Chistmas

I can even get over how fantastic Christmas dinner with my host family was.

If I had to sum up Thailand with only one photograph this one might be it:

Rew standing on a chair at the dinner table. He is wearing a red Santa had with light up plastic red stars around the rim. He is taking a huge bite of a fried chiken leg, as he poses next to the decorated table tree. The only food you can see on the table is bottle of Coke (spelled in Thai), a plate of sausages, the plate of friend chicken, and a huge grilled fish. Leap is in the back ground grinning over a bowl of rice.

The original plan was for me to make American food for the family for chirstmas dinner, so I went to Tops (the American grocery store) and bought tons of delicious ingredients for the traditional dinner feast:

-Hamburgers
-Mashed potatoes
-my favorite honey/lemon salad
-nachos

(actually just foods I miss and know how to make esp. without an oven)
Also, while at the mall (seeing Avatar Oh-My-God-I-Love-Enough-Said), I was inspired to get a Christmas tree as well! This was pretty much the best idea I’ve ever had. It’s no Christmas without a tree (in my family?) and it was a huge hit. It –made- it Christmas, which made it the perfect gift. I bought one of those kind of junky (7 Dollar) table tree at the mall. It was pre “decorated” with glued on gold beads and plastic apples that had mostly fallen off in the box, and bought garlands for it. Next went on a bunch of gold wrapped candies and chocolate with twist ties and rubber bands from our room. I set it up all nice and put it in a big red plastic tote.

Dinner planes changed when Mae left her phone at work and Paw and I got confused over the phone, and I ended up getting picked up an hour and a half late. So she just went ahead and made diner while they were picking me up.

Oh yeah, by the way while waiting for Paw ourside our apartment, I almost got hit by a motorcycle. I was sitting on the front steps of the building and he came roaring towards the driveway to pull into the building and hit a pole and then hit the motorcycles parked right in front of my legs knocking the down like dominos, before dragging up his bike and going down the drive. (I was fine, no worries, I’m surprised something like this hasn’t happened sooner). I wish I could say I used my rapid survivor instincts to whip my legs out of the path of danger, but actually I just stared at the guy and thought “huh, hes going really fast. those breaks are really loud. he just hit that pole. If those bikes had fallen on my legs it would probably have hurt alot”

Anyway, when Paw and the boys pulled up I held up the tree and they went nuts in the car which was just the beginning of a crazy fun night. Rew gave me my hat then (with gold moons and stars and santa and his reindeer lights on the front (<3 <3 <3 ). We sang chouses of Christmas carols for the drive home.

When we came in with the tree everyone was singing and running around and taking nuts pictures, and Mae was just bringin in the Christmas feast to put under the table: Tom yum Gung, cook cucumber-egg-ish mix, sausage, fish, chicken, fries, coke, all of which delicious especially Maes famous tom yum gung, (shrimp soup). Everyone adored the tree and Mae brought out gold wrapped cookies for it. I can’t remember any moments really just great feelings. We sang a lot of them coming in for famous lines. Paw and Mae were flirting, and playing with the kids, and the kids and I were having a ball and I even got the boys to wait to eat any candy off the tree until they had finished all their rice. There was general chaos of getting ready and a happy happy quiet of the first few bites of delicious food. We gave cheers to Christmas and just joked and I think I was one of my very favorite moments in Thailand. At dinner Mae said “we have so many Quam Suk (good things)”. It certainly made me miss my Christmas back home less because I could share the wonderful joy of the holiday with my Thai family who have been so generous to me for this whole journey.

I guess one moment I can remember is when I took off my hat for the first time (the first time I had looked at it since it got stuffed on my head when I jumped in the car) and I saw how Rew had picked out such a nice one, and thought was a great festive touch they were. (something I would never have though of as being necessary to Christmas, but may always be necessary for me, for chirstmas, for the rest of my life) and I leaned over and fave him a Thai kiss on the cheek. This means leaning right over like your going to kiss their cheek and giving them a big sniff. Mae saw and told him to give me one back, which he definaly wouldn’t do, but I felt I had truly passed into a being a real thai-integrated-family-member that the first reaction I had to my cute little brother was to give him a sniff-kiss he wouldn’t dream of returning even when mom told him to.

Namwng May was grinning and part of the festivities too, although she disappeared for actually eating dinner as well and wouldn’t take any candies off the tree afterwords (too many calories!) even when I stuck my pack of sugar free tooth cleaning gum up there. We’ll be hanging out tomorrow, cooking the American food I bought and doing art (I think/hope).

After dinner the family took a big paper lantern out into the drive way and lit it together. Nawng Leap took some amazing pictures of the flame (way better than any pictures I’d been taking!) and I chased him around and complimented his photography and his dad beamed proudly. (leap actually camptured dad with his true, glorious, smile). Paw told Leap to take a pictures of him with his daughter, and Rew ran to be in the picture and Paw and I had a laugh about that. The lantern was proablby four feet tall and when it fills with hot air: its so wonderful. We all let it go when it gets too hot and boyant to hold on to and Rew lit the rocked on the bottom and it lifted into the sky with a shower of silver sparks.

I can now understand almost every thing that’s said amongst the family around me and with Mae there to understand when I don’t know a word in Thai and I communicate anything I want to.

