Alright. I've recovered enough from the shock of being back in the city to finally write a new blog entry. The past three weeks were uncomfortable, challenging, smelly, amazing, beautiful, enlightening...I could go on and on. We stayed in host homes the entire time with the exception of the last night. We stayed with the Karen hill-tribe who are known for their traditional clothing and rotational farming. Most of the villages we stayed in were Christian, but some were Buddhist and Animist, or a mix of the three.
We started off by taking a bus to Mae Hong Son province which borders Burma. My half of the group took vans into our first village called Pa Ko Lo. This village is only 5 km or so outside of Mae Hong Son proper so it has an interesting balance between rural traditional beliefs and urban life. We only stayed there for a night though, and then we hiked to another village called Hua Nam. This hike was hands down my favorite. The first half was so amazingly cool. For most of the first half, we were weaving back and forth over a river. The last 1.5 km sucked though. It was a steady uphill until we got to the village. Luckily we hiked quickly though, and only took about 4.5 hours instead of the estimated 7-9 hours. We went to the school the next day in the same village on our "family day" and played games with the kids from the village. It started off pretty awkward, but we ended up having a really fun time playing tag and duck duck goose (gray duck for my fellow Minnesotans) and having obstacle course races. Emma, my homestay buddy in that village, and I also went to the rai (field) with our host mom that day which was literally on a mountain side. I still can't get over how the villagers in the uplands of Thailand can walk not even 10 minutes to their field and just casually look out at some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen.
The next day we hiked to the next village which is called Nam Hoo. This village was my favorite, but the hike to it was pretty awful. It had an incredibly steep uphill for the first half, but never led to any beautiful scenery like the rest of the hikes. The second half was on a road that went steadily downhill for about 2.5 hours. I got a big nasty blister about the size of a quarter on my heel during the uphill portion then a pretty intense callous on the ball of my foot from all the pressure from the downhill. Once we got to Nam Hoo, we had to divide up into groups of 3 (instead of the usual 2) because the village is so small. There are only 9 homes in the village, but only 7 homes could take in students. I chose to live with to girls from Kalamazoo, Kari and Cody, which was really fun. Our host mom made delicious food and actually ate with us which is rare. Usually the host families in these villages don't eat with their guests because it's polite to them, but we are encouraged to try to get them to eat with us. On our family day, we got to help our host mom saw/chop up some firewood...she obviously did most of the work. These mountain women are so incredibly strong and energetic, it's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. I literally watched an old woman (at least 70) in Hua Nam chop wood for over 7 hours. It was insane. Anyway, in Nam Hoo we went to a small cave that they're famous for and spent some time just kind of hanging out there. One morning, we were trying to make conversation with our host mom and we asked her if she had a husband because we hadn't seen any men around so we were curious. She nodded yes, but then started speaking in a mixture of Thai and Karen that we didn't understand. I deciphered that he had passed away because she kept pointing up the ceiling and saying something about a house, so I thought she was saying that he went to the house of God. We gave her the sad/understanding face that people give when they hear news like that, then moved on with the conversation. Later that night while we were helping her prepare dinner, some random man walked into the room and made himself at home. It's dark in these homes because there's very little electricity so we only had the light of the fire. I finally caught a glimpse of his face and it looked like a man I had seen in a picture earlier. I told Cody and Kari that I thought he was our host dad, and then we all cracked up because we figured out that he wasn't dead at all. Turns out, he had been working in the field with our host sister or something and was perfectly fine and healthy. During dinner, Cody kept looking up and saying "Look at our dad, he's so young and healthy looking" which was hilarious to us so we kept bursting out in laughter throughout dinner.
The village we hiked to next was Huay Hee which is where we had our mid-course seminar and met up with the other half of the group. The hike there was kind of funny...it was literally a hike straight up a mountain and then back down. It was beautiful, and was the highest we had been until that point. It's so crazy how far you can see when you're up that high. It was also cool because we could see where we had hiked from previously. Huay Hee was fun because we got to catch up with the other half and relax in a village for more than 2 days. We stayed there for about 4 days. It was really hard though because we had assignments to do that were hard to get done with 33 people around. I lived with Alice (from Colorado College) in that village which was really fun and our host family was awesome. Our host grandpa was very involved in orchid conservation in the area and received the royal orchid from the queen which is an incredibly honor. Our host mom was so sweet and generous. She gave Alice and I both scarves that she had woven for us. We had two little sisters. The youngest one's nickname literally means "meatball". She's 2.5 and pretty quiet and shy, but she eventually opened up to us a couple nights in. The older girl was 5 and so funny and adorable. Every morning before she went to school, she would do a little curtsy and say "Sawasdeeka Pi Hannah, sawasdeeka Pi Ally". If insides could melt, mine did. In Huay Hee, we also hiked Doi Pui which is the highest peak in Mae Hong Son province. It was a pretty easy hike because we were already up pretty high, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was only a day hike, but I wanted to spend a lot more time at the top. It was so beautiful. I did a handstand on the exact highest point, which in hindsight is actually incredibly inapprorpiate because Thai people are very concerned with making sure that feet are never put above people's heads because they're the dirtiest and least sacred part of the body and I put my feet above everyone's heads...probably in the entire country. Woops.
