[Sunday, 5/31]
I had planned to go to church with Mubi, but her husband, who was supposed to give me a ride, got into an accident on Friday night and was unable to pick me up. Instead, I headed over to a sweet little café that is popular among farongs (foreigners, technically white foreigners, sometimes used in a derogatory way) and Thais alike—albeit some of the more well-to-do Thais. It’s called Baan Tua Lek, but among IRC staff, it’s known as Pok’s, after the young, pretty owner, whose English is excellent. Although it’s pricey (by MHS standards), it has the best coffee in town, the most delicious Thai tea, and free Internet! It’s usually very quiet, great for writing and reading!Sunday night, I had dinner at a restaurant, Gigi’s, with Erin and her former landlords, a British man named Paul and his Thai wife Tew, and Tew’s daughter from a previous relationship, 6-year-old Bai-fon. They were very nice, but there was a subtext to the conversation that made me feel...uneasy (to put it mildly). I’m talking about the objectification/exploitation/exoticization (whatever you want to call it) of Asian women by white men—it’s not true of all white-Asian couples, of course, but when there are wide disparities in age, education, or wealth between the two, I can’t help but feel a little sick to my stomach. And I’ve identified certain red flags—like if the man is prone to comment on or compliment an Asian woman’s physical appearance or if he is possessive/territorial/jealous and feels especially threatened by other white men with money. I am automatically suspicious of older white expats in MHS, and there’s internal tension from the realization that I am probably being unfair and overly cynical, while at the same time, I can’t ignore the reality of the hyper-sexualization of women. Okay, I’ve shared too much...this conversation is inappropriate for some of my younger readers, and I’ve probably offended others, so I’ll stop, but I would be interested to hear some of your thoughts!
[Monday-Tuesday, 6/1-2]
Monday and Tuesday were ho-hum days in the office—filled up by meetings, ironing out the final kinks in the CSO program (specifically with respect to domestic violence crimes), and working on training modules for the CSO program.
Tuesday night, I joined Erin for dinner at Dao’s house. Dao is Tew’s sister—they have a large family (plus neighbors, who dropped in and out throughout the evening), and they are ethnic Shans (Burmese living in Thailand, most likely Thai nationals). We sat outside at a picnic table in the yard; the women ate (and we ate well!), while the men preferred to drink moonshine whiskey! They were 시골 (country) folk, not very educated and a bit of a rougher group, but they were very hospitable and really tickled to be in the company of foreigners. Because they spoke very little English, I didn’t know what was goi ng on half the time. I tried to explain that I was Korean by describing the country betw een Japan and China but wasn’t very successful. I made more headway by mentioning taekwondo (I’ve seen schoolboys around town in taekwondo uniforms), but in the end they insisted that I was a Thai lady. Heh. While I was certainly out of my comfort zone, it was an interesting experience, and I was glad for the opportunity to see another, more intimate side of MHS.
[Wednesday - Friday, 6/3-5: A Preview]
Wednesday was an eventful day. The LAC office was abuzz when I arrived that morning: the LAC team from the border town of Mae Sot (about 7 hours south of MHS) was in town for a 3-day visit. The Mae Sot (MS) team runs the LAC office in Mae La, the largest of the 10 refugee camps on the Thai side of the Thai-Burmese border, with a whopping 50,000 residents. (Note: My numbers are probably off because of the huge ongoing resettlement project—if I remember correctly, 35 refugees are resettled in third countries like the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc., every day, and the goal is to resettle 12,000 Bur mese refugees over the next 3 years. Here’s a helpful website with information about all of the camps.) I hope to visit Mae Sot before I leave Thailand. I’m told that Mae La Camp is much more urban and gritty; the MS team has to deal with the difficulties caused by a greater diversity of ethnicities, languages, traditions, and religions. The Muslim groups in particular add an extra layer of legal and social complexity.
I went into Camp 1 for the first time on Wednesday with both the MHS and MS teams. There was so much to take in that I didn’t really have time to take pictures, but I promise that there will be many future posts and pictures about life in the camps.
[Golden Pai Resort]
[Mu Gay & me]
[view from the veranda: water buffalo! *Cue Veggie Tales music!*]
[lunchtime]
[mangosteens for dessert]
[They're delicious!]
