10 day trip

Faithful followers,

I wanted to let you know that I will be traveling to Chang Mai (a northwestern city in Thailand) over the next ten days which I conveniently have off of school due to the Thailand University Sport Games. No new blogs will be posted while Im gone, but dont get discouraged... I promise to be back with awesome adventurous anecdotes. While Im gone, Ill be thinking of those I love back at home. And Ill be careful. promise! These few verses were on my mind today, and I thought I would share. 

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety"
Psalm 4:8

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus"
Phillipians 4:19

"His mouth is sweetness itself;
he is desirable in every way.
Such, O women of Jerusalem,
is my lover, my friend."
Song of Solomon 5:18

returning on Feb 1,
Jennifer

swimming monkeys!

We rushed to our room to get changed and prepare for the boat ride to see the swimming monkeys! The room had four beds (check plus since there were four of us)! Three beds on one wall, and one bed across the room... perfectly separated for boys and girls :]. We were picked up by the boat within minutes of getting changed, and we hopped in ready for our adventure.

The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty's all I see
The brightness of Your glory has arrived
In Your presence God, I'm completely satisfied

The beauty of our resort area was unbelievable.  Above is a bungalow in the middle of the water. We were on an inlet from the ocean, and there were several of these huts out in the middle of the water. To the left you can see the beginnings of a mangrove forest. It was just the four of us in a boat, about to head between two islands in the distance. The guide didnt say much, so we werent really sure what was coming.

Our token monkey! This was the one who we came all this way to see... one monkey! It was in the trees taking a peek to see what we were up to in the boat. Then we saw another one. and another one. and another one. before we knew it there were 30-40 monkeys on either side of the bank, running to keep up with the boat.

Once they realized that we had bananas, they were swimming in the water ready to catch a banana. Dont worry, they didnt swim right to the boat and tackle us for them. They waited patiently for us to throw the bananas in the water. I still cant believe it. swimming monkeys!

They went bananas over us! haha (I had to say it!)

Look carefully and you can see the baby monkey in the background.

Monkey family. baby monkey gets a banana!



I posted the video I took of the ride above. Keep in mind that I have had no training in videography (sp?), but at least you can see the monkeys in action. Hope you enjoy it!

 The biggest thing to take away from this part of our journey was that we were in between islands and feeding wild monkeys. These monkeys were not tame and kept in cages like at the zoo. WILD monkeys in their natural habitat, awesome :]. I couldnt get on this boat and see swimming monkeys without thinking of our Creator. Yeah, he did create such a vast universe to include adorable monkeys such as these- and that is remarkable. He also knew the condition of my heart, and knew my fears about being in Thailand. So He sent me monkeys. swimming monkeys. Filling the hearts of His children is what He does best.

For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love

We were still driving by monkeys, but we had thrown out all of our bananas. Then our driver started heading toward the bank. You will have to watch to see what happened. (PS- I had no idea that I sound sooooo country... Ive got more southern draw than a architect in Mississippi).



The mud was really weird. Like quicksand, if you stood in one spot, you sunk further down. At one point I thought it would be a good idea to go over to the other side of the boat and take a look. First, half of my calf went in the mud. On the next step, my entire thigh sunk in the mud- not kidding. Have you ever tried to step out of mud up to your thighs without outside help? It is actually really hard without sinking deeper into the mud.

Our driver and our cruiser. You know it looks like a pretty swift boat, right? Josh noticed that the top of the boat was yellow, like a big banana, and was afraid the monkeys would jump us from the tree view. But, no monkeys jumped on the tarp, and none got really close to the boat either. They were definitely watching us while we were planting though, and I wouldnt have decided to eat one of the bananas in front of them on the bank- thats for sure!

We were very satisfied after feeding monkeys and planting mangroves on the island. Heading back out to sea with big smiles and full memory cards!

On our next stop we got to see cranes. This is where we tried out the mud-skid board. Its like a surfboard, but for mud. It's hard to explain... about 6 inches to a foot below the water was a mud bar. Similar to the mud on the bank, remaining still in the mud would cause you to sink, so you had to put one knee on the board (which was held up by the mud) and use the other leg to push the board and you around the water. It was actually quite fun!

Steve was actually really bad at it, but he was the first to go! You can see the proper form from him in the picture above.

