One of the reasons that Thailand has proven so fascinating to me is due to the fact that our kindergarten class studied the nation at least 4 times. In 2003, our studies were enhanced by the presence of Jeab, a Thai teacher on a one-year immersion program sponsored by American Field Service. Deb Smith and I were her mentor teachers while she was at Breakwater School. During that semester, we had taken Jeab on cultural outings in Portland, introduced her to ice skating, and invited her to our homes. Although we had lost touch, for the most part, during the intervening years, we had re-connected when I realized that we’d be traveling to Thailand. And that is why, on Thursday, March 8th, we found ourselves on a bus again, leaving Laos and heading for the city of Khon Kaen in northeastern Thailand.
Jeab was in the middle of a group tutoring session at her home when we called from the bus station. She hoped that we would recognize her after 8 years. No problem. She hadn’t changed a bit - still the same tall, thin, youthful-looking woman with lots of energy whom I remembered from before. She whisked us quickly back to her home to meet her students and her mom, who was excited to greet us. For the next few days we marveled at the vortex of activity that Jeab surrounds herself with. Despite the fact that it was summer vacation in Thailand, she held a couple of classes at her home each day so that her avid high school students could practice and improve their English language skills. In addition, she was planning a big trip to England and France to spend time with her new husband, a Thai man who is studying for his master’s degree in London. They married just last fall.
Our activities in Khon Kaen included climbing to the top of a 9-story “stupa”, a perfect vantage point for seeing the city, as well as an interesting museum of historical artifacts and Buddhist objects and images. It was a very hot day and the sweat was pouring down our backsides at the end! Both Jeab and I got leg cramps while descending. We think it may have been due to dehydration.
The stunning gold 9-story stupa in Khon Kaen.
Jeab demonstrates the use of a pair of balancing baskets for carrying produce. We'e seen some of these in use on the sidewalks. It was fun to try holding one.
View of Khon Kaen from the top of the stupa.
On another day, we helped Jeab with her English conversation class. We took the class for an hour, giving Jeab a break and exposing the students to native speakers. It was fun for Bruce and me to work together and to get acquainted with these highly motivated young people. Several were headed for a year in America. Unlike the teens we had met in Luang Prabang, poor kids who were desperate for a better life, these kids were more like American students, fairly well off and well-supported by parents who wanted their children to have a good education. Class sizes in Thailand are so large (50 students is usual at Jeab’s school) that students need to have outside tutoring in order to have the necessary practice for language development. Apparently, native-speaking English teachers are sought-after everywhere. Anyone up for a year or two teaching in Thailand?
This is the space where Jeab tutors groups of students at her home. I guess I was too busy to get a photo when the students were there!
Jeab’s parents both were generous and gracious hosts. Her mom, a retired teacher, was eager for me to learn to cook some Thai dishes. I was happy to join her in the kitchen, chopping and observing and stir-frying and jotting down things to remember. It was an interesting and, I think, typical kitchen lay-out, with an interior room for food prep and a nearly-outside room, at the back, for cooking and washing dishes. We cooked up a pad thai, a crab in spicy sauce dish, a green papaya salad, some fried fish, and, of course, sticky rice which is a constant here in the northeast, rather like potatoes in PEI! Some mighty powerful machete-like knives and thick wooden cutting boards and a well-used wok and a mortar & pestle made up the tools. Ingredients included lots of garlic, onions, brittle rice noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce, ground red chili powder, limes, lots of ground pork, Thai eggplant. Although we had taken a class in Thai cooking, this was the real thing and was fun to experience.
Cooking pad thai in Khon Kaen.
Jeab's mom, Prakong, preparing crabs for dinner.
Amazing meals come from this little gas stove!
A tableful of Thai delicacies!
On another evening her father, age 79, a retired engineer and a currently practicing lawyer(!), treated us all to dinner at a fancy mall where there was a Korean hot pot restaurant. It was a cook-it-yourself arrangement where thin slices of raw meat were put onto a hot brazier right at the table. Surrounding the brazier was a well, filled with water in which vegetables could be cooked, creating a delicious broth – and a balanced meal!
