“Grangai” is a term in Thailand used to describe the concept of “saving face.” Thais don’t like conflict and will lie to you if they feel like it will hurt someone’s pride. Workers won’t speak up to a superior because they don’t want to cause embarrassment.
Some examples of grangai:
“Oh you want to paint your house bright pink and lime green? I think that would look wonderful! Where is the paint let me help you!”
“The car was heavy but my toe will heal and I know you didn’t mean to run over my foot. Don’t worry about it.”
“You want to kick me off the internet so that you can look at porn. Ok, I’ll just sit here and play Solitaire on my computer until you are finished.” (I am guilty of this one.)
“You said that you would pick me up from the store at 3:00 and it is now 4:30…don’t worry about it I just spent an hour and a half talking to a scary Thai guy that somehow tricked me into giving him my phone number (and will call me 2 times in the next 12 hours).” (I am guilty of this one also).
Now grangaiing can be very blatant or very subtle. My landlord cam up to me a few weeks ago and asked me to start locking the front gate to my house. She said that people were using my yard as a shortcut and it was kicking up a lot of dust and the dust wasn’t healthy for me. She said that if she needed to get in she would go through her niece’s yard who lived right behind me. I said ok even though I knew that she was lying to me. (I knew she was lying because we are in the middle of the rainy season…we don’t have dust we have mud! – Sometimes I can be so smart!) So I have kept my gate locked unless I am at home.
Yesterday I figured out what was really happening. I was sitting on my front porch waiting for someone to come and pick me up when I noticed a little old lady walking toward my gate. I could tell that she was looking at my gate & trying to see if it was locked. When it wasn’t she started walking towards it & that’s when she looked up and noticed me. I saw her pause for a moment, but then she continued on her way. She opened my gate and walked up to me and asked why I wasn’t at work. I told her I was going into Nan & she just smiled and walked off towards the back of my house.
My ride showed up about five minutes later and as I got up to go to the car, I saw the little lady walking back to the front of my house…and her arms were filled with herbs and vegetables that she had taken from “my” garden. My landlord knew that this lady was taking fruits, vegetables, and herbs (I have a couple of banana trees and other fruit bearing trees in my yard) from my yard but didn’t want to embarrass this woman so she told me that people walking through my yard was kicking up dust. So I will continue to lock my gate when I am not there and continue to practice the fine art of grangaiing.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Thai Parades
Thais love parades. I have been in more parades in my 5 months in Thailand than I have 18 years in the States. But the parades here in Thailand are a little different than the ones in the States (at least the ones I have participated in).
Monday afternoon, Ron Pat (kinda like a vice-president of the village) asked me if I wanted to go into the city the next day. I said sure thinking that he meant Nan. I asked him what time and he said 8:00am...which was bit strange because we don’t start work until 8:30 so I thought that was a bit early but oh well. He told me that he would pick me up at my house & one of my coworkers said that I needed to wear a yellow shirt. (Side Note: The yellow shirts are infamous in Thailand. They adopted the color to celebrate the King’s 60th Anniversary as King and the yellow shirts have become the unofficial uniform of Thailand…go anywhere on a Monday and you will see yellow shirts EVERYWHERE!). I thought it odd that I needed to wear a yellow shirt to go into the city on a Tuesday so I figured that they had something planned.
Sure enough, when they picked me up the next day, we did not head into Nan, but went into Santisuk (the city that is about 5k away from my village) and I could sense the early stages of a parade. You see, the Thai idea of a parade is to have each village make a poster/sign/banner with their name on it and all of the villagers walk behind the sign carrying flags, pictures of the King & Queen, and shrines to honor Buddha. They take it pretty seriously and even have people with walky-talky’s running up and down trying to get everyone organized.
Now I find Thai parades very amusing because all of the villagers are IN the parade and there is no one standing on the sidelines to WATCH the parade (usually a village will designate one person to stand on the sidelines to take pictures).
We ended Tuesday’s parade by marching onto a soccer field and broke into rows for each village. The mayor of Santisuk gave a speech (and I know that he said that there would be different activities throughout the day including a soccer match), they then lit off some fireworks, and then everyone went home because it had started to rain.
I still haven’t completely figured out why they had a parade. I tried to ask & they said something about quitting smoking…maybe it was supposed to be a sort of health day but I have no idea as we never went back to see any of the activities that they had planned…the parade was the important part.