Oh yeah! You can see that my entire leg is muddy... and this was only the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed the skid ride! We each got to take a turn on the skid, but none of us had mastered it as well as our guide. He glided through the water like it was no big deal. Im sure he has had plenty of practice showing people how to do it. After we were done, we were supposed to sit on the edge of the boat and clean ourselves off. The guide was giving me the idea that he needed to get back into the resort, so I tried to hurry... which actually just made me fall right back in the water. whoops!

Then this happened.

Look carefully and you will understand what just happened. Josh took a huge clump of mud out of the water and threw it on me. You can see the look on my face is one of total shock. And steve is CRACKING up in the corner of the picture. So we have a mud fight in the boat. Im not sure what the guide thought about this, but he didnt stop us. Then I got a water bottle poured on my head. We had a great time, but you should know that revenge is sweet in Thailand.

After we threw some mud. We had a great time out on the sea, but our tour was over and it was time to head back to the hut. No problems there, we all desperately needed a shower!

We took a shower and then the resort delivered our kayaks. haha, they delivered our kayaks like they were complimentary toothbrushes! We spent a few minutes paddling up and down the river before dinner. Then we went to dinner and had the buffet (I wasnt impressed at all). But apparently the spices are a lot stronger/fresher outside of Bangkok because Steve and Johnny were actually crying. At the end of the day we were full and getting eaten by a lot of mosquitoes while we bonded until midnight. We went to bed (after an exhausting day) in awe of all the wonders we got to see that day. We woke up the next morning still in disbelief of the previous days events.

A deep deep flood, an ocean flows from You
Of deep deep love, yeah it's filling up the room
Your innocent blood has washed my guilty life
In Your presence God, I'm completely satisfied

 Our wonderful bungalow that costs us each 500 baht ($16) to stay the night! We headed back to the train station and realized that the next train didnt leave for three hours, so we decided to visit Ampawa Floating Market in Samut Songkhram (a very popular tourist attraction in the area).

Most of the boats are actually restaurants (or they are selling some type of item, mainly food). All along the side of the market there are benches and tables where you sit and eat your order prepared in the boat. The market was really crowded, so we decided to eat in an actual restaurant, but it was definitely a sight to see!

A very interesting place that many travelers in Thailand (western and asian) come to visit. Then we got Popsicles! mmm, mine was Jackfruit and milk.

After we got done eating at the floating market, we headed back to the train station. There were no tuk-tuks or taxis in sight so I was worried about how we would get back to the station. I was in a slight freak out mode until the policeman blew the whistle less than a foot from my ear and then my patience was GONE.  The whistle burned through my ear for the next five minutes or so while we frantically searched for a way back to the train station. Luckily we hopped in the back of a pickup truck that took us to the train station just in time to catch our ride! A ferry ride, another train ride, and a taxi ride later, we were safe and sound back at the mansion.

I went into the weekend feeling lonely and missing home pretty badly. It's not that the trip made me miss home less... But my Savior simply understood my pain and brought me to a place to cheer me up. To show me that in the midst of everything, I can find joy in something. To remind me that He is in control of my days on this earth, and He promises that I am here for a reason. I am in Bangkok to find Him. And I end up finding Him more and more beautiful everyday.

For You I sing I dance
Rejoice in this divine romance
Lift my heart and my hands
To show my love...

 The song indented throughout this post was Phil Wickham's Divine Romance. Thanks to HG for giving me so many wonderful Christian tunes... I couldnt make it through some of the hard days without a good jam session!



Josh created a wonderful video of this entire trip. Watch it to recap everything that I have said, just from a different perspective. He has the market over the train tracks as the train goes by, and more monkeys, and other stuff I think you'd like!

traveling to Samut Songkhram: 7 hours and 92 baht later

Brace yourself, this is going to be a long one.

Saturday morning Johnny, Steve, Josh, and I got up at 6am and left the mansion by 6:30 prepared for our travel adventure to Samut Songkhram, a southern province of Thailand. Take a look at the map below. You are about to find out that we did not take the easy way to Samut Songkhram... but that was part of the plan, Mai Pen Rai!

We took a taxi to the Thonburi Railway Station in Bangkok. We got on the non-airconditioned train within minutes of arriving at the station and departed from Thonburi at 7am. We were set to arrive at Maha Chai (in Samut Sakhon) at 7:50am. Let's refer to this as Stop 1. We then walked through a market, got on a ferry (across the Tha Chin River) and then walked through a small town to get to the next railway station. We got on that train at 10:30 and arrived in Samut Songkhram around 12pm. Let's call this stop 2, then hired a tuk-tuk to take us to see the swimming monkeys. Did you catch all that? Taxi to train to walking through market to ferry to walking through town to train to walking through a REAL market to tuk-tuk. What an adventure!

