playing catch up....NIKO

ok so i'm sorry about my lack o' bloggage. there wasn't internet very many places during outreach and i was a busy little bumblebee. so i'll start now and catch up on outreach. with each new post a new place.

SO. niko came first. there isn't a lot i can say about niko (mainly because they request you don't say much so that people who have yet to do it aren't aware of what's to come) but i can sum it up in one picture:

bugs and heat, ladies and gentlemen. bugs and heat. please note that this is just my legs. i now have nightmares about red ants attacking me. these experiences with various creepy crawlies will haunt me for awhile.

outreach!

so we only have one more week of lecture phase left! starting september 21, we no longer will consider the NRTC home. we have to be all moved out and have our room all cleared and cleaned before outreach! it is going to be pure chaos!

first, we go on niko from september 21-25. this will be a trek through the wilderness of thailand. this is also the part i'm most nervous about. i only found out about niko two weeks before i left for thailand. i thought my body would acclimate to this tropical climate a lot better than it has. overheating and dehydration have been a problem since i got here. it's gotten a bit better, considering i now think that 68 degrees is cold (november in idaho will be BRUTAL). but i talked to the nurse that's coming with us and feel much better about the situation.

after niko, we'll be back at the base sept. 26 and 27. which will be time for us to do laundry and make sure our room is empty and clean. then on the 28th everyone from the U.S. and australia has to go to the border of thailand and cambodia for our visa run. although we have year long visas, we are required to check in at the border every 90 days so they can keep an eye on us, i guess.

then we fly out of bangkok that night to phuket. when we arrive in phuket, we'll have to drive to phang gna, which is where the first stretch of our outreach is. we'll be in phang gna until oct. 10. while we're there, we'll be teaching english. and some other stuff but i can't remember!

after phang gna, we go to ratchaburi until oct. 30, but for three days we'll go back to bangkok to help out with a worship conference that one of the thai students (mai) is in charge of coordinating. while we're in ratchaburi, we'll be teaching english and other skills to a few different people groups. one that was mentioned was burmese refugees.

after all that, we return to bangkok for debriefing and graduation and then i head home! WHEW!

a couple of stories for the ages...

so, it's been a long time since i last blogged. i thought i'd warm myself up for the long blog about outreach with a couple of stories about life in thailand. so sit back and enjoy:)

the haircut

i pretty much have needed a haircut since i left the U.S. but didn't have time or a large extra stash of funds. i thought to myself 'how bad could it be? it's not like i'm going to actually DO my hair!' well it got bad. my hair got so weak and damaged that it was an out of controll frizz ball. there was nothing i could do but get it cut. in thailand. by a thai.

now, i'm not asian and therefore do not have the thick black asian hair. so i was nervous about someone who has never cut farang (foreigner) hair before cut mine. luckily, i was pointed to a place at a nearby mall that employed a few people who knew how to deal with farang hair. it went ok, aside from the fact that my stylist knew very little english and i knew even less thai. i showed him a picture and he went to town. a little too much into town, but he got the main idea. then he blow dried me! i thought i was going to pass out from the heat! but here's how it turned out. this is the only time i've had straight hair since i got here, so it was a momentous occasion:

laab

my wonderful thai friend taught me how to make my favorite thai dish that i've discovered while i've been here. it's called laab and is from the esan region of thailand. don't worry, i'll make it when i get home...if you're lucky :) we were able to make it in only about 30 minutes. we had to have one of the base interpreters help us out, but it was SO MUCH FUN! thank you so much mai! oh, and p'paul for translating of course.

The Magic of Swensen's

Why yes, that IS a shot glass of hot fudge in my right hand.

CHEERS!

Homesickness Blues

Lately I've been feeling really homesick. It's just been an exhausting last couple of weeks and I'd like to just run home and give everyone hugs and let them know I still think about them. I miss my parents' hugs and going to Adriane and Conrad's house. I miss going out to dinner with my friends. I miss being dry and having an amazingly comfortable bed. I MISS STRAIGHT HAIR! I know this time in Thailand is going to fly by! It already has gone so fast. But I'm stuck in a homesickness rut. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Kids, Kuts, and Krabi

So we went to the YWAM Thailand national conference in Krabi, Thailand. From the beginning, we knew we as a DTS were going to be in charge of childcare. What we didn't know however was that we were going to have 34 kids (not 19) and be in charge of them for 6 hours a day (not just 3). Needless to say, the beginning of the conference was a rude awakening to how unprepared we were! Oh-so-very stressful and overwhelming. But this story does have a happy ending! We were able to pull it all off with only a few minor hitches in the system.