After Huay Hee, we hiked to our last village which is called Huay Tong Kaw. It was our longest homestay and I lived with Julie who I knew from school before coming here so that was really fun. We lived with a young couple and their two kids who were 6 and 3. The 3 year old was hilarious and would always say "Da Blu" to us which in the Karen language means thank you, hello and goodbye. Oh, I forgot to mention that most people in the Karen villages don't speak Thai but Karen..so basically my Thai was useless for the past 3 weeks. But anyway, because Julie and I knew very very little of the language, he would always come sit and eat with us or poke into our room and say "DA BLUUUU" with a big giant smile on his face. It was really fun. In Huay Tong Kaw, we had a couple "cultural days" where we learned to make baskets and cups out of bamboo, sing cultural songs, how to blacksmith, and about herbal medicine. All of which were really cool. We also hiked to a 900 foot waterfall which was incredible. We didn't get to spend much time there, but the hike was really fun and pretty sketchy. The villagers built some "stairs" down for part of it because the hill was so steep. I didn't take any pictures of them, but I wish I would have because they were funny. It was a really fun time though, and it was a good last hike for sure.
A couple days later, we got picked up by pick-up trucks from surrounding villages and rode in the back of them for about 3 hours and crazy windy dirty roads until we got into Mae Hong Son proper. There, we met with an NGO called PRLC (Project for the Restoration of Language and Culture) and got to interview the director which was helpful before writing our final essays for the course. We stayed in a guesthouse in Mae Hong Son, and went out to a really nice dinner that night then walked around the night market for a little bit then went back relatively early to write my essay. The next day, we met up again with the other half of the group and took vans back to Chiang Mai. The roads are SO curvy that they literally make t-shirts saying "I survived the drive to Mae Hong Son" and things like that. I took Dramamine but definitely still thought I was going to be sick. It was a very uncomfortable ride to say the least.
Our "pi's" or group leaders for this trip were Pi Carrie who went to DU and was on the agroforestry course as well. She's great to have around, and is always happy and upbeat which is really nice to be around on hard hikes or when we all started to get tired of village life. Our other leader was Pi Sawang who was fabulous. It was his first time working for ISDSI. He's a Karen man, but grew up in a less traditional town. He spends most of his time traveling around Asia and taking pictures or working in order to earn money to do so. One night in Huay Tong Kaw we got to interview him and ask him anything we wanted. I don't have any good photos of him, but this man always wears light blue. It became an going joke because he had light blue pants, a light blue shirt that says "Jazzercise", blue crocs, a light blue long sleeve shirt, a light blue scarf, a light blue jacket...and the list goes on. His email is even something about light blue. At the discussion, we asked him about where he's traveled and why he feels the need to travel and all that. He said that he loves his country, but Thailand is not big enough for how far he wants to wander. English is his third language, and it's so impressive how eloquently he speaks. Once we started to run out of questions, Cody raised her hand and jokingly asked what his favorite color is. We all laughed, and then Pi Carrie told a story from earlier that day. She was eating M&Ms and asked Pi Sawang if he wanted any. Apparently he said "yes but only the..." and she filled in the blank with "The blue ones?" and he said yes. She asked him why he wanted to only eat the blue ones because they all taste the same and he replied "I want to eat the sky". If anyone else had said that, it would sound absolutely ridiculous but somehow for him it made perfect sense. We all decided that he needs to come down to islands with us because he's such an important part of the group dynamic.
So anyway, now we're back in Chiang Mai for another week then we're heading off to the islands. We're taking a chartered bus down there which will take 20 hours. Yuck. But once we get there, it's going to be paradise. I told a couple of people this already, but I've come to the conclusion that I could go home right now and be content with the experiences I've had studying abroad, but spending 3 weeks in the islands is just the icing on the cake. I'm sad not to be home for Thanksgiving, but it makes me all the more excited to be home for Christmas. I was also bummed to miss both of my parents birthdays (Happy Birthday again, you two!). Looking forward to being home all cozied up by a fire eating my mom's delicious chili in less than a month...But only after spending some quality time in paradise :)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Field Course #1--Mae Ta & UHDP
A couple days ago, we returned from our first field expedition course. My half of the group went to Mae Ta first which was awesome. Mae Ta is a village with a co-op that supports organic and sustainable farming. Not everyone in the village belongs to the village, but about 400 families out of 1000 or so belong. We stayed in host homes, but luckily this time it was in pairs. We spent about a week there, learning about our families' farms, interviewing locals, visiting an upland farm and a lowland farm, and having some sabai time. Sabai is my favorite Thai word. It means kind of a mix between relaxed and happy. My host family told Kari (my host home buddy) and I to "tom sabai" quite a bit which means relax, take a load off, just hang out. One day, literally all we did was do our readings for school while hanging out in some hammocks and ate. It was amazing.
