1. No category

Sticky Rice
A Thailand PCV Magazine
Feb. March. April.May 2009
What’s inside:
Welcomes for 121
119ers reflect on their service
Bad poetry...on purpose
A Note From the Editors:
Sawasdee ka, Thailand PCTs and PCVs. A special welcome to Group 121;
hopefully this issue will give you a little insight as to what awaits you now
that you’ve taken the plunge into the Land of Smiles. A big shout-out is
also in order for Group 119, who will soon be returning to the States. May
you all get into Grad school and find super-awesome jobs or Thai spouses
or whatever awaits you all next.
This issue of Sticky Rice may look, feel and even smell the same, but we
assure you, it’s different. No, you don’t need to smell it again, just know
that this edition marks the beginning of our reign over this publication
after an impressive tenure from 119ers Vince George and Lisa Chuang.
They’ve handed over something to truly be proud of and we will do our
best to maintain the awesome awesomeness that Sticky Rice has become.
Thank you all for your contributions despite the new page limit and all the
other regulations we had to throw at you. We may be the ones harassing
you about tense agreements and proper semi-colon usage but YOU are
what makes Sticky Rice possible. Also, don’t use the word “moist.” We
hate that word.
Your favorite mass e-mailers,
Becky and Natalie
Sticky Rice Editorial Policy:
1. Sticky Rice is a 40-page publication committed to the Peace Corps’ overall mission of maintaining positive relations with the host country.
2. Sticky Rice considers itself a means for information exchange and free expression but also encourages
Volunteers to exercise that freedom thoughtfully.
3. Editors of Sticky Rice may decline or, with the input of the author, edit submissions
4. Sticky Rice recognizes that the Country Director is ultimately accountable for the content of the newsletter.
5. Volunteers are asked to abstain from using profanity in Sticky Rice; any vulgar language found by the editors is subject to revision and in extreme cases, the article may be withheld from publication.
Please send your inquiries to:
Becky, [email protected]
Natalie, [email protected]
2
Sticky Rice
A PCV Thailand Magazine
Feb.March.April.May 2009
Table of Contents
“Metta” by Pete Geiger
Page 4
“Thai Fidelity” by Alex Medina
Page 5
“Bridge Over the Misty Chasm, A ‘First
Date’ with my Landlady”
by Kathleen Stocking
Page 28-30
A Bunch of Pretty Pictures
By Alex Medina
“You Taught Me Things You Didn’t Know
You Were Teaching” by Jackie Kehl Page 6
Intentionally Bad Poetry
Gaysia
Gaysia, “Miscommunication isn’t a Means
to an End” by Becky Korpi
Page 35
“Thenglish You Shouldn’t Use Back in the
States” by Alex Medina, Mark Cox and
David Resetar
Page 11
Blog Excerpts by Anton Taruc
Fun Facts by Becky Korpi
Page 33
Gaysia, “A Slow but Sure Start to Gender
Equality” by Alex Medina
Page 34
Page 7
“Meaninglessness” by Ben Fairfield
Page 8-10
“And in Closing...” by Guy Luizzi
Page 31-32
Meet the Editors
Page 36
Page 12
Page 13-14
Page 15
“And Now, Back to Bloggin’ with Anton”
by Anton Taruc
Page 16-17
119 Remembered
Page 18-24
“A Pocket is What You Put in it”
by Chris “Pocket” Earnhardt
Page 25-26
“Gourmet the Rice Cooker Way”
by Helen Lapedes
“Quid Pro Quo, Youth GIG Style”
by Megan Wolf
Page 26
Cover Photo by Liz Heidenreich, TCCO 119
Page 27
3
Day in the Life
Metta (loving kindness to all)
By Pete Geiger, TCCO 120
Meanwhile, motorcycles pass my house, some going
to the rice fields, others off to distant towns. A few
motorcycles, garlanded with a myriad of clear plastic
bags, drive through town selling their wares. You
can buy anything from raw pork or beef to vegetables and even homemade donuts.
Welcome group 121 and I bid a fond farewell to the
most excellent group 119. I wrote this in the midst
of rice season, in August, so it’s a bit dated. Now the
rice fields lay fallow, dried to a crisp dull yellow, the
rice stubs pointedly resisting decay. We have not
seen a drop of rain since mid-November, and do not
expect more until sometime in April. However, the
events I describe below, minus going to the rice
fields continue even during the current dry season.
At about 7:00 a.m., a large sang-taew (basically a
long-bedded, roofed pickup truck) passes by, filled
with students going to the Christian school located 8
kilometers away. Dressed in white, they never fail to
wave and say good morning (although it actually
sounds like goods morning; a lot of Thais have difficulty enunciating the letter d) as I do my daily sweep
of the porch.
August, 2008
I live in a small village, Pak Sang, about as far east
as you can go and still be in Thailand. My village of
60 or so houses borders the Mekong River the eastern boundary between Thailand and Laos. To the
west stretches the endless landscape that is Issan;
rice field upon rice field, with scrubby forest-like
areas in between. There is little that has changed
here for generations, the exceptions being TV, the internal combustion engine, and such foodstuffs as potato chips. Life is pretty simple here.
Within half an hour, other students begin congregating at the small elementary school across the street.
You hear their voices, shouting and laughing, as they
play children games until 8:30, when the bell rings
and they line up to raise the flag, sing the Thai anthem, and recite a Buddhist prayer (thus gaining
merit).
The village begins waking up at about 5 or 5:30, a
schedule I’ve kept since living in Dallas. You can
smell the neighbors’ charcoal fires, lit in order to
cook sticky rice and eaten with breakfast, lunch and
dinner. About half an hour after first light, a group
of Asian cows are herded past my front door, on
their way to pasture. Those families without a pasture will manually cut tall grasses on the wat property and carry bulging sacks of tilled foliage on their
backs or motorcycles.
[This schedule is slightly altered on Wednesday
morning because it’s market day. Starting around
6:00, almost everyone who can walk will visit the
market where a small but varied selection of prepared foods, produce, household goods, pork and
cow meat lie raw on a table, and other sundry items
may be purchased. Some of the more interesting
items include plastic bags full of live crickets or
frogs, large clear garbage bags full of tobacco (six
different blends), and the inevitable lottery stand (I
am asked now and then if I have dreamed of a number…this, apparently is considered good luck for
picking the lottery.)]
The sound of the wat gong means it’s 6:00 a.m., and
it’s never off by more than a few minutes. This gong
signals the monks to begin their morning alms walk.
The same three monks pass my house all the time,
which is interesting because monks come and go in
my wat, yet there are a constant five who remain.
The youngest is about 20 years old, and while most
can only say good morning, he amazes me with his
ability to remember much of the English I speak to
him). Another gong at 7 o’clock indicates it’s time
for the monks’ morning meal.
I am usually out of the house by 7:30, on my way to
one of several of my schools. However, there are
plenty of times when school is not in session, or
starts late, or is between terms, and I get to see the
comings and goings of my village. I have to believe
it has been this way for years, perhaps a generation
or two. Not much changes, nor is there much reason
for change, in the sleepy village of Pak Sang, Thailand.
4
Thai Fidelity
Top Fives
By Alex Medina, CBOD 120
I have five movies at my disposal at the moment. One is High Fidelity,
which inspired me to create these lists. Just like in the movie, these lists
are in no particular order.
Top 5 Songs For What Peace Corps is Like
1. “Woo Hoo” The 5.6.7.8’s
2. “Basketcase” Green Day
3. “Welcome to the jungle” Guns and Roses
4. “New Shoes” Paolo Nutini
5. “Shiny Happy People” R.E.M.
Top 5 Songs for Bpai Tiio
1. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Israel Kamakawio’ole
2. “Life Is A Higway” Rascal Flatts
3. “Born To Fly” Sara Evans
4. “Africa” Toto
5. “Interstate Love Song” Stone Temple Pilots
Top 5 ew Year Resolutions
1. Quit Smoking
2. Stay at site for more than a week.
3. Find the child that changes my bike gears when I’m not looking.
4. Create a machine that will allow me to instantly transport without having to use karaoke/comedy movie
buses.
Top 5 excuses to get out of Thai-nappings
1. Expecting phone call from America
2. “Mai kao jai,” smile, shut door
3. Have food cooking
4. Peace Corps doesn’t allow attendance to political events. Of wild pig groups.
5. Thong Sia
This space is available!!!!
Does your organization need some advertising?
Does your organization need some for FREE?
Make your dreams come true via Sticky Rice!
5
“You Taught Me Things You Didn’t Know
You Were Teaching”
Inspirational
By Jackie Kehl, TCCO 120
One of Group 120’s most experienced teachers looks
back on a life lesson and how it still rings true today.
“All teachers have to understand that it is not
enough to just write something on the board. Even
if they don’t want to teach, they should talk to their
students, not just write something on the board and
sit at their desks. I understand from watching you
that it is important to talk to students.”
I hadn’t thought of Natasha, a young teacher I met in
Russia ten years ago, for a long time. I met her
when I was in Barnaul, Russia, to work with teachers for a few weeks. In the afternoon, Natasha
sometimes joined me for a walk. We would walk
and talk. As I got on the train to leave, she handed
me a card on which she had written a personal message. Part of it was “You taught me things you
didn’t know you were teaching.” I was quite
touched by these words.
Remembering Natasha’s message, I am reminded
that we don’t always know what we are teaching;
what is learned may not be what we were trying to
teach. Everything we do in class and out of class
is a lesson. We teach by all of our actions, not just
by our planned lessons. I have realized that sometimes these actions that I take for granted and do
naturally, without thinking, are new to many Thai
teachers and are important lessons, perhaps more
important than the English lesson.
