Pics!!

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

View from the beach out to the Andaman Sea

Part of the 2004 Tsunami Memorial in Khao Lak Thailand

It was a bit weird to see these signs everywhere.  There were also signs pointing to the evacuation route and tree with ladders, so you can climb out of the path of the wave.

Chiang Mai FC game!!

Some young boys beginning their time as monks.  Every male in Thailand (who can afford it) spends time as a monk.  Many do it for about 30 days when they are young.  This is one of the only pictures I got during out temple visit before my camera died.

Jordan got us some durian to try.  It smells terrible and tastes about the same.  It was a low grade, so there wasn't much flavor.  Most people don't like it.

Tiffany and I waiting in our tuk tuk in Burma.

A view from above of Tachileik.  The city on the Burmese side for the Burma/Thailand border.

A Chedi in Burma.

Some burmese script on a pillar in a temple.

The Golden Triangle.  To the left is Burma, to the right is Laos, and the trees in the foreground are in Thailand.

Bumper to bumper traffic during Songkran, literally.

Songkran

Random little fruit.  Thailand has the most fun fruit in the world.

Happy New Year!!!

Yes, that's right.  From April 13th through 15th we celebrated Songkran, the traditional New Year in Theravada Buddhism (Another random fact:  The Thai calendar is 543 years ahead of the rest of the world, so it is in fact the year 2554, not 2011.  It makes reading expiration dates of food quite interesting).  Traditionally, Thais would catch the water that was used to clean Budda statues and pour it on each other; younger to older in respect and older to younger as a blessing.  Although this still happens to some extent, most people just throw normal water on each other in fun as it is currently the hottest month of the year here.  And it is HOT!! 90s everyday.  According to weather.com, the historical average for April is 97. Everyday. (the low is 73)  So for those of you in New York, think the hottest day we get all summer long being everyday for over a month.  So, you can see why the Songkran tradition has turned into the biggest national waterfight in the world.  Lucky for me, Chiang Mai is considered the best place in Thailand to celebrate!

Although Songkran did not officially start until Wednesday, people (especially kids) began throwing water as early as Sunday.  They just take hoses and buckets out to the side of the road and wait for anyone who is not protected to come by.   On Tuesday afternoon, we got splashed and dumped on while walking home from class and while we rode our bikes around.  Wednesday was cold (80F) and rainy, so we stayed at TLCC and tried to avoid getting wet.  I was a bit disappointed, but the next two days made up for it.

On Thursday we went into Chiang Mai to play Songkran.  We piled into two trucks, each armed with about 80 gallons of water and buckets to throw it with and drove in.  The road was so clogged with people and vehicles that  is took us 3 hours to go a distance that only takes us 10 minutes to walk.  The whole time we were throwing water and getting water thrown at us.  Getting soaked only took about 10 seconds and was actually complete long before we got to the crowded part of the city.

On Friday some of us went in again, but this time on foot.  We bought cheap water guns and walked around squirting people.  It was not as crowded because we arrived right after a parade, so there were no cars on the road yet.  Even so, it was a ton of fun.  When all you have is a little squirt gun, it is still just as much fun.  Everyone is very friendly, and you can refill anywhere you see a bucket.  The city actually sets up free pumps to use!

There is no designated area for the waterfight, unless you consider it the borders of the country, but even so Songkran is celebrated in Burma, Laos and Cambodia, too.  Also, to make it even more fun, you can buy huge chunks of ice to put in your 50 gallon bucket of water.  When it's 90F out, 32F water is a shock when a whoe bucket is poured down your back.  Everyone has so much fun during this holiday.  It doesn't matter how wet, or cold, or how much water some you pour on someone, as long as you say "Songkran" or "Happy New Year" everyone is happy.  The Thais especially love soaking the farang (foreigners).  All the rest of the time, culturally, they have to be super nice, but this is their one chance to soak them.  They love it!!  If you ever consider visiting Thailand, you should definitely do it during Songkran.  Just know that you will get wet.  There is no escape.

And the time just flies by...

