"Wildlife" in the Tropics

I walked into the kitchen this morning and flipped on the light to find this staring me in the face. One of our many household lizards bit the dust in the electric socket last night. I used to think indoor lizards were a bit creepy, but after finding them in my water glass or having them fall off the porch ceiling onto my head, I’ve just accepted them as a normal, even welcome, part of daily life in Thailand. (After all, they cut down on mosquitos!) This got me thinking about the other creatures prowling around our neighborhood. Even though we live in the tropics, most of the “wildlife” here in the city is not as exotic as you might think.

Don't mess with 220-volt outlets.

The Neighborhood Cat
Our neighbors are great at rallying around this cat and collectively caring for it. For some reason, the cat prefers to live in our yard. That is until this month’s “cold spell” when the cat showed up in a fluffy sweater too thick to squeeze through our front gate. Just how “cold” was it when I took the picture? Eighty-six degrees. Don’t hate me America.

Pythons
I’ve never seen a python in our yard, but our neighbors are good at warning us when they see one creeping behind our house. If you’re the type who likes nightmares, try googling “pythons hiding in toilets.” But if you’d rather keep your sanity, just be assured that python attacks in the city are very infrequent!

A friend in our neighborhood caught this guy in her yard last year.

Street Dogs
I’m actually more scared of the local dogs than pythons. Thankfully, the pack that roams our street is pretty calm. When we took the girls out to eat earlier this week, I noticed this cute puppy waiting patiently by our table. When we got up to pay, he sauntered over to the table to lick off the table top and plates! Some other dogs are vicious and have rabies. No one would dare pet them. Last year in America, my daughters were horrified to discover that some families allow these creatures INSIDE the home. We had a little cultural explaining to do on that one.

Not ALL street dogs are scary. Like this cute puppy that tried to follow us home.

Rats
We've never had a rat in our house, but the small-cat-sized ones have an odd affinity for dying in our yard. Sometimes they (along with dead pigeons and frogs) reek of death for a few days until we find them under a pile of leaves. I guess I can take comfort in the fact that a dying rat means the pythons are probably at bay.

Bugs
Some of the bugs in city are pretty cool looking. Like this one we found on our porch. God’s creativity amazes me.

A Lantern Bug in our yard. 

The "wildlife" in our urban neighborhood may not be glamorous, but it definitely brings variety to our lives. I’ll take these tame creatures over the more exotic tropical animals of South East Asia any day!

EDIT: To those of you who seem to think we're "brave" for living here, let me say that:
1. We really do have it easy compared to most places in the world.
2. We're not dealing with sub-zero temperatures and mice squeezing under our doors. ("Mice" here can't fit in our house!)

We're not the brave ones after all. :)

A Few More Observations from Asia…

Sizes

Upon first arriving in Thailand, we were thrilled to find that our city has a Dairy Queen, complete with DQ bars and blizzards. Blizzards come in 4 sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large. The extra large is about the size of an American “small.” Here it’s called a “Take Home.”

The size conversion seems to apply to people too. When I went to buy a pair of pants last week, the merchant took one look at me and handed me a size “large.” Hmmmm. Maybe I’ll think twice before ordering a “Take Home.”



Exercise

The norm is quickly changing, but in our neighborhood Thai women do not participate in strenuous exercise. Perhaps this explains the portion sizes. I told my tutor that I went for a 10 mile run, and she appeared to be concerned. As if, perhaps, my uterus may have fallen out somewhere along the road.

The one form of exercise that IS acceptable for women here is aerobics. Every night at 6:00 a group of women meet in the grocery store parking lot for an intense hour of aerobic dance. I tried to go a couple of times when my sister-in-law was in town. We spun. We stomped. We kicked. But mostly we just flailed around as helpless foreigners while a professional-looking dancer yelled what sounded like angry instructions in Thai. I haven't given up on my dream of becoming a Chiangmai aerobic junkie, but for this white girl, running 10 miles is so much easier.



Water Fights

The only water fighers we were brave enough to photograph.

