Today was a good day.

I feel good as today comes to a close.  Everything went well today and I am really starting to feel myself connecting to these kids.  Most come up to me and hug me whenever they see me, whether it is in the morning, after they come back from school, when they are going to bed, or just whenever.  It is great, honestly.  I am sad when the kids leave for school every morning at 8, but school is good and they must go.

In the morning Kam (One of the kids - She is 16.) and I painted signs.  We are repainting all of the signs in the farm and it is actually really fun.  I love to paint so it makes me happy when Chey, our manager, asks us to do it.  There are probably 100 signs dispersed through the farm.  One saying welcome, one explaining what plant it is near, so on.  It is just going to be a lot of painting.  Here at the Children's Shelter Foundation (That is what this place is call -- I have been forgetting to mention that.) their signature or logo is a hand... So Kam and I decided it would look good to put hand prints on some of the signs.  We got out some red paint and smeared it all over our hands, putting it on our favorite signs.  With the leftover paint we decided it would be good to paint the dog that was near where we were working.  We put hand prints all over him! He looked like he belonged in Pocohontas!

A guest came today and only stayed for the day.  We showed her around the farm and took her to the school when it was time to get the kids so she could see where they learn.  It is a pretty nice school, though it is so much different than in America.  I can't even explain how different.  But yeah.  We had a great dinner with her too.  So yummy.  Her name was Zoey and she was from England. I love being able to meet all of these different kinds of people from all over the world every week.  One week they were from Switzerland, then New York, then Germany, and now England.  And they are all so nice and unique.

Every night we have started to play games.  Usually we have played Ninja Attack which is always fun but now we have started playing missionary tag, which gets crazy.  Everyone is laughing and it is chaotic but honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.

Two things I want to tell you about before I close and go to bed...

1. The kids call me PiiG (pronounced PG) which I like and I find it ironic because that is where I grew up -- in Pleasant Grove, UT.  They call someone who is older than them Pii and then their name to show respect.  And then there is PiiKristin which they still have a hard time pronouncing.  It comes out more like PiiKisstin haha.  It is awesome.

2. Yesterday after school a bunch of the younger kids climbed onto Kristin and my beds and played games on our computers.  There was five of them: Ohm-Em, Li-Bee, Be-Mai, Da-Wan, and Me-King. After about an hour squished onto our beds we decided it was time to kick them out.  But they kids didn't like that idea so they started to tickle us and pretty soon with was an all-out tickle war, full of screaming, laughing and pleading.  It was a wonderful mess and I think the kids really had a good time.

Well I am tired. Peace.

Catching Up

So I haven't posted in a few days but that is okay, I have been busy.

Last week was good.  Friday was National Buddha Day in Thailand so the kids did not have school.  We woke up and did this little ritual in front of a Buddha statue they have here on the farm, which consisted of this chanting, burning some candles, and getting on our hands and knees to bow to the Buddha.  Kristin and I didn't actually do it but we just watched.  It was very interesting and different than anything I have seen.  After breakfast we all got packed up and went to the city, Doi Suket.  The best part was we put 25 people into one truck to get there.  They have this thing attached to the bed of the truck.  It is like a covering thing with to benches in it, but they crammed a third bench into it.  So there was 11 people in the cab of the truck and the 14 people in the bed on these benches.  It was awesome, though the entire time I thought we were going to die and every bump killed because there were no shocks because we were so heavy.  Anyways when we got to the city we climbed 321 stairs to get to the temple.  They did some more bowing and stuff which was again so interesting.  We all got some soda after from this old lady and her mobile cart.  I got Coke with so much ice.  After the Coke was gone we used our straws and spit ice at each other, which was surprisingly really fun.  These kids are crazy.  Once we were done with our drinks Kristin and I said bye to our beautiful kids and hopped onto a yellow truck to go to Chiang Mai.

We did a bunch of random things with some of the interns on Friday night.  We went to the mall where we got to try out the newest weight-loss program.  It is this platform that you stand on and it shakes you back and forth.  Apparently as your fat jiggles everywhere it is supposed to somehow disappear.  So smart guys, great job!  It was really funny.  We got massages that night too.  I got a 30 minute foot massage and a 30 minute back and neck massage.  So worth it because it was only like 4 bucks altogether. Haha! The only thing was when she was doing my back and neck I was getting tickled so bad.  I was laughing so hard.  The kinda laughing that you just can't stop and it feels so good.  After I few moments of me laughing pretty much everyone in the salon was laughing.  It's a time that I will probably never forget.

