ICU:Last Observation
I believe some of my expectations have been realized to certain extent. I’ve gotten acquainted with the culture, the food and religion and I’ve been able to compare it to my own culture and the one of the United States. In the same way my expectations, my goals have been met to a certain point. One of my goals was to be able to write a letter in Thai by the end of the program. Although I haven’t necessarily achieved that, am able to write an essay about my family in Thai, therefore I believe that is the first step toward my goal. Another goal I had was to be able to have conversations in Thai as well. Is well known that no one gets fluent in a another language in four months but what I have achieved so far is that am able to introduce myself by using words such as my name is, where I come from, my age and also asking a person the same questions. Once again it’s not the best, but it’s a step toward something.
There are many things I’ve learn about Thai society and understanding people in general. I have been able to recognize the dos and don’ts of Thailand. However, I feel as though the people born into the culture do not abide by the principles that follow. For instance, girls wearing their school uniform extremely short to school. I have also come to understand Thai culture and how they find means and ways to prevent things. For example, whenever something happen within a certain family, the members refuse to talk about it to others. Another interesting thing is their way of saying no to people; I think it’s a good strategy to adopt if you do not want to be direct or rude.
Going back, I know I am going to experience two different phases of culture shock in terms of sharing my experiences with my friends back in the Bronx and my friends back in Siena. However what I intend to do is I will share my experience with those in the Bronx who have the ears to listen; I know it will be few but I will do my best. Going back to Siena, I am planning on talking to my HEOP counselor to see if I can write something in the HEOP news letter, information such as the economic and political situation in Lao and Burma. Through that, I hope Kathy and I can organize mini forums where we can find lectures to talk about these countries and their problems. In addition, if I have anytime, I would want to work in the international affairs office and hope to raise awareness through them.
Of all the experiences in Thailand, am really glad that I got to do service learning and talking the IPSL class because I got to serve Thai community as well as reflecting on it in class. I have learned so many things about NGOs in general, the way they work and their benefits in the community. For instance working in The Garden of Hope (GOH) for the semester gave me an eye opener on the issues of human trafficking and prostitution in Thailand. Since the GOH is on the Loi Kroh Rd which is one of the main red-light district Chaing Mai, I got see the real deal with prostitution in relation to poverty. The organization deals with women and children who are in prostitution and human trafficking industry due to poverty. Interacting with the children, I got to form relationship with them that I wish not to forget and I hope to come to back to Chiang Mai someday and work with this organization.
ART TRIPS:ICU
I had two trips to two different Wats for my Arts of southeast Asia class. We first went to Wat phratat Haripunchai in Lampung province. I really enjoyed this trip because I got to reflect and compare what I’ve learned in class. For instance I was able to tell what type of buildings was on the compound, I was able to tell which the ubosot which is an ordination hall was. I was able to tell what the Wihan was because it had the main Buddha image in it and also most of the laity people got to go in and worship. What I really enjoyed about this Wat was the jatakas (the previous life story of Buddha before he was born to become a Buddha) inside the Wihan and they had the last ten jatakas outside the Wihan.
Another Wat we visited was Wat Phra Singh in Chaing Mai. Even though the Wihan in this Wat didn’t have jatakas inside it, it had am image of the monk abbot sitting on the right side of the Buddha, the image looked so real as if the real person was sitting there. Also there was another Wihan behind the main one and it had murals of fables inside which is interesting because Wihan mostly have jatakas in them. This trip was really helpful especially for my final project where I was assigned a specific Wat and I was suppose to research and give a final presentation as well as a final paper on it. These trips made it easier for me to identify things at my Wat as well as boosting my confidence because I knew what to look for.
ICU: Bennett reading
After reading Bennett’s article I believe I can categorize myself under Ethnorelativism, for instance acceptance. As my day goes by, I find myself accepting Thailand in its
unique way; accepting the culture and the people as whole. It was easier for me to
comprehend what Thailand is made out of due the multiple backgrounds that I
have. I remember when I first moved to the United States, I found myself being
ethnocentric because I used to ask myself why things were done differently. However,
I was able to combine my experience from United States and Ghana which made is
easier for me to be able to compare and contrast Thailand to the two countries.
