Friday, February 23, 2007

Just Pictures

Picture of my host families sink and dish washing area.

Area where my host family and i eat dinner (on the floor). There are usually between three and six different dishes and rice. Everyone has their own rice bowl, but everyone shares the dishes that have the "soups" for the rice. A typical meal at my house may include rice, fried fish, ground pork with vegetables, a curry and a hot fish sauce. Yummy!


Here's a pic from my bathroom at the homestay. If you're wondering, both are for either, and the buckets are to wash it down. Oh, and there's a dishsprayer just in case.

The bath. Well, you don't actually get in, but you stand outside and pour buckets of water over you while you wash and rinse. It's actually a really nice way to cool off when it's really hot.

I know i definitely look mormon, but this is the required attire for Peace Corps Thailand. This is outside my host familie's house.



Here is a banner to welcome us to our training site. Holding the sign are a few of the Peace Corps Language training staff. They are all awesome teachers and have been a great source of information/navigation to us here in Thailand.



Here's a picture from the place we stayed when we first arrived in Thailand. The mountains here aren't alpine, but rather hilly and green.

Here are some kids from the school where i will be teaching for the next two years! They're all really funny and awesome! Thais have this thing with putting their fingers under their chin in a picture so as to "frame" their pretty faces. Funny, yet it kinda makes sense.

Crickets anyone? Here is a vendor in the market who sells bugs! Mmmm! The region i will be moving to is called Isaan, and one of their sources of protein are bugs. This night i ate crickets and mealworms. Really, they're not that bad if you just don't think about what your eating. And, the crickets do taste crunchy!


This is a picture of a buddhist temple, or wat, in thai. My language classes are held with three other volunteers everyday right outside this building. On this same compound there are three or four other similiar looking buildings where they do other ceremonies such as cremation of the dead. It's a pretty amazing place to come everyday!

I couldn't believe it, but they do have boy and girl scouts in thailand! And, everyone is required to participate (until high school, i think). This past weekend i went to visit my site and meet my supervisors. On the last night of the visit we went to a zoo where they were holding a scout camping trip. You know what's worse than seeing all the poor animals at the zoo? Going on a "night safari" at the zoo and shining spotlights at all the poor animals in their cages! That's what we got to do! Then, we pitched tents right in front of the "Zoo Cantina" and had a "campfire" (there was no fire) on the concrete walkway to the tourist information center! It was hilarious!

One of the scout leaders leading a ceremony to begin the activities for the day.

There's me in the middle, my first counterpart to my right, and my other counterpart is the man to my left. They are both very nice people, and it should be great working with them.


Yes, 7-11 has made it to Thailand...

And yes, they do have foot long hot-dogs (christian, sorry dude, but i guess you'll have to introduce them to the 1/4 pound "big bite").


This is a really funny poster that was up on the wall in my host families house. I'm trying to decide if they always keep it up, or if they just put it up to make me feel more at home.



























Monday, February 12, 2007

A month in...

Here i am in Thailand after about a month of training. i've sent out a few emails so far, but i figured this was probably a better way for anyone interested to find out what i'm up to. also, i will try to keep pictures coming.