my Q&A session with local newspaper

http://www.indianagazette.com/articles/2009/12/28/news/10031300.txt

MONDAY Q&A: Student from Thailand adjusts to American customs, weather

MONDAY Q&A: Pisarn ``Bee'' Chamcharatsri
Published: Monday, December 28, 2009 12:07 PM EST

EDITOR'S NOTE: The story of Thailand native Pisarn ``Bee'' Chamcharatsri is representative of so many of the approximately 700 international students from 75 nations who attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He sat down recently with Gazette staffer Bob Fulton to discuss cultural differences, frigid winter weather, misconceptions about America and Thanksgiving feasting.

Question: Tell me first about coming to IUP. How long did it take you to get here from Thailand?

Answer: I flew from Bangkok and I stopped at Narita in Japan - Narita International Airport. And then I came to Chicago and then Pittsburgh and then Indiana. Altogether it was almost 20, 22 hours.

Question: When you first came here - you're all the way on the other side of the world, everything is different - what were you feeling?

Answer: The first few weeks it was really exciting, the first time to study in the States. Everything was new. But after a few weeks, like other international students I'm friends with, I started having a little of like homesickness.

Question: Had you ever been outside of Thailand?

Answer: Yes, I was in Canada for a month. But this is the longest period of time that I've been away.

Question: Where did you go in Canada?

Answer: I was in Alberta, in Calgary, studying English - intensive English.

Question: Why did you decide the study in the United States?

Answer: I actually talked to my professor back home and she recommended I come to IUP. Another reason is that I think the educational system here is similar to the educational system in Thailand. And another thing, I think, is the accessibility of information - it's easier to get access to the information here in the States compared to Thailand.

Question: When did you come to IUP?

Answer: August 2006.

Question: And you're a doctoral student?

Answer: Yes. I did my master's here at IUP and I did my undergrad work in Thailand.

Question: What are you studying?

Answer: English-Composition and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Question: Have the students here helped in any way to make you feel at home?

Answer: I would say yes and no. Yes, in terms of the students here at IUP in general are really understanding, they are helpful. Whenever I ask for help they are willing to help me. But for the no part, I think one thing - I don't want to say it's problematic, but there's some kind of misunderstanding I would say - that students here sometimes, I don't believe, are comfortable talking to international students. It might be because they never really had exposure to international students. So I would have like people staring at me, but they never really come and talk to me.

Question: What do you like about IUP and Indiana, and what don't you like?

Answer: What I like about IUP is my professors and colleagues. Apart from that, Indiana is a small town, but people are friendly, I would say. And because it's a small town it's easy to access - you don't have traffic and you don't have any logistical issues. But what I don't like about IUP, well, food is always an issue for international students, I would say. But I also hear some American students complaining about food. I think it's common.

Question: Well how about the United States as a whole - what do you like and what don't you like?

Answer: For the USA in general, I like it in terms of ... well, I traveled to the West last winter, went to California. I've also been to Florida, to New York. I think it's the diversity that, when I go to the West I see different kinds of people, different scenery, go to the North, a different one, go to the South, it's totally different. I think that's what I notice, is the diversity whenever I go somewhere else. As for the people in general, they are really friendly and really helpful. I've been to a lot of different places, but I haven't really had any bad experiences so far in terms of interaction with people.

Question: Did you have any misconceptions about the United States or Americans that, when you came to this country, you discovered were totally wrong?

Answer: I didn't really have misconceptions but my friend did. After I was here for about a year and I went back home, one of my friends asked me about the houses - they asked if the houses in the place where I live were the same as in the Hollywood movies. I said, well, no (laughing). No, no. Misconceptions, yeah, I think I might have one. I see students here who still stay with their parents. When I was young I always thought that American kids when they are about 18 or 19 they are moving out and staying by their own. I guess that's one. I think it's OK, because in Asia most kids stay with their parents until they get married.

