Sweet Surrender to a Schedule
So on Wednesday I took Alila's advice and went on a cooking trip. I met Alila at the market and she bought me breakfast and a bamboo shoot filled with rice as we walked to another market. Alila left and the group met at the end of my Soi and talked about all the different things we were buying. There was a British couple, a German couple, 2 French women, and myself. A song thaew (a truck with two benches in the back) picked us up and drove us up into the countryside to a woman's house where we would be cooking. We prepared 7 different dishes, and ate them all. It was so much fun and so cool to learn about what was in all the dishes, and what went into their preparation. We even made out own curry paste! When all was said in done, the group got back into the song thaew and Alila arrived on motorbike to take me home. On the way back down the mountain we stopped at one of the thousands of wats in Chiang Mai. We wandered around and she told me about the history. It was fun. Later that night we went on a short walk then called it a night.
Thursday I went on a one day trek which I signed up for the day before. I was picked up early from the guest house in a minibus and we then picked up a Belgian couple, 2 French couples, a Welsh lady, and 2 Chinise-Canadians which I thought were American. The two Canooks sat in back with me and we struck up the standard "where are you from, how long are you in Thailand for" conversation. Turns out Helen was teaching English at Chiang Mai University as part of a 3 week church volunteer project. She had just finished her work and her friend Kelly had met with her to do some travelling. It was nice having someone my age to talk to for awhile without any language barrier (even Brits are hard to talk to). That day we hiked up a huge mountain to see a Hmong village which was such a treat for me having read a book about the Hmong in my freshman year of LMU. We then went on a real deal elephant back ride (actually straddling the neck of an elephant) up and down a flipping mountain. To top things off we hiked to a waterfall and then cruised down a river on a bamboo raft (literally 5 pieces of bamboo tied together). I gave the two girls my email address before the day was done and Helen said she would send me some of the many pictures she had taken.
Friday was my interview, and amazingly enough I found the place in a tuk-tuk on time. Peter drove me up to the school which is absolutely gorgeous. The campus is tucked away in the valley of these great lush foresty mountains. I'll be sure to get pictures as soon as possible. I was shown around the school by various staff and had one formal interview with some top lady which seemed to mean nothing since I had already interviewed with Peter who turns out to be the headmaster of the school (wow). Everyone seemed really nice and I liked how the job sounded so he gave me a contract to look over and sent me home.
Today I spent the entire day hanging out with Alila. After breakfast at her friend Took's place, I helped her gather her laundry and bought some detergent at 7-11. I showed her how to use the washing machine and then we ate across the street at an awesome little Thai place while we waited for the laundry. Afterwards, we hung out in her room for awhile, talking and listening to a Paul Simon CD she had. Around 3, a backpacking friend of hers showed up and we lit some sage and Alila made us fresh squeezed orange juice which may have been the best liquid I have ever consumed. At 8 we went to the city gate and ate some really good food from a street vendor. We went walking through a night market which was reminiscent of Venice beach with some street performers going at it. We had to leave soon though because her neighbor was called and didn't want to be left alone (old lady).
The coolest part of today was probably Alila showing me all these photos of her in her travels. The backpacking she did in Nepal looked so cool. There were all these great photos of her and her friends hiking up these gnarly mountains and a picture of her with the Dalai Lama even. The mountain people of Nepal are so cool looking, it makes me want to go. Maybe I'll go for Christmas break if I can.
Sometimes I tend to think of Alila as, well, stupid by the way she talks, but that is not the case at all. When she was talking to me today I realized just how smart she is. To be able to carry on such fluid conversation in a language you never had official training in is absolutely amazing. Her sentences are by no means perfect, her tenses are never right, and she says "he" for men and women, but I understand everything she says and today, for the first time, I realized that we communicate on a level far deeper than the words we exchange. We exchange words that are only verbal clues to feelings and expressions which exist at the core of our communicative abilities. Her sentences, while crude, give me enough information to understand how she is feeling and what she really means. What a unique experience her friendship is for me. She is such a giving person. She gives me so much of her time. She even gave me an old pair of shorts today that she found, which I am wearing now. Anytime she sees an old person on the street she immediately breaks conversation and runs over to assist them with whatever they're doing. She buys food for beggars and even for stray animals. A man living in her guest house was robbed by the working girl he brought home and Alila bought him breakfast and gave him money for food for the whole next day. She is an incredible woman.