When we arrived at stop 1, we realized that there was a market set up around the train tracks. Food was actually placed on the ground by the train as it passed by. Seemed like an odd place to put a market, but we were intrigued and explored the market for a while. We saw that they mostly sold vegetables and fruits, and while we were hungry- we werent up for buying in bulk... so we continued on.

We made a right out of the market, and ran into this. I know this is not normal in Asia, because other people were taking pictures of this dog.

Continuing on through this side street, I found myself hungry (as I often do in Asia... I swear that my stomach capacity has actually increased over the two weeks. We stopped at this woman's stand to get spring rolls (or not... I mean, they looked like spring rolls, but Ive learned that asking questions in English doesnt really get me anywhere). Oh and make sure you notice the 7-11 in the corner. Told you that they are everywhere. I stopped by this lady again on our way back to Bangkok the next day. The spring rolls were great!

From there we... (this is a quiz).... for those of you who answered, "got on a ferry," you are correct. But not just any ferry, this one actually carried across motorbikes. Thats a first time for me, even in Thailand. This ferry cost me 2 baht. (The train ride cost me 10 baht). You wouldnt guess from this experience, but travel is actually one of the more expensive sections of my budget (next to food of course). The ferry also had a huang nam. Remember what that is?

Did you notice the same thing I did? Look closer at the picture of the huang nam. Yeah, there is no 'catch-all' for this device.

I do have to give it to the ferry operators though, the huang nam was locked, and I couldnt even get it after further inspection of the lock. Seems this facility has been retired.

Good news for the fish!

When we got off the ferry, we were saying poon-poon (which apparently means train in Thai, but only if you put it in the right tones... otherwise, people have NO IDEA what you are saying). We got befriended by the neighborhood Japanese creeper who showed us the train station. Luckily we ran into Widgita (the head monk of the wat we passed by on the way to the train station). He was kind enough to give us a tour of the town while we waited 2 hours for the next train to leave the station. He spoke very good English, and I thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent with him.

Then we walked to the train station to pass away the last hour or so of the wait for the next train. There were two kids playing in the station and nearby pier, and we silently hung out with them for a while. Silently because they just giggled anytime we tried to say anything in Thai. Im assuming our tones were all out of whack. Seems that Thai people would be able to recognize the sound and understand that we are just saying the wrong tone, but they dont. I say every word probably three or four times in different tones before they pick up on what I am trying to say. It feels like I am in 7th grade choir all over again, just picking a different note and hoping that this is the one that she wanted... cause I really cant tell the difference between them.

There we are sitting on the pier. I got bored with the silence and decided to go read my E,P,L book... which is code for take a nap on an uncomfortable row of chairs (cause I went to bed at 1am and woke up at 5am for an important skype date). Josh continued to frolic with the kids until the train came. Johnny was too crippled to do anything (he hurt his foot on a previous trip out of BKK and was on crutches for our trip and his other activities for the past week). Steve did... I really dont know what Steve did, but I did stretch out in his chair when he got up.

Those blue chairs are what I tried to sleep on. I remembered how uncomfortable these chairs were even when we returned to the train station the next day... and the chairs werent there. I was slightly freaked out by their absence.


We took a couple pictures hanging out of the next train. Lets be honest, if you were on a train with windows that were open, wouldnt you want to hang out of them too? The background shows what a lot of the countryside looked like on the way down there. Like a rainforest :] The rest of the countryside looked like the picture below.

Steve slept on this train ride while Johnny and Josh made fun of him. I noticed that he sleeps with his eyes partly open, and after that we were all weirded out.

Do you know what these are? They are salt farms. yeah, NaCl farms. I couldnt believe it at first, but upon Google's analysis, Josh was right when he said they were salt farms. Apparently the farmers let these 'fields' fill up with ocean water a couple inches to a foot deep and then let the water evaporate and leave the salt behind. Then the farmers go 'harvest' the salt. I honestly never thought I would see a salt farm, but the salt farms in Samut Songkhram supply a majority of Thailand's salt. Good to know.

We arrived at stop #2 to find another train market. But this one was MUCH better. Take a look below.

The tracks completely disappeared into the market, which was fully shaded. This was absolutely wild! We walked into the market (who wouldnt). They sold pretty much everything you could want or need in the market, but we soon realized that the train was about to leave.

