Life in Detail

I have now been in Thailand for over a week now and it seems like I have been here an eternity. I cannot put into words how time works here. Every day is such a crazy experience that I have lost my sense of time completely- sometimes I even forget where I am. Am I really still on the same planet as the USA? It definitely does not feel like it. Sure, there are cars and roads and human beings... but truthfully, the way of life in Thailand is 95% different from that of my life in America. EVERYTHING I do, whether it be going to the bathroom, eating, or even walking or sitting... is different! I have NEVER experienced change to this extent. It is extremely refreshing, however... does cause quite a bit of confusion and aggravation. I have never felt so restricted yet at the same time unattended for. For instance, Thai students stay out at the LATEST 10pm and Thai mothers hold their hands and always are calling them and worrying about them.... however just the other day I was dropped off at a street corner by a man I didn’t know and had no idea where I was or what to do or WHY I WAS ON THIS STREET CORNER!!! It’s like organized CHOAS! I am just SO confused ALL the time. I don’t know where I am going or what to expect or if I’m doing things correctly or incorrectly... I am LOST in this country. The funny thing is, no matter how hard you try to get answers... you don’t get any in this country because everyone is so laid back in a very UPTIGHT way. It is the hardest thing to explain. ALL of the exchange students are just utterly confused, the culture is SO foreign to all of us... the Thai people try to show us love and to us it seems rude or overbearing. They try to help but it feels demeaning. They try to compliment and it is awkward. They try to inform and it results in confusion. They try to be welcoming and it feels fake. It is simply- a COMPLETELY different culture!


Despite all of the CONFUSION and cultural clashes... Thailand is AMAZING! Thailand is teaching me so much and pushing me so hard... and I’ve only been here for a mere week and a half. It is the perfect destination for a gap year because I am learning SO MUCH about life! Asia is NUTS! Now for a recap of the past week...


I end up staying in Bangkok for 3 days rather than 2. My host mom tries to get a flight the day of... booking in advance isn’t very popular here, but she is unsuccessful- surprise surprise. So I end up exploring Bangkok with my host Aunt (who I totally thought was the maid because my host mom orders her around like one...)! It is such a crazy experience! First we take the sky rail through the MASSIVE city and go to the weekend market. It was JAMPACKED with people. Every square foot of this HUGE area of the city is roped off and tents full of merchandise are EVERWHERE! I end up getting a new belt, a nail care kit, a wallet, and multiple meals for all less than $25. After the market we make our way to a famous temple and I learn how to bow and do all of the proper Buddhist prayers to the multiple golden statues. It is the 1/2 Chinese new year so we also go to a Chinese temple and prayed to a bunch of different gods and are given our fortunes by a complex combination of praying and shaking a pile of sticks with numbers on them and having one of the sticks fall on the floor signifying a specific fortune. It is quite interesting. We walk all around China town and it is DOUBLE culture shock for me because not only am I in Thailand but everything is in CHINESE! I am so confused and unsure of where I am going that I end up totally freezing up and experience some INTENSE culture shock... I literally am on the street and just stop, my mouth slightly ajar, unable to understand ANYTHING going on. I am just frozen. In COMPLETE shock. It is TOO much- crazy Thai woman guiding me through a massive city and speaking to me as if I am understanding everything- not having any idea where I am going or why- experiencing foods and smells I have NEVER experienced before- Chinese signs- crazy drivers- no organization- no direction- complete CONFUSION! can you say... CULTURE SHOCK! It is intense. I end up telling my host aunt that I need to go back to the apartment and drive back in a daze. Day 4 in Thailand is very interesting... but extremely overwhelming!


I wake up on day 5 and am ready to go back to Ubon- the city where I will be living in for the next year, and the city I havn’t even begun to explore. I walk down the busy streets of Bangkok and buy myself a delicious coffee for less than a dollar. Just doing this is extremely difficult- it takes me many mispronounced words and hand gestures to explain to the barista what I would like to order- black coffee- no cream, no sugar. How I struggle with the Thai language.


