Moved into the apartments on Saturday. I'll post lots of pictures of it soon, because it is very very cute and feels AWESOME to be independently living, at least for a little while. Saturday night was pretty insane, as expected -- we hit up the same nightclub that Pi Ben and Pi Nat took me to my first weekend in Chiang Mai, but the drinks were MUCH more expensive; a.k.a. I no longer had a host brother doing all the paying. Am starting to feel progressively guilty about how much money my host siblings probably spent on me. O_O
As it was, when I was unpacking with Jordan and Sarah, I noticed some movement in the bottom of my rolling suitcase, and then noticed that that movement belonged to an epically large set of legs. Further investigation revealed that these legs belonged to none other but the one, the only Albert. We freaked out for a long time, and then closed the suitcase, took it out to the balcony, and removed all the items one by one until nothing was left but Albert. Then Jordan flipped it over and he scuttled under the air conditioning unit with terrifying speed. Holy hell. I thought maybe I had gotten rid of him forever, but far from it. I'm halfway expecting to come back to the U.S. and find him in my wallet, or something. He is still the biggest spider I've ever seen.
Started course on Sustainable Food Systems yesterday, and I'm supremely excited about it in a really really nerdy way because of all the talk of economics and politics. Have been walking to school everyday (i mean, for the two days we've gone to school from the apartments) and always arrive feeling like my lungs are full of gasoline/debris. Will probably purchase a mask, preferably a stupid one with Hello Kitty on it or something. Speaking of stupid things, have purchased a twin bedsheet for the apartment, which is terrifying: blue plaid, with some freaky looking bears playing soccer. Because there is like 3 times more closet space in the room with the king sized bed, Jordan and I have been sharing it, but we just have one king sized bed cover and two twin sheets that lay next to each other and look hideous. Hers has zebras.
Crossfit is happening every day this week, and on Friday we are visiting some kind of food conglomerate. I'm so excited. Next week we split into our two groups and go on expedition. I go to Mae Ta first, a community that recently switch from industry style farming to sustainable agriculture. We will be doing lots of farming and interviewing, and received a grossly intimidating glossary of agricultural terms in Thai. Example: Swidden. Example: Understory. Am a little concerned, since I can barely ask a vendor how much pork on a stick costs. BUT, EXCITING NEWS: I can now read everything I see in Thai, as long as I have a little time and it's not in a freaky font.
Okie dokie, I'm going to eat and then try to read all the articles I didn't read last night.
Love
Emblz
28 September 2010
23 September 2010
Headin' up, movin' out
Tomorrow is my last full day at Mae Aun's. That is proof that I've been in Southeast Asia for five weeks, which is the weirdest thing to write, ever. Is strange that time is passing so quickly. I feel like I got here yesterday, equipped with a basic grasp of the Thai language and knowing this one part of the city really, really well. Anyway.
So I saw the dorms a couple of days ago, and they are swell. They have balconies with no railings that you could probably hang about 1 and a half shirts on: nice one, ISDSI (who assured us that we would pretty much have everything we wanted in the way of drying space). The thing I am most apprehensive about is doing laundry, actually. Pi Ben gave an overwhelming speech the other day about places that do laundry by the kilo. I think the people who live here all the time think to themselves self-righteously, "Well I had to figure it out myself, so THEY SHOULD TOO." Fair enough, I guess. I will probably just do my laundry in the sink or something.
Had a Thai tones test quiz today. Got a 15 out of 20, but for the life of me I don't know why. Later I'm sure we will go over the scores, and I guess I should be happy since it was out of 10 questions anyway, but still, I feel like the number of exceptions in the Thai language make any of the many many rules I have learned totally moot. I can read just about anything. Not understand it, but sound it out accurately and sounding probably like a nutso. Tonal languages are pretty crazy, man. But still, not NEARLY as crazy as learning English would be. Seriously.
So last night I was studying tones, and dangerously had my computer open, and whenever I got frustrated I sent crazed, aggressive skype messages to my friends who were not online, as little surprises for them when they DO get online.
Tonight, attended a profoundly awkward goodbye dinner party for the host families at a very ritzy hotel. Meals were served on the floor with great triangular cushions that you can lean comfortably for about 4 minutes before your legs/arms fall asleep from trying to sit "rip roi" (proper). All the American students were dressed up in traditional Lanna (northern Thai culture) dress, which basically amounted to pajamas for the boys and unbelievably intricate outfits for the girls. Before we left, my host sister Ben scraped my hair up so tight I felt like my scalp might come off any second, and grumbled about it wasn't staying up, and while she was dealing with that, Mae Aun kept scuttling up to my face and laying into it with vast amounts of blusher.
