Now a real U - Thong resident...

Where do I even begin...these last few weeks have definitely been a whirlwind! Let see, on April 5th we moved out of our homestays and back into the hotel for a few days before we all shipped off to site. It was so nice to spend time with the volunteers one last time before we all left and at the same time slightly sad. I feel like we all got so close with one another because of such an intense experience that we were all going through together over the last 3 months. I have realized now how nice it was to be able to go to training every day and bitch with the volunteers about what I was going through with my fam and whatnot. Now, at site, I am the only volunteer with the closest being about 3 hours away and I have found only a few people who can speak very little English. On April 9th we had our swearing in ceremony where we all became official volunteers. Then immediately after the ceremony, we left with our counterparts and headed to our sites. In my case, I headed off to Bangkok to get all 4 wisdom teeth pulled! Yes, I did say that I got my teeth pulled in Thailand. I spent 5 days there recovering from what was a very intense and much different surgery than you would find in the states. I was not put under and only had local anesthetic so I knew what was going on the entire time. The doctor was also much more hardcore. When it hurt and I would yell a little she would just say "oh sowwy" and continue yanking the tooth out. Immediately after surgery, with very little instruction, they sent me back to the hotel by myself. It was a very interesting experience and looking back wasn't completely awful, or at least not as bad as I thought it was going to be going into it. The minor detail is that while I was in Bangkok, all of the political uprisings were also taking place. I was not allowed to go certain places because of the political protests, which eventually turned violent with the military in the streets shooting their guns. I didn't see much of this because I mostly stayed at the hotel, except when I went to find yogurt or mashed potatoes at KFC....my diet for the 5 days. Oh, and this was also the same time as Songkron, the Thai new years water festival. This is where everyone goes into the streets and gets wasted all day while having a huge water fight. This sounds amazing, but while having a completely swollen mouth and on painkillers enduring drunkards approaching me and wiping the white pouder all over my very painful mouth and face, while also having huge protests consisting of thousands of people and military men with guns only blocks away...wasn't the best situation you could imagine. I got through it though and I'm still alive and well.
I left Bangkok and arrived at site last Tuesday, the 14th. I got to my homestay around 4 pm, right in the middle of their Songkron celebration. Everyone at my house was drinking and singing kareoke. I sat and watched for a while and then saw one of the guys that hangs out at my house alot go into the yard and grab a chicken. He then proceeded to find a random stick and beat the chicken repeatedly over the head. He let it suffer a while on the ground before throwing it into a pot of boiling oil. He finished by taking the now dead chicken and plucking all of it's feathers off. I think by the ridiculous look I had on my face my family then realized that I was definitely a vegetarian. They all laughed at me and my unique reaction to this Thai method of making dinner.
For the next few days I did nothing but lie around in the hammocks all day and play dominos with the girls that live next door. It was a little frustrating since I thought I was going to be extremely busy meeting people and seeing my town, but it was the middle of a holiday and most people were either with their families or out of town. On Saturday in my town we had the big finale to the Songkron festival. In the morning I went to the temple with my family and we did religious ceremonies for about 3 hours. It was really interesting except the fact that they don't have chairs in the temple. Everyone sits on the ground, and trust me, after 3 hours of sitting on the ground your body definitely hates you. I am starting to form little calices on my ankles from sitting on the ground ALL THE TIME! In my homestay there is no furniture, well at least until they found I was going to live there. Then they bought a table and 4 chairs, which we never sit at because there are always like 10 people at my house. I am a fan of the hammocks however. My house has 4 hammocks and they are constantly occupied by someone. Taking naps in the afternoon in the hammocks has become part of my routine. Americans should definitely adopt the idea of hammocks as a main piece of furniture. I have also noticed that hammocks are the new basinet in Thailand. The two kids under the age of 2 at my house take their daily naps in the hammocks everyday and it works like a charm! Anyways, after the 3 hours of religious ceremonies they had a huge water festival/water fight at the temple. Everyone puts on hawaiian style shirts, which apparently are also directly associated with Songkron here, and throws water on everyone. Then in the evening we went back to the temple for dancing. This was a great end to the holiday.
Today is Monday and it is my first day at the SAO, the government office where I will work. I have actually gotten alot done today, which finally makes me feel productive. The Peace Corps has about a thousand forms for us to fill out regarding information about our site. I sat in the office and started to ask the questions, soon I had about 5 people surrounding me trying to help me with the the forms. I think that once the awkwardness of being new and foreign passes and the Thai people feel comfortable around me, things are going to be great. The Thai people are so nice and friendly and really want to help, they just seem to be a little timid and afraid they won't be able to communicate with me....which might be the case sometimes :)