Chiang Rai

We’ve been in Chiang Rai for a few days now, and every day my brain has been in overdrive with the steep learning curve. I’m constantly thinking of things I want to write down and remember. Now that the initial triage of moving in has passed, I can sit and tap away!

Everything we own, right there. 

A few years ago, I saw this show where Jillian Michaels went to someone’s house to help their family get in shape. After a day or two, they started to complain about how hard it was. Jillian said something that has really stuck with me: “What, did you think I would just show up and you’d suddenly be healthier? You have to actually do the work!” Desire has nothing to do with it. Did I think we’d just show up in Thailand and I would suddenly be a confident, physically fit, Thai-rattling, well-adjusted expat? Hah! 

Not being an active participant in my life over the last few years or so, I’m not used to having to actually do the work to learn anything. Sounds silly but it’s true. I moved here because I was coasting. It’s not that I’m complaining; I don’t think the challenges have been particularly difficult, they’ve just been surprising, reminding me that these kinds of surprises and challenges were exactly what I wanted. So the bottom line is, so far I’m loving it here. 

Let’s start with this crazy house. It is truly awesome, and so foreign in its modern sleekness. I want to keep all of the surfaces clear, which has been difficult with all the settling in and catching up on laundry. Unpacking has been more challenging than I’d expected! I thought we’d just empty our suitcases and start living. The challenge has been that the house is not quite as fully furnished as we’d expected, so we’re constantly running out to the store to pick up extra towels (there were two here), pots & pans (there was one small pot), clothes hangers, etc. The kids’ rooms are separate from the rest of the house, so when they’re playing there, it is QUIET. So quiet. It’s heaven. And the girls are playing together so much! It is wonderful. The TV choices here are pretty bad—what western shows there are, are sort of secondary WB-network type shows we’ve never heard of—so the girls are pretty much stuck with each other and their imaginations. It’s magical, and works about 80% of the time. The other 20% is when they’re fighting or complaining about how bored they are, but I think that’s a damn good ratio. Right now they are playing hide & seek with their stuffed animals. Here's a video of the house that will do a better job than my description.

 Being here with just our family and little noise (like TV) makes me realize the value of a vacation, how necessary it is for the strength of a family. It’s considered such a luxury in the US, but I wonder how many split-up families would still be together if they had some stress-free time alone every once in a while? 

 

Now, onto cultural immersion: I find myself thinking about the foreign students back home a lot, because now we are them. We have to pick up Thai fast, and use what little we know. Surprisingly, what little I know has done the trick on most occasions, and the rest is supplemented with my mad charades skills. Fortunately, it’s the land of smiles, so everyone has been wonderful so far. This makes me think about the ELL kids back home again and how hard it must be for them and their brown faces or headscarves, things not always met with smiles in the US, while they’re struggling to adjust. Here, people are fascinated by Sophie’s blond hair. Yesterday in the store a group of older women were oohing and aahing over her, trying to get her to speak Thai, and every time she did they would clutch each other and dissolve in giggles. It was fantastic. 

One aspect of culture shock for me has been the food. I knew it would be different, but it’s like that Jillian quote—oh, it really IS different, it really IS a challenge to adjust. I never realized how Mediterranean-based my diet is: bread, wine, cheese, salads (western salads with vinaigrette), tomatoes. All of those things are hard to find here. They exist, of course, but in small pockets. Decent bread and cheese. Yogurt is not sold in big containers, so I’m going to start making my own to satisfy Sophie’s addiction. Wine? The cheapest wine I could find was about $10 a bottle, and it’s pretty vile. Most bottles are about $20, which is a special-occasion price to me. Again with the Jillian: I had read this, and I knew it was going to happen, and I planned to drink less wine. Oh wait, now I have to actually do it? What? As stupid as this sounds, 95% of the food here is Thai. That’s right, Captain Obvious. I’ve just lived my entire life (even in Europe) with more of a variety, that’s all. Not a bad thing! Just an adjustment. It’s not exactly red wine weather anyway, to be honest, and there’s plenty of cold beer to be had. And so much of the produce is different. I imagined we’d be all, fresh produce all the time!, and that’s not out of the question, we just need to learn the produce. Guava? Delicious!! Mango & pineapple? Of course! We eat several bananas in a row, they're so good. Tons of apples in the store, but berries are nonexistent. Who knew? It’s just a learning curve. “What should we do for dinner?” has been met with slightly fearful blank stares (from me). Last night we had spaghetti with jar sauce. Why can’t I remember what I used to cook? What was there besides salads and pasta? I am a culinary school graduate, dammit! My memory is just blinking back at me like an idiot. Maybe I’m too relaxed.

And let’s talk about the coffee. This area of the world is a big coffee producing area, and we couldn’t wait to dive into the rich black goodness. Wellllp… most of the coffee consumed around here is INSTANT. Seriously. We couldn’t even find a coffee maker in the megastore. For now, we are making do with the instant with brave faces until we can find a machine. It’s generally made with sweetened condensed milk, and I have to admit... it's not bad.

We also had a tour of our school. It looks pretty great! Very nice classrooms and facilities. I’m looking forward to not having to pack a lunch every day; they even have breakfast there (both meals free for staff). Packing lunches for the following day was my least favorite job back home because it was always the last job of the day when my brain was crying with exhaustion. I used to call it the 26^th mile. Anyway, we met several of our colleagues, and they all seem genuinely cool. It was fascinating to see how acclimated they are to the weather. While I played wet t-shirt-dress contest and politely tried to ignore the sweat running off my eyebrows and chin, these guys were in long pants. One of them was wearing a hoodie. Zipped up. At this point in the game, we’re just trying to keep the AC in the house as high a temperature as we can tolerate (or just running fans). Right now that’s about 26 degrees Celsius, and I’d have to Google its Fahrenheit equivalent because even though I’m a science teacher, I’m still an American which means I’m a metric ignoramus. I went running this morning (yeah, gotta actually DO it now) and changed my RunKeeper app to metric, so my time/distance updates meant nothing to me. Eventually it will. It’s all about immersion. 

Okay, I need to wrap this up. Wait, what am I talking about? I don’t need to do anything but maybe a load of laundry! Hah! No, we’re going to buy some bikes today. I’m dying for a bike. I’ve adjusted quickly to driving on the left side of the road, but it takes intense focus, and I can’t stop to admire anything like a bright golden sunset over the mountains. I’ve done a lot of driving around to learn the town and get my bearings, and it’s so much fun, there’s so much to see! I just want to slow it down, which was our entire purpose for moving here.