Charles and Cambodia

When we first arrived in Thailand, one of the first things that we noticed were the lizards here. They have lizards all over. I had about 3 in my room when I first walked in. They are EVERYWHERE. And what is weirder.. they have a chirp, like a bird. It is weird.

 I keep them in my room so they can eat my bugs. So we have become quite good friends. Thinking that, I thought I should name them.. Charles sounded pretty good. I was thinking Charles so there could be quite a few. Ya know, like Charles I, Charles II...etc.

Well one of my first accidents with Charles was when I was closing my windows. Charles likes to sit in the window frames where the sun hits. Anyways, I didn't notice that he was there until the next morning when I opened my windows.. I smashed him in half! Like a pancake. Gone. Now I had a dead Charles and I felt so bad! I almost started crying to my teachers I felt so bad. But little did I know that it happens A TON here. You will be walking passed a door frame and there is another Charles up on the side of it, or in the corner.. Poor Charles... 

Well.. Charles and I decided to have another moment the other night. I ran into the bathroom because I had to pee so bad. I had flipped on the lights as I was running in and it took a second for them to actually get on. I flew in, and sat about 3/4's of the way towards the front of the toilet seat without looking down at it. (Usually there are only women at the school, so I don't have to worry about falling in the toilet if the seat is up.) Well, I start doing my do and I feel something touch my bum! I jump up off the toilet and scream bloody murder.. I look behind me and find Charles sitting on the back of the toilet seat staring at me like I am crazy! I had to shake the toilet seat for him to get off.. He was saying that it was his territory or something like that.. I didn't need company. Thanks anyways Charles. I will call you next time I need someone to keep me entertained. 

Cambodia:

Last weekend we went to Cambodia for our last trip away before we head home to America. It was so awesome to visit such an ancient country. Filled with history. We went to visit Angkor Wat. For those of you who don't know what Angkor Wat is..it is an ancient ruins temple, kinda like Indiana Jones status. Pretty cool stuff.

We went around to different temple sights and saw new exciting things to check off of the bucket list. I am so glad I was able to experience. I also noticed that Cambodia was a poor poor country. 

 There were tiny children everywhere just trying to sell tourists anything they possibly could just to get a dollar. I bought 3 bracelets for a dollar from a young girl probably about 5 years old. She was dressed in grungy clothes, with her hair all nappy and it had looked like she hadn't showered in a week.  I felt so bad. I just wish that they had a better life. I was so glad I was able to experience the life of a Cambodian. It made me humble my heart. I wanted so much more for them. I felt so greedy having everything when they are just trying to fend for food on their tables each night.

Chiang Mai-Take 2

The Disney movie, Tangled was based off of the Loy Krathong Festival in Chiang Mai. The movie was of Repunzel wanting to go see the floating lanterns. Well...this year, I got to be Repunzel and go see those magical floating lanterns for myself and it was beyond any other experience I have ever had.

 When lighting off a lantern, there is a rule..you make a wish before you send it into the sky. It was a great experience to see all of these wishes being sent off into the sky. People from all over the world were in Chiang Mai just to experience the Lantern Festival. 

Thai people celebrate the Loy Krathong Festival to give light to Buddha, to give worship to him, to give thanks to him. I love how devoted the people are to their beliefs here. They respect everyone for what they believe in.

Every morning at 4 am I am woken up from monks across the street of my school who sing, play drums,  recite prayer and are up giving their praises and time to Buddha. After they are done with their morning ritual, they walk the streets and collect any offerings that people on the street have to give them. The offerings could be anything from food, to money, to animals. The people are just saying thank you for their devotion to their Buddha through their offerings. The people will then bow to the monks and pray to either them or Buddha (I am not quite sure which). 

But it was quite awesome to experience first hand the lantern festival. It truly was so magical. 

They have massive parades at
night to celebrate the festival.

Another awesome experience we had was to go see the Karen Hill Tribes up in the mountains of Chiang Mai. Women in the hill tribes start wearing rings around their necks, and legs at the age of 5, to extend them. If they remove the rings around the necks, their necks will snap because they have been supported for so long. We went and saw their village and how they live their lives up in on the mountain side. 

Gratitude and Love Fills My Heart

I was coming home on the train from church today, thinking of every reason why I was so happy here in Thailand. I couldn't stop smiling at the beautiful scenery outside of my window as I was passing many rice fields with people working in them.

