CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO DIGITALNOMAD HOMEPAGE
Click here to go to Travel Notes Table of Contents
|
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO DIGITALNOMAD HOMEPAGE Click here to go to Travel Notes Table of Contents
|
|
We checked into the Mono Hotel. We stayed there for a few month's before we moved in with Clem. I went to the Language Center to start lobbying for a job and generally settled into the good life in Udon. It was great to see my old friends and associates and to catch up on the gossip. The term was just ending and I hope to get on the payroll in March. Alas, the budget wouldn't support me between semesters. This left me with lots of time on my hands...not a bad thing after my year of constant movement. Nee had a motorcycle accident a month or so before I returned. She still had a few patches on her hands, arm, and face that were not healed. Fortunately, she was not seriously hurt. Her friend Nu and her family looked after her while she healed. But, my motorcycle was not so lucky and the debris ended up as the downpayment on a shiny new, red, Honda Wave. So, first things first, I had to track down another motorbike. After a little shopping I found a nice little used Honda 110cc four-stroke. It had been decorated with airbrush drawings of an Indian and a death's head. Just the kind of decorations a staid teacher needs. We paid a visit to Clem. He had been offered a job and Tommasat University near Bangkok and was considering the situation. He fed us one of my favorites, meat loaf. Ahng joined us and we had a great evening. I reclaimed my computer that I had loaned Clem. Hello old friend. Only a few days after my arrival, Nee celebrated her 44th birthday. Her friend Nu invited us to a feast and I furnished the birthday cake. Katai, Nu's daughter, practiced her English. Nee's beauty shop is just around the corner from Nu's house and I enjoyed meeting and thanking the people who had been so helpful to Nee after her accident. So, I paid the somewhat expensive fee to hook up to the internet in Mono Place and set about catching up. I wasted a few days playing Civilization and managed to cook the processor. So, off to Udon Notebooks for a new "used" computer. The good news is that the new computer is faster, has more memory, and a CD burner/DVD drive. Poor but happy, I continued to play Civilization. To these entertainments I added the study of Thai. I began a routine of TV watching, computer games and occasional visits to Nee's shop. We found a nice, inexpensive restaurant down the street that cooked up a great deep fried shrimp and vegetable plate for about a dollar. We were invited to Nu's house again for the engagement of Katai to Morgan, a Norwegian she had met on the internet. This was his second visit and the engagement party was great fun. He looked a little sweaty and nervous. Understandable, considering the temperature was in the high 30's (mid-nineties farenheit). Shortly after, I was invited to participate in the Foreign Son's in Law Parade to kick off the Songkran celebration in Udon. We all boarded a transport that was designed like a train and paraded through the streets of Udon. We returned to the starting point and then finished the last kilometer or so on foot. Nee rejoined me at that point and we walked to a great event...a mass wedding. Am I married now? I'm not sure. But, we were certainly blessed and then congratulated by the Governor...and we got free food and Leo beer. I watched the Songkran parade the next day from a shady position near the start at Rajabhat. Jan and his girlfriend showed up and had fun squirting people with their long-range waterguns. I managed to get to the parade with only a few drenchings. This time I was smart enough to wrap my camera, wallet, and cigarettes in a plastic bag. The next few days of Songkran were spent avoiding a face full of water while riding my motorbike. It was generally safe after dark. Songkran is my favorite holiday in Thailand. Everybody has such fun. While waiting for my contract at Rajabhat I had to renew my visa every 30 days. That meant a trip to The Laos border. The first time I spent the night in Vientienne and the second time I just did a turn-around at the border with a quick stop at the duty free shop. The savings on booze and cigarettes helped offset the $30 visa fee. A carton of cigarettes and a liter of scotch for $4 isn't a bad deal. Finally, I was interviewed and hired with a contract start date of May 1. They hustled my paperwork through so I was able to get to Vientienne before my visa expired on May 5. My friend Doug (a fellow traveler met in Seoul and again in Honolulu) got a job at a high school near Pataya and had to make a visa run at the same time so he met me in Udon and we traveled together. Only one small problem. The Thai consulate was closed on Thursday for a holiday and the visa took one working day. So, we got to spend four fun-filled days in cosmopolitan Vientienne. Don't misunderstand me...Vientienne is a nice town but I've already spent 10 or 15 days there and have seen the sights. Doug went around and took videos while I caught up on my reading and watched HBO. Fortunately, splitting the cost of the room allowed me to live in greater comfort than I could have afforded on my own. Nee and I looked around Udon for a place to live. Prices have gone up about 30% since last time and we didn't find anything that was appealing. Then Clem decided to take the job at Tomasat University and offered his place. Since he