After Mae Ta, we went to a couple different villages before going to Fang. We spent a night in each of the villages, and all slept in a longhouse. We split a mosquito net between two people, and it was pretty rustic but really fun. After the first village, we ate breakfast and packed up our bags and hiked to the next village. At first there was a serious uphill hike, and then it was pretty much downhill after the first 30 minutes or so. For those of you that don't know, I have weak ankles from gymnastics and stuff when I was little sooo my ankle gave out from the downhill and I fell. Into a hole. That had a rock in it. (Don't freak out grandma, I'm fine). I cut my knee pretty badly, not a big cut but pretty deep. I stopped to have Pi Carrie patch it up, and started to get a little woozy from the blood. Franchi came and held my hand and fanned me with a sunhat, and I felt better after about 15 minutes. I got up and hiked to the next village, one of the guides from the village offered to carry my pack which I was very thankful for. After about 10 more minutes, we made it to the next village and set up camp in the longhouse. I stayed back from the hike during the second half of the day because my knee hadn't stopped bleeding, and it was kind of nice to have some alone time. Being around 16 other people for so long, no matter how great they are, gets kind of tiring. The next morning we woke up and had a quick walk to the vans that took us to Fang where UHDP is.
UHDP (Upland Holistic Development Project) is an NGO that focuses on developing agroforestry farming techniques for upland villages who don't have ideal farming land. Their goal is not to grow their own food, but develop strategies for others to be able to. They do a lot of experiments testing which crops grow well together and it what type of soil etc. We didn't really help them out much, but we were able to learn about a lot of the crops that they grow. One day we did a biodiversity plot survey and had to stake out a plot of land in the forest and label each crop and do some other measurements. One day, we foraged for our own food for lunch. One group caught fish and frogs, another collected bamboo, and my group collected rattan and fishtail palm along with a couple other things. If you don't know what rattan is, you're lucky. I'm convinced that it's the devil's plant. It produces "climbers" that shoot off in all directions and have tiny little thorns that dig into your clothes and skin. It's awful. It's useful for the villagers because they can eat it, and use it for construction purposes. But I think it sucks. Another day, we spent feeding the animals and then killed the pig. I was leader of the day along with Leigh Ann. The night before we had drawn names to see who was going to stab it. Seven people put their names in, but only one person can actually stab the pig. Adam's name was drawn, so he was in charge of applying pressure to the knife while one of the villagers guided it. The other 6 people that weren't chosen had to hold the pig's body down. That day, the UHDP staff member (Pi Apat) decided that they were going to do things differently than they usually do. Usually they hit the pig on the head before they kill it in order to knock the pig out a little bit. On our day though, he decided just to let it out of it's cage, push it over and hog tie it, then put it up the platform and stab it. The screaming noises that came from that pig when they knocked it over will be with me for the rest of my life. It was traumatic to say the least. That initial noise was without a doubt the worst part for me. After the pig died, we got to butchering. They did a traditional burning of the pig almost immediately after it died. They lit thatch on fire and burned all the hair and skin off. Then they used machetes to scrape the excess off. I don't remember the order exactly, but they proceeded to cut it's head off, cut it down the spine, cut off it's feet, and pull out all of the internal organs and intestines and everything. For me, once the head was off it was much less gruesome. After the pig was in manageable pieces, we brought it up by the kitchen and finished up the butchering. Then we got to cooking. We helped the staff make ribs, and grill up some of the other meat. I could only bring myself to eat one rib (my first rib ever!) and a couple pieces of pork. It's still a touchy subject among some of us...we all opt for chicken when given the option between the two. All in all, it could have gone worse. I'm glad that I witnessed it happen because I think it's important for people who eat meat to know where it comes from, but I'm also glad that it's over. The last few days at UHDP were pretty relaxed.
