Hy has arrived.

Hi freends and feemily (and jessica, my blogbuddy, haha sorry.)!

Just wanted to let you know that I made it to Chiang Mai safely yesterday afternoon.

I had no idea that 7 other VIA (Volunteers in Asia) volunteers would be on my flight from Taipei to Chiang Mai, so it was really comforting to have them on my last leg of the journey (here’s where you take me literally and imagine a journey having multiple legs that eventually fall off). There were actually two other VIA people on my flights from JFK to Taipei but I had no idea- I’m surprised they didn’t notice the boy in the wolf hat.

It’s been great traveling with the wolf hat (I accidentally left my bison hat in my parents’ car)- I’ve been surrounded my Asian people for the past two days of traveling and there has been many a passing-by giggle. When I went through the security check, I had my wolf hat wrapped around my camera inside my bag. My conveyor belt stopped on my bag and I hear, “Hey… come here… what do you think this is?” and a man looking very important approaches the screen and goes, “Oh… that’s just a camera… and it looks like it’s inside a umm… wolf head or something.” The security checker just said, “Oh okay,” and kind of shrugged it off as something very insignificant. It was actually insane.

I met a bunch of the other vols here and immediately convinced people to come to town with me mostly because my stomach needed a treat. We went to the market that was about a mile away and I got myself some tastey sweet sticky rice and then a fermented pork skewer on the side of the road. Jenny sure would love these tastey meats.

I was around my friend Andy who knew a bit of Thai, and I’ve already had some nice encounters with the language- for example, Andy said Thai people are obsessed with the idea of drinks with power, so he often asks if this so-and-so mysterious green colored drink would give him power, and they would say “oh yes. so much power.”
So, I was off to find myself a drink that would give me power, heroism, and virility. Where was the easiest place to find a cold power drink the fastest? Why, the 7-11 of course.
I decided with my friend Andy that what I really wanted was a drink that would give me “fierce compassion,” which basically meant heroism but I don’t know, I thought it sounded much cooler. So, I got a green tea energy drink that was flavored pomegranate and berries. Yep.

Being around my Caucasian American friend Andy today actually created some funny and interesting situations. Whenever he would ask for directions, the Thai people would look straight at me and basically think “Why the heck aren’t you talking and you’re letting this American friend of yours butcher our language?” Then, assumptions were made- and since there are a lot of “ladyboys” in Thailand, Andy said that people probbbably thought I was his Thai boyfriend haha. It’s pretty common for Caucasian foreigners to come to Thailand and pick up a Thai ladyboy, so it wasn’t an inconcievable thought to any Thai person.

Tonight at dinner I asked for a bottled water next to Andy and the restaurant owner turned to him and said “He is a handsome boy.” And my friend Andy just kind of played a long and said “Is he very, very handsome?” And she said “Yes, he’s an extremely handsome boy” and smiled at him. After we left the restaurant Andy explained to me what they had said and had a sudden revelation look on his face and said “Umm, I just realized that she probably was complimenting you to basically compliment me because she probably thought that you were my Thai boyfriend hahaha.”

So, that’s the first good story I have for you. I’ve been mistaken as a Thai person and as long as I wear fitted shirts and appear to be reserved around my friend Andy who speaks Thai (since I don’t know how to speak it well yet), I’m going to always be his Thai boyfriend in the eyes of the locals. It’s a pretty funny situation I’ve gotten myself into, and Andy is even more excited to introduce me to Thai people using my name. If you’re curious as to why, look up what my name means in Thai… :::sigh:::.

Anyway, today is our first day of orientation and my jet lag has turned into multiple painful jet streams (ba-dum PSSH) so I’m going to get me some good ol instant coffee. You’ll hear from me soon, don’t you worry.
Love (actually so much of it),
Hy

~ by Hy Huynh on July 16, 2008.