was moving into a furnished apartment all his stuff was for sale so I was able to get a place that was ready for occupancy without the usual details (western toilet, etc.) that I would have to sort out. I began to feel like an identity thief. I inherited Clem's desk and key at Rajabhat. Then I started crossing out his name on the sign-in sheet. I'll miss him and I think he's going to miss the great people at the Language Center. Rajabhat has been upgraded from institute to university during my absence and there are lots of changes...mostly for the better. I was happy to have time to prepare and help develop some of the coursed that I'll be teaching. I'm also developing a course for townspeople. We moved into Clem's place in early May and I added an exhaust fan and an air conditioner downstairs. It's a comfortable townhouse like apartment with a living room, bathroom and kitchen downstairs and two bed rooms, a bathroom and a covered patio upstairs. There's also a nice patio out front where we park the motorcycles and where the birds live (that's right...we inherited Clem's birds, too). The kitchen is relatively spectacular probably due to the fact that Clem is a retired chef. It's overkill for my cooking skills. Top, Nee's nine year old son, has joined her in Udon. He lives with relatives in Nee's shop during the week because it's close to his school. He stays with us on weekends. It's been a while since I've had a kid around but he's very well behaved. I'm teaching him the English alphabet and he's helping me with my Thai. Classes start on June 6 and I have a great schedule. One class a day (two on Tuesday) and none start earlier than 10 AM. Nee continues to spoil me with a couple of Thai massages every week. What a great life!
The term proved challenging. I had 5 classes each week. In Thailand the classes are 3 hours long and meet once a week. I had 3 sections of Integrated Skills and 2 sections of Academic writing. Integrated Skills is a required course for all students and teaches the basics. I did a survey and most of the students had studied English for 10 years. But, they had studied English in Thai! So, they were shocked to be taught in English. Most of my students worked hard and the average grade was around 74%. The Academic Writing course required a research paper. But the level of writing skill among my students was relatively low. This was a big challenge. In the past many of the research papers had simply been downloaded from the internet and dressed up. I determined that my students would write their own papers. So, I introduced notecards and required that the source of the information be included. And, the paper had to come from the notecards. The resulting research papers may not have been masterpieces of English grammar but they were original research. I was pleased. A new face showed up at the Language Center looking for a teaching job. Alan Garner is a best selling "self-improvement" author with more than a million books sold. Ironically, his best selling book is titled "Everything Men Know About Women" and inside the flashy cover there are nothing but blank pages. Top decided that he liked his room and so now Nee takes him to school and brings him home when the shop closes. He has learned such key English phrases as "Will you play my CD, Papa?". Romance is in the air. Alan met a beautiful Thai woman named Jeab. We began spending time together as couples. Every week we had "Movie Night". Take out pizza and a new DVD movie every week. Top liked the movie and the pizza. After a whirlwind courtship Alan and Jeab set the date for their marriage for November 12,2005. The wedding plans began and grew into a spectacular event. I guess I was inspired by Alan to ask Nee to marry me. Nee and I have been together for almost four years. She is a happy, optimistic person who makes me feel good. I had not planned to get married but I began to feel that Nee was facing a lot of social pressure because she was living with me but was not married to me. She did not complain instead she just said that she did not care what other people said or thought. It was clear to me that I intended to spend my life with her so why not marry and make her happy. I asked. She accepted. We began looking for an auspicious date. She consulted the monks and the only two dates on a weekend before 2006 were November 12 and November 19. Well, November 12 was already spoken for by Alan and Jeab so we set the date for November 19. This should prove to be an easy date to remember because it's my daughter's birthday. We wanted a simple wedding. Unlike Alan, I'm on a tight budget not to mention the fact that simple is good. Nee wanted to get married in her village-Ban Yang Um and her Cousin Bun offered her house. Supatra arranged for a Rajabhat bus for teacher transport and it was on. We went searching for a wedding ring and found a nice one within our budget. Nee insisted on buying me a ring, too. Invitations were designed, translated and printed on my computer. A dress was acquired and I bought a fancy new Thai silk jacket. On November 12, I showed up at Jeab and Alan's wedding at the crack of dawn. I was the videographer. He and Jeab were dressed in traditional Thai garb. The ceremony started with a blessing from the monks and, of course breakfast for the monks. This took an hour or so. Nee and Top arrived in time for the groom's parade. Alan marched down the street to Jeab's parent's home and then had to bribe his way into the living room. This tradition involves giving small