Entertainment update!

Ok, it is time for another post concerning "What is Emily reading and watching". I've really been enjoying my recent reading, so I wanted to share...

This past weekend, when I was in Bangkok for Thanksgiving dinner (which was not as good as last year, but a nice gathering all the same) some girlfriends and I went to see the New James Bond movie, Casino Royale. Though I didn't find Daniel Craig all that attractive, I thought he was a GREAT James Bond. I have never enjoyed James Bond movies because I found them far too chauvinistic for me. I agree with the reviewers that call Craig the coldest, but also most emotional James Bond yet. I think it is worth a watch. (Disclaimer - I really had issues with the torture scene - it was a little much for me, especially in light of the Guantanimo torture issues of the past couple of years.)

As far as reading, I am currently making my way though the book Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. Krakatoa, as you may know, was a island/volcano in Indonesia. Just over 100 years ago, the volcano exploded - the greatest natural disaster in modern history (though having a death count less than the 2004 tsunami). The eruption occurred gradually, but when it finally happened, the sound could be heard thousands of miles away. It erupted with such force that the island was totally destroyed and the dust and ash in the air prevented sunlight from reaching the nearby islands for a couple of days. Furthermore, the air waves it created traveled around the world, not once, but seven times. Winchester is obsessed with detail. He researched not only the explosion itself, but all the history surrounding it as well as many many topics linked to the geographical location and historical times. It is taking me a while to get through, but I am really enjoying all the information it offers.

Yesterday, during my travel home from Bangkok, I was consumes (and read in its entirety) the fiction book Midwives by Chris Bohjalian. Liesbeth found it for me in the Peace Corps library. I began it when I got on the bus leaving Bangkok and finished the last 50 pages in bed last night. Though I often read during travel here, it is unusual that I will read non-stop for the six hours it takes to get from Bangkok to my house. Yesterday I did. This is an intense novel which tells a fictional story of a midwife (told by her daughter) who made an error. There is a neat feeling painted about midwives as well as some of the resistance to midwifery and home birth present in the medical community. The story is wonderful and gripping. I'm sure I'd feel the same even if I wasn't planning to become a midwife, though that is why Liesbeth brought me the book.

A couple of weeks ago, I read, Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. This book was passed to me (and recommended) by Kristina, a volunteer who lives near me. It is a very interesting book that explores everyday questions using theories of economics. Kristina (and Christina - who are both more analytical than I) felt that there was not enough data to support some of the books points. However, the absence of these charts and graphs makes the book more readable. None of us doubted that Levitt has the data - as he is a well known and respected economist in the United States. At the very least, this book makes you ask some very interesting questions and possibly look at the world just a little bit differently.

Lastly, this post would not be complete without sharing with you my new favorite movie: Bride and Prejudice. This is a Bollywood style take-off of Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice". As a lover of musicals, I am prone to enjoy movies with fun, often silly, song and dance. But, this really takes the cake. It is so much fun with the sights, sounds and movements of India that I've already watched it six times.... And we're just getting started! (And they couldn't have found a more beautiful leading lady or gorgeous guy - Martin Henderson, I'm in love!)

English Drama Camp

Last weekend, I traveled with a few other volunteers to Buri Ram province to help lead an English Drama camp there. We were working with the English teachers from a very large school (about 3,000 students 7-12 grade) near the small town where a volunteer lives. The school was trying to start up an English drama program, so they invited us to do a camp with their students and some students from a few other schools. The teachers were supposed to be watching the activities and taking notes so that they could bring the ideas back to their own schools.

Though only very few of the teachers participated and benefited from the camp, the students had a great time and surprised us with their English, creativity and acting abilities. The students were mainly 10-12 grade and most spoke English quite well.

We started out with some songs, games and team building activities

Here the students are crossing the "chocolate river" by jumping from "marshmallow" (piece of paper) to "marshmallow". They challenge was to get all 12 team members across with only 6 "marshmallows" - it was great fun and involved a lot of laughing, falling and holding on!

