As requested by Anne
Really, I have a hard time thinking of living in Thailand as being foreign as much as it's the essence of home for me. Well, AN essence. I'm not used to only having one way to define home. In any case, we moved to Thailand when I was six, and at the time, I was not happy. I apparently used words on my mother she was not aware I knew, let alone how to use them in context. I remember that we lived in an old hotel that smelled like musty cigarette smoke and faintly sewer-ish for six months and that there was nowhere to get laundry done, so mom had to go to the store and figure out what was laundry detergent. I remember eating a lot of stale choco-krispies. And I remember making the distinct mistake of brushing my teeth before I went down to breakfast and drank pineapple juice (my favorite at the time. Since that experience, I have not been able to drink pineapple juice without gagging.
I remember the old school, which was by a klong (a canal) that had a distinct sewer smell to it and was blackish-brown with loads of duckmoss growing over it. Dad's classroom was practically IN a tree and we could see all the birds and animals that lived in it. Whenever a snake was on the playground, especially when it fell out of a tree, you could tell because everyone would stop what they were doing and run over to that spot. We played a lot of chinese jumprope and another jump/acrobatic game with two metal pipes that were propped up off the ground. I remember learning to do flips off of those bars.
I remember walking down the street past noodle stands on the streets and the spices were so intense that I would hold my breath and close my eyes until mom told me we were past it. I remember ordering a hamburger once and it was so full of onions in the meat patty that I began to cry because it didn't taste right. I remember all the teachers and their kids CROWDING into the McDonalds down the street when it opened because we all craved American food.
Shakey's Pizza, though out of business now, I believe, is and forever will be my favorite kind of pizza. It was the first pizza place to open out there and we would always go out for a pizza and then over to the TCBY and I would get a white chocolate soft serve. On the way back to the hotel where we lived, we would pass by countless stands of souveniers, clothes, and pirated tapes. I remember the clear smell of leather in one of those shops. Nothing was airconditioned.
When we moved out to the new campus, the school wasn't finished, so we had to take busses back into Bangkok to the old school. We'd have to get up while it was still dark out and wait because the traffic on Sukumvit Rd was horrible and it would often take several hours to get to and from school. The busses were flamboyant and often had furly red curtains and I remember one bus had a round table and chandelier in the back. I remember the traffic distinctly because it was always a trial to get to birthday parties and many were the times that a child or two missed the cake and games.
I remember that the maids were afraid of the apartment compound and said they kept seeing ghosts, so a group of monks came in and performed an exorcism on the apartments. They sang in the deep gutteral form and it was eerie looking back, but at the time I remember being forced to keep from squirming. I had a friend over that day and I wanted more than anything to run on the field and play, not be respectful of the show. Less than a year later, I remember the same monks coming to our school to bless the classroom of Mr. Ian, who was shot in the coup. Mom had gone away to study in the U.S. to get her teaching certification at the time. Whenever CNN would play news about the coup, the Thai government would censor it, replacing it with pictures of bamboo and traditional Thai music.
I remember at certain times throughout the day (was it 8am and 5:30 pm? I don't entirely remember) television programming would stop and the national anthem would play. I remember the kite festival and every year in Thai class, we would make a different kind of kite. I remember also making a "plaque" with my name on it in Thai and I was severely disappointed with how my name looked in Thai. Not nearly interesting enough. I also remember burning myself on a hot plate learning to make a type of Thai cookie.
I remember my parents continually dragging me to classical music concerts at the royal theater and I also remember throwing a knock down, drag out hissy fit the fourth time they tried. I still get cranky if I don't go to bed on time. ;)
I remember watching the monsoons go through and in the middle of the day, the sky would go pitch black and the lightning would be so close and so bright that it would light up the place making it look like early morning. I remember how the streets would begin to flood up to your ankles and if there was a blackout, everyone would go outside to watch the rain. I remember once being out there and kicking around and feeling something slither over my foot (I used to go barefoot EVERYWHERE) and I have worn shoes ever since.
