The simple life

I wake up at 6am and chill in bed enjoying the "cool" air of my fan and listen to the day begin outside my window.  I hear my mom and dad yelling to one another across the yard and my little brother getting ready for school.  At about 6:15 you hear the drone of a man's voice escaping his truck through a loud speaker announcing the produce that he is carrying today.  If I get up early enough, I can see my village descending upon this said truck as he stops in front of my house.  Dogs bark, motorcycles drive noisily by, and the morning has officially begun.  I have grown to love the simpleness of my village, my tambon, my second family.  I have a routine that gives me the freedom to relax and take a moment to myself.  The pressure that America forces on you is not here. I took a moment yesterday as I was biking home to just stop on the side of the road next to the rice patties.  I closed my eyes and just took a breath and listened.  Water was flowing down the river, birds wings flapped as the skimmed the tops of the plants, and the smell of the wildlife, plants, and flowers was calming and surreal.  This is my life. 

In just a few short weeks (2), I will be thrown out of this new life, into another one that I have to create again from scratch.  A new family, new friends (none of them American), and a new job.  I will no longer be a trainee; I will be working for the SAO office of my tessaban to help better the community.  I will admit, when I first heard of where I was headed, I was not happy.  There really is not much to do out in Bangrakam within biking distance or a simple Song Taow ride.  I visited my new home this last week, and it turns out that I was right.  But, I didn't take into account of what I am really here for and the new people that I will meet.  The people that I will be working with seem amazing.  They took me on a tour of the tambon (in an air-conditioned van - yay!) and my new mom has already told EVERYONE that I am her new daughter.  I am excited to see where my new permanent home will be in the future, but my next home stay looks like it will be a lot of fun.  There are a few people in the village that speak pretty good English, including some of my counterparts, and I met a few women around my age that seem like they will be a lot of fun to hang out with.

So, each morning I was there, my mom dropped me off at the pre-school.  The kids are absolutely adorable!  Each morning they are responsible for rolling up their bed roll and hanging up their pajamas to teach them about cleanliness and responsibility.  Then, they line up and hand the teacher between 5-10 baht.  The pre-schoolers are learning to save money.  The teachers hold onto the money until the end of the term and then they give some of it back to help the students purchase new uniforms.  At schools in Thailand, the students all line up outside at the beginning of the morning and sing the National Anthem and do prayers.  They also do morning exercises.  I have been involved in this once (I looked hilarious - I will try to find a picture) and got to watch the pre=schoolers do their morning routine. CUTE!  I will see if maybe I can video tape it sometime.

Since coming home from my trip (first to Bangkok - so fun, then to visit another volunteer - super cool, and then my new site), I have been absolutely exhausted.  I cannot get enough sleep to save my life.  Next Saturday I have my official language test, so language classes are grueling and I think that the idea that training is almost over just has let me realize how tired I really am all of the time.  I am hoping to get a few days at my new site where I can just relax and catch up on some zzz's.  Its getting to be the hot season though, so we will see how that goes.  Showers will be taken often.


I have discovered that Thai people really don't like to walk.  Maybe its because of the heat, but I am not sure.  It seems like they want to jump in a car or on a motorcycle to go somewhere that would be a 2 minute walk.  I find it strange, but it occurs all over the country.  Just thought I would throw that out there - that is my Thai culture for the day.

Anyways, life is still good.  One more week of training, then a week of prepping for site and I'm starting my new job...crazy.  I have been in Thailand for 2 months know.  Sometimes I feel like I have been here much longer, sometimes, it feels like I got here yesterday.  Day to day my experience and the people show me something new and exciting (sometimes gross or scary) and I feel lucky to finally have been able to make it into PC after 2 years of waiting.