Wow!!  The last couple week have been crazy, but it's finally Songkran and I have the rest of the week off to celebrate!  So here's a quick recap:

March 25-April 1
On Friday we arrived back from practicum around noon.  We had just enough time to eat, clean up, and repack before heading down to Khao Lak (just north of Phuket) for a week of vacationing.  We were hoping for hot, sunny weather so we could spend all our time at the beach.  It rained.  Almost all day, everyday.  But it was ok, we made the best of it and watched a lot of movies and played games.  I was able to spend a couple mornings at the beach and I went one night, too.  I also found out, by accident, that the area around Khao Lak has bio-luminescent organisms!  It's kind of like fireflies in the water.  When you move around they light up in response...it's so cool!!  The whole week was just a good time to get back together and refresh between practicum and our classes.

April 4-7
Just regular classes everyday.  We finished up our class on the Exclusion and Exploitation of Marginalized People of the Greater Mekong Subregion (a mouthful I know) with a group project.  Mine was on the issues of labor migration and exploitation.  On Tuesday we did two temple visits for our class on History, Religion, and Society.  We were able to visit two of the major temples here in Chiang Mai.  One was the temple where the leader of the Buddhism in the northern part of Thailand is, and the other is the head of Buddhism in Chiang Mai.  Sorry, I cannot remember their names at the moment.  It was neat to learn about the symbolism and the different parts of the temples.  I have been seeing them everywhere for the past 3 months, but never knew much about them.

April 8-10
Over the weekend we went up to Mae Sai (Thai city at the borders of Burma and Laos) for a combined field trip for our two classes.  On Friday afternoon we visited two NGOs in the area.  One, DEPDC, has a lot of different programs, but works mainly to combat trafficking in Southeast Asia.  It has a lot of money and is very well organized.  They reach a ton of people through their school, classes, and a radio station.  It is amazing to see an organization that is able to have so much of an impact.  The other place we visited was a home for Burmese children.  It was started by a guy who was never planning on starting anything of the sort or even working with kids, but when he saw the need he knew he needed to do something.  He has put everything he has into it, even sacrificing trips to visit his family down south because he needed the money to buy food for the children.  When he started the project he was a Buddhist, but many of the kids he took in were Christian.  He said that the kids kept talking to him and praying for him, and over the course of a few years he felt God stirring in his heart.  Now he is a Christian as well and hold church services for the kids.  He has an amazing story, and I wish I could remember it all to tell you!
On Saturday morning we went to the city just on the other side of the Burmese border.  The difference between the cities is such a stark contrast that I can easily understand why the Burmese want to cross into Thailand so badly.  Mae Sai is a beautiful, developed city with huge concrete buildings, and a ton of cars.  The road leading up to the border is a 6 lane highway.  Just across the border is Tachileik, a city of old buildings and tin shacks, and few cars.  The road that was 6 lanes in Thailand is now barely two, and not even the greatest condition at that.  The city, even though it is in Burma, does not even use Burmese currency.  Even at the border crossing they only take Baht and US dollar.  It's crazy.  Even though life isn't great for Burmese in Thailand, I can see even more why they want to leave their country now.  I can't imagine living in a place like that, on the low side of such a contrast.
In the afternoon we visited the Hall of Opium.  It was created to educate Thais about the risks and dangers of producing and using opium and heroin.  It was more interesting than I expected.  It talked about the history, production, victims, and how they are combating opium production and use.

This past week we have had class as normal for two days, but now we are celebrating Songkran.  Traditionally it is a holiday for respecting your elders, but not it is a giant waterfight all over the country, and especially in Chiang Mai.  I'll put up another post with pictures about it this weekend.

I am almost done here in Laos; I only have 2 more days.  The past month has been both exciting and life changing.  At the same time that I am really excited to go back to Chiang Mai and finish up the semester, I am also really sad to leave ARDA.  I have been really busy tutoring the students and Lao staff here in English, working on a business curriculum, and just living and hanging out with the students.  I have learned a little bit of Lao and mad a to of new friends.

 Last weekend Alice and I went to Vang Vieng with some friends we have met here in Vientiane.  It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  The mountains are tall and magnificent; they rise almost straight up from the ground in huge cliffs as if God just poked them up from the ground with His fingers.  Yet, somehow they are covered with trees, I don't know how they survive, but they are there clinging to the rocks. 

