That's a Goodbye for Now

There are some of you who know by now that this will be my last travel blog for a little while.  Not only am I returning to the states, but I plan on staying there for a little while.  Thailand will be the last country on my "working abroad world tour."  That being said, many will ask, "Why now?"  Not only has Thailand treated me very well (you know you're in heaven when you have Thai massage parlors and cheap lattes on every street corner), but let's just say the situation in the states isn't really a proud one to return to.  You'd think, carrot and stick keeping this girl in Southeast Asia?  She'll never leave.  The truth is, that apart from just missing my freaking family (I'll be returning almost 3 years to the day since I left for Mexico in 2014) I feel a call to come "home" because of, not in spite of, the current climate.  That stick is made of peppermint.

I don't like peppermint.  I'm a spearmint kinda girl.  Blue vs green gum and I always go with green.  Every, single, time.  This is as far as I can take this analogy, but basically the bottom line is that, yeah I may not agree with what is happening in the country whose name is proudly etched into my passport, but that is precisely why I have to be there.  How do I expect my complaints to be taken seriously and my voice to be heard when they're calling weakly from the other side of the planet?  Who am I to just say, "This isn't the way things are supposed to be" and then just dip out when I could, arguably, help make the most difference?

Another way that I look at it is if someone I loved got sick, maybe I wouldn't be able to cure them, but I sure as hell would want to be there for them in any way that I could.  If that meant driving them to doctor's appointments or entertaining them, I would actively insert myself in their lives in a way that would bring them closer to recovery.  My country's got cancer and I'm gonna hold it's hand through chemo therapy and wig shopping.

There are people who don't believe their vote counts.  Often (maybe always) I think I might be one of them, especially after November even before there were accusations of election tampering.  Even my weird alternative method of influencing Presidential elections (drawing a portrait of the candidate I want to lose, thereby jinxing the one I want into winning) didn't work this time.  Maybe they're (we're) right.  But at the very least, with our vote, we buy our right to complain and make a stand.  That is how I kind of look at my ex-patriotism (the definition of this word being "the leaving of ones country to live abroad" NOT "the hatred of ones native land"; it took me many years to learn what that really meant).  Exercising my extremely privileged ability to flit about the earth is kind of like washing my hands of the States and maybe it's even like saying I agree with the way things are back "home."

Maybe none of that ^ is actually true.  Let's be honest, I've missed too many Irvington Halloween parties at this point, I'd probably be coming back no matter who won the election.  However, now I just feel the need to explain myself a bit.  Maybe that's not necessary, I know the majority of you are return readers and followed me while I was in Mexico, you could, therefore, not possibly be supporting the building of a racist monument-Berlin wall copycat.  You couldn't possibly.  Nevertheless, I feel the urge to share, perhaps to have you help keep me accountable for these promises that I'm making.

Although I prematurely alluded to this in my last blog post, consider this an official declaration: At the end of April, I will be attending a class that will certify me to medically interpret for Spanish-speaking immigrants in the US.  I hope that by focusing my job search on working with this population of people, I will be one more voice saying, "Not only is the US a place that welcomes immigrants, but there are people here who are prepared to love you no matter where you were born."  At this point in my life, I have received medical attention in my second language and while it was slightly frightening I spoke it well enough not to be overwhelmed entirely.  However, as you know from my last post I have also tried to receive medical attention here in Thailand where my language ability goes as far as to be able to order noodles in a restaurant.  Therefore, I appreciate the wash of relief that comes with encountering someone with a smile who speaks your language and is willing to make sure your health is their top priority.  I want to be responsible for that feeling in someone someday.

There is so much that I have to be thankful to Thailand for.  Pushing me out of my comport zone and teaching me the value of being able to entertain myself are just the beginning.  Living outside of the CZ and being alone while doing it make you able to rely on yourself even more which is the most important thing.  Is it cliche to say that I learned a lot about myself?  I don't care if it is because in this case it would also be extremely true.  The other thing that I have to say for myself is that I'm just happy.  Thailand helped me find an inner peace.  Do I expect it to be a forever tenant in my heart?  Perhaps not, but I think it will be easier to summon it up in the future.

This may be the end of working abroad for the moment, but I don't intend to stop traveling EVER and I'd also like to keep blogging.

