As the holiday season nears and the temperature begins to drop, PCVs in Thailand think longingly of the changing leaves, crisp mornings, and bundling up against the chill when heading out. The fall season doesn’t really occur in Thailand, although you could argue their “cold season” is really just fall to countries that experience cold weather. Now that we’re dreaming of hot cocoa and cozy fires while sweating at 8 in the morning, we asked a few of our writers how they’re bringing the spirit of the season to their communities.
Gretchen Evans, 136 YinD
I am bringing American Halloween traditions straight to my office. I’m having a small celebration with my youth council on Halloween day at my Subdistrict Administrative Organization office! I noticed pretty early on that some mo lam remixes played at community events have popular American songs, as well as artists. A singer who I find quite funny to be featured in Isaan is Pitbull – he truly is Mr. Worldwide!
Emily (YIND 135) and I are dressing up as Pitbull (bald cap, mustache, shades, and all) and we’re going to have a trick-or-treat, karaoke, and dance party! I was really into two-step and country line-dancing in college, so I will also be teaching the Texas version of the Timber line dance. This blend of Halloween and Pitbull culture is certainly a unique spin on spooky season. Regardless, I am excited to share the trick-or-treat tradition and show off a fun aspect of American holidays!
Additionally, we are having a brainstorm session on what we want to accomplish as a youth council in the coming term. I like that we will be able to get important tasks done and then party after! I am looking forward to facilitating youth leadership, repping American culture, and singing some calle ocho.
Ella Spear, 136 TESS
I accidentally woke up around sunrise in early October, and, surprisingly, I was not sweating. I opened my front door, and the sun was just touching the tips of the mango trees, which fluttered in a cool breeze. Immediately, I felt energized, and swore I could smell that lovely fall scent of leaves and apples in the air. I conjured up the image of an orchard and sweater weather; I could feel it, I could taste the homemade apple turnovers fresh from the oven. I almost cried, and maybe did a little. Luckily, the seasons align…kind of. It’s not really fall here, definitely not comparable to crisp, frosty mornings in Maine, but I have felt a chill once or twice, and it’s a lot cooler than the April summer heat.
Halloween spirit (or just kids’ willingness to do whatever they can for candy) in my classes reminded me again that it is fall at home, and winter is quickly approaching. As a skier and someone who spends most of the year preparing for winter, fall is one of the most exciting and important times of the year. Fall is associated with coziness, good food, and community. For me, where there is a good memory, there is almost always good food tied to it, or vice versa. In the fall, I crave apples in every form imaginable. I crave good hot chai tea, homemade soup, and all the comfort foods. So, determined not to let my fall slip away, I leaned on food. I won’t share my mediocre recipe now, but stovetop apple crisp made its debut in my house, along with the spiciest ginger and herbal tea I could cook up. It was healing. The sun is setting earlier and it stays below the trees just a little longer in the mornings, which helps me create the imaginary fall season that I get to live in most mornings right now.
There have been a few colder days in the past month and allegedly a few more lie ahead, but once the sun rises into the sky, its hard to be cooled down by any amount of wind. It’s then not so easy to forget that winter is not coming for me, not this year. Despite that, when I think about it, I can find the fall feeling in every breeze, sunrise walk, sip of tea, scary podcast or paper plate Halloween mask that I want. Sometimes it really just takes an apple and imagination to be right at home.
Tal Carmel, 136 YinD
Ah Fall, a season of change.
A wonderful time of the year where the weather cools down, the foliage changes into beautiful warm tones of yellows and reds, and there’s a crispness to the air… unless you live in Thailand that is. Where the only thing that changes is the page on the calendar and maybe the amount of rain.
So how do you bring Fall to people who’ve never seen it?
Do you show them pictures? Describe it in as much detail as possible? Try to explain the cultural relevance of a Pumpkin Spiced Latte (especially when you’ve never even tried one before 😅)?
Or maybe you go the holiday route and focus on Thanksgiving or Halloween? But… those are just one-off days in an entire season. For me Fall is less about what you see and do, and more about what you feel. It’s closing your eyes as the cool wind bites your nose and the warm sun fights for its last few moments of warmth against your face.
It’s the smell of cinnamon and pine that somehow simultaneously fill every space. The first taste of soup, heating you up from the inside a little too much, so you roll up the sleeves on your favorite sweater that you finally pulled out of the closet.
Fall, to me, is more than just an accumulation of identifiers.
It’s feelings.
Memories.
Internal warmth in a world cooling down.
So how exactly do you bring that to a country that’s never experienced it? How do you recreate that?
Honestly, I don’t know…
Sticky Rice 