Thailand Highlight #6: Volleyball, Karen Style

When you think Southeast Asia, you don't usually think volleyball.  But turns out the Karen are actually pretty big into the sport.  We found out the hard way when the Americans challenged the Karen to a game.  With a couple bamboo poles in the ground, a net, and a cleared space in the garden, it was on.  Despite our serious height advantage we got demolished, it wasn't even close.  I got a couple of good spikes in there though...  They were just too nice though, they felt bad and went easy on us after that.

Funny enough, the worst injury we had the whole trip was not on the construction site, but on the volleyball court.  James, our Australian friend, made a great dive for the ball but in the process hit the ground and dislocated his shoulder.  A few of us crowded around not knowing what to do, and then we remembered that there were a bunch of medics right there!  Raykaw ran over and after making sure some of the younger medics were watching to see how it's done, he popped James' shoulder back into place no problem.

Even if you don't understand each other's language sports are pretty universal.  There was a lot of laughter during our breaks from working to bring out the volleyball, even when we were losing to people a foot shorter than me.