Dtaun chao tam arai, ka?

"What do you do in the morning?"

What do I do in the morning? Well, this was how we’ve been experiencing the past four weeks, here in Thailand. Today was a lecture day, one of many we’ve had this week. It's being going like this all week -- lecture and class, lecture and class. This is the end of our first full week here at KKU; although we’ve been in Khon Kaen for the past few weeks, those weeks have been spent mostly shuttling back and forth to home-stays, retreats, and around the night market. Right now, it really feels like school, except even more so, what with having eight or more hours of class a-day, extra meetings, and further obligations to projects related to our studies here. These projects consist of things like the newsletter and projects having to do with the units. Even just talking about these projects is invigorating. Some are dealing with crucial issues, such as Tess and Elly's article about the local landfill’s use of an incinerator, or the special relationships that an elementary school in the area has with its slum community’s children.

Anyway, Friday started out with (for me) four hours of Thai class. Our midterm is on Sunday, so we’re reviewing six units of vocabulary and grammar. Ajaan (professor) Jeab had us ask each other question in Thai, using our current level of speaking, which is considerably meager.

Lunch is always an interesting time. The cafeterias around here are several clusters of food vendors, usually in an open-air setting. Generally, no one buys water – free, communal water is available from huge thermoses, and one serves oneself with a communal cup. Behind the CIEE office, next to one of the cafeterias, lies a fruit stand, which we frequent. They have the most delicious pineapple and bananas I’ve had. Nearby, a friendly woman sells fried bananas and babin, a silver-dollar-sized coconut pancakes, while the stand next door has khao-neeow (sticky rice) and moo-yang (grilled pork). Always saep (Isaan for delicious).

Our afternoon lecture was by our program director, Ajaan Dave, and dealt with the topic of human rights. We discussed human rights, including Economic, Social, and Cultural rights, and how they relate to specific topics we’ll be addressing here. My group looked at the Pak Mun Dam case, which we’ll be visiting and studying in more depth at a later date. Basically, these villagers who lived around the Pak Mun river were fishing, farming, and just living their lives until 1989 when the Thai government decided to begin construction on a dam of that river. With the river dammed, the villagers’ livelihoods, culture, and the ecology of the area began to erode. Poverty spread. The villagers have protested numerous times to get the dam gates open, so that life can continue and improve, but the government has been mostly uncooperative. Furthermore, with several coups and changes in government throughout the past decade-and-a-half, communication has proven unstable. It’s frustrating to think of, but I imagine miles beyond frustrating for those who actually live it.

More on that subject probably to come when we actually study it.


To bring this marathon day to a close, we had two hours of Thai tutors. My tutor’s name is Jah-ae, which means "pleasant surprise" like someone who covers your eyes from behind and says "guess who?", as best as I can understand it. She's a Thai language major and speaks very good English, although she still struggles at time. That’s okay though, because I constantly struggle with Thai.

My language group started Thai class at 8 AM, and we all finished tutors at around 8 PM. So that means some of us pulled a 12 hour class day yesterday – not to mention our hard-working newsletter people who worked later into the evening on the upcoming issue of the newsletter. What’s the best way to end a marathon day, you ask? We here at CIEE know exactly the answer – make it go even longer! Some of us worked on the newsletter, as mentioned above, but others went out to sample Thai nightlife at the U-Bar downtown. Dada, my Thai roommate came with us and she was fun to hang out with, useful too, as we had problems getting enough tuk-tuks (Thai motorized rickshaws). We managed to fit six people in a rickshaw that was designed for three.

Along the highway, speeding down the road, a man on motorcy slowed his bike down to our speed to wave. I can almost imagine him relating this story to his group of friends over rice whiskey and Leo beer later that night. How he saw a clown car-esque tuk-tuk, full of loud, laughing farangs waving out at him, on the inky Khon Kaen highway late at night.

What can I say, we are a hard-working group of students.

(Photo credits: 1) Milk bar by KKU 2) Program facilitator Stephanie and our driver P'Joi 3) Sign by a wat 4)Myself, Josh, and Tess as half of the occupants in the six-passenger tuk-tuk ride)