Homestays and roommates

My first homestay was only for one night. We drove out from the resort to a remote village in a National Park. Their were homes on stilts, palm trees and a serious mountain peak backdrop that cannot possibly be described. The villagers had been living on the land illegally for generations, but it wasn't until the past 50 years that their status had been jeopardized. The community is entirely self-sustainable and all of their food is organically grown.

Immediately after getting off the bus we were led to a clay structure that is used as a communal building for the village. We were fed with big bundles of bananas and tamarind. The bananas come small and sweet, nothing like the ones in the states. Tamarind is in pod form, kind of like big brown and oddly hard on the outside snow peas. You crack them open and pull off the veiny strands attached to to the nut. The fruit part is the gummy exterior around it. Very delicious.

After a brief ceremony I was led to what could be called a house, but for the mosty part was just a floor and three walls on stilts. There were two curtained off "rooms" on both sides and in the middle was a mat where Jenny and I slept (with mosquito netting around it of course at night). I managed to avoid the infamous "abnam" commands with my limited Thai. Jenny on the other hand bravely went for the ultimate shower experience.

The kitchen was outside and the woman of the family were set to work preparing for the communal dinner we would be sharing that night. I found myself seated on a wooden platform with four other woman removing the stems from hundreds of preek (chilis), tomatoes and shelling garlic. The food experience I had in that village has yet to be repeated. Morning glory with garlic, sticky rice cooked in fried egg. It's enough to make anyone shun electricity. And apparently all the men were fed whiskey - not a bad deal.

The next day we hiked through a bamboo forest to a cave. The cave had no pathways, it was slippery and terrifying and I may or may not have suffered from a nervous breakdown but it was beautiful and totally worth it. Also I shouldn't have worn flip flops.

After all that we finally made it to Khon Kaen where my apartment is and where I go to class. My roommate, Ying, is a business english major. She's fluent and has also been a Thai teacher for foreigners. She's like a personal translator and tutor all at once. She's my age and has already written two books. Her second one comes out in March.

Her cousin picked us up to go to a club called Rad in downtown Khon Kaen where we proceeded to drink an entire bottle of Johnnie Walker. Because in Thailand people don't order drinks, they order bottles. A Thai ska band covered Rhianna's Umbrella. Definitely a moment not to be missed.

Sahwahdeekah!

Things have been pretty hectic since I first got to Thailand mid January. CIEE has the 30 of us students jumping from place to place every couple of days. I've already stayed at a hotel in Bangkok, a resort in the Loie province of Northern Thailand, an illegal forest community in a national park, a homestay in Khon Kaen and an apartment at KKU.

To begin, contrary to popular belief, Thailand is not completely void of Jews. The first thing I saw in Bangkok directly across from my apartment was a Chabad house. Apparently there's a pretty large Israeli tourist population buzzing around the city. Not to discount the fact that the Thai's I have met aren't aware there is a Jewish religion. The translation books only account for Muslims, Christians and Buddhists around here.

Bangkok was very very touristy. I went to the National Museum and the Grand Palace, drank the juice straight out of a coconut, danced in the red light district, bought some fisherman pants - standard tourist fare.
After Bangkok we headed up to the Loie province to stay at a fancy schmancy resort. Our bus was decorated entirely in purple, complete with a plush ceiling and a wrap around couch and champagne table in the back. Perfect for an 8 hour bus ride towards the Laos border.

To your left would be the view from my balcony. Not to say we stayed in complete luxury. We definitely furthered the group process sleeping
two per bed. Every day I sat through four hours of Thai and another god knows how many hours of orientation activity and group process.

The good news is I learned my Thai numbers via an ajaan led drinking game. And I won a sweet bag in Bingo that says "Love me, love my buffalo."

The first night at the resort about 9 of us were enjoying some typical Thai luxuries - Leo beer, when we heard music in the distance. It was only natural to pick up, hop a fence and follow the beat. It led us 15 minutes down the road to an outdoor party full of Thai's, karaoke, and unlimited free beer. If there was one word to describe Thai's it would have to be hospitable.

9 farang showed up to what I imaged was a private party that was wrapping up and were straight away given alcohol, a microphone and our choice of American pop music to entertain the whole lot with.
We did karaoke with the Mayor of the Loie province. He knew the Backstreet Boys.

Anyways I will write more later. Tonight a bunch of us are going to see KKU students perform West Side Story in English.