Hands in the Dirt...and dirt on yo' face!

One of my favorite service project programs that Ricefields offers our students is Hands in the Dirt.  We take the students out to various farmers' rice fields where we pluck the rice from the nursery fields, and replant the stems in a new field where they will eventually be harvested from.  It is backbreaking labor (literally-you're back aches after bending over for 3 hours!), but to end each morning on a good note and reward students for their hard work, we start a mud fight (at least, if the students haven't already started one on their own!) before we leave.

I remember my first day working on this program I was shocked by how hard it actually is to plant rice!  And we were only planting for 3 hours!  Thai farmers spend 8-10 hours a day in their fields...in the hot sun.  Crazy!   And another great working condition is putting your hands down into poo dirt.  Yep, they use animal manure to fertilize the rice.  The staff lovingly refer to this program amongst themselves as "Hands in the Sh*t"!  It's gross, but you try not to think about it and wash your hands super thoroughly many times for the rest of the day...

But then it happens.  Someone throws the first mud ball and before you even realize what's happening, the mud splats across your face anddddd right into your mouth!  (Sometimes it pays to keep your mouth shut.)  From there it's an all out war; who can catch who and dunk them into the muddy pool they call a field.  By the time the program ends, you're covered in mud head-to-toe... poo mud.  That case of bacteria in my stomach I went to the hospital for?  I'm going to guess I probably got it from the sh*t!

Program leader's of that week: Me, Zach, Nam, and Adrienne.

Rinsing off in the slightly deeper, less muddy water.

The aftermath of one of lesser muddy mud fights.

As gross as all of this is, you get so used to it that you stop worrying, stop trying to avoid it, and just have FUN.  I have some great memories from my mornings in those fields!  One morning in particular - my 25th birthday.  I was so lucky to celebrate my birthday in Thailand, and super lucky to have an especially stellar group of students that week.  All of the girls from my hong (I was their room mom) signed up for the program knowing I'd be leading it and made it an unforgettable day!  We worked a little (Shh!!!!) and then just had a massive mud fight for the remainder of the time.  They made sure to COVER me in mud, since I was practically a target with it being my birthday and all.  However, as a present, they helped me take down one of the Thai guys we had been trying to mud-ify for about a week.  It was brilliant!

Posing with our grass.  Callie had just slapped mud on my shoulder!

A mud fight about to go down...me slapping mud back onto Callie.

Hong 1 ladies!

The whole gang on my birthday :)

I love Hands in the...Dirt ;) and I can't wait to help with this program again next year.  I never did catch Poon (the guy in the center, above), so I have something to work towards this coming summer!  Shout out to all my girls from Hong 1 - week 7.  Miss you guys and hope to see you next summer at Ricefields!

Homeward Bound...Sort of.

Yesterday I left Thailand.  After living there for five months, leaving was difficult.  I cried.  A lot.  In the middle of a plane.  It wasn't pretty.  I didn't come completely undone though, because I had something to look forward to.  Kenya!  (Of course I'd be happy to go back to the States and see my family, but it's Kenya...)

Tuesday morning I took a flight from Udon Thani to Bangkok, and was expecting to have a relaxing day and a half before flying out on Wednesday.  Life had other plans for me.  My brand new work computer decided to go on the fritz, and as it turns out, that particular computer did not have a hard drive or a hard disk or something techie like that.  So Wednesday was spent driving around Bangkok with one of the wonderful Thai staff trying to fix/exchange/return the computer.  5 hours later, I managed to make it back to my hotel only 30 minutes late for check-out.  Mr. Suk was nice enough to give me a ride to the airport, even after driving me around all day dealing with the computer from hell.  It was exhausting!  All is good, my new computer works (knock on wood) and I made it to the airport in plenty of time.

