MicahJohn

สบาย:comfortable. สบาย ๆ: chill, relax, take a deep breath, easy going. (ๆ is a repeat sign. สบาย ๆ is read สบาย สบาย)

That’s without looking in a dictionary, so it may be a little off.

Translation aside, today was a reminder that living here in this country it’s best to be able to face things and just think สบาย ๆ. (This is probably true anywhere in the world). This afternoon I had a test scheduled for my some of my students. Today at the flag pole it was announced that there would be no afternoon classes. These schedule changes regularly occur without any warning. As far as I can tell the Thai teachers are just as unaware of the changes ahead of time as I am. (I do not say “just as surprised by . . .”, merely “just as unaware of . . .”).

When I first showed up here at school I tried to get an idea of what attire is and is not acceptable. A lot of teachers wear yellow polo shirts (yellow is the the color associated with Monday, which is the day the king was born on, so yellow is the king’s color, so wearing yellow shows support for the king).

A lot of teachers wear untucked aloha-esque shirts.

I figured a tucked in polo (even if it wasn’t yellow would be acceptable). While wearing a blue polo. I was asked by one of my supervisors to “wear something that is presentable.” I was a bit taken aback.

I accordingly went shirt shopping. I picked up the pictured shirt because it is cut to be worn untucked. I figured if untucked was acceptable, I would wear something untucked.

I checked the shirt with my supervisor. Asking if it was okay. The response was “very okay.”

Later in the day someone asked me why I was dressed so nice. I was a little slow to pick up the meaning. I was wearing a short sleeve shirt untucked. The person told me this shirt is the style worn by village headmen. I asked if it was okay for me to wear. The response was affirmative. The person could not understand why I would dress up so nice if I didn’t have to.

I like being able to be dressed super classy without even tucking in my shirt or putting on a tie.

Yesterday one of the people here where I live took me to his village to spend a day with his family and friends. The first thirty minutes or so were a little awkward, but after that I had a great time.

We sat around chatting (and eating) for about an hour and a half while waiting for people to show up. Once everyone was there we went down to the river. One of the boats took me upstream a little ways to see the place were two rivers came together. We then went back downstream and joined the others pulling in a large net.

The net had several very small fish (in America I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t throw them back, but here they fry them and eat them whole). When the net was almost the whole way in a large fish made a big splash over in one of the corners. Everyone rushed to finish bringing in the net, taking care not to let the big fish escape.

When we got back to the pavilion by the waters edge we weighed the fish: 9.8 kg. We (minus the they I’m about to mention) then sat around talking and snacking on peanuts while they (those of us who were not sitting around) prepared the fish. They grilled fish steaks. They made fish soup. And they made fish lap (pieces of fish mixed with seasoning and chilies). It was all quite wonderful.

By the time it was all said and done, I had spent 8-15:00 having a good time, eating good food, and improving my isaan (the dialect spoken by natives of the region where I am staying).

I had a great experience today. I went with friends to an Isaan church a little over an hour a way. It was inspiring. It was Isaan led, it was Isaan style.

The worship team used traditional Isaan instruments (many churches here use guitars, bass, etc). I was very much a fan. I want to learn to play Isaan instruments, particularly the khan and the phin.

The bread for communion was sticky rice. This to me was very good, very refreshing. Linguistically communion has grated on me in other churches in Thailand. Bread is called khanom pang. Khanom is a word that prefaces snacks and desserts. The bread of life is NOT khanom. When Thai people speak about eating they say “eat rice.” Rice is the staple food. The bread of life, to the Isaan, is rice.

We wrapped up the service with a shared meal. Great time.

I’ve now completed day one of a three-day, nationwide water fight. The root of it all is pouring water while giving a blessing. What comes from that root are pickups loaded with tanks of water driving back and forth on the main roads drenching each other. There are even official places you can stop to refill your tanks. There are not so official places to buy huge blocks of ice to give your water a little extra punch. Along the sides of the roads there are also groups of people with water guns, buckets, and hoses.

I went out today with several friends in a friend’s truck. Some of the ladies and a newborn stayed in the cab of the truck. Some of the little kids went back and forth between the bed and the cab, depending primarily on the frequency of trucks with ice water. Another thing that prompted the kids to return to the cab was the powder. A lot of people pat cooling powder on your face when your truck gets stuck in traffic.

Very much very fun!