Since leaving the Peace Corps, I've often thought about these covers because compared to everything I've read or letters I've written, they best capture the ridiculously sad, funny existence of a volunteer in Thailand. Thanks to the miracle of Facebook, he's posted a few that I can pass on.
Welcome to Thailand. "I want to be alone", says the Peace Corps trainee. 3 months later, "I'm so lonely." A Peace Corps volunteer soon discovers there are two kinds of 'lonely' in the world. 'Lonely' where you are alone, but just a phone call away, and 'Lonely' where you are alone with no phone and 100 miles away from the nearest person that speaks your language.
This one is a a little too true. Before I read the shampoo bottle, I would go back and re-read all the letters to the editor in old editions of the Newsweek magazine we received, then, the introductions and forewords in my non-fiction books, and finally, the user's manual for all my electronic appliances.
With the students in uniform and everyone with the same haircuts (girls with a bob and boys with a high and tight), you could easily feel overwhelmed, and even though they were only 4 feet tall, there was always a sense that at any moment they could turn against you. "Greeting, you" was simply a guise to get you to let your guard down.
"Hey you, where you go?" The more appropriate, yet never asked question is "Hey you, where the hell are you?" with "What the hell are you doing here?" coming in a close second.
A depressingly large proportion of my free time (with other people) was spent singing super soft hits of the 60's and 70's. I know the words to way too many songs that I simply should not know - Beautiful Sunday, I Don't Like to Sleep Alone, Rivers of Babylon, and 500 Miles...
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