Hello All!
Well, it has been something like a million years since I actually put something up on this, but I figure I might as well give a quick update anyways. In summary, in the past two months since I wrote on this, I went on the forests course, where we backpacked from village to village for 16 days in the mountains, and then the coasts course, which was a combo of camping out on the beach and staying with a muslim host family. All exciting, but to be written about later. Now, it is winter break. I have just arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam after having spent a few days in Ankor Wat in Cambodia. Traveling here is super easy. As in- I planned this whole trip a day before I left. I''ve been traveling back and forth between Cambodia, Bangkok, and Vietnam- and so far the trip has cost me somewhere around 400 $. Plane tickets have ranged between the price of $30 to $100.00 Bus rides have cost somewhere between 5 and 15. My hotel in Cambodia was something like 3 dollars a night- the one here is 7. All so. so. affordable.
Ankor Wat was beautiful- for those of you who don't know what it is- its a massive ancient city that has since been abandoned. A brief history: It was built around 1000 years ago, and expanded a few hundred years after that. It mainly consists of a these massive grey sandstone temples, that have been built from the stone of a nearby mountain. The area is on good farm land and near (ish) a massive lake and a good trade spot and all that jazz, so of course people have been fighting over it for centuries. Khmer (word for Cambodian People) Thais, and Chinese all fought over the area back in the way way day. Consequentally, some of the temples are hindu, some are buddist, some are a funky mixture of both. Some have Buddahs, some have hindu gods, some have buddahs that have had a third eye carved in the middle of their forheads to turn them into makeshift hindu gods. In the 1800's of course Europeans had to start taking over the world, and Ankor Wat was "discovered" by the French. I am enchanted with the daydream of what it must have been like to have been like to be one of those explorers, because at that point in time- Ankor Wat- which is pretty endless, by the way, was hard core in the middle of the jungle. No big industry (to my knoweledge) had hit the area at that point in time, so no one had cut down the trees in a very long time- dare I say, hundreds of years? I think that's right. This old ancient city, surrounded by hundred year old trees. And by god, they are some of the coolest trees I've ever seen. The ones that are left today, after industry and war (a recent war- the Khmer Rouge and its after effects. A genocide that ended in 1994.) are sparce and yet beautiful. Huge roots that look like melted wax that hang over the walls of buildings and seep through the cracks of the bricks. Towering tree trunks that cause you to crane your head back to look at them.
One of the things about the place that shocked me was the amount of construction going on there. Countries from all over the world- as in the US, France, India, even Checolslovokia (no idea how to spell that) have invested in helping "conserve" all the buildings. By that, it pretty much means completely rebuilding them as if they were brand new- which means knocking down the old trees, taking acid to clean of the black moss that grows around the moss, and recarving all the designs in the walls, replacing the missing heads of statues that got knocked off during the war. So much money, so much effort to make an ancient temple new again.
Shit. I was going to write about Hanoi, where I am right now, but I've run out of time. Briefly: a dusty city that is foggy like sanfransisco. you can tell the french once reigned here, mostly from the presence of baguets that are strangely sweet, as if they were baked with sweet and low, and the houses, which are extremely tall and city, yet adorned with very european( french?) like things. Like terraces. and white iron rod gates with curly ques every where. It is a city of alley ways that lead to beautiful things. Outside, it is like looking through a city through a plate of dusty glass- I just want to take windex to the whole thing. then you take an alley way, that looks like the scene in a murder mystery movie, until suddenly, you wind up in a resturaount, a coffee shop, a hotel, and internet cafe that is filled with warm yellow light, that is clean, and warm and elegant.
So many mysteries. so fun to exlpore. I wish I could figure out how to post pictures and movies on this damn thing. I've taken a bunch. They're coming eventually. I swear.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
WHY ARE ELEPHANTS SO CUTE
Time: Last Night.
Where: A neighborhood Bar
What: An elephant.
Saturday night, and we are out having drinks. A group of what…. Maybe ten of us? We sit around at the table- bottles of beer and blended drinks littering up the table top. The location is a residential area. The bar sits crowded amidst maybe 5 or 6 others- it feels like a secret discovery that we have come up upon. Its almost like a spontaneous village of night life, hidden away from the city- secluded, bright, warm, and happy. The atmosphere is welcoming and cheery- sort of how I might imagine an inn to seem in a scene from lord of the rings. I sip at a beer, and pour my self servings from the pitcher of fruity slushy we’ve ordered. At first, I am quiet, leanihng by and soaking up the warmth, and the feel of the light here- which comes from a combination of two florescent streetlights that rise up high above us, moths gathering around them- and the warm golden yellow that emerges from the bars near by. With in the hour however, my mood will soon reverse- switc hing to something that’s all angles, bouncing energy, shaking heads, and laughter. Soon I will shout, laugh, and fly to in a million pointed directions, feeling both bewildered and amazed at the spinning word around me. Its at this point in time that a man and an elephant walk to the bar.
The elephant has just had a bath, and unlike the other ones I’ve touched, his skin is soft and leathery- slightly most. His trunk was incredibly curious.By the time I saw him, he had walked up to the bar, and in an instant- felt his trunk atop the head of a near by man. Enthralled, I bounce over to him, jutting out my arms and legs in as many ways as I can to travel up to meet him. The elephant stays still, but his trunk moves over to explore. It starts with my hands, but soon creeps up to my face. I look straight forward, and my sight of the night sky gets dramatically interrupted by the sight of an elephant trunk , bombarding up towards my nose. I lean back away from it, but the trunk is relentless. It wants to grasp my face.
OH MY GOD ALKJFGHBNRBNSKFH!!!! GIGGLE GIGGLE ! ! ! HAHAHA HAHAHA ! GHJLAFGH GIGGLE! HA! I exclaim. The trunk continues, attempting to explore the other bodies and faces that stand around me. His owner sells us bamboo sticks (I think) and we feed them to The Trunk. In short time, I want to see The Trunk again, and I find myself poking the elephant’s side. The trunk returns, weaving around me , and then making a beeline for my face again. The trunk attacks. Ewe. Elephant snot.
AH HAH HAH AHAHAHAHAHAHA HAH! I spout again.
And then, to my disappointment, the man takes the elephant away. He is going to the bar next door, for The Trunk to explore, and discover new faces.
“That was the best thing ever!!!!!!!” I belt to the heavens, “When will somebody get me an elephant????!?”
Where: A neighborhood Bar
What: An elephant.
Saturday night, and we are out having drinks. A group of what…. Maybe ten of us? We sit around at the table- bottles of beer and blended drinks littering up the table top. The location is a residential area. The bar sits crowded amidst maybe 5 or 6 others- it feels like a secret discovery that we have come up upon. Its almost like a spontaneous village of night life, hidden away from the city- secluded, bright, warm, and happy. The atmosphere is welcoming and cheery- sort of how I might imagine an inn to seem in a scene from lord of the rings. I sip at a beer, and pour my self servings from the pitcher of fruity slushy we’ve ordered. At first, I am quiet, leanihng by and soaking up the warmth, and the feel of the light here- which comes from a combination of two florescent streetlights that rise up high above us, moths gathering around them- and the warm golden yellow that emerges from the bars near by. With in the hour however, my mood will soon reverse- switc hing to something that’s all angles, bouncing energy, shaking heads, and laughter. Soon I will shout, laugh, and fly to in a million pointed directions, feeling both bewildered and amazed at the spinning word around me. Its at this point in time that a man and an elephant walk to the bar.
The elephant has just had a bath, and unlike the other ones I’ve touched, his skin is soft and leathery- slightly most. His trunk was incredibly curious.By the time I saw him, he had walked up to the bar, and in an instant- felt his trunk atop the head of a near by man. Enthralled, I bounce over to him, jutting out my arms and legs in as many ways as I can to travel up to meet him. The elephant stays still, but his trunk moves over to explore. It starts with my hands, but soon creeps up to my face. I look straight forward, and my sight of the night sky gets dramatically interrupted by the sight of an elephant trunk , bombarding up towards my nose. I lean back away from it, but the trunk is relentless. It wants to grasp my face.