I remember Alex walking over the roofs of the muban right outside the compound. The roofs were made primarily of tile and corrugated tin. He fell through the roof into someone's living room.
I remember Kimberly always needing to go to the doctor for rabies shots because she would play with the stray dogs and they would inevitably bite her.
I remember finding change in the couch and sneaking into the muban with it to buy candies and the little petroleum balloon kits. In particular, I remember a chinese candy that was thin red wafers and had a distinctly fruity taste. Those were some of my favorites. I also remember it cost five baht to get a pack of little gunpowder poppers that we would throw down by eachother's feet. A big right of passage was learning to pop one in your fingers.
The kids in the compound were very close and we used to play "night games" every Friday and Saturday. Red rover, capture the flag, and jail break (a version of "cops and robbers" were the most popular). I found a hiding place over the wall of one of the apartment floors and nobody ever found me there. I looked down from that spot and noticed a banana tree just over the edge. The next day, I showed it to a friend, and so the kids got together and tied a metal hook that we had pried loose from the fence to a bamboo stick and we would snag the bananas and eat them until the people in the muban figured out what was happening to their bananas and we got a good talking to.
I remember loy kratong as one of my favorite holidays, because you would make a beautiful little float out of banana trunk and cover it with banana leaves and flowers and candles and incense. You would light the candle and set it out onto the water. One year, as a treat, dad took me out onto the river in a longtail boat to let me release my float onto the water. The candles all down the river were beautiful.
My favorite holiday was songkran. A week off and you soak eachother with water for luck. Enough said.
I remember constantly tattling on my maid who would constantly tattle on me. She was a good woman but oh, how I resented her in place of my mother when my mom was in the U.S. When I was in the fourth grade, she started getting sick... forgetting things and being unable to make the trip out to the store to get food. Mom gave her money to see the doctor and she started to get better, but the monk at her wat told her she wasn't putting her faith in the right things. She donated her gold earrings to the wat, stopped taking the medications and mom and dad decided that she should go. Two months later, she had a stroke and became completely paralyzed on her left side.
I remember riding motorcycles to catch a tuk tuk to catch a train or a bus or a water taxi to get into town. No helemets. Huz-zah.
So, um... yeah. That's just a bit of what I remember about living in Thailand.
I remember the old school, which was by a klong (a canal) that had a distinct sewer smell to it and was blackish-brown with loads of duckmoss growing over it. Dad's classroom was practically IN a tree and we could see all the birds and animals that lived in it. Whenever a snake was on the playground, especially when it fell out of a tree, you could tell because everyone would stop what they were doing and run over to that spot. We played a lot of chinese jumprope and another jump/acrobatic game with two metal pipes that were propped up off the ground. I remember learning to do flips off of those bars.
I remember walking down the street past noodle stands on the streets and the spices were so intense that I would hold my breath and close my eyes until mom told me we were past it. I remember ordering a hamburger once and it was so full of onions in the meat patty that I began to cry because it didn't taste right. I remember all the teachers and their kids CROWDING into the McDonalds down the street when it opened because we all craved American food.
Shakey's Pizza, though out of business now, I believe, is and forever will be my favorite kind of pizza. It was the first pizza place to open out there and we would always go out for a pizza and then over to the TCBY and I would get a white chocolate soft serve. On the way back to the hotel where we lived, we would pass by countless stands of souveniers, clothes, and pirated tapes. I remember the clear smell of leather in one of those shops. Nothing was airconditioned.
When we moved out to the new campus, the school wasn't finished, so we had to take busses back into Bangkok to the old school. We'd have to get up while it was still dark out and wait because the traffic on Sukumvit Rd was horrible and it would often take several hours to get to and from school. The busses were flamboyant and often had furly red curtains and I remember one bus had a round table and chandelier in the back. I remember the traffic distinctly because it was always a trial to get to birthday parties and many were the times that a child or two missed the cake and games.
