Japan....Hai!

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 before the flight left. It’s a good thing we left early, because when going through security I think every person thought Gabe was a terrorist. He got stopped at every possible check point and was thoroughly inspected. Before our flight Pete and I were sitting in some chairs while we waited for Gabe to go look for a good place to play cards. After a few minutes of sitting there a white guy with shaggy hair approached the row of chairs we were sitting at. He hesitated a bit, looked around, then set a small backpack on the chair next to and walked off. I looked at Pete and we both asked each other what the heck just happened. We watched the guy for a bit and decided that it would be prudent for us not to continue sitting in those seats. I guess all the airport paranoia from the U.S. had actually had an impact on us. We watched the guy wander off aimlessly and discussed going to tell someone in the airport. We watched for a good ten minutes and the man finally came back and picked up his bag. No matter the paranoia, it is not a good idea to set a backpack down acting all sketchy and then go wandering off. An hour later we were on the plane and on our way to Japan.

Brian had had a flight early the morning before and had therefore been in the airport waiting for us for a good 12 hours. He met us right outside the passenger exit and quickly relayed to us every aspect about Tokyo/Narita airport. I guess he had had some time to check things out! Not much later we ran into Myoko. Myoko is a friend of a friend, Prima, who is a Peace Corps volunteer in our group in Thailand. Myoko actually went and booked us our ski vacation packages and then proceeded to be one of the most generous people I have met insisting on being our guide in Tokyo and tricking us into allowing her to pay for far too many things.

As we made our way through the modern metropolis of Tokyo with its myriad lights and millions of people, there was one thing struck us as being quite odd. Although it is the largest city in the world, it seemed like it was devoid of human presence or activity. Most of the streets were eerily quite. After a while I realized that in fact there were quite a few people, it was just that there was very little noise. No cars honking, music blasting, or buses belching diesel fumes. I think the biggest factor that contributed to this atmosphere was the lack of traffic. The public transportation in Tokyo is amazing and it is nearly all trains. The map of the train system looks like a rats nest made of multicolored yarn. If it weren’t for Myoko’s help I am quite positive that we wouldn’t have made more than a few steps out of the airport! After a long day of visiting temples, ancient shogun gardens, arcades, and sushi conveyer belts we boarded a bus headed towards the slopes of Nagano prefecture.

When the four of us arrived at the bus station it was very apparent that we were the only non-Japanese people doing this ski package. Hundreds of young Japanese with their latest technological gadgets and ski gear were amassed in the station waiting for their overnight bus that would whisk them away for a weekend of skiing. After a fair amount of talking with our hands we boarded the bus and arrived nine hours later in the town of Happo. There to meet us as we stepped off the bus in the early morning hours was a nice little blizzard. We gathered our bags and then battled our way to our hotel. We caught some good luck and there was a lady who spoke a little English working at the desk. She kindly explained everything and then told us that downstairs there was an “onsen” where we could have a shower before we hit the slopes. The onsen was like a public bath house with multiple showers, a hot pool that contained the hottest water we had ever stepped foot in, and a sauna. The onsen became Brian’s obsession for the rest of our stay. Even though we had a bathroom in our room, he would still head down at least twice daily to hit up the onsen. After getting a good shower, we had not taken one for more than two days; we hurried to hit the slopes.

The first day skiing was everything we had hoped for. It was a blustery day with snow falling, but that meant that the snow was great. We went about exploring the resort and enjoying the snow. We took the first run underneath a lift where there was fresh powder that hadn’t been tracked. We noticed that there was loads of powder off in the trees and no one had been skiing it. We found out the most of the Japanese skiers and boarders stuck to the groomed runs and left the good powder in the trees to the foreigners. When we were off in the trees we kept running into Aussies and Americans and almost never any Japanese. That characterized our whole ski experience. Areas that would be all tracked up within the first hour in a resort in America were left untouched in some areas until late afternoon. Floating down through the trees in over a foot and a half of powder made me feel like I was straight out of a Warren Miller or TGR film. I couldn’t get enough of it, and to our luck the weather agreed.

The first day was pretty windy and they didn’t open up the top of the mountain. The second day we had a bright, blue sky, sunny, day with lots of fresh powder from the previous day. The third day it was another blizzard and we hit it hard in the morning and took it easy in the afternoon.

We frequented a coffee house everyday and ate Mexican food and to Brian’s delight found a restaurant that had a salad bar. Now this was no Sizzler salad bar, but it was a lot more of a salad bar than the three of us had seen for a long time. I think the owner’s were kicking themselves for allowing Brain unbridled access to the salad bar as he started with three heaping blows full to the brim and continued to refill them to his hearts content. We tried to go out on Tuesday night, taking a taxi to a reggae bar suggested by a girl at the coffee house, but we struck out. The little nightlife that there was in Hakuba was closed for the night. We resorted to going to a convenience store, buying cheap sake, having it heated up in a microwave, and consuming it outside the front door like the classy fellows we are.