I have encounter that Thai’s values and cultures are different from the ones of
the united states, however, some of them tend to be similar to the one of Ghana’s.
I remember when I visited Nan; I was able to make comparisons between that
village and some of the villages in Ghana. For instance, I realized that the
sons of my host family were home the entire time due their summer vacation and
since Thai parents do not agree with the idea of working over the summer they
stayed home and helped with the family linche and mango farm. It reminded me of
Ghana because having a summer job as a high school or a college student is unusual;
however, in the United States, that is how most kids support themselves over
the summer. I’ve also come to accept the idea of Thai’s having their extended
family live with them or close by. With the home stays that I have done, I’ve
been able to recognize this and it was interesting to see because having extended
family living together is unusual in the United States. In addition I’ve
experienced and heard other traditions of Thailand and am glad that I was
either able to experience it or know about it. For example, I think sonkgran is
a very nice and intriguing festival and I am glad that I was able to be in Chiang
Mai and participate in it.
ICU:Nan Trip
So far this is the best excursion I’ve have in the Thai studies program.
On March 25 we left for paklan village in Nan province for four day; unlike our first village stay in mea cham, we each stayed with a different host family but all the villages were close together, for instance some Hmong villages were closer to the mien and the lua’s. Also we had a flexible schedules, we were basically suppose to observe the families, their lives and do whatever activates they planned for the day
I stayed with a Thai Hmong family which consisted of the mother, the father and their two sons. We arrived around 6 in the evening, so we all departed with our individual families to our villages. After having dinner with my family, we went to a Hmong funeral ceremony which was for my host father’s sister. It quit interesting because although they black and white clothes on, the atmosphere wasn’t sad as other funerals. They had a calm music playing at the background; they were serving beverages and snacks while others played respect to the body in a casket which was decorated very nicely and not that obvious. Then they had monks come in and medicated for quite some time. I really liked the setting because they did not make it seem sad as funerals I have observe and nobody was mourning or looked sad
On Thursday morning, after having breakfast, I went off for a village with my brothers, we visited different types of Hmong house, for instance the rich ones lived in a nice brick houses while the not very well off family live in houses. We also saw people making the Hmong traditional clothing is worn on New Year’s; we also visited the silver shops where they made silver jewelries for the village. After having lunch, my family and I went to the mountains to see the big linche farm they own. After dinner with my family, I went back to the assembly hall for an hour Hmong 101 form Dao and Seashia in order to survive for the rest of the trip. After that, our host Jacob who had been in the village for quiet sometime gave us the brief history of the Hmong and how they migrated to Thailand.
Friday was a very busy day; we had a trip to the formal refugee camp. It was a vast of land that had been own by the United Nation where they built refugee camps for the Hmong’s who fled Lao during the 1970s. After walking for quite some time, we head off the water falls where we had a good for an hour; everyone then went home to have dinner with their family. Before dinner was served, my host mother took my friends and me to see her mango garden. It was really interesting because after she explained, half of the family’s income for year comes out of the mango and the other half from the linche farm. After dinner, Kathy, Shannon, Ashley and I went to see a movie which was shown outside on the high school park. Finally, our bus departed to Chiang Mai at 10:00am. Overall, I really enjoyed this trip because I got to know more about the history of the Hmongs and I was glad to see the differences between Mae Cham and Paklan.
