Siamese cats come from... SIAM?!

It is February 9th, and according to my typical yearly schedule, I should be on a complete conversation hearts diet at this point. Not to be found in this foreign land.

Feb 9th also is the one month marker of our time in this program! Can’t believe how fast it is already going. I was so pumped to read my one month letter from Annie and then I left it in my room. Go figure. Will have to read it on Friday when we get back.

It has been a heckuva week-

Monday began our first day of internships. I haven’t decided yet if that means we have more freedom or less- when we commute back to AIT, we have less free time and our whole days are taken up by getting to work, being at work, or coming back. A couple of us did a fancy schmancy cost-benefit analysis in our heads and decided that staying in a hotel during the week is well worth the cost (under $10 a night with breakfast included.) So that’s where I am right now, in our little three-bedroom bungalow. It’s a youth hostel, with dark wood floors and windows that look over a little shanty neighborhood and three twin beds. It looks like the setting for Goldilocks and the Three Bears, only our beds are equally as hard. Our bathroom is another one of those hybrid thingamajiggers- there is no enclosed shower so you just stand in the middle of the bathroom with a showerhead, trying not to look at yourself in the mirror. We’re on the fourth floor (penthouse, baby) and the stairs that lead up to our room have low ceilings with arched corners. It feels like we are in the Shire. I like that. And we leave our shoes outside the door. I like that too.

I’ve also realized that play-by-play blogging will no longer be exciting for me to type nor for you to read, so I think from here on out I’ll just share with you anything that I can make to sound interesting or humorous. Hopefully both.

Here’s what’s up with my internship: Sarah and I both are working for the Agricultural Land Reform Office of Thailand. Basically we will be doing research on a topic of our choice (which is proving some very interesting challenges). Our office is chock full of personality, that’s for sure. Everyone is very nice and excited to be around us. More on that later.

Monday was a bit brutal. Ok, I’m totally re-nigging on the play-by-play rule, but first days are important?
After waking up late, destroying my feet in new shoes, commuting for two hours, and being stared at as we walked by hundreds of lazy Yellow Shirt protesters, I was pretty beat. It was pretty cool to witness the protesters- they are so different than at home. They were just old farmers camping out and not really doing anything. Lame. They were protesting our office and the one next to ours and nobody in our office even cared. Ah, the luxuries of not being held accountable to your constituency.

We found the office and were shown to our desks… I found a hidden stash of snacks in my drawer and look over to see the lady whose nickname is “Fat” giggling with her hands trying to cover her big smile. She scooted over, swiped the snacks and found a new hiding spot for them.

We have two advisors (kind of), Pi Spider and Pi Yod. Pi Spider is very sweet and has good English and likes to laugh with us about things happening in the office. Pi Yod is a PhD who looks like he might take my lunch money.

Our first day was spent configuring our internet (its not setup for macs and for some reason hotmail, gmail, and facebook have a hard time getting through the proxy), eating, having pictures taken of us eating, and talking about how good the meal was. They get really excited when we know the names of Thai dishes and when we can eat spicy things. We’ve noticed that when they order for us they say “mai ped” (little/no spicy) a lot.

Additionally. They are constantly feeding us. And commenting on our eating habits. We were given three bags of dried fruits and were snacking on them and someone comes over and says “You eat all the time!!” WELL you left awesome food on our desks! And everyday when the juice girl comes around, the nicest man Pi Chad buys us these weird little yogurt juices. Juice girl sets them on our desks and we look over and Pi Chad is watching us to see if we knew it was him. We drink the yogurt and smile and watch him be delighted by the fact that he can please the FARANG. He’s pretty cute. In an awww-cute-old-guy way.

After work we met up with Jordan, and tuk tuk’d it over to the ritzy part of town, Siam Paragon. **This is the part of my life when I decided to get a surgical mask. That’s right, I’m becoming Asian everyone. Put it in your black book, Mom.
You just smell so much gross stuff and inhale so many pollutants, especially riding on a motorbike or tuk tuk. So I’m gonna do that.

Chumpoo Tuesday. Everyone in the government wear pink (Chumpoo) polos on Tuesday. Guys too. I like it here.
Protesters are still outside, we are assigned our first task. On Wednesday, Pi Yod says,
“present to office.”
“Ok. What would you like us to present about?”
“America.”

