May 24, 2008
March 12, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
quality control
I just got back from a breathtaking game of frisbee. It wasn't breathtaking because it was so intense, it was breathtaking because you literally couldn't breath most of the time because of the terrible air quality.
Air quality in Chiang Mai is TERRIBLE right now. The huge mountain JUST outside of town that can be seen from just about anywhere in the city and surrounding area is completely obscured by haze.
I did some research and found that the air gets like this every year. I will try to take a picture of it because it's actually crazy.
In the US it is considered a serious pollution episode if the PM-10 level (the number of tiny airborne particles per unity of air) exceeds 50.
Today in Chiang Mai the PM-10 rating was 166.1. Yesterday, 181.4. According to the data the PM-10 levels haven't been below 50 since February 10th. On March 2, they reached a record high of 191. I'm staying indoors as much as possible but I don't know how much good it's doing. I have my balcony door open most of the time because I won't use the AC.
If things aren't better by Saturday I may consider skipping frisbee. Maybe.
Air quality in Chiang Mai is TERRIBLE right now. The huge mountain JUST outside of town that can be seen from just about anywhere in the city and surrounding area is completely obscured by haze.
I did some research and found that the air gets like this every year. I will try to take a picture of it because it's actually crazy.
In the US it is considered a serious pollution episode if the PM-10 level (the number of tiny airborne particles per unity of air) exceeds 50.
Today in Chiang Mai the PM-10 rating was 166.1. Yesterday, 181.4. According to the data the PM-10 levels haven't been below 50 since February 10th. On March 2, they reached a record high of 191. I'm staying indoors as much as possible but I don't know how much good it's doing. I have my balcony door open most of the time because I won't use the AC.
If things aren't better by Saturday I may consider skipping frisbee. Maybe.
Monday, March 9, 2009
life is a musical
Holy moly am I ever busy. I mean, I know I've been saying I'm busy since I got here, but now I really mean it folks. What have I been up to recently? Lets run down the list.
1. Bangkok Hat Ultimate Frisbee Tournament
SUPERCRAZYFUN weekend in Bangkok playing frisbee with amazing players that came out for the weekend from Korea, Canada, Malaysia, China, Japan, Indonesia, the US, and of course all over Thailand (when we found out how far some other people had travelled, we didn't feel so bad about the 12 hour train rude we had to sit through to get there.
Two weeks before the tournament I suffered an ankle injury (and then proceeded to be a FOOL and continue playing on the ankle twice a week, which didn't exactly expedite the healing process). Also, there was an all-out costume party the first night of the tournament, which was fun, although we dubbed the MC "DJ Play What I Want" because despite numerous requests to spin some hip hop he refused outright and continued with his lame set.
We rolled as a unit
Pre-party warm up, Practicing our moves at the hostel. Nobody wants to be the one to pull a muscle 'cause they didn't stretch enough.
Of course we had to ride the Bangkok Skytrain in uniform. Lets just say we turned some heads on the street, but I think we pulled it off well.
Once we got there we felt right at home. 10 points to Gryffindor if you can figure out the costume of the gentleman in the box.
Considering that would be my only complaint from the weekend, I'd write it off as a resounding success.
2. My birthday! Celebrated 'kon dio' (by myself) in bed on the train back from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The overnight train pulled into the station in Chiang Mai at 8 in the morning (only an hour late, I was impressed...the train is notoriously tardy) and I was due at work at 9:15.
Always the penny-pincher, I walked straight through the crowd of pushy taxi drivers that always swarm the entrance to the train station trying to charge naive 'fresh off the train' tourists exorbitant prices to take them wherever they need to go. I've lived in Chiang Mai long enough to know when I'm getting my pants pulled down over a price and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with it this early in the morning. I crossed the street, planning to head out to the main road and try to catch a ride home from there. I was walking quickly down the street (looking like quite the tourist profile with my huge backpack of frisbee paraphernalia) when I was stopped by an upper middle aged Thai gentleman in jeans and a red flannel shirt.
"Bai nai krap (Where are you going)?" He asked pleasantly. I wasn't overly surprised. It really isn't that uncommon for me to be stopped on the street, and everyone always asks where people are going. It's like a saluation. Another common one is "Have you eaten yet?" Until I figured out that these were polite greetings and not nosy inquisitons, I was really confused as to why strangers took such an interest in my daily itinerary and eating habits. I figured he was just a concerned citizen trying to steer a confused tourist in the right direction.
