Hello (Sa wa dee ka) from Khon Kaen, Thailand! I have been in Thailand for nearly two weeks yet it has felt like I have been here for at least a month. Each day is jam-packed with activity and new experiences. I am studying with a small group of American students from Universities around the country, so we spend a fair amount of time together. We all live in the same dormitory building in the university district of Khon Kaen right on the edge of campus. This dorm building is my home for half the time I am here in Thailand, but the other half I spend in week long homestays every other week in rural communities. The first one starts this Monday (2/2)! I’m thrilled that I get both a homestay experience and a college student experience. This past Sunday after a three-day orientation at a site about an hour outside of the city we moved in with our Thai Roommates. I have yet to meet a Thai person that has been rude or unkind. My roommate included. Kim is a kind, thoughtful, energetic, and very sporty. She loves singing John Legend and playing basketball.
On my first night in Khon Kaen, Kim brought me to an Agriculture Fair on KKU’s (Khon Kaen University) campus. I rode to the fair on the back of Kim’s Motorcycle. Motorcycles, or what Thai’s call ‘Moterscies’ are the primary mode of transportation around Khon Kaen (Sorry, Mom. Be comforted-- I do wear a helmet!). This fair was a massive spread of tents and stalls sprawled out on what felt like a square mile of campus. If it wasn’t for Kim I would have gotten massively lost. The fair had everything from mango tree saplings, banana trees, flowers and small cacti plants, to cows, fighting roosters, bunnies, puppies, and goats. But that’s not nearly all. There were stalls and stalls of wild food and clothing vendors as well. I played it safe and only tried a few samples of food and then bought a fresh cold coconut. Buying fresh raw coconuts is going to become a weekly ritual for me at the fruit stand down the road from the apartments. They are so sweet and refreshing!
Food has been an adventure. I haven’t gotten sick yet (knock-on-wood), and everything that I have ordered has been delicious! I am able to order my food in Thai because my program has already led us through twenty hours of intensive Thai class. It’s incredible how much I am able to speak in such a short time! All the food is so cheap (on average, one American dollar can buy you a large meal)! My favorite dishes so far have been a traditional Issan pork dish, made with lots of lime and green onion- very spicy and eaten with sticky rice, as well as green curry and morning glory greens (kindof like stir-fried kale). Every dish I try has been pretty fabulous.
In Thailand coffee is generally of the hyper-sweet powdered instant variety. Not my favorite. This past week, motivated by my caffeine headaches, I have managed to find a few cafes around my apartment that have real coffee! Cafes open no earlier than 9am, and some open at three. Coffee is not a morning necessity for some reason. When ordering, I always have to be very intentional about saying ‘mai sai juan’ or ‘don’t add sweet.’ Otherwise they will pour a shot of condensed milk in with the coffee.
This next week I will be living with a family in a slum in Khon Kaen for four days. It is the first of our six home stays in different communities around Issan (the northeast of Thailand). I am excited to experience their way of life, gain a new perspective, and practice my Thai.