I just got back into town from another week up at camp. This time I kept my lunch on the long winding road back to Mae Sot. This might have something to do with the quality of the lunch, or something to do with the benevolent presence of five monks who shared the ride with me. I don't know what it is about monks, but I quite enjoy their company. We pass large numbers of monks on the road, brilliant orange, yellow and dusty red robes walking against the lush greenery. This weekend is a big Buddhist celebration. There is a festival near where I live and tomorrow we will go out to the border and put lots of candles in the river. Every night, there are fire balloons up in the sky, floating like stars in the breeze. The town is full with festive visitors, and everything feels a little restless and on the verge of turning crazy. Of this weekend I expect to witness mass drunkenness, lots of fire and several fights.
More later...
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Friday, November 19, 2004
Christmas is Coming...
I am currently in the last phases of my ritual initiation into life in Thailand, or so I hope. As any traveler knows, this initiation consists of spending a large amount of time near the vicinity of a bathroom and there is little one can do about it save for hoping that the moment strikes somewhere more opportunely than an 8 hour bus ride. I take back my earlier posting about how I am entitled to at least two years of sickness free. After a long night of becoming intimately acquainted with my new bathroom, I realize the sheer folly of those words.
Thankfully, I spent another splendid week up at camp teaching, with only a few digestive disturbances that did not interrupt any of the lessons I was teaching. On the three hour truck ride back to Mae Sot, I experienced what I thought was merely car sickness - something I knew would be inevitable on those crazy turns through the mountains. Again, I felt thankful that I was able to vomit in style, outside of the truck, without splashing anyone. Nobody even blinked.
I had a few hours of reprieve in which I bought some groceries, finally figured out how to make an international phone call and chatted with my next door neighbor Tim, who recently returned from visiting his girlfriend in Vietnam. I made the rather unfortunate mistake of eating a great deal for dinner, despite the fact that my stomach had already began to quietly complain.
As for the rest of my night, I won't get into great detail. I only felt safe leaving my house around 1:30 in the afternoon today, feeling rather hollow as if I have lost half of my weight. I rode my bicycle extremely slowly and am now relaxing in the office with the air-con on full blast and a cup of sugary coffee in hand to restore my blood sugar levels.
Hopefully the ordeal has passed.
I am trying to upload some photos of camp and am unsure of the results. One thing is certain, I fear I have lost my cd into the bowls of this capricious computer.
I am struck with how simple life is up at camp and how beautiful. Sitting outside my classroom up on the hill, looking down at the camp as the sun sets, it is hard to imagine that I spent my whole summer in the grand metropolis of Montreal, full of social events and festivals and so much activity I hardly knew what to do with myself. Now I spend my evenings watching the sun set, the wind in the leaves and the moon trace its path across the sky. I usually go to sleep around 9pm because that is when our generator stops and I wake up around 5:30am because that is when my students wake up and we all live in a bamboo dorm with thin walls so it is impossible to be quiet.
My mum wins first prize at the letter writing contest with two letters waiting for me in my mailbox today. Will I be able to wait until I am up at camp with nothing to do to open them? That is the question. Myself, I am off to the post office soon but have forgotten half my letters up at camp, silly Jen.
Christmas is coming! I know one goose who will not be getting fat and that's me. I have a Christmas request though, for anyone with a bit of free time on their hands. Letters are the best presents, of course, but anyone with a bit of free time over the hols could always put together a CD and stick it in the mail. It's light, fits into an envelope and makes a great cheap gift! You can imagine me listening to your songs after a long day of teaching, drowning out the sounds of the rats and dreaming of home before drifting off to sleep. I'm not picky about the genre of music, surprise me with your favorite tunes and don't forget to name your compilation. Suggestions: "Essential Lesbian Love Songs," "Dance Mix 2004," and "Songs for JoJo."
Another idea for Christmas: hobbies in an envelope. What on earth am I going to do with all my free time here? So far, writing, learning languages and reading books comes to mind. If anyone has any other suggestions, send them over.