OH MY GOD ALKJFGHBNRBNSKFH!!!! GIGGLE GIGGLE ! ! ! HAHAHA HAHAHA ! GHJLAFGH GIGGLE! HA! I exclaim. The trunk continues, attempting to explore the other bodies and faces that stand around me. His owner sells us bamboo sticks (I think) and we feed them to The Trunk. In short time, I want to see The Trunk again, and I find myself poking the elephant’s side. The trunk returns, weaving around me , and then making a beeline for my face again. The trunk attacks. Ewe. Elephant snot.
AH HAH HAH AHAHAHAHAHAHA HAH! I spout again.
And then, to my disappointment, the man takes the elephant away. He is going to the bar next door, for The Trunk to explore, and discover new faces.
“That was the best thing ever!!!!!!!” I belt to the heavens, “When will somebody get me an elephant????!?”
Hey look! I'm actually updating this!
Hey guys. This actually happened around a month ago, but its saved on my computer, so I figure I'll put it up on here.
In terms on a quick update on what I've been doing for the past months ish,- we just completed agroforestry course. Highlights include slaughtering a pig, learning about citizenship issues in thailand (long story short- ethnic minorities here, many of whom were born in Thailand, don't have citizenship, and don't have basic rights- like healthcare, and the ability to move. By this I mean they don't have the right to leave their teensy little villages. Its actually a lot more complicated than this but I dont feel like explaining it right now, so oh well.) Learned about farming. By this I mean I watched people farm at a non profit, and then lived with a host family for 4 days. One day I harvested rice! I'll post some pictures on face book. Its fun. I came in after all the rice stalks (rice is a grass- so just think of big piles of grass here) had been cut. You take these two sticks that are connected by a rope, and you use it to sort of collect a bundle of the rice around the rope, and then you lift the bundle of rice over your head and thwack it over and over again on a block thats on a tarp until all the rice grains pop out. Its a hard image to describe but I think you'll get it from the pictures which will definitely pop up on facebook and might show up here. anyways- you Repeat process. By the end of the day- sore shoulders.
During these four days I trompled my way around, and mimed my way through the Thai language. they dont speak english in Mae Taw, which is the name of the rural province that I visited. it was (as always) a brutal process- but i started getting the hang of it by the end. I can muster my way around in thai fairly well now. Reading is anouther story (test at the end of this week- ahh!)
What else did we do? did I mention that we killed a pig? I have a big long emotional piece of writing that is on my to do list of things to post for this blog. In summary: It was wierd. not as bad as I thought. sent shivers up my spine- yet was strangely beautiful.
For the next course- is the big hiking one. going to villages where thai is spoken as a second language! this will be fun! So now, on top of learning thai- we're getting some insta- Bak-in-yah classes on the side! So far, the language sounds like a series of grunts to me- but then again, I've only had one lesson. Hello is dtah bleug (say bloog while smiling, and you'll pronounce the second word right.) Happy is Ote Choo, sad is Duh Ote Choo. How are you doing is Otechoo wa?
ohhhhh host families. ohhhhh language barrier. so crazy.
We also compared western perceptions of "Nature" to Thai perceptions of nature. This I thought was really interesting. For class, we all brought/ drew pictures of our favorite natural places, and our professor had the THai staff drew pictures of their favorite natural places. We all brought them in and hung them up in the morning and compared.
Our natural places were all big open empty spaces. Many were very scenic- taking pictures of things that were far away. For example- a picture of this mountanous back drop, or this high up view. They all were in public places- like national parks. They all were vacation spots. A lot of us wrote romantic little notes below our photos of natural places- things like- "Here, it is perfect. I have no worries. The stars are all around me...." Our nartual places lacked signs of a permanent human presence as well. Hardly any people in the pictures. The people who were in the pictures were smiling.
In the thai pictures of "favorite natural places": (the thai staff all drew their pictures. we had the option to either print off a photo or draw. for some reason there were only 2 illustrations in the western group.)
-They all included rice paddies. Even the one of the giant tropical river with massive coconut trees and wild flowers had a little rice paddie in the corner. They all had houses. They all had domestic animals. People were present- but they were working. (little stick figures wearing farmers hats or holding ploughs)
We were asked what was dangerous about these places. we said getting lost, and wild animals.
Over all - Nature thailand is seen as something that includes people. There is no romantisism. Attitudes towards it are very pragmatic- this began when teak (teak is a type of tree used for hardwood) trade exploded back in the day (like the late 1800's I think. I might be wrong on that though). There is also a huge fear of spirits that live in the forest. Wild animals aren't a threat- but spirits are a big one. ok. This is a blog post. I have another one I wrote about a month ago about getting drunk and seeing an elephant that I'll put up right after this.
Cool Beans!
In terms on a quick update on what I've been doing for the past months ish,- we just completed agroforestry course. Highlights include slaughtering a pig, learning about citizenship issues in thailand (long story short- ethnic minorities here, many of whom were born in Thailand, don't have citizenship, and don't have basic rights- like healthcare, and the ability to move. By this I mean they don't have the right to leave their teensy little villages. Its actually a lot more complicated than this but I dont feel like explaining it right now, so oh well.) Learned about farming. By this I mean I watched people farm at a non profit, and then lived with a host family for 4 days. One day I harvested rice! I'll post some pictures on face book. Its fun. I came in after all the rice stalks (rice is a grass- so just think of big piles of grass here) had been cut. You take these two sticks that are connected by a rope, and you use it to sort of collect a bundle of the rice around the rope, and then you lift the bundle of rice over your head and thwack it over and over again on a block thats on a tarp until all the rice grains pop out. Its a hard image to describe but I think you'll get it from the pictures which will definitely pop up on facebook and might show up here. anyways- you Repeat process. By the end of the day- sore shoulders.
During these four days I trompled my way around, and mimed my way through the Thai language. they dont speak english in Mae Taw, which is the name of the rural province that I visited. it was (as always) a brutal process- but i started getting the hang of it by the end. I can muster my way around in thai fairly well now. Reading is anouther story (test at the end of this week- ahh!)
What else did we do? did I mention that we killed a pig? I have a big long emotional piece of writing that is on my to do list of things to post for this blog. In summary: It was wierd. not as bad as I thought. sent shivers up my spine- yet was strangely beautiful.
For the next course- is the big hiking one. going to villages where thai is spoken as a second language! this will be fun! So now, on top of learning thai- we're getting some insta- Bak-in-yah classes on the side! So far, the language sounds like a series of grunts to me- but then again, I've only had one lesson. Hello is dtah bleug (say bloog while smiling, and you'll pronounce the second word right.) Happy is Ote Choo, sad is Duh Ote Choo. How are you doing is Otechoo wa?
ohhhhh host families. ohhhhh language barrier. so crazy.
We also compared western perceptions of "Nature" to Thai perceptions of nature. This I thought was really interesting. For class, we all brought/ drew pictures of our favorite natural places, and our professor had the THai staff drew pictures of their favorite natural places. We all brought them in and hung them up in the morning and compared.
Our natural places were all big open empty spaces. Many were very scenic- taking pictures of things that were far away. For example- a picture of this mountanous back drop, or this high up view. They all were in public places- like national parks. They all were vacation spots. A lot of us wrote romantic little notes below our photos of natural places- things like- "Here, it is perfect. I have no worries. The stars are all around me...." Our nartual places lacked signs of a permanent human presence as well. Hardly any people in the pictures. The people who were in the pictures were smiling.
In the thai pictures of "favorite natural places": (the thai staff all drew their pictures. we had the option to either print off a photo or draw. for some reason there were only 2 illustrations in the western group.)
-They all included rice paddies. Even the one of the giant tropical river with massive coconut trees and wild flowers had a little rice paddie in the corner. They all had houses. They all had domestic animals. People were present- but they were working. (little stick figures wearing farmers hats or holding ploughs)
We were asked what was dangerous about these places. we said getting lost, and wild animals.
Over all - Nature thailand is seen as something that includes people. There is no romantisism. Attitudes towards it are very pragmatic- this began when teak (teak is a type of tree used for hardwood) trade exploded back in the day (like the late 1800's I think. I might be wrong on that though). There is also a huge fear of spirits that live in the forest. Wild animals aren't a threat- but spirits are a big one. ok. This is a blog post. I have another one I wrote about a month ago about getting drunk and seeing an elephant that I'll put up right after this.
