That was...random

Before I get started on the interesting little cultural things I experience daily, I want to mention two school happenings that might give you a little peak into how things work in Thai schools. First being that I was introduced to the entire student body last week. "Why Katie," you might say, "haven't you been teaching there for a month?" And you would be correct. So why did they wait this long to introduce me? Because they are Thai. And this is Thailand. Much of the time, things don't follow any schedule or occur in any order that we would consider logical. Things just happen, or don't happen, at any time. And even if the whole introduction was a little pointless (I'm the only white person at school. I'm pretty sure they all know who I am), it was still a nice gesture.

The second event was yesterday and it was my first school celebration. My most lasting impression was that it was a nice-smelling one. It was Wai Kru, which more or less translates into "Respect Teacher Day" ("Kru" is teacher, but in university and secondary school it's "Ajarn". I'm Ajarn Katie." Different schools celebrate it in slightly different ways (some cancel class, mine only canceled a few classes). But I think they all have the same unbelievably complex flower arrangements which the students make and then present to us on their knees. And then they walk away on their knees. It was all very submissive and awkward, but only for me, because of course this is normal for the Thai teachers. After all, they were once knee-walkers themselves. If the person is very well-respected (monk, grandmother, a member of a pop group) they could very well still be knee-walkers. The flowers really were amazing, though. It's hard to describe them, but I took a lot of picture. I may even post them fairly soon.

And now the random section of this post. Because random is an accurate way to describe my time here so far. Here is a sampling of the things you rarely go a day without experiencing in Thailand:

Stray dogs - Individually, in pairs, many times in packs. They are everywhere. You know how we have rabbits (or some of us do)? Thailand has dogs. At night it can be a little unsettling, especially in Bangkok where they usually roam in packs and watch you as you pass. But I got used to it, faster than I thought I would since I'm not at my most comfortable with animals. I've seen dogs chase other dogs off their doggie turf, dogs nursing injuries, dogs following people for scraps. I never thought about it before, but probably 95% of dogs at home are neutered and I've never appreciated Bob Barker more than I do now.

Motorbikes - I don't want to call them motorcycles, because they're not like the big ones you usually see at home. These are less powerful and smaller. And yet, they still fit families of four or five of them. I see this every single day and I still haven't managed to get a picture of it. And I have to, because this sight needs to be shared. A common formation is an adult driving, with a child behind, and another adult at the back holding a toddler. Sometimes one of them is also holding a chicken. And I always wonder, how? How do they fit on there? And doesn't it ever occur to them that it might be unsafe? The adults wear helmets. I think the fact that they don't make toddler motorbike helmets should be a hint. Seriously, a picture of this is one of my main goals.

Delicious smelling meat of questionable origin - 90% of the time it's either chicken or pork (beef being a rare sighting in Thailand) but you can rarely tell which it is. Even when you're eating it. Actually, especially when you're eating it. I've eaten tasty chicken dishes and had someone say "that pork was good today, wasn't it?"

Storm clouds - The rainy season is starting up and it's pretty impossible to ignore. It will be beautiful all morning and then by early afternoon the sky will start turning black. But that doesn't always mean it will rain. Usually it doesn't, and when it does, the wind will blow so hard it sounds like someone screaming (once, I actually thought one of the students was screaming and wondered why no one was bothered by it) and the rain will pound down. For ten minutes. A little bit later, it'll be blue skies again.

Skinny cows - I don't see this everyday, but I usually pass them on the way to school. Because Thai people don't eat much beef, they raise cows solely for milk. As a result, they aren't as invested in keeping their cows fat. And I get that. But you can count their ribs. I'd have thought they'd keep them a little more well fed. Not so surprisingly, the beef they do have here tastes like it came from a skinny cow.

K-Pop - I've heard rumors that Thailand has music of its own, both traditional and contemporary. But I'm not sure I've actually experienced it myself, since apparently Korean pop music (K-pop) is the hot thing to listen to here. I listen to it everyday in the van. I hear students singing it. K-pop is a mix of English and Korean, so when I say certain words, the students recognize them from songs and start to sing. For some of them, this is their only knowledge of English. As for me, I using it to become the cool teacher. I mentioned my growing love of SuperJunior (a boy band with thirteen members) to my fourteen year-olds and after the squealing died down, I think they liked me a lot more. So I need to put some serious work into learning the life stories of K-pop singers.

Things in Thailand that are a little more specific to me:

"Farang" - It means Westerner, basically. Usually a white Westerner. It's not derogatory. It's kind of a name you would give to a stupid, but well-meaning, pet. As in "What's that farang doing now? I love her, but she doesn't know anything." The students at school say it all the time, even though you think they'd be used to me by now. The women in my office say it a lot, too. In front of me. Which...I know I can be pretty clueless here (and, maybe, also at home) and I don't speak Thai, but I'm not actually stupid. But they don't mean anything by it, so I just ignore it. We all know that I know that they talk about me when I'm right there. "Farang" also means guava. So when I eat guava (not often, since I violently dislike it) everyone gets a big kick out of it. I am a big source of entertainment.

Construction - I've mentioned the construction before and there's not much more to say, other than we've heard it will eventually be a pool. And also that Americans would have finished it a lot faster, without working on Saturdays and Sundays. I wonder if there's even a Thai word for "efficiency". I do actually wonder about it. It's pretty much the antithesis to a major part of Thai culture.

Food on my desk or pushed into my hands - Thais are big on hospitality and taking care of people, at times to an uncomfortable degree. So the teachers in the language department are always putting food on my desk, usually fruit. The fruit is almost always amazing (guava aside) but I can only eat so much. And they also bring me other things, like hot soymilk with the soybeans still floating in it, odd sandwiches (cheese, mayonnaise, cucumber, and not completely ripe tomatoes), and Thai desserts. Unfortunately, almost every single dessert I've tried is gross. A lot of them involve shaved ice with toppings that include kidney beans, sweet potato chunks, and a variety of gelatinous cubes. Gelatinous is actually the best word to describe Thai desserts, which says a lot on its own. Mango and sticky rice is still a win, though.