Allison's Wonderland

All Good Things Must Come To An End

2012-03-12T09:22:00.000-04:00

I can hardly believe it. My two months in Plaboo is coming to a close and while my arrival seems so long ago, the time here went by like lightening. It’s weird how time works that way. I feel as though we just got into a comfortable routine and now it’s time to leave. Don’t get me wrong, it will be nice to be back home among friends, family, hot showers, and flushing toilets. But there are so many things about Plaboo that I will miss dearly.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with teaching and traveling. It seems like Lam wanted to squeeze everything she could out of these last weeks and I was happy to oblige. We went along with Lam and Li to Kanchanaburi, located on the western side of Thailand. The 10-hour ride took place in a pimped out van, complete with DVD player and air conditioning. Lam had brought some English DVDs so we were able to get our t.v. fix with Mr. and Mrs. Smith (terrible) and Serendipity (a Christmas fave). The group was headed there in order to participate in a camp for leaders of alternative schools, which is what Plaboo’s Farmer Community School (FCS) is considered. Upon arrival, I felt like we had stepped inside the book 1984. We slept in little bamboo huts and had to follow various rules. There was a loudspeaker in each hut that played continuously, although I have no idea what it said. We all had to eat together with 10 people to a table and couldn’t begin to chow down until all ten people had their food. The owner of the camp, who only appeared on the first day, is a very famous and respected previous politician in Thailand who positively changed the schooling system in Thailand. During his welcome speech, he specifically pointed at me and spoke, which caused everyone in attendance to glance my way. At first I thought he was just talking about the white girl (a normal occurrence), but Lam informed me that he was really saying that my skirt was too short and everyone had to wear long pants. I was so embarrassed, but how was I supposed to know? Anyway, I changed, but really it wasn’t short at all. To my knees, past my fingertips, I swear.

The camp was located in the middle of the mountain and jungle region of Thailand; the environment was magnificent. The city is on the River Kwai and Lam snuck out of the endless meetings for a day to show is around with our fabulous van driver, Mr. Sutep. We visited a memorial cemetery for those who died as prisoners of war in WWII, specifically those who died building the railroad between Thailand and Myanmar. We walked across the railroad bridge over the River Kwai. Ha. After our historical tour, we ventured to a movie studio. Weird spot to visit, but we usually don’t pick our destinations. From what I gathered, the movie filmed here was like Thailand’s Star Wars. Very popular and a large following. It was kind of cool and lame at the same time, until the end. They had one of those photo shoots, sort of like at Cedar Point where you can dress like the old western days only in this scene; you dressed like a Thai princess. They did our hair, our makeup, put on elaborate outfits, and decorated us with gobs of costume jewelry. I think Lam had the most fun, as the times are rare when she gets to indulge herself. It was an exciting day and a welcome break from the 3-day conference where we couldn’t understand a word.

Since the trip, we have been really busy teaching. The FCS hosted two English day camps with over 70 students in attendance. It was a lot of work and preparation, but it went well. Lam hopes that by doing camps like these, she can begin to form meaningful relationships with the teachers and directors of the local schools. This can allow for expansion of her school and its methods into other local villages besides Plaboo. She has expressed her gratitude to us for creating a reason for some schools to come visit. She has said that most are uninterested, but with Americans here, they want to come check it out as often as possible. It’s a weird thing to be such a draw, but I’m glad that it can help Lam and the FCS.

In addition to our normal teaching routine, we also picked up a new school located about 20 minutes away. Again, I was placed with the 4 to 9 year olds, which is a big range of ages. They are really well behaved and extremely eager to learn English, so I have a good time with them. And they love to do the Hokey Pokey, so that’s always a plus.

One highlight of these last couple weeks was going to a tarot card reader. This type of thing is less of a silly thing to do here than in America and is actually tied to their Buddhist religion. The readers meditate with monks and use some of the same methods to ensure enlightenment. The reader was eerily accurate with certain things about my job and life in Philly. She also said my parents are worried about me being in Thailand, but not extremely worried because they think I am strong, like a boy. Ha. Oh and that money would come to me easily and I would most definitely be rich. We’ll see about that one. If I hit it big, I’ll probably send it all to Plaboo!

Our last day with the preschoolers was this past Tuesday and it was bittersweet. They were my favorite group to teach, that age is just adorable. I gave the teachers I worked with gifts (English books) and passed out candy to all the kids. We spent the day taking pictures and saying goodbye. I will miss those little rugrats. I will miss them poking my skin and watching it turn from pink to white. I will miss them touching my hair and calling me Barbie. I will miss them waving bye for 5 minutes straight when I leave. I will miss the way they speak English with their Thai accent. And I will miss the teachers who helped us, laughed with us, laughed at us, took so many pictures with us, and filled our stay with more smiles than I anticipated.

I imagine our goodbye to Plaboo will be much more difficult. I never thought I would become so close with these people in such a short amount of time. Lam is throwing us a goodbye party this Tuesday and we will hop in our rental van and drive to Bangkok that night. From Bangkok, we will head to Trang with Lam, located in southern Thailand on the beach. After a few days of relaxation and final moments with the woman who made this trip possible, we will head back to Bangkok, say goodbye, and begin the next leg of our trip.

By a small twist a fate, two of our great old friends from Purdue will be joining us for the last two weeks of our adventure, Matt and Nate. We will travel through the southern islands of Thailand, the temples of Cambodia, and the entire country of Vietnam before heading back to the homeland. I am extremely excited to be a tourist and to do it with such good friends that I rarely have the opportunity to see.

Everyone said this experience would change me as a person, and I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if I agreed or not before I came. I guess I thought, how could I change that much in just two months? But I’m pretty sure I was wrong. And that is due mostly to the people I have met and lived with in this amazing country. They bent over backwards to make us comfortable, displayed such patience with our language barrier, and truly made us a part of their family. The core staff here at FCS (Lam, Toy, Om, Li, Pui, Satngad, Narong and Mos) has become especially important to me. They taught me how to be happy with whatever life throws at you, how to laugh at just about every situation, and how to truly live in a completely unselfish manner. Life in Plaboo is based on community, on sharing, and on taking care of one another. Nobody is concerned with who has more or who got the better end of the stick. People are genuinely concerned with the well being of all of those living around them and the organization that Lam envisioned and brought to life just intensifies these characteristics. I learned how to make just about anything with rice, how to shower with a bucket, sleep with a net, and dance through the streets. I can’t deny that I will miss how gorgeous my pale white skin and crazy blond hair is here. I will also miss always knowing when people are talking about me, just from hearing the word falong (thai for white person).

I will most definitely appreciate the simple things in life thanks to Plaboo. It still amazes me how happy Thai people are to dance around the village, throwing rice and catching candy. The delight on the kids’ faces when we play Bingo never gets old. There is no need for television, video games, or ipads. Most people are happy with each other’s company (and a little whiskey every now and then). I think this is because they have learned to appreciate and understand what’s really important; friends, family, and goodwill. Lam has taught me how far a positive attitude can take you and how truly selfless people have the fullest, richest lives.

Words can’t really express how grateful I feel to have had this opportunity. I know that most are unable to do a long-term trip like this for one reason or another and I feel lucky that I had the chance. I sincerely hope Plaboo has gotten as much out of me as I have out of them, but I doubt that is possible. I look forward to continuing the relationships I have made with these people after returning to the City of Brotherly Love. And while I have various emotions about leaving these people, the lifestyle, and this country, I look forward to the final leg of this journey. I suppose MOST good things do come to an end (although I’ve always hated that saying).

Whiskey Dancers

2012-02-25T21:26:00.000-05:00

Friday

All throughout our stay here in wonderful Plaboo, we have been told about Merit Festivals. Our knowledge of them had become a grab bag of information. I knew they involved food, music, dancing, and the village temple, but I wasn’t sure how it all fit together. This weekend, we finally found out. To make it simple, every month or two, each village conducts their own Merit Festival for various reasons. Each festival celebrates something different, from praying for rain to celebrating the life of someone who has passed. Mr. Pui, one of Lam’s staff members, lives in a village about 10 minutes away and was hosting their merit on Friday. It was being held at his house because it was celebrating the life and death of his mother and also the commencement of his brother’s studies towards becoming a monk. He invited the whole staff to attend and everyone seemed pretty pumped about it, their excitement became infectious.

We arrived to numerous tables and chairs set up under a tent, much like any graduation or 4^th of July party in America. A guitarist was jammin on stage and we were sat right up front. They immediately served us food, the usual rice, fish soups, noodles, but I saw something new. Chicken wings. Not my usual fare in the states, but the thought of something familiar was too enticing not to dabble. So I did, pretty tasty I must say, but I stopped myself after a couple, not wanting to tempt the fate of my stomach again! It seemed like we had seen most of what the party had to offer, people coming and going, eating and drinking. We were actually offered beer, but refused, unsure if it was acceptable or not. We met Mr. Pui’s brother, who will officially become a monk on Saturday. Soon after we met, four men were all of a sudden carrying out his brother while he sat on a chair. They placed him in the cab of a pickup, one decorated with flowers, garlands, and banners. A traditional Laos band was following the truck, complete with drums, bongos, guitars, and keyboards. Everyone gathered behind the truck and in front of the band, so of course we followed. At this point in the day, most of the men were pretty well sloshed or at least on their way there. One guy in particular found it hilarious to take pictures with me while saying, “1, 2, 3 action” before every shot. After about 10 pictures, it turned from funny to obnoxious. A couple of the older women in the group caught on to his annoying manners and took on the role of our protectors for the rest of the day, pushing away all the drunks who staggered our way.

Eventually, the band began and the event turned into a big parade, with the truck carrying the monk leading the way. We started with Om and Mr. Mos, showing us how to dance and walk with the crowd. The procession moves very slowly, dancing back and forth the entire way. Every few minutes, the monk would throw candy and money from the truck and all the kids, along with Om who is a big kid herself, would race to the ground to snatch up the goodies. The drunks moved through the crowd with surprising grace, balancing ice buckets full of beer in their hands and whiskey bottles in their pockets. We were all constantly stopped and offered gulps of beer. I eventually realized that the rules don’t really apply during Merit Festivals and partook in the drinking. It was enough to wet my whistle, but not to catch a buzz. That’s ok though, cause the beer reminded me of the countless Natty Lights drunk during my earlier days and a few gulps was enough for me.