Cool Beans!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
New Blog
Alright… I’ve been trying to load up my many pictures on to my blog/ face book, but the computer doesn’t want to do it- so I guess I’ll resort to forcing my self to adding another entry. Britt- I copied the version of my profile picture with the fish- so once I can get them up, they should be pretty snazzy. It is so much harder to keep up with this blog thing than I ever would have expected. Us fellow Thailand Abroaders have pretty much 0 free time. Almost everyone has around a 1-2 hour commute to school everyday. And then school lasts from 8 to 4/5 depending on the day. My average day consists of the following:
-wake up at 5:30/5:45/6:00 depending on how groggy I am and how much I want to push off breakfast (which I think I’m expected to be taking the time to actually eat… even though I haven’t been recently. An extra 15 minutes sleep means so, so much when its that damn early.) Always must make sure to take the necessary shower that prevents me from being a smelly farang. I take the neighboorhood bus to school at 630 with an awesome neighboorhoood bus drivier and blah blah blah then its Thai class. Then seminar- which is always outside, and always very sweaty. Sometimes interesting. Sometimes terribly boring- it all depends on the day/ the teacher. (teachers switch e/ time round) and then every other day its cross fit- which is like boot –get- in –shape- for- the -crazy –backpacking- that –we- all- know- none –of- you- actually –worked- out- for- over- the- summer-camp. We did sprints today. Fml. It hurts. And asthma sucks a nut.
School ends anywhere between 3:30 and 5:30. Sorta unpredictable when it will end. And then- when its done, it’s a crazy hectic ride through the city on the Rote Dahng- the giant open ended red thai bus that takes you to and fro. Takes around an hour and a half to get home through the traffic. A crowded space in the rote dahng, an open ended butt for the car. Be careful not to let your things fall. I get home. Take one more shower. Eat dinner, then maybe shower again. Practice thai (reading and speaking). Read articles about ecology and thai history (!!!! Its so cool! Ill post a nerdy blog all about it someday..)etc…. by 9 you’re exausted. Reading gets blurry.keep going. Just keep going. Bed at 10. Repeat process.
No free time= bit of an adjustment. Every Friday we do activities though.tomorrow= rock climbing and cave exploring! Last week was a retreat by a waterfall. Awesome. Ted wrote about it. Go read.
Ok blah blah blah it took forever to explain my busy schedule. I don’t even want to talk about my schedule. I want to talk about the following things. A) thai bathrooms B) Thai language C) Thai history D) random funny moments. We’ll see how many I can get through. Ill write in short hand.
A) Thai Bathrooms
Sometimes you squat over a porcelin potty and then wash it down a pipe with a bucket of water. Sometimes not. Can’t use toilet paper though. It clogs the pipes. Instead- there is always (and I’m serious here) a water spray gun hooked to the wall. You clean the poopy butt with the spray gun by the toilet. If you want- you can grab your own TP- but you have to throw it in the trash. I tend to use the TP. I think every ISDSI farang uses the tp. Its probably why the bathrooms smell so bad there.
B) A funny Moment:
Kelsey: * points at food* what is this? (aria ka?)
Mae: Is rice and penis.
K: what?
Mae: rice and penis.
K: No. not right. No.
Mae: Yes! Is right! Rice and penis! Is penis!
K: *grossed confused BWAH? Scrunchy eyebrow look.*
Mae:! Is right! Is penis!
K: *oh I understand this now look* Oh!!!!! No! rice and peanuts! peaNut!
M: yes! Is what I say! is penis!
K: no. no. no. no. no. Peanut. Always say t. its peanuT… penis means…. Something else. (End scene)
c) A funny moment while learning Thai:
- its not weird here to talk about poop. You say “I have diarreah” to your host mom, she says “Cool! Me too!” Yesterday in class, we learned all the words for sick- a lesson that was complete with some pretty funny illustrations (I took pictures) Among all the usual sick words, I learned to say “throw- up”[ –Ah… jeean…. = formal (vomit) Nooh…? Ahg.= informal. (i.e.hurl)—] diarreah, [tong! See-ah? Or tong! Dun…] and constipated. [tong! Poog.] To practice, our ajan (professer), a relatively modest lady, taught us the word Krahn!- which refers to times… as in how many times you do something.
“Today, Ajan has diarreah 5 times. What happens to ajan?” She said to us, applying the concept. The class blushed.
“Ajan goes to the bathroom,” we replied in turn.
d) Learning Thai
Every now and then, I pause and just shake my head at how ridiculous the language seems. The following info I present will quite possibly make the prospect of learning thai seem terrifying to anyone not currently enduring the process. However- I merely would like to share these lingual rules with you, because I find them rather obnoxiously hilarious.
Thai is a tonal language. There are 5 tones- rising, falling, high, low, and flat. The only way I can remember how to say any of them is through puncuation- although that only sometimes does the trick.
High tone generally is paired with a ! noise. However it is sometimes paired with a slight inflection of the voice- in which case the sound is something like ?! You dip your voice down briefely, only to instantly fling it to a level of excitement.
Low tone is a period. Say. The. Words. Like. How. You. Just. Read. The. Ones. In. This. Sentence.
This…is…an…example…of…how…you…say...a…flat…tone… long and flat. Like a slow-mo robot. Sort of.
This...?is…?a…?rising…?tone…? make sure to stay a little longer in the deep voice land than usual- otherwise you might accidentally make it a high tone.
“I am falllllliiiinnnnnggggg dooowwwnnnnnnnnn thheee mouuuunnnnttttttaaaaaiiiinnnn” = falling tone. When I write out the falling tone words, I have quite literally, draw them as if they are falling down a mountain.
The meaning of words changes dramatically depending on the tone.
Example: kaaaooowwwww toooaaaaadddt= I’m sorry. Cow toad= can I fart here?
Kaow…?= white. Kkkkkaaaaooooowwwwww = rice. Kaow…=he/she. kaow. =news. Say any of them wrong to a thai person, and they will have no idea what you’re saying. Seriously. Just now, I tried to ask which one was white in thai to my mae, and she wouldn’t stop miming eating something the whole time. Guess that means I said rice instead. Oops.
Reading is equally ridiculous- although I feel like I’ve picked it up pretty quick. There are 5 different letters for the sound k. 44 consonants total. R turns in to an N noise when its at the end of a syllable. There are a handful of silent letters, and a fancy silent letter whose job is to change the tone of the word. There are also tone markers- which make different sounds depending on the context. My favorite is the letter whose job is to make the letter it stands next to silent…. what’s the point of having that?
Thai isn’t solely written from left to right like our good old fashioned latin based languages. Instead, its more like a scrabble board. Some letters tower above others. Vowels sit on top of consonants; others hide below them. Some vowels are placed to the left of a consonant, even though they are pronounced later on in the word. There is no punctuation at all. A sentence more or less looks like one really really really long word. Writing feels like constructing a strange type of train/ serpant with stubby arms and legs. In my head, it feels like I’m drawing a cardboard square monster instead of writing words. I look at the things I’ve written, and can’t stop from imagining a series of serpants that wiggle and twirl, the different letters spinning up and around their midriffs, and squirting out strange noises.
“Kelsey! Pay attention!” my Ajaan calls to me,
“What?” I then say in return.
-wake up at 5:30/5:45/6:00 depending on how groggy I am and how much I want to push off breakfast (which I think I’m expected to be taking the time to actually eat… even though I haven’t been recently. An extra 15 minutes sleep means so, so much when its that damn early.) Always must make sure to take the necessary shower that prevents me from being a smelly farang. I take the neighboorhood bus to school at 630 with an awesome neighboorhoood bus drivier and blah blah blah then its Thai class. Then seminar- which is always outside, and always very sweaty. Sometimes interesting. Sometimes terribly boring- it all depends on the day/ the teacher. (teachers switch e/ time round) and then every other day its cross fit- which is like boot –get- in –shape- for- the -crazy –backpacking- that –we- all- know- none –of- you- actually –worked- out- for- over- the- summer-camp. We did sprints today. Fml. It hurts. And asthma sucks a nut.