I was filled with gratitude, as I made my list that just keeps growing. 

I have realized I am thankful for parents that have showed me that hard work pays off. If it wasn't for me working so hard to go to China, I wouldn't be here in Thailand. I was grateful for the hard work that I do every day here with my teachers and my children. I am grateful that I get to serve them here.  

Nothing is a free-bee here, just like life in general. My dad has always said, "Nothing is free. You want it, you earn it."It is the truth.. I have always tried to find something that isn't free and I still can't come up with anything that doesn't require me to do something for it to be "free."

 When I want to go into town, I have to work and ride my bike 20 minutes into town so I can get what I need. It makes me grateful for my truck and my ways of transportation back at home. 

 I am grateful that I get to serve the people of Thailand. I was in awe of the hard working people here. Everyday I see elderly people who shouldn't be working, working. I see them carry their heavy supplies on their backs to sell to others, just to make a living for themselves and for their family. 

I have been able to witness the true love and joy of people. People here have hope in their eyes. They have pure happiness and have absolutely nothing.

I was talking on the phone with a friend of mine, and he said, "Don't you want to come back to America and get out of that crappy poor place?"

 I asked him, "Didn't you love your mission? Didn't you love the people you served because they were truly happy and didn't have anything?  

He replied with, "Yes, I loved it, but I love America because we have everything."

I said, "Well, this "crappy, poor" place is what makes me love it. The people here have nothing and are genuinely happy. I have everything I could ever imagine, and I don't feel this happy at home."

I feel that I have experienced having nothing, but having everything here. I love it and I am not ready to say goodbye to it.

I have loved how open and loving the people are. They are the type that will accept you for who you are, what you do or don't have and will trust you from the second they see you. I have never seen someone with such an open heart as these people have. It has made me want to strive for that. 

I love the level of respect I see for the people themselves and for each other here. I love the way that they all treat each other openly. They genuinely care for each other. 

The Massage Group took us to Phitsanulok for a day of fun.
This a picture with them.

Kate, Orn and I

Samran, Arissya, and Orn

I have become really close with a group of ladies here who work at a massage shop. They give the best massages hands down. A 2 hour massage for $12..you really can't beat it. These massages are better than anything I have ever had. 

..Anyways.. Kate and I have become really close with a lady named Orn (pronounced On). She speaks English, but cannot read or write in English. We became close with her by reading emails in English to her from a dating website from others. Then responding back to them for her. She has the biggest heart of gold. I love just being around her. She has the most trustworthy, honest, and loving heart I have ever met. 

Here is her story: Orn has an 18 year old son, from her first marriage. She went to go work in Korea when her boss there wanted her to have an affair with him. He knew she had a family back at home and he had a family as well. Orn kept telling him no, she told her husband of the situation and he left her. She never did anything with her boss, but her husband said that he didn't want to deal with it. So she raised her boy by herself. She had met a man from the Netherlands and they owned a bar and a rice farm together and were together for 10 years. She continued to raise her son, but he got into trouble a lot growing up. He has not worked at all or finished high school. 

 Earlier this year, in February, her husband from the Netherlands passed away from lung cancer. She has been on dating websites wanting to find a white man, because they will treat her better than a Thai man will. As I have been in Thailand.. Her son has caused much more trouble. He was doing drugs, got put in Thai jail, Orn made him stay there for a while before she bailed him out because she said he hadn't learned his lesson. Side note: I am so glad! She knows what she is doing to teach her son a lesson. Her son said that he would go back to school instead of work. So he has gone back to school then Orn got a phone call from his teacher saying that he wasn't on time or obeying the school rules. Poor Orn got frustrated and told her son that if he continued to do so, she wouldn't help him any more. He has finally put his act together and gone to school to finish his high school education. 

While all of this has been going on, the workers of her rice farm called her and told her that they weren't getting paid enough to work in the rice farm, so they weren't going to finish the season. She had already negotiated on a contract price. She paid them half the amount of money then, and the rest of the money she would pay them at the end of the season to harvest the rice. She had to leave town to go back to her home town and harvest the rice herself. 

In the middle of everything...Orn wants to find love somewhere. She just wants a man to take care of her and love her. She has been talking to men from everywhere trying to get in a relationship. Kate and I have been helping her, translate for her, write emails and try to find a white man who will love her. She is willing to do anything and just wants to find the right person for her. 

