Random quips 4-16

1. Our Host-dad is trying his hardest to help us feel comfortable and often wants to inform us of the goings on in his house. At least twice a day, he tells us, and I quote, “I go there; I come back.” As you can see this is critical information and really does help us to know the plan. He is trying to tell us he’ll be gone for a few minutes. But there are never any specifics. We don’t know where he is going, or how long he is gone. But, let me tell you, it is still great to hear.

2. There is a colony of ants living in our bathroom. You wouldn’t think this would be such great entertainment, but at least weekly, Alice and I give each other reports on recent activity. The ants have this well-laid-out route along the side of the wall (about two feet off the ground......right at squat toilet level!), and they often carry large dead bugs across the whole of the bathroom. It takes at least fifty ants to hold the larger carcasses and keep them near the wall - the other week, Alice got really excited about a particularly long and slender twig that they maneuvered around the corner! It is quite fun to watch them make their way toward their home - it literally takes hours......this is essentially the kind of entertainment we're into these days!
   

3. Our favorite restaurant in MHS, Salween River, is a favorite amongst all the NGO workers in the area. It serves great food, and they are friendly. But it is family-run. In the US would be great - you would want to support them even more, but in Thailand, this means they can take time off whenever they want. They literally decided last week to take a day off to get drunk by the river, and so the café was closed for the day. “Sorry, will be open Thursday (when we’re done drinking).”

4. We went to a festival in one of the long-necked villages last week, and experienced all sorts of new things. Within twenty minutes of our arrival we were served steaming hot rice wine. It would have been an insult if we hadn’t had any, so we sipped happily (Alice feigned enthusiasm to make up for the lack of intake - hepatitis!). And while we were drinking, we were informed that before these refugees left Burma rice wine was all they drank. No water, no tea, just rice wine. The next day we went around the neighborhood visiting houses, as is the custom, and at each house we were served a new glass of rice wine. Given how hot it is I don’t know how they drink hot drinks, but more importantly how are they not all completely wasted?

5. Alice and I have visited many internet shops in MHS in the past month and a half, and in nearly every one there is an over-abundance of teenagers. That at first doesn’t seem so surprising, but they are not there to be on the internet. They are there to play computer games. Namely a Thai version of Dance Dance Revolution. Most of these places are completely full just from Thai DDR users. Apparently this is the thing to do, maybe we should try it out instead of updating the blog.

6. The oldest child in our family, Sai Meh, is only 8, but she often takes in on herself to care for us. She will often help us to clear and wash our dishes. And sometimes fill our water bottles for us when they are getting low. But my personal favorite is when I go into the bathroom at night, thinking I will be fine with no light, and she runs down the stairs after me to turn it on. What can I say, she wants me to be happy.

7. For our English classes Alice and I have been writing our own worksheets with sentences and other exercises for the students to do. For some reason whenever I am assigned this task, all of the names begin with “J”. I don’t try to do it, but those are always the first names I think of: Jack, John, Joe, Julie, Jody, Jill, and it just goes on. I’ve really try to make a concerted effort to use different names, but still after the editing at least fifty percent of them start with “J.” Our students probably think all English names start with “J.”

8. The other night I was doing a one-on-one teaching session with our host-dad, and it was not going particularly well. Alice was listening from the next room and felt like she HAD to do something to alleviate the clear suffering, so so she played comforting music from my computer to make me feel better. The problem was the rest of the family had loud, awful Thai music blaring from their room, and Maung-Hla shouts in the calmest of situations. I could hardly hear with all three going on. I was completely overwhelmed by noises. She tried!

Love,
~Flora