School ends anywhere between 3:30 and 5:30. Sorta unpredictable when it will end. And then- when its done, it’s a crazy hectic ride through the city on the Rote Dahng- the giant open ended red thai bus that takes you to and fro. Takes around an hour and a half to get home through the traffic. A crowded space in the rote dahng, an open ended butt for the car. Be careful not to let your things fall. I get home. Take one more shower. Eat dinner, then maybe shower again. Practice thai (reading and speaking). Read articles about ecology and thai history (!!!! Its so cool! Ill post a nerdy blog all about it someday..)etc…. by 9 you’re exausted. Reading gets blurry.keep going. Just keep going. Bed at 10. Repeat process.
No free time= bit of an adjustment. Every Friday we do activities though.tomorrow= rock climbing and cave exploring! Last week was a retreat by a waterfall. Awesome. Ted wrote about it. Go read.
Ok blah blah blah it took forever to explain my busy schedule. I don’t even want to talk about my schedule. I want to talk about the following things. A) thai bathrooms B) Thai language C) Thai history D) random funny moments. We’ll see how many I can get through. Ill write in short hand.
A) Thai Bathrooms
Sometimes you squat over a porcelin potty and then wash it down a pipe with a bucket of water. Sometimes not. Can’t use toilet paper though. It clogs the pipes. Instead- there is always (and I’m serious here) a water spray gun hooked to the wall. You clean the poopy butt with the spray gun by the toilet. If you want- you can grab your own TP- but you have to throw it in the trash. I tend to use the TP. I think every ISDSI farang uses the tp. Its probably why the bathrooms smell so bad there.
B) A funny Moment:
Kelsey: * points at food* what is this? (aria ka?)
Mae: Is rice and penis.
K: what?
Mae: rice and penis.
K: No. not right. No.
Mae: Yes! Is right! Rice and penis! Is penis!
K: *grossed confused BWAH? Scrunchy eyebrow look.*
Mae:! Is right! Is penis!
K: *oh I understand this now look* Oh!!!!! No! rice and peanuts! peaNut!
M: yes! Is what I say! is penis!
K: no. no. no. no. no. Peanut. Always say t. its peanuT… penis means…. Something else. (End scene)
c) A funny moment while learning Thai:
- its not weird here to talk about poop. You say “I have diarreah” to your host mom, she says “Cool! Me too!” Yesterday in class, we learned all the words for sick- a lesson that was complete with some pretty funny illustrations (I took pictures) Among all the usual sick words, I learned to say “throw- up”[ –Ah… jeean…. = formal (vomit) Nooh…? Ahg.= informal. (i.e.hurl)—] diarreah, [tong! See-ah? Or tong! Dun…] and constipated. [tong! Poog.] To practice, our ajan (professer), a relatively modest lady, taught us the word Krahn!- which refers to times… as in how many times you do something.
“Today, Ajan has diarreah 5 times. What happens to ajan?” She said to us, applying the concept. The class blushed.
“Ajan goes to the bathroom,” we replied in turn.
d) Learning Thai
Every now and then, I pause and just shake my head at how ridiculous the language seems. The following info I present will quite possibly make the prospect of learning thai seem terrifying to anyone not currently enduring the process. However- I merely would like to share these lingual rules with you, because I find them rather obnoxiously hilarious.
Thai is a tonal language. There are 5 tones- rising, falling, high, low, and flat. The only way I can remember how to say any of them is through puncuation- although that only sometimes does the trick.
High tone generally is paired with a ! noise. However it is sometimes paired with a slight inflection of the voice- in which case the sound is something like ?! You dip your voice down briefely, only to instantly fling it to a level of excitement.
Low tone is a period. Say. The. Words. Like. How. You. Just. Read. The. Ones. In. This. Sentence.
This…is…an…example…of…how…you…say...a…flat…tone… long and flat. Like a slow-mo robot. Sort of.
This...?is…?a…?rising…?tone…? make sure to stay a little longer in the deep voice land than usual- otherwise you might accidentally make it a high tone.
“I am falllllliiiinnnnnggggg dooowwwnnnnnnnnn thheee mouuuunnnnttttttaaaaaiiiinnnn” = falling tone. When I write out the falling tone words, I have quite literally, draw them as if they are falling down a mountain.
The meaning of words changes dramatically depending on the tone.
Example: kaaaooowwwww toooaaaaadddt= I’m sorry. Cow toad= can I fart here?
Kaow…?= white. Kkkkkaaaaooooowwwwww = rice. Kaow…=he/she. kaow. =news. Say any of them wrong to a thai person, and they will have no idea what you’re saying. Seriously. Just now, I tried to ask which one was white in thai to my mae, and she wouldn’t stop miming eating something the whole time. Guess that means I said rice instead. Oops.
Reading is equally ridiculous- although I feel like I’ve picked it up pretty quick. There are 5 different letters for the sound k. 44 consonants total. R turns in to an N noise when its at the end of a syllable. There are a handful of silent letters, and a fancy silent letter whose job is to change the tone of the word. There are also tone markers- which make different sounds depending on the context. My favorite is the letter whose job is to make the letter it stands next to silent…. what’s the point of having that?
Thai isn’t solely written from left to right like our good old fashioned latin based languages. Instead, its more like a scrabble board. Some letters tower above others. Vowels sit on top of consonants; others hide below them. Some vowels are placed to the left of a consonant, even though they are pronounced later on in the word. There is no punctuation at all. A sentence more or less looks like one really really really long word. Writing feels like constructing a strange type of train/ serpant with stubby arms and legs. In my head, it feels like I’m drawing a cardboard square monster instead of writing words. I look at the things I’ve written, and can’t stop from imagining a series of serpants that wiggle and twirl, the different letters spinning up and around their midriffs, and squirting out strange noises.
“Kelsey! Pay attention!” my Ajaan calls to me,
“What?” I then say in return.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Gender in Thailand
Gender in Thailand
This past weekend, I went to visit a temple on the mountain Doi Suket with my host family. To get there, you taxi up a long mountain road, and climb up a long flight of steps to get there, so you can pray in a variety of ornate rooms. The location to me seemed generally uninteresting- it seemed like the place had once been sacred, and then had been turned into a Giant Tourist Attraction (although mainly Thai tourists. There were a handful of farang- but it wasn’t packed to the brim with middle class anglo Saxons by any means) As a general rule, I find that Giant Tourist Attractions, with rare exception, tend to be incredibly boring. Vendors clustered the steps riding up to the temple, selling souveneirs to the many visitors. Inappropriately dressed Farang walked around looking serene (farang means foreigner…and guava- but that’s beside the point. Ever since I found out that the farang who dress with that dreadlock-tattoo-piercing-shower negligent -loose-clothing-shoulder showing- type of look are referred to as bird shit farang, I have felt particularly judgmental of the people who fit this description. I keep wanting to walk up to them and tell them to buy a new wardrobe, and invest in deodorant while their in Thailand, because Thai people think that the stinky hippie look is disgusting.), and rowdy crowds repeatedly took pictures infront of the temple. It all seemed pretty standard. Yawn.
There was one thing there though, that I found very interesting. Riddled throughout the crowd of Thai and farang visitors, were lady boys. Lots of them. Transgendered/ transsexual men (women?) - that walked around in skirts, long hair, full makeup, and long painted finger nails. They giggled more than anyone I’ve ever seen, and raised their voices to pitches that reminded me of helium.
In a way, they were kind of a spectacle- menwomen walking around, acting more feminine than anyone in the space put together. They were like Barbie. Only worse. And yet, at the same time, they were so common, that they were almost kind of normal. I couldn’t make sense of it.
While we were there, my host mom made a point of approaching these two lady boys that were loitering near by a gong. Lady boy 1 had long sleek hair, big brown eyes, and a blatant man voice. Lady boy 2 was probably the skinniest person I’ve ever seen in my life. She/he (?) was the width of a malnutritioned 6 year old. (yet strangely enough, I don’t think s/he was anorexic. Her joints didn’t pop out, and her torso looked muscular. But her waist was non existant!) S/he had chin length hair that was tied up in pig tails. And she spoke like Mickey Mouse. It was so high pitched that it drove me crazy- I kept wanting to shout at her “ You’re doing it wrong! Too high up! Its annoying! And your giving yourself away! You don’t want to be a cartoon character! Aahjajhfhjahhjahahahhhh!”
