January 15, 2010

On Friday we went to teach at a rural school about fifteen minutes up into the green mountainy area of Ao Luk (that's the best explanation I can give..). The Thai English teacher (ha) was the sweetest, smiliest person...so generous, bringing us drinks and hugging us nonstop. She came up to us during one of our lessons with her same cheerful look on her face saying something to the effect of "student grandfather, he die, on street there, we go, you come, we eat, we pray". Ella and I looked at each other completely confused. She was too excited and happy to have said that someone died. "He died?!" "Yes, yes, he die (big smile)". Apprently Thais smile and attempt to express happiness during what we would consider hard times. Anyway, the three of us followed the principle of the school to this wake for this dead Thai man whom we had never met. Dozens of blue plastic tables set up in literally the middle of nowhere. Sad looking families. Weird sights like a 3 year old boy carrying a huge chair three times the size of him. Flies everywhere. People throwing rocks at a gross looking dog. Ella and I attempted to act like this wasn't the strangest place we had ever been taken to. The four of us sat down and were served bowl after bowl of different versions of pork. I don't like eating pork in the first place so this was quite the experience. I can definitely say that this was the spiciest food I have ever eaten. When the last dish came, I said "dog?" to Ella, half joking, half serious because this meat looked very disturbing. I asked the principle what it was and she said "pork" so I took a bite. Then she said "pork liver, pork lung, pork heart." YUM! After we finished eating, we followed the lady to the area where the dead body was. At this point I was feeling uncomfortable and rude for just showing up to this funeral for a man I had no association with. The principle went up to the sacred area and did some sort of ritual. She then gestured for me to do the same. I looked around, had no idea what to do, and proceeded to kneel down and bow and light a stick of incense for the man whose photo was next to me.

some of the beautiful students at Tham Phet (the rural school)