ICU: Sukhothai
Since I had too much water on Monday, my friends and I stayed back on Tuesday, did our laundry and packed for our trip the next day. On Wednesday morning, four of us took the bus and head over to Sukhothai. We got there during sunset, in our way to the guess house; we got a bit wet because technically songran was still going on. We stayed at a nice and cozy guest house called orchid hibiscus. It was right by the old city of sukhothai with lots of watts (temples) and historical park. We rested for the night and on Thursday morning, we got breakfast and went to rent bikes, which were very convenient and cheep. We were given maps and ideas about the recommended places we should visit; we then visited the ramhamkempeg national museum. Unlike most museums, this one had tons of Buddha images from different ruins, it had items from the broken down watts in sukhothai. For instance it had linga and a yoni which is a representation of Shiva in Brahmanism. I thought it was interesting to hoe they presented items like that. It also had a layout of what sukhothai looks like. Since the weather was really hot during afternoon, we headed back to the guest house to relax in the pool. I learned how to float on water that afternoon; before that I had a fear of big bodies of water because I always felt like I was suffocating anytime I got into the water. I was so excited when Shannon and Laura helped me to breathe normally in the water and the technique of floating.
Friday was such a busy yet productive day. We woke up at 5am; we then biked for half an hour to a broken down watt called Wat Saphan Hin with giant Buddha standing up and another one sitting next to it. We had to climb up a mountain to see the sunrise on the Buddha; we also saw the entire sukhothai city on top of the mountain. The sunrise was extremely beautiful; I really enjoyed watching the sun push the darkness away. After that we visited Wat si chum which was 10 to 15 minutes bike ride away from the previous Wat. Kathy, Shannon and I were extremely excited to see this Wat because I learned about in our Art class and we were ready to see the tiny stir case that led to the head of the Buddha. We were trying to figure out whom that stir case was for since it was only 17 inches wide; however we got a bit sad when the stir case was closed down because people ended up hurting themselves trying to get up there. We met a monk who gave us a little tour and asked us to come visit him in his monastery; he gave as presents, did 10 to 15 meditation with us and blessed us with holy water. After we had breakfast, we bought a ticket to the historical park since it was still early. We visited most of the broken down Watts in the park like Wat Mahatat which a lot of Buddha images and Stupas and the temples shaped like a lotus bud. As soon as it was noon, we headed back to our pool and relaxed. After a long nap, we went back to the park to watch the sun set which was really beautiful to watch as well.
I really enjoyed this week because I was able to participate in songran which I think is a very special thing for Thailand and its really interesting how you lots of people travel all over the world to enjoy this festival. Our trip to sukhothai was really amazing as well, I was glad to see the ruins and I very excited to see the Wats that I’ve learned in class. And the most important thing to me was that I got over my fear of water.
ICU: Songkran Festival
Songran festival was very interesting to just observe and participate in it as well. On Monday the 13, my friends and wanted to go over to tapae gate and to town to enjoy the festival but due to the protest in Bangkok, we were informed that the road to the super highway was blocked. However, after making couple of phone calls, we were able to get a songtaw (taxi) to town. Even before we got out of the taxi, most of us were soaking wet. I had to buy a small bucket to be able to keep up with the game; it was more of survival of the fittest, learning the strategies to either get as many people to water on or to try to escape the water beating. Some of the water was extremely cold because people literally put ice in it. As we got closer to tapae gate, the water got more disgusting because people were taking it directly from the moat that runs through town. It got a bit dangerous and rigorous when we got rooftop which is right by tapae gate. It had lots of farangs (foreigners) who took the water throwing to the extreme. Although it got crazier, it was fun because it made feel like a little kid again, having to play with water as much as you can.
I think this is a very unique and special festival for Thailand. With the issue of globalization I hope this festival stays as it is and I hope they keep the meaning behind it.
ICU: Geert HW
Power Distance
The concept of power distance is very common and important in Thailand in my opinion. Power distance is how the society values the idea of hierarchy; there are two different types which include low power distance, the equality in power and high power distance, inequality in power. So far for the past two months, I’ve realized that hierarchy is very important to Thai society. For instance I see the students in PIH call a student who is a year ahead of them in school pii (older) even if they are older than this person. Despite that, at my service placement, the staffs make sure all the children use the title pii for any volunteer that comes in; the staffs themselves use this title as well. Moreover, whenever one calls someone, they have to use pii ka for female and pii krap for male whenever the person’s name is unknown. It is interesting how you get used to this concept while in Thailand because it is used constantly.
