Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Home again. We got off the plane in Louisville about 6:30pm yesterday (Monday the 14th, EST). I fell asleep about 1:40am last night, only to get up the next day at about 9:00pm. Now it's about 2:00am, and I am wide awake. I hope this jet lag doesn't last too long.. but in the meantime, I am catching up on email and my journal, uninterrupted by slow dial-up connection (not much traffic on an early Tuesday morning).
The plane ride wasn't too bad. We flew out of Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Bangkok about 6 or 7pm. After going out on the town for some dinner (Outback Steakhouse.. ah, yes), we swung by Hard Rock Cafe and then back to the hotel to wait/sleep 3 hours before getting up and heading to the airport for our 5:30am flight. I along with a couple other girls decided to stay up and talk, which was excellent. The rest of the flight was blur (maybe it was due to the lack of sleep we had). We almost missed our flight out of Bangkok (I guess they like to board a little early.. Japan time tends to run about 20 minutes early anyway.. completely backwards from Thailand time, I might add). But it was no biggie, and the rest of the flight was good. On our monstrous flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis, MN (about 10-13 hours), we had to make a stop in Fargo, North Dakota due to bad weather in Minneapolis. It only set us back about an hour, so it was no big deal. By that time the lack of sleep for 24+ hours was catching up with me, and I crashed for about 1 1/2 hours.
I apologize to you faithful readers of my journal for not updating regularly the last few weeks of my trip (I doubt there are many of you, but hey it makes me feel important). Since I am suffering from the jet lag now, I will try my best to summarize it for you. For further details, please ask me anytime. Especially if you have any questions about my conversations with friends about God, please ask in person, since this is available to anyone and may result in unfavorable consequences if I share too much online. With all that said, here are my basic activities that happened, picking up at July 4th.
Friday, July 4th
Today was the big 4th of July party that we threw at Quintin and Kim's house, full of fun, music, food, fireworks, and laughs. We spent the entire morning cleaning, cooking, and preparing for the event. Balloons needed blown up, decorations needed taped, the street needed to be swept (we used the entire road in front of their house and covered it with awnings and set chairs under them), food needed to be set out, etc. etc. We used pictures of the American flag, as well as a paper Uncle Sam and red, white, and blue balloons to decorate. We had to hurry because we had plans on going to the American Consolate that afternoon for a couple of hours for the big 4th of July party before we started our own.
The Consolate was fun.. it was almost a shock to see so many Americans together, eating McDonald's and listening to American songs played by local college brass ensembles and choirs. One group even played "Mambo Number 5." There were also foot massages going on to help raise money for an organization that helps to pay for medical (and other) needs for children and families affected by the HIV/AIDS virus in the area. It was a good cause, and I could never pass up a good massage. :) Overall, it was fun, and we got to visit with a lot of M's and some friends we had met earlier.
The night was wonderful: many of our friends from all three colleges came, along with other farangs and M's. Some of Quintin and Kim's Thai neighbors also came to join us. Probably about 100 people came at one point or another. During the night, I did face painting for many of the children and the college students (thankfully others chipped in too to help), and we ate and ate lots of Thai and American food. Later that night, some of us lead some silly songs to sing, like "Singing in the Rain," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and the "Hokey Pokey." Old and young alike really enjoyed it, and a lot of embarassing pictures were taken of us as we lead them. :) There was also a great skit done by the Far Eastern College group, the one where a guy goes to the doctor for a check up (they modified it so that it was people riding on the song-tow, common transportation in Thailand). One guy is on the song-tow to begin with. People keep coming in with different illnesses, like sneezing, coughing, and scratching. One by one they come in, and each time the first guy keeps catching their diseases, leaving the originally sick person feeling better and getting off. The skit ends with the first guy sneezing, coughing, scratching uncontrollably, and even barking (a girl got on the song-tow with her dog at one point). The skit ends with a pregnant woman getting on the song-tow and the guy running away yelling in terror. Anyway, the story of the 4th of July was told to the Thais (and translated by an ah-jahn who is good friends with Quintin and Kim). Part of what was talked about was the freedom we received as part of our independence, particularly our freedom of religion. It was very well done, and I think it got some of our friends thinking about it. We also sang the Star-Spangled Banner and God Bless America, providing words for our non-American friends. Everyone raved about the party, making all the work worthwhile.
