Houston, We Have a Problem

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

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

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

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.