Here in Thailand I sometimes feel that I am not
doing the teaching I would like to be doing. It is at
these times that Natasha’s message comes to me and
sustains me. I also think of her message when Khun
Yindee, who is fluent in English and frequently verbalizes her thoughts, shares some of her reflections
on what she is learning from me. She says things
like the following:
Another message that sustains me is that of Mother
Theresa: “We can do no great things, only small
things with great love.” Often the little things we
do are more important and longer lasting than the
big things. So, go out and do many small things
with your great love. And remember that you are
teaching things you don’t know you are teaching.
“I used to sit at my desk while students worked.
Now, when you are not here and I sit at my desk, I
think ‘Jackie walks around; so I should walk
around.’ I am not comfortable sitting at my desk
now. I understand that I must walk around and help
the students.“
6
Intentionally Bad Poetry
Bad Poetry
Three of PC Thailand’s leading wordsmiths explore
the lost art of composing bad poetry with no shame.
Haiku #78
This can’t be a real
wedding. There is no
dancing
gatoey on the stage .
Haiku #190
Jack , Jack Kerouac
He’s on the road but
without
the karaoke .
Haiku #56
The man grabs the
glass
If he doesn’t drink
the beer,
he can’t see the stage .
Teacher ’s Lament
Omg what ’s that
Dirty
Smelly
Gross
Oh it ’s me .
I bike 18 km a day.
It impresses no one .
About the Painting on the
Wall of the Hospital
I would maybe be sexier
If I was the kind of person
who liked sunflowers.
And One Haiku
Elephants take up
Too many syllables, geez.
But I still heart them.
-- Becky Korpi, TCCO 120/Sticky Rice co-editor
John Roseberry, Force of Nature
-- Alex Medina, CBOD 120
Goodbye Roseberry.
It wasn't worth the
effort.
I love you so much .
The Greatest President
James A. Garfield is
a poem unto
himself.
-- Chris “Pocket” Earnhardt, CBOD 120
7
Inspirational
Meaninglessness
By Ben Fairfield, CBOD 119
A CBOD volunteer explores the convergence of dirt and religion
The beginning of his quest is not unlike a typical
PCV’s first months at site. Call it IRB, community
integration, community mapping, or not:
“I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing
folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I
wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do
under heaven during the few days of their lives.”
It takes just a few months to get to know the SAO.
The feelings of a CBOD PCV who has just enough
understanding of his assigned office also might be
summed up by another cynical passage of this king:
“So I hated life, because the work that is done under
the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.”
Top: A finished Adobe house at Ben’s s ite.
Next page: Chanaphum, agriculture teacher and beliver in the sustainability of Adobe houses.
Photos by Ben Fairfield
I spent my first nine months at site trying to convince people to let me build them an adobe house.
It’s not an easy sell. A house made of dirt in a tropical country with monsoons? Certainly no SAO
worker would buy into the idea. One would have to
be crazy to attempt such a foolish task
Chanaphum is said fool. An agriculture teacher at the
Only one holy book has had any relevance to me as a school, he knows his soils. He understands how a
CBOD volunteer. It was written probably three or four dirt mountain can stand for hundreds of years and
thousand years ago by a wealthy middle-eastern king. how this “technology” can be reapplied to home conHe, too, navigated through many cultures, having hun- struction. We’re not reinventing the wheel here.
dreds of wives from all of the neighboring lands he
We’re just moving mountains. How hard is that to
and his father had conquered. He, too, thought projects mess up?
would bring him happiness and fulfillment, creating
magnificent gardens and temples that were the envy of “I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself
neighboring monarchs. He, too, was baffled by the
and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks
limitations and obscurities of human knowledge and a and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.”
lack of meaning of his life and work. His introduction
is a brief summary of 80 or so years of living:
I met with Chanaphum in October to discuss my
very first tangible CBOD project. We would build a
“Everything is meaningless…With much wisdom
small demonstration adobe hut that would serve as a
comes much sorrow. The more knowledge, the more
barber shop for the students. Together we drew up a
grief.”
proposal to submit to the principal, we co-planned
and co-taught one classroom presentation, and we
The problem was simple. The man knew too much.
took 200 students out to the garden to get to work.
Naiveté alone had sustained him at the beginning. Not
anymore.
It went smooth enough. After one month of agricul
8
Inspirational, continued
Continued from page 8
Chanaphum, wondering what I was even doing
here.
“’For whom am I toiling,’ he asked, ‘and why am I
depriving myself of enjoyment?’ This too is meaningless— a miserable business!”
ture classes we had 1,000 bricks ready for construction, and the wooden frame had already been built.
We were all set to begin stacking bricks. I would go
to the SAO sports day and we’d start when I got
back. For the first time in a quite a while, my smile
was genuine.
I dreamed of adobe at night. In my dreams I am
walking through Mongolia, having my teeth fall
out, raising multiple children. But no matter the
subject, adobe bricks end up a part of these
dreams. Even today. A full year later.
“But that also proved to be meaningless. ‘Laughter,’
I said, ‘is foolish. And what does pleasure
accomplish?’”
“As a dream comes when there are many
cares, so the speech of a fool when there
are many words…All his days his work
is pain and grief; even at night his
mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.”
Turned out that a big educational official was coming to town in three
days. Chanaphum couldn’t have
an unfinished house at the front
gate of the school. My project,
all planned out and perfect in
my head (and on paper, mind
you), was abducted in one day
of absence. He started without
me, stacking the bricks lengthwise instead of width-wise. The
foundation was all wrong. The
walls, each weighing about one
ton, were not connected to each
other. The roof was terribly insufficient. The monstrosity was destined
to fall over.
But the house did survive the rainy
season. All my worries gave me only
restless nights and headaches shared
by no one else. It seemed Chanaphum’s mind did not really possess
the ability to worry. Everything was
“May pen ray.” He even built his own
incorrect mud house to be a home for
his family. Hooray for SCR. As before, I
spent more hours worrying over (and fixing) that house than he did.
“I hated all the things I had toiled for under
the sun, because I must leave them to the one who
comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a
wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all
the work into which I have poured my effort and skill
under the sun. This too is meaningless.”
“So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast
off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor
are meaningless.”
“Whoever digs a pit may fall into it.”
When the cold season’s early morning fogs arrived,
my troubles evaporated. No more rains for eight
months! And the house stood strong. I figured the
success of the house would certainly bring more interest in adobe construction. All the skeptics would
see for themselves: mud houses can survive Thailand’s crazy rainy season! I imagined a bright future for adobe construction here. Monjong’s hills
covered in mud houses. All inspired by the little
house that refused, against all odds, to fall over.
I stopped going to the SAO. I had to put mud or waterproof plaster or shingles on the roof. Chanaphum
had stopped caring. I spent Saturday mornings
drilling and sawing. I was the only one who was
worried about this thing. It had my name all over it. I
started to hate my project. I felt abandoned by
A year to the date of construction, I passed by that
I spent weeks, even months trying to fix it where I
could. I was terrified each time it sprinkled. I
dreaded the coming rainy season, counting down the
months until the house would fall over and kill one
of those cute, innocent anuban kids who had classes
right next door.
“Everything is meaningless. All go to the same
place; all come from dust, and to dust all
return…and the dust returns to the ground it came
from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
9
Inspirational, continued
Continued from page 9
A writing prompt for the next
issue of Sticky Rice:
old house and couldn’t stop laughing. They were
tearing it down. The younger, optimistic me would
have shrieked in disbelief, but, at the end of my service, I found laughter, genuine and sincere, to be my
natural response. Three months of planning, 4
months of sleepless nights, 8 months of worry. All
released in a perfect moment of Zen by a group of
boys with sledgehammers. I suppose that old king
got it right.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for
every activity under heaven: a time to tear down and
a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a
time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep
and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to
mend.”
Epilogue.
Yet even so, as I write this final article for Sticky
Rice, I have built four adobe houses and am working
on my fifth (this one will be a health spa at the Anamay). I still worry when thunderclouds come over
the mountains. I still dream about mud bricks. But I
also laugh when it rains, unseasonably, in the cold
season, destroying two weeks’ work. I accept that
dogs and children can’t keep themselves from dancing over and through my labors. Why wouldn’t these
things happen? Do I really deserve to have things go
my way? What else can I expect?
"’Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
And everybody said, “Amen.”
__________________________________________
___________________________
-All quotes are from the book of Ecclesiastes, an incredible book of wisdom that sums up the CBOD experience perfectly.
-Pictures of Ben’s other adobe house projects can be
seen online at
http://pcthailand.wetpaint.com/page/adobe+house
Your biography in six words.
Not just any six words; the six
words that, when they join
forces, describe you with such
amazing brevity that it stops
your heart within your chest.
Good luck!
Do you see awesome
things on a regular basis?
We don’t, so send them
to Sticky Rice, fool!
10
Thenglish Language
Thenglish You Shouldn’t Use
Back in the States
By Alex Medina, Mark Cox and special guest David Resetar, CBOD 120
Editor’s note: Thenglish -- noun -- the odd but amusing language that
develops when Thai and English are combined. For the benefit of Group
121, I have also added a translation key. You’re welcome.
Translations:
With Group 119 volunteers close to going home,
here is a list of phrases to avoid in order to make
your integration to American culture much easier:
Maew: cat
Ma: dog (or horse if you use the wrong tone)
It’s really raining maews and mas out there!
