Bikes and Fresh Bread

Sigh.

old post

Here's a post I've been procrastinating on since last year. As part of my teaching English stint, I worked in three seventh grade classrooms last fall. On the last day, we discussed the differences between Thai culture and American culture. The students wrote something up in groups, and I finally looked at them this July as I unpacked my stuff in the US. The quotes are in italics, and I'll respond briefly to each one.

Americans have little respect of older people. But in Thailand we have to be respectful of older people. 
This is sort of a stock answer that people throw out there when asked to compare Thailand and the US. I initially resisted this line of thought, perhaps out of defensiveness for my own culture. My mind would scan over my students in NYC public schools, and I felt that the media's depiction hyperbolizes their behavior. Really, its not that bad. And I've witnessed plenty of Thai children acting cheekily. But returning to NYC this summer sort of shocked me. Numerous people I encountered (a security guard, cashiers) were outright rude for no reason. Subway cars are a perfect microcosm to display the vacuum of social structure. Teenagers and young adults play terrible music at an obnoxious volume and curse and shove around the train. Older, disapproving riders shoot furtive tut-tuts to each other, and then put their heads down to avoid repercussions from the unruly young'ens. I just can't imagine this happening in Bangkok. I now reassess my first thought, 'its not that bad." Well, "its not that bad" is not very good. OK, point expressed, now I can get back to shaking my fist and telling kids to get off my lawn.   
On birthday, in Thailand we usually have small party and eat small cake but in America, people usually have big party, big cake, and many people come to party.
Hmm. Thai people eat a lot of cake. Not sure about this one. 
Thai people dressed politely but American people dressed sexy.
There are some Americans who wear ridiculously revealing clothing that would probably never fly in public in Bangkok. But on the whole, I don't think the scandal factor of the clothing between these two countries is too different. This comment was probably influenced by media portrayals of Americans. 
People in America are fatter and taller than Thai.
Check and checkmate. 
Girls and ladies shouldn't wear shorts out of their homes.
OK...boo.
Americans are expressive and brave to do everything.
I think expressive is really the right word to characterize Americans (and other westerners) in comparison to Thais. So much of my experience in America has been the search to describe more candidly, truthfully and vividly. I didn't get a comparably strong sense of this in Thailand, and I don't think it was only because of my lack of ability in Thai language.

Alright, this was super-oversimplified and off-the-cuff, but thats about all your gonna get.

in New Dehli

Here I am, a week settled into my life and job in New Dehli, India. Everything is going swimmingly so far. Work and jet lag have kept me from exploring too much, but a brief summary:
New Dehli (or at least the parts I've been to) is very leafy and much slower than I had feared. I know the teeming masses of National Geographic features are out there and close by, but my part of the city is very livable and fairly peaceful. However, we are certainly not in Kansas here. I've already seen a number of beggars, a super-crowded train with people hanging out the doors, and ever-present public urinators. The food has been awesome so far. Eh, those last two sentences could have used a transition in between.
Work took us on a nice day tour of New Dehli this weekend, and a brief couple pics:
The resting place of Mahatma Ghandi

India Gate, a memorial for fallen soldiers.

Lots of cool architecture around the city, and a lot of focus on landscaping. The mali is a caste-designated gardener, so I'm interested to learn about the relationship there. British New Dehli is the eighth successive city built in this spot, so many ruins from different eras abound. The urban design of New Dehli feels British in a lot of ways. And of course, India is tea-madness.
Overall, I'm surprised by how much this feels like it could be any other place, with a couple of important substitutions here and there. I guess I kind of expected everyday to slap me in the face with YOU ARE IN INDIA moments, but I'm mostly just going about my routine as usual. Maybe I'm more of a stodgy, habit-driven chap than I thought!

PA and nature

things that warmed my heart in NYC

This is the random liquor store in Long Island City where Maki and I had an unplanned wine tasting that contributed to what could be known, in the most generous terms, as our first date. My good friends live in L.I.C. now and we happened to walk by it.

A walk through central park. Lots of people enjoying a leisurely row.

Chrysler building. Its amazing how large it looms over you in real life, and how difficult that can be to capture on camera.

A Mexican music ensemble on the 6 train. I know lots of New Yorkers find subway musicians and drummers annoying, but they have always been pure joy for me. I was so excited when they stepped on that a physical sensation pulsed down my body. It reminded me of the content closing my eyes and listening to A or 2/5 train drummers would create on the way home from a long day at work.

I'd love to accept compliments for even the lucky timing of this photo, but I'm 99% certain the umbrellas were purposefully arranged for another photographer.

baggage

While attempting to look up baggage limits for my upcoming flight, I learned that one may bring antlers on American Airlines flights, but they

"Must be as free of residue as possible. The skull must be wrapped and tips protected." Also, us passengers are allowed up to one javelin per flight. I did not find a clear answer to my own question about checked baggage on a domestic flight that is connected to an international one.