Dear Future Peace Corps Thailand Volunteers,
You may have found the Facebook group* already and had some of your questions answered. You may not have found it, and are heading over there right now to get your questions answered. I’ll wait here for you to come back. You may have seen the common response from those who are currently where you will be of “Don’t worry; just relax; enjoy the States!”
more “Open Letter to Future Peace Corps Thailand Volunteers”
After a Saturday well spent and feeling pretty productive with the Teacher Training Camp, we came to our technical training on Tuesday feeling like there was a light at the end of the tunnel.
But sometimes that light is a train.
more “Peace Corps Pre-Service Training: Life Skills Afternoon”
Just before we left for our site visit, we started to plan for a Teacher Training camp that we would put on once we returned to Suphan Buri. To say we are hitting training at a whirlwind pace at this point is almost an understatement. more “Peace Corps Pre-Service Training: Teacher Training”
When I went to visit my site, I also had the opportunity to go to the opening of the Ya Mo Festival in Bua Yai. I know that those words probably don’t make sense to you so let me explain. Ya Mo is kind of the patron of Nakhon Ratchasima Province, with lots of monuments to her all around the province and a major one in the city. People always wai (place their palms together and bow their heads, a greeting and show of respect) whenever they pass her monument, including when driving. more “Peace Corps: Visiting My Village and Ya Mo Festival”
So after 7 weeks of training we finally found out where we would be working for the next two years. Apparently the announcement is a 50 year old tradition that is a bit of a surprise so I won’t describe that here in case any future Thailand volunteers are reading in the future. more “Peace Corps: Visiting My Village and School”
One of the phrases we learned in language class was “bpai tiao.” Thais are a big fan of the “bpai tiao.” There isn’t really an equivalent in English. “Bpai tiao” can mean a trip to the city to go to the department store or it can mean a trip that is a couple days. Most often it means a day trip to some place of importance. I was lucky enough to spend a whole weekend going on “bpai tiaos.” more “Bpai Tiao: Samchuk Market and Ayutthaya”
I’m super behind on blogging, but I had no Internet at my house and the Internet at the library was often overloaded with other volunteers in the same situation as me. Short update: I’ve officially been sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and I am at my site. But I’m going to keep this chronological and get you lovely readers up to speed that way. Also check out the Thai Theater post, as I have added pictures. more “Peace Corps Pre-Service Training: English Camp”
While my mobility in the US was heavily car dependent, Peace Corps Volunteers are forbidden from driving any motorized vehicle. Here in Thailand, we’re issued bicycles and they’re our main mode of transportation. I thought I’d record why my daily commute to Wat Ban Kraeng is like.
As I may have mentioned before, my host mom is a Thai dessert expert. I tell her that she is a Kanom Queen. (Kanom means dessert or snack in Thai.) For a while I thought that she just sold them to friends and neighbors around the village and occasionally at happenings at the watt. Not so. She makes her kanoms and they are sold at the store in Suphan Buri that has every kanom imaginable. When we went to visit, her kanoms were on display right in front of the doorway. Later, my host father showed me a video on the video camera that was a recording of a Thai children’s show that my mom was a guest on, showing the kids how to make her specialty: kanom kai bplaa. more “Selling Thai Desserts, Kanoms, at a Food Festival”
As part of the training for the Teacher Collaboration and Community Service program, we get to spend eight days over two weeks working with a real, live Thai teacher and teach real, live Thai students in a real, live Thai school. I think that this is especially exciting after lesson planning for imaginary students. more “Peace Corps Pre-Service Training: Practicum”