The parade danced around the entire village, in the extreme Thai heat, and lasted about 2 hours. It was a fantastic time. The people in Thailand really know how to have a good time, and the Merit Festivals are occasions to really let loose. I saw a different side of the people we work with; I knew they were fun but this really confirmed the fact. The procession ended back at Mr. Pui’s house, where it began, and all the drunks began eating whatever food was left over. Some things are the same no matter where you are. Although, if I was drunk, fish stew and papaya salad would not be high on my list!

Saturday and Sunday

This weekend marks Plaboo’s Merit Festival and we began preparations early Saturday. The reason for the festival this month is to thank the Buddha for a successful rice season. We were called over to Lam’s parents house, Yay Sing and Pop Bay. Behind their house was a large wooden contraption, in use by a number of the village women. As I neared the herd, I got a better look at the device. Basically it’s a large lever made from a tree trunk that is attached to a giant mortar and pestle. In the bowl of the mortar is cooked sticky rice. The pestle is attached to the lever. The women continuously stomp on one end of the log, moving the pestle up and down, eventually turning the sticky rice into rice flour. Of course I took my turn at the stomping; turned out to be a great leg workout.

After the women were happy with the consistency of the flour, it was moved into Yay Sing’s kitchen, which is located outdoors of course. That’s when the cooking began. We mixed the enormous amount of rice flour with equally enormous amounts of banana, coconuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, and sugar until it formed a sticky goo resembling oatmeal. The mixture is then spooned into a banana leaf and wrapped up to form a packet the size of a credit card. We did this over and over again until all the goo was gone. The packets then steam above a fire for one or two hours, creating the finished product: cow dom dak (cow meaning rice, dom meaning oven, and dak meaning, well, I’m not sure).

On a side note, yes, cow means rice and moo means pig, but cow can also mean news, white, and mountain depending on the way you pronounce it. Yes that’s correct, every word can be said five different ways and mean five totally different things. Yikes.

Anyway, we made a couple different versions of cow dom dak and the thought of eating them after staring at the ingredients for the entire day was less than appetizing, but I had to try my creation. It was ok, not my favorite, and like a lot of sweets, the dough was better than the finished product.

The packets are made in preparation for Sunday and Monday, the two main days of Plaboo’s festival. Sunday also started out at Yay Sing’s, where I finally got to learn how to make my favorite dish we eat here, coconut soup or as it know here, gang cow pon (soup rice noodle). While I won’t be attempting to recreate this right when I get home as my taste buds will most definitely we worn out of Thai food by then, I will definitely try it in the somewhat near future. Om added a few other creations into the feast, but I missed out on the cooking lessons for those. All the food was put into numerous small baggies. Then throughout the day, visitors come from Plaboo and other neighboring villages. They bring food, eat in Plaboo, and then take home the to-go portions. Of course the men are drinking beer and whiskey throughout all of this and by the time the second half of the day began, the men again were cruisin to drunk town.

After the visiting and eating commenced, we followed the rest of the village out to the farmland. While marching through acres of dried-up rice paddies, Lam informed us that we were going to collect flowers to bring to the temple as an offering of thanks. Everyone in the village grabs a branch of flowers from a pre-determined tree and heads back to the temple, dancing to the blaring music cart following us along the way. We decorated the temple in preparation for the following day of prayer.

Monday

Early this morning, and by early I mean 6 a.m, we were summoned by Li to accompany her to the temple. In a slight daze, we followed behind, eyes half open on the short walk to the temple. Once there, we realized that three monks had arrived and were sitting in front waiting for the mass to begin. Following Li, we placed sticky rice into the four large urns in sitting in front of the monks. The purpose of this is to share the rice that the Buddha has given them in the previous rice season. The monks began their various prayers, with the whole village repeating. We of course sat there silently, having no idea what was being said. The women then poured water into little bowls while the monk was blessing the liquid. Later, after the mass ended, the water is poured on the plants in front of the temple.

Following this early morning event, we headed straight to school and taught until the afternoon. Once we returned to Plaboo, Li was sitting outside with a big basket of sticks with money attached to the ends. We learned that this afternoon was spent dancing around the village collecting money and various other gifts to bring to the temple for the end of the festival weekend. This sounded a lot tamer than it turned out to be.

The money parade picked us up and headed to the temple. Many things occur in threes within the Buddhist religion, so we began by dancing around the exterior of the temple three times. The men inside throw uncooked rice out the windows, much like old-school weddings in America. I wonder if Thailand is where that tradition began? Anyway, we left the temple and headed out into the village, music cart following. The women taught us all the traditional dance moves and we shook our way to various houses in the village collecting bahts (money). The whiskey drinkers were out again, dancing and offering shots of rice whiskey to anyone interested. After one tiny sip of the locally made whiskey, I was done for the day. Ick. During the middle of this particular parade, we stopped at the village leader’s house for a break. Mostly I think it was so the men could restock their whiskey supply, but what do I know. It was during this time I met Mr. Jam, one of the cutest two year olds I’ve ever seen. He immediately attached himself to Li and started doing the dance moves to the best of his ability. It was so adorable. After trying my best to get him on my good side, he finally let me carry him during our dance parade and I fell in love. The two- hour dance party with the Plaboo-ers was a blast. As I looked around at the people surrounding me, I realized that I actually know these people now and consider them dear friends. It’s amazing how quickly things changed from meeting new people everyday and forgetting names and faces constantly, to actually forming relationships with these new friends, despite the countless language and cultural barriers. This never could have happened had Plaboo not been so welcoming, so friendly, and so endearing. I have a huge amount of respect and adoration for the completely unselfish way these people treat new friends, old friends, strangers, and family.

They Say It’s Your Birthday…

2012-02-22T21:01:00.002-05:00

Tuesday

Well the big 2-9. Sounds old. But I don’t feel old, so I’m ok with it. At least it’s not 60, right Dad? Anyway the day began like all of our other Thailand Tuesdays, teaching at the preschool. Normally, when we first get there, all the kids from each of the four classes gather in the lobby of the school to sing a couple of songs and do a couple dance moves. We always join in on this, and much to the kids’ delight, we rarely know what we are doing. During the sing along today, the teachers called Stephanie and I up to the front; sometimes they do this and we sing an American song with the kids (or we sing and the kids stare). However, Kur At (Kur meaning teacher in Thai) took hold of the mic and said in broken English, “Today is the birthday of Kur Alisa!” All of a sudden another teacher was walking out with a cake and the kids started singing the Happy Birthday song! It made me feel so happy and special. I blew out the candle, but they didn’t get a good picture, so they relit it and made me do it again. The kids were so cute and excited. Later, at the end of one of my preschool classes, two of the students said they wanted to give me a gift for my birthday and they handed me their stickers they got for Valentine’s Day. So sweet! They are just so cute; I want to take them all home with me.

Lam was gone all day at a meeting, so the afternoon was pretty slow. Om surprised us with candy for Valentine’s Day and she also painted our nails, which was needed; they were looking a little rough. Mr. Satngad also sang Happy Birthday to me in his thick Thai accent, hilarious and such a nice gesture.

When Lam finally got back from her long and productive meeting, she gathered all the ladies (me, Stephanie, Om, Li and Toi) for my birthday dinner. She decided to do something special, and brought back a ton of Vietnamese food from a local restaurant. When I saw what it was, I almost had to laugh. The meal she picked is exactly what I get at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Philly that I frequent often; I call them Vietnamese tacos. They are actually thin papers made from rice that are dipped in water right before eating to become the consistency of a noodle. You then fill the papers with fish, lettuce, vegetables, herbs, peanuts, and various sauces, wrap them up and enjoy. Tacos, right? Before we began our feast, Lam started by saying that she was so happy we were there with them in Plaboo and that they hope they have done everything possible to make us feel a part of their family. Each girl then said some really heartfelt things about our bravery and how our being here has brought so much more attention to the Farmer Community School and to what they are trying to do here. They also spoke about how much they have learned from us and hope that they have taught us some things as well. I said they really don’t understand how much they have taught me, far more than we could teach them. They are sad that we have such a short time left but we all vowed to make the best of it. To end the extremely kind words, they all wished me a very happy birthday, complete with a cake (with big number candles), and amusing caricature drawings that Li had done. They food was delicious, as I expected and even though I am not a big cake person, it tasted amazing.

We ended the night with Mos playing his guitar to the singing of Om, Li and Toi. They taught us a few dances and then asked us if we knew anything. Being put on the spot, I immediately thought of the Hokey Pokey, which they thought was quite funny. We added in the Macarena to finish off our embarrassing display. Turning 29 was most definitely a memorable event that put me in high spirits, confirmed how special these villagers are, and made me forget for a bit just how much I was missing home on my birthday.

Wednesday

I had been looking forward to this day for quite a while. Lam had informed us earlier in the week that we would be traveling to the Elephant Village for my continued birthday celebration. Of course everyone loves when birthdays stretch out for two days, so I was pumped. We weren’t really sure what we were getting ourselves into, but as usual, we just had to go with the flow. Lam picked us up after a particularly long day at preschool, maybe due to the anticipation, and we were on our way. As has happened a few times before, after about an hour into the trip, Lam told us she didn’t really know how to get there. We pulled off about every mile to ask whomever we could find on the side of the road. I’m pretty sure the first guy had a little too much whiskey for the day and pointed us in the wrong direction. Eventually, after taking the scenic route, we arrived.

The first thing I noticed was how open the area was and how free the elephants were to roam around. The village holds 300 elephants, the largest in all of Thailand. Previously, most of the elephants in Thailand were wild and lived in the forests. This occurs much less now due to deforestation. For a time, the situation for elephants in Thailand was depressing. Most were taken to cities in order to make money for their owners, not allowing them to live in the habitat they were meant for. But because the elephant is the symbol of Thailand and very important to it’s people, the government stepped in. Each trainer who responsibly cares for an elephant is given an 8,000 baht subsidy per month, per elephant. That works out to about $270. This program has allowed areas once rich with forests, much like the Elephant Village, to still properly take care of the elephants that roam there.

The people that work with the elephants live in the village, so elephants constantly surround them. It is nothing like I was imagining, nothing like any zoo or other animal sanctuary I have seen. There are no cages, no glass walls, no fences, and no viewing areas. The elephants are free to roam. The only exception is for the babies, who have chains on one leg, keeping them from straying. This is only done for a short time when they are young and it does not harm them in any way; it is much like a leash for a puppy. I was amazed at these creatures from afar and I couldn’t wait to get a closer look.

