tigers and waterfalls

The Erawan National park is easily the most beautiful place I have ever been. We visited the 7 tiered Erawan waterfall there (although it seemed like more?) and went swimming in the most beautiful clear blue water. After a long hike, it was really refreshing to jump into the cold water. There are even some small caves you can swim into and look at the mineral formations. The wildlife was interesting. As we went into the pools, there are a lot of fresh water fish (most of them small). They would come up and try and nibble on our legs. I don't think they could do any real dammage, but it was more just um, weird. There were several little monkies we say picking fruit up in the trees. Most of them were really shy, but there was one male that attacked the hikers in front of us and tried to grab a bag. I think he was just scared or had his family close by. The hike was awesome and it definitely made me miss the mountains back home...

Later we went to visit the Tiger temple, where Ben originally wanted to volunteer at. It was an experience, but kind of a sham. I'm sure all of the tigers are drugged and they couldn't possibly be all rescues. While it was an experience touching the tigers, I was still sad at how they live there. The admittance was 400 baht per person (almost $10), and you could have special time/photos taken for 1000 baht, or you could have time to play with the tigers in the morning for 4000. It is the most crazy expensive thing I've heard of to do while I've been in SE Asia. And, on top of that, there was a girl who was attacked the month prior and had to get the tiger ripped off of her plus a ton of stitches later. It was hard to get all the details, because the volunteer had a slight speech impediment and was Austrialian (at fist I thought maybe she was just from New Zeland...) Anyway, I think the attacks are the main reason the Lonely Planet has taken the Tiger temple out of the guide book. Anyway, I wish they just portrayed the place for what it is rather than hiding behind Buddhism and a false 'tiger rescue'. I honestly have no idea what Thailand's regulations are for keeping/caring for wild animals, but I'm praying that these places (like w/ the elephants) would become more humane.

In spite of my disappointing animal encounters, I feel really blessed that I could have this time traveling and having these experiences. I'm glad God shows us an uncensored world, and I'm glad He's helped put things in perspective... but I'm most glad that someday He will make all the wrongs right, and recreate a world without suffering and injustice.

traveling, Val, the bamboo school

It's a little weird traveling in Thailand, because most people think I'm Thai. I think if I knew just a few more words, I could probably get away with it, but that really doesn't matter because I have no idea what people are saying to me. Ben, Seyha and myself went out to Kanchanaburi to visit the national park and the tiger temple. People gave us interesting looks and even more so when they learned we're from 3 different countries. That little town is so beautiful! Oh, and it has been a relief to me to see mountains again! We stayed with one of Seyha's friends, the mom of one of his classmates. Valerie was really hospitable and full of life for someone her age. I am glad to have met older missionaries who are willing to live outside of their comfort zone for the sake of helping others. Her kids have since grown and she teaches at the bamboo school (www.banbooschool.org), which is an incredible challenge and ministry. There are about 70 students/residents, mostly Burmese. The cute little girl that Val is holding is only about 5 months old, and was left in the hospital. Her mom gave birth to her, then snuck out in the middle of the night. If she only knew who she was abandoning. The kids there all have similar stories, misplaced or abandoned, but they have learned the love of God and help each other with everything. There's a pic of Val's amazing view from her back patio of the river and thick trees (including a banana tree we helped her harvest).

Muak Lek high school, Mission College and Walla Walla University summer mission program

On the same Friday Ben, Seyha and I arrived into Mission College (www.missioncollege.edu), a group of volunteer missionaries arrived from Walla Wall University (www.wallawalla.edu) too. There is a group of nurses and English majors (and a few undecided) that are going to the local schools doing lice, vision/hearing checks. We joined a group going to visit the high school for their summer English program. The kids were awkward and shy, and it was a fun challenge to play games and communicate with them. Most of them speak English, but we went on the first day, so they were nervous. I am praying for this group of students. I can see that these short-term (one/two week) missions are more meaningful for the people who go than for the people here, so I pray they can find their path and calling in life.

Ayathya temple in Thailand (and a note on toilets)

I wish I could have documented the ride across the boarder! We hired a 'taxi' (ie someone who'll drive you in their car) for $15, and this young guy kind of drove like there was no tomorrow. They're working on building a bridge over these fields, but in the mean time, there are these side roads, so we had to swerve ever 1/4 or 1/2 mile (and we're going about 60mph). I'll try and get pics on the ride home. Anyway. Here are pics of the main Ayathya temple, the old one that the Burmese practically destroyed during their war. It's different, but the spires really have nothing in them besides some ashes, dead offering flowers, trash and stanky bats. This temple was used for royal religious ceremonies, but it's kind of a weird concept to have so much land (the grounds are quite big) just for official royal ceremonies. Anyway, there were these great aluminum can wind toys that I want to learn to make. I wonder if I can post video (or if will break this computer!)