At the dinner, there were dancers/drummers/musicians from around the area who performed, and then some American students did dances or sang songs that their host families had taught them (THANK. GOD. i did not have to do this). Then all the farang (foreigners - aka us Americans) sang Kon Bon Doi, a super famous Thai song about a home on the mountains. It is pretty much 4 minutes of lyrics about how houses in the mountains have no TV, no bar, no Fanta - just good ol' "naam jai" which directly translates to "heart water," but which I think means "generosity." Anyways. Before the dinner, my host brother Nat (who plays for Chiang Mai FC, which is AWESOME) took my camera and lurked around with it for a while, taking really really unflattering pictures of me and all the other Americans, trying to capture us "candidly" talking to each other/trying the squid noodles/trying to recognize each other without the white shirt and usual sheen of sweat.
Tomorrow we are presenting projects that we've been trekking around the city researching for the past 2 days. My group is doing drinking water accessibility. We looked at restaurants to gauge how much they charge for water and what kind of container it is served in.
So Chiang Mai is a place for me now. I can get around comfortably, survive, I have a bedroom and a school, and a phone. That's pretty cool. Or, jeng!! as we say here. But I am almost positive that "jeng" is really nerdy and outdated, like "far out!" or something, and Ajaan Danai is just messing with us and trying to make us look like jackasses, which could definitely be the case.
So I saw the dorms a couple of days ago, and they are swell. They have balconies with no railings that you could probably hang about 1 and a half shirts on: nice one, ISDSI (who assured us that we would pretty much have everything we wanted in the way of drying space). The thing I am most apprehensive about is doing laundry, actually. Pi Ben gave an overwhelming speech the other day about places that do laundry by the kilo. I think the people who live here all the time think to themselves self-righteously, "Well I had to figure it out myself, so THEY SHOULD TOO." Fair enough, I guess. I will probably just do my laundry in the sink or something.
Had a Thai tones test quiz today. Got a 15 out of 20, but for the life of me I don't know why. Later I'm sure we will go over the scores, and I guess I should be happy since it was out of 10 questions anyway, but still, I feel like the number of exceptions in the Thai language make any of the many many rules I have learned totally moot. I can read just about anything. Not understand it, but sound it out accurately and sounding probably like a nutso. Tonal languages are pretty crazy, man. But still, not NEARLY as crazy as learning English would be. Seriously.
So last night I was studying tones, and dangerously had my computer open, and whenever I got frustrated I sent crazed, aggressive skype messages to my friends who were not online, as little surprises for them when they DO get online.
Tonight, attended a profoundly awkward goodbye dinner party for the host families at a very ritzy hotel. Meals were served on the floor with great triangular cushions that you can lean comfortably for about 4 minutes before your legs/arms fall asleep from trying to sit "rip roi" (proper). All the American students were dressed up in traditional Lanna (northern Thai culture) dress, which basically amounted to pajamas for the boys and unbelievably intricate outfits for the girls. Before we left, my host sister Ben scraped my hair up so tight I felt like my scalp might come off any second, and grumbled about it wasn't staying up, and while she was dealing with that, Mae Aun kept scuttling up to my face and laying into it with vast amounts of blusher.
At the dinner, there were dancers/drummers/musicians from around the area who performed, and then some American students did dances or sang songs that their host families had taught them (THANK. GOD. i did not have to do this). Then all the farang (foreigners - aka us Americans) sang Kon Bon Doi, a super famous Thai song about a home on the mountains. It is pretty much 4 minutes of lyrics about how houses in the mountains have no TV, no bar, no Fanta - just good ol' "naam jai" which directly translates to "heart water," but which I think means "generosity." Anyways. Before the dinner, my host brother Nat (who plays for Chiang Mai FC, which is AWESOME) took my camera and lurked around with it for a while, taking really really unflattering pictures of me and all the other Americans, trying to capture us "candidly" talking to each other/trying the squid noodles/trying to recognize each other without the white shirt and usual sheen of sweat.
Tomorrow we are presenting projects that we've been trekking around the city researching for the past 2 days. My group is doing drinking water accessibility. We looked at restaurants to gauge how much they charge for water and what kind of container it is served in.
So Chiang Mai is a place for me now. I can get around comfortably, survive, I have a bedroom and a school, and a phone. That's pretty cool. Or, jeng!! as we say here. But I am almost positive that "jeng" is really nerdy and outdated, like "far out!" or something, and Ajaan Danai is just messing with us and trying to make us look like jackasses, which could definitely be the case.
16 September 2010
Albert
Hi all. Sorry it's been so long since I updated!
Really can't believe it's been 4 weeks since we first got here. Everyday things are sort of approaching something like a routine except that we leave our host families so soon/uproot this routine. So it doesn't really matter. I have a feeling that the next four months are going to fly by, and not stop flying.
