some things

In honor of Father's Day, I've written a blog post.  It has nothing to do wtih my father (hi, dad! i love you! I miss you!), but he is without a doubt this blogs biggest support and advocate.  Horrah for dads!

Well, I've been here for eight-and-a-half months now (!!!!!), and I've finally hit the point where thoughts like "ugggh, if this were America..." have all but vanished.  When I was in Bangkok this weekend, though, walking up and down the aisles of the Siam Paragon grocery store (it's frankly unbelievable how many Western goods they have there), just gazing at condiments, I realized: there's no place like home.  I'll always find comfort in decidedly American things, I think.  And that's okay-- because I love Thailand, too!  Below you'll find some things I miss and some things I love.  I tried to keep this list pretty material-- friends, family, speaking English and other more obvious things have not been included-- as to avoid long, emotional tirades about both Thailand and the states.  Below, my top few things, in no particular order.


Some Things I Miss About America:

My car. 
It may be a politically incorrect gas guzzling machine, but I miss those smooth leather seats.

Watching TV on a TV, rather than a 13 inch computer screen.
 My eyes hurt.

Seasons.
Remind me why a girl with frizzy Jewish hair, a die-hard love for sweaters and very active sweat glands chose to live in a tropical climate?

Bagels and shmear
I never knew how much the Kenyon bookstore spoiled me.

Affordable wine
Not only is wine here insanely expensive, it's also insanely bad. Alas.


Affordable cheese
As you may have suspected, there arent too many wine-and-cheese nights happening over here.

Bookstores
My favorite city escapes have yet to find a suitable replacement.

Whole grains
The Thai belief that white is beautiful apparently also applies to their taste buds.


Fresh vegetables/salads
Sweetgreen, I long for you.

Yoga classes
Or any movement class that involves people telling me what to do.


Tank Tops
 Ah, bare shoulders in hot weather. Poor guys don't see much sun over here.

My home refridgerator on Saturdays and Sundays
Though my home fridge is always stocked-- I'd venture to say its the best refrigerator in the world-- its especially awesome on weekends, when its full of Shabbat dinner left-overs. My fridge here is poorly-stocked a mini fridge. Again-- alas.


Anonymity
Though I've gotten used to the stares, and the starers have largely gotten used to me,  I am still an absolute freak here.  I was at a som tom shop down the street a few weeks ago, and overheard two older woman-- who were complete and utter strangers, as far as I knew-- talking about me in Thai.  They knew where I lived and where I taught. Creepy? Juust a little.


Some Things I Love About Thailand:

The country-wide obsession with food
 Instead of saying, "what's up?" or "how's it going?" you say "gin kao?" ( literally, "have you eaten rice yet?").  It's like living in a land full of Jewish mothers: nothing makes people here happier than when you eat.

 The lack of sterility
Though this is also sort of disgusting at times, I have to say that it's pretty awesome to walk into a run down shop and chow down on delicious food.  It has made me realize how scared Americans are of... everything.  Lets ignore the fact that I have gotten food poisoning three times over since last October.


Lateness
Everyone here is always late. Always. I've moved to the right place.


"Teacher, beautiful!"
I am told at least five times a day that I am beautiful.  No, my students don't know how to say anything else.  Yes, I'm going to choose to believe they really think that, anyway.

Availability of hot dogs
Thai people love hot dogs.  Hot dogs are literally in and on everything you can imagine-- pretzels, pizza crusts, sticks, plastic bags.  I dont really like hot dogs all that much, but it's a pretty hilarious nation-wide love affair.

Smiles
Turns out that "the land of smiles" isn't just an hyperbolic expression made up the the Thai bureau of tourism.

Chai Yenn
Thai iced tea. YUM.

Noodles
There are what seems like a billion different types of noodles and ways to cook them. It is.. awesome.

The heat
... in the food.

The fruit
Fruit here tastes like someone took a syringe and injected sugar in it. It's always fresh and always really cheap-- I'm talking 75 cents for a whole watermelon.

Thai kisses
Though I am yet to receive one (sigh),  Thai kisses are perhaps the sweetest of all kissing varieties Sorry, Eskimo and butterfly.  They involve a press of the lips and a gentle inhale--no smack, just a little wiff of the person you love.