Ann and I at the middle school English camp

One last day of board game playing with my favorite Mathayom 6 students.

Pretty sad to say goodbye to this one.

Me and my Pad Thai ladies again.  I went to say, "Goodbye" and they not only told me that they loved me, they gave me my last plate of pad thai for free.  We all shared a few tears and I promised to visit someday.

These are my landlords!

Last weekend in Thailand, I spent in Bangkok with some friends.  We went to a magical land called "True Love: Neverland."  It is a Husky Cafe.  It was bizarre.  I'm not gonna lie and I was a little disappointed.  The dogs were basically like wild animals.  I felt like I was in one of those gross tiger parks in Chiang Mai where tourists get their pictures taken with giant, drugged cats.  The owners were a little off too, they told me not to let the dogs lick my face because then, and I quote, "they will bite my face."  I may not have my own dog (yet!) but I'm pretty sure that when licking happens, it's not actually a sign of aggression.  Also, the other patrons were acting as if they had literally never seen a dog before.  People be poaching.  We would be sitting there with a dog (a very big feat since the dogs wanted little to do with the humans) and someone would appear to push us out of the way so that they could get in their selfies.  Oh well, we did see some cool dogs and ate some ice cream cake.

We were also given these weird elf-booties to wear.  These are mine, Madeline, Ellie's feet.  We're adorable. 

Also this is not a husky.  There were also two Australian Shepards that the owners tried to pass off as huskies.  I love Aussies (shout out to CEWDY- miss you) but I feel like it's weird to not acknowledge that they are out of place in a pack of huskies.  Just call it a "Dog Cafe!"  I would still have gone! 

You literally can't see the temple thing behind us but it doesn't matter.  This is mine and Madeline's last picture together.  Luckily, we realized that we live closer in the states than we did in Thailand so I'm sure we'll see a lot of each other.

SO MUCH STUFF.  But as of yet, I think I'm gonna get it all home!

Rabies Scare of 2017

Let me start of this post be putting everyone of you at ease- I don't have rabies... or, at least, I seriously doubt it.  However, after an altercation with a cat the other day, my Thai teacher friends thought that I might.  I should back up a little bit...

In my head, buying a series of rabies treatment (the key word here being "treatment" and not "vaccine") is like buying a wedding dress before you're even engaged.  However, I concede that the outcomes are rather different.  One situation turns out like; "Oh, now I'm 95 and I've never needed that wedding dress but at least it will fit my favorite niece perfectly and the alterations to make it more 2076 appropriate are super inexpensive!" and the other one is, well, paralysis and death.  Or mania and death.  Rabies is not a pretty thing to die from, I'm told.

The other morning it had become clear to us that the cat we heard in the office on Saturday at English camp had remained there as a prisoner of its own fear; choosing to stay behind cabinets in an attempt to avoid human interaction come starvation or high water.  It was a kitten, and we really thought that the most humane thing to do was to trap it and get it out so that it could find it's family or at least some food.  It fell to me, as the least intimidated by fangs and claws to snatch it up and dump it out the window (we're on the first floor).  Well, cat fought back and I came out of the row with several new holes all over my hands.  My finger was practically dripping blood from a bite.  Although the Thai ladies I work with surrounded me and took turns applying their favorite form of antiseptic or cream, it came to the attention of our boss, who demanded I go to the hospital to, as far as I understood, ward off rabies.

Rabies is grisly but it's also confusing and fickle.  The thing is, you can't really tell you have rabies until symptoms come on 4-12 weeks after the bite and by then, well, it'll be too late.  Your best bet is checking up on the animal that did the biting to make sure it doesn't drop dead of unexplained causes or start foaming at the mouth (something that my friend promised me she would watch out for since I'll be gone before that happens), because otherwise you're out $600.  And, yes, it's always better to take care of yourself but rabies is quite uncommon as well.  I guess in the long run, you'd much rather spend money unnecessarily than die before your time, I get that, but when you include the odds in that equation, it just seems silly to freak out right away.

Let me be clear, I held the animal in my hands before directing her to her exit and there were no signs that the cat was suffering from anything other than primal fear.  There is a point to this story and it is not to admit to hypochondria or to share the unfortunate and frightening process of dying of rabies.  I learned something very interesting that day and confirmed something that I have been convinced of for a while.

