Highlights and a Look Back

I was thinking about Thailand recently (or, if I'm being honest with myself, everyday) and realized that I never wrote anything after I returned home. I doubt anyone is still checking this, but here's an update on the crazy roller coaster of returning home if you are!

After landing in Chiang Mai from a week of adventuring, I grabbed my extra luggage from the apartments and then was picked up by my host family for one last afternoon together. My flight didn't leave until midnight and they graciously offered to take me to the airport later that evening. We spent the afternoon together, looked at pictures from the semester, exchanged gifts, and toured their new home that seemed to make more progress each time I returned to visit. My host mom and I also cooked one last meal together- only fitting, I think, that she had me cook "American" pasta one last time! Later that evening my host parents drove me to the airport and dropped me at the check-in counter after a somewhat-tearful good-bye. It was very surreal. I think somehow I felt I would be back, but the distance is far and the good-bye felt very final.

I made the trip home alone: Chiang Mai to Seoul to Atlanta to Columbus. Over 20 hours in the air, 12 hours time difference, several movies watched, countless airplane meals eaten, and many hours slept. And eventually I arrived home in Columbus, happy to finally see my family again but so extremely exhausted and not even sure what day or time it was.

I don't know what it is about travel, but I swear coming back is always worse, and the next few days were a complete fog. I've heard it takes a day for every hour's time difference when you switch time zones, and I think that is extremely accurate. The first week back was filled with Smith family christmas (which I went to straight from the airport!), multiple gatherings with friends, and a trip to Chicago to visit with the Jacksons. I'm not sure how I appeared to everyone else, but I felt like I was viewing the world through a screen as I fought to stay awake when I was supposed to be sleeping on Thailand time.

I had one interrupted week at home and then I found myself back at school, once again inundated with new & familiar faces, places, and food. It's great to see everyone, but it has been an adjustment. It's difficult sitting in a chair all day after spending four months exerting myself each and every day. It's frustrating to feel like all I do is read all day, every day, when learning used to come from talking with people. It's overwhelming to all of a sudden be thrown back in the mix of clubs and commitments and responsibilities, and I have to remind myself that it's ok to have these feelings, because only last week did it mark one month of being home in the states. That's a lot of change for one month, but I'm slowly settling in to the routine and beginning to plan my return to Thailand.

I'll leave you with this last bit, a post I started in the airport before I left but never got the chance to actually post.....

As I think back on the semester and attempt to process everything, there are so many memories and experiences that thinking about one time just leads into a whole series of events. When we would talk about the semester with all the students, we always had to do favorites in categories, because naming favorites otherwise would just be unfair! So before I forget them myself, here are some favorites and highlights in no particular order:

Favorite host family:
Huay Tong Kaw in Mae Hong Son, where I stayed in the medicine man's house. But that's not why I loved it so much; I just loved talking around the fire, the wonderful food, and the sense of belonging. Obviously this is also in exclusion to our Chiang Mai homestays, which probably stand above the rest just because they were so long and in-depth.

Favorite food on course:
For seafood, the massive fish fry we had on Lipe, especially the calamari. For other food, either the nom prik in Mae Hong Son or all the pumpkin dishes in Mae Ta. Or the omelets in Mae Mae, red beans and veggies in Mae Hong Son, and cassava cakes.....clearly I could go on and on!

Favorite course:
Oceans, because I felt like it best incorporated both the science and the people, and it was the expedition I was most unfamiliar with. And snorkeling still stands at one of the most incredible activities we did! However, backpacking was a ton of fun and our group for Agro was still the best!

Favorite Thai dish:
Some favorites include som tam (papaya salad) and grilled chicken; Pad Thai (especially the 15B pad thai at the student market); omelettes and grilled vegetables. Also, the freshly-cut fruit and fruit smoothies. Or the Indian food at walking street and any of the dishes at the South Gate market.

Unusual things I ate:
Crickets, bamboo worms, octopus, squid, still-sandy snails

A Week of Travel

After returning from Oceans, the rest of our time with ISDSI was a complete whirlwind. We flew back to Chiang Mai on a Wednesday, a couple shades tanner and ready to be sand-free. Thursday morning we took our Oceans final and then turned in all the gear we had borrowed. That night we had one final farewell dinner at the same restaurant where Thanksgiving dinner was held, bringing at least a little closure to the entire semester. Friday morning those of us not staying for an ICRP (basically all of us not from Kalamazoo College) took our Thai finals: a 30-minute conversation with an Ajaan that was not our ajaan during the semester. We were all extremely nervous, but they seemed to go well. I know my tones aren't great and I mixed up some words, but I felt like I could have kept talking! But hey, 30 minutes of Thai is probably the longest I talked in Thai at one time the entire semester, and I'm proud I was able to do that after only four months here!

