Thai study abroad profiles

In March the teachers took us to a village in Ampur Phrao for a five day home-stay.  On the way there I was really nervous about how it would go.  I wasn’t looking forward to the experience at all.  We arrived and it was all a bit daunting, we were each packed off with our family almost immediately.  I met my host sister and she drove me back to her house, where I was introduced to her husband, baby and mother and father.  None of them could speak more than about two or three words of English and spoke primarily in the northern dialect.  At first it was very awkward and as I was nervous my Thai was appalling.  My host sister drove me up to the temple where we had a look around and on the way down we met the others ram wong-ing with the rest of the village. It was really fun and it wasn’t as if we were outsiders – we were made to feel part of the community even though we had been there less than two hours!  In the evening I ate with my host family, and ate food that I had never even heard of before.  It was incredibly spicy but really tasty and a nice change from the usual. Conversation was a little bit awkward but I understood more than I had thought I would. 

The next day we went to the primary school and that was really fun.  That evening some of my host sister and her husband’s friends came round and I sat with them and ate.  They were very easy to talk to and I found myself being much more confident in my Thai. We were just chatting and when I made mistakes it wasn’t a big deal, we laughed about it but I didn’t feel stupid or anything. They also taught me quite a lot of northern words which was good. That evening we headed back up to the temple where there was muay thai and other activities. The following day Nicky’s family took us up to a waterfall for a picnic. It was really nice and informal.  They were very easy to chat to and we didn’t feel self-conscious about speaking in Thai, or mistakes that were made. That evening I helped my host mum prepare dinner by shelling live prawns, mincing pork for larb, and cutting up other bits and pieces. I really enjoyed this as I hadn’t spent much time with my host mum and had been quite shy with her. But on this occasion she taught me a lot about how Thai people cook and the traditional role of a woman in that village. 

The last full day I spent with my host family we travelled to the other side of Chiang Mai province to a different ampur. We went to visit my host sister’s family and celebrated the completion of a new structure at the local temple.  Her family was very welcoming and friendly. It was very strange as all the young women including my host sister were around my age, and already had at least one child.  One of my sister’s friends came with us as well, and I was speaking to her about the whole baby thing.  She said that she wanted to go to Chiang Mai University instead of getting married and having babies early. I chatted to lots of the family and random people at the wat.  Before we left my host sister’s parents were making me promise to come back and visit which was lovely.

Despite my initial doubts I thoroughly enjoyed the village home-stay and it definitely helped my belief in my ability to communicate.  We all met some lovely people in the village and learned a lot about Thai life and culture outside of the city.