We signed up for a show time, but had about an hour to kill so we headed to see the new baby twin elephants; a sign of luck. I mean come on, they were so adorable. The gentleness of them was so incredible. One is named Gold and the other is named Goldbar (loose translation). The owner gave us sticks of sugar cane to feed them and they ate them right from our hands. Lam was a little nervous to get close, but we pushed her a bit and she ended up really enjoying the experience. The trainer showed me how to rub the top of Gold’s head in between his ears to make him lift his trunk and show me the inside of his mouth. The twins also showed us their newest trick, spinning hula-hoops on their trunks. They were so amazing. I dreamt of taking one home in my backpack, but the large piles of dung brought me back to reality.

The bell rang for our show time, so we headed back to the front. There wasn’t a ton a people there, so we were able to get right up front. The show began much like a circus, with the elephants parading out one by one, doing various tricks along the way. It included about 5 elephants, ranging in size and age. They introduced each mammoth creature while they bowed, sat down, stood on tiny tables, and danced. The trainer then asked for a volunteer. Of course I raised my hand right away; one of those act now, think later moments. I climbed into the arena and was told to lie facedown on a blanket. He then placed another blanket over my rear and told me to look to my right. Out comes the biggest elephant in the show, towering over me as I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into. The elephant then placed his foot on my behind and started rubbing! Apparently, it’s called an elephant massage. Just when I was getting over the nerves of having this gigantic creature stepping on me, it started to make the strangest noise. It was much like a high-pitched dog bark mixed with the squawk of a bird. To top it all off, during this whole episode, the trainer was happily snapping pictures of the pale American underneath the foot of the biggest elephant in the village. It was pretty incredible; after I arose, I fed the elephant some bananas and sugarcane to thank him for not crushing me.

After the elephants kicked around the soccer ball and dunked a basketball, we got a chance to get even closer with them. The big guy, the same one that stepped on me, came out to the edge of the arena and stuck his trunk over the rail. The trainer told me to sit on the trunk, so following directions, I did. The elephant lifted me straight up in the air and I had visions of riding Dumbo at Disney World in 2^nd grade. Upon lowering, another trainer came out selling the pictures he snapped during my “massage”. They were themed for Valentine’s Day, and of course I had to buy them. After lots of pictures, more feeding, and of course the obligatory souvenir purchases, we headed home. I think I could have stayed there for hours; it was the essence of cool. It was a truly amazing day, spent with amazing people, in amazing Thailand. An experience that I will surely never forget.

So A Monk Rolls Up On A Moped...

2012-02-17T20:43:00.000-05:00

Note: Another kidnapped blog. This took place February 3rd and 4th.

Friday

We awoke to Lam giving us a great piece of news, today we would be accompanying her to Mahasarakham for a meeting and for lunch we would be enjoying pizza. Yes that’s right, pizza. I immediately started to salivate as that has been the one thing I have been craving the most since my diet of fish, noodles, sticky rice, papaya salad and vegetables began. But then I stopped myself, what if it was a Thai version, covered in squid, fish sauce, and rice?? I corralled my excitement, hoped for the best, and expected the worst.

The meeting was being held at the hospital in the city and the purpose was to brainstorm ideas on how to make the quickly modernized city hold onto its roots. Lam knew this would be a long one, so she dropped Stephanie, Om and I at the “mall” in the center of the city and it was there we stepped into the pizza shop. Now, after looking at the menu, it wasn’t a place I would normally frequent to satisfy my pizza cravings. It looked pretty generic, much like mall pizza in the US. But at this moment, in Thailand, it looked amazing. We ordered plain cheese and when it arrived it resembled a Tony’s Party Pizza, an old staple of Stephanie’s and mine from our Purdue days (mostly because they were like 99 cents). Despite all this, it tasted delicious. Om was less than impressed, but our enthusiasm made up for her lack of excitement. After we finished it off, we shopped around the mall and the plaza, looking for clothing souvenirs. We were unsuccessful in our quest, mostly because everything we found would never fit the recipients of our gifts. Clothes in Thailand are tiny, just like the people. We had to ask Om if we were in the kids’ section, she just laughed. I have never felt so tall in my life as in Thailand.

We joined the meeting halfway through its completion and, as in all of Lam’s meetings, could not understand a thing being said. This one was particularly long, so we started playing silent hangman. After a few puzzles of Jordan Knight, The Never-Ending Story, and Alex Trebeck, the meeting was finally over. Afterwards, Lam, Toi, Om, Stephanie, and I joined a professor from Mahasarakham University and a few of Lam’s friends for sukiyaki, traditional Japanese barbeque. It was not as tasty as the Thai version of barbeque and I’m pretty sure I ate a whole crab, shell included, at one point. Additionally, I tried the spiciest thing we have had to date, by far. It set my mouth on fire and one bite was enough. We were wiped on the way home and listened to Lam’s American music C.D. that included the likes of Celine Dion and James Taylor. One outta two ain’t bad.

Saturday

What I thought was going to be a boring, activity-free day turned out to be one of the most interesting we have had so far. Lam had informed us earlier in the week that she would be leaving for Temple today and would be staying through Tuesday. During this time, she would arise at 3 am, eat breakfast, and then walk in a circle for the entirety of the day. The only meal is breakfast, talking is prohibited, and only 6 hours of sleep is allowed. The purpose is to focus on yourself and your movements in order to find calmness and peace within. One of the main facets of Buddhism is that one cannot help others unless they are fully at peace with themselves. We thought we were going with Lam’s cousin, Mr. Jaw, to simply drop off Lam at the Temple. We finally got there, after getting a bit turned around, and were disappointed to see that the gates were locked and no one was there. After a few minutes of trying to decide what to do, a monk pulled up on the back of a moped and it all of a sudden felt like I was in one of those bad jokes. You know, a monk walks into a bar, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, I couldn’t think long because as soon as Lam saw him, she immediately went down to her knees in prayer position and bowed. I quickly followed; the last thing I need to do in Thailand is insult a monk. Eventually we arose and to our surprise, the monk invited us inside.

He first sat us down and spoke to us about the importance of being able to stop thinking when trying to relax. This will allow a person to be fully aware of their body’s movements. To Buddhists, it is important to recognize everything your body is doing and to be fully in the moment, not wrapped up in thinking of the past or the future. He also told me that he could see the sincerity in my eyes and he knew right away that I could be trusted. Lam was amazed that he said this; she informed us that this is very high praise from a monk, especially one we just met. After the lesson, we enjoyed a lunch of pork fried rice, cucumbers, and spicy fish paste. Yes that’s right, I ate lunch at a monk’s house. The monk did not join us, as they are forbidden to eat after 11 a.m. We finished lunch and monk gave us a tour of the property. It includes small huts for each visitor, with the paths they walk on day after day during their stays. It also had a slightly larger hut to house the monk, a large indoor praying area, a large outdoor praying area, a crematorium, and tombs. The place gave Mr. Jaw the creeps, but I found it quite serene and beautiful. After the tour, we helped Lam and her friend move all of their stuff into their huts for the week.

Those staying at the temple are also expected to bring food, which the people in the surrounding village will cook for them during their stay. We went with the monk and his driver into the village to drop off the food. Monks are not allowed to drive themselves, however they do use cell phones and ride on the backs of mopeds. Not sure what to think of that. Anyway, after dropping off the food, we found ourselves at the mechanic. Another odd place to end up with a monk. Apparently, his car needed fixing, so we left it there and were picked up by yet another driver. When we returned to the temple, we finished helping Lam get set up and walked back to the front of the property to meet the monk. I heard voices as I got closer, which was odd because I thought we were the only people there. It turns out, a few of the villagers had come with a sick friend. I’m not exactly sure what was going on, but the friend was spitting up blood while pointing to his stomach and repeating “whiskey, whiskey”. The monk was standing above him very calmly and told us the same, “whiskey”. It seemed that the man was sober at the time, so I concluded that they came to find out what was wrong with him and the monk diagnosed that he drinks too much and something is wrong with his liver. I could be way off though, who knows.

The gang of us, along with the monk, continued on to the indoor praying area where the monk showed us varying movements with our hands, arms, and legs. The point of this exercise is to completely focus on the movement, without thinking of anything else. We were told to chant, “the body moves, the mind knows” while doing the movements. Apparently, monks spend years trying to reach the highest level of self-awareness and enlightenment and this particular monk was at the top. After we learned a set of movements, we were told to repeat them continuously so that eventually, you wouldn’t even have to think about the movement and your mind could be completely free. I had so much trouble not thinking about countless other things, and it seemed the more I tried, the more random my thoughts became. I guess that is why they practice for years. We moved on to the outdoor area, where he showed us how to walk, how to stand up from an Indian style position, and how to properly bow to a monk. We practiced each multiple times. Lam asked how we were feeling, and I couldn’t lie to a monk so I said I couldn’t stop thinking about other things. She told the monk this and he said I must continue to practice and learn. I guess multitasking is not all its cracked up to be, at least according to the monk.

After about 6 hours with the monk, Jaw, Stephanie and I left to go back to Plaboo. We parted with the monk’s final words, “Nothing is certain but uncertainty”. Lam translated his explanation, to stop worrying about things we cannot control for the worrying doesn’t change the fact that we can’t control them. I think he has a point.

Cows Go Moooo

2012-02-14T19:53:00.000-05:00

Note: These events actually took place on February 2, however a tempermental Macbook kidnapped them from me until now.

Today marked a big day for Plaboo. Heifer International, a non-governmental organization (NGO), was in town to present a donation of 41 cows to the village. The cows have finally arrived after many months of planning and determining which families will receive the cows. The ceremony took place at the old schoolhouse in Plaboo. Because there are a small number of children in Plaboo, the government pulled funding for the school and the kids are now sent to schools in neighboring village, much like my old stomping grounds, Reynolds Elementary School. When we arrived at the site, the first thing I noticed was a huge sign with a paragraph in Thai and numerous hearts drawn around the words. Lam informed us that it was the promise the farmers will make to sufficiently care for the cow they are given. Additionally, the farmer must raise the cow until it has a baby. At that point, the farmer must donate the baby to a farmer chosen by Lam and Heifer International as part of the next receiving group. Once they donate the baby cow, they are free to sell, keep, or eat the original cow. The system ensures that this one-time donation of 41 cows will continue to grow and sustain farmers in the future. The cows are important for the farmers, as they graze on the rice fields maintained by the farmers and provide the manure used to fertilize these fields.