On Friday morning Alice, Sam, Meng, and I left ARDA to head up to Vang Vieng.  We just barely missed a sung tow to get there, so we had to wait about an hour for the next one.  The ride took about 4 1/2 hours on super curvy roads.  And did I mention it was pouring rain and unlike the nice hard sided sung tows in Thailand, these just have a piece of cloth to block out the sun.  So it was a windy, cold, wet ride.  I was so happy when it was over.  By the time we got to Vang Vieng, it was overcast, but at least it had stopped raining.

In the afternoon we followed a trail to try and find  Lu Si cave.  We searched and searched, but we couldn't find it.  It was very disappointing, but we had fun anyway.  On Saturday morning the guys left to head farther up north to visit a village, and Alice and I went on a caving tour.  It was sooo cool!!  We went in four caves and one of them we got to tube in!  The first two cave were just walking caves.  We got head lamps (which were almost dead in most cases) and followed the guide around.  The mountains may look really huge and heavy, but inside there is a lot of hollow space.  It's really strange.  Even the rock that the mountains are made of is really light, and inside the cave you can tap on most of the structures and they sound hollow inside.  It kind of makes you wonder if the mountain is just going to fall down on top of you at any moment!  The third cave we went into was the best because we floated on tubes through it.  We were given these awesome "waterproof" headlights powered by huge waterproof batteries.  It was a great plan, but mine went out halfway into the cave.  Luckily all you have to do is pull yourself along a rope, so you have to see too much to have a good time.  I did get a few pictures, so that was neat.

In the afternoon, three other people from ARDA came up to Vang Vieng and joined us.  We decided to go back and find Lu Si cave again.  This time there were guides at the end of the trail waiting and we paid 10,000 kip to go in.  Even if we had found it the day before, we couldn't have gotten in anyway.  First you climb up a trail, that looks more like a rock slide, until you come to a wooden door that is locked closed and covered in barbed wire.  There is really no way in other than the guide.  It was pretty neat inside, and would have been my favorite cave if we hadn't been tubing in one already.  It was also the biggest cave that we were able to see.  Somewhere inside there is a swimming hole, but it cost another 10,000 kip and there was not enough time to go and still make it out before dark, so needless to say, we weren't able to go that far.

Supposedly this is a trail.

On Sunday morning we climbed up a little hill/mountain.  Again, the path was blocked by a barbed wire door and the trail was barely a trail.  It was a hard climb, not because it was steep, but because the rocks are really sharp and the only shoes I had brought to Vang Vieng was a pair of flip flops.  Let's just say, it made the hike quite interesting.  On the way down we stopped at another cave (like I said, the mountains are more hollow than solid!), which was very small and looped around, so no guide was required.  We didn't bring a flash light, so we all had to share the LED light on my camera.  It was small, safe cave, so it was not a problem.  If it had been any bigger, they would have required a guide to go with us anyway.

On a totally different note, one of the things I will miss most about Laos is the meals at ARDA.  First of all, it's really fun to just hang out with the students and eat with them.  Between their English (which is pretty good in many cases) and my very very limited Lao, it is fun to talk and get to know everyone.  But secondly, I will miss the way they eat.  Almost every meal is served with sticky rice, which you make into a ball and eat the other food with your hands.  At first, I didn't like it because it felt messy and you, obviously, get food all over your hands, but now I think it's really fun!  Plus there are less dishes to wash because there are no utensils.  After eating sticky rice for at least one meal almost everyday, and often two, you would think I would be tired of it, but there are so many different things that we have eaten it with, and so many different flavors, that it doesn't matter.  The rice is literally just a carrier.  It's also really cool because everyone at the table shares from one basket of rice.  It's pretty easy to make, so I will definitely be trying it out at school next year!!

On Friday we will be heading back to Chiang Mai, and then to a beach north of Phuket for our "post practicum excursion" aka Spring Break.  So please pray for safety as we travel.  It is a 10 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai, then we will be flying to Phuket, and after break it will be two 9 hour bus rides back to Chiang Mai.  Also, pray for the people here and all over South East Asia.  There is a lot of evil and oppression here, that will only ever change when God changes the hearts of the people involved.

