Killing the chicken, cont

Thursday, 12/3, 7:30 pm

So back to the chicken from a few nights ago. I had fresh chicken meat in Ghana and Guatemala, but I never actually saw them kill it. So this whole killing the chicken thing was a new experience for me. Basically, Lee slit its throat and drained the blood while the 2 little boys held its feet and wings. There really wasn't much blood in the chicken - it kind of surprised me. Then he dunked it in boiling water which removed/loosened the feathers and he pulled out the rest. Finally, he chopped it up and then boiled it, I think, though I wasn't in the house during that part. The rest of our meal was white rice (this is part of every meal) and some cabbage/greens that we fried up with garlic and I think some ginger, which was yummy. The chicken was good too - I've been eating a lot of meat here. I don't mind eating meat when I know where it's come from and am fairly confident it doesn't have hormones in it.

We sat around together - the family, Lee, and I - and ate together. It took some convincing to get the daughter to join us since she was scared of me. Also, I think that traditionally, the head of the family (the dad) eats with the guests and then the wife and children eat later...but Lee asked them if we could all eat together and they agreed. We all chatted a bit and the uncle, in particular, had many questions about America. The one that sticks with me is when he asked me if I had to live there in the village for the rest of my life, could I do it? I said that I thought I could if my family and friends could come with me. :) It was actually kind of a profound question, in a way, which really got me thinking. Lee told me about an American couple that did just that. They visited some small village, fell in love with it, and then never left. But don't worry mom, I'm still coming home tomorrow. :)

One interesting thing I left out earlier, which is relevant to my work, is something I observed with one of the neighbors. I noticed this little boy's (maybe 1 year old) foot was tied up, like in a bandage/bandana type of thing. I asked what happened to his foot (via Lee) and the mom said that her son had a headache and that the bandage around his foot would help that. So then I asked, how do you know he has a a headache? (The kid wasn't old enough to talk.) And the mom said that she had pricked his finger, drawn blood, and she could tell he had a headache by the color of the blood...or something along those lines. Some of the explanation was surely lost during the translation. And she briefly showed me where she had pricked him on his hand in a few different places. This is the type of thing that is very relevant to my work because parents often continue these types of traditional practices when they get to the states. In this situation, one can imagine a teacher or concerned neighbor calling child protective services when they find out the mom has been "stabbing" her son's hand enough to make him bleed. For anyone who's read "The Spirt Catches You and You Fall Down" this type of thing should ring a bell.

After dinner, everyone immediately went to sleep...I mean we're talking like 7 pm. I was like what am I going to do for the next 3-4 hours? I didn't bring my book but luckily I had my phone and played suduko and I had my ipod. :) So I relaxed in the bed they made me, which was actually quite comfortable. An uncle of the family produced this large cushion (picture what we would put on porch furniture) and they laid that on one of their bamboo beds - basically a bamboo "platform" about 1-2 feet high so one is not sleeping on the ground. Then they had a large comforter for me to use as a blanket, which was quite warm. I didn't even need to use my REI sleeping bag that I had brought along. It wasn't cold at all, unlike Sapa, Vietnam.

You may be wondering where they got this cushion and comforter. The Hmong in this region are no longer making everything by hand nor wearing their traditional clothing. They're so close to Luang Prabang and the Vietnamese are doing some major business in the area. So now the Hmong buy a lot of their clothes and other items they need. Poof! One day globalization comes along and suddenly many things have changed. I don't know how they feel about it, but I think it's sad since their clothes are beautiful and I would imagine they've been wearing them for thousands of years.

Before I went to sleep, I needed to go to the bathroom. This village actually had a bathroom similar to what's used by the locals in the rest of the region - a squat toilet. I made my way in the dark (the one thing I forgot to pack is that little handy flashlight I bought at REI!) to the outhouse and literally almost stepped right on top of the HUGE pig the village has. I mean this pig is massive - I think it's the biggest pig I've ever seen. And apparently his "bed" is right outside the outhouse. I laughed out loud when I realized how close I was to stepping on him...not really sure what he would've done if I did that. Phew!

In the morning, Lee and I made scrambled eggs with green onions and lots of garlic for the family. This was different for them...apparently they typically boil their eggs and I'm not talking about hard boiled. Like they crack it open into the boiling water and cook it that way...what do we call that? Can't remember. We ate the eggs with rice.

Then the two older kids went off to school. After saying goodbye to the parents, Lee and I went over to the school and observed how their day began. I got to watch them all line up and sing their national anthem as they raised the flag. It reminded me of a cross between how we do the pledge of allegiance and the beginning of each day of summer camp.

The rest of the day was spent trekking to the nearby waterfall where I went swimming even though it was a bit too cold to do so! It's a waterfall that many tourists go to so they had a rope swing which I jumped off.

There's not been too much excitement since then...I made my way back to Vientiane (10 hour bus trip) and spent my 30th bday relaxing. I met up with the Lao/American family, ate some good ol' Aunt Jemima pancakes for breakfast, and had a chat about the Hmong. I got my haircut and eyebrows done, had a nice meal and then got picked up to go to the train for Bangkok. I was going to get another massage on my actual bday, but ran out of time. But no worries, I got one today here in Thailand. So I think I've had 4 in total - one in each of the countries I've been to.

I'm off to do some final packing and then am going to sleep! Will be up at 4 am for my 6:30 flight. I've got some final thoughts/observations about my travels but will write those later.