The Manda Panda Blog

The panda has landed.

2012-02-09T23:01:00.000+07:00

Well I made it in safe!

I almost got stuck in Bangkok because I misunderstood the whole visa thing. I thought mine expired on the 8th. Which it did. But my 60 day entry expired on January 20th, which I didnt know. I also didnt know that they charge you a 500 Bhat fee for every day you stay over the expiration date. Three hours before my flight was due to take off I was told 'pay us 10,000 Bhat or you dont go home'. Walai had already left, to go to the hospital to see her father. So I ran to the ATM and proceeded to draw out the necessary funds. I rammed my card into the machine, punched in my pin and pressed the button that said '10,000'. The machine had to think for a long minute before deciding I wasnt allowed to withdraw that much at one time. The largest amount it would give me was 2,000. So I took the 2,000 but before I could do another transaction, the ATM spit my card back out. So, I had to repeat the process again and again. Of course the stupid thing was out of paper so I had no receipt to help keep track of the money in my hand. I got to 8,000 when the machine mad an angry beeping noise at me and ejected my card. My stomach plowed into my toes and sweat broke out on my forehead. Anxiously I shoved the card back in and desperately tried to withdraw the final 2,000 Bhat I needed to get home. No go. I had reached my maximum withdrawal limit. Here is my thought process as I run through the airport: '(@#*$#*$#**$Bleep beep bleepbitybeep! Ok, no cell phone, find a pay phone. Who should I call, Jack or Walai, or the off....I don't have any one's number. CRAP!' I remember I have Ging's number on Skype so I sat down and opened my computer, intending to get on the internet and skypecall Ging. There is no free wif-fi in the building. Jotting down her and Jack's number I get back up and race around looking for payphones. Unable to find any I run to the information booth and they point me in the right direction and yes, I did run by them 2/3 times. After struggling for ten minutes I run back to the info booth, begging them to call for me because I'm too stupid and upset to figure out how to use the pay phone -I think I should point out that by this point I haven't really slept in four days-. They take pitty on me and call. Jack's number is disconnected and no good and Ging wont pick up. Nearly in tears I stagger off and see the tourists police office. I go in there and call the US embassy. While on hold with them, trying to figure out who I need to talk to, I talk the girl behind the counter into trying the third number I had from skype. She call and gets the office. Hallelujah! I get Walai's number and call her, tell her what's going on. It is now 11:30 and my flight leaves at 1. Walai tells me to sit tight and she is on her way with the money. She gets to the airport at 12 on the nose, hands over the money and I race back towards customs. They try and make me stand in line again, which would have made me miss my plane for sure. But I stubbornly told them no, that I had already had my turn in line and that I needed to pay a fine so I could go home. Thankfully someone recognized me and pulled me through. I made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare.

In short. I would like to thank my Guardian Angel for watching over me yesterday because on more then one occasion I almost didn't get home when I was supposed to with all my luggage (while claiming my bags in LA my green one full of gifts decided not to make an appearance and when the belt stopped moving I went and asked someone where the rest of the bags were. The guy looked at me like I had bats flying out of my ears and told me these were all the bags. I told him he was mistaken because I was missing a bag. For about five minutes I teetered on the verge of a heat attack before they found my bag.).

I've been on US soil for about 17 hours. It is cold, and dry (I feel like a fish out of water, my skin is protesting the dryness). I've had my chocolate chip cookie and green chili fix thanks to my wonderful mom. Have had 4 hours of sleep as of 6 am on Wednesday, Thailand Wednesday, not US Wednesday and am on my way to have tea with my grandmother.

Its good to be home :)

In case you wanted to know:

2012-02-07T14:00:00.000+07:00

Its earwig mating season in Thailand.

These little buggers are all over the place.

Aaaaand its my last day in Thailand :(

In order to try and get myself excited for the return to the states, I've compiled a list of 10 things I have gone 6 months without and have missed the most.

10: Barns and Noble. I spend way too much time and money here, but I really really miss sitting in the coffee shop drinking tea.
9: Driving a car. I miss my car. Not that I have a car to come home to, but still.
8: Having the freedom to go where I want, when I want. Not that I'm chained to the wall mind you, but I do miss jumping into the car and going for a quick drive.
7: People who speak English fluently. I do miss being able to speak in whole sentences and use big words. And yes, for those of you thinking about being snarky, you know who you are *coughmom/grandmacough*, I do to know big words. Just not how to spell 'em.
6: Chik fil a waffle fries. Mmmmmm.
5: AC. This is pretty self explanatory.
4: Tea. There is an amazing selection of green and ginger tea out here, not so much with the earl grey or mango (read as my favorite)
3: My books. My poor babies, sitting a dark dank storage unit, feeling abandoned and unloved.
2: Swimming. I miss the feel of the water between my fingers.
1: My sisters.

Distractions

2012-02-03T10:15:00.000+07:00

On a completely non Thailand/Opportunity note I’ve entered a writing contest and I’m pretty excited about it. I wrote a short story about the spirit houses here in Thailand. The contest ends in a month so cross your fingers and toes!! I also sent in a short story about a lifeguard that will hopefully be published.

I’ve not only been writing a lot the last few days, but also spending hours on useless websites, destroying braincells, trying not to watch the hands on the clock move, mostly tying distract myself. I haven’t been posting much here because I don’t want to seem sulky and I’m a bit ashamed to admit it but I’ve been moping around the house and office the last few days. I can’t help it. Thailand feels like home. My acne cleared up, my migraines were absent for six months which is unheard of. Thailand and I go together like milk and cookies.

Leaving feel so wrong. It’s like when you take your dog to the vet, or watch someone else try and get their dog through the doors at the vet office. The dog is back peddling as fast as it can, head pulled back, choking itself against the leash. The owner is trying to either coax the dog through or use brute force to shove the animal through. My body is physically rejecting the departure. The migraines are back, I can’t sleep, and an unhappy stomach are just a few of the complaints.

Maybe I'll just stay here...

February?

2012-02-01T12:25:00.000+07:00

What is this world coming to? Oh Great Time Goddess. Do you no longer love me? Have I offended you in some horrifying manor so that you will not stop time for me? How can there only be eight more days? Seven and a half really, if you want to be picky, which I am.

I had an amazing morning the other day. I was sitting at the table drinking tea while Prae and Nat ate their breakfast before school. The girls were chattering away, asking me questions about America. Mostly if certain animals lived in America and Africa (why Africa? No idea. Ask Nat.) and why America does not have wild elephants. I thought back to my first couple week here and was floored when I realized how much progress the girls have made. They have worked so hard in our English lessons, the desire to communicate with me and to do well in their English class at school fueled that, and the results are there for all to see.

This is not making thoughts of leaving easier to deal with.......

Car crash

2012-01-31T09:21:00.000+07:00

Well.... This post started out like the one about the Cobra; a much more exciting and epic tale then the one that really happened, filled with panicked people screaming and running up and down the street, soaked in blood, missing appendages, the car laying in a twisted heap. Then I felt really guilty about exploiting an event in which no one actually got hurt, and a situation that could have ended much worse.

So here is the real story.

P Ui was in a car crash yesterday while on her way home from picking the girls up from school. Everyone is ok, no one got hurt, just a little shaken up. Someone hit the front of the truck on the drivers side. I was at home, preparing for a lessons with the older girls. What a day to miss going to school eh?

Today Ging and I are going with P Rut to Burriram to have the truck fixed.

So it begins,

2012-01-30T13:01:00.000+07:00

I had to say my first good bye yesterday. It was at church. I didn't realize until we were pulling into the parking lot that it would be my last service in Nang Rong ( I still have one more Sunday but I'll be in Korat with Ging). I think it was better leaving it until the last minute to let everyone know. Service continued as usual, but at the end I was asked to say a few words to the members. I thanked everyone for being so kind to me and for taking me in as apart of their family. I told them how much I enjoyed spending time with them every Sunday, getting to know them, having them get to know me, experiencing church in Thailand. I only cried a little.

I ate lunch with my friends, pastor Joe and his wife, Ja, some of the girls and P Ui. We talked about my trip, mostly about when I will be returning to Thailand, it seems I will not be able to get away with no coming back. Everyone demands it. I am ok with this :)

After lunch everyone came together to pray for my migraines and for my safe return to the us. I exchanged my email address with pastor Joe so he can send me the pictures taken at lunch. Like the birdbrained person I tend to be, I left my camera sitting on my bed. Thankfully pastor Joe had one and took some pictures of me and the members. Hopefully he will be emailing them to me soon and I will put them up here as soon as I can.

While we were eating lunch I watched the boys kicking the snot out of each other as the girls sat on the grass watching, well not my girls. I looked over and saw Prae and Nat had a boy laying flat on his back in the dirt and were proceeding to beat the daylights out of him, all in good fun of course.

May sang with the band during worship for the first time and I was SO proud of her!! She did a great job and it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see her belting it out like Brittany or Adel, or Lady Gaga, or which pop star you'd like to compare her to.

After lunch I gave out a last round of tearful hugs and climbed into the back of the truck with the girls. I am going to miss my friends very much and hope that one day I'll get to see them again.

Bangkok

2012-01-26T13:37:00.000+07:00

Days after my visit to the famous Bumrungrad hospital, I still have a headache. Not sure how that happened :/

I did get some pictures of the quick trip to Bangkok uploaded.

The view from my room at the hospital

If anyone correctly guesses what this is for, they will win a prize. Hint, its found in the womens bathroom at the hospital.

"Well Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?"

There is a Madame Tussauds in the Paragon shopping center that Sue and I visited after our doctors appointment. Anthony Hopkins is one of my all time favorite actors and the Hannibal series is one of my all time favorite movie and book series (yes, I'm weird like that).

On Tuesday night we went to dinner in Burriram with the lawyer and his family.

Gik (the lawyers daughter) and I had a lot of fun talking to each other

Add and the youngest daughter

The dinner party

Janruray Birthdays

2012-01-23T22:01:00.000+07:00

On Friday we had a lovely birthday for 4 of our gang.

Aye is 8

Ging is 24

Plah Nim, the baby, is 3

And her mother Mae Bote is I'm not sure how old. She's sitting down on the bench in the back.

I do apologize for the lack of apparent enthusiasm, as I've mentioned I've got a killer headache that was also present at the party. I ended up having to retreat to my room right after cake, I couldn't take the noise 25 people make in a single room.

Bangkok Bumrungrad Hospital

2012-01-23T21:41:00.000+07:00

This is hands down the best hospital I've been to, the building itself is ridiculously impressive. There are so many helpful people around, you only have to hesitate slightly and four people rush up to you asking if you need help and then lead you to the right desk. They have their stuff together, registration took less then ten minutes, the people are so friendly, everyone speaks good English, and yeah. Its pretty great. So, if you're ever sick in Thailand, dont hesitate to go. they'll take good care of you.