My flight from Bangkok to Bahrain was uneventful.  There were a lot of empty seats, so I was able to stretch out and sleep.  I arrived to Bahrain at 3:30am Thai time and 11:30 pm Bahrain time.  After getting my bags transferred to the next flight, I realized I had a 12 hour layover.  I don't know why I didn't catch that when I booked the flight, but what can you do?  So after eating a free dinner (thank you Gulf Air for the voucher!) I settled down at a quiet gate, popped a few sleeping pills, and put on my eye mask.  Unfortunately this airport is colder than the Arctic and the chairs are upholstered in a cold leather-like fabric.  I packed my blanket in my checked bag and cursed myself the whole night for not keeping it with me!  I ended up laying on the floor in between the wall and the back of the row of chairs.  It was slightly warmer down there, and I was able to sleep until about 6am.

"Sleeping" on the floor behind the chairs.  I really have no shame anymore.

My next flight leaves in about an hour from now, and I believe it's a short flight...somewhere between 3 and 4 hours.  Yay!  (Anything less than 7 hours I consider short now.)  I will have a connection in Cairo for 5 hours and then I will have the last stretch to Nairobi.  I will be a 30 minute drive away from the pyramids, but I had to swear not to leave the airport.  My family thinks I'll get blown up or kidnapped because I'm an American.  So once again, I'll be in a cool place but stuck at the airport.  Grrrr.  As a side note, I think airports should have charging stations for electronics.  How do you expect someone with three flights and 12 hour layovers to conserve battery!?!

I'll arrive in Nairobi at 3:45 am tonight/tomorrow.  I have to get a visa on arrival, exchange money, and store luggage before going to the guesthouse where I'll stay to wait for the Highpoint group.  I'm really excited to back in Kenya, and I can't even tell you how anxious and happy I am to see my kids there!  I keep trying to imagine the reunion in my head, but I know my brain can't even do the moment justice.  I'm a little bit scared they won't remember me!

ESL Blooper

So one of my duties since the end of summer programs has been to teach English classes for several hours a day.  Me and another western staff member teamed up and created a list of topics to cover and made lessons and materials to teach them with.  We split the group of students into three classes: beginner, intermediate, and advanced (don't laugh, but I brilliantly named them red, yellow, and green for easy reference).  We tried to cover topics that would be beneficial to them; things that would help them to do their job better and words they could use in day-to-day life.

One day, we were teaching them English names of different tools and construction materials.  One of the service projects that is common among all of our programs worldwide is building homes, schools, and community meeting places.  Being able to use construction terminology with the students is crucial, especially for safety reasons.  So we took this class for a walk and visited a construction site that happened to be on Rustic property, and talked about the different words for things.  The guys were excited to be able to say "hammer" and "saw" and "shovel".  They were picking these words up quickly, so as their teachers, we were equally excited! 

The next day as a review, we pulled up pictures on Google Images of the same tools and materials we had seen on site the previous day.  They remembered almost all of the names!  And then we got to "cement".

(A little side note here:  Even the local guys who have been speaking English for a while still have a pretty strong accent.  In their languages, they tend to not stress or just drop the consonant at the end of the word.  This is something we have been fighting them on from day one.  "No, not hou....houSe."  Pronunciation has been a HUGE part of our lessons.  We try to make sure they not only know the word, but say it correctly.  But that part of their first language is so deeply ingrained.)

I clicked the mouse, and the picture of cement was projected on the wall.  In unison all of the Thai, Lao, and Cambodian guys yell out "cemen!".  I immediately giggle.  All of the students also giggle.  They have no idea why I am laughing, but they join in anyway.  My fellow teacher goes around and says "cemenT" and has each of them repeat it.  But they keep saying "cemen".  So of course my inner 12 year old wins out over 25 year old professional, and by the third student I'm hanging off of my chair, tears in my eyes, laughing hysterically.  (To keep things at least PG13, I'm not going to explain this one...hopefully by now the adults have caught on.)  The other teacher finally stops and looks at me questioningly.  So between laughs I manage to get out, "William, really? CEMEN?!?!"  He just stares for a minute, and I watch as understanding slowly changes his expression.  His hands immediately go to rest against his forehead as he says, "Oh."  I'm still cracking up, which in turn is making the students crack up.  So being the top-notch teachers that we are, we had to stop the lesson and explain the difference between "cement" and "semen".

