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I’ve been in Thailand for 3 months. I’m almost done, and will be coming home in 24 months for those that are asking. Let me update you on the past few months:
Continued my intensive language training in Suphanburi
Finished out the insanity that was Pre-Service Training
Had a tearful goodbye with my host family in Suphanburi
Swore in as an official Peace Corps Thailand volunteer
Turned the big two-five!
Moved to my permanent site in Udon Thani, Thailand!
Began the process of integration into my new community!
HERE IS WHERE I LIVE NOW:
Udon Thani is one of the four great cities of Isan. What the heck is Isan? Let me explain.
Thailand has 6 Regions. Bangkok is its own region because the population is 90 bajillion people. Just kidding, Bangkok’s population (and surrounding metropolitan areas) is estimated to be 14.5 million human beans.
I live in the region of Isan. Population 22.4 million human beans!
Thailand has 77 Provinces (similar to states). Udon Thani is a province.
I’m so far up there I could basically bike to Laos!
School is closed right now, and many people are on vacation or are relaxing as April is hot as hell. Finding a start to sustainable projects is difficult. So I’m integrating! I ride around my community and have meals with neighbors, learn about the people that live here, and learn as much of the Isan dialect as I can! The real work will start the next few months.
It is interesting how fast we can adapt. I mean this universally, not just in Thailand. Once I believe that I am going to accept a situation, it becomes fairly easy to process and normalize the new circumstances. It could be the loss of a significant other, a job that is beneath you, estranging friends or family, immoderate noise, a dirty bathroom, etc. I am surprisingly, somehow, adapted to the norms of my new village. The smells, the food, the language, not understanding the language dialect completely, the trash, the smiles, the stares, the “How is it that you are from America if you have dark skin?” are all a part of the routine. In college, my professors would have called this sensory adaptation: A change over time in the responsiveness of the sensory system to a constant stimulus. THANKS PROFESSORS, HOW APPLICABLE! They were talking about it in more of a ‘sensory receptors attain diminished sensitivity’ kind of way, but let’s run with it anyway. I eat ants, and their unborn children on the daily. Raw shrimp jump from my spoon as I lift it to my mouth. I’m no longer bothered when someone who pet all four muddy dogs hands me a ball of sticky rice. Why bother asking what the papaya salad’s spice level is? I already know it’s too spicy. The tears trickle down my face and form a small pool at my chin. I’ll wipe them later because I know there are more coming. Efficiency. The frogs, the spiders, and the chickens that fall from the roof are all aspects of Thai life that are now customary.
For those that have messaged and asked, I am happy! Remember that “hard” is what you believe it is.
If you’re reading this I probably miss you. Send me mail, it is a JOY unlike any other to receive tangible love. We can be pen pals!
-Poonam
