You can help in the kitchen, but bring your own knife!

Today is a big day at the Mirror Art Group, there will be a party at 5pm (or 6 if you are on Thai time) for all of the interns. Friday is the last day for the interns who have been helping for the last two months.

Multiple groups of people were asked to perform at the celebration - my group did a skit mimicking childcare. I will have to find someone with the video so I can upload it. Other groups danced to popular Thai songs, sang karaoke, or serenaded their favorite intern. All in all it was quite a humorous night. Thai karaoke is the best!! The video below is of the other half of volunteers. They were definitely a crowd favorite!



Rewind a few hours and I’ll explain the earlier portions of the day….

My Hilltribe lesson was cancelled (surprise, surprise) so I was on a mission to find something meaningful to do with my time. You may have noticed I completely changed my blog a few days ago, so I was unable to do that. (I also do not consider updating my blog meaningful) Fortunately P’Aye (our lead) asked me to edit a few documents for brochures. I translated their English into “readable” English. I enjoyed doing this for I was able to put forth some of my knowledge. It was quite difficult at times because I did not know what they were talking about or I did not want them to think one thing and then I change it to another because I didn’t understand. All in all I think the Hmong Clothing portion of the flyer will be interesting!
Around 2pm P’Aye told us that we could help in the kitchen because they had a lot of food to prepare. Super excited I walked to the kitchen to help. Unfortunately this was every other person’s idea as well. Unless you had your knife, cutting board, and could understand directions in Thai you were pretty much unable to help. I was able to peel about six carrots though…wooho! I am determined to get in that kitchen!

Wow – did the selected cooks prepared a tasty meal! Dishes ranging from traditional green curry, som tom (yum), glass noodles, chicken and potatoes, and my personal favorite, fried carrots and broccoli satisfied our big appetites. I know you are thinking how boring – carrots and broccoli! But these were absolutely amazing, and I’m not saying that because I helped peel the carrots! I have no clue what they fried them in or the sauce that was drizzled, but it was definitely a crowd favorite! I went back for more and they were all gone. : ( The food keeps getting better and better here – it’s amazing!

The after dinner entertainment was almost as good as the food. The MC, P’Pan was absolutely hilarious singing, dancing, and imitating farong with her wig and westernized clothing. The Thai’s singing karaoke was probably one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. The songs were in Thai and the dancing that accompanied was very random. Later in the evening they invited all of the volunteers to join in – they got a good laugh imitating us!

Around 9pm the karaoke had to settle down because many of the families had to go to sleep. Fortunately the party didn’t end there and another campfire was built by the dorms. Everyone joined around this huge campfire, listened to the guitar, and once again tried to have conversations with people from different cultures. I am truly amazed to realize all of the differences and similarities between the Thai, Japanese, and Western ways of life. Who knew we would all have such an interest in drinking beer and eating food! : ) Thai’s are really the friendliest people, I wish all people could mimic the Thai culture. There is something about sitting in a circle and passing food and drink around like one big family. It really brings a smile to your face.

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We are going on our homestay this weekend, so once again we will not have access to the internet until Saturday. No promises, but I’ll try to post Saturday afternoon – if not, see you on Monday! I’m sure we will have some amazing photos and stories – we are going elephant trekking, to a hilltribe new year, and learning how to dance hilltribe style!
Have a great weekend – enjoy the snow – it’s in the 70s here! : - )