Summer vs. Summer

Now that I’m repeating seasons and I’m not so bogged down with the novelty of being here—as was much the case last year—I’ve notices my more subtle surroundings. Upon careful observation, I’ve come to conclude that what we call the rainy season here is equivalent to summer back home (in Iowa) . Furthermore, it is perhaps the one time of year the seasons run parallel between two places on the opposite sides of the world. Much to my amazement, Iowa and Sisaket, Province, Thailand in June and July really do commensurate in terms of climate and temperature. It’s a quite interesting and auspicious phenomenon. Especially because any other time of year, at any given moment, the temperature and atmosphere will yield polar opposites (blizzards in late March vs. heat waves). This whole assertion came about Monday when I was on the phone with my parents. As usual, we exchanged information on the current local weather—it’s my contention that Iowans and perhaps all country and semi-country dwellers can’t help but talk about the weather =) When my father described the thunderstorm complimented with heavy rains and raging winds, I hardly had to picture it, for wasn’t but a few hours after I got off the phone that we had our own such storm. As my parents went on to describe the flowers coloring the drive and the garden bursting with life and green fields for miles and miles, I thought of the rice fields of lime green stretching on to oblivion and the fragrant jasmine in bloom. And though I know July in Iowa brings exhaustive heat and humidity, rivaling that of March and April here (probably the one discrepancy), I’m confident in saying ... to an Iowan such as myself, it really is hot year-round here only with varying degrees of extreme temps.
To attribute such fortuitous of occasions, I thought it best to compare summer happenings based on location. Here’s what I came up with...

Summer in Iowa, USA VS.
Summer in Sisaket, Thailand

1. Fields of corn & beans stretching as far as the eye can see vs. Jasmine rice of lime green sprouting at every corner

2. Family reunions vs. Volunteer reunions

3. Vacationing to the Okoboji and the Iowa Great Lakes vs. Karaoke bus trip to the Gulf of Thailand/ island hoping


4. The Iowa State Fair vs. Any day in Bangkok


5. BLT’s vs. Frog Curry


6. 4th of July vs. Khao Pensa--Buddhist Lent/Rain Retreats


7. Ragbrai—the bike ride across Iowa vs. Riding my bike everywhere rain or shine


8. Potato Salad vs. Papaya Salad


9. Watermelon & peaches vs. Rambutan, mangosteen, longans & durian

10. Outdoor concerts vs. Local singers at special occasions sometimes accompanied by go-go dancers


11. Homemade ice cream cones vs. Homemade ice cream on a bun


12. Sunflowers & wildflowers vs. Jasmine & lotus flowers


13. Thunderstorms & tornadoes vs. Monsoon rains & flooding


14. Road trips vs. Overnight bus trips & Thai-nappings


15. Summer jobs/internship vs. Presentations to Group 122 & the Hope Group Business Training(s)

16. Shorts & tank tops vs. Grandma shirts & paktuns (long skirts)


17. End of Summer sales vs. Bartering at makeshift shops & super savings at the Thai-Cambodian Border

18. Outdoor running races,tennis & sand volleyball vs. P90X, yoga & zumba workout videos in the sauna that is my house

Hit the Ground Running

Somewhere between burning buildings, weekend getaways , jumping off platforms, and doctor's appointments, time flew. It's always all or nothing with my work here. I have nothing to do. I have everything to do. True, I'm exaggerating. Of course, there's always something to do and it's not absolutely non-stop when things are busy. Yet, it often feels that way. When it rains, it pours. No really, the monsoon rains aren't joking around here.

Two weekends ago, I ventured to Bangkok for a slew of doctor's appointments (the dreaded dentist visit included), some R & R, reunion with friends, and more doctor's appointments to top it off. Before I knew it, my pockets were empty, my mouth full of amalgam, and my ipod fresh out of battery. Not only has the rice begun to sprout overnight, but it appears that the net I cast months ago is now full of fish. Returning to work the following Tuesday was like a blast of cold water hitting the lining of my stomach first thing in the morning. It's official that I'm no longer in the waiting line. My number's up and it's go time!

