'Tis The Season!

I missed Christmas in the States....but it seems I came to Thailand just in time for a couple of masssssssive New Years festivals! I'll talkabout one this blog and another the next blog.....but first:

The Migrant hide-out
A week and a half ago I went on a short walk by myself. This wouldn’t be blog-worthy material except for what – more accurately, who – greeted me when I came home. In the twenty minutes or so that I was gone, four illegal migrants had come to our house to hide from the police who were doing a routine search for illegals. The only member of the family who was home apart from Flora was Me Meh, the three year old. Flora said she felt like she should comfort Me Meh but quickly realized that the child was in no distress whatsoever…..police raids are a part of life.
We spent the afternoon talking to one of the women (Maung-Hla’s niece as it turns out) who has fairly good English. We didn’t really know what to do about lunch since Maung-Hla had told us to fry the eggs ourselves and eat the curry he had left for us but we didn’t think there would be enough for everyone. Eventually our hunger got the best of us, so we moved toward the kitchen (which is in a separate building/structure). Immediately, a couple of the people in hiding left their hide-outs to help us prepare lunch! Ah! Hospitality will drive you mad sometimes. We’ve asserted ourselves enough with Maung-Hla’s family to be able to wash our own dishes…..but our new friends were NOT going to have that. She ripped that scrub-brush from my clutches!
When Maung-Hla came home he poked his head in to our room to say hi. I told him he had some “friends over” and pointed to the room adjacent to ours that was in total darkness. Without a pause or any insinuation of surprise he said, “How many friends?” and went over to talk to them. They may have come to Maung-Hla’s house for any of a variety of reasons– it’s at the end of the road, his family is a bit better off than most in the neighborhood, he has been in Thailand for many years and has a clean record….but in the end, it was more proof that he is a community leader.

