My first homestay impressions

Pigs head at the morning market
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I have arrived safe and sound to my village, my home for the next month. Yesterday another volunteer, Cim (pronounced Kim), and I took a five hour bus from Bangkok. We stayed with the Volunthai coordinator's Thai family. We were able to put our bags down, have a delicious Thai snack and then head to the market. There we purchased yellow polos. Yellow is the kings color and many people wear yellow everyday just to celebrate him. We then headed back to the house for a great Thai dinner, so many of the foods that I love to eat at Thai restaurants at home. Quite a treat for me and one of the main perks of coming to Thailand.

Cim and I before heading out on my own to the KhonKaen province
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We had a short lesson in Thai language and a few suggestions about Thai culture with Oom, one part of the Volunthai team. She is 28 working for the government as an accountant and wishes to travel like all the volunteers that come to their home. Cim and I had a lot of questions and it was nice to get them answered.

I ate my first bug!

This morning was a bit rough sleeping wise. I think it was around 5am when the roosters began to make constant noise which prohibited any kind of solid sleeping. After showering (again, Thai people apparently shower every night and morning) we headed to the market for breakfast. Thai tea (sweet, milky, and bright orange in color), small piece of friend dough, rice and chicken w/ hot sauce and bits of cucumber.

My bathroom
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After breakfast, we chatted a bit with Oom before she dropped me off at the bus station. It was harder than I expected to say goodbye to both Oom and Cim. Amazing how close you can get to people when traveling.

I had a two hour bus ride to Khonkaen and then quickly was directed to another bus by one of the teachers at the school to a bus to the town. I had no idea where to get off and no one spoke english, but the bus attendant had spoken to the teacher and she told her where to tell me to get off.

Bedroom
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All of my traveling came to an abrupt end when I arrived at the house. My host and his wife weren't at the house, so his beautiful 15 year old daughter addressed me and showed me to my room. The 13 year old son was on a computer playing a game. It was alot to take in all at once and yet I had no idea what to do. The host's mother-in-law also lives here. The three of them either didn't know any English or were afraid to try. After about 10 minutes, the host and his wife pulled up. It relieved me a bit to speak in English with someone and his English is great. I think the best I've encountered so far. I am grateful for that.

Daughter serving rice
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The three of us got into his small pickup and headed for a quick tour of the school and town. We stopped so I could have a friend rice and egg lunch before heading back to the house.

Unfortunately, at this point I was fighting back tears. I was just so overwhelmed and doing my best not to panic. The house has a small storefront with a random assortment of goods along with four computers as a small internet area for the town. I got on one of the computers and read my email, a bit of the newspaper, and after awhile Dan signed online to talk. We chatted for a long time which did a lot to calm me down. There were many things that worried me. I hadn't seen any toilet paper, the water in the bathroom looked quite green, there were ants crawling on every surface, my room had a bit of a smell and clothes left in the closet. I was failing to appreciate the good things I had seen.

Host and son eating dinner
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I realized I was being totally antisocial and weird to be on the computer for so long, so I headed to my room and cleaned up. Folded the leftover clothes and organized the desk drawer. After unpacking, I already felt a bit better. I headed back downstairs with my gifts from Chicago and passed them out. The host and I chatted for a bit and dinner was soon ready. The host's daughter was in charge of the cooking and I started teaching his wife some english pronounciation before dinner was served.

I ate my first bug! Well at least the first one on purpose. The wife's sister-in-law collects bugs that die when they get too close to her lamps and then I guess just fries them. It tasted better than expected despite getting what I think was a wing stuck in my teeth. The rest of the food was spicy and good. I drank about 3 more glasses of water than anyone else.

I watched TV with the family for a bit after dinner before heading up to bed around 9pm. I have good cell phone reception here and was able to talk with Dan for some time. Quite a treat to be on the other side of the world and talk freely.

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