We got back to Chiang Mai on Wednesday, had a final class period on Thursday wrapping up the course, and went to Burma with school on Friday. We went to Burma because we needed extensions on our visas because they only give 90 day non-immigrant visas in Thailand and in order to stay for 4 months, we needed another stamp. The ISDSI people talked to the Thai immigration people, and they said the easiest way to go about doing that was just crossing a border into another country and then coming back over. Burma is scary. It looks like Thailand obviously because they're right next to each other, but everyone just looked sadder. The infrastructure was also a lot lower quality. We only spent 2 hours there, thank God because it was so depressing I don't think I could have handled any more time there. They sell a lot of cheap things in the market right across the border, but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything because the majority of the money spent goes straight to the military dictatorship. Again, something I'm glad I saw but I'm glad it's over and I hope I don't have to do it again.
Our next field course starts in a week. We're going to Mae Hong Son which is the hiking intensive course. After that, we have one more week in the city, then off to the beautiful islands in the South, then home for Christmas. Time is flying by.
After Mae Ta, we went to a couple different villages before going to Fang. We spent a night in each of the villages, and all slept in a longhouse. We split a mosquito net between two people, and it was pretty rustic but really fun. After the first village, we ate breakfast and packed up our bags and hiked to the next village. At first there was a serious uphill hike, and then it was pretty much downhill after the first 30 minutes or so. For those of you that don't know, I have weak ankles from gymnastics and stuff when I was little sooo my ankle gave out from the downhill and I fell. Into a hole. That had a rock in it. (Don't freak out grandma, I'm fine). I cut my knee pretty badly, not a big cut but pretty deep. I stopped to have Pi Carrie patch it up, and started to get a little woozy from the blood. Franchi came and held my hand and fanned me with a sunhat, and I felt better after about 15 minutes. I got up and hiked to the next village, one of the guides from the village offered to carry my pack which I was very thankful for. After about 10 more minutes, we made it to the next village and set up camp in the longhouse. I stayed back from the hike during the second half of the day because my knee hadn't stopped bleeding, and it was kind of nice to have some alone time. Being around 16 other people for so long, no matter how great they are, gets kind of tiring. The next morning we woke up and had a quick walk to the vans that took us to Fang where UHDP is.
UHDP (Upland Holistic Development Project) is an NGO that focuses on developing agroforestry farming techniques for upland villages who don't have ideal farming land. Their goal is not to grow their own food, but develop strategies for others to be able to. They do a lot of experiments testing which crops grow well together and it what type of soil etc. We didn't really help them out much, but we were able to learn about a lot of the crops that they grow. One day we did a biodiversity plot survey and had to stake out a plot of land in the forest and label each crop and do some other measurements. One day, we foraged for our own food for lunch. One group caught fish and frogs, another collected bamboo, and my group collected rattan and fishtail palm along with a couple other things. If you don't know what rattan is, you're lucky. I'm convinced that it's the devil's plant. It produces "climbers" that shoot off in all directions and have tiny little thorns that dig into your clothes and skin. It's awful. It's useful for the villagers because they can eat it, and use it for construction purposes. But I think it sucks. Another day, we spent feeding the animals and then killed the pig. I was leader of the day along with Leigh Ann. The night before we had drawn names to see who was going to stab it. Seven people put their names in, but only one person can actually stab the pig. Adam's name was drawn, so he was in charge of applying pressure to the knife while one of the villagers guided it. The other 6 people that weren't chosen had to hold the pig's body down. That day, the UHDP staff member (Pi Apat) decided that they were going to do things differently than they usually do. Usually they hit the pig on the head before they kill it in order to knock the pig out a little bit. On our day though, he decided just to let it out of it's cage, push it over and hog tie it, then put it up the platform and stab it. The screaming noises that came from that pig when they knocked it over will be with me for the rest of my life. It was traumatic to say the least. That initial noise was without a doubt the worst part for me. After the pig died, we got to butchering. They did a traditional burning of the pig almost immediately after it died. They lit thatch on fire and burned all the hair and skin off. Then they used machetes to scrape the excess off. I don't remember the order exactly, but they proceeded to cut it's head off, cut it down the spine, cut off it's feet, and pull out all of the internal organs and intestines and everything. For me, once the head was off it was much less gruesome. After the pig was in manageable pieces, we brought it up by the kitchen and finished up the butchering. Then we got to cooking. We helped the staff make ribs, and grill up some of the other meat. I could only bring myself to eat one rib (my first rib ever!) and a couple pieces of pork. It's still a touchy subject among some of us...we all opt for chicken when given the option between the two. All in all, it could have gone worse. I'm glad that I witnessed it happen because I think it's important for people who eat meat to know where it comes from, but I'm also glad that it's over. The last few days at UHDP were pretty relaxed.