"Grap baan krap (going home)" was my response. Everything routine so far.
"Baan yu tee nai krap? (where do you live?)" Said the man.
"Tee tannun Huay Kaew, taew taew Kad Suan Kaew krap (On Huay Kaew road near the mall)" I answered.
"See-sib baht krap (40 baht)." He offered. I was caught off-guard by this because up to this point in the conversation I hadn't realized I was being sold anything.
"Poot eek tee dai mai krap (Uhh...what?)" I sputtered. Obviously he took it as a bargaining technique, and countered with an exhasperated
"Daai, daai, sam-sib baht, took maak (Okay, Okay, 30 baht. Special price just for you)"
At this point I had to weigh my options, and as usual I began with the cons.
1. I don't know this guy and he's not wearing any identifiable uniform
2. I'm in a hurry so if he attempts a kidnapping I'll likely be late for work.
Then there were the pros:
1. This mysterious stranger's prices were bargain basement low. I'd been expecting to pay 50-60 baht minimum for a ride home (more like 150 or 160 if I'd taken one of the guys at the door of the train station).
2. He was a good foot shorter than I am
3. I probably had 60 pounds on the guy
4. Based on Pros 2 and 3, I could probably outmatch the guy in a scuffle if it came to that (unless he was some sort muay thai master, in which case my goose would be cooked. I suppose I should've added "Potential Muay Thai master" to the cons).
5. I was in a hurry, going with him would mean I'd probably get to work on time if I didn't waste time at home
6. It was 8:00 in the morning.
7. I can run really fast.
I weighed my options and decided to accept his offer, PROVIDED that I didn't have to get into any sort of closed vehicle.
"Okay, krap" I said, and he motioned me to get on the back of a beat up looking motorocycle. I figured that if I got wind that this was some sort of bizarre kidnapping attempt, I could hop off of the back of the bike, or at least cause us to have an accident without too much difficulty.
As it turns out my hesitations were completely unfounded. He turned out to be a really cheerful, friendly guy. It turns out he's worked as a motorcycle taxi driver for almost 20 years now, ever since he moved to Chiang Mai from Bangkok. He also drove really really slowly, which meant that I did end up late for work, but I suppose that's the price you pay for adventure.
3. My Thesis Proposal!
That's right kids, with about 1.5 months to go, I've finally recieved approval. So basically I'm running around trying to gather as much information as I possibly can before I leave so that I'll have something to work with when I get home. Hoping to send in my ethics review by tomorrow night (fingers crossed). I'm kind of at the point where work is crunching, and thesis is crunching, and a lot of my friends are leaving since they're teachers and the school year is ending so the rest of life is crunching as well. Today I taught from 9-5 (turned the compost and then a lecture on soil texture in the morning, followed by soil properties and a lecture on soil organic matter in the afternoon). I began this post at lunch, got home an hour ago and continued, and plan to spend a good deal of the rest of the night working on my ethics review so it can be done by tomorrow night. Have you ever tried to develop a survey of NGO effectiveness indicators? It's not exactly a walk in the park.
Hard at work (on the thesis proposal) in a coffee shop at 11:54PM on a Friday night. Strangely, this coffee shop, like many shady establishments in Chiang Mai doesn't seem to have to adhere to the rules about closing times observed by most other shops. I stayed until about 2 in the morning, (although the sign advertises that it closes at midnight). I've seen them smoking (not cigarettes) inside, the barista's usually way past drunk if you show up after 7PM, and when I left that night they'd just lit a BBQ INSIDE THE SHOP and were grilling meat and squid. The owner's friends seem to hang out there a lot.
All work and no play make Leslie a dull boy.
4. I stopped going to Thai Lessons!
I found I was really sad to stop going to Thai lessons when the time finally came. I decided that I'd gone far enough in February. A passing photographer happened upon my Thai teacher (Ajan Lah) and I in the middle of a lesson and snapped this candid shot. That's a lie, Ajan lah wanted to put a picture of me on her website so we coerced this lady in the lobby of my apartment to take a picture of us. After 4 tries the lady still hadn't got it right, and she seemed pretty indignant at Ajan Lah's insistence that the picture not be blurry, so in the end we said thank you, and asked the receptionist to take a picture instead. It was kind of awkward, because the first lady is actually sitting at one of the chairs you can see in through the glass windows behind us, WATCHING us get someone else to take the picture. Whenever I share the elevator with her she glares at me now.
