Landmark

I've made it through my first week without any scratches, although quite a few mosquito bites. Yesterday I had my first full day of school. I arrived there at 8 and left there at 5. That's typical for thai students. Strangely enough, I think I only had an hour of actual school during the whole day. I took a math test from the thai math teacher. It was on the unit circle. Watching the teacher grade my test was amusing. I had the right answers, but had gotten them in a completely different manner from the way she was taught. It made me laugh. I also had english class from a British Ex-Pat named Martin. The entire class took maybe fifteen minutes. Afterward, Martin asked me if I had enough books to read. I said that "No, I didn't because I was afraid of the weight limit." He offered to bring me some. His personal favorite author is Arthur C. Clarke. I asked him if he liked Heinlein and Vonnegut. He said he hadn't heard of them!
During the last class of the day, I met my match. I can't remember her name, but she was strict. She teaches thai language. I was supposed to write the thai alphabet.
In america, it doesn't matter how neat you are, as long as it is legible. Here it is a different matter. My letters had to touch both the top and the bottom of the line, they had to line up in perfect columns, and if one line of a letter was slightly too long, she would draw a red X over it and make me write it again. Imagine Mrs. Beachump to the 5th power.
Om (an exchange student recently returned from america) sympathized with me. She said she had grown used to american teachers and it was an adjustment coming back. I told her how I missed having milk and cereal. She promptly told my host mother that and this morning, when I looking in the fridge, there was a gallon of milk.
Milk is different here. It comes in individual rectangular packages and a straw. But when it tasted like real milk, you can't imagine how happy this made me. Little things that remind me of home are precious here. A few days ago, we went out for sushi. The sushi and wasabi reminded me of going to Shogun Bowl with friends and getting sushi with A. before prom. Thai people assume that all farangs (foreigners) can't handle spicy food. When I loaded on the pickled ginger and wasabi, my host family was shocked. They kept trying to warn me. "Pit, Pit!" (spicy). I think they don't know that we have sushi in america. Well, I ate it and took it like a champ. When my eyes teared up and my face turned red, I turned around, smiled and said, "Chan Chop wasabi ka." (I like wasabi). It brought me back to horseradish eating competitions at the passover table and my friend bryce eating a HUGE chunk of wasabi for two dollars in Bend while on an orchestra tour.
Today, I didn't have school. It's the queen's birthday and the thia equivalent of mother's day. Yesterday morning everyone in the school lined up in the auditorium to give food to the monks in preperation for the holiday. We knelt while the monks chanted and then made their rounds. This culture is sometimes so backward. Women can't touch monks because we might arouse them. That would be a sin. Thailand is also fairly racist. The lighter your skin, the better you are treated.
I am treated very well. I also get a lot more attention than I did back in Oregon. Men and women shout out "Beautiful" to me in the streets and at school. Girls want to touch my hair and people want to have their picture taken with me. The boys ( who at first stayed away) have become more bold. Today I was with Mae at one of her dance classes and two thai boys walked past the open door. They turned around and began to stare at me. Mae got up to try to convince them to leave but one shouted "I love you!"
They stayed for ten maybe fifteen minutes and then left. Thirty seconds later they were back. "Good Morning!" "I love you!" It was afternoon, but many of the thai people who don't know much english think that Good Morning is standard. The girls in Mae's dance class laughed really hard. One girl asked if she could braid my hair. I let her. I haven't had anyone braid my hair since, oh, I don't know how long ago.
Mae and I left soon after my hair was done. The next thing I know, we're at a beauty parlor. Mae is going to get a pedicure. Don't get me wrong, in thailand, a beauty parlor is nothing glamorous. Getting a pedicure and manicure isn't about the massage chair and the mini whirlpool for your feet. Your feet go into a cold plastic bucket of water and you sit on a blue vinyl couch with rips in it.
Mae asked if I wanted a hair cut. I said yes. The last few times I've gotten a haircut, I've done it myself. The woman who ran the business took me into a back room to get my hair shampooed. In america, getting you hair shampooed is like a head massage. It's gentle and the water is warm. It takes ten minutes, tops. Here, your head gets a beating. The water is freezing and the woman scratches your head until you feel like your skin can't possibly take it anymore. That's when the freezing cold water comes as a relief. The shampooing alone takes forty minutes.
After that experience, which I'm sure I will repeat some day, I had had my hair trimmed.
It's been a long time since I've had a real haircut. My last haircut was with Lynn, who died in her sleep sometime in her mid-fifties. I was thirteen.
I once thought my hair looked a little bit like buffy's hair in buffy the vampire slayer. It looks more so now. And I'm surprisingly okay with that.
It's been a really good day.
Tomorrow I will go back to school. I'll probably sit around and do nothing. I'll read some more. Maybe I'll have a class in english. I have to say that I miss being productive. Thailand seems to have a lot of holidays and a lot of time. Everything moves slowly. Om explained it to me. In Thailand you will be told that you have three minutes to get ready. In reality you have thirty, maybe forty. Being late isn't considered rude and you don't get in trouble for it at school. If you have an appointment, it doesn't matter if you are an hour late, the person you are meeting will wait for you. I have never appreciated punctuality more.