Friday was our last day together with all the students. We spent our afternoon going to the market for food, snacks, and last-minute gifts; trying to pack up our lives into too-few bags; and running last minute errands. That night we all went out, reminiscing about the semester and trying to prolong good-byes for as long as possible.

Saturday morning Suyeon and I headed out bright and early to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. We then took a bus up to Ayutthaya, which is the former capital city of Thailand. We checked into our hostel and that night went on a little boat tour to see several temples along the river's edge. The next day, Sunday, we took ourselves on a walking tour of Ayutthaya's historic district and I kid you not, we walked for 10 hours! We hit all the main temples; ate lunch in a large street market; learned a little too late that showing our student ID's could get us into temples for 10B instead of 50B; took lots of pictures; crashed for a couple hours at a coffee shop to rest our feet; and then went to this cultural festival for dinner. It was great being in Ayutthaya and the sights were beautiful, but it was strange being on the tourist side of things. Everyone spoke English to us first, and we found ourselves wanting to know more about the people, their livelihoods, and the history of the town, information not readily (if at all) available.

Sunday morning we took an early van back down to Bangkok to spend the remainder of our week. Though we felt safe in the city, our explorations were limited by the protestors and the areas we felt ok visiting. Unfortunately many of the wats are close to the protest area, so we decided not to venture to that area. We did, however, walk the streets exploring markets and food. We also meandered into multiple shopping malls, marveling in slight culture shock at the ornate Christmas displays, lights, and music. On our final night we went to China Town and spent several hours just wandering, looking at the sights, and trying lots of yummy food. China Town was definitely my favorite part of Bangkok, most likely because that's one of my fondest memories of Thailand: just wandering markets, looking at everything, and trying foods. Throughout our stay in Bangkok we made it our goal to not eat in a restaurant once, and with all the amazing street food, we definitely succeeded!

A final part of Bangkok was getting to meet up with other friends. Suyeon was able to spend an afternoon with one of her friends from Burma and I also met up with a couple friends from Wooster, both pretty random and last minute. It was fun to catch up, show off my Thai a little, and begin the transition of life back at home and school.

Early Friday morning (think 4am) we took a taxi to the airport, where we flew back to Chiang Mai for our final day in the city, and I must say, it was wonderful coming back. Chiang Mai truly feels like home! I went for a little run, collected my bags from the apartments, and was then picked up by my host family for one last afternoon at their house. I showed them my pictures from Forests and Oceans, spoke significantly more Thai with them, and helped cook a "special" last dinner of American food consisting of pasta, salad, french fries, and chicken nuggets. Yeah, I don't know either, but somehow it only seems fitting that in all the craziness of Thailand, my last meal would be a Thai take on American food. Seriously though, it was a great way to spend my last day. I'm so thankful for everything they have done for me and it was very hard leaving at the airport. I really do hope that I'll be back though, so that helps, in addition to things like Skype and email.

So that's where I am now. In disbelief that the program is over and sad to have left Thailand and all its wonderful people and memories. Getting excited about all things American but having a hard time imagining certain things like snow (it's really cold in Chiang Mai, but "really cold" is probably more like 50 degrees... I might not survive winter). Trying to prepare myself for the adjustment that I know returning home and to school will be. And now I'm sitting in the Seoul airport, awaiting my next flight in the midst of jet lag and crazy exhaustion from having basically pulled two all-nighters in a row.

Enjoy the pictures!

Our carpool!

The restaurant looked out over the river.

ISDSI 2013

I'll let the rest of the pictures- from Ayutthaya- do the talking. All picture credits go to Suyeon!

Shark fin in China Town.....lesson in practice from Oceans

Oceans

Oceans: the last month, the final expedition, the capstone of the semester. I've enjoyed all of our expeditions for various reasons, but I'd have to say that Oceans was by far my favorite. This was the trip that was most different from anything I'd ever done before and though I felt comfortable the entire expedition, it definitely placed me out of my usual comfort zone.

