There and Back Again

So I left before I could catch up as much as I wanted to. I hope to update more often in this short week before fall break, but no promises. We got back from a five-day trip on our fourth unit, the land unit, which took us to Udon Thani, about two hours north. Udon used to be the site of an American military base during the Vietnam war, and now is the proposed site of a potash mine. We had two homestays examining various issues having to do with the region.

But more on that later.

First, an anecdote, if you will. Last night, it was shortly before midnight. We'd been asleep for about forty minutes, Amanda, Anna, and myself on our mats under the mosquito net. Out of nowhere, Amanda shoots straight up in bed, screams, and scampers down to the end of the net. Anna and I were quick to react, jumping to the foot of the bed, pressed against the net. Amanda was yelling about a spider or something for a moment, but then woke up -- it was nothing more than a half-dreamed hallucination of the fan at the foot of the bed.

Well, that deception didn't stop everyone from hearing the screams, and come running to see who was being apparently murdered in our bed; P'Jim came from her room next door, Mae rushed upstairs in her patung, even Ajaan Ooh, staying down the street, heard our screams and called Amanda's phone. So there we stood, two very confused, worried Thai women and three shaken, but actually alright farang women, with a limited communication channel. Somehow, it landed on my shoulders to explain what was going on. I managed to say "Amanda dreamed of a big bug," but Mae still didn't get the story. For some reason, one of them suggested, "show Mae the scorpion."

At this point it becomes necessary to tie in another point from earlier in the evening. Before bed, Anna was on the phone and spotted something. "Hey guys, come here and check out this cool bug!" she called. However it was no bug. Yessiree, a little scorpion. No one wanted to kill it, so we trapped it under a glass, leaving it to be dealt with in the morning. Flash forward to our story again.
I show Mae the scorpion. She has just heard her farang daughters freaking the heck out in the middle of the night, where the only explaination is in broken Thai and saying something about a big bug. Then there's this scorpion. Plus, at that moment, I absentmindedly scratched a fresh mosquito bite. Mae got this look on her face and asked what I can only assume to be, "did that bite you."

The only thing I could think to say was "mai" or "no". I was trying to get out that this actually was okay, and yes we were fine, and there was no bug afterall, but all that came out from my sleep-befuddled mind was "mai, mai... mai... mai." As she bent down and started killing the scorpion, she asked why the screams. I couldn't remember how to say "I don't know. I don't get it," which in Thai is something like "mai ru. Mai khao jai." The only thing to come out however was "mai au" or "I don't want."

God, Mae must have been confused.

Luckily, we somehow sorted it out and we're okay. Lots of laughing at ourselves afterward.

So I guess this story has a moral. One, language use is essential, even when you're tired and loopy. Laughter is essential, especially when you're tired. And never have scorpions on the mind when sleeping near anything that can be misconstrued as a giant spider in your bed.

Till soon