tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46694759585183500352011-11-28T07:37:31.792+07:00This blog is an account of my personal experience in Thailand and does not reflect the views of Peace Corps Thailand or the United States government.gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-25129228236598083342008-12-08T11:14:00.002+07:002008-12-08T11:24:06.634+07:00

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gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-25852145090618129962008-11-13T13:36:00.002+07:002008-11-13T13:50:28.396+07:00

I have been quite horrible in keeping up with my blog. In reality, this has been quite an interesting time in my Peace Corps service and I am not doing myself justice or anyone who reads my blog. I will once again try to be diligent in my blogging, but I have certainly made that declaration before!I recently returned from a trip to Northeast Thailand also known as Isaan. Many of my Peace Corps

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-40322567232607449882008-08-14T10:27:00.002+07:002008-08-14T10:43:14.396+07:00

The past couple weeks have seen the arrival of my first official visitors to Thailand. It has been a busy three weeks with two friends from the States, Linsey and Becky, coming to visit first and then my brothers and sister-in-law following not soon after Linsey and Becky’s departure. I cooked up the same itinerary for both groups and it turned out that is was a great one at that. After meeting

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-55322108610845979432008-07-04T20:07:00.006+07:002008-07-22T10:53:48.359+07:00

I was trying to think what could make this entry have a unifying theme and finally I came up with it, the rainy season. Once again the rainy season is once again upon the verdant valleys and forests and I am now convinced that it is by far my favorite season. The days get no hotter than the mid 80s (Farenheit) and the nights are cool, usually in the high 60s. Although it rains most everyday,

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-68053583787492480032008-06-24T21:26:00.001+07:002008-06-24T22:31:39.449+07:00

I have really come to appreciate how sounds can really give each place its unique character. Many people go to the desert for its eerie silence while others enjoy the rolling rumbles of the waves in the ocean. It is often when completely surrounded by nature that one truly enjoys the subtle inspiration that sound can have. Although submersion in nature often yields a unique experience the

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-12319303051073411222008-06-09T11:10:00.007+07:002008-06-09T16:01:15.672+07:00

I have been pretty delinquent in keeping my blog up to date in the last couple months. I guess that stems from several different factors. One, and probably most telling, I have just been too lazy. Two, it seemed to me that for all the effort I was putting into writing these blog entries it seemed that very few people were actually reading it. Well, I have had several requests to continue writing

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-51324452646605052612008-03-22T15:41:00.003+07:002008-03-22T17:12:57.776+07:00

The other day I was privileged to go on a fishing expedition with my friend Da-Na. He had talked about taking me down to the river to “look for fish” for quite some time and we finally got around to going. The river runs fairly close to my house but we had to hike for a little over an hour to get to the best fishing area. We followed the river for a short while and then cut up through the

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-44502488202903062612008-03-15T17:24:00.006+07:002008-03-22T17:16:56.884+07:00

I’ve had quite an adventurous two and a half weeks. As I have alluded to earlier, I finally made my trip to Japan and it was a great time. We had a red-eye flight that left Bangkok at 11:30 p.m. and arrived in Tokyo at 7:30 a.m. Gabe had taken a flight from Chiang Mai earlier in the day and was waiting at the airport so Pete and I went out early to meet up with him and get some card playing in

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-52029635503525303482008-02-14T21:01:00.006+07:002008-02-14T21:36:10.270+07:00

I can officially say I survived a Thai SAO “bi-tiow” (trip) or otherwise described as a “doo ngan” (work trip). It all started out under some fairly interesting circumstances. I was told that we would be leaving at 8:00 a.m. and as much as I like to think my naiveté about the concept of time in Thailand has lessened, I was once again deceived. I woke up in the morning to a rainy day, which is

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-82237851852507856472008-02-11T08:52:00.000+07:002008-02-11T09:12:29.583+07:00

As many of you might have noticed, my blog has been severly deficient in one critical area. Can you guess? I'll help you out. What am I really doing in Thailand! There are a couple reasons why I haven't included too much about my actual work experiences. First, and probably most important, I haven't had too many. Even as I approach a year being a PCV, the fact that I have accomplished

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-32212699257207031122008-01-24T11:42:00.000+07:002008-01-24T15:52:54.386+07:00

I have been pretty bad at keeping up with my journal entries. I have officially been in Thailand over one year and that is possibly the reason why my journaling has slipped off. It is quite exciting to memorialize the unique experiences that seem to occur everyday as you are continually confronted with a culture and country that you still don’t quite fully understand. Once that novelty has worn

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-10482317394860250072007-11-23T20:26:00.000+07:002007-11-23T21:46:33.765+07:00

The cold season has arrived and although you would think that “cold” would be a misnomer for a season in a country such as Thailand, here way up in the mountains it is perfectly suited. The nights have become a bone chilling experience and once again after my Altiplano of Peru experience I am really appreciating the luxuries that we enjoy in the US. The other night it got down to the mid 50s,

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-89833539496250910142007-10-28T13:47:00.000+07:002007-10-28T15:25:52.963+07:00

Pete and I on the morning of our first day. The fog rolls in every night now days. Sheila and I a few ours on. Still doing pretty well despite the fact that the trail we were following for the first couple hours was actually just a stream!We weren't really as lost as it looks, but it did take us quite a while to figure out where we were. Good thing our guide (my neighbor Sa-oo) was able to yell

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-23604349352873078682007-10-13T16:31:00.000+07:002007-10-13T18:20:19.316+07:00

Living abroad can be so challenging, monotonous, exciting, and undecipherable among many other adjectives. Just as you think you have integrated into the culture and have a well rounded understanding of the customs of the country you reside in, you encounter an elderly man sitting in the back of the famous Chiang Mai red passenger pickups with a stick of bamboo. This stick of bamboo is covered

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-82368200722500418872007-10-13T10:54:00.000+07:002007-10-13T18:23:55.377+07:00

I think I have finally met my match in Thailand and it has driven me to the edge of insanity. You are probably thinking it could possibly be the exotic food, the remoteness of my village, the language barrier, but you are wrong! My arch nemesis has become the most unassuming of creatures: the ant! Now if you are a Peace Corps Thailand volunteer you are most likely nodding your head and wondering

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-23227598163663764322007-10-04T14:19:00.000+07:002007-10-04T15:15:54.696+07:00

I haven’t written on my blog for quite some time and I can actually say it is because I have been somewhat busy (I am saying this without a smirk on my face!). For the past few weeks I have been at site for a week and then away at meetings for a week. I am actually getting sick of all the traveling mainly because it takes forever to get to any destination from my hilltop perch. This excessively

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-51652598525451978432007-09-04T19:46:00.000+07:002007-09-04T21:17:22.758+07:00

I have recently realized that as my daily routine gets established in my village that my blog entries may not be near as entertaining as previously. As I wrote that sentence I immediately thought that this will most likely not be the case given that in the past seven months there has hardly been one uneventful week. Nevertheless, this blog will be a description of my daily life which some may

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-92205699637299370242007-08-20T20:04:00.000+07:002007-08-20T20:10:42.953+07:00

Well a few things have changed in my life since I moved "on top of the mountain" as my Thai friends fondly like to call it. Given that there is limited cell phone reception I had to change companies and therefore I have a new number. My number is now 0850341275. Once again, if you're calling from the States I think you may need to drop the 0 and the country code is 66. My new address will be:

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-17313664623161653292007-08-18T18:19:00.000+07:002007-08-18T20:51:26.084+07:00

I get to watch this nearly every night. My life is not bad! Just another one of my mountain roads that I bike on everyday. A Buddhist shrine on the top of the mountain near my house. A view from the mountain which is literally out my front door. Yes, the insects are supersized in Thailand. This moth was larger than most small birds. Me doing the dirty work with

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-13791575177924621502007-08-15T20:26:00.000+07:002007-08-15T20:50:07.324+07:00

The other day I had my first adventure with some of the local kids. It was a grey rainy day and I had decided that venturing out of the house would take a whole lot of convincing. I decided to go to the SAO office and type some emails and along the way I was soon accompanied by my two new friends. While I used the internet they made the most of the time by seeing who could ride my bike the best.

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-23346258749834811072007-08-13T19:33:00.000+07:002007-08-13T20:29:31.127+07:00

Today represents my official first whole week at my new house and village and it is quite, well pretty much like most other days. This blog is going to be a small dictation of my life in my village now that I have actually experienced it. It is hard to determine where to start because there are so many varied subjects that at least merit a small description. I suppose the subject of weather would

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-1341580611957757992007-08-04T16:25:00.000+07:002007-08-05T15:36:41.370+07:00

The Great Moving ExperienceI have officially made it to my village! After much anticipation I made it to my mountain paradise, and it appears my co-workers have as well. The SAO decided to create a temporary office in my village until the new office can be built in one of the villages nearby. Now for me this is a mixed blessing. It is great to have all the male staff members up here, the females

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-64566440037004766992007-07-17T12:12:00.000+07:002007-07-17T12:16:43.078+07:00

Wow...nearly two months have passed since I last wrote. I’m sure it was a welcome respite for many and a painful absence for a few (although I’m not quite sure who). I have officially been in Thailand for six months and that duration may be at the root of the inactivity of my blog. The time has flown by and I have done and seen such amazing things, made great friends both Thai and American,

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-43687069266330713662007-05-30T12:31:00.000+07:002007-05-30T13:10:46.829+07:00

I haven’t written a blog for quite some time because there hasn’t been a whole lot to tell. Most of my days are either spent in the SAO office learning Thai or in the car driving between my village and the office. Wedged in between are meetings where I get to sit around and not understand more than five or six words every ten minutes, but I suppose that is the nature of learning a language. In

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-74267543174759749702007-05-02T14:06:00.000+07:002007-05-02T14:09:56.893+07:00

So I have found out that Thais will eat pretty much everything. When I say pretty much anything I mean not only any animate object but also every part of that animate object. It never ceases to amaze me the things that are bought to eat and even more so the random animals or insects that are caught with an enthusiastic “gin dai” or “it’s edible.” Last night is a case in point. We were

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-82094400273084755492007-05-02T13:17:00.000+07:002007-05-02T14:16:13.660+07:00

Once again I have gotten behind on my blogs so it is now time to try to rehash what has happened in the last three weeks. The reason I haven’t been able to write is that I have been here, there, and everywhere in between. Oh, and there’s that little thing called Song Kran. I guess that would be the most logical place to start.I know I have written about Song Kran before, but now I have actually

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-51044990475549986282007-04-13T10:20:00.000+07:002007-04-13T10:59:03.227+07:00

An outing hotspot for local Thais. This is a spring that flows out of the mountain into the very elegantly built sandbag pools. Notice that Thais swim in all their clothes. Thailand is such a country of contradictions. Bangkok is know as sex tourism country yet in most areas the people are very conservative and won't even show a bare piece of skin. This also is due to the fact that Thais

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-1348293874780725432007-04-08T10:20:00.000+07:002007-04-13T11:28:58.566+07:00

This past Sunday I actually got to relax a little bit and take some time on my own. The the whole idea of alone time is very contrary to Thai society. I am staying at No’s house in the extra room at his rental house. His family lives near Chiang Mai so most weekends he stays there, but Saturday night was the first night I was going to be alone. All of my friends were very worried that I might be

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-50736139771632901342007-04-07T11:30:00.000+07:002007-04-08T11:06:01.451+07:00

My first week at site has been quite a trip, literally. I arrived at the town of my SAO on Monday morning and spent the rest of the day just getting my things situated and talking with the staff. Tuesday morning we left early for my village for the official start of “sports week,” a very popular activity in Thailand.The day before we left I had mentioned to the Balat (No) that some friends of

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-16774051182347726452007-04-06T18:07:00.000+07:002007-04-06T18:43:04.156+07:00

As of Friday I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! Training is over and I can’t be happier. I’ve had enough of sitting around in conference rooms for eight hours a day having people talk to me. The last few weeks have been interesting and I think for the most part it is due to the fact that I have gotten some insight from current volunteers. Group 118 volunteers were amazed that our hub site

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-48881500075825046972007-03-08T16:38:00.000+07:002007-03-08T16:39:56.372+07:00

Learning a language is such a fascinating process. Learning Spanish was a new and novel experience for me and I had not the slightest idea if what I was experiencing during the learning process was unique to my situation and learning style or similar to other people’s. Two months after arriving in at the Bangkok airport I think I am a lot closer to answering that question. My experiences with

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-41461966288092284952007-03-04T18:10:00.000+07:002007-03-04T18:29:56.051+07:00

Where to begin? This past week and a half was bursting with new sights, sounds, and experiences. I suppose the simple and most logical place to begin would be....well the beginning. Last Friday we left for Bangkok early in the morning and arrived at about 10:00 am. We went directly to our hotel and of course attended informational sessions. Luckily, these sessions were very pertinent to our