Next we started teaching some acting. One group stood in a line up front. The last person in line was told some sort of noun or verb (here liesbeth whispers the word) and they must pass the word, one person at a time, to the front of the line. It is called group charades and only one person can pass with one person watching at at time. Those watching have a great laugh seeing how the action morphs as it travels up to the front. The person to last receive the action must try to guess what it is. Usually their answer is quite different from the word originally whispered.

After some games, each group of students was given a shortened version of a play (about 1 page long). Next, the groups of students traveled to five rotations: acting (body), acting (voice), make-up, costumes and pronunciation. They learned acting techniques and practiced their scripts throughout the rotations.

Here two students help each other apply make-up. They are creating character make-up based on some techniques they learned in their rotations.

On day two, the students are ready to perform their plays. Most of the students had memorized their lines quite well and stunned us with their wonderful performance, which included: Cinderella, How the Frog got to Heaven, Snow White, the Wizard of Oz and Three Little Pigs.

The Scarecrow and the Corn in "The Wizard of Oz".

The Wicked Stepmother and stepsisters mock Cinderella as she cleans the floor in "Cinderella".

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving day, 2006.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and though I spent most of the day trying to teach the story of Thanksgiving to five classes of Thai students who were only mildly interested, I had time for reflection on the many blessings in my life and time to spend with people I enjoy having fun and giving thanks together!

Thanksgiving seems to be an interesting concept for Thai students. The literal translation from Thai wan krup khun prajao is day of thanks to God. Though this is appropriate, I feel it only partially describes what the day stands for. I tried, with some help from my co-teachers, to tell the story of the Pilgrims and Indians and the first Thanksgiving. Next, I described typical activities for Thanksgiving day: gathering together of family members, watching the parade, cooking, eating, watching football, eating, playing football, sleeping, sitting, talking, eating and more eating. A day of rest and a day of thanks. Most of the students found the concept quite wonderful.

We talked about turkeys. They don't really exist here. Some students had seen them... In the ZOO! Ha! We talked about pies. Not a single person I talked to had ever seen, much less tasted, one. We talked about fall - a season that does not exist in Thailand. In fact, Thai people are fascinated by the concept of four seasons, as they have only three: hot, rainy and cold (or, as I call them: hot, hotter and hottest - "cold" season is lucky to see temperatures in the 70s F). I described how the leaves turn all sorts of beautiful colors and fall off the trees. "Real" cold weather, makes leaves die, but they give a beautiful show first. I think the students thought this was pretty neat too.

Finally, I had the students create a fall leaf of their own. I had some picture examples with shapes and colors, but they had to draw their own and color it themselves. Then, they had to write the sentence, "I am thankful for..." and write as many things as they could think of. Some students came up things such as "for being the daughter of my mother" or "for the breath of life". However, I was very very surprised that most of the students sat there and stared at me (this in and of itself not unusual) like they had no idea what I meant. We encouraged them to come up with some things in Thai and then let us help them translate. Still they stared blankly. Apparently, the concept of giving thanks is not one that they are used to contemplating.

I'm not sure exactly why this is. Though the focus is on the present moment in Buddhism, maybe prayers center around future events, such as harvest or health or maybe even future lives. I'm not entirely sure, but I was really astounded that so many students seemed to be at a loss for anything at all to give thanks for.

As for me, I spent a great deal of time this week thinking about all I am grateful for. During my time here I have learned to be thankful for so many things I took for granted before. Here is a short list of some things I deeply appreciate:

* sincere friendship
* freedom of thought and expression
* friends and family
* expressions of love across the miles (or right at home)
* critical thinking
* smiles from the heart
* toes in the grass
* cheese, baguettes and wine at a picnic
* dark chocolate
* the technology that allows people with much to help people with little

I will continue to give thanks for things here and at home that touch my life and help this world to be a better place.

Something I was very thankful for yesterday was the impromptu thanksgiving dinner I had with my Thai "family". I spend time with this family many evenings a week and really feel like a member of the family. Yesterday afternoon, I went to their house and told them not to cook dinner because it was American Thanksgiving and I wanted to make dinner for us.