She hasn't given up. She has showed me that life can get frustrating and hard, but there is always a light to look forward to. She loves people unconditionally. She trusts others, more than I have seen anyone trust. She is a honest, hard working lady. She has showed me that the heart in people is what life comes down to. She loves. I want to love like she does. She has taken care of Kate and I from day one. We have gotten close with the whole massage crew..but I will always have a special place in my heart for Orn. 

Helen Keller once said,

 "True happiness..is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."

The simplicity of life it beautiful. Live it. Love it. Enjoy it.

Ohhh D-day...

D-day, Pleum, Ghod and I

So we knew that coming back to school after we had such a great week would be hard.. especially with having the kids be with their parents and getting them out of the routine that they were previously in. We all decided to come back and be head strong about everything and to push through this week..

...Well, it is finally Friday and it couldn't have been any crazier..

Monday morning we had 10 new kids join our school. 8 of them were 2 years old.. not even potty trained.We also gained a 3 year old, and the other was an elementary student. For those of you who know anything about kids at 2 years old, they have an attachment to their mother's hip. So we had 8 screaming children at the age of 2, ALL DAY, until 4pm. It was chaos. The older of the pre-kindergarten class moved up..which means that the 3 year olds who were previously in the baby class moved into our big kindergarten classes where they start rotating with the big kids.. So all of our classes have been switched around with trying out different kids in each class seeing which kids work in different places. Did I mention that I have about five 3 year old's in one class with 3 other 4 year olds making a massive class of 8 kids under the age of 4 and 1 English teacher to all of those little cute bundles of joy? Did I also mention that we had no idea that any of this was going to happen?
Well..the great news.. WE MADE IT ALIVE up until yesterday.

...The day that I will always remember.. November 7, 2013...

Have I introduced to you my favorite student??

D-day and I

Meet D-day.

His name and smile honestly says it all. He is the most rambunctious, ADHD, hilarious, trouble-making, lovable kid I have ever met. He is my FAVORITE! ..He knows it too...

Well yesterday we had a ton of events that came our way, because of my favorite boy.

Get ready..because it is kinda gross but hilarious.

Yesterday morning I walk downstairs just helping the teachers get all of the kids into the classes they needed to be in, when one of my Zoe walks out of the bathroom with tissues in her hand and tears starting to come out of her eyes. She looks at me and says, "It is going to be a longgggg day.." I had asked her what had happened and she started off with the name "D-day." I knew that this story was going to get interesting..


Anyways, she kept proceeding to tell me that D-day had tried to eat a marker then after class had picked up another kid's poop out of the toilet, in his hand and had got his head stuck in between the poles on the banister of the stairs.. So he was standing there with poop in one hand, and his head stuck by the stairs, with a marker covered face.. I looked at her and said, "Yes, it will be a very long day.." But at the same time, I started laughing because it was D-day.. this is just how he is. He normally isn't this bad, but yesterday, I couldn't stop laughing..

Then later in the day, I hear my name being screamed from downstairs, when I rush outside of my room to see what was going on, I see Teacher Paige holding D-day's hand and she was telling me that D-day needed to go see Teacher Tang because he cut another student's hair...I look at D-day and he immediately put his hands together at his chest and kept saying, "I'm sorry teacher! I'm sorry teacher! I'm sorry teacher!"

 I was walking downstairs, trying to get myself back together from laughing so hard, to go be the responsible teacher to give D-day a lecture. Paige was so mad at me because I couldn't get it together, and she said, "Jess, get it together and be harsh on him, even though he is your favorite!" I grabbed D-day, walked upstairs to Teacher Tang's office where I told Tang's brother what had happened and he started laughing which made me laugh harder.. Then Tang took care of D-day.

I went downstairs to see hair all over the floor of the classroom, but the student who got his hair cut, didn't seem to have anything wrong with it. So everything turned out fine, and I feel into a hilarious story..

Thank you D-day! I love you so much! I wish I could take you home.. You are my favorite!

D-day trying to put googly eyes on my eyes.

D-day (behind me, smiling)
Pleum (on my lap, smiling)
Ghod (not looking at the camera on my lap)
Prima (rubbing his eye)

Laos, Bangkok, and Krabi

We just got back from our 13 day vacation that we have been waiting for all semester. Let me say that the wait was well worth it. It was the best vacation ever!