There’s a three-day holiday in April (or five-day, depending on your level of enthusiasm) called “Songkran.” It’s basically one big city-wide water festival. Everyone, young and old, rich and poor, douses each other with super-soakers and buckets of water. On the first day of the festival our family walked to the main road to assess the situation. We saw adults piled into the back of pickup trucks, throwing barrels of water on other trucks as they speed down the highway. Meanwhile a gang of high-schoolers stood on the side of the road hiding behind a sign and tossing gallons of water unsuspecting motorcycles.

Last year about 400 people died during the holiday, mostly from alcohol related motorcycle accidents. Needless to say, we decided not to drive anywhere this year during Songkran.



Tones

Sorting tones with flashcards.

The Thai language has 5 tone—high, mid, low, rising and falling. The inflection of your voice changes the meaning of the word. Depending on what tone and vowel length you say the word “mai” in, you can say “wood”, “not”, “new”, “burn”, “calculate”, “widow”, “warrant”, “mile”, “microphone”, “silk”, and “isn’t that right?”



Script

The Thai language has 44 consonants, many of which seem to represent “t” or “k” sounds. When Thais write, all the letters are pushed together sothatthesentencelookslikeonebigword. I still can’t read Thai, but after I get speaking down a little better I hope to work on reading. In the meantime we’re picking up lots of cans at the grocery and thinking, “I wonder what’s inside?” Occasionally we’re terribly mistaken, like the time we bought some Thai version of buttermilk and added it to our fruit smoothie.



Food

If you felt bad for us stumbling through the language and drinking buttermilk smoothies, spare your pity. We’re loving the food here. We can buy a delicious plate of green curry or fried vegetables for less than a buck at the mom-and-pop restaurant down the road. As long as we remember to add in the words “not spicy” (in the right tone), we’re set. I have learned, however, to practice my order before leaving the house. The first time I tried to order green curry, I said it with the wrong tone and a Midwest accent and asked the (rather perplexed) restaurant owner if I could please have a “green prostitute” for lunch.

Cultural Differences We've Learned to Embrace

There’s a fine line between making fun of another country and finding enjoyment in the other culture’s differences. This treacherous line has kept me from blogging much during our early months here. There’s much to love and respect about the Thai community. Because of our love for this country I’ve decided it’s time to share. Here are a few glimpse of everyday life that make me smile.

• Driving skills
  
  
  Some Thais can fit an entire family (including the pet dog) on a bike. I’ve also seen sheets of plywood, piles of suitcases, and kitchen tables on bikes. Meanwhile, the driver is talking on his cell phone. Another favorite was an elephant being carried across town on a pick-up. Thais possess of level of driving skill that I may never reach. I am learning, however, how to drive a stick shift on the left-hand side of the road. I’ll just pass on adding in the “texting while driving” feature.
  



• Creativity.
  
  
  We’re proud owners of a 91 Sunny Nissan. We have to pull the choke to start the engine. I didn’t even know what a choke was until last month. Apparently most cars stopped using them in the 80s. Our car also has a few rearranged parts. For example, the original level for the choke must have fallen off, so the mechanic replaced it with the level that opens the hood. (We call this our anti-theft security system. You can’t steal a car if you can’t figure out how to start it.) Somewhere along the way our turn signal switch must have fallen off too. It’s been replaced by a screw. I can’t wait to see what happens when the wheel falls off.
  



• Ingenuity.
  
  
  One day when our power was off we saw this view from our balcony. Our electrician’s bamboo ladder is being propped up by a mass of electrical wires.

• Safety regulations.
  
  You may have guessed from points 1-3 that regulations are a little looser here. For example, fireworks are often included in local celebrations. During one event we attended we saw fireworks being lit IN the crowded streets while people, motorbikes, and pickup trucks zoomed by. There’s no age requirement for buying and lighting fireworks, so each holiday seems to be every junior high boys dream. I wish I had a picture of the more dramatic moments, but quite frankly, when I see fireworks going off 30 meters from my feet, my first thought isn't "Hey, what a great photo opp. Let me take my toddler closer." Instead, here's a picture of our Thai friends helping us light a latern from our balcony.

• Safety.
  
  
  Despite what we’re described above, when we’re not driving and we’re not walking through fireworks, we feel incredibly safe here. Most Thais have an extremely strong ethics code when it comes to stealing or harming others. We’re thankful for our new home and our Thai friends who are helping us navigate this new culture.