You simply cannot be attached to your schedule in this country. If you get attached to it you’re going to be sorely frustrated. Tuesday morning started with a surprise meeting with Mr. Manat… and 30 probation officers. Now let me tell you, for a girl like me to be surrounded by 30 probation officers in a foreign country is rather scary. Its like, being surrounded by the enemy in a very odd way.
So anyway, the meeting begins and of course its all in Thai and PJ was nowhere to be found. This is frustrating. I’m sitting in a meeting that obviously needs to happen and they obviously want me at (its culturally important to be present at these things) but I’m not understanding a single thing they say. 20 minutes into the proceedings PJ appears with the Warm Heart projector for later in the meeting (the local government has been borrowing this frequently as of late).
He sits down and hastily attempted to tell us what the very important (looking) man was saying. Several people in the course of a few hours spoke. A probation officer from Chiang Mai who says her biggest struggle is convincing parents that comparing their children to other kids is NOT a good idea and will actually push them to keep using drugs. Or the Psych nurse (who we met earlier last week) who taught us that because of Yabba (meth) distribution works here she can tell by the pill color of the meth (its all pill form out here) what village they come from.
Then, Eve (one of the workers in Mr. Manat’s office) approached PJ and asked him if I would give a speech about the youth program we wanted to start and what it would look like…. Now, if you’ve been reading my blog then you are quite aware that my ideas for the youth and THEIR ideas for the youth are two very different ideas. If I gave a speech on what I hope the youth program looks like then I’ll be offending more than half the top officials in the room. PJ realizes this and tells them that we’ll present our ideas on the subject at a later time.
Mr. Manat is not the kind of man to be put off. He approaches PJ and talks to him in Thai. I do not know much Thai but I know a command when I hear one. 10 minutes later I’m at the front table giving a tentative speech to 30 probation officers and doing my best not to piss anyone off. I say a few things like my credentials (participating in a program for the last 4 and half years helping others stay off drugs… anonymity for now is super important) and then talk about how we’re working with local officials and will talk to kids about what they need. I spout out some ideas on what the program will look like and then I close it up. PJ is, of course translating, and I look over at him and I’m like “soo… are they gonna kill me?” and he says “no, that was good”. I breathe, nearly crap myself and wait for Divya to give her little speal and then finally leave the meeting.
At noon I’m finally back at the office getting things done that have now been put off due to the above meeting. Well, score one for not pissing off local authorities and making myself known to a bunch of people as someone who has experience. We’ll see how it plays out.
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