The Taste of Home

Happy September! It officially feels like the end of summer (although I have been in class for a couple weeks) - everyone from the States have either started school already or are going to start really soon. Wish I could say that the weather changes here in the fall - it's still rainy season, then it will be the "cold" season. Although, as my friend put it, the relative coldness can be described as sometimes, on certain days in December, when you're out really late at night, you will sort of wish you had a jacket. So there you go.

My week was pretty typical except that instead of having Buddhism on Friday, I had my first IPSL class that focuses on integrating our service work with the political and social issues facing Thailand today. It looks to be mostly discussion-based, which will be awesome, and the venue my vary between the classroom, local coffee places, or even our instructor's house. Sounds like its going to be a great way to synthesize all the experiences I will be having over the next three and a half months. I took the time to draw out the calendars today and it really put my time here into perspective!

Part of the class is reading and reporting on a book of our choosing, and I picked The Great Elephant Escape, which is about the elephant's journey from being used for tourism and economic gain to finding refuge in a Thai elephant sanctuary. Elephants are culturally important in Thailand, but can become prey to the public's demand to interact with them in environments other than their natural habitats, for example, city streets. It will be a fascinating look at this aspect of the culture - I can't wait to share my findings with you. This will also be coupled with a visit to an elephant sanctuary on one of these weekends coming up here, so stay tuned!

I sometimes (read: often) get cravings for American food, as I have expressed in previous blogs. I just as often wonder if I truly miss certain foods or just how they are usually so accessible, or if I just happen upon conversations with others about our favorite Western foods! Regardless, this Saturday morning I had a hankering for cereal, so I headed down to the trusty 7/11 to see what I could find.

As you can see, I was successful in locating some chocolate-y cereal and a bottle of milk. Dairy products can be somewhat of a luxury in Thailand, and many local people are actually lactose intolerant (hence the lack of cheese). However, my dairy fixation is kept strong with yogurt, chocolate milk, milk tea, and coffee with milk, so don't you all worry about me losing my lactase enzymes! As you can see, I had to get a little creative with my (lack of) bowl situation. Yes, that is a rinsed-out yogurt cup and spoon. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Saturday night friends and I went in search of Mexican and got to walk along the old city moat for a little bit during early evening. It was really beautiful, what with the old wall and the flowers growing along the moat banks. I love how you can stumble upon something unfathomably old here in Thailand that we simply don't have back in the States. This is a building I noticed sandwiched between two regular, modern shops near the moat.

Pretty wild! There's just so much history here I can't possibly absorb it all in my time here. We have excursions to the Golden Triangle as well as Sukhothai and Bangkok planned throughout the fall, which I'm sure will be simply overwhelming history and culture-wise. My friends and I then stumbled upon a little cafe which caught my eye because it was flanked by two statues of cartoon-y bagels. BAGELS. I definitely got a bagel sandwich there and plan to go back and take advantage of the Western menu.

We then headed over to the Saturday walking market, which in a different location than the Sunday walking market, and has slightly different booths. More items from the hill tribes, I think, and it was a lot less crowded. Our goal for art class was to pick up an item that we had never seen before or didn't know what it was, and I found a little circlet of pom poms from one of the hill tribe booths. Pom poms are big in traditional clothing, and so I am guessing it is jewelry or somehow goes on an outfit in some way. It's very colorful and would make an awesome fashion accessory regardless!

Here's a photo I snapped of the walking market. It is always such a onslaught of senses, with the smells and tastes of the food carts, the bright colors of all the wares, and the heat from so many people and Thailand being hot in general. I love going to these markets and will find something new each time I go. Definitely recommended for anyone thinking of traveling to South East Asia!