My group started with the islands portion of the expedition. We flew down south from Chiang Mai and then traveled by boat to Koh Lipe in the Trang province. Lipe is in a beautiful area, surrounded by picturesque islands, white sand beaches, and crystal clear oceans. It is this beauty that brings tourists from Asia and around the world. Combined with over-fishing, global warming, and large boats called trawlers that destroy coral reefs, the development in response to an increased demand in tourism has set Lipe and its surrounding areas on a path to destruction. The local people, who call themselves Chao-lay (people of the sea), traditionally relied on fishing as their primary means of supporting themselves and their families, yet ocean resources are so depleted that they would not be able to maintain this lifestyle if they wanted. Now the Chao-lay work primarily in the tourism industry, taking tourists out on boats and selling fish they manage to catch to restaurant and resort owners.

While in the islands, our task was to investigate the relationship between the various stakeholders invested in marine resources: the national park, big businessmen who own resorts, local people, the fishing industry, tourists. We met with representatives from almost all of these categories and discussed with them the issue of marine resources and development.

Our first couple days were spent on Lipe itself in a little tiny resort with our own private beach. This entire semester we have been living out Harry Potter, to the extent that the entire ISDSI program (staff & students included) has been casted in one way or another, but our beach on Lipe just guaranteed that we had made the jump to the Hunger Games and were now in the arena! Anyways, after exploring Lipe and the effects of development, we loaded up the sea kayaks and headed out to the ocean. Our destination was Koh Rawi, an island about 12kms away. It was a small island, we were alone as a group, and if we hadn't known any better, it would have seemed like we were alone in the archipelago. We stayed on Rawi for a week, probably one of the best weeks ever. Each day, depending on the tides, we would head out in the kayaks for various reefs or islands, where we conducted a variety of small studies on biodiversity, mangroves, and reef formation using mainly snorkel gear. It might sound intense, but basically we played in the ocean for a week! We camped on the beach and other highlights include campfires and song-singing; snorkeling the reef in front of Rawi in our free time; peanut butter & nutella sandwiches everyday for lunch (but also really good Thai food); baths in a river; and snorkeling at this soft coral spot in the open ocean.

I must say, snorkeling is like opening up a whole new world that I never even knew existed, and not once did swimming over and through reefs and mangroves get old. I won't bore you with all the fish types we saw since there's probably too many to name, but some of the highlights include sea cucumbers, star fish, urchins (who knew they had little blue beady eyes?!?), and moray eels, all in various arrays of color.

Once our week was up, we kayaked back to Lipe briefly for midcourse and then headed to the coast. The second half of our expedition focused on coastal resources, specifically mangrove and sea grass use and management. For this portion of the expedition, our activities included a leisurly mangrove paddle, boating through seagrass areas where we saw sea turtles and dugongs- similar to manatees (the other group still doesn't believe us!), visiting a cave, sea fishing, and the opportunity to tour a rubber plantation. While on the coast, we stayed with host families in a Muslim village called Ban Jao Mai. As with Lipe, these people have a history with fishing but tourism and development have significantly impacted their lifestyles and marine resources. Some of the highlights of Ban Jao Mai included a goat slaughter; paddle-boarding on the ocean before heading home at night and morning runs along the beach; a meeting with the Imam, the local religious leader; and a final party on the beach. The people of Ban Jao Mai were so kind and generous, and aside from being fed sweets and kanomes all. day. long, it was great to end the semester in an individual homestay with only our Thai skills to rely on. It was also fun to notice the progression of our Thai skills. We of course still need answers translated, but we are able to now run the majority of our meetings in Thai!

Our beach on Koh Lipe. We stayed in little bungalows literally feet from this beach.

Waters off Lipe.

Talking with a monk on our tourism survey & its impacts activity on Lipe.

Kayaks beached on Lipe so they don't get swept away by the high tide.

Fish fry! These fish were caught a couple hours before, and the entire meal was so incredibly delicious. I never really eat calamari, but I think I can say with confidence that it was some of the best calamari I have ever eaten in my life!

Lunch break on a paddle day.

View from our beach on Koh Rawi.

Waters off Rawi.

View from the perspective of my kayak! 

Paddle day!

Making dinner on Rawi.

View of the long-tail boats that are our transportation when not in kayaks.

Puuns (friends)!

Watching the sun set as we ride back to the national park.

Learning about mangroves from a local instructor in Ban Jao Mai.

Mangrove roots are so cool!

Sunrise over Ban Jao Mai.

Jellyfish everywhere! Unfortunately I know from experience that when you get stung, you can actually hear the shock from the tentacles. I'm fine though; I was more upset that I had to stop playing in the waves.

Attempting to cut the rubber tree on our visit to a rubber tree plantation.

Rubber trees.

My host mom and I in Ban Jao Mai.

