So our first week in our homestays is complete. How quickly did that go by? Too quickly. On the first day, as we met our families, I already knew I was going to love the village. There is one cobblestone path in the entire village. And all the houses are right on the edge of that beautiful path. The houses are more modern, unlike the thatched stilt hosues we have been acustomed to staying in. They have cement walls and floors, boards that open into windows, and tiled roofs. It's such an attractive town. And one of the reasons they keep it so nice is because it is a UNESCO world heritage sight. So the surrounding forest is kept pristine and lovely.
Lao culture is so relaxed. During the first few days in the homestay, I spent my days reading and writing for the most part. The pace is so much slower than in America or anywhere else I've been. It's quite nice. Life has gotten busier after those initial days. Now, nearly every morning, we go to the program house and the instructors conduct lessons for the first part of the day. W learn about the core values of Dragons. This week we've discussed gratitude and curiosity. And they giv us acitivites to deepen our understanding of those values. We also have Lao language lessons, which are so helpful for communicating with the family. I'm learning so much. But I still can only speak broken sentences. It can be overwhelming, but the family understands. One girl in the group did her main lesson, we each get a topic that we ned to study extensively and then share with the group, and she talked about dams on the Mekong. It was really interesting and a very hot topic in Laos at the moment, since it wants to become the battery of Southeat Asia. And today, one instructor gave a lesson on corruption in Laos. In the afternoons we go back to our homestay and relax. I practice my Lao with them, read, write, and work on my ISP. One day we went to a village that specializes in making pottery. It was beautiful work. And the guy, who has been working there nearly all his life, can make a vase in ten minutes. It's amazing to watch. After we went to see this waterful that turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. One night we went to a temple and chanted with the monks in Pali, the Buddhist language. We also did some meditation. Every night I watch Lao soaps with my sisters and my mom. The shows are ridiculous, but that's good for me because I can better understand from body language whats going on.
A little on my family: my father is about 67, and my mom is 63. They are retired and two of their children still live with them. Their two daughters, my sisters, are Mon and Kaek. One is 23 and the other is 17. My mom and dad also have a son who is 28 and lives in Vientiene, and a 27 years old daughter who lives across the river. I love my family. My mom is so cute and sweet. From her looks she can hardly be called a grandma. But everyone stays young looking here. My dad is a sweetheart, but you can tell he doesn't know what to do with himself yet because he just retired. My sisters are dancers and dance at the theatre in Luang Prabang every other night. I get to see all of their performances. It's traditional Lao dancing. Very cool. So home is pretty sweet. I've had so much good food. I get to bathe in the Mekong. The homestay is going so well.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Nam Seung River Project
The last five days have been spent in a very rural village across the river from Luang Prabang. There the group conducted a service project which consisted of painting racing boats and making paddles for the community. The village is known for its traditional boat races, and over the years the tradition has been dying. The community wants to bring it back and we wanted to help them. So the first day we set out and painted these long, thin boats red and blue. It didn't take long. We let the paint dry. The next day we made paddles out of blocks of wood. Literally. They outlined the shape on the block of wood, and then we sawed, and macheted the shape untill it was nearly perfect. The locals finished it up since they were pros and finely chipping away stray pieces of wood. Then we sanded the paddles, and they were complete. The locals even wanted us to test drive the new boats so we went out onto the river and gave them a go. I guess we didn't realize how heavy so many falang, th term for white people, are. As we raced back, my boat tipped so badly we sunk! It was really funny. Water rushed into one side, then the other, untill finally there was no hope and we had to abandon ship. We were clinging to the boat in the water just laughing and laughing. It was a great moment.
Our homestay families were very hospitable. They served us great food, which consisted of raman noodles, morning glory, egg, and of course, sticky rice. The poorer houses in the village are thatched and on stilts, while the more modern houses are concrete and on the ground. Both are very bare though. On the inside, it's just the floor and the ceiling. And maybe a few plastic chairs and a desk. O, one thing every single house has though, to my surprise, is a television. Nice ones too. With dvd players and big speakers. Outside you can see the huge satellite dishes they use to get numerous channels. It's so odd a comodity to have in a house so poor and bare. But, tv seems to be essential these days. Especially here. Not once, in my entire three day stay in the house, did I ever see the tv off. It was constantly on. And somebody was always watching the screen. I suppose they ahd to have turned it off at night, but when my friend said she woke up at one in the morning to go pee it was still on. Crazy. In our free time we played soccer against the locals. We played on the field in front of the school. It was really fun. They are really good at soccer and know how to pass and handle the ball. So I got some exercise in. Every night we had a bonfire and the whole community would come and we would dance and sing and play games. Sounds fun, but it was pretty exhausting. We were glad when it rained one night and the party was canceled. We needed some down time.
