so my first "real" email home to all of you beautiful people who are lovely and supporting me in so many ways.i arrived in chiang mai, thailand just a few days ago-- and i think iam still confused about how time works-- as we are fifteen hours aheadof you all in the pacific northwest. so right now, it is sunday at12:39am and here it is sunday at 3:39pm! so i have already gotten up,walked the streets of chiang mai to try and find kuhn sapparot (mrpineapple, who sells the best pineapple in the WHOLE world and is oldand adorable) been to church, where the pastor and his wife traded offspeaking english and thai, and eaten a lunch of burmese food with piinu boi (i am spelling that distastrously wrong.. but pii is used forsomeone older that oneself as a sign of respect.. nu boi is burmeseand has just been in america raising money for the garden-- she islovely and showed us some good burmese food. she is from the chintribe, which means she has some different food, but she loves allburmese food, and besides the meat, i think i do too)and now i am sitting by my good friend brittany in a funny coffee shopwriting to all of you. to get here, we rode on the scooter that werented for the next few days. everyone in thailand (that's anexaggeration) rides scooters, so we join the masses wearing ourhelmets (which in thai sounds like mookenook-- it sounds like ewoklanguage .. or that you are pushing your cheeks together when youtalk. it's probably my favorite thai word so far, but keep in mind, iknow very few) --i don't want to get real intense about the length of this email, buttrust me, i could get ridiculous wiht the length-- i have the tendencyto ramble and be really detailed--- what can i say, i'm a charlesdickens fan? (ps i am reading aloud to brittany 'the christmas carolthese past days-- so we make sure we are remembering it's december and close to christmas-- a difficult feat as it is very warm and sunnyhere)but so you know, i am well. it wasn't difficult for me to have themoment of "i am in thailand" -- this is because of many things--first, chiang mai, though very much a city, is also very thai innature-- i don't really know how to make that clear -- it being very"thai" -- but it just is.. 
i think also the weather change helps me torealize. also the fact that i am very white and blond and mosteveryone else... isn't.... then there's the language ... haha! i amlearning a few words, but i am slow.. .luckily people, and brittany,who i am here with, are very patient with me. the other thing whichhelps me to realize i AM in thailand is the crazy traffic... brittanyand i, riding on the scooter had a discussion in which we describedthe traffic and what it is like-- the best way we came up with is thatit is a living organism-- all travelling the same direction, or not,and pods of people and scooters and cars come together and separate--no lanes, no abiding by traffic laws (except the really necessaryones, like stopping at lights.. well, even then it doesn't happen allthe time) ... anyhow, people just go everywhere en masse, so a scootercarrying brittany and i just merges into the living organism, travelswith it, and then breaks off when needed, only to join another part ofthe living organism. the point of all this ramble being that, well,thailand is very communal, so even driving is a communal activity-- idont' see much or any road rage, as everyone has this feeeling of "weare in this together" -- which is lovely and chaotic, as communityshould be. : )as far as "job" goes, i have done very little... this week, onwednesday, the team will be heading out to out of chiang mai (mindyou, i am not sure where) to spend some time doing team building-- i
am not sure what this means, except that when i return to chiang maion sunday, i will know the team i am working with better at the gardenof hope (which is going to be great, as the little i know about themso far is good, very good, things) and i will have a better idea ofwhat my job entails. i DO know that this week before we go, brittanyand i will be hitting the streets to go and begin the search for abuilding for the drop-in center. we will go with pii faa, who is avivacious thai woman who heads up the children's ministry. i thinkthis tuesday i will go on the my first outreach, which is where we gointo a bar and hang out with the women there and make friends. thiswill probably be an interestinng experience given that the extent ofmy thai is hello, thank you, a lot, and green helmet.... ahha. ohdear.not knowing thai is certainly humbling. i sit and smile and nod a lotand then look at brittany to speak for me or translate. she is verypatient with me and i am so thankful for her and that. soon, i willstart thai lessons and then i will be able to understand and speakmore. i understand more than i speak, which is cool and tells me thati have much to learn. which is also exciting for me.ANYHOW!!!brittany and i are staying in a hotel till we find a place to live, so we are in the center of chiang mai and it has been exciting to watchthe city from the balcony, and then go into it and be overwhelmed andexcited by everything.
i am sure i could fill much more, but in the interest of your time andmy fingers... i will say good bye for now ... so Good bye! for now!I love you and miss most of you! : )I would love to hear, what's up? and I will continue on in my effortsto keep the updates coming. I also will not be insulted (or reallyknow) if you don't read these... so keep that in mind as they getlonger or more boring : )Blessings to you friends. Thank you for your love and support-- trulyi cannot thank you enough.love, peace,kellyyour friend in thailand.
i think also the weather change helps me torealize. also the fact that i am very white and blond and mosteveryone else... isn't.... then there's the language ... haha! i amlearning a few words, but i am slow.. .luckily people, and brittany,who i am here with, are very patient with me. the other thing whichhelps me to realize i AM in thailand is the crazy traffic... brittanyand i, riding on the scooter had a discussion in which we describedthe traffic and what it is like-- the best way we came up with is thatit is a living organism-- all travelling the same direction, or not,and pods of people and scooters and cars come together and separate--no lanes, no abiding by traffic laws (except the really necessaryones, like stopping at lights.. well, even then it doesn't happen allthe time) ... anyhow, people just go everywhere en masse, so a scootercarrying brittany and i just merges into the living organism, travelswith it, and then breaks off when needed, only to join another part ofthe living organism. the point of all this ramble being that, well,thailand is very communal, so even driving is a communal activity-- idont' see much or any road rage, as everyone has this feeeling of "weare in this together" -- which is lovely and chaotic, as communityshould be. : )as far as "job" goes, i have done very little... this week, onwednesday, the team will be heading out to out of chiang mai (mindyou, i am not sure where) to spend some time doing team building-- iam not sure what this means, except that when i return to chiang maion sunday, i will know the team i am working with better at the gardenof hope (which is going to be great, as the little i know about themso far is good, very good, things) and i will have a better idea ofwhat my job entails. i DO know that this week before we go, brittanyand i will be hitting the streets to go and begin the search for abuilding for the drop-in center. we will go with pii faa, who is avivacious thai woman who heads up the children's ministry. i thinkthis tuesday i will go on the my first outreach, which is where we gointo a bar and hang out with the women there and make friends. thiswill probably be an interestinng experience given that the extent ofmy thai is hello, thank you, a lot, and green helmet.... ahha. ohdear.not knowing thai is certainly humbling. i sit and smile and nod a lotand then look at brittany to speak for me or translate. she is verypatient with me and i am so thankful for her and that. soon, i willstart thai lessons and then i will be able to understand and speakmore. i understand more than i speak, which is cool and tells me thati have much to learn. which is also exciting for me.ANYHOW!!!brittany and i are staying in a hotel till we find a place to live, so we are in the center of chiang mai and it has been exciting to watchthe city from the balcony, and then go into it and be overwhelmed andexcited by everything.
i am sure i could fill much more, but in the interest of your time andmy fingers... i will say good bye for now ... so Good bye! for now!I love you and miss most of you! : )I would love to hear, what's up? and I will continue on in my effortsto keep the updates coming. I also will not be insulted (or reallyknow) if you don't read these... so keep that in mind as they getlonger or more boring : )Blessings to you friends. Thank you for your love and support-- trulyi cannot thank you enough.love, peace,kellyyour friend in thailand.
No comments:
Post a Comment