BUT, if you need hardcore narcotics its BYON in Thailand. You are more likely to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow then find codeine or vicodin. The government has a tight fist on the narcotics and dont give them out to just anyone. I had a prescription for codeine from the states and told the doctor that at this point codeine or vicodin will work on my head and he still couldn't give it to me.

In case you are wondering, the doctor gave me an injection of steroids and a painkiller (something I've had done in the States) and it dulled the tension headache/ hereditary migraine (big thanks to mom and grandma on that one) to the point where I was able to enjoy my day, but exactly 6 hours later it wore off and I feel like my skull is being bludgeoned by a 2x4.

Thai massage

2012-01-22T22:45:00.000+07:00

If you've never had one, get one! You will thank me.

A BIG thanks to Walai who supplied Sue and I with coupons for two free, 2 hour Thai massages.

Doctor tomorrow morning and another night in Bangkok (tomorrow night).

Missing the munchkins already :(

I hate spending time away from them, especially since the time I do have is now very limited. But taking care of a week old headache/migraine is, unfortunately, important. Though I think I might have found a cure, Thai massages. My head felt great after. Wonder how much a good Thai massage is in Texas...

T-minus 17 days :p

Bangkok Bound

2012-01-22T08:43:00.000+07:00

Off to Bangkok to see the doctor....

I've had a god awful headache for the last, I cant even count the days it hurts so much.

On the bright side we had a birthday party on Friday and the pictures will be up later today.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Dark Days

2012-01-17T13:24:00.000+07:00

I'll give you fair warning, I'm in a pretty depressing and dramatic mood today. So, take this post with a grain of salt.

I got my plane ticket home yesterday. It's official. I'm leaving on the 8th of February.

Nnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Feelings:

Heavyhearted, down in the dumps, cheerless, dejected.

How on earth can I leave? How am I going to survive life without these girls? They are the sun that my world spins around. I love everything about Thailand, except for the weather, it's so stinking hot right now. I have absolutely no urge to go back to the States. Sure I miss my family and my friends, but I'll be honest, not enough to want to come home. I'm afraid life is going to be quite boring the moment the wheels of the plane touches the runway. There wont be any crickets to eat, unless I go catch and fry them myself, there will be no more driving by beautiful temples on the way to the grocery store, there wont be any more bowing or 'swadika'ing to people on the streets. There wont be any more smiles, giggles, or cuddles from the girls.

This trip has brought unexpected changes into my life; changes which I cannot delve into further at this point in time because I'll burst into tears, which will bring everyone out of the office, demanding to know who is ruthlessly beating me.

So I'll just stay here for another 6 months, mmkay?

Sunday Funday

2012-01-15T21:29:00.000+07:00

Two posts in one day? Yall are spoiled!

After church I turned the office living room into Michaels/Hobby Lobby. Fabrics, needles, thread, glue, paper, foam shapes, crayons, clay, the works.

Noo, Chan, Plah and I set up three stations.

Station number one:

Attack of the Barbies!

So the girls who missed out the first time, we made more Barbie clothes.

May, the half body on the left, really took to sewing and made some really cute stuff

Khalam

From left to right starting with the girl in white and black; Noi, Beau, Mint, Fai, Khalam, May

Beau

Noi

Station two:

Clay City

The third and final station was:

Drawing and the pasting of foam shapes on construction paper

Pim

Noi

Chan

Salee (also the photographer)

out 'n about

2012-01-15T20:55:00.000+07:00

Had a fantastic day yesterday, despite the raging headache.

It was children's day (you may remember the post about children's day in India) at the schools. We all piled into the car at 8 and drove to a temple just outside of town where the festivities were being held. We ended up going to two festivals, the first one was a bit of a dud. Not very many people and a few scattered games. The girls had fun though and thats all that mattered. First game of the day was a air pellet gun.

Aye, Mui, Fai, Khalam, May, Mint, Noi, and little Pim in the front (she's happy, I swear)

Next came darts. The girls really got into this and I think just about all of them participated.

May

Memee

Noi

Pim

Taking a group photo in our spiffy new Foundation shirts

Yes, I am the black seep in a green shirt.

Then a friendly game of duck duck goose

I had to let her catch me :)

Next Memee found a game where he had a rutabaga looking root tied to his waist,

and proceeded to swing it from his hips to hit a lime into a hole,

20 yards away.

It's harder then it sounds

Some of the girls lined up for a race that included a big skirt, putting a coconut between your knees and shuffling around.

Noi thought it was hilarious.

Pa had a hard time picking up a ping pong ball soaked in oil with chopsticks, rightly so!

For the record, Noi won every game she played :)

Onto the next festival

to play musical chairs

and jump in a bounce house

and eat ice cream.

Theeeeen I went to have coffee with my friend Joy and Pang. They brought their friend Ju, her son Au (sounds like ooo) and daughter Zing (how cool is this name?!) so Au could practice his English. We picked up some coffee and headed back to Ju's house on which she has a garden. Jack and Walai are interested in seriously starting a garden on the foundation.

Bok choy, yum!

Basil

Lettuce

Ok... so I totally thought this was weed. It's not. Its a mango tree.

Compost

Joy, me, Au, Ju, and Zing in front

All in all a very enjoyable day, and I got a sack of goodies to take home, AND I found a pen pal for Au.

Korat

2012-01-09T23:27:00.002+07:00

Wow, what a fun weekend! Before I start I should warn you, this is a long post!

We got into Korat late on Thursday night owing to the fact that the bus driver was a hundred years old and would not drive above 20 k/h. When we did finally get into town Ging's friend Daw picked us up, took us to dinner before dropping us off at Ging's apartment she shares with her roommate Rada. Rada is a super funny, 20 year old whos English is off the charts.

On Friday Ging and I went to the mall where we consumed copious amounts of sushi.

Then we went to the Amazon cafe to see one of her best friends, Dew. She made us coffee. If you are ever in Thailand, go to a coffee shop and get a cold green tea. They are delicious and you will not be sorry.

Dew and I

On Saturday we went back for MORE sushi in this really nifty restaurant. It was a soup place, kind of like the Melting Pot (for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, the Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant in America). On each table was a hot plate and pot of soup. Next to the booth was a rotating conveyorbelt that had saucer sized plates of food going around and around (the conveyor belt went in a big circle that looped around the whole restaurant.). You simply plucked off the plate that you wanted, added the contents to the boiling water and put in mouth.

Then we went to the zoo.

Ging and I tried out a tandem, surprisingly we did not crash and burn

Toto is not in Kansas!!! Ging and her best friend Toto

Thai zoos are so much cooler then American zoos. I mean really. I got to feed a giraffe!

This hippo was close enough to touch..

And eat you.

After the zoo Ging, Toto and I went to the mall to have dinner.

Can you say som tom?!

and fried rice

Not sure what I was trying to accomplish here, but I think I nailed it.

After diner came the general paroozing of the mall like a group of teenage mall rats.

Toto, the bodyguard

Then it was time for a movie.

I'll give you three guess as to which movie we saw...

Too bad it had no subtitles :( But Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr look good, even in Thai.

A pre movie game that we rocked.

Sunday brought the most enjoyable church service I've had since coming to Thailand. The pastor and his wife were so incredibly sweet and the wife offered to translate the sermon into English for me (something the other 2 Churches that I've been to did not. Incidental the other two Churches also have English speaking pastors).

Are you still with me? So much happened and I wasnt able to post about it day by day. Get up, stretch your legs, have another cup of coffee and we'll get started on the high light of the trip.

Ready?

After church on Sunday we picked up a car load of people and went to Jim Tompson's silk farm, or as Ging called it the 'pumpkin farm'. To her credit they did have pumpkins.

Rada and I

Gop and Ging

Rut

A map of the farm

In the back, Ging, me, Rada. In the front, Gop and Am

Sunflowers!

First stop the pumpkin patch...

... and a beautiful river...

... then some fun walking through the sunflower fields

Then it was back on the bus

and onto the next stop.

With music,

and kites,

and crazy stilts,

and a teeter totter that we had no shame in playing on,

and silk worms.

In case you are wondering, they make a cocoon,

and yellow stuff (silk) grows around the cocoon and has to be boiled off,

and then spun into silk. In the bottom left corner of this picture is a basket with a silver pan in it. Those are boiled silk worms and they are delicious.

We husked some rice,

found some veggies,

'rode' a water buffalo,

and took more pictures of the flowers.

The gang from left to right: Rut, Gop, Daw, me, Rada, and Am. Ging is taking the picture

You thought I was done, didnt you? Not yet, nearly though!

After the farm we went to have dinner at a soup place off the highway.

A chang showed up and I had to go say hi.

I'd like to introduce you to the photographer: Daw.

95 % of the pictures from the farm are his doing. He's an amazing photographer.

This trip was incredible and I want to thank Ging, Toto, Dew, Gop, Am, Rut, Rada, and Daw from the bottom of my heart. You are fantastic human beings and I'm thrilled that I was able to hang out with you all. I will keep fond memories of this weekend in my mind for the rest of my life.

I learned a few important things over the last few days which are listed below in no particular order.

1.) Thai's are very, very photogenic. Seriously. In over 1,000 pictures there is no bad picture of any one of them. (I however look like a space cadet in half of them.)

2.) Boys are the same in every country.

3.) It doesnt matter what language you speak, for when you are around kind and compassionate human beings, friendship is its own language that is designed to include all.

Rut hardly had two English words to rub together. That did stop him from talking to me.

Ok, now I'm done!

Road trip

2012-01-05T11:30:00.000+07:00

Ging is taking me to spend the weekend with her family in a town -which name I will not butcher in an attempt to type out.

Sushi, the zoo, shopping and all the shenanigans two 20 something girls can get into are on the agenda.

I don't know if I'll have internet access so things might be quiet for a few days (I imagine you reading this and rolling your eyes. 'You've been quiet for the last month, hardly any posts!' and I do apologize! You would not believe the time wrap I've fallen into. I'll swear its only been a day since the last post, but when I log in I see I haven't posted anything for four days. Crazy.)

Anyway. Here are some pictures to give you a clear image of my partner in crime:

Let's hope Thailand is still standing come Sunday afternoon :)

I'm a Baribie Girl,

2012-01-04T13:19:00.000+07:00

No, not really. But the girls absolutely adore the Barbies Sue gave them for Christmas. They are simply over the moon. A few of them had the Thai version (read highly pliable, thin plastic) and are happy to add to their doll family.