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-19951621441017662552007-02-15T12:58:00.000+07:002007-02-15T13:24:46.974+07:00

Yesterday I got my site placement and I couldn’t be happier. It turns out that I have the most remote site out of anyone in this PC Thailand group. I am going to be living with a Karen and Lisu hill tribe community in Chiang Mai province. The Lisu people originated from Tibet and while the Karen people originated from Myanmar. Both groups immigrated to Thailand in the last 200 years. The city of

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-11085721316894044322007-02-12T17:42:00.000+07:002007-02-12T17:31:26.475+07:00

I created a Youtube site where you can view some of the videos that I have taken. It will maybe give a little more in depth view of my life here in Thailand! The link is http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=gschiche

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-36923097469835966332007-02-12T16:45:00.000+07:002007-02-04T11:17:22.706+07:00

I have had quite an eventful week, so be ready for another fairly lengthy blog entry. I have decided that I will post a blog entry once a week, given that I really have fairly little time to sit down and write. Sunday is my day off, so it will accordingly be when I write my blog. There will be an exception this week. On Tuesday we find out where our sites will be, so I will be sure to let

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-87623359036082812662007-02-04T10:41:00.000+07:002007-02-04T11:17:22.771+07:00

A week in review. This week we continued our Thai classes and went about choosing a small project to undertake with a local community group. When I say small, I mean small. We have a grand total of five days in the next five weeks to work with the community group. Obviously we have far too much “training” to do, which in all reality amounts to a whole lot of time that could be used in far more

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-11030766164387033352007-02-02T10:42:00.000+07:002007-02-02T10:48:58.716+07:00

Just thought it was kind of interesting that I can spell out my name in Thai now. I'm learning slowly but surely how to write and talk. Garrett = เเกเร็ท. Ask me for much more and it probably won't happen!

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-30903562671206824482007-01-29T16:31:00.000+07:002007-01-29T16:52:30.362+07:00

Saturday turned out to be quite an eventful day with Thai culture abounding. We had decided on Friday that our language class would meet at the hub in order to attend a going away celebration for Anton’s host brother. Anton’s host brother who was going to be entering the Sangha (Buddhist monastic order) for a period of one month and the celebration was set to last at least five days. When we

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-22856421605651253932007-01-28T10:22:00.000+07:002007-01-28T10:33:47.021+07:00

I realized I haven’t really explained exactly what I am doing or what I will be doing for the next eight weeks and for that matter the next two years. I will start with the next eight weeks.After nearly two weeks of group activities we have finally split up into groups of four which were chosen based on our job assignment and our location. There are two different job assignments in our group. I

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-64477191942269007692007-01-26T17:27:00.000+07:002007-01-26T17:32:26.637+07:00

I just thought I would send out my address if anyone has the inkling to send me something. I wasn't going to put up my address until I got to my site, but random mail is always fun!242 Rajvithi RdAmphur DusitBangkok 10300Thailand

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-6539834549156043592007-01-24T18:06:00.000+07:002007-01-25T17:50:26.631+07:00

The last two days have probably been the most interesting in my short Thai experience. Saturday we had an assignment, something the Peace Corps requires that is getting rather tiresome, to “map” our community. I’m still not 100 percent sure exactly what the actual map is for because I think by this time the four of us who were mapping are fairly able to find our own house as well as the others.

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-72310305478367274102007-01-24T17:56:00.000+07:002007-01-25T17:33:46.005+07:00

Well I tried really hard with my last entry to be very descriptive and have some descent writing, but now I realize I just need to write everything down because there is so much to write. We spent about five days at a resort near a national park called Kao Yai. Apparently it is a world class national park that has tigers, Asian elephants and a host of other exotic animals, but of course we weren’

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4669475958518350035.post-78798699445012684752007-01-24T17:42:00.000+07:002007-01-24T17:52:40.224+07:00

So the following blog post is my attempt at being creative, well it took far to long so the following posts are going to be pretty bone dry with just enough info to let you in on my life here in Thailand.By the way, I now officially have a cell phone. The number is 0843462648. I'm not sure if you have to put the 0 before it, so if it doesn't work try it the other way. I'm not sure of the Thai

gschichehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08197745278375192496noreply@blogger.com0