Monday afternoon, Ron Pat (kinda like a vice-president of the village) asked me if I wanted to go into the city the next day. I said sure thinking that he meant Nan. I asked him what time and he said 8:00am...which was bit strange because we don’t start work until 8:30 so I thought that was a bit early but oh well. He told me that he would pick me up at my house & one of my coworkers said that I needed to wear a yellow shirt. (Side Note: The yellow shirts are infamous in Thailand. They adopted the color to celebrate the King’s 60th Anniversary as King and the yellow shirts have become the unofficial uniform of Thailand…go anywhere on a Monday and you will see yellow shirts EVERYWHERE!). I thought it odd that I needed to wear a yellow shirt to go into the city on a Tuesday so I figured that they had something planned.
Sure enough, when they picked me up the next day, we did not head into Nan, but went into Santisuk (the city that is about 5k away from my village) and I could sense the early stages of a parade. You see, the Thai idea of a parade is to have each village make a poster/sign/banner with their name on it and all of the villagers walk behind the sign carrying flags, pictures of the King & Queen, and shrines to honor Buddha. They take it pretty seriously and even have people with walky-talky’s running up and down trying to get everyone organized.
Now I find Thai parades very amusing because all of the villagers are IN the parade and there is no one standing on the sidelines to WATCH the parade (usually a village will designate one person to stand on the sidelines to take pictures).
We ended Tuesday’s parade by marching onto a soccer field and broke into rows for each village. The mayor of Santisuk gave a speech (and I know that he said that there would be different activities throughout the day including a soccer match), they then lit off some fireworks, and then everyone went home because it had started to rain.
I still haven’t completely figured out why they had a parade. I tried to ask & they said something about quitting smoking…maybe it was supposed to be a sort of health day but I have no idea as we never went back to see any of the activities that they had planned…the parade was the important part.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Language
One of the more frequent questions I receive (either by email or phone) is: “How is the language coming along?” And I always answer…”Slowly but it’s coming.”
You see, Thai is a difficult language to learn because it is tonal which means the same word can mean different things depending on what tones you use. Thai had five tones (mid, high, low, raising, and falling). So for example, “hello” could mean five different things depending on if/when you raise/lower your voice.
If that weren’t difficult enough, Thailand also has regional dialects. Peace Corps teaches us Central Thai as that is what they use in Bangkok and is most common throughout the country, but Issan and the Northern Regions also have their own dialects, or languages. Think of it like the accents in the States. We have Southern and North-Western accents as well as accents from Texas, Boston, and Jersey. Now imagine if these accents were different languages.
I happen to live in an area that has two dialects (Northern and Lao) in addition to the Central dialect. So I’m not learning just one language, I am learning 3 languages at the same time…and the Thais don’t tell you which language you’re “learning” (which would be a bit like a high school Spanish teacher throwing in a week of Latin just for the fun of it without telling the students that it was Latin and not Spanish). And my village uses a lot of the Northern dialect. My Project Manager (who is Thai) came for a site visit last week & we went to visit one of the community groups. She had been acting as my translator, but during this meeting, she turned to me and said that she can’t translate because they were speaking the Northern dialect and she couldn’t understand what they were saying…and she’s Thai!
So if you’re curious, my Thai is progressing…slowly, but it is progressing.
You see, Thai is a difficult language to learn because it is tonal which means the same word can mean different things depending on what tones you use. Thai had five tones (mid, high, low, raising, and falling). So for example, “hello” could mean five different things depending on if/when you raise/lower your voice.
If that weren’t difficult enough, Thailand also has regional dialects. Peace Corps teaches us Central Thai as that is what they use in Bangkok and is most common throughout the country, but Issan and the Northern Regions also have their own dialects, or languages. Think of it like the accents in the States. We have Southern and North-Western accents as well as accents from Texas, Boston, and Jersey. Now imagine if these accents were different languages.
I happen to live in an area that has two dialects (Northern and Lao) in addition to the Central dialect. So I’m not learning just one language, I am learning 3 languages at the same time…and the Thais don’t tell you which language you’re “learning” (which would be a bit like a high school Spanish teacher throwing in a week of Latin just for the fun of it without telling the students that it was Latin and not Spanish). And my village uses a lot of the Northern dialect. My Project Manager (who is Thai) came for a site visit last week & we went to visit one of the community groups. She had been acting as my translator, but during this meeting, she turned to me and said that she can’t translate because they were speaking the Northern dialect and she couldn’t understand what they were saying…and she’s Thai!
