Arrival

I made it to Chiang Mai all in one piece! Almost didn’t, almost blew chunks along the way. Let me just say this international travel sucks. It is downright awful. I stomached four airplane meals- the amount of which I could get past my gullet became less and less per meal. Stale air, infinitesimal space for my six foot frame, time zones, yuck, yuck, yuck!

My first travel companion was a man named James Moore who had quite a few decades under his belt. At first, I was hesitant to make conservation in the beginning. I didn’t necessarily want to start something that could last the full eleven hours. After a few observations I gathered that he too was traveling alone and that he had quite the travel itinerary. I later learned that he was going to be traveling to Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and some other country I am now forgetting. Initially, it made me sad that he was doing this all alone. And, I think my sadness was compounded by the fact that I was going alone too. My mood changed when he poured out his love of travel to me. “It’s like a narcotic!” he told me. I became reinvigorated by this elderly gentleman and made it to Japan safely. My next two flight companions were not as emotionally supportive as they didn’t speak a lick of English.

Bam! I am now immersed in another country; a country from what I can tell from the first 48 hours is full of striking differences and startling similarities. I literally had little to no expectation of what living on the far side of the world would be like. I got off the airport into the back of a truck (the taxi of northern Thailand) and was careened through the fast and furious traffic that apparently Thailand is so famous for. I was able to meet some fellow students along the way, who like myself, had come alone. It was nice to meet up with some Americans again and explore some of Chiang Mai.

The next day we were taken to the institute and given to our host families. I have a Mae (mom) and Paw (dad), two little brothers, Guy and Kan, a grandson, Mark-noy, and grandmother, Yahyeh. They have two houses, a country one and city one, we are staying in the country house. It takes me about 45 minutes to get to school! Paw is a farmer and Mae is high school math teacher. Thankfully, Kan and Mae can speak basic English. I would have no idea what was going if that was not the case. I mean, I still am at a loss for most of the time. It seems Mae’s goal is to fatten me up since she gets me food every two hours like clock work. And I am really enjoying Thai food despite gobbling down some strange anomalies like fermented egg. Also, everthing is eaten with rice. This morning, I ate a fired egg atop of rice. It actually tasted good. I would have never in all my years expected that.

I am learning to appreciate another culture, and strangely enough, whenever I find myself appreciating another new thing about Thai culture, I appreciate my way of life in America too! I miss so many people back in the states already!

I will be posting about my first few days in school soon! I just had my first day in school today. J