I've told this to almost everyone I've been able to talk to, but am writing about it anyway. Yesterday at like 2:30 in the morning, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came out, I noticed, from the light shining on the curtain that separates my room from the next room, a spider on the curtain. The spider was as BIG AS MY HAND.
I considered trying to catch it but realized that nothing I own is big enough to securely trap a spider that big, especially against a curtain. I also considered taking a picture of it, but realized i didn't want to startle it, or make it seem any more real than it was by immortalizing it through a camera.
so in the end I decided to just turn off the light and let it be, but turned into a pathetic basket case, jumping out of my skin whenever I saw a piece of tape on the wall.
Now it is nowhere, but I decided it was probably the Huntsman spider, which in retrospect is probably a good thing to have around. But STILL. I got up later that morning, expecting to see it perched at face level every time I turned around. God. I asked my dear friend Britta, who is in India, what I should call it to make it less scary, and she advised Albert. Which I guess makes him a boy, though in the land of the ladyboy I guess I shouldn't be quick to label.
Today for Crossfit we had to, among other things, do 100 overhead lifts with a CANOE. there were three people to a canoe and our instructor let us stop after 70, but following the workout I could barely pick up my shoes, or for that matter, lift my hand up to my face.
Time to go shower and hopefully not run into Albert. A littler, nicer spider has moved into the bathroom and I really hope Albert doesn't annex the area or eat the little spider and take its place. Because it is MUCH easier to deal with at 2:30 in the morning than Albert would be.
Really can't believe it's been 4 weeks since we first got here. Everyday things are sort of approaching something like a routine except that we leave our host families so soon/uproot this routine. So it doesn't really matter. I have a feeling that the next four months are going to fly by, and not stop flying.
I've told this to almost everyone I've been able to talk to, but am writing about it anyway. Yesterday at like 2:30 in the morning, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I came out, I noticed, from the light shining on the curtain that separates my room from the next room, a spider on the curtain. The spider was as BIG AS MY HAND.
I considered trying to catch it but realized that nothing I own is big enough to securely trap a spider that big, especially against a curtain. I also considered taking a picture of it, but realized i didn't want to startle it, or make it seem any more real than it was by immortalizing it through a camera.
so in the end I decided to just turn off the light and let it be, but turned into a pathetic basket case, jumping out of my skin whenever I saw a piece of tape on the wall.
Now it is nowhere, but I decided it was probably the Huntsman spider, which in retrospect is probably a good thing to have around. But STILL. I got up later that morning, expecting to see it perched at face level every time I turned around. God. I asked my dear friend Britta, who is in India, what I should call it to make it less scary, and she advised Albert. Which I guess makes him a boy, though in the land of the ladyboy I guess I shouldn't be quick to label.
Today for Crossfit we had to, among other things, do 100 overhead lifts with a CANOE. there were three people to a canoe and our instructor let us stop after 70, but following the workout I could barely pick up my shoes, or for that matter, lift my hand up to my face.
Time to go shower and hopefully not run into Albert. A littler, nicer spider has moved into the bathroom and I really hope Albert doesn't annex the area or eat the little spider and take its place. Because it is MUCH easier to deal with at 2:30 in the morning than Albert would be.
05 September 2010
Workin' for the Weekend
Spent the weekend at Doi Suthep National Park. Played in Mok Fah waterfall. Ate lots of farang (which, hilariously, is both "foreigner" and a type of fruit).
Learned a lot of V. IMPORTANT STUFF re: rescuing people and performing the ABC safety check on them. Example: "If you try to rescue your friend, THEY WILL DIE." -Ajaan Mark
Learned a lot of V. IMPORTANT STUFF re: rescuing people and performing the ABC safety check on them. Example: "If you try to rescue your friend, THEY WILL DIE." -Ajaan Mark
sustained unbelievable amounts of mosquito bites.
Also, split into two teams and launched rescue scenarios out in the wilderness. My group had to carry a person on a hammock across a terrifying stream, down two overgrown stone staircases, across a stretch of rocky path, and on a vertical, ultra-skinny riverbank. I have never sweated so much. NEVER. Told a joke to the patient to keep her morale up.
"A grasshopper goes into a bar. The bartender says, 'hey, we have a drink named after you!' The grasshopper says, 'Why would you name a drink fred?'" HAHAHA
The patient gave a groan of fake laughter.
Then we stumbled back to the waterfall (this was Saturday) and then stumbled back to our cabins. Then Ajaan Mark split us into teams AGAIN and had us play ultimate frisbee with medicine balls. Decided that NOW have never sweated so much.
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