So if you’re curious, my Thai is progressing…slowly, but it is progressing.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
My Afternoon
I go into the building that has the active internet connection when I get back from lunch. I open up my laptop and wait as my counterpart is using the only internet connection to do some research. She takes about an hour so I sit on my computer and play FreeCell (I’m pretty good).
When she finishes, she unplugs the cord and hands it to me so that I can check my email. I read an email from our Country Director that tells us that we cannot travel to Bangkok…people are planning political rallies and they expect some violence. I send a few emails…I “misplaced” my glasses in Chaing Mai and have to see if I can get new ones.
I am working on a few more emails when two teenage boys walk in and ask to use the internet. I unplug the connection from my computer and plug it into the office computer. It looks like they are doing research for a school assignment. I go back to FreeCell.
After about an hour, I start to get frustrated. They are no longer doing any work but are now looking at porn. They keep looking back at me to see if I am watching them…I don’t know how to tell them that I don’t have to watch…it is obvious what they are doing (but I can see the screen).
After another hour, I finally ask them how long they are going to be. They tell me a couple of minutes. I think I scared them. They leave 10 minutes later.
It’s been a long day…
When she finishes, she unplugs the cord and hands it to me so that I can check my email. I read an email from our Country Director that tells us that we cannot travel to Bangkok…people are planning political rallies and they expect some violence. I send a few emails…I “misplaced” my glasses in Chaing Mai and have to see if I can get new ones.
I am working on a few more emails when two teenage boys walk in and ask to use the internet. I unplug the connection from my computer and plug it into the office computer. It looks like they are doing research for a school assignment. I go back to FreeCell.
After about an hour, I start to get frustrated. They are no longer doing any work but are now looking at porn. They keep looking back at me to see if I am watching them…I don’t know how to tell them that I don’t have to watch…it is obvious what they are doing (but I can see the screen).
After another hour, I finally ask them how long they are going to be. They tell me a couple of minutes. I think I scared them. They leave 10 minutes later.
It’s been a long day…
My Morning
I wake slowly as I feel a soft flutter against my cheek. I reach up and brush the bug away. “How did a bug get in my mosquito net?” I briefly wonder as I drift back to sleep. But sleep was not to come as I soon felt the fluttering return to my cheek.
A little more awake this time, I reach up and brush the bug away only to bolt upright in bed as I feel pointy legs and a huge body. It’s dark so I scramble for my glasses and flashlight that are at the head of my bed.
I turn my flashlight on and shine the light around...What sort of creature is sharing my bed? Is it a scorpion? A spider? One of those beetles that give you rashes? Nope…it’s a cockroach…a 3 inch long gigantic cockroach. I lift up my mosquito net and flick the thing out with the tip of my flashlight. I watch as it lands on its feet and then promptly flips onto its back. It’s dying…they do that when they die.
I grab my cell phone to check the time…4:59 in the morning…I still have a couple of hours before my alarm will go off so I take off my glasses and lay back down to try to get some more sleep. But sleep doesn’t want to come. My heart is pounding and the roosters have started their crowing. I feel my skin crawl and every few seconds reach up every to brush off the bugs that aren’t there. I hear a beep, beep, beep and hope that my neighbor turns their alarm clock off soon. I hear a motorcycle start up and drive off.
I am just about to drift off to sleep when the music starts. They are going to make village announcements this morning. The music is coming from loudspeakers that are about 20 feet from my house, and it is loud. They usually play a couple of songs to get your attention before they start with the announcements…
I’m not going to get any more sleep…
It’s going to be a long day…
A little more awake this time, I reach up and brush the bug away only to bolt upright in bed as I feel pointy legs and a huge body. It’s dark so I scramble for my glasses and flashlight that are at the head of my bed.
I turn my flashlight on and shine the light around...What sort of creature is sharing my bed? Is it a scorpion? A spider? One of those beetles that give you rashes? Nope…it’s a cockroach…a 3 inch long gigantic cockroach. I lift up my mosquito net and flick the thing out with the tip of my flashlight. I watch as it lands on its feet and then promptly flips onto its back. It’s dying…they do that when they die.
I grab my cell phone to check the time…4:59 in the morning…I still have a couple of hours before my alarm will go off so I take off my glasses and lay back down to try to get some more sleep. But sleep doesn’t want to come. My heart is pounding and the roosters have started their crowing. I feel my skin crawl and every few seconds reach up every to brush off the bugs that aren’t there. I hear a beep, beep, beep and hope that my neighbor turns their alarm clock off soon. I hear a motorcycle start up and drive off.