Huay Pe Keng New Year’s
At some point you have probably seen pictures or read stories about the “Long-neck” people – the people who wear gold rings around their necks and below their knees. They are the Kaya people from Karenni state in Burma but many have fled persecution there and settled in Thailand. When most Burmese enter Thailand, they are sent to refugee camps and held there in a permanent limbo state for years, never knowing their future, not able to go backwards or forwards. The Thai government saw an opportunity to earn big tourism bucks with Kaya people because of their cultural practice of wearing neck rings. The result? Kaya people can choose to remain in the refugee camps where conditions are atrocious but they still have a hope of getting out at some point. (Out when or to where they do not know). Or, alternately, Kaya people can opt to forfeit their refugee status and move into one of many villages set up for them by the Thai government. Conditions in these villages are better than in the camps, but the villagers are not allowed to leave, and have hardly any way to change their impoverished condition. The Thai government keeps all of the money earned by tourism except when tourists buy souvenirs directly from the villagers (their only source of income). Some of these villages are like human zoos – people come and stare at the Kaya women’s necks, snap pictures, and leave, never learning their story.
Flora first visited Huay Pe Keng village about two months ago with a group of people connected with NGOs in the area and sent many of you an email about her experience. We had a similar opportunity to visit the village as guests for the most important holiday in their culture (a New Years celebration). People from the three Kaya villages in the Mae Hong Son area as well as in the camps come together each year (rotating the meeting place between the four). Maung-Maung, our boss from the EMFS, told us on Monday night that we should skip class on Tuesday and instead spend the night with someone who’s connected to the EMFS and lives in Huay Pe Keng. The next afternoon we drove to the village, motorbike caravan style, with one of our students (Hon Bil).
After the pleasant but awkward meet and greet with the woman (Lay Lay Wha) who graciously took us in, we headed to the village field for a massive volleyball tournament. We saw a boys game first and they are GOOD. It’s a pity American men don’t usually play volleyball; it’s such an athletic and exciting sport! The real excitement, though, was watching the young women play some scrappy and fierce volleyball with a good stock of fans cheering them on. Most played with their rings on (they can take the rings off if they want to). They were also barefoot which was particularly impressive given the hard-packed earth and rock mix they were playing on. The crowd was rapt and, best of all, the young women were completely serious about their game; they didn’t for a second try to be “feminine” by not giving it their all. Some of them are gifted players! The Kaya in the villages and the refugees in the camps are all obsessed with volleyball. It’s an excellent outlet for young men who have been stripped of their bread-winning status and feel aimless.
The games continued, but Flora and I decided to take a little tour of the village before dinner time. When most tourists get off the river-crossing boat and arrive in Huay Pe Keng, they don’t venture far. People are selling their wares along one main path (bracelets, post-cards, elephant or neck-ringed women figurines, clothe bags….) and that seems to be enough for the average tourist. If you journey 350 meters past the first village along a carefully marked path, you enter the “New Village”. Apparently most tourists aren’t fit enough for that big trek because the New Village gets a fraction of the tourist traffic of the Old village. The Thai government created the New Village in 2007 and promised that people who moved there from the Old Village or elsewhere would have better facilities, conditions, etc. It is fair to say that they have NOT delivered. People in this village are even more impoverished than their Old Village counterparts – outhouses are poorly located, food is scarce. Flora stayed here when she visited two months ago.
The music and dance festivities were supposed to begin at 8pm, but this isn’t America so the timetable didn’t rule supreme. In the interim hours, we met some hilarious Evergreen State college students who we’ve run into several times in MHS (they’re here on a semester program). We were given food by yet more friendly locals and had to eat; hospitality in both directions trumps all.
The festivities (an elaborate dance competition) got underway at about 10:30 and were pretty fantastic. Pictures do justice better than words here. Dance groups from each village did performances decked out in their colorful cultural dress which includes vibrant head-bands. There was plenty of painfully loud music and crowd support and I felt utterly blessed to be a part of the whole thing.
A word on the rings…One legend goes that the woman began wearing the rings to protect their necks from tigers. Girls begin wearing the rings when they are about five years old and add three as often as they can, depending on how fast they grow. It’s considered desirable to peek at about 25 rings. The rings are undeniably bad for the health of women who wear them; their collar bones are crushed, their backs permanently arched in old age, and their overall life expectancy is decreased by seven years. In recent years, some women have chosen not to wear the rings. Muby, a woman we know through work in Mae Hong Son, is one of the most feminist, forward-thinking women you’ll ever meet. She chose to take off her rings years ago partly because it is easier in the workplace and partly because she doesn’t think she should have to do that to her body because she is a woman. Still, she has total respect for the women who still wear the rings. Not only is it an engrained and ancient part of their culture, but the rings are now the only source of their income in the villages. Western outsiders can inform the women of the medical dangers of wearing the rings, but the practice is not ours to judge.
The next morning was the big ceremony! Naturally it started a couple hours late, so I had time to wander around with a friendly Dutchwoman anthropologist who I had met the night before. The main idea to the ceremony is the raising of a big pole (about 35 feet tall) that represents the first tree. Poles from previous years are all in the same area – in a clearing on the top of a small hill. Before anything got underway, over a hundred young men (women aren’t allowed up there) danced around this configuration of giant poles for a couple of hours, playing music…..gongs, cymbals, drums – solid rhythm, really fun to listen to! Eventually, each village brought out a chicken and asked it questions about their fortune for the coming year. Meanwhile, the shamans blessed the pole and then the men began raising the pole…..it took over a hundred men and A LOT of muscle power/rope leverage! Once the pole was raised and secured – music and dance continuing all the while – someone from each village sacrificed the chicken. They then stuck small sticks in the thighbones of the chickens and the shamans read the fortunes of their villages based on which direction the bones tipped. Three of four fortunes were quite good – the New Village is supposed to get more visitors in the coming year….I sure hope so. One of the villages, however, had quite a bad fortune, so people were pretty upset.
The rest of the day was free-for-all socializing time! Our friend from Mae Hong Son, Muby, took us to half a dozen homes of her friends and family members to meet and be offered more food than we could possibly handle (or should possibly take form these impoverished families). Because it’s the New Year, it’s customary to go around saying hello to everyone in your village. The young men were still dancing, but at this point, winding their way through town, having water thrown on them.
It was an absolutely fantastic 24 hours……I felt very fortunate to be there, and proud to be involved with the EMFS. This was all on the 8th and 9th of April. Since then, the New Years festival for greater Southeast Asia has taken place – more on THAT next time! This is already preposterously long.

Love to you all! (Don’t be shy about leaving comments….it’s fun to know if you’re reading.)
~Alice

Back in the saddle again!

