My first impressions of Thailand are fairly varied. The feel of the area changes vastly depending on where you go. Snippets will probably be a better way to visualize impressions, so, some that come to mind…
In the city, traffic. Lots of traffic. And motorcycles with death wishes that seem to have their own road rules.
Pretty much wherever you go, you have to know Thai. It can be incredibly frustrating, but the frustration isn’t really justified. Meals are often ordered by pointing to pictures and hoping it’s something good (which has yet to be unsuccessful for me.) The necessity of learning Thai has led me to switch into a Language and Culture class, because I truly think that I will be lost without it, and that much of this experience will be wasted if I don’t take time to learn the language.
Food stands everywhere. Pork, chicken, squid on skewers, fruit in bags, fish balls, sticky rice. Dirt cheap and very, very good (except you always have to be mindful of potential health risks, unsafe ice, meat, etc)
Pictures and monuments to the royal family everywhere.
Vehicles are blessed, and you see what they’re blessed with inside.
Thai people smile. A lot.
As ignorant as it sounds, I didn’t fully appreciate how third world Thailand was until I got here. Having been raised in a first world country my entire life, it was a bit difficult to imagine a life without clean tap water, constant hot shower water, unlimited electricity, fast internet, reliable plumbing. Here, the power only works in your room when the room key is inserted into a slot (so it’s not running while you’re out,) hot shower water is activated by a machine next to the shower, you can’t drink tap water, the wifi constantly kicks you out because there isn’t enough bandwidth for everyone, squat toilets are the norm when you get into the more rural areas. Things I took for granted are luxuries here, and the waste is minimized to maximize resources.
So far, I’ve tried tentacles, chicken feet, and scorpion (off the top of my head.) Food here is fantastic, I rarely know what it is, the seafood is great, and it’s all very cheap.
It’s very, very hot and humid. And that’s coming from someone born and raised in South Florida. It’s currently borderline monsooning as I write this, but the rain hasn’t been too terrible yet.
I’ll come up with more impressions as I write more posts, but this is what comes to mind. It’s very, very different, and I will realize it more and more as I interact with more Thai people.
I’ve had two orientations as part of this program. The first was for the university, the second was through the national organization that brought a group of Americans here (CIS.) The first orientation was held at Mahidol, the university. It was over 200 kids, the largest group yet, and it surrounded basic school orientation topics, and some basic language. There was also a fantastic meal of things that I’ve never had before and had no idea how to even start eating, and then we bought uniforms (long sleeve white button down, black pants, Mahidol belt buckle) and took ID pictures.
The CIS orientation revolved more around the Thai way of life. It discussed the cultural values that are so radically different from the Western point of view, basic survival tactics, travel tips, some language. Our adviser is an Australian who’s lived here and worked for CIS for quite some time, and he’s extremely well-versed in all things Thai.
The majority of what stood out during the orientation process was the emphasis on the difference between the culture here and the culture that we’re used to. Saving face is very important here, even at the expense of honesty or mutually beneficial outcomes. Time is flexible, the society is communal over individualistic, everything is very hierarchical based on societal status. Bowing (wai) is typical between people of different status (although it’s way more confusing and complex than that) and students do it to their professors. Feet are considered extremely unholy (if that’s the right word,) and it’s more polite to wake up a sleeping person and ask them to move as opposed to stepping over them. Touching a person’s head is also frowned upon, as that’s where the spirit and soul resides.
Another thing that I noticed during both orientations was the eagerness of every student to absorb and understand as much of the Thai culture as possible. The type of people that came here (from what I’ve noticed) seem like the type of people that want to be immersed in something radically different from what they’re used to, and this makes them very eager to learn, eager to make mistakes, and eager to try new things. It’s a great environment to be in, and it helps push me to try new things as well.
I’m sure I’ll think of more impressions to include, and I’ll throw some pictures up when I can figure out how.
Classes start tomorrow, and I’m sure that’ll bring some new impressions. But that’s for week 4, to keep you guys on the edge of your seats.
I haven’t figured out how to creatively end blogs yet, but soon I’ll thi