So, in light of all the excitement I jumped on the train and had the girls make their own Barbie clothes last week. Unfortunately, half of the girls were in school and the other half were not (I've had it explained to me three times and still don't quite understand why two of the four schools decided not to have classes in the middle of the week). With the girls who were not in school, we took over P Ui's living room and turned it into a Barbie clothing making heaven. There were bolts of fabric in all colors and patterns, beads galore, and every type of thread imaginable.

The older girls did a good job fending for themselves and are quite the fashion designers. Beforehand I had cut out patterns for shirts, pants, shorts, and dressed and the girls simply followed the pattern and sewed up the edges. I realize this makes me sound pretty nifty when it comes to needle and threat, but in reality these are Barbie clothes and the 6 year old made more impressive clothes then I did.

But the girls had a blast, which is all that mattered. P Ui even got hyped up and joined in. She told me that she had never played with dolls when she was little, she was more of the 'lets play kitchen' type of kid.

Salee, Mai, Prae, and Nat were clinging helplessly to me (in their defense the needles were impossibly small and a pain in the butt to thread) so taking pictures was a challenge. I did get a couple of good shots though!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T20:31:00.000+07:00

Its a bit late, I know, (it's already the end of the second day of 2012 here in Thailand). But Happy New Year everyone!! Our little family split ways on Friday, Mae Chan and Mae Pete took their kids to their homes in the village (which is about a 20 minute drive away). Walai took me up to see them briefly on Saturday afternoon and when we got back, we got P Ui's girls and went to hand out snacks to the homeless. After that rat filled outing (there were dozens of em!) we went back to the house to prepare for the Ggreat Coming of the New Year. As I was helping the girls to write out their resolutions, we were joined by this little cutie.

I would like everyone to meet Fai numero 2. She attends a boarding school here in Nang Rong that has a break for Christmas and the new year and no one at home to watch her during said break. So we are taking her in for the next 10 days. She is talkative, spunky and cute as a button. She joined in our resolution writing and then we taught her how to play ol' maid, go fish and how to make card houses. We watched the Timesquare Thai version of the ball dropping (in case you are wondering, Thai's don't drop the ball, mainly because there is no ball to be dropped) as well as pop starts shimming and singing up and down the stage.

Today, Monday, Walai took P Ui's house, Ging, Fai numero 2 and I back up to Mae Chan's village because she is building a new house and the stars are in line and call for a blessing from the monks. We arrived to a party already in full swing.

These cars were blasting music so loud I immediately assumed most of the guests were very hard of hearing, this was not the case.

Ging, Mae Chan, and I

We were then ushered into the new house:

I am in love with the ceiling

No celebration in Thailand is complete without massive amounts of good food (even if it is only 9 in the morning). Note- the picture below is 1/3 of what was laid out for us, plus rice.

After dinch (diner and lunch combined. Cleaver, I know;) we went outside to play while waiting for the monks to arrive.

From left to right: Khalam, Mint, Fai, May

Aye had an adversion to being photographed today

Dancing

Isn't she cute?!

Walai, Salee, Mint and Fai numero 2

Plha Nim, Noona, me, and Khalam

Paa

Maaaaaay

Little Pim doing a drive by while Mint puts on her best ghetto face

The monks arrived and before I could get in and a seat, they started chanting and everyone stopped what they were doing to pray. Since it is very very impolite to step over people, I settled for leaning through a window to watch.

Unfortunately you can only take so many photos from one angle. The monks were chanting in the ancient language (no that not just because I couldn't understand it. They really do chant in an ancient language) and holding onto the string, the meaning of which escapes me right at this moment. When they were done blessing the house we packed it up and drove back to the property. Fai numero 2 up chucked three times in half an hour so Ging, Plah, and I took her to the hospital. While we were waiting for the IV to drip in (why they gave her an IV for minor upset stomach I'm not sure), Ging took me to KFC for dinner. Now many of you don't know this, but for my 2011 resolution I gave up all meat except for fish, and I made it, 356 days without chicken. It nearly killed me! Tonight was not the first night I had chicken, Walai, Ging, and Add took me to KFC last night (the 1st) but since Ging was craving KFC we went again tonight. So that's what's been going on here. I hope everyone had a very happy new years!

Christmas post

2011-12-30T09:16:00.000+07:00

Is up!!

For some reason the blog posted it UNDER the previous two posts (aka scroll down a bit to find it).... and the font is funky... and I only got 2/5 videos up... BUT it has great pictures!

So,

2011-12-28T15:12:00.000+07:00

I have a completely amazing post about Christmas in the works. Unfortunately it takes a day and a half to load ONE video and there are 5. I refuse to put the post up without all of the videos because that would be like a Christmas with no Santa. Please be patient, I promise it will be worth the wait!!

Adventure x II

2011-12-27T12:00:00.001+07:00

Yesterday was totally and completely epic, it filled the 5th spot in my top five favorite days in Thailand. First stop on our adventure was to a shelter in Surin where Walai and Pissamai talked with a woman who is expecting a baby any day and is currently homeless. While they were talking Noo and I entertained the cutest little boy I think I have ever seen. Little did we know he was actually a she, normally Thai girls have their hair very very long and braided.

Walai talking to the director of the Surin shelter

The next stop was a gas station which had a delightful selection of potatoe chips.

'Baked bacon cheese with seaweed'

'Peking duck'

'Hot and spicy crab'

'BBQ squid'

As fun as bacon cheese and seaweed chips are, the next stop was even better.

Elephants!! We went to the Surin elephant park. I now know what I want to be when I grow up, an elephant raiser. This place was amazing, its a group of elephant trainers living in the elephant park. The elephants literally sit in the raisers front yard.

How cool would that be to wake up in the morning, walk out your front door and pet an elephant? It reminds me of one of the opening scenes in Finding Nemo where Marlin says "They wake up in the morning, poke their little heads out and they see a whale!" This is how I picture living in an elephant park. We walked around, said hello to a few elephants,

Most of the elephants around were really big so we went looking for a smaller one to play with. We saw a sign pointing to two twin babies (which are super rare) and went to see them. Their raiser gave us some sugar cane to feed them. They were both sick and the one I was petting was more interested in smelling and tickling me then eating.

After playing with the twins we went to see the elephant show. We saw an elephant paint a picture,

And swing a hoola hoop on its trunk,

THEN I rode him!

Just kidding, I rode his younger brother,

Beau and I were at eye level with the roofs of the houses

Noo and Mott were on a smaller elephant.

This is going to be me one day,

Yes, it's official. Forget teaching swim lessons, forget teaching English. I'm running away to Thailand to become an elephant raiser.

I also let an elephant give me a massage

And walk over me.

According to Buddhists religion, when you have an elephant walk over you like this, it erases all your bad luck. So I'm expecting 2012 to be a kick ass year, thanks to my elephant friend.

Christmas

2011-12-25T22:57:00.020+07:00

I’ve spent every Christmas with my family….. This year was no exception. Sure, it wasn’t the ‘traditional’ Christmas eve party. It was eighty degrees out, we ate fried rice and cucumber instead of little smokies and fondue, the Christmas carols were in another language, and there were no chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Come Christmas morning there were no presents (as we opened them the night before), there was no turkey or roast beast, no family poker game, or alas Scatagories, and there was no trip to the theater to catch a flick. There was a wonderful afternoon spent watching the Guardians of Gawhol and sniggling with some munchkins, left over fried rice, and a Barbie fashion show. This has been one of the best holidays I have ever had.

Last night, Christmas eve, the house was fit to burst with love, Christmas spirit, and an overwhelming sense of family. The girls and staff danced and sang before the gift exchange and dinner. Folks from the church came by and celebrated with us. I got the girls on film dancing. However, the staff macarana was not captured on film and I swear not on purpose. I had the camera out and ready, but the 'push and shoot' directions did not translate well.

The OFT Family

Ging, me, Noo, and Plah

Well, I fail at loading videos on the internet. The good news is that I got two of the five up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV4Bwc0Mcwg&context=C3f0de32ADOEgsToPDskLz07mkSlYZihs1u6DwZ8KQ

This one is a video of the girls in my house, May, Fai, Nat, and Prae, doing the sprinkler and lawn mower dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhx48sBH1YA&context=C33cb112ADOEgsToPDskJyJ7VoPhMGkdpYva0aBRIO

Here are all the kids singing a Thai Christmas song with the pastors wife and friend.

I received a Christmas update from Chris and Suzan from India! The kids put on a play, pictures below.

Decorating the tree

2011-12-21T13:37:00.000+07:00

It's been a pretty slow week, not a whole lot has happened.

But last night some of the kids and I decorated one of the tree trees in preparation of Christmas. I found some Christmas music and played it on my computer while we put up the decorations. It doesnt feel like Christmas, warm weather, no Christmas music on the radio, no little smokies or stockings. I can't believe that there are only 5 more days until Christmas. Hmm, I dont think I've typed the word Christmas enough, six in five sentences!

I just ate a fish eye ball. It was worse then bird spit, horse pee eggs, and bugs combined. :p

love

2011-12-18T11:57:00.002+07:00

Here we go again...

2011-12-14T08:38:00.001+07:00

Got sick yesterday, and about 2 hours of sleep last night. Wet hair+cold weather=death by mucus and sore throat. Today I got smart and used my hair dryer, unfortunately its a little too late and I feel awful today. I never, ever get sick, especially not twice in a month and a half. No bueno :(

On the bright side, this is what my life is like

Aaaaaand Ging taught me how to ride a motorcycle! Shhhh, don't tell my mother.... Lesson two will be accompanied by pictures :-)

Update III

2011-12-11T11:36:00.002+07:00

Today seems to be the day for updates, this is what I get for slacking off for the last week.

I found out a while back that Jack also has a blog about the goings on of Opportunity Foundation Thailand. I've added a link on the top right hand side. He goes a bit more in depth on the inner workings of the Foundation while I like to focus more on the girls. Be sure to check his blog out!

I think its time to announce that today is my birthday, I am 22 years old.

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by Jack, Sue, and Add (Nathan's wife). They came by and took me out to lunch at my now favorite restaurant in town. They also had a bag of goodies of macadamia products, honey and two types of cookies. They left Nang Rong for Burma today and I will miss them very much.
I was also surprised by my mom, sister, grandmother, and great-grandmother, they sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Pissamai took some lovely pictures for me. Thanks you guys!

Today P Ui made me a birthday breakfast feats, including one of my favorite sweet treats, fried coconut milk. The brown things are hence forth known as 'fried nothings', as they are pieces of fried batter with noting inside. The green mushrooms are sweet fried rice, and the brown stuff in the bamboo tube is some kind of salty, not so tasty rice. It was a treat that the girls and I shared.

I had another surprise while I was checking my email...