Meanwhile, my stomach seems to have stabilized and although I haven't been able to retrieve my CD, it looks like my photos are on the computer. Time to connect this puppy up to the big world and see what I can do. Have a great week everyone. Love,
Jen
Thankfully, I spent another splendid week up at camp teaching, with only a few digestive disturbances that did not interrupt any of the lessons I was teaching. On the three hour truck ride back to Mae Sot, I experienced what I thought was merely car sickness - something I knew would be inevitable on those crazy turns through the mountains. Again, I felt thankful that I was able to vomit in style, outside of the truck, without splashing anyone. Nobody even blinked.
I had a few hours of reprieve in which I bought some groceries, finally figured out how to make an international phone call and chatted with my next door neighbor Tim, who recently returned from visiting his girlfriend in Vietnam. I made the rather unfortunate mistake of eating a great deal for dinner, despite the fact that my stomach had already began to quietly complain.
As for the rest of my night, I won't get into great detail. I only felt safe leaving my house around 1:30 in the afternoon today, feeling rather hollow as if I have lost half of my weight. I rode my bicycle extremely slowly and am now relaxing in the office with the air-con on full blast and a cup of sugary coffee in hand to restore my blood sugar levels.
Hopefully the ordeal has passed.
I am trying to upload some photos of camp and am unsure of the results. One thing is certain, I fear I have lost my cd into the bowls of this capricious computer.
I am struck with how simple life is up at camp and how beautiful. Sitting outside my classroom up on the hill, looking down at the camp as the sun sets, it is hard to imagine that I spent my whole summer in the grand metropolis of Montreal, full of social events and festivals and so much activity I hardly knew what to do with myself. Now I spend my evenings watching the sun set, the wind in the leaves and the moon trace its path across the sky. I usually go to sleep around 9pm because that is when our generator stops and I wake up around 5:30am because that is when my students wake up and we all live in a bamboo dorm with thin walls so it is impossible to be quiet.
My mum wins first prize at the letter writing contest with two letters waiting for me in my mailbox today. Will I be able to wait until I am up at camp with nothing to do to open them? That is the question. Myself, I am off to the post office soon but have forgotten half my letters up at camp, silly Jen.
Christmas is coming! I know one goose who will not be getting fat and that's me. I have a Christmas request though, for anyone with a bit of free time on their hands. Letters are the best presents, of course, but anyone with a bit of free time over the hols could always put together a CD and stick it in the mail. It's light, fits into an envelope and makes a great cheap gift! You can imagine me listening to your songs after a long day of teaching, drowning out the sounds of the rats and dreaming of home before drifting off to sleep. I'm not picky about the genre of music, surprise me with your favorite tunes and don't forget to name your compilation. Suggestions: "Essential Lesbian Love Songs," "Dance Mix 2004," and "Songs for JoJo."
Another idea for Christmas: hobbies in an envelope. What on earth am I going to do with all my free time here? So far, writing, learning languages and reading books comes to mind. If anyone has any other suggestions, send them over.
Meanwhile, my stomach seems to have stabilized and although I haven't been able to retrieve my CD, it looks like my photos are on the computer. Time to connect this puppy up to the big world and see what I can do. Have a great week everyone. Love,
Jen
Sunday, November 14, 2004
CORRECTION
My phone number has no 9 in it, that was something I made up based on a faulty understanding that applies to cellular phone.
My phone number (from Canada): 011-66-055-534-015
Although I'm still not sure if you drop the 0 or not.
After a 10km bike ride on the ancient machine known as "Pheasant 3", a big bottle of beer and several hours bargaining under the sunshine, I am happy for the cool reprieve of the office. I have several items for my new house, however, including an army suplus hammock and, strangely enough, a German army jacket to keep me warm up at camp this week. It is very hard to purchase such an item when you are sweating copiously and I'm not entirely sure how much the heat has affected my purchase. What on earth am I doing with a German army jacket in a refugee zone? I tell myself, no one here cares about the Germans, they have far more immediate enemies.
