lover's day

a-) Mom, your blog profile picture is ridiculous
b-) this weeks free song on Itunes is great, get it while it's hot. (Hometown Glory).

On to business. Going with the theme of the day, I decided to make my English class more entertaining. The class is all women that work in an office/school nearby. They are always being silly and kidding each other about being single. I decided on the ad-hoc topic of 'relationships'. I had a list of questions I asked them and proceeded to have them answer in English.

Question: What are common reasons for couples to break up?

First (quite assertive) answer: Men decide they aren't men. My ex-boyfriend decided he was a woman.

I won't assume this only happens in Bangkok, but I am going to make and educated assumption that it is quite common here. I was thinking more along the lines of different interests, bad communication, cheating to be causes for a break up. But no, men becoming women. Of course, that one might have slipped my mind on Valentines Day.

Bangkok would be a gender studies specialist's playground. Gender is viewed so differently here, women as women, men as men, women as men, and most commonly men as women. I bought fruit on the street tonight from a man with his nails perfectly painted pink. Which sex does he prefer? The pink nails would not help to make that guess. What I might have viewed as quirky 9 months ago or what might get men shot in TX, now seems quite normal if not comforting. I enjoy the grey area and the ability for affection within each sex not to automatically be stereotyped as romantic. I favor the idea that men can wear the colours they choose without being judged. This whole nation is wearing pink in reverence to the king. However, I do sometimes find it challenging to determine accurately which sex a given individual is here. Physically both adult men and women have more similar characteristic to each other in comparison to their western counterparts. Hence why Christina and I refer to ourselves as a third sex here, western women. All this to say, I have learned quite a bit here, more than textbooks could ever supply. Even what once was common ground, the idea of gender, I have to realize is really more a social construct than natural inclination. Given the choice, would women naturally choose to wear heels if they never saw their mothers in them?

I do not miss the macho, look at my scuffed up baseball cap and huge truck to prove that I am a man, men. I do however miss a world where men aren't constantly looking better in a mini skirt and heels than me. For that, I do have my limits. Women are competitive enough amongst themselves, we do not need men to fight off in the name of beauty.

happy valentines day.

P.S.

If anyone knows of a good grad program focused on Cultural and Gender Studies let me know. (Note: I am not looking for one that focuses on women's lib or the homosexual side).

Happy Year of the Rat (or mouse- Mickey is WAY cuter).

Salutations. Another exciting Friday night at my apartment. I did just go for a spin on Daniel Jones' new Fino scooter. Pretty awesome that I have a friend with a scooter and extra helmets. Supposedly the main road- Sukhumvit, goes all the way to the ocean so we may try to take it one day. It could take days, but it's a Fino.

In other news, I decided to try volunteering for the enth time since being here. I get rejected a lot, I mean I WANT to help. While my first 6 months were technically volunteering, I want to do something I actually enjoy. A non-profit, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW), finally e-mailed me back wanting my translation services for their final reports, I eagerly agreed. Basically I get to translate their 30 page final report into Spanish for their Latin American members to read. The upsides are that it will be great practice and allow me to become familiar with technical terms in Spanish in the area of human trafficking, legal issues and advocacy. I met with the lady today, we spoke in Spanish which was marvelous (she's Spanish). She was very happy to have my help, since she actually has other things to do. She also told me that if I continue to be interested in the area she has contact with various NGOs dealing with the issue of trafficked women throughout Latin America and the world that would likely be happy to have me. Awesome. Connections are another plus, and the only downside is that it's 30 pages.

Tonight Christina's dad arrives and tomorrow we are all going to the weekend market to have bugs. Yes, roaches and the such that are "cooked" for a nice afternoon snack. Never fear, despited my intentions to give up soda for lent, I will be purchasing a huge coke to down as soon as the crunch of the insect of choice gets to me.

cheers.