Mae (host mom) spoke to lady boys 1 and 2 in a very loud, annunciated voice. Like how you speak to someone who’s very nice, but just a little retarded. Or deaf. Or in a wheel chair. Or missing a limb. You’re friendly- but just way, way, way. Too. Friendly. They spoke in Thai, for a while, but it soon became clear that Mae wanted to teach lady boy 1 and 2 how to ring the gong. She held up the mallet, and demonstrated how to gong-ring by giving it a good solid thwack. She used both hands, and swung the mallet a little like a baseball bat.
“Ooooohhh!” Lady boy 2 cooed with amazement, he/her ridiculously highpitched voice emanating more than the gong did. The two of them flitted their hands towards their chins in a graceful girly fashion, and gossiped in each others ears. They moved like a pair of southern bells- minus the corsets, and plus some adams apples. With baby, dainty footsteps, the two tiptoed over to the gong. They giggled. Brought their hands to their chin. And lady boy one grabbed the fucking mallet in the most Victorian-era-dainty- fucking way possible. I don’t care what your gender is- you grab a mallet like the way s/he did- it is going to make me gag. Let me see if I can explain this to you.
S/he held it with maybe three of her fingers. Wrist limp, and splayed out to the world. When s/he tapped the gong, s/he bent down low on her knees, and tapped- and I mean tapped in the frailest way possible.
“Ding!” it went
“Ooohhh giggle giggle giggle” went lady boy 1 in return
“roll roll roll scoff scoff scoff wtf are you doing please hold that mallet act as if you’re an actual person and not a plastic doll dear lord “ went my brain.
“No no no no no no no” went Mae’s head, waving arms, and smirk. “ No.”
She gave another example. Took the mallet. Two hands. Solid thwack. Goooonngggg.
This time, Mickey Mouse came up and gave it a shot, only to repeat the same mistake. I rolled my eyes again, and wandered off to look at the people crowding over the shoe lockers in the far east corner.
I couldn’t make sense of the whole thing. Here I am, in a country where foreigners who wear dreadlocks, or even go so far as to show their shoulders are referred to as “bird shit” farang. It is inappropriate to dry your underwear in public (although not in my house, because “here, we are only women”), students will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS wear a uniform, and the notion of taking less than 2 showers a day is unfathomable. And yet there are lady boys everywhere. They sit in rows under signs that say “lady boy” down town, they appear in crowds at buddist temples, one continually pops up on my 6 year old host sister’s favorite tv show- right next to the bossy fat lady, and the rich and poor princesses competing for the protaganist prince’s attention. Tony Jaa- (the Thai Chuck Norris) ‘s most powerful archnemesis is a lady boy. To put this into a similar context- this is like Sauron, being a lady boy. Darth Vader- as a lady boy. Sherr Kahn… as a lady boy.
Today, I decided to ask Pi- one of the Thai staff at ISDSI about it. So far, Pi has gotten to know us the best out of all the ISDSI staff. Judging by her looks, she’s anywhere between the age of 15 and 28, but if I had to put my money on a number, I’d say its something over 22. I’m not quite sure what her specific job is, but she went with us to the fish thing last week, and we- the American students- immediately latched on to her. She’s that type of teacher helper that feels like your friend. She is so interesting- and she seems genuinely interested in getting to know us. Also- you ask her a question, and she gives you an essay for an answer. We received a full narration of the historical and social contexts – along with a translation- to the tony Jaa movie I mentioned ealier. (although a translation wasn’t really necessary. Most of the movie is nothing more than broken bones and fight scenes. Which tony jaa ultimately won…. Although what only seemed like a close call. If you want to read more about this movie, read teds blog. Orientalblunderblog.blogspot.com. He found it far cooler, and far less gross than I did.)
It was because of Pi that I even learned that the sexy lady with the unusually deep voice (not super deep… it was like… tracy chapman deep) and large hands who was out to get Tony Jaa even was a lady boy.
“You’re sure?” We kept asking her “Yes.” She said, as matter of factly as possible. “She is lady boy.” (Pi also told us lots of interesting things about the perceptions of elephants in Asia. All I remember is that in China its good luck if you cover an elephant skeleton in gold…. Or maybe that was just the movie. Who knows.)
So yah. Today I ask Pi about lady boys in Thailand. And this is what I find out: (I’m going write this out as close as to how I remember Pi telling me, because I don’t want to translate something wrong… and… idk. I feel like it might explain things better. Also- just for a disclaimer here: I am writing what I can remember as best as I can. Granted, I had this conversation earlier today- but little details might be different. Keep in mind too that most English -speaking -Thai’s seem to understand apx ½ of what I’m saying. Although Pi Am speaks really good English, so I don’t think that was a problem here)
“There have always been lady boys. As long as I can remember. The family always know if their son was lady boy, because when he little, he always want to wear dresses, and hair clips- you know- but except he is boy. But for a long time, it wasn’t good. Especially if your oldest or only son was lady boy. Because then- the family cant pass on things, because son is not man, but is woman. But then, lady boys collect together, and they fight, and they say “we are people,” and then things start to change.”
Me: “What about public portrayal of lady boys? I see them every where…. Even on T.V”
Pi AM. “Yah. That start because of Ms. Tiffany. Is beauty contest… like Ms America- only for lady boys. It start, like… maybe 10 years ago I think, and then people like lady boys, and they are everywhere.”
Me: Does everyone watch Ms. Tiffany? Or only Lady Boys? Do children? Adults? Parents
Pi Am: Yah, everybody. I watch when I was a kid. This I think, was the start of all the lady boys on all the TV. There are also very famous lady boys that are actress. they are just like women. Are very famous, everyone think they are very pretty. Very rich. Everyone like them.
Me: What about women who want to be men? Are they here too?
Pi Am: *Snickers” Yah they here too. They are called Tom. Here, there are two kinds of Tom. There is Tom like a style, and there is Tom like a woman who wants to be boy. You tell the difference. If it is Tom like a style, she has, you know, makeup, and fashion, and short spiky hair. If it is Tom, like a boy- she look and dress in baggy shirt like man.
Me: Is it acceptable to be Tom? Lady Boy?
Pi: Yah yah yah. But not with old people. But I have friends that are tom, that are lady boy. You go to bar- and all the girls that work at the bar- they are all lady boy. This often confuse many farang - you be careful! (she said this sort of glancing at a group of guys in the circle that were ½ listening ½ talking amongst themselves.)
Me: What about, if you had a girl who dates a Tom. Is that ok?
Pi: Yah. Then she is Dee. There are girls who are lesbian- you know this? Lesbian-she like other girls, but then there are girls who are dee. This is girl who only like Toms. They say it is better, because they don’t like the look of woman, but it is better to date some one woman because much easier for woman and dee to understand each other than woman and thai man- Kao Jai? (understand?)
And sometimes a woman is Tom, and she is a man- but only for a little bit. She decide to be man for a little bit, and then she go get married, and be woman, and this is ok.
“Ahh. We have some thing like this in America- where sometimes girls are lesbians for a little while, and then become strait.”
“Yah. And you have bisexual in America too. We have Bisexual here- but it new. Bisexual come way after lesbian and lady boy and tom and dee. We think it much more strange to be bisexual.
And is ok for man to date tom, but can’t get married- you know? (I Think I remember this italisized section right. But I might be wrong here.)”
“Is it ok for Thai men to date lady boys? Is there a dee for men?”
*Giggles * “No, no, no, no. they don’t do that. If a man date a lady boy than his friends will make fun of him , say he is whimpy- you know? There are some men who date the ladyboy, but if they do- is big deal. Is weird. The only time a man sleep with lady boy is by accident. Like, sometimes you know, he gets drunk at the bar, and he bring the girl home. And then the bell man see him and the lady boy. And then the next day, he get drunk again, and he bring home real girl this time, and the bell man ask him- hey? Who you like? Girl or lady boy? Because you bring home lady boy yesterday! And the man he say- I did?, and then he is embarrassed.
“Who do lady boys like then? Only the man? Other lady boys? Gay men? Strait women?” I asked, trying to more or less figure out – do these people’s sex lives consist of tricking drunk men at bars into sleeping with them? Are most of them celibate? Promiscuous? What?
“No,” Pi said, “Is hard, because the lady boy- she only like strait men. But the strait man don’t like lady boy. And is not ok to get married, have long relationship- nothing like that. Only in bars. Except for the famous actress lady boys. With them is different. With them- you are lucky if they are your girlfriend.”
“Dude, this is confusing” some one said from the crowd. “Too many different combonations, I can’t keep it strait.