So we made a powerpoint about America.

Getting home Tuesday evening was kind of a disaster. We walked over to Thammasat’s BKK campus and waited for the van. And waited and waited. We knew it was coming because we had already bought tickets, but it was seriously taking forever. Found out that the van was caught in a traffic jam. Finally picked us up around 7, back to Thammasat by 8 ish. Nat took us out to dinner and we were served by the most outgoing, committed ladyboys ever. Vented a little bit about the day, received good advice from Nat, and headed home to AIT.
Tuesday was a 5AM-10PM day. I don’t know how my mom does it all the time.

Today we fairly smooth. We gave our powerpoint (I talked and Sarah clicked, roles reversed for NEXT WEEKS PRESENTATION) and I think they really, really liked it. Well, they liked our youtube choices. Showed a few PureMichigan commercials (we thought it was pretty funny that they OOHED and AWWED over the little white boy, whereas we think Thai kids are the cutest things on the planet), showed the new Chrysler commercial (we had been telling them about the auto industry and Detroit) and a MSU football promo. They really liked that one. It all tied together, promise.
We spent about a half hour answering questions too, which was pretty fun. They ranged from “What are the social disparities in Michigan?” to “Have you ever been a cheerleader?”
I’ll let you guess which gender asked which question☺

After work we spent about 2 hours trying to find our hotel and we did. Checked in, grabbed dinner, and now its 8:30 and we are about to crash. Tomorrow is the last day of the work week and Sarah and I are sleeping in on Friday before we head back to AIT. Cannot wait.
We’ve had (and still have) a very steep learning curve this week. Here’s some stuff I missed…

Things I’ve learned this week:
1. Father knows best: when initially asked about BKK weather he said, “Its either hot or wicked hot.” This week is wicked hot.
2.That I’m thankful my tax dollars go to government offices that are efficient. And somewhat transparent. Or at least staffers aren’t allowed to facebook or sleep through the work day…
3. There should never be squat toilets in a government office.
4. There are some places in the world where it is necessary to keep your own TP in your desk.
5. If you are white, you will be stared at, and people feel no shame for doing it.
6. Make it up as you go.
7. Check and double-check the map. (We’re pros now?)
8. Don’t break your new shoes in on the first day.
9. Make friends with the pain- the four 1” diameter blisters aren’t going away any time soon.
10. Finish your long day with a Magnum ice cream bar. (vanilla ice cream, thick milk chocolate, almonds.)
11. There are things spicier than the hottest bdub wings. They are green veggies in the Tom Yum we had today. They make your tongue feel like it has suffered hundreds of lacerations and is bleeding.
12. Time heals all mental wounds inflicted upon by spice.
13. The best way to spend your time at 6 AM is a morning chat with Mom. (Have you noticed I miss my mom?)
14. People are very surprised by curly hair.
15. I am surprised by my curly hair- it’s so curly I don’t even recognize it. As it gets more humid, my hair gets shorter and shorter.
16. When there’s plastic wrap over your chair seat, you are going to sweat. Don’t try to avoid it.
17. That American politics still get me just as riled up (started my day today TERRIBLY, watching the Bill Oreilly Obama interview. I don’t care your politics, Bill’s a JERK).
18. Always pack flip flops- you never know when you will step in a puddle of mystery muck.
19. Enjoy morning internet when family and friends are still awake and on facebook chat. After 1PM facebook gets incredibly boring.
20. If all else fails, smiles and thumbs up.

Hope this all doesn’t sound too whiny. It has been a long week. I am excited to get into a routine and to know where I am every time we leave the office building. Ready for some rest, ready to not be commuting 4+ hours, ready to enjoy the sun in a swimsuit instead of cursing it for making me sweat through right where my backpack hits my shoulders.

I also have been a bit sentimental… watching those PureMichigan/Detroit commercials, flipping through MSU pics to show coworkers, and talking about our home has made me miss it a fair amount. I could be brainwashed, but I’m glad it’s Michigan I will get to return home to. ;)

It almost gets emotional and then I remember I’m wearing shorts and a T-shirt, just paid a buck and a half for a meal, and walked past the Grand Palace. Bam.

Love to America,

Rosie