Intro to Thailand

A young-looking girl (I guessed she was 15)was holding a sign with my name on it at the uber-modern Bangkok airport a few weeks ago. Turns out, she is the niece of my host, Wanida, and is actually 23. We drove home to Chachoengsao, a province in Eastern Thailand, stopping at one of the many 7-11 convenience stores lining the highway for some green tea-flavored ho-hos and individally-packaged raisin bread slices.
Wanida is an English teacher at Wat Jaeng School, where I am spending the month of January teaching children and teachers English. I am living in her house, which is in the middle of a coconut lagoon. My situation is hard to describe: Chachoengsao is a regular town, complete with malls, a movie theater, KFC, and Dairy Queen. But, a few miles away from the commercialism are people living rural lives. Wanida lives with her parents. Her father sleeps outside in the large pavilion which doubles as the kitchen, dining room, and living room and her mother sleeps inside. Wanida's sister owns a small restaurant in the local market, so she chops vegetables and blends chiles in the pavilion every night. Everyone I have met from the town is related to the family somehow. Once I commented on the number of cousins Wanida has and she replied, "maybe everyone in this village is my cousin." Hmm.

I was quickly initiated into Thai eating rituals after a short worship at a famous Buddha temple across the street from the local market. It was New year's day, so the temple was packed with people praying for a good year. We were in and out of there pretty fast. Worship consists of sticking small pieces of gold leaf on a Buddha statue after lighting a candle and some incense. The whle thing took about twenty minutes. Afterwards, I spent hours at the local market, wandering the wide aisles staring at the tubs of marinating crabs, dried fruits, and fish on sticks. The base of every meal is either rice or noodles. For dinner, Wanida or her sister will prepare a few different dishes. I scoop myself a big mound of rice and inspect my options. I have learned to eat very slowly because, as it is Asia, every part of the animal is used. You better watch out because those big purple things in your chicken curry aren't red cabbage leaves. It's liver. And, no, that isn't a white carrot, it's the skin.