Sakon Nakhon and New Experiences

So I have arrive in Sakon Nakhon and have been working on my project for almost a week now. The difference between the people of issan province and those in Bangkok is very large. The people of Bangkok have so many interactions daily with westerners that they are just accustomed to their presence. Whereas the people of Issan do not often see Westerners and are very excited and interested to meet someone.

It has its advantages and disadvantages. First of all the people are such good hosts. Since I got here I have been invited to so many different places and taken care of so well. The people here really want to make sure you are having a great time and that you leave loving the area and wanting to come back. The headmaster at the school I am working at had some of the teachers stay over at the school the first few nights just to make sure we did okay. On the last night a teacher came up to us when we were walking out to the soccer field to look at the stars and said "Matthew you are happy?" and I said of course I am happy. He told me that we all looked so sad. We are always hard at work. It was really interesting because the more I think about it..we are always working. We often have to solve difficult problems and I think our expressions come across as if they think that we are not enjoying our time here. I explained that we loved it here.

I think I definitely like Sakon Nakhon more than Bangkok. The only thing that I wish I had was easier transportation. I am the type of person that absolutely hates having to rely on other people. I think its very American because I was explaining it to my Thai group partners. Although I know that the people here are just trying to do things for us, I often feel like a burden to them. I also just really value my freedom of being able to travel where I want when I want. I think that is a big change for me to deal with.

Another is feeling overwhelmed with the friendliness. Everyone here is so excited to see you. I cant even count the number of photos I have taken with random people. They just want photo's with the westerners. It is also getting a little tiring being paraded around. We get invited everywhere and then the people who invite us want us to meet everyone they know. I know that this is completely a cultural misunderstanding but it feels like to me that they are trying to show off that they know westerners. Its just how it feels although I am sure in Thai culture it is interpreted completely different than how it makes us feel.

Last year the education office said that people felt that the students closed their doors too often and didnt interact enough. So we tried this year to interact as much as possible. I think we have outdone our selves because now within the first 5 or 6 days here we feel so overwhelmed that we just need some time to ourselves. Its also so hard to explain when we want time to ourselves without offending anyone. We are here representing our school, country, and generally the western world. It would be a shame to give everyone a bad impression.

Anyways enough of that.....

We have seen a lot of very interesting things while here. We saw a Buddhist Wat (temple) in the center of Sakon Nakhon central as well as walked through a park that a thai princess who passed away last year had created. There was a legend and many statues representing the legend which was very interesting. We also ate Korean food that night which was absolutely delicious. There was a large hot pan in the middle of our table and then a buffet of all different meats, noodles, vegtables that you could choose to either grill or boil on the hot pan. Of course i stuck to mainly meats and noodles/rice.

We also went to the redcross fair. I am not sure exactly what the point of it is. It is much like the agricultural fairs we have in the northeastern united states. Live bands, agricultural exhibits, shopping, carnival games ect. It is sponsored by the international redcross I assume. I am wondering if it is a fundraiser? I am not completely sure though. It was a lot of fun.

We also experienced a campfire at the school. They had 2 days filled with boyscout and girl guide activities. It all culminated with a great campfire that we were the guests of honor at. 2 grade levels attended (M1 and M2) which amounted to about 500 students. The headmasters and teachers had us sit on top of a hill on leather couches to view the campfire. Everything is about respect here..from being on higher ground to sitting in leather couches. The district educational representative for Kusuman came to the campfire. He was supposed to be the chairman of the ceremony but had to leave mid way through and was about to turn it over to the headmaster. Instead the headmaster appointed sofia, one of my project partners, to be the new chairman. From what I have been told that was a huge honor because of the whole respect hirarchy here.

We were then approached as guests of honor by girls dressed in traditional thai clothes. They were all giggling because the headmaster told them that they were supposed to bring us to dance with them. It was a huge ceremony and I danced with one girl who spoke very good english. She asked me my name, if i spoke any thai, and then out of nowhere asked if i had a girlfriend. Apparently that is a common question to ask people when you are getting to know them. Thats what my thai group partners told me atleast. At the time i was so confused at what she was saying though. I just kept saying "may cot chay" ..which basically means in english " I dont understand". I finally came to the conclusion that she might be asking me what the names of the girls in our group were. So I said sofia "kap" (and) kelsey. The girl exclaimed "KAP?" and i said yes and. So after analyzing the situation i realized she was asking if i had a girlfriend and what her name was. Right now there is one really confused thai girl who thinks i am dating both of my project partners. Interesting what a language barrier can do right?

Anyways the girl was very excited to dance next to mean and everytime we would go by a group of students sitting around the campfire all the girls would scream. Duke said thats how the girls act when they think a boy is cute. Its basically a confidence boost that I dont need haha. I think they also scream like that when a western guy walks by because its just so interesting and funny to see one doing a thai dance. (at least thats what my modest side tells me)

We watched all sorts of skits and songs that the students put on as well as did a dance of our own. We taught them cotton eyed joe.

Another thing that we did twice this week was attended the ceremonies for a monks funeral. He was a very old monk and buddhist funerals are very interesting. Its a celebration of life rather than a funeral. There is a session of praying (which i got to do). The monks chant in sandscript. It sounds so interesting and foreign. I really enjoyed it. Then basically the whole wat turns into a carnival with movies, games, live performances. All of them celebrating the monks life. I think it is such a better way to do a funeral by celebrating a life rahter than mourning their death. They do the praying and carnival many differnt nights. They do a fake burning and then an actual cremation. The fake burning is to confuse the devil so that the spirit will get safe passage when they actually do cremation or so i have been told.

We were there for the actual cremation but had to leave early. There were fireworks going off and the burning ends came down and landed on my thai project partners neck. He was slow to react and has a second degree burn on his neck. I just barely got out of the way of a burning piece of fire work as it flew at me. He is doing okay now that we stopped at a pharmacy and got him some medication.

The food has been good but repetitive. There is rice at every meal. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There isnt really such a staple in my diet at home. I guess the closest would be white bread but even then I dont eat it every day.

I am having a lot of interesting experiences and the project with the school systems is progressing. We are very lucky to have 2 native speakers with us. I mean we could get by with the Thai we know but there would be many more confusing situations and the communication aspect would take much much longer.

Hopefully I continue to get to see new and intersting things and we have a great impact on science literacy in Sakon Nakhon!