Year 7 Begins!

7 Years in Thailand

I am lucky to board this plane feeling just as excited as I did the day I moved to Thailand in 2009.  I feel older, much different, and of course I know much more of what I can expect when I arrive than I did the first time, but so far my experience has taught me one very important thing - this is something still the same no matter how many times I return, something that I readily share with anyone who asks the question, “So what is Thailand like!?”  Of all the things I could say, first and foremost I like to tell them that life in Thailand is Never Boring.

Myself and the Vice Director (Vice Principal) of our Chumpuang School.

So far, I have lived at least one year in the three different levels of what someone from the West might think of as ‘civilization,’ super-rural setting, transitioning-town setting, and finally a fully urban setting - I think of it less as ‘civilized’ or ‘uncivilized,’ and more along the lines of three levels of adventure!  I lived for a bit more than a year in the huge city of Bangkok, spent almost a year traveling around Thailand (working with an English camp company), lived for almost four years in the very rural countryside of Korat (100km from the capital in the town of Chumpuang), and I have recently moved to live fairly close to the largest town in Maha Sarakam (town of about 70,000, but most of whom are students at the University - during school breaks the place is a total ghost town!  But still much much bigger than the town I moved from.  I think Chumpuang has 5,000-6,000 people).  Living and working in the huge University of Maha Sarakam, I see quite a mix of both country and city life, but the same 2 words hold true - Rarely for the worse, almost always for the better, life really is Never Boring.

So, my giving such a short answer usually demands the follow-up question of, “Well, what do you mean by ‘Never Boring?’” and here, totally in my own head, things get tricky.  I immediately start analyzing what I know about this person asking, I wonder if they are already familiar with any Asian cultures, I might wonder what the word ‘Asia’ even means to them, maybe China or India being the largest and surely the most well-known countries, countries which yes, do share a few things between them but are for the most part very different although they share a border, and then both of these countries totally overshadowing all the thousands of people groups, nations without countries, sub-cultures within ethnic groups, massive immigration and emigration movements over the course of 3,000-4,000 recent years where other cultures besides the ones in these two giant countries started to make their own histories (Thailand having become some sort of unified entity about two-thirds of the way through that time period)…

LOVE spelled backwards haha, and no, I did not use that bicycle...
my market bike had a basket on the front!

I think how Asia and Africa, how all continents really, even Australia/Oceania I am sure, still have literally hundreds of different recognized people groups (and how many unrecognized!), each of which could have been their own countries if given the chance, its so easy for us to look for ways to generalize things but wow if all these gigantic colored landmasses on a map are not much more than that - just lines and colored spaces!  Just because one colored space on a map touches another colored space, and is in the general area of this other colored space here, doesn’t mean the places are alike - looking for ways to make blanket statements covering an entire country, let alone a continent?!  How can I even begin to explain, after living there six years I know full well that I am only just beginning to understand how different the Thai mindset is from my own, and even now I am seeing more each day of how the Esaan people where I live are different than the Central Thai, who are different than Southern Thai, all of whom are so different from the ‘small’ bordering countries of Myanmar and Cambodia, real and deserving answers to these questions should fill a whole book!  How can I boil it down into a 60-second description… and probably, many people would even get bored after just 60 seconds, I’m sure plenty are just looking for a 5-second description…

And all this time, the person I am talking to is probably starting to wonder why I am just staring off into space, they might be already looking for a way out before I even begin to respond.  If I am paying attention to them at all here, I might realize that I should just start talking, and not dive straight to the deep end when all they really were asking for may have been small talk.  If there is no time for a 30-minute description of what these words ‘Never Boring’ really mean to me, then I usually just reply with a recommendation to “Go see for yourself, you will not regret it!”  I give them my contact info if they have any questions on food, culture, or travel tips and I wish them well.

