Playing Chicken and Other Games

Hitching experiences seem to be getting more interesting by the day. The rain, for example, always seems to come out 1-2 minutes before we need to hitch a ride somewhere. My raincoat didn't seem to work today as I was soaked from head to toe. Maybe it's because I was in the back of a pick-up for a while.

America/Australia v. Thailand: I noticed that as the three of us Americans and 1 Aussie were far apart, fending for ourselves to keep as dry as possible in the back of the truck we hitched a ride home in today, several other pick-ups passed by with 4-6 Thai people in the back. They were all huddled together behind the center of the truck window. Yet another example of how Thai culture seems to be communal compared to the independent characteristic of American culture.

Before the rain came, a huge construction truck picked us up in front of the school to take us part way home. The driver decided to play chicken with several cars and trucks- we almost lost, twice. He also had a horn fixation so our ears were bombarded with this loudness until we arrived at the post office and jumped out of the gi-normous vehicle. A piece of advice about foreign post offices, especially if you don't speak the language- do not take pre-paid stamps or vouchers for stamps with you abroad. The US post office may say they're accepted in the foreign country(ies) you are going to, but ultimately it depends on the knowledge of the people in the post office you go to. Needless to say, my 1.75USD vouchers for stamps did not work here. 1.75USD is a little more than 70 Thai Baht. However, the guy at the post office would only value them at 19 Thai Baht. I ended up paying with bills instead, so no worries.

Another thing I've been noticing is that Thai people tend to be very polite, respectul and generous. Even though I was in the post man's country and unable to speak his language, he tried to speak English and smiled every time he spoke to me. There was never any anger in his voice- perhaps a patient man as well. The kids at the school don't seem to have much, but they keep trying to give me all of the candy they buy at lunch time.

Classes went really well today. We played BINGO to review numbers and Duck-Duck-Goose (and Cat-Cat-Dog) for animals. We also sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" as well as "The Hokie Pokie" to review parts of the body. The kids are very enthusiastic about games, songs and dances, especially when we look ridiculous doing them and they can laugh at us.