Thanks for everyone's concern about my health. December was really tough health-wise, but at the beginning of january I had almost 2 blissful weeks of almost-normal-energy...followed by 2 days of bronchitis and the past 2 weeks of persistent cough. Went to the doctor (again!) and she said I'm allergic to the air here. Apparently it's a fairly common problem here, even among some Thai people. Well, I hope she's right, because even if I'm not feeling 100%, at least I know why... Nevertheless, the 2-3 weeks preceding bronchitis were great! :) A whirlwind of activities related to christmas, new years, weddings, and farewells, and the energy to enjoy it!
Before I talk about my month, I just wanted to mention that I am officially coming back in April! No second term, and no japan either. I agreed with my family that I need to get my health back up before I do anything. (Once I get better though... As far as it's under my control, I'm definitely travelling more!! :) ) Now that I know I'm leaving in 3 months, I'm really aware of how much I love it here. It's true that on the days I'm sick or fatigued, I feel pretty miserable and just want to go home. But the other half of the time, I can't believe how lucky I am to be here. It's just so much fun, I've met some great people, I love the food (I've gained 12 pounds!!! ack!!! I guess i was underweight before, but still...), and there's always so much to see and do. I love their pop music, trying to sing their karaoke, going dancing... I guess maybe it's good thing I'm sick half the time, otherwise I'd never come back :) (actually that's not true, even when I'm healthy I still miss my friends and family!). But I know that when I leave, I'm going to be really sad! And the people I've met here are really amazing. I've heard that Thai people are friendly and helpful, but I think I've met the friendliest of them all.
I think I'm also getting used to the standard of cleanliness here. The other day I was drinking soup from a food stand, and after I was mostly done, I found a green catepillar inside (almost mistook it for a piece of veggie). In america, you would send the soup back (and maybe leave). Here, I figured I finished most of the soup anyway, so I just went on to the next course. Geckos are also a common sight in open-air restaurants. Sometimes I find them in my bedroom at night. I figure if they found a way in, they'll find their own way out, so I just go to sleep.
So let's see, what did I do this month? For Christmas I had instant noodles at home (no one celebrates!) and for new year's I went to a friends house. That was the end of december...Oh, our department also had a new years celebration, where they invited monks to come to the department to pray for us. The monks sat there in the middle of the hallway and chanted for an hour. Definitely different from anything we'd have in America. Then we had a party where I ate 6 scoops of the most delicious creamy coconut ice cream in the world, along with these crispy, flaky ice cream cones that I think were coated on the inside with a little honey. Incredibly delicious...Then the mechanical engineering department (where I have friends) had a new years party on their building's rooftop, with my favorite northern thai foods: sticky rice, spicy papaya salad, grilled pork...mmmmm. I think I get along so well with Thai people because they love to eat, and so do I! :)
Moving on to January... At the beginning of January, I went down to Phuket for one day on behalf of CMO (Christian missions overseas, the organization I help out with) to bring monetary aid donated by the churches back in America, for the victims of the tsunamis last month. I was sent to assess the damage, decide how the money was to be spent, etc. In particular, the money was donated to help two villages of sea gypsies living on the south end of the island, on Ko Sirae and Rawai Beach. The sea gypsies live simply and are almost all fishermen. These two beachside villages thankfully suffered no casualties, since apparently the water rose slowly on the south side, giving everyone enough time to escape to higher land. Compared to other places such as Padong Beach (which I did not go to), the scene was pretty calm. However, their houses and boats suffered some damage to the floods, and they are looking at some tough times ahead in terms of rebuilding. In particular, many people are refusing to eat fish, for fear of disease and other superstitions related to the large number of human casualties in the same waters. Many of the sea gypsies are unsure how they will be able to make a living for the months ahead.
Nevertheless, given that the members of their villages all survived, everyone is in high spirits and quite active in the rebuilding process. Here are a few pictures I took for my report while I was down there:
A cross set up by someone in the village (some of who are Christian, and affiliated with CMO).
Fisherman boats in the water (some of which, if you look carefully, are largely submerged), and remnants of a boat on the beach. You can also see chunks of coral washed up on the beach -- I hear the beautiful underwater scenery for which phuket is so famous has been largely destroyed.
The government provided some aid to the sea gypsies, including bags of household items and drinking water (below). Each family also received a bag of rice and 2000 Baht, which is not nearly enough for all their needs. I was told that the government also offered to buy building materials needed to repair homes, but that it was difficult to your request through all the layers of bureaucracy.
Families waiting in line for their aid
One of the priorities of the gypsies were to carefully assess the state of their engines. Some engines were beyond repair, like the corroded one above (belonging to the village chief). Others could be repaired, or had some working parts that could be used elsewhere. Everything that could be salvaged was taken, and the rest requires money to buy replacements.
A man and a woman repairing their fishing boat, damaged during the flooding.
A view from inside one of the buildings right by the water. We can see damaged building, damaged furniture, damaged boats in the water, and debris on the beach...
Two boats in the water, one which survived and one that is beyond repair.
Lots of people are involved in the aid effort. On my plane ride back to bangkok, I sat next to an orthopedic surgeon, who told me that many surgeons in bangkok (like himself) were taking multi-day volunteer shifts down in phuket, treating patients injured by the tsunamis. My friends in the ME department sent some of their students down to phuket to help rebuild houses. Still, as we all know, a lot more aid is needed -- especially in the other countries outside of Thailand -- so keep those donations and prayers coming :)
On a happier note, this month I also got to (briefly) partake in the Hmong new year celebration. The Hmong people are a fairly large hill tribe population, with a number of villages across northern Thailand. Every new year Hmong from many villages come together to one village to celebrate -- this year it was at the village where many of my english students are from. So I went up to their village to see them in action! The celebrations are week-long, but I just came for the first day, before most of the Hmong from other villages arrived.
Driving to the village took about an hour from chiang mai, where the last half hour is driving up some incredibly bumpy and not-well-maintained dirt roads. When we got there, we first went to the main meeting area (a big flat piece of dirt), where we saw Hmong boys and girls in two lines, facing each other, throwing small balls back and forth. My hosts told me to go in and toss a ball with another boy, so I did. Only afterwards did I learn that this game is really a way for Hmong boys and girls to get to know each other! Since Hmong from many villages come together for this event, it's the perfect time for the teenagers to meet a potential boyfriend/girlfriend. They throw balls with the people they are interested in striking up a conversation with. I bet the boy I was tossing the ball to thought i was a tad too old ;)
Here are some pictures of the kids in their traditional Hmong outfits. The little ones are sooo cute!! :)
Notice also that even though they're wearing their traditional outfits, the teenage girls still cling to their funky hats and platform sandals...
For new years, the villagers also make sticky rice cakes (as we do in chinese tradition -- Hmong people came from China). To make these cakes, they pound this purplish rice in a wooden trough with a big wooden hammer. Here's me trying to pound some rice...
I also got to visit the homes of one of my students and have lunch with her family. It was a lot of fun and really interesting, imagining her living in this village. For example, i was really surprised with the "kitchen", which was just 3 pots (more like cauldrons) on top of 3 pits containing coal or firewood. The floor was dirt, the building was like a shack, and there was just a few small lightbulbs providing us with light. Anyway, it was eye-opening...
Here is a picture of her sister (aunt?) sewing a traditional Hmong outfit
Making our tasty lunch...
A Hmong woman and her cute baby :)
Last week, I went to Bo sang, known in tourist books as the "umbrella village" because they specialize in manufacturing umbrellas, as well as fans, straw handicrafts, etc. It was during their annual "Umbrella Festival" featuring music, food, and parades. The entire village (which is quite small) becomes very colorful, as all the shops and homes decorate their exteriors with hundreds of umbrellas. Here's a fun game: try to count how many umbrellas you see in each of the pictures below :)
The umbrella that won first place in the teenage artists (!) category.
A shop/hotel that apparently won 1st place in the decorating contest.
In addition to decorating buildings, during the festival they also decorated the entrance to
every soi (alley) off the main street:
(Hint: There are more umbrellas here than you think... :) )
On a somewhat sad note, two of my closest friends here left Thailand last week. One of my friends, a french exchange student in the ME department, returned to france. The other friend, Yun (a professor from the ME department), actually went back to USC to finish her last year of PhD work. My friend Oa is also going to be gone for a month to visit her boyfriend in Scotland... Those three are pretty much my core group of friends, so I'm predicting that next month is going to be very quiet! Well, I guess it will be a good thing to buckle down for the last month of classes :) Here is a picture of me and some friends during a farewell dinner: Yun in the front with me, Oa and Belle in the back.
Yun looks funny because she's been crying...in fact, she was not sad about leaving. Instead, she was sad at the prospect of coming back. Here in Thailand (or maybe just CMU?), a vast majority of the professors study abroad under scholarship from the government. Under this scholarship, you are either required to work for the government (as a professor in the designated university) for 2 years for every year you studied abroad, or you must pay back twice the amount the government spent. If you study 6 years for your PhD at a school in which you paid $30K a year for tuition and living expenses, and you come back to a job that pays several hundred a month, it is impossible to pay off the debt. Poor Yun, who studied abroad for undergrad as well as grad, is slated to work at CMU until she's 52 (retirement age here is 55). While CMU is a great place to be, I can't imagine having no flexibility for your future career, where you live, etc. Oa, who only studied abroad for her masters, will be done with her contract in just 1 more year.
Finally, one of my friends from the CS department got married a couple weeks ago, and it was fun going to her wedding. It was actually a Chinese-style wedding banquet, since the couple's families are ethnically chinese. Unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out well...here's a blurry picture of me and some of my friends dressed up for the wedding:
So anyway, that's it for this month!! :) I can't believe I'm coming back in 3 months...! I'm so excited to see my home and family and friends again soon. Hopefully I won't get too much fatter or sicker before I come back :)
Link to February's entry