I made garlic mashed potatoes, carrots and beans, creamed corn and cranberry sauce (from Bangkok) and a pumpkin pie. We bought grilled chicken in place of turkey. It was a great feast and I think they enjoyed the little taste of America. Here are some pictures:

I put the food in tupperwear and piled it on P Noot's motorcycle to take to her house.

The feast

Neuhy and Nan are excited to eat!

Yummy! Pumpkin pie!

Eating with the family

More Flower Festival


Here's my last post from the Chiang Mai flower festival. Enjoy...

The temple they build for the festival as a monument to the 60th anniversary of the Reigning monarch - King Phumipon

The ornate lamp hanging inside as seen through the window from outside

Murals adorn the walls. Each of them depicts a scene with the king. He is well loved because of all his work with the farmers and "lay" people of Thailand.

P Noot in the giant wooden shoes at the Holland exhibit

(no real tulips! For some reason all the Thais I've talked to are dying to see tulips...)

flower kisses in the "flower art" exhibit hall

More flowers

One more orchid

Emily and P Noot in the orchid house

Japanese fruit display

Having Morrocan tea in the Morrocan living room in the Morrocan house

A rose by any other name

The flower festival at long last...

These pictures are from the "Royal Flora" flower festival going on in Chiang Mai right now. The festival is truly extravagant. There are flowers from around the world, large gardens of Thai flowers and vegetables, elaborate displays, bright colors and a gigantic orchid display - itself worth the visit. Unfortunately, I can only put 5 pictures up at a time, but I'll try to give you a taste of some of what I saw. It's awesome!

At the front gate to the festival

P Sert by the decorative hills in front of the festival

In the Bangkok exhibit - depicting the floating market

A beautiful arrangement of orchids

Another orchid

Chiang Mai at night

Before I post the pictures from the actual flower festival, I wanted to share a couple pictures from the Chiang Mai night market as it is truly a phenomenon.

Chiang Mai by day is a beautiful place - dozens of temples, horizons filled with mountains, shops filled with colorful hilltribe clothing and catchy Thai souvenirs. Songtao trips can be arranged up into the mountains, or to an elephant camp nearby. Alternatively, there are several neat museums and a zoo in town. The old town wall and canal weaves around small sois (streets) filled with local shops, food and flower markets, restaurants and guest houses. Foreigners and Thais alike can be seen around town - mostly on motorbike or tuk tuk (small 3 wheel taxi).

As the evening begins to approach, however there is about a square kilometer block of streets that begin to fill. Metal carts filled with goods for sale are wheeled onto the streets and sidewalks. Everyone who traveled about on motorbikes, tuk tuks or songtaos in the day, takes to foot travel by evening and the streets and sidewalks are packed with tourists (foreign and Thai) perusing the stalls. Everything from gaudy Thai kitch to clothing to tribal treasures to food to foot massage corners can be found on one street or another. One should not attempt to enter the market area within a restricted time frame as the speed of travel is greatly dependent on the crowd packing the sidewalks. However, fun souvenir shopping and bargaining as well as magnificent people watching can be found around every corner. Here are a couple glimpses into the Chiang Mai night market...

people crowd between the shops on the sidewalks of Chiang Mai

shoes for sale

Some hilltribe ladies come to town to sell their crafts

Even Chiang Mai cannot escape McFever

Some fun decorative lights for sale light up the street corner

I'm back home again and having a quick trip to the internet despite my exhaustion. I taught 2 classes this morning after an overnight bus (slept relatively well) following all day at the Chiang Mai flower festival yesterday with P Noot and her brother P Sert. It was beautiful (pictures to come). Haven't been home in 10 days and I was happy to walk through my door. Granted, I only get to spend three nights in my own bed before I'm off to Buri Ram province to help with a drama camp (the one that was canceled due to the coup d'etat a couple of months ago) but three nights is better than nothing.

