Imagine walking into a home in a small village in Northern Thailand where no one in the family speaks English. You’re on your own now and you have to figure out how to communicate with the limited Thai you’ve learned so far. The cultural differences make for an adjustment, for example the squatting toilets, bucket showers, beds so hard they feel like cement, and feeling conscientious about where you point your feet. Despite all of this, I know that having the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone is something that will give me perspective when I get back to the states. I thought to myself that not only the daily study of Thai we had began to take two days ago (and will continue to do so for the next 10 days) was fun and interactive within the class, but this is the most hands on experience I could ever ask for when learning something new. Thai is a unique language because it has a lot to do with the tone, so it’s hard to pick up on but the challenge makes it much more enjoyable. I’m used to going to school, reading textbooks, and coming home to do homework, so what a special opportunity I had right in front of me. I could even get to teach my host family some English words when we communicated, along with some fun moments of charades!
As I was riding my bike to school the next morning, I thought about how much I love the simplicity of everything around me. There I was, riding through a village with chicken running around, rice fields, and smiles from all the locals as I passed by and said “Sawatdee kha!” while bringing my prayer hands together and lowering my head. The fact that I get to do all of this while not having my phone made me feel so present and at peace. I also don’t really focus on the little things like I did back home, for example how I look or what I wear, but rather enjoy every moment of the bigger picture and what actually matters.
Something that I absolutely love about the Thai culture is how they always save room for fun, whether it’s dancing in the evening, socializing at house parties and singing karaoke, etc. Every evening, the women from the village gather at the dancing center and the Carpe Diem group was so excited to join. (What better way to bond with the locals?) It was SO much fun and it felt like Zumba x1000. It made me so happy and we all got so into it (one of us even ripped our elephant pants).
The Thai food is so flavorful and all of our homestay families feed us so much. Some highlights of our food experiences so far include eating Khao soi for breakfast, Pad Se Yew, fried crickets, pineapple rice, a variety of street food, and lots and lots of smoothies.
On Saturday, we volunteered at a National Park and built two dams to help protect the water supply for the future. After lunch we hiked to a waterfall and swam and splashed around. We had mud fights and got some great shots swimming through the waterfall. After a soaked walk home we got ready to go to the royal wat with ajaan penom and ajaan petchara. The wat pa darapirom has ornate white buildings covered in gold accents with lotus ponds surrounding the pagoda. We took our shoes off and settled in for an hour and a half of meditation while the Buddhist forest monks chanted in the background. After the extended meditation for monks day we walked clockwise around the pagoda to pay respect to Buddha, his teachings, and the monks.
We all feel so lucky to have such an exotic experience where are senses are constantly being stimulated by our surroundings and we can step out of our boundaries. I know that the life skills that I’m constantly practicing here will help me in the future. We are so fortunate to have such excellent contacts here in Asia that let us have this experience in this remote village. Without them, we would not have an inside look at what life is really like for those in Ban Pa Muang.
Cheers!
Dana Bruhis and Katie Huttenmeyer
Photo credit to Anika, Miriam, Kaitlyn, and Katie