Ok—cathching up on an unfinsihed story—when we first got to KhamKuenKaew—by the way, when Thai words are spelled in English, the spelling may change with every writer. It doesn’t seem to really matter to them which English letters are used so I won’t let it bother me either—we went to Supijit’s house to shower and change. She lives on the back of the school campus where she teaches. There are a few other houses there. Her two dogs greeted us, as well as the three cats crying for food.
S. and Katie headed off for the market on the motorcycle leaving me to shower. The bathroom is on the ground level and consists of a barrel of water to bathe and a smaller bucket of water for flushing the toilet. The toilet is “Asian style” which means it’s on the floor--you stand on the ceramic grid and squat—if you can. You pour a bowl of water to flush the toilet. And then you pour from a different bowl from the barrel f
or the shower. The water is unheated but the temperature is refreshingly cool for these really hot days. After soaping up, you bowl water to rinse off. I was in the throes of doing all of this with as much grace as I could muster when the dog started barking as if someone was coming to the front door—which, by the way, was left wide open. I panicked. Tried to hurry. Checked the lock on the bathroom door. Feared a neighbor coming over out of curiosity. Or a clever thief taking advantage of my helplessness. The dog ran around the house and back to the front door. I listened. No footsteps. I hoped the dog had chased whoever it was away. I dried off, dressed and began looking for a sink to brush my teeth. None in the bathroom. None in the kitchen. I went out the back and found the place where the water came in a clear plastic hose to a waist-high faucet. I wet my toothbrush there and had just begun to brush my teeth when Katie and S. arrived from the market. There I was--standing barefoot in the back yard with my toothbrush—looking like I had certainly made myself at home in their absence.
Over the next week, we became quite at home, learning many things with Supijit and her two children. Her 16-yr-old son is called “Boss,” a nickname his mother gave him. Her daughter YahYi is 14, and likes to watch TV and read books. Boss entertained us and Supijit took care of us and fed and taught us a great deal about traditional Thai, and even this region’s Isaan cooking. Katie has written about the food, but I just want to say how much I admired our host. She is divorced and wanted to live on her own, raise her children and support herself--not a common thing in Thailand and not an easy thing anywhere. She supports her family through teaching English at the high school and grows most of her own food, including the rice they eat.
S. and Katie headed off for the market on the motorcycle leaving me to shower. The bathroom is on the ground level and consists of a barrel of water to bathe and a smaller bucket of water for flushing the toilet. The toilet is “Asian style” which means it’s on the floor--you stand on the ceramic grid and squat—if you can. You pour a bowl of water to flush the toilet. And then you pour from a different bowl from the barrel f
or the shower. The water is unheated but the temperature is refreshingly cool for these really hot days. After soaping up, you bowl water to rinse off. I was in the throes of doing all of this with as much grace as I could muster when the dog started barking as if someone was coming to the front door—which, by the way, was left wide open. I panicked. Tried to hurry. Checked the lock on the bathroom door. Feared a neighbor coming over out of curiosity. Or a clever thief taking advantage of my helplessness. The dog ran around the house and back to the front door. I listened. No footsteps. I hoped the dog had chased whoever it was away. I dried off, dressed and began looking for a sink to brush my teeth. None in the bathroom. None in the kitchen. I went out the back and found the place where the water came in a clear plastic hose to a waist-high faucet. I wet my toothbrush there and had just begun to brush my teeth when Katie and S. arrived from the market. There I was--standing barefoot in the back yard with my toothbrush—looking like I had certainly made myself at home in their absence.
Over the next week, we became quite at home, learning many things with Supijit and her two children. Her 16-yr-old son is called “Boss,” a nickname his mother gave him. Her daughter YahYi is 14, and likes to watch TV and read books. Boss entertained us and Supijit took care of us and fed and taught us a great deal about traditional Thai, and even this region’s Isaan cooking. Katie has written about the food, but I just want to say how much I admired our host. She is divorced and wanted to live on her own, raise her children and support herself--not a common thing in Thailand and not an easy thing anywhere. She supports her family through teaching English at the high school and grows most of her own food, including the rice they eat.
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