Our hosts for the homestay were absolutely wonderful and they taught us so much just from doing their everyday things. One of the things we enjoyed and learned about the most was the food. It seemed like at every moment Supijit was doing something to feed us: cooking in the kitchen, going to market, washing dishes, picking fruit, drying herbs and spices, etc. We for sure did not go hungry; in fact, we ate some of the best food we have ever had (at least for me!). Every meal was a treat and a new experience.

The eastern side of Thailand is known as the Isaan region, so much of what we ate was traditional Isaan cuisine. though I don't know the exact differences between Isaan and other Thai food, I can infer from what we had that there are many of the same spices and flavorings (lemongrass, garlic, keffir lime and leaves, fish sauce, red pepper, galangal...) but it seemed to be heavy on the fish (coming from close by rivers) and included sweet and savory dishes, such as a morning glory (type of green) that has soy sauce, garlic, pepper, fish sauce, and a fair amount of sugar. A very popular dish, especially in the Supijit's house, is papaya salad. She had at least twenty papaya trees in her yard supplying her with fruit all year round and enough to have almost everyday. All the papayas are green this time of year so we had lots of papaya salad- so yummy! I am thinking of ways to make it at home replacing the papaya with something like kholrabi or cucumber. It is basically the papaya shredded up with garlic, tomato, little eggplant, soy sauce, lime juice, red pepper, fish sauce (which I am not a big fan of, but I had to get over it bc it is used in just about everything. and I am eating fish since I have been here bc there is not much in way of high nutrient grains and legumes and it is completely legit) and it is all beaten together in a mortar and with a huge pestel. this device is used a lot for many things and they are found in abundance. Mom and I couldn't resist and bought the two pieces for a whopping 75 cents (all made by locals too).

Another traditional Isaan dish is a baby bamboo soup. This dish stands out in my mind as one of the tastiest and most unusual dishes we had. This is the season for bamboo shoots so we made a big pot of soup. I had never had fresh baby bamboo and when I told her that when we do have it comes in a can and is virtually flavorless she seemed a bit confused and sad for me. But this soup made up for all that. It was rather simple ingredients: lime leaves, lemongrass, red pepper, lots of sweet basil, and this other herb that is a shrubby spiny leaf from a tree, and of course lots of bamboo (and water). It was fabulous.

At every meal we had rice. Rice three times a day and all of it was grown by Supijit herself. She said that when most of the rice in Thailand was being grown with chemicals she realized that she had to do something for herself and her family. Farming is in her family background so she knew what to do. She bought some land and started growing her own rice. she has two fields- one small (enough to feed her family) and one big (to sell at market). While organic is becoming more popular in Thailand and there is more land being cultivated organically, most of the land is inundated with chemicals. Her field is right in the middle of all that. Therefore, all the insects and crabs come to her field making an even lower yield. Though it is the rainy season, it has hardly rained in the area. this has huge impacts on the rice because with out plenty of water the fields are dry and the rice will not survive.

One morning we went to the rice field early before the heat had set in. It was absolutely beautiful. this was my first time to see a rice paddy up close. It didn't actually look like much, just like tall grass. But was is amazing is the abundance of rice being grown. These fields are so expansive and cover so much of the country. The fields are not just rice either. though that is what is being grown, there are also big trees scattered across the fields. Supijit just recently planted banana and coconut trees around her field where she will soon build a hut to stay during the long days of the planting and harvesting season.

At this time of year, the rainy season, there is not much to be done on the fields. the morning we went we were just checking for insects. so even though we were WWOOFing, we didn't do much in the way of farming. Because of that, we were able to do so much more. The beauty of WWOOFing is the building of cross cultural friendships through living and working together. Now maybe not all WWOOFing experiences are about friendships, but I can attest that this one definitely was. We built a relationship not only from living together but also working together. She provided her home for us while teaching us about her culture and lifestyle, and in return we helped her by teaching her classes for a few days, editing some of her documents, helping her with her english, and by sharing our stories and world view. We also taught her how to compost in her garden! That was a proud moment. Mom taught her the "busy mama method"- dig a hole, burry the scraps, cover with straw/leaves and move on to the next. We got her a shovel and filled her first hole.

We shared every meal together. in the morning we would usually fried fish with curry paste or plain and of course rice (either steamed or sticky rice). omlettes were common with rice as well. lunch was always an assortment of dishes, some leftovers and some from other teachers. Soups were common. An interesting and tasty soup was made with a cinnamon, anise, and clove broth with hard boiled egg, dryed soy skin (i don't know what it is called but it is the top layer that is removed when soy milk is made and then dried in the sun), and soy meat. It was a very unusual combination but very satisfying. Chilli paste often accompanied meals. There are several ways to make the paste. The one Supijit made (enough to last a week) was fish based using leftover fish from dinner blended with lots of red pepper, garlic, onion, lime leaves, fish sauce, sugar, galangal. It is so yummy!

When I told her that we can't get many of the seasonings easily in the States, she insisted that we take some back with us. So we are now endowed with this huge bag of dried lime leaves and lemongrass which we picked from a neighbor's garden. This will be great for making the dishes when we get home.

One of the best things about staying with Supijit and her family was getting familiar with normal Thai foods that we would normally never venture to have. I am a venturous eater but going to a market or food stall where no english is spoken and the food is unfamiliar can be a little daunting. one of the my favorite things, which i have now had several times on my own, is green mango. That may not sound so strange but they sell it pre cut in these bags and it is whitish green and there is no way you could tell what it was without trying it. It is slightly sour, slightly sweet with a nice crunch. It comes with a salt/red pepper/sugar mix that you dip in it. So if you are in Thailand around this time of year you are bound to see people selling this in clear plastic bags (the bus station is full of people selling them amongst other things) and you should definitely have some. and don't think about germs.

I feel like I have barely covered the wonders that we sensed but I think this is enough for now.