Sunday, December 28, 2008

"My Kids"

Just wanted to introduce you to a few of the kids in my classroom:



Guess what? I have a son (no raised eyebrows, please!):) No, that's actually just what some people like to call him, but he walked his way right into my heart! He adopted me and I couldn't help but adopt him! He's the light of my life here! Without question he's one of the sweetest little kids on the planet and, yes, I am admittedly probably prejudiced, but others agree with me too!

Papiya's got to be one of the cutest little kids in my class!


This little guy, DuLwehSay, is only four or so. He's got the cutest grin and some of the most ragged clothes. Whether you're trying to punish him or grinning back at him, he is forever smiling.


Moonapi's a little girl after my own heart! She has a pretty rough story, but I'm not sure about all of it yet. I love her laugh! I honestly thought she was a boy at first. In fact, it's very hard to tell with some of the kids. Probably about four or so cute little "boys" ended being girls.:) Moonapi recently had a severe case of malaria and had to have a blood transfusion.


Pockataw's very special to me! I think he's got the most little boy in him that I've ever seen in a little boy.:)

And then there's GiGiThay and her little sister MuQueeLa. They were recently given to the school. They had been living with their grandmother who is a drug dealer. I don't think I've ever met a big sister with a more cheerful or devoted spirit to her younger sibling. MuQueeLa is three, but I was surprised when I learned that. I would have guessed her to be much much younger. We think she was probably a little behind with her development due to a lack of stimulation, but daily she seems to act more and more like a three year old. She's really becoming a little chatterbox!

Pathaclaw's my little knight in shining armour!:)

This is the yougest kid that's been coming to school recently. I'm told he's two-years-old.


I think this one's Pa Day Day (still gotta finish learning all 40+ names!)

Eh Ta Coo is a very sweet little boy that happens to be the chief mischief of the classroom. When the millitary leader found him he was being kept in a cage. I've been trying to somehow get through to him. I was absolutely floored the other day when it looked like he smiled and waved at me from a distance. It's my goal to someday see him without that sad look in his eyes.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Merry (late) Christmas!!

Hello, Friends!! A very late, very Merry Christmas to all of you!

I'm with my family for a couple days or so; so I get the major treat of internet access!!:)
Surprisingly, they do do Christmas here (not everyone, I don't think), but it's just different...and it does feel a bit weird to sing Jingle Bells while sitting under palm fronds and even stranger to hear strains of Silver Bells wafting out from another bamboo hut.:) But then I can't really complain as I always was the one to belt out The First Noel in July!

Have to admit to spending part of Christmas morning laying on my bamboo plastic mat staring up at the bamboo walls and leaf ceiling and picturing.... snow...Christmas trees...laughter...friends...food...and what all of you guys would be doing then...

In the evening I got to go see my family. As I'm sure you can image, that was a major spirit lifter as I hadn't seen them for several weeks. They had just moved into their new house that day so I got to spend the first night there with them. It really felt funny to have wood walls around me and glass in the windows. It's amazing how much a very simple wooden structure can feel like luxury after having only having been around bamboo. I think I'm going to have reverse culture shock going back to the States. Emily really outdid herself and put together a nearly regular Christmas dinner for us! Now that was a BIG treat after rice, vegetables, rice, and vegetables!:)
So...I hope all of you had a really really great Christmas....and I miss everyone extremely a lot.
A video of the kids singing. They can really sing! Sadly due to poor lighting you can't see much.
Our Christmas dinner!

Some Pics

Just thought I'd put on a few pics of where I am right now.



The hut I live in!


This little guy happened to be part of my welcoming committee. He'd already taken up residence above my mat. I'll admit to sneaking a peak at him half-way through the first night, but it was more disconcerting having him vanish a few days later than having him up there.


I love the mountains. Unfortunately, due to them being peppered with landmines, I can't do much exploring though.


The kindergarten "classroom" I spend so much of my time in.


This is a semi-typical meal. It's always rice, but the vegetable dish varies. You see a spoon there, but such things are only used for serving...most of the time.:)


Cooking/dining area for the kids.