Okay, I think it's enough for now. To tell you the truth, the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai was just full of awesome events, conversations, sharing times, and sad goodbyes. I am sorry to say that I will probably not be able to record them all on here, but if you would like to know more about it, please feel free to ask. Some things you may want to ask about are my karaoke experiences (there were actually 3, and they were FUN), my day helping with an English camp at a local middle school, our picnic with our buddies from school, our last few days at the dorm with students, and our final church meeting the day we left (we had invited several of our friends and other M's to join us, and it was wonderful). Please feel free to give me a call (if I already know you and you have my number.. I don't really care for psycho strangers calling me at odd hours), or feel free to email me. I am going to start working on scanning and adding Thailand pictures to my site now, so please check it out. Take care all, and I will hopefully write again soon. Please be praying for me as I decide on the next step of my life. I am praying about applying to become a Journeyman in Thailand for 2 years working with Quintin and Kim with their organization "Campus to Campus International." But that would mean postponing graduate school a few years. I just want to serve God wherever He places me, even if that means going to graduate school now. I want everything I do to be a service to Him, and wherever that is I will go. What I do know is that I have a deep sincere love for the Thai people, language, culture,... I want to go back, whenver I can. Please be praying. Thank you so much for all your prayers while I was there; there were days when I could feel the power of God through your prayers. God was merciful by keeping me from getting sick hardly at all, and for the easy transition through jet lag, and for patience when my own patience was running thin. Thanks be to God for His mercy, power, and grace. I thank God for the sheer opportunity to go to Thailand and for the conversations I could have, the friends I made, and the life lessons I learned. I could never thank Him enough for just this summer alone, much less everything He has given to me. He is truly an AWESOME God, and worthy of praise every moment of our existence.
The plane ride wasn't too bad. We flew out of Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Bangkok about 6 or 7pm. After going out on the town for some dinner (Outback Steakhouse.. ah, yes), we swung by Hard Rock Cafe and then back to the hotel to wait/sleep 3 hours before getting up and heading to the airport for our 5:30am flight. I along with a couple other girls decided to stay up and talk, which was excellent. The rest of the flight was blur (maybe it was due to the lack of sleep we had). We almost missed our flight out of Bangkok (I guess they like to board a little early.. Japan time tends to run about 20 minutes early anyway.. completely backwards from Thailand time, I might add). But it was no biggie, and the rest of the flight was good. On our monstrous flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis, MN (about 10-13 hours), we had to make a stop in Fargo, North Dakota due to bad weather in Minneapolis. It only set us back about an hour, so it was no big deal. By that time the lack of sleep for 24+ hours was catching up with me, and I crashed for about 1 1/2 hours.
I apologize to you faithful readers of my journal for not updating regularly the last few weeks of my trip (I doubt there are many of you, but hey it makes me feel important). Since I am suffering from the jet lag now, I will try my best to summarize it for you. For further details, please ask me anytime. Especially if you have any questions about my conversations with friends about God, please ask in person, since this is available to anyone and may result in unfavorable consequences if I share too much online. With all that said, here are my basic activities that happened, picking up at July 4th.
Friday, July 4th
Today was the big 4th of July party that we threw at Quintin and Kim's house, full of fun, music, food, fireworks, and laughs. We spent the entire morning cleaning, cooking, and preparing for the event. Balloons needed blown up, decorations needed taped, the street needed to be swept (we used the entire road in front of their house and covered it with awnings and set chairs under them), food needed to be set out, etc. etc. We used pictures of the American flag, as well as a paper Uncle Sam and red, white, and blue balloons to decorate. We had to hurry because we had plans on going to the American Consolate that afternoon for a couple of hours for the big 4th of July party before we started our own.
