Today we started to teach the kids about facial expressions. Two kids came early and they really wanted to learn and they picked up the words whisper shout frown smile cry and laugh. It was so amazing to see their eyes shine when they got the words and the sounds right and started to understand. It was probably one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever felt. The disconnect between language was no longer present and a passion for learning sharing and givining was the result of much time and dedication. I tried to really help the younger children who never spoke up or I saw just repeating to understand the concepts of a few words like big and small. It was hard to make them get the bigger picture, but as all great things it comes with time. PiJu also had me read aloud some words that revolved around gardening. I was super impressed wih the writing skills of the younger children. Even though they were just copying the words and shapes. They were writing in both Thai and English. I really think I could be a good teacher even though it doesn't pay that much it's worth while and the kids make me happy, and I could do it anywhere.
The only way to create a self sufficient edible environment is to teach others about how to respect and maintain it. That is why a school has been created here. The school is named after PiJu's son Roy Won. Roy is a six year old little rascle that runs around screaming often in a high pitched voice, eating way too much sugar , and asking all of the volunteers to play UNO with him. He speaks better English than his parents and uses that to his advantage all the time. For the most part he is a really smart good kid, but he is like our little brother and can very easily get on your nerves. The schools aim is to teach children between the ages of 5 to about 13 about their local environment with an emfasis on English.
The family that I am living with is extremely special and inspiring. PiJu the father is an activist for social rights and change. He believes that the city produces individualistic mechanic people who follow trends rather than working with what nature has provided. He has a sign outside the farm that is just one example of this mentality. It reads, "All you short skirt wearing girls please go back to your grandparents." He believes that cultural traditions and the ways of the elders were less impactful on the environment, and more natural. He believes this because of their use of what they had instead of modern technology, which often forces you to use imported resources.
PiJu has fought for human rights all over Asia, and he even helped the Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar during that time the Thai government sent out hit men from what he calls the Thai mafia to exterminate him. The result of this was him being shot several times but nothing too serious occured. Through this dedication to fighting for human rights he has meet many other activists across the globe including some from Mexico, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Laos just to name a few. The local people here were often his body guards so they have a long history together, and now their children come to learn at his school. Today he is fighting for the children and his past is very important in shaping what he teaches. PiJu also teaches the children not to eat food that has been grown with chemicals such as the watermelon, which is often eaten by a worm if chemicals are not used. Last week he even taught the kids about his idea of what democracy should look like.
PiNong is the mother who can do absolutely everything. She is probably the best cook I have ever meet, can plant, grow, and build anything you want, and always has a trick to making it easier. She is a hairdresser, a tailor, a mother to all of us, and probably the biggest jokster on the farm.
The past month was really jam packed with new people, places, and tasty bites. The first couple days we worked on building a hut for the new volunteers. We carried sand and rocks up a huge hill, mixed cement, carried wood for the walls of the hut, cut down trees for the columns of he hut, skinned the trees, and then started building the skeleton of the truck. Around Wednesday ( sometime. Into e beginning of March) PiNam asked me if I wanted to go to the dentist with them and to the market to get food. So we went to the hospital to check out Roy's teeth, which as it turns out we're lose and he was scared to loose his tooth and he wanted a doctor to take it out. All of us were trying to get him to wiggle it and twist it and I even tried to do it for him. But alas he wanted a real doctor to pull out his baby tooth. But I think he just wanted to leave the farm because this meant he would be getting some sort of treat. After waiting at he dentist office for an hour we left because the dentist was not going to come, so we drove down the road to the market. Here we waited for all of the local people to bring their fruits vegitablee fish meats and of course sweets. The sweets come is a plastic bag the size of a zip lock and are basically like a soup with chunks of sugar lumps in them. They are the most unnatural colors from lavender to fuchsia, bright yellow to un godly black that consists of coconut and sugar and maybe evaporated milk. There also is a green flan that is pretty good when eaten with coconut flakes. The market is an open air space that changes location by the day. We mostly buy coconuts, fish (including snails and frogs), pineapples, onions, garlic, and mini magos there. I have been lucky enough to be the one who goes with PiNong to the market because I am small enough to fit in the car with the whole family. I am always he only farang( foreigner) there and I usually am about 5 inches taller that the metal roofs of the stalls. This means that I have to crouch under the metal roofs to walk around and watch out for the corners of the roof which really hurt to run into with your head.
Yesterday (March 30th), I taught a yoga class for 4 women from Kuan Mai Bong. For the most part it was really successful. They smiled and laughed as most Thai people do and even told me they would come by today for another session. Their favorite position is happy baby, which causes them to start laughing historically at the ridiculous posture and action of the pose. I think my favorite part of Thai culture is thei constant laughter. Their language is very basic with few words, but some how, they are constantly cracking jokes, and smiling with every word they say.
One of the volunteers left early today after many battles between him, the volunteers, and Pi Nong. Although life is simple here, there is always something to adapt to. Sometimes it's others habits, sometimes it's Thai culture, and other times it's nature. After we went to the market and ate an epic breakfast at a hawker stall. There we also found duck, chicken, some herbs, and leaf worms that are supposed to be eaten with beer. We'll of course we had to buy some and try them when they were live, steamed, fried, dipped, and of course with beer. These worms were more like yellow grubs, and although they were good, when you chew on the head the innards of the worm flow out like puss. Then the outside starts to feel like you are chewing on rubber and you automatically gag. So it's not all that enjoyable of an experience even if they are one of the most protein filled animals in the world. This psychological dance between your mind, nose, eyes, and tastebud is similar to eating durian. This fruit smells like rotting compost and has the texture of flesh, which combind makes you also gag when eating it. The fruit also is massive usually bugger than your head and covered in spikes that make it to painful to hold in you hand to cut it. Yet, it is the most addictive fruit here. The rule inThailand is that if you don't like durian you have to try it at least 3 times before you can say you don't like it.
The farm is really dry right now and the pipe that brings water for the shower, toilet, laundry, and cleaning is no longer working so we have started to build a sprinkler system that sucks water from and old silver mine shaft. Since there is no water for showers and we have to walk to the neighbors to shower we have all been dreaming about swimming. So yesterday day we cleaned up the 40 meter deep shaft that has been filled with water, and built a mini bridge. We then jumped off the bridge into the water below. Lets just end that by saying desperate times call for disparate measures.
It took a week to get water to the farm and when the water came so did the rain. At exactly 4:00pm the thunder rolled in and the rain started to pitter patter on the roof of the school just like Colorado summers. I was sitting in a hammock up the hill trying to make a phone call. It started as a sprinkle and ended in a flood. Drops of rain fell like drool from the sky, roaring with every crash on the roof. By 4:30 I was showering under the gutter water, and collecting rain water to wash my clothes. By 5 we were cooking sticky rice and bananas because the electricity had shorted out due to the rain and we would be eating in the dark. By 6 the scorpions were crawling out of their holes scuttling across the kitchen floor, moths were dragging themselves to the dry concrete attempting to fly, and giant red centipedes were taking cover in my clothes.