As I turned the corner, I saw the large floral centerpiece made yesterday by the older women in the village. They created it by folding bamboo leaves in a certain fashion similar to cones, turning then upside down, and then sticking flowers in the top. It is placed on a gold cake stand and various items are placed around the floral piece. The items, including bananas, sticky rice, and money, are offerings to the God of Soil, in the hopes of receiving abundant grass to feed the cows over the next few years. After helping set up the tables and chairs for the ceremony, the representatives from Heifer International arrived with the two truckloads of cows. The main rep, who spoke English fairly well, was quite handsome. We immediately thought he was the perfect match for Lam, cute, smart, passionate about volunteering, and he had a killer vest on. Unfortunately, we found out later he is gay. Of course he is. So much for that.

All the farmers arrived and gathered around the flower centerpiece and the offerings. They asked us to join them on the bamboo mats, while two of the religious leaders in town said various prayers. They also chanted together, calling out to the spirits of the cows and asking that the spirits become present and remain in Plaboo. They do this because of the extensive traveling the cows have done before arriving at Plaboo. The prayers lasted about 15 minutes, after which the each women farmer and the two religious leaders tied more strings around our wrists, wishing us health and happiness while we are here. With all the white strings tied around my wrist, it is beginning to look like I am healing from some sort of suicide attempt, when in reality, it is a much-appreciated bracelet of well wishes.

The farmers chose numbers from a bucket that corresponded with each cow. The cows were then taken off the truck, with a few moments of breathtaking anticipation when a couple of the cows fell off the back of the truck. They immediately got back up and all the Thai people laughed, as they do for most situations. To be honest, I have yet to see a Thailander in a bad mood. The closest thing I have seen is someone being tired, but still they are not cranky. Maybe I should stop filtering the water here, and drink the real thing. The farmers finally received their cows and headed on home to start the bonding process. We cleaned up and headed back to Plaboo for lunch.

After more fish and rice, which we are getting a bit tired of, Toi, Om and Li asked us to teach them a card game. We settled on Gin and after a bit of explaining, they seemed to get the point. Our game was going great, until the kids from the neighboring village showed up for school. We weren’t sure if they were coming this week because of the cow ceremony, but we didn’t stress about it because things just sort of happen around here. This particular group of kids is great, they are really excited to learn English and have a lot of fun with our lessons. We taught them a lot of new vocabulary, which they always pick up on rather quickly, and then played our new Bingo game that we made ourselves. In place of the standard numbers, it has hand-drawn pictures of various vocabulary words we have been teaching. They absolutely loved it. We even got some cool pens and pencils to hand out to the winners. After the 2-hour English lesson, the class is split into three groups to learn other skills that they don’t get in the classroom, including farming & cooking, instruments, singing, and community games. This is all part of Lam’s vision to provide alternative education to the subjects learned in the classroom in the hopes of reconnecting the students with their roots.

We went to the market with Lam and ate some ice cream bars while we walked around. After picking up some dinner, more noodles and vegetables, we headed back to Plaboo. No one was around, which is rare, Stephanie, Lam and I ate dinner and spoke about the similarities and differences between the US government and the Thai government. It is interesting to hear opinions on US aid from a Thai perspective. Lam feels that while appreciative of aid from the US, the democracy in place here is much different than that in America. Because of this, it is difficult for the US to understand the way power works here and therefore hard to make the American model for democracy fit in Thailand. We also chatted about frivolous things as we frequently do, making Lam seem more and more like a friend and not just a boss.

Houston, We Have a Problem

2012-02-14T01:17:00.000-05:00

My poor, poor Macbook. For some reason or another, it won’t turn on. I have charged it, but the light on the plug is switching between red and green. Also, only three of the five indicator lights on the battery light up. So I’m not sure what is wrong with it; all I know is that it won’t turn on. We took a trip this week to the city and stopped at a computer store, but they didn’t have any experience with Apple products, so no luck there. Lam says there is an Apple store in a city about two hours away and that we will eventually get there. Alas, the blogs have hit a roadblock. Luckily, this has been a pretty uneventful week. Unlucky, however, I had two masterpieces on my computer that were ready to post. Unfortunately, they are now stuck in Apple purgatory. They will be posted though, as soon as my computer is fixed.

As for this week, it has been hot! Definitely the hottest since we have been here. The
Thai people can handle it a lot better than we can; this is just the beginning of their hot season. Still, most try to stay in the shade as much as possible and we follow suit. We have a fan in our room, so on Tuesday night we were playing cards in front of it when the teachers from the preschool where we teach showed up. They were there to take us to their village for dinner and a “meeting”. Once there, we found out that all the villages in our region have three nights in February when the annual festival is held. Tonight was the night for the village of our teachers. We had no clue they were coming, but we have learned to roll with the punches here. When we arrived, all the teachers from our school were there; about 8 total. They are already an extremely energetic bunch, and were even more so tonight. Dinner was served immediately, and was one of our favorites: fish lettuce wraps. They set out the fish, noodles, various sauces, veggies, and peanuts in the normal family style. Then it’s basically a free for all. It is a nice change from all of the soups and stews we normally eat. They even had pop! Throughout the dinner, many of the festival-goers were taking their turn at the karaoke machine on the porch. Of course they forced us to karaoke for them, “A Hard Day’s Night” will never be the same for us, or them for that matter. The only male teacher at our school then took over the mic and Stephanie, the teachers, and I proceeded to act as his backup dancers. It was a night full of laughs, and allowed us to get much closer to the teachers at our school.

After teaching on Wednesday, we returned to Plaboo to find that a class from a school about 2 hours away had come to our school to learn about the tye-dye group. The women in this group make clothes from local cotton and sell them to sustain themselves through the off season from farming. Since we haven’t gotten a chance to see this process for ourselves, we joined in on the field trip. We arrived at the workshop, which is about as big as a small classroom. P’Pen, one of our favorite villagers who plays cards with us constantly, greeted us first. Everyone got a swatch of the cotton, which feels a lot like linen. They then showed us the intricate way they fold the material, anchor it with sticks, and then tie wraps around it to create the patterns. After the folding and tying, we headed to the dye. There were three large cauldrons filled with red, green, and black dye. All the dyes come from natural materials, for example the green is created from the bark of mango trees. We dumped our creations in the boiling pots and waited. When they were done and unfolded, we were able to see the designs. The designs are much more detailed than standard American tye-dye. The women make pants, shirts, scarves, bags, sheets, and blankets out of the dyed material. Once we can incorporate Pay-Pal onto the website, they will be available for purchase in the U.S. It’s a really neat process and I hope to try it out myself when I return home.

Thursday, we accompanied Lam and Om to Mahasarakham to run some errands. We stopped at a restaurant that served food from the organic vegetable garden on site. It was very tasty, but didn’t sit too well with me. After lunch, we traveled to the village where the cotton is bought for the tye-dye group and it was here I started to feel really bad. We still had one more stop, Big C, the Thai equivalent of Walmart. On the way there we listened to Lam’s American CD from the nineties. So there I was in the pickup truck, listening to 98 degrees and Mariah Carey, on my way to Thai-mart, feeling like complete crap. Needless to say, it wasn’t my best day here.

Friday was spent preparing for the leadership camp coming this weekend to the Farmer Community School, where we live. It is for high school kids and will run Saturday through Sunday. We learned the contents of the camp and helped prepare the games and other activities. We also learned that we would be among the 30 participants in the camp, which should be interesting considering we don’t speak the language. That night, Sao, the Plaboo high-schooler who I have become especially close with, came over and had a ton of English homework she needed help with. We spent the night completing sentences and performing reading comprehension. I felt like I was studying for the SAT again. She loves when she finally understands the material, so it’s really fun to work with her.

The camp began early Saturday morning with all the kids arriving and excitedly signing in. All the girls from the camp will be sleeping in the loft with us, so I prepared myself for giggles and gossip. The camp was fun, confusing, long, and effective. We played a lot of team building games, some of which I will definitely be bringing home and converting to drinking games. Most of the time, we had to watch a round before we got what was going on and then we jumped in. All the participants enjoyed a lot of laughter at our expense, mostly because we had no idea what we were doing for the majority of the day. At night, they had a very moving activity with candles about harnessing energy within and focusing on yourself so that you can best help those around you. The kids seemed to really respond to the camp, and were very active participants both days. The camp will continue this coming weekend with the second half. Once again, Lam displays yet another thing she has successfully implemented in this community. She is most definitely a Wonderwoman.

Update: It seems my computer is back in action!! I tried an SMC reset (whatever that means, I found it online). Anyways, it worked!! Let the blogging continue! As soon as my computer recharges, the blogs stuck inside will be posted. Happy Birthday to me.

Americans On Parade

2012-02-02T20:59:00.002-05:00

Tuesday

The last day of January began at the preschool, which is probably my favorite teaching assignment. The kids are so adorable and they get so excited to see us. The teacher of one of my classes told me that since my last visit the kids are constantly asking her when they get to see me next! I had a good day teaching them, we sang and danced, learned colors, and played Simon Says. They are so well behaved; they even wait until everyone has received their milk before they start drinking. I have one class that seems more interested in learning English than the other, but maybe that will change as time progresses.

After school, Narong picked us up and took us to a meeting Lam was holding with some of her staff that doesn’t live at Plaboo and also with government officials. They were trying to brainstorm ideas on how to teach the teens in the villages, towns and cities about old cultural ways, the importance of Buddhism and spirituality, and how to get them interested in these topics. To show us more, Lam took us to a huge temple after the meeting. It sat in the middle of a huge garden, with numerous gongs surrounding the temple. Many monks roamed the grounds, while others walked the steps to the Buddha statue and prayed. After banging some gongs, Lam encouraged us to walk up the steps to pray and showed us the correct method. We took her up on this offer and kneeled in front of Buddha, bowed three times, and the prayed. It was very peaceful and meditative and I can see why it is important to Lam.

Inside the temple is a small piece of bone from the actual Buddha, one of only two temples that hold this item. Females are not allowed in the temple, but males of course can enter freely. Drinking and checking out Buddha bones are two advantages of being a man here. Oh and not doing dishes, laundry, cooking or cleaning. Pffft.

On our way to lunch, we ran into a white guy! He was in shock to see us as he said we are the first white people he has seen in the five months he has been living in the Isan region of Thailand. Isan is very rural compared to the rest of Thailand, so it is not visited by tourists or other foreigners like the beach and Bangkok. It turned out Andy, our new white friend, is from England and moved here with his wife, who is Thai, and their newborn baby. He was overly excited to talk to us and the first thing he said was “you can’t get any bloody western food here anywhere”. He seemed surprised by that, but we never expected to find any. He then went on to say how poor everyone is here and all there is are cows, buffalo, chicken and rice. How embarrassing, Lam was standing with us and was born and bred in this region. We tried to tell her about rude Brits later in the day, but she just laughed it off.

