Last week I had one of the best experiences of my life. I spent all of last week with some hard core Thai woodsmen/women. I also taught English to 20 very energetic children aged 11-13. It was a week full of hard work, both physically and emotionally, but by the end of the week I was wishing for my time in the classroom and the jungle.
My teaching experience began shortly after arriving in Huai Lan. The kids, all 65 at the school, lost all focus to listen to their teachers when a truck full of white people pulled up to the school. I taught with a guy who is in school in New York, but grew up in North Carolina. As Sam and I walked into the classroom, which was not much more than a concrete room with some open windows and vents, we were greeted by a 4 foot long snake hanging out above one of the vents at the back of the room. We tried to play it cool, but the closer we got to the snake, dangling above us, the more the kids yelled at us in Thai to stay away. Apparently the unwelcomed class pet was rather dangerous. So, after an interesting start, we dove into teaching for the next 2 hours. As I said before, the process of planning lessons made me gain a new respect for teachers, but actually teaching takes that level of respect to a whole new level. It is somewhat terrifying to see a room of 20 kids staring back at you like you have the answer to all their questions. It's a little less unnerving when you realize that they won't understand about 95% of what you say, but still a bit stressful. As the kids warmed up to us and loosened up a bit, the teaching become much more fun. While I doubt we made a huge impact on the kids, seeing a few pick on our lessons was a hugely enriching experience. There were a few girls, orphans from Burma, and a few boys who really made the experience unforgettable. They were more confident with their English by the end of the week, and I'm glad I was able to play a part in helping them.
When Friday rolled around, the school had a little ceremony for the intern teachers. All the kids sat in the cafeteria, an open room with a ceiling and concrete floor, and the headmaster called each of us up to present us with a certificate. It was far more moving than I thought it would be, especially when the kids went bonkers as Sam and I were called up. Apparently we were quite popular. After the ceremony we went out to the pitch and said goodbye to the students and their teachers. This took quite some time and included many photos and numerous requests for autographs. Again, quite something to have 65 kids running after the truck as we drove, screaming and cheering.
The teaching was great, and the tree planting was awesome. We began last Tuesday morning after the Thai workers had a brief pledge to the king and country and then it was off to fill bags with saplings. I'm not sure what type of palm we were planting, but I can tell you the limbs had spikes. After we loaded a bunch of bags onto the flatbed, we preceded to off-road it up the mountain. After fording a few creeks and some steep terrain, our old Toyota Hilux pickup arrived at the planting site. We planted trees from about 9am until 11am, when we left to go eat lunch and teach. Spending the mornings sweating in the jungle, planting trees and clearing brush was tiring but mentally relaxing.
In addition to planting trees, our time in the forest also consisted of our Thai guides feeding us random things found on the forest floor. With the exception of the larvae, most of these treats were not living. It took a great leap of faith to accept these snacks from our non-english speaking guide and a keen ability to read sign language to determine what was supposed to be done with the treat. Eat it, smell it or just chew it? After accepting something on the second day that tasted kind of like ginger, I realized the doors that were opened to one brave enough to indulge in forest food. Later in the day, after accepting the ginger-like food, one of our guides, Sawat, showed up at our cabin to pick me up for a sightseeing trip. He spoke no English, not even hello or my name is, and I had no idea I had made an appointment with him and even less of an idea where I was going. I was still, and remain, unsure as to what I ate. Was it some crazy jungle drug or some healing root? By Sawat's laughter as I ate it, I figured I had just eaten something of the hallucinatory nature. Naturally, when he picked me up, I figured he was back to complete his mission of watching a farang lose his head by offering me up some other hill tribe treats such as opium. Fortunately after a short motorbike ride, we arrived at Wat Pat Tung, a much welcomed site.
The wat is gorgeous and built with amazing wood. I have some pictures from my two trips there. After my private tour, Sawat took the whole team for a visit. There are pictures all over the wat of a visit made by the King of Thailand to see Luang Pu La, a former Abbott at the wat. Known as Luang Pu La Ta Thip – Luang Pu La with Magic Eyes, he was a very important monk. He led monks from Wat Pat Tung to Wat Doi Suthep to build the current road that runs from Chiang Mai up the mountain. All of my history lesson on the wat was in Thai, so I'm still a bit unclear on some details, but suffice it to say the place was rather impressive. Being escorted around by my new Thai friend helped to make the experience quite special.
After the wat, Sawat took my to see his home. We figured the house had been in his family for three generations and was build with some beautiful wood. The house was raised about 10 feet and the cooking pot hung over an open fire stove which was under the floor. Inside were pictures of the King, Sawat's certificates from his time in the army, awards he had won as a muay thai fighter and artifacts from Lanna tribes he had found in the area. Sawat was a complete badass and could have no doubt out-wildernessed Bear Grylls with one hand. He was a very nice man and it was a pleasure to have had him as a guide in and out of the forest.
As you can see from some of the photos, our hard work was eased somewhat by the decent living conditions which were provided to us. Our cabin sat a little ways back from a lake, with mountains surrounding the horizon all around. We slept on mats on the floor, but spent most evenings on the porch or around the fire before heading to bed. The first few nights it was not easy to get to sleep. After seeing the snake in the ceiling on my first day at the school, I was convinced that every noise I heard from the ceiling was a snake waiting to drop on my face should I be foolish enough to close my eyes. By the third night, I was able to sleep through most of the night.
Our hard work was also eased by Porn, who ran the little restaurant where we ate our breakfast and dinner. After she warmed to us and the beer began to be served, each night was a mini party, complete with about 4 phrase books attempting to have a conversation. We would eat, drink and listen to music while Porn helped us with our Thai and gave us nicknames. I was fortunate to receive two, my Lanna name of Emauk (probably misspelled) and David Beckham. I chose to forego showering during my week in the woods which left my hair to its own devices. One night when we rolled in for dinner my hair was particularly crazy and with no prodding, Porn pointed to me and exclaimed, "DAVID BECKHAM!" That name stuck for the rest of the week.
There are pictures from the week on my Picasa page, and I'm sure some are floating on Facebook.
It was an amazing week. Now, I am in Vienetiane, Laos getting settled in with CARE. I'll try to post a little about our 14 hours over land excursion to Laos from Chiang Mai.
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Sweet sword, get me one
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