Laos - Lao Language

Laos is really funny. Lao and Thai languages are similar - but not the same. But Lao people seem to believe and therefore tried to convince me that they are, in fact, the same langauge. My friend Jeff believes this is because they are exposed to so much Thai TV, books, and music, they hear it as the same language, without thinking about it too much. But, when they speak or write, they don't use Thai, they just use Lao.

Therefore, you speak Thai to them, they understand, but they respond to you in Lao, which you don't understand. When you say you don't understand, they tell you it's the same language. Then you say, "Well, they're close, but they're not really the same because some things are not the same" and then you get strange looks, then laughed at.

Then they ask something if you are in Laos with any 'moo' which you only recognize as the word pork or pig in Thai but with a rising tone. So you ask if they said 'moo' with a rising tone and get laughed at again. "No, not moo (rising tone) - moo (high tone)! Ha ha ha! You said 'pork!'"

Then another person chimes in to say that 'moo' with a high tone is the same as 'peuan' which is the Thai word for friend which makes more sense (No, I'm not in Laos with any pigs, but I am here with some friends).

You confirm - 'moo' and 'peuan' have the same meaning. Then you get laughed at again as they respond with a sort of Lao "Duh!" They say, "You can say 'moo' or you can say 'peuan' - it doesn't matter, it's the same word. Thai, Laos - it's the same language"

I get that one has the option of saying either one, but from the people I talked to after that, not one person ever used the word 'peuan' - they only used the word 'moo'. This leads me to believe that 'peuan' is just the Thai word and 'moo' is just the Lao word and that's that. I mean - in America you could say 'amigo' and most likely everyone would understand you, but that doesn't mean that 'amigo' is English or that English and Spanish are the same language, right?

Things are feeling a little rocky, so to smooth things over, and to shut you up, they offer you some Lao whiskey. And you drink it. And then they ask, "So Lao and Thai are the same, right?" And you nod your head in agreement.

Laos - Life To Do List

I made some new German friends in Laos and they helped me check off two items from my Life To-Do List. Thanks guys!

1) I said "Gesundheit" to a German person!

2) I checked in at the airport and then with time to spare before boarding time, went back to town!

This was especially exhilarating because the tuk-tuk back to town broke down half-way. No worries! We got to town eventually. I enjoyed my last chicken/lettuce/cucumber/sweet chili baguette sandwich and my beloved banana-mango fruit shake. We then grabbed another tuk-tuk back to the airport, I kept my fingers crossed for no breakdowns, it worked and we arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare!

Laos

I take back everything I said about the cold season not being cold.

I'm in Laos right now and I'm FREEZING! I bought a hoodie but it's not very thick, and therefore not very warm. I haven't taken my hoodie or jacket off in three days. I didn't bring shoes, so I'm wearing my Mickey Mouse socks with flip flops and I'm not even the slightest bit embarrassed cause all the Lao girls and ladies are doing the exact same thing.

It is cold!

Burmese Mushroom Man

This is the Burmese word for 'mushroom'. It looks like a man. I like it.

Wash with soap and water (2x)

Even with the good Western food, air conditioned malls, movie theaters and motorbike rides through the mountains, the thing I love most about Chiang Mai right now is the toilet paper, western flush toilets and soap in the bathrooms. Even if it's not all three all the time, public bathrooms in Mae Sot are 0 for 3, so even 1 for 3 is a step up. And No Poe Refugee Camp, where I was for 8 days before coming to Chiang Mai, had one tap for every five houses so running water in the bathrooms or kitchen was kind of out of the question. Most washing areas had some sort of soap, but it was more likely to be dish washing soap or detergent than a bar of soap. And because the water to flush the toilet and the water to wash your hands after using the toilet are bucketed out of the same plastic garbage can, it's hard not to think about all of the cross-contamination.

Anyway, today, the training center where I'm taking my class, the coffee shop where I studied and did work, the Japanese restaurant where I ate dinner, and the house where I'm staying, all had/have all toilet paper, western flush toilets and soap! What a treat!

And in case you're wondering about my job, among other things, I take things like this and then work with Karen people to figure out how to get similar messages across to little children in Karen State. Over the month of October, we had two trainings. From those, about 10 songs about handwashing, diarrhea, dehydration and breastfeeding were written, at least half were recorded in a recording studio at No Poe Camp and at least one karaoke music video was made. It's going through some edits right now, but I'll get it up on Youtube as soon as I can.

The video below was the public premiere of our first hit, Thay Na Seu, from the training held at No Poe Camp. They gathered children, taught them the song, taught them the moves, then sang it with them while one guy played guitar. After the song, they asked all the children to wash their hands (with soap and running water at the tap) and then our people put cookies in the childrens' little clean hands. Yay public health! (And yay for hopefully having enough pictures and videos of little kids singing, dancing and washing their hands to keep the donors happy for the next 6 months!)