I remember that the maids were afraid of the apartment compound and said they kept seeing ghosts, so a group of monks came in and performed an exorcism on the apartments. They sang in the deep gutteral form and it was eerie looking back, but at the time I remember being forced to keep from squirming. I had a friend over that day and I wanted more than anything to run on the field and play, not be respectful of the show. Less than a year later, I remember the same monks coming to our school to bless the classroom of Mr. Ian, who was shot in the coup. Mom had gone away to study in the U.S. to get her teaching certification at the time. Whenever CNN would play news about the coup, the Thai government would censor it, replacing it with pictures of bamboo and traditional Thai music.
I remember at certain times throughout the day (was it 8am and 5:30 pm? I don't entirely remember) television programming would stop and the national anthem would play. I remember the kite festival and every year in Thai class, we would make a different kind of kite. I remember also making a "plaque" with my name on it in Thai and I was severely disappointed with how my name looked in Thai. Not nearly interesting enough. I also remember burning myself on a hot plate learning to make a type of Thai cookie.
I remember my parents continually dragging me to classical music concerts at the royal theater and I also remember throwing a knock down, drag out hissy fit the fourth time they tried. I still get cranky if I don't go to bed on time. ;)
I remember watching the monsoons go through and in the middle of the day, the sky would go pitch black and the lightning would be so close and so bright that it would light up the place making it look like early morning. I remember how the streets would begin to flood up to your ankles and if there was a blackout, everyone would go outside to watch the rain. I remember once being out there and kicking around and feeling something slither over my foot (I used to go barefoot EVERYWHERE) and I have worn shoes ever since.
I remember Alex walking over the roofs of the muban right outside the compound. The roofs were made primarily of tile and corrugated tin. He fell through the roof into someone's living room.
I remember Kimberly always needing to go to the doctor for rabies shots because she would play with the stray dogs and they would inevitably bite her.
I remember finding change in the couch and sneaking into the muban with it to buy candies and the little petroleum balloon kits. In particular, I remember a chinese candy that was thin red wafers and had a distinctly fruity taste. Those were some of my favorites. I also remember it cost five baht to get a pack of little gunpowder poppers that we would throw down by eachother's feet. A big right of passage was learning to pop one in your fingers.
The kids in the compound were very close and we used to play "night games" every Friday and Saturday. Red rover, capture the flag, and jail break (a version of "cops and robbers" were the most popular). I found a hiding place over the wall of one of the apartment floors and nobody ever found me there. I looked down from that spot and noticed a banana tree just over the edge. The next day, I showed it to a friend, and so the kids got together and tied a metal hook that we had pried loose from the fence to a bamboo stick and we would snag the bananas and eat them until the people in the muban figured out what was happening to their bananas and we got a good talking to.
I remember loy kratong as one of my favorite holidays, because you would make a beautiful little float out of banana trunk and cover it with banana leaves and flowers and candles and incense. You would light the candle and set it out onto the water. One year, as a treat, dad took me out onto the river in a longtail boat to let me release my float onto the water. The candles all down the river were beautiful.
My favorite holiday was songkran. A week off and you soak eachother with water for luck. Enough said.
I remember constantly tattling on my maid who would constantly tattle on me. She was a good woman but oh, how I resented her in place of my mother when my mom was in the U.S. When I was in the fourth grade, she started getting sick... forgetting things and being unable to make the trip out to the store to get food. Mom gave her money to see the doctor and she started to get better, but the monk at her wat told her she wasn't putting her faith in the right things. She donated her gold earrings to the wat, stopped taking the medications and mom and dad decided that she should go. Two months later, she had a stroke and became completely paralyzed on her left side.
I remember riding motorcycles to catch a tuk tuk to catch a train or a bus or a water taxi to get into town. No helemets. Huz-zah.
So, um... yeah. That's just a bit of what I remember about living in Thailand.