I am just about to drift off to sleep when the music starts. They are going to make village announcements this morning. The music is coming from loudspeakers that are about 20 feet from my house, and it is loud. They usually play a couple of songs to get your attention before they start with the announcements…
I’m not going to get any more sleep…
It’s going to be a long day…
Monday, June 11, 2007
Surprise
About a month ago, I was sitting at my desk and my counterpart turned to me and told me that I had to go to Chaing Mai on the 8th of June for a meeting with Peace Corps. Now I thought this was a little strange because I had not heard a word about this from Peace Corps and they are usually very good about telling us things. But I saw the letter that they were sent (it was in Thai so I couldn't read what it said, but it was on Peace Corps letterhead). I figured that they would tell us about it soon, so I decided to wait.
About a week later, I still hadn't heard anything so I called another volunteer to see if she had heard anything. Well, she hadn't...and I started to panic. I mean was I about to get into trouble for something?!? So I sent an email to my project manager asking her about it...and she replied and told me that there was NOT a meeting in Chaing Mai. What in the world is going on??? Is my counterpart lying to me? Is she extremely confused about a different meeting?
That weekend was when I met up with some other volunteers in Chaing Mai. When I got to the hotel, one of the main topics of conversation was the "secret" meeting that Peace Corps had planned. Peace Corps was planning a test of our EAP (Emergency Action Plan - if there is an emergency & they have to evacuate us we all have to meet in a central location). They had sent a letter to our counterparts to warn them and told them that the meeting was supposed to be secret & to not tell us...whoops! For weeks leading up to the meeting my counterpart kept asking me when I was going to Chaing Mai. I tried to explain to her that I didn't know...that I wouldn't know until Peace Corps called me to tell me to leave. I don't think she understood because she kept asking me when I was going to leave.
On Wednesday, I was sitting at home talking on the phone with another volunteer when we both got text messages. We decided to hang up because we knew that that was how Peace Corps was going to contact us. Sure enough, we were told to get to Chaing Mai first thing in the morning (they played it off like there was a bird flue epidemic - and even though we knew the test was coming, a few volunteers started to panic at the bird flu thing). I immediately contacted my counterpart...you see, it is kind of difficult for me to get into/out of my village. I can't drive a car or ride on a motorcycle. The nearest song tao (a truck with two benches in the back to take passengers) stop was 5 k away and the nearest bus station was 40 k away. I at least needed a ride to the song tao stop as I couldn't ride my bike there and leave it for 4 days and I couldn't walk it with the bags that I had to take. It took them about an hour to figure out how they were going to get me there - and much confusion on my part because first they told me that they would take me into Nan (where the bus station is - about 45 min away), then to Pua (where another volunteer lives & a bus stops there to pick people up - but it is still 45 min away), they finally decided that they would take me to the song tao stop and I would take the song tao into Nan and then catch the bus from there to Chaing Mai.
I got packed and cleaned the house (if you leave ANY food out the animals will invade your home...I have even heard horror stories about mice & lizards having babies/laying eggs in people's beds while they were gone. I left the house at 7:30 in the morning, and got to Chaing Mai at about 2:30. The hotel that Peace Corps was putting us up in was pretty nice, but as soon as we got there, we had a meeting about the whole process (really boring). We then went out to a Mexican restaurant...and it was delicious! And then we found this rasta bar that was serving bucket drinks for 200 baht (that is about $7 and they poured 2 bottles of coke and an entire bottle of rum into the bucket). It is very entertaining to see Thais with dreads sing Bob Marley.
After a while we went to another bar (the same one that had the awesome cover bands the first time)...and they got one of the bands to sing me Happy Birthday (and they even sang my name which they don't do in Thailand).
The next day, we had another meeting (horrible when you are hungover) and then we had to check out of the hotel and we went to our "usual" spot which is this really cool guest house. After dropping off our stuff, we went and got some Italian for lunch and then headed to the mall to see Shrek 3. After the movie, we decided to head over to the night market. They had some fast food restaurants nearby so we stopped and got some Subway (I usually get the roasted chicken breast & I ordered it this time but changed that order as soon as they pulled out the "chicken breast" which was this slab of processed meat that looked like a really thick slice of bologna...so I ended up with a turkey sandwich). We then walked through the market...the most prevalent booths are the ones that sell bootlegged DVD's - you can actually buy Oceans 13, Shrek 3, and other current releases although you do run the risk of having a black head pop up in the middle of the screen as a person in front of the theater gets up to go to the bathroom.