Next door, Tim, "the crazy Aussie" has left behind five mangy dogs and one crazy kitty. The front entrance to the house is like a garage, so I open a big door and all the dogs stream into the entrance and sit down in the shade. When I tell them to shoo! at least they listen. Not so the kitty who has escaped what looks like formidable fortifications next door. Soon after the landlady has locked her in after delivering breakfast, she is out and hanging out at my place. There are holes in the concrete in the garage area of our living quarters and I have no fortifications to stop the cat from entering through the bars where my actual houe begins. It's a cute cat, nothing if not spunky and terribly lonely. I have to be careful not to kick it, it is always around my feet. When not looking for loving, it is jumping up the walls, climbing everything that can be climbed and running around, generally looking crazy. To exit my house this morning, I had to wrap it up in a blanket and run for the door. I still haven't been back.
Although I have an international phone card, I have yet to find an international phone, hence my lack of communication.
I'm back off to camp tomorrow, where I hope it will be cooler. I will try to write some letters while I am there and actually post them on Thursday. Until then,
Jen
My phone number (from Canada): 011-66-055-534-015
Although I'm still not sure if you drop the 0 or not.
After a 10km bike ride on the ancient machine known as "Pheasant 3", a big bottle of beer and several hours bargaining under the sunshine, I am happy for the cool reprieve of the office. I have several items for my new house, however, including an army suplus hammock and, strangely enough, a German army jacket to keep me warm up at camp this week. It is very hard to purchase such an item when you are sweating copiously and I'm not entirely sure how much the heat has affected my purchase. What on earth am I doing with a German army jacket in a refugee zone? I tell myself, no one here cares about the Germans, they have far more immediate enemies.
Next door, Tim, "the crazy Aussie" has left behind five mangy dogs and one crazy kitty. The front entrance to the house is like a garage, so I open a big door and all the dogs stream into the entrance and sit down in the shade. When I tell them to shoo! at least they listen. Not so the kitty who has escaped what looks like formidable fortifications next door. Soon after the landlady has locked her in after delivering breakfast, she is out and hanging out at my place. There are holes in the concrete in the garage area of our living quarters and I have no fortifications to stop the cat from entering through the bars where my actual houe begins. It's a cute cat, nothing if not spunky and terribly lonely. I have to be careful not to kick it, it is always around my feet. When not looking for loving, it is jumping up the walls, climbing everything that can be climbed and running around, generally looking crazy. To exit my house this morning, I had to wrap it up in a blanket and run for the door. I still haven't been back.
Although I have an international phone card, I have yet to find an international phone, hence my lack of communication.
I'm back off to camp tomorrow, where I hope it will be cooler. I will try to write some letters while I am there and actually post them on Thursday. Until then,
Jen
Friday, November 12, 2004
My New Home
After a long search which resembled some kind of treasure hunt, I finally found myself a home here in Mae Sot. I moved out of the office this morning and into my "house". I was going to live in this very cool teak house with a yard and everything. Brooke, my co-worker, found it for me during the week but by the time we went last night to look at it, someone had already moved in. Alas. I did get a nice place though. No yard and in a complex with a place on either side but very spacious. Downstairs is tiled with a "garage" type area open to the street and a teak chair to relax in the breeze, a living room and a small kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom is equipped with a hot shower and sit-down toilet because two foreigners lived there awhile ago and had them installed. It is a bit unusual for a place, so a good bonus. The stairs and all upstairs are teak, so it looks very homey and comfortable. There are two bedrooms with ceiling fans and big windows (although no balcony). Included is a good mattress and mosquito net. The phone line is already hooked up and the kitchen has dishes and stuff. There are a few items of furniture and the landlady was over this morning cleaning the place up for me, although it is pretty clean anyways. She takes care of the bills also and has a good reputation (rare among landladies). So I'm pretty excited about it. It is located right across the street from the Buddhist Temple and my next door neighbor is "Tim, the crazy Aussie" (according to Brooke). But he is a friend of Patrick's (my other co-worker). This Tim character is currently in Vietnam visiting his girlfriend and left behind him five dogs and one very cute cat which the land lady is feeding in order to prevent them from joining the roving packs of dogs that haunt the night streets of the town. The place is about a ten minute lazy bike ride down the main highway, so good roads and very close to a restaurant favored by ex-pats and the massage parlor recommended to me by Brooke (to be visited this weekend for a two hour Thai massage).
