a giving of thanks

this is the rare part of my day,

when the day here is the same day back at home.

and of all days, it's thanksgiving. that's weird.

it doesn't seem quite right, if it was thanksgiving, i would be home wearing warm socks and my favorite winter coat. sipping hot coffee and watching my breath billow clouds into the air.

but instead i am wearing flip flops, it feels like summer on my face and arms and i'm biking to the market to buy sticky rice.

there are no turkeys.

thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday per say. however, when i think of home my mouth waters for my mom's green bean casserole and a slice of the dark meat, a chance to see the dining room in it's rarest form [clean] and my favorite, sitting around the table with my family and telling each other stories that have us in our seats till our bellies are full and my sisters and i debate on who gets what job in cleaning up.

the few americans that work at agape will be putting on a little thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night. there will be chicken instead of turkey and the pumpkin pie may be a bit different [i'm making it...it will be an adventure]. i will sit on a mat on the floor and we will pass each dish around and scoop a little bit of everything on our plates. there will be different kinds of stories to tell and hear and i'll probably laugh at the way one of the australians says something.

it's not quite home.

but i'm thankful nonetheless. i'm thankful i have a wonderful family at home who will all be together today. i'm thankful i have so many amazing and wonderful people to think about and miss. i am thankful to be in thailand and the purpose God has for me here. i am thankful for the relationships i have started to build here and my love that has grown for the children i work with.

thanks.

all in a weekend

the idea of what to do for a birthday varies greatly from person to person. some people like a quiet evening with a few close friends...

or there's Avis Rideout.

founder of agape home, Avis is insanely energetic and full of compassion, which shows in the way she likes to celebrate her birthday. november 21st is the only day of the year the orphanage is closed because every single child goes to her house for a huge party. and i mean huge.first off, avis comes to agape to surprise the kids in some funky costume. last year she was a cowgirl, this year she was pipi longstocking, complete with orange painted braids that were held up with wire.

we spent the whole day watching the kids play and run around while the nannies and older kids sang karaoke to thai pop songs. the cooks from agape made heaps of awesome food for lunch and we all ate coconut ice cream for dessert. it was pretty awesome. some of the guys

even lit fireworks but seeing as it was a sunny day, there was more bang than a pretty sight. all of the kids then had a big sleep over at her house, every single kid.

wow.

well at 5am the following morning, the six of us volunteers [maiken, camilla, hanna, sarah, alice and well, me] headed out on a completely different sort of adventure. we all thought it sounded like a great idea to hop into a van with our trusty friend Noi and her family and set off for the mountains. now thailand doesn't exactly have 'the hills are alive...' epic alps, but thailand does have the most intense road i've ever been on. i even got a certificate that verifies that i have gone on the curviest road in thailand...1,864 to be kind of exact [and that was only one way].

first stop: pai [the p is pronounced like a b...don't ask me why]

a small town three hours west of chiang mai and i have never felt so at home as i did during the few moments we were there. pai is this little notch of bohemian slash art slash good coffee. i walked into a shop and damien rice was playing over head. now that may not seem of any consequence to you, but in a strange way it felt freeing. i was in city next to hills taller than houses, feeling a cool breeze and enjoying french toast and coffee and looking at the beautiful art displayed on so many walls. it was everything i loved minus the people i love, and if the latter had been there...well it would have been close to perfect. unfortunately we had an itinerary to abide by, so being yanked from my day dream, we headed off to many more sights, smells and sounds.

our destination for the night was a village type area in the mae hong son providence, a good few curves away from pai. along the way we made a few stops, one at this chinese village [random] where we took a ride on this crazy swing slash carousel thing. there was waterfall at one point and fish cave at a beautiful park.

our place of rest brought us to a glassy, serene lake and rooms that only used electricity between the hours of 6 and 9pm. we ate a feast in the dark, rice and fried omelet, veggies and other tasties. we actually had to wear long pants and sweatshirts, i almost freaked out when i realized i could see my breath. i was in the mountains and it was cold and it was wonderful.

the morning brought us freezing cold showers out of a bucket and a beautiful sunrise that was promised but never showed. we drank hot chocolate and i learned that everyone else in the world calls granola, 'muesli'.

we headed out to spend a little time of pampering, seeing as riding all day in a comfy van really wears you down, we decided we earned it. we went to a spa where we got mud masks, took pictures of us looking like silly monsters and then got thai massages. but once our faces returned to our normal state of caucasian, we set out for the real purpose of our trip...