My house from May 2013-May 2015.  This is an upgrade from the house I lived in from April 2011-April 2012.
I loved this house, no matter how often things would break (and never get fixed), it had SO much character,
and it was mine!  Currently, I am told by my teacher friends, no one lives here because "no one but me could handle
living there!" I reply is something like, "Hey!  Who's supposed to be the one from a 'developed country' here?"

I love talking about Thailand, teaching others what little I know about Thailand, and the thought of getting to know another of the surrounding countries as well as I know Thailand (as well as I think I know it :) ), even the thought just leaves me a bit winded.  The countries of South East Asia may look small on a map, but if you have the chance to appreciate the differences in population density between USA or Canada and a country like Vietnam, also the length of time these places have been inhabited, then you can begin to understand how this area of the world packs insanely rich amounts of cultural detail.  Without doing any fact checking (wifi on the airplane is not free…yet :) ), to give a quick example I think that I remember the population of Bangladesh to be around 140 million people, and the country is the same size as the state of Wisconsin (a bit smaller than England).  Imagine if half the population of the USA all moved to Wisconsin, and then lived there for twenty generations.  Think first how tight water use would be, and land use for growing crops, but appreciate then how many local differences, all the micro-cultures, everything special and interesting that would emerge under that pressure!!  I think someone from Europe could appreciate and understand this a bit more than a North American, but then the more advanced levels of technology present also add their own influences to making these places all unique in their own right as well and… ah.  So many books could be written, so many talks, so much material for which professors could teach a class entitled something like “Asian Studies” in a condensed 8-week course, maybe one could even get by taking it online… (ha! could there be a class which takes on more total material?  I feel bad for the professor who is forced to abbreviate, and is there a single class that would do so for more of the potential material than such a class as Eastern Studies, Asian Studies, World History?) Anyways, of course the best plan here is to do one’s best and try to see it for yourself :).  Take a trip, better yet a gap year, no matter how old you are, no matter what the gap year is gapping, because it is NOT “a small world.”  Get out there for a week, a month, a year, (a lifetime :) ) and learn that for yourself.
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I make around USD$8,500 a year as a teacher, give or take about a thousand dollars depending on how many extra projects I take on or how many English camps I do on weekends - but this has been my average since 2009 (I keep close track, you can see a great example in my best friend’s article here).  I made more living in the city of Bangkok, but I also spent much, much more.  Nearly every summer though, I have still been lucky enough to leave Thailand and spend a month or two with my family.   With a bit of work looking online beforehand, a normal round-trip ticket to the USA costs about $1,000.  I use about half of what I make each year to pay my student loan bills (I studied at a private school in the USA, and they did give me quite a lot of scholarship money actually), and with the remaining money I always try to save enough to fund a yearly round-trip flight across the Pacific Ocean.

My salary might not sound like much to work with compared to what I know life to be in the USA, but God has always provided for me.  Providing for me still, whether through allowing me to find small side jobs to fund things like rent and my daily food needs, or blessing me through invitations from the many parents of students who take me out to lunch and/or dinner (yes, sometimes 2 meals in the same day!)… My life here brings infinitely more good things my way than bad.  I have made it out to visit my family now for 5 times out of the 6 years in Thailand, and during that time away, whether hanging out with strangers or spending the all-too-short time with old friends, long talks during this down-time lets me enjoy the experiences I have had all the more.

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So now, on the long plane flight back, I have a chance to write down some deeper thoughts I have had this year.  Right now I am thinking about the phenomenon of personal experience, but specifically how we can notice that experiences we go through in life can’t make as effective a transition into personal knowledge until our brains have a chance to process.  I see that we usually process any new knowledge as a comparison, and that many people don’t give themselves the time for this to take its due course.  Forced time, like a long plane flight/bus ride/train ride, or time that we purposely set aside for a long walk, a long bike ride, however long it can be - enjoy it.  Be mindful.  Reflect on the experiences that life has sent your way and appreciate them.  It is scientifically proven that even saying the words “thank you” a few times a day can bring a person real and testable health benefits :)  But, back to learning, don’t forget that it may be an incredibly lengthy process, it may be years to fully understand even a minor yet important detail (especially when dealing with other cultures), but the process itself really is simple.  When we see or hear something new, our brains immediately go to work, whether we realize it or not! :) comparing the new knowledge with things we already have ideas about.  It is reflected upon, compared with previous experience… sometimes it is happening faster than we can even control.  For some cool examples of that phenomenon, check out the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.  It amazes me every time, whether I read or reread the book, even a single chapter.  Our brains are amazing, and are always building, always growing our knowledge of ourselves and how we interact with the world around us, but still, it moves one step at a time, always just a bunch of simple comparisons going on in the brain.

