Rayong

Where to begin? I arrived in Rayong city without incident, where I was met by my primary co-teacher and her husband (who also teaches at the school).  They drove me to the house of the assistant to the principal where I would be staying during my visit to site.  After I had exhausted my meager Thai vocabulary, which is to say after about 15 minutes, my hosts and I continued to smile at one another for another half hour or so and then they asked if I wanted to go to a party.  I should note here that I still haven’t quite gotten the hand of some of the finer subtleties of Thai such as whether I’m being asked a yes/no question about the past, being invited to some future event, or being queried about a current preference.  So, I just did what I general do in these situations which is to smile some more and make vague sounds of agreement/affirmation. 

In this particular instance, I was gratified to discover that I had in fact understood correctly when we actually got in the car and drove to a big field with close to 400 8-person tables set up in it.  At the front of the field a giant stage had been erected, and there were a few big screens set up at intervals along the sides. This turned out to be the celebration for the district mayor’s son beginning his time as a monk (generally for 3 months; the Thai government actually mandates paid leave for this), which most Thai men do when they turn 20 or so.  Since this was the mayor, it was a fancier affair than most, which in this case meant: 1) a bottle of whiskey on every table; 2) a mix of Thai and Chinese dishes; and 3) professional entertainment (instead of local high school talent). 

I won’t go into an in depth description of the night’s events, suffice it to say that a good time was had by all, and I got to meet the principal of my school, who had been taught by a Peace Corps volunteer when he was in high school.  This was gratifying because he told me that that experience was what started him on the path to learn English and eventually go into education, which also means that he is very supportive and is evidence that the Peace Corps has long-term, continuing impact here.

My visit to what will be my home for the next two years was a whirlwind of meeting people (e.g. the school teachers, students, and staff), visiting potential homestay families (which is where I’ll be living for the first 3 months), and seeing some of the local sights, such as an old market, a restaurant on a mushroom farm, and of course the beach recently pictured on the right. 

Everyone seemed very excited to have a volunteer coming, so I’m hopeful that this carries through to my actual presence there, especially once the novelty has worn off.