Ron aharn: restaurant
Yu tii nai?: Where is it?
Ron aharn “Hooters” yu tii nai?
Shot the rabbit: peed the bed.
Honey, get a towel. Little Eustace just shot the rabbit in his bed again.
Pom: I (male), polite
Di-chan: I (female), polite
Ruu suk: Feel
Krap: Polite particle, male
Ka: Polite particle, female
Pom/Di-chan ruu suk sexually inadequate krap/ka.
How about them appuns??
Rage Against the Machine mi panha prathet Saharat.
Appun: Apple
Dtam tamadaa, pom mai gin lao. Take my word
for it, Officer.
Mi panha: to have a problem
Prathet Saharat: United States of America
Gaan bplian bleeng rao mi samat chuua daai.
Obaamaaaa!
Dtam tama daa: Usually
Pom mai gin lao: I don’t drink whiskey
I’m all OTAP-ped out, baby.
Gaan bplian bleeng rao mi samat chuua daai:
Change we can believe in.
I’ll take the Quarter-Pounder krap.
OTAP-ped out: A clever hybrid of OTOP (One Tambon One Product) and the common American phrase
“tapped out.”
11
119 Reflection
And in Closing...
By Guy Luizzi, TCCO 119
Considering that the new Sticky Rice writing standards no longer condone cuss words. I will keep it
short. For the 121’s, welcome to a great, at times
difficult, country and job that will make you dig
deeper towards your personal understanding, dedication and tolerance. For 120’s, best of luck to you all,
you’ve been here for a year. You know what is up.
Though the second year goes by faster!
8) Having better health care.
7) Not worrying about America’s fast pace and issues like fluctuating gas prices.
6) Somehow living a pretty nice life making a bit
over 2,500 dollars a year.
5) Getting together with PC buddies (America is
MUCH larger than Thailand).
4) Thai holidays and the accompanying feasts.
3) Thai food and fruits.
2) My students and counterparts.
1)
My host family.
With my COS looming in 80 days. Worrying about
when that day comes. “Where am I going to live?”
“What am I going to drive?” “What am I going to do
about money?” It hit me that reentry/reverse culture
shock might just suck after all.
It also made me think
about what I most look
forward to when I return
to the United States after
two years. Here is my top
ten:
*otable Mention: The “YOU, YOU, my friend,
where you go” from Thai tourist areas’ tuk-tuk drivers.
“I am serious about crashing Going in two years ago with the
idea that the most trying, weird
your place and getting a free and totally out-of-my-comfortzone moments would provide the
tour”
best stories and bragging rights of
my service. I look back at it all
with a smile in the land of them.
121s, your service is what YOU
make it, so buckle up because
there is no rollercoaster better
than this one.
10) Watching the Comedy
-- Guy’s last pull-quote.
Channel and HBO (pendHope it was a good one.
ing I have a place to live).
9) Going to comedy clubs.
8) Driving (pending I have
a car to do so).
7) Eating sandwiches everyday with cheese.
120s, the second year does not get any less interest6) Wines.
ing, it is busy, and it is quick! 119s, I am serious
5) Laundry becoming a whole lot easier.
about crashing your place and getting a free tour.
4) Real libraries (no offense to the PC lounge).
3) Crashing RPCV’s states and asking for a tour and
Admin Staff, I will give you my return address for
free housing (West coasters and D.C. residents bethat “Best Volunteer Ever” award. It has been an
ware).
honor to work with this organization, country and
2) Celebrating holidays with family and friends
you all, thank you!
American style.
1) Going to Grad school (pending I can pay for it).
What’s Your
Experience?
*otable Mention: Watching American football
Then I got to the reasoning of what I will miss most
about the Peace Corps in
Thailand. My top ten:
Submit to Sticky Rice.
10) The Thai customs of saving face and not getting
rattled over trivial things.
9) The Thai “graing jai,” although you have to pay
your due share of it as well.
12
Blog Excerpts
“I was born upon thy banks river
My blood flows in thy stream
And thou meanderest forever
At the bottom of my dream”
- Henry David Thoreau
Blog Excerpt
From Anton Taruc, TCCO 119
Such travel was fun and exciting.
I’ve always thought of rivers as an apt metaphor for
my desire to travel—the river’s flow akin to the part of
my soul that longs to constantly be on the move. So it
comes as no surprise that in the places I’ve been fortunate to travel to, I’ve always been drawn to rivers—be
it the Mekong or the Thames; the Kwai or the Seine—
and I’ve spent hours sitting by their banks enjoying a
book or a beer or both.
I enjoy rivers for the sense of contentment that comes
with sitting by them—few things in this world are
more calming than a river’s flow—and also for the
sense of restlessness that it stirs in me. After all, one of
the most fascinating things about a river is that a river
never ever really stays put; it is always headed somewhere. And it is this—the promise of seeing what is
beyond the bend—that touches that part of my soul
that longs to travel, inciting it to seek adventure and
excitement.
And yet, as I’ve come to appreciate rivers more, I’ve
noticed a change in my general attitude towards travel.
The excitement has not wavered nor has the longing
for adventure (this, I pray, will remain as constant as a
river’s eventual journey to sea) but just as I’ve taken a
river’s flow as a metaphor for my wanderlust, a river’s
ability to bend and shift—I’ve seen stretches of the
Mekong dry enough to traverse by foot and sections
where I would not dare jump in—has come to represent my evolving understanding of what “traveling”
truly means.
But it was also shallow. I recall that after a backpacking trip to Europe, I came back and told people
I loved Barcelona. Looking back, I ask myself:
What about Barcelona did I love? Did I even get to
know Barcelona? I was there for five days and I
doubt I met a single person from Barcelona. I had a
wonderful time certainly…but a time that could
have been had in any of the other cities I visited in
Europe—the only difference being the monuments
that I saw…monuments that while exclusive to
Barcelona, were not in themselves Barcelona. I realize, looking back, that I did not get to know
Barcelona at all.
Lately however, I’ve learned to appreciate staying
in a place a little longer or at least staying in a place
long enough to truly be there. I admit that such sort
of traveling can at times be mundane and highlights
are few and far between. But the highlights do come
and more often than not, they have as much to do
with the simple aspects of life as they do with the
grand…and they are just as memorable. I know I’ve
been excited about things here in Thailand that I
would otherwise have taken for granted—or wouldn’t have stopped to appreciate—when I was backpacking in Europe. Things like nuances in culture,
in styles of dress, in social norms, etc—things that
I’ve only been able to appreciate after being in
Thailand for a while. So I daresay that there is indeed a charm about staying in a place long enough
to know it—if not completely at least intimately.
Like a farmer might say he knows a field for instance; or a ranger, a forest; or a citizen, a city; or a
hiker, a mountain.
Or like a person might know a river. “I’ve known
For a while, I loved travel for the sheer adventure of it. rivers” Langston Hughes once wrote. The intimacy
I enjoyed the adrenaline rush of hopping on a train or he goes on to describe—being lulled to sleep by the
plane, seeing a new place, and then moving on. I loved Congo; sitting by the Nile and building pyramids by
the idea of waking up in a new city (or country) and
it; watching the change of hue by the Mississippi —
not knowing for certain what time it was…or what day suggest an element of waiting…and staying…and
it was. This sort of travel was exciting, fueled by sto- watching. At the end of the poem, he exclaims “My
ries of rushing for trains and sleeping in stations, and soul has grown deep like the river.”
meeting new people everyday; of seeing pictures
where I stood by one famous monument in one city
My experience in Thailand, where I’ve slowly imwearing the very same thing I wore in a monument of mersed myself in a way of life that I could have
another since I was seeing them both in the same day. easily bypassed has added depth to my being and
13
Blog Excerpt
has broadened my perspective. Whenever I find myself longing for the excitement of experiencing new
places at a faster pace, I pause and take into account
what I am able to experience: the unfolding of the
rice season, spending hours sitting by a hammock
alongside cow herders and rice farmers and learning
about their lives, being able to have meals with villagers, learning about their conceptions (and misconceptions) of America, and so much more. And most
nights I find that my cup is filled. On the other nights
where my cup might not necessarily be filled—
where homesickness, or boredom, or a lack of a
sense of purpose sink in, I just try to remain thankful
for being given the opportunity to see the world in
such a different way and pray that the river bends tomorrow.
My desire to see the world is strong—perhaps
stronger than it has ever been. But now, the river that
meanderest at the bottom of my dreams—the very
fountainhead of my wanderlust—happens to be a
wiser, deeper one.
02/01/2007
Some people think most clearly when going for a
hike, or meditating in a temple, or during a nice long
drive. I think most clearly when I am in the shower.
It hasn’t been so easy however in Thailand, since it’s
kind of difficult to relax and let your mind wander
during a cold bucket shower. But last night I had a
sudden thought and I just ran away with it. And it’s
funny because the thing that inspired it was the very
thing that has made my bath time reflections a little
more challenging: the bucket shower.
The Peace Corps is like a bucket shower.
You are hot and sticky and know that a bucket
shower is something you want.
It gets to a point that you know it is something you
NEED
and you know it would refresh you in the
way you want and need to be refreshed.
Some people just jump right in.
Some people decide that while it’s a good idea,
they’ll wait for the nice warm shower that SHOULD
come one day.
After all, there is always deodorant.
Some decide to bend over and just wet their hair...it
will make them look like they took the shower.
For those who do decide to take the shower, it usually takes a process.