Most of the displays were on rollers, which allowed the sellers to pull back their items to let the train pass by.

The market completely transformed when the train blew the second horn (which meant that it was actually starting to move toward the market).

See the food that is right up next to the tracks? They didnt move that display, the train just rolled right over it. All of the awnings and roller displays moved out of the way, and the train passed by (about 1.5 feet from my face). None of the market workers showed any concern for the train passing by.

On the other hand, I was a little bit concerned. I just traveled for an hour on this train, and I know how much it sways on the tracks. It felt like it swayed at least a foot back and forth, but I was safe and sound as the train passed by, and then we watched the market immediately unfold again. Josh has this on video, so hopefully you will get to see the wonder of the market in action.

This market was absolutely fascinating.

Then I had to use the huang nam. No western toilets in this town. Or toilet paper. Luckily, I just had to take a #1, but I dont know if any of you other ladies have tried a squat toilet before. I can say that my aim was less than perfect, and that I might have been slightly embarrassed. But, I just got up, shake-and-baked, and went back out to meet the boys. I have since googled 'how to use a squat toilet for women' and consider myself fully educated on the art of proper squat toilet form. Ill let you know when I try it out next.

Then we stopped to eat lunch. We ordered kin kaaw kai (chicken and rice) but she only had pork (I found this fault in a lot of food vendors), so we settled for pork. The lunch conversation centered around the boys experiences with squat toilets and my Asian stereotypes.

"When I get home I need a wok, so that I can continue to be Asian" -yours truly

The boys spent the rest of the lunch mocking me for my comment, but honestly... I would love to have a wok! Everyone has one in Asia. I probably eat two out of three meals in a day out of a wok. The woman who fixed our wonderful lunch is pictured to the right. WITH HER WOK.

Notice the pooh bear tablecloth... Asian women... The food actually turned out quite enjoyable. I mean I just told the lady to fix all of us pork and rice, and she did a great job for under a dollar!

We hailed a tuk-tuk, and Josh asked him about where we were going. Keep in mind that we didnt really know where we were going, we just wanted to see swimming monkeys. The man pointed us in a direction, and the boys were happy to follow the signal, but I wasnt satisfied. We had learned that monkey is ling in Thai, and we know that water is nam. So I proceeded to act out monkey (complete with sound effects) and a swim motion (free-style) while saying ling and nam in every tone combination possible. Yes, I am proud of this episode, because he suddenly understood and told us to hop in (after the boys talked him down to 150 baht for the ride). From the left to the right: Josh, Johnny, Steve, and Jennifer.

He took us to a resort. One person spoke English (we hadnt seen a tourist since we left our hotel that morning). He wanted 8000 baht for one night at a bungalow that sleeps eight, but we talked him down to 2000 baht. It was a really awesome place, and very touristy. Asian touristy, that is. We saw one white person while we were there, and he was with an Asian woman... so I think we were well off the beaten path (which seems to be like the goal of our travel trips).



The travel to get to this resort was half the fun, and the other half was the excitement of what was to come next. It is 1am in Thailand, and Im pretty tired, so Im going to keep this blog to a strict 'travel' post, and Ill post the other adventures tomorrow. We had an awesome time on the journey to Samut Songkhram, but we had no idea how much more awesome the trip would be!

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shied. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.                                                Psalm 33:20-22

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I finished Eat, Pray, Love, and it was AWESOME! I am looking for the sequel 'Committed,' but I havent been able to find an English bookstore in BKK with the book. I highly recommend EPL to anyone who is on a spiritual journey, wants to be on a spiritual journey, or wants to walk with a woman who is on one herself. Five stars!

Friday adventures

On Friday.... everything reminded me of home.

Thai language class was great, although I feel like we waste a lot of time in that class. Anyways, I learned a few more thai phrases, and I tried to use them as often as possible today. I needed to meet with someone about a volunteer opportunity in Bangkok after lunch, so I asked the TA how to get to the BTS (the sky train line). She told me to go across the field by school and take bus 47. I looked at the bus list on the sign and didnt see 47, so I decided to cross the street and before I could read the sign, here comes bus 47. Great work, Jennifer!

Wrong. The lady asked me where I was trying to go, and when I said BTS... she laughed. Then she told me that I should have taken bus 47 on the other side of the road. I know you are probably thinking... Jennifer, why dont you just pick up a bus map? Im sure a map would solve this issue. Well... Right you are, my friend. Except that I have been in BKK for 12 days now, and still havent found a bus map. No, there is not a map online either. So I have been forced to just hop on a random bus, follow the path on our my map with my finger, and get off the bus after it makes a turn opposite of the direction I want to go, and then proceed to get on another bus. rinse. repeat.

