Last Words

I can’t believe that I’ve been in Thailand for three months.  In two days I will leave the farm and go down to Chiang Mai to pick Jordan up from the airport.  My last day here at the farm will be Sunday.  I’m sad, but I’m also ready to go home.  I really miss pasta.  That’s going to be my first meal: a big bowl of pasta with some lemon juice and olive oil.  That’s my favorite. 

For our last weekend here we all went ziplinning and spent the night at a lake.  It was perfect.  Ziplinning was tons of fun.   Your in these trees hundreds of feet off the ground on a platform ziplinning from tree to tree.  At the lake we rented kyaks and took them out in the rain.  The rain was nice and warm you barely even noticed it.  We all got pretty beat up fighting each other off the rafts, trying to be the last person to stay on.  Also, we had some great food.  Potatoes, corn and chicken.  Mmm, mmm.  I love a good barbeque. 

G and I just played a game of cards with the kids.  They are so great.  Their English is really getting better.  We taught them how to play scum and they killed us. I’m really going to miss them.  So much.  Living with them and being with them all the time has taught me a lot.  And the relationship that has grown between us is great.  It’ll be sad to not play ping pong with them or play tag hearing them laugh and scream.  I’m going to miss this place.  I’m going to miss the rain, reading a good book all day, the great street food, the other BYU students, and of course the kids.  

Laos, Elephants, Peace and Love

As always, more pictures here.
It's been awhile since I've posted.  I blame not having any WiFi.

At the beginning of July we met up with the BYU group from Cambodia before we headed up to Laos.  Before we left we spent a day in Thailand having great adventures.  We went to a waterfall, "rafting" on bamboo rafts, and of course, riding an elephant.  Everything was amazing.  It was the typical thing to do in Thailand and I'm glad I got to do it.  The whole time we were riding an Elephant I just kept thinking of how unreal the whole thing was.

Laos was wonderful.  It was also much hotter than Thailand, something we thought was impossible.  But, we got to stay in a very nice hotel air conditioned and everything.  It even had a shower with a door.  Those just don't exist in Thailand.  We went to a beautiful waterfall the first day there.  It had crystal clear blue water with a rope swing and falls you could jump off of.  We spent the next day riding around on bicycles and touring the city sweating buckets and buckets before finally cooling down at a nice pool where we had fries.  Real American fries.  This was on July 4th so it was very fitting.  We spent the night of the 4th at an american bar eating american food watching drunk people light off little fireworks.  We also played a great game of volleyball against the Cambodes (group from Cambodia).  I think it can be assumed here that of course Thailandia won.  More like crushed them.

I don't have time to write much more, but the pictures say it all.

This is at a Wat in the mountains where we meditated the morning we rode elephants.

It was absolutely beautiful and very peaceful.

Riding Elephants!

This is where we stayed after riding on a slow boat on the Mekong.  We rode the boat for two days before finally getting to Laos.  It was a Very small town right on the river side.

Our first morning in Laos we hiked to the top of a temple on a hill.  I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my life.

This is where we swam at our first waterfall.  We swam down lower on the river and than hiked up to see this fall.

View of Luan Prabang.

Teaching, Teaching, Teaching

Everything has been going great here in Thailand.  I love it more and more everyday.  Yesterday before dinner a couple of the girls were talking to me and telling me who everyone like who's boyfriend was who's and who they liked last month but not anymore etc.  G and I had been guessing these things because the older kids pair off and talk and flirt, we were right about most of them.  Of course Kam likes Petch and Aussie likes Oh, but I never knew that Ganyanwee had so many boys after her!

I think though that the best moments come when you see that everything you have been doing hasn't gone to waste and these kids actually do listen and learn from you even though they do everything to make you feel the opposite.  Last weekend a group of student from a Bangkok international school came to the Farm to spend a couple of days with the foundation.  All week we had been practicing and practicing with the kids on introducing themselves.  Thais are very quiet people (except when they yell.  My goodness they can yell) and very shy.  They were nervous about getting up in front of a group of older students who spoke perfect English and introducing themselves in English, a third language for many of these kids.  So, the day came and we were... ready?  Yes, we were ready.  As we went around the circle and everyone got up to introduce themselves I got so happy when Sua remembered everything we had taught him.  He said it with a smile and confidence letting everyone know that "he was from Burma, and liked to ride his bike and eat banana!"  We wrote down an entire page for Kam to say, but she got up there and and told everyone who she was and what grade she was in.  She didn't even pause to remember, she just spoke.