MORE flowers!!! I've never received so many flowers before, I'm feeling very special today! :)

Aaaaand a party in the evening.

Best birthday ever? I think so!

Left to right, Noi, Aye, Mint

Mai, Planim, Mae Bui

Left to right, May, Sali, Aye

Birthday card

Tessany and I

Cake!

Green kiwi, red strawberries, I have no idea whats to thr right of the strawberries, and egg is to the left

Tip's (far right) face makes this picture

Update II

2011-12-11T10:44:00.001+07:00

Here is a more detailed run down of the last few day, pictures included!

We'll start with the 'political' night. Some important political man whos title escapes me (commissioner I think....), has served 3 terms which Jack informed me that is an unusually long time for any politician to be in office here, and was resigning. So we went to his farewell party and were surprised to find ourselves sitting at a 'VIP' table as Walai called it. We had originally been seated in the back but thanks to the donation of a fridge that the Foundation made, we got bumped up to the front. It was filled with long speeches in Thai, lots of photo taking, and horse pee fermented egg eating.

It doesn't taste as bad as it looks, honest.

Sue and Jack

Walai

Jack, the commissioner, and Tessany

Jack and Tessany giving the commissioner flowers

Me presenting the commissioner's wife with a flower

As of today we are all moved and settled in. The girls love the new house and having another house of their sisters right next door. The office will move into the green/office house next week.

My new bedroom

On Saturday the girls went to the office at 9 to wrap gifts for the white elephant Christmas party at the church.

Little Mint and the bear she is giving

From left to right: Aye, Mai, Pim, Noi, Dali, Tip, Fie, and Khalam

From left to right: Hald of Nat, Noona, Memee, Pa, May, Aye, Mai, Pim, and half of Noi

Noo handing out wrapping paper

Beau and Mott

Memee

Blah helping wrap

This is a very popular way to wrap girfts

The Christmas party was absolute madness!! There were kids running and playing and screaming. There were balloons everywhere and everyone had lots of fun!

Updates

2011-12-10T08:55:00.002+07:00

Sorry things have been a bit quiet! This week has been crazy busy! Just a quick update.

-We moved into the 'white house' on Thursday. My room smells like paint but its all good. The girls are super excited. There is no internet in the new house yet, which is part of the reason the blog has been so quiet the last few days.

-Mae Noi moved into the green/office house yesterday-Friday- and we are helping her un pack.

-On Thursday I ate a horse pee fermented egg -pictures to come.

-Nathan's wife, Add is her and will be staying until Jan. She's super sweet and its really nice having another girl to talk to!

-It's almost Christmas time! We are having a Christmas party at the Church today at 4.

-I'm sitting at the table in the green/office house and watching everyone walk by me with heavy things and boxes of stuff. I am beginning to feel quiet guilty so I think I'm going to get up and start helping.

More details and pictures to come!

Happy Birthday to the King

2011-12-06T08:57:00.000+07:00

Monday was the king's birthday. He is 84 years old. The kids had off school and everyone watched a celebration on the tv. It reminded me of the Macy's Thanksgivings parade, but it lasted alllll day. I made some good 'ol New Mexican bean soup and tortillas for lunch. In the evening I went with Sue, Jack, and Tessany to one of the public schools for a festival type thing in honor of the king. Everyone wore pink, which is the kings color, and lit candles. They sang the kings song and there was some traditional Thai dancing. The kings birthday is also fathers day. Tessany brought Jack a fathers day present. The queen's birthday also serves as mothers day which in April, I think.

They were putting these weird globe things on the 'alter'. One gold for the king, one silver for the queen.

Gold for the king on the left, silver for the queen on the right

There were soooo many bugs!

Lighting candles

'It's begining to look a lot like Christmas'

2011-12-03T16:16:00.001+07:00

Today was arts and crafts day with the girls. After a quick skype with the family we got going! I set up the living room into two stations. Station one was the snowmen station. My mom sent a box of foam snowmen that we glued together and decorated.

Before.....

....After!

Chan was in charge of station one

Tip is quite the photographer. Most of the picture's are hers. The girls love taking pictures with my camera, most of the time they get better shots then I do!

Blah manned, or should I say womanned?, stationed two, which was making Christmas postcards.

Before...

..After

After we were done with crafts we went outside to play catch/doge ball/tag.

Big Surprise

2011-11-30T22:28:00.001+07:00

I just got back from the adventure!

We went to see Fai's mother who is in prison in Udon.

The trip was pretty uneventful. Two very long bus rides and a very short visit. Noo tried to get Fai more time then the allowed 15 minutes, sadly the people in charge would not budge and we settled with the 15 minutes.

I did see a handful of very interesting people. As we picked Noo up Tuesday morning a man walked by with a very long white beard and a sling shot hanging out of his pocket. I met Jenny who's boyfriend is working in Israel at the moment and whos mother is pregnant and expecting in February. Jenny goes to see her mother at the prison every week. On the way home I saw a car with the word 'satan' written in large letters on the back of a car.

But the most interesting thing happened when I got home. As soon as I was through the door I rushed to the bathroom (the bus ride home was 9 hours and I am not good with squatty pottys). Imagine my surprise when I was ambushed while finishing up by a gigantic, ugly, brown spider. I leapt off the pot faster then you can say Raid. The spider proceeded to leap, and by leap I do mean LEAP, out after me and scuttled/jump across the bathroom floor. I nearly screamed and ran to find P Ui. She came to kill it for me, and was very surprised by the size I might add. I scoured my room, sure there were at least a dozen other spiders waiting to jump me at some point. Thankfully I found none. But I am left scared and with a ridiculously irrational fear of my toilet.

Adventure ahoy

2011-11-29T05:58:00.000+07:00

I'm off on an adventure for the next two days!!

All I'll tell you is that it'll be a 14 hour bus ride, Fai, Yi Op, and Noon are coming with me, and we are going somewhere unexpected.

See you on Thursday!

Guess what

2011-11-26T18:32:00.000+07:00

Guess where we went today...

THE POOL!!!

BUT I'm jumping ahead.

First we all went to the office to hang out and play. Noon, Chan, and Blah had an expriment for the kids to do. We mixed corn flour and water together to make sillypuddy. The kids had a lof of fun with it.

Then we went to the pool for a dip.

Leftovers

2011-11-25T17:35:00.000+07:00

The day after Thanksgiving, most people flock in the fridge for some cold turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green been casserole, and rolls. You carefully slice a roll open, stuffing it with turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy before tenderly putting it in the microwave. Can you really wait a full 2 minutes for the delicious tower of pure Thanksgiving yummyness? Maybe, maybe not. Did I get to partake in this near holy event? Why yes I did. Did I have a turkey-mashed-potatoes-smothered-in-delicious-homemade-gravy-recipe-handed-down-for-generations-sandwich? No. I had bird spit in a cup.

Yes.

Bird SPIT.

The spit of a swiftlet in fact. These iddy biddy birds build their nests out of spit. An ancient Chinese (practiced in Thailand) secret that says if you take the nest (spit, feathers, bugs, and all), boil it to liquefy it, and then consume it, it's good for your health.

I informed Walai that I had better be flying by the time I finished. Sadly, bird spit does not make you fly.

Eugh!

Dont believe me? Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird's_nest_soup

Day one

2011-11-23T12:26:00.002+07:00

It feels sooooooo good to be back!

I have been out of the States for one hundred days :) Doesn't seem like that long.

Walai and I got in at 8:30 last night, Mae Pike (P Ui is in Bangkok visiting her son so Mae Pike is watching over the girls) let the girls stay up late so they could see me. There was lots of screaming and jumping up and down on the girls part. I was weighed down with luggage to do much bouncing around.

I missed breakfast with them, my internal clock is still a bit fuzzy. The cook made som tum for lunch!! And tofu. I was stoked, you cant find tofu in Hyderabad. Ging is coming to pick me up in an hour and I'm going to the office to visit with everyone and show them pictures. I think there is an English lesson today with the girls... Turns out there was no lesson. The staff and I just chit-chatted for a while, the have grown super shy in the last 6 weeks. I went home and Ging picked me up an hour later and we went to the hospital. A few kids from Mae Noi's house are sick and they went to get checked out. Everyone is ok, just a cold. I saw a handful of the girls and they were so excited to see me. I was afraid the little ones, Mint and Pim, would be shy around me like they were at first but I was wrong. They latched onto my legs and arms and Chan had to pry them off. After we took them home we (all the staff girls) out to dinner for Blah's birthday.

Birthday cake

It was windy and the candles would not light!

The birthday girl

Yes, that sign says no peeing.

Walai and I talked about starting up swim lessons on Saturdays with the girls. I am stoked. I've been out of the water for 3 whole months. I haven't been out for three solid months in ages, its driving me crazy. I've lost my tan, the hair on my arms has grown back and I don't smell like chlorine :(

Bangkok

2011-11-21T17:58:00.000+07:00

Made it!!

Mumbai was MUCH more pleasant this time around. We were only delayed a few hours and got into Bangkok at 8 this morning.

Slept most of the morning, then went and poked around a bit. It is SO nice not to have men leering and groping.

I was going somewhere with this post, but can't remember where...

Walai is picking me up in the morning and taking me to Nang Rong. Excited to see the girls!!

Guess where I am....

2011-11-20T14:39:00.000+07:00

Hyderabad!!

I had a blond moment the other day when I said I was leaving on Saturday. For some reason I was convinced Saturday was the 20th. It was not. So Sue and I are actually leaving today, in a few hours to be exact, and it is not going to be a pleasant experience.

We leave for the airport at 4pm. Our plane leaves Hyderabad at 9:30 pm. We get to Mumbai at 10:30/45ish pm. We leave Mumbai at 1:50AM. We get into Bangkok at 6:30am Monday morning.

x.x

I will sleep all day Monday and then drive back to Nang Rong with Walai (who is currently in Bangkok, for what reason I don't know) Tuesday morning.

Even though Bangkok is flooded, it seems the BCGH is undamaged (I would hope so because we have two rooms booked). Walai and I will have to go the long way to get back, so the 4 hour bus/car ride will turn into 6 or 7. I've been getting ridiculously car sick lately, I hope its just the rodes in India...

The picture count for the last 6 weeks.... 600+
As soon as I get into Nang Rong, I'll be able to put all of them up on Flicker.

Last day of school part two.

2011-11-18T23:50:00.000+07:00

Today was painful.

