Time to Fly

Things got very interesting right from the get go. Last Tuesday I left Kalamazoo with my parents early in the morning and had a nice drive up to the airport in Grand Rapids. We got to the airport and checked in my luggage, but I was surprized when I found out that I would have to travel to a different airport when I reached Bangkok in order to catch my next flight to Chiang Mai. I was hoping to be able to check my bags all the way through to Chiang Mai, but that wasn’t going to be possible since I had to switch airports. This just goes to show you how much of a rookie I am when it comes to flying because this switch in airports was right there in my itinerary, but I failed to see it before the morning of my flight. I was mad at myself for being so stupid, but I was thankful that I found out about having to switch airports before I left, and that it wouldn’t be a surprise to me when I arrived in Bangkok. After I got that all figured out, I checked my flight (which was on time), said goodbye to my parents, got through security, and headed to my gate. I got to my gate about an hour before my flight was scheduled to leave, and everything was going fine until I saw that my flight was going to be delayed for 45 minutes. This concerned me because I only had a half hour layover in Chicago and this delay was going to make me miss my next flight. Thankfully, there was another flight flying out of Chicago to Tokyo so I was just switched over to that flight. My flight from Grand Rapids was delayed an additional 30 minutes, which only gave me a 20 minute layover in Chicago for me to catch my new flight. When I arrived in Chicago, I was only one terminal away from where my next flight was taking off from, so I was able to run to my next flight with 10 minutes to spare. Once I got on my flight from Chicago to Tokyo, I was able to relax. That flight lasted 11 and a half hours, but it seemed short. The section of plane that I was in had less than 10 people, and I had a lot of room around me to stretch out and get comfortable. I was able to watch a movie, do some reading, and get some sleep. I didn’t want to get off of that plane, and I wished it could have taken me all the way to Chiang Mai. My flight from Tokyo to Bangkok was much more cramped than my previous flight, and I realized that my flight being delayed in Grand Rapids was a blessing in disguise because I don’t think I could have lasted 11 and a half hours on a cramped flight. I slept on and off on the flight to Bangkok, and even though that flight was 7 hours, it seemed much longer. I eventually arrived in Bangkok, got through customs, and went off to find my bags, which were nowhere in sight. I was sent in circles trying to find someone who could help me locate my bags. After 45 minutes to an hour, I found someone who said that he could help me, and he told me that my bags were still in Chicago. I wasn’t that surprised when he told me because I barely made it myself to the plane in Chicago, and there was no way they were going to be able to transfer my luggage to that flight in 20 minutes. I thanked the guy for helping me, and I headed off to get a taxi to Don Muang airport. I arrived at the airport with only my carry on bag at 1 am Thailand time. The airport was closed so I had to wait until 4:30am for the airport to open and get to my gate. The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was a short 50 minute flight, and I arrived in Chiang Mai extremely exhausted and grateful that I didn’t have any more flights. Things didn’t go exactly as planned, but it made traveling to Chiang Mai a lot more exciting and everything worked out in the end.

When I arrived in Chiang Mai, I met up with both Pookie and Ruth, who I had been in contact with before I left. Pookie is a teacher at ISDSI, which is where I will be taking my Thai lessons, and Ruth is another intern who has been working at UHDP for the past 4 months. I was so thankful that they were kind enough to meet up with me in Chiang Mai. We went out for breakfast, and then I headed back with Ruth to one of her friends apartments where I crashed on the couch. I had called United to find out where my luggage was, and they told me that my luggage would most likely arrive the following morning at the airport in Chiang Mai. They told me that I had to come pick up the luggage so Ruth and I stayed in Chiang Mai for an extra day, which worked out great because I got to catch up more on my sleep. I ended up sleeping through most of the day as well as all night. The following morning Ruth and I picked up my luggage at the Chiang Mai airport and got a ride back to UHDP with Ajan Sumit and Ajan Dah, who happened to be in Chiang Mai for a meeting that day. It was a 2 hour ride from Chiang Mai up to UHDP, and I enjoyed being able to spend some time with people from UHDP even though Ajan Sumit and Ajan Dah know very little English.

The four of us arrived at UHDP in the early afternoon where I met more of the staff and settled into my room. I was really thankful that I was able to catch up on my sleep because that night they were having a big meal as a going away party for Aseng. Aseng recently got married and is moving down to Chiang Mai to live in the city after working at UHDP for 8 years. I helped the women in the kitchen prepare the meal by chopping up tilapia and vegetables. It was while I was helping prepare the meal when my first dose of culture shock started kicking in because I could not speak with the women in order to figure out what I was supposed to do to prepare the food. I had to watch what they were doing and try to communicate through hand motions. The women preparing the meal were concerned that I was not going to be able to handle the spiciness of the food, but I told them not to worry because I really like spicy food. The meal itself consisted of sticky rice, a spicy tilapia stir-fry, and a spicy soup. We all ate together outside on picnic tables, and I must say that it was very spicy. By the end of the meal my eyes were watering and my nose was running profusely, which has become a common occurrence for me at lot of the meals here. After diner, the staff at UHDP all met together in a house to say their goodbyes to Aseng. By this point I was getting used to everyone talking Thai around me and not being able to understand anything. I sat in the room and listened to people talk and Ruth was able to tell me a little bit about what everyone was saying. Even though I couldn’t understand what everyone was saying, I could tell that everyone was very sincere and that they were truly going to miss having Aseng at UHDP. I liked that they all went around and just talked about all the good times that they had with Aseng and how they wished him a good life in the city. Once they were done saying goodbye, Ajan Tui introduced me to the staff at UHDP as the new intern, and then we called it a night. I felt really bad that I couldn’t start talking with them and learn more about them, but none of them knew English well enough to have a conversation with except Ajan Tui. Everyone was very welcoming, but I still felt out of place because I couldn’t talk with them in Thai, and I had no way of knowing how much of my English they understood. I knew that communicating was going to be hard, and my frustration with communicating has made me want to learn the Thai language even more. After meeting everyone I could tell that I was going to like it at UHDP, and that in time it would begin to feel more and more like home.

Wow, I have been writing for a while now and I have only gotten through my first day. maybe I'm going into too much detail :P I will try and write another post sometime soon to let you know how this past work week went for me. I'm doing very well, and I thank you all for your prayers.