When my friend drove me to the hospital, I knew that even if I had just been bitten by a cat dripping with a deadly zoonotic virus, this trip would be useless.  Peace Corps hooked me up with the vaccine and anyway, there would be nothing to do in the immediate future either way.  However, I know how dirty cats' mouths are; in fact, between a human, dog and a cat, Garfield is much more likely to drop the F bomb than either Marmaduke or Charlie Brown.  Of course, when I say "dirty" I'm referring to the bacteria that happily take up residence at the corner of Cat Saliva and Scratchy Tongue.  That being said, I wanted to take advantage of my obligated trip to the hospital.

"They won't be able to check me for rabies anyway," I tried to explain.  "But, I would like to make sure that I get advice on avoiding/treating some sort of bacterial infection.  Can you tell them that?"

As far as Thai teachers go, I have been so lucky!  You saw pictures of me and Rabbit 2 weekends ago, and I love the other ladies I work with almost as much.  However, my friend Ann is not a certified medical interpreter by any means and let me just say that although our trip to the hospital seemed fruitless at the time, I look back and realize that I was once again getting the rare chance to experience the helplessness that comes from requiring an interpreter at a critical moment such as a doctor's visit.  When I was with Ann, the doctor talked, and Ann talked and I was told to lift my bandaged finger once, but nothing was every once explained to or interpreted for me.  In fact, I didn't even feel like I was a physical entity in the room and as far as I could tell, I could have been asked to show off my nail polish instead of my punctured digit.  It was a little bizarre and if there had been something seriously wrong I would have been really freaked.

When we left I was still being kept entirely in the dark and she was shaking her head, "The shots were too expensive."  Lesson number 2 on what not to do when interpreting for someone- make medical decisions for them!  This seems like a no-brainer to me, but how did she know that I wasn't prepared to buy that wedding dress without the ring?  Furthermore, I asked her about what had been said about the possibility of a bacterial infection and she didn't even seem to know what I was talking about.  Whelp.  We tried.

We first noticed the cat when we came to school over the weekend to participate in an English camp.  I had several games prepared but didn't actually get to use many of them.  Also, I felt as though my games were entirely devoid of any "English" aspect.  Oh well.  The kids seemed to really enjoying heading and catching soccer balls.  And I did have an English introduction Bingo game!  So, I probably did better than I thought.

What I really valued about this past weekend was my chance to spend last-minute time with some of my teacher friends.  It was mostly me and Ann on my camp day and I don't even remember having long conversations about much of anything important or deep but somehow our relationship made grand leaps in the hours we spent together on the sidelines of middle school kids learning English.  Several times this past week we've made eye contact and left unspoken there is the notion that we will both really miss each other when I leave.

When I leave.  Leaving Phrae is now a reality that is little more than 24 hours away.  I'll spend the weekend in Bangkok and then catch my flight out on Tuesday morning (which would be Wednesday evening for the North Americans reading my blog).  This means that tomorrow is my last day as a teacher.  I'm four classes away from hanging up my ruler (what prop would be most appropriate and all-encompassing to represent "teacher"?  Pointer stick?  Apple?  Just, insert teacher word here...)

Happiness Part 2: Cada Día Me Enamoro Más y Más de La Vida

The second part of my amazing week began with the discovery of a new coffee house.  Phrae, for all it's smallness and off-the-grid-ness, has an abundance of coffee houses.  Within a 20 minute walk from my house, I have actually visited over 15 different establishments and seen another 10 (at least) that I've just not had the time for.  Apart from the sugar and calories that I slurp up at every one of these places, I can't even complain because most drinks are less than a dollar fifty.  I am always looking for something that stands out at each of the places; reasons to revisit some of them.  In no particular order, I keep in mind things like coffee taste, ambiance, whether or not food is also served, and surprising/cute random perks that make up a miscellaneous group.  Let's say that this new place got a big check in that last category, although the drink itself was a little tasteless (you'd be a harsh critic too if you had so many options).  Maybe I won't return any time soon but I definitely did have a "Happy Day!"  Thanks new coffee house lady! 

It was a 3-day weekend last weekend and I took full advantage by going to Chiang Mai for the last time in a little while.  And this time, I didn't go alone!  My awesome co-teacher friend, Rabbit and her super sweet parents drove me up with them on Sunday morning.