Saturday we went to Lampang which is about two hours to the south to help with a Blind School.  We played games and sang songs and did all sorts of random things with them.  They were all so sweet and I am sad that I won't be able to see them again.

Yesterday, after church Kristin and I came back to the orphanage a little bit early, like 4.  It was nice because we just relaxed until dinner at 6. We have started to watch Alias during our free time but it is incredible hard because it only loads like 10 minutes at a time.  But we have figured out a system in which we use both of our computers.  It is very cool.  Anyways yesterday we were watching it and Oh-Em came in and laid on me so see could see the computer.  When the episode was over I talked to her and tried to get up but she had fallen asleep.  It was so cute.  She was laying on me stomach to stomach.  I didn't move for a good while just because I didn't want to wake her and I loved that she fell asleep on me.

So yes it has been a busy week but things are great and I am still loving every minute here.  I am trying really hard to let myself be happy and to not dwell on the hard things.  I don't want to get old and look back on my life and regret that I didn't let myself be happier.  I am good at being happy too, I don't know why I forget that.

Here is a few pictures of our adventures:

Li-Bee and I.  He lost two teeth this weekend :)

Always pretty sunsets here in Thailand. Reminds me of Arizona.

Octopus and Squid.... yum... 

We walked into our hotel Friday night and Spencer was like -- Oh look at that flat screen tv.. I turned around to see this haha

The Sunday Market.  They close off a whole street every Sunday.  It is about 2 miles long.

Just a Taste

There are so many things that I want to tell you about, that I feel I have been leaving out of other posts. Because I can't write about everything that I see, hear and feel here because it would be so long and I would never be able to get away from my computer.  So here are a few things about this place that I haven't mentioned yet, that are worth mentioning.

• On a cloudy day, you bet that it will rain...  well, it won't.  Even though it thunders and there is all sorts of lightning blazing in the sky.  However, on the sunniest of days it will down pour later.  The clouds will roll in randomly and there you go.  But that is the thing about rain here in Thailand, if it does rain, it only rains for about 10 minutes tops.  Or at least that is how it has been the past few days.
• I know that I have mentioned that there are bugs everywhere and this is true.  But I am proud to announce that I have killed just about every one I have come to find.  This is a huge step for me if you didn't know.  Before I would not have even dared to go near one of the tiniest spiders but now I am killing the 8 inch daddy long legs.  Yes these are bigs steps, big steps.
• If there is a night where the 20 dogs that live around here don't bark it will be a miracle!
• You know the connotation that all asian people take off their shoes before entering a room?  Well  it is true, they do and sometimes it is really annoying if you are wearing tennis shoes.  I do understand why they do it, it is out of respect so that is cool.
• They have this tendency to sweep the dirt.  I guess it is like their raking it but they do it with the same brooms they use in the kitchen and in their rooms.  It is kinda odd and kinda funny to watch.
• Thai people are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  
• They pronounce just about everything wrong, so it is like a game to me trying to figure out what they are saying.
• They have pretty good music.  There is this one song that they sing all the time but it is in Thai so when I try to sing it I can get the tune but the words are a problem.  So I just say gibberish, they all look at me weird and laugh.  Then there is this other song that has a little English in it -- "Sexy Lady."  That's it, that's all the English but it is an awesome song.
• Every time they are about to eat for just about every meal the kids say a prayer.  It is out loud and they all say it at the same time.  Half of it is in Thai and the other half is in English.  I have most of the English memorize: This food is a gift from the whole universe, the earth, the sky and much.  May we live in a way that they may ask what... something, something, something.  It is really cool though because they put their hands together as if they were going to bow before a fight.
• That's another thing: they do bow.  They out there hands together when they say hello.  It is so cool.
• My favorite thing that they say is: Like this, Like this.  But they can't really say -th sounds so it really comes out like: Like dis, Like dis.  It is awesome, they say it to me whenever they are showing me something.

Well that is all I can think of right now but that is a little taste of the culture here.  So different but really cool.

Something to think

I know I have only been here for two weeks but I want to talk about something that I have thought about everyday since I have arrived here.  The United States is different than any country on this planet.  And I have come to realize just how blessed we are to be able to live there, grow up there, and raise kids there.  It is a land for the free.  It is clean.  It is safe.  It is good.  America is a place that looks ahead to a bright future full of the capability to advance and to make something of yourself, even if you have nothing to begin with. 