First, you wet your hair a bit
Splash some water on your feet
14
Pat your back a little bit with wet hands and maybe
your neck
Put some water behind the knees
Just getting ready...for the big one.
And finally, you jump right in!
You take a huge scoop of water and BAM!...you let
it just drop on you.
At that moment, time seems to stop. Your heart
beats faster and faster. You are freezing!
You are already wet so you figure, “what the heck” and
BAM, another big one and yet another.
You’d figure three big ones in that it should feel easier
and a lot less cold but no...
each one still sets you shivering.
Then another one and another one....
and you begin to feel the difference...
Its NOT necessarily less cold nor is it easier but you feel
GOOD and you feel more AWAKE and more FRESH.
You start lathering up the soap and rubbing the shampoo
on your hair and at this point you know you are almost
done.
Maybe at this time you actually look at the water and
notice that its not the cleanest water in the world.
A few bugs floating around...maybe a few strands of
hair that clearly are not yours...and it can be pretty
gross.
You know you could stop there...maybe throw one more
bucket or two to wash out the soap and shampoo.
Or, you could choose to realize that millions of people
bathe in even dirtier water.
You could realize that millions of people don’t even get
the chance to take a bucket shower.
You could realize that millions of people who DO have
the opportunity for a bucket shower decide to stick to
the deodorant.
And when you think this way, you might realize that
while bugs and hair in the water kinda suck, they won’t
kill you (and you also sort of begin to admit to yourself
that the water feels pretty darn good)
So you throw in another one and now the soap and
shampoo are gone and you could end the shower but
now you REALLY like the water- you like how ALIVE
each new splash makes you feel so you throw a few
more before finally reaching for the towel.
As you dry yourself, you realize the shower actually
went by so quickly.
You probably spent more time getting ready for the first
big splash than you did the entire shower.
And as you dry off you can’t stop noticing how refreshed you feel.
And while deodorant may have made you smell just as
nice without having to go through the shower...YOU
KNOW IT WOULD NOT HAVE FELT QUITE AS
GOOD.
Fun Facts
Just for Fun
By Becky Korpi, TCCO 120/Sticky Rice co-editor
Compiled and submitted for your approval; things you
never knew about 120ers Kelly Beach and Mark Cox
Fun facts about Mark Cox
Fun facts about Kelly Beach
* She would like to be an extra in the * Sometimes his name is Michael
“High School Musical” movies
* He bowled a 71 once
* She enjoys consuming champoos
and berry tea
* His dad shoots coyotes(!)
* Her neighbor “gets her”
* He dreams of one day having two
blue-eyed, sandy-haired babies
* Taken out of context, her quotes are named Cletus and Eunice.
mysterious. I can’t remember what “I
save my tiara for better things than
* He is “in a relationship” with the
golf” was about.
Hardy Boys and it’s “complicated”
* She is pro-saying-rude-things-while * He can recommend a great place to
faking-a-cough. For example, *cough- eat breakfast in Chiang Mai, but
wowyou’reuglycough*
sometimes the actual name of the
restaurant eludes him so you have to
* She is completely afraid of frogs
use your head to find it. I personally
enjoyed “Kona’s Organic Blah
* She does not know the difference
Blah,” however.
between Alec’s “funky jazz hands”
and “massage hands”
* Melissa Etheridge is from his
hometown. You know, that woman
* Her facial expressions before you
with such fabulous hits as “Come to
even say anything often make you for- Levenworth, Kansas.”
get what you were going to say in the
first place.
* He taught me how to love a
woman, and how to scold a child.
15
And ow, Back to Bloggin’ with Anton
Blog Excerpt
From Anton Taruc, TCCO 119
04/12/2007
miniscule in comparison to the risk of snipers and
IED's.
No bomb that ever burned/ Shatters the human spirit
Since I've started writing about my experiences in
Thailand, I have learned to appreciate the writing of
other people who, like me, are also away from home
and their loved ones. And while I am aware that
words can never fully capture the experience of living in a foreign country under circumstances different from home, I'd like to think that the stories we
share- through blogs, emails, and letters- provide a
decent enough picture of the lives we lead. After all, I
believe that the main reason we share our stories in
the first place is so our loved ones, those we have left
behind, get to stay connected to us- even if only
through our writing.
It is this belief I think that stirred my emotions when
I came across NEWSWEEKS' April 2nd cover story,
Voices of the Fallen: The Iraq War in the Words of
America's Dead.
My single greatest discomfort is the heat of Thailand and the humidity that comes with living in a
tropical country. I'm not sure what the heat is like in
Iraq but I know it's pretty hot. Plus our troops can
go weeks without a shower while carrying loads of
heavy equipment.
I worry about the sanitation of my food. But I don't
have to worry about fighting a battle with an upset
stomach.
I wake up in the morning and say that "today may
be the day that the language breakthrough occurs."
Our troops wake up with the awareness that- as
American soldier Travis Youngblood wrote in a letter- "any day I'm here could be the day I die."
I wake up in the morning and
say that “today may be the day
the language breakthrough occurs.” Our troops wake up with
the awareness that...“any day
I’m here could be the day I die”
"Nope," I told myself, "I would never understand
Over the past three months, I have written about my
life in Thailand, of squat toilets and bucket showers;
of language miscommunications and exotic dishes. I
have written about being a Peace Corps Volunteer- an
experience that has been among the most intense experiences of my life.
Recently, I read the letters in Newsweek, written by
men and women, many younger than myself who,
like me, are far away from home and loved ones and
who, like me, are also experiencing some pretty intense things. And while I could relate to the homesickness and the desire to stay connected with loved
ones through writing, and while I could understand
what it's like to miss home, I realized that I would
NEVER understand the intensity of what they were
going through. Never.
what they went through and I will never understand
what the other troops are going through right now."
And so I kept reading about the horrible situation
people my age are going through and I read about
the causes of death (humvee overturned, IED explosion, drowned, killed by sniper while on patrol) and
I read about the ages of those killed (21,19, 26, 22,
21) and I found myself in tears.
But I tried to anyway. I tried thinking of what I go
through on a daily basis and I attempted to magnify it
if only to gain some perspective and understand what
the soldiers were going though a little better. In the
end, I realized it was impossible.
As I said earlier, I have learned to appreciate the
writing of people far away from home. More importantly, I learned to appreciate the writers themselves. People have a general idea of the Peace
Corps and what life as a voulunteer is like. I did too.
My single greatest daily fear is that my neighbor's
dog will chase me as I bike past his house... a fear
But now, as I read through blogs, I am aware that
16
Blog Excerpt
Continued from page 16
every volunteer has a name and his/her own unique
experiences.
Every single volunteer has people he/she misses and
people he/she wishes to stay connected to. As I read
the letters in Newsweek, I felt the exact same way for
our troops. While I have always been supportive of
our soldiers and have included them in my prayers, I
always thought of them collectively. Reading their
letters and recognizing the common desire to simply
stay connected, the desire to let a loved one know
they are missed, the desire to check on things at
home, made me realize how each troop is an individual as well with his/her own set of unique experiences. It made me realize the humanity of every
soldier.
So while I may never understand what they are going
through, I can certainly focus on what we share- our
humanity and our love for the people we left behind.
And just as I drew on my experiences here in an attempt to gain perspective into the difficulties they
were going through, perhaps I could do the same in
terms of their joys.
So while I may never understand
what they’re going through, I can
certainly focus on what we share
-- our humanity and our love for
the people we left behind.
For as my struggles and worries are petty compared
to what they face, perhaps the things that bring me
joy are things they appreciate even more. And the
thing that has brought me the most joy- other than the
work I am doing in my village- has been hearing from
home. Nothing brightens my day more than a phone
call from my family or a letter from Caitlin or a Facebook message from an old friend. And if these things
can make a person who worries about being chased
by dogs smile, imagine what it can do for people surrounded by the horrors of war.
Every so often, I also receive random words of encouragement. I've had people tell me that what I'm
doing is something they wish they cold be doing. I've
had people tell me that they are very impressed that I
would choose to give two years of my life to do such
work.
These things definitely help keep my spirit alive. I
wonder if our troops receive similar messages as
well. I sure hope so because what I am doing and
whatever sacrifices I'm making is nothing compared
to theirs.
So now a favor. If any of you reading this happen to
know someone in the armed forces, please send
them a message. Be it a cousin, a friend, an acquaintance even...send them a message. Send a message
out of the blue to say hello and that you are thinking
of them. If possible, even send me an email address
of a soldier you know and I will say hello as well.
And also, let us not take things for granted. As I read
the letters, I could not stop thinking about the people
I loved the most. These letters celebrated how
human our troops were and what makes us human is
that we are capable of loving.
No matter how horrible the situation described in the
letter, they did not fail to end it with a "I miss you"
or an "I love you. "
I end this with some stanzas from Orwell taken from
his essay "Looking Back On the Spanish War" I altered it a bit.
Good luck go with you American soldier
But luck is not for the brave
What would the world give back to you
Any less than you gave
Between the shadow and the ghost
Between the white and the red
Between the bullet and the lie
Where would you hide your head
For where is Travis Youngblood
For where is Kenneth Ballard
For where is Trevor Aston
The earthworms know where they are
Your name and your deeds were forgotten
Before your bones were dry
And the lie that slew you is buried
Under a deeper lie
But the one thing I saw in your letters
No power can disinherit
No bomb that ever burned
Shatters the human spirit.
17
119 Remembered: a delightful
smattering of who they are and
what their future plans entail.
