1)There have been some requests originating in the USA for more likebells/samesame but different tumbling. I took these to heart largely because I had a dream the other night that Lori came to Thailand, the day after I talked to her on the phone and I jokingly suggested she come to Thailand. I don’t generally believe in signs, but I believe in Lori, So, here I am in my Thai house updating my Tumblr which always feels like an odd combination. With three weeks of the homestay over and only two more weeks of the homestay to go, I am appreciating every minute. My family is so sweet and chill and they have made it easy and fun and comforting to live with them.
2) Thai language class has taken a turn for the better. We are cracking jokes and having a great time. Four hours in the morning always takes a toll on our mental abilities, but our Thai Ajaan(teacher) always gives us a pretty decent break around halfway through class deciding it is time to geen kunom (eat snacks).
Our Thai Ajaan tries to speak almost only in Thai. His goal is to teach us Thai as a second language and not as a foreign language. Like children learning Enlgish for the first time, we are taught new concepts in words in the practical contect and almost completely using the Thai language. Therefore, as far as my classmates and I could tell from our Ajaan’s Thai explanation and examples of the word/concept of ”te”, it is the Thai equivalent to swag or swagger in the U.S. And in Thai, swag isn’t something you have, it’s something you are. As i’m sure you can imagine we had a really good time teaching our Thai Ajaan (a slightly older, slightly more reserved Thai gentleman with a somewhat dry sense of humor that I love) about American swagger.
3) This week we spent a day learning about sex and gender in Thailand. One day was not enough! This is wuite the interesting place to examine these topics with Kathoeys, toms, dees, and trafficking, and so many other interesting aspects related to these topics.
It was particularly interesting to read the article on tom/deeism. Gender is prioritized over sexuality in terms of sexuall categorization in Thailand which makes for an interesting system of self identification. Toms and Dees are “women who love women” but Toms are foremost identified by their masculine and trans F to M-like gender expression. Then Dees are considered “ordinary women” (whatever that means) who date Toms, identifying themselves relationally. Therefore, these relationships effectively uphold the familiar western gender binary. It’s all so interesting. and like I said, one day of reading and discussion was not enough! We are supposed to start thinking about what we want to do for our January internship/research project. Creating options for myself right now, I am discussign with my Foundations Ajaan about maybe doing some ethnographic research regarding sex/gender. or something! There are so many cool things I could do, it’s hard to wrap my mind around it.
4) Speaking of hard to wrap my mind around things, It is most difficult right now to conceive of the world map. My friends are spread all across it right now studying an living in such woderful places as Kzoo, EL, New York, Amherst, Mass, Clermont-Ferond, Quito, Aberdeen, and more places and fartherones. I am thrilled everyone has started their adventures for this fall and I’m proud of everyone for putting themselves out there to see what they can do and learn and see. Becuase of this-I don’t wish they were with me, but it doesn’t mean I don’t miss them.
5) I will leave off with an image of some of the kids i’m sharing my Thaialand adventures with. This is a picture of one of the two tables of isdsi kids at the fish farm (it was more like a hatchery). We had just finished our feast of fried fish and soup and rice and fruit and more fruit and bananas. Every meal is a feast here, I swear. I was surprised I could still eat the fish for lunch after a morning of catching live fish by the head and trying to get them to throw their eggs up so the fish farm could grow them into one centimeter fish before selling them to other fish farms that would then sell those fish to markets to finally be eaten. om nom(?).