When the bell rang after lunch the girls crowded around, handing back jumpropes and smiling. I felt the tears well up as I told them I was glad I made it in time for one more round of rope. The girls looked at me, confused. My heart plumpeted into my toes. They had no idea I was leaving so soon. The next forty minutes were tourture. I sat and and stared at the gate, too unfocused to be of any use. My foot tapped nervously at the floor. Every few minutes my eyes would dart to the clock, counting down the millaseconds until I had to say goodbye. Suzan watched me with alarm. "I have never seen you upset before." I gave her a tight smile. "I'll get over it."
The bell rang. My stomach flipped over. I stood and went to stand next to Vijaya as the kids filed passed her. Sue was standing at the head of the line by the gate, saying goodbye. The kids beemed and shook my hand or waved as they passed. Most of them still didn't know. I got through the first ten ok. Then Padma came over and asked if I was coming tomorrow. I shook my head and her jaw hit the floor. She started telling the kids as they walked by. The single file line haulted and the kids turned to stare at me. Suddenly I was surrounded. The kids grabbed at my hands and waist. "Bye Mam! I'll miss you Mam! Please come back soon Mam." I shook as many hands as I could. Said goodbye to every face in front of me. Two of my girls walked by, Uma and Shreeja. They both had tears in they eyes. I lost it. My eyes were already brimming with tears. One blink and the tears started falling fast. Vijaya wound her fingers through mine, Padma put her arm around me. With my free hand I gave awkward one armed hugs and hand shakes. Finally, it was over. Or so I thought.
Teacher training lasted two hours. I couldn't tell you what we talked about. I was dreading saying goodbye to the teachers. If saying farewell to the kids had been bad, this was going to be worse. I saw Uma and Shreeja lurking on the playground. Just before the training ended Sue turned to me, asked if I wanted to say anything to the teachers. I shook my head, my eyes welling up again. After some encouraging head nodds I thanked the teachers for letting me be apart of their school, told them how pleased I was with their comitment to the kids. Blah blah blah. I was babbling, bitting back the tears. As I sat there and choked back sobs, each teacher stood up and said something to me. "Thank you for teaching us A-Z. Thank you for being such a sweet person. Thank you for loving our children. Thank you for coming here." I dont need to tell you this did nothing for the tears. We all stood up, preparing to exit stage left. I wipped my eyes and saw the teachers coming at me. I turned and started stacking chairs. After two I was forced to turn around. The teachers had me surrounded. Sue was saying goodbye to the Aayas. Srinivous, Ravinder, and Soloman stepped forward first. They all shook hands with me and thanked me. One by one the other teachers stepped forward to hug me. I stopped fighting and let the tears run free. I said goodbye to each of the teachers. We stood and talked for a few minutes and I regained my composure. One by one they drifted away to say goodbye to Sue. I glanced to my right and saw Uma and Shreeja. Uma's eyes were full of tears. As I looked at her, a big tear rolled down her cheeck. Startled, I pulled her to me and she started weeping. Sobs clawed at my throat but I pushed them away. I looked up at Shreeja, she too was crying. I held out my other arm for her and she burried her head in my shoulder. They both pleaded with me not to go. I towed them to a bench and sat down with them. I took a piece of paper and started writing down the jump rope rhymes I had taught them. By the time I had finished they had stopped crying. "Don't forget us Mam." Shreeja said. I told her I couldn't even if I tried. The two of them stared up at me and it suddenly dawned on me. These girls were looking up at me like I was the greatest thing since sliced bread and wrapped in a halo of light. I had the chance to make an impact on these girls lives. Quick. You have thirty seconds to give these girls 21 years worth of advice and wisdome. What do you say?
"Promise me something."My voice broke on the last word. "Anything Mam." Uma said. Her voice was steady and she looked me straight in the eye. I swallowed. "Work hard in school. Come to school every day and work as hard as you can. Uma. What do you want to be when you grow up?" A doctor was the reply. I looked at Shreeja. I could see the gears clicking behind her eyes. "A teacher." She whispered. I hugged both girls tightly to me.

I'm sorry for over sharing. It's a bit over the top but this day has been seered into my memory forever. I've tried to steer clear of all the raw emotions being in India brings. There is so much pain. To see people living in conditions we think of a unlivable. To hear stories about woman whos husbands beat them until blood gushes from their ears. To know breakfast and lunch at school are the only meals a child can count on. I wish I was strong enough to write about all this. Presently I am not, but I have all the nitty gritty saved up in a vault in my head. Waiting for the day when I am brave enough to unleash it.
I wont ever forget the 6 weeks I have spent here. It has been one of the most rewarding times in my life thus far. The things I have learned about the world and about myself are priceless.

Last day of school

2011-11-18T08:35:00.001+07:00

Today is my last day at school, though not my last day in India.

Got next to no sleep last night.
I feel like vomiting.

I can't even drink my tea. Speaking of tea, my cup is hissing like a cucaracha. 0.o
I'm going to miss these kids so much.
I haven't had to say good bye yet, on this trip. This is the first good bye. Who knows if I'll ever see these them again.
Dang it. I'm already in tears.

Pics

2011-11-16T20:55:00.000+07:00

Shilija and I

Lunch today was bringall, eggplant, curry and a hard boiled egg

Srinivous doing his presentation at teacher training

Asking questions game. Treeza (blue) was rice. She had to ask discriptive questions to find out what she was.

Children's Day

2011-11-14T21:57:00.007+07:00

Today was Children's Day in India. They kids get a half day of fun, games, and prizes. Chris had a bunch of errands to run and picked Sue and I up a little late. We got to school just as the games ended. But we still got to get in on the action. Sue handed out prizes, I made an impromptu speech, took 150 pictures, the teachers handed out cookies, and fun was had by all.

The kids were mimicking Sue

Birthday boy in green

Yashoda on the left

Singing a song

Treeza singing a beautiful song in Telugu. Rajitha standing with her.

Uma, aka Pinky, saying a few words to her fellow classmates

Sue handing out prizes

Speech! Speech!

Cookie time!

My boys

From left to right: Yashoda, Rebecca, Shilaya, Vijaya, Rehana

From left to right: Yashoday, Padma, Azia, Mary, Treeza

All the Aayas

All the teachers and some Aayas

Me with Ravinder and his two girls

Me with Vijaya, her daughter Artie, and the watchman

Yashoda's daughter, a student holding Artie, and Shrija

Trisha, Ravinders oldest girl

Artie with Tulasi and Kotima

Yashoda and her daughter

The night watchman and Yashoda's daughter.

Whew. It took 2 hours to get all these pictures put up. In case you are wondering, here is a list of 6 things that take 2 hours to do.

-Watch Hannibal Rising

-Swim 6,000 yards

-Listen to 31 songs

-Fly from Austin to Albuquerque-it only takes an hour, but with the time change its two

-Chew your leg off and bleed to death -I don't have any experience with this, but it seems about right

-Make grape jelly from scrach

ICN

2011-11-12T13:27:00.001+07:00

I know I promised a post on ICN, but I need some info from Heather and I have yet to receive it. I know, I know, I'm awful. I can only offer excuses.. Look! Puppies!

This is Sorren. He's my favorite, named after my favorite character in my ms

This is Hannibal. There was a 6th puppy but it didn't make it. Hannibal is the chubbiest of the 5, Sue and I joke saying Hannibal must have eaten the 6th one, which is why I named him Hannibal

This is Bella. She whines non stop and is completely helpless and dependent. Does the name need any more explanation?

Twin A is Fred

Twin B is Georgiana. Obviously the twins are names after the Weasley twins. Had George been a girl, I feel certain Mrs. Weasley would have named her Georgiana

They will all be accompanying me back home... Just kidding. I do wish I could take Hannibal and Sorren with me. Little cuties.

Three of my boys

Srivnivous (teacher) and his daughter

Yashoda looking gorgeous in a purple sari

Cheese!

Busy busy busy!

2011-11-11T19:55:00.000+07:00

Phew! We were busy bees today. The lorie (read as big truck) came at 9:30 this morning with 7 movers. They packed up about half the house (one set of living room furniture, three beds, two tables, two desks, and 6 chairs) and loaded it into the truck bed in thirty minutes flat. Needless to say, Sue and I were impressed. We crawled through Yapral and Balajinagar at maybe 2 mph to ensure the bumps in the road didn't damage anything. While the movers unloaded everything into the spare room at Jordie, where it will stay until the renovations at Mark are complete, I took pictures of the students who were absent last Saturday. By the way, the program is called International Children's Network and I will be doing a superb posting on it tomorrow complete with pictures.

We headed to Maggie and had lunch. We had to fire the cook yesterday because he was whining and complaining that we took his salary from 3,00 Rupees, to 7,000. Yes, you read that right. He was complaining about a 4,000 Rupee raise.
Here is what was happening. He would to go the market, buy the veggies, come back to cook and give us a bill for 1,500 every week. Not bad considering we feed 400ish people everyday. He said he only saw 3,000 of that for his income. Sue felt bad for him so told him that we would by the veggies at Metro cause it saves us money and pay him 7,000 to just cook. Getting paid 7,000 Rupees to work less then 6 hours a day is UNHEARD of. Yet he was not satisfied. The question is, out of the 1,500, how much was he REALLY making..Mmm?
But we put an aaya (aid) by the name of Kotima on cooking duty. Today was her first day and she passed with flying colors. After lunch I ran around like mad trying to get the rest of the pictures taken in the half hour I had before school let out and teacher training began. There are still children absent, which means this job will continue into next week.
On the way home we stopped in a store so I could buy some bangles for people back home. I wished I had taken a picture, but we were kind of in a rush. There were boxes upon boxes of bangles. Hundreds of bangles doesnt even begin to cover it. The shop keeper would only sell quantities of 12. There were sooo many colors and designs that I had a hard time choosing. The good news, they were >35 Rupees a dozen, like 95 cents. So I walked out with 4 dozen in hand, and another 3 dozen in my suitcase.... I may have an obsession with bangles..

I apologize for the lack of pictures. The internet has been abominably slow the last week. "High speed internet" my foot. I get kicked off about every ten minutes and the server throws a fit when I try to load Yahoo and Aol. Don't even mention uploading or it will go into cardiac arrest. Yeesh. That's one thing I am looking forward to in Thailand. Good internet.

update

2011-11-10T09:37:00.000+07:00

Sorry. I've been completely awful at this the last like week. Some updates:

-I am feeling a lot better, less zombiesh and more able to function. Still very congested, possibly loosing my voice. We'll see.

-Bendie's puppies are growing like weeds! They are sooo adorable! Pictures to come.

-Today we start moving to Mark. Some beds, the extra couch and chairs, and one of the tables with chairs. We'll load all the stuff up into a lorie (a really big truck) and take it to Jordie school where we will store it until the construction at Mark is finished.

-I've been writing like a fiend on my 87,283odd word manuscript, praying it will take a book like form in the next couple of weeks.