119 Remembered
ame: Matthew Smith
Hometown: Bend, Oregon
Program: CBOD
Site: Chiang Muan, Phayao
Thai nickname: Mak (just because some Thai people could not pronounce my name right)
Favorite Thai food: Nam Prick Aung. It's a Northern
Thai dish that I will miss dearly
Favorite place visited: Chiang Mai, just to meet up
with my PC friends
Future plans: Go back home and help my parents
finish their house. Then, who knows!
Favorite Thai phrase: Mai pen rai, this is my favorite just because it goes with the people and culture
so well.
Words of wisdom: Try not to get frustrated, it will
all come together if you are patient enough.
ame: Lisa Chuang
Hometown: Olympia, Washington
Program: TCCO
Site: Omkoi, Chiang Mai
Thai nickname: Kon Awesome (Bestowed by Becky
Korpi)
Favorite Thai food: Gai Yang--It reminds me of my
mom's Asian bbq, which was one of my favorite
foods back home.
Favorite place visited: Mae Hong Son
Future plans: Study for my Ph.D in communication
Favorite Thai phrase: "Sang" meaning...english
doesn't really have a word for this, but "bored to
tears" may come close.
Words of wisdom: "That's the way it is, and then you
die."
18
119 Remembered
ame: Vincent George
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Program: CBOD
Site: Nakhon Si Thammarat
Thai ickname: Win (Many Thais have a hard
time pronouncing the "V")
Favorite Thai food: Som Tam (extra spicy) w/ a
Beer Singh, this combination gets me real chill
Favorite place visited: Krabi, has some of the
most beautiful beaches in the world
Future plans: I'll let you know as soon as I found
out myself.
Favorite thai phrase: Mi fan lau ree-yung? It still
cracks me up that I've been asked this everyday,
several times a day, for over two years now, in
every locale I've been to here in Thailand. Doing
the arithmetic, I can accurately say that I've received this question roughly 3,000 times since I've
been here.
Words of wisdom: Two years can fly by before
you even know it.
ame: Scott Hajek
Hometown: Burlington, North Carolina
Program:TCCO
Site: Si Mueang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani
Thai ickname: Rang Nok (bird's nest, a type of
drink that has a brand named Scotch)
Favorite Thai food: Kung Ten (Dancing Shrimp)
because nothing tickles your innards like this dish!
Favorite place visited: Chiang Mai
Future plans: Travel, spend time with family back
in NC, go on to graduate school for linguistics
Favorite thai phrase: Hua laan dai wii (Experience
is a comb that fate gives a man when his hair is all
gone.)
Words of wisdom: Don't tell your community that
ghosts come visit you at night and give you lottery
numbers. If you do, for heaven's sake, don't actually give them numbers. They just might spend a
ton on those numbers, lose, and be bitter with you
that they didn't work.
19
119 Remembered
ntext when taking pictures...can be replaced with
"Pepsi" or "Cheese", but obviously doesn't have the
same reaction!...It translates as "sore [female
parts]"
2. "Bi Ying Gadii" - Literal translation = "Shoot the
rabbit"...Translation = "Take a [pee]"
3. "Lamoke" - Translation = "Dirty mind"
4. "Som nam na" - Translation = "Serves you
right!"
5. "Sueng Dueng" - Northern thai dialect meaning
"really, really STUPID!" (I heard this ALOT!)
Words of wisdom: DO IT! & Always say "Yes!"
ame: Brian Fries
Hometown: Oak Hill, Virginia
Program: TCCO
Site Mae Chai, Phayao province
Thai ickname:
1. "Superman"
2. "Captain America"
3. "Giant"
4. "Brain" (Thai mispelling of "Brian")
5. "Awl Dee" (Thai for "travels well")
Favorite Thai food:
1. "Nam Prik Ong" (Minced pork, onions, chilis, garlic
in a spicy tomoto paste) - Because it's the BEST food
this side of Bangkok when my host mom cooks it up (I
have witnesses!)
2. " Glui Tort" (Fried baby bananas) - Baby bananas
are INCREDIBLE alone, and anything deep fried is
the BOMB.COM!
3. "Makhaue Pow" (Grilled eggplant) - In Thai slang,
[you'll have to figure out by yourself!]
4. "Patt Boo" (Stir-fried crab with eggs and spring
onions) - It's better than [MAKIN’ WHOOPEE]!!
Favorite place visited: Off-peak, fresh powder skiing
with my boys (Gabe, Garrett & Pete) at Hakuba
Happo ski resort in Nagano, Japan!!
Future plans: After COS - Back-packing throughout
Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam with the "down-on-hisluck" Guy Liuzzi (and anybody who wants to join),
and scrapping funds together for another ski getaway
to Hakkaido, Japan with Pete "Ham 'n Cheese" Rumbach. Then a Summer Clerical Internship with the US
Department of State in Washington DC, then working
as a residential counselor in an Emotionally Disturbed
Center in northern Virginia.
Favorite thai phrase: 1. "[Not fit to print]"
20
Congratulations, Brian Fries,
for submitting not only the
longest biography but also the
most obscene one (prior to our
editing, of course)!
-- Love, Becky and Natalie
ame: John Roseberry
Hometown: Hopkinsville, KY
Program: TCCO
Site: Muang Yang, Nakhon Ratchsima
Favorite Thai food: Sticky Rice/Roasted Chicken
Favorite place visited: Chang Mai
Future plans: Grad School
Words of wisdom: Good luck
119 Remembered
ame: Peter Rumbach
Hometown: Jasper, Indiana
Program: TCCO
Site: Banpet, Chaiyaphum
Thai ickname: Dtang Thai - Cantelope
Favorite Thai food: Pumpkin Curry - because it's so
hard to find at my site, so it's always a treat to get it
Favorite place visited: Chiang Khan - a lazy, little
river town in Loei province
Future plans: Snowboarding for an entire season!
then, grad school/teaching...
Favorite thai phrase: Dtid lom - literally, stuck to
the breeze or having such a good time you don't want
to leave
Words of wisdom: Like I heard from a previous
PCV...if you're ever in a situation and feel like leaving, wait 15 minutes and see what happens. I've
found that you get to know people better when you
give waiting a chance.
Actual picture unavailable
Actual picture unavailable
ame: Andrew "monk" Webb
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Program: TCCO
Site: Kantharalak, Si Sa Ket
Thai ickname: King Kong or Ting Tong
Favorite Thai food: Sticky Rice
Favorite place visited: Chiang Mai
Future plans: Study Tibetan in Darjeeling, India for
9 months and then reach Enlightenment
Favorite thai phrase: Telling a Thai to Jai yin yin
(relax)
Words of wisdom: You you you, no serious!
ame: Kellie Zeitner
Hometown: Billings, MT
Program: CBOD
Site: Santisuk, Nan
Thai nickname: Faa - Blue
Favorite Thai food: Somtam & sticky rice
Favorite place visited: Koh Phi Phi
Future plans: Traveling around S.E. Asia then who
knows
Favorite Thai phrase: Mai kow jai - I don't understand can get you out of a lot of things!
Words of wisdom: Live every moment!
21
119 Remembered
ame: Maria Tursi
Hometown: Fircrest, WA
Program: TCCO
Site: Sanom, Surin
Thai ickname: Host family called me Bua
(lotus flower) but no one else
Favorite Thai food: Ka pow gai sai kai dow
(spicy basil chicken with egg)
Favorite place visited: Vangvieng, Laos
Future plans: Will travel to England to visit
friends and then find a job either at home or
abroad
Favorite Thai phrase: Yahk ruu yahk hen, curious
Words of wisdom: Try to let most things roll off
your back (if that fails and they still call you fat,
run a marathon)!
ame: Colin Thompson
Hometown: Arlington, Texas
Program: TCCO
Site: Kanchanaburi
Thai ickname: "Lin"- it's actually short for
Colin...but I just found out, after 20 months in
country, that "Lin" is actually a name for women,
thus explaining the large Ka Toey following I have
at site.
Favorite Thai food: Masaman Curry. Nothing
tops a nice coconut milk curry over your choice
of...wait for it, wait for it...chicken and/or pork.
Favorite place visited: Sunrise Tacos. Between
Soi 12 and 14, Sukhumvit. Also located in the
food hall at Siam Paragon.
Future plans: Kicking it in China for a few weeks
with the familia. Free climbing Mayan ruins in the
Yucatan in May and June. Alpine-style ascent of
the Eiger, also known as Die Weisse Spinne by
their Swiss patriots, during the fall. I was also
thinking of starting a small clam breeding venture
in Newfoundland. The Northern quahog is in in
particular popularity at the moment throughout a
range of cuisines and the time is now as the aquaculture isn't nearly as difficult to control as their
oyster cousins. Time permitting of course.
Favorite Thai phrase: "Same Same...but different.” This saying is applicable in certain bargaining situations pertaining to any vended object (be
it a pair of sunglasses or a T-shirt) that appears
similar in both size and shape but is slightly different to the untrained eye.
Words of wisdom: We live as we dream, alone. --Joseph Conrad
Actual picture unavailable
22
119 Remembered
ame: Ben Fairfield
Hometown: Tuolumne, California
Program: CBOD
Site: Monjong, Chiang Mai
Thai ickname: None
Favorite Thai food: Corn. It's got fiber.
Favorite place visited: Doi Intanon. Highest
mountain in Thailand.
Future plans: Make a big picture book and go to
grad school for anthropology
Favorite Thai phrase: Just one word: WONG
WIAN. We all cracked up over this in PST and
none of the ajaans got the joke.
