These exchanges really happen in every interaction here, but were greatly facilitated by two major components of ISDSI courses: home-stays and community meetings.
The host family stays have been a true gift. These families really take us in as their own with love and utmost concern for our comfort, well-being, and our stomachs. They are patient with our broken Thai and share their recipes, stories, and traditions with us. Some of the host families didn't speak Central Thai either and learning to communicate was a challenge and an exercise in patience and level-headedness for everyone involved, but the families managed to keep a smile through all of it.
The community meetings were also very cool. At nearly every place we visited we had an hour meeting with community members and leaders to discuss significant cultural traditions, problems faced by villagers, and ask questions about any topic we wanted to know about. Some meetings had specific topics and others were more of a free for all. After we had asked all our questions, we let community members ask us a few questions of their own.
The cultural-exchanges were a really beautiful experience. The people we visited shared their knowledge with us and the experiences felt beneficial to so many people in wonderful, story-worthy ways. I can't go over every meeting or activity or moment we had--we had a lot!--but here are some highlights from Agro course.
The first 5 days or so spent at UHDP we were in a cabin. My favorite part at UHDP was jumping in to help with food clean up even though the mothers said they would do it. Here in Thailand, the older generation always says they will take care of things, but you really have to insist or just sit down and wait for them to give you something to help with. It's kinda like everyone is a Jewish grandma who will say she doesn't need help, but really you know better. There, I learned that Thai style of rubber banding things which is different from the US and SOO COOL! Probably the #1 most useful/cool piece of knowledge I've gotten so far and I'm damn proud of it. Also, I got that info/experience by just jumping in, not waiting for instructions or directions. That's the way it is with experiential learning, you just have to be there and ready. I couldn't tie it right the first 5 times, but Mae was patient with me and helped me until I got it.
From UHDP we traveled to Bahn Dang Nauk. Bahn Dang Nauk is a Dara-Ang village. The Dara-Ang are a group of people from Northern China that migrated down into Burma and then into Thailand during the wars that have wracked Burma. They are Thailand's most recent immigrant group and similar to the US, the newest immigrants are the ones that are currently being most oppressed by both the people and the government. Bang Dang Nauk was the poorest village that ISDSI takes its students to visit. No one in the village has full citizenship and they face a lot of issues of access to food, land, and other basic rights/necessities.
The passion with which the people at Bahn Dang Nauk spoke was unforgettable. From my westerner's perspective it was so hard to understand why these people were targeted when they seemed no different from "officially Thai" people living down the road. Learning about citizenship issues in Thailand gives some perspective to issues in the US.
After the meeting, a few of the women brought out goods to sell to us. There was one hysterical grandma who kept changing the price on her goods for all of the students and we talked with her a bit as best as we could.
After the meeting, a few of the women brought out goods to sell to us. There was one hysterical grandma who kept changing the price on her goods for all of the students and we talked with her a bit as best as we could.
We stayed that night with host families Bahn Dang Nai who spoke some Central Thai, but mostly Northern Thai which has a lot of differences. In contrast to BD Nauk, this village had been established longer. While the people living there at BD Nai many issues with landownership, water access, and citizenship, the area and community is more established. At home, we sat and made slow small chat, and then our Mae pointed out to her belts that all the women of the older generation were wearing. BD Nai was also a Dara-Ang village and they have traditional dress which includes dyed belts made of Rattan that are beautiful.
That night, I sat down to do homework in the living room, but I heard chatter from outside. I realized that my reading was important, but I only had so much time to speak with the people here so I ran outside to find a group of women chopping pumpkin and bamboo for our breakfast the next morning and again just sat and listened and watched until they started talking with me and eventually let me help. EVERYONE uses machetes here. They wouldn't let me cut because it was too dangerous, but I did get to break up bamboo shoots and felt just a small bit part of the sisterhood that these women had with each other.
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| This very flattering picture my Mae and me at Bahn Dang Nai |
Next we went to Bahn Huay Pong, a village that has both Dara-Ang and Red Lahu people living together. Our meeting in the evening was with several men from the Dara-Ang community and somehow the evening turned turned to love-stories. Someone asked about getting married in this village and that led us to asking about the differences between flirting now-awadays vs when the men we were speaking to were courting wives which led to a full demonstration of Dara Ang flirting! The men must travel at night to the house of the woman he wishes to court and just walk straight into the house of the sleeping family and start playing music, either on a traditional guitar or flute. He must play until the woman wakes up and talks to him. If the man loves her, he must offer her a tea bag and if she accepts, they get married. [I may have over-simplified that a bit.] Oh! And the man must do this all with his face covered by a towel or covering of some sort! Well, after asking dozens of questions the man decided just to get up and show us, he grabbed a flute, put a towel on his head and showed us how it's done!
During our stay, we also toured a very successful agro-forest plot owned by Jawa-Jalo, a resident of the Red Lahu community at Bahn Huay Pong. Afterwards we got to speak with him about his plot and he told us that since he switched to agro-foresty from monoculture, he puts 10% of his income into direct savings.
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| Jawa-Jalo showing us the money he has been able to save since switching to Agro-forestry from monoculture. |
At Bahn Mae Mae, I didn't understand my Mae AT ALL, but that didn't keep her from talking with me. That day, we got to bathe in the river. It was freezing but so beautiful and invigorating. All the girls put on our pasin (sarongs) and got in with our Dr. Bronners soap to clean up.
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| Our sleeping arrangments at Bahn Mae Mae |
It was there I made the some-tam pictured in my last blog post and heard some amazing stories from my Mae, Pi Chai, and Pi Sau (host brother and sister) about the beginning of organic farming, house our house was built, and issues facing farmers today.
At Mae Ta, I biked every day from home to the community gathering place where we had all of our meetings. There isn't a more romantic idea of studying abroad then riding your bike to school through a small Thai village looking out over the rice fields and mountains as you go. It was perfect and I felt like a kid again in those times riding my bike through town.
Also, the house of our family was extremely beautiful as well and I don't think my pictures even begin to capture it.
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| Sleeping Quarters at Mae-Ta |
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| The bottom story of the house at Mae Ta |
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