Wanwisa Srimanon

Age: 22
School and Year: Chiang Mai University, Junior
Major: Japanese
Hometown: Chiang Rai
Ambition: To have her own business
Nickname: Nud

"I did lots of activities in high school, I was in many competitions, I went abroad. I didn’t have many friends – I didn’t have time for friends. I was president of the students in my second year (10th grade), and president of the environment club."

When Wanwisa came into my English oral expression class last semester, her abilities as a speaker immediately set her apart from most of the other students. She had a lot of confidence, took her studies seriously, and appeared to be a student who knew how to get things done. Time after time, she did her assignments well and received high marks.

I was not surprised to find that she had been abroad, not once, but three times. "The first time I went abroad was in my first year of senior high school [sophomore year, age 16]. "I took the Thai Red Cross Society test, and that time, everything was free, except pocket money. I went to Japan, and stayed for 3 weeks."

This experience abroad was a big turning point in Wanwisa’s life, because it made her want to live abroad and learn as much as possible about foreign cultures. "I liked Japan. The place was very clean, society was well-organized, people were on time, much different from Thai people. And they followed the rules of their society, and were peaceful, no crime. I had a Japanese boyfriend, too – he was a staff of Japanese Red Cross. From that trip, I felt like Japan was a beautiful place and I wanted to come back again to study, live or travel."

Wanwisa comes from the town of Chiang Rai, in the northernmost province of Thailand. She grew up with her mother and two older sisters, her father having moved out and remarried early in her childhood. Both of her sisters are married now, one to a German and one to a Thai. Soon after returning from her first trip to Japan, she and her mother went to visit her sister in Germany.

"I went to Germany during summer vacation of my first year of senior high school, during April. We stayed in a small town near Munich. I liked Germany a lot; there were lots of mountains and beautiful places. It was my first time to see snow. And we went to many castles. I felt like Cinderella, when I was in the castle. Like, Linderhaf, and Neuschwanstien - the models of Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland. It was great for me. We took a lot of photos there. It was my first time to get on a cable car. I was excited, because I was nervous a little bit. But when we reached the top of the mountain, everything was white because of the snow."

After this first year of traveling abroad, Wanwisa was determined to return to Japan. Her senior year of high school, she succeeded. "I took the AFS test and passed – I got number 1 in my province [Chiang Rai]. I felt very lucky, and I chose to go to Japan."

But the second trip to Japan turned out to be quite a different experience than the first one. "The first time, I was there only 3 weeks, and they showed me only the good side. I didn’t know that I could have any problems living in Japan."

The second time, Wanwisa lived with a host family in Sapporo, a city in Hokkaido, the very large island in the north of Japan. "I was there for one year. Before I went, I thought everything would be great for me, because I would study in a Japanese high school, and live with a Japanese family. I prepared everything, and I was very excited.

"The first 3 months, everything seemed okay. I went out every weekend with my friends, from the university and from my host school, and I thought this was okay. I didn’t know that my host mom didn’t like that. She thought that when I lived in Japan with a host family, I should have my mind only with them. I thought, everyone at school had their activity, like every weekend or after school, the children would go out with friends, join clubs, do activities at their school. No one was at home on weekends, so why should I have to stay home? I wanted to make lots of new friends, so I went out.

"My host family thought I came to Japan only to meet my boyfriend. Sure, that was part of it, but not the only part. I also wanted to learn more about Japanese culture, and about Japanese people’s lives, and many things. I wanted to get experience that comes with living abroad."

This difference in expectations led to a visit from the AFS representative in Sapporo. Wanwisa was reprimanded for not following the rules of living in a Japanese family. It was a very uncomfortable experience to sit through, and no one was willing to listen to her side of the story. Although some of the other AFS students were allowed to change families, Wanwisa was not. It was either a matter of stick it out, or go back to Thailand. Wanwisa chose to stay.