On Monday, I headed up to Umpiem Refugee Camp for my first week of teaching. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed camp. Brooke and Patrick had to go to a meeting in Bangkok and felt bad leaving me up there by myself for my first week. Although I had a lot of free time (I only teach for about 12 hours a week), I never felt lonely. After only four days with them, I am in love with my students. They are bright, intelligent and full of laughter. They talk in the same tone about their boyfriends, the football game in camp, and their father who is a soldier in the jungle who they have not seen in four years and don't expect to ever see again. Then they joke about how I have a blue nose again from the whiteboard markers and we laugh.
Camp is surprisingly cold. It is up in the mountains and gets a good breeze. I snuggle into my fleece blanket and comforter at night and will go out this weekend and buy myself a sweater. Coming back into town yesterday was like descending into a heat wave. Although I sleep warmly up in camp, I am kept awake by the sounds of the rats at night. Eventually, I am sure I will get used to it. For now, I wake up five to ten times a night, sure that, despite my snugly tucked in mosquito net, they are right by my head or ready to bite my toes (as my students tell me that they sometimes do).
The food is cooked by the students and purchased with their rations with some extra funds to cover the teacher's food. It isn't anywhere near as bad as I had thought. In fact, my blood sugars are fabulous, maybe because it is very similar from day to day.
Breakfast: Rice
Lunch: leftover Rice
Dinner: Rice.
There is always something to go with the rice and sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bland. However, because they are expensive, food is always peanut free.
I spend time at camp planning my lessons and writing in my journal. I have started several letters which I haven't yet sent and would love to have letters to read and respond to. All mail, no matter how short or insignificant would be such a pleasure for me.
My address:
Jennifer Jones (EIP)
c/o Consortium Thailand
PO Box 27
Mae Sot, Tak. THAILAND
63110
I even have a phone, although please remember that I am 16 hours ahead of Calgary and 14 hours ahead of Montreal (I think). I am in camp Monday morning (my time) to Thursday afternoon. I think you can reach me by dialing the following number from Canada:
+ 011 66 9 055 534 015
All this to say, I am having a great time, but would love to hear from you. And, of course, emails are equally good.
Have a great week!
On Monday, I headed up to Umpiem Refugee Camp for my first week of teaching. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed camp. Brooke and Patrick had to go to a meeting in Bangkok and felt bad leaving me up there by myself for my first week. Although I had a lot of free time (I only teach for about 12 hours a week), I never felt lonely. After only four days with them, I am in love with my students. They are bright, intelligent and full of laughter. They talk in the same tone about their boyfriends, the football game in camp, and their father who is a soldier in the jungle who they have not seen in four years and don't expect to ever see again. Then they joke about how I have a blue nose again from the whiteboard markers and we laugh.
Camp is surprisingly cold. It is up in the mountains and gets a good breeze. I snuggle into my fleece blanket and comforter at night and will go out this weekend and buy myself a sweater. Coming back into town yesterday was like descending into a heat wave. Although I sleep warmly up in camp, I am kept awake by the sounds of the rats at night. Eventually, I am sure I will get used to it. For now, I wake up five to ten times a night, sure that, despite my snugly tucked in mosquito net, they are right by my head or ready to bite my toes (as my students tell me that they sometimes do).