We ate lunch at an outdoor noodle shop. Lam ordered for us, as she normally does, and got us Pad Thai. Now, we told her this was probably the most popular Thai dish in America and she wondered if it would be the same. It came out looking similar but instead of the standard chicken, were big chunks of squid. I am a squid lover, so I was happy, Stephanie on the other hand, not so much. The flavor was similar to that in America, but the American version has a much heavier hand with the peanuts and peanut butter flavor. It was really tasty, but I definitely got the impression that it is not eaten very frequently here.

Later in the day, Stephanie and I were reading in our room when we heard “Alisa, Alisa, Alisa” being screamed from downstairs (Alisa being my Thai name while I am here). We ran downstairs wondering what they could want and to our surprise, an elephant was standing in the road! What?? Was I dreaming? Did I eat too much pad thai?? Apparently, it is fairly common for people who own elephants to walk them through the surrounding villages, selling rides. When asked if we wanted a ride, we excitedly accepted. Because the roads in the village are skinny and the elephant couldn’t sit down for us to board, we hopped in the cab of Lam’s pickup and were hoisted up by the driver. Lam’s dad joined us on our ride, which we found out later was his first time on an elephant as well! So there we were, atop a massive elephant, taking a walk around the village block. I mean, we already get lots of smiles, laughs, and stares when we walk through the village, and now we are sitting on an elephant. It felt like Americans on Parade, especially since the village boys were following behind us on their bikes. We passed by the farmers returning home and the stumbling village drunks, who really got a kick out of us. To top it all off, it cost us a whopping $1.25. The most I ever got for $1.25 on my block in Cleveland was a half-melted ice cream bar.

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, Sanong, one of Lam’s staff, decided to take some of the staff out to dinner at a Thai BBQ. Unsure of what that meant, we arrived to find an numerous tables outside that had mini charcoal pits sitting on top. Basically it is like a Mongolian BBQ, but you go and get all the items you want and cook them yourself. The grill on top of the pits is shaped sort of like a bundt cake pan. This is so a soup can be made in the round part, and the meats are cooked in the middle. It was really delicious and the staff thoroughly enjoyed watching us figure out how to maneuver the grill. Oh and the best part, ice cream at the end. We were like two little kids; ok ok we ate all our dinner, can we go get ice cream now?? It wasn’t the greatest ice cream, but man did it taste good. We of course had a lot of laughs at dinner, as it was the members of staff we spend most of our time with: Li, Om, Toi, Lam, Narong, Pui, and Sanong. As the language barrier becomes less and less of an obstacle I begin to feel more included in their tight-knit staff.

Big Ass Goof Man

2012-02-02T20:57:00.002-05:00

Sunday

Ah, the end of our first real week at Plaboo. While the living quarters and food situations are completely new and challenging, many of the occurrences are extremely similar to those in the US. The people, however, are friendlier and more welcoming. Sometimes I think of the way certain Americans treat foreigners and it makes me ashamed of our hospitality. The Thai people welcomed us with open arms, open minds, and open hearts. They want to learn everything they can from us and at the same time, want to teach us their lifestyle and culture. They are constantly laughing and smiling at us, at each other, and at themselves. They enjoy a fraction of the luxuries that we do in the US, yet somehow sustain a much higher level of happiness than most. It’s an attitude I hope to bring back with me upon my return and I can only wish the level of infectiousness found here comes back with me too.

So to repay the staff at Plaboo for all their hospitality, we made them their requested spaghetti. We found macaroni noodles and spaghetti sauce at the 7-11 (made by Heinz, but labeled “Thai Recipe Spaghetti Sauce”). We also bought garlic and mushrooms to add in the sauce and the supplies for garlic bread. Cooking at Plaboo is an experience in itself, so Roong, one of the high-school girls, helped us find our way around the kitchen. The sauce we bought was spicy (shocking considering it was a Thai recipe), but it was pretty tasty. Everything came out decent to our taste buds, however the villagers sang a different tune. We could tell as soon as they tasted it that something was amiss. They all talked in Thai to try and find the right word and then Lam said “ooo so sour!”. Sour?? I never think sour when eating spaghetti, but as I had a few more nibbles, I could see their point. We tried to explain that it usually has cheese on top, a salty counter to the sour tomato. Since cheese is basically non-existent here, we had to make do without. After a while, Narong (one of the older male staff members) got the bright idea to add sugar and pepper to the spaghetti. Everyone seemed to like that a bit more, but overall I think it was a bust. At least they liked the garlic bread. One bright spot to our meal, however, was that Lam told me that everyone keeps telling her my smile looks like a famous Thai superstar and that, coupled with my pale skin, is why everyone seems attracted to me. I always knew I would be a superstar somewhere, just never guessed it would be Thailand!

After lunch I worked with the older Thai women in the village on some vocabulary. We made flashcards and I used these for the lesson. They seem to catch on really quick, and its fun to teach because each lesson is filled with lots of laughter. Tia, my favorite sassy villager, gave everyone a huge laugh when I held up a picture of bananas and she screamed out ever so confidently: Buffalo! Now every time she sees me, she screams buffalo and doubles over with laughter.

Later in the evening, Sao came back for a grammar lesson. It’s crazy how close I can feel to her after only a week. We went through an activity in her English book. It gave a sentence in active voice and she had to change it to passive voice. She struggled a bit at first because the verb was write, which has a few tricky tenses (wrote, written). But she really picked it up quickly. I can tell she gets a bit frustrated at times, but she works very hard at getting it right and learning as much as she can. Sao is one of those people who you just know will do something big with their life and I help to help pave her way a bit!

Li has wanted to show us her vegetable garden for a while now, and we finally got a chance to go. We rode the mopeds out to the plot, which is located at near the entrance of Plaboo. The plot is about an acre big and is adjacent to a pond. Li immediately put us to work, filling up buckets from the pond and watering the banana trees, lettuce, cilantro, papaya trees, corn and cucumbers. Li does this everyday, usually with the aid of her quiet, hardworking boyfriend, who showed up to help. It really makes you realize the luxury of a hose, sorry to my Mom if I ever complained about moving the sprinkler!

While walking with my girl Sao through the garden, she slipped and fell with her bucket. She rolled her ankle a bit so Stephanie and I (the big Americans) helped her to the moped so she could sit. While I was sitting with her later, she said “I fell right on my ass”. I was shocked! Ass! Ha! It was so funny to hear her say it, so I asked her where she learned the word “ass”. She said there is a singer in Thailand named Big Ass Goof Man. What a name. Apparently, she had no idea that it was a bad word, so I taught her “butt” instead. Needless to say, I think she will continue using “ass” anyway.

We returned to Plaboo for dinner, which included some of the fresh lettuce, cucumber and cilantro that we had just picked. I also finally determined what the spicy slaw consists of that shows up at every meal: basically papaya. It is called Sum Tom salad, and is something I am used to eating in Philly! However, it is much spicier here and also has a vinegar taste to it as well. So far, Americanized Thai food has been nothing like the real thing, but I guess I expected as much.

Monday

Today marked our first day teaching at the nearby village. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but we are definitely getting used to that. The hardest part is not knowing how to prepare because Lam was wasn’t sure of how old the kids would be or their existing knowledge of English. We met with the director of the school when we arrived, who informed us that we would be teaching 4-12 year olds, quite the large range. He wanted to split them up into 4-9 year olds and 10-12 year olds, and I got placed with the 4-9 year olds. This is probably going to be my most difficult teaching gig of the week because of the large range in age. Some of them know a few things, some of them know nothing, and some know a lot. Additionally, we will be there for three hours each day, which is a lot of time.

I spent the first half going over vocabulary words to gauge their knowledge. The little kids were getting a little lost, while the older kids seemed bored at times. I will have to find a balance between the ages if I want this class to be successful. For the second half of class, I took them outside and played Duck Duck Goose and a few other schoolyard games that they taught me. We also sang some songs (Old MacDonald was a big hit) and played Simon Says, which they loved.

After the teaching was complete, we met with the director, a few of the teachers, and the Head Policeman, who was visiting for the day. They brought us into the outdoor eating area and served us lunch. They were definitely trying to cater to the Americans as the served us rotisserie chicken and shrimp fried rice. I must admit, it was delicious. The interesting thing about lunch was that the men, including the head policeman, were drinking whiskey throughout the entire lunch. We have observed that females do not drink here; we are not even offered a drink. There are a few village drunks, but they are always male. I have never seen a female drink. Anyway, they got pretty slammed during the lunch and then I guess went back to teach. Ha, they would get sued in the states for sure.

At the Car Wash

2012-01-30T02:08:00.003-05:00

Like so many others, today began a little unexpectedly. I had just finished breakfast and Stephanie was still up in the room because she wasn’t feeling so well. Earlier in the morning, Lam showed us how to wash our clothes, which turned out to be a lot easier than I had anticipated. Anyway, during this time she mentioned that we would be going to some meetings with her today. So after breakfast, one of the staff members Sangon, motioned for me to come with him on his moped to the meeting. Lam was nowhere to be found. I tried asking Om and Li if it was the same meeting Lam was attending and I thought they said that she was already there. I hopped on Sangon’s moped and whizzed off to the meeting, which was held on the vegetable farm under a hut. No Lam in sight. Now, for the most part, the flies in Plaboo are similar to any summer day in the US. There are a few buzzing around, but nothing too overwhelming. However, this particular hut reminded me of the inside of a frat house after the biggest party of the semester. The flies were literally coating the mats on the dirt floor. Even the other attendees of the meeting were commenting on the fly takeover. I don’t know exactly what they were saying, but I could tell the gist of it from their body language. To combat the pesky critters, the women coated wooden rods with this sticky rat poison and stuck them in the ground. The flies were all over it like, well, flies on shit.

I had no idea what was going on in the meeting, as Sangon and one other staff member of the Farmer Community School, Pui, were the only ones there who could speak English and theirs is very limited. I put together that it was a meeting of the farmers and that they were trying to do some team building activities. They all looked at me and laughed and talked to me in Thai, of course I had no clue what they were saying. There were about 20 farmers in the meeting, and we started by all sitting in a circle. Then they started going around and each saying something so when it got to me, I had no idea what to say. They weren’t giving their names or anything because they all already knew each other. I sorted of just talked in English, they laughed, and then moved on to the next person. If all else fails, improv. All of a sudden, Li showed up on her moped and told me to come home with her. It was a weird morning to say the least, but I had a good time.