A few hours later my mother yells something that sounds like a battle cry and a slick white van with tinted windows pulls up. A man jumps out and takes my bags. He then opens up the door and I sit back, relax, and head off to the airport… or so I think. We actually end up going to the 11th floor of a swanky business building with a gorgeous view of the metropolis and eat lunch with important businessmen and women… I’m really trying to learn to just roll with it- it feels more like bouncing though.


After taking the 1 hour flight back to Ubon, going out to delicious Japanese food with my host family, and falling into a deep sleep back at the beautiful resort I live at, I wake up to day 6 in Thailand. Day 6 is a CRAZY one. I think that I am going out to breakfast with my host father, but in reality I end up being out for the entire day. After experiencing some very interesting Vietnamese food, I go to my father’s work where I decide to brave the rain and try to find a cup of coffee. The Thai people look at me like I am crazy as I walk through the streets whilst raindrops the size of golfballs totally destroy my umbrella. I get soaking wet- but I DO find a coffee shop!


I go back to Chevrolet and am taken to my school where I eat lunch with thousands of Asians for the first time. I stick out like a sore thumb and EVERYONE stares at me. I feel strange. I think that my host driver will pick me up but instead, I am picked up 1 hour late by a car full of business men. Confusion. I end up going out to coffee with them and learn that they own several businesses in Thailand. I then drive to another coffeeshop with my host mom and have coffee with very flamboyant men in pink ties. Have no idea why we are going out to coffee or why they are giving my mother a HUGE fruit basket . One of the men takes me back to Chevrolet. I go inside and have no idea what is going on. I search for my host dad but cannot find him. I wait around for an hour. I am starting to get angry. I am very confused and nobody explains anything to me. I start to panic and go into hyperventilation mode. I am very angry. Here I am, the FIRST day in my city and I am dropped off at a street corner by I man I do not know! I start to cry and call Rotary. A very kind man asks me to tell him where I am and I do not know. I hand the phone to a random Thai person on the street and they look at me absolutely petrified- HUGE WHITE MAN WITH BLOND HAIR CRYING AND GIVING ME PHONE. Must have been a sight! Within 2 minutes a man races towards me with a motorbike, gets off, and gives me a hug. He tells me everything will be okay and takes me back to his shop. I talk things over with him and his wife and I feel much better. They call my host mom and tell her I walked over to say hello. She picks me up in a short time. She was getting botox.


I wake up the next day and exercise for an hour. It feels good. I am taken into the city where I am finally reunited with another EXCHANGE STUDENT- JACKIE! We hug each other like we havn’t seen each other in YEARS. It feels so good to see another white person! She is the first one I have seen since I left America. We talk about EVERYTHING! It feels so good to have another person who shares my confusion! I am not the only one who feels like a toddler  We spend the whole day together and go out with a Thai student to coffee where we prepare a small introduction speech for the rotary meeting that night… that we had no idea until an hour before. We go to the rotary meeting and eat a delicious chinese-thai meal. The people are all so friendly and I like how laid back the rotary atmosphere is. Jackie and I introduce ourselves and they clap hysterically. Thais love when foreigners try to speak their language. We are about to exit the stage when a song comes on over the loudspeaker and the smiling Thai people politely say- SING! We have no idea what is going on. Sing- they repeat. We do not know the song. They change the song instantly. Justin Bieber. Yup. Jackie and I stand in utter confusion. I am in shock. I cannot sing. The words do not come out of my mouth. What a sick joke. We awkwardly leave the stage. I am still in shock and continue to be unable to move until we leave the establishment. I hit rock bottom when my host mother informs me that this dinner was for a Lions Club and we were now about to go to the Rotary meeting. Jackie and I are hysterical. We now must endure 2 more hours of introducing ourselves in broken Thai, eating yet again another meal, and awkwardly taking pictures with Thai people. Confusion seems to be my best friend here.

To be written shortly…