My new home - Site announcement day!

Today was amazing. 

Today was site announcement day for PST Thailand 124.  I know it will be one of my favorite days of my life.  Ever.  PC made us wait all day to find out our sites, which was excrutiating, but it was so worth it when all 52 of us came into our meeting room at 3:30pm today to find a giant map of Thailand drawn on the floor.  Then, one by one they called our names, announced our village, and walked us across the map to our new homes.  Today was quite possibly one of the most emotional and amazing days of life. 

I woke up this morning with so much anxiety about where I would be living for the next two years, and even more anxiety about my solo visit to my new site this weekend.  But all of those bad feelings went out the window when they handed me my packet and told me where I was going.  For the first time since being here, I have felt overwhelmed with happiness and excitement.

So, in a few weeks I'll be moving north to the province of Uttaradit and I'm so exicted to meet my Thai counterparts!

Just pics

As requested, here are some photos of my time in Thailand thus far... for those of you non-facebookers!!

This is the view from the building where I have training.  I am typically here in the afternoons, unless of course I'm attempting to interact with the Thai people.  Dii chaan puut paa-saa Thai nit noi ka... I only speak a little Thai. 

A high school close to where I live.  We've gone to this school a couple of times to hang out with the kids and ask them cultural questions.  The kids are shy, but they tend to open up a little once we start butchering Thai. 

A wat near my host sister's private school.  My family let me walk around here for a while.  Suai mak!  Very beautiful.

We have our language classes at a local school.  The kids go nuts when we come and scream our names.  I'm "Pii Salah" which roughly translates to the polite way to acknowledge that I'm their senior.  I get flowers on a weekly basis, they share food with me, and give me more hugs and kisses than I know what to do with.  I feel very loved when we are this school.  :) 

This is my house, and my noong chai (little brother) Donut.  Don't worry, that's just his nickname.  My family owns a restaurant which is in the front yard.  I found out today they serve cheese fries.  I ate two plates. 









In case you want to know where bananas come from... Obviously they grow on trees, but I had no idea they were giant flowers before they were bananas. 

Dinner!!  My favorite, actually.  Curries!!

Why is the Wai

Today was a great day for cross-cultural family bonding.  Around 8am (Thai time) I was able to Skype with my parents, brother, and soon-to-be sister-in-law.  I decided to use the Skype time as an IRB (intentional relationship building) session with my host family - and it worked.  To do this, I brought my computer downstairs and hooked it up in the common area and turned it on.  Computers draw Thais like moths to flames, so it wasn't long before my Thai family was sitting behind me watching what I was doing.  When the video of my parents came up, my host brother Donut started laughing as I explained to him "this is my Paw, this is my Meh" in Thai.  But then, and this is best part, my Thai mom greeted and "wai'ed" my American parents. 

If you know anything about Thai culture, you already know what the "Wai" means and is.

Cultural Lesson: The "wai" pronounced "why" is the small bow Thais use to greet one another - sort of like a handshake, but way more important and used in situations other than business.  If you have never seen it done and would like to learn about it, click HERE for an instructional video.  Or, if you are lazy and would rather just see a picture, here I am wai-ing with Ronald McDonald in Phuket - my first trip to Thailand - in 2009. 

If you know my Amerian Mom and Pop, you can probably guess that this was a pretty special moment for me as I love to put them in "culturally abnormal" situations. I am proud to say that both of them Wai'ed to my host mother in return and they did it correctly. It. Was. Amazing! Props to Randy and Becky. They ROCKED the cultural exchange.  Then my American mom asked my Thai mom if I was behaving myself, which I translated.  My Thai mom laughed and my real mom told her good luck keeping me under control.  Sometimes you don't really need a translator after all. 

On a side note, this exchange was a personal success for me in several different ways.  It was unbelievable how much I was able to translate for each of them, and it was even more unbelievable how similar both sets of my parents are.  I think it helped bring all of us closer and it certainly makes me feel more comfortable living in someone else's home even though I'm still struggling to understand them.   :)