The PIH Christmas party, it was a very cute rendition of an typical American Chirstmas party, it also doubled as our going away party. It was fun! I got to see everyone for one last time and have a few laughs with them.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
PIH Christmas Party
The PIH Christmas party, it was a very cute rendition of an typical American Chirstmas party, it also doubled as our going away party. It was fun! I got to see everyone for one last time and have a few laughs with them.
Until next time...
I could not have written this post any sooner—it would seem premature to reflect upon my time in Thailand, while still in Thailand.
Reflecting on Thailand in my rationalized mindset seems like a dream. Did I really go and live there for four months? Did I really experience and see all that I had seen and done? If I had to rate my rate of adjustment to a new cultural situation on a scale from 1-10, 1 being very poor and 10 being easily adapted in short amount of time, I would definitely be 10! I don’t know what it is or why it happens but any abroad experience I have whether relatively short or for a much longer period, when I come back its like I fall right into the groove of things again. We had an entire class on the issue of reentry and the ‘reversal culture shock’ that one often goes through when returning to their home country. But as of now, I have not experienced that.
I suppose in small way, actually, I have but not at the emotional or mental scale to which we discussed. Since I was already called to reflect upon my ‘story telling’ or ‘recap’ of my time in Thailand in class (you know the point at which all of your family, friends and acquaintances ask…How was Thailand? And you are expected to answer that in about a sentence or two…mind you a whole 4 months worth of time in a few sentences), I felt well prepared and have yet to be frustrated by it. Some things was how I gripped my seat when we turned right onto the busy road from the airport and I was expecting a turn left (from driving on the opposite side of the road) and was expecting a pull in the other direction, my body reacted funnily to being pulled the other way… Other small things like, not eating nearly as much rice, being told its odd to eat with a spoon and how suddenly everyone is much taller than I am. But in reality beyond those small differences, I really don’t feel all that foreign to here.
If anything one major feeling that was left out of our reentry discussion was that of just a longing for familiarity, whether it has to do with cultural or anything else, I lived in an entirely different place for four months. I have been missing my newly replaced home for the past four months along with what I ate there, who I saw and what I did. I am not entirely sure that it is even related to culture or anything like that, it is merely the act of having a certain life for an long amount of time and then just completely abandoning it for a entirely new life. I miss all of my friends, and what we ate and what we talked about. It hasn’t really being a shocking experience or a hard hit one, its more a feeling of loneliness and solitude than one of sudden upheaval.
The winter has been hard here, temperature wise it is freezing near Chicago, technically below freezing most days. It has been a huge contrast adjusting to the snow storms, ice and below freezing weather. And something that I wasn’t expecting to happen but memories of previous winters from my childhood has been flooding my mind. I hadn’t felt such coldness, and smelled or seen such sights for a long time and being away from that, then suddenly enter it has aroused the memories I hold of previous winters.
One thing I feel assured about, now that I am home and the homesickness has gone and is no longer fogging my mind, I feel confident that I will return to SE Asia some day. While in Thailand I already had an epiphany about my calling in life, those years on end of school was not f or me and I wanted to do volunteer work upon graduation. But especially now, more than ever I know that I will come back to Thailand some day. So this is not goodbye but until next time.
Reflecting on Thailand in my rationalized mindset seems like a dream. Did I really go and live there for four months? Did I really experience and see all that I had seen and done? If I had to rate my rate of adjustment to a new cultural situation on a scale from 1-10, 1 being very poor and 10 being easily adapted in short amount of time, I would definitely be 10! I don’t know what it is or why it happens but any abroad experience I have whether relatively short or for a much longer period, when I come back its like I fall right into the groove of things again. We had an entire class on the issue of reentry and the ‘reversal culture shock’ that one often goes through when returning to their home country. But as of now, I have not experienced that.
I suppose in small way, actually, I have but not at the emotional or mental scale to which we discussed. Since I was already called to reflect upon my ‘story telling’ or ‘recap’ of my time in Thailand in class (you know the point at which all of your family, friends and acquaintances ask…How was Thailand? And you are expected to answer that in about a sentence or two…mind you a whole 4 months worth of time in a few sentences), I felt well prepared and have yet to be frustrated by it. Some things was how I gripped my seat when we turned right onto the busy road from the airport and I was expecting a turn left (from driving on the opposite side of the road) and was expecting a pull in the other direction, my body reacted funnily to being pulled the other way… Other small things like, not eating nearly as much rice, being told its odd to eat with a spoon and how suddenly everyone is much taller than I am. But in reality beyond those small differences, I really don’t feel all that foreign to here.
If anything one major feeling that was left out of our reentry discussion was that of just a longing for familiarity, whether it has to do with cultural or anything else, I lived in an entirely different place for four months. I have been missing my newly replaced home for the past four months along with what I ate there, who I saw and what I did. I am not entirely sure that it is even related to culture or anything like that, it is merely the act of having a certain life for an long amount of time and then just completely abandoning it for a entirely new life. I miss all of my friends, and what we ate and what we talked about. It hasn’t really being a shocking experience or a hard hit one, its more a feeling of loneliness and solitude than one of sudden upheaval.
The winter has been hard here, temperature wise it is freezing near Chicago, technically below freezing most days. It has been a huge contrast adjusting to the snow storms, ice and below freezing weather. And something that I wasn’t expecting to happen but memories of previous winters from my childhood has been flooding my mind. I hadn’t felt such coldness, and smelled or seen such sights for a long time and being away from that, then suddenly enter it has aroused the memories I hold of previous winters.
One thing I feel assured about, now that I am home and the homesickness has gone and is no longer fogging my mind, I feel confident that I will return to SE Asia some day. While in Thailand I already had an epiphany about my calling in life, those years on end of school was not f or me and I wanted to do volunteer work upon graduation. But especially now, more than ever I know that I will come back to Thailand some day. So this is not goodbye but until next time.
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