Work, Lunch, Assessment,Sunbird, Heinrich Böll

Bird Call and Construction Wat Ramphoeng uploaded by AKRaven

I heard this bird outside my office window. It was somewhere in the tree on the temple grounds. I put these two pictures together so you can get a sense of the view. Yes, the orange is monks' robes drying. I spent a lot of working on the vocabulary of the work plan so I understand

• what they are supposed to do and what they have completed, and
• so I have the vocabulary to talk to them about it.

I also worked on a couple of pages on how to run meetings. I had the English knocked out in 30 minutes. Then I spent a long time getting the right Thai words - and not sure I did all the time - and plugging them into the page. Mostly I cut and pasted from Thai2English.com, but I'm also getting better at remembering where the Thai letters are on the keyboard. Since my keyboard doesn't have Thai letters on it, I've cut out pictures of the keyboard and taped them to my laptop. I'd say I remember about 15 or 20 now. If I only knew how to spell right. I really need a Thai spell checker on my computer.






I was invited to lunch that someone had brought into the office - sticky rice and various kap. When you eat a meal (as opposed to snacks) you "eat rice." All the curries and other dishes that go with the rice are "kap khao" or 'with rice." One interesting dish was kwitdiao noodle, but not as a noodle. Rather a big piece was used to roll up vegetables.


In the early afternoon Grib showed up. She's the local American Jewish World Service coordinator. It was time to do some assessment since I've been here almost a month. So we sat outside with Pet, my boss, and talked about how I'm doing outside. I said I eat, I work on the computer, watch birds... and Pet added "takes pictures." We got her a copy of my workplan - Pet got her the Thai version. I'd emailed one to New York when Dorcus had asked for it, but I'd forgotten to get a copy to Grib. We all agree it is overly ambitious. But it also includes local people working with me on each part so they can follow up when I'm gone.

The good news is that I think my perception of things and Pet's are similar. Since it was almost all in Thai, (I had to explain what 'getting up to speed' means) I'm not going to say I'm 100% sure what the others said. Language is still an issue - which is why I'm working hard to get enough of their workplace vocabulary - potential, negotiation, coordinate, state agency, experience, reform, take action, proposal, etc. - to be able to talk about work more easily. I also explained about A.D.D. when I got distracted by the sunbird and pulled out my camera. I'm pretty sure it's an olive backed sunbird - that dark throat on the yellow, the long curved beak, and hummingbird like activity all seem to fit.

When I said that Pet and I don't say a lot to each other, but we communicate without words, he looked surprised and said, "how did you know?" The workshop I did Monday was the kind of thing he wanted his staff to do and he'd like me to do more. He also told Grib how much time I spent in preparation - showing how I'd typed the handout in Thai. Too much time? Should I have an assistant? Grib asked. At this point, I replied, doing it myself means I'm learning it. After a while, having someone else type the Thai would be a lot easier and faster. Right now I'm trying to understand the organization before I start doing too much. But the short time I have left - about six weeks - does focus things and I will get, I'm already, moving with a sense of urgency. It was a useful chat for us all I think.



Right next to us were some of the election posters of the candidate the organizations here were supporting, but who lost. I'm still trying to get the vote count. Someone gave me the url of a Thai website, but I didn't have the time it would take to find it in Thai. I might not even know it if I did find it.



I've been taking different routes to work and back just to know the little streets around here. I was also trying to find a little place on the map called Pie Sabai which appears to be a little Western style bakery in the neighborhood. I saw it several times when people were taking me around in their car or motorcycle looking for a place to stay, but haven't been able to find it since. Even though it looks on the map I have to be on the way to work. But here's a picture of the sunset on the way home - it was about 5:45 and by 6:45 it is dark.

I also found out the Heinrich Böll Foundation is very near us. At least that's what the sign says, I didn't find the foundation itself. He's a Nobel Prize winning German author for those who don't know.