got on the phone and the only words we understood of his conversation were words in our address. He was calling for directions! Not good. We finally just opened the door of the cab when he was stopped in traffic, because he would not get off the phone when we tried to get his attention, because it was clear that he was not going to be able to get us home.
Frustrated, we were standing there on the sidewalk wondering where the heck we were and how we were going to find our way back to the bus stop, when another cab pulled up. We were a bit more wary now, but this guy said he could go to Salaya, and to make it easier for him, we just asked him to take us to Mahidol University. I was nervous the whole ride, because I still wasn't sure if he was taking us where we wanted to go, but he did! And even though being dropped off at the school meant we had a 20 min walk to get home, we were right on the street where all the food is, so we stopped for dinner at a noodle stand before heading back. Adventure in the city = a bit much.
However, we're going on an even bigger adventure tomorrow. We're headed to Chang Mai, but in the typical fashion of our inscrutable program, we're not even sure how we're getting there. I think we're flying, but we don't know our flight number or what time it leaves. All I know is that the school van is picking us up at 9am, and supposedly there's a guide who will meet us in Chang Mai to show us around on the first day. Then we have another 3 days or so to hang out there before (somehow) coming back here. Unfortunately, we couldn't even call the program people today to find out these details, because it's a national holiday and they weren't at work. So who knows? Anything could happen.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
First Few Days in Thailand
Well, I made it, and despite much confusion we were all picked up at the airport and eventually shown around the city a bit and even given cell phones. I feel much better about this adventure now that I have local support people (and they're actually quite nice and helpful) and a way to contact them.
The place we're staying (international student housing) is really really nice. We're in a beautiful little neighborhood and my roommate (who I haven't met yet) even get our own bathroom right off our room. We can't walk to school - it's kinda far and across a 6 lane road (and Thai's like to drive like there are way more lanes than the road has marked) but there's a shuttle van that will take us there in the mornings, and we can take a taxi or a motorcycle to get back in the afternoons.
The city is also an adventure to get to. If you take a bus it can be upwards of 2 hours to get there, but in a taxi it's under an hour, depending on where in Bangkok you want to go. We've been to the big shopping district already, and the major temples and palaces, and I'll try to get some pictures up on facebook soon. It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but tomorrow we're going to Samet Island for a few days to "get over jet lag" and hang out on the beach. Sounds pretty relaxing, and hopefully it will be. Maybe I'll even start to get a tan!
The place we're staying (international student housing) is really really nice. We're in a beautiful little neighborhood and my roommate (who I haven't met yet) even get our own bathroom right off our room. We can't walk to school - it's kinda far and across a 6 lane road (and Thai's like to drive like there are way more lanes than the road has marked) but there's a shuttle van that will take us there in the mornings, and we can take a taxi or a motorcycle to get back in the afternoons.
The city is also an adventure to get to. If you take a bus it can be upwards of 2 hours to get there, but in a taxi it's under an hour, depending on where in Bangkok you want to go. We've been to the big shopping district already, and the major temples and palaces, and I'll try to get some pictures up on facebook soon. It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but tomorrow we're going to Samet Island for a few days to "get over jet lag" and hang out on the beach. Sounds pretty relaxing, and hopefully it will be. Maybe I'll even start to get a tan!
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