In relation to that, analyzing my own learning, I don’t think that I’ve learned anything useful until I have had a chance to experience, reflect, and then physically return to the situation I spent the time experiencing in the first place.  Everything in our minds needs a base, a place from which we can judge, examples that have been set and selected in our own minds, consciously or sub-consciously, and it is this base from which we see where things are the same (expected), and where things are different.  This is learning.  As a teacher I appreciate this daily, working with students through each lesson, enjoying as a witness but also as a participant.  Additionally, as a traveler, I find myself purposely returning to places I have already visited - but I do try to return to them each just once.  I think that staying in one place is not the healthiest thing to do, but also endless travel can be dangerous in totally different ways - I balance the two desires of wanting to be well-traveled and wanting to be well-learned, by doing something like this:  Instead of going to one place ten times, or ten places one time each, I might choose five places and visit each of them twice, ideally with at least a year between visits.  In that time many things will have changed, but still many more will be the same, and the same can be said for ourselves over the course of a year.  By the same idea, I usually find myself reading books twice as well, and again, try to put at least a year between the first and second readings.  I figure that we can never hope to read even a fraction of all the books we have, so why not get the most out of the few books we do take the time to read.  A few years ago, I set a lifetime goal for myself of reading at least one book about each country in the entire world.  I am probably somewhere around 35 or 40 such books (and then I’ll probably read several of these twice :) ), so it seems like a pretty good lifetime goal…

One thing I have learned specifically this year, is that what we gain in life has so much to do with the present, so much more than we tend to give ourselves credit for, and with this thought I would like to remind all travelers of just how lucky you are to have had the chance to do what you’ve done with your time.  Maybe read that sentence again, because I really mean it!  But then - don’t stop there!  Speak to others, invite them, convince them, humbly preach to them about the dangers of staying in one place, leading a life where things pan out just as we expect them to.  I am not trying to be insulting to anyone who has the goal of dying in the same house in which they were born, but shoot!  If everything in life happens just as you thought it would, please tell me, what or where is the point of living?

I know I am lucky to say that I live a life that is Never Boring, but it is not only because I live in Thailand.  The outlook we begin with is something that matters immensely.  I have made the conscious choice over the past several years to be more appreciative of the things I have around me, and to never forget all the experiences I have had with those who have less than I do.  I was fortunate to have many good role models in both my high school and college years, my parents are great role models as well, and maybe the few wise decisions I have made for myself have some element of simple ‘good luck’ in them as well.  Regardless, I have learned full well that doing one’s best to stay thankful and stay mindful of all the positive things around us allows for an ever-increasing amount of satisfaction with the time that one has in this world.  Whether my life is progressing in the way I thought it would or not, having a positive outlook on life and remaining true to the faith that there is a God, One who will always provide for me when I keep that positive and grateful outlook on life,  guarantees that things work out better for me than they otherwise would have.  I can’t say that things will be even close to perfect, I mean hey, I have basically chosen to live a life that will guarantee me no roots, and no real home, anytime soon at all, but in the present I am always sure that things are going far better than they would have been if I would have remained the same doubting, negative, aggressive and rebellious person that I was for so many years of my past.  