The abundance of ice
Most Thai desserts have ice in them; beer is sipped with ice; there's a shop down my street that makes and sells only ice. Yes, it's everywhere, yes, it's bad for your molars, and yes, it's perfect in this weather.

Pay-it-forward mentality
The tit-for-tat mentality just doesn't really exist here. As long as you give, you can take-- and people give a lot.



America, I miss you. Thailand, I don't miss you... yet.

Love
Anna

Apparently I'm not great a keeping up a blog.

After two weeks of orientation at Chulalongkorn University, I feel certain about one thing, and one thing only: Thailand is an unbelievably complex and complicated place. Though we’ve spent six hours a day, five days a week studying the country’s culture, history, and customs, I feel increasingly confused… especially when it comes to the language. Thai is a tonal, so the pitch and tone (rising, falling, middle, low or high) in which the word is spoken can potentially change it’s entire meaning. A small taste:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nlw4NJdnNE

Get it? Me neither.

How about telling time in Thailand? Here's a picture from class today.

Pretty clear right? Hahaha, funny joke. Did you know that after 6 PM you call all of the numbers (7PM-11PM) 1,2,3 or 4? Turns out I'll always be on time in Thailand, because the concept of time doesn't really exist. Guess I chose the right country after all.

Then there’s the political history, the gender norms, the food— ohhh, my, my, that’s for another entry.

While my weekdays here are mostly spent in orientation or in my little neighborhood near Siam Square, I spent last weekend doing some sightseeing around the city. After a week of noodles and rice, we decided on Friday night to hunt down some good, old-fashioned pizza. We found a “delicious American pizza place” online (never, ever do this), and hopped in a cab to Sukumvit Soi 26/1 (the streets here are named by number, so 26/1 is the name of a street off of Sukumvit Road)… only to find once we arrived that 26/1 does not exist, and 26 is an entire street of happy ending massage parlours (Angel Massage? White Lady Massage? Happy Massage? Hmmm…). Alas, we settled on a Japanese restaurant around the corner where at least six people were waiting on us at any given time—we may or may not have been the only farang (foreigners) ever to enter the building.

On Saturday we went to JJ market, an enormous, must-see market in downtown Bangkok. They have literally everything you can possibly imagine: food, animals, clothing, furniture, strobe lights, thrift stores, jewelry... on and on and on! It's a crazy place, with an awesome mix of tourists, Thai hipsters, performers, and other assorted characters.

On Sunday a friend from college was in town (he has been teaching outside of Chaing Mai for the past year), and he served as an excellent tour guide in Chinatown, around the downtown canals and at the Golden Mount. He speaks Thai brilliantly, giving me hope and making me realize how far I have to go before I’ll be able to complete a sentence. It was great to see a familiar face, though, and bowling that night was a fantastic end to a weekend.

More on my homestay weekend soon-- really, really this time!

Miss you all!!!!

Anna

it's hot here

The first few days in Thailand have been a whirlwind of strange smells, nerves, chili peppers, tuk-tuks and saffron colored robes. The heat here is utterly enveloping, putting me in what seems like a semi-permanent state of sleepiness and sweatiness. Despite this, I have been seriously enjoying the five sense stimulation that has been a constant since I arrived 3 days ago (a fantastic constrast to the body-stiffening, mind-numbing 30 hour trip over here). I often find myself reeling from smell of frying fish, the sound of whizzing motorbikes, the sight of bumper-to-bumper traffic, the taste of something either sweeter or spicier than I thought imaginable and the feel of the pregnant air-- all simultaneously. I'm trying to enjoy every minute and soak up the (admitedly) overwhelming life here in bustling Bangkok before I depart for my little town of Warin Chamrap on November 2.

A day-by-day, play-by-play to come tomorrow. A few pictures until then!


No resume required.


Who says you can't get everything you want in Bangkok?


First tuk-tuk ride!


Love
Anna

I really need to learn some Thai.

Hello from Thailand! Visual proof I made it here in one piece, and with a good friend in tow.

More to come tomorrow. Until then--

I miss you all!

Love
Anna