I love that joy you get when you teach and you realize that you are actually doing something.  Very often I feel like me teaching English to these children isn't doing anything.  I look at all the volunteers they've had in the past and how many times they've learned the vocabulary for the kitchen and think, am I even doing anything?  Does me being here mean anything?  But then there's moments like last weekend when they get up in front of a big group and that yeah, it does make a difference.  It might be slow, and it might be painful.  But at least it's working.

Chiang Mai at night (obviously).  Seen from Wat Doi Suthep

Machete vs. Machete

If I haven't written the new/old volunteers lately than shame on me because they're pretty cool.  Their names are Philipp and Leoni, they're German and they're awesome.  It has been so much fun to have them at the orphanage because they bring a whole new aspect to this entire experience.  Philipp loves to go rock climbing and so last Thursday they took us to a gym in Chiang Mai and we all went rock climbing.  It was fun.  More than that.  It was SO much fun.  The people there were great.  We went again on Saturday and it was just as much fun.  Also, it's super cheap.  A big plus.  Reason number two why they're so great: they love good food (naturally, they're from Germany).  We love to reminisce about all the food we miss.  Mostly we talk about bread and cheese and of course I throw in pasta.  But above all the number one reason why I think they're so cool, they love their language.  They make German seem like this amazing language that you can not only learn but make fit you as if it was your own language.  Philipp talks about his language as if it's a part of him, and I'm sure it is.  I think our native language is a part of all of us, but it's different for Philipp.  Today we were talking and he asks me, "Do you say Machete?  You know for that big knife?"  Yes we do.  "But it sounds so.. 'Machete!' like a little girl." (I really hope you've been imagining this in a burly German accent) "In German we say MacHater!"  It's spelled m-a-c-h-e-t-e, but pronounce MacHater!  It was a perfect example of their love for the German language.  There they both were saying, "Machete!" while throwing their arms up into the air.

It has been so great having them here at the farm with us.  I love talking to them and joking around.  It seems a bit weird that when they leave in a week or so I will most likely never see them again.  So, Leoni and Philipp if you are reading this I hope you know that we loved having you here at the farm.  Thanks for teaching me great German words (Shiesser), showing me how wonderful your language is and how wonderful I can make my language, telling me about your dogs and therefore making me want one as soon as I can get my hands on one, and taking me rock climbing.  I hope that you eat a big piece of warm German bread as soon as you get home.

p.s. For those of you that have been squirming in your chairs, Philipp is spelled correctly.
and, more pictures here.  Of course.

Leonie and Philipp

Biking, Teaching, Touring, Laughing

More photos here.
Last night it rained all night and into the morning which means that today is a nice cool day.  I can sit outside and not sweat.  It feels so good, and I'm very grateful for the rain though it means snakes will come during the night.  Let's just hope they stay clear of our bathroom.

Last weekend was one of the best.  We headed down to a beautiful place called Sukothai.  Part of it is an old ancient city with ruins of old temples, buildings, and Buddha statues.  We all rented bikes and rode around the city all day long.  This resulted in sunburns (sorry Mom), awful tan lines, a heat stroke for G, and tons and tons of fun.  One thing that made it less fun was getting road burn on my leg that doesn't have the burn.  This means that standing isn't very comfortable, and also being at Sukothai in the heat with a fresh wound meant little baby flies sitting on that wound.  Gross.  But everything turned out fine, and it was still a lot of fun.

Sukothai

Everything is going great.  I love it hear.  Teaching English is getting easier.  Now on Fridays we teach for about 5 hours at the school.  The older kids are a lot of fun to teach, but the younger ones are a little harder especially because the Thai teachers give them to us all at once (about 25 kids) for two hours. We're hoping that in the future we will only teach three hours a day instead of five, we'll see what happens.

