It’s Time: Get Out Of Your Box

Thai! We hear this word quite often but do we really understand the three W’s about it (Who, What, Where) . This is something I wanted to know was what does Thai mean. Just like when Genevieve Pendrageon says, “We all live in a box, be it our minds, lifestyle, jobs or even routine.” When he says this he is trying to tell us to stop for a second and go out of this little box we have made and see how others live their lives because this world is bigger than just you. So now let’s look into the lives of the Thai people and their different lifestyles and culture that they obtain.

One way to make your traveling experience better is just like Annette White states in her writing “Bucket list”, “The deepest travel happens when you integrate into a community by actively participating, opening yourself to interact with the locals and understanding the way others live.” From the international living webpage you can find an article titled lifestyle in Thailand which states, “ Whether you are living in the steamy, urban capital of Bangkok, the northern Lanna city of Chiang Mai, or near one of the many spectacular beaches that have made the country famous, Thailand has much to offer everyone.” This shows how popular Thailand is for tourism and why it is so popular.

I wake up around 5:30 or 6:00 because I’m an american and I must shower and braid my hair and get dressed before heading downstairs to help with the kids and to eat breakfast at about 7:00. After breakfast my fellow missionaries and myself clean up and do our dishes then go back upstairs to do our J.A.M. (Jesus And Me) time until about 8:00 when we leave to go to the school to teach english. We arrive at the school about 8:30 or 9:00 and all the kids run up waving saying hello teachers. Then we all head into the cafeteria type building where we all are together kindergarten to 6th grade plus my three fellow missionaries and our guide and her husband along with a translator and a few other officials of the school plus some friends of the guides whom are interested in what we are doing there. From about 9:30 to 10:00 we stay in that building and teach the kids songs and get the comfortable with us and speaking some english. Next at about 10:00 we break into three groups K to 2, 3 to 4, and 5 to 6. Each one of us teachers taught different lessons I taught sports. At about 11:00 we came back together in the first building and taught them about friendship through skits. Next we would leave for lunch at the only restaurant in the whole town. Everyday we went to the school we at lunch at this restaurant. We went to the school for three days straight and after school we would do other activities and play with the kids. My fellow missionaries and myself were all female so it was lucky I could play soccer because I was able to relate more with the boys in the way that I connected with them through soccer and I got to teach them soccer. The boys just called me teacher because I would teach them new things about soccer. At 6:00 to about 7:00 we would eat dinner with the whole family. Shortly after we would do worship after finishing all chores and activities to get ready for the next day. Then we would help the kids with homework and head off to bed at about 9 or 9:30.

The monarchy is loved by all in thailand and you must respect the King and Queen. There are pictures of the King, Queen, and even sometimes the Prince all over Thailand. The land has rice everywhere and shade trees throughout the land, because of the heat and the rain. Everything is outside such as restaurants, stores, small shops and more. The nights are still hot during the summer but during the winter there can be crazy cold nights when it gets below zero also most nights it rains and the days tend to be hot & humid, it can rain randomly throughout the day. “Around 90% of the Thai people practice Buddhism, 3.8% are Muslims, .5% are Christians, and .6% are others.”(commisceo global). There are Buddhist temples everywhere with Buddha statues everywhere. At the Buddhist altars or temples you find many offerings such as water bottles, food, really anything. Religion is big in the everyday Thai life. Their food consists every meal you either have rice or noodles at least also you have either a fruit or veggie. Thai food tends to be more spicy. One of their desserts which is like a crepe is Roti; which is a egg, flour, sugar, butter, oil and a topping such as honey. The recipe can be found also at templeofthai.com where it states, “ It is most popularly served as a snack topped with sweetened condensed milk, white sugar and banana or even chocolate”. There is some of the best pineapple in thailand. You can always find a pineapple shop on the road side.