Not a whole lot more to the cooking facilities.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Update

I admit to truly having been awful about keeping my blog updated, but I do sort of have an excuse as I really haven't had much internet access. So I thought I'd just basically try to give y'all an overview of what's going on. But at this point we've been here for nearly two months and so much has happened that I'm honestly at a loss for words as to how to tell it all, or even just a small part of it.

Right now I'm at a school teaching. Yes, you heard me right! I can just see those of you who know me smirking right now, but that is really what I'm doing.:) So I'm in charge of some 41 squirmy kindergarten kids ranging in age from about 2 to 14. I'm supposed to be keeping them happy and learning for several hrs a day in a small bamboo hut. We have no desks, no toys (besides coloring), no interpretor, and I can't even speak to them so they know what I'm saying beyond just a few simple sentences. It's the challenge of my life. But I'm really enjoying it and the kids are absolutely adorable and some of the sweetest little people you'll ever meet!


A few of "my" kids.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Quite Alive, I Insist!

Some of you may have caught wind of the rumor that I'm very sick. I just wanted to clear up that I have been a bit sick, but not THAT sick. In fact, much to my chagrin, embarrassment, and amusement I was told that at one church it was announced that I was so sick I was near death and someone else said they were expecting to hear a funeral announcement. At the moment I was informed of the church announcement I happened to be eating quite heartily and having a great time. But that news probably worked out for my benefit as they say laughter is good medicine.:) But I really do appreciate the prayers and wanted to say thank-you to all who have been praying. I was sicker for a while and I don't know what it might have turned into if it hadn't been for the prayers. They took me to the hospital yesterday. The doctor said I do have a staph infection, but I'm sure it will be cleared up soon. So...I protest that I'm really quite alive still.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Marketplace...

Speaking of food... this is sort of a postscript to my last blog. Some pics I snapped between boughts of nausea at the marketplace.
Yes, people around here actually EAT these things.=0 I had I'm afraid congratulated myself to have bypassed the famous culture shock, that is until I went to a local market. How can I describe it? Follow me in your imagination, if you will, to a place where flys abide and nearly unbearable stenchs torment sensitive noses. Enter with me into a dark and dank roofed structure filled with tables of miscelanious and at times unrecognizable items known as food.

To be continued...someday........







Thursday, November 6, 2008

Food?

Written 10-23-08

Before coming over here, I really never was a fan of Thai food. It just seemed a bit authentic for my american palate. So I'm sorry to say that the food here hasn't always been an easy matter for me. On the other hand, it's a continual source of enthrallment for Mama and Emily. I had strong (and I'm afraid to say possibly founded) suspicions that that's one of the things that helped to lure them over here.=0 Honestly, all in all the food isn't as bad as I might have imagined it to be, though there has been times when I've seriously struggled to get it down. Sometimes the heat is a bit more than I can take. Even on occasion Mama and Emily have been unable to finish their food. Of course, Thailand does have a few rather peculiar things they consider to be delicacies. Take rats, for instance! Guess what? The meat's really "good." But, be warned, don't try any Bangkok rats. Further up north it's OK, 'cause they're "clean." Haha! They're bought by the kilo, just in case you were interested. And guess what I caught sight of in a civil looking store last night? Don't worry, I'm not going to keep you in suspense for long--Live toads. For eating, I assume!

How germ laden is the food we're eating you ask? Generally I try not to go there. But......as an exception (for your special benefit), I'll expound.

These are the general rules of thumb around here for when you go out to find some food from any of those quaint little rice shops along the road:

Don't look around. Just don't. Trust me, you don't want to! Don't look at the sewer in the gutter in front; don't study the refuse lying around; tune out the buzzing flys; don't worry as to the sanitary conditions of the counter, or, for that matter, the knife cutting the vegetables, or, most of all don't glance at the skim covering the brackish water they just used to wash the vegetables; don't dwell on the fact that the person cutting up your vegetables didn't use toilet paper when they last used the restroom; and, whatever you do, please, please don't investigate as to the source of that peculiar (may I say gross?) odor wafting around you; if you by chance out of the corner of your eye catch a glimpse of odd looking critters frying or waiting to be fried, quickly redirect your gaze elsewhere and don't even consider as to if your wonderful vegetarian food will come into contact with that same pot; don't allow your mind to linger on the (true) horror stories of the dishes not being washed with soap, or, worse yet, being washed in the sewer; don't worry, I'm not going to the drinking water... So, really, just don't - it's that simple! Don't look up, don't look down, don't look in front of you, to the sides, or behind you - they're by far the most dangerous. Maybe acting blind is the best option after all! They say that what you don't know won't hurt you...blissful ignorance is the best!:) Wanna come eat with me?=P

