Eating Like the Locals? NOT!

In China, I always prided myself for eating like the locals. Well, less pork, but other than that.... Here, I don't think so, not even close. Most Thais eat meat 3x/day, and most of that is pork, frequently deep-fried. Um, and then there's the sushi, sold from carts every evening. It's displayed proudly, without ice or refrigeration. I don't get it; the fruit sellers all sell their fruit displayed on crushed ice. I guess the Thais like their fruit cold and their sushi room temperature?

Christmas at Lek's

Lek the artist (pictured here with Nong and baby Daaeng Mooi) loves hosting parties. Annick from Belgium wanted Christmas. She had unexpectedly returned from Cambodia to nurse her nasty wounds from being attacked by a pack of dogs (yes, really, yuck) .

Lek bought Santa hats for all of us; another first for me! Never mind that she's a devout Buddhist who spends considerable time praying at her altar each morning. The Thai's love to celebrate; and Lek and Nong are no exception.

Lek and Nong created QUITE the Christmas tree. It's actually a post, not a tree, complete with streamers cut for the occasion, blinking lights, and a raindeer mobile (hard to make out in this picture).



I splurged and bought imported olive oil and balsamic vinegar and contributed a huge salad to our meal. The largest bowls that Lek and Nong own are soup bowls. If you look closely, you can see that I arranged the salad in an extra wok (Noi was using the other to make a Thai stir-fried pork and basil dish). And while shopping at the big fancy (read "expensive") market at Gad Suan Keuw, how could I resist buying some imported Swiss Lindt chocolate as well? YUM!

Study, Teach, Study,Teach

A break in blogging as I complete my TEFL training program at Chiang Mai University. What a whole different life than what I was experiencing my first month in Thailand. I'll bring my camera to campus and post a few shots in the next day or two. I feel a strange sense of satisfaction knowing that I'll be attending class and teaching a class on Christmas! That's a bit different from being in the States....

A Week of Radical Amazement

One week I'm in the Yunnanese village of Mae Salong, playing with a Chinese-speaking little girl in who's rolling in the tea leaves being dried for her family business;





















... politely offering a "wai" (bow of respect) to the monks waiting with me (different seating area of course) at the Chiang Rai bus station;



















...and chatting with a toothless, red from beetle berry grandfather as I hike toward an Akha village.


The next week: Chanukah in Chiang Mai. I skipped nightly candle-lighting at the Chabad house, it felt too far to travel from the University after a full day in school. But I wanted some celebration in community and thus created a"renewlesque" Chanukah. The chanukiah (menorah) above was made with a plastic tupperware container, rice, and Buddhist candles.

There were 11 of us including Thai and Japanese devout Buddhists, an Israeli woman who brought teachings on Chanukah from her favorite Breslover rebbe, a Rasta guy who sang both "One World" type songs on his guitar as well as sharing a traditional tune to Psalm 23, Brits who'd attended Yeshivah all their growing up years, and more. Here's part of our motley crew, post yoga, getting ready to enjoy latkes, brownies, wonderful local fruit and tea.
















Noriko from Japan, who had never heard of Chanukah before, accepted the tongue-in-cheek "challenge" I put out for somebody to make and bring latkes. She looked up a recipe on the internet and made a huge batch, using organic potatoes that she had on hand. They were SO good!
















Of course, being a Tammy-esque Chanukah party, it "had" to include a 3-part "Jewish Yoga" session. The 90-minute pre-party practice was attended by all but two of the party-goers. We utilized the ever-increasing miraculous light of the chanukah candles for the purification of the defiled Inner Temple . The "fallen away" former yeshiva-buchers completed the practice in a state of radical amazement; they had never been exposed to the rich transformative teachings of the Jewish tradition.

What a great celebration it was. I was a very happy camper.....

Visiting with the Akha women

I had seen the Akha women in their full dress at the Night Market and other touristy spots. But I thought it was mainly to attract the attention of the buyers. I had NO IDEA that the outfit was still worn by some on average days in the village until I visited the Chinese village of Mae Salong. My first afternoon in town, I started walking the 3 km out to an Akha village. I never got there as I had so many interesting encounters with Chinese and Akha folks along the way. It's only a percentage of the Akha women you see in full traditional garb. More common is a mix of partial traditional and partial contemporary dress, like the woman below in the very commonly seen headscarf worn by many Akha women.

I was invited to join an Akha woman at her small fire. It was COLD up in the mountains. We had an amazing time sitting together, sharing in pantomime and silence. I was sad to have to refuse her multiply mimed invitation to come to her house, sleep at her house, wake up at her house, and have breakfast at her house. But I had learned in the excellent Hilltribe Village Museum in Chiang Rai that if you cross over the threshhold of their home, it's considered extremely rude to not accept and eat/drink all that is offered. And it was pretty clear that there was no bottled water around, as all the Thai's consume. If it meant a couple of days of traveller's diarrhea only, it may have been worth it. But I've met too many travellers who have dealt with so much worse..... It was hard to say no, but it didn't seem worth the risk.

China?

So many stories to tell. But right now there are huge numbers of dogs WAILING ferociously as I type. I've never thought of myself as particulary scared of dogs, despite the time I was bit while living on Vashon, but here it's a different story. Especially since moving out to the Chiang Mai University area. Three times now I've been literally scared stiff when faced with packs of dogs in front of me and growling with very mean looks in their eyes.... the last two times when I was out for a run, once at a beautiful nearby forest monastery which I now have "x'ed" off my destination list.

But, a digression. Since writing last, I've travelled north to Chiang Rai, Mae Salong and Mae Sai. I'm now back and have begun my Teaching English certification program. It's going well, but YUCK, I'm a lazy gal and I was enjoying my open time and now I'm in class 5-days a week from 9am - 5pm (sometimes later for teaching practice) and a ton of homework. Those of you who know me well will LAUGH as I quote my classic Tammy line: "Why am I in this program when I don't even really want to teach English?" With the word English, feel free to "fill in the blank" : don't want to be a Counselor, don't want to teach Yoga, don't want to be a Rabbi, um, I'm sure there are more. Luckily I can laugh at myself as well.














Above is my friend Yao (I promised a picture earlier) making peanut butter. And a picture of the "Martyr's Memorial Museum" in Mae Salong, a town of 9,000 Yunnanese Chinese up in the mountains. I FELL IN LOVE WITH MAE SALONG! It was so beautiful, and though I'm not interested particulary in returning to China, what an absolute gift it was to be with Chinese people, culture, food and Language!!! I could speak to people in their native tongue. It made me so happy.