“It just mean that it hard, because everyone take all the men, and is hard to find boyfriend,” Pi then said with a giggle.
At that, I was out of further questions. A few minutes later, Pi brought over her computer, and showed me a picture of the most famous lady boy of all. The Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Lindsay Lohan, people magazine lady boy. Its true- she’s gorgeous. There were even pictures of her posing in her underwear. You never would have guessed.
(look up Miss Tiffany online if you want to see photos of the beauty pageant.)
This past weekend, I went to visit a temple on the mountain Doi Suket with my host family. To get there, you taxi up a long mountain road, and climb up a long flight of steps to get there, so you can pray in a variety of ornate rooms. The location to me seemed generally uninteresting- it seemed like the place had once been sacred, and then had been turned into a Giant Tourist Attraction (although mainly Thai tourists. There were a handful of farang- but it wasn’t packed to the brim with middle class anglo Saxons by any means) As a general rule, I find that Giant Tourist Attractions, with rare exception, tend to be incredibly boring. Vendors clustered the steps riding up to the temple, selling souveneirs to the many visitors. Inappropriately dressed Farang walked around looking serene (farang means foreigner…and guava- but that’s beside the point. Ever since I found out that the farang who dress with that dreadlock-tattoo-piercing-shower negligent -loose-clothing-shoulder showing- type of look are referred to as bird shit farang, I have felt particularly judgmental of the people who fit this description. I keep wanting to walk up to them and tell them to buy a new wardrobe, and invest in deodorant while their in Thailand, because Thai people think that the stinky hippie look is disgusting.), and rowdy crowds repeatedly took pictures infront of the temple. It all seemed pretty standard. Yawn.
There was one thing there though, that I found very interesting. Riddled throughout the crowd of Thai and farang visitors, were lady boys. Lots of them. Transgendered/ transsexual men (women?) - that walked around in skirts, long hair, full makeup, and long painted finger nails. They giggled more than anyone I’ve ever seen, and raised their voices to pitches that reminded me of helium.
In a way, they were kind of a spectacle- menwomen walking around, acting more feminine than anyone in the space put together. They were like Barbie. Only worse. And yet, at the same time, they were so common, that they were almost kind of normal. I couldn’t make sense of it.
While we were there, my host mom made a point of approaching these two lady boys that were loitering near by a gong. Lady boy 1 had long sleek hair, big brown eyes, and a blatant man voice. Lady boy 2 was probably the skinniest person I’ve ever seen in my life. She/he (?) was the width of a malnutritioned 6 year old. (yet strangely enough, I don’t think s/he was anorexic. Her joints didn’t pop out, and her torso looked muscular. But her waist was non existant!) S/he had chin length hair that was tied up in pig tails. And she spoke like Mickey Mouse. It was so high pitched that it drove me crazy- I kept wanting to shout at her “ You’re doing it wrong! Too high up! Its annoying! And your giving yourself away! You don’t want to be a cartoon character! Aahjajhfhjahhjahahahhhh!”
Mae (host mom) spoke to lady boys 1 and 2 in a very loud, annunciated voice. Like how you speak to someone who’s very nice, but just a little retarded. Or deaf. Or in a wheel chair. Or missing a limb. You’re friendly- but just way, way, way. Too. Friendly. They spoke in Thai, for a while, but it soon became clear that Mae wanted to teach lady boy 1 and 2 how to ring the gong. She held up the mallet, and demonstrated how to gong-ring by giving it a good solid thwack. She used both hands, and swung the mallet a little like a baseball bat.
“Ooooohhh!” Lady boy 2 cooed with amazement, he/her ridiculously highpitched voice emanating more than the gong did. The two of them flitted their hands towards their chins in a graceful girly fashion, and gossiped in each others ears. They moved like a pair of southern bells- minus the corsets, and plus some adams apples. With baby, dainty footsteps, the two tiptoed over to the gong. They giggled. Brought their hands to their chin. And lady boy one grabbed the fucking mallet in the most Victorian-era-dainty- fucking way possible. I don’t care what your gender is- you grab a mallet like the way s/he did- it is going to make me gag. Let me see if I can explain this to you.
S/he held it with maybe three of her fingers. Wrist limp, and splayed out to the world. When s/he tapped the gong, s/he bent down low on her knees, and tapped- and I mean tapped in the frailest way possible.
“Ding!” it went
“Ooohhh giggle giggle giggle” went lady boy 1 in return
“roll roll roll scoff scoff scoff wtf are you doing please hold that mallet act as if you’re an actual person and not a plastic doll dear lord “ went my brain.
“No no no no no no no” went Mae’s head, waving arms, and smirk. “ No.”
She gave another example. Took the mallet. Two hands. Solid thwack. Goooonngggg.
This time, Mickey Mouse came up and gave it a shot, only to repeat the same mistake. I rolled my eyes again, and wandered off to look at the people crowding over the shoe lockers in the far east corner.
I couldn’t make sense of the whole thing. Here I am, in a country where foreigners who wear dreadlocks, or even go so far as to show their shoulders are referred to as “bird shit” farang. It is inappropriate to dry your underwear in public (although not in my house, because “here, we are only women”), students will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS wear a uniform, and the notion of taking less than 2 showers a day is unfathomable. And yet there are lady boys everywhere. They sit in rows under signs that say “lady boy” down town, they appear in crowds at buddist temples, one continually pops up on my 6 year old host sister’s favorite tv show- right next to the bossy fat lady, and the rich and poor princesses competing for the protaganist prince’s attention. Tony Jaa- (the Thai Chuck Norris) ‘s most powerful archnemesis is a lady boy. To put this into a similar context- this is like Sauron, being a lady boy. Darth Vader- as a lady boy. Sherr Kahn… as a lady boy.
Today, I decided to ask Pi- one of the Thai staff at ISDSI about it. So far, Pi has gotten to know us the best out of all the ISDSI staff. Judging by her looks, she’s anywhere between the age of 15 and 28, but if I had to put my money on a number, I’d say its something over 22. I’m not quite sure what her specific job is, but she went with us to the fish thing last week, and we- the American students- immediately latched on to her. She’s that type of teacher helper that feels like your friend. She is so interesting- and she seems genuinely interested in getting to know us. Also- you ask her a question, and she gives you an essay for an answer. We received a full narration of the historical and social contexts – along with a translation- to the tony Jaa movie I mentioned ealier. (although a translation wasn’t really necessary. Most of the movie is nothing more than broken bones and fight scenes. Which tony jaa ultimately won…. Although what only seemed like a close call. If you want to read more about this movie, read teds blog. Orientalblunderblog.blogspot.com. He found it far cooler, and far less gross than I did.)
It was because of Pi that I even learned that the sexy lady with the unusually deep voice (not super deep… it was like… tracy chapman deep) and large hands who was out to get Tony Jaa even was a lady boy.
“You’re sure?” We kept asking her “Yes.” She said, as matter of factly as possible. “She is lady boy.” (Pi also told us lots of interesting things about the perceptions of elephants in Asia. All I remember is that in China its good luck if you cover an elephant skeleton in gold…. Or maybe that was just the movie. Who knows.)
So yah. Today I ask Pi about lady boys in Thailand. And this is what I find out: (I’m going write this out as close as to how I remember Pi telling me, because I don’t want to translate something wrong… and… idk. I feel like it might explain things better. Also- just for a disclaimer here: I am writing what I can remember as best as I can. Granted, I had this conversation earlier today- but little details might be different. Keep in mind too that most English -speaking -Thai’s seem to understand apx ½ of what I’m saying. Although Pi Am speaks really good English, so I don’t think that was a problem here)
“There have always been lady boys. As long as I can remember. The family always know if their son was lady boy, because when he little, he always want to wear dresses, and hair clips- you know- but except he is boy. But for a long time, it wasn’t good. Especially if your oldest or only son was lady boy. Because then- the family cant pass on things, because son is not man, but is woman. But then, lady boys collect together, and they fight, and they say “we are people,” and then things start to change.”
Me: “What about public portrayal of lady boys? I see them every where…. Even on T.V”
Pi AM. “Yah. That start because of Ms. Tiffany. Is beauty contest… like Ms America- only for lady boys. It start, like… maybe 10 years ago I think, and then people like lady boys, and they are everywhere.”
