Lessons with Missionaries

On the train up to Chiang Mai I was seated across from an older Thai gentlemen and his friend. They looked at me oddly as a woman traveling alone then politely ignored me as seems to be the custom. At least they did until I pulled out my Introduction to Thai Writing Book. Then they approached me, perching on the side of my bench and leaning across the rickety card table to look at it.

They were a couple of Thai Christian Missionaries heading up to the jungles of Chaing Mai to talk to the hill tribes. They were a great help showing me the proper way to draw the swirling Thai characters. My handwriting needs some improvement and they laughingly referred to children doing a better job. But Thai characters at best look like squiggles to me.

They helped me for a good hour, correcting my grammar, tones and my writing. It seems like just about anyone will stop and help you learn Thai if you make an effort. My taxi driver on the way to the train station kept teaching me words like traffic, bridge, left, right, bus, etc. etc.

When the train was delayed it was the missionaries who told me about it. And when I slept through the lunch stop they appeared with sweets, milk and news paper wrapped phad thai refusing to accept the money I offered. When we finally arrived at the station, a good 6 hours after the scheduled arrival time they made sure that I had a ride to my guesthouse before going there own way.

Lunch with Expats.

So as many people know there is a huge American expatriot culture in Thailand. Today I just happened to meet two interesting italian/american expatriots who've been here since the late sixties. They were an interesting pair of Vietnam vets, who had gotten frustraited with the States and left one day to never go back. They didn't offer an explaination as to why, and I didn't want to pry.

But they were an interesting couple of gentlemen who seemed amused by my 'young indepent liberaltarianism,' I'm not really sure what that means let alone if that's what I am. All I said was that I'd prefer not to talk politics and that it should be about the person not the party.

I made them laugh, and aparently that was enough to earn me a free meal of cheeseburger and fries. They kept stalling me from leaving, asking questions about how life back home was and comparing it to the states that they left behind. I think that in the end they were just two lonely old men, eager to catch news from home even though they had left along time ago.

And tomorrow morning at o'dark thirty (like 6:30am) I'm heading back to that bar becaue it's the superbowl... and they promised me free breakfast.

Nueng, Song, Saam, Si

She approaches me as I stumble of the Tha Prachan peir feeling huge and out of place surrounded by the slender Thai, a little urchin in a pink Mickey Mouse t-shirt and ratty jeans. She dances before me in obvious delight of having a foreigners attention a white plastic bag clenched in her hand.

“Nueng, song, saam, see,” she laughs and waits expectantly as I repeat the numbers back to her. With the patronizing tone of a young child she corrects my pronunciation before handing me the bag in exchange for four coins that are only slightly bigger than a quarter.

Her mother watches our exchange with amusement from her stand at the corner. Such exchanges have become commonplace on my daily commute to Thammasat University. I don't know how we fell into this routine, but it makes me smile every time. It just seemed to happen, though my schedule is erratic at best.

Just like how the sushi man somehow knows when I have class and always smiles and makes small talk as I pass him on the way to the ferry.

"You a teacher yet?" He often asks me, though I've explained time and time again that I have no intention of teaching here and will return home in a few months. He shrugs it off, "just wait, you never leave here, you see."

At first I laughed it off, counting the days until I would return home. But somewhere along the way that changed and now I can't seem to help looking at ways of prolonging my stay. I can't help but wonder if he is right after all.

Classes

So today was the first day of my Traditional Thai Medicine and I couldn't be more excited for a class. The professor, a 'Royal Fellow' is one of 80 Thais nationwide who is in charge of traditional medicine in the Royal Court. But I'm not entirely sure what that means, but apparently it's quite an honor. He's really thrilled about it, he only mentioned it, 10, 15, 20 times in the hour long class.

Thai Traditional Medicine (TTM) has a long history and plays a massive role in modern Thailand. With over 60% of rural Thailand relying on TTM, and over 15% of Urban Thailand. Unlike in the States, traditional medicine is strongly encouraged by the government which requires that hospital have at least 10-15% of all funding go to TTM, within 5 years they hope to increase the amount of TTM in hospitals to 30%.

In an effort to promote the TTM, the Government is reimbursing all traditional medicine costs to Thai nationals, including that two hour long steam bath and Thai Massage. Oh the jealousy.


But perhaps the best thing about the TTM class is that out of the 13 classes we're have this semester, 5 of them are going to be field trips. Next week Wat Pho the home of traditional thai massage, then the royal gardens, followed by museums, Thai massage lessons, and ending in a steam bath experience.

I can't wait!