On Saturday, we got up and went to a cafe that serves "American" food and ironically I had French toast. Then we stopped at a book store (I picked up some language books) and then hung out at the guest house for a little while. We went back to the mall and saw Oceans 13 and then the boys and girls separated and we went to this restaurant/bar that is owned by a guy from Texas. I had a wonderful hamburger & fries. Then we went back to the rasta bar for some more buckets.
On Sunday, we got up and headed to the bus station at 9:00...the bus that we wanted to take left at 10:00 but by the time we got there, it was full. So we ended up taking one the left at 11:30 and I will never take that bus again! Most of the buses in Thailand are pretty nice (think nice tour buses), but this one was barely a step up from a school bus. The air con didn't work & they had taken out the "nice" seats and put in benches so they could crowd in more people (which didn't help with the heating thing). And we were stuck on it for 7 hours (usually it takes 6 but this drive was going VERY slow & was stopping every 5 minutes to let someone off). I got home at 7:00 and luckily I didn't have lizard eggs in my bed so it was a good "surprise" trip.
About a week later, I still hadn't heard anything so I called another volunteer to see if she had heard anything. Well, she hadn't...and I started to panic. I mean was I about to get into trouble for something?!? So I sent an email to my project manager asking her about it...and she replied and told me that there was NOT a meeting in Chaing Mai. What in the world is going on??? Is my counterpart lying to me? Is she extremely confused about a different meeting?
That weekend was when I met up with some other volunteers in Chaing Mai. When I got to the hotel, one of the main topics of conversation was the "secret" meeting that Peace Corps had planned. Peace Corps was planning a test of our EAP (Emergency Action Plan - if there is an emergency & they have to evacuate us we all have to meet in a central location). They had sent a letter to our counterparts to warn them and told them that the meeting was supposed to be secret & to not tell us...whoops! For weeks leading up to the meeting my counterpart kept asking me when I was going to Chaing Mai. I tried to explain to her that I didn't know...that I wouldn't know until Peace Corps called me to tell me to leave. I don't think she understood because she kept asking me when I was going to leave.
On Wednesday, I was sitting at home talking on the phone with another volunteer when we both got text messages. We decided to hang up because we knew that that was how Peace Corps was going to contact us. Sure enough, we were told to get to Chaing Mai first thing in the morning (they played it off like there was a bird flue epidemic - and even though we knew the test was coming, a few volunteers started to panic at the bird flu thing). I immediately contacted my counterpart...you see, it is kind of difficult for me to get into/out of my village. I can't drive a car or ride on a motorcycle. The nearest song tao (a truck with two benches in the back to take passengers) stop was 5 k away and the nearest bus station was 40 k away. I at least needed a ride to the song tao stop as I couldn't ride my bike there and leave it for 4 days and I couldn't walk it with the bags that I had to take. It took them about an hour to figure out how they were going to get me there - and much confusion on my part because first they told me that they would take me into Nan (where the bus station is - about 45 min away), then to Pua (where another volunteer lives & a bus stops there to pick people up - but it is still 45 min away), they finally decided that they would take me to the song tao stop and I would take the song tao into Nan and then catch the bus from there to Chaing Mai.
I got packed and cleaned the house (if you leave ANY food out the animals will invade your home...I have even heard horror stories about mice & lizards having babies/laying eggs in people's beds while they were gone. I left the house at 7:30 in the morning, and got to Chaing Mai at about 2:30. The hotel that Peace Corps was putting us up in was pretty nice, but as soon as we got there, we had a meeting about the whole process (really boring). We then went out to a Mexican restaurant...and it was delicious! And then we found this rasta bar that was serving bucket drinks for 200 baht (that is about $7 and they poured 2 bottles of coke and an entire bottle of rum into the bucket). It is very entertaining to see Thais with dreads sing Bob Marley.
After a while we went to another bar (the same one that had the awesome cover bands the first time)...and they got one of the bands to sing me Happy Birthday (and they even sang my name which they don't do in Thailand).
The next day, we had another meeting (horrible when you are hungover) and then we had to check out of the hotel and we went to our "usual" spot which is this really cool guest house. After dropping off our stuff, we went and got some Italian for lunch and then headed to the mall to see Shrek 3. After the movie, we decided to head over to the night market. They had some fast food restaurants nearby so we stopped and got some Subway (I usually get the roasted chicken breast & I ordered it this time but changed that order as soon as they pulled out the "chicken breast" which was this slab of processed meat that looked like a really thick slice of bologna...so I ended up with a turkey sandwich). We then walked through the market...the most prevalent booths are the ones that sell bootlegged DVD's - you can actually buy Oceans 13, Shrek 3, and other current releases although you do run the risk of having a black head pop up in the middle of the screen as a person in front of the theater gets up to go to the bathroom.