Me: Does everyone watch Ms. Tiffany? Or only Lady Boys? Do children? Adults? Parents
Pi Am: Yah, everybody. I watch when I was a kid. This I think, was the start of all the lady boys on all the TV. There are also very famous lady boys that are actress. they are just like women. Are very famous, everyone think they are very pretty. Very rich. Everyone like them.
Me: What about women who want to be men? Are they here too?
Pi Am: *Snickers” Yah they here too. They are called Tom. Here, there are two kinds of Tom. There is Tom like a style, and there is Tom like a woman who wants to be boy. You tell the difference. If it is Tom like a style, she has, you know, makeup, and fashion, and short spiky hair. If it is Tom, like a boy- she look and dress in baggy shirt like man.
Me: Is it acceptable to be Tom? Lady Boy?
Pi: Yah yah yah. But not with old people. But I have friends that are tom, that are lady boy. You go to bar- and all the girls that work at the bar- they are all lady boy. This often confuse many farang - you be careful! (she said this sort of glancing at a group of guys in the circle that were ½ listening ½ talking amongst themselves.)
Me: What about, if you had a girl who dates a Tom. Is that ok?
Pi: Yah. Then she is Dee. There are girls who are lesbian- you know this? Lesbian-she like other girls, but then there are girls who are dee. This is girl who only like Toms. They say it is better, because they don’t like the look of woman, but it is better to date some one woman because much easier for woman and dee to understand each other than woman and thai man- Kao Jai? (understand?)
And sometimes a woman is Tom, and she is a man- but only for a little bit. She decide to be man for a little bit, and then she go get married, and be woman, and this is ok.
“Ahh. We have some thing like this in America- where sometimes girls are lesbians for a little while, and then become strait.”
“Yah. And you have bisexual in America too. We have Bisexual here- but it new. Bisexual come way after lesbian and lady boy and tom and dee. We think it much more strange to be bisexual.
And is ok for man to date tom, but can’t get married- you know? (I Think I remember this italisized section right. But I might be wrong here.)”
“Is it ok for Thai men to date lady boys? Is there a dee for men?”
*Giggles * “No, no, no, no. they don’t do that. If a man date a lady boy than his friends will make fun of him , say he is whimpy- you know? There are some men who date the ladyboy, but if they do- is big deal. Is weird. The only time a man sleep with lady boy is by accident. Like, sometimes you know, he gets drunk at the bar, and he bring the girl home. And then the bell man see him and the lady boy. And then the next day, he get drunk again, and he bring home real girl this time, and the bell man ask him- hey? Who you like? Girl or lady boy? Because you bring home lady boy yesterday! And the man he say- I did?, and then he is embarrassed.
“Who do lady boys like then? Only the man? Other lady boys? Gay men? Strait women?” I asked, trying to more or less figure out – do these people’s sex lives consist of tricking drunk men at bars into sleeping with them? Are most of them celibate? Promiscuous? What?
“No,” Pi said, “Is hard, because the lady boy- she only like strait men. But the strait man don’t like lady boy. And is not ok to get married, have long relationship- nothing like that. Only in bars. Except for the famous actress lady boys. With them is different. With them- you are lucky if they are your girlfriend.”
“Dude, this is confusing” some one said from the crowd. “Too many different combonations, I can’t keep it strait.
“It just mean that it hard, because everyone take all the men, and is hard to find boyfriend,” Pi then said with a giggle.
At that, I was out of further questions. A few minutes later, Pi brought over her computer, and showed me a picture of the most famous lady boy of all. The Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Lindsay Lohan, people magazine lady boy. Its true- she’s gorgeous. There were even pictures of her posing in her underwear. You never would have guessed.
(look up Miss Tiffany online if you want to see photos of the beauty pageant.)
Sunday, August 29, 2010
FIsh Farm
Well, here I am in Thailand, writing a blog to save and post later on as fast as I can, as my computer’s unrechargable until I can find a plug converter) battery slowly drains away. It currently has 20% power left…. Which gives me? A half an hour? Probably more…. We’ll see.
Blahhhh… soo much to write about.not enough time. Lets see if I can get it all down.
We went on a field trip to a tilapia fish farm the other day, where, instead of merely looking at the fish ponds and dully taking pictures of them, we actually helped farm the fish. The entire process and ideas behind the practice were really interesting.
It felt exactly like an episode on dirty jobs. I spent the day hip deep in muddy tilapia ponds, giggling with excitement as I helped drag nets across some very murky water to help gather fish. You do this systematically— lined in a row, helping drag a net that spans the length of the entire fish pond across the bottom of the pool . This way, you are able to collect as many fish as you can with out leaving room for escape.
The water in the ponds is about as deep as your hip, but when you’re helping drag a net, you crouch till its up to your neck. Your hands hold a lead wire, and you do your best to scrape it across the bottom of the pond. By the time you’ve reached the end of the lake, the net is vibrating with tilapia that are struggling to escape. They unexpectedly will leap out of the water, hoping to leap out of the net that’s surrounded them. At one point in time, a fish swam up my leg and leaped into my arm pit. I squealed, along with the people around me.
At the end of the lake, you lift your arms up from the water. All the girls arms look awkwardly manly there is sludge that has stuck to your arm hair. A million fine little hairs, all stained black all over. I never realized that I had hair on my fingers until the other day.
None of the fish that I gathered in the net that day were ready to be eaten. They weren’t big enough. Instead, we merely transferred the fish we caught in to another pool, where they would have enough space to grow until they were large enough to eat.
The main idea behind the fish farm revolves around maintaining the populations of fish inside the various ponds, so the fish are able to grow to a size big enough to sell for a decent amount of money. By sweeping the nets across the lake and gathering we were able to control the fish population in the lake to keep the area under control. We were also able to preserve the pond we had; if too many tilapia stayed in it, they would ultimately eat away all the resources until the pond was leached of its nutrients.
Other types of fish live in the pond as well, to help maintain a healthy ecosystem with in it. There were karp. Huge Karp. They were beautiful. For all you art nerds reading this out there- a combonation of deep and bright cadmium yellows, mixed with a little bit of ochre on the edges of the scales. Exactly like a giant, fat luminescent, goldfish. One of them was filled with eggs. She looked like a globe with gills and a head.
Also harvested fish eggs. You catch fish, and pry open their mouths. If they have eggs- they will barf –(seriously – they really barf it) up oodles of these tiny little yellow dots (Color: light cadmium yellow, white, and maybe a pinch of ochre and ultramarine blue to make it look a little brownish green in the shadowed sections) all over the place. When your fish starts to puke, you hold it over a net, and collect the eggs as quick as you can. Ted found a fish that puked. I was jealous. I myself, had enough trouble merely figuring out how to hold them properly before they slipped away from my hands.
Blahhhh… soo much to write about.not enough time. Lets see if I can get it all down.
We went on a field trip to a tilapia fish farm the other day, where, instead of merely looking at the fish ponds and dully taking pictures of them, we actually helped farm the fish. The entire process and ideas behind the practice were really interesting.
It felt exactly like an episode on dirty jobs. I spent the day hip deep in muddy tilapia ponds, giggling with excitement as I helped drag nets across some very murky water to help gather fish. You do this systematically— lined in a row, helping drag a net that spans the length of the entire fish pond across the bottom of the pool . This way, you are able to collect as many fish as you can with out leaving room for escape.
The water in the ponds is about as deep as your hip, but when you’re helping drag a net, you crouch till its up to your neck. Your hands hold a lead wire, and you do your best to scrape it across the bottom of the pond. By the time you’ve reached the end of the lake, the net is vibrating with tilapia that are struggling to escape. They unexpectedly will leap out of the water, hoping to leap out of the net that’s surrounded them. At one point in time, a fish swam up my leg and leaped into my arm pit. I squealed, along with the people around me.
At the end of the lake, you lift your arms up from the water. All the girls arms look awkwardly manly there is sludge that has stuck to your arm hair. A million fine little hairs, all stained black all over. I never realized that I had hair on my fingers until the other day.
None of the fish that I gathered in the net that day were ready to be eaten. They weren’t big enough. Instead, we merely transferred the fish we caught in to another pool, where they would have enough space to grow until they were large enough to eat.