The fourth day the weather let up a little bit and Pete and I got up early to get first tracks. I get goose bumps just thinking about how great the snow was and how the weather just couldn’t have been better. The terrain could have been better.

Given that the Japanese didn’t go off piste skiing too often there were many areas that could have been turned into amazing runs, but were entangled with trees. Luckily, there was enough snow that it allowed us to take advantage of most of it. The blacks were conspicuously lacking and although I heard many complaints from boarders about the amount of moguls there really was only a handful of runs the sported the imposing humps. I was kind of disappointed because moguls are usually my main target, but given that there was copious tree skiing I was content. Two of the four days the top of the mountain, which had the best skiing, was closed because of low visibility and wind. When it was open it was great.

After our last run we went and gathered our stuff and hit up the onsen one last time. We hit up a South African’s bar for a few drinks before we boarded our bus for the long overnight trip back to Tokyo. We made it to Tokyo station and successfully found and boarded the train out the airport and arrived in perfect time to catch our flight. We bid Japan fair-well and left with fond memories of Japanese skiing.

Doo Ngan (ดูงาน)

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 very unusual because it hasn’t rained for at least three months. As I sat there and waited one hour passed and given the normalcy of this amount of delay I unworriedly remained prone in my hammock comfortably reading the newest issue of Newsweek. As the clock ticked ever closer to ten o’clock I began to worry. Maybe they had forgotten me. Maybe the rain necessitated a cancellation of the trip. As my mind was pondering what had happened two pickups came rumbling down the road, one covered with a bright green tarp and one with at least eight cheerful Karen faces covered in a menagerie of plastic. The hastily honked their horns and I was ushered into my stately throne in the front seat that is reserved for the token farang. I watched in amazement as nearly twenty people braved drizzling rain and sickening curves for the more than three hour trip to Chiang Mai.

We arrived in Chiang Mai in quite a haste only to discover that the second pickup had yet to arrive. Shortly before it had been right behind us, but 45 minutes later it had yet to arrive. Finally it came rumbling into the parking lot, and the excuse; the nayoke was in need of an emergency hair cut! It turns out that the little trip we were embarking on was actually somewhat of a package tour. We had a lively crew of three who were there to fill up our whiskey and soda as we played cards on the lower floor of the bus with the curtains tightly drawn because everyone knows that if the police see you playing cards they will haul you right off to jail. No tolerance for that chicanery in Thailand! The crew was also generous enough to give a constant ear breaking commentary about everything that was of little interest. The night rolled on and soon eyelids were heavy and cards were sloppy and the allure of sleep captured everyone’s attention.

At roughly 4:30 a.m. I was awoken when I realized the bus had stopped. It had made several stops throughout the night so I figured that soon we would be on our way. About 45 minutes passed and I realized we weren’t going anywhere soon. We had stopped at a Thai roadside gas station. I was told that I should go bathe because we would wait here until the sun came up and we could hit up the first destination of our trip. To my gratification, the showers were actually the square water bins used to dip buckets into in order to manually flush the squat toilets. As disgusted as I was by the prospect of bathing in such conditions, it was far more appealing than having every person in the group why I hadn’t “aap naam” (taken a bath). I did my duty!

After our little shower break we all once again boarded the bus and were off to our first “doo ngan” destination. We first went to a very well funded daycare where the requisite Thai formalities were out in force. Each person involved with the daycare got up and gave their speech as the forty people from my tambon stared on in boredom. This was pretty much the norm as we went to our other “doo ngan” destinations, which included an SAO that had won several awards and another daycare. We had three official destinations and the rest was pure site seeing. Now site seeing is an interesting occurrence in these type of Thai trips. We went to “the world’s largest dam,” a royal project that portrayed the four regions of Thailand, a shrine to someone who I didn’t know, an aquarium, a little drive through a rubber tree plantation, and to the beach. All of this occurred over the period of a little less than two days. On every occasion it was like we were on a hunting safari. Instead of guns we used cameras and Thais sure do like to be in pictures. We stopped at a destination, unloaded the bus, took myriad photos with every imaginable pose, and then boarded the bus once again, all in under fifteen minutes.