We got back to Chiang Mai on Wednesday, had a final class period on Thursday wrapping up the course, and went to Burma with school on Friday. We went to Burma because we needed extensions on our visas because they only give 90 day non-immigrant visas in Thailand and in order to stay for 4 months, we needed another stamp. The ISDSI people talked to the Thai immigration people, and they said the easiest way to go about doing that was just crossing a border into another country and then coming back over. Burma is scary. It looks like Thailand obviously because they're right next to each other, but everyone just looked sadder. The infrastructure was also a lot lower quality. We only spent 2 hours there, thank God because it was so depressing I don't think I could have handled any more time there. They sell a lot of cheap things in the market right across the border, but I couldn't bring myself to buy anything because the majority of the money spent goes straight to the military dictatorship. Again, something I'm glad I saw but I'm glad it's over and I hope I don't have to do it again.
Our next field course starts in a week. We're going to Mae Hong Son which is the hiking intensive course. After that, we have one more week in the city, then off to the beautiful islands in the South, then home for Christmas. Time is flying by.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
freedom at last
Exactly a week ago we moved into apartments, and it has been glorious. I'm living in a suite with Laurie, Ally, and Franchi. It's not luxerious, but it's ours. And we can be as "mai riep roy" as we want. "Mai riep roy" means something is not appropriate or okay. "Riep roy" means everything is in order. That means in our apartments we can wear tank tops and put our feet up, both of which are not appropriate in Thai culture. On Monday, we leave for our first field study which is the agroforestry course. The trip is split into two parts, the first part half of us will be going to Mae Tah which is south of Chiang Mai and the other half will go north to Fang and then we will switch. I don't have anything too exciting to share right now, I'm going to try and add a few photos and also add an entire album to facebook so check those out. I'll post again when I get back in 3 weeks with something more interesting to say hopefully :)
Oh and the Thai dance went well, the pictures are hilarious so look out for those.
Oh and the Thai dance went well, the pictures are hilarious so look out for those.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
"The plain fact is that the planet does not need more 'successful' people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to do with success as our culture has defined it." --David Orr
The quote above comes from one of our reading assignments from this past week, and I think explains the purpose of this study abroad program well. We're not learning to be medical doctors or lawyers or even CEOs...but we're learning more about how to "live well in our places" and be kind to and be productive with the world that we live in.
The homestay is coming to an end, and it's definitely bittersweet. I'm going to miss my little host sister who is 8, and my host parents as well. I'm excited to have more freedom and be able to explore the city more, though. Last night, my mom dug out an old box of Thai dancing costumes for me to try on because next week there will be a banquet for all the host families and students...and Franchi, Angela, Marcia, and I will be performing a traditional Thai dance for everyone. My dance skills are limited, so this should be interesting. I was also in the backrow in cheerleading...and generally default to the always funny box-step during dance parties. I'll make sure someone captures that lovely (and embarrassing) Thai dancing moment on video so that everyone will be able to laugh at my expense.
I'm still struggling in the Thai class department, my brain is pretty much rejecting the language. Every day without fail in Thai class I experience an extreme laugh attack and cannot control myself. Yesterday my Thai teacher called me "Diing Dawng" which is a cute way of saying someone is crazy in Thai...sooo that's always good. The other night I was going through my Thai class notebook with my host aunt (Pa Daang) who lives with us. I pointed at the word for "not smart" (mai chalahd) and said "Hannah gahp Franchi mai chalahd passah thai" which means "Hannah and Franchi are not smart in thai language". Pa daang laughed at then pointed at the world for "funny" (dtahlok) in my notebook and said "Hannah dtahlok mahk mahk" meaning "yes, but you're very funny". So even if they think I'm stupid...at least they're getting a good laugh.
Last Friday, a group of us from ISDSI got to speak with a group of Burmese students. We had the opportunity to ask them a lot of questions regarding their feelings on the military regime in Burma. I can't go into much detail, but it was definitely a life changing day. If you don't know much about what's going on in Burma right now, take a minute and look up some news on the subject. The people are being oppressed in ways that I'm sure are unimaginable for most Americans. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to speak with people who could give us honest and candid answers instead of getting an edited version of the story through the media.
Tomorrow night, Franchi and I are going to the Night Bazaar with my host family. The Night Bazaar is basically a big market with cool clothing and food, and lots of local street performers. Other than that, I think we'll just have Thai dancing class this weekend and I'm not sure what else. It's the last week with our host families...hopefully it will be a good one. Also, my host mom found out that I like to run, so we're going to start running together which I'm excited about, even though is incredibly hot and humid here and running is pretty much torture...it needs to be done. I'm starting to feel ill from the lack of exercise and the excessive eating, especially when my host mom's key phrase during meals is "take more" or "eat more". She makes me eat a ton of food, but she's on all fruit diet right now because she thinks she's fat. Unfair.
If you're following my blog, please tell me! I feel like a big loser writing to no one, so leave a comment or send me an email. Thanks!
