village life Archives - Page 3 of 4

Hosting Visitors in Rural Thailand

November 12, 2013

A friend of mine who is serving in Cameroon has a friend who decided to go to Thailand for a month and she put us in touch. I figured I would offer up some travel tips for the country, places to go, must sees. After getting in touch, I offered to let her and her travel companion stay with me if they wanted, thinking that I’m a bit far off the beaten path and they probably wanted to hit the major sites, as there is a lot to do here in Thailand. I was happily surprised when I got a call on Friday asking to be taken up on the offer.

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Small Successes of Community Integration

November 1, 2013

One of the most important things that contributes to the success of a Peace Corps volunteer is community integration. It’s actually enshrined in the 10 Core Expectations of being a volunteer.

This is something that I feel like I have kind of struggled with. I hit a wall with language learning because the people in my village speak a different dialect. The area that my house is in isn’t really in the village, it’s just kind of on the road. Also, because I’m a vegetarian, I often end up turning down a number of meal offers.

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Why Asian Cat Tails are Crooked

October 18, 2013

Last month, I was given a kitten. I had mentioned how I missed my cat in the States and that maybe I would want a cat here. Lo and behold, one of the teachers shows up at my house with a tiny orange kitten. I’m glad that I have her; she entertains me in a way that only kittens can entertain. Her name is Julius. One thing about Julius is that, like most cats in Thailand, she has a kinked tail.

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Kitten Can’t Stop Playing with a Crab

September 29, 2013

Because my house is essentially a garage, my front door is a big rolling door with a small gap when closed. Additionally, one of my co-workers recently brought me a kitten when she found out that I was missing my cat. So, when a crab scuttled underneath my front door, the kitten had a fun new toy to play with. Check it out.

Traditional Gender Roles in Thailand

September 17, 2013

Way back in February 2012, I had my initial interview for the Peace Corps. I remember being asked about a multitude of things, but one question I remember distinctly asked me what I thought I would struggle with the most if I were to go on to serve. My response was gender roles.

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What it’s Like Every Night in My Village

July 28, 2013

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.

To Make a Connection, Just Shout “Hello!”

July 5, 2013

“Hello!”

I hear this word often. Daily. Hourly. I’m called to as I walk the ten meters to the store. As I bike the two kilometers to school. As I bike the three kilometers to the market. As I walk through the market. As I sit at my desk trying to lesson plan. As I ride up to the school. As I walk to lunch. As I return from lunch. As the students leave to go home.

“Hello!”

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A Short List of Thai Superstitions

June 28, 2013

One time I came back from a bpai tiao just as dusk was setting in, and the sun sets really fast here. So on my two kilometer bike ride home I turned on my lights to the flashing setting and made it home just fine. When I told my co-teacher about it the next day, she told me that people probably thought that I was a ghost. Because Thai people believe in ghosts, and there are lots of Thai ghosts and lots of superstitions around them.

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5 Everyday Parts of Rural Thai Life

June 25, 2013

When you go to a new country, or even sometimes a new part of the country you live in, and you spend a good amount of time there some parts of life start to become a given. For example, it became a given for me in Portland to look more diligently for bikes when I drove. In Australia and England and New Zealand, looking right and then left when crossing the street is a small adjustment that becomes a given if you come from the States. In cultures and countries where chopsticks are the primary utensil it becomes odd to not see them at the table. Here are some things in Thailand that I’ve become accustomed to as normal, that when I think about, realize just aren’t in the States.

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5 Small Ways My Life Has Changed

June 11, 2013

I have a lot of time to spend thinking and I think about a lot of things: when will I have a meal that doesn’t involve rice, where will I take my vacation to, how many mosquitoes are there in my village, how can I kill all those mosquitoes. But one thing I was thinking about recently was how much my life has changed since this time last year. And there are a lot of big things that are different (I’m not in the U.S.) but I think it’s the little things that are different that make life interesting, to say the least.

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