The beginning was a little rocky, but it turned out amazing!
We started off our journey by heading to Laos to renew our visas. We had a private driver take us all night over to the boarder of Laos and Thailand. We arrived to Vientiane, the following morning at 6:00am to get our visas figured out at the Thai Embassy.. Once we got in front of the Thai Embassy, we realized that it was closed due to a public Thai holiday. I then had to figure out travel plans for the rest of the trip.. We then decided to go to our hostel and get ready to go out for a day of adventure in Laos.....

Exit to Loas

Waiting outside of the Thai Embassy at 6:30am.

As I was rearranging our itinerary, I had noticed that I had a friend (Jake) who was going to meet us in Bangkok and join us on our journey for the next few days at the most gorgeous beaches of Thailand. So I needed to make arrangements letting him know of our delay with our visas.

Lunch with the elders.

We were sorely mistaken that Vientiane was a lame city that really had nothing to do except renew visas. We had talked with many other travelers about things to see and do in Vientiane and we soon realized that every traveler was there to renew their visas. So we made the best out of it by hanging out at our ghetto, mosquito infested hostel for 3 days while we waited.

Mom and baby at Laos night market.

Getting a mani-pedi at our hostel.
The treatment comes to you, so you can be lazy...

When we were in the embassy, we found 3 elders of the church, who were renewing their visas too, to get back to Thailand. It was so fun to talk to them and hear about serving in Thailand. They have been enjoying Thailand just as much as we had. So we had lunch with them and had a great time speaking English with someone who understood us!

Everything finalized at the embassy, so we quickly returned to the Thai border where we found our driver, Frog, waiting for us. We almost all ran to him to give him the biggest hug to let him know we were excited to be back in Thailand. Once we had settled in the van, he turns and said, "Like Loas?" We all at the same time said, "Nooooo!! We missed Thailand!" He laughed and said, "Laos no fun."

We arrived in Bangkok late that night. Got to our hostel, and fell asleep to get up the next morning to go to the floating market. Jake met us early that morning at our hostel to go with us. It was fun to catch up with him and head out.

The floating market was great! It was so cool to see a legit Thai culture to come together and make a living on the water. Boats would come to you to sell stuff. It was all touristy stuff that was over priced, but it was so cool to see people come and have their life on a tiny canoe, trying to make a living.

We took our van an hour and a half back to the city of Bangkok after the floating market and did a temple run. We went to a few different well known temples as fast we could, before they closed. They were so fun to go see. We were able to visit Wat Pho, where there is a 151 foot reclining gold Buddha. We visited the grounds of the Grand Palace, where the king and queen of Thailand live. We were also able to visit Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) with the steepest stairs ever! By the end of the day running from temple to temple in skirts, and a trip to Subway to have lunch, we were all pretty exhausted. So back to the hostel we went..to shower and rest for the night before our day of traveling to Krabi.

Tuk Tuk Ride-Temple Running

Wat Arun-Over the city of Bangkok- Bangkok Babes

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Pho

Wat Pho-Giant reclining Buddha

Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
We climbed that. Steepest stairs ever!

Jake and I at Wat Arun

Wat Pho

Grand Palace

Next stop on our 13 day adventure...Krabi-aka-paradise. We were able to spend a whole week in Krabi. It was beautiful. We had a full week full of snorkeling, sunshine, beautiful sunsets, riding scooters, and being at the beach. It couldn't have been any better. The scenery was unbelievable. I felt so grateful to be able to experience something so wonderful.

Bangkok Babes

Kate and I..On a Boat!

We needed a pit stop at McDonald's before heading back to our small town..

They had wild crazy monkeys just hanging out on the beach. Attacking anyone who had food. 

Scootering with Jake!

Somewhere over the rainbow

Riding Scooters through the jungle.

Snorkeling

Massages on the beach. Paradise.

Jake and I, with a beautiful sunset.

Never want to leave.
I left my heart in Krabi.

Breath taking sun set.

This is for real..words cannot describe it. 

I just had the best vacation of my life! I never wanted to leave! Breath taking. Gorgeous. Grateful for the experiences I have had this year. It really has been the best year of my life. Thank you to all who have supported me through it.