Our final night in Ban Jao Mai was supposed to be a Muslim Barbie on the beach. We knew from the first group and from prior years that we would be dressed up in traditional Muslim outfits. However, when all of us girls were getting ready, we were given these wonderful (hear the sarcasm??) outfits instead. The entire semester has been great but this was probably the one big disappointment. A missed opportunity, because when will I ever be in this situation again? And bitter because we all felt denied of this opportunity without our input being asked, especially when the other group just a week prior had the experience we had been looking forward to. Not to mention that the outfits we were supposed to wear are absolutely beautiful. But in light of this......we were hideous, matching, and eventually we saw the hilarity in the situation. Hence these poses, because don't we look ready to take drink orders on a Hawaiian cruise line?!?

Our group!

Snapshots of City Life

Even I still have about a month left in Thailand, this past week was our last full week in Chiang Mai. Thus, the week of lasts began, with everyone trying to cross things off their bucket list for the city. I really didn't have too many activities left on my list, other than making it to a few restaurants/cafes and of course my final Walking Street! I did, however, want to make it to the climbing gym, which we finally managed to do last weekend!

Other than that, it was a busy week. We had quite a bit of readings in preparation for our next course and it felt like my brain just didn't want to absorb any more Thai. Combined with a little run-in with some dogs in Chiang Mai University (I'm fine), feeling stressed and exhausted, a Thai reading test and oceans essay, and less sleep than I should have been getting, it wasn't necessarily the best of weeks. I think, though, that the semester is just catching up to me and everyone else as well. We've been on the go since early October, and I was thinking that I haven't slept in the same location for more than a week since Foundations ended so long ago. So I suppose a little fatigue is to be expected!

In light of all this, I figured I would share a little bit about everyday life in the city. After some requests from home, I started trying to document our everyday activities; we live pretty normal, everyday lives in the city (to some degree) so the pictures don't necessarily seem as exciting to me as do mountains and rice fields. Nor do they seem to really do the experience justice, but hopefully they'll give you a bit of an idea about semi-adult life, aka life in the apartments where we may have graduated to high school from the preschool days of our homestays!

I'll let the photos do the talking....

We walk half an hour to and from school each day. This is the entrance right off the road.

Here we are walking down the driveway, with the CrossFit gym ahead and the instructors' motorcycles on the right.

This is our main outdoor space (it's covered with a roof), though it probably has 6 tables and is much bigger than it looks. We eat lunch here everyday, in addition to sorting/handing out gear.

Gear storage and part of the bouldering wall.

Our front yard with tables and a swing.

Thai classroom. We calculated we've spent over one hundred hours in this room....lots of great memories!

Whiteboard the other day. If you see spears and fish, you're correct; we were learning about mangrove forests and fishing techniques!

The front of the apartment buildings. The coffee shop on the left is where I'm sitting right now writing this post!

Our apartment building.

New mall just up the road on the way to school. The progress is more noticeable each time we return from an expedition, and I believe it is supposed to be open by the time we return from Oceans.

Thai class love! Hard to believe Friday was our last day of class ever.

Walking home from school.

Front gate of Chiang Mai University (CMU). I pass this every morning on my runs.

CMU track. I frequently run here to either just run laps or pretend like I still have speed in my legs! If you look really close at the mountains, you can see Doi Suthep, where we hiked to during Foundations.

Walking Street. Basically one long street probably a couple kilometers long, lined with every sort of art or good you could want. It's every Sunday evening, and we love to go there, walk around, hunt for gifts, and get great street food. 

Smoothies are probably one of the greatest aspects of Walking Street (and other markets). Take your pick of tropical fruit, add in a little sugar and water, and there you go! I think in this picture we had dragon fruit, banana, and pineapple.

This is the road where we live, and just up on the left is the coffee shop we frequent for internet access and computers, mainly for skyping and essay writing.

Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures (CMRCA) bouldering wall. Finally made it there!

Awesome market just around the corner from CMRCA. The food here is delicious!

Turkish chicken kabob and watermelon smoothie...new favorite foods!

Samosas from the Indian food stand at Walking Street.

ISDSI treated students and staff to Thanksgiving dinner last night. Here we're toasting to pumpkin and apple pie!

More Thai class love!

We went to Burma! Not again; this was earlier in the semester. Unfortunately we were there for less than a half hour.

Street food at Walking Street.

Walking in the Old City.

That's it, some snapshots of life in Chiang Mai city! Now off to run some errands and pack before leaving for Oceans early tomorrow morning!