The main idea behind the fish farm revolves around maintaining the populations of fish inside the various ponds, so the fish are able to grow to a size big enough to sell for a decent amount of money. By sweeping the nets across the lake and gathering we were able to control the fish population in the lake to keep the area under control. We were also able to preserve the pond we had; if too many tilapia stayed in it, they would ultimately eat away all the resources until the pond was leached of its nutrients.
Other types of fish live in the pond as well, to help maintain a healthy ecosystem with in it. There were karp. Huge Karp. They were beautiful. For all you art nerds reading this out there- a combonation of deep and bright cadmium yellows, mixed with a little bit of ochre on the edges of the scales. Exactly like a giant, fat luminescent, goldfish. One of them was filled with eggs. She looked like a globe with gills and a head.
Also harvested fish eggs. You catch fish, and pry open their mouths. If they have eggs- they will barf –(seriously – they really barf it) up oodles of these tiny little yellow dots (Color: light cadmium yellow, white, and maybe a pinch of ochre and ultramarine blue to make it look a little brownish green in the shadowed sections) all over the place. When your fish starts to puke, you hold it over a net, and collect the eggs as quick as you can. Ted found a fish that puked. I was jealous. I myself, had enough trouble merely figuring out how to hold them properly before they slipped away from my hands.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Strange New Things
Oooooffff..... It seems to be harder to keep up with this blog thing than I expected. I've been meaning to write out something all thoughtful and good and edited and such- but it doesn't seem as if that is going to happen any time soon, so I guess I'll just type up somehting quick for now.
Spent the weekend with my host family. I am living with a chain of women. There is grandma-who I'm supposed to call Mom, (she's like 55 I think.. around my parents age...) and Pi Ahn (the pi part means older sister... in Thailand you adress everyone as if they were a family member. So anyone slightly older than me I will adress with a Pi infront of there name.... any one younger than me I will adress with a Lom, for younger sister/brother, infront of it. I think I'm supposed to adress all the non pi/lom folk as uncle or aunt.... but I haven't learned the word for that, so for now I just smile and nod...), and then Ahn's daughter Shaw. there are also Host mom's parents, who are old, live next door, and tend to appear in the house from time to time. Great Grandpa likes to wander in the house from time to time, and read the newspaper on the floor.
I have eaten, seen, and smelled the strangest foods here. Those of you who know me understand that the fact that I'm saying this means a lot. Thai markets are probably the coolest things ever. Everytime you turn your head, you see something new. Yesterday, walking down the street- I turned my head and saw a pigs head sitting flat on the table of a pork vendor, right next to a clothing store. (there were flies. It stared at me. I stared back. And longed for a camera.) Markets are filled with the strangest looking fruits. fruits I thought could never exist. My family bought a huge bag of these strange things that are red with a zillion stringy lime green spikes coming out of it.Its this wieerd fruit, and I can't pronounce the name of it for the life of me. All I know is its title sounds a little bit like the sound of my cat when she's trying not to barf. But the fruit tastes wonderful. the bright red/ stringy green part is this waxy harder shell. You cut it open with a knife, and it reveals this whiteish clear intrior, thats sort of the shape of an egg. Kind of the color of a pupa or something... not to gross all you out or anything. Anyways. Its waxy, juicy, a little rubbery, and tastes sort of like a strawberry.
There's anouther GIANT spiky fruit that I tried that has a really creamy interior- like cool whip. A great texture. Unfortunatly, it tasted like a strange mixture of vanilla and garlic. peculiar... interesting... but lets just say its not my thing.
I ate cubed pigs blood in a soup the other day. And I'm pretty sure those funny wiggley things were intestines.
Moments between thai class consist of a flurry of exclamations concerning the peculiar things we have eaten, seen, heard, and have been asked to do.
A girl in my class was telling me today how her host parents enthusiastically dug out a thai-english dictionary, so they could tell her that she was eating pancreas.
Pancreas.... I wonder how that tastes. Or maybe I already know with out knowing it yet.
Soooo.... we had our first physical fitness test today. and I had a massive asthma attack. Asthma- this new thing I seem to have developed, which I'd hoped was only a result of me moving from Michigan back to Colorado. HA.HA.HA. I was wrong. Day one of our lovely physical fitness training- where we sprinted all of 200 meters, and I sound like a squeeky toy from petsmart. Lovely, just Lovely.
On that note- I have agreed to go on a bike ride to a hotsprings this weekend! Up hill! With my neighboorhood's competitive bike team! I'm So excited!!!!!!!!! I'm Not Being Sarcastic here!!!!! I can't wait!!!!!! It's 60 km, but that can't be as long as the kal-haven bike trail- and Kaitlin and I powered through 20 miles of that in the rain on a shitty ass bike made for small children. So I think I got this covered. Plus, 55 year old host mom is going, and Pi Ahn- host moms daughter- is going to drive next to us the whole time( to watch us struggle? make sure I'm safe? i don't know) they're gonna try and get me a team shirt. I'm pumped.
Spent the weekend with my host family. I am living with a chain of women. There is grandma-who I'm supposed to call Mom, (she's like 55 I think.. around my parents age...) and Pi Ahn (the pi part means older sister... in Thailand you adress everyone as if they were a family member. So anyone slightly older than me I will adress with a Pi infront of there name.... any one younger than me I will adress with a Lom, for younger sister/brother, infront of it. I think I'm supposed to adress all the non pi/lom folk as uncle or aunt.... but I haven't learned the word for that, so for now I just smile and nod...), and then Ahn's daughter Shaw. there are also Host mom's parents, who are old, live next door, and tend to appear in the house from time to time. Great Grandpa likes to wander in the house from time to time, and read the newspaper on the floor.
I have eaten, seen, and smelled the strangest foods here. Those of you who know me understand that the fact that I'm saying this means a lot. Thai markets are probably the coolest things ever. Everytime you turn your head, you see something new. Yesterday, walking down the street- I turned my head and saw a pigs head sitting flat on the table of a pork vendor, right next to a clothing store. (there were flies. It stared at me. I stared back. And longed for a camera.) Markets are filled with the strangest looking fruits. fruits I thought could never exist. My family bought a huge bag of these strange things that are red with a zillion stringy lime green spikes coming out of it.Its this wieerd fruit, and I can't pronounce the name of it for the life of me. All I know is its title sounds a little bit like the sound of my cat when she's trying not to barf. But the fruit tastes wonderful. the bright red/ stringy green part is this waxy harder shell. You cut it open with a knife, and it reveals this whiteish clear intrior, thats sort of the shape of an egg. Kind of the color of a pupa or something... not to gross all you out or anything. Anyways. Its waxy, juicy, a little rubbery, and tastes sort of like a strawberry.
There's anouther GIANT spiky fruit that I tried that has a really creamy interior- like cool whip. A great texture. Unfortunatly, it tasted like a strange mixture of vanilla and garlic. peculiar... interesting... but lets just say its not my thing.
I ate cubed pigs blood in a soup the other day. And I'm pretty sure those funny wiggley things were intestines.
Moments between thai class consist of a flurry of exclamations concerning the peculiar things we have eaten, seen, heard, and have been asked to do.
A girl in my class was telling me today how her host parents enthusiastically dug out a thai-english dictionary, so they could tell her that she was eating pancreas.
Pancreas.... I wonder how that tastes. Or maybe I already know with out knowing it yet.
Soooo.... we had our first physical fitness test today. and I had a massive asthma attack. Asthma- this new thing I seem to have developed, which I'd hoped was only a result of me moving from Michigan back to Colorado. HA.HA.HA. I was wrong. Day one of our lovely physical fitness training- where we sprinted all of 200 meters, and I sound like a squeeky toy from petsmart. Lovely, just Lovely.
On that note- I have agreed to go on a bike ride to a hotsprings this weekend! Up hill! With my neighboorhood's competitive bike team! I'm So excited!!!!!!!!! I'm Not Being Sarcastic here!!!!! I can't wait!!!!!! It's 60 km, but that can't be as long as the kal-haven bike trail- and Kaitlin and I powered through 20 miles of that in the rain on a shitty ass bike made for small children. So I think I got this covered. Plus, 55 year old host mom is going, and Pi Ahn- host moms daughter- is going to drive next to us the whole time( to watch us struggle? make sure I'm safe? i don't know) they're gonna try and get me a team shirt. I'm pumped.
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