My Two Homes

I arrived in Ratchaburi three days ago. It was absolutely surreal to see the town that i had come to call my own five years ago while I was doing my student exchange in Thailand. The town has gotten a little bigger with a few more department stores but overall it is the same place. How strange! I took a bike ride throughout the town and visited all the places I used to go. Some stores that i remember are no longer there but for the most part it was exactly the same. The market still smelled of fish, beef, fruit, great Thai food, and all the other smells that are specific to a Thai market that i don't have the vocabulary to describe.

Seeing my host family has been absolutely terrific too. They are some of the nicest people you will ever meet and it is nice to see them again. Hi, my little host brother, is a lot bigger but other than that, my family is more or less the same. Hanging around the house with them has been great and a wonderful experience... a lot of things are just as they used to be. I still will read out on the porch, Na Nan will still ask me lots of questions, the food cooked by Pae and Mae is still amazing, etc.

And it is weird going from India to Thailand to America. Ratchaburi is like an adopted home for me with my adopted family. In a lot of ways, Thailand isn't really such a foreign culture to me. It is home. But in two days I go to my other home, my real home. How bizarre! I would be lying if I said I am not looking forward to coming back to the USA but it is bittersweet leaving India and then my home and family in Thailand.

This should be the last blog I write before i get back to the USA so thanks to all who read it! Hope it gave some insight in to my trip. Thanks for all those who posted comments too; they were really fun for me to read.

Tyson's Thailand Adventures...

Well, a few days ago I came to Thailand from India. I am going to be here for a total of 10 days before returning to the States. Just for those that do not know, I spent a year in Thailand as an exchange student in high school so Thailand holds a special place to me.

So far Thailand has been everything I thought it would be. I absolutely love this place. I love the people, the food, the language, everything. It is a wonderful place. The first day i was here I just ate as much as I possibly could getting all of the food that I remember loving. And guess what? It is as good as it ever was. That evening I went to dinner with my former host sister and host brother. It was great. Evan was with us (a guy who is traveling with me who was also an EAP student in India) and it was really fun chatting in Thai and English and just having a good time.

Speaking Thai has been wonderful. Thailand is really the only place one can use their Thai if they know it. I can't even really use it in restaurants in America. When I first got to Thailand it was really confusing; I was speaking half in Thai and half in the broken Hindi I know. But after about 2-3 days my Thai has really come back. Here in Railay, my favorite beach in Thailand, I have been making friends with all the locals. There is something wonderful about being the only white person in a tourist dominated destination that knows Thai. You just get to see things, do things, and understand things that most people just don't get to. I just really love this language and am realizing just how much I have missed Thailand.

Soon I will go to Ratchaburi, the town I stayed in for my exchange program. I will get to see my host family and just wander around that town again. I am very excited about that. I am glad I came to Railay first though because i needed to practice my Thai. In Ratchaburi, not to many people speak English. Imagine a white person coming in speaking a broken Hindi-Thai mix...

Hopefully I will be able to write one last time in Ratchaburi (where the Internet is cheaper!) about Thailand and my host family. But I hope this little excerpt gives you an idea of what is going on.

Top 5

Today is my last day in India. I leave for the airport in about 9 hours from now. How strange? I said goodbye to Marang and Madhu, to several of my roommates who will not be here when I leave, and some people at the study center. Although, really, for the past few days as I have gotten ready to go home and pack, I have really been just trying to kill time.

So for one final blog I think I will write the “Top 5 Things I Will Miss From India”:

5. Traveling- India is a wonderful place to travel because it is cheap and because there is just so much to see. I feel like I have seen some of India but there is still so much to see. I mean, each town in India seems to be an adventure. Each region/ state is like a new country with different customs, habits, and sometimes even language. And each place has its own unique beauty to it.

4. My Kids- The kids that I worked with while volunteering were really amazing. it was one of the most depressing places to visit, the slum that is, but they were always so full of life and joy. They really were a light in a truly dark place. I will miss them all and their crazy antics.

3. Realizing I’m in India- Yep, it still happens… Every once in a while you will see things that totally remind you that you are in India. For example, as I was coming out of the metro station, Delhi’s symbol of reinvigoration, modernity, and technology, I saw a cow looking through the glass down at me. Another example, I saw a bull drown carriage pulling barrels of gasoline on the street to deliver them to a gas station. There are countless times where I am taken aback, even still, and I realize that I am in India.

2. Kareem’s and Thali Plates- These are the two essential food groups for me in India. Kareem’s is a Mughal restaurant in the heart of Old Delhi that serves by far the best mutton one will ever eat. And I just generally love thali plates. I probably order two thali plates from Fiesta Green every week. Yesterday when I called for the last time, I said my name and then he read me the order I was to give him. I will miss that paneer!

1. Marang, Madhu, and all My Friends at Church- The church i went to was really my lifeline to India. The problem with the EAP program is that it basically puts American students with American students. I have made some really good American friends but only a few Indian ones. And the church that I went to really was how I met Indians and who I became friends with. I will miss lunches at Pastor Madhu’s house, dinners at Emmanuel’s. And most of all, I will miss Marang, the man who volunteer with. He is an amazing man with an amazing faith and to get to know him has been a real privilege. I will miss them all.

Hopefully this blog wasn’t too sappy but, hey, I am leaving a place I have lived in for 6 months that has tried me at times and made me fall in love with it at others. I think it is only my right to be a little sentimental.

I will most likely be writing a few more blogs from Thailand before I come home and stop the blog. I will be going to Railay Beach for about 4 days and then seeing my host family for about five days. Very exciting! Thanks for reading the blog and for the comments to all those who have posted them. I hope the blog has given you an idea about what my time in India has been