Words of wisdom: “Life sucks, and then you die."
-Scott Okamoto (and many others, i'm sure)
ame: Jason Briggs
Hometown: Clarinda, IA
Program: CBOD
Site: Lansaka, Nakhon Si Thammarat
Thai nickname: Jay
Favorite Thai food: Gun Pad Phet Sator (shrimp
with chilli & bitter bean)
Favorite place visited: Krabi, Singapore, Angkor
Wat
Future plans: Graduate school, J-O-B
Favorite Thai phrase: Nua noi, naam mak (Little
bit of beef, lots of water)
Words of wisdom: Look out for falling durian.
Actual picture unavailable
ame: Sheila “Smash” Hershey
Hometown: Manheim, Pennsylvania
Program: TCCO
Site: Uthai Thani
Thai ickname: She-ra
Favorite Thai food: Spicy Papaya Salad, Thai
style
Favorite place visited: Tam Lod, Meh Hong Son.
Future plans: Travel for a while, then head home
and figure it out from there.
Favorite Thai phrase: Jing jing, seriously.
Words of wisdom: Do what you love.
23
119 Remembered
ame: Bekah Douglass
Hometown: Milton, Florida
Program: TCCO
Site: Khon Kaen
Thai ickname: Booa -- lotus
Favorite Thai food: Somtom lao...with fish sauce
and as spicy as you can make it...I’m Issan
Favorite place visited: Anton’s site because it is
so great. Just ask him:)
Future plans: Not sure, maybe stick around for a
while because my Thai needs more work
Favorite Thai phrase: Roan My...Are you hot.
Are you kidding?? It’s Thailand!
Words of wisdom: Never go a day without finding
one thing positive
Actual picture unavailable
ame: Melissa Dorso
Hometown: Burlington, VT
Program: TCCO
Site: Chanthaburi
Thai ickname: Muai (little Chinese girl)
Favorite Thai Food: Durian, because there's nothing else like it!
Favorite place visited: Tie between Koh Samet
and PCV sites in Isaan
Future Plans: Spend time with Oolong and find a
job in a bakery
Favorite Thai Phrase: Bep diao (just a second,
just a minute, just a few hours)
Words of Wisdom: In your efforts to be a good
volunteer and a riap roy member of your community, don't forget to be yourself!
ame: Tara Hixson
Hometown: Rapid City, South Dakota
Program: TCCO
Site: Pua, Nan.
Thai nickname: Kru Naam: water teacher because
Tara means river in Northern Thai
Favorite Thai food: Tham Makuwa : Mashed Egg
Plant. It looks like baby pooh but tastes awesome.
Favorite place visited: My counterpart/best
friend's kitchen. I had so many great and unusual
experiences in that kitchen and it's the place I felt
most at home…I'm going to miss it!
Future plans: Travel and avoid a real job via grad
school in England.
Favorite Thai phrase: Gin Yut Yut ru fun ja toke:
You better stuff your face or your teeth are going to
fall out!
Words of wisdom: "You’re much more Thai than
you were yesterday."
24
A Pocket is What You Put in it
Inspirational Again
By Chris “Pocket” Earnhardt, CBOD 120
Welcome Group 121!!
Here is the ultimate challenge of Peace Corps:
Everything happens, and it doesn’t stop happening.
What that means is that you will often feel like you
don’t have time to recuperate. Life is going to be full
of good stress and bad stress, and it won’t let up for a
while (maybe not even a full year).
When I joined the Peace Corps, I was long since
ready for heat, sleeping on the dirt, eliminating in
ditches, and being eaten alive by various sizes of
wildlife. Heck, I was joining the Peace Corps. But I
was smarter than that. I was also ready to be speaking a different language, changing or compromising
some of my lesser held values to fit in with a culture,
and doing a lot of hard work. Well, I don’t sleep in
the dirt, eliminate in ditches, or do very much hard
work, and still, this is the most difficult job I have
ever had.
1. You need to be aware during training (and later
during service) that you and your fellow volunteers
are under immense amounts of stress, and not just
bad stress, but good stress too. You are meeting
wonderful people, realizing for the first time how
amazing it is that you are in Thailand, learning a
new language, and living with a homestay family.
These are all great and beautiful things, but they are
stressful.
This means, among other things, that you will want
to extend a forgiving nature towards your fellow
volunteers, as they are under stress too and will do
things that human beings just do when they are
tired and something bothers them or goes wrong.
Imagine you are in America, and you present to your
local mayor an idea which will help many students
have a much better shot at college. Your mayor takes
you to the local school, drops you off in front of a
classroom full of wide-eyed students, and leaves, expecting you to teach them Spanish. That is stressful.
But what do you do? You finish up, and then take a
breather at your favorite coffee shop or just talk it out
with whomever happens to be around.
In Thailand, you go home to your homestay (who are
most often wonderful, caring people), and you make
cultural mistakes and you tell them you like bananas.
Then, you are swarmed by mosquitoes as you try to
spray your whole body at once with cold water to
keep them away. Then, you lay down for a pleasant
night’s rest and stick to your bed, sweating until dawn
and then sweating some more. You wake up to a
breakfast of rice and eggs (with fermented fish sauce,
yum).
Not one of these things by themselves is going to hurt
you, but they mean that you are in an almost constant
state of stress. This will fatigue you, and that is okay.
But I tell you this for a few reasons.
25
2. Such an environment will cause people to reevaluate themselves. It will be the case that strong,
capable people will feel impotent; friendly, outgoing people will feel agoraphobic; and patient, flexible people will feel like raging tree stumps. It will
seem this way, despite the fact that you are growing
stronger, more flexible, more patient, and more
friendly every day.
The reality is that all the volunteers are great people
who are expecting a lot (if not too much) out of
themselves. In fact, they are expecting to accomplish more than they would in a job in the States
while being in a whole new culture. I want to repeat that, because it just changed how I view my
time here: we expect, from ourselves, that we accomplish more in an entirely different culture than
we would in a job we have on our own home turf.
3. This is not temporary. This constant stress can
and often does last for at least the first year (even
during the most boring parts). So I write this to let
you know that you are not alone. Insanity has historically been defined by how a person behaves or
feels in relation to the majority of his/her society.
Well, I welcome you to the Peace Corps. We have
our own culture, and we tolerate quite a bit more
“freaking out” than your average American.
For a period of months, I was wondering if this was
bad for me. If I was actually becoming a worse
person (see point 2 above). And then I called my
More Inspirational
Continued from page 25
Gourmet, the Rice Cooker Way
by Helen Lapedes, TCCO 120
fellow PCVs. I told them about what was going on,
and they all knew exactly how I felt.
4. Most importantly, you are not alone.
There is something to be said for a person who can
travel half-way around the world for no pay to do a
job with more pitfalls than he/she could possibly
ever imagine. You will find problems that I’ve
never even heard of. But you will also find your
places, persons, and things which provide solace. I
don’t think there is a save-all solution to the problem I have mentioned.
Banana Bread
INGREDIENTS: I surprisingly found everything at
the grocery/general store at my site except for the
butter.
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup butter
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs, beaten
I know that practice makes perfect, which applies to * 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (or less depending on how dense you want it to be. I have used
stress management, and that means getting out and
meeting your communities. The more you do it, the as little as a cup, and it is still tasty!)
more normal it is. I know that keeping your mind
and body occupied helps shield you from boredom, DIRECTIONS:
so read and exercise and talk. But it is, ultimately,
1. Lightly grease the rice cooker.
the true challenge of Peace Corps: to be hit with
something new everyday, to be phenomenally bored 2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and
salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and
for long stretches, and to end it all saying, “I did it,
brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until
and that is good enough for me.”
well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture;
So, if you are feeling like you just can’t take it any- stir just to moisten. Pour batter into rice cooker.
more and the world is going to end and you want to 3. Push the lever of the rice cooker down. When it
cry and cats and dogs are living together and you are pops up again, wait a minute or two and then push it
going to go home, then call Group 120, and I can al- down again. Repeat until bread is cooked. You can
tell by putting a toothpick in the middle. When it
most guarantee that we will tell you we know excomes out clean, the bread is ready.
actly how you feel. And that, Group 121, is just
4. Take the liner out of the rice cooker. Let bread
fine.
cool for about 10 minutes, and then turn it out onto a
wire rack (or plate...)
Tips for baking in a rice cooker:
~ Experiment with how much batter you cook at a
time. I have a very small rice cooker and can only
make small batches or the bread won’t cook all the
way through and will burn on the bottom
~ Also experiment with timing, how long you wait to
push the lever of the rice cooker down again as well
as how many times you do it.
~ Don’t be afraid to jam the lever on the rice cooker
if it refuses to stay down. I usually use a towel.
26
Youth Activities at Site
Quid Pro Quo, Youth GIG Style
By Megan Wolf, TCCO 120
As part of the Youth Development GIG’s effort to let all
of the Peace Corps Thailand community know what
volunteers are doing with youth at their sites (and also
because Renee Schlatter said I had to), I sat down with
120er Dale Yurovich during MSC to discuss his activities with youth. Lounging poolside at the Royal River,
we talked about how he began working with youth, and
where he’s taking them.
Megan: First, and perhaps most importantly, what
would you like your super hero identity to be for this
session?
Dale: Oh, that’s easy—Superman.
Megan: So, what are you doing with youth?
Dale: Besides teaching 250 of them every week, I am
managing an English club. I teach them how to read,
and I teach them some basic phrases for them to use. I
am also teaching them about numbers, banking, the
operation of a market, and about basic economics.