-I have less then 2 weeks in India. This makes me very sad and happy at the same time. India is a tough place to be. I don't think I could last much longer then 6 weeks, yet I'm absolutely dying to stay another month. There is so much to do with the teachers and kids and no where NEAR enough time.

-Today I am also finishing up the pictures Bella and I took of the kids on Saturday. Some of them were absent and did not have their picture taken.

-Bangkok and southern Thailand are so ridiculously flooded. The death toll has reached past the 500 mark. Thankfully Nang Rong has not been affected by the floods, Isan is higher ground then Bangkok and southern Thailand. Nathan, Jack, and Ajan Tessany (the wickedly awesome teacher I've been telling you about) have started a relief program. They are sending trucks with food, blankets, and supplies down to the flooded area. I hope the flooding stops soon.

-Working on getting the info for the program Heather is working with. No one can remember the name and we've misplaced the dvd. Sigh.

-It sounds like someone is vomiting up their stomach next door. Lovely sound effects with your morning tea. Gross.

Ok, I think that's all I have for yall... I'll try and put up some pictures tonight.

sicksicksicksicksicksick

2011-11-08T09:40:00.000+07:00

Been soooo sick the last three days. Ugh. I never ever get sick. Ever. Runny nose, congestion, coughing, body aches. No fun. Today will be another day of rest and fingers crossed I'll be functioning enough to go to school tomorrow (Monday was a holiday, no school).

Saturday was pretty exciting. Sue's friend Heather, and her friend Hillary and her daughter Bella came by. Heather works for the ICC, International Children's Choir. We spent the day running around taking pictures off all the kids so they hopefully can get a sponsor who will pay for their education through college. More on this amazing program later, when I can focus long enough to do a good job of posting, this is obviously not happening now.

Crawling back into bed for some theoretical sleep, if I can breathe long enough to actually do so. Ugh.

Cobra

2011-11-04T21:44:00.034+07:00

I was playing Uno with Suzen's son Jacob. People started shouting in Telugu. Jacob's eyes grew wide. "Snake!" He yelled before launching himself out of the room. Suzan came in, her hair was wet from the shower she just took. I stood up. "Is it a cobra?" I asked jokingly. Suzen's eyes got wide and she nodded her head up and down. "Yes it is." We rushed through the house, into the kitchen and to the back door. Her father in law was yelling, there was a girl on the other side of the screen, standing in a door way to a garden and house. There was a wall directly in front of me, I couldn't see anything. "My camera!" I rushed back through the house, shook out half the contents of my over stuffed purse, grabbed the camera and ran back to the kitchen. We all had our noses pressed against the screen. Suzan's father in law was telling us to stay in the hose. He sounded close by. Suzen was talking anxiously in Telugu, Jacob had his head thrust through a hole in the screen. Suzan turned to me. "Do you want to see it?" She asked. 'Hell yes.' I thought to myself, and responded in a more polite way. We pushed the screen door and fell onto the porch steps. Suzan's father in law was standing on a pile of bricks stacked up against the house, he was stabbing at the ground with a heavy metal bar. I pressed my head against the screen door and looked between the bricks and the house. It was indeed a cobra. With a hiss it shot out and over the bricks. We all jumped back. I gasped. He was a huge sucker, 3 meters long (that's 9 feet), bright green with a black and gold mark on the back of its fanned out head. He coiled up, raising his head a good two feet off the ground. His hood was spread wide, tongue flicking in and out of his mouth. He had beady eyes that were as black as night. I seized Jacob by the back of his shirt and threw him in the house. Ruth was clinging to Suzan, her eyes wide with terror. One of the neighbors, we'll call him Kent, circled around the snake with a large stick. Kent raised the stick and was about to club the snake in the head when the cobra turned. His head struck out, snapping its jaws. Kent jumped out of the way in time. Another neighbor, lets call this one Hank, hefted a steal pipe as thick as my arm and swung it at the snake. The snake launched itself into the air. I was shocked. The cobra got it's entire body off the ground. Man and snake collided in mid air. the woman were screaming, the men cursing and jumping up and down. It was chaos. Suzen had disappeared into the house. I was pressed against the side of the house. Hank was wrestling with the cobra not five feet from me. The snake was whipping its body back and forth, coiling around the Hank's leg. He was too preoccupied with the other end to notice. During the collision he had managed to wedge the pipe between his face and the cobra's snapping jaws. He scrambled backwards, desperate to get away. Kent had collected himself and his huge stick. He ran forward and brought the stick down hard on the snakes back. The cobra stopped moving, the coils slowly unwinding from Hank's leg. We all let out a breath of relief. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the cobra pick up its head, his jaw was open so wide I could see the two poisonous fangs glinting in the sun light. I screamed. Kent turned around. Hank's eyes were wide with fear as the cobra sank it's teeth into his neck. Hank cried out in pain and started thrashing around. His hands waved around widely, trying to push the snake away. It was no use, the snake's fangs were sunk in deep.

Are ya'll buying this?

No?

Dang.

Well, I really did see a cobra today. Was he 3 meters long? Not even close. Maybe three feet. Did Hank really wrestle with it in the dirt in Suzan's back yard? Nope. C'mon Manda, was there really a snake? Yes, there was, I have pictures to prove it.

Here's the real story.

I was playing Uno with Jacob, there was a big commotion in the kitchen. Jacob yelled snake and jumped up, I ran after him. I met Suzan in the kitchen. "Is it a cobra?" I joked. She nodded her head excitedly. We all gathered at the kitchen door, but we couldn't see squat. All the exciting stuff was going on directly to the right of the door, close to the house. Suzan's father in law deemed it safe for us to come out of the house. He was standing on top of a pile of bricks about a foot away from the house. I looked down between the bricks. He had a large pipe smashed into the ground, a green tail poked through. Kent and Hank came over with big sticks. They climbed on top of the brick pile and began smashing the bloody hell out of the snake. After about five minutes, they pulled the thing out. It was about three feet, bright green. They had bashed its brains out. The cobra's head looked like it had been put through a clothes press. It's body was slowly wriggling around. Kent pinned what was left of the head down on the ground while I snapped a few pictures that can be viewed below. Thankfully for Hank, he walked away unscathed.

Wasn't the first story so much more interesting?

From left to right: Kent, Hank, Suzan's father in law

Notice how Kent does not have shoes on. This is how 'real' men do it.

I am in a hugely grouchy sarcastic mood, thanks to the cold I now have. I spent Wednesday in Shilaja's class, where most of the kids were either out sick or sniffling and sneezing all over the place. I took precautions, not touching anyone, washing my hands way more then necessary, and taking extra vitamins when I got home.

Thursday was spend at Mark school, which I forgot to tell you Sue is turning into a house to move into. Everything was covered in a foot and a half of dust and spiders as big as my face. I was not a happy camper that day. I stood uselessly to the side, half hearted caring out paper, one pieces of a time while suffering from violent sneezing attacks, a runny nose and eyes that itched like the dickens. When I woke up this morning I figured all the snot and sneezes were due to the fun day breathing in a pound of dust. However, as I prepared for teacher training at 1, I was hit by a dont of bricks.

From left to right, Ravinder (math), Vajayaloxmi (Hindi), and Rajitha (English)

From left to right: Treeza (Science), Padma (ermm.. Social studies?), and Azia (Koti's replacement for Telugu and GK-aka general knowledge)

From left to right: Srinivous (social studies), Marry (arts and crafts/spelling), and Rebbecca (library). In the back ground you can see the library, the kitchen to its right, and the trolly.

From left to right: Rehana, Yashoda, Shilaja, and Soloman

My head split open, my sinus were rebelling as though they were twenty feet under the water, and every breath hurt. I muscled through training and the cobra event. Fought with the Internet for a hour or two to get this posted. Now I am going to sleep. I'm not even gonna do the dishes. And there isnt a thing anybody can do.

Shilaja's tattoo, it's her grandmothers name. If you remember, she got it when she 8 years old.

Yashoda's tattoo that is the symbol for the goddess of wisdom

Yashoda's tattoo of the moon goddess

November

2011-11-02T09:21:00.001+07:00

Where has 2011 gone?! I cannot believe it is already November! I was doing a teacher training yesterday, working on past present and future tense with some of the teachers. Mary in particular did not understand. When I'd ask, what does future mean she'd say yesterday. When I asked what past means, she'd say tomorrow. So I sat down with Mary and Yashoda and gave them examples of past, present and future, but I kept saying September 1st was present. Yashoda and Mary looked at me like I was nuts and they finally corrected me. I've been gone for two and a half months already, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like only a few weeks has gone by. I hope that time will slow down a bit, and not feel like its rushing by. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up tomorrow and it's going to be time to go home! Yesterday I spent most of the day at Evie with Rehana and her munchkins. We sang songs and read some books. The kids are so excited to be in school. They all raise their hands to answer a questions, they all leap out of their seats to do a problem on the board. They are truly happy at school. I found out yesterday at Yashoda and Shilija have tattoos. Yashoda has a symbol representing the moon and the goddess of wisdom. Shilija has a tattoo of her grandmothers name on her forearm. She got it when she was in the 3rd standard. That's 8 years old! We sat and talked about tattoos after teacher training. They all thought mine was fake. The color on mine is brighter, maybe because its newer?

Being thankful

2011-10-31T15:22:00.001+07:00

Living over seas is full of countless rewards. I have experienced so many, learning a new language, living a way I never thought possible, having an impact on a community, having a community make an impact on you, making dozens of new friends. The list goes on and on. It widens your understanding of the world, the understanding that there are people on the other side of the world that coexist with you even though you did not know it.The biggest reward that I have encountered has to be the connection of one human being to another. We are all the same, and yet so different. All of us searching for the answers to the same question. Sitting in the classroom, teaching them how to speak English, or teaching them about another country. The way they lean forward in their seats, the absorbed looked on their faces, the way they light up when they show you what they know. It's pure joy, there is no equal.

Living over seas is full of sacrifices. You don't realize when you leave just what those sacrifices are going to be. But in an instant, you find yourself making them, sometimes unwillingly. The biggest sacrifices I have made is missing my grandfathers funeral. He passed away Thursday night, an out of the blue heart attack that proved fatal. I cannot be there to speak at his service. I cannot be there to put flowers on his grave. I cannot be there to comfort my family. Its horrifying, the helplessness that over comes you. The numb, empty space inside your chest that sleep, food, books, faces cannot fill.
I am thankful that I was able to have dinner with him before I left for Thailand. I am thankful for those in Albuquerque who are able to comfort my family. I am thankful for Sue, Suzan, and Chris who prayed for me the morning of. I am thankful I had 21 wonderful years with my grandfather. I am thankful I had such an amazing grandfather. I am thankful.