It was an interesting trip to say the least. I think we were in the bus driving four hours for about every fifteen minutes on the ground. All this action was under the auspices of learning something to bring back to the village. To my utter surprise, I have spoken to several of the day care teachers and they said they got many ideas from the trip and are going to make new materials for the kids from those ideas. It’s hard not to judge the actions people from another take in order to achieve a desired end. I thought it was highly unlikely that anything of substance would come out of the trip, but apparently it did. However, I am still fairly convinced that that time and money (in very short supply) could be used in a more efficient manner. In the end I am not here to make judgments, but rather work within the cultural context I am given and make suggestions for possible improvements. The degree that the advice is taken is dependent solely on the people who is directly affects and their wellbeing is paramount.

What's Our Worth?

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 seemingly little is not worrying me too much. Given the nature of the CBOD (Community-Based Organizational Development) program, the first year is primarily dedicated to getting to know everything about the communities and people you work with in order to understand their problems, assets, and desires. It is normally not until the second year, and sometimes a ways into it, that most volunteers actually become busy. Even given this fact, it is still sometimes tough to validate your worth. I wrote the following article for our volunteer publication here in Thailand. I thought I wouldn't be a terrible idea to post it on my blog.

PCVs and Community Development

In my short year in Thailand under the Peace Corps’ wing I have come to realize that a gathering of Peace Corps volunteers at any point in time during the duration of their two year service is a unique specimen of social interaction. There is crying, laughing, drinking, sleeping, joking, complaining, boasting and gossiping among a menagerie of many other possible descriptive words. Although the time allotted to each of these activities changes throughout service there are several recurring topics that are at the heart of a Peace Corps experience. One of the most compelling but equally complex topics is, “Is my presence here really contributing to the ‘development’ of the communities I work in?” The answer to this question proves to be quite a conundrum yet I am going to try to tackle this in the most abridged manner possible.

The difficulties begin at the most basic level when trying to answer this question. Development, as a concept, can be seen as either completely lacking a definition or functionally lacking a definition given the inability of one person to construct an all encompassing definition from the myriad that can be found. When we talk generally of development, are we talking of social, economic, physical, or healthcare development? Many argue that “true” development must encompass each one of these areas, among many possible others. I view development as, fomenting the capacity of stakeholders so that he/she/they can be empowered to tackle problems and strengthen abilities in a way that is reflective of his/her/their unique context in order to sustainably improve overall wellbeing. This definition is purposely vague in order for it to encompass the multifaceted nature of trying to increase the wellbeing of the stakeholders, but also offers precise wording that is worth further discussion.

“Fomenting capacity” reflects the idea that development should be stakeholder-centered in order that the terms of development are not dictated but rather created through stakeholder participation in every step of the process. “Empowerment” is essential because any increase in capacity is wasted if the stakeholder is not empowered to use it. “Tackling problems” is purposely paired with “strengthening abilities” given that in development it can be very easy to overlook indigenous strengths, abilities or knowledge which can provide unique insight and skills throughout the development process. “Reflective of the unique context” is of utmost importance because the statement requires the examination of local cultural, political, social, and economic factors that hold sway over the success of development. “Sustainability,” although it is currently a word with increasingly little value as it is used ever more wantonly, when used with “empowerment” solidifies the role of this definition in imparting the idea that once stakeholders are given the proper capacity they will ultimately be able to continue on their path to prosperity and increased wellbeing with little or no outside help. Finally, “overall wellbeing” is used because an increase in wellbeing in one area at the expense of another can have serious negative impacts. The idea of “wellbeing” is purposely vague because it is essential that the definition of wellbeing comes directly from the stakeholders.

Although I have created this definition from my personal experience and education it is quite apparent that it is really a reflection of the most current practices and theories regarding development. It has evolved from the failures and successes of countless groups and organizations in their efforts to help aid in the ‘development’ of another region, nation, group, or individual. Some of you may now be saying to yourself that it also looks a lot like what Peace Corps has hammered into our heads since PST. If you have noticed this I say congratulations! In all the complaints I have heard about Peace Corps I have heard the least about the way they view development. This is specifically because it is one of those organizations that has work in the arena of development and learned from past successes and failures. This is particularly true of Peace Corps Thailand given its 45 year continuous presence in Thailand.

I write this article because it often seems that as a PCV in Thailand, especially a CBOD volunteer; we are more of a burden on the local population than an asset. This can quite easily be revealed as a superficial assessment. This statement becomes ever more lucid when using the previous definition to compare our role and successes with the other organizations in charge with development in many of our sites.

The main agency in charge of local development in Thailand is the SAO. I am quite confident that I will encounter very few people who would say that the SAO is an ideal development organization. It works within its means but is a product of government bureaucracy which is a system renowned throughout the world as the epitome of inefficiency and ineffectiveness.

In my area, Christian organizations have funneled large amounts of money to the local population in very well meaning manner but with little knowledge of the concepts that will make most efficient use of those resources. Finding money to give to impoverished communities is the easiest part of development. When you stop at this step it creates a dependence that propagates a sense of entitlement and saps the motivation and desire out of the population to help themselves.