(Disclaimer: This could be slightly exaggerated for some places! Not necessarily all of said conditions are accumilated in one place, although that is sometimes the case.)



I caught sight of this dog taking it's morning beauty sleep up on one of the tables at a restaurant I passed. Simply had to snap a picture. Thought it quite fitting for this blog.:)

Sunday, October 19, 2008


This country has a way of making a poor american feel really...spoiled. Earlier this morning I was sprawled out in a wooden kick-back chair type thing with a fan blowing on me (the heat and humidity can make things quite miserable) listening to my ipod and feeling downright - spoiled (ouch).


Anyways...


Sabbath was very nice. We had sabbath school and church at the Griswald's house (they're some other missionaries in the area). There's a reasonable number of Thai people attending church. They translated most of what was said for us. Thai sounds like it would be very difficult to learn.
After lunch we went to a school where they're holding classes for the kids there. The kids are so cute! There was also an adorable cat at the school, but it was really skinny. It acted like it was starved for attention. There was a little down syndrome boy who was playing with it and basically hanging it from it's neck (until someone intervened.) The cat didn't even try to get away from him. It seemed to not care what was done to it as long as it was getting attention. The Griswalds took it home and are going keep it. I was so happy about that. It's hard for me to see a lot of the animals they have here. They're so uncared for.
Later in the afternoon, the Kiers took us to a type of sanctuary place for elephants! That's the first time I've ever seen an elephant in real life, except for maybe at a zoo or something when I was really small. They are huge! They had quite a few babies who were absolutely adorable. One of them apparently enjoyed chasing us and was big enough to keep some of us on the run. Some of the workers were riding the elephants. They were perched up on the elephants without any type of saddle or anything. The elephants will either lift up a leg for you to step on to get on or they will get down on their knees. We also got to follow them when they took a few of the elephants down to the river for a bath. I don't think the elephants look as big in the pictures as in real life. Really neat to see all that.

Yesterday the Kiers took us to Lotus (basically a Wal-Mart here in Thailand). This country can be so poor in some places and so high-tech in others. It's amazing.

Later we ate at a vegetarian restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was so sweet. She tryed to talk with us and Mrs. Kier told us that she was asking Mama to give her one of us kids. Lol! She asked several times. I'm not sure if she was really serious or not. After Mama's refusal, she finally settled on telling Mrs. Kier that she was going to pray that God would give Mrs. Kier five children and that then Mrs. Kier would give her one of them. She kept holding up one finger and reapeating, "Just one, just one." in Thai.:)

We're leaving on the train at 4:00 this afternoon for Chang Mai. That will be a first for me. I've never been on a train before. Sounds exciting, but a bit long - 12 hrs.:)


I'll get back with you later.


Friday, October 17, 2008

We're here!

Warning: This is LOONG. If you don't have time, don't attempt to read it. I had too much to say to even try to condense it.:-)

