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Published: August 9th 2009
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My daily breakfast
Around $1.50 for tropical fruit and fresh squeezed o.j.! It’s pretty amazing, if a little nerve-racking, flying into the next place you’re going to live without ever even having been there before. It’s funny but this is something I’m getting quite used to, starting with our move to a beautiful-sounding town picked out of Frommer’s
France ‘91 back in 7th grade. I had heard rumors about the flight from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son, and although it didn’t quite compare to the Rwandair Express flight from Arusha to Kigali—on a turboprop so old it had been sold to the airline by a now defunct Ethiopian one—it gave me goosebumps (for a variety of reasons surely). Although we were flying over Thailand’s mountainous area, it was the peak of the hot season which is notorious for forest fires that are so numerous the sky is white and smoke fills the air even down in the valleys. So there wasn’t much of a view. (Watch the video to see what I mean—as I was taking off to Chiang Mai in early April, you can see us passing the airport, UN office, lake, my house, temple on the hill...and then visibility just disappears!)
Let me tell you a little about Mae
Where I work
This is the UNHCR field office Hong Son. Having delayed so long in writing this second blog since I landed in Thailand, I have a bit more perspective now. Since the hot season ended and the smoke cleared, I have come to see Mae Hong Son for the misty mountains that it is famous for, and which draw lots of tourists here. It really is a beautiful, serene town. Our downtown has two stoplights: one at the main police station, the other at the main (er, only!) expat hangout in town, “Crossroads.” We have a lovely little lake, and the famous night market snakes around its bank with delicious street snacks like deep-fried, breaded shallot rings and
som tam, traditional papaya salad mixed with lots of garlic and tiny, dried shrimp. We also have one “disco” where local Thais go to sing karaoke and listen to live pop bands. Unfortunately (for me), I haven’t quite taken to the Thai pop like I did to African music 😉.
I can walk to the airport from my office in about 5 minutes, and from my office to home in about 5 minutes, and from my home to the temple on the lake in about 5 minutes. There
Sunset over a hill
This is right in downtown Mae Hong Son, and on top of the hill sits a very famous temple are only 2 flights a day out of Mae Hong Son, at 11:20am and 5:15pm. The other day, my colleague and I were both sitting in our offices working away when we heard a plane around 3pm; we immediately looked at each other quizzically (“What on earth is a plane doing flying
now?!”), then burst out laughing at how ridiculous it is that we live in a place where our circadian rhythms have attuned themselves to the minimal flight schedule.
As I could only have hoped, I was launched into work immediately after arriving here. None of that first-starting-a-job awkwardness of trying to find a way to be useful—I sat down and had briefings and stacks of paper to read that were so high I thought I was back in law school. The most amazing part is that I was responsible for managing eight people—my first time (officially) managing anyone. What do they call that—putting your feet to the fire? If this is what coals on your feet feels like, luckily I think I like it.
Being so new to Thailand I was still in the mindset of the States, and was set on finding a house with
a proper kitchen so I could cook all my favorite dishes from home. I soon discovered that Thais are almost as obsessed with food as Pomeroys, and rarely if ever cook for themselves. (And, the ingredients for cooking food from home—if they can be found—must be smuggled in your suitcase from Chiang Mai, the nearest large city.) Take out is king here, and the kitchen I paid a premium for has been used for cooking a total of 4 times in 5 months (and always spaghetti marinara!)! The Thai dishes I remember paying $12.95 for back in NYC cost less than a dollar here, so the Pomeroy side of me is quite satisfied 😉.
One thing I can say about Mae Hong Son is that the food is amazing - and cheap. My colleague Mani took me to the Sunday market, which is a once-a-week phenomenon where all kinds of delicacies can be had, from tiger prawns to ant eggs (!). I was so thankful to be there with her, because otherwise, I think I would have had no idea what on earth I was looking at! And I was amazed to discover how much locals are concerned about
Trying to go native
Because in the States we get watered-down Thai food, I hardly recognize anything on the menu here. So I decided to order something totally new along with something familiar. This is spicy, sour sausage salad - sounds totally gross, but it's delicious! A lot like a Czech dish Baba makes with sausage, onions, and vinegar. eating organic food; every vendor we spoke to, Mani would ask which vegetables were organic. The rule of thumb here is that if it comes from the jungle, it's pesticide-free, and vendors seem to pride themselves on that. Of course, having been an organic food-convert, I was disappointed to read this article (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/13/organic-vs-conventional-h_n_201609.html), but I think slow food is finally growing into the new "organic," and here everything is pretty much local which is great.
The side of me that made a lot of amazing friends in Malawi wasn’t so satisfied. No one from UNHCR (which has about 25 staff) invited me to lunch let alone coffee in my first month here! There are a very small number of expats working in this area, and they tend to be loners and/or workaholics. And as unfortunately seems to be the trend in this line of work, locals and expats rarely if ever mix. During my interview for this job, I had been warned that there isn’t much to do here but work; but I was nonetheless taken aback. Thankfully, only about 3 weeks after I started, I was followed by a fellow human rights lawyer from Israel, Yuval, and we
have managed to create something of a social life here. It involves a lot of jenga.
If you can believe it, it has taken me this long to really begin to understand the ethnic make-up of Mae Hong Son, and the camps I work in. It’s truly confusing and fascinating, and even people who have lived here for twice as long as me have no idea. I’ll save that for my next blog, though. That, and what on earth I actually do all day that has kept me from writing for fun all this time.
Love,
Martina
p.s. to be able to say what I want freely, from now on I will be sending an email with the thoughts I want to share with my loved ones that I can't share publicly.
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kpoms
non-member comment
green tea salad??
what about it is green tea? what's in it?? sounds interesting! I can't believe how the visibility just disappears as you go over the hills... incredible! Can't wait to hear more about what you're doing over there so speed it up! :) mnau