I came back to the schoolhouse for a bit and worked on a game for our students. It is basically Bingo, only instead of numbers we are drawing pictures in each square. That way, after we teach them the words in English, we can have a little fun playing Bingo. Finally, Lam was back and said that we were supposed to go to the meeting I had already attended in the afternoon, not in the morning. So all of a sudden we were on our way back to the meeting. Things in Thailand, and especially in Plaboo, seem to occur this way, totally on the fly. On the way over, we learned more about the point of the meeting. Basically, 5 years ago, the land on which they currently farm was barren and the villagers living in Plaboo would buy vegetables from the market. As another extension of the Farmer Community School, Lam was able to secure funds for this area to grow their own vegetables. The money was used for seeds and the villagers in this area were also given pigs and cows from Heifer International. The crops are mainly used to feed the villagers who maintain the farm, however, if they have excess product, they sell it at the local market. All of the crops are organically grown, without any pesticides. Just as in the US, organic products are still considered to be specialized and are therefore a little tougher to sell in the market. The meeting we attended was the first day in a two-day workshop on bringing the farmers of this land together so that they can begin to think of themselves as a team, instead of individuals. This should enable them to best utilize the skills of each farmer and produce the greatest amount of product.

We got there just in time for lunch, which was the strangest meal so far. As at all other meals, everyone gathers around on the floor in a circle and the food is served family style. There is always sticky rice, the main crop of Plaboo. Usually there is some sort of soup. At this meal, it happened to be chicken soup, but not the kind from Grandma’s kitchen. Each bowl had a huge chicken hand in it, fingernails and everything. It was difficult to look at, but I couldn’t stop staring. You know, like a car accident. Next, out came a plate of these tiny little crabs and snails. Finally, the standards came out, spicy slaw, pork and vegetables, and hard-boiled egg soup. It was so hot out and the flies were still buzzing, so I was having a difficult time eating. I was mainly sticking to the rice, when Lam shoved a tiny crab in my face that was torn in half. She told me to eat the white part. I took a bite, expecting it to be the texture of crab, but it was crunchy on the outside with this blackish yellow ooze on the inside. Mind over matter, mind over matter – again went through my head. It was a rough one.

Finally, the meal was over and we played a new game that was similar to hot potato, only if the ball land on you, you had to unwrap a piece of paper around the ball and do whatever was written. It landed on Stephanie first and the paper said to take baby powder and put it on the face of the people next to you, which was me of course. She did so and everyone got a kick out of the whitest girl in Thailand getting even whiter. The game continued on with various forms of the same powder treatment. By the end, everyone was covered in the stuff and laughing themselves to tears. Before we arrived in Thailand, I read that it was known as the Land of Smiles. It has been proved true time and time again on this trip, and no time better than at this meeting. The people were so welcoming and friendly, even when we had no idea what was going on. The Thai people have a certain way about them, a community spirit that is incredibly contagious. Even the few drunk farmers at the meeting (which Lam said every village has at least two of) were happy to participate in such a silly game in order to improve the connection of the team. It was really a great moment.

We learned an unfortunate fact after the meeting. Apparently, the land used for this farming is extremely rich in potassium. A Canadian company has been after the land for years. They want to come in and set up huge facilities to mine the potassium. The villagers are scared of how this will impact their lives and do not want to sell. However, the government technically owns the land and so it is not up to the village to decide. A final decision should be made in the next year.

After the meeting, we went with Lam to run a few errands in town. She took us to buy the supplies for American spaghetti, which everyone has been anxiously awaiting. Earlier in the day, we had some time to sit and talk with Lam. She spoke to us about the huge amount of stress she is under. Because her work in the past 5 years has been so successful, she is constantly contacted by government officials, teachers, professors, and other village leaders to bring this type of program to various other areas. She always accepts as she feels it is her duty to spread her passion. Because many are intimidated by the amount of work a program like this requires, they look to her to set everything up and lead. She is already the lead of way too many other projects, but has trouble telling others this. She spoke to us candidly about how she is finally starting to say no because she is afraid to lose her original focus. Additionally, followers of the Buddhist religion usually go to the temple for one week each year; where the only thing one does each day is walk in a circle and think. Buddhists use this time to reflect and refocus. Lam’s schedule has not allowed for this for the past couple of years and this has worn hard on her. She is hoping to go in February and I will be encouraging her to do so until then. She is in desperate need of this as her religion is very important to her.

Back to my original thought; one of the errands we went on with Lam was to the car wash. While we were waiting for the car to be finished, we were able to receive some inspiring words from Lam. She spoke of her cousin, who lost his way in high school and developed an alcohol and drug problem. She said that he came to her when she started the Farmer Community School, looking for her to give him a job. She refused him and instead gave him some money to start a tiny business making noodles. She told us that one must look inside their own self in order to determine the right path. You cannot keep looking to others, asking for the right answer. You have to be sure of what is inside, and then you are able to give everything you have to the community and others around you. It is very important to her that those in her community are taken care of and are given every opportunity available. Her passion inspired her cousin, who is doing much better, to start a support group for high school dropouts, teaching them to farm in order to sustain their own lives. Lam is truly the most selfless person I have ever met, whose motivation and passion has literally changed an entire community for the better. And all this at the car wash… not too shabby!

Riding this new Lam high, we returned home. A couple of the high school girls came up to the schoolhouse. One girl, Sao, a junior in high school, has been especially receptive to me. We spent the entire afternoon and evening going over English words, phrases, and even grammar. After our lessons, we were able to just talk. I found out she wants to be an actress and an English teacher. But let me tell you, the girl can act. A part of her English homework was to say the same phrase, but use different emotions. The girl is really good. She can cry on demand and has the most dramatic flair. She really is talented in acting. I told her this and I could tell it meant so much to her. She also told me about her boyfriend, something that she has kept secret from all the other volunteers. I felt a really great bond with her from the very start, and tonight made it even stronger. She told me she loves when I teach her and that she wants to do that for kids when she is older. It made me feel amazing, knowing that if nothing else, I will at least have an effect on one girl in my short time here. When she left for home, she said she couldn’t wait to come back tomorrow to learn more and to hang out with me. Honestly, I can’t wait either.

Bingo!

2012-01-30T01:59:00.001-05:00

Thursday

Today was our first day of teaching the Plaboo kids, who ended up being 10-12 year olds. They came to the schoolhouse where we live at about 9 am and we had to teach until noon. It started off with about 14 kids. The kids have a pretty good base of English already, so we were a little thrown off by that. We prepared to teach really basic items, like colors, body parts, and animals. However, the kids already knew these things. We decided to start by teaching them how to write, “My name is …”, which they were pretty good at. They wrote down their Thai nicknames because their full names are really long and hard to remember. We went over the English words they already know quickly and I taught them a few new animals. I then brought out the Bingo game I brought, which was a lifesaver. They absolutely loved it and it was a good way to practice the higher numbers that they have a little trouble with. After two games, a new group came in and joined our game. Everyone seemed to have a great time playing the game, especially since I made them yell Bingo real loud if they won.

At noon we stopped for lunch and I tried a new interesting item. It is a little bamboo packet and when you unwrap it, this extremely sticky goo is inside, wrapped around coconut. I am still trying to decide if I liked it, sort of like the Indian dish, chat. Still don’t know if I like that either. Because school is much more of a casual experience here, they finished their day at our schoolhouse. Some of the kids asked me to read a book to them in English. It happened to be the SpongeBob book I brought, so I was able to introduce them to SpongeBob and Patrick. They thought the book was funny and they loved saying SpongeBob SquarePants. I even sang them the theme song, which gave them a good laugh. I then became the student, as the ytaught me animal names in Thai, and had a great time laughing at me when I messed up things. Oh and while I was learning their names, I totally said a girls name wrong and everyone laughed really hard and looked surprised. I found out later it was a bad word, but I never found out which one. Great first impression, Al.

The rest of the day we worked on lessons and made games for next week’s classes. In the evening, we headed down to the temple to watch the dancers and singers perform. Lam informed us that it was the old style of Thai dance that used to be extremely popular and almost sacred. But with the modernization of Thailand, the dance has become way less popular. The few companies who still put on the performances are paid in rice. Lam said that Plaboo has a reputation for being generous in their rice offerings to the performers, so they come here often. The singers were a little creepy; they had on these crazy costumes and elaborate makeup. Also, not the best singers and really loud amps made for a constant ringing in our ears the rest of the night. Sort of like after a rockin’ concert, only not really. We went to the temple with the girls on staff here who are close in age to us, Om and Li. They weren’t too interested in the whole thing, so we didn’t stay long. They did ask us to cook them an American meal tomorrow, so we plan on doing that. Om has done most of the cooking for us here, so it will be nice to return the gesture.

Oh and while I was writing this, lizards were walking along the walls, roosters were cock-a-doodle-dooing, and cows were mooing. Just to paint an accurate picture.

Friday

This morning we woke up and rode with Om and Li to the equivalent of a 7-11 on the mopeds at about 7 am. We went in order to get supplies so we could cook our American food for them. I guess they figured if we needed American food items, 7-11 was the best way to go. They were probably right. Shockingly, 7-11 didn’t sell a lot of the items we would need to cook them anything real fancy, so we settled on grilled cheese and fruit salad. Then we went to the Thai market because they needed some items. It is cool to see everything they sell, however some of it made me a bit nauseous such as the raw meat sitting on an un-iced counter and various fragrant fishes. I just repeat “mind over matter, mind over matter” in my head and it makes the nausea disappear. They sell a lot of items I have never seen before, and if we are there with Lam, she usually makes us try them all. The vendors love saying hello to us and asking us where we are from. Some of them even know a few English words and we are happy to listen and respond. It is a little strange having everyone stare at you and want to speak with you everywhere you go. I guess this is what MJ must have felt like. I always knew we had a lot in common.

When we returned home, Lam was finally there. She has been gone the past couple of days in Bangkok for various meetings; again, she is the busiest person I know. She told us that she heard we did a really great job teaching and that we have a natural ability with the kids that not everyone possesses. That made me feel really great and appreciated. Sometimes it is hard to know if you are doing things right around here! She also presented us with pants and a shirt that the women in Plaboo make. They are made of a thick cotton material and have various designs on them. The women use a method similar to tye-dying in order to create the designs. This business allows them to stay in Plaboo during the off-season from rice farming instead of traveling far for other work opportunities or struggling to make ends meet. Lam and the previous American volunteer, Arley, helped them set up this business. Hopefully while we are here, we will be able to add a paypal option to the website so the clothes can be purchased all over the world. The clothes are really unique and I can’t wait to show them off when I’m home!

