The border between Thailand and Laos is very frequently the Mekong River. With lots of bends and twists in the river, there are many different vantages for the sun to create beautiful vistas. Nong Khai is a province in Isaan and a busy border crossing, due to its proximity to Vientiane. It also has some wonderful spots to watch the sunset over the river.
When I got my nomination for Peace Corps in April 2012, I was told that I was nominated for a Primary Teacher Trainer position in Asia set to leave in January 2013. I imagined that I would be training a large number of teachers on a host of topics, from discipline and classroom management to new teaching methods through monthly trainings at a number of schools. The reality of my program is that my job is more to focus on training two specific teachers at one school in better ways to teach English.
We had just finished a marathon of facilitating two camps for the past five days. I was exhausted from spending each night preparing materials for the next day and making sure that the lesson plans I had written could be easily understood by the Thai facilitators who were not used to using games as teaching tools (turns out, they weren’t understood very well.) Ning, my co-teacher who does get it, turned to me and asked “Do you want to maybe go to Bua Yai and relax and get dinner?” Bua Yai is the next district over from mine, where she lives with her parents and is larger than where I live. I agreed; I really did not want to cook.
Thailand can be a pretty noisy place, and not just from normal sounds of life. Frequently there are walls of speakers set up somewhere in the village with Thai pop music blasting. I thought you might want a taste of what that sounds like, so here’s the top song right now.
Pay attention, and you’ll notice some specific dance moves in the video – those dance moves are equally as popular.
Yesterday marked Peace Corps Thailand Group 125’s 200th day in Thailand as well as our 25% mark. I’ve been busy with a teacher training and start a two-day student camp tomorrow, but some of the small moments during the teacher training gave me pause as I can see them as a small success.
It inspired me to think of all of the little successes I’ve had so far, both in terms of work and personal. From my original perspective, I probably would not have considered myself very successful at this point. But that is something that is a part of Peace Corps service, reevaluating and redefining what success is. That is not to say that I’m lowering my standards or expectations, merely reevaluating them. Here are some of the things that I am proud to count as a part of my service so far:
Yesterday was a Very Exciting Day. Nothing really cultural or Thai happened. In fact, this was a distinctly American thing. I moved into my own house where I will live by myself. And I certainly lucked out in terms of rental houses. I might single-handedly be maintaining the image of Peace Corps Thailand as Posh Corps with these pictures and my vacation to Koh Tao. Sneak a peek!
Some time ago, I shared with you some of the sounds of rural Thailand. However, what I wasn’t able to include was some of the sounds from after dark. Luckily, I found a good representation of what happens nearly every night in my village on YouTube.
In Thailand, a bpai tiao is a trip of any length. I’ve written about some of my more significant bpai tiaos to tourist destinations here, to be used as travel ideas and tips.
For the last few weeks, I was gone from my site for a variety of reasons ranging from doctor’s appointments to meetings to a much needed vacation. They’ve been some very full and busy weeks, but luckily they ended with an island vacation. It also included getting my PADI Open Water SCUBA certification.
Today is the first day of Vassa, also known as the “Rains Retreat” or “Buddhist Lent.”
For the past several weeks I have seen a number of invitations to monk ordinations being handed out, heard the music bumping from the big blow-out party that happens the night before the ordination and heard of teachers at other schools planning on going on meditation retreats for the rest of the week. But what does all of this have to do with Vassa?
Getting around Thailand can be quite the adventure. In the last 24 hours I have seen and experienced almost every single one that I can think of. If you’re traveling around Thailand, here’s a list of some of the ways you might get around.