Corporations and governments often embark on development not because they have concern for the wellbeing of the individuals involved but rather because the targeted group’s development will create social and political stability as well as new markets that will ultimately provide a larger consumer and tax base. As most everyone knows this practice has led to extreme environmental degradation, massive displacement, increased poverty, and social upheaval. This particular development practice is the epitome of what conscientious development organizations/workers aren’t.

Each of the main players in the aforementioned examples shows a large degree of ineptitude in fulfilling the requisites of a successful development program as outlined in my definition. Although inarguably each one of these actors has experienced success in their development efforts, I am quite confident that it is also not difficult to find a person or group who has been negatively impacted by their association with them as well. I believe that this revelation is the single most important factor that legitimizes a PCV’s role in development. How many times after a PCV leaves a community will an individual or group declare that they have been negatively impacted by the PCV’s presence? I challenge anyone to find more than a handful. Yet how many times to you hear locals profess that they have been profoundly impacted by a seemingly innocuous action undertaken by a PCV? More than you can count on the hands and toes of every individual in a Thai village!

Although PCVs may not be able to build a factory or a road they are experts at helping to foment the capacity of their village so that the village members can be empowered to tackle problems and strengthen abilities in a way that is reflective of the village’s unique context. Improving a child’s English abilities so that he has the confidence to run for elected office; helping provide a poor farmer with the skills to create his own income generation project; saving a teen’s life by educating him/her about the dangers of HIV/AIDS; helping provide the community with computers and internet so that they can take advantage of the tremendous amount of resources the world has to offer: this is sustainably improving overall wellbeing. Just because the worth of our existence in a Thai village is not immediately noticeable does not mean that we are worthless. You may not understand your true worth until your final day at site when more than one person sheds a tear over your departure or many years down the road when you read the news and see that a person or group you were involved with contributed his/her/their success to your presence so many years ago.

American Holidays

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 off, as it has to some degree by this point, it just seems that your weekly activities don’t merit a journal entry. As much as it may seem impossible to my friends and family back home, I really have settled into the daily routine of living in Thailand. This shouldn’t discount the fact that this daily routine does include speaking Thai and not understanding Karen, riding my bike on dirt roads through the mountains of northern Thailand from one Karen hill tribe village to another, sharing dinner with adopted families around an open fire situated in the living room of a bamboo house, or sitting in the back of a covered pickup truck for five hours to reach the provincial capital. I think that my daily life does merit much more attention!

I can’t recall many specifics from the month of December, but I can recall that I was able to return to the U.S. for the holidays and for my good friend Luke’s wedding. My time in the U.S. was a whirlwind affair. A long journey from Thailand was exacerbated by United’s inability to get their passengers to any destination without endless delays and problems. I ended up having to stay the night in Las Vegas which extended my traveling time to somewhere around four days before I actually arrived in Wyoming. A blizzard accompanied my Mom’s and Brandt’s welcome home, but was not enough to deter us from our Christmas Eve gathering. Christmas went off flawlessly and I received some of the best presents I have ever received (I was also fairly eager to give my Thai gifts away). Luke’s wedding was great fun and to get to see all my Buffalo buddies was more than I could ask for. I am quite positive that I haven’t laughed as much for years as I did in those few days with those guys. Luke and Marsha had a perfect wedding and I was honored to be Luke’s best man. Morgan arrived just in time for the wedding and she got to meet my friends and family. We made a trip through the Black Hills to see Mount Rushmore and also got to spend some good time hiking in the snowy Bighorn Mountains and sightseeing in Buffalo and Sheridan. I had a great last day in Billings with my Mom where I stuffed myself with deliciously unhealthy American food and boarded my plane for yet another journey halfway across the globe.

Now I am back in Thailand and am excited about the prospects of the next few months. I have several projects that the tambon wants me to help with including a project to provide low cost computers to the local school, an effort to create a community development resource center at the SAO, a world map project with the children and teachers at the school, English and teacher trainings involving other volunteers, another effort to mobilize the community around a home-stay tourism project, and initializing my masters thesis research. It seems pretty ambitious and I think it is. Ambition is the key to achieving what seems unlikely to be accomplished. Complacency breeds apathy. In a years time I intend to write on this blog about the community’s successes in achieving these goals.

In one week I will be going with the SAO and 30 other community members on a ดูงาน, or is known in English as...I guess a work study. We will be getting on a bus for a four day journey to officially go see successful organizations in order to get ideas for the tambon. In reality I think it will consist of lots of karaoke, drinking, and very little working. I hope my Thai friends prove me wrong, but I guess there is not too much harm mixing a little fun in with business! I will keep you posted on the outcome!