Last night was the first night I had a full night’s sleep. It’s amazing the difference you feel in the morning after being rested! Our group checked out of P. Guesthouse at 9am and loaded all of our bags onto a Songthaew (a pick-up truck that has covered benches in the truck bed). From here we rode about 1 hour to a remote village of the Karen people. We learned that most members of this small village almost never leave home.
(Karen Village Women Welcome Song and Dance)
When we arrived at the village, our group was welcomed by women of the village with an amazing welcome dance and song. It lasted about 5 minutes and Arjahn said their songs tell about their history and culture from many years ago. After the welcome song we went to the kindergarten, which schools children from ages 3-7. Walking in you could see their little faces light up. All of them were so absolutely adorable. 1st they sang us their alphabet; because they have more than 20 vowels and 40 consonants, it took them quite a while to finish. The younger ones weren’t even able to sing the whole song. Our group then sang our ABC’s for them. It’s been such a long time since I’ve sang that one! Then we were able to play 2 games with the about 40 children: Duck Duck Goose, and a game where you tie a balloon to your ankle. It was so fun to see how the little ones picked on the members from our group. The game with the balloon was highly entertaining. The object was to rubber band a balloon around one ankle and pop the balloons of others. The last person with a balloon was the winner. Jen was especially excited about this because she is going to be a gym teacher. What an awesome game to play with your students! Just being in the classroom situation, surrounded by kids again, just truly confirmed to me that I really am supposed to be a teacher. It’s just that feeling of serene and completeness.
(ABC's in Thai)
After visiting the school the local women danced for us a second time. There were video cameras there documenting our visit and we are going to be on Thai news! We walked down the road about ¼ of a mile to eat our lunch prepared by the Karen villagers. Again, I loved everything I tasted. I really like the variety of flavors offered with every dish; some are very spicy and flavorful and others are just veggies with a thin sauce. So far, my favorite things to eat are the fruits. Mango-steen and rambutan top my list of all time favorite foods. After lunch we were privileged to walk through their remote village and see their simple way of life. It was amazing to see how self-sufficient they were with their farming, intricate weaving, and contentedness with life. No electricity at all. From this visit, I am reminded how spoiled and over-privelaged Americans are.
We left the village by Songthaew and drove to our guesthouse for the night. It was right on a river with lots of foliage outside of our door. This evening we were all exhausted and chose to hang out in the room for the evening. I did have to walk into town and buy a new t-shirt though… seriously 1 shirt 3 or 4 days in a row is bad news. In our down time, I did wash out some clothes in the sink. Wow, I have a new respect for doing laundry at home now! After dinner at 7pm, I went right to bed. The combo of the heat and longs days of walking put me to sleep early! Not to mention, we have to be up and ready to go at 7:45am!
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