Had a lot of interactions with the people in the dump this morning.
Too many to count. I gave some boots to this family and had
conversations in Thai with 4 or 5 people there. Then some Burmese only
speakers game by and started to teach me Burmese. I have noticed many
older Burmese women joke with you in a very aggressive way. They almost
yell things at you, they speak very loudly and act things out to the
general excitement and joy to all others around. It sort of becomes a performance.
You know your connecting to people, to a particular culture when they
pull you into those natural and honest situations. Anyway the speaking
loud lady started to teach me Burmese (how to say 'IT IS RAINING"), in
Thai it is said simply 'FON DOCK" (RAIN FALLING), but in Burmese it is
much more complicated. I need to check the video I made on it. I find
that making short videos of the new words works best, the best way to
learn. I went through my entire Burmese vocabulary with the group, it
went pretty well, lots of fun, all round, eventually there was like 12
people talking to me and to each other.
Gosh I got to learn more Burmese, the people here are helping me learn.
It feels a bit like that scene from 'Shogun' where the whole village
teaches Angi-Son to speak Japanese.
Anyway did this photo while doing all of that. It is of a young baby in the home, a boy. Got his name also on video some where.
The strangest moment of the day occurred when I was on the highway next to the dump walking away. A older woman with a hat and red betal mouth teeth drove up to me on her bicycle, all smiles, and yelling out hellos, she spoke no Thai. She acted like we were best friends. She told me where she lived now, and seemed very happy to see me again. The thing is, I had no idea at all who she was, her face did not seem familiar to me at all. I nodded a lot and we talked a bit (sorta), made a few photos and she was off. Maybe I did something nice for her in 2017-18, not sure, a blur now, so long ago. Very nice lady, just wish I knew who she was. That kinda of thing has happened more than once this trip. Smiles and hellos from many people I do not remember, but they mostly all acted like we were close friends.
I guess I am making more and more friends here now, even people that I do not remember.
Anyway did this photo while doing all of that. It is of a young baby in the home, a boy. Got his name also on video some where.
The strangest moment of the day occurred when I was on the highway next to the dump walking away. A older woman with a hat and red betal mouth teeth drove up to me on her bicycle, all smiles, and yelling out hellos, she spoke no Thai. She acted like we were best friends. She told me where she lived now, and seemed very happy to see me again. The thing is, I had no idea at all who she was, her face did not seem familiar to me at all. I nodded a lot and we talked a bit (sorta), made a few photos and she was off. Maybe I did something nice for her in 2017-18, not sure, a blur now, so long ago. Very nice lady, just wish I knew who she was. That kinda of thing has happened more than once this trip. Smiles and hellos from many people I do not remember, but they mostly all acted like we were close friends.
I guess I am making more and more friends here now, even people that I do not remember.
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| Child in dump shack. I think the grandma is the person at the back of the room |