You may not have known it....but I was out of the saddle for a while, so to speak. About two weeks ago I got a horrific headache, breathing problems, fever.....it wasn't great. I felt better the next morning (after one kind friend had me stay at her house while she was away for the weekend and another two friends stayed there with me so Flora could shuttle back and forth to our host-family's house.....). Flora and I spent the next couple of days in denial. Sure, I had no energy, all sorts of weird symptoms that you don't want to know about, and felt crappy, but I was getting better and had some medicine, right? Right? Wrong. In the middle of Monday night I had a breakdown.....As avid blog readers will remember, I had QUITE a breakdown on an Indian train this fall which involved quoting Fifty Cent to passersby, losing all control of my facilities, attempting to launch myself off my bunk-bed......all in all giving Kate and Deepa quite the workout.

WELL. Apparently one of my subconscious goals for my year-off was to have as many of my best friends as possible get the chance to see delirious! Yippee! My breakdown last week wasn't as bad as the one in India, but it was one of my worser moments, so I went to the hospital. I tested negative for malaria, so they told me I had food poisoning. (Code for - we don't know what's up and have to say something.) Flora and I eventually went to Chiang Mai so I could go to a bigger hospital. It turns out I had mild hepatitis. AND, interestingly enough, that bump on my finger that I talked about in a blog about a month ago? The one I got from giving henna to the children at the Children's Home? Well it morphed into quite a nasty little wart so I had that removed as well. Flora returned to Mae Hong Son and I watched movies at Liz's house for almost a week....Pride and Prejudice, Chariots of Fire, Rocky, The Hot Chick, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.....I was certainly no longer suffering.

I've been back in Chiang Mai since Tuesday and I'm so happy to be here! I still have very low energy, but am infinitely better. I went to the Mae Hong Son hospital on Thursday and told them exactly what to test for, and I'm looking normal! Today, Flora and I turned to the tricky business of buying food for our host family (because they will NOT accept money and we will NOT accept a free ride). We had very little clue what to get, but a friend came and shopped with us, and we were pretty proud of the results......chicken, eggplant, mango, oranges, fish, vegetables I don't recognize, herbs I don't recognize, Burmese salad mix - All fresh!

In other big news - we know our address now and would love to get mail from you!

Nay Chi Labour Union
P.O. Box 113
Mae Hong Son, 58000
Thailand

Before I sign out on this one.....here's a little list I've been keeping in my journal:
You know you've been in tropical Asia for a while WHEN....

1) You see the mountains ablaze at night and think, "oh. Crop burning season." instead of, "Run for your life!"
2) Your English student apologizes for missing a class and explains that he was "beating back a fire from his house". He's excused.
3) Toilet paper is a fun luxury item
4) Your friend invites you over to use her shower and embarks an a lively description of its excellent water-pressure, ensuring you it's the best shower in Thailand.
5) The doctor says, "It's probably malaria. Everyone gets malaria at one point or another."
6) You can tell the difference between Northern Thai rice and Southern Indian rice (and wish you couldn't)
7) When you see a cockroach crawl across your backpack you experience immense relief because it's nothing sinister
8) When the doctor tells you that you actually have mild hepatitis you're positively giddy because it's NOT malaria (or dengue or yellow fever or...)
9) You hear more about the Burma situation than the US election
10) You broke almost a year of vegetarianism for pig intestines so as not to be rude....
11) All your friends want to know what YOU will be up to for the mid-summer water festival!



Much love,
~Alice

PS - I'm going to be at the fish caves with Maung-Hla and his family for the water festival, where will YOU be???

Climate, Progress, and Colonization: Flora's Debut!

Alice and I had a long conversation the other night that ranged from Christmas traditions to toilet habits. I won’t say that we discussed everything in between, but there was quite a range. Anyway, it inspired me to write a little about Southeast Asia and what I have learned about the region in the two months that I have now spent here. This blog is different from most, but I think it may be interesting to some. My thoughts actually start in Europe, but the majority of it is written about Thailand (well, at least Southeast Asia), so read on…

This summer, traveling through Croatia and Hungary, I thought about climate in a broader cultural sense than ever before. I thought about all the ways climate can affect people’s day-to-day lives, and even how customs and traditions get built up around an area’s climate patterns. I mostly thought about this is in terms of Mediterranean Europe and their habit of afternoon siestas. It is so hot most afternoons that it is not worth attempting to be productive. As a result, stores close and everything shuts down.