Lao Adventures (Week 3)

Most of the last couple weeks has been pretty much the same.  Most days we get to Skills between 8 and 9, and we spend the mornings teaching and tutoring English.  I help tutor one of the staff for about an hour every morning, and then she teaches me Lao for a half hour to an hour.  It is a lot of fun.  I have learned a lot of different words, but I cannot really string it into a sentence.  Learning vocabulary is much easier than learning grammar and sentence structure.  It’s also difficult for them to explain many of the verbs because they do not know them in English, to tell us what they are trying to teach us.  Sometimes I’ll just be sitting in the kitchen or eating dinner and the students will try to teach me Lao.  Half the time I don’t know what I am even saying!!  I just repeat, then they laugh and we try again.  I have learned how to count (pretty much the same as Thai), colors, a whole bunch of random objects and a few phrases.  A lot of the time I can figure out what they are asking, but I don’t know how to answer in Lao.

In the afternoons all the students go to work, so I have been working on editing a business curriculum that they want to use here in the future.  It has been a lot of work, and I will be working on it more and more as the end of my time here approaches, but it has been good to be able to put my business skills and knowledge into practice.  I was told that most Lao people do not really know anything about finances or business, and as a result most shops last only a year or two.  Many family farms do not do well either, or if they do the family has not concept of budgeting and spends a lot of the money right away.  So many people have gotten themselves into a lot of debt, and they do not know how to themselves out.  The curriculum I am working on has a good blend of teaching both personal and business principles, and it challenges the students to apply their own personal beliefs.  I really like it.  I think a lot of Americans would do well to learn it as well!

Last Wednesday, someone came from the fire department to teach the girls about fire safety and how to put out various types of gas fires that they might encounter when they are cooking in the kitchen.  It was nothing like anything I have ever seen.  First they attached a hose to a propane tank and turned it on, so there was fire shooting out from the end of the hose!  Then, to teach them how to put it out, they had each girls come up and use her thumb to cover the end of the hose, and thereby stop the flow of gas (there’s a space between the end of the hose and where the fire ignites).  Yes, I did it too.  Then they took the hose and turned the valve completely open, so there was a 15 foot flame coming from the propane tank, and had the girls put the fire out with fire extinguishers.  Finally they just poured puddles of gasoline on the concrete driveway and lit them on fire, to be put out with the extinguishers again.  It’s all good, until the ground is lit and the fire extinguishers run out.  Then it’s really funny to watch the firefighter try to put out a gasoline fire using a rubber welcome mat!  Every time he got one spot put out, it would just reignite as soon as he moved on.  Eventually he put it out somehow because when we returned from lunch the cars were back in their spots.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  

 

Last weekend we did a program with a group of Hmong children at the home of one of the couples that work at ARDA, along with two guys who are visiting the family.  Sam and Meng are both Hmong American and speak Hmong, so they were also able to translate for us.  We started with some songs, then played games and did a craft.  The kids are so different than the Lao children who come to Skills three times a week.  We taught them how to play the game Ninja, and they LOVED it!!  They were so into it and loved getting the crazy falang (foreign) leaders out first.  I have some videos, hopefully I will be able to put them up on Facebook.  For the craft, we got sand from the sand bar in the middle of the Mekong and dyed it purple, pink, orange, and yellow.  Then we made design on paper with glue.  (Note: it is amazing how far a little bit of powdered food coloring will go when it is mixed with a tiny bit of water.  Not only will it be on your hands, but also on your legs, feet, and face.)  The kids had a great time.  I was surprised how detailed and focused they were with their drawings.  What I had planned to be a 30 minute craft turned into a hour long session.  After lunch we had a story-time, and then went to a local waterpark.  Let me clarify, because it is nothing like a waterpark in the States.  It was small.  There were three small pools of different depths (one was completely green, one just nasty, and the third was clean), a lazy river (hasn’t run in a year), and 10 water slides (only 3 turned on).  It didn’t matter that it was dirty and run down though, we still had a great time.  We played games in the pool and the boys had a ton of fun on the waterslides (only one of the girls was brave enough).  Although, after 3 or 4 hours of swimming, I must admit I was pretty tired.  It was such a great day to spend with the Hmong kids.  It is amazing how little language and verbal communication is actually needed to have fun and play with kids.  They don’t care that you can’t understand each other.

