Since I have actually sat myself in front of a computer with time enough, or desire enough, or drive enough, to actually update this window into my world. Now, it has nothing to do with how much I love and miss everyone back home, i.e. not enough to remain vigilant on my interweb postings, as much as how easy it is to get absorbed into the here and now-ness of Thailand.
To explain further, Thailand is a Buddhist country, or more accurately it is an animist country that adheres to Buddhism in a superficial manner out of fear that other countries would poke fun at it if it stood up and said, "You know what guys? I'm animist!" I can just hear Laos chiming in, "Oh, and you said you were so much better than us, 'Thirty years ahead of ya old Laos', you said, and yet here you are finally accepting that we are the same same, but different." Then you'd hear a nasty smirk from Malaysia, "Never believed it for a second Thailand. Not for one second. Why don't you just keep eating pork and believing that everything has a spirit. What are you? George Lucas?" Burma would remain silent, but would think that is was okay because as long as Thailand didn't bother them they could do as they please. Cambodia would be too busy trying to root out the evils of Sinookville and Phnom Phen to even comment, and Indonesia would view themselves as too good to even deign a response.
Where was I, oh yeah, Thailand takes things from Buddhism that it likes, one of which being the belief that everything is impermanent. Now, this is not a bad belief, you hear in all major religions. However I think Thailand has taken this just because it makes things so much easier for planning. You simply don't. "What is tomorrow? An idea, an uncertainty. I can kind of say that i will do this tomorrow, but that is really an abstract idea in all honesty. Have you eaten yet? I'm hungry now." And then, days, weeks go by, but they are days nor are they weeks, they are simply strings of today, and one today they say, "Oh yes, let's get this done NOW!" It took a little bit of time for my silly Western self to acclimatize to this style. I'd always be like, "So, do you know what you're doing next weekend? Wanna plan a trip?" or, once I secured a job teaching, "Do you know my schedule for tomorrow or next week so I could work up some lesson plans?" After incredulous silence, filled by Thais trying to figure out how to say that it was stupid for me to plan anything because that is really betting on a future that doesn't yet exist, I would get noncommittal answers due to the fact that it would embarrass me to be told the aforementioned thought, and embarrassing to the Thais to just out and out say that they did not have any idea. This, somewhat predictably, has led to some situations that others, less in tune to the Thai style of time, would called tension-filled.
"Oh, I have to get all of those documents, pictures, and notarized forms to you by four pm? Oh no, no problem, it's only 230, I got tons of time.... Oh, I have to teach five classes today and give a test I have yet to write? Oh no, absolutely no problem, lemme just get an idea of what they have been studying." It took me a few todays strung together, but I have slowly grasped the idea and belief that everything in Thailand happens now, at this moment, and so here I am, now writing to all of you, and I hope your todays have found you well.
(Oh very quickly and with not nearly enough detail that it deserves, Animism is the belief that everything possess a spirit of some kind and as such should be revered, respected, feared, etc. You'll see these tremendous bodhi trees, I mean truly tremendous, encircled by brightly colored ribbons in the middle of Bangkok and surrounded by spirit houses because no one in their right mind would chop down a tree like that, it is really neat. Also today in Thailand is the festival of Loy Kathong. Kathongs are banana leaf boats shaped like crowns and (ironically as you'll come to see in a second) most often formed around a cake of Styrofoam. These are then anointed with incense, candles, and sometimes coins as offerings and floated down the nearest major waterway, like a canal or river, or stream. They reason they do this is to make amends for the terrible way they treat the water for most of the year. the Kathongs are supposed to gather the bad spirits from the water and take them downriver with them to...... well Cambodia and the ocean I suppose. The Thais really do love their water, they understand it is life sustaining and extremely important. However they still do not have any sort of emission controls, they dump basically everything into the water, and even their apology is Styrofoam filled. I don't know, I love them so much, but sometimes they do what I feel are silly things.)
Anyways, since I last spoke to you I have spent 3 weeks down in Phuket living the island life and spent roughly another week in Bangkok and then 4 fun filled days in Laos at Vang Vieng for my second time down the river. I am now in Nonthai, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand and here I shall stand until March. That is due to the fact that I am now somewhat gainfully employed as a teacher of English to the smiling faces of school Nonthaikhuru-upatham, a high school with just 27 shy of 2000. I teach M. 2, 4, and 6 which is the equivalent or Grade 12, 10, and 8. Today was my first day (at thsi school and teaching highschoolers) so i cannot really tell you how it is. I mean today was fun, but first days are always fun. New faces, new routines, new difficulties, the attractiveness of the new, you know? I'll be able to give you a more solid feeling a month or so of todays down the road. I am living with three other teachers, one of which is a dude from bellingham by the name of Cain, the other is a librarian at my joint whose name I still have trouble with, I think it is Pra-reab, and the last is the head director of another school going by the name of Sawat Jantra, which means Luck, Beautiful Luck in Thai. I also live with two students from my school, kid named Top and kid named Man. This is a slightly interesting situation due to the fact that Cain and I are struggling with this silly Western notion of personal space and privacy which frankly do not exist here, and so have been searching out places to stay in nearby Korat, a.k.a. Nakhon Ratchisima. Korat would be ideal because it is only 20 k away and is the fourth or fifth biggest city in Thailand. This would give us that layer of anonymity that we desire. We are kind of "The White Guys" here in Nonthai. Eyeballs on our every move. I mean, I understand this, I have experienced this in my travels previous, and I sincerely believe it is an important thing for anyone and everyone to feel, being the 'other', the extreme minority. But I would appreciate Korat much more. This too is way to early in the today to predict how things will turn out so ask me later.
Well, not only is it Loy Krathong, it is also my own father's birthday so I am hanging it up here to give him a call via skype. I love the interweb and technology.
Much love,
Hope this finds you well.
