a weeklong water fight?

Why on earth has the United States not picked up on this amazing holiday? Songkran is I hear the name for the Thailand new year celebration, but really what it signifies is an excuse to throw all hierarchical limitations between people aside for a few days and permit anyone, regardless of age, to pelt another person with a bucket filled with water, ice optional. It always happens at this time of the year in April and is such a fun event, the Spring Semester program decided to make it part of the activities to travel back down to Chiang Mai for the weekend so we could all partake in this experience with the Thais. I think it’s also a secret way for the locals to have more targets to throw at- farang are especially exciting targets to hit amongst all the madness.

It has been over two weeks since I last was sitting in front of a computer and had internet access, and thanks to the wonderful organization of the Westmont registration office, I was not inundated with the stresses of wondering if I were registrared for any classes these past few weeks. Yesterday, Friday morning, we left the village and travelled for five hours down the mountain toward the stifling, triple digit heat of Chiang Mai. On the way down, we were met on the streets with buckets of water and tried, often unsuccessfully, to pelt them back with water we stored in our water bottles. All the water they use is generally the filthy non-drinking kind and usually in Chiang Mai comes from the moats, so there is always the risk of becoming incredibly sick from swallowing it. However, we have a couple of vinegar bottles floating around for such emergencies for killing anything that might accidently be consumed in the madness.

It felt so great to come back to our familiar territory of Chiang Mai. Despite these feelings, our time in the Musakee village the past two weeks have been a great change of pace, although some would say it’s a pace that is becoming a tad too slow for them. We are housed on a compound which normally has students during the school year, and are fed three meals a day and Aj Mike pays them to wash our clothes as well. Our mornings consisted of participating in an anthropology-type class. It was more of an introduction to the study/ethnographic fieldnotes/Aj. Mike having an opportunity to share his experiences with us of living with the Karen people for a year in the same village. However, as he continually reminds us, he is a sociologist teaching an anthropology course, which anyone can tell you is two very different fields of study and something, at least to me, is often lost in the study. Luckily I enjoy anthropology and am pretty good at writing for a long period of time about it on essay questions, so our final on Thursday was not that big of a deal.

This month seems to me to have more of a camp-like feel to it. To pass our time in the afternoon we have resorted to learning how to make friendship bracelets, playing multiple rounds of Mr. Destiny, cards, cutting each other’s hair….the usual. We often have times to travel on a bumpy half hour truck ride to the lake where we can most likely get a better cleaning than any attempts in our bucket showers. Nevertheless, our accomodations have been excellent and the Karen around the compound awesome- often the kids come with us to the lake and often join in a chorus of “pay way naam!” (go swimming!).

So far we have been able to observe a funeral and a wedding here. Unlike in the West, having random foreigners who do not speak your language show up at a significant event in your life is seen as a honor. We make their wedding international or provide a higher status for them. I’m not quite sure how I feel about having my skin tone be a status climber nor do I often feel right being led into a seperate room and provided, with our group of often 12-15 people, an abundunce of food. What is interesting is that, at the wedding, the family had cooked enough food to feel the entire village, which is huge. They don’t know how many people will show up, but everyone knows they are invited and therefore, they have more than enough food to feed us. I know in the US, even if you tell people there is no guest list and everyone is invited, people feel uneasy about randomly showing up- they want to have some sort of formal expectation of arriving. So I suppose culturally, our presence was appreciated, but the nagging feeling I’m only appreciated for the color of my skin and where I come from lingers.

Life moves at a much slower pace on the compound, and while some are starting to acquire cabin fever, I seem to be enjoying it all. I just try to keep myself amused, whether it be by walking around the roads, listening to my music, or attempting to plow through the rest of my books. Things should start switching up once we return and begin our “ethnographies” on a certain topic. My friend and I are researching the environmental impacts in the hills and any implications or conservation efforts that have been made by the Karen and Thai goverment. Surprisingly, we are the first group to ever inquire into what I see as a major topic among these people. It should be interesting, but I don’t really see it as ethnographic work, considering we aren’t living with the people and are visiting them solely for interviews. My mind is starting to perceive this all as an investigation for a newspaper article, which fits just as well for me.

Less than a month until I return to California- it’s so odd to think about and yet we are all starting to become excited by the prospect of returning and partaking in what has only been told to us via email and skype.

Tomorrow we will get a big truck filled with water and participate head on with the craziness of water throwing all around Chiang Mai. It’s been a great break being back in the city and having the reward of being doused in water, not to mention check my email. Once again, I apologize for only having text, but know that there are still some good pictures being taken.

I will most likely throw in one more little blog before boarding a plane on the third, so be looking toward early May for anything around here. I’ll be in the village for two more weeks and then Chiang Mai for two days before leaving on the third. Crazy.

Thanks for all your thoughts for me these past four months. I’ve enjoyed opening up my inbox after two weeks and being pleasently surprised by all the updates on lives or the simple messages from friends. Hopefully all of your lives are going well and the heat of California (if you’re in it) has not kicked in too hard yet.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go practice my bucket throwing techniques.

Till next time,

Sarah

~ by sarah davis on April 12, 2008.