The quote above comes from one of our reading assignments from this past week, and I think explains the purpose of this study abroad program well. We're not learning to be medical doctors or lawyers or even CEOs...but we're learning more about how to "live well in our places" and be kind to and be productive with the world that we live in.
The homestay is coming to an end, and it's definitely bittersweet. I'm going to miss my little host sister who is 8, and my host parents as well. I'm excited to have more freedom and be able to explore the city more, though. Last night, my mom dug out an old box of Thai dancing costumes for me to try on because next week there will be a banquet for all the host families and students...and Franchi, Angela, Marcia, and I will be performing a traditional Thai dance for everyone. My dance skills are limited, so this should be interesting. I was also in the backrow in cheerleading...and generally default to the always funny box-step during dance parties. I'll make sure someone captures that lovely (and embarrassing) Thai dancing moment on video so that everyone will be able to laugh at my expense.
I'm still struggling in the Thai class department, my brain is pretty much rejecting the language. Every day without fail in Thai class I experience an extreme laugh attack and cannot control myself. Yesterday my Thai teacher called me "Diing Dawng" which is a cute way of saying someone is crazy in Thai...sooo that's always good. The other night I was going through my Thai class notebook with my host aunt (Pa Daang) who lives with us. I pointed at the word for "not smart" (mai chalahd) and said "Hannah gahp Franchi mai chalahd passah thai" which means "Hannah and Franchi are not smart in thai language". Pa daang laughed at then pointed at the world for "funny" (dtahlok) in my notebook and said "Hannah dtahlok mahk mahk" meaning "yes, but you're very funny". So even if they think I'm stupid...at least they're getting a good laugh.
Last Friday, a group of us from ISDSI got to speak with a group of Burmese students. We had the opportunity to ask them a lot of questions regarding their feelings on the military regime in Burma. I can't go into much detail, but it was definitely a life changing day. If you don't know much about what's going on in Burma right now, take a minute and look up some news on the subject. The people are being oppressed in ways that I'm sure are unimaginable for most Americans. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to speak with people who could give us honest and candid answers instead of getting an edited version of the story through the media.
Tomorrow night, Franchi and I are going to the Night Bazaar with my host family. The Night Bazaar is basically a big market with cool clothing and food, and lots of local street performers. Other than that, I think we'll just have Thai dancing class this weekend and I'm not sure what else. It's the last week with our host families...hopefully it will be a good one. Also, my host mom found out that I like to run, so we're going to start running together which I'm excited about, even though is incredibly hot and humid here and running is pretty much torture...it needs to be done. I'm starting to feel ill from the lack of exercise and the excessive eating, especially when my host mom's key phrase during meals is "take more" or "eat more". She makes me eat a ton of food, but she's on all fruit diet right now because she thinks she's fat. Unfair.
If you're following my blog, please tell me! I feel like a big loser writing to no one, so leave a comment or send me an email. Thanks!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
weekend #3
Helloooo to those special few who are actually reading all this random stuff that I blabber on about. This weekend was really fun, but it was supposed to be relaxing and I now find myself even more exhausted than before. On Friday, we went to a reservoir right outside the city and were asked to swim 300 meters and tread water for 15 minutes as our swim evaluation. Then we drove about an hour and a half outside Chiang Mai to a national park where we stayed for the weekend. We slept in bunk houses basically, that weren't rustic but weren't exactly glamourous by any means. There were about 15 "mattresses" on the ground in each bunk house, and there were ants crawling all around. We had a lot of free time on Friday, which I used as nap/reading time. On Saturday, we woke up early for breakfast and listened to a talk about risky situations in the wilderness. We broke up into 4 groups, and then each group had to rescue one of the other students that had been "injured". I can't figure out how to explain this easily...I think it's from the lack of sleep...but basically each group was given a map and we had to walk out into the park and find the "injured" student and then evacuate them back to where we started. My group had to evacuate a guy named Leo who weighs 200 lbs and is 6'4". That was interesting. The point of the activity was to teach us the basics of evacuation and medical care in case anything were to happen later on during the field studies. After that, we had free time so we all went to the waterfall which is in the national park. That was the coolest part of my time in Thailand so far. I have to figure out how to post pictures, because we all got to swim in the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. It rained earlier, so the water was moving really quickly. During that time, it finally hit me that I'm actually in Thailand. On Sunday, we woke up and went for a hike in the jungle. It was really beautiful, but kind of muddy because it's the rainy season. I didn't bring my camera with, but we saw all sorts of cool plants and also ended up at a beautiful spot overlooking the waterfall. We saw a eucalyptus tree which was beautiful...try and find one on google images or something, because it looks like a camouflage tree. After the hike, we got all cleaned up and drove back to the city. Angela, Franchi and I went to watch my host mom play soccer, which was really fun and goofy. Angela and Franchi both played a little bit, but I decided not to because I was tired and hot and just not really in the mood.