Here in Thailand, 90% of the kids at this orphanage dream about becoming a tour guide.  They talk about it all the time.  While you raise doctors, dentists and exceptional businessmen, these kids, out of everything they could be, want to be a tour guide.  But that is just it; they live in a place without much opportunity.  They do not have to luxury of becoming anything more without so much sacrifice.  They think their only option is to be a tour guide or retail salesmen or something along those lines.  Though don’t get me wrong; it’s not that these kids don’t work hard.  It is not that they don’t have dreams or aspirations or hopes.  No they have those; they just are not at the same magnitude as children in America.   But that does not mean they do not have potential.  No I see it in them.  One boy named Saw-teen knows three languages quite well and he wants to be a tour guide.  I asked him if he ever thought of being something more and he told me he did not know how.  He told me he wasn’t smart enough. 

I guess I am writing this because I have come to realize just how blessed I am to live in America.  And this does not mean that I am not grateful to be here in Thailand because I am.  I think these kids are having a greater impact on me then I am having on them.  But I just want anyone who reads this to notice just how blessed you are.  Heck, call your mom and dad and thank them for helping you become who you are because these kids here at the orphanage don’t have that blessing.  Look to the people around you and love them as these kids love each other.  Be grateful everyday.

Little Adventures

So we had a good weekend in Chiang Mai with all of the other interns.  It was nice being around other people that could actually speak English.  Being up at the orphanage made me so I talk slower and use smaller words.  I didn't notice this until I was with everyone.  Kinda weird.

So Bird and Spencer came to pick us up Friday night around 8.  It was really good to see Spence, I missed him.  All the kids said goodbye to us and hugged us.  Li-bee was especially adamant that I give him a big long hug.  Spencer had to pay Chey so we walked over to where he lives (which is in the boys house on the other side of the farm.)  Li-bee made me give him a piggy-back ride, while the entire time tried to say all of the days of the week.  But he kept forgetting Friday and then he would forget Thursday too.  It was a mess but it was so funny. By the end he told us that days don't matter, that they are not important.  And I agree with him.  It's all about the moments and the people you get to share them with.  Not the days.  Once we paid him we got into the car and that is when things got mad.  There was a beetle in my hair!  I knew it was there because I could feel it moving but Spencer and Kristin couldn't see it or find it.  So there we are in the car, me screaming at them to get it out and them laughing until tears start coming because they couldn't find it and were too scared to pull it out.  It was terrible in the moment but so funny after I finally got it out.  The ride didn't seem that long because Bird was telling us stories about Liver on the River. (But because most Thai people get their R's and L's wrong he kept saying River on the Liver.)  He also would say Burbelly instead of Blueberry.  It was awesome.

Bird dropped Spencer, Kristin and I at this restaurant called The Duke's.  It had real food! And what I mean by real food is Hamburgers and french fries.  And it was so good, kind of expensive but worth it.  After we went to Spencer's apartment because we were staying at the same place too, just in another room.  And that room had air-conditioning and a small fridge - Small luxuries that we all take for granted.  Anyways we ended up squishing onto Spencer's bed and watching The Count of Monti Cristo on his computer.  Awesome movie by the way, I hadn't seen it for a while and forgot how good it was.  Saturday morning we woke up and met all the other interns at the church where we set off on a small adventure up the mountain to a temple.  The temple was called Doi Suthep.  And it was beautiful:

Miss you Mom.

Wifi is not good again, so I will have to post more pictures later.  Things here are good on this rainy tuesday night.  The thunder is going crazy along with all the crickets.  Today was kind of hard, things sometimes get hard when we don't know what to do.  It is hard to understand what Chey wants but we are trying really hard.  But we are fine! Things are good.

Missing these geeks

Found this gem :)

Pictures

I finally have good Wi-fi because I am back in the city for the weekend.  We are in a nicer hotel and enjoy every moment we have with the air-conditioning.  Here are some cool pictures from the past week..

Here is our beautiful bedroom.  With lots of bugs and terrible lighting but I would not have it any other way.

The fan: The best invention by mankind - EVER

This is our sink, it is sitting on two slabs of concrete.

Toilet and Shower.  Yes our shower is in the middle of the bathroom.  This is how almost all showers are in Thailand.  It is so weird but I don't care, cold water comes out of it and that is the best.  It is nice working hard all day and sweating so much to come and take a cold shower.  I have never been more grateful for cold water.

This is the dish Chloe ate with the blood in it.  It is gelatinized. So yummy... :)

My favorite swing here at the farm.

Dad - These are the spicy pepper.  I touch them to my tongue and that makes me want to cry.

The breakfast of Champions. So good.

At a Wat.

