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Published: October 9th 2006
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Tanks
Ahh the joys of a coup... I've been in Thailand for almost a month now, and it's high time I wrote something about it. I arrived on a group flight with other students enrolled in USAC's Bangkok program at Rangsit University on September 9th. The general plan being a semester of study based in Political Science and Buddhism, in addition to absorbing as much of the culture as possible. I live in an apartment building a 10 minute walk from the university and the strip of restaurants we eat at every day. My semester program ends in mid-December, though I won’t return to the US till early Jan so I have a few weeks for additional travel.
Thus far getting acclimated has been an interesting challenge. I had no experience in speaking Thai before my arrival and I've been desperately working on picking it up, though it's a difficult language based on tones, so when I mispronounce a word they have no idea what I'm trying to say. Thus far I can safely order food and proudly more than just a couple of dishes. I can also master a taxi pretty well, which makes me feel much more secure that I can at least get home
no matter what else is going on.
I think some of the most surprising adjustments have been eating for me. I expected to be surprised with how unrealistic the American version of Thai food was, but it's a cultural norm to eat out for every meal. It's cheaper to eat out than buy groceries, and my apartment building doesn't even contain a kitchen. It's nice to eat out every meal, frequently outdoors, and relax with the group or by myself. All of the stray dogs on the street take some getting used to, and a few people have expressed somewhat hostile reception by the packs of dogs when out walking late at night. They remind Brian of the Resident Evil dogs because they all look pretty mangy and torn up. They're a force not to be reckoned with, unless you're a restaurant owner with a stick. Meals are mostly rice or noodles and I've gotten pretty used to it three times a day. They eat fresh fruit for dessert, and since I'm not much for fruit, my bi-weekly treat is a bowl of ice cream from my favorite street vendor that costs me about a quarter. The ice cream
Dusit Palace
Beautiful Gardens. We had to borrow sarongs so our legs weren't showing. Scandelous! is homemade; in the bin he serves it from directly, and is made of rice milk. For me, he puts peanuts on top and then pours on a little Carnation sweetened condensed milk and to me it's the best tasting little bowl of heaven you can get for 10 Baht.
The other largest cultural difference from the US that's been most difficult to get used to is the concept of school. Classes and the whole idea of academics are definitely treated differently here. Classes meet once a week in 3 hour blocks, though they follow suit to Thai custom of nothing starting on time ever, and teachers rarely keep us the full 3 hours. During class it's completely acceptable if not entirely normal for students to carry on conversations while the teacher is speaking, answer their cell phones, and come and go as they please. The teachers don't seem much to notice and have even answered their own phones on occasion. Grading seems generally lax, though I haven't had any assignments yet, so I can't speak assuredly. In any event they've been lax enough about our attendance to let us know that if we want to take off for
The Girls
The Emerald Buddha Temple, again with the borrowed sarongs. a couple of weeks to travel, we should just let them know. I should also say I haven't had much of any homework and I fear UNL wouldn't accept any credit transfers if they only knew how things worked here.
My classes are as follows:
Thai Language for Survival
Pressure Groups (political science)
Philosophy of Law
Buddhist Philosophy
Thai Cooking
Art Appreciation
My favorites are Thai Cooking and Buddhist Philosophy, which is taught by a monk. My Philosophy of Law class is a joke as I know more than the professor, who knows it, and has ultimately decided the only suitable thing to do with me is to have me help him teach the class. He refers to me as his victim and asks me every question. Art Appreciation is fun because it combines art history with practice, so I get to do some of whatever my heart desires.
I've also seen quite a bit since my arrival. To be fair, the program has put together quite a lot of excursions for us. The day after our arrival we went on a tour of Bangkok, saw the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, had lunch
at a 4 star restaurant, and ended the day with a shopping spree on the infamous tourist spot, Kao Sarn Road. I got some art for my apartment room, and it feels quite homey now. There's also a mall not too far from us called Future Park, we've gone down there several times and can find most anything we need there. A van from the university will take you there for all of 10 Baht, the same as my precious ice cream.
They've also taken us up north to see other interesting temples and wats. We went to Ayutthaya and rode elephants. Last weekend they took us to Pattaya, a somewhat frightening red light district-beach-tourist town. On our own we've traveled into Bangkok to shop for pirated movies at $2.50 US a pop, seen Thai Boxing at quadruple the price for foreigners, and also seen the crazy insanity that is the weekend market. It was so packed we couldn't even walk in places.
I've heard a lot from people asking about the coup, and it really wasn't that big of a deal. Most of the people in my group were down in Bangkok bowling when it happened. I
The Group
Almost everyone. There's quite a few of us. was home sleeping and they woke me up when they got back, as we were all instructed to call our families to let them know we were safe. The cancelled classes for the next day and asked us all to meet in the downstairs lobby of our apartment building for a meeting with the directors of the program to discuss what we should do. Besides canceling classes for that day, they asked us to stick as closely as possible to our apartments and the campus area. They definitely didn't want us going down into Bangkok and to avoid other travel if possible. It was kind of boring, like being grounded or under house arrest. We watched movies and moped around. Everyone was pretty glad when classes were reinstated the next day. There was never any violence, but things kept getting more and more peaceful after that. The King gave the coup his blessing, and then the General in charge announced his plans that didn't involve him seizing power, so it was all pretty tame and life continued as normal. As soon as the General issued an order for the soldiers to smile more to ease the tension of the people,
Elephants!
Anything but a smooth ride. we knew things were perfectly safe.
Michael and I went down into Bangkok, to Kao Sarn Road to hit the book stores and get some good classics to fill up all of our extra time. On the way back we stopped by Government House to see the tanks and get our pictures taken with the soldiers. We were surprised by how many Thais were there in comparison to the very few tourists. It was set up like a festival or even a carnival, with vendors selling drinks, food, balloons, and roses for people to hand to the soldiers. The tanks were covered in flowers. The sight of it all was amazing. A Thai woman grabbed me for a picture with her and her son. I was confused at first, thinking she wanted me to take a picture of them, but she wanted to get a picture with the white girl, basically. It was strange and definitely a first for me. Overall the sight was amazing, and I feel fortunate I could be a witness to such a changeover for the country.
That's probably about it for this post. There will be a lot more traveling coming up soon.
Danna on Tuk Tuk
Riding around Bangkok on a Tuk Tuk. Now that I'm settled in, I'm realizing how precious time is, and how little of it I have left. It's nice to have a 3 day weekend every week so I can go somewhere further away almost every weekend. All in all, I love it. I find the culture beautiful, and an enjoyable change. I'm looking forward to the next 3 months.
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michaelpaddo
Michael Meadows
Great stuff Danna
You've summed up the Rangsit experience in a very succinct but entertaining way - nice work! I look forward to the next entry - Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam...? You should have joined us for the Full Moon Party last weekend; that would definitely have made for some interesting stories! =P