Thailand RPCV Emily Longs says: It wasn't easy, at first, to adjust to being a minority in a completely different culture



"f the three Peace Corps goals mentioned earlier, I feel like the one about "meeting their needs for trained men and women" is the least important. Much more important is the opportunity for Americans to reach outside of their comfort zone and learn about other cultures. In the process, of course, we put forth an image of an American --- a real flesh and blood person --- that is different from the images of us that people around the world see on TV. "

Thailand RPCV Emily Longs says: It wasn't easy, at first, to adjust to being a minority in a completely different culture

GUEST COLUMNS
Oct 16, 2005 - Topeka Capital Journal
EMILY

LONG

Being there is what matters

It wasn't easy, at first, to adjust to being a minority in a completely different culture. The language barrier was enormous.

People in the fish market stared at me and whispered to their children "farang" with a less-than-subtle finger jab in my direction. Friendly faces on the street smiled and said "bai nai" and waited as if expecting an answer. My home-stay family always asked me immediately when I got home "gin yang," and I had no idea what they wanted from me.

I was a foreigner, a stranger and an honored guest. After a Midwest upbringing in Topeka, I had decided to join the Peace Corps and travel halfway around the world to Thailand.

The Peace Corps' mission is to "help the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women, help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served and help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans."

It has been in Thailand ever since the beginning of the organization in the 1960s, and I was one of 34 volunteers in the 114th group of volunteers in that country.

Our Peace Corps officers started training us in Thai language and culture immediately, but the ability to communicate came slowly. After two weeks, I could order fried rice in the market, ask for directions and have simple conversations about family, weather and time. I could respond "bai noon" (over there) when people asked "bai nai" (where are you going?) --- the most common greeting in the Thai language. I quickly learned to answer the question "gin yang" (have you eaten yet?) with "gin leow" (I've already eaten) or suffer the consequences of being offered food for the sixth or seventh time in one afternoon.


Farang was perhaps the easiest word to pick up, because I heard it so frequently and in obvious context. Farang was me, a white person.

I spent my two years service teaching English at a large elementary school in the coastal town of Prachuap Kirikhan, in southern Thailand.

Thailand is literally on the opposite side of the Earth from Kansas. If you tried to dig that hole to China but veered south, you might hit Thailand. Or Laos, Burma, Cambodia or Malaysia, Thailand's closest neighbors. It's about the size of France.

The climate is tropical, with three seasons: hot, cold and rainy, but the locals joke the seasons are actually hot, hotter and hottest.

I joined the Peace Corps straight out of college, hoping to change the world. I succeeded in getting a pretty good start on changing myself.

Of the three Peace Corps goals mentioned earlier, I feel like the one about "meeting their needs for trained men and women" is the least important. Much more important is the opportunity for Americans to reach outside of their comfort zone and learn about other cultures. In the process, of course, we put forth an image of an American --- a real flesh and blood person --- that is different from the images of us that people around the world see on TV.

I heard all sorts of ludicrous stereotypes of white people while I was in Thailand. But I also met quite a few Thai people who had met a Peace Corps volunteer at some point in the past 40 years, and those people almost universally had good things to say about their American friends.

If simply being there and making friends is all I did to change the world during my two years of service, that's enough for me.

Emily Long can be reached at emaily@gmail.com.

When this story was posted in December 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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