The food is cooked by the students and purchased with their rations with some extra funds to cover the teacher's food. It isn't anywhere near as bad as I had thought. In fact, my blood sugars are fabulous, maybe because it is very similar from day to day.
Breakfast: Rice
Lunch: leftover Rice
Dinner: Rice.
There is always something to go with the rice and sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bland. However, because they are expensive, food is always peanut free.
I spend time at camp planning my lessons and writing in my journal. I have started several letters which I haven't yet sent and would love to have letters to read and respond to. All mail, no matter how short or insignificant would be such a pleasure for me.
My address:
Jennifer Jones (EIP)
c/o Consortium Thailand
PO Box 27
Mae Sot, Tak. THAILAND
63110
I even have a phone, although please remember that I am 16 hours ahead of Calgary and 14 hours ahead of Montreal (I think). I am in camp Monday morning (my time) to Thursday afternoon. I think you can reach me by dialing the following number from Canada:
+ 011 66 9 055 534 015
All this to say, I am having a great time, but would love to hear from you. And, of course, emails are equally good.
Have a great week!
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Day 1
First Law of Thai Driving: S/he who honks hir horn shall do no wrong.
After 21 hours of air time, 2 lengthy stop-overs, overnight in Bangkok airport and eight and a half hours on a bus, I arrived in my new home: Mae Sot, Thailand. Brooke, my new co-worker, picked me up at the bus-stop and took me out on our push-bikes to look around town a litte. I got a great 11 hours of sleep and found myself in a truck heading out to the refugee camp bright and early the day after my arrival in this country. Which is where I learned the Art of Thai Driving.
Masters of the Art have the ability to drive very fast in all conditions, including hairpin turns on windy mountain roads (which include about half of the drive Camp), while overtaking other vehicules including large trucks, while driving around hairpin turns WHILE overtaking large trucks, and when one feels so inspired. Bonus points are added if the driver squeals the tires while going around turns.
I notice Brooke closes her eyes and tries to sleep for the hour and a half drive.
It's beautiful countryside. My heart opens as we near town on the eight and a half hour drive from Bangkok to Mae Sot. Sometime about mountains and abundant greenery makes me happy. There are waterfalls and rice feilds. The drive through the mountain may be scary but it is exhilerating to be on the top of the world, staring down a cliff face close to the sky in the sunshine with a strong breeze whipping back your hair.
I'm exhausted. I never meant to write this long. I'm actually starving but since I haven't learnt any Thai or Burmese yet and Brooke and Patrick are both in Camp for the next few days, my fear of peanuts is holding me back from a gross pig out.
That's about to change.
After 21 hours of air time, 2 lengthy stop-overs, overnight in Bangkok airport and eight and a half hours on a bus, I arrived in my new home: Mae Sot, Thailand. Brooke, my new co-worker, picked me up at the bus-stop and took me out on our push-bikes to look around town a litte. I got a great 11 hours of sleep and found myself in a truck heading out to the refugee camp bright and early the day after my arrival in this country. Which is where I learned the Art of Thai Driving.
Masters of the Art have the ability to drive very fast in all conditions, including hairpin turns on windy mountain roads (which include about half of the drive Camp), while overtaking other vehicules including large trucks, while driving around hairpin turns WHILE overtaking large trucks, and when one feels so inspired. Bonus points are added if the driver squeals the tires while going around turns.
I notice Brooke closes her eyes and tries to sleep for the hour and a half drive.
It's beautiful countryside. My heart opens as we near town on the eight and a half hour drive from Bangkok to Mae Sot. Sometime about mountains and abundant greenery makes me happy. There are waterfalls and rice feilds. The drive through the mountain may be scary but it is exhilerating to be on the top of the world, staring down a cliff face close to the sky in the sunshine with a strong breeze whipping back your hair.
I'm exhausted. I never meant to write this long. I'm actually starving but since I haven't learnt any Thai or Burmese yet and Brooke and Patrick are both in Camp for the next few days, my fear of peanuts is holding me back from a gross pig out.
That's about to change.
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