After the landtern the boys wanted to watch zombie t.v. so I went upstairs to find Mae and she wasn’t in her study or her room, but the TV was on in the hall so I stopped of a second to watch and …

“Hello?”
Oh My God! Tok Jai! Gave me a freight.

Mae has this big silver insulated box in the hall which Rew told me ‘she uses to make her skin white” it looks like spaceship kind of and has a little wooden chair inside and she was inside it, a foot from me, with her head sticking out of the hole in the top (its got a hood on the sides so I didn’t see her when I came up the stairs) and steam is sneaking out around her head. Omg. It was the most startling hilarious thing I have ever seen. We laughed and laughed about that for a long time too. I guess it’s a portable house steamer/sauna, (I gave it a try and, indeed, it was quite warm and humid).

Rew kept biting me that night and it was hurting so I laid down the law and snapped at him when he did it, and he got upset and left before bed so I thought I might actualys leep alone …but he came back a bit later.

Since Mae is leaving for a business meeting the next two days, they told me to make my hamburgers for breakfast. However, that was too much culture shock for me. I couldn’t make my whole big “Christmas dinner’ for breakfast. (+ that would have meant getting up at like 5 in the morning) But hwne I work up at 6:00 and Rew went to take his shower I was inspired to make American breakfast so I went down and made eggs-in-a-basket.

The only problem is the only cooking imstruments they have are pots and woks. I tired a pot, but it burned and I couldn’t flip it so I tired a wok, and Nawng May (who was helping me) said not enough oil! And dumped in the usual amout of cooking oil (about half a cup) and so they were fried, very very crispy, eggs in a basket. Which we ate with soy sauce. Which were actually better with soy sauce, than salt and pepper on account of the oil.

It was really funny, Leap (if you remember very picky) wouldn’t eat them. (I got to overhear this whole thing in Thai) And said “where are the hamburgers’ and Mae said “no hambugers today, but no no try these, you will like them, their delicious!” and simultaneously dad said “they are hamburgers!”. Leap stopped (he is five) and looked at them very carefully. And said “hamburgers have this shape” and made a hamburger shape with his hands, and Paw said “they are omelete-fried-egg-and-bread-hamburgers” and Leap still wouldn’t try them. But once Mae and Paw were looking the other way he reached out with his fork and tried to stab one of the center circles. It fell off his fork back onto the plate and he looked quickly around and Mae was still looking the other way and I grinned and covered my eyes and looked the other way really obviously so he stabbed it again and stuck the whole thing in his mouth really quick before Mae turned back around.

It was great.

Today I got dropped off again, and Cody and I went out and went to the cultural center in chiang mai wehre a delightful, kind, generous man named Ajaan Lek (Professor small) taught us how to paint umbrellas and fans. (Cody is learning crafts for her ICRP) The little room was full of colorful mobiles, and paitnints and umbrellas and fans. And Ajaan Lek patiently and infinitely supportively taught us to paint a scene with birds on a flowery branch first on paper and then on the fan. Every time we would do anything (particularly good or bad) he would say things like “perfect! Very good! Oh beautiful! Oh wouln’t this be even more beautiful?” and he was so undyingly patient and wonderful. We had no idea until we checked the time, but we were there for four hours. So plans to kayak the river through town were delayed.

How nice Thai people are example # 2:
I had a coughing fit in the middle and went and stood in the hall/balcony area and when I came back him he had gotten me a mug of hot water from his thrermous and some herbal medicine throat numbing seeds (like mustard seed sized) that were absoluly fabulous. I’ve never had hot water after a coughing fit but it was perfect!

How nice my friends are example # 2:
Erin bought me some blackcurrent super nice coughdrops from like sweeden or somewhere which are delicious.

Together my medicines did the trick for the rest of the afternoon.

Now I’m just typing away, waiting for Khun Paw and thinking we probably miscommunicated again. I should really go back to my original rule of never saying OK if I don’t understand everything…. Hum…

Merry Christmas everyone! If not “home” sick I’ve been fighting the “people” sick. I think this weekend it’s off to see my Host families extended family in some town outside Chaing Mai and after that me and some people are going to Angkor Wat for a 5? days (half travel). It should be super fun as I don’t know the people going as well yet, and it will be quite a different kind of adventuring than we’ve been doing. (traveling alone to a world famous (maybe touristy) sight). Then my ICRP starts which will go for 4 weeks, part in the mountain villages in the north and part in chiang mai.

P.S. Grandma, the leaves you ironed for me are taped all over our walls (in cool patterns) along with colorful lanterns, elephant wall hangings, my watercolors from on course, a paper tree with paper presents, little tiny stockings, and photographs from our trip so far. They are lovely! People often comment on our walls when they come in. (we have a great room, wonderful mood lighting, pretty clean).

Merry Christmas / Holidays,

Love. Gigi

p.s.s.
What else can I type about since Paw hasn’t come yet?

Did I ever tell you’all about Tuk Tuks? Tuk Tuks are great. They are motorcycles turned into passenger vehicles. They have a little roof and a bench. I just saw one go by that was decked out with lights. Hillarious. Tons of blue and red and yellow flashing blinking lights. Tuk tusk are the way you get home from the bars at the end of the night because they run later than the Rot Dangs (pick-ups turned taxies), and they are also what tourists ride because they are much more expensive but they are so. fun. Especially when your coming home from the bars at night.