On Saturday, we got up and went to a cafe that serves "American" food and ironically I had French toast. Then we stopped at a book store (I picked up some language books) and then hung out at the guest house for a little while. We went back to the mall and saw Oceans 13 and then the boys and girls separated and we went to this restaurant/bar that is owned by a guy from Texas. I had a wonderful hamburger & fries. Then we went back to the rasta bar for some more buckets.
On Sunday, we got up and headed to the bus station at 9:00...the bus that we wanted to take left at 10:00 but by the time we got there, it was full. So we ended up taking one the left at 11:30 and I will never take that bus again! Most of the buses in Thailand are pretty nice (think nice tour buses), but this one was barely a step up from a school bus. The air con didn't work & they had taken out the "nice" seats and put in benches so they could crowd in more people (which didn't help with the heating thing). And we were stuck on it for 7 hours (usually it takes 6 but this drive was going VERY slow & was stopping every 5 minutes to let someone off). I got home at 7:00 and luckily I didn't have lizard eggs in my bed so it was a good "surprise" trip.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Censorship Rant
One of the things that makes the United States so grand is the right to freedom of speech. Everyone has the right to say what they want, write what they want, end even record what they want. And although I think some of these rights are being violated and some censorship does take place, for the most part my freedom of speech was a luxury that I took for granted of in the States. Not so any more.
I have just found out that the Thai government is blocking internet access to blogspot blogs. I have been able to (and can still) publish/write blogs, I just cannot look at my own blog or the blogs of other Peace Corps volunteers or anyone's blog for that matter. And this isn't the first case of censorship since I have been in Thailand. The Thai government has also blocked access to youtube (although in this case I understand why).
If there is one thing I miss from the States, that would be my freedom of speech!
Check out an article posted on the Bangkok Recorder: http://www.bangkokrecorder.com/news/news/blocked-bloggers-991.html
I have just found out that the Thai government is blocking internet access to blogspot blogs. I have been able to (and can still) publish/write blogs, I just cannot look at my own blog or the blogs of other Peace Corps volunteers or anyone's blog for that matter. And this isn't the first case of censorship since I have been in Thailand. The Thai government has also blocked access to youtube (although in this case I understand why).
If there is one thing I miss from the States, that would be my freedom of speech!
Check out an article posted on the Bangkok Recorder: http://www.bangkokrecorder.com/news/news/blocked-bloggers-991.html
The Birthday and My Adventures Baking Cupcakes
Well, today is my birthday. I am now a whopping 28 years old. How did that happen…I swear I just graduated from high school a couple of years ago…but no, in fact my 10 year high school reunion is coming up this summer (not going to make it to that one).
So what have I done to celebrate on this special day? I made cupcakes. You see, I have tasted the Thai version of the birthday cake and it is HORRIBLE! There is absolutely no flavor and about 2 inches of frosting…so all you taste is sugar and butter. So I decided to treat my coworkers to a “real” cake. My mom was kind enough to send the fixn’s (a box of cake mix, frosting, and a cupcake tray) and I went to work.
Now if you haven’t had the pleasure of baking cupcakes in Thailand, you are missing out. My first challenge came in trying to find vegetable oil…you see, they don’t carry the stuff here. They have coconut oil (too fattening & I didn’t know if it would change the flavor of the cake), sunflower oil (I hate sunflower seeds so that was out), and soy bean oil…so I went with soy bean oil & hoped for the best.
My next challenge came when it came time to do the baking. You see, they don’t have ovens in Thailand either. I don’t know why, but I am guessing it has something to do with the heat (they have gas powered stoves that use little propane tanks of gas but no oven). Luckily I had purchased a toaster oven when I first rented my house, so I was good to go – at least I thought so. You see, my stupid toaster oven kept causing the circuit breaker in my house to flip. The first time it happened, I turned off the lights in my bedroom, unplugged my fan, and turned off the lights in my living room. The second time it happened, I unplugged my laptop (I was using it to listen to music) and turned off the lights in the bathroom (I was also doing laundry while the things were baking (can you say multitasker). The third time it happened, I had to turn off the lights in the kitchen and bake by the light of my flashlight…not as fun as it sounds.