Jeab cooks at the Korean hot pot.
Jeab's family at the Korean resto.
Other yummy meals in Khon Kaen included Vietnamese noodles, flavorful grilled chicken bought along the side of the road, and Chinese pork-filled buns that I remember our old Vietnamese “grandmother”, Sai Loan, making for us years ago in Portland. It was definitely a culinary "tour de force" of Khon Kaen! The Webb's are growing bigger as we travel!.
Jeab was in the middle of a group tutoring session at her home when we called from the bus station. She hoped that we would recognize her after 8 years. No problem. She hadn’t changed a bit - still the same tall, thin, youthful-looking woman with lots of energy whom I remembered from before. She whisked us quickly back to her home to meet her students and her mom, who was excited to greet us. For the next few days we marveled at the vortex of activity that Jeab surrounds herself with. Despite the fact that it was summer vacation in Thailand, she held a couple of classes at her home each day so that her avid high school students could practice and improve their English language skills. In addition, she was planning a big trip to England and France to spend time with her new husband, a Thai man who is studying for his master’s degree in London. They married just last fall.
Our activities in Khon Kaen included climbing to the top of a 9-story “stupa”, a perfect vantage point for seeing the city, as well as an interesting museum of historical artifacts and Buddhist objects and images. It was a very hot day and the sweat was pouring down our backsides at the end! Both Jeab and I got leg cramps while descending. We think it may have been due to dehydration.
View of Khon Kaen from the top of the stupa.
On another day, we helped Jeab with her English conversation class. We took the class for an hour, giving Jeab a break and exposing the students to native speakers. It was fun for Bruce and me to work together and to get acquainted with these highly motivated young people. Several were headed for a year in America. Unlike the teens we had met in Luang Prabang, poor kids who were desperate for a better life, these kids were more like American students, fairly well off and well-supported by parents who wanted their children to have a good education. Class sizes in Thailand are so large (50 students is usual at Jeab’s school) that students need to have outside tutoring in order to have the necessary practice for language development. Apparently, native-speaking English teachers are sought-after everywhere. Anyone up for a year or two teaching in Thailand?
This is the space where Jeab tutors groups of students at her home. I guess I was too busy to get a photo when the students were there!
Jeab’s parents both were generous and gracious hosts. Her mom, a retired teacher, was eager for me to learn to cook some Thai dishes. I was happy to join her in the kitchen, chopping and observing and stir-frying and jotting down things to remember. It was an interesting and, I think, typical kitchen lay-out, with an interior room for food prep and a nearly-outside room, at the back, for cooking and washing dishes. We cooked up a pad thai, a crab in spicy sauce dish, a green papaya salad, some fried fish, and, of course, sticky rice which is a constant here in the northeast, rather like potatoes in PEI! Some mighty powerful machete-like knives and thick wooden cutting boards and a well-used wok and a mortar & pestle made up the tools. Ingredients included lots of garlic, onions, brittle rice noodles, soy sauce, fish sauce, ground red chili powder, limes, lots of ground pork, Thai eggplant. Although we had taken a class in Thai cooking, this was the real thing and was fun to experience.
Cooking pad thai in Khon Kaen.
Amazing meals come from this little gas stove!
On another evening her father, age 79, a retired engineer and a currently practicing lawyer(!), treated us all to dinner at a fancy mall where there was a Korean hot pot restaurant. It was a cook-it-yourself arrangement where thin slices of raw meat were put onto a hot brazier right at the table. Surrounding the brazier was a well, filled with water in which vegetables could be cooked, creating a delicious broth – and a balanced meal!
Jeab's family at the Korean resto.
Other yummy meals in Khon Kaen included Vietnamese noodles, flavorful grilled chicken bought along the side of the road, and Chinese pork-filled buns that I remember our old Vietnamese “grandmother”, Sai Loan, making for us years ago in Portland. It was definitely a culinary "tour de force" of Khon Kaen! The Webb's are growing bigger as we travel!.
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