[dinner at Ban Rabiang (Sorry--The flash wasn't working, so I did my best to enhance the picture.)]
[our room at Ban Rabiang (My nighttime photos never come out well...)]
Monday and Tuesday were ho-hum days in the office—filled up by meetings, ironing out the final kinks in the CSO program (specifically with respect to domestic violence crimes), and working on training modules for the CSO program.
Tuesday night, I joined Erin for dinner at Dao’s house. Dao is Tew’s sister—they have a large family (plus neighbors, who dropped in and out throughout the evening), and they are ethnic Shans (Burmese living in Thailand, most likely Thai nationals). We sat outside at a picnic table in the yard; the women ate (and we ate well!), while the men preferred to drink moonshine whiskey! They were 시골 (country) folk, not very educated and a bit of a rougher group, but they were very hospitable and really tickled to be in the company of foreigners. Because they spoke very little English, I didn’t know what was goi ng on half the time. I tried to explain that I was Korean by describing the country betw een Japan and China but wasn’t very successful. I made more headway by mentioning taekwondo (I’ve seen schoolboys around town in taekwondo uniforms), but in the end they insisted that I was a Thai lady. Heh. While I was certainly out of my comfort zone, it was an interesting experience, and I was glad for the opportunity to see another, more intimate side of MHS.
[Wednesday - Friday, 6/3-5: A Preview]
Wednesday was an eventful day. The LAC office was abuzz when I arrived that morning: the LAC team from the border town of Mae Sot (about 7 hours south of MHS) was in town for a 3-day visit. The Mae Sot (MS) team runs the LAC office in Mae La, the largest of the 10 refugee camps on the Thai side of the Thai-Burmese border, with a whopping 50,000 residents. (Note: My numbers are probably off because of the huge ongoing resettlement project—if I remember correctly, 35 refugees are resettled in third countries like the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc., every day, and the goal is to resettle 12,000 Bur mese refugees over the next 3 years. Here’s a helpful website with information about all of the camps.) I hope to visit Mae Sot before I leave Thailand. I’m told that Mae La Camp is much more urban and gritty; the MS team has to deal with the difficulties caused by a greater diversity of ethnicities, languages, traditions, and religions. The Muslim groups in particular add an extra layer of legal and social complexity.
I went into Camp 1 for the first time on Wednesday with both the MHS and MS teams. There was so much to take in that I didn’t really have time to take pictures, but I promise that there will be many future posts and pictures about life in the camps.
On Thursday and Friday, the entire LAC team had its quarterly joint workshop/conference at a nearby resort called the Golden Pai. The timing couldn’t have been better—the conference really helped me understand the mission of the LAC project, what the three sections/branches do (Training, Legal, Rule of Law), and how NGOs operate in general. Really fascinating and also intellectually challenging.
[Golden Pai Resort]
[Mu Gay & me]
[coffee break on the veranda]
[view from the veranda: water buffalo! *Cue Veggie Tales music!*]
[lunchtime]
[They're delicious!]On Friday night, there was a celebratory dinner for all of the LAC staff at Ban Rabiang, probably the nicest restaurant in MHS—excellent Thai food followed by lots of karaoke! (The Burmese and Thai staff love karaoke almost as much as Koreans do!) Then we reconvened at Chalet, MHS’s only nightclub or discotheque, if you can call it that! It was really interesting to see how MHS’s young (and perhaps not so young!) people party and interact. I’m finding it tricky to read people and to figure out my identity among these Thai nationals (both Thai and Burmese). Will share more later.
[dinner at Ban Rabiang (Sorry--The flash wasn't working, so I did my best to enhance the picture.)]
[our room at Ban Rabiang (My nighttime photos never come out well...)]
Good to read your new post. It's reassuring way that you're well. Keeping you in our prayers. Uncle Tom commented that Thailand is really hot place weather-wise. I suppose we have very limited understanding of the country. Let it keep coming so that we may learn more abt the country as well as what you are doing.
ReplyDeleteWhat an exotic looking fruit! Inside looks like garlic.
ReplyDelete