June 1, 2006

So work is a bit dull at the moment. All I did today was read, read, read. Ate lunch. Had a mini-cultural crisis when I was told we were going to buy lunch, then was given a bowl of Burmese noodles to eat (leftovers from yesterday’s goodbye party), then was told that there was rice that I should be eating, so I had the rice, as everyone was watching me eat it, waiting for my response (I think I’m supposed to have a much more violent reaction to spicy food… I feel like I’m disappointing people when I don’t jump up in anguish, turn red, and sweat). Rice was good. Noodles were good. Definitely could not eat them both. I’m supposed to be reading to get background information for this mini-project I’m doing over the next week. I’ve now got a better grasp on migration along the Thai-Burma border and some of the legal loopholes that keep human rights on the backburner. In terms of the project, the reading hasn’t really directly addressed anything, but I should be able to move forward. There’s a British guy in the office who has been here for a year. Very nice. He likes organic fruits and vegetables and is really good at speaking Thai. In fact, he seems to speak English with a Thai accent. I think he felt bad for me and all of my reading (while everyone else seemed quite collaborative), so he sent me to the market with another colleague to get food for a workshop they were doing. That was a lot of fun. Riding on a motorcycle (they wear helmets here!!) on the left side of the street. Markets are so surprisingly calm. I can see why people vacation in Thailand. Nobody is screaming at you or trying to sell you stuff constantly. Definitely less of a game than African markets (and I do love the game), but a nice change of pace. We also went to a chic little organic grocery to get organic snacks. I confessed that I find organic food to be a rip-off. My partner in crime acknowledged that he doesn’t buy it either, but likes to have it available for those who do. We returned to the office, then back to reading.
My in-country liaison for the American organization I’m working through invited me for dinner with her friends this evening. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was anticipating a lot of smiling and not understanding. Turns out her friends are a group of 12 or so, all young and working for Thai organizations. I’m really struck by how so many of the people I’ve met care tremendously about the issues in their country and are true activists (kind of puts young Americans to shame). It’s not like foreigners are coming in and dictating how things should change, but instead the actual citizens making informed decisions. Dinner ended up being really nice. They made spaghetti and garlic bread in honor of my presence. It was a bit tough in the beginning, as there was a good deal of Thai, but once people got comfortable, it became a nice mélange of languages, so that everyone could understand. The house was really snazzy, the young woman living there collects bulls, so the theme pervaded the whole place. Really open- lots of big windows and a beautiful garden. In addition to spaghetti, the soundtrack to Brokeback mountain was being played in honor of me as well (because Americans love country music… I attribute this misconception to having a cowboy for a president). Eventually that switched to Joni Mitchell. But I had this funny, happy / sad moment at dinner while everyone was passing around food, making fun of each other, and just genuinely enjoying one another’s company that I realized how great it is to have good friends, and made me quite content to know that people all over the world are lucky enough to have good ones. Felt like I was in someone's apartment back home. By the time we were onto fruit, we were having all kinds of funny conversations. I learned that people here eat bugs and I should try them. Bamboo worms are especially fresh and good (at this point, I was unsure as to whether or not I was being played like a fiddle and really wished someone was around to hit their fist on their forehead to indicate sarcasm). Turns out he was serious. I’ll let you know about the bamboo worms. In addition to Thai names, they have given themselves Japanese names, so we went around doing reintroductions with Japanese names, though I was told “If you see us in town, use our Thai names.” I had a lot of fun. It’s a really different scene when people can be young professionals without too much pressure to get married young. I’m cooking next week. Guinean food. Ah, the clash of worlds and lives. Oh, I learned there’s a Starbucks here ( a couple, actually). And that fact made me nauseated. So forget about my Starbucks nostalgia from yesterday.