Diwali, Metro and puppies

2011-10-27T13:28:00.002+07:00

Last night was Diwali and boy was it loud. The crackers sound like bombs and gun shots. It was terrifying the first time one went off in front of the house, I nearly had a heart attack.

Ruth, Suzan's daughter

Sue and Suzan lighting a cracker

Before setting off the crackers we all piled into the car and went to Metro. Last time we bought food for three days, this time we bought food for two weeks.

325 kgs of rice, 715 pounds. 10 kgs of cabbage, 22 pounds

30 kgs of dal, 66 pounds. 7 kgs of tamarind, 15.4 pounds. 2 kgs of red chili, 4.5 pounds.

5,760 biscuits!! That's 4 biscuits day/child for 2days/week

I hardly fit in the car with all the boxes and bags of rice

One of the stray dogs that live on our street had puppies two nights ago. Sue and I heard this mewing and thought one of the cats had kittens. But then we saw Bendie (the dog got hit by a motorcycle as a puppy and her back leg is bent out, so we named her Bendie) and ran over. She had 6 puppies. One did not make it. She had them in the neighbors yard and I go over and feed Bendie twice a day.

The black and white on on the right is my favorite :)

Lunch at Maggie

2011-10-25T19:18:00.002+07:00

Some of the teachers were late this morning, tisk tisk. I decided to go into one of the teacherless classrooms, 5th standard, and 'teach' the kids until the teachers got to school. As soon as I stepped into the classroom, the kids were up out of their seats calling good morning, laughing and demanding that I listen to them sing. I let them sing and remembered I had my camera, they were more then happy to sing again. Unfortunatly the vedio is taking too long to upload, maybe it'll show up later? I drew a very bad map of the US and showed them where my family lives and where I live. They were very surprised to learn I live 14 hours in a car away from my mom and dad. They asked me questions and somehow we ended up playing hangman for fourty minutes. These kids are good at spelling! After I explined the game and wrote the fgirst guess word on the board, I had 40 kids shouting at me. "Ma'am! Ma'am! I know I know! G! H! Y! T! F! A!" I tried to get them to quiet down so I could speak, that wasnt happening. So I sat on the ground until they all finally stopped talking. I told them I was only going to call on them for a letter if their hand was up and they were sitting quietly. The girls got it right away and for the first 2-3 games, only the girls played. Finally one boy got up and sat against the wall with his hand in the air. I called on him. The other boys all got up and sat against the wall. We had ourselves a grand 'ol time.

I skipped out on eating lunch today and spent 35 minutes with the kids. The boys got a game a cricket going and all the girls wanted their picture taken.

Tomorrow is Duwali, the festival of lights. There will be lots of fireworks, known here as crackers. Suzan, Chris, Jacob, and Ruth will come over and set off crackers with us, I'm super excited!

The play ground, two seasaws, two swings, and a b-ball hoop

Opening ceremony

The boys playing cricket at lunch

The girl on the right is Trisha, one of the teachers daughters

Me and some of the kids

These girls are sweet and come to talk to me every chance they get.

Some of the boys

Best friends

Rocky lives in the slum. He belonged to the old gatekeeped who died of a heartattach last fall.

The cricket ball got stuck on the roof

Another daughter of a teacher

This girl was at Vijaya's birthday party

Happy Birthday to Vijayaloxmi!!

2011-10-23T21:27:00.000+07:00

Today we went over to Vijayaloxmi's house to celebrate her birthday! She had several of the kids from the school as well as neighbourhood kids there too. The 'grown ups' (Sue, Chris, Suzan, and Vijaya) sat and talked inside while I flitted between them and the kids outside. Once I pulled out my camera, that was it. Everyone wanted their picture taken, so I took about 100 pictures today.

After the birthday party we went to see Priya, one of the teachers, at the hospital. She had a baby girl yesterday and I got to hold her before the doctor came in and yelled at us. He didn't want anyone to touch the baby, not even Priya! He said that if anyone touched the baby (especially those of us who had just come from outside), she would get sick. This is a true statement, the baby could indeed get sick. The stupid thing was, the door was open into the courtyard not five feet from Priya's bed! I wanted to give the doctor one of those 'are you nuts?!' look, but did not. He immediately took the baby from me and put her on the bed next to Priya. The second he left, Priya picked her baby up and handed her to me. Haha! Here are some pictures!!

Vijaya and her daughter Artie

In India, you feed the birthday person cake, the kids stuffed it into Vijaya's mouth

Vijaya and the kids

Vijaya feeding Chris cake

Vijaya and Suzan

My turn!

Priya's little baby girl! She was born at 9-something am yesterday

Fast food

2011-10-22T22:29:00.000+07:00

Today was a reallly long day.

First all the teachers came over for teacher training. We basically sat and played a bunch of different games so the teachers could familiarize themselves with said games and use them in the class rooms. I was in charge of skip-bo, which is a kind of lame version of speed and uno. But I had a lot of fun sitting and chatting with the teachers about techniques they have to get the kiddo interested in learning. They are all very excited about the new reading program. Hopefully I'll be able to give them a training on it next Saturday.

After the staff left, Suzan, Chris, Sue and I packed into the car and headed to Metro which is an Indian version of Costco. It took us an hour to get there, traffic in India is terrible. You'll have 2 actual lanes but there are easily 4 lanes of cars. The buses stop for nobody, mopeds zig in and out of the cars, people pull u turns like theres no tomorrow, and there are a zillion (yes I counted) people driving around.

Sue and I were very impressed with Metro. It was clean and as orderly as you can get in India. We have been thinking of ways to cut down on costs and one idea was to buy the school lunch in bulk at Metro. This week, well the coming week, is going to be a test run. For three days (Wednesday is a holiday, and the cook has a days worth of food left over from last week) we picked up 120 kilograms of rice which equals to 264 pounds! 30 kgs of dal, 66 pounds (dal is a yellow lintel that they cook to a gravy like consistency. It's really good, spicy. We also bought a huge bag of chili powder and 66 pounds of onions. All this for only three days! But its worth it, as Sue says.

I can't believe how different some things are here. For instance, I went to Metro wearing jean cut offs and a tee shirt. The way the men were oggling me, you'd think I was in a mini skirt and tank top! I couldn't believe it. They were stare and stare and stare until finally I'd make eye contact with them. Then they'd stare some more. It's very, intimidating, to have all of these random people staring at you like they've never seen a pair of legs before. I'm sure part of this is also due to the fact I'm the only blond within 100 miles. In Thailand, Westerners are pretty common, even in Nang Rong. Thai's have gotten used to seeing them around so they dont pay me much attention. But not here. I have not seen one Westerner, not even in the airport and I was there for 6 hours. Every time Sue and I step out of the car, we stop traffic. Literally.

On our way back we stopped at McDonald's to have dinner. This made me laugh. They don't have hamburgers or play equipment. They do have veggie burgers, a delivery service Mcflurries, Backstreet Boys and old school Britney Spears playing over the loud speaker and a metal detector outside the front door. The veggie burger wasn't bad (though it wasn't good), the music very 90's, and the metal dectector didn't make you feel any safer. Suzan told me that four years ago a park was bombed and a bunch of people were killed during a festival. Ever since then businesses have put up metal detectors up in front of their doors. Yikes!

Now to bed, if I can stop singing 'all you people can't you see can't you see' and picturing my sister and uncle singing and dancing along at the BB concert.

School

2011-10-20T20:21:00.000+07:00

This all happened yesterday, but I came home and took an allergy pill which knocked me out around 7 and didn't get a chance to tell you about my day at school, so I'm doing it now.

Tuesday, as we dropped off some of the teachers, Marry asked if I would come by her classroom first thing tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. So I spend first and second period with Marry in her art class. First period was 5th standard, which is as high as the school goes. The girls were working on embroidery and stitching while the boys were sketching. They all laughed heartily when I suggested the boys learn how to stitch as well. I talked with Marry and she showed me all the posters she had drawn. Marry was the librarian they call it library teacher. But the Bible school teacher, Keeshore is at bible school studying to become a pastor . So Rebbecca took over the library so someone could take over the bible study and some how Marry ended up as the art teacher this year. She is very anxious to get back into library because she enjoys reading to the kids so much. I was late to school so I only sat with that class for thirty minutes.

4th standard came in, there were 30 kids! They combine the two 4th standard classes because splitting the kids into two 15 size classes is not cost efficient. Marry and I took the kids outside and played games. Marry gave me a group of girls and we played duck duck goose and Simon says. They all had so many questions for me so we sat down and passed a ball around asking each other questions.

I had to go sit at a desk and get my project finished, though I would have loved nothing better then to sit in Marry's class all day. Gayle, I cant remember if I've mention Gayle before. She is an Australian teacher who is helping Sue and Jack with the schools. She found this reading program, Reading A-Z and I am working on down loading all the books, printing them, binding them and getting them ready to put into the library.

Unfortunately the computer ran out of juice at 2:30 and I just had to sit in two more classes. I ended up back in Marry's last two classes. In which we played more games. You might be thinking this is all they do in the classes here, but I assure you today was unusual. This time is was checkers and the hand game with the rhyme 'down by the banks of the hanky panky'. The kids loved it. Rajitha had her class sitting next to ours. She had some puzzle spelling flash cards and was playing a speed game with her kids.

When the bell ran you heard about 40 kids groaning because they were not ready to go home. As the kids slowly dragged their feet out of the gate each and everyone of them waved and said good bye. Talk about brightening your day. My mouth hurt from smiling so much, but I couldn't stop.

Group of girls playing duck duck goose

Group of boys playing duck duck goose. Marry is in the back ground.

Rajitha

This is what you get if try and take a direct picture of someone. It's best to take a picture when they are not looking.

Driving to school

2011-10-18T20:50:00.000+07:00

My allergies have been acting up (I think they are so bad because of the ride in the tuk-tuk Sue, Suzan and I rode in on Sunday. The tuk-tuks are the little yellow cab things in the pictures below). I woke up feeling like death this morning with a runny nose and enough phlem to scare off the Mucinex ganster bugger. I ran, hoping it would help me feel better. It made me feel worse. When ever I go out in public, people stare at me (and Sue if shes with me) like I've got lobsters growing out of my ears. It's very uncomfortable to have so many people gawking at you. I was hoping 6:30 was early enough that people would still be inside their house, but no.

Sue and I went to school at 8:30 this morning. We picked up Jashreey and Rajitha on the way. I took some pictures as we drove down the main road. I got to work in a few classrooms today! The kids where thrilled that they were able to sit and talk with me. One of the teachers was absent, so I helped Rajitha sub in two classes.

Tuk-tuk

A Hindu temple

The guest house

This is where the night watchman lives

At long last

2011-10-16T14:09:00.004+07:00

Pictures! Flick is throwing a hissy fit because I'm trying to log in from India instead of Thailand, so I've only put up a few pictures. Hopefully I can get Flicker to behave sometime this week. Enjoy!

