Thailand - Temporary expat life (version francaise a venir)

Me, trying to cook...haha exactly like at home!!!

Back to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I have been living here for about 8 weeks, on and off, and have a few more to go. I study Nuad Bo-Rarn, or Ancient Thai massage, also called passive yoga. Super interesting, and really full of potential! Or so I believe, to stay here that long for it :)

I live in a house in a completely secluded group of street, which used to be a village but has been swallowed by the growing city. Instead of fields and forests are now trendy coffee shops and shopping places similar to our plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal. The village itself has only one entrance, and is a little enclosure of peace and green in this fashionable neighborhood. Many expats live here, and young Thai with money hang out in this area, close to the university.

Doesn't it look incredibly interesting??

Even with this interesting neighborhood, I needed some adjustment. I had been traveling for months by then, and staying in places with new people to meet all the time, and there were more activities and distractions than time available to do them.

Now, with this commitment to studies, to homecare of an elderly lady, and living in a house instead of a hostel, I felt quite isolated and I became depressed and restless during the first week. Fortunately, it didn't last more than a few days. I love people, and a school is a place full of them :) I started to have little habits, interesting conversations and started going out now and then. Just like real life :) Not as intense as the backpacking, but worthwhile none the less.

Here is what a day looks like:

7:30
wake up with watch alarm (yeah, still like traveling)

8:30 
walk or bicycle to the school. Walking implies 30 min of refusing tuk-tuk offers as NOBODY walks in Thailand (or in Asia, for that matter) So if you’re seen walking, it is because you haven’t found someone to transport you yet!

9:00 
Feet washing (yes, very important in a flip-flop country),
Prayer to the founder (who treated Buddha back in the days), Yoga or Tai Chi/Chi Gong at the school, and coffee break after all this effort (life's hard!)

Prayer to the Teacher, who treated the Buddha

10:00
Start of lessons. My friends and I are there to demonstrate movements after the teachers have explained them.

On a cultural note, it might be kind of frustrating to be a Western student in a Thai school, as "face" (equivalent as social respect) is everything in this culture. Anything that might make anyone "loose face” (equivalent of embarrassment) is to be avoided. And here we are, Western students, with very precise questions about an art that has a lot to do with intuition. But you’ll never know if you bothered your teacher, as they will still smile at you, even if they are annoyed with you. Hard to gage, really, but if you keep smiling and stay humble, everything is ok :)

My group Level IV

12:00
Lunch, usually rice and curry

13:00 
Afternoon lessons, “same same” as the morning.

15:00 
Practice

17:00 
Socialize with other students in coffee shop, or Yoga (yes, I know, a second time the same day... I just can't resist the teacher's London accent :))

18:30
Home care of elderly lady, my host's mom

19:30 or 20:00
Back home

Every Friday, the school organizes Yoga at the park in the old Chiang Mai. There, some old people walking about just stop and watch this whole bunch of "Farangs" trying out their Tai Chi/Chi Gong moves on Chinese music and counts.

Larry, my host

Gloria, the lady I do home care for

Also on Friday, my host and his guests makes a Sabbath dinner. It’s an evening of stories and prayers, and Jewish bread served with Thai food! I got confused with the numerous rules Jews have to follow for 24 hours, from Friday at sunset until Saturday night. I didn't know that of the 39 things they are not allowed to do, one prevents the use of electricity… So I was completely dumbstruck when Larry expressed “how hot it was in here”. When he repeated “it’s REALLY HOT here”, I just stared at him! Why on Earth was he telling me that? Of course, it is hot! It’s April in Thailand, the hottest month of the year! He passed the "hint" to his Thai partner, who is Buddhist, so she would turn on the A/C... I learned later you can’t ask directly assistance from a non-Jew to break one of the rules of Sabbath. AAaaahhh (light bulb turning on!)

Saturdays and Sundays are the tourism days. That is when I can enjoy walking around the old city, enclosed in its walls and its moat, book an excursion in an elephant camps or go rock climbing on the nearby porous mountains. 

Ok, it's not as exciting as moving around all the time, and yes, I am often restless. But the life (and the coffee) is good, and there is something about people starting to recognize you in a place.

Something like home.