Now, in Southeast Asia, I am once again thinking about climate, but in a totally different light. I am living in Thailand, have visited Cambodia, and am reading about Burma while living with a Burmese family. It has become evident to me, that many similarities between these countries have arisen out of similarities in the climate. All three countries have a new years festival in April (that is the beginning of the lunar year), and the main attraction of this festival is a huge country-wide (or rather; multi-national) water fight. For all three countries, April is the peak of their hot season, and it is nearly unbearable to be outside. Everyone looks forward to this festival for months even though it has a different name in each of those three countries.

This is going to sound funny, but I’m pretty sure climate has also affected the bathing and sanitary habits of these countries. In Southeast Asia, it is customary to use a squat toilet -- not too unusual in all of Asia -- but in Southeast Asia, after using the toilet, you spray yourself down with water in order to clean yourself. Even the wealthiest families do not use toilet paper, because there is no reason to. In hot climates, you will dry quickly, and it may even feel good to be wet for a while. Places with running water and flush toilets, rarely have toilet paper, but they do have a small hose to spray yourself with, as oppose to a simple bucket.

The reason this all has really struck me right now is that the house we are staying in has running water. There are pipes going into the bathroom, and it would be easy enough for them to decide to have the water flow end with a shower head, a flush toilet, or both. Instead, they do it “Thai style,” with the two ends of the pipes leading to basins from which you can later draw water for a bucket shower or to wipe yourself. The family clearly has the means to have a western bathroom if they wanted it, but there is no reason to. The Thai way works for them. It is a clear example of how westernization is not the only way to progress and modernization. There is no reason for them to westernize, because the western way is not necessarily any better than their traditional way, especially with the weather they have.

Alice says it is the same in the Dominican Republic. People are used to bucket showers, and there is no reason to do otherwise. In the United States, we tend to think that our way is the best, and that anyone who is able to have a flush toilet and a hot shower will. We assume that is what people want, because it is what we want and what we are used to. In Thailand, only the houses of expatriates and restaurants trying to bring in expatriates and tourists have sitting toilets. They know that to please us they have to have sitting toilets and have toilet paper available, but that is the only reason. As Americans we think our way is best, and the only way that makes sense.

Alice and I also talked about progress, technology, and modernization in terms of how it relates to colonization and independence. One way in which Thailand is unique, is that it has never been colonized. The Thais have always been in control of Thailand. (They claim that, but in truth nearly all of Thailand has been under either Cambodian or Burmese control at some time. That said they were never colonized by a Western country). This is especially relevant because all other countries in the region were colonized by the English, French, or Dutch. Thailand was skipped by pure coincidence. The country happened to be in the right place, situated between a region of all French colonies, and a region of all British colonies. The French and British decided to avoid confrontation and leave Thailand as a neutral, buffer zone.

In high school, I learned all about colonization, and we discussed both the effects foreign powers have on their colonies and the independence movements that were so prevalent in the 1950s and 60s. However, I don’t think I fully understood all that colonization meant to these countries until now, when I am able to see it first hand. Since 1948 when both Burma and Cambodia officially became independent, there has been significant political turmoil in each country. There has been civil war, or the threat of a civil war in each of these countries for nearly the full sixty years since their respective colonial powers left. In addition, each country has had military regimes, that have severely persecuted minority parties, and in Cambodia, Pol Pot went as far as full-on genocide.

Thailand has gone through nothing like that. It’s true that Thailand has had its share of military coups in the past half century. But they have nearly all been bloodless, and there has never been a time when Thais have been forced to flee the country for any reason. Besides, the royal family remained in power for nearly the entire century, and the country has remained united by their reign. While Thailand still does not have a stable government or a working constitution, the country is able to become a truly modern state. There are many successful Thai corporations, and the people have a sense of pride in themselves, their country, and their king.

That is so far from true in both Burma and Cambodia. Human rights and simple freedoms have been ignored in these countries for decades, and their citizens live in fear of their governments. Many have been forced to flee their homes, and even their country, because of persecution. In addition, each country has been through desperate economic times with unbearable inflation rates, and governments that steal from the middle and lower classes.

Cambodia has had a fairly stable government for the past ten years, but there is still an edge of fear in each citizen’s life. They are scared to discuss politics, because if the wrong person heard, they could be killed. And it is only in the past ten years that they have even had this much luxury. For the forty years before that, without even saying anything, but just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they could have died.

In Burma, a small elitist military regime has been in power for over twenty years, terrorizing the entire country. Many minorities have fled the country, and even the ethnic Burmese, if they have opposing political beliefs can be jailed or killed.