Here we are making Rabbit faces... I think I'm the only one doing anything our of the ordinary.  Get it?  Her name is Rabbit?  I realize it wasn't that funny, sorry.

As I have mentioned in past posts, there is an endless list of things to do in Chiang Mai which means that you certainly need more than a couple weekend trips to make an actual dent in a proper exploration of the city.  One of the things that I have wanted to do since Rabbit, herself, recommended it to me over 3 months ago when I went for the first time was the Art in Paradise museum.  The hype over this attraction is pretty legit and I wasn't disappointed.  It's a 3D museum, but really I would describe it as a museum filled with the most realist, beautiful murals I've ever seen.  It's one thing to see art hanging on the wall and it's another thing to see a mural or bit of graffiti that takes your breath away, but an entire 3 story building FILLED with nothing BUT murals was a gorgeously overwhelming thing to see.

The reason I didn't go the time I was staying in a hostel that was literally across the street, was because AIP is one of those things you really can't do alone.  Sure, while after having been I would definitely say that between going alone or not going at all I would highly recommend the former option, it was still better to have someone with you to take pictures!   Here are some of the best ones we took.

Since this was the first one I did, I messed up the illusion of being trapped in a snow globe with Olaf just a little bit (notice the foot slipping out?) but I learned from my mistake and I still think this is a cute pic.

Tried to make it look like I was sitting on the ledge, haha!  It's harder than it looks to fit into the 3D.

This is one of my favorites!  I don't think it needs much of an explanation; aren't we just adorable?

I took this pic especially for Stacie Bowers.  She has a huge fear of giant whales and I thought she'd appreciate how it clearly looks like I am trapped under the ocean in the close proximity of one.

Gotta love the parrot pics.

I made it to China after all, guys!

This picture makes me feel like Maleficent!

One of my favorite "exhibits" was the Jurassic park room.  I was floored to find my all-time favorite dinosaur, the Ankylosaurus, and had to get a picture with him. 

Hey, Time magazine!  Why didn't you pick a better "person of the year" last year?  I definitely would have looked cuter on your cover, thank you VERY much.

Stepping off the edge of a cliff.

After we had thoroughly explored Art in Paradise, Rabbit and her parents and I went to hang out at some hot springs.  I wasn't entirely sure what to expect (bubbling hot tubs carved out of the cliff on the front of my debut on the National Geographic cover?) but I was told that a swimsuit wouldn't be necessary.  Basically, once we got there, all it was was sitting along the edge of these little river-like, human-made basins with our feet in the water for as long as we could stand it.

The baskets shown here are filled with eggs.  The natural hot springs are so hot in this particular area (basin elevated so as not to confuse people into thinking that a dip here would be safe from a scalding) that you can buy eggs and a basket to hard boil them.

Rabbit was going to Chiang Mai that particular weekend because she was about to participate in a seminar for 3 weeks there (something that she was not too thrilled about).  That means, however, that she will not be at school until after I leave the country.  Although I love all of the teachers I work with, I made a special friend in Rabbit and I will miss her so much.  That's the point of travel though, right?  Find people to enrich you and do your best to make a positive lasting impact on them as well, no matter how long you have together?  I hope she knows that my Thailand wouldn't have been half as wonderful without her.

 Sunday night, Rabbit and I spent a good 3 hours at Chiang Mai's famous Sunday night market.  It took us about as long to find the perfect pair of shoes for my mom but I think it was totally worth it.  We also gorged ourselves on sushi and mango smoothies.  Basically, the perfect night!

Since Rabbit was due to start her seminar on Monday, the next step of the journey was up to me alone (again).  I signed myself up for a half-day visit to to the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.   A quick, well-deserved, plug for this organization: The Chiang Mai Elephant Jungle Sanctuary is a rehabilitation site for Asian elephants who have previously been used for riding tours.  Although elephants are the biggest land animals they are not (surprise, surprise!) built to carry humans on their backs.  The way it was explained to us by the guides at EJS was that in the past elephants carried Thai kings.  Although you can imagine that that wasn't good for the elephants either, historically their seats were built to be softer on the elephants' backs and the Thai kings were 1 smallish human.  Today, many riding camps have seats made of metal that carry 2 largeish western adults.  As you can imagine, neither is what an elephant should be "used" for (I would argue they shouldn't be "used" at all) so the riding tours are becoming fewer and fewer, which is a huge win for the elephants!  The reason that camps like EJS exist are to provide a home for the elephants who have been in captivity too long and would struggle to survive without their nutritious banana and sugar cane rations hand fed them day by day.  They are purchased from the riding camps and given a happier, healthier, safer life.