Looking at one last (present and on-going) example, I see plenty of friends who have come to Thailand, stayed for a semester, a year, even several years, but end up leaving just as lost and confused as they were before they came.  Hard for me to believe, a sad situation for sure, but I must return to both these ideas of comparisons and of pre-disposed mentality - I think that there are other places in the world that probably would find them feeling excited, the way I feel about South East Asia, and that these people just need to continue searching.  Expectations are necessary in a learning process, but sometimes expectations can end up ruining things.  I am sure anyone can think of a time when just going into a situation barefoot (I like the term ‘barefoot’ to describe many of my favorite life experiences!), with nothing but a relaxed and open-minded attitude, found that things worked out much better than a situation debated back and forth for days beforehand.  Expectations can dull something that may have been otherwise very beautiful, and I am definitely guilty of having wronged myself in this way, robbed myself of experiences that should have been left to take their own course!

I can think of life like I think of food, be thankful for what is on the table, and
always maintain a healthy anticipation for whatever is coming next!

Here, I would like to give myself, and offer to anyone else, the reminder that sometimes it takes more than one bit of new information until the comparisons teach us anything useful - and it is up to us to not give up before all the pieces have a chance to come into play! - Keep moving forward, stay open to the possibility of new experience, or run the risk of the precious time we have remaining in life becoming something that brings anxiety instead of healthy anticipation.

Sitting here, thinking about Thailand, my mind naturally drifts to all my favorite things about that place, things I can’t wait to get back to, and it is to these things that I find myself re-dedicating motivation towards each year.  This probably tends to happen to me every summer, thinking of the things I miss, thinking of what I can do better when I get back, and getting excited for all the little things in between.  Things that make day to day life worth living.  I miss my students, and looking at some of these photos actually brings a few happy tears to my eyes.  No one knows you better than you, I don’t know anyone else as well as I know myself, I am enjoying the time even now, reflecting on what I have done this past year and looking forward to ways I can use my time all the more wisely in this next year to come.  It is ok to miss the past, just try not to regret, as long as we have hope for the future, no matter how big or small, things can always improve.  That is a pretty powerful and positive thought :)

I heard a very simple but great thought from a man giving a presentation on a TEDx Talk the other day - actually I think all the best statements about life are like that - simple yet solidly true - and this man said something along the lines of, “With all the technology in our lives, we no longer have free time to even get to know ourselves, let alone spend quality time with those physically around us.  Such a valuable thing is being stolen from us in exchange for what?”  Of course there are plenty of answers to that question, but be sure to try and find which answers are us just being defensive, and which answers really merit reflection.  Also, I think of what the end result will be, with all these societies where no one knows why they are doing this, or doing that…  The entire talk was very interesting, he went on to say much, much more, you can watch it for yourself (link below) but I appreciate these sentences even on their own.

When I reflect on just how different I am from the 2009 me, how much I have grown between the ages of 23 and 29, I can keep coming back to the first decision I made; I stepped out, didn’t look back, I was trusting that the future would bring much more good than bad if I just had a little faith.  It took a few years, with help from many dedicated friends, practicing the mindset of looking for good in everything and everyone, and I will readily admit that it is a never-ending process.  I have enjoyed the chance of learning firsthand some major differences between Africa, the USA, and South East Asia, then some minor differences, then more, and more, until I see that each and every day really is a gift.  Some quick mental math, I guess I have lived in Thailand around 2,000 days by now, and it has never been boring.  I lived for awhile without a phone, it was great.  I went as much as one whole month once without even touching my computer, that too was great.  It is very, very nice to have these things, they make life extremely convenient 99 times out of 100 compared to if we did not have them, but I also realize that I am lucky to be able to know what it was like without them, and for learning in this area I will always have that as my basis for comparison.

Let me know your thoughts!  On life, thoughts on logic (thoughts on my logic :) ), and very importantly any cool and cross-culture experiences that showed you a way to make your life better than it was before, no matter how seemingly small the new information may have seemed at the time.  Leave me a comment below, I will be happy to respond.  Take care, have a great day!