We left for our first village 3 weeks ago. We journeyed up north to the Chiang Rai province to a small Lahu Village. This village had about 40 families in. We spent 5 days there. On the way to the village, we stopped at Chiang Rai hot springs. I have never been to a hot springs before. It was actually really cool…well not cool, really hot actually, but really fun. I decided to see how hot it really was and stuck my toe in the side of the water…and oh my gosh was it hot! Try sticking your baby toe into boiling hot water and then you’ll know what I felt. This water is so hot that they boil eggs in it. After that we continued the journey to the village. We got there and they talked to us and we played with the kids…or rather the village children found new “play objects” and proceeded to jump all over us. It was fun, for the first few days, then it got extremely wearing.
This first night they pulled out the cicadas…yes those large bugs that only come out every 7 years. Well I ate one. It took a bit of convincing but I finally did it and I was so proud of myself. It was crazy! It was just a hollow shell. One of the guys took the legs off and the head so it was just the body and then he tried to help me put it in my mouth because I didn’t want to touch it but I just couldn’t do it. I had to put it in my mouth myself. After much screaming I took the first crunch and then drank a whole bunch of water. And I swallowed it!
In the Lahu village we stayed in a host family. I stayed with one other girl and a family that didn’t really speak Thai, let alone speak English. The spoke Lahu. But the little sister spoke a bit of Thai. She was cute. Her name was Nakrila and she gave me a Lahu nickname…Makrila. She talked to us non-stop and it was kinda cool.
The house we stayed in had a cement basement and a second floor. We slept on a mat on the floor and the bathroom was a squattie outside and a bucket shower. They did have electricity. Check dropshots for pictures of that house.
The first full day that we were there we had a feast of Pork. Fresh pork. Fresh as in just killed that morning in front of us pork. I couldn’t watch the actual killing but I found it kinda interesting to watch them filet it. I saw the stomach…which I later ate at lunch, the intestines and I helped remove the hair from it. Did you know that when you pour boiling water on it the hair just scrapes off? Pretty interesting. They have a very clean way of doing it all too. And then the dinner we had was very good. Nice tender pork!
We visited a few other close villages while we were there and helped paint an orphanage/boarding house. That was pretty fun. The walls were all plywood before and now they are bright white and it makes it so much happier in there. It was cool because even our rot-dang drivers pitched in and helped paint. Then the next day we went back and met the kids because they were coming back from visiting relatives for summer break.
We watched some native dancing and had some cultural interviews. We also got to go to church on Sunday. First we went to the women’s bible study, then to the main service, then later to the youth service and I think that was it. We spent most of the day in church. Which is pretty cool because we hadn’t been able to go to church very often here. It kinda made up for it in a way. The translator that translated from Lahu into English kinda reminded me of an Asian version of Uncle Paul. I’m not sure why, but he did.
After our five days were up in the Lahu village we headed to Karen village. It like all day to get there and a few people got sick on the drive up but we made it all in one piece. We stayed in what reminded me of a summer camp. It wasn’t but it was a boarding compound for students who attend a local school. Aj Mike built like the whole place and knows everyone in the village and the surrounding villages. Most of the girls stayed in the same cabin and there were 3 in my room. We had mosquito nets and I called it my “princess tent”. I wasn’t so concerned about the mosquitoes but more about the large spiders and lizards. We saw a huge spider on our first night there…not the greatest welcoming present but it was ok.
Our meals were eaten behind out houses in a outdoor sitting area. Some nights we would have French fries, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes and rice…all on the same night. They liked to cook “American” food. We also had cake and brownies occasionally because several students brought them from America to use in the village. That was super delicious!!
Each day we would have guest speaker come and talk to us and we would go on a field trip. We went to see “resorts”, other villages, government offices, hospitals…everything. One of the guys did get sick and had to go to the hospital. They thought he had denge fever and said he would be better off in Chiang Mai. As it turns out the whole hospital went on vacation to the beach a day later. We’re thinking “he was better off in Chiang Mai” because there was going to be not doctors at that hospital. Gotta love Thailand. He recovered well and was able to come back a week later.
I wrote my village paper on Karen wedding ceremonies. It was pretty interesting. I interviewed a few people. I made an A on the paper and got to learn a lot. They’re changing with development but these people want to hold onto their culture a lot so they’re not changing that much.
We got to go to a wedding while we were there. It was the rehearsal dinner in a sense. It was the brides party at her house. That was pretty fun. We basically just ate there. Also in one of the villages I stayed over night in my host family took me to a wedding night prayer. This couple had just gotten married that day and the tradition is for the community to come and pray for them that night at their house. The couple couldn’t have been more than 20 years old, in fact I think the bride was 19. They didn’t look like the just got married, in fact it didn’t even look like they liked each other. But the Thai people don’t show affection so this was normal.
During my time in the village I did a few home stays. I stayed in one village for Easter and another a few days later. The first one was the brother of a pastor and we spent Easter with his family. It was pretty cool. We had sunrise service in the graveyard … which was interesting, and then went to another service where the message was your typical Easter message and the songs were Easter songs, only they were in Karen. After the service we ate dinner at my host house. It was rice and nothing really special. In fact I can’t remember what it was.
That same day one of my worst nightmares came true. Two of the girls thought they had lice. The idea that I could possibly have it too almost put me into tears. They didn’t end up having it, but rather they had dandruff. I was so relieved but kinda shaken up by the whole thought. All the girls had their heads checked and it was crazy. But I’m so thankful no one actually had it.
The other home stay we did was in a village where my host grandfather had not seen a white person since he moved from Burma as a little boy. We got to talk to them and that home stay was a lot of fun.
The village was a lot of different adventures, but probably one of the hardest parts of this program and my time in Thailand. I was so exhausted physically and mentally and I was in the mindset that the work part of the program was over so to go to an entirely new and different place and actually have class and work to do was very difficult. The lack of internet and no phone service was also hard. I couldn’t even call my family to talk to them. The first week was the hardest and it got easier as the time went on. The second week I did more exciting stuff and got more used to life in the village. I made a basket out of bamboo. I weaved a basket!! How insane is that!! It was the coolest thing ever!
We just got back from the village on Wednesday. It was Thai New Year which is a week long water fight all over the county. It’s insane! So the whole ride back to Chiang Mai we had water thrown at us. It’s such a bizzar awesome holiday. Just imagine having a country wide water fight. The people get all into it. On Thursday we got all into it to. We rented a truck and drove all over the city with buckets of water and dumped it on people. And the cool thing is, everyone else is doing the same thing. And the killer is when people add ice to their water. It gets so cold! The city like shuts down for this holiday. It’s fun though.
Now people are leaving to go home or for futher travel. Several people went back to the Lahu village for a week to do VBS and English class. 1 went home already, another few leave tomorrow and then on Tuesday Mom and Tyler get here! I can’t wait to see them!! And then I’ll be home 1 week from Tuesday. I can’t believe the program is over.
Well, if you made it through that long update, good for you! Thanks for reading!
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