I’ve kind of established it as a little city, although we
haven’t yet established a government. There is money,
which the students can earn and put in our bank. They
each have accounts, which garner interest. There are
markets, where they can buy things with their money
(the “money” is reward stickers that I give for homework, participation, and games).
independent thinking. As far as the mini-economy
goes, it’s up to them. It depends on how creative
they can get with the goods and services they come
up with, and if they can sell them. They’re limited
only by their imagination, which is along the lines
of what we’re learning about here at MSC.
Megan: What ages are you working with? Boys
or girls?
Dale: The club is for Pratom 4-6 students. About
75% are girls, because the girls seem to be a little
more mature than the boys and they find it a little
more interesting.
Megan: Do you do this alone, or do you have a
counterpart?
Dale: Yes, my counterpart is an English ajaan at
one of the nearby schools. I helped out at her
school for a few months, and then when I thought
of starting an English club, I approached her for her
help. She helps with communication, language,
and support; I lead the lessons.
Megan: What were the biggest barriers you faced
in starting the club?
Dale: Well, we had a great location, my co-teacher
did a good job of spreading the word, and so barriers were minimal. I like to think it was because the
Random Royal River guest, reading pool sign: Ex- students liked me and wanted to study with me. I
cuse me, what does it mean by “You must shower be- get mobbed every time I go to school.
fore entering pool?”
Barriers in starting club? great location, she did a
Megan: Ummmm….
good job of spreading the word, i already knew the
Dale, pointing to shower: You need to go and shower students, they knew me. kids were interested, kru
over there before you get in the pool.
ae was thrilled about it, excited to do it. barriers
Random Royal River guest: Thank you.
were minimal due to interest.
I like to think it was b/c the students liked me and
Megan: Continue, please.
wanted to study with me. i get mobbed everytime i
Dale: I have 2 students run the bank—they take dego to school. it’s cool.
posits, pay interest, and keep the master accounts.
Everyone has a bank book. The market is made up of Megan: Any final words of wisdom?
things sent by friends from the U.S., like toys, school
Dale: Establish relationships first, and look for insupplies, candy, t-shirts. I give reward stickers liberterest among students. If there is interest, they
ally, but everything is priced high.
have to want to come in, they have to be motivated.
It has to be fun.
Megan: What plans do you have for the club? Where
are you going with this?
Megan: Well, Superman-Rock Star Khun Dale,
Dale: I’m going to start talking to them about creating thanks for letting people know what you’re doing.
a product or service to sell to others in the club, so as
Dale: It’s hard being Superman in Nampai—they
to expand the whole economy. I want to foster some
don’t have phone booths!
27
Bridge Over the Misty Chasm,
A “First Date” with my Landlady
119 Reflection
By Kathleen Stocking, TCCO 119
to raise money for charity, and touch everything and
comment in Laos. I live in a Laos-Puwhin village
where they still speak the language that they arrived
with 200 years ago.
I never liked my landlady. I was polite, of course.
But I avoided her whenever possible. She drove me
crazy. She would come into the house when I was
gone and move things around. She would hire someone to mow the lawn with a motorized weed whip
and then want me to pay for it. If anything needed to
be fixed or painted, I did it and paid for it. The house
was in shambles when I moved in and I had to spend
weeks cleaning and painting just to make it livable.
There were dead birds, among other things, in the
corners.
After about six months of this, as they all once again
gathered around my laundry tubs at the table I used
for folding laundry and paying the rent, I stood and
announced in a stern, stentorian voice, with my arms
folded across my chest, “Ready? Okay! Only one
woman about the rent house, please!” Prom-kah?
Okay! ung puying geogap chow-ban, noy-ee-kah!”
In those days I worked long hours, leaving early in
the morning and traveling by bicycle and then songtaew to three different schools. It had been nerveracking to come back in the gathering dusk and find
things in the house has subtly “shifted” while I was
gone. Exhausted, I would think I was losing my
mind because the bananas were in a different place
than I’d left them.
This was all the words I knew in Thai, and then
some. Given that my pronunciation is off-the-charts
inscrutable, maybe I said something entirely different. Maybe I said, “The soup is on the ceiling,” or,
“My father is a gun man and he’ll be here any
minute.” But whatever I said, they got the message
and after that only the one lady, the one who had
once lived in the house, the one with the dead husband, showed up.
There were some weird thing going on in my landlady’s large, extended family of mostly female inlaws: on the first of every month when the rent was
due, all these women, sisters of her deceased husband, would show up and demand the rent money
too. I heard stories through the grapevine that she
owed everyone money for gambling. I have no idea
what the real story was. She was a widow with two
grown sons. She was poor while the sisters of the
dead husband were rich. She sold food in the market
while they sat around all day. Whatever the real
story, I figured she needed the money more than they
did. And, if she owed them, which she probably did,
she could pay them. I was her renter, not her banker.
Somehow, too, my landlady began to understand that
I didn’t really appreciate her coming into the house
I would think I was losing my
mind because the bananas were
in a different place than I’d left
them.
while I was gone and moving things around. At long
last, I never saw her except on rent day. What a relief.
Each successive month, as the time approached for
the rent money to be paid, I began to dread it. They
were all very nice, of course, but Oldest Sister was
bossy and not only told me I was fat- she poked at my
fat rolls. Second Oldest Sister was a gossip who
never stopped asking questions about how much
everything cost. Youngest Sister was prissy and liked
to check out my brooms. The only sister I liked never
came again after the first time. The women would
wander around my house, like ladies on a home tour
Then, just before Dr. John’s site visit, I sprained my
knee. I couldn’t go to the market. I couldn’t ride my
bike. For the first time since I’d come to Thailand, I
needed help. Because my landlady cooked food and
sold it on the street and because she was a good
cook, I asked her to bring me food every day and
also to go buy fruit and bring it. Could she do this
for 50 baht a day? She could and did.
The food was good and she did something that even
28
119 Reflection
Continued from page 28
many times, “Hot today,” and then smiled and
laughed in a warm, “ha-ha-ha, I’m loving every
minute of this” sort of way.
now I marvel at. She showed me the food raw, before she cooked it. She must have figured out that I
was afraid of food. Initially I had tried everything,
but after a few adventures in mystery food and a few
too many bouts of stomach flu, I’d arrived at a system that worked: coffee and oranges in the morning;
beer and potato chips at night. Of course I wasn’t
eating right. I knew that. But the combination of
not trusting the food, not being able to get to a place
where I could buy food I recognized, and not having
time to cook, had brought me to that sorry pass.
Now, however, with the help of my landlady, for the
first time, I began to eat regular Thai food. And it
was good.
Every muscle in my body was tense, the way it is
when you’ve been painting your balcony but accidentally kicked the ladder out from under yourself
and now you’re just hanging there. You’ve called
for help and you wonder if the men in the garbage
truck can come in from the road before you fall to
your death.
Inside the pick-up it was air-conditioned and yet it
was so hot outside that I was still sweating and
everything was sticking to everything else, the baby
sticking to me and me sticking to the plastic seats
of the truck and everything smelling of baby urine.
When we would stop the truck and get out, which
happened several times in the rice fields and once at
a farmer’s house where she knew the man, it was
hot in that way that when you took a breath your
lungs seemed to be scorching.
After about a month of this, she came one afternoon
and said, in Thai, that the next day was her birthday
and she wanted to celebrate it with me. She would
come at 3 the next afternoon and take me out to the
rice field. She would borrow a truck because she
knew I couldn’t ride on a motorcycle. She would
She came one afernoon and
said, in Thai, that the next day
was her birthday and she
wanted to celebrate it with me.
As the afternoon wore on I marveled more and
more at her courage. This was a huge undertaking
for her. It was like the scene in E. M. Forster’s
“Passage to India,” where the nice Indian doctor
takes the lonely Miss Quested and her future
mother-in-law to the Malabar Caves for the day. It
might seem like a simple thing when you first have
the idea, but taking someone who is not a member
of your culture and who does not speak your language on an “outing” is not for the timid.
provide the food for our supper and I should not give
her any money.
The next day arrived and she showed up precisely at
3 p.m., with a pick-up truck on its way. I gave her
the roses and card I had bought for her birthday. We
had to wait for the truck and then ended up with a
two-year-old, the nephew of the people who owned
the truck. I liked this child but it was time for his
nap and he was irritable. He ended up eventually
falling asleep on my lap and wetting his pants. I didn’t really mind.
Of course it occurred to me, and more than once,
that she was suddenly being nice to me so I’d give
her my computer and everything else when I left
Thailand. She’d come into my house when I was
gone to my sister’s funeral in America and “borrowed” my charcoal burner and dish soap and never
returned them. She only fixed the light over the
stairs, without which I was in danger of falling and
breaking my head, the day before the rent was due.
Basic fairness wasn’t in her scheme of things- I
knew that; whatever was mine was hers and whatever was hers was hers, too. But even if she had already set her sights on my possessions, it didn’t
diminish the sheer magnitude of her effort to establish social connection.
My landlady’s feet could barely reach the pedals and
she drove nervously, as though afraid of running off
the road, but she drove slowly and we were on back
roads with no traffic so it seemed safe enough. We
were both extremely polite, like people on a first
date. I speak terrible Thai, and knowing this, I did it
anyway. It had to be done. At first I had ridden in
total silence but I couldn’t live with that so I said,
“Baby sleeps,” and then smiled. And then later,
“Rice field,” and then smiled and nodded. And
The ladies in the rice field were cutting it with hand
sickles. It was hot, yet they had their arms and
faces covered in protection against the sun. There
29
119 Reflection
Continued from page 30
have to be not that many places in the world where
rice is still harvested with hand sickles and it has to
be brutally hard work. “Chowna gin whiskey tuk
wan,” she said, “Farmers drink whiskey everyday.”