But no worries... Dia (my TA) has told me #47, and Im sticking with it. I get on 47, and it takes me right to the BTS. I tell the man behind the counter that I want to go to the Queen Sirikit center, so he tells me to get off the BTS at Asok. Deal. I pay for the pass and get off the BTS at Asok. There is no Queen Sirikit Convention Center here. I wander around for a while, grab some lunch (while watching people interact with a spirit house), then ask someone how to get to QSCC. Oh, you have to hop on the metro and ride it to the QSCC stop. UGH! So I get on the metro and ride it another stop and make it there safely.

You see, I was quite preoccupied this morning with waking up later than I wanted, skyping, getting ready for the day, etc. and I forgot to write down exactly how to get to QSCC. Turns out, she said take the MRT (subway) instead of the BTS (sky train). whoops. Oh well. By this point it is 2pm, and I left the university at 12pm.

Then we meet for 7 minutes. seven minutes? SEVEN minutes! I took 2 hours of travel time to meet with this woman for seven minutes? (Did I shave my legs for this?) Anyways, no problem. The project I am going to be working with sounds like it could be right up my alley. I will get to use my technical background and love for children together in one project called IN-STEP. See below for the description.

The Inquiry-based Science and Technology Education Program (IN-STEP)
IN-STEP is a unique instructional improvement program designed to enhance school leadership and teachers’ skills in basic science concepts and pedagogy in order to better implement inquiry-based learning in middle school classrooms. With US $500,000 in funding from MSD Thailand (a wholly - owned subsidiary of Merck Inc.), IN-STEP developed Thai language instructional materials on science concepts, holds training workshops for teachers, provides support for school principals, engages corporate volunteers and evaluates the effectiveness of these activities. The program involves 50 schools and will cover 135 science teachers from grades 7 through 9 in Phang-nga over its initial three years. Once completed in 2009, the project will directly benefit over 12,000 students per year...

After the seven minutes is up, Kessara rushes me out of her office (after introducing me to a few people), because she must attend an office bowling party. The entire office is meeting to go bowling (as a competition), and she said she would ride the metro with me until her stop. Her co-worker met us at the metro and invited me to come. I didnt have anything to do for the rest of the day (and was really honored to be included on the first day I visited the office), so I went along to bowl. I met a few people in the office during my bowling time, but I honestly felt like an inconvenience the ENTIRE session. A few people openly accepted me, and I cant be thankful enough for those wonderful hosts. I guess by the end of the day I had at the least met a few of the people I will be working with during the next few months.

This was probably the worst part of the day for me, because all I could think about was HOME. You see, I participated in a bowling competition in December (and had an awesome time, although I did get a bit competitive), and all I could do the entire time during the bowling session was compare it to the Charlotte session I had just a few weeks earlier. The bowling alley in BKK played all the popular music from the states and just sent me into a whirlwind of homesickness. Not to mention that I was being slightly overwhelmed by the 'cuteness' of Asian women. I have put off writing about their cuteness for some time now... because I know I really cant do it justice (and you all might think that Im just sitting around all day judging people over here). So Im going to do my best to describe Asian women (from about 18-40 years old--cause those are the only age groups Ive interacted with).

Asian women: hello kitty meets PINK AWESOMENESS with a side of 10 year old slumber party screams, giggles, and silliness. Everything must be cute, cuddly and some cotton candy color-- no matter what. Each girl in EVERY single one of my Thai classes has a pencil pouch, with more colors in it than a pastel rainbow. And they use all of those colors while they take notes. You know the place on a cell phone where you can attach a wrist strap (more commonly seen on cameras)... well that must be decorated with some type of beady chain and a fuzzy animal charm. Scrunchies and other colorful hair clips are popular. At the bowling party, each team had a 'cute' name. The ones in this picture are the Incredibowls and the Pin Panthers. seriously. Notice the bowling ball colors. All pictures must include a peace sign hand gesture. (WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?) You can see Steph and I showing off the peace sign in the bowling photo above-just for grins and giggles. I wasnt raised to be silly. scratch that... I wasnt allowed to be silly growing up, and this is probably the biggest culture shock for me. I cant believe grown women act like this over here! So this is a warning: If I come back giggly and cute and cuddly... just slap me until I wake up, cause Im being brainwashed into submission.



