We got to the village around midnight on friday night. We got out of the car and it was cold! Like, see my breath cold! So we got our stuff out of the car and headed up the steps into the traditional Isaan house. Here's a picture of a traditional isaan house (this isn't the one i stayed in b/c for some reason I forgot to take a picture of the house :-\)
In the house we stayed in there were basically 3 1/2 walls. The kitchen was almost open to the elements other than the roof and half a wall (kind of like a railing). I'm really bad at explaining things so i'm really sorry I didn't get more pictures. But anyway, me, my friend kik, her cousin, and her cousin's boyfriend slept on pallets in the "living room". the living room was open into the kitchen (so 3 walls). The cold came in. We had plenty of blankets, but it was still cold after being in 80-95 degrees for the last 3 months. The next morning we got up early. The chickens get up at dawn. First time i've ever been woken up by the rooster. It was just outside the house. Kik and I decided to spend the morning singing and worshipping our Father. She brought her guitar and we just sang right there in the living room. Unfortunately most of the songs we sang were in English so the family couldn't understand what we were singing. Then we had breakfast: sticky rice, somtam, dried pork strips, and dried fish. After breakfast we went on a walk around the village. Everybody wanted to meet the "farang", white person. We went to see Kik's grandma make bamboo mats. Here's a picture of Kik doing it:
Then we made the trip to the big town about 30 or 40 minutes away to go to Big C (basically walmart or target). Had some noodle soup for lunch then headed back to the village. We walked around some more and went to the buddhist temple there in the village and visited a friend of Kik that had just had a baby.
Then we had dinner. We went to a restaurant in the village to pick up somtam mai pet (not spicy) for me. So we got one spicy for everyone else and one "not spicy" for me. When we got back to the house and sat on the ground to eat I counted 5 whole chili peppers in my som tam not to mention the chopped up chilis. So.. lesson learned: in Isaan not spicy means 5 peppers. haha Then a neighborhood little girl came to visit us. She was probably about 3 or 4. I asked her several times how old she was, but I think she was too engrossed with the fact that I was farang and I could speak a little bit of Thai. She was so cute. She told me that I needed to not eat too much or I would get fat. She also told me not to drink cold water or coke because it would make me cough. At first she wouldn't come near me, but finally she came and sat in my lap to take a picture and then she told my friend, Kik to move so that she could sit beside me. Here's a picture of her and our dinner:
That night was warmer, but still very cold in comparison to the weather in bangkok. The next morning we woke up early to go to a lake (i'm guessing) that had red lotus flowers in it. I think it's the only place in Thailand that has these flowers. It was beautiful!
After we got done with our hour/hour and a half boat ride, Kik's aunt, cousin, and the boyfriend went to worship in a buddhist temple, while Kik and I watched in sorrow.
We got back to the house and Kik and I had church. She played a couple of songs and we sang. She said all the lyrics of the thai songs so I could write out phonetics and sing along w/ the Thai words instead of English. After that we took a nap. The rest of the day we kind of just hung out around the house and went exploring on the motorbike.
The top picture is of me and Kik with her grandma. The last picture is of some rice fields. It's off season. They will start planting in a few weeks. I enjoyed the trip so much! Her family was so hospitable and giving. Pray for their salvation. Kik is the only one in her family that is a christian.
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