I love it here.  Thailand 2013.

I think I am in LOVE

I honestly can say that I am happy.  It is Friday now and the culture shock has worn off! I am good!

Before yesterday, I think deep down I wanted to go home.  I kept asking myself, "What am I doing here?" I tried not to let myself be discouraged but I missed my family, I missed America, I missed french fries and normality. But everything has changed since then.  The more I am around these kids the more I fall in love with them.  They make me want to be here.  I know that I am where I am supposed to be and I am happy.  So so so happy.

Thursday there was a guest coming to the farm.  Kristin, Cam, Aii and I went to go pick her up in Chiang Mai.  The truck was hot and the air-conditioning did not reach Kristin and I in the back seat so we were dying but it's okay, it only lasted about 30 minutes.  We stopped for gas on the way and we went in to the store to get a drink.  Thai gas stations are similar to American ones except for the fact that everything looks Asian.  There are at least fifty different kinds of "Lays" Chips.  From the pictures on the packages we can only guess the flavors.  One is Salmon, another is sushi (Dad I am sure that you would really like that one haha, I don't dare try it though.), most of them though we cannot decipher the picture.  Every time I go into a gas station or a 7-11 I have to get Mentos -- the sour kind.  I don't now why, probably because it is the only American thing I can find in the store.  They are so good.

We picked up the guest at the bus station around 1:30.  She told us her bus got in at noon but she did not seem mad at all, which was very nice.  I think she understand the Thai culture.  In Thailand things are so slow.  People do things on different time tables then we do in America.  They also do things in the most inefficient way but somehow they always get done.  Anyways, she is German and her name is Kristine.  She is living in Switzerland though for the moment.  I have never met anyone from Switzerland before so it was cool.  She was so nice and friendly and we had a really good conversation on the way to lunch.  We got lunch in the place called DoiSaket Hot Springs.  Around the restaurant there were these hot springs.  Of course it was so hot outside I would never go swimming.  The restaurant was so cute and quaint in a way. Here are some pictures:

I want to introduce you to Ohm-Em.  She is 3 and a half years old and she is my little bud.

One afternoon we pulled the computer out and sat on my bed and took hundreds of pictures.  They loved it and it was so cute watching them point to which effect they wanted and try to use the mouse.  I am a goner guys, I love these kids so much already.

Ohm-Em, Li-bee, Me-Mai

Okay, my favorite part of this week was Thursday night.  We had a big bonfire and we got to enjoy watching the kids sing all these song and dance and laugh.  After Chey wanted the kids to ask us some questions about America, so we answered some pretty funny ones.  

Do you have snow?

How many people live in America?

How do you get around? -- Car. -- You can drive?

Do you have dogs?

Do you have things that ride on the land? -- Like ATVs? -- YEAH!

Does it rain there? Does it get cold?

If you are skiing in the snow, how do you get up the mountain?

They were pretty funny.  After we played charades, and the kids got really into it.  They loved coming up to me and asking me what they should act out.  Half way through the bonfire Li-bee came up and sat on my lap.  Then he took his hands in mine and just held them.  I love him.

But the best part of the entire night was when Chey said that it was time for bed. All the kids came up to us and hugged us one by one.  It was one of those experiences that I probably will never forget.  They hugged us and I could tell that they love us too. Li-bee hugged me for a while, we are buds.  I seriously love the kid. 

All and all this week was one of the hardest and one of the most rewarding. I went from really homesick, wondering on a constant basis what the heck I was doing there, and not understanding the culture at all -- To complete loving every minute of it.  Loving these kids and beginning to understand and respect the culture.  I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE!

Monday-Tuesday

So Kristin and I were talking last night about being here at the orphanage.  I know that we have only been here for less then 48 hours but we are having a hard time adjusting.  And I know that we will with time.  It is just that before when we were staying at Ginny's we were tourist.  We could do whatever we want and their culture was not surrounding us like it is now.  I like their culture, it is interesting and so much different from ours, which is why I think that it is really hard time adjusting to it.  I do not know what the exact definition of culture shock is and I do not know how to explain it so I am going to google it.... but that is exactly how I am feeling.

Culture Shock - is the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country. -- Yes that describes me perfectly. 

That is the thing though.  This disorientation that I am currently having does not take away my love for the kids.

This is Li-Bee.  His real name is Livi but since Thai people do not have the letter V or the vaa sound that it makes, they all pronounce it Li-Bee.  (Olivia - I thought that was funny and it reminded me of you.  I miss you.)  He is one of my favorites, he is funny and very friendly to us.  I was teaching him english words having to do with the face today and it was so funny.  He was getting lips and tongue mixed up and he was getting so frustrated.  But for the rest of the day he would purse his lips and me and yell LIPS and then laugh.