Thailand is surprisingly more developed than Cambodia, but I know a lot of that has to do with all the wars, etc. I'm happy to take hot/cold contrast showers, and many (but not the majority by any means) of the toilets flush. But, I really don't understand the raised porcelain holes. Like, in Cambodia, the standard toilet is a porcelain hole in the ground with grips for your feet. The Thai ones are raised, which I find just awkward. Sometimes when the kids came over to the volunteer house at the orphanage (and I had a western toilet), they would squat up on the seat. I know because I would find their little footprints on the toilet seat.

Anyway.

There was an elephant show close by these temples too, but it was just awful. They had maybe 8-10 elephants, dressed up and trained... but no one really noticed how they had tear stains running down their eyes. All of the elephants (with the exception of the baby) had almost cataract-looking eyes. A brown-grey blank stare off past everything. One of the elephants had a nervous rocking, back and forth, back and forth. What was most saddening was that they claimed to send some of their proceeds to help elephants. I totally understand why elephants flip out in circuses... they were never created to be treated this way.

BUBBLES!! ..and a better pic of grade 2

Well, I'm still missing several students in this pic, but here's most of my most challenging class! Paine (one of my favorites) sneaked out early and Srey Kong was absent that day because she was at the hospital getting an infection checked (she's about 8 and has AIDS). Sometimes it was hard teaching these kids, disciplining them or reading their sweet little notes to me.. and then realizing that a bunch of them are HIV positive. What impresses me though, is that at this orphanage, they don't segregate the kids, and the other students get educated about the disease. Most of them are very healthy and happy (and smart!), but it is sad to wonder how much time time they'll have.

On a nice note, I'm happy about 2/3rds of the class passed their English exams! This was crazy because there are 2 sections for grade 2 (it's like a total of 50 kids), and the other teacher is Cambodian. Sooo, he had a bit of an unfair advantage over me. But, his English really isn't that great. The text books the school uses are from Singapore, and the grade 2 book was way more advanced than they could handle (it dealt with the concept of time, "time to work" "free time" wasting time" "time out") so we learned the days of the week, how to tell time, some words for how we tell time, and then I tossed the book. From there I used a TPR (total physical response) method I learned from my beginning Spanish class, and the kids really had fun learning. Learning was a lot more fun too when I finally figured out the words "quiet" and "stop" in Khmer... and how to discipline them effectively and in love. Sometimes at for lunch break some of them would come over to play in my yard and eat fruit or blow bubbles. I will really miss a lot of these kids.

Here are some pics of next year's teacher Maria playing with the most valuable thing I packed -- a giant bubble wand! Pray that there will be more English speaking teachers to help out next year, I know Maria is a little overwhelmed with the class load. Just do your best Maria!

Oh, and the older girl in the pic is Gee (she's maybe 10 or 11) and is one of the few orphans that is hearing/speech impared. God has truly blessed her, because in spite of her abandonment and challenges, she is one of the happiest and friendliest kids I met. Because she has these learning challenges, she lives at the AIDS clinic where she can get more attention/help learning (Gee studies outside the orphanage at a special school for deaf/dumb students).

CAS graduation!

I felt so blessed that God made a way for me to come to the graduation ceremony of my translator friends! The ceremony was over a whole weekend, and very special and personal. When students graduate from highschool here, they don't have any kind of ceremony or anything. You just go and see your posted grade from your final exam; if you passed, you've graduated. And, well, that's it. There isn't really an opportunity to say your goodbyes or share plans for your future with your friends unless you see them outside of school.

Though I didn't have much time with the students (or graduates, I should say), I got to spend a lot of time with my friend Seyha and his family. I'm friends with his sisters too, and it was nice to see his youngest sister Ponlouer graduate! I'm very proud of her and have been praying for her (along with my other friends) that they would do well on their tests... and that God would guide their future paths. Sabbath evening was very special too, because the students each got a chance to say thank you to their teachers and family. I was touched at how many of them cried and really understood what kind of a sacrifice their educaiton was to their parents. And I was touched at how many of them could see that God really worked to provide for their tuition too. I'm very proud of you class of 2008!!! May God guide and bless each of you as you seek His path!

grade 8 and grade 2

Well, here are some pics of my kids! I need to still take some pictures with grade 7... Grade 8 is probably the most interesting for me, since they're pretty fluent in English. We've been studying sentance structure and kinds of writing. They're all really smart, and just need help with grammer (Khmer has no past/future tenses for verbs, so that's a challenge).

And Grade 2... takes a lot of energy! Their ages range from about 6-12, so it can become kind of a zoo. They're all at different levels of confidence with English, but I try to keep things fun and practical. We do a lot of TPR (Total physical resonse) exercises, basically like Simon says in English. They love singing and they love stickers, so that's always a good way to break up the lessons when they start to lose focus. ...but, there's a stick in the classroom for when I have to bang on their desks for attention! I know that God is really helping me with this class, and I'm glad He sent my friend Seyha to help (he speaks Khmer and English).