A Village Visit (and some other stuff)

You can see the garden in front, and behind the trees are the fields

Last weekend we got to visit a former student’s village.  It was so much fun!  At 7AM we hopped on a bus and rode a couple hours out of the city.  When we go there we were picked up by a truck to get the rest of the way to her house.  When we got there we had some watermelon then got a tour of the family’s fields.  They only do one crop of rice, which they plant in June, so there wasn’t any when we visited, but they did have a couple fields of potatoes, cucumbers, and corn.  They also have a garden with melons and herbs, and orange grove, chickens (which run everywhere), and goats.  It was much bigger than I expected it to be, and it had a lot more diversity.

In the afternoon we visited a home for guys that are recovering from drug addictions.  The woman who runs it has been the connection between a few of the current students here; a couple went through her program and a couple were just family friends who live in her village.  We spent time attempting to talk to the guys and singing with them, then we went to the river and went swimming.  It was absolutely beautiful; the water was clear and cool.  It felt great on a hot day!

We were able to share two meals with the girl and her family who hosted us.  It was really good!  We had chicken, soup, beans and sticky rice for lunch and chicken, fish, fried eggs, and soup for dinner.  The fish was caught just that afternoon by another student who went with us, and we were told that the chicken were alive that morning.  Can’t get much fresher than that!  We ate in the traditional style: sitting on the floor at a really short small table.  We all ate with our hands directly from the serving dish.  It’s so fun and different from America! 

Don't worry, we didn't ride the motor bike!

We had to stay at a nearby guesthouse because we are not allowed to stay with the family.  If we had the government would probably have come around after we left and asked questions.  Vientiane is very friendly, but outside of it, they are not so accepting of foreigners.  So we stayed in a guesthouse.  It was really funny when we got there, though, because one of the students that went with us made the receptionist open up about eight rooms, and then picked the best two rooms for the four of us to stay in.  Guesthouses here are different from the States because they are not used as often.  Some rooms are nice and kept up well, but others are kind of dirty.  The students made sure we got the nicest rooms possible, and that they were on the second floor, which is safer.  It was decent, and I can’t complain because we only paid $2.50 a piece for the rooms.  It was a bed to sleep on, and it was clean.

In the morning we went out for breakfast and had phe (pronounced fuh).  It is a fairly bland noodle soup with beef and herbs in it.  Apparently it is a multi-purpose soup; I have had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner here in Laos.  It doesn’t have a whole lot of flavor, but it is really good if you add some lime to it.  The people here add a sweet chili sauce to it quite often, but I’m not really a fan of it.  It falls somewhere between ketchup and chili sauce, but the flavor is a bit strange to me.

The drinks here come in plastic bags.  It's so fun!

After breakfast we walked around the market and the students bought us some fresh squeezed sugar cane juice.  It is so sweet.  I barely finished mine, and Alice could only drink about half of hers.  I don’t understand how they can drink that, but think chocolate chip cookies are too sweet.  It’s pretty much like drinking pure sugar!  I liked it, but I can only drink a little bit.  They can down a whole bag in a couple minutes.  After that, we hopped on the bus and came back to Vientiane.

We were only back about 20 minutes, when we were invited to go to church with everybody.  The service was three hours, and most of it was spent singing.  There was about 20 minutes of testimony time and a half hour sermon, but the rest was singing.  Luckily, there were a few other foreigners there, so about a third of the songs were translated into English so we could follow along. 

After church we met an American Lao girl who came here on a medical missions trip and to visit her family that is still here.  She is a college student, but is using her break (plus another week) to come and translate for the medical team.  We are planning to meet with her for dinner tomorrow, so it will be neat to hear more about what she is doing.

This week has been very similar to last week.  We have been helping the students learn English, they have been attempting to teach us Lao, and we have been helping out in other little ways where ever we can.  This Saturday we are going to put on a program for some Hmong children, along with Kip, Anna, and a couple people who are visiting them for a week or so.  I’m not sure what we are planning to do with them yet, but I am really excited!!