She has made my first week in Chiang Mai so pleasant and so enjoyable. I would have been so lonely and just bored if I had never met her. I feel like Alila is God's gift to me for protection for my beginning days here. I am so grateful for her, and I want to give her a gift before I move, I just can't think of anything to get her.
Anywho, Monday I move in to my apartment/dorm room at the school and then next weekend I am trying to book a flight to Laos to work on getting my new visa which will in turn allow me to get a work permit.
Things are just beginning.
Thursday I went on a one day trek which I signed up for the day before. I was picked up early from the guest house in a minibus and we then picked up a Belgian couple, 2 French couples, a Welsh lady, and 2 Chinise-Canadians which I thought were American. The two Canooks sat in back with me and we struck up the standard "where are you from, how long are you in Thailand for" conversation. Turns out Helen was teaching English at Chiang Mai University as part of a 3 week church volunteer project. She had just finished her work and her friend Kelly had met with her to do some travelling. It was nice having someone my age to talk to for awhile without any language barrier (even Brits are hard to talk to). That day we hiked up a huge mountain to see a Hmong village which was such a treat for me having read a book about the Hmong in my freshman year of LMU. We then went on a real deal elephant back ride (actually straddling the neck of an elephant) up and down a flipping mountain. To top things off we hiked to a waterfall and then cruised down a river on a bamboo raft (literally 5 pieces of bamboo tied together). I gave the two girls my email address before the day was done and Helen said she would send me some of the many pictures she had taken.
Friday was my interview, and amazingly enough I found the place in a tuk-tuk on time. Peter drove me up to the school which is absolutely gorgeous. The campus is tucked away in the valley of these great lush foresty mountains. I'll be sure to get pictures as soon as possible. I was shown around the school by various staff and had one formal interview with some top lady which seemed to mean nothing since I had already interviewed with Peter who turns out to be the headmaster of the school (wow). Everyone seemed really nice and I liked how the job sounded so he gave me a contract to look over and sent me home.
Today I spent the entire day hanging out with Alila. After breakfast at her friend Took's place, I helped her gather her laundry and bought some detergent at 7-11. I showed her how to use the washing machine and then we ate across the street at an awesome little Thai place while we waited for the laundry. Afterwards, we hung out in her room for awhile, talking and listening to a Paul Simon CD she had. Around 3, a backpacking friend of hers showed up and we lit some sage and Alila made us fresh squeezed orange juice which may have been the best liquid I have ever consumed. At 8 we went to the city gate and ate some really good food from a street vendor. We went walking through a night market which was reminiscent of Venice beach with some street performers going at it. We had to leave soon though because her neighbor was called and didn't want to be left alone (old lady).
The coolest part of today was probably Alila showing me all these photos of her in her travels. The backpacking she did in Nepal looked so cool. There were all these great photos of her and her friends hiking up these gnarly mountains and a picture of her with the Dalai Lama even. The mountain people of Nepal are so cool looking, it makes me want to go. Maybe I'll go for Christmas break if I can.
Sometimes I tend to think of Alila as, well, stupid by the way she talks, but that is not the case at all. When she was talking to me today I realized just how smart she is. To be able to carry on such fluid conversation in a language you never had official training in is absolutely amazing. Her sentences are by no means perfect, her tenses are never right, and she says "he" for men and women, but I understand everything she says and today, for the first time, I realized that we communicate on a level far deeper than the words we exchange. We exchange words that are only verbal clues to feelings and expressions which exist at the core of our communicative abilities. Her sentences, while crude, give me enough information to understand how she is feeling and what she really means. What a unique experience her friendship is for me. She is such a giving person. She gives me so much of her time. She even gave me an old pair of shorts today that she found, which I am wearing now. Anytime she sees an old person on the street she immediately breaks conversation and runs over to assist them with whatever they're doing. She buys food for beggars and even for stray animals. A man living in her guest house was robbed by the working girl he brought home and Alila bought him breakfast and gave him money for food for the whole next day. She is an incredible woman.
She has made my first week in Chiang Mai so pleasant and so enjoyable. I would have been so lonely and just bored if I had never met her. I feel like Alila is God's gift to me for protection for my beginning days here. I am so grateful for her, and I want to give her a gift before I move, I just can't think of anything to get her.
Anywho, Monday I move in to my apartment/dorm room at the school and then next weekend I am trying to book a flight to Laos to work on getting my new visa which will in turn allow me to get a work permit.
Things are just beginning.