Dear Parents!
The night we arrived in Chiang Mai we were greeted by our Thai Ajarns (teachers) and Thai buddies. After we moved into UNISERV, our home for the first two weeks in Thailand, we had street food for dinner and went shopping for our school uniforms. The first week of class consisted of five hours a day of Thai language. The first weekend we hiked up Doi Suthep, a Buddhist Temple that is said to hold a relic of the Buddha. The temple was beautifully decorated in red and gold. First year students at Chiang Mai University are expected to go on a very similar hike as an initiation to the school and at the end of their senior year, all the students walk down the mountain together, symbolizing their graduation from the school. The following day, along with one Ajarn and our four Thai buddies, we had a city tour to visit the old city of Chiang Mai. We went shopping for Thai outfits for the Khantoke dinner.
The second week, Thai language classes were shorter but we had other classes for our Thai Society course, such as one about Thai family structures and another on Thai culture compared with American culture. During our second week in Thailand, President Anderson and his wife, Eric Lund and Kathy Tuma came for the 40th- year anniversary of the TIA program. During the day, the presidents of the two schools signed a document affirming the continuity of the relationship between the two schools. In the evening, CMU held a khantoke dinner for us. There were many performances and yummy food. We got to meet our Thai host families too, but did not know who had which family until move in day. At the end of the week, we moved into our Thai host families. We were excited and also sad, because as a group, we had been together and now we had to separate.
The third week, we continued with Thai language and had classes on Buddhism, the Thai-Myanmar Border Situation, and Family and Cross Culture. We hosted a Halloween party for our Thai families, friends, and teachers at John and Meg’s house. All eleven of us dressed up in various costumes ranging from an absentee ballot to a fortuneteller to a mad scientist. Some of our Thai families dressed up too. We had many activities such as fishing for treats, John reading fortunes, mummy contest, etc. Overall, the event turned out great!
The fourth week included a lecture on Thailand as a rice-based society and two lectures on education in Thailand. We were very anxious to find out the results of the presidential election. On Election Day in the US, the group went to an Irish Pub to watch CNN as the results came in. As the results came in, tears streamed down our eyes. There were no words to explain the moment. As we came back to school, many of our Thai teachers congratulated us with the news of our new President. For the weekend, we had a home-stay at a village about an hour and a half from Chiang Mai. At the village, we visited the elementary school, longan orchards, orange orchards, a waterfall, went fishing, rode bikes, and cooked Thai food. At the school, we split into groups of two or three and taught a classroom for about an hour. The topics we taught were childhood songs and vocabulary games. Some of us went to the orange orchard to pick oranges, some went to the temple to see a merit making ceremony, and some went fishing. We all came together at the village coordinator’s house and made khan lham, sticky rice in bamboo stick, and som tom, papaya salad. After we prepared khan lham to roast during the evening and som tom for lunch, we went to see the waterfall. At night, we sat around the fire pit and ate grilled sticky rice in bamboo stick, and we lit fireworks and lanterns to float in the sky. Our stay at the village was a great experience and we all enjoyed it.
Going back to academics, we have John’s course once a week. We have discussed pilgrimage in Buddhism and Christianity. Our discussions have been great and we are all learning from one another in class. It has been very interesting to apply what we are learning about ethical issues to our own travel experiences.
All of us are enjoying our stay in Thailand! We love eating fresh fruits and going to Taipei Gate to go to Walking Street on Sundays, eating at restaurants, and exploring the city. Our home-stays are going well. We live in various parts of Chiang Mai and some of us are dropped off at school and some walk. We enjoy spending time at John and Meg’s house as a group because we are able to catch up and do things together. Our group meetings have been very helpful too because we talk about things such as events, ideas, and concerns.
Happy Thanksgiving!
TIA