Khun Han

I am a farang in Thailand’s countryside

Gladly, the first week of work was a piece of cake. The students were out in Sisaket city at a sporting competition so I did not have to teach. Instead, I spent most of my time doing lesson planning and listening to the never-stopping chit chat from Paul. I was assigned a desk at the English department among all the local English teachers. Paul has a desk in a separate office, but I guess they want me to mingle with the locals.

Pina, the head of the English department, and Nundeang, one of the teachers, took good care of me and took me out to their favorite restaurants. The food tastes good, although I am trying to limit my intake of restaurant food because people here will absolutely not cook without MSG. It must be a pride thing.

Instead, I have been subsisting on tuna cans, peanuts, and tons of fruit. Literally, I am eating about two kilos of fruit a day. I got used to it since the first day, when I tried to purchase two pieces of fruit and the vendor thought it was two kilos.

On Wednesday I bought a bicycle. It is not nearly as nice as my light, swift, 21-shift K2 bike, but it makes me so happy to have it. I think I will forget how to walk because I go everywhere on it. I am using it to go to the market, to 7Eleven, to tour the town and, today, I had my first long-distance ride: 30 kilometers to the next town and back and around Khun Han’s water reservoir.

Ride around Khun Han's water reservoir

Learning to ride a bicycle on the left side of the road is like trying to do something in front of a mirror. It is not hard, except that sometimes you are not quite looking at the side of your face you thought you were... I hope that eventually staying on the left will feel natural. I do not need any more stares from the locals.

As much as I want to pretend that I can pass by a Thai person (from behind, maybe?), everywhere I go I hear “Farang!” which is the way that locals refer to the foreign people. They do not mean it disdainfully. Most people look at me like a novelty and smile back at me when I greet them. I especially love the smiles of the older women who chew some kind of local berry and whose barely toothed mouths are stained red.

Today they showed me an “apartment” (more like a room with a bathroom) that I could rent for less than one hundred dollars per month. However, I decided to splurge and treat myself to staying in the hotel where I am now, which I started to like lots. It is located in a quieter area, close to beautiful rice paddies. They change my sheets and towels daily, which is a waste but also makes my room smell fresh and welcoming. There is a lush garden where I sit for hours to write and communicate with the world. The two hundred dollars a month are well worth it!

Garden at my new home