The Upswing

So after this slightly difficult day the upswing came when I walked back to my house in the kindergarten building, and the kindergarten teacher had bought me paint paper and pastels. She said “I give.” I had painted a tree on the inside of my front door which I often have to keep open in order to create a breeze, and she must have noticed that I like to paint.

Expect the Upswing

“Expect the Upswing” was something the 2009 ETAs had written on the board in our one meet and greet session. I was not fully aware of how powerful the upswing could be until today. The crazy thing about living abroad it that there are such high moments combined with some low moments, and you never really know which kind of day it is going to be- at least this has been in the beginning.

I live in a village with no foreigners and the nearby city does not host many foreigners either. This is not really a problem until one hasn’t had a full English sentence in three weeks with someone who really understands that it is not appropriate to call someone fat, for example.

It had been a challenging week. My students have started to understand that I don’t speak Thai, and they mumble jokes to each other in class or they were super talkative and didn’t understand that they should be quiet. Since my students have never seen a foreigner they like to touch me and my things or stare at me over my shoulder while I create lesson plans in the outdoor classroom. I had only lady tell me I had very hair arms- which of course I do compared to the hairless arms of Asians, and I had another lady touch my side saying that I will get fat if I stay in Thailand because of all the Kanoms (snacks).The point of explaining briefly some of the frustrations is to help understand how I was feeling going into Friday Afternoon. Sometimes just always having to talk slowly or not being able to communicate what you want or don’t want can be draining.

On Saturday morning one of the men, Annop, and two if his friends I meet through a teacher in the village came to pick me up to go to a charity function. Just to clear up any safety concerns, this man is probably between 50 and 60’s because he is the older brother of the primary school English teacher who is 54. He ran for Senator in Lampang in 98 and is retired professor who now organizes community projects.
We arrive at a Temple in which there is a procession about 50 Thais dressed in tradition ceremonial outfit caring ornate offerings and money trees, and instantly I am dragged to the front of the parade and instructed to do the traditional Thai dance around the temple three times. The moment was priceless and truly reminded me of the cultural experience I am having.

I continued to watch as the monk blessed all those who had given to temple, and there was a short prayer about the five truths (I think that is what Annop said): Do not steal, Do not lie, DO not adultery, Do not kill animals, Do not drink. I bowed my head and gave thanks for all that I have been given and the beginning of an upswing, and asked for strength during the cultural misunderstandings. Although of course my day would not be complete without doing something wrong- I put the image of Buddha in my pocket, and received a lecture for putting Buddha so close to “my woman parts” then was instructed he has to be kept high out of respect. The Low was back again.

I had my five minutes of self pity, and then washed up and gathered my strength for another outing with a college-aged friend, a cousin of another teacher in my school. We had met the week early when at 9 O’clock on a Saturday morning my neighbor had let her in the front gate and led her to my door. In my pajamas I was greeted “ I…want friend with you.”

I think we had gotten over the first few meetings of awkwardness and understood that our cultural differences should not be taken as offensive behaviors, but rather a respected difference in values (not that that means communications is any easier). We spent a casual day at the school supply store and making crafts for her school project. I think I counted the adventure as a success because during our outing she was not right on top of me or telling me what to do the entire time. Because I am foreign to many of the rituals and customs I am often treated like a child. “Eat this”, “try this” “don’t use a fork for that” “ don’t eat that with this” “move here” “Say KopKun Ka (Thank-you). Often I get told “say this, do this, eat that” so many times I don’t feel like the 22 year old that traveled 9,000 miles on her own. I get treat like the five year old kindergarteners who share the same building as my home. The hour of casual interaction being treated like the independent self-sufficient person was a breath of fresh air.