Today I had to get up early to go to Tak to turn in my paper work and pay for my work permit.  Noi said she’d pick me up at 7:30. But didn’t come over until 8:00.  Not sure why I got up early.  Still, this woman is awesome so I was glad to have her taking me today.

At some point on the drive to Tak, she asks me what we do with our dead.  Huh? Yea, that’s what she asked.  So we spent quite a bit of time talking about funeral services, cremation and burial.  They spend several days praying with monks, 4 monks in the evening and 5 in the morning.  Then they cremate the body and take the bones back to the temple where they stay for something like 100 days.  Then there is more praying/ceremony with the bones.  Then the bones are thrown in the water (lake or river).  I’m sure I got most of that wrong, but that’s what I got out of the conversation.  I tried to explain to her that the ceremony and whether to bury or cremate in our country would depend on religion and nationality.  Thai’s don’t quite understand how big the US is and how many ethnic backgrounds live there.

We also talked about marriage.  She is teaching her students that in Western countries young single people may have many boyfriends or girlfriends (many relations), but when they get older and choose a husband or wife then they don’t have other relations.  She said it’s not like that in Thailand.  People get married and then have secret relations.  I told her it was the same in America.  She was surprised.  I tried to explain polyamory and then realized that was not a concept I could really explain.  She said the rate of divorce in Thailand is high and the rate of teenage pregnancy is the highest in Asean.  I told her we have the same issues in the US.  She said she won’t share this information with the students.

Getting the paperwork processed for a work permit is confusing and there is no way I could have gotten it done without Noi to ask questions and translate.  First they told me my passport visa was expired.  It’s not and it took quite a while to get them to understand that for my visa the 3 month clock starts each time I leave and come back into the country.  How do I know this, but they don’t?  Then they asked for my work permit.  This is where I would have left crying.  I am here to get my work permit so I don’t have a work permit to show you in order to get my work permit.  Somehow, this issue got resolved.  Then there was a lot of shuffling of papers, getting up to walk across the room to get a rubber stamp, stamping a page, getting up to go across the room to get something else, paper clipping the stack of papers, un clipping the papers, stamping another page with another stamp, white out, binder clip, new folder, paperclip, look over there – a squirrel, shuffle, get up, sit down.  Then I was handed the folder with all the papers and moved up stairs to pay.  After I paid, I had to bring the stack of papers back down.  I have a piece of paper now that says I’ll have a work permit in a week.

If all that wasn’t fascinating enough, watching my automatic reaction to all the stamps on her desk was amazing.  It’s a piece of crap plastic rubber stamp holder.  It has two tiers of rubber stamps and looks like it might tip over at any moment.  I am instantly annoyed by stamp holder and notice everyone has the same one on their desk.  But the fascinating part was how very badly I wanted to pick up each stamp and stamp them onto a piece of paper.  I have no idea what any of them say, but the need to stamp was almost more than I could bear.  I’m not quite sure how I held myself back.

After that we went to early lunch.  I thought of how hobbits have second breakfast, but she hasn’t seen Lord of the Rings so this concept was lost on her.  She asked what I wanted for lunch.  I wasn’t sure and asked what options I had.  Rice or noodles.  I kid you not, those are the only two options.  This is not the first time I have been given those two options.  I think this is how they decide to eat most days – rice or noodles and then some stuff on the side.  I chose noodles.  There were some baskets with stuff wrapped in banana leaves.  She asked if I had tried them, Thai Snack.  Who knows, I have tried lots of things wrapped in banana leaves now.  These are only made in Tak.  Well, then I probably have not tried them.  She bought one of each.  They were some gelatinous goo thing made of coconut.  One had nuts in it, one had corn and I have no idea what the other one had.  I didn’t like the corn one, the one with the nuts was the best.

We went to the market where she bought two bags of mangos.  There were some yellow and a lot of green.  The green ones all had different prices so they were different even though I couldn’t tell them apart.  I asked what the difference was.  She said she’d let me try them when we get back to Sam Ngao.  We found a store that sells the Thai triangle pillows.  I bought one and will use it in my house as a couch.  Very happy about this.

On the way back to school we stopped by Noi’s garden to get more mangos.  Then at my house we cut up three different mangos.  One is yellow and sweet.  One is green and very sour.  The other was green and not sour and not quite sweet.  This third one is the best.  Then she left me with a bag of mangos.

I went to school and sat around looking like I was doing stuff on my computer.  I got to meet Robin.  He’s another Westerner in town.  He’s in his 20s, from England and was working as an engineer at the dam for 5 months.  That job ended so now he’s going to teach math and science at the school for a few months.  After school I went over to Tip’s house.  We went to the market.  Thai’s put everyone on a scooter.  I’ve seen families of 4 on a scooter.  Today was my first experience of being one of three on a scooter where one is a small child.  I don’t like.  After the market I was taken to Ging’s house.  I wanted to go home so at some point I said goodbye to Ging.  I was going to walk three houses away to get my motorbike.  Ging wouldn’t let me and Tip brought my motorbike over.  What is this severe aversion to walking here?  It goes hand in hand with the need everyone has to have me sit.  The number of times I am told “Teacher, Sit” in a day is comical.  Standing doesn’t hurt you.  Walking is good for you.

In February it would get hot in the afternoon and after school, I would ride my motorbike somewhere just to create a breeze and cool down a little.  This strategy no longer works.  It is so hot that riding a motorbike only hurts.  Any exposed skin is hit with a burning hot breeze which feels like your skin is being ripped off.  So far, no actual skin has been damaged.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore