My Journal - July 30, 1993

          All by ourselves we took a bus to Ayutthaya and made it here. It is much nicer than Bangkok. The food street vendors are much cleaner and there are beautiful parks and Temple ruins everywhere, amazing.

          Our first night here we found a bar called the Rodeo Saloon! It had a live band that sang mostly in English (or their version of it) when they took a break the canned music was Alan Jackson. Cant wait to tell Suzanne she was right, a cowboy bar right down the street.

          Today was our first day of class, mostly language. I like the way they teach, interactive with growing repetition. We are even learning to read Thai.The Sala Pracha Kome is in a beautiful area, parks and ponds with water lily’s and lotus blossoms and Wat ruins everywhere.

          We will be here for three weeks and then split up into Villages for Home Stay. Most of us are pretty nervous, but then we have been very anxions of each new turn with no problems.

          Two things amaze me:

#1 How well put together the Peace Corps is, every detail is covered. They have taught us our numbers and food, so we can survive. Plus, they have given us shots for everything except Malaria, and it has been spaced into three separate times. The way they teach and the way they let us learn really works. The Ajaans (Thai Teachers) have very defined roles and everything is taken care of, every detail. Easy to believe they have done this before, which is very comforting. Which leads me to number two.

#2 This whole Peace Corps experience has been so right so far. All the preparation at home went so smoothly and San Francisco, I immediately felt like I was one of the group. Meeting Carole at the airport and then Lisa at the SFO Airport was much nicer than doing it all by myself. Then when we arrived in Bangkok, I have had a little anxiety dressing “RipRoy”, but then so has everyone else. I was a little upset about all the clothes I will never get to wear that I lugged 10,000 miles. The other night a friend of Jeff’s stopped by, her name is El, she has been here for two years and is trying to extend her stay. I guess too many PCV’s want to extend and it isn’t really in the budget. She told us that once you get to your site and your village gets to know you, you can be more yourself. Mainly, they expect you to be different.

          Every little part of this experience has felt so right. I haven’t felt one stitch of homesickness yet and I am very proud to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I even think I will learn Thai, as long as they speak slowly.

          It is Sunday morning, our first day off, I am going to do laundry and go find my first Thai coffee, then go exploring. Sounds fun, huh?