FLOWER

MOUNTAIN.

during the later weeks of november, giant bushes full a beautiful and vibrant yellow flowers bloom everywhere. so of course we had to see it.

we saw little bushes here and there along our way but once we actually came to the main place the flowers grow, the sight look my breath away...seriously.

our entire trip was for this one purpose and it was worth it. i felt like every picture i took couldn't grasp the enormity of that place. it was a beautiful day and i just couldn't give it justice in a frame.

there was also another attraction that day...us. we only saw one other farong [foreinger] at the mountain, but the place was packed with thais everywhere at shoulder level. apparently seeing white people is just as exciting as the yellow flowers. we had more than a few people take pictures of us, including two monks. it was strangely ironic, however i would like to think i try and stay discreet when i take pictures of random people. all of us felt rather uncomfortable after awhile, it's tiring the be a circus act.

an adventure it was, my weekend came to an end with new memories and a nasty cold i just got over yesterday. if i disappear any time soon...you might find me three hours west of chiang mai.

the view out my window has changed

life is starting to settle in with the new house. i finally made my space my own, which meant cutting bird silhouettes out of yellow paper and making them fly amongst the photos on my wall.

i've also started writing those letters i promised to so many lovelies. but i've decided the bike ride to the post office alone makes it worth sending them, it's a long and peaceful trip through beautiful rural streets. it's a classic shot of an exotic asian country. chickens running across the road, rice fields and giant

leafy green trees.

i spent this last weekend sleeping on amy and sarah's couch, enjoying the air conditioning and long walks along streets we haven't ventured down yet. people don't really seem to walk from place to place in chiang mai, but considering the heat and the lack of accommodating sidewalks, i can understand. it felt good to move about on my own two legs.

here's a fun fact, yes there are starbucks in thailand [notice the gecko, perfect] and to my surprise, and maybe yours as well, it's one the few places where you can get a decent cup of coffee. thai's like their instant coffee...me, not so much. especially because when you read the nescafe label, the general amount of actual coffee is about 11% while on the other hand, sugar is about 40%. mmm...no

thanks.

oh and i got the coveted pleasure of getting to watch sarah, amy and shanna practice a dance they're choreographing with anna's mom esther, who lip syncs the lead vocals. it's to the song 'everybody dance now'. amazing.

getting to spend time with amy and sarah is always so good even if it means i watch them try and figure out what they will do for their next class. or watching them play charades with the entire class of freshmen nursing students. hearing 200 girls say 'sawadee ka' in unison is terrifying.

i am reminded of how lucky i am to have two of my closest friends in the same foreign country as me. even though i don't see them as much as i would like, just knowing they are there gives me a great sense of peace.

now i just leave you with a few pictures i find, well,...

lessons in patience

[that's right, our kids can fly.]

is it shocking to realize that children are just really short adults?it was to me...

i am constantly staring at a situation that appears to be general childishness. i may get frustrated when they throw fits over such small things or cry when they don't get their way. but then it hits me [or one of the kids do], grown ups are the biggest cry-babies i know. for serious. i think about all the petty things i get angry about and realize i have no room to tell the kids they're being ridiculous when someone has every right to say that to me.

it's funny that we call people grown-ups once they hit a certain age range when really, that 5 year-old mentality is still going strong. maybe that should be a test to see if you actually qualify for the title of 'adult'. i think a vast majority of us would fail miserably.

oh and my favorite thing is when children do something that they think is funny, but really it's not and they get in big trouble. like last night when one of the kids took a shower hose and sprayed down half of the room, getting water EVERYWHERE, then the other kids

used the floor as a slip n' slide. it was udder chaos and i even describe how frustrated the two nannies and i were.

but once everything was over, the storm calmed, and the kids were being half civil, one of the nannies took my shoulders and said in

an all-knowing tone, 'COURAGE!'

...then i thought to myself later,if i had been one of those little kids, i would have thought that was the best, most awesome thing ever. and that if an opportunity like that came up in my life now, i'd probably do that same thing. any punishment would have been worth it.

they try marching one by one but...

a taste of an everyday battle

so ants.

i pray when Jesus said that 'what do you to lest of these you do to me', these little oh so lovable, they even cuddle with me in bed, six legged creatures were not included.

otherwise...well you know where i'll be going when all is said and done.

now i did spend some quality time with ants when i was a kid. i used to do my part in community service by teaching them how to swim. granted this included catching them and dropping them into puddles, then taking them out once they stopped moving.

i don't think my parents were ever aware of my after school activities but i would hope knowing this tid bit of strange childhood behavior, they don't consider this to allude to number 14 on dr. phil's list.

i would estimate that maybe over a thousand ants die every week in my house. thanks to super potent bug spray my roommates and i spray strategically through out our kitchen. this may seem cruel to anyone not having been to my house. but i assure you, it is a necessary precaution, otherwise anything we have in the kitchen will have ants in it. i can't even leave a glass of water sit unattended with out a half dozen ants coming to scope it out. i cry out for peace but it falls on deaf ears.

ah yes, murderer i may be. but please, i am a solider in a just war.

i've been busy Vol. 2

[she was imitating me taking a picture]

so my other updates...