The day got off to an early start; I was waiting outside my hostel at 6:30am.  There, I met two delightful British travelers who made up part of the group.  These two girls were so bright, cheerful and sweet that I immediately forgot that I had embarked on this adventure "alone."  When we boarded the sawng tao we joined a very kind couple from Argentina.  Further down the road another grouplet from England and a girl from Germany all helped to make up our crew.  The trip out to see the elephants was about an hour and half and we all chatted and bonded the whole time.  Being an ambivert, I was definitely due for a recharge by other people.

First on the schedule for "elephant time" was feeding.  We got buckets of bananas and were taught to say, "Bon!" in order to indicate to these super smart creatures that we had an edible gift for them.  They lifted their trunks and allowed us slip the tasty fruits directly into their soft, wet mouths.  They were so gentle and, although it's a verb more aptly applied to the conscience intent of humans, I thought they acted almost welcoming.  This was their home after all and although we were feeding them, they could have dismissed us easily with a quick flick of their trunk.

After we fed them and took pictures with them, we literally got into a mud pit and threw a natural-made mixture of wet dirt and elephant poo around at each other until we were all as dirty and red-gray-brown as the elephants themselves.  We then went directly to the river where we were submersed in order to clean all of ourselves properly.  I'd be lying if I said that as fun as that last part was I never once felt unsafe.  I remember reading somewhere that the thing about elephants, a generally very gentle and sweet species, is that they can crush you flat on accident as they are unaware of their own size in regards to their surroundings and those that make it up.  When we were in the river, several of the big guys almost backed into us several times.  Moving out of the way while your legs are submerged is a stressful and slow process.  Furthermore, at one point all 5 of the elephants were rolling around in the water and we were hovering around in a circle.  Any slight twist in the wrong direction and we could have been pinned accidentally beneath the elephant-leg made waves.

At the end of the trip, we hiked to a very close waterfall, cliff dived and then were fed a delicious Thai lunch.  When we got on our bus to head back, I couldn't help thinking that even if elephant rides were actually good fun (not to mention safe) for the elephants, how could they be more fun than participating in a giant mud fight and river bath with them?  A ride seems so impersonal, we got to coexist with them, not one above the other.  It was nothing short of magical.  

It is important to mention that they made us all wear these shirts and since I was one of the last people to pick I got a giant one that had been ripped and faded by probably dozens of other elephant lovers.  Therefore, in the following photos I look a little bit like a homeless hippie.  A super happy, content, in-love-with-life homeless hippie but nonetheless.

THIS IS A BABY!!!!!!

My time here in Thailand is winding down but I like to think that I am taking full advantage.  :)

Happiness Part 1: Exhibition Day

The past week has been really marvelous. I'd say the beginning of the excitement began on Wednesday when we had a day of exhibitions. Think CFI Spring Fling but during the day so the classes were all cancelled (I'm learning more and more how easy it is to find reasons to do that here).  There were booths, there was food, there was dancing (we're still talking Thailand after all), and music galore.  Still, the best part for me was the Spelling Bee!   

It is possible that I was a little forceful with my desire to attend in the Bee.  By that I mean when it was clear that the event wasn't starting at the originally proposed time, I annoyingly followed all of my Thai coworkers around so that none of them could sneak off without me.  An hour and a half later, I discovered that not only did no one have any intention of excluding me from the event, but that I was actually meant to be a crucial part of it!  That's right folks!  Yours truly has discovered a new passion for slowly pronouncing words multiple times with silly inflections.  It's a calling.

The Piriyalai Bee was not what we have all come to understand a Spelling Bee to be back home in the US, let me just start off by saying that much.  First of all there are 3 different rounds, in each of which students get eliminated until there is a final winner.  The first was a worksheet with 30 words written once correctly and once incorrectly.  The students then had to choose which word was properly spelled.  Embarrassingly, I only just saw half of this worksheet and was horrified and uncomfortable with how incorrectly the words were spelled.  I thought, "Is this just for fun or should I say something about how literally only half of these words are spelled right?"  Luckily, I kept my mouth shut and offended no one, eventually discovering that there was a reason for the misspellings.