On Sunday G got heat stroke so we didn't think that taking the trucks home would be a good idea.  We waited until a man from the ward was able to take us home in his car.  My goodness he is the funniest Thai person I've ever met.  He's also not a very good driver.  We were driving around trying to find the road that takes us to Doi Saket when he starts driving behind this big grocery store.  G and I ask him where we are going and in his heavy accent he replies, "I don't know?"  We all started laughing and laughing.  Next thing we know he's pulling out onto this very fast road.  In about 2 seconds he crosses three lanes and cuts somebody off.  That car swerved around us and speed up ahead.  Very calmly he says, "Wow.  He was mad."  After we finally got on our way to Doi Saket he was more cautious.  Or as he would say "I have cautious."  It was great.  So great.  I love it here and I can't believe that I have less than two months left. It's crazy. It feels like yesterday I was stepping off the plane in Bangkok so excited to get up to the foundation and start working.  And now I'm here, doing just that.  I have to remind myself that this will all soon be gone.  And I'll miss the cicadas that hurt your ears, the frogs that can get so loud I can't sleep, and the meals where I wonder what in the world I'm eating.  But most of all I'll miss the children.  I'll miss playing ninja attack with them (Now they're so good it's impossible to beat them) and having arm wrestles with boys and getting sore arms the next days.  They are all wonderful people, and I hope that some how, in some way, my being here will have meant something to them.

Fa, Me, G, Kam.

All the kids before going to school.

I'm an Asian

More pictures here.
You know when you get hurt and at first your not that worried about the injury, just taking it as it goes?  Then somebody talks to you and tells you all the things that can go wrong with what is already wrong with you.  Consequently you get a little paranoid and can't stop thinking about what was previously just a pain in the leg.  Literally.

Last weekend G and I headed down to Chiang Mai like we always do.  To get back to the orphanage we have to take a series of trucks up the mountains and then somebody from the orphanage has to drive out to the main road to pick us up and take us back.  So it was a nice Sunday night and we were waiting to be picked up when Aussi (a 15 year old boy mind you) shows up on a two seater, I repeat, Two seater scooter.  Also keep in mind that the wheels on the scooters here are significantly smaller than the wheels on scooters in America or Europe so it's already a little wobbly when you ride it.  It ended up that all three of us were riding home on this small scooter, and I think it's important to note that G and I had back packs that amounted to a large 10 year old.  It made me feel Thai.  For a wonderful 10 minutes I thought I was as Asian as the Asian driving the scooter.  Everyone listen! (or read)  Being Asian is awesome.  

Here's where my being Asian stopped.  Petch (another 15 year old) showed up on a second scooter.  So I was getting off the first and onto the second when I noticed that my leg hurt really bad.  Like it was on fire.  You guessed it my leg was resting against the uncovered exhaust pipe on the scooter.  Needless to say I didn't enjoy the second half of my ride home in the fresh night air watching the lighting a ways off as the Asian I previously was.  Okay, maybe I enjoyed it a little bit but my skin had just been melted and it kind of hurt.

I got burned, and I got burned bad.  I don't know why the engineers who design these scooters don't think, "Man, this exhaust pipe gets Really hot after driving this scooter.  It's open and anyone can touch it, especially when they're getting off the back and they need to put their leg there.  Hmm... maybe we should cover it... Meh, they'll just learn by experience."  And we do.  We do learn by experience.

I wasn't too worried about the burn until the new volunteers from Germany started talking to me about it.  They said things like "flies sit on it," "they plant eggs," and "you can't always be swatting at them, some flies are too small to notice."  That's when my paranoia kicked in.  So, now I keep it covered as I should/should have so no flies can lay their eggs in there.  

Besides that burn (which really isn't that bad, it's just something to write about.) everything is going great.  So great.  Especially because as I write this I'm listening to one of my favorite songs and that always makes a good moment better.  I love it here, and though I miss my family and friends I wouldn't trade this experience for the world.  It is so much fun to be with these people.  And up at the orphanage I get the opportunity to meet so many people from all around the world because what we call guests come to the orphanage a few times a week to see what we're all about.  It is fantastic and I love it.

What's the Story Morning Glory?

More pictures here.
Here at the farm we eat morning glory a lot.  You know that weed in your most precious flower bed that keeps growing and growing until it has taken over every beautiful daffodil and chrysanthemum you have?  And then you get out this thing called weed killer, and spray it all over that vile plant in order to take it out of this world. We eat that here.  Okay, not exactly.  Here we eat what is called Chinese morning glory, sometimes known as Chinese spinach.  So it's really not bad, or weird, but for the first week I thought we thought we were eating that exact weed.

Here are the differences.  This is Chinese Morning Glory

This is the weed you kill.

I really just wanted to write about morning glory because I have never heard of eating it like they do here, and I wanted the title of this blog to be What's the Story Morning Glory (you know the play Bye Bye Birdie?).