The end of June and throughout July should provide a steady flow of tasks and activities. The most foremost of upcoming events will be the long awaited PHA Hope Group business training for the group leaders which will take place this Saturday. In the life of our project proposal and requesting for funding, on Friday we reached an important landmark. The eagle has landed, so to speak. As of the early morning hours on our side of the world, we heard word from our funders in America that our proposal was being processed and we might expect a deposit in the weeks to come. And though, we haven't physically received any money I can't explain in words the gratitude and happiness accompanying the realization that things are finally starting to come together. It was a sort of reality that, even though we hoped we could do it, now we know it's happening. Jing Jing. Now is our time to galvanize and get all our training materials together and prepare to make purchases. Next month, we'll have to prepare a day long training along with lunch, as well as another production day and ongoing marketing and advertising to get the group's product sales up and running.

Shifting gears to a completely different area, the committee that I am on (PRC--Project Review Committee) will be giving presentations in early July to the new Volunteers (Group 122). It's hard to believe that exactly 1 year ago, we we're in their exact shoes. Three months in to site, constantly anticipating what would come next, starting to settle in. It's an exciting time and I'm very grateful to help in their continued training. We (myself and 2 other committee members) are in charge of 3 sessions:proposal writing, sample proposals, and funding sources. The hope is that our presentation time will be used wisely and the Volunteers as well as their Thai counterparts will be able to take away important concepts and tools enabling them to ease into projects with more confidence.

In preparation for this, we split up the 3 sessions and each took charge of one. My portion is the session on proposal writing of which I feel most confident about presenting on. And although I initially thought it would be a breeze, writing the powerpoint and coming up with the practice and activity has proved to be more challenging than I anticipated--given the audience (both Volunteer and Thai Counterpart). Each time I approach something semi-academic, I return to graduate school-outlook which tends to be high on rhetoric and theory and low on activity and abridged learning. So this experience behooves me to think of presenting in more vast terms--going back to the basics of public speaking I learned in high school. Putting it together has required a lot of moving parts and input from Peace Corps but I think I've finally got it. I'll submit it for translation into Thai this week and start going through the presentation details with my fell committee'ers.

And that pretty much brings things up to speed on my current work-related endeavors. I On the social side of Volunteer life, well, It goes without saying that I'm perpetually IRB'ing (Intentional Relationship Building)--if you can count on anything, you can count on that. In the midst of all the aforementioned galvanizing, I had to pause for a 2-day field trip to Rayong Province with 120 Health Volunteers. And although there was a plethora of activities (visiting temples and herbal gardens) ... 'karaoke overload' sufficiently sums up this weekend getaway. Though, I will admit, I was in a much better state of mind than my last little trip with villagers and I actually tore the house down with my very own karaoke rendition of Madonna's "Like A Prayer". They ate it up! When in Rome... or Rayong...

We arrived home, all in one piece in the early morning hours and now it's Tueday at the office, the rain is drizzling, and the electricity is threatening another outage. Business as usual.

A Fearless Weekend

Standing tall

Last weekend I spend 2 nights and 3 days on a field trip with 150 15-18 year-olds from my community. Plus 10 other chaperons. It wasn't the usual field trip either. We visited a nearby army base in attempts to teach these hoodlums some discipline...actually, they're not really hoodlums, they're mostly good kids. In fact, I've noticed that when comparing Thai teenagers to American teenagers, general similarities aside, Thais tend to be more responsive and appeasing than American teenagers.

Yet, truth be told, there have been some lingering problems with teenage boys among villages. Last month, almost serendipitous with the red shirt conflicts, two groups of teenage boys from separate villages had a confrontation with small firearms, one setting off, and allegedly killing one boy. Though I never saw any evidence of this with my own eyes, I heard it through the grape vine and I knew it was serious. It's too bad something like that has to happen before action is taken. I'm learning time and time again, it's much easier to make a mess than it is to clean it up. Clearly preventative is better than curative measure.

At any rate, the community leaders quickly concocted a project to target the teenage- debauchery conundrum. What better a solution than a lesson in discipline from soldiers. Calling it a youth leadership training, they rounded up youth from each village (10-15 from each) to take part in a joint training.