I finally left the office party and got on a bus to go home. This 8 baht bus ride lasted over an hour and a half, and I got to see a little bit of Bangkok in the meantime. The picture to the left shows the bus driver that night. Im pretty sure that none of the gauges worked on the bus (such as speedometer, RPM, etc). You cant really see it, but the gearshift goes right through a hole in the floor to the engine. Sometimes the bus would be shaking so bad that I thought we were going to have to stop and let her cool down. But the driver was really cute (his son was on the bus too), and every now and then his son would get up and give his dad a back massage, or offer him some of his drink, or just put his arms around his neck. Cutest thing ever... beats every Asian woman I have met here.





To those of you back at NCSU: I know my secret is out, and Im sorry I wasnt the one to tell you personally. Believe me that this 'secret' is the absolute best thing that has happened to me for as long as I can remember. I hope you are happy and supportive. I miss you, bunches.

Mai pen rai

Mai pen rai means 'it's nothing' or 'no worries' and is an integral part of Thai culture. If I am ever unsure of what to do in a social situation, 'Mai pen rai' works every time. The Thais actually LOVE to hear white people say MPR. Naturally they are a caring group of people, and it mentally and physically distresses them to know that either you cant understand them, or they cant understand you, or you are not satisfied. But a simply MPR can cure a communication mishap like no other. Ive learned to adopt this principle, just as I have learned to adopt 'Thai time' which is MPR about being casually late to anything really. I hope this doesnt come back to bite me at ExxonMobil this summer.

Let's nap in a hammock in the middle of the sidewalk. Mai pen rai!

Have you ever heard that Asians value white skin? In the Thai culture, pale skin means that you are rich and dont have to work in the sun all day. Completely opposite of the cancer bed phenomenon in the states -- no tan necessary in Thailand. When I got here, I didnt realize how big of a deal white skin is to the culture. People walk around with umbrellas EVERYWHERE. Students take the long way to class so they can stay under the covering and out of the sunlight. I like to think of the umbrellas as parasols which leads to South Carolina which leads to southern belles which ultimately leads to a more southern accent from me. Yes, it is possible. but hey! MPR

ever tried sleeping on top of a pepsi truck? Mai pen rai!

I opened a bank account today at Thai Military Bank. Took me over a half hour because the teller was having a (hilarious) conversation with another Thai man while we were supposed to be setting up my account. I say hilarious because they were laughing, but I was not. The man, just another bank client, was able to translate for her, and I was very grateful to him. I thought (since they wanted to laugh) that I would pull out my handy dandy notebook and try to speak to them in Thai. They loved it. The man actually gave me his card (which was actually just a picture of him with a phone number at the bottom) in case I wanted to practice my Thai with him. Then he suggested a small restaurant that served great duck. I carefully told him, in english, that I did not care for duck.

Hey, neither of you are wearing a helmet! And, how old is he... like three? Mai pen rai!

I was a bit pressed for time after the bank account opening, so I ran down the nearest alley to grab something to eat. I still had my handy-dandy out, so I decided to order in Thai. The old woman was doing great with my Thai until she asked me if I wanted another side. uhhh, panic stricken, I responded (in english), 'Well, what do you like to eat.' She looked quite confused. She pointed at food and stared at me, then she pointed at other people and stared at me, and then she pointed at me and stared at me. oh crap. A woman was sitting close by and asked me kindly (in English) if I wanted another side, when I responded 'no, not really. Mai pen rai' I swiveled around to face the woman behind the food again, and she was flashing her toothless smile my way and handed me my plate. See, mai pen rai really does work!

I took an hour long nap on a bridge just like this one today at the university. Mai pen rai!

You may have noticed by my list of courses on a previous post that I am not taking a single technical course this semester. This is my first semester when I have not been in a science or math course (or both) since I can remember. The shift of studies is quite difficult for me, and I find that I am still trying to find the 'correct answer' even in Thai Rural Development class (where there is clearly no right answer). We are doing a group activity right now, and I am getting quickly frustrated at both the other American in my group who talks about 'how we do it in America' ALL the time and my desperate search for the silver bullet to Thai rural development problems.

Resting on ancient ruins in Ayutthaya. Mai pen rai!

"When God in involved, anything can happen. Be open. Stay that way. God has a beautiful way of bringing good vibrations out of broken chords"

- Charles Swindoll