On the second to last day we hiked into the mountains across the river. Our destination was the Hmong village that is settled high up in the mountain tops. The climb was very steep. We had to take a lot of breaks. And we sure did get sweaty. But it felt good. What was the best was that it was sunny and we could actually see the blue sky. I had almost forgotten the sky was blue. Here, in Laos, the shy is usually a smoky white. This is because of the amount of slash and burn agriculture they do. Every farmer, during the dry season, burns their fields in preparation for the rainy season. So the air is filled with smoke and ash. To give a better example, we hiked to the top of a temple that is usually a great viewpoint for the entire city. Once up there, we could barely see the river that was 400 m below. You can never see the mountains. It's pretty terrible. But it keeps the weather cool. But when we were hiking, it had rained the night before, so we were able to clearly see the beautiful mountains around us. It was also hotter. Once we got to the Hmong village, they welcomed us by playing bamboo flutes and traditional instruments. It sounded pretty terrible, but it was still cool. I also got to see one of the prettiest sunsets I've seen in a while. The next morning we awoke to rain crashing down on the tin roofs above us. We were in the middle of a big storm. It was really loud and there was thunder and lightening. This made the dirt turn into mud, and therefore the ground was as slippery as wet soap.
We hiked down once the rain ceased. It didn't take us long, but our knees took a toll from the steep decline. I felt like I was decending from the clouds. Which we were in at the top of the mountain. We played 21 questions the whole way. Once back at the river, we canoed back in our racing boats. But we weren't done yet. Once back at the original village, we had to do a basi ceremony with the community. In a basi ceremony the elders bless you and tie a white string around your wrist that you are to leave on for three days so the blessing works. My wrists are covered in white strings now because every elder participated. It was a humbling experience.
And on our way back into Luang Prabang, another storm hit us that soaked some of the people in our truck because there were gaps in the tarp. We actually saw a roof to a house fly off from the intense wind. We had to wait to shower, or do anything for that matter, because in storms all the power for the city turns off. Very inconvienent. It was a good trip. Tomorrow we will enter our two week homestay!
Our homestay families were very hospitable. They served us great food, which consisted of raman noodles, morning glory, egg, and of course, sticky rice. The poorer houses in the village are thatched and on stilts, while the more modern houses are concrete and on the ground. Both are very bare though. On the inside, it's just the floor and the ceiling. And maybe a few plastic chairs and a desk. O, one thing every single house has though, to my surprise, is a television. Nice ones too. With dvd players and big speakers. Outside you can see the huge satellite dishes they use to get numerous channels. It's so odd a comodity to have in a house so poor and bare. But, tv seems to be essential these days. Especially here. Not once, in my entire three day stay in the house, did I ever see the tv off. It was constantly on. And somebody was always watching the screen. I suppose they ahd to have turned it off at night, but when my friend said she woke up at one in the morning to go pee it was still on. Crazy. In our free time we played soccer against the locals. We played on the field in front of the school. It was really fun. They are really good at soccer and know how to pass and handle the ball. So I got some exercise in. Every night we had a bonfire and the whole community would come and we would dance and sing and play games. Sounds fun, but it was pretty exhausting. We were glad when it rained one night and the party was canceled. We needed some down time.
On the second to last day we hiked into the mountains across the river. Our destination was the Hmong village that is settled high up in the mountain tops. The climb was very steep. We had to take a lot of breaks. And we sure did get sweaty. But it felt good. What was the best was that it was sunny and we could actually see the blue sky. I had almost forgotten the sky was blue. Here, in Laos, the shy is usually a smoky white. This is because of the amount of slash and burn agriculture they do. Every farmer, during the dry season, burns their fields in preparation for the rainy season. So the air is filled with smoke and ash. To give a better example, we hiked to the top of a temple that is usually a great viewpoint for the entire city. Once up there, we could barely see the river that was 400 m below. You can never see the mountains. It's pretty terrible. But it keeps the weather cool. But when we were hiking, it had rained the night before, so we were able to clearly see the beautiful mountains around us. It was also hotter. Once we got to the Hmong village, they welcomed us by playing bamboo flutes and traditional instruments. It sounded pretty terrible, but it was still cool. I also got to see one of the prettiest sunsets I've seen in a while. The next morning we awoke to rain crashing down on the tin roofs above us. We were in the middle of a big storm. It was really loud and there was thunder and lightening. This made the dirt turn into mud, and therefore the ground was as slippery as wet soap.
We hiked down once the rain ceased. It didn't take us long, but our knees took a toll from the steep decline. I felt like I was decending from the clouds. Which we were in at the top of the mountain. We played 21 questions the whole way. Once back at the river, we canoed back in our racing boats. But we weren't done yet. Once back at the original village, we had to do a basi ceremony with the community. In a basi ceremony the elders bless you and tie a white string around your wrist that you are to leave on for three days so the blessing works. My wrists are covered in white strings now because every elder participated. It was a humbling experience.
And on our way back into Luang Prabang, another storm hit us that soaked some of the people in our truck because there were gaps in the tarp. We actually saw a roof to a house fly off from the intense wind. We had to wait to shower, or do anything for that matter, because in storms all the power for the city turns off. Very inconvienent. It was a good trip. Tomorrow we will enter our two week homestay!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)