Clearly, there were many factors leading to the turmoil that each of these countries has recently experienced, but I have really come to believe that the biggest reason for this turmoil is the history of colonization. The British and French did not leave the countries with the means to support themselves or with a capable and just ruling entity. It would have been nearly impossible for either Cambodia or Burma to overcome the situation they were left with after colonization and successfully recover to form a functional and accepting government.

Under the colonial powers, there were always elitist groups with undeserved power, and there were always outsiders ruling without enough knowledge of the people they were ruling over. The colonial powers, in other words, set a bad example for future leaders of these countries, and also left the wrong people in power.

It was not until recently that I had a great enough understanding of Thailand, Burma, and Cambodia to piece this all together. When learning about colonization and independence movements in high school, it was somehow never as clear to me that the lasting affects of colonization were as disruptive as they are today. I am now able to see how similar their traditions and lives are, and how vastly different their ruling powers are. There are so many reasons for these countries to be alike, and yet Western powers have driven them in other directions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Here we have a little "before and after" with three little piggies who went to market in Cambodia....then there are two street scenes from Chaing Mai. After theat - we're at our weekend trip to Pai and after that - Mae Hong Son! The big Buddha is on a hill overlooking the town......the view of the valley is from a different hill overlooking the valley. The lake is in the center of town - right next to where we stayed for the first two weeks we were here. Beautiful temples on the lake - the gold and white temple is one of them.

Happy Birthday!

(FYI - i wrote a long blog yesterday, so it's underneath this and explains what we're up to here.....)

Mom: I thought the best birtday present I could give you was assurance that I am 1) using a mosquito net 2) using bug lotion 3) taking malaria pills and 4) wearing sunscreen! The other picture of me in that shirt outside a builidng is where we are living. I took the picture of the flowers for you specifically! I took a bunch of other flower pictures....I'll show the to you wehn you VISIT ME!!! The one with flora sitting on the ground is inside our room....and, of course, the one where I'm wearing a headset is me talking to YOU on your birthday! Oh, by the wya, Flora had me shave her head.

Much love to you, and happy birthday. It was marvelous to talk with you today - Happy Easter in advance!

Love,

~Alice

first off - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY! Check the blog again later tonight for your "surprise".

Now that I attempted to lay the groundwork in the last blog I can talk about the more interesting things we're doing! We're working with the EMFS and Nay Chi primarily. We're also living with the Burmese family that runs Nay Chi, and yet aren't totally sure what Nay Chi does. Hmmmm....

Weekend trip to Pai:
Pai is a two-four hour bus-ride from Mae Hong Son, depending on who's driving the bus. Most people go to Pai for the rockin' nightlife and excess of foreign food/comforts. Flora and I went on a six-hour hike into surrounding tribal farm lands until we reached a picturesque river and then we were so tired that we conked out at 9. Party on! The next morning we attended yoga classes run by a woman who can only be described as the Thai-hippie version of Madame Gatlin. She makes everyone call her "mama". She's sixty but willing to cat-walk it, baby. She loves to regale us with stories of drunken tourists, her "tiger-cat baby" who lives in her yard, and how to go to the best party.....and at the end of the class she let her insane and morbidly obese dogs do laps around the room, chasing them and waving her arms......most Thai yogi are a bit more into the meditation end of things and less the"You want party?? Come with MAMA!" aspect of life. Our bus ride back was standing room only and that vehicle was struggling to get up those hills. (Have I mentioned the precisely 1,836 hills in Mae Hong Son province?)

Nay Chi:
When we first met Maung-La almost two weeks ago, we were led to believe that we would be teaching him and two other Nay Chi staff English and computer skills four mornings a week for two hours and weekends, we'd corral sixty children for two-hour English classes. He also generously offered his home to us and doesn't want us to pay a thing. (we'll have to get creative on that one). The first class was just Maung-La (and a refugee from the nearby camp who had illegally sneaked off for the day and a cat who jumped in through the window and the sound of explosions in the background to which Maung-La said; "People die".....it later came out that that was a burial ceremony.) Alright, so maybe the other staff didn't get the "memo". We were slightly confused the next day when, instead of other staff, a gaggle of local 15-year-old girls showed up for class. We didn't have a class prepared for a large-ish group, so the "wing-it" skills I picked up in India were employed. A couple days later we found out that the children's classes don't happen in March and April......okay....so we'll teach him private lessons.

