mae chaem

okay, here's a brief overview and a bunch of pictures, and i'll fill this in better when i have more time.

monday morning, we left for mae chaem. we took these rather decked out vans, and we drove extremely fast through the mountains.
the village we stayed in is pretty tiny. it's full of roosters. seriously.

we had thai buddies (students from payap who are thai but speak english a bit too, so we could have them help us talk to our families) until wednesday, but then we were on our own. we had thai class for 2 hours every morning at the temple.

tuesday we learned how to make thai desserts.. we had a lot of sticky rice and coconut.
wednesday, we took a trip and saw some other parts of mae chaem--a temple with really fresh, clean water.. a man who was one of the few who still makes hair pins by hand.. people who store soy beans in banana leaves..

thursday, we went to the crematorium.. we helped them build new stuff.. by mixing/pouring concrete (or carrying buckets of sand/water/rocks/cement to help do so)
and friday we went to 2 waterfalls, which were absolutely gorgeous.
friday night, we had a goodbye dinner, and there was a ceremony to keep our spirits with our bodies.. a man said some chant and then we had strings tied to our wrists..
then we went back to the crematorium to see part of the opening ceremony.. there were many monks (all staying 3 days and 3 nights in the FREEZING in little huts).