The lyrics go like this (I think):

Before you eat (2x)
Wash your hands (2x)
Wash with soap and water (2x)
Your hands are clean! (2x)

After going to the bathroom (2x)
Wash your hands (2x)
Wash with soap and water (2x)
Be healthy! (2x)

When someone has diarrhea (2x)
It spreads really easily (2x)
Wash with soap and water (2x)
Prevention! (2x)

Woo hoo!

The video below is the concert from our first training in Mae Sariang where it all began.




If you want to read more about these two last trainings, Sam, the other fellow, wrote a lot in her blog.

Here are her entries on the Mae Sariang and Noh Poe trainings. Lots of pretty pictures too!

93F degrees = Cold Season? Really?

No joke!

November is officially "Cold Season" here in Thailand. Some people even call it "Winter".

Right now, it's 93F/34C degrees outside.

Yes, nights do get colder (tonight will be 71F/22C). Sometimes I even wear an adorable scarf at night when I ride home on the motorbike, but I don't think anyone in Wisconsin would consider 71F cold.

Therefore, I would like to propose changing the name of the season to the "Colder at Night" season.

Thai people, any thoughts on this?

Mingalaba from Chiang Mai!

I'm in Chiang Mai now, taking a Burmese class John Okell, who is known as one of the world's experts on Burmese language and culture and even invented a Burmese font! Yes, this is a bit strange, because he's British, but he's studied and taught Burmese for years and years and years and years and he definitely knows what's up. So much so that the Lonely Planet uses his transliteration style! Woo hoo!

Here's what Burmese looks like. Nothing like Thai. All totally new. I copied this from a language site. I can't exactly read it yet - but I can sound out some of the syllables.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

We're learning how to read and write and speak and listen which is awesome, but so far the coolest thing I've learned is that "Mingalaba", which most people know as "how people say 'hello' in Burma" isn't really that. It was adopted as a formal greeting between students and teachers in the 1930s as they were trying to move away from British-run colonial schools. The original, longer version means something like, "May this day be filled with auspiciousness" or something like that. Then, as Okell suspects, as Australian tourists started to show up, they asked, "How do you say, 'G'day' in Burmese?" No one really had a good answer, as people greet each other by asking, "How are you?", "Where are you going?", "Where have you been?" or "Have you eaten yet?" when they see their friend on the street.

But the Australians weren't satisfied with those answers, and so to give them something more concrete, people eventually said, "well, I guess in school we say Mingalaba" and it grew from there.

Now it's the official greeting for students teachers, and foreigners. It's standard in hotels and tourist restaurants, and people in cities will randomly say it to foreigners, expecting to hear the same in response. But two Burmese people would never say it to each other, with the possible exception of a Burmese person going into a hotel or tourist restaurant.

If you're not in a city and say "Mingalaba" in a rural area, it's likely you'll get strange looks as people try to figure out why you think you're a teacher greeting your students in the morning.

Weird, huh?

My transportation recently

A songtaew is a covered pick up truck with two benches (song = 2, taew = bench) in the back.
In some cities they act as buses, or communal taxis where people say where they want to go, the driver agrees or not, they agree on a price and then the person jumps in.
Songtaews are also the transportation that can get you to places that buses and mini buses don't go. For example, up and down the Thai/Burma border.

People can sit on the benches, on the floor between the benches, hang off the back, or sit on top with the luggage. At one point I counted 20 people either sitting in or hanging off the back with probably 8 to 10 more sitting on top. The songtaew goes maybe about 40mph, slower in the mountain parts where the road comes and goes. When it goes through a village it honks the entire time to let everyone know it's arrived. People then come running out and jump in or on and the driver continues through the village, honking, until we get back to the mountains, potholes and cows. To stop the bus you press a little buzzer and the drivers stops. It's extremely uncomfortable, really slow, and really loud, but it's cheap and it's the only option if you don't have a car.

October 14: 6 hour songtaew ride from Mae Sot to Mae Sariang (Should have been 5 hours, but the driver took the songtaew/passengers to do his errands and catch up with friends, so it took 6)

October 15 - 21: Mae Sariang Training

October 22: 5 hour songtaew ride from Mae Sariang to Mae Sot

October 25: 6 hour songtaew ride from Mae Sot to Nu Po Refugee Camp

October 26 - November 1: Nu Po Refugee Camp Training

November 2: 6 hour songtaew ride from Nu Po Refugee Camp to Mae Sot

November 4: 6 hour bus ride from Mae Sot to Chiang Mai for a 3 week Burmese course.
Air conditioning, full, comfortable seats that recline, a separate area for luggage, only 4 stops, a toilet on the bus, free water and snacks and possibly even a blanket? This is going to be luxury.

From the Thailand Burma Border Consortium - http://www.tbbc.org
(Thailand = gray, Burma = green)