My time in Thailand is somewhat like popular song. You hear it once and you are not sure what to think about it. You talk to your friends and they let you know "yeah man, that song is pretty sweet bro". You listen to it again and you begin to hope to hear it again on the radio (this was back when radio was still fairly cool). You associate with the song and the lyrics and begin to somewhat understand what the songwriter is talking about and now rather than just a good melodic vibe, you begin to think, "why do I like this song?". Then you find yourself hearing that song again somewhere out and about with buddies and now you have related this song to a particular event or point of time in your life. Then the song gets really really old and rather than wanting to hear the song everywhere you go on every hit station, you quickly change the dial and maybe drop a few inappropriate slurs in the direction of the radio broadcasters. For that period of time you never want to hear the song again. This is where things turn around. The next time your hear that song, maybe a year later, you are taken back to that night out with the bros and that night out reminds you of a great time in your life.
By now you are wondering how this relates at all to anything about anything. You are probably ready for the principal in the movie Billy Madison to come out and repeat his famous line "Mr. Fries, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul", but just hear me out.
So I was not sure what to think about Thailand when I first arrived. I got a pretty good vibe and the people surrounding me in the Peace Corps inner circles seemed like great support; even good friends after a couple days on a plane together.
In the following days and months I was able to talk with my new found friends about what they thought about this new country and a new line of work. They responded as I expected them. No matter what they really thought the response was "yeah man, this is pretty sweet bro", it was new, it was popular.
When PST was over we were on our way into the great unknown where our new beginnings were going to start and where we were on our own. This is where we really got to know whether or not we really liked Thailand. We collectively listened to the melody but we were having to much fun to realize what the words were. When I got to site I finally started listening and found out what Thailand was all about. I learned the intricicies of the words in the song and I was like "Why do I like this song?". As I went about the next few months and the newness of what the words meant to me wore off I began to "turn the dial" every time I heard the song (literally, like in the morning at 5am when the truck is blasting Maw Lam so you will come out of your "baan" and buy some "moo" from the back of their "rote truck"). I would drop a few inappropriate slurs at the broadcasters for forcing me to listen to that song day after day.
Then things changed, I quickly blocked everything out, turned off my radio and started listening to my own music. My own music consisted of songs that I had previously felt the same way about. But no matter how old those songs used to be, I hadn't listened to them in a long time and they sounded new again.
It took a little bit of time before I decided to play the song again. I was weary of what the song might do to my overall morale. When I played it again for the first time it was like I was taken back to that night out with the bros and made me realize that this is a great time in my life that I have started to learn to appreciate no matter what the hardships. Even if you were to potentially break your computer and washing machine and accidently kill the two geckos that had been living in your house longer than you had all in one week....mind you this is just a scenario....in no way should this give you the idea that I did all these things in one week.....I'm just giving an example.....You still are able to listen to that song and it reminds you of good times.
This is not to say that after you listen to the song for a little while longer it will become old again because trust me, it will. But the good news is that song will always remind you of a point in time in your life. You will look back, listen again someday and just as the song taught you to do before you knew it so well, you'll smile.
So anyway, No I will not make out with you! You got Chlorophyll Man up there talking about God knows what and all she can talk about is making out with me. I'm here to learn, people, not to make out with you! Go on with the chlorophyll stuff!
Luke
