the adventure continues

Phew!
It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to have a chance to sit down and write anything, and I’ve only got about 20 minutes before I have to go to a meeting for work. In case you were curious Thailand is still awesome.

Went out on Saturday night with David and Greg, and another CUSO co-operant I hadn’t met before named Dan who also lives in Chiang Mai. It’s illegal to serve customers past midnight in Thailand, (and also, incidentally, there’s a random law against serving or providing alcohol between 2 and 5PM. I’m not quite sure what the logic was behind that decision), so we moved to this place called the Rasta Bar, which had a live band (they’re pretty common in the touristy areas). It was absolutely packed, being one of the only places still open. It was pretty amazing. At one point I looked at my watch and I realized it was 2:30 in the morning, and I was standing in the middle of a bar in the heart of Northern Thailand that was packed with Thai students going absolutely NUTS to Bob Marley.

By the way, somehow Bob Marley is worshipped here. Don’t ask me how that works, but it does. Also, a Korean girl on vacation asked to take a picture with me. I’d never met her before, but I obliged. A lot of the time I find myself walking the fine line between feeling like a total freak and somewhat of a celebrity. Anyway, all in all a good weekend.

Still going to Frisbee, which is going great. There are a bunch of really good players and everyone knows the rules so the games definitely move at a good pace. I’m really happy with the way things have turned out on that front. Also, I went out last weekend with a guy and a girl from Frisbee. They’re both teachers and usually go out Saturday night with a bunch of their co-workers to this club near my place called Warm Up. These teachers put most students to shame they way they partied. They were still going strong at 2 in the morning and were going to go someplace else when Warm Up closed but I decided to walk home instead of staying out.

Sadly, it turns out we can’t apply for the scholarship because the application requires you to submit previously published research, and from what I gather the grant is actually to encourage people to do MORE research, instead of actually funding the research itself. More of a job-well-done-pat-on-the-back sort of thing. And we don’t have any previous original research to submit.

Speaking of research, I really need to start.

Thai lessons start tomorrow (hopefully), I’ll have to give my Thai teacher a call to make sure she’s feeling okay again.

The composting is going really well at the farm. You do get the occasional food wrapper thrown in with all the rinds, peels, rice, and other assorted organics, but all in all it’s definitely a success. Greg and I are helping out as well, saving all our household stuff, and they’ve got a big smelly bag at the office that they throw their compost contributions into as well (although it’s usually not very well sorted and requires some sorting to remove all the unwanted plastic and paper). We've also built a planter box around a trellis just outside the house to start growing passionfruit vines which will really shade the open area in front of the house, as well as keep the temperature down in those ponds you see in the background. Fish don't like it too hot.

Also, the food at the office? AMAZING. I love eating there...well, I love eating anywhere in Thailand really, but I especially like Burmese food. Today we had curried prawns, burmese seaweed, roasted pork, boiled water spinach and squash with vermicelli. IT WAS ALL AMAZING. Especially the prawns. All the flavor is in the head and legs.