To which I responded, “Chai-ka.” Yes. Oh, yes. I
wanted to drink whiskey, and I was only watching
them.
Tired of fish and Mama?
Bite into some Sticky Rice!
My landlady told me that people in her family were
not farmers, but owned the land and paid the farmers.
She was proud of this, understandably. It had to be
such hard work that it was almost a death sentence.
Certainly the work was so physically demanding, and
so poorly paid, that it required total submission to a
subsistence existence just above the level of animals.
Anything beyond eating, sleeping, and working was
out of the question.
We arrived back at my house just as the sun was setting. She went and returned the truck and came back
on her motorcycle bringing two bottles of Leo beer,
garlic, lettuce and sausage. “Brio,” she said, pointing
to the sausage, “Adjan chop brio.” “Sour. Teacher
likes sour.” She knew I liked sour food. I was
deeply touched by this and almost cried. Maybe it
was the beer. Maybe it was the long, tense day. But
no one else in Thailand, as far as I knew, had any
idea that I liked sour food.
The sausage was indeed sour, and almost all fat and
gristle. She showed me how to cut a small piece and,
along with a clove of garlic, wrap it in a lettuce leaf
and eat it. We sat in the twilight eating raw cloves of
garlic and tiny pieces of sausage wrapped in lettuce
leaves until the lettuce was gone.
When she had gone, leaving only the sound of her
motorcycle fading in and out, I imagined her going
toward her own home through the dusky light of the
winding little lane, then I put everything away, turned
out the kitchen lights and went upstairs to bed.
It’s delicious.
It must have been about 7 in the evening, but I was
utterly exhausted. I imagined my landlady, in the
same state of exhaustion from her Herculean effort at
friendship throughout the long afternoon, also turning in early. As I fell asleep I marveled at the
courage she had shown and the success she had
achieved in making a fragile bridge, absent common
language, across the misty chasm of cultural differences.
30
A Bunch of Pretty Pictures
Submitted by Alex Medina, CBOD 120
31
Picture Spread
Picture Spread
32
Gaysia
Where Peace Corps Thailand’s
Gaysia
GLBTQ voices are heard
Feb.March.April.May 2009
Gaysia, Peace Corps Thailand’s venue for articles concerning GLBTQ
issues, is now part of Sticky Rice. Our minds are open and your topics
are welcome. Turn the page and check out this issue’s submissions.
33
A Slow but Sure Start to Gender Equality
Gaysia
By Alex Medina, CBOD 120 and Army brat
homosexuality as a mental disorder. However if you
consider that our own military still operates under the
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which does more
harm than good, a step like this by any country’s military to address LGBT issues positively is a step in
the right direction for LGBT rights worldwide.
I have never understood the discrimination of LGBT
people by the military. Most military officials claim it
is a matter of national security and group cohesion.
However, no evidence indicates LGBT troops affect
national security and some research shows that 72
percent of US soldiers wouldn’t mind serving with an
openly gay comrade. For most in the US military, it
becomes an issue of morality.
November 29 has unofficially become Thailand’s
National Human Rights day for Sexual Diversity.
This year marked the first ever celebration of the
day, back in 2006, when the Thai Queer Network
filed a petition with the Ministry of Defence to
change the sor dor 43 conscription certificates,
which exempted Thai transsexuals from service due
to “mental disorder.”
Being labeled with a “mental disorder” prevents
many katoeys from being able to find employment,
since sor dor 43 certificates are necessary for most
jobs. In the end, on March 19, 2008, the Ministry
agreed to remove the description for the document
and katoeys will be described on their sor dor 43
certificates as “belonging to a third category.”
Some might cite the physical differences between the
sexes as a reason to exclude katoeys. That argument
doesn’t hold up since women are allowed to serve in
the Thai military. Since a katoey lives life as a
woman, she should still be allowed to serve in the
military if she chooses and signup as a woman, fulfilling requirements as a woman.
However the signs of progressive and complete future acceptance can be seen within the Thai military.
The Ministry’s removal of “mental disorder” and the
approval of the Yogyakarta Principles is an encouraging sign that Thailand is not solely developing economically, but it is also developing to include social
inclusion.
Gender equality is off to a slow start in Thailand, as
with most countries worldwide. In 2007, the Thai
Constitutional Drafting Assembly failed to redefine
the term “gender” to protect sexual diversity, despite
advocates participating in the drafting. However,
Thailand’s acceptance of the Yogyakatra Principles
on the Application of International Human Rights
Law in Relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender
Identity and the Ministry’s removal of “mental disorder” shows signs that Thailand is becoming friendlier toward LGBT rights.
This might seem trivial, considering that the American Psychological Association in 1973 declassified
34
Miscommunication isn’t a Means to an End
Gaysia
By Becky Korpi, TCCO 120/Sticky Rice co-editor
A few months ago, my counterpart said perhaps the
coolest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say about sexual
orientation. We were sitting at her desk in our fourth
grade classroom, browsing through her Thai-English
dictionary while our kids were brushing their teeth outside. We stumbled across the word “bisexual.” At this
time, we’d also been living together for about six
months. Little by little we let each other deeper into the
recesses of who we really are, and so I decided to take a
risk. Pointing to “bisexual” in the soft, secondhand dictionary, I also pointed to myself.
The brain processes of my counterpart are more Western than Thai most of the time, but even so, I’ve had
enough experience with this particular conversation to
know that it’s nearly impossible to gauge who’s going
to put their hand on your shoulder and who’s going to
use that same hand to slug you in the face after you
drop the queer bomb. In America, I’ve received both
reactions and been shocked by who they came from.
After taking a moment to process my message, my
counterpart sat back and said, “I accept you for everything you are. Kao-jai mai ka?” We were speaking my
language, but I had no words in return because in my
life up to that point, nobody had ever said that.
For awhile, the story ended there. Then it acquired a
new chapter.
After the election, she and I were sitting at the computers in our living room, reading our respective news
websites. I was engrossed in a story about San Francisco taking away gay marriage rights and another state
banning gay adoption. I voiced this to my counterpart,
who said very cooly, “That’s okay. I agree with those.”
I know it’s rude to stare at people, but I couldn’t help it.
This woman, who had so quickly become one of my
closest friends and greatest allies in this country, was
saying exactly what I was tired of hearing in America. I
wanted to scream, How can you accept me for everything that I am if you don’t accept two women or two
men falling in love and wanting to be spouses and parents?
But ask anyone; I’m a greng-jai expert. So without one
word I simply got up and went upstairs to bed. My
silent treatment is a huge red flag that you’ve crossed
35
the line. I was upset for the next two or three days
because it felt like a breach of trust. The years of
arguments I’ve had with my parents over these
same issues came flooding back in a wave of black
nostalgia, and I wasn’t sure if everything could be
100 percent again between me and her if she was
going to take this bull-headed stance on gay civil
rights.
But after watching a stubbled, hairy adult katoey
play volleyball at our school, I realized my mistake. When I talk about gay people and she talks
about gay people, we’re not thinking of the same
people. I’m thinking of mild-mannered citizens
with careers and Madonna’s entire discography.
She can only think of what she knows – the obnoxious lady-men in short shorts and purple eyeshadow that wander around our village and cause
trouble because they have nothing else to do.
“They make our village dirty,” I’ve heard her say
before, and truthfully, I see her point when thinking of them with adopted children. The way her
opinion formed has nothing to do with me, but
maybe after another year I can help soften it.
The point is, I suppose, that miscommunication is
not always a language thing. With Thai people
who speak fluent English, it’s sometimes easy to
forget where you are and what kind of culture
you’re dealing with. Think twice -- Madonna’s
entire discography is worth every penny, but not
worth losing a best friend over.
Meet the Editors
Meet the Editors
So what gives us the authority to manhandle your words, pictures
and innermost thoughts and feelings? This is what -- a one-timeonly glimpse at why we’re qualified for this, and also how sadly
unqualified we are for the TCCO program. But don’t tell anyone.
atalie Kalish (Group 120, TCCO) is a native of
Ohio and a graduate of Valparaiso University in
Northwest Indiana where she studied English. Before
joining the Peace Corps she worked at The Great
Books Foundation in Chicago, Illinois as a copy-editing intern for their quarterly publication “The Common Review.” She currently resides in Chaiyaphum
province in Issan with her dog, Narak. She likes pina
coladas and getting caught in the rain.
Becky Korpi (Group 120, TCCO) hails from the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan (say yah to da U.P.,
eh?) and is a proud graduate of Northern Michigan
University. She holds a bachelor of science degree
in English/Writing with a journalism concentration.
Prior to Peace Corps service she worked as Features
Editor of her university’s newspaper, The orth
Wind, and won Good News Awards in 2007 and
2008 for her feature articles in Marquette Monthly.
She now lives in Buriram province with her foulmouthed counterpart and three bratty little boys.
This issue is brought to you by: strawberry cereal bars at 2 a.m., Ovaltine 3 in 1, Lady Gaga,
vent sessions with Kate Selvig and Cassie Wheeler, Genesis (the Phil Collins era duh), my
counterpart’s sons throwing chicken at me while I’m working, Mariah Carey’s Greatest Hits
36