Thailand 15

What’s edible?
It seems most anything here. When ever we point out an insect we aren’t familiar with or is unusually large or show them pictures of insects or animals, the kids hold their fingers to their mouths, grin & pretend they are eating!! Snakes, frogs, spiders, rats…no wonder we haven’t seen any rats around. One day Cireo was crying & stopped when Gaudy fed him an ant!! They are constantly bringing us plants they have foraged to sample. Recently, the cook stopped by where I was teaching with her gathering & they kids begged for the dingy yellow fruit she was eating. After each kid gobbled down theirs, she handed me a bite. What could I do?? As my tongue touched it, my mouth instantly puckered & I couldn’t help but spit it out shouting “Yuck!” Not only was it horrid tasting but the smell…the cook & kids burst out laughing………all day, each time the cook saw me, she said “Yuck” & laughed some more.

Basketball rim:
No rim & you want to play basketball?? No problem. One kid climbed to the top of the soccer goal & held up a bicycle tire and the game began.


Because Just Because:
Elsi, where were you when we needed you most!! We were asked to teach Because Just Because to the kids. Let’s just say, neither of us are proud of how that’s going…even with Rog’s whistling talents.


Tasanne’s Trip to Bangkok:
Last week Tasanne, four of the older boys & many of her relative drove to Bangkok..(Elsi & Bob got out at Mae Sot) because Tasanne was accepting an award for good deeds from the Prime Minister and the boys were participating in a garden contest which they won!! They also did some sight seeing including a garden exhibit. When they got home, Tasanne asked the boys to tell the other children what they learned from the trip. They talked about how much they admired the people who were accepting awards & how they wished to do things for other also. They were also very excited about the garden they saw…and told the kids they wanted to plant much more around Safe Haven so they could have more food & it would be even more beautiful. Sure enough, the next day, they were out mulching and preparing places to plant more. The kids also got to see the pictures that were taken & they got most excited about the pictures of the pumpkins, squash & gourds. And it wasn’t because they wanted to make jack-o-lanterns or decorate with them. Their mouths were watering! Tasanee told the kids that if they do well & work hard, someday she will take them some place special also. Later she told us she likes to give the kids dreams and “want them to be able to step on her shoes.”

Each day…
Each day I’m here, it seems I notice something that somehow I’d overlooked. So often I skim the top layer of places I visit. It takes time to go deeper. I’m better at communicating with the kids & understanding their needs. Only this week I learned three of my a.m. students are siblings! And the kid we call our “stalker” and the girl who “leaches” on us--are siblings who fled Burma after being beaten & molested by their step father who then killed their mother in front of them. They are getting more hugs from us. And Elsi’s best piano student & my best p.m. English student are the cooks’ children. Both always excel at all the art projects I set out each day.


Things you see in Thailand:
Women smoking pipes & cigarettes
Much nose picking (Lisa Himle needs to come give her lesson)
Deep fried chicken legs
Jane wearing a crown of wild flowers woven for her by a loving girl
Roger with a full beard

Thailand 13



Happy Birthday
Imagine being in a totally different world surrounded by sight after sight of things you’ve never seen, in the midst of people who don’t look or speak like you and celebrating your birthday!! That’s me today! After I crawled out of my mosquito net and wander off to the bathroom meeting smiling faces all the way. Tasanee served me what she calls a western breakfast (scrambled eggs & toast) and gave me a gorgeous Karen style shirt that she made. She asked if we wanted to go to Mae Sot after lunch--why not??
Rog & I set up the craft table so kids could make puppets & as usual, we had lots of takers. While cleaning up, one of the boys came up to me with paper & pencil so I asked if he wanted an English lesson as that is how most of the kids ask. I dropped what I was doing, wrote CAT on his paper and carefully sounded out the word adding MEOW. He looked at me funny so I thought--oh, he doesn’t know the alphabet so I wrote all the letters giving him the sound of each as well. He still looked puzzled and then said, “Name?” I wrote my name which made him smile and hand to another boy who prompted wrote it on the birthday card he had prepared for me…I laughed aloud realizing that he must of thought my name was CAT and had surely not wanted a half hour English lesson!!
Soon after, we jumped into the truck along with Johnny as they were taking him to the doctor in Mae Sot --he has been coughing lots & is running a high temp. On our way, we passed the large refugee camp run by the UN--it’s one I’d looked into working at but they require 6 month stay.