Sa bei dee!! (Hello!)

The last three days have been absolutely crazy and amazing!  We have been figuring out and settling into a new culture, city, and schedule.  It has been a lot of fun getting to know the students throughout the past few days and working on their English with them (although that usually turns in to a Lao lesson!)  I am writing this post late at night, so please excuse any grammar or other issues :)  The ARDA Skills Centre is a school (2 years for guys, 1 year for girls) where students can come to learn different life and vocational skills.  Everyone takes English, life skills, and English; the guys take classes in construction, and the girls take classes such as cooking and baking and childcare.  The students take classes in the morning, and they go to work for various area businesses in the afternoon.  All the guys are currently working at a construction site for the government and the girls have a variety of jobs, mostly cleaning.  The whole program is run by the Anglican Relief and Development Agency.

Monday: We started the day by having a basic tour of the center and meeting the staff and students.  They were all very friendly and happy to meet us.  We also were able to sit in on a two classes: English and cooking and baking.  At ARDA the girls and guys are separated for their classes, so all the ones we sat in were girls only.  We were able to help out in the English class with some of the activities, which was a great way to learn a lot of the girls’ names.  For lunch we went over to Kip and Anna’s house for lunch (they are the other couple who help run the center) with their family and Jeremy.  They presented us with a number of different opportunities to get plugged in here and help out and we were able to share some of the things that we would like to do.  I think we will have more than we can handle! During the afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the girls hold a children’s ministry after school.  It was a lot of fun, but I will write about it in a little bit. 

Tuesday:  In the morning I was able to sit in on the same classes again.  In cooking and baking the girls were actually learning how to make pizza.  It was a lot of fun to just watch and talk to the girls as much as their limited English would allow.  I have tried to pick up a few words in Lao, but the tonal thing is quite difficult!  In the afternoon we did some English tutoring with one of the girls who does not work on Tuesday afternoons.  She was formerly trafficked to Thailand and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), so school can be difficult for her.  After we got done tutoring, the 3 of us went for a walk, and Alice and I bought her a fruit smoothie.  At first we thought she was shy, but one she felt comfortable, she would go off in Lao and talk for minutes at a time.  The only thing we understood was that one time a snake fell out of a tree and landed on her!  Later on, 3 of the students invited us to go on a bike ride to the market, so we went along.  One of the girls decided that she wanted noodle salad (sorry, I haven’t learned the word in Lao yet), so we went to look for it.  We took a dirt road along the Mekong River, and ended up at the most random little house that sold noodle salad.  It was a bit spicy, but really good!  It was also an amazing opportunity to get to know the students that we went with.  They all have awesome testimonies, but I will save those stories for another post. 

Wednesday:  Most of our day today was spent tutoring English.  We stared by working with two of the Lao ARDA staff.  They are both taking classes at the ARDA Language Centre, which is only a few blocks away.  The tutoring is just having a conversation and helping them with their homework.  It is a lot of fun!  Later on, one of the girls came to me while I was sitting in the lounge area and said she wanted to practice her English.  We stared out with a basic conversation, but it ended with me being taught Lao by about 6 of the Lao girls!  They really love teaching Alice and I how to speak Lao and we love learning it, so it is a great combination.  They were teaching us again this evening in the kitchen and we were just laughing and having a great time.  A few of the students know English quite well, so they can serve as translators to explain what phrases we are being taught when the other students don’t know how to say it in English.  This afternoon we helped out with the children’s ministry again.  The kids love having two white girls to play with, so we are surrounded from the moment we step out the door!  Today a bunch of the little girls taught me how to play a Lao version of Duck, Duck, Goose.  It is very similar, but because it is rude to touch somebody’s head here, they use a shoe and drop it behind the “goose.”  They also sing a song while they play, but I don’t know what they are saying. 

This weekend we are going to visit a Lao village with a former student and a staff from ARDA.  It will only take us a couple hours to get there, so we will have most of the day on Saturday to spend there.  Hopefully I will have a chance to post again soon after the weekend.            d

I am hoping to put pictures up soon, but the internet can be slow here, so it might be difficult.