After some more planning and creating worksheets for our lessons, it was time for American lunch. Om and Li were really excited. Along with them, two other women from the village joined us. One woman, Tia, comes around a lot. She is really sweet and always sits in on our English lessons. She has a great laugh and puts me in a wonderful mood every time she shows up. Because they only use a wok and large pots to cook, it was a little difficult making the grilled cheese. I included some tomatoes in the sandwiches, which may have been a bit ambitious. They kept sliding out since the sandwiches were cooking on an angle in the wok. Also, Om kept turning off the fire because it smelled like they were burning but they really weren’t! I tried to explain that it just smelled like burning, but that got lost in translation. So the process took a little while, but I was finally able to present the much sought after grilled cheese and tomato sandwich. It seemed to go over well, especially for Li. She couldn’t get enough. Om liked them, but took out the tomatoes. Oh well, so much for trying to be fancy. While we were eating, they asked us if next time we could make spaghetti. We’ll see how that goes. I wonder if they have Chef Boyardee in Thailand?

We Have a Lot of Fat Boys

2012-01-25T21:08:00.000-05:00

Tuesday

So in Plaboo one must expect the unexpected. Lam told us last night that we would be going to a meeting this morning with a teacher in town. The meeting ended up being with the head government official of the town, who is appointed by the elected president. He met with us to go over the possibility of having us teach at the school in town two days a week. It was a bit overwhelming because all of a sudden he said there were 180 kids at the school and he wanted us to teach them two days a week from 9 am to 1 pm. It was a little more than we thought but doable. After our meeting he showed us around the government offices and then all of a sudden we were in the school, which ended up being more like a preschool. There were 200 three and four year olds split into four classrooms. We met the eight teachers that work in the classrooms, who were extremely friendly and funny. We decided that I would take the 4-year olds and Stephanie would take 3-year olds. Then all of a sudden, I was in front of my two new classes singing Twinkle Little Star and taking them outside for lunch. The teacher I was working with the most, Kru Nit, explained that the 4-year olds already know the ABC’s, numbers (1-10), body parts, and how to say Hello, my name is. I thought that was pretty amazing for 4-year olds considering how different Thai is from English. Kru Nit then told me how they have lots of fat little boys and proceeded to point out each one to me and say, he is fat, he is fat, he is fat, and so on. She would probably get sued in America.

The kids couldn’t stop staring at us and got pretty shy when we tried to talk to them. But there were a couple kids who warmed up to me right away. They are adorable. After we met the kids, the teachers all met with us again and we determined that we would only come from 8am to 10am and Tuesdays and Thursdays. That made me feel a lot better because I don’t know what I would have done with them for 4 hours, two days a week. Also, all the teachers told us they want American boyfriends and wondered if we knew anyone! They would like them to be handsome, smart, and rich. I guess some things are the same everywhere!

So we finally have a routine in place for the week. On Mondays we will be teaching in the village next to Plaboo, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the school in town, and on Thursdays, the children of Plaboo will come to our schoolhouse. I’m excited to be busy, as some of the days can drag here with not much to do.

Wednesday

The school wanted us to start right away, so today is our first day. We came in to all the kids running around, and again staring at us. We talked to the teachers for a bit and then all the kids from each class come into the main lobby to sing the national anthem and a few other songs. It was really cute; they all stand in lines and do these motions with the songs. Then we were introduced to them and we had to each sing a song; I chose Twinkle Little Star again because I totally blanked on kid’s songs. For my first lesson, I decided to do animals since we brought a book worked well with the lesson. One class was chatty and slow to learn, while the other made it through the whole book. Oh and again, when we got to elephant, the teacher pointed out that a lot of the little boys in class are fat, much like elephants. It makes me feel awkward. All in all, the teaching went pretty well for the first day and I’m excited to go back next week.

When we got back to the village, I colored some signs to use in my next class to teach them numbers higher than 10 and colors as well. And then we got to learn to ride the mopeds. Oh yea. There was a small learning curve on them; I had difficulty starting out and Stephanie struggled with stopping. We got pretty good at it after a few times around the block. What’s real funny is that by the time we had gone around the block about 3 or 4 times, people started coming out to the side of the road to watch the Americans try and drive the mopeds. They were all laughing at us, while at the same time we were laughing at ourselves. I did manage to get one big scrape on my leg from a false start. Leg on tire. My first battle wound.

At night some of the high school girls came by and they showed us their boyfriends on Facebook. They were all giggly and embarrassed when we looked at the pictures. Again, some things are the same everywhere.

Easy Riders

2012-01-24T23:07:00.000-05:00

Today started out with two meetings at Plaboo. About 15 of the people involved in the Farmer Community School (FCS) met at Plaboo to discuss future plans and the progress of the program. In attendance were village leaders, teachers from other villages, government officials, and other members of Plaboo. Everyone was really excited to meet us and learn about where we are from and what we are doing in Thailand. We couldn’t understand anything in the meeting, but everyone was really engaged and of course Lam was the most enthusiastic of all. At the same time as this meeting, another meeting was going on with Heifer International, a non-profit. They provided the village with 150 cows as part of the agricultural subgroup of FCS. That meeting was attended by the farmers of Plaboo and representatives from Heifer International.

After the meeting, we served lunch to all the attendees, which included scrambled egg patties, pork and vegetables, fish stew, that same spicy slaw that pops up everywhere, and of course, sticky rice. The egg thing was so delicious, everything else we have had before, as they are pretty much the staples of most meals. One of the teachers from the neighboring village asked us if we could come to his village once a week to teach English, which we accepted excitedly! We will ride bikes to his village every Monday to teach.

Because Lam had to leave for a meeting in the city, it seemed like it would be a lazy day at the village. We thought we might be able to explore a bit since we have been too busy to see all of Plaboo. But we ran into a couple of the ladies on Lam’s staff in the office, Om and Toi. They were on the computer using Google Translate; a program where you can type in a sentence in English or Thai and it will translate it. We were finally able to communicate with them, something we have had difficulty with so far. They thought it was so funny every time we wrote something; we have learned that the villagers think most things we say are funny, whether we are speaking in Thai or English. As we were using the program, two of the other village women came in the office and started playing too, Yu and Dia. Eventually we ended up sitting on the patio over the pond teaching each other Thai and English. We learned all the parts of the body, colors, and a few sayings and taught them the same things. We all had a lot of laughs trying to remember everything and we have been practicing ever since. The two ladies on staff are a little younger than Stephanie and me so it was nice to hang out with people are own age. At the end of our session, all four of them tied more strings around our wrists to symbolize that we are a part of the family and to wish us good health and happiness.

After our lesson and just hanging out for a little while, Om and Toi took us on the mopeds into town. We went to the market that occurs about twice a week. They sell fish, vegetables, raw meat (kind of gross), clothes, shoes, candy, and just about everything else. Toi and Om stopped at the bug lady, so I tried fried cricket and worm. The cricket wasn’t that bad, sort of like a chip. The worm on the other hand, was crunchy on the outside and then this goo squirted out of the inside. Not okay. I won’t be trying those again. We picked up a few things and then headed to a little 7-11 type store. This was great because I needed conditioner, as I left my big bottle at home. We then drove to the noodle shop to eat dinner, where Om and Toi had a lot of fun making fun of our chopstick abilities. I thought mine were decent before I got here, but they twirl noodles with them and all sorts of other fancy moves that I obviously don’t have.

As we were driving back to Plaboo on the mopeds, I looked up and saw more stars than I ever see in Philly (love you Philly but clear skies are not one of your selling points). I felt so lucky to be on a moped in Thailand, after eating crickets and noodles, looking at the stars, on our way back to this awesome village. Not a lot of people get opportunities like these, so I want to take as much in as I possibly can.

Happy Endings

2012-01-24T23:04:00.000-05:00

Today began with a shower. Wow, what an experience. So you enter into the shower room with a floor of rocks and large cement slabs. The room contains one large, square cement basin and one small urn, both filled with water from the village river. There is a drain on the floor in the corner, which also doubles as a toilet. How multifunctional of them. And that’s about it. So the idea is to take the large cup in the basin, scoop up the water, and dump it over yourself. The water is cold and the process is awkward. But it gets the job done. The roosters also serenade you during shower time. I decided the best way to deal with my unruly hair post shower is to have Stephanie braid it. Seems to be working out ok, and the village girls think it’s so cool.

After we faced the shower we all piled in the pickup truck and headed to the festival in the city of Mahasarakhan. Basically Mahasarakhan would be like Cleveland, Wapipatum would be like Mentor (a suburb) and Plaboo would be like some country town no one has heard of an hour from Cleveland. Just to give a reference. We learned a lot more about the Farmer Community School (FCS). Basically, Lam created this idea and curriculum for her own village a few years ago, hoping to give the youth and children of the village additional schooling to help them in English and also to learn more about certain career paths. Some of these careers include Green Business Management, Agriculture, and various other popular professions in Thailand. She also wanted to teach the children certain morals that guided them in the right direction, focusing a lot on avoiding teen pregnancy and prostitution. Since the program began, she has expanded into other villages around the area, spreading this curriculum. She works with local teachers, professors, doctors, village leaders and non-profit organizations to make it all work and to continue improving the program. The program is backed by six different non-profit sponsors, who provide them with funds. Money is tight, however, and Lam can barely afford to pay her small staff that lives in the village. One of our goals while we are here, and also after we leave, is to search for additional funding. The program has grown rapidly, and is improving every day. Lam is extremely motivated and passionate, as is everyone else who works with her. We feel so lucky to be a part of such a unique and effective program.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the festival. FCS had a stage at the festival, where groups from each village and participant in FCS performed an act. Plaboo also had a stand where they sold their tye-dye products, including pants, shirts and bags. They were also cooking fish, sticky rice and this spicy slaw that seems to come with every meal. Before the performances, Lam and a few of the other main players in FCS, including the Plaboo Village leader, spoke. A man translated portions of the conversation for us; they basically spoke about empowering youths and working to bring the assets of each different community together, instead of keeping them independent. Many of the local college students, from Mahasarakham University, attended the presentation, which lasted a couple hours. Towards the end of the speeches, Stephanie and I were pulled away by two of the music teachers at FCS. They brought out khaens, traditional Thai instruments. They gave us a manual, in English, which showed us how to play. We sat with them and learned do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. They got a big kick out of us and we had a great time learning. I’ll have to get me one of those so I can master it and become a world-class entertainer.