So many, many small huts crowded together for almost half a mile. Tasanne told us many of the people there have been there for years…some wanting so much to go to a 3rd country (one of the ways to get out) and others have been there so long & don’t know any other life. They get free food, education & health care and so don’t want to leave. Life is much better there than in Burma…even if they are surrounded by barb wire. We have met two who come from there--both got jobs teaching (one at Safe Haven) so were allowed to leave. The children we talked about who lived down in that valley, come from there. I want to find out more about UN refugee camps as it all seems so wrong to keep people behind barb wire for so long….

My Story - In The Refugee Camp from Christian Freedom International on Vimeo.

When we got to Mae Sot, we went to an apartment that Tasanee rents as she has to come here so often. Johnny went to the doctor who gave him a shot & med for pneumonia. Poor little Johnny. Rog & I went to check out the town & lucky me, the first place we stopped at had one cold diet coke!! We walked several blocks filled with small shops passing smoking grills laden with food meeting many Muslins & locals many of whom grinned & said Hello. Around 7, Tasanee, her brother, Chom and one of the little orphans who stays with Tasanne’s other daughter--were sitting around a table eating lasagna, pizza, hamb & French fries! Tasanee knew what I’d like! We even had lime cheese cake for dessert. A group of Norwegians were sitting next to us (one we’d met & had worked at Safe Haven) and three of them sang Happy Birthday to me in Norwegian adding several dance steps. And to top the whole day off, we are connected to free wireless internet here!!!! So what a grand way to spend your 60th birthday!!

Thailand 14

I much catching up to do as we were without internet for a week & tonight I have free wireless internet!

Karen Language:
One of the older girls gave me a lesson in their language. They have 44 letters with many have two or three syllable sounds. Most of their words are several one or two consonants followed by one or two vowel sounds. If they put a consonant at the end, it’s usually ng, k or t. Also, the words have what sounds like a melody--often I think they have started a song! Most of the kids know Burmese and are learning Thai and English at school. And I still stumble on some English words!!

Massage:
I found out what the teacher here is teaching besides some English & Thai: massage…with her as the teaching tool!

Clean Up:
There are no toys to pick up around here as all the toys are the ones they’ve picked up so dropping them anywhere is no problem.

A day in my classroom:
Sometime during my morning lesson, Christmas, Johnny or Cireo pulls down his pants or not & pees. Today it was right on my foot. Rog’s lesson in the library came to an abrupt stop after Christmas poop right on the floor.


Polio:
Had visitors today--the polio vaccination truck pulled in and ten minutes later pulled out after giving each of the 8 kids on site a dose of polio vaccine, marking it in their book & taking off to find the rest of the kids at school.

Discipline:
How do they do it?? All these kids & never have I heard any adult yelling or scolding. No one says be careful or don’t get dirty or get off the top of that rugged rock. There are no protective gates--even where little one year old Cireo could fall 4 ft--no electrical plug covers. The only yelling is out of 3 yr old Christmas who shouts his demands & orders to everyone--and they obey or he gets louder!!!

Stubbing toes:
As some of you know, Rog has always hated having anything around that he might stub his toes on. Well he’s found stub toe hell. Stumps & rocks everywhere. Everyday he goes out with a sledge hammer to eliminate several. It’s an endless job but he can’t bear not to work at it.

Washing:
One day I joined the washing clothes party. Truly it was a party as the girls & women seemed to be having so much fun. Though I could not understand a word, their belly laughs had me laughing which made them laugh even more. It made me wish I had such a fun social group to spend time with everyday. And all over a pile of laundry that they were so diligently working on. Honestly, I can’t imagine scrubbing that hard on clothes that I just saw the kids in as they rolled around in the dirt. Here’s the process: scrub with soap, wring, scrub again this time turning them inside out & scrubbing, wring, rinse, wring, rinse, wring, rinse & wring again before hanging on the bamboo to dry. And I remember yelling at my kids for getting dirty and all I had to do was throw them in a machine.



Mind Game:
Since often I can’t communicate much to others, I find myself silently talking to myself. Sometimes it’s like I’m talking into a tape recorder so I can remember things I am noticing. Not talking aloud gives me much more time to ponder which is a real luxury. Maybe I should try to talk less at home!!!