Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving number 2

We are lucky enough to celebrate Thanksgiving four times.  Our second Thanksgiving celebration was at the church with the children from Gethsemene home.  We ate chicken, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie.  After we were finished eating, Ben gave a talk about the first Thanksgiving and customs Americans partake in on Thanksgiving.  Next, the students helped us put on a skit to further explain the first Thanksgiving. I read a script and the students acted out what I said. They were so creative and so funny.  Our hearts are happy and our stomachs are full.








Thanksgiving-Thai style




This morning we woke up early and went to a Lahu village Thanksgiving with our friends from Gethsemane home.  When Americans say Thanksgiving, they think of the holiday celebrating their first successful harvest with the Indians.  This "Thanksgiving" is to thank God for the crops they have collected.  They also use it as a way to tell the other people in the village about God.  We drove about two hours outside of Chiang Mai to a beautiful village in the hills.  The road was quite bumpy, and we weren't sure if the truck would make it over some of the bridges.  Once we got there, we walked up a huge hill and arrived at the village.  We went to the church and listened to a sermon and songs sang by different groups.  Afterwards, we walked down the hill to about 30 tables set up for a feast.  On every table there were drinks, rice rolled in bannana leaves and fresh vegetables.  As soon as we sat down people started carrying huge trays of food over and placed them on the table.  We ate so fast because the food was so delicious.  It was a feast like we have never seen before. We are having 3 more Thanksgiving celebrations this week.  Bring on the holiday season!



The church was beautifully decorated for Thanksgiving.









A view of our table before the food was placed on it.  We used the bannana leaves as plates- easy cleanup and environmentally friendly!






Some of the delicious food.

Lahu clothing is so beautiful and bright.


















Saturday, November 9, 2013

Mae Caem




This past week was full of teaching English.  English is such a funny language.  I find myself learning new rules as I teach.  We also traveled to our friend Na's village.  Na's family made us Karen (Karen is a hill tribe of Thailand) food, and we made them tortillas.  We ate lots of sticky rice that was grown on their farm.  Na's family showered us with mountain delicacies.  We ate grilled corn, grilled bananas, and sticky rice with sesame for snacks.
This is Na
Here is Ben pounding the sticky rice to make it into a paste.

Here is one of Na's pigs.