I went on a pretty wild adventure Friday afternoon. Thursday evening had been Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday. She's this non-violent political activist and the leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma. So for anyone interested in social change in Burma, she’s pretty much the Burmese version of Ghandi or Nelson Mandella, leading the struggle against the military dictatorship in Burma. Oh, and did I mention she's been under house arrest off and on since 1989? Anyway, there was this big celebration at Chiang Mai University but on by one of the Burmese student groups, and there were speeches and keynote speakers and a film and everything. A bunch of people were wearing these really cool shirts that said “Free Burma” and had Aung San Suu Kyi’s face on them, and I wanted to get one to let the world know my political views concerning Burma (there was another reason as well but I can’t go into it at this time). When I asked someone wearing the shirt, she said that the didn’t sell them there, and that I had to go to the Burmese Women’s Centre on the other side of town if I wanted one. She didn’t tell me exactly where it was but said that it was by the Chiang Mai Imperial Hotel. The next day, I looked up the Imperial Hotel online, but was completely unable to find anything about a Burmese Women’s Centre. I asked at the front desk of the condo, but no one seemed to have any idea. The manager (Noi, super nice lady) wrote down “Burmese Women’s Centre, Near the Imperial Hotel on Loi Kroh Road” (which were the directions I had been given) on a piece of paper in Thai and said I should ask people when I got there. Then I set off on my bycicle. It took about half an hour to get to the right part of town, and then the search began. Problem was, nobody I talked to had ANY idea where this Burmese Women’s centre was. I buked up one street, and down the next, I must have talked to 6 or 7 different people. The sky was beginning to look pretty threatening rain-wise, so I figured it would probably be a good idea to head home unless I was looking for a nice cold shower, so I asked one more street vendor, intending on leaving when she told me she had no idea what I was talking about. She took the note, scrutinized it, and then shouted to another vendor down the street. He came over, and looked at the note, and then called out to a girl who was crossing the street a little ways up the road. She came over as well, and after some thought said she didn’t know where the place was, but that if I followed her, we could go look together. I said sure, locked my bike, and we set off up Loi Kroh in search of the rare and elusive women’s centre once more. We asked a few more people (her English was good enough that we could talk, and she could translate for me as well which was great), but still had no luck, and had to run under an overhang when it started to pour. It rained (and I mean POURED), for about half an hour, during which time I learned that she had been working at a bar at the Muay Thai complex nearby for about four months now. Her and her two younger sisters (11 and 16) had moved to Chaing Mai from Chen Gao, (maybe 3 hours south) so that her sisters could go to school, which was thought to be better in the City. Her brother was studying computers at Bangkok University and she thinks Chiang Mai is too loud. She also doesn’t like the rain. I can remember all that but I can’t for the life of me remember her name. It might have been Win…or Wan…I hate being so bad with names. Anyway, by the time the rain had stopped the streets were flooded, and I ended up biking home through six inches of water. It was fun! But unfortunately I was new-shirtless so I’m going to go to the Women’s Centre at CMU to rattle a few cages and see if I can’t get an address for somebody. Also, since I’m doing work with an organization that is heavily involved in the Burmese community, it definitely doesn’t hurt to make those connections. Networking is key.

Also: these are a few of the Americans I met at the coffee shop. We've hung out a few times since, but they're leaving in a week to tour Southeast Asia. They're Mormon-tastic.

This is a video I took at a fundraiser last weekend put on by the Art Faculty at Chiang Mai U. It's this burmese theatre group that was raising money for the victims of Hurricane Nargis. The show lasted about 4 hours and I'm sure it would have been slightly funnier if I'd known burmese, but the dancing was really cool and I took some video. By the way, my camera takes WAY better video than I've been able to post here, but when I record using the best quality, the videos end up being HUGE and won't fit on the blog. Anyway, this is Burmese traditional dancing.

Went back to my favorite market yesterday (I think it’s called Warrarot Market) to stock up on fruit. It’s way outside the touristy area of the city, and I think I’ve seen maybe 2 white people there in total out of the four times I’ve been. Now if you have that few white foreigners visiting the market, you can imagine what it does to people when I stroll through. It is about as far outside my comfort zone as I could possibly put myself. I don’t think I can describe what it feels like to walk down the street and have EVERY eye on you. Yesterday I walked by one stall and the gentleman behind the counter burst out laughing. It’s surreal. And awkward. And uncomfortable. And I think it’s exactly the kind of experience I want to walk away from my year abroad having had. I know enough Thai to get by brokenly, and usually when I ‘wai’ and give a polite “Sawasdee Kaap” it blows people’s minds. I don’t know. I’m sure many of my classmates abroad are having the same kind of experiences, but to feel it for yourself kind of changes your mindset. Growing up in a multicultural environment is truly a blessing I didn’t really appreciate fully until now.