Despite the idea of hierarchy being practice by the common people the King is one of the most respected and important person in Thailand. According to history and the conversation of some Thai people, the king is one of the main peace keepers in the country. The level of respect for the king is so valued that at movie theaters, the national anthem along with slide shows of him has to be recited before the movie starts, also during certain occasions; the national anthem has to be performed as well. In addition, since the head of the king is on the Thai money, no one dares to violate it by either stepping on it or doing something bad to it. Also I quiet I remember one time I was walking down the Sunday night market and immediately after the clock hit 6pm, everyone stopped then an alarm along with a song went off. It was interesting because I didn’t realize at first until one of my friends hit me to stop, then later told me I could have gotten myself in trouble if I kept walking. In addition, it is said that whoever talks or say anything bad about the king and his thrown gets penalize for it. I think this idea is really intriguing, Thailand should always maintain this notion because I believe it makes them unique among other counties
ICU: Language Class (Spring Festival)
On Thursday morning, I went to Ajan Marjorie’s 8:00 class to visit and help her with the Spring Festival which included egg decoration, Easter egg hunt and egg toss. Kathy, Seashia and I all went when the class was still in section; she was explaining to the student what the purpose of Easter was and how it came about. She also explained that this occasion is always on a Sunday between March 18th and April 19. It was interesting because I got to learn something new; I realized that Christians from the third century mapped out Easter by choosing it to be during the Pascal full moon. And it’s always in the spring in other countries because it is when most of things that died in the fall get new and live again which I thought was an intriguing concept because Jesus was crucified on Friday and resurrected in Sunday. Then after, she asked them to decorate the boiled eggs they brought from home; while they were decorating, we went outside to hide the “wanna be” Easter eggs. Since she couldn’t find regular Easter eggs, we ended up hiding different kinds of chocolates. The students then headed out and searched for the chocolates; it was easy for them to find because there were not any hiding places to hide them except on the tables and chairs in front of the classes and we threw some on the grass as well. After the “egg hunt”, we proceeded onto egg tossing, where we paired up and tossed non boiled eggs so the last two groups standing won prices as well as those who won the egg decorations.
Over all I really enjoyed the class because I got to learn something new, I got to meet more people as well having fun with the Thai students.
ICU: Bangkok Trip
On the trip to Bangkok on February 26, we took the overnight train which took approximately 12 to 13 hours ride. We stayed in the Bangkok Christian guest house which was next to the red light district area. We got there at 8 am on Wednesday morning and after a quick shower and breakfast, we took a sky train for the city tour on the boat. Although I was really excited to go on a boat tour, I was really exhausted so I was kind of falling asleep during the middle of the tour. Also I felt like it was a little long and hot for me to relax but I did it for the most part. After having lunch, we went to Siam museum. I really enjoyed this place because it has something unique to it, for instance one of the divided sections was about the formation of Thailand and what made it Thailand. Another section was how Thailand is today; people’s daily lives such as farming, trading etc. However, since I was so exhausted, I ended up falling asleep in one of the rooms with microphones and am pretty sure it was giving the history about Thailand but since it was Thai, I couldn’t understand it so it made it easier for me to fall asleep. Despite short nap, I really enjoyed all the different sections they had. The day was exhausting but it was quiet fun
Early on Thursday morning, we visited Duang Prateep Foundation. It is an NGO that works with kids who live in the slums, they provide education and any type of support they can. After listening to a presentation about the foundation, we headed over to the kindergarten section and played around with the kids for 15 minutes or so and we had a tour to the slums area where the people in the community lived. It was quite disturbing but a reality check for everyone because we got to see that not everyone in Bangkok lives a nice and relaxing life. After having lunch together as a group, we headed over to the Bangkok Refugee Center. As it was emphasize that the place was not a refugee camp but a refugee center. A place where asylum seekers and refugees from all over the world such as Somalia, China Lao, and Congo came for help through an organization called United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). These people are practically considered as statelessness because they cannot go back to their country due either been banned or their safety due to war. Though they reside in Thailand, they are not considered as Thai citizens, so they have to be careful about the police. This day was very interesting; it was nice seeing little kids in the slums getting education which will always get them far but walking through the slums made it a bit depressing yet an eye opener for me. Going to the refugee center made me a bit sad because I couldn’t imagine what they are going through knowing that they have no written documents that signify their home.