Long story short, the remainder of class entailed William explaining in Thai the difference between the two words, the students realizing why I had been laughing so hard (and then them laughing for a good 5 minutes, because they too had inner 12 year olds), and William acting out "semen" charades style.  If I could have caught that on video, it would have billions of views.   Oh, the things we do in the name of education!

We've had some fun classes, but I will remember that class until the day I die!

Unexpected Friends

In my village, about a 15 minute walk down the main soi (road), there is a market.  This is THE local market, as in the only one for this village.  There are small little "corner stores" as we call them that sell beer, ice cream cones, and soap; you know, the necessities.  This market however is the main supplier of all fresh produce, meat, and clothing.  Without going into Udon town, this is where you do your shopping if you live in Chiang Yeun.

Fried chicken butt anyone?

 
My first trip to this market was the afternoon that we flew into Udon from Bangkok.  We had just spent the previous day touring Bangkok and now everyone was meeting at Base for training week.  A group of about twenty of us walked down to the market to check things out and buy some local food.  I'll be honest, I was still in the phase where you are super aware you are in a third world country, and just to play it safe you avoid all food that isn't prepackaged.  The smells emanating from the stalls as we approached did not help matters.  I walked around  looking at all of the vivid colors; vegetables, exotic fruits I had never seen, fish still swimming in buckets waiting for slaughter, and of course pig heads.  Yes, the whole head.  And of course there were tons of fried snacks of the creepy-crawly variety available.  My fellow RP staffers were buying everything- fresh fruit smoothies, crepes, tea, and bugs.  I didn't eat a thing.  There was no way I was going to start out my trip in Thailand with e coli from some weird food.

Rambutan.

Luckily for me, when we returned to base, my friend Kinga made me try one of the strange little green "cakes" she had purchased.  She swore they were safe (she had tried them the previous year) and that they were delicious.  I hesitantly popped one into my mouth, and despite its green color, it was amazing!  Instead of taking another when she offered, I hunkered down in my bedroom to wait for the inevitable vomiting.  After 24 hours of no vomit, I decided that maybe some of the food was OK to eat.  And so, on our weekly Thursday afternoon trips to the market with students, I bee-lined to booth with the little green cakes.

Don't be fooled by their slimy, green exterior...they are delightful!

By about the fourth purchase, the lady who cooks the green cakes began to recognize me and smile when I approached her cart.  It was exciting to "know someone" outside of the company, especially a random Thai villager.  I began to practice all two of the Thai phrases I had learned (Hello and thank you) with her, and even though I couldn't communicate with her beyond that, I looked forward to our weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) meetings.  I remember there was one week that we didn't go to the market because of heavy rain.  I was so bummed.  When we returned the next week, there was cake lady with a huge smile on her face!  She came around the cart and started spitting out Thai words at lightning speed.  Luckily a Thai staff member was with me and translated.  She had asked, "Why did you not come last week?"  And so it went for the next 8 weeks.  I'm pretty sure I was single handedly keeping my new friend in business, and she was keeping me a few pounds over my normal weight!

After the students left and we transitioned into the fall work season, the market visits became less regular, but I would still walk down occasionally with my co English teacher.  Eventually I left to lead trips, and when I came back the whole market had been torn down and relocated to a field further down the street.  It wasn't just a short walk away anymore.  

Today after quite a hiatus I decided I would make a trip down to the new market.  I was lucky to have a Thai friend drive me on the motorbike, which saved time and me from getting sweaty.  At first I didn't see the cart.  I started to panic at the thought of not getting my green cakes, because let's be honest, that's really the only reason I had come.  The bananas I purchased were just my cover story and attempt to not be a fatty.  To my great relief, I rounded a corner and there she was!  I gave her a wai (bow-like gesture) and said "Sawatdee ka, sabai dee mai?" (Hello, how are you?) and we went about our usual exchange.  Again she started talking to me in way more Thai than I knew, and so my friend began to translate.  She asked where I had been, and that I had not come in one or two months to see her.  She had wondered where I was.

I melted a little inside. 

