Yummy School Lunch

Baan Doi Chang is a school at a village on one of Thai mountain tops at the elevation of 1600 meter in Chiang Rai, the northernmost province of Thailand.  Students are 700 hundreds children from the village with the same name.  From K-12, the students are from diverse backgrounds.  Most are from Akha Tribe, the rest are from various tribes including those without rightful Thai nationality, from either Burma or Laos.  Thai language is obviously not their mother-tongue, though it is the official language used in this school.  Family's economic and social position is often in jeopardy.

Regardless of multiple differences each holds, all share one cherish beauty.  JOY!  Despise of being in a remote mountain village, living with far less life necessities, and receiving who-know-what too little than other fellow citizens, JOY in the dear hearts of these students stays alive and bright shinning.  Smiles and  laughters ripple out contagiously jubilant delight, like a gentle touch of warm sunshine along with sweet gentle breeze.  So  refreshing to all souls!

Joy may not easily emerge in the city, but so naturally out here.  Children seem to take pleasure anywhere and also in everything they do, especially during lunch hour.  Officially lunch is compulsory.  The government provides for younger students only, but the headmaster knows better.  He is well aware that most of his students come without breakfast, let alone the noon meal.  With a loving care from all teachers, the headmaster came up with a policy that all are to bring cooked rice from home, in order to enjoy a humble dish that would be made from a stretched out lunch budget together.  It is a simple meal for all/

Lunch hour is gleefully welcome.  Everyone runs to queue up in their classes and await for delicious lunch to come.  

Two by two, assigned partners from each class turn up with a pot full of hot lunch.  With them arrive the mouthwatering smell that soon fills the hallway!  Lunch is here, cheers rise from the crowd.

Dish of the day is the NOODLE soup with scarce little pieces of meat.  Yet, the inviting smell suggests YUMMY lunch that must be worth waiting for.  Everyone with a bowl in the line is now moving up toward the teacher.  Each receives generous amount that would satisfy both taste and hunger.

With a bowl of hot lunch in hand, everyone dashes back to their desks.  And, patiently they wait for their classmates who are still in line with empty bowls.

                                   

Yummy hot NOODLE soup looks so good.  It is hard to tell if it is  a good idea to be the first in line to receive their share, then sit there waiting!  Yet, something is always worth waiting.  And, sharing the blessing with friends must be another JOY each day.

Surprise .....

January is a bit chilly in Chiang Rai, as it is the northernmost part of the country.  Though the temperature appears mild to the westerners, it is still pleasantly cold to most Thais.  The mornings  always welcome us with mist or fog which keeps the sun a bit shy to greet the day.  But, that does not last very long. Once the sun could break through, the temperature would soon rise up.

Our family often starts such days rather early.  Kanit leaves for school before seven while IngSong and I get ready for our morning walk.  Yet, it was a little different on one cool morning.  Kanit had said goodbye and gone off the door, IngSong was in the kitchen for a little clean up.  There came Kanit's rather loud calling from the front and abruptly the door was open, revealing our  neighbor with what looked like a 'stick' in her hand!!

I quickly approached the door to figure what was going on, and just to be greeted with a very lovely surprise.  My neighbor was holding her freshly homemade sticky rice in a bamboo stick which she was very eager to share with us.  It has been a custom for people in this region to cook newly harvested rice in green bamboo sticks.  And, that was just that my neighbor did.  She had filled uncooked rice and water in the stick, left it overnight, then grilled it over the open fire in the morning.  

After peeling off the outer charred part of the bamboo and cracking it open, she came over to share her one and only rice in bamboo stick with us.  Right there by our partially open front door, four of us stood and fed ourselves with this specially cooked rice which was called, 'kao larm.' The rice was nice, warm, soft, fragranced and flavorful.  The morning was lovely and the warm relationship was 'celebrated'.  We were grateful and pleasantly enjoyed our surprise.  What a memorably precious way to begin the morning with!