This is Wee-Nigh.  I teach him english in the mornings from 7-7:30.  He is very shy when he is speaking English.  Chey, our manager, really emphasized the importance of trying to get the kids self-confidence up.  So that is what I am trying to do with Wee.  That is the nickname I gave him.  He tells me he likes it very much.  I told him the story of Peter Pan today, I think that he liked it.  I think tomorrow I am going to get him to tell me why he loves Iron Man.  He is 15.

So Chey gave us our schedules today.  They are very full of teaching English... Something I do not have much experience doing.  

Here is what an average day will look like starting Monday.

6:45 – 7:15 = Teaching English to Wee-Nigh

7:15 = Breakfast

9:30 – 10:30 = Teaching English to Dtoi

11:00 – 12:00 = Teaching English to Kam

12:00 = Lunch

1:30 – 2:30 = Teaching English to Aii

5:00 – 6:00 = Playing games/teaching art to younger kids

6:45 – 7:45 = Teaching English to older kids

Wish me LUCK! I am going to need it..

Sunday and the Orphanage

So I do not really know where exactly to begin.  The first half of my day was good.  We went to church and met all of the members there.  They just have branches in Chiang Mai but they are all such good members.  Sacrament meeting and Relief Society was nice because we got to wear these cool head phone thingys that translated what the people were saying.  A missionary sat in the back and translated.

We went to lunch after church to this really cool restaurant Spencer knew of from when he was on his mission.  We all ordered and Chloe got her food way before the rest of us.  When we looked at Chloe food closer, Spencer started laughing.  None of us understood why he was laughing.  Apparently Chloe’s dish had blood in it and Spencer did not know that when he ordered it for her.  Chloe, being as daring as she is, tried it.  (You have to understand… This blood she was about to eat was not in liquid form. Oh no, it was gelatinized. Like jello or tofu.)  Yes, she tried it. 

A few hours later came the time for Kristin and I to leave Ginny’s and go to the orphanage.  This place is about 40 minutes out of the city.  It was a nice drive.  We had to take Bird’s (Bird is a Thai guy that has been helping us the past few weeks.  He is awesome) truck which only had two seats… So Spencer, Kristin and I rode in the back.  It was bumpy and uncomfortable but the breeze was so nice and it was a really good way to see the city and the countryside. 

So when we got to the orphanage, it was so much different from what I thought it was going to be like.  It is huge, well the amount of land is and they farm it all by themselves.  They have all kinds of different fruits and vegetable.  The pulled some bananas off the trees and gave them to us to try.  So ahroy! – Delicious! Our room is fine, with no air conditioning but it has a really good working fan.  They showed us around the property.  The kids are great and really fun and most can speak English.  Then it was dinnertime, but when they brought out the dish of what we were eating my first thought was – I had never seen anything look more disgusting in my entire life.  Terrible I know but that was how bad it looked.  It was green with peas and beans and the white stringy things.  I can’t explain it well but yeah.  Once I saw that I became completely overwhelmed. I almost started crying.  It was not because of the fact that the dinner was gross or the fact that Spencer was leaving just everything.  It was really hard.  I think it was that I was thousands of miles away from my family in some place that is so foreign to me and around all of these kids that I had never met.  I was freaking out.

Our room is pretty good.  It is kinda funny because I feel like I am at girls camp all over again.  In my house at home in Arizona, if we saw a bug we freaked out and found someone more brave to kill it.  Even a simple fly, someone got out the fly swatter and killed it.  Here I am living with bugs like they are my roommates.  They are everywhere.  But it is not so bad because I am brave, although I do scream once or twice.  Like this morning there was a frog on our toilet, just chillin there.  Yeah I screamed them. 

The kids are great.  Really they are so wonderful and friendly.  A lot of them speak okay English so we get by pretty good.  There is a little boy named Lee-be.  He is so funny and similar to kids at home that are his age.  That is what I have come to notice, although these kids live completely different lives then we do in America, they are still kids.  They still cry and laugh and tease and joke.  They remind me of all my cousins.  I guess I did not know what to expect but it was certainly not that.  I don’t know why.

This morning we had more green stuff for breakfast.  I found out that it was actually morning glory.  The weeds that people spray in their front yard to try to kill them.  Yes I ate those.

Anyways things are good.  So much different then I expected.  But I will get used to it.