We're in Thailand right now! It's almost hard to believe, even when I'm looking at my surroundings. We flew into Bangkok around midnight on Thursday (this time - we're about 13 hrs ahead of you guys in MT). It was a long flight. We left at (this is all approx.) 6:20 from Kalispell on Tuesday morning, flew to Seattle where we had about a 6 hr layover, from there it was 11 hrs to Tokyo, about a 45 min. layover and around 7 more hrs to Bangkok.
Things were crazy the last few days. It was very hard saying goodbye to friends. Monday night some of us never got any sleep just trying to do last minute things. We were supposed to be out of the house by about 2:30 a.m., but we weren't ready so we ended up dashing out the door around 4:00 or so. I did manage to somehow get in a cat nap part of the way to the airport. We were nearly frantic thinking we might miss the plane. An accident happened right in front of us while we were driving through Whitefish. We were so thankful it wasn't us. Arriving at the airport, some dear friends surprised us by being there. Poor people! some of them got up at 2:30 just to meet us and had waited at the airpor for us since 4:30. So sweet.
I just so happened to be one of those "special" people randomly picked my my airline for a more thorough inspection than anyone else.:/
When we arrived in Bangkok, a friend picked us up. We were so thankful to have someone with us to find a van for all our luggage, speak Thai, tell us where to go and what to do, ect.
We found a room for the rest of the night at a very nice hotel. We were really surprised by it. I hadn't expected to see anything that nice in Thailand, except for maybe a tourist resort. We only had to pay like 600 baht (maybe $16?) for it, though. Although it was after midnight here because of the time change and all I didn't feel like sleeping yet. Found solace in my guitar for a while. We were up around 4:00 a.m. and had to wait for another long 4 hrs until we could do anything. My guitar really came in handy again. I think I've played more in the last two days than I have in the last two months before that.:)
We headed out onto the street to look for a rice shop or something for breakfast. That's when things got more interesting. Believe me, it's a totally different story actually being out on a street than looking out of a fourteenth story window at a street. Looking out the window is like looking at a picture or watching any movie you see of a third world country, but when you actually get out on the street you have all the added effects - the sound and smell especially. Sometimes I even hesitated to take pictures because I felt that a picture could never adequately show things as they are. You guys have really already heard it all. There's not a whole bunch I could say that you haven't already somehow heard. But it's different when you actually are there. Of course anytime you go somewhere new there's surprises in that things are never exactly how you imagined them to be. But I have a pretty good imagination and I think for the most part can expect things to be worse than they end up being. We saw extreme poverty to extreme wealth all in one day. Walking the streets there was the aweful smell, dirty kids, sad looking people, and filth; but later on we went to a mall type thing we had never seen the likes of. It was incredible. And then Ben took us to -- Subway! Yes, the restaurant! I thought I'd eaten my last sub. Not so! No worries, that's not going to be our everyday fare. I guess, according to Ben, after you've been on a Thai diet for a while you start to crave those things. I can believe that.
The heat and humidity can be quite tiring. Mama suggested that we had had an "exhaust"ive walk. It's not uncommon in Bangkok to see people walking around with masks on their faces due to the pollution.
Piled back in a taxi for the trip across the city to our room. This time we had a, well, younger and more spirited driver. Poor Mama! She told us that she took comfort in the thought that God wouldn't have brought us to Thailand to die. At least one of us thought it was kind of fun.=) They drive on the opposite side of the road here. Someone said they drive like flowing water - meaning you go around whatever's in your way. I'd have to say that sounds pretty accurate.

Right now we up in Ayuttaya, about a 1 1/2 hr drive from Bangkok.

I think one of the hardest things for me so far would have to be the noise. I've been raised a country girl. The dogs next door intermittently howl (and I mean HOWL) away. Sometimes it dosen't seem quite so intermittent. It's 4:56 in the morning right now and the loudspeakers just came on blaring Thai music. We're told they're going to read the newspaper on there too. I guess they recently turned off the speaker that was right beside our friend's house.:]

We should be headed to Chang Mai by Monday or so.

I'll put an update on later.


I have this fascination with plane's wings and the sky.


So beautiful, I think!:)


The long wait in Seattle.








Tired in Tokyo. 7 more hrs to go.





Getting rooms for the rest of the night.


The next morning. Jet-lag, if you ever saw it. Josiah must have slept like this for around 4 hrs while we made racket all around him.


This is the rice shop where we stopped.





That's breakfast, folks!:-)





One of the streetsweepers.


Bangkok




Yes, that's six of us piled into the back of a taxi!=0


There's the poor vehicle.


That place was almost indescribable.


Had to document it.


Doing it again. Poor Emily's looking a bit smushed.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Times ticking...

One week - yesterday!