I realized that over time, our interactions had somehow transformed into a relationship of sorts.  This was the first Thai person in the village that had reciprocated my attempts at making friends.  Trying to warm your way into a community as the foreigner can definitely be daunting, and some days you have to ignore the stares and the giggles at your attempt to speak the language.  You just have to say to yourself, So what if I'm different.  I live here now and I need to make the effort to know my neighbors.   It's so easy to keep to yourself and just shyly hand the money over and quickly walk away with your purchase.  But that's no way to learn to live in a new culture, and it certainly makes you feel like the outsider you are.  In hindsight, I wish I had tried harder in these past 5 months to get to know more of the locals outside of the company.  This is going to be my home, and it would be nice to have friends or at least acquaintances in the village.  One friend is good place to start.

Cake lady will probably never know how much her gesture today meant to me.   But in that moment- in the middle of a busy afternoon market, being stared at by countless Thai shoppers - I  forgot I wasn't Thai and I felt at home.  Even with my limited Thai, I felt like, OK I can do this.  I can live here.  It was a nice feeling. 

**EDIT 10/29:  I returned to the market this evening and told the cake lady that I am leaving in one week.  She asked if I will come back next year and I told her yes, and that I would come to see her when I get back.  She was happy to take a picture with me! :)

Cake lady!!!!

In the Beginning...

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy

There have been so many great moments in the past 5 months, but some of the best moments for me were those that were completely unexpected.  They came from situations that were spontaneous and not something that was in the plans.  The most meaningful memories were not what I would have guessed them to be; not climbing to the top of a mountain and seeing a brilliant, ancient Buddha effigy standing amidst the clouds, or riding an elephant through the jungle for the first time (although those were both incredible experiences!).  Ultimately, my favorite moments were less thrilling in a sense, but the most moving and certainly the moments I'll remember when I'm seventy.  The kind you wish you could freeze and replay over and over again.  I hope to capture some of these moments in writing, because they are worth remembering, and because writing them down makes them seem real.  Some of these experiences felt so surreal that even in the moment I had to stop and question "Is this real life?!"  Some stories I'll leave untold because I couldn't do them justice if I tried.  Others are very personal and the meaningfulness behind them might be lost on others.  Those I will keep to myself; precious moments stored as little private treasures inside of my mind and my heart.  

So for my first story...where to even begin?  Well, for the sake of indecision, I'll start at the start.  Typical, I know.

I was standing in the terminal at the Bahrain airport waiting for my connecting flight to Bangkok.  I was two flights in and very much over the monotony of planes and airports,  just wishing to magically teleport to my final destination.  Anyone who has flown internationally can most likely sympathize - unless you are one of those weird people who likes 8 hour plane rides - which I don't get (but to each his own, right?).  It was my first time flying overseas alone, and I didn't know a soul on the other side of my journey east.  Being the calm and collected travel-junkie-wannabe that I am, I would never admit it, but I was scared.  Like freaking-out-inside-my-head-lets-get-this-over-with kind of scared.  Not knowing what to expect in a given situation is my Achilles' heel.  Who would I be working with?  Would we get along?  Would Thailand be like what I imaged it to be?  Would the job itself be stressful? And on, and on, and on, and...

So I was leaning against a large column in this terminal.  The call to prayer was bouncing between the walls around me and echoing from the high ceiling above me as I watched robed men and women shuffle past.  I happened to glance behind me and saw what appeared to be an American man leaning against the same column.  For those of you who haven't had the opportunity to travel, let me explain something.  Seeing another white (or any color for that matter), English speaking person is one of the most exciting things that could happen to you when you are tired, hungry, and lonely in a foreign place.  With that being said, I was excited.  The man was wearing a button-down cotton shirt, khaki pants, and leaning against a massive, obnoxiously bright yellow backpack.  He had "I'm flying to Thailand to work for a teen travel company" written all over him!  Because of my excitement and my sudden desperation to speak English, I overcame my usual shyness and asked the most obvious, rhetorical-sounding question I could have possibly asked: (as we are waiting for our connecting flight to BANGKOK) "So you're going to Bangkok?" He very nicely replied to my stupid question.  My next question was slightly less dumb. "What will you be doing in Thailand?"  He answered by telling me that he would be leading teens through Thailand on service and adventure trips.  My mouth probably dropped open before I asked him if he was working with Rustic Pathways.  He said yes.  I was astounded that out of the hundreds of people surrounding me, this man that I had already assumed in my head to be a fellow employee, actually was a fellow employee.  Whoa.  Jet lag at its finest.  And so we were friends from then on.  After staff training, I only worked with him for a week or so, but that last plane ride was somehow more comforting because he was there.