Well hello American white girl. Yup, that is how it felt going out to eat because people will stare and be in shock to see you. Also I’m a wimp when it comes to hot stuff but the Thai people are not they love hot and spicy. When we went out to eat it tended to be hard to communicate what we wanted when we didn’t have our guide family with us. The food is definitely different from American food their Hamburgers are more like tiny chicken slider burgers. Oh but you must have Roti it is so delicious and tasty I could eat 20 of them in a row because they were my favorite Thai food. So next I should tell you a bit more about the Monarchy well if you are an outsider you do not speak of the King and Queen and one must never speak bad upon them if you do you will be in big trouble. You could go to prison for 10 years for just speaking bad about them. Now religion, so I happened to be in a Christian home which meant I went to church, one english speaking, one Thai speaking, and one even Chinese church, but all Christian churches but most of Thai people are Buddhist.

Genevieve states on his webpage gpendrageon.com that, “I believe that the “real” Thailand or as the Thai people call it “Thainess”, is really in the way the locals live, play, eat and hang out when they have free time.” Genevieve shows us what the Thai people really believe makes them Thai. The languages they speak is Thai,Chinese, Lao, Malay, Mon-Khmer, and most second language is English which is stated on the Commisceo Global website. This really shows how the Thai people are not close minded to tourism but welcome it by knowing and understanding various languages. There are many tribes in Thailand but some of the tribes that are willing to be on show to keep their practices alive are the hill tribes in the Northern region of Thailand. There are four main hill tribes they are the Karen Long Neck tribe, the Hmong tribe, the Lahu tribe, and the Akha tribe. You can find more information on the tribes themselves on 1stopchiangmai.com. When I spoke with one of the locals Narli she stated that, “The hill tribes came down from the hills to provide and preserve and protect their tribe and their cultures but they were not forced to go down the hills but they choose to go done to protect and provide better for their tribes.” Although it may seem cruel to have them on show of their lives but in all reality it helps they to stay alive and keep their traditions. After speaking to one of the older women in the Karen Long Neck tribe we found out that their tribe is slowly dying off because our society say they can no longer put rings on their young because of how it changes the bone structure in their necks which causes them to become very weak but the kids of this generation who already have the rings can no longer go to school because of how fragile their necks are.The Karen Long Neck tribe wears the rings for protects.

Oh how I love Thai people. It’s crazy how amazing,respectful, and grateful they are in the conditions they live in. All the stores and shops tend to have good, kind people working at them but they aren’t much help and if they know you’re from somewhere else they will charge you more than the normal price for things. The Thai people have very strong culture backgrounds. In Thai culture the man is the head of the household and the women mostly cook,clean, and raise the kids. If you are in Thailand always take your shoes off before entering any building or inside area. Never show the bottom of your foot to someone it is equivalent to the Americans way of flipping someone off. In their culture women dress very modest and covered to a modest amount. In the hill tribes their are mostly women left who run the tourist sites and also small children but little men. The people of the hill tribes are very sweet and understand and enjoy the tourism. I was able to put on a necklace similar to one of the Long Neck tribe’s necklaces and take a photo with them it was a unique and blessed experience just being able to see what it feels like to kind of wear what they do every day. It’s crazy to think they carry the necklace always. The story goes that long ago in the Karen Long neck tribe their was a fellow tribe that had been attacked by lions and the lions bit their necks so the Karen tribe became the long neck tribe because they began wearing the necklaces to protect themselves. Also if the women were to remove the necklaces their necks would brake. The different languages they speak can make it hard to communicate but at the same time they often try to know english which is helpful. Also most signs and such are in Thai and English so they can help you not to get lost.

Travel is a blessing and a gift that we all have today that maybe was not as accessible as in the past. It’s time to take advantage of this weather you like to travel by car, plane, or ship it’s so more than worth it. It’s always a new adventure a new experience. Be safe but take risks and find new things in life. Anything can happen when you travel and well we only have one life to live so live it. Get out of your own little world look into the lives of others don’t just stay in that comfy box of yours but see how the world works around you.