Maung-La's wife works during the day, so he takes care of the three (cute) kids.....and presumably does Nay Chi work, but we haven't seen any of that, yet. So what, exactly, does Nay Chi do you might ask? We are doubtless even more curious than you! Maung-Lais the perfect host and student - eager to make everything work, make sure we're comfortable......but I have no freaking clue what Nay Chi does! I don't mind the constant misunderstandings, but Flora and I both really want to help his organization since he's being so gracious. Last night, we started to get to the bottom of it! Astra, he marvelous Dutch lady, who I talked about in last post, had us and a man (Sai) who apparently works with Maung-La and speaks BOTH Burmese and English. Hallelujah! Today, at a graduation ceremony that we were very randomly invited to, we managed to get Maung-La and Sai together and got to the bottom of it. Nay Chi.....is abysmally organized and lacks funding. SO - we can help write proposals and get them organized once he gets together with his board. Hooorah!

The Home-stay:
I haven't been sleeping well because there's not much "spring" to my springs and there aren't mattresses…..so there's this horizontal bar through my bed and it gets bad. So I almost conked out during our proposal meeting a couple days ago. Since then, I have constructed a mattress of my own out of the contents of my suitcase and, like the Beatles would say, it's getting better all the time! Maung-La has three children ages 8, 6, and 3. We taught Sai-Meh, the odlest girl, how to play Go-Fish this morning! She spends most of her time sitting in a chair in our doorway, staring at us. There's no door, so they have a pretty constant supply of white-people entertainment. The others stare too, but she wins in terms of stare-endurance. They're painfully shy, so it was great to get them laughing and playing Go-Fish with us (Flora's brilliant idea). And she could practice her English numbers, too!

Asian Toilets:
I spent the first couple of weeks in Thailand doing the bathroom thing All Wrong! I was operating off the India model, which seemed reasonable, but it was so difficult that I eventually vented my frustrations to Flora. APPARENTLY Thai toilets are shaped slightly differently, so you face the opposite way from Indian toilets! That's a cheap shot, Asia.

The EMFS (Emigrant Migrant Families Society):
We've been working our butts off writing a proposal for the EMFS to build a nursery school for young Burmese children. WE finished yesterday!!! A whole new experience for both of us made even more interesting by the fact that we knew zilch about the project until a week ago. The leader of the EMFS sat and gave us information.....here's a little break-down of a typical conversation we had for ever single item that the EMFS has to purchase to build and furnish the nursery....

Alice: So, will we need other materials?
Maung-Maung: (pause) Yes.
Flora: Will we need other materials in the bathroom?
Maung-Maung: Yes, materials in the bathroom.
Alice: Do we need to buy toilets?
Maung-Maung: Yes. Toilets. Two.
Flora: How much will the toilets cost?
Maung-Maung: Two toilets.
Alice. Yes, we need two toilets. How much money for one toilet?
Maung-Maung: (pause) Maybe I don't know. 200 baht, I think.
---repeat—

But now we know how to write proposals and we'll start another one on Monday! This time, a will write the bulk of it and I'll do our lesson planning.....we were wearing ourselves out trying to both do everything.

We're ALSO doing evening classes at the EMFS. The first class was pretty awkward because they didn't, you know, SPEAK at all.....but I have to admit, it's getting better, a little better all the time. (Thanks again, Beatles). The next two classes were fantastic! We came equipped with worksheets, got them excited about taboo and dictionary - we had a worksheet about animals (our vocab topic of the day). One of the questions asked which animal (of a group f ten) lays eggs. One group took this query to heart and listed every single creature they could possibly think of with egg-laying powers! Proud moments in teaching. Teaching is draining and we're both glad to have each other there.....two hours with 25 students - not speaking their first language....not easy. It's also fun to see that I really gained a lot from my teaching experience in India - I'm so much more confident and comfortable at the front of the class than I was when I started out teaching the Indian classes!

Once again, happy birthday to my mom - and check the blog again!

LOVE to you all,
~Alice

MAE HONG SON!!!!

I wrote this four days ago and since then........MANY things have changed! At the end of my last post I mentioned Mae Hong Son. Well, that’s where we've been! I wrote a lot, but in summary – Mae Hong Son is gorgeous, and we’ve finally found volunteer work to do – with two Burmese refugee outreach organization. For details, read on!