So, last weekend we headed up to a city called Lampang with some ward members and missionaries to spend the day at a blind school.  They had the day filled with different activities for the children like reading them stories, singing songs, and games like telephone.  My favorite was playing this game where they stood in a line and they had to pass water from one person to another eventually into a cup. We were all laughing and laughing as they tried to pass it, but mostly ended up throwing it on us and each other.  It was great, and I really enjoyed working with them and getting a taste for what the blind community is like.  The kids were so happy with life, it made me once again remember the blessings I enjoy everyday.

I am loving it here, hot weather, bugs and all.  I'm not sure if I've told you about Frank, the big daddy long leg that sits in the corner of our room.  He's pretty chipper most of the time.  Except when we have to kill the daddy long legs on the floor of our room, then he won't talk for a few hours.  But give him an ant or fly and he cheers up again.

p.s.

For whatever reason my computer decided to stop reading my SD card so I can't get the pictures off of my camera. So until I figure that out, I won't have any pictures to post.  

I got it to work, see the link at the top.

Wats, Massages and Opinions.

More pictures here.

This last weekend G and I headed down to Chiang Mai to do something "touristy" with all the other interns in Chiang Mai (there are 11 of us total)  Saturday afternoon we headed up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a famous Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai.  Sadly I forgot my camera, so maybe I'll try to post some pictures from my phone.  It was beautiful.  The Wat has these big, long stairs that take you up to the temple, then you go inside and everything is gold plated, with these beautiful intricate southeastern Asia designs.  We got blessed by a monk for "success in all your life," (which I am very excited about), and then we were given a string bracelet for good luck.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep: Stairs leading up to the temple

In the Wat looking up at the main gold plated steeple.

We spent the evening eating great food and going to the night bazar (a series of small shops and stands that sell everything from wooden frogs to vans).  We all the famous Thai massage, and let me tell you, it is famous for a reason.  I got a foot massage and it was perfect after being on my feet all day.

Some Thai Culture:

Many of you might know that sex trafficking is a big problem here in Thailand.  Last Saturday night as our wonderful facilitator Spencer was sending everyone home G, Chloe and I started people watching.  We saw again and again old grey haired men with young beautiful Thai girls.  I don't know if this is technically "sex trafficking" or prostitution, and it could be that it's just a man with his wife/girlfriend in a completely normal relationship.  All if's and buts aside, 9 out of 10 times it's nothing good.  Here in Thailand this is a very common sight, and I just want to express how grateful I am to grow up in a place where things like this aren't commonplace.  I am so grateful that where I come from women are more than an item to be played with.

I hope that I haven't offended anybody by what I just wrote.  I just think that reading about what it is Really like in Thailand is more interesting than hearing about me sorting through illegal DVD's for 15 minutes.  I also am a strong believer that people should get the cake, not just the pretty icing on top.

What's your opinion on issues like this?

The Children's Shelter Foundation

I attempted to upload pictures but it was taking too long.  So, go here to look at the coolest pics you'll ever see. (maybe a bit of an exaggeration?)

Genevieve and I made it to the orphanage on Sunday night.  It is much cooler here than in Chiang Mai so it is possible to be outside during the day.  Everything here is so beautiful.  Every inch is covered in something green and growing.

The children are amazing.  They are all so cute and loving.  They pretty much take care of themselves and each other.  Tomorrow they will start going to school in the city.  Genevieve and I are going to teach English one on one to about 4 people each.  I'm really excited to start working and teaching except for the fact that I have NO idea how to do it.  My respect for teachers has grown a lot since being here.

It is very humbling being here with the kids and seeing how they live and what their lives are like.  Most of them have some family, but their Mom or Dad can't afford to send them to school so they are living here.  Today we had a little art class and we had them all draw what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Some wanted to be nurses, a hair stylist, a tour guide (tourism is the big business here, most Thai people go into it.  It's a love hate relationship because it's a job, but many could be doing better things.), or something like Iron Man, spider man etc.

There are so many bugs here.  There are always three or four Geckos in our room.  Last night I turned over my pillow and a Gecko was on the other side.  I took my pillow outside and was trying to shake it off but it just kept running around the pillow.  It got a little too close to me and of course I threw the pillow onto the ground right into a pile of ants.  Most of you know that I Hate ants.  A lot.  There was a frog in our bathroom one morning, and there are always a few spiders and moths hanging out by the shower.  I was getting a mento from an already open pack and a bunch of tiny ants came out and up my arm.  I kept finding them crawling on me for a while after that.  I am slowly getting used to all of this, and it really isn't too bad. Overall it is fun a beautiful, everyone is so so nice.

p.s.
If you have any suggestions of how I can teach English to someone who speaks none let me know!  Keep in mind that I don't speak any Thai...