Ajan Lah was a fantastic teacher though, I definitely have her to thank for the bulk of my Thai skills. It's a shame I'm not staying longer, I feel like I'm at the point where my skills are really starting to take off, because I can understand enough to put more of the pieces together myself.
There was a flower festival in Chiang Mai. The Bonsai exhibit was pretty awesome.
The old kitchen (And our director's wife/one half of the cooking staff). She's great.
1. Bangkok Hat Ultimate Frisbee Tournament
SUPERCRAZYFUN weekend in Bangkok playing frisbee with amazing players that came out for the weekend from Korea, Canada, Malaysia, China, Japan, Indonesia, the US, and of course all over Thailand (when we found out how far some other people had travelled, we didn't feel so bad about the 12 hour train rude we had to sit through to get there.
Two weeks before the tournament I suffered an ankle injury (and then proceeded to be a FOOL and continue playing on the ankle twice a week, which didn't exactly expedite the healing process). Also, there was an all-out costume party the first night of the tournament, which was fun, although we dubbed the MC "DJ Play What I Want" because despite numerous requests to spin some hip hop he refused outright and continued with his lame set.
We rolled as a unit
Pre-party warm up, Practicing our moves at the hostel. Nobody wants to be the one to pull a muscle 'cause they didn't stretch enough.
Of course we had to ride the Bangkok Skytrain in uniform. Lets just say we turned some heads on the street, but I think we pulled it off well.
Once we got there we felt right at home. 10 points to Gryffindor if you can figure out the costume of the gentleman in the box.
2. My birthday! Celebrated 'kon dio' (by myself) in bed on the train back from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The overnight train pulled into the station in Chiang Mai at 8 in the morning (only an hour late, I was impressed...the train is notoriously tardy) and I was due at work at 9:15.
Always the penny-pincher, I walked straight through the crowd of pushy taxi drivers that always swarm the entrance to the train station trying to charge naive 'fresh off the train' tourists exorbitant prices to take them wherever they need to go. I've lived in Chiang Mai long enough to know when I'm getting my pants pulled down over a price and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with it this early in the morning. I crossed the street, planning to head out to the main road and try to catch a ride home from there. I was walking quickly down the street (looking like quite the tourist profile with my huge backpack of frisbee paraphernalia) when I was stopped by an upper middle aged Thai gentleman in jeans and a red flannel shirt.
"Bai nai krap (Where are you going)?" He asked pleasantly. I wasn't overly surprised. It really isn't that uncommon for me to be stopped on the street, and everyone always asks where people are going. It's like a saluation. Another common one is "Have you eaten yet?" Until I figured out that these were polite greetings and not nosy inquisitons, I was really confused as to why strangers took such an interest in my daily itinerary and eating habits. I figured he was just a concerned citizen trying to steer a confused tourist in the right direction.
"Grap baan krap (going home)" was my response. Everything routine so far.
"Baan yu tee nai krap? (where do you live?)" Said the man.
"Tee tannun Huay Kaew, taew taew Kad Suan Kaew krap (On Huay Kaew road near the mall)" I answered.
"See-sib baht krap (40 baht)." He offered. I was caught off-guard by this because up to this point in the conversation I hadn't realized I was being sold anything.
"Poot eek tee dai mai krap (Uhh...what?)" I sputtered. Obviously he took it as a bargaining technique, and countered with an exhasperated
"Daai, daai, sam-sib baht, took maak (Okay, Okay, 30 baht. Special price just for you)"
At this point I had to weigh my options, and as usual I began with the cons.
1. I don't know this guy and he's not wearing any identifiable uniform
2. I'm in a hurry so if he attempts a kidnapping I'll likely be late for work.
Then there were the pros:
1. This mysterious stranger's prices were bargain basement low. I'd been expecting to pay 50-60 baht minimum for a ride home (more like 150 or 160 if I'd taken one of the guys at the door of the train station).
2. He was a good foot shorter than I am
3. I probably had 60 pounds on the guy
4. Based on Pros 2 and 3, I could probably outmatch the guy in a scuffle if it came to that (unless he was some sort muay thai master, in which case my goose would be cooked. I suppose I should've added "Potential Muay Thai master" to the cons).
5. I was in a hurry, going with him would mean I'd probably get to work on time if I didn't waste time at home
6. It was 8:00 in the morning.
7. I can run really fast.
I weighed my options and decided to accept his offer, PROVIDED that I didn't have to get into any sort of closed vehicle.