I MOVED. yes, i know that may seem a little odd but i guess my supervisor laura and has wanted the volunteers to have a new house for a long time. and as chance may have it laura herself was moving from her house into one right across the street and it dawned on her that we should just move into her old house. we made the dec

ision and in an unbelievably unthai [i.e. we actually did something fast] fashion, we moved in after only a few days...kind of. we were supposed to move last wednesday so on tuesday night my roommates and i feverishly packed up the house to be ready to go. however, the moving crew didn't show up till really late and after having spent all day at home, we were a little frustrated. so we didn't actually move till thursday and we didn't get all the rest of our stuff till this monday.

but frustrations aside our house is very nice. it's a lot newer than the other house and the biggest bonuses is that we live a lot closer to agape AND we have the internet. oh and of course we're much closer to laura which is super nice. sarah and i still share a room and there's a weird little nook where of course, i claimed my territory. i prefer small space, i've always liked the feeling of a little spot that i can really feel is my own and so far this one is proving to be a good one.

there's windows everywhere in this

house and they all have green curtains so when the sun shines through them, everything has this greenish haze. laura says by the time i leave i'm going to hate the color green, i really hope not.

work at agape has been going really well, this last week was kind of an interesting roller coaster of really bad shifts, to amazing ones. but my favorite night was when we were getting the kids settled down before they go to bed by watching a movie and a bunch of them were actually trying to say my name [an endeavor they gave up a long time ago]. some of them were

actually pretty good at it, so it looks like i won't be 'tish' after all...[i wouldn't mind that]. oh, and the best was that a lot of the kids tackled me with goodnight kisses! they've never done that before, i'm lucky if i even get one and i have to ask for it. it was just the best feeling ever.

dealing with the slow process of the children getting warmed up to me has made me think a lot about how it's hard to august to what is unfamiliar. i'm trying to get used to thailand, a place where one of the things that actually brings me a sense of familiarity is when a bathroom has toilet paper [thais' don't really use tp]. in the same way, these children stay close to the adults they know and trust so it can be hard for them when there are new volunteers. they have to test the waters, or more importantly, see what they can get away with, before they are willing to let loose and jump all over me. it's very humbling to know that i can not instantly receive their love, i have to work for it and that's surprisingly more satisfying that i ever thought it could be.

i've been busy Vol. 1

PANDA LANTERN: awesome

well it's been a little busy this last week and a few little events have passed so i have much to tell you all.first off, last weekend was the buddist festival, loy kartong. kartong are little floats made from banana leaves and are decorated with flowers. I saw all different kinds of them being sold by street vendors but all of them also haveincense and a candle on each one. buddists believe that by

lighting one and sending it down the river, they are releasing their sins to lord buddha. we could see hundreds of these little floats

aglow on the river as we sat on the bank lighting fireworks.

there was a crazy amount of fireworks going on everywhere and nobody really seems to care about the safety of those around them. i'm

pretty sure my hearing dropped a couple notches after going the second night. as a farong [foreigner], keeping a look out as to where fireworks are aimed is especially important, because it's not so rare for them to be aimed at you. the first night we went, the was definitely some guys who shot a few bottle rockets at us and a couple of us got hit by the shrapnel of a big firework the second night.

my favorite part of the whole festival were these paper lanterns that worked like hot air balloons that people sent off into the sky. the lanterns represent sending people's prayers and wishes up to buddah. with so many in the sky, the lanterns look like constellations, it was so beautiful.

i've started going to a bible study that meets on mondays, so that night we cut it short and sent lanterns up to our God. however, i guess the lanterns we got were the really cheap kind so out of 10 lanterns, only one actually managed to fly, while the others just sat on the ground and eventually burst into flame. luckily we love a God who doesn't expect our prayers to come in the form of lanterns...otherwise we would be screwed.

[the lanterns that never flew]

the weekend was so much fun if only because i got to spend it with amy and sarah and also with our friends shanna and ozzie. it was definitely a one of a kind experience, they would never do something like loy kartong in america, i can just imagine the outcry of ufo enthusiasts seeing hundreds a glowing dots in the sky. plus everything they do with fireworks in thailand is probably illegal in the states.