"When they complained to me, I wanted to cry, and pack my bags and come back to Thailand immediately. I felt I was alone. My boyfriend worked and worked, and I couldn’t call my mother and tell her, because I didn’t want her to worry about me. I wanted to solve these problems by myself. But I didn’t know how, so I just let it go, and, for about 3 or 4 months, I cried every night. However, I was very happy at my host school. There was this one American teacher who was very nice and kind to me, and I could talk with her about everything. My teachers were very nice to me. But I had a bad time with my host sister and my mom."

Wanwisa stayed the remainder of the year in Japan, but her relationship with her host family was not a warm one. It was a hard lesson to learn, one that perhaps many foreign exchange students learn, about how values, expectations and even ways of communicating are different in different societies.

I asked Wanwisa about her future ambitions. She was very clear about this. "I really want to have my own business – I want to have a dog farm. But right now I don’t have money to do that, and that’s why when I graduate from the university I will work in some Japanese company, to get the money, and when I have enough money, I will quit my job and start my business. And I’ll go back to my home town and live with my mother and with my family."

I asked Wanwisa if her life has changed since she has become a student. She replied, "I have to stay apart from my family and I have to manage my life by myself. My mom is quite okay about this, because I have been abroad many times, and she knows I can take care of myself.

"I realize that my family doesn’t have a lot of money to give to me. That’s why I decided to work a part time job and get money for myself. I told my family not to send me any more money, and now I send my salary to my mom in Chiang Rai. I want to do something for my mom, because she has to take care of everyone else. I want to do my part."

What about her studies at Chiang Mai University? "It’s much different than high school. When I was in high school, my teacher would tell us everything, give us all the information we needed. But when I came to CMU, I had to learn take notes, and do my own work. At first I had a hard time in lectures because the teacher spoke quite fast and I didn’t know how to make good notes for studying."

Wanwisa majors in Japanese at CMU. "Right now, I can read more than 500 kanji," she said, referring to the Chinese characters used to write Japanese. "But for writing, sometimes I can’t remember them all. If I forget part of how to write them, the meaning may be changed." I asked her which was better, her Japanese or her English. "Sometimes I think my Japanese is better, sometimes I think my English is better," she replied. Then she added with pride, "But my Thai is the best."

Wanwisa works at a Japanese restaurant in Chiang Mai. "The owner said I work harder than the others, because I can speak Japanese and English as well as Thai. And I can write the bill, too. I do everything in that restaurant." She added that some of the customers want to give her a tip because of her good service. "Some customers tip and say, ‘only for you,’ but I can’t do that, because we have to share the tips. But the tips are good. That’s why I can send the money to my mom."

Wanwisa has other interests outside of studying, but she is very busy and doesn’t have much time. "Sports? I like playing badminton, but I don’t have time right now. That’s why I am doing workouts right now. Before I was doing aerobics, but right now it’s lifting weights. I have an exercise machine in my house right now."

I asked her to tell me about the special people in her life. She answered, "My mother is the most important person in my life. I love my father, too, but the relationship is not close. My parents divorced when I was very young, and I stayed with my mom, and my mom had to take care of three children, plus my grandmother and my aunt and my cousin too. My mom worked very hard when I was young, and we lived without a father for a long time, just only my mom. I feel like my mom is my father too, and my mother. She worked very hard. She worked as a teacher, and she sold jewelry too, when I was young. She would come home late, after I was asleep, and she had to get up very early, too. I see that, and that’s why I think, my mom is a hero in my heart. And I really want to do something for my mom.

"Some of my friends, whose parents are divorced, maybe they choose the bad way, like drugs, or going out with many guys, going to disco, but when I was a child I didn’t go anywhere, I just studied. They got involved with drugs and other bad things because they felt they lacked something, but I don’t feel I lack anything. I work hard to satisfy my mom, I want my mom to be happy. I study very hard and I always get number one in my class. I’m very, very happy, because when I was very young, I could not give my mom anything. Now, I can at least do something. When she sees my grades, she always says, ‘I’m very proud of you.’"

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