A Day in Chiang Mai

Street view from our apartment

See more pictures here.

After 40 hours of flying on planes, Ambien induced memory loss, walking in foreign airports, taking sketchy shuttles to our hotel and a long smelly bus ride, Chloe, Genevieve and I finally made it to Chiang Mai.  We staggered of the bus and sat at the station enveloped in the hot humid air while we waited for Spencer, the facilitator of our internship, and Bird, the man who lives in Thailand who helps us get our internships, to come pick us up.  We were the typical Farangs ( a Thai term that means "foreigner") standing there looking disheveled and lost with our big suitcases.

So far we have worked hard to get rid of our Jet lag, eaten lots of very delicious foods, and learned how to count in Thai.  Genevieve (or G) and I are staying in a "guest house" before we move up to the orphanage, about 40 minutes away from Chiang Mai in the middle of nowhere, where we will be working with hilltribe orphaned children.  I'm not one hundred percent sure what we will be doing but I think that it will be teaching English and ASL, working in their garden with the kids, (its huge and it's where they get all the food they eat), and cooking.  The guest house G and I are staying is tiny and has no air conditioning.  That means that we avoid it at all costs during the day, and at night we sleep in shorts with no blankets, just a fan blowing on us.  Surprisingly that fan keeps it at a near perfect temperature, though it's still a bit warm.

Yesterday was our first real day in the city.  It was such a long day, by the time I went to be I felt that I had been here for three days.  During the day we went around with Spencer and Bird doing things to set up internships for the other people that will be coming and working in Chiang Mai.  In the evening we walked over to Wat Phra Sing (pronounce, pa-sing).  It was beautiful.  Everything was so elaborate and detailed.  When you go in you have to take your shoes off out of respect.  In Thailand your feet are the dirtiest part of your body and therefore you don't show your feet to anybody or touch your feet to anyone.  The Buddha statues that are placed around the temple are also sacred.  Years ago around 1980 I think some missionaries climbed on the statue, touched the head (the most sacred part of the body, also something you don't touch), and then took pictures. They made the mistake of developing these pictures.  The people who developed them saw this and as a result missionaries weren't allowed in Thailand for years, destroying years and years of of the church developing a good relationship with this country, and one was in jail for about 6 months.  Needless to say, you are very respectful around the statues.  If you decide to be in a picture with one, you just smile.  No funny faces or stances.

Genevieve by Wat Phra Sing

After we went to the Temple we went to a wedding that was being held in the LDS Church.  It was beautiful and everyone was so happy.  The LDS Church is so nice.  It is clean and has this big grassy area next to it, something you just don't find here.  Also it has air conditioning.  A BIG bonus.  After the wedding we went in to the gym where they had small tables laid out with small bowls of food on them.  The little Thai boys are Crazy!  Bird keeps telling G that she is "do" (pronounced with a sound we don't have in English).  There's not a direct translation, but it means that you are naughty.  Like a little kid is naughty.  You are crazy, talk a lot, and have a lot of energy.  Bird tells her that she is "do" just like his son.  Anyways, being at this wedding I saw exactly what he meant.  Bird's son was there and he was "do" right along with every other boy.  They were running around the gym laughing and screaming only sitting down for a second to get a bit of sticky rice.

The last thing we did yesterday was the Night Bazar.  It is a series of stands where people sell things, mostly to the Farangs.  It can be a little expensive compared to what you might find at the Sunday March, but to us it's not.  A pair of sunglasses is 200 Baht, about 6 dollars, and some shorts are about 300 Baht.  It was full of energy, so many people were there buying and selling all sorts of things.

Thailand is so amazing.  I wish that all of you could be here.  I am hoping that I will soon get used to how hot and humid it is because at my place at the orphanage I don't have air conditioning either.  It's so hot that in the morning when you are getting ready you sweat.  When you are sitting down eating lunch, you sweat.  At night when you walk down the street, you sweat.  Besides all of this is is perfect.  The people are so so kind.  They help you with anything and don't mind that you can't speak Thai.  In Europe if you try to speak, say French, they just look at you and speak English and act like you are a hassle to deal with.  But in Thailand when you try to speak and mess up they kindly correct you and smile, they're just glad you are trying to speak it.

There are more pictures here.

First Post

The title of this blog effectively explains the purpose of this page.  With that considered I guess I don't need a "first blog post."