Maggie:

A view of Maggi from the front. The kitchen, office, staff room, and bathrooms are to the left. The cover in the middle is where the children eat lunch (this was also the first class rooms when Maggi was just starting out). To the right are classrooms.

Vajayalokshme with her class. It's Friday which means test day.

Lunch time

Jordie:

Grading a paper

Hindi lesson

I almost took this little girl, and boy above home with me. They are so dang cute

When ever a child stand up to speak to the teacher, they always cross their arms in front of their chest.

Driving around the slum:

To the left, next to the house is the front of a hut. Sue said when they first came to this slum there were no houses, only huts.

Even though it doesnt look it, the buildings are no more then four years old.

Maggi,Jordi and Evie

2011-10-13T21:45:00.000+07:00

Just got back from a long day at the schools. I had a blast (go figure). Sue and I made it in time to hear the children sing the national anthem before going to class. So, there are three school and one nursery at Opportunity Foundation India. The main school is called Maggi, grades 1-6, 200 kids, and I want to say 20ish teachers. Two nursery schools called Evie and Jordi, pre k and k, 30 kids each, two teachers per school. And then the baby care center, which I have no stats on because I have yet to visit.

Everyone calls Sue and I ma'am, so as I walk around Maggi campus 'How are you ma'am? Hello ma'am! Good morning ma'am!' gets shouted to me by 200 different voices. Everyone smiles and waves. The braver ones crowd around me, eager to say hi yet again. It's weird being called ma'am. I don't think I have ever been seriously called ma'am before. I feel sooooo old! I only have a few minutes to talk to the kids before they rush off to class. Today I sat in on Padma's class. She was teaching science to some 8-9 year olds. I nearly had to leave because the kids would turn and wave to me, or ask how I was so much it almost became a distraction.

Before lunch Sue and I went to see Jordi and I got to sit in another class. This was kindergarten and the kids were so adorable. Two in particular, one boy and one girl. I might have to pack them in my suitcase and take them home. They are so dang cute. All of the kids are cute here, big brown eyes and jet black hair. But so skinny, just bones and skin. They get a hard boiled egg three times a week, and milk and a bread bun twice a week (in addition to the rice and dhal they get for lunch). It's definitely the most dependable meal most of them get every day.

I took some awesome pictures today, but am having trouble getting them on here. I'll keep working on it, keep your fingers crossed.

After lunch we went to Evie for a very quick walk through before we had to rush off and help a teacher, Vajaalockshme (if you think reading the name is hard, try remembering how to say it!), get a check cashed.

Pretty full day. Sue and I just finished dinner and now I am off to see if I can skype a cell phone. I think you can do that, right?

Made it!

2011-10-10T21:43:00.000+07:00

Be warned. The internet is slow. Like, you could make your own cheese before the page finishes loading, if it will even load all the way. Added bonus, I can't get it on my computer. To do so I would need the password that I cannot for the life of me remember. So as of right now, there will be few posts and even fewer pictures. Sorry :(

Sue and I made it to Hyderabad. Our luggage almost decided to stay in Mumbai, which ment we stayed at the Hyderabad aiport until passed midnight to get it. And it still did not come, they delivered it to the house at midnight the next night. Total travel time was 17 hours. On my first day in India I went to a wedding of the sister of the accountant. That was a lot of fun. The women were dressed up beautifully in saris of all colors. A sari is a really long scarff that you wrap around your body, you wear it with a little half of a half shirt.

I'm a bit scattered brained at the moment so I'll give my first impressions. Keep it quick and to the point.

Most people speak English here, though its hard to understand with the thick accents. The weater is excelent, not terribly hot and not humid at all (score one for India). The food is delicious and not to be eaten with your left hand, spoon, or fork. The clothes are beautiful, I think I aleady said that , and I will have two or three sets made (so excited). The people are fantastically nice, though they tend to stare. A lot. My mother is going to throttle me when I get home because it took me nearly three days to let her know I hadn't died in a plane crash on the way over. The guest house is wicked awesome, all marble floors, a kitchen with wood cabnets to die for, my room has a gorgeous view and a very comfortable bed.

Yeah, so that's pretty much been the last threeish days.

Going to school in the morning.

Don't know when I'll be able to update again, hopefully soon.

Hope everyone is well!

I apologize for my horrendous spelling and grammar, but I'm really too tired to try really.

India

2011-10-08T05:53:00.000+07:00

Sue and I are about to leave for the airport! I'm so excited! There is no internet at the guest house, so I'm not sure how thats going to work out.

On a less exciting note: my left lower eye lid is a bit swollen.

Bangkok round II

2011-10-06T22:45:00.000+07:00

Had an absolute blast today. On the drive up we stopped at a cattle farm that has the highest quality beef in Thailand. It’s own by a Chinese family, who sent their kids to colleges around the world, the kids came back brainacks and had this brilliant idea to change the standard for beef in Thailand. They built this massive farm complete with stake houses, homemade ice cream stand, and all the gear required of a cowboy. Jack, Sue, and Nathan all got hamburgers for lunch. They were monster burgers and smelled sooo good. I had to remind myself that I had gone the last 10 months without meat and did I really want to break my new years resolution with only 2 months to go, on a burger? The answer was YES. But I resisted. If you drive from Bangkok to Nang Rong, this place is a must see stop. Sue claims they have the best burgers in Thailand and by smell alone I concur.

We got into Bangkok at 1:30ish and checked into the Bangkok Christian guest house. I had to smirk a bit at the memory of my last visit. We got up to our rooms and got situated. Jack and Sue prepared to leave for the hospital while Nathan and I armed ourselves for some sight seeing/ touristy things.

It’s been such a long day I’m trying to remember everything we did. I do know that we walked around Bangkok for 6ish hours without batting an eyelash. We took the sky train, which is amazing. It runs above the street, under the high way, and is a very common way of transportation. We went to the river and took a quick boat ride. I took a bunch of pictures which can be viewed on the flicker site. With, just in case you forgot, a link in the top left hand column. On the boat ride we saw a bunch of Wat’s and the most important one in Thailand, the Royal Wat which the King (is king supposed to be capitolized? My brain is mush at the moment.) uses. The Royal Wat is also home to the Emerald Buddha. History says that the Emerald Buddha was stolen many, many different times. So the Thai’s hid it in a cement-like casing. No one knew where it went, or what the cement Buddha really was until it was dropped and revealed to be the Emerald Buddha.

Nathan and I walked block after block of Bangkok, just chit chatting about this and that, looking at all the vendor stands that were being put up in preparation for the night market. Nathan also gave me a bit of a lesson on the red light district in Thailand, this was one of his focuses in Thailand, and one of the main reasons Jack decided to start the foundation. I was suddenly filled with pride for being apart of the foundation. The foundation is making a difference in their girls lives. Some of the things he told me that he heard first hand were frightening. I mean, I knew that this kind of stuff happened here as well as all over the world. But to know some one who has seen it, and to hear them talk about it. It’s… eye opening, and maddening at the same time.

I, who am in no way shape or form a violent person, wanted to scratch the Farang’s eyes out. Farang means westerner in Thai. Now, not all of the Farang are here for the wrong reason, but many, far too many of them are. It’s sickening. All I can think about are the girls in the foundation, May, Mint, Pa, Noi, the twins, Nat. What would happen to them if they had not been picked up by the government and given to the foundation? My heart breaks in to a million pieces for each girl who slips through the cracks, and there are a lot of girls. Girls who are not able to get away. Girls who live their whole life not knowing that there is so much better out there for them. Girls that don’t know they are worth more then dirt. Girls that don’t know they do have the right to say no. Why do we live in such a twisted world? Who in their right mind would EVER think it is ok to do this to a child?

Ok, moving away from this dark, dark topic before I go on a rampage. Deep breaths!

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^ me breathing

Nathan and I hopped on a subway and went to a gigantic mall. Remember the mall I told yall about in Korat, with the waterfall? This mall is ten times bigger. It was simply, huge. 6 stories high, zillions of shops. It was incredibly fun to walk around and do a bit of people watching. All kinds of people dressed in all kinds of wacky clothes. We met up with Jack and Sue. Sue has been given a green flag and we will be proceeding to India on the 8th, I’m so lost on what day it is (I do know that it is my sisters birthday, in Thailand at least. Happy birthday Lex, I love you!). We ate dinner and then took the sky train back to the guest house. Nathan was a little put out when he found out what an old lady I am. He wanted to go to the night market, it was nine o’clock and past my bedtime. He felt sure that I had lied about my age and was really 26 (boring old person) and not 21 (party hardy energizer bunny).

On the agenda tomorrow is the Royal Palace and the Emerald Buddha, looking forward to it!

Misc

2011-10-05T20:57:00.001+07:00

Possibly my last night in Nang Rong for 7 weeks. Jack, Sue, maybe Nathan, and I are going to Bangkok tomorrow to get Sue to the doctor to have a check up like I said before. Everyone feels reasonably sure that we will continue on to India as planned, if that does happen Sue and I will leave Bangkok on the 8th.

Looking forward to India! I have heard so many stories, I'm excited to write my own! Though I will miss the girls. They've known that I will be leaving for Inida but it hit them today that I am leaving tomorrow. They were on my like white on rice all night. I am going to miss them, so much! The best part of leaving is coming back.

I've uploaded the last random pictures over the last week and a half, enjoy!

Punim playing peekaboo

Paa's castle fell over just as I took this, hence the face. I made the big castle. Mind you, the floor is very slick, there were multiple fans going and multiple children trying to knock it down.

Nat

Paa

Fai

Yi Et washing her clothes

Tofu sausage! It was... interesting.

Yi Op

India update

2011-10-05T08:37:00.000+07:00

Sue, Jack, and I will be leaving tomorrow morning for Bangkok. Sue has an appointment with a doctor for a check up and make sure she is good to travel. If she gets the ok and feels up to it, she and I will fly to Hyderabad on the 8th. If not, we will push the departure date back by a few days to a week to give Sue time to recover from the motorcycle accident. I'm excited to go to Bangkok for a few days again! There are a few things I missed seeing the last time I was there.

I made two new friends over the last week. Joy and her eldest niece Pang. Joy runs a stand at the morning market. She and Pang are good friends of Jack, Sue, and Nathan. Joy and Pang kidnapped me for a lunch date yesterday. Nathan tagged along. Pang and Joy have extraordinarily good English, though they insist they do not. They like to watch American movies. Pang has not seen any of the Star Wars movies, Nathan and I decided she needed to be educated. When I get back from India we are going to have a Star Wars movie night.