The Consolate was fun.. it was almost a shock to see so many Americans together, eating McDonald's and listening to American songs played by local college brass ensembles and choirs. One group even played "Mambo Number 5." There were also foot massages going on to help raise money for an organization that helps to pay for medical (and other) needs for children and families affected by the HIV/AIDS virus in the area. It was a good cause, and I could never pass up a good massage. :) Overall, it was fun, and we got to visit with a lot of M's and some friends we had met earlier.
The night was wonderful: many of our friends from all three colleges came, along with other farangs and M's. Some of Quintin and Kim's Thai neighbors also came to join us. Probably about 100 people came at one point or another. During the night, I did face painting for many of the children and the college students (thankfully others chipped in too to help), and we ate and ate lots of Thai and American food. Later that night, some of us lead some silly songs to sing, like "Singing in the Rain," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and the "Hokey Pokey." Old and young alike really enjoyed it, and a lot of embarassing pictures were taken of us as we lead them. :) There was also a great skit done by the Far Eastern College group, the one where a guy goes to the doctor for a check up (they modified it so that it was people riding on the song-tow, common transportation in Thailand). One guy is on the song-tow to begin with. People keep coming in with different illnesses, like sneezing, coughing, and scratching. One by one they come in, and each time the first guy keeps catching their diseases, leaving the originally sick person feeling better and getting off. The skit ends with the first guy sneezing, coughing, scratching uncontrollably, and even barking (a girl got on the song-tow with her dog at one point). The skit ends with a pregnant woman getting on the song-tow and the guy running away yelling in terror. Anyway, the story of the 4th of July was told to the Thais (and translated by an ah-jahn who is good friends with Quintin and Kim). Part of what was talked about was the freedom we received as part of our independence, particularly our freedom of religion. It was very well done, and I think it got some of our friends thinking about it. We also sang the Star-Spangled Banner and God Bless America, providing words for our non-American friends. Everyone raved about the party, making all the work worthwhile.
Okay, I think it's enough for now. To tell you the truth, the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai was just full of awesome events, conversations, sharing times, and sad goodbyes. I am sorry to say that I will probably not be able to record them all on here, but if you would like to know more about it, please feel free to ask. Some things you may want to ask about are my karaoke experiences (there were actually 3, and they were FUN), my day helping with an English camp at a local middle school, our picnic with our buddies from school, our last few days at the dorm with students, and our final church meeting the day we left (we had invited several of our friends and other M's to join us, and it was wonderful). Please feel free to give me a call (if I already know you and you have my number.. I don't really care for psycho strangers calling me at odd hours), or feel free to email me. I am going to start working on scanning and adding Thailand pictures to my site now, so please check it out. Take care all, and I will hopefully write again soon. Please be praying for me as I decide on the next step of my life. I am praying about applying to become a Journeyman in Thailand for 2 years working with Quintin and Kim with their organization "Campus to Campus International." But that would mean postponing graduate school a few years. I just want to serve God wherever He places me, even if that means going to graduate school now. I want everything I do to be a service to Him, and wherever that is I will go. What I do know is that I have a deep sincere love for the Thai people, language, culture,... I want to go back, whenver I can. Please be praying. Thank you so much for all your prayers while I was there; there were days when I could feel the power of God through your prayers. God was merciful by keeping me from getting sick hardly at all, and for the easy transition through jet lag, and for patience when my own patience was running thin. Thanks be to God for His mercy, power, and grace. I thank God for the sheer opportunity to go to Thailand and for the conversations I could have, the friends I made, and the life lessons I learned. I could never thank Him enough for just this summer alone, much less everything He has given to me. He is truly an AWESOME God, and worthy of praise every moment of our existence.
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