Sitcom in the Village

Maybe this next tale is one of those had-to-be-there moments, I’m not sure. Anyway, I turned it over in my head several times afterwards, grinning each time, so here goes.

Jip’s 97-year-old grandma for years has complained of symptoms that in Thailand are lumped under the term “wind illness.” This generic malady is thought to be related to weather in indirect ways, or perhaps to a lack of balance among wind, water, earth, and fire. Beyond that its causes and cures are the subject of much debate.

When Jip did health research among Cambodian women in Seattle, she found them mentioning it frequently, often when discussing their older female relatives. She even wrote up a short article about wind illness in a medical journal, in order to help Western doctors understand the phenomenon in their Asian patients.

Her expertise came in handy when we traveled to Jip’s village last weekend for what has become our annual pilgrimage. We spent two nights. Jip and Grandma were both in great form, laughing easily, enjoying being together. On the second morning, they both woke up around the same time.

Jip complained of stiff legs. I had just started to help her move them, when from the other room came the sound of Grandma moaning in a way that Jip has apparently been used to since forever. Jip’s mom usually deals with the wind illness attacks, but she was at the market. (Jip knew this without having to ask. Mom never misses the Monday morning market.)

So I was dispatched to massage Grandma and to fix her a dose of “bpaaeng cha na lohm,” a special powder to combat wind illness sold by guys along the roadside. Never mind that I had never touched Grandma in my life. Never mind that she was under a mosquito net, which made it hard for her to see whose hands were reaching for her. Never mind that she’s about 90% deaf, so even if my Thai had been perfect she wouldn’t have gotten much of it.

Jip wasn’t helping matters. She thought the whole situation was hysterical. Which I suppose it was. Between Jip shouting barely intelligible instructions from the other room, and Grandma making sick elephant noises, and my trying to convince Grandma that I knew how much powder to mix into how much water, the scene was made for situation comedy. Or maybe you had to be there.