envelopes with money to family members who then lower a gold chain and let the groom pass. Well, even though Alan had been equipped with envelopes he didn't know what to do. Nee was coaching him and he ended up asking me to loan him some 100 baht notes. He managed to get his feet washed and managed to bribe his way in to the living room where he and Jeab sat on the floor for the actual ceremony. It went on for quite a while. There was chanting and string and food offerings, and the counting of the wedding money given by the guests. I think the ceremony went on for at least an hour. After the ceremony Alan and Jeab went around to greet the guests at their tables. Alan gave me a memorable quote: "It's just like National Geographic". That evening the festivities continued at the Charoensri Grand Hotel. A mega reception with about 400 guests, fancy food, singers, a giant cake, speeches, etc. Jeab and Alan were now dressed in western style wedding clothes. Pictures were taken with all the guests. After another four hours the exhausted couple called it a day. What a day! By contrast my wedding with Nee was an exercise in simplicity. Nee left at 4am with friends so she could get the full Thai makeup treatment. Clem and Ahng picked me up at 6:30 and we picked up Doug and Dan and made our way to Ban Yang Um. Shortly after we arrived the van from Rajabhat showed up. About 20 colleagues joined the 60 village people and the activities began. The grooms parade was short. I was given a few flowers and a candle and marched to the bottom of the steps at Bun's house. My feet were washed and I gave the flowers and an envelope with a 100 baht to Bun's husband. Then I passed through two more chains dispensing four more envelopes and finally arrived in the room where Nee was waiting. I sat down on the floor next to Nee (having learned from Alan's experience, I obtained a small pillow to sit on). No monks...just a Brahmin priest. Chant, chant, chant...ring, ring... string, string, string... money, money, money and bingo...we were married. A 45 minute express wedding. Nee was beautiful but nervous. I was handsome and perfectly calm. The reception was held at a roadside restaurant with food and toasts. We were back in Udon by 1pm. I had persuaded Clem that cooking meatloaf for the groom was the customary duty of the best man so we had a peaceful afternoon smelling the aroma of cooking meatloaf. Several guests joined us for the traditional meatloaf feast and the viewing of the wedding video. Married life is a bit more chaotic than my former peaceful existence. Nee was raised mostly by her Grandmother and she and her mother don't get along. While her mother did attend the wedding she was resentful because the ceremony was not at her house...never mind the fact that the house was too small and a big mess. And she was really frosted because Nee didn't give her any money. Nee's grandmother and cousin got all the goodies. So, on Monday she kidnapped Top after school. We had a day of high anxiety until Nee located Top. She got the headman in the village where her shop is located to make some threatening calls and Top was returned unharmed and glad to be home. Somehow I sense my new mother-in-law will not the the prize my first mother-in-law was. So, now life is settling down. Well, as much as life can settle down when you are married. 25NOV-31DEC2005 Life is more predictable now. The daily routine of teaching is back to normal. I put up a Christmas tree (artificial) that I found under the bed upstairs. Top has asked for a bicycle for Christmas. But, not just any bike; it has to have gears. Now, Udon Thani is as flat as a pancake so I'm not sure what the purpose of the gears is other than "coolness". I picked out a DVD player for Nee so she can listen to music and watch DVDs at her shop. I found hundreds of Thai songs on the computer that I bought so I made 23 CDs for her to listen to. I asked for some custom dress shirts and we tracked down a shop that could tailor them for me. The morning of the party we opened our Christmas presents including packages from my sister in Kansas City. She sent Nee some sweet smelling bath stuff and Top got a great magnetic toy. And me? Some KC style barbecue sauce. Ahh! the taste of home. She also sent a great selection of books and some Discovery Channel DVDs. Top spent the day on his new bicycle. The party was a great success. I introduced the idea of a potluck dinner and gave invitations to my colleagues at Rajabhat. Dave brought turkey and dressing with a cranberry-like sauce. There were lot of other goodies and plenty to drink. I added some outdoor lights and bough everyone a Santa hat. I read "The Night Before Christmas" and Ajarn Bancoab gave everyone a simultaneous Thai translation. We listened to some Christmas music and generally had a good time. I got a Christmas package from Chris and Anne in Germany with two lamps and a plush pillow for Top. There was a bit of German chocolate and some of Nee's favorite Haribo candy. We went to the one and only Mexican restaurant in Udon. I was chatting with another customer who said he was from Australia. As I started to describe my journey he asked," Did you go to Tasmania?." I said yes. "Did you have a motorcycle accident?". I said, "Yes, how did you know?". He said, "You must be the bloke with the website. Yes, that's right. My 15 minutes of fame must have begun. What are the chances of running into someone in Udon that has visited and even remembered my website? All in all, 2005 was a great year. |
|
|