On the note of exhaustion. I have to give a shout out to the extreme amount of patience maintained by my friend Christina during our time in the country. I came here thinking that I had a lot of patience, but there is just nobody like Christina. As we waited in the Chaiyaphum bus station at 5:30 this morning (after having been on a bus from Chiang Mai since the night before) to head home, we were bombarded by the usual questions from the male Thai taxi drivers sitting around in the station.

"WHERE YOU GO?" (I did reply to the first person who asked this)

"WHERE YOU COME FROM?"

by this time, they usually figure out we speak Thai..

"Tam Arai Ti Ni?" (What are you doing here)

This one is usually followed by some others of them offering up plausible (in their minds) explanations such as studying (who in their right mind.... Sorry....) teaching English or having a Thai boyfriend. I don't appreciate these explanations not only because I don't feel the need for every perfectly strange.... Oh, I mean perfect stranger...in this country to know why I have voluntarily chosen to sacrifice 2 years of my life but also because they NEVER get it right.

I chose the mute route as to attempt to refrain from saying anything rude. Christina - every the perfectly Thai lady - proceeded to answer all their questions (INCLUDING the one about how much money she must make.... "OH, YOU GET LOTS OF MONEY! AMERICAN DOLLARS!" ... No, no, we're volunteers (my thoughts - have you EVERY heard that word? Do you know the definition? ARE YOU LISTENING or just running your mouth???...... Her: Oh no, we live the same as Thai people. It's not really a salary because we're volunteers. No, really, the same as Thai people. We only get a little money for house and food). She's a saint I tell you.

About this point they notice that I'm not speaking.

"Khao poot pasah Thai mai dai LUH?" (Oh, she doesn't speak Thai, huh?)

At which point, though I secretly wish she'll lie so they won't talk to me (but saints can't lie) tells them that I do in fact speak Thai well.

Unfortunately, this causes them to turn their verbal mumbo jumbo my way. As I am not the saint and long ago lost the patience I thought I had and because I've answered these same questions at least 234,513 time, I reply

"Poot DIE, deh MAI CHOP poot ti welah norn!" ( I CAN speak, but I DON'T LIKE to speak during the time one should be SLEEPING!"

Sorry, that was just the nicest thing I could think of at 5:45AM after 11 hours on a night bus and a full day in the sun before that.

Eventually, after she assured me that she didn't mind, I abandoned her for a seat in the (at that point) empty bus. Oh well. Another day started...

On another note. Here are more pictures from my time at Sean's site. (Will get to the Chiang Mai ones next time.)

A grandpa in Sean's town wishes us good luck and blessings by tying white strings around our wrists and offering kind words. (This is a lovely traditional Thai practice.)

He ties the string for good luck

The train pulls out of the station heading for Chiang Mai

Looking out of the train window

mountains and rice fields (harvest time)

Nan City

One day while staying with Sean, we took a trip into the city of Nan. Each province has a central (basically capital) city with the same name as the province. In Thai, this is called the Amphur Muang (or literally "district city"). Two more volunteers, Kate and Robert, were arriving, so we took the hour-long songtao (large truck with two benches in the back - popular vehicle of public transportation) ride into the city to tour a bit and pick them up. There were many beautiful temples and the weather was wonderful. However, what I noticed most was that we were not shouted at one single time. This was nearly beyond my realm of comprehension! Boy do I wish I lived in the north....

A view from the songtao

Nan traditionally has long boat competitions at this time of year.

This is one such boat which can hold something like 60 people!

A new mural depicting daily life

The Buddhas face each cardinal direction (and each door) to welcome anyone coming in from any direction. Wat Phumin

An old (several hundred years old) mural in Wat Phumin

Here are some more pictures from our time at Seans house:

(Farmer) Sean's traditional Thai teakwood house

Washing dishes (on the back porch) for dinner
(They have really great veggies in the north due to the cooler weather and more fertile land)

A yummy dinner we cooked together. Eaten traditionally - on the floor

It actually got quite chilly at night.
(Don't think I'll keep the toupe look!)

Two local girls show a traditional dance where they bend backwards at pick up something (usually money, here skittles wrappers) with their mouths and then stand back up. No hands!