3 Nov. 2007
Dear Parents and friends,
I am writing from the village of Ban Lao , just outside the town of Phrao , about 100 kilometers north of Chiang Mai. I'm sitting on a roofed and tiled veranda, which makes a lovely open air dining room for the family. It's what my sisters and I would call a Brown Tract rainy day, which means it's pouring very hard it's the end of rainy season but it seems the rain wants us to remember what it can be like in the dry sunshine to come. The students are scattered in homes throughout the village: 2 Americans, and a Thai student who speaks some English to each family. The farmers are primarily rice farmers or have orchards of mangoes, longren or tangerines. If it weren't raining the students would be out harvesting rice or fruit with their families but instead they will help prepare for the once-every-three-years festival at the local wat tomorrow.
I am staying with the vice president of the local women's association, and in the main house, Houachee and a Thai student are living with my host's mother, brother and sister-in-law. They are cooking dinner together the cooking is done on two woks set into frames set over charcoal and wood fires with a cement hood running into the roof. It is a large kitchen with sink, counters, cabinets to keep food from ants and other pests, and the style is clearly the choice of the family cooks as there's a satellite dish in the yard, and in my house at the rear of the yard, there are two tvs, a computer and a 2 burner propane stove. The food has been delicious: sticky rice, cucumbers, pork, fish, curries and spicy pastes.
Last night, Aj. Sakorn and I went to each home to check in with the students and we found them watching TV with their families, practicing English with host siblings, and folding banana leaves around a ball of coconut, sugar, and a rice flour mixture to be steamed for the temple celebration. It was awkward to fold them at first but by the last house, I was doing pretty well. And today, I certainly enjoyed eating them!
Yesterday before dividing up to go with families, we stopped at the local school. There are 250 students, grades K-12. We were treated to a Lahu dance about picking tea, and a concert of traditional music by younger musicians. Our students then split up to do activities with the local students. I don't think many of ours have been camp counselors so it was particularly rewarding to watch games of Duck, Duck, Goose (or Grey Duck if you insist!), Red Light, Green Light, musical chairs, basketball, soccer and the hokey pokey springing up all over the field and in classrooms. Later we had a northern Thai lunch of sticky rice, fried chicken, curries, etc., and then, suddenly, up comes a full blown marching band to perform the routine they will compete with next month in Chiang Mai. Mr. Hynes (my band director) would have loved it they turned corners with counter marches and all. In addition to the percussion section, they had bell lyres, recorders and small keyboard instruments powered by a tube to the mouth. A drum major and two majorettes and flag corps completed the group. We finished the afternoon with English conversation, more games including soccer and dcraw, which was amazing to watch as the high school-aged boys turned flips in the air as they sent the ball back over the net, in a game with similarities to volleyball.
Perhaps you are thinking all this detail about the weekend is great but what have you all been doing for the last three weeks we haven't heard from you since China ! All I can say is it's been a whirlwind: 6-7 hours of classes a day in the beginning to get our Thai language grounded and start our understandings of Thai society. Evenings were absorbed by exploring places to eat, going to the market for northern Thai dress for the welcome party, buying cell phones and cards, visiting wats, climbing Doi Suthup (the local mountain which is much lower than those in Dali but still a solid uphill hike), and then moving in with families in addition to all the classes, etc. The day after they moved in we had a cross-culture class and all sorts of questions were raised:
- My family asked me what kind of fruit I liked. I answered pineapple because we've learned that word, and now all they bring me is pineapple. How do I politely refuse? My mouth is getting sore!
- How can I explain my need to study? There's family time after dinner in front of the tv set until 10pm
- What about food?
- They take my plate and fill it and I can't eat it all.
- If I'm hungry can I ask for food without being rude?
- They give me lots of meat and little rice how can I switch it?
- It's a holiday tomorrow and I don't know if my family is planning anything. Can I just sleep in?
- Do you have the family applications? I can't remember my mother's name
They've been with their families for two weeks now and most of this has been ironed out. At the end of this week a group are going on a wat (temple)/meditation stay and the following weekend there will be a 4 day fall break. And in between many classes on Thai Society, language and Food, Farming and Families.
Speaking of which, I've got to run to class myself.
More later, I promise.
Kris