Thai...Foot-Thing?

Yes, folks, the title of this post is really called "Thai-Foot-Thing". You see, this concept is one I actually struggle with on a daily basis. Maybe not as much as other rules, but it's still pretty hard to understand for me. With this being said, I am therefore not perfectly clear as to what the reason for this is or what all the rules are, but after having a lively discussion with my sister, Parn, I think I got a general idea.

Let me first start off by explaining what exactly this is and how it relates to Thai culture. In Thailand, the primary religion is Buddhism. It is much like Christianity and Catholism in the USA. The country allows all its citizens to practice whatever religion they should desire, but since Buddhism is the most common, there are many traits of Thai culture that have to do with it. The Foot-Thing happens to be one of them. In Buddhism, it is thought that the head is the highest, and also holiest part of the body. The head is well respected. It is impolite to touch the head of someone older than you(although in the home, this doesn't seem to be a big deal) and monks must have their heads shaved to expose the sacred part of the body. However, while the head is endeared by Thai people, the feet are quite the opposite.

Since feet are the lowest part of the body, they get the short end of the stick. And so, I've complied a list of rules that one must take care to follow while in Thailand. Needless to say, having control over your feet is certainly a good trait to have. I've seperated the lists into two: one for what is unacceptable in the home and one for what is unacceptable just in public.

Inside the Home:

1. NEVER step directly OVER or ON food, drink, pillow, or anything else that the head touches.
2. NEVER tap at something with your foot
3. NEVER use your foot to pick up or drag something
4. NEVER use your foot to POINT OUT someone or something
5. ALWAYS apologize if you someone should accidentaly come into contact with your feet

In Public:

1. NEVER point your foot at someone, even in accident (Hence I say keep an eye on your feet)
2. NEVER cross your legs over one another while sitting in a chair, for you could accidently point your foot at someone or something
3. NEVER point your foot at a Buddha image or statue
4. When in the temple, always keep your feet under you or behind you
5. Add rules 1-5 from the House Rules

Now if one should break these rules, nothing too bad will happen. Thai people will just think you're a rude person, which may be okay with you. Let's just say it's like the equivalent of picking your nose in public. It's impolite, but no one is going to arrest you or send you to death for it. LOL

By the way, this was a post done on request, so if you want more like this, please head over to the request post and post a comment. I go through them often when I'm trying to think what to write, heh.

School - Picture Dump 2

So the last few days of school this week, I brough my camera and took a few pictures where I was allowed. A big shout out to my English club and art teacher for letting me take picture while in class! :D

Art Textbook

Art Class

Some classes don't have chairs, just small desks so we sit on the floor. And we also some teachers have us take our shoes off and leave outside the room. You can always tell when a class is going on by the amount of shoes in front of the door. LOL

Doing homework at lunch. LOL

My Chinese Homework

Making Clay for Flower Crafts

Jill and I in our school uniforms

Students Waiting to go Home

English Club

We have desks in this classroom! :D

School - First Impressions

This past week was my first week of school. So I figure I should talk about it a bit so you guys can get an idea of what it's like. Now I don't have pictures because I think taking them around the school/during class would be a bad idea. Sorry~

Anyway, it's the school's first year having exchange students therefore everything is kind of new and easy going. With there only being two of us (my cousin, Jill, and I), this also makes it easy to get our needs handled without being over shadowed by other exchange students. And since Jill and I our really good friends, this makes it even better. We sort of help each other survive the struggles of school. Together we both are able to speak quite a bit of Thai. She knows some words and I know some different ones, so when we communicate together, it becomes much easier to get by. Pretty much we both try to stay close to each other while in school, but sometimes I have to go to classes on my own and such.

This isn't so bad though. For while I have to do well in my classes, it is much easier for me. As one of my advisers put it, "You have to get good grades, but it's easier for you to get those good grades." Pretty much all I have to do is sit there and look like I'm listening and I get credit. Now I'm sure this won't last for long, so I'm enjoying it while I can~ All my teachers so far have been nice and understanding about our situation. Except one, who told us to sit in a room alone, calling our advisor and telling her she was scared to teach us since we didn't know much Thai. I'm not quite sure why she did that since all I have to do is listen, but hey, it got me out of class for the afternoon, heh.

My classes are fairly simple ones too. The only core subject I have is Science, because it's taught in English. The rest are art, Thai dance, volleyball, French, Chinese, English, and other similar kinds. We also have times where we work in the school shop that sells various supplies for the students. Both Jill and I get a lot of math and Thai practice here. I know my Thai numbers so well because of it. LOL And because we're here working a lot, we can buy school supplies for even cheaper prices than what the other students have to. The store manager even gives us stuff for free occasionally~ Sometimes we have periods called "self study", which is code for "not do anything". LOL Basically as long as we stay on the school property, we can do whatever we want during this time. Our favorite hang out seems to be the English building's teacher office. It has AC and the teachers always end up feeding us each time we visit. We once even had pizza here~

Lunch here in general is good too. Instead of the usual "3-to-2" choice lunches we have in America, we have a full house of shops selling at least 40 different kinds of food. I think it will take me a year to try everything at least once. The food is cheap too. One meal is about 20 baht, which is equivalent to less than 1 American dollar. The only thing I don't like about lunch is how we have to eat with our uniforms on. Yeah, at all Thai schools, students are required to wear uniforms. Unfortunately during lunch if you should accidentally dribble something on your shirt or skirt, then you gotta wash it off well because you only have like three sets of uniforms. So far I haven't gotten anything on my clothes I couldn't get off, and I'm hoping my luck will stay that way.

