You're not in Kansas anymore...

Being a student again is a bit surreal in its own right, but doing it at a Thai university is like being Dorothy in Oz.

My classmates have been nothing short of unbelievably sweet and welcoming (my very own lollipop gang!). They have such a range of personalities, I keep wishing i could speak the language better, but that is still such a process - and in the meantime, they go out of their way to fill in the gaps of communication - explaining things, translating between myself and others who speak even less English, teaching me new words and phrases (a definite source of amusement!), asking questions...

And there are many - where am i from, why am i here, what do i plan to do, what do certain expressions mean... sheesh, some of those i'm still working out about myself! But the experience i already have with Thais, along with being older than most of my classmates (all grad students, avg. 21-24) both add another dimension of "authoritativeness"... The attention is generally fun - but definitely challenging ... my thai falls so far short!

In general, all of the undergraduates on campus wear uniforms: black (pleated) skirts/pants with white shirts. Most of the girls sport a brown leather belt at hip level that, upon closer inspection, actually has the KMUTT logo on the buckle - so even the belt is standard university issue...

The freshy's, as they are called, are as amusing to watch here as in the States. Large groups participate in coordinated routines - they have senior "drill sargeants" and the activities are clearly viewed as a (bonding) experience/rite of passage...initiation lite. This week, the freshy's all had to wear name tags hanging from their necks - written on large, yellow cardboard cutouts in the shape of gears! It is, after all, an engineering school...

Not all their rites are done en masse. Today, in the large lunch hall, a freshy approached one of my classmates and professed his love for her (the look on her face - a mixture of amused, flippant, and unfazed, like it happened to her on a daily basis - so funny!); another kid (wearing a preppy sweater!) got up and belted out this song with lots of funny hand gestures, backed by 7 or 8 girls cheering him on; still others got up on tables to announce their love of whatever engineering field they were in...

Truthfully, it's been highly entertaining to watch them, even when i have no idea what they're saying. They're always teasing and laughing over things - nothing seems to rattle them!

Thais are notoriously confused by the slightest of "strong reactions" from westerners (like the pasta incident at home a few months back). It actually upset my classmates to see me express frustration over some problems we had for homework (k, haven't had to solve for heat capacities or use differentials in, oh, a decade --and i wasn't much good at them back then either.) I had to explain that i was not angry (and certainly not with them, but rather with my own thick skull!) - but that venting a little was my flawed way of diffusing the pressure, and if they might kindly disregard my sassafrassing, i would be grateful.

I could have apologized, but i think admitting my weakness was perhaps more unexpected - and ultimately shows (i hope!) that i'm a real person, not just an American Doll...