The first night of the conference we were supposed to dress up in costumes for the welcome dinner, so there's the explanation for the bottom picture. Asen, Kate, and I did 80's babies, mainly because it was so easy to find stuff that worked for that theme...

Then it was time to enjoy the ocean! I was a bit apprehensive about swimming in the ocean, having only done it a couple of times before. My friend Kate said she'd stick with me and keep me safe. *my hero* We were out in the water about to our upper thighs and looked over to see our friend Anna limping up the beach back to the resort. So we turned around and followed her to see what happened. Anna had dove into the ocean, only to find coral directly under the surface which cut into her hands, arms, side, and foot. Also, her finger jammed into some of the coral, which resulted in a slight fracture. Such a downer for beach day! Luckily, she went to the hospital on Thursday and got all fixed up, so she's on the mend. But beach day was a bit of a bust...

I spent the majority of my free time lazing around in our room and napping in the air conditioning. I felt so spoiled! We even had a TUB! My favorite part was showering and NOT sweating immediately following my shower, which is a common occurence in Bangkok. And the food was delicious and the kids were adorable and the scenery was BREATHTAKING so really the trip was much more good than bad.

Pictures of Cambodia!

Back in Thailand

So we got back to Bangkok on Saturday evening, but it's been so crazy here that I haven't had the motivation to collect my thoughts and get a blog written. Cambodia was so fun! The first week we spent in a remote village about two or three hours outside of Phnom Penh. The second week was spent in Siem Reap, the tourist capital of Cambodia. Both locations were fun and hard in their own ways.

The village was hard because I wasn't expecting such, ummmm, rustic accomodations. We slept on the floor of a church on bamboo mats with all kinds of creepy crawlies and a cow and chickens living below us. And the heat and humidity! WOW. We spent the week having classes under the church we were staying at (it was set up above the ground in traditional Cambodian style) and did Bible studies and taught a lot of songs with actions. The people were so sweet and hospitable! None of them spoke a lot of English, but it was enough to communicate the basics and we had an amazing translator. And the untouched beauty of the nature was so great. There were fruit trees everywhere! It was definitely an experience of dying to myself and my own comforts, but it was also a time of so much growth both in myself and in our team.

We stayed in a guest house in Siem Reap. After a week of squatty potties and bucket showers, I felt spoiled by actual beds and a flushing toilet! Siem Reap is much more developed because it's where all the tourists stay. The main attraction there is Angkor Wat, which is one of the best preserved ancient temples in the world. While we were in Siem Reap, we split into two groups. My group taught English at a Christian school in the city. I had no idea how hard that was going to be! It was my friend Kate and I in a room with 27 first graders who only knew their ABC's! But they were so cute and we just taught them things like A-Apple B-Book and had them write it on their boards...easy stuff like that. During our break time we'd play patty cake with all the little girls! SO CUTE!! On Wednesday night, I had a scare when I became very sick and had to go to the hospital. The doctor said I had acute gastro enteritis and dysentary. I had eaten something unclean or undercooked I guess. So they hooked me up to an IV and I spent the night there! I was so sick and so bummed out about everything I missed. But they let me go the next morning, and I was able to be a part of the last day of work and visiting Angkor Wat and going to dinner as a team by Friday. I'm so thankful that it wasn't any more serious than it was!

So that's my trip. I love the Khmer people and food. They were so welcoming and gracious and sweet. I truly cannot look back on my trip and not be thankful for all of it, the good and bad. Thank you to eveyone who was rooting and praying for me back home!

Cambodia or BUST!

Ok guys, here's the deal! Tomorrow morning (Sunday the 5th) our DTS team is leaving for Cambodia! We'll be gone for two weeks. The first week will be spent in Phnom Penh and the second will be in Siem Reap. Our main focus while we're there will be to teach English and reach out to the youth of Cambodia. I don't know how familiar everyone is with Cambodia but in the 1970s there was a mass killing during a social reform by the Khmer Rouge that left almost 2 million people dead. The effects of that time are still seen everywhere in Cambodia, which is often referred to as the "Fatherless Country". So obviously, there's a lot of healing and learning that needs to happen there! Keep us all in your prayers while we're there. There's been a lot of sickness going around our group lately. Right now, I'm fighting a cold and both of my eyes are slightly infected. There are other girls with colds and flu-like symptoms. Also, swine flu has reached Bangkok! To leave you with a postivie note, here's a group picture of all of us with our speakers from our week 4 lecture:

Getting Into the Swing of Things

Alright so I know it's been WAY too long since my last post. I'm getting into the DTS groove and am getting more acclimated to the weather. THANK GOD! I am still a prime target for mosquitos though, and that's been less than amazing. I've also had a few attacks of homesickness this past week. I just miss everyone so much! I put a few pictures at the top of the blog this time because I don't really have the picture posting down yet and my last blog ended up having an extra 12 inches at the end and I don't know how it happened!
The picture in the top left hand corner is Eve the DTS director and me when I gave my chapel talk last Thursday morning. I spoke on God's grace. Having a translator is strange but it's a handy way to recollect your thoughts! The top right picture is all of us loading up to spend the morning practicing listening to God in the park, which was what our 2nd week of lectures was about. Next picture is us all running in the university square at 6:30 IN THE MORNING. And lastly, (my personal favorite) us girls undoing all of our running with some homemade fudge! YUM!

So this coming Sunday we'll be leaving Thailand to spend two weeks doing a mini outreach in Cambodia! I'm excited but a little nervous. I NEVER dreamed I'd be going to Cambodia! Please keep us all in your prayers as we prepare for this outreach. I don't know if I'll be able to blog while I'm there, but I'm bringing my computer and assuming I can. To prepare for the outreach, we learned two dances to perform. One is a traditional Thai dance (VERY fun) and the other is a hip-hop dance (not so much). The Thai dance is beautiful and the song we do it to is a Thai worship song. I'll have to bring home a copy for everyone to hear.

Well, I guess that's all for now. I'll try to post some more pictures before I leave and if I can't use my computer in Cambodia, I'll make sure to take notes so I remember all my stories!

P.S. To all my dear friends...I want to hear about your lives too! Keep me posted on them because I miss you all very much and don't much care for being out of the loop:)

Sunday Evening Musings

So I'm sorry it's been awhile since my last blog. I like to have enough time to think about what I'm writing and we've been so busy that having a block of time hasn't really been a reality. But now it's Sunday night and I have some time before lights out!

Today I went to a different church called New Song. It was much more small and intimate than the one I attended last week. It reminded me more of a Chi Alpha small group than a Sunday morning church service. But it was wonderful in its own way. Getting there is a bit of a chore though. About 45 minutes of public transportation, just like the church last week. Living in such a big city requires a lot of planning ahead!

Last Friday YWAM hosted a dinner to welcome the DTS students to the base. It was a lot of fun with lots of good food and some traditional Thai dancing for entertainment! Saturday and Sunday I spent working on my journal, which is one of our big assignments for the duration of the DTS. I've decided my theme is "grow". Here are some more pictures just for fun:

ANNNNNND.....I'm here!

Alrighty I am officially in Bangkok! I'm so happy to be here after suffering from a quick bout of homesickness I'm ready to get started! I seriously can't believe I'm here and how much I've already done. I got a WONDERFUL foot massage for only 100 baht! (a little less than $5 for an hour of bliss!) I also attended a church this morning at a place called the International Christian Assembly. I went there with my new friend Angela. It was such a good experience...I think I've found my Thai church family! We are still waiting for 3 more girls to show up for DTS. All in all there will be 3 Americans, 1 Australian, 1 Indian, I New Zealander, and 3 Thais. Quite the group! Well, I thought I'd post a couple pictures just to show a few things I've seen so far...

This is just a cool sign from the Sky Train, which is a bit like the amtrak but above ground.

Just a nice view of inner city Bangkok

The sign outside of the massage shop. Lists all of the massages and their prices.

And this little fella was here to greet me when I rolled into our room at 3:00 in the morning. These are everywhere and are super cute! Plus they eat misquitos so I just LOVE them!

Lonely Airport Musings

I've never flown overseas. Or on an international flight. Doing so for the very first time all alone is stressful and scary. My red hair and pale skin sticks out. So does my English accent, since I'm flying China Airlines. I'm definitely in the minority. SO WEIRD! I wish I spoke every language fluently so I had an idea about what was going on.

SIDENOTE: There's a guy wearing an "I Heart Amway" t-shirt that's bright red with yellow lettering...everytime I see him I want to laugh. :)

ANYWAY I'm getting ready to board my flight to Taipei. Ready or not, here I come!

to get things started...

Well, if you've found this blog then you know the basics. I'm heading to Bangkok, Thailand in about a week (on June 4th) and staying for five months. This has been an emotional roller coaster for me. I can't believe it's finally just around the corner! I don't have much to say yet, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling with a top five list so my blog doesn't look so sad and blank.

Top Five Things I'll Miss Most About the U.S. :
1. My friends and family...totally a given
2. My bed...believe me, if you owned my bed, you'd understand.
3. Driving and the freedom it entails.
4. People speaking English as a first language.
5. Easily accessible coffee...I love my caffeine!