First – the drive. Three facts – women can’t touch monks because they’re holy, you can’t kill something in front of a monk because it violates their faith, and there are over 1800 curves in the Mae Hong Son province roads. We almost had to sit next to a monk during the drive up to Mae Hong Son. This would have been tragic given you also can’t fully control your body when hairpin turning for six hours. Awkward! For the first half hour of the trip, a mosquito was buzzing around Flora, but seeing as the monk was just a seat away…..she really couldn’t kill it. It was even more awkward than the songtao (Thai taxi) ride flora and I had through Chiang Mai with five – yes FIVE – monks!

Flora came here a month ago and loved it, and we both felt that it would be easier to get involved in a smaller community.....and that's how we ended up a day's bus ride northwest of Chiang Mai - wher ewe thought we'd be living. Because of the town's proximity to the Burmese border, it is full of NGOs serving Burmese refugees. (The Burmese people refer to their country as Burma. Myanmar is the name given to the country by the oppressive regime in power.) The small community shows - we often run into people we know, we’re already regulars at a fruit-smoothie stand, and we know which food-booths we like at the evening market. Liz, who we stayed with in Chiang Mai, is friends with a woman named Abby who lives and works here. Abby housed Flora on her first trip here, and has tried to help us in any way possible.

The refugee camps were formed when the Burmese government began persecuting minorities in 1989. The refugees can’t return to their country, and leaving the camps is very difficult, so they are in perpetual limbo. Of the two closest camps, one has 4,000 residents and the other 20,000! Entrance passes to the camps are closely regulated by the Thai government, so we haven’t been able to visit, but could possibly in the future.

When we first got here, we took long walks through Mae Hong Son, did yoga and read a LOT. There’s a gorgeous temple complex on the top of a hill overlooking the town, a small lake with several temples at its banks, and a nice market. We called several people and set up some meetings, but even in a place as friendly and open as this, it takes time to break into the community. On one walk we found a leopard print clad Buddha; my first for me!

Last Saturday, we went to a birthday party for three women from Holland (Astra), Burma (Yay), and Israel/the US (Inbal). That may have been a first for everyone; not just us! Flora met Inbal here a month ago. Inbal has boundless social energy, so she made sure we had a good time and met people looking for volunteers. Both Flora and I were awkward and fidgety around all the new - albeit friendly – faces. The language barrier doesn’t alleviate social awkwardness. Nevertheless, the next day we went to a friendly woman’s house for yoga – apparently it’s a weekly affair – Abby runs the classes.

Abby asked us to work in our office whenever we have a chance, so we came by on Monday. Especially for Flora, who spent over a month in Chiang Mai looking for opportunities, it was exciting to have work to do! Abby runs the Gender Based Violence (GBV) office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Mae Hong Son (MHS…..because I’m into acronyms.) The IRC has offices in many countries around the world that serve refugee populations. We spent Monday organizing her library and reference materials. There’s a huge Health section - so we combined both our moms’ professions (Doctor and Librarian)! Abby wants us to come in whenever we can/want, but it still helping us look for other work.

This morning, Astra, the kind Dutch woman, took me and Flora to a memorial ceremony for a Burmese man. A pig was sacrificed. I haven’t been eating non-seafood meat for the last year, but when a group of poor Burmese people offer you the choice pig intestines – you learn to eat meat. The ceremony was at an organization that Flora and I will work for beginning Friday. We’ll also teach conversational English classes to Burmese migrant workers three or four evenings a week. I shouldn’t have trouble coming up with lesson plans after this fall!

All the best. Write to us or leave a comment – we love hearing from friends and family!

Love,
~Alice

PS - in the last few days - after i wrote this - many new things have come up! Exciting, good thigns (don't worry mum). We have another organization to work for and we began writing a full-out grant proposal for the first organization. Something I've never done, is challenging, flexes my mental muscles, and is truly helpful to this organization that has no native Enlgish speakers. I'll write more on it soon! We're moivng in with a Burmese family next week that has three small kids - the parents run one of the organizations we're working for.......Free board and a homestay! Sweetness!

The first four pictures are in Cambodia.....a scene from the floating village, a tree taking over an ancient ruin which also happens to be where angelina raided some tombs a while back, flora and I at Angkor Wat, Flora and I doing a dance at Bayon temple......a Japanaese tourist showed us how to do that dance.....There were other photos but the computer is being difficult! oh well - it's a start!