Agricultural Fair/Thanksgiving

the entrance of Pattanarak

Today the fifth and sixth graders went to an Agricultural Fair in a village near the school. It was at a place called Pattanarak. As they were loading up the first truckload of students to take them to the place they called me over so that I would go with them and watch the students once we got there. I hadn’t been in that direction yet, so I watched out the windows as we drove and observed the houses and living environments that some of my students come from.

the market area getting set up

the sign in English that explains it a little bit

When we got there we walked up a little drive, and arrived at the area where they had set up a little market area. They had stands making food, and drinks, some plants that were already growing, as well as selling watermelons and a few other fruits. We waited there for another teacher to get there. We then started going through the different stations they had set up. There was one place that was worms, and at that station they had one long trench of dirt where the worms lived, and then another trench that was filled with a clear liquid. My students told me that it was worm pee. I was really baffled as I was sure you couldn’t collect worm pee, let along that much of it at one time. There was another area where they were displaying ways to grow vegetables if you didn’t have much space using pots and other things as planters. I met up with an American who has been working there about a year and a half, and she showed me around. I asked her about the worm pee, and she took me over to the station to ask the guy, and it turns out its just regular water. She showed me where they had a video playing of local people singing Karen songs about planting using traditional Karen instruments. We then looked where they are raising catfish, then onto a two story building that had almost full grown pigs on the bottom, then about half grown ones on the top, plus about 100 chickens in a small area. When we left there, we saw where they raise frogs in old tires stacked 3 high, then onto the mushroom hut where they raise mushrooms, and finally a pen where they had ducks, and 3 turkeys, one a HUGE tom. It was almost torture to see a turkey on Thanksgiving and not be able to eat it. However, I had gotten up early this morning and biked to the Thursday morning market and bought a piece of grilled chicken for supper to go along with the lime jello and spiced apples I had made last night.

The turkey I wasn't allowed to eat

She was called away, so I met up with some teachers from my school and we took a group of students over to watch a demonstration on something. I understood most of it, but don’t know how to describe it in English… It was kind of like a fertilizer/cleaner that each student got to make a bottle of after listening to the twenty minute talk.



the mushroom house growing area

After that, it was time for lunch, so we headed to the market area. There was a lady selling Karen outfits, and so I think I ordered a shirt to be made for me. The pattern that I liked was too big for me, so they are going to make one my size, but a little longer as the one that was my size in a different pattern was too short. I then sat with the teachers and we ate lunch.

the students making their cleaner in bottles

After lunch, I was taken by motorcycle to the school so that I could meet up with my ride to go to the Bible Institute to teach in the afternoon. I had a wonderful time teaching them and we had a lot of laughs and I was impressed when the students felt comfortable enough to say they didn’t get it yet, and we went over it another two or three times until they got it. Thais don’t usually do that, but the Burmese did, I was proud of them. I found out one of the students who just sits in the back and looks lost, or puts his head down had never been to school before he started at the institute this year. So, he can’t read or write Karen, is learning Thai, plus reading and writing Thai, and English right now is just beyond his ability. So, after the others explained that to me, I wasn’t as concerned about him because he has other things that are more meaningful for him to learn more than English.

the minion watching the green beans cook

I was brought back to the school, and I changed and played badminton with some teachers and students until 6. At 6, my new friend came and brought me some green beans but said she had to get back to get ready for tomorrow as the fair still has 3 or 4 more days left. I gave her some of the spiced apples I made, and told her the recipe so she could make them at home if she wanted to. After she left, I got down to cooking my Thanksgiving dinner. I cut up the green beans and boiled them with a little salt, then I heated the chicken, and got out the sticky rice, jello, and spiced apples. I had planned on making French toast to put the spiced apples on like an apple pie, but decided that I already had enough and could do that tomorrow for breakfast J

before we ate

I set everything out on the table, and even set up a place for the minion so I wouldn’t have to eat by myself. I took a before and an after picture. I was quite proud of my substitutes for a Thanksgiving dinner and was able to enjoy them all and thank God for all of the things that he has given me. While it was a little lonely to eat Thanksgiving all by myself I couldn’t help but thank God for the opportunity I have to be here and to be His hands and feet at this school and in this village. I haven’t even been here a month and I feel so welcome and I feel like I am starting to form really good relationships with some of the teachers, and with many of my students. I often wonder what God’s plan is for me here. Is it really for a year and a half? Two years? Longer? I don’t know that I have ever felt so close to God and so at peace with my life as I have here. I have so much to be thankful for. As I ate dinner I thought about how less than 2 months ago I wasn’t sure if I would come here or not. I realize that had I chosen to not come here it would have been the biggest mistake of my life. I’m so thankful that God didn’t allow me to make that mistake and that in the end He made it clear to me that this is where I was supposed to be for now.

getting ready to eat

I wish I could say the minion helped me
eat everything, but I'm afraid it was all me :)

On Monday I had led morning devotions for the teachers and talked about Thanksgiving and shared the list I had made of things I was thankful for. Then, on Tuesday I talked about Thanksgiving with my sixth graders, and shared my list with them. I had them write what they were thankful for in Thai, then translate 5 things into English. I was really impressed by the amount that some of them wrote in Thai. Some had a whole page, some a good sized paragraph, while others could barely think of three of four things. Part of that I think is the difference between genders, and part of it is the difference between living situations. Some of my students have lost both parents, some have parents who have left them to be raised at a home, or the dormitory at the school. I only know a little bit of the background of a few of my students. However, I can see the hurt that some of them have been through in their eyes, in the way that they interact with others, in the way they seek attention, in the way they withdraw and are shy.

As I ate my Thanksgiving dinner alone, I thought of my students and was grateful for the opportunity to be here for them and to get to know them. Many of the students had said they were thankful for me. I think some of them were just saying that to earn bonus points, but I have to hope that by the end of my time here I will have had a positive impact on the lives of the people and students here. That in two years if they are asked what they are thankful for they will mention my name and truly mean it from the bottom of my heart, as I already can say that about many of them.