On the subject of uniforms, the school's uniform for girls consists of a light purple dress top with a long black skirt with folds. The shoes are also black with a loose strap over the top of the foot. And finally a belt is to be placed just above where the skirt sits on the waist. For boys, it's about the same except instead of a skirt, they wear shorts. Each day when I come home, I must wash my uniform by hand. And then, once I hang it up to dry, I have to pick out another set to be ironed. After all, you can't have one of your few sets of uniforms get all messed up. For unlike most of everything here in Thailand, uniforms are freaking expensive. So I'll be sure to keep all three of my uniforms well taken care of.

With the uniforms on, Jill and I basically look like everyone else. However, our looks outside of the clothing makes us stand out and so everywhere we go, the students stare at us. It's not bad though. I find it's more like they're curious and intrigued. Some of them will randomly say hello to us and I've learned it's a nice gesture to say hello back. Those that can speak English are especially eager to talk to us. They ask us where we're from, our names, why we're here, etc. And when I see them again in class, they always ask me to sit next to them. With my fellow peers and teachers so nice and my classes easy, I think this school year will be a lot of fun for me~

Well I think I covered the basics of school. If you would like to know more, just send comment a request here or in the awesome request post I put up not too long ago. As always, thanks for checking this out~

Dinner at my House

Contrary to popular belief, Thai dinner time is much more different than in America. Okay, well maybe you already figured that, but it's different in the way your probably thought it would be different. If that makes any sense... LOL

Well let's get to it!

99% of the time when we have meals, we eat outside. Usually, at this white table set you see here, but there are other times when we just sit on the porch floor at eat too. We eat at least three times a day and we don't call each time "breakfast", "lunch", and "dinner". This is because, unlike in America, Thai people eat the same general stuff at all times of the day. We will eat the same foods for breakfast that we do for dinner. So we have no need to label the different times we eat. Instead we just call the times we eat ginkhao, which is basically "meal" in English.

For this meal, we have salted and dried fish, fried onions, green vegetables, hard boiled eggs, pineapple, and of course rice. Rice is eaten at just about every meal, unless we should have noodles. Food in Thailand is very cheap, so there's plenty to go around. As to why it's so cheap, well that's because Thailand's tropical climate allows all the food to be raised and produced here.

Joining us for today's meal is, from the left, Film, Parn, and mom. My dad is here too! Pictured below.

Now time to dig in! Did you notice how all the food was placed in the middle of the table instead of on our individual plates? Thai meals are always served family style and we take little parts of each dish and put it on our plates to eat. See my plate below.

As much as Boom wants me to hand him a piece of my fish, he's not allowed food. However, he does get his share once we're all done. My family doesn't ever buy dog food. Instead, we give Boom our leftovers in his bowl. He loves every bit of it!

Now that the food is running low, we usually bring out some sort of desert. In the left corner in a plastic bag, you'll see some orange yarn-like material. This stuff is actually edible, and quite sweet. Perfect Thai desert!

Did you see how we didn't have glasses by our plates when I showed you the table? Thai people generally do not drink much. The only time we actually drink is at the end of the meal where we pass around a cup and bottle of water, each taking a glass full.

Since we all done, it's time to collect the trash in a bag and stack the dishes so they can be washed. Because I was taking the pictures, I got out of dish duty. But normally this is when I do the dishes. Parn is the one who does them in the morning.

   

Done!

That's pretty much how I have my meals with my family everyday. Except having different foods each time and all. LOL



Party Time!

So today Film, Parn, and I decided to go help our aunt's and uncle's out with preparing food to sell at a party-like fair. The reward? They gave us a ride to the party to join in on the fun!

I figured this would be a good spot to do some blogging on, because Thai parties are a lot different than American ones. For one, Thai parties are held outside and there's a whole lot more going on. I find in America when I go to parties, I am completely bored out of my mind. But here there were so many vendors and such that I was having a good time just looking around at everything.

(Sorry the pics are a little dark!! >.<)

Here you can see a Ferris Wheel on the left side of the picture~

Those bright lights aren't Ferris Wheels too though. I have no idea what they are, but at every party-like event I've been to, they're always there. I'm guessing they're just a type of light decoration.

Motorcycle parking!

There was an area of kiddie rides and fun little games that was surrounded by a lot of kids. The most intriguing thing I saw in this area was a fish petting zoo. It was literally an open tank of small fish that you could stick your fingers in and touch them. Oh, and you could also catch them with nets and take them home for a pretty cheap price. As to why I didn't get pictures, well I did, but the water reflected horribly with the flash, so it just looked like a bunch of kids poking at a bright light. XD

I find for Thai people, the best places to hang out are at the food stands. In America, it's more about the activities to do at a party. But here it's all about the food. I ate so much here. Fried ice-cream, cotton candy, cool milk tea, and strawberry smoothie. And with my sugar sensitive body, I was feeling pretty ready for bed after my rough night with the sweets, heh.

The only thing I can understand on this sign is that something cost 5 baht. I could be smart and try translating it all using a bit of my brain power, but I'm too lazy right now, hehe. Hey, be happy I can actually read it...just not know what it means. XD

This cart sold various fruits topped with sugar! I didn't actually buy any though.

Close up of a papaya salad stand. Notice the fresh crabs to the left. We actually eat them whole here in Thailand, if they're small enough. Yum! Kind of tastes like a crunchy fish snack.

Those aren't necklaces...that's actually dried and pressed squid that can be fried as desired. I've tasted some once and they're kind of like eating a piece of salted leather. LOL

And among all the food, a random cell phone case stand!~

Guys on motorcycles transporting the food they sold here at the party.

The areas I didn't take pictures of was the big concert that had the loudest music possible blasting everywhere with half-naked women dancing on top of cars. Do I really need to explain why?

We only stayed there for an hour, so I can't really say much else other than what I did~ LOL Kind of quick and random, but I hope you at least learning something.