My first night with a Thai host family

We only had Thai lessons this morning with Ajaan Soison (P'Nan) and no afternoon classes. The group went to eat for the last time at a special vegetarian market and then went back to the dorms to pack up for our home stay this weekend with a Thai family. I was originally told by P'Gee, who is the organizer for the ETA program and a wonderful lady, that I was going to be with the same family as Jamie, another fellow Fulbrighter.

I was getting myself ready for a family of little children until I arrived back in the classroom and found out that there was a mix up. To make a long story short, the father of my 'real' host family had the same name as the father of Jamie's family so the office thought that we were going to the same family, but in fact, we were going to two different families. If you didn't get that story, just scratch it.

P'Tip, the director of the Fulbright program who I mentioned before, had a little icebreaker where the Thai families had to find their Fulbrighter. Since I was the only male, P'Tip thought it was a little bit too easy for me and thought that I had to find my family instead of the other way around. I found them alright and the ice began to melt. I am with a family with two kids, one 20 year old daughter (Ming) and one 17 year old boy (Dtern). The father, who I call Khun Paw, which means father in Thai, owns an aluminum and glass business for construction. He had a degree in mathematics and used to teach for 6 years before beginning his business which has been successful for 20 years. The mother, Khun Mae, is a homemaker and very kind. We went to a shopping complex called Central Plaza to watch a movie and have dinner.

We ended up watching "Red," an American film based on DC comics that I've not heard about before. It was funny and entertaining except for the awkward movie previews beforehand that showed a little bit too much skin for Thai standards (I think). The movie previews/commercials were about 30 minutes long followed by a short video of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej to which everyone stood up to pay their respects including me. At the end of the movie, we went to eat at Sizzlers and I ordered fish and chips, because I've been craving it. By the end of the movie, the ice had melted quite completely and I really feel like I am part of the family now. We talk and laugh a lot, mostly at me and my bad Thai, but hey, sanuk is sanuk. Adding to my fortunate circumstances, we are going to the beautiful province of Kanchanaburi tomorrow, so stay tuned for stories of my awesome adventures with my Thai host family in the jungle.


My Thai host family, eating at Sizzlers



To Ayuthaya and Back

I don't have the time yet to write a long post, but consider this a snapshot of the happenings of the past few days in Thailand. You can see that I've been eating a lot and it is quite fitting especially since we're in the middle of a giant vegetarian "Ahaan J" festival. We went to Ayuthaya, the previous capital of Thailand, this past weekend and it was a stunning place. I will explain more detail later. I'm rushing off to dinner and a lesson planning meeting now. Chok dii na krub!

Pad Thai

MossBurger (Rice burger with fried octopus)

Having dinner with the former ETAs at the Royal Turf Club (On the left is P'Tip, the Executive Fulbright Director of Thailand, talking to Mallory)

Eating at a very nice vegetarian restaurant "Tham Na"

The food was this good

I had to throw in a photo of myself to show that I'm still alive, here I'm at Wat Mahathat in Ayuthaya

The group busy taking photos

That's most of us in Ayuthaya

Mallory, Lana, and Caitlin

Caitlin's excited her birthday is in three days

Wat Ratburana

The beautifully preserved 'prang' at Wat Ratburana, it is a memorial site for the king's two brothers who died fighting each other

Climbing up the 'prang'

From the top of the 'prang'

Wat Ratburana entrance

Mallory looking out from the 'prang'

The crew

This ice cream parlor is pretty popular here in Bangkok

We celebrated our first birthday: Caitlin's that is, and she got three separate celebrations

Luuk chuum - delicious Thai kanom

Gifts and more snacks

In the land of ratchaphruek trees

Sawatdee krub! I have been in Thailand for about four days now and haven't had a chance to update due to me being too lazy to venture far to find an internet cafe/my computer failing to connect with wi-fi. It has been a full few days, and I have been attending many lectures on Thai politics, economy, and education. My Fulbright cohort is amazing. All of the other Fulbrighters are brilliant and passionate about being in Thailand. They have also taken care of me during my first bout of food poisoning yesterday. I feel almost 100% now, so all is well. It's funny, because the food poisoning was not caused by street food, but by a fancy restaurant. Ironic, right? I expected the weather to be unbearable, but it has been pleasantly mild, likely due to the frequent downpours. We haven't visited too many sites besides for the shopping malls to get some essential stuff at MBK, Paragon, and JJ Market. I was successful at bargaining for a nice, new Samsung phone for 800 baht, approximately 25 bucks. I feel so fortunate to be in this program and the staff at the Thailand-US Educational Foundation has taken extremely good care of us. I will expand more later, but here are some photos to capture my experiences so far:

On the Delta Flight to Tokyo

First lunch outing together at MBK

At MBK with Gina and Ari

On the street outside of our dorm

Heading to the skytrain station

On the BTS Skytrain

Lecture room