Round two (embarked upon only by the students who accurately identified at least 20 of the 30 correct spellings) was a little closer to what we are familiar with.  I was to read a list of words aloud and the students then wrote them correctly on a sheet of paper.  Finally, the 6 remaining students were instructed to, individually, spell aloud the words which I dictated to them.  It was really quite fun, and since I was in the Mathayom 3 Spelling Bee, all of the students in the competition were in my classes.

All the Mathayom 3 participants of the Spelling Bee and the (dare I say, "awesome"?) teachers who lead the way.

Here are the ones who made it to the last round.

Obligatory dorky picture. 

And we have a winner!! I think the paper I'm holding says as much but I think someone wrote it on there and I'm not sure it makes the picture look any better...

 The rest of exhibition day went by without a hitch.  The English booth had quite a few fun activities (2 of which I designed) and for the most part we teachers just kind of sat there under the tent out of the unrelenting heat.  Something else that I have noticed about Thailand is this shared level of trust and understanding.  For example, when I say we sat there shielding ourselves from the sun, I mean to say that the students had total free reign.  Yes, they are "high school" aged kids but secondary school actually starts a lot earlier here and there are tons of kids who, in my opinion, should probably be watched by hawks, or the human version of a hawk.  However, everyone did their own thing and no one worried about liability issues (I wonder if there is a word for that in Thai...?) adopting the "live and let live" mindset for the day.    

This was one of my activities!  I drew a comic without words and the students were supposed to write their own words and color it.  Even though this student of mine only got half of that taken care of, what he did do was fabulous!  Make sure you read what he wrote above. 

This kid is entirely appropriately called Game.  I say it that way because he is one of the several Mathayom 6 students who play board games with me on Wednesdays.  Here, he is shown at the exhibition listening to a song and putting the lyrics in order.  Although I don't actually teach him in a classroom setting and he and his fellow board gamers started off with really great English as it is, one of the things I am most proud of from my time here is the connection I made with them.

The rest of the week was filled with kittens and sweet old ladies.

The Friday after the Exhibition Day (I don't really know what else to call it), I went to my Pad Thai ladies for some bomb ass noodles.  I've been going less and less lately because I've been exploring more food options, not to mention the sushi I get after class usually fills me up and let's me call early nights quite often.  Furthermore, I've gone several times recently and these girls had been uncharacteristically absent from their posts and I certainly don't know enough Thai to ask about them.  Anyway, one of the PDLs speaks really good English.  We always chat a bit when I show up.  The conversation always kind of goes something like this...

Me: Sawat dee kaaaa!
Her: Hello!  You go swimming?
Me: Not today.
Her: Suaaay. You are beautiful.
Me: Thank you! Kob khun kaaa!

So, she's kind of stellar at building up your self esteem.  Not only does she pay attention to you and your life (all it took was stopping by ONE TIME wet after a wee dip and she always asks about my swimming habits), but she doles out these compliments like none other.  It doesn't matter if I ever find another Pad Thai place, even if it were closer to where I live, I will always be her loyal customer.

This particular time she told me I was pretty and then got a bit nosier.  She said it in Thai first, her Pad Thai partner sniggering behind a hand but also looking up interested from cracking eggs into the wok, and then in English; "Boyfriend?  You have?"  I laugh cause it's cute and I've long since stopped getting offended when this comes up in cross-culture bilingual conversation.  People are just curious and for whatever reason asking after someone's marital or relationship status is not taboo anywhere in the world (except, maybe, the US).  What I haven't learned how to do is properly answer the question.

I tell her, "no" which is fine and the truth but then without being able to stop myself I open my mouth again to try and explain.  But what is there to explain?  It's not something I'm ashamed of or even particularly bothered by and it's certainly not feminist to search for an excuse, but Valentine's day is around the corner and I don't want these women to feel bad for me or anything.

Turns out, the explanation is completely unnecessary.  She nods slowly and wisely.  It doesn't seem to phase her one bit and it doesn't even look like she thinks there is anything to feel bad for.  She tells me she understands and explains it better than I ever could;

"You just love Thailand more than boys."