Out of the Ordinary

Working and living at UHDP can sometimes feel like I’m trapped in a bubble, so I usually look forward to any sort of activity that breaks up the normal pace of work at UHDP. The past two weeks have been anything but normal at UHDP as they have been packed full with a lot of different activities as well as a lot of visitors.

Two weekends ago, Armando (Kim and Ruth’s boss from the states) came to UHDP so that he could see and experience for himself everything that is happening at UHDP. Armando works for Floresta, which is an NGO that UHDP has been working with for the past couple of years, but UHDP and Floresta have only just recently made the partnership official. There were a lot of kinks that needed to be worked out between Floresta, UHDP, and the interns, so having Armando here was a great time for Kim, Ruth, and I to explain our experience living at UHDP so far and give suggestions for how the intern program could be improved. Armando, Kim, Ruth and I were also able to get out and explore Fang a bit more, and it felt great for me to have a guy in the group that I could just talk with about things like sports for a change.

Last week, everyone at UHDP was busy with hosting the two student groups that were visiting. One of the student groups came through the organization Thinking Beyond Borders, and the other student group came on their own. Thinking Beyond Borders accepts high school seniors who have just graduated, and gives the students the opportunity to travel all around the world for a year and learn about the development issues in the area where they are staying. I really enjoyed helping out with the activities at UHDP last week because both of the student groups got really involved and were interested about what happens at UHDP. Now that I’ve been at UHDP for a few months, I was able to help out with the activities a lot more and answer more of the questions that the students would bring up. On one of the days, I was able to help Geut and Ajaan Tui show the students how to make pig feed, compost and neem, and explain how they fit in with everything else on the farm. I learned a lot about how the plants in the agroforest are used by hilltribe people by tagging along on the tours with the students since I was never given a formal tour of the agroforests myself. And in traditional fashion, we killed another pig towards the end of the students stay at UHDP, and I was impressed with the willingness of the students to get involved and learn about how important pigs are in the hilltribe culture. A student even helped Apot stab the pig in the heart this time! Having so many people around who liked getting their hands dirty and who had a genuine interest in UHDP’s work picked my spirits up and made the whole week a lot of fun.

The past week was also better than normal because the cold season festival was being held in Fang all week long. At this point, I feel like I have a better understanding of hilltribe culture than I do of Thai culture so it was great to get out and see what Thai people do at night in and around Fang for a change. The festival reminded me of a city fair back home, but instead of Ferris wheels, cotton candy, and elephant ears there were noodles, dried squid, and a techno club. The main attraction each night was a concert, and there were some big names that came to the festival. The first night that I went Prik Thai was performing, and I was surprised as to how crazy the people in the crowd became. The lead singer of the band was a girl so a lot of the guys in the crowd would find a friend’s shoulder to ride on, take off their shirt, and twirl it around in approval. It was quite funny to watch. The second time I went Golf and Mike were playing, but we didn’t get to see the whole show because we arrived in Fang kind of late. The concert Golf and Mike put on was also a lot of fun, but they were a hip hop band so it took me a little longer to get into the music. They put on a good show, but I thought that the outfits that the band members were wearing were the best part of their act…..

To top it all off, I was able to go to Alop’s wedding last weekend. The wedding was a traditional Palaung wedding, which consisted of Alop and his party walking from his village, Huay Sai Gaow, all the way to the village of Huay Wai, which is the village that his bride, Ngun, was from. I headed to Huay Wai with other UHDP staff and met up with everyone at Ngun’s house. Everyone gathered at the Ngun’s house for a ceremony where friends offered Alop and his wife money and tied their hands together with string. Once the ceremony at Ngun’s house was over, everyone headed back to Huay Sai Gaow for the actual wedding. The wedding was held in Alop’s house and was mainly a communal acknowledgement that Alop and Ngun were husband and wife. I couldn’t understand anything that was being said because it most mostly in the Palaung language, but I was still glad I could be at Huay Sai Gaow with everyone to celebrate Alop’s wedding.

It’s back to normal old UHDP again, and it feels good to have it a bit quieter around here again. However, I do have a barbeque at Rick Burnet’s (founder of UHDP) house this weekend to look forward to down in Chiang Mai, so my normal routine at UHDP will soon be interrupted again.