I've been trying to get as much sleep as possible, because my body is starting to react to the exhaustion I think. So, I apologize if my blog posts are spacey and misspelled or don't make sense. My head isn't all there, especially before 9 am which is usually when I have a chance to update my blog. Other than being tired, things are going well! I'm excited to get out of the city, and out into the hills once the field studies start. The city is kind of dreary and incredibly polluted. It's crazy to think that my homestay is almost half way over though. Time is flying.
I've been trying to get as much sleep as possible, because my body is starting to react to the exhaustion I think. So, I apologize if my blog posts are spacey and misspelled or don't make sense. My head isn't all there, especially before 9 am which is usually when I have a chance to update my blog. Other than being tired, things are going well! I'm excited to get out of the city, and out into the hills once the field studies start. The city is kind of dreary and incredibly polluted. It's crazy to think that my homestay is almost half way over though. Time is flying.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
weekend #2
Another interesting weekend in Thailand...
On Friday we went rock climbing and caving with school. It rained, and I got all muddy and my host mom was NOT happy when I got home. She made me wash alllll the mud off my shoes till they were squeaky clean. The climbing was really fun, though! I took some pictures that I will post once I figure out how...I'm a little slow and confused with this whole blogging thing. The caving part was cool, but SO terrifying, I think I may now have an ulcer from all the stress. We had to zipline about 75 feet across to a stalactite that was about 150 or 175 feet in the air and then slide down on a rope. We were harnessed in and it was very safe, but it was still terrifying. I lived through it though, and it was fun!
On Saturday, Franchi and I had to go to a 7 hour meeting with our host families. We still don't know what the meeting was for, and just sat there and talked the whole time because it was so mind numbingly boring. There was some Thai dancing involved, and 3 entire meals were served. I wish I had brought some reading to do, but I wasn't aware that it was going to be 7 hours long. Oh well...now I know to bring a book with me wherever I go.
On Sunday, my host mom showed me how to go to school using public transportation...which is basically a pickup truck with benches in the back and a roof-type thing over the top. It costs 30 baht round trip, which is equal to less than a dollar. Got to love Thailand :). After that, we met up with Angela and Franchi's families and went to a snake show (SO scary), then the botanical gardens. After that I ironed my clothes, ate a little dinner, and went to bed early.
(Last week when my host mom was helping me iron my school uniform, I was doing it so poorly that she asked if we had irons in America...woops. MOM--you really dropped the ball on that one!)
Thai class is going alright, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the slow class. I think after 15 years of French, I'm a little over learning new languages. It's getting frustrating though because my host mom keeps yelling at me to speak Thai, but I don't know how yet!! Oh well, everyday I learn a little more.
This coming weekend, we're going on a retreat up in the mountains with school. I'm not sure exactly what that entails, but we'll see I guess! The weekend after that, I think my host family is taking me to see the baby panda at the Chiang Mai zoo which should be fun!
The funniest part about the homestays so far, is hearing 20 and 21 year olds talking about how they have to ask their moms if they can do something, or saying that their moms are going to be so mad at them for some small little thing. Parents in Thailand are veryyyy involved in their kids' lives, and tend to be very controlling. For instance, my mom usually picks out my clothes for me. Also, usually Franchi and I have no idea where we're going but our moms push us where we should go, or make us get in the car to go whenever they want us to and take us wherever they want us to go. We generally feel very helpless because we're being told what to do and how to do it almost all the time. I'm already kind of irritated with that, and I'm guessing it's only going to get worse as the weeks go on. I'm excited for this homestay to be over, I think we'll have a lot more freedom then and get to explore what we want to explore, and go where we want to go. Until this homestay is over, we've been told not to go off on our own or go against what our host parents tell us to do. It's not "Riep Roy" which is the Thai word for respectful, acceptable, and kind. I'm trying to make the best of it, though. Hopefully it will get better as I learn more and more of the language.
I'll write again soon--Hannah
On Friday we went rock climbing and caving with school. It rained, and I got all muddy and my host mom was NOT happy when I got home. She made me wash alllll the mud off my shoes till they were squeaky clean. The climbing was really fun, though! I took some pictures that I will post once I figure out how...I'm a little slow and confused with this whole blogging thing. The caving part was cool, but SO terrifying, I think I may now have an ulcer from all the stress. We had to zipline about 75 feet across to a stalactite that was about 150 or 175 feet in the air and then slide down on a rope. We were harnessed in and it was very safe, but it was still terrifying. I lived through it though, and it was fun!