I've come along way since that day in Bahrain.  I've now taken many flights, buses, minivans, and song taos alone.  I've stayed in hotels alone, walked around new cities alone, and I've found that sometimes it's really nice to just be alone.  I cherish and love the memories I share with my new friends, but there's something about the independence of traveling solo that's empowering.  It makes you really observe your surroundings, and gives you the opportunity to view things that are common place in America, in a new light.  Experiences that you take for granted.  Like ordering a meal.  Buying a Coke.  Tucking yourself into bed for the night.  These are the situations we are in all of the time, but now the perspective has completely changed!  You're doing the same things you usually do, however it's in a new context.  You are forced to reevaluate your "normal" way of interacting with this situation and react accordingly on the fly.  It's exciting!  And it's come to be one of the most meaningful aspects of traveling for me. 

I know this was a simple, relatively unexciting story.  But it was one of those moments, that in hindsight, really stood out to me.  Why?  Because it's a story that shows growth; it highlights the importance of the journey as opposed to the destination while traveling.  So thanks to Zach for being my travel buddy those scary first days in Thailand, and for teaching me the concept of "Sabai sabai" during my moments of panic and anxiety.  During my time in Thailand, I have definitely taken that expression (which essentially means no worries; everything's good) to heart and have become a much less anxious and stressed out person because of it! 

xoxo Chrissy

สวัสดีคะ! Sawatdee! Hello!

Oh my Buddha, today marks my 20th week in Thailand!

I can't believe I've been here 5 months already!  Those of us at Ricefields had a saying this summer, "The days go by slow, but the weeks fly by".  When I first heard someone say that, I actually laughed out loud, because it is so incredibly true!  It will be 11:00am some days and I feel like it should be 4:00pm already.  Yet every Sunday I stop and ask myself where the week went.  Time is a funny thing, especially in Thailand (or maybe it's just being in another country).

20 weeks!  So much has happened in that time, and at some point Ban Chiang Yuen became home, and my Thai friends became family.  By the end of July just the thought of leaving Ricefields made me feel homesick.  My flight home was scheduled for August 14th, and I couldn't imagine myself getting on that plane and going "home" to the States.  It felt so wrong.  Around this time when I started to become anxious about leaving, my manager at Ricefields had a talk with me about extending my time here to lead some group trips in the fall.  I practically yelled YES!!!!! at her when she asked if I'd be interested.  That would buy me at least another two months in Thailand!  I was psyched.

Another few weeks passed and I found myself having another conversation with the same manager, asking if I would be interested in being recommended for full-time.  This time I didn't yell, because I was speechless.  I had heard so many people talk about their desire to get hired on full-time, and how few spots actually opened up.  I was interested no doubt, but I didn't let myself get my hopes up.  The recommendation would have to work its way up a chain of people in the company before it could even become a possibility.  I went about my work, just trying to enjoy the last weeks with students.  The last week of the summer, the chairman of the company came to Ricefields and requested a meeting with me to discuss future possibilities.  Things were moving fast;  the top of the chain was interested in talking to me!  The meeting went well, and I left with several tasks to accomplish and a "let's talk again about full-time in October".  Now, I'm the type of person who likes to have a solid plan for the future pretty far in advance, so going through two months of having an uncertain future was rough (probably more so for my parents than me!).  It ended up being really good for me.  It taught me to be patient and to live in the present because you can't always control the future.  I decided to work hard and just focus on one day at a time.

So that's exactly what I did.  I threw myself into teaching 15 wonderful Thai, Lao, Burmese, and Cambodian men who needed to improve their English skills.  Teaching English to adults was harder than I expected, and I thank God that I was partnered with a fellow staff member who