Wednesday September 9, 2009 Bedtime company

While life has fallen into a smooth, and quick moving, routine there are a coupld details and events i want to mention. Most recently, I wanted to mention I fall asleep each night to the company of the mummified anole stuck in my overhead light fixture.

The other night i woke up to a pack of dogs, or wolves, or something else canine howling from the woods behind my house.

Also, once I finished my reading about Burma for seminar, I looked up and Bah May Pen and Bah Lye were lying on the floor in front of the T.V.s and Leap and Rew were walking on their backs. They were giggling and giggling and I heard my Paw, who walked in the room say 50 years old, but I don’t think he could possibly be talking about himself. I came over, and May Pen said something to me that I couldn’t understand so I lay down next to her thinking it might be lay down and the whole family laughed and laughed. We tried to encourage Leap to walk on my back but he would barely put his toes on my calf before getting shy and jumping away. Then to my surprise, and quickly delight, May Pen started to massage my calves, which to the famillies laughter, turned into a body length Thai massage. It was one of the most welcome massages i've ever recieved, since because every moment has been either high intensity in action or high emotional energy (even in inaction) since I got here. Also feeling included, and being surrounded by laughter wasn’t too bad either.

I feel like my vocab and ability to communicate with my extended family is about a tenth of my abilty to communicate diwht my inner family, but maybe that also a lot because we can’t use Thai-lish, and also I think because I’m not so used to them. They don’t know what words I know, and I don’t feel as comfortable trying to speak yet ext.

Also at one point tonight Rew made us eggs by whipping them furiously with a fork adding something called “flavor” which when I looked on the label was only water, sugar, and salt, and adding chicken bolien powerder and then putting the bowl in the microwave!

Omg and this wonderful woman, Pi M, who came over. She works for the foundation and speaks absolutely great English and I finally got to ask lots of questions about the foundation. Its so much larger, and so much cooler than I expected! First of all they a have five mobile units that travel all over Thailand, and all over south east Asia, helping the handicapped. All of their prosthetics are free. Since they were founded they have helped over 25,000 people! More than a thousand a year! They made the money to do this primarily through donations. They just made prosthetic legs for two elephants!!! A adult and a baby, who lost legs by stepping on land mines! When I asked my they started helping animals too, Pi M told me that they “ were already helping so many people, why not help these animals who were also suffering. After all, humans made the landmines which caused these injuries.” She also said the adult had learned to walk using its trunk as a cruch for it’s missing front leg, and was slowly beinging to trust and use its new leg. The first thing the baby did when it got its new leg was run! Run! Run! And kick it around in the sand.

I asked what I could do to help and she said, give money, collect the put tabs from aluminum cans (the metal is very high quality, and is melted down and made into tibias and fibias) She also said I have to ask Mae, but wouldn’t it be nice if I could go out with one of the mobile units for one of their week long trips, and help out. Definite possibility for the break. :) :)

Today was another emotional rollercoaster during Thai class. I’ve started studying in my free time at school outside of class too, which is helping a bit.