Today I went to the Fulbright office and met with Khun Wanida. We had an appointment for 10 am, but I was there by about 9:30 am because 1) I couldn’t sleep and 2) I wanted to give myself enough time to get there. She was very surprised at my earlier arrival and showed me to a conference room where I browsed through the publications of former Fulbrights. I picked up a book on Thai dance, written by a former Fulbright and published in 2004. Boy, do I have a lot to live up to. An entire book??
Khun Wanida was such a pleasure to meet and was instrumental in helping me to secure Chula as a host institution. You can see that the title “Khun” works for both sexes. We went to lunch at a place nearby where I was introduced to Thai omelets, “khai jiaw.” This place specialized in omelets and was thus named Khaijiaw – amazing huh? I finished lunch with a dessert featuring a fruit I’ve never had before (and here I thought I was pretty well versed in Asian fruits!) In Thai, it’s called Sala. I haven’t figured out what it’s called in English yet. It’s kind of like a cross between Rambutan and Mangosteen. It has a flavor similar to Mangosteens but an appearance similar to Rambutans. It was delicious!
We caught a cab to Chula and found our way to the Faculty of Economics. In Thailand, ‘Faculty’ is the equivalent of ‘School,’ it seems. Still, it seems to me more centered upon the professors, the people as opposed to the space, when looking at the distinction between them. It seems very logical and very Thai to me to focus more on the human aspect of learning as opposed to the physical and spatial aspect of it implied by ‘school.’
We tracked down “ajarn” (ah-john, teacher) Isra and revisited my proposal and asked him for input about classes I should enroll for. We also met with a liaison from the International Affairs office, since she is the one familiar with the administrative aspect of things.
The meeting dragged out for quite some time as I sorta came in the middle of the academic year. Given my education level, I wasn’t on the same track timing wise as the undergraduates. A fact that was overlooked when the Fulbright administration and myself were trying to figure all that out. At any rate, I was also stunned by what it was actually going to cost for me to audit classes there. Needless to say, my Fulbright tuition funds were not going to cover a full time load at the university for the year. So we talked for a bit about how to work with what I’ve got. Dr. Isra excused himself (and rightly so, he wasn’t involved with any of this administrative stuff, he’s there for the academic part!). I felt a little embarrassed that he had to sit through all that. Anyway, I left the meeting without having settled on much except that I would classified not as a student, but as a visiting researcher (which I thought had been the understanding all along). I came out of the experience a little frustrated, but remembered what I had read in the Fulbright packet that this was common. Navigating through all of the bureaucracy is a reality of Thailand with just about everything.
I bid farewell to and thanked Khun Wanida for acting as the interpreter through the whole mess and told her I would take care of dropping off a photo of myself and tuition on Monday. I went home and simply crashed for a couple of hours. The jet lag was catching up with me.
When I woke up, it was a little after 7pm. I was feeling kind of hungry so I got dressed and headed out to the BTS. Of course, Bangkok was abuzz with life as usual. But there were different people out and about and different street vendors too. I hopped on the Sky Train and went to the stop that was closest to a shopping destination marked on the map Khun Kritt gave me – Central Department Store. Instead, I found myself at the Siam Paragon shopping center. It is gigantic luxury shopping center featuring the likes of Gucci, Prada, Luis Vuitton, Bvlgari and came complete with a Lexus dealership, a movie theater, a bowling alley, an upscale food court (whatever that means), a gourmet grocery store, an oceanarium and a vast expanse of parking to boot! I was appalled by what I saw. Seattle doesn’t have anything quite like this. It was something like eight floors of endless halls of designer boutiques, specialty shops and marble floors. Think Pacific Place but ten times bigger and with better shops! All I was looking for was a power adaptor so that I can recharge my computer and set up my internet.
I wandered and wandered for about an hour before I came across an electronic goods store. I asked a nearby sales person about where I could find an electrical adaptor – “plug for machine, from America.” Lots of gestures later, he led me to a shelving unit that was something resembling adaptor heaven. Great. Now which one isn’t going to fry my laptop battery and everything else I plug into it? After he sees me and my confused look, he pulls one off the shelf for me to look at. It appears to be a universal one. I took the adaptor and a small power converter to the check out and was given the total in Thai – of course. She turned the monitor so I could see it. I paid her and left the store and wandered down into the food court area, where I spied the entrance to the gourmet supermarket. I had made a shopping list before hand, but it didn’t help me get out of there any faster as I was unfamiliar with the brands they carried for simple household items like dishwashing detergent and deodorant. I think I spent the most time there, trying to figure out which scent wouldn’t make me sick. I also picked up some dishes and silverware, as the noodles and wonton soup were still sitting in my fridge from the night before since I didn’t have any dishes or utensils to eat them with! I also wandered around looking for some sliced bread. I finally broke down and asked one of the store employees. I had scarcely made it past the check out line when an announcement came over the loudspeaker. I looked at my watch and realized it was nearly 10 pm. Goodness, where’d the time go?? I had totally forgotten about being hungry.
I got home and made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the bread I just bought. Again, completely forgetting about the noodles from the night before.
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