I can't help but wonder if the English Club I was supposed to help lead--unsuccessful because of funds, lack of planning, lack of support--could have helped prevent the confrontation from happening. We'll never know.

So it came to this. Soldiers in black uniforms and purple bandannas around their necks in heavy combat boots, came in 2's and 4's to round up the kids in their army trucks. Talk about a hands-on experience. (see below)



At the camp, everything was orderly, everyone was behaved. Not a slouch or a snicker. Soldiers really have an authoritative affect on teenagers. Throughout 3 days of sessions, activities included: marching and drills, practicing the national anthem and the King's song in perfect unison, team-building activities, safe sex and STI education, Thai history lessons, respect for parents and elders strategies, a change or accept activity, and physical activities such as rappelling. Observing most session, I became very impressed by how well the youngsters were responding to the demands required by them and how they kept their energy and attention up. It made me feel very proud to be part of their community.


At the chopper







A Fearless Weekend of My Own

In terms of my personal experience, the weekend was loaded with one intrepid encounter after the other. First of all, I was surrounded (bombarded to be exact) by many new faces, all too eager to ask me questions and at times, heckle me. Soldiers (some, not all) are often more forward than the normal Thai civilian, especially when surrounded by their comrades. To be frank, I'm an easy target. Clearly foreign, young, female. Need I say more? Only someone who's already been here for a year and gone through many like experiences can really handle such a situation. I dealt calm and collected, every now and then having to adjust a potential air of annoyance especially when the questions took absurd turns like... aren't Thai men handsome? Aren't you lonely without a man? How can you live here alone? How much do you get paid? You name it, they asked it. Later on it subsided some and I could sit quietly at certain intervals.

Secondly, I was expected to lead a session with the kids. Now, I'll be the first one to say that I'm not a natural in front of a crowd, not to mention kids. Sure, I can handle a well-organized English camp with other trainers wherein I show up and play the role of the fun farang. But, otherwise, I usually have to put a lot of time into planning a presentation and concentrate hard on warding off the nerves in the pit of my stomach. This session was not well planned. I put it together the Thursday before and for some reason thought it would just work out--kind of like every last minute thing I do here. Audacious as I was to get up there and attempt explaining the activity in Thai, I'll admit, it was a disaster. The activity, 'Accept or Change' was meant to get kids to think about the things they had the ability to change in their lives and the things they should accept. (ie: I should accept my nose the way it looks, but I can change my relationship with my peers and others, I can change my attitude...etc.) Turns out, nobody, not even the adults, really got the point of this exercise. They seemed to think you can change your nose... My only saving grace was an empathetic soldier who interrupted to get the kids in order and proceeded to try to do explain the activity while intermittently talking at them. In the end, we did the worksheet as a big group and well, all I can say is, I gave it a shot! Maybe somebody, somewhere got it.



Lastly, I went rappelling. Actually I don't know what they call it but the only word I know to describe strapping a harness to someone, putting a helmet on them, and dropping them 20 meters is rappelling...or zip-lining... right...? Even though, that's probably not right, that's what I'm calling it for the time being. I didn't even really want to go. I went zip-lining through the jungle back in January in Chiang Mai and I was kind of over the whole suspending and flying through the air thing. The whole morning people were badgering me to go. "C'mon, it will be fun, don't be scared, the kids look up to you". After I saw the 53 year-old village headwoman do it, I decided I had to. Why not just continue on with the fearless trend? It was just a drop followed by a breezy zip-line.
Before I knew it, I was squinting over the 20 meter drop and faintly listening for the 1-2-3-GO!. The drop was fine. What happened when I reeled back from the drop is where it all went wrong. Somewhere between the drop and the zip-line, my neck strained unnaturally out of it's shell and I felt an instant shooting strain.

My 2 seconds of heroism were followed by 3 subsequent days of neck spasms. I spend the latter part of Monday at the District hospital and the following days comforting on pain killers and muscle relaxers. Apparently, farang bodies are not made for Thai rappelling army gear. Who knew?