My third challenge came in getting the things to the office. You see, I don’t have a car…I don’t have the luxury of putting a plate of cupcakes on my front seat and driving in to work. I had to somehow fit two dozen of the things in Tupperware containers and then fit the containers into the basket on my bike…which meant that I had to carry the bag that I keep my change of clothes, laptop, dictionary, and other misc stuff in.
But all said and done, I am glad I made them because my coworkers loved them & actually asked if I could teach them how to make them…umm how do you explain that if you go to the States you can buy these little boxes of cake mix & you only have to add water, oil, and eggs?!?
In other news, I had another experience with a critter. I was drying off after taking a shower this morning, and I heard a loud plop…something had dropped from my ceiling. I turned to look around and felt something climbing up my leg. I don’t think that I have ever jumped as high! And I kept “dancing” as I watched the lizard scamper away!
So what have I done to celebrate on this special day? I made cupcakes. You see, I have tasted the Thai version of the birthday cake and it is HORRIBLE! There is absolutely no flavor and about 2 inches of frosting…so all you taste is sugar and butter. So I decided to treat my coworkers to a “real” cake. My mom was kind enough to send the fixn’s (a box of cake mix, frosting, and a cupcake tray) and I went to work.
Now if you haven’t had the pleasure of baking cupcakes in Thailand, you are missing out. My first challenge came in trying to find vegetable oil…you see, they don’t carry the stuff here. They have coconut oil (too fattening & I didn’t know if it would change the flavor of the cake), sunflower oil (I hate sunflower seeds so that was out), and soy bean oil…so I went with soy bean oil & hoped for the best.
My next challenge came when it came time to do the baking. You see, they don’t have ovens in Thailand either. I don’t know why, but I am guessing it has something to do with the heat (they have gas powered stoves that use little propane tanks of gas but no oven). Luckily I had purchased a toaster oven when I first rented my house, so I was good to go – at least I thought so. You see, my stupid toaster oven kept causing the circuit breaker in my house to flip. The first time it happened, I turned off the lights in my bedroom, unplugged my fan, and turned off the lights in my living room. The second time it happened, I unplugged my laptop (I was using it to listen to music) and turned off the lights in the bathroom (I was also doing laundry while the things were baking (can you say multitasker). The third time it happened, I had to turn off the lights in the kitchen and bake by the light of my flashlight…not as fun as it sounds.
My third challenge came in getting the things to the office. You see, I don’t have a car…I don’t have the luxury of putting a plate of cupcakes on my front seat and driving in to work. I had to somehow fit two dozen of the things in Tupperware containers and then fit the containers into the basket on my bike…which meant that I had to carry the bag that I keep my change of clothes, laptop, dictionary, and other misc stuff in.
But all said and done, I am glad I made them because my coworkers loved them & actually asked if I could teach them how to make them…umm how do you explain that if you go to the States you can buy these little boxes of cake mix & you only have to add water, oil, and eggs?!?
In other news, I had another experience with a critter. I was drying off after taking a shower this morning, and I heard a loud plop…something had dropped from my ceiling. I turned to look around and felt something climbing up my leg. I don’t think that I have ever jumped as high! And I kept “dancing” as I watched the lizard scamper away!
Friday, June 1, 2007
Holiday
So yesterday was another Thai holiday…I think that they have about 3 a month. This one happened to be a religious holiday celebrating the “birth, enlightenment, and death of the Lord Buddha” so they told me that I had to go to the wat (temple) at 6:30 in the morning (I feel my days of sleeping in dwindling). Now women are supposed to wear a dress/skirt when they go to wat and I was no exception…the only problem was that it was too far to walk so I had to ride my bike in a skirt (not something I really want to do again). I got to the wat and we gave our offerings to Buddha and then we sat and worshiped. Now I think that I have mentioned before that sitting on the bamboo mats that they have on the floor is not comfortable…and even less comfortable when you are sitting in a skirt for over an hour! The “service” was the same as the one I attended earlier (at least I think so as I couldn’t understand what they were chanting) but this temple only had 2 monks (the lady I was with made sure to point that out) – although there are so many wats (about 1 every couple of miles) that I am not surprised that some of the wats only have a couple of monks…they would have to run out sometime!
