My Co-workers Part I: Mr. Bean

In a few weeks, I will pass the year mark of living in my village.  Usually the year mark is when you really start to get to know people, your community, and things start to fall into place.  For me, it means I've really started to live here and have really begun to integrate into my community, not just stay here, sleep here, eat here, but to actually be a part of the community, and best of all, to be enjoying it.  All of this living has been brought to you by the people in my village.  They're my sponsors, and now, my friends.  So it wasn't until recently that I realized I haven't said a lot about these people who make up my life here, who are, really, the most important part of this adventure.  I hope these little bios do them the justice they deserve and give you an insight as to why I have come to love my village.

I'd like to start with one of my favorites:

Mr. Bean, aka Tan Combover, aka Bpa, aka Forrest Gump, aka Tan Balat.

Tan Balat and me at a teamwork retreat in Petchabun Province. 
The yellow scarf he has tied around his arm was used for a
teamwork activity earlier in the day.

Mr. Bean, as the office likes to call him, was the first person I talked to from my village.  During the 7th week of training volunteers visit their village-to-be for a weekend to check things out, meet the movers and shakers in the community, and to look for the good, the bad, and the ugly.  But a few days before we left, Peace Corps made us call our 'counterpart' (ie: the person who was going to help us integrate) to arrange transportation.  It's the first interaction you will have with your village, and as you can imagine, it is very stressful.  My paperwork had the number of the balat, my assigned counterpart.

In Thailand, a balat is the equivalent of a chief of staff or an executive director at the mayor's office. The balat stamps stuff- like official papers, makes speeches, and theoretically runs the office. The formal title is Tan Balat. Tan is a pronoun used to show respect to government officials.  But my office is a bit more laid back.  We prefer to use Bpa (uncle) or Mr. Bean. 

Lucky for me, Mr. Bean is every bit as lively as his nickname suggests (and a heck of a lot nicer).  For my first nine or so months at site, my desk was next to Tan Balat's.  On a daily basis he would garner my attention by repeating my name 2 or 3 times.  "Salah Salah Salah!" This attention grabber would always preface a special fact he was about to announce: "Thailand is very loud," "Thai people like to eat everything," and, one day, that he was no longer Mr. Bean, but Forrest Gump. " Salah, Salah, Salah.  Mr. Bean.  No. No. I am Forrest Gump."

Forrest also likes to tell me when I'm wrong, or how I can be better.  He calmly says "Salah, Salah.  No. No." Shakes his hand and his head and walks away.  For example, when he found out I was using Pantene shampoo he informed me that Pantene was "mai dii" (no good) and that I should start using another brand.  He was right.  Pantene was leaving build-up.

During my site visit.  Some of the office staff took me out for
pizza to help make me feel at home.  This is the night I
learned that Thai people like to cover their pizza in ketchup...
one of the first Mr. Bean fun facts.

Tan Balat comes from Southern Thailand.  He has a degree in Political Science, just like me, which is why he was excited I was going to be his volunteer.  He was a monk for 5 months during his 20s, and he's very proud of both his country and its history.   He loves to share any and all information about Thailand with me. And he doesn't like to drive.  So, when I need to be taken anywhere, the responsibility falls on the office driver, but Tan Balat will often accompany us giving him plenty of time to tell me random Thai fun facts.

My favorite, and now most infamous, Mr. Bean fun fact story happened during one of these very drives.  I was helping a fellow volunteer with an English Camp in a province close to mine.  Instead of taking me to the bus, my office decided it would be more convinient to drive me.  Five of us piled into a Toyota sedan and began the two hour journey, which actually turned into 4 hours because we got lost.  Twice.  It ended up taking longer than the bus, but was far more educational.  So I'm glad it happened.

Wedged between two Thai ladies in the back, I didn't have a lot of room to move, let alone pay attention to anything other than what was happening in the car.  But this didn't stop the Balat from yelling my name as we drove down the highway in the provice of Phichit. 

"SALAH, SALAH, SALAH!" he yelled.

"Yes?" I calmly said from about a foot behind him.

He turned around, looked at me, and said in English: "The history of Phichit is crocodile." Then he turned back around and faced the road.  Silence.

"What?" I thought to myself.  "What is he talking about?"

I pondered this information for the rest of the trip, unable to figure out what exactly it meant.  And when I got to my destination, I told the other volunteers about what I had learned.  We Googled it and, sure enough, he was right.  The Phichit province has a history of having many crocodiles.  It's part of their culture and they have crocodile statues everywhere.  In America, it would be the equivalent of me taking a foreign exchange student to Florida and saying, in their native language, "The history of Florida is orange."  Strangely worded, but accurate.

I'm convinced that my balat is the best balat in Thailand.  He's really nice, introduces me to everyone, he speaks a little English, knows everything about everything, and has the best combover in the world.  Sure, we have our disagreements (like the day we got into an argument about how to spell 'miss' in English, not that I would know because English isn't my native language or anything) but I really couldn't have asked for a better Balat.  He's single-handedly made my time here in Thailand more fun, funny, enjoyable, and more memorable.  And for that, I thank him. 

For New Year's the office gave him a basket of hair product
complete with pictures of his combover.  Here is is with Tim,
the community development officer in my village.