On Saturday, Franchi and I had to go to a 7 hour meeting with our host families. We still don't know what the meeting was for, and just sat there and talked the whole time because it was so mind numbingly boring. There was some Thai dancing involved, and 3 entire meals were served. I wish I had brought some reading to do, but I wasn't aware that it was going to be 7 hours long. Oh well...now I know to bring a book with me wherever I go.
On Sunday, my host mom showed me how to go to school using public transportation...which is basically a pickup truck with benches in the back and a roof-type thing over the top. It costs 30 baht round trip, which is equal to less than a dollar. Got to love Thailand :). After that, we met up with Angela and Franchi's families and went to a snake show (SO scary), then the botanical gardens. After that I ironed my clothes, ate a little dinner, and went to bed early.
(Last week when my host mom was helping me iron my school uniform, I was doing it so poorly that she asked if we had irons in America...woops. MOM--you really dropped the ball on that one!)
Thai class is going alright, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the slow class. I think after 15 years of French, I'm a little over learning new languages. It's getting frustrating though because my host mom keeps yelling at me to speak Thai, but I don't know how yet!! Oh well, everyday I learn a little more.
This coming weekend, we're going on a retreat up in the mountains with school. I'm not sure exactly what that entails, but we'll see I guess! The weekend after that, I think my host family is taking me to see the baby panda at the Chiang Mai zoo which should be fun!
The funniest part about the homestays so far, is hearing 20 and 21 year olds talking about how they have to ask their moms if they can do something, or saying that their moms are going to be so mad at them for some small little thing. Parents in Thailand are veryyyy involved in their kids' lives, and tend to be very controlling. For instance, my mom usually picks out my clothes for me. Also, usually Franchi and I have no idea where we're going but our moms push us where we should go, or make us get in the car to go whenever they want us to and take us wherever they want us to go. We generally feel very helpless because we're being told what to do and how to do it almost all the time. I'm already kind of irritated with that, and I'm guessing it's only going to get worse as the weeks go on. I'm excited for this homestay to be over, I think we'll have a lot more freedom then and get to explore what we want to explore, and go where we want to go. Until this homestay is over, we've been told not to go off on our own or go against what our host parents tell us to do. It's not "Riep Roy" which is the Thai word for respectful, acceptable, and kind. I'm trying to make the best of it, though. Hopefully it will get better as I learn more and more of the language.
I'll write again soon--Hannah
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
i ate a bug!!!
We went to the market today, and I was peer pressured into eating a bamboo worm. It was fried and crunchy, but the pieces of it stuck to the inside of my mouth when I bit it. I made one of my friends bite the head off for me, which was nice of him. I'm proud though! Last night Franchi and I told Angela's host mom that we were afraid of the crickets and frogs she was trying to feed us. This is a big step. Today: bamboo worms...tomorrow: frogs???
Monday, August 24, 2009
the first few days
This has been my first chance to write because the internet is slow at school and I haven't had a chance to get to an internet cafe. So far, Thailand has been amazing. I'm living with a host family in Chiang Mai for the next 5 weeks...I originally thought it was 3, clearly I should have paid more attention when they told me about this program. After the home stay, we'll do a 3 week unit in the forests, then 3 weeks in some different villages, and then 3 weeks in the islands in the South. I'm looking forward to the islands the most.
My host family is great, but it takes a lot of energy and effort to try to communicate with them. Thai is a hard language to speak because each vowel has 5 different tones and each tone means something different. So for example the word "kai" can mean 5 different things depending on the tone of the vowel (rising, low tone, high tone, mid tone, or falling). My main concern so far has been the food, which hasn't been horrible. I accidentally ate octopus the other day, which was iffy. It was more octopus jerky than anything, and it wasn't horrible. I haven't been eating much here though because most things I see make me lose my appetite. My host mom has been worried, and got me a loaf of bread to eat. This morning for breakfast, I had a jelly sandwich. It was pineapple jelly, which was kind of strange, but it was tastier than the leftover dinner from last night that is left out on the table over night. Thai people tend to ignore fridges, even though they all own them. I live two houses down from another girl from DU on the program (Franchi, pronounced Frenchie) and a street over from another girl on the program (Angela). Tonight, we're all going to aerobics with our host moms after school which should be fun!
The trip to Thailand wasn't as bad as it could have been. It took 36 hours to arrive, including flights and layovers. The flight from Chicago to Tokyo was the longest (13 hours), but I slept for over 10 hours of it so it wasn't bad. The second longest was 7 hours from Tokyo to Bangkok which I also slept through. The day we arrived in Chiang Mai, we were picked up from the airport by people that work at the program and dropped off at the guest house/hotel that we stayed at for the night. We had the day to walk around the city as a group and then sleep.
So far, so good! So grandma, don't worry! I'm alive and well :) All my love to the US! and those special DU friends studying abroad all over the world. I'll write again when I have something more interesting to say! MUAHHH!
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