Question: Are there any American customs you find peculiar? I mean, what struck you, at first, as really odd?

Answer: I think the hunting would be the answer (laughing heartily). When I was in the dorm for the first year, the opposite room of mine they were American students. We are still friends. One of the roommates, he is a big hunter. He actually goes back home every other week just to hunt. He knows what he can hunt each week by heart. I was amazed by that. And just walking through campus, I've heard a lot about the hunting culture.

Question: Besides maybe the food and the language, is there anything else you had difficulty adjusting to in this country? Thailand's not far from the equator - maybe the weather?

Answer: Yes, the weather. The first time that I have to live through the real winter season, it was a little bit rough. The first year when I was on campus that was OK because I just walked. But the driving through the snow, that's difficult. And the transition between the fall and the winter is the worst. Like you get the sleet, you get hail. It never gets cold back home. We never really go below 60, 65 (degrees). Right now is the perfect temperature for going to the beach in Thailand. That's something I miss about coming here.

Question: Are you surprised by how little most Americans know of Thailand?

Answer: If you say ``Thailand'' people will always be confused about Thailand and Taiwan. They will think like it's the same country and I'll say ``No, no, it's a different country.'' Sometimes they might not know where it is, but since we have a big tourism industry there, lots of people know about the beaches. But they don't really know about what else is there.

Question: You mentioned you went out West and to Florida. Where did you go?

Answer: I went to national parks.

Question: Which ones?

Answer: I went to the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, King's Canyon, Saguaro in Arizona, Glacier National Park, Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone and the Everglades. And the Grand Tetons, too.

Question: You live so far from home - how often do you get back to Thailand?

Answer: Once a year, I would say. The first time I went home I went there during the winter break, three or four weeks. The last time that I went home was three months, over the summer.

Question: Is it difficult for you, over the Christmas break, for example, when other kids go home and you and the international students mostly stay here?

Answer: It is. It is very difficult. Everything is closed, no one's here, the town is practically dead, you don't have any other places to go. If you don't have a car that's even worse, you don't any access to anything. And even though the bus system is getting better now, over the holidays you don't have any buses to go to Walmart. You don't even have the chance to go shopping anywhere.

Question: When will you get your doctorate?

Answer: I still have to write my dissertation - probably at least two or three years to finish my doctorate.

Question: Whenever you go back home, what do you think your favorite memory of this whole experience will be?

Answer: It's probably going to be winter (laughing). Well, besides that, the Thanksgiving. Because I have my host family, and Carol Worrell invites my other international friends and I to her place and we have a Thanksgiving meal almost every year.

Question: Are you impressed by the amount of food Americans serve at Thanksgiving?

Answer: One of the first Thanksgiving meals that I had, one of my friends invited me to his place. I saw so much food on the table. And then the leftovers, I don't know how people manage to eat them all.

Question: After you finish your doctorate, a couple years down the road, what do you want to do with your life?

Answer: I plan to at least get some teaching experience here in the States. But towards the end of the road I'm going back to Thailand to teach and help Thai students to at least give them an equal opportunity to get some knowledge.

NEXT WEEK: IUP grad Jim Self, a professor of tuba at the University of Southern California.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Do you know someone who would be a great subject for the Monday Q&A? If so, please call Jason Levan at (724) 465-5555, ext. 270.

AT A GLANCE......

Name: Pisarn ``Bee'' Chamcharatsri

Job: Graduate student

Age: 31

Hometown: Bangkok, Thailand

Family: Father Songkiat, mother Siriwan, brothers Phanuamon and Suphot

Favorite foods: Spicy chicken with basil

Food I refuse to eat: I eat everything.

Favorite movie: ``Sleepless in Seattle''

Last book I read: ``Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,'' by Dee Brown

Favorite way to spend a day: Reading on the front porch

People who most inspire me: My parents

My life goal: Become an English professor

Something most people don't know about me: I want to be a novelist, and I have an M.A. in advertising and public relations.