After the speeches, we ate lunch. This was the first time we got to try the local fish and it was mighty tasty. They coat the fish in a salt crust and then cook it on a grill. When its finished, you crack open the salt crust and peel away the fish. Amazing. Our favorite meal so far. We also tried these deserts that looked like mini tacos with sour cream and cheese. The sour cream was actually marshmallow and the cheese was actually orange. They were not so good. Stephanie gagged on them and I really thought she was going to lose her lunch. Eyes watered and everything. They had a funky flavor; we won’t be trying them again.

We walked around the festival for a while, taking it all in. There were vendors selling just about everything, and everything was so cheap. For example, we found this set of table and chairs that was carved straight from a tree, with all these cool wood colors and knots. Something that would probably cost upwards of $2000 in the states, it was being sold for about $150. Wowsa. Bottles of water were 20 cents and skirts and dresses were about $5. We will definitely be shopping during our time here, but we decided to mostly just look around today. We did, however, purchase a Thai massage. Holy cow. It was just about the most amazing thing ever. It’s more of pushing and stretching motions than kneading. And no, the happy ending referenced in the title of this blog did not occur at this massage! Oh and it was $4 including tip. So great.

Finally, it was time for our girls to perform. They put on a silent play about teen pregnancy and how the youth of today should not follow in the footsteps of so many before them. They painted their faces with these dramatic expressions and looked so great! They did such a good job. The play included guitars, singing, dramatic acting, and so much more. They were a hit. Some of the other acts included choreographed dances, a 10-piece band of little guys from our village (so adorable), breakdancing and singing.

Throughout the day, people were so interested in Stephanie and me. We were constantly asked where we were from, what we were doing there, and if we could be in a picture. Most of the time, they were asking us in Thai, so Lam was our translator. Thank God for Lam. While we were walking around, everyone looked at us and giggled. Especially when we would do the traditional Thai greeting; placing your hands in a prayer position under your chin and bowing your head over your hands while say Sa Wa Dee Kah. People are so friendly and get really excited when we attempt to speak in Thai. We know a few key phrases including hello, my name is, what’s your name, thank you, beautiful, and goodbye. We only know beautiful because people keep telling us that we are beautiful and they especially love my pale skin. And yes I am going to soak that up for the next two months since we all know the tanner the better in the good ole’ USA. Stephanie is a tad jealous of my new found appeal, however she is letting me enjoy the two months out of my life that this paste is hot.

On the way home, one of our youth girls (youths are kids in high school) had an allergic reaction to some octopus that she ate so we had to take her to the hospital. Her name is Rung (pronounced Roong with a rolling R). I felt so bad for her, she couldn’t stop coughing and wheezing and she ended up having to stay overnight to receive the correct medicine. She ended up being ok though. It made for a late night.

When we finally got home, we headed straight up to our room. Which is when we received the happiest of endings to our day, a mattress!! Our room is in the loft of the schoolhouse. It was built by the villagers and is open to the outdoors. It’s actually really cool; it reminds me of a log cabin or a gingerbread house. But the first night, we basically slept on the floor with a mosquito net over us. It was rough, but we had accepted it and were going to make the best of it. But then we came home to the mattress! It’s amazing. We are really learning to appreciate the little things on this trip. I will never take hot showers, plumbing, cold drinking water, and my comfortable bed for granted again. Never!

First Things First: We Have to Get There

2012-01-24T23:02:00.001-05:00

So our trip has finally begun. We left from JFK at 9:00 am on Thursday morning headed to Hong Kong. Luckily, we were able to get seats next to each other, one in the aisle and one in the middle. We were not so lucky with our window seat companion; he had some sort of intense whooping cough and refused to cover his mouth. I thought Stephanie was going to lose it. But he slept for part of the trip, so we did have a small reprieve.

We learned a few things on this flight, one being never order the vegetarian meals. Never. Even if you are a vegetarian, order the normal meal and eat around the meat. We were extremely jealous every time a new meal came out. Ours would be mushy and tasteless, while everyone else got decent looking meals with all these extra goodies we didn’t get. Anyway, lesson learned. Secondly, Cathay Pacific is a great airline. Not only was everything on time, the flight attendants were so kind and helpful. We nicknamed ours Genie, because he was so jolly and reminded us of a magic genie. He even snuck us some ice cream bars (which don’t come with the vegetarian meal, hence my first point). The flight was long, 16 hours, but with all the movie choices, t.v. shows, books, food breaks, and the occasional shuteye, it didn’t seem all that bad until about the last 3 or 4 hours. Those dragged.

Once we got to Hong Kong, and after a few missteps trying to maneuver the airport, we had a 2-hour layover and then another 4-hour flight to Bangkok. Again, vegetarian meal, again nasty. Seriously, don’t order them. Both of us were able to sleep for most of this flight so it went by fairly quickly.

We finally arrived in Bangkok and met up with our boss, Lam. She is the most amazing woman and we would have been completely lost without her. She is responsible for the creation of the Farmer Community School and hopes to teach the youth here numerous skills to help them advance in life. She has made major progress so far and has lots of plans for the future.

Anyway, she brought us to a hotel in Bangkok, where we passed out. In the morning we went to the bus station to catch the bus headed to the village. We ate breakfast at the bus station, it consisted of vegetables, noodles, rice, and soup. The soup was my favorite, it was very much like pho. Although, it had these big globs of gelatinous material floating around, which we found out was blood. We tried it, didn’t taste like much. Weird texture though.

The bus to the village took about 6.5 hours, which went by really fast. Once we got to the bus station near the village, we were met by a few of the other villagers. There was a market going on, so we walked through and bought a few food items. Lam made us eat this sticky rice on a stick that you dip in fish paste. It was pretty tasty, but hard to eat.

Finally, we arrived in Plaboo. It was much different than I expected. It is a community of about 68 families. It reminds me of a campground, where everyone is walking from house to house visiting and laughing with each other. There are cows, buffalo, chickens, lizards, frogs, and lots of bugs. Everyone was extremely friendly and really excited to meet us. They laugh at our broken attempts at speaking Thai. They gave me a Thai name, Allisaka, and they love saying it and giggling. One girl, Sao, even went through her English worksheet with me and did a great job! She seems to be the most enthusiastic about learning English. We met Lam’s parents, who were so nice. We couldn’t understand a word they were saying, but they kept talking a mile a minute to us. They then each tied string around our wrists while wishing us health and happiness while we are here. They also said the string represents them as our parents while we are in the village and that if we need anything, we can turn to them. It was pretty awesome. I can’t say enough about how welcoming everyone has been and also how grateful they say they are for us coming. It makes me feel like we definitely made the right decision. On the way out of the house, we ran into a lot of the smaller children of the village. Three of four of the little boys could not stop looking and laughing at us. I don’t think they have ever seen hair so crazy and skin so pale. They were adorable.

Tomorrow we are attending a meeting in the nearby city with Lam on expanding her curriculum outside of Plaboo. But first, we have to master the shower. That should be an experience of it’s own, I’m sure.

Our First Setback

2012-01-16T14:10:00.000-05:00

Well things did not begin so smoothly. We hit a bump before we ever actually hit the road. I woke up Friday morning to an email from the U.S. Embassy in Thailand. Because I signed up for the smart traveler program, I get updates from the embassy on the current status of safety for travelers to Thailand. The email I received contained an emergency safety alert for all U.S. travelers to Bangkok. We were scheduled to be in Bangkok for 4 days before we met up with our new boss and continue on towards Plaboo Village.

The alert warned of a terrorist threat to Bangkok from Lebanon. Apparently, the Thai Embassy knew of the threat, but chose to withhold the information for fear of losing tourist income. Once the U.S. Embassy found out of the threat, they issued the emergency travel alert. The terrorists were targeting Israel, however chose Bangkok for its popularity among Israeli tourists. Later in the day Friday, a new report was released stating that the Thai government arrested one of the suspects, however one was still at large.

So we were left with a decision. Should we go and hope for the best (while on high alert) or should we delay our trip? After working out the logistics of the whole thing, we decided that delaying the trip a few days would be the best option for our safety.

Bummer. Big bummer. But in all actuality, we didn't have much planned for our few days in Bangkok and this way we can meet with our boss, Lam, as soon as we get into Bangkok. Our new plan is to meet in NYC on Wednesday and leave for Bangkok early Thursday morning from JFK. We will arrive in Bangkok on Friday and meet with Lam.

So it stinks, but only slightly. I've never been one to have great luck, even with my Irish background, so I suppose I should not be surprised! Adaptability is necessary for this adventure, so I will look at this bump as a way of improving mine.

So, why?

2012-01-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

Two days away from what will probably be the craziest experience of my life, so far anyway. Nervous, scared, excited, anxious are just a few of the emotions swirling through my head. But the biggest question I have gotten since announcing my adventure is why? Why do you want to do it? Why so far away? Why now?

I guess I should back up a bit before answering this most popular question. In July of last year, a great friend from Purdue called me up and said, "Hey Al, what's your plan after you are done with your Masters?" She eventually presented me with an amazing opportunity, of which I accepted. We leave on Sunday for Thailand, specifically to the Mahasarakham province of Northeast Thailand. Once there, we will be living and working as volunteers in Plaboo Village, a farming community. Our main function will be to teach English and various other lessons to the children of the village, while also teaching our knowledge of environmental science and sex education to the older villagers. Our hope is to create lessons with the older volunteers and villagers that can be continued once we leave.

Plaboo is primarily a rice farming community. A few years ago, a clothing business was set up in the village. The villagers purchase cotton from local farmers and create bags, purses, clothes and other items to sell locally. This business enables the community to stay together when they are in the off season for rice farming. It has been a welcome addition to their lifestyle.

So, why? First and foremost, I want the experience. I want to completely immerse myself in a different culture, a different way of life. Many have asked why we don't just do something here, in the U.S. My answer to that is I want the challenge. I want the uncomfortableness. I could, and hopefully will, volunteer in the U.S. upon my return. However, in that situation, I could always go home to my comfort zone afterwards and sleep in my bed. This experience will be a total lifestyle change. I hope to learn as much as possible from the people I meet and the challenges I face. I want to come away from this with new perspectives and appreciations. I also can't wait to pass on our own knowledge to the villagers. I hope we can have some sort of positive effect on their lives. I have talked about wanting to do something like this for so long, now it's time to walk the walk.

I hope to journal on all the experiences we encounter, from the good to the bad, through the tough spots, the uncomfortable moments, and the amazing adventures. Please follow along, it is sure to be a bumpy and spectacular ride!