Anyway, when we finished I was told that Ron Nyoke Pat (he’s the “vice-mayor”) was going to come to my house to take me to temple again…but they didn’t mention a time. So I got back on my bike and went home…and fell asleep until I heard “Kellie! Kellie!” coming from the front of my house. It was 9:30 and they had come to take me to wat again. (I am sorry to say, but I think I have been to “church” more in Thailand in the past 5 months than I have in the States in the past 5 years…sorry Mom). We drove for a while and ended up at a fairly large temple and there seemed to be kind of a carnival type atmosphere. Music was playing, food vendors were out, and you could hear the monks chanting in the background. We went over to this statue thing (looked a little like a steeple) and we had to kneel before it then the men walked around it and sprinkled water on it. Now you got that right…I said men…the women were not allowed to walk up the stairs so they waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs hoping that a man would come along so that they could give him their bottle of water to pour on the shrine…and the poor men who were trying to leave the shrine after they had emptied their own bottle because the ladies kept coming & kept handing them more bottles…it was a bit amusing actually.
We sat around for a while until the Nyokes (mayors) of the different villages got up and started pulling on some ropes to raise a bucket of water so that they could douse the top of the “steeple” with water.
We then left the wat and went to different houses to eat some food and drink alcohol. I have kinda made it my policy not to drink hard alcohol while in my village…which is very hard because whisky is a way of life here in Thailand. I have seen them bring out a bottle at church, at work, and at schools. So whenever someone poured me a shot I would shake my head with a grin and say “Mai ow” (I don’t want). Thankfully there was another female with me who was also not drinking because they kept trying to trick me by then asking if I wanted a drink in the Northern dialect and then in Lao. After the first house, Ron Pat was pretty drunk and a younger guy that was with us ended up driving us to the next house. I think that we visited 5 in all, and I did end up taking one shot of whisky but only because it was a different kind. I think that it was home brewed because the bottle was filled with pieces of bark and leaves and other stuff…and it was actually pretty good…I think the stuff in the bottle added some interesting flavors. I ended up getting home at around 4:00 – the last 4 hours had been spent making the rounds to different houses (a bit like a neighborhood party). They had planned to set off fireworks at 3:00 but it was pouring so that did not work out very well.
In other news, I killed another scorpion. Score: Scorpions – 1, Kellie 2.
Anyway, when we finished I was told that Ron Nyoke Pat (he’s the “vice-mayor”) was going to come to my house to take me to temple again…but they didn’t mention a time. So I got back on my bike and went home…and fell asleep until I heard “Kellie! Kellie!” coming from the front of my house. It was 9:30 and they had come to take me to wat again. (I am sorry to say, but I think I have been to “church” more in Thailand in the past 5 months than I have in the States in the past 5 years…sorry Mom). We drove for a while and ended up at a fairly large temple and there seemed to be kind of a carnival type atmosphere. Music was playing, food vendors were out, and you could hear the monks chanting in the background. We went over to this statue thing (looked a little like a steeple) and we had to kneel before it then the men walked around it and sprinkled water on it. Now you got that right…I said men…the women were not allowed to walk up the stairs so they waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs hoping that a man would come along so that they could give him their bottle of water to pour on the shrine…and the poor men who were trying to leave the shrine after they had emptied their own bottle because the ladies kept coming & kept handing them more bottles…it was a bit amusing actually.
We sat around for a while until the Nyokes (mayors) of the different villages got up and started pulling on some ropes to raise a bucket of water so that they could douse the top of the “steeple” with water.
We then left the wat and went to different houses to eat some food and drink alcohol. I have kinda made it my policy not to drink hard alcohol while in my village…which is very hard because whisky is a way of life here in Thailand. I have seen them bring out a bottle at church, at work, and at schools. So whenever someone poured me a shot I would shake my head with a grin and say “Mai ow” (I don’t want). Thankfully there was another female with me who was also not drinking because they kept trying to trick me by then asking if I wanted a drink in the Northern dialect and then in Lao. After the first house, Ron Pat was pretty drunk and a younger guy that was with us ended up driving us to the next house. I think that we visited 5 in all, and I did end up taking one shot of whisky but only because it was a different kind. I think that it was home brewed because the bottle was filled with pieces of bark and leaves and other stuff…and it was actually pretty good…I think the stuff in the bottle added some interesting flavors. I ended up getting home at around 4:00 – the last 4 hours had been spent making the rounds to different houses (a bit like a neighborhood party). They had planned to set off fireworks at 3:00 but it was pouring so that did not work out very well.
In other news, I killed another scorpion. Score: Scorpions – 1, Kellie 2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)