My name is joy!

So here is Thailand, it is common for foreigners not to be referred to by their name. The Thai's call us "farang", the Burmese call us "englese" and I'm sure the Karen have a name for us, but I don't know what it is. This doesn't bother me so much when I am dealing with people that I don't know. You know that you are being talked about though, when in a multitude of words these words are heard and you know, yup, they're talking about me. However, even people that know me well will still call me by these names.... that upsets me. I think it's rude I guess. For instance, I can ask one of the kids for something and they will say to someone else, the "englese" wants xyz. Or a Thai could be explaining something about us to someone else and instead of calling us by name they say "farang". Since I know when they are talking about me, I have started calling them out on it. I say my name is not "englese", it's Joy! And I do the same with the Thai's. It has worked, I am no longer called "farang" or "englese" by the people that know me, but instead Joy, like I was named.

living in a cloud

Notice I did not say living on a cloud, but in one. For the past month or so people in the area have been burning their farm land and other forest areas around their houses. From what I have gathered, burning is a primitive way of farming and it is the lazy way of taking care of your field. I am not well versed in the fine art of farming, but better ways than burning would be composting and things like it (that is what I am told). Also, because this is dry season, people burn around their property just in case a fire breaks out, it won't spread to their property. You know, in the USA, when we rake up our leaves, we make a pile and bag it up to be hauled away. Well not here, they burn their dead leaves, and there is no shortage of dead leaves in this season. It makes peoples yards look bad too.... there are burn spots in random places. When burning their farms and property, they usually do it in the evening and at night. It is common now to look out and see the hills on fire. The next morning when I wake up, I can barely see anything, it's really bad.

What is the big deal? Well, if you have read previous posts, I have mentioned how beautiful the view is from my house.... now-a-days, I cannot see the view, that's how much smoke there is. More importantly, there are particles released into the air that get into our lungs and can be life threatening over time. Many people are "sick", asthma is common and children have this horrible cycle of colds. For me, I am constantly producing phlegm and can't seem to get rid of it. I have a cough that comes and goes, depending on the day. When I wear my contact lenses, my eyes are always dry and irritated. This is not the only are engaging in such activity. In Chiang Mai, located 10 hours north of here, it is worse. People have moved away because of it. In Umphange, some say this is the worse it has ever been. Since this is a nation wide issue, it has been on the news. They are trying to discourage people from doing it but nobody is listening. I will show you some pictures of how it looks. The picture of the smoke is not even as bad as it has been at times. Sometimes I cannot even see the house that you are able to see in the picture I posted. Normally, you would be able to see hills in the background.

Burning in the woods

Smoke produced from burning