"Okay, krap" I said, and he motioned me to get on the back of a beat up looking motorocycle. I figured that if I got wind that this was some sort of bizarre kidnapping attempt, I could hop off of the back of the bike, or at least cause us to have an accident without too much difficulty.
As it turns out my hesitations were completely unfounded. He turned out to be a really cheerful, friendly guy. It turns out he's worked as a motorcycle taxi driver for almost 20 years now, ever since he moved to Chiang Mai from Bangkok. He also drove really really slowly, which meant that I did end up late for work, but I suppose that's the price you pay for adventure.
3. My Thesis Proposal!
That's right kids, with about 1.5 months to go, I've finally recieved approval. So basically I'm running around trying to gather as much information as I possibly can before I leave so that I'll have something to work with when I get home. Hoping to send in my ethics review by tomorrow night (fingers crossed). I'm kind of at the point where work is crunching, and thesis is crunching, and a lot of my friends are leaving since they're teachers and the school year is ending so the rest of life is crunching as well. Today I taught from 9-5 (turned the compost and then a lecture on soil texture in the morning, followed by soil properties and a lecture on soil organic matter in the afternoon). I began this post at lunch, got home an hour ago and continued, and plan to spend a good deal of the rest of the night working on my ethics review so it can be done by tomorrow night. Have you ever tried to develop a survey of NGO effectiveness indicators? It's not exactly a walk in the park.
Hard at work (on the thesis proposal) in a coffee shop at 11:54PM on a Friday night. Strangely, this coffee shop, like many shady establishments in Chiang Mai doesn't seem to have to adhere to the rules about closing times observed by most other shops. I stayed until about 2 in the morning, (although the sign advertises that it closes at midnight). I've seen them smoking (not cigarettes) inside, the barista's usually way past drunk if you show up after 7PM, and when I left that night they'd just lit a BBQ INSIDE THE SHOP and were grilling meat and squid. The owner's friends seem to hang out there a lot.
All work and no play make Leslie a dull boy.4. I stopped going to Thai Lessons!
I found I was really sad to stop going to Thai lessons when the time finally came. I decided that I'd gone far enough in February. A passing photographer happened upon my Thai teacher (Ajan Lah) and I in the middle of a lesson and snapped this candid shot. That's a lie, Ajan lah wanted to put a picture of me on her website so we coerced this lady in the lobby of my apartment to take a picture of us. After 4 tries the lady still hadn't got it right, and she seemed pretty indignant at Ajan Lah's insistence that the picture not be blurry, so in the end we said thank you, and asked the receptionist to take a picture instead. It was kind of awkward, because the first lady is actually sitting at one of the chairs you can see in through the glass windows behind us, WATCHING us get someone else to take the picture. Whenever I share the elevator with her she glares at me now.
Ajan Lah was a fantastic teacher though, I definitely have her to thank for the bulk of my Thai skills. It's a shame I'm not staying longer, I feel like I'm at the point where my skills are really starting to take off, because I can understand enough to put more of the pieces together myself.
5. Still working. A lot.
Yep, still doing that whole farming thing. Now that the new facility on the farm is complete, that's where we're teaching. I'm teaching on my own at this point, which is great because it really makes me feel like I've managed to figure out where I fit into NEED as an organization. It really is a fantastic feeling.
Yep, still doing that whole farming thing. Now that the new facility on the farm is complete, that's where we're teaching. I'm teaching on my own at this point, which is great because it really makes me feel like I've managed to figure out where I fit into NEED as an organization. It really is a fantastic feeling.
Adding water hyacinth to the stagnant cesspool behind the new kitchen in an effort to clear up the water a little bit. Water hyacinth is supposed to have some water purification properties, and be good at removing toxins. A few months later, the hyacinth is growing like crazy, but the water doesn't look any cleaner. This may be because more grossness is constantly being added to the system via the wash-water.
The new students are FANTASTIC. I really wish I wasn't leaving so soon. They're so keen to learn and soak up everything we teach them as fast as we can get it out. They ask questions and are always eager to get dirty (the girls just as much as the boys). I'm really really impressed with them so far, and hope that they continue to shine even after I've left.
The outside of the training facility
There was a flower festival in Chiang Mai. The Bonsai exhibit was pretty awesome.
The old kitchen (And our director's wife/one half of the cooking staff). She's great.
I think that just about covers it for me, life-wise...
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