We had the democracy tour with Dr. Paul Chambers on Friday morning. We visited different historical sites such as a monument for democracy and the absolute monarchy in Thailand. We also went to Thamasat University to see where the students were massacred during October 1976; we then saw the elevator in which the students were trapped in. After launch, we went to Wat Phra Kaeo to see the Emerald Buddha. I really enjoyed this part of the trip because I got to see the mixture of Buddhism, Brahmanism and kingship in there. With the Emerald Buddha well kept in a sacred room, there were murals of Ramayana all over the Wat. Since we had Ajan Rebecca with us on the trip, she explained most of structures and others things in the Wat to us.
Saturday was for us to do whatever we wanted until 6:00 pm which was the time we had to depart to Chiang Mai. Kathy, Laura, Bintu and I went to the JJ market early in the morning since it got so hot during the afternoon. We then went to the Siam shopping center which was extremely huge. We then took the sky train back to the guest house where we took our luggage and headed to the train station. Seeing Bangkok, it reminded of New York City, with the big buildings and public transportation; I felt as though Bangkok has lost its traditional essence. Am actually glad that our program is based in Chiang Mai; it gives me a very good understanding of the real Thailand and their traditions.
ICU: Language Class
It took Kathy and me a while to find the AE 209 English language class; it was at the basement of the art building in the center of the campus. I really enjoyed the class and I think the most interesting part was the fact the group that went for the panel were so diverse; for instance we had Bintu who is from the Gambia and lived in the united states but had had interaction with many Americans, Shannon and Jessica are both Americans yet they both live in different parts of the united states. Then it was Kathy who is although born in the United States, however both her parents are decedents of the Central America and she leave in New York City where there are lots of intriguing things to see, she has been exposed to the Spanish culture. Last but least was me, born and raised mostly in Ghana and lived in the United States. The teacher was glad to have a diverse to be having all these different perspective about the American cultures.
We first talked about the American flag, the Ajan asked the students what the stars and the stripes meant. Then she asked us to talk about it in terms of the restrictions about the flag and the consequences, we then compared how we cannot defame the flag to the money of Thailand since it has the head of the King on it. After talking about the flag, made us sing the American national anthem and recite the pledge, we all sounded horrible but it funny and I thought it was good for the Thai students to see how it is usually done. Then the students ask a lot of different questions such the difference between big brother and big sisters. we then explained that it mostly a saying that the government is watching the movements of everyone in the united states, for instance whenever a person runs the red light, the police do go after them immediately but they later receive a ticket in the mail. then there is a big brother, big sister which is like a mentoring program where older people take care younger kids to keep them off the streets, for example Kathy and I have the same program in our school where every Saturday, children from the community have either a big sister or a big brother on campus where they have brunch with them and go off campus to do different activities such as bowling, movies, laser tack and so on. Last but the least, one student about the meaning of “melting pot”; we then explained that it was the concept assimilation, which is when someone move to the United State and adopt to the culture and the life styles. I didn’t really think about it until I read couple of articles for my IPSL, then I realized that United States is almost like Thailand because the country is made up of immigrants from countries all over. They both have minorities but they only difference is that, Thailand has hill tribes who are from other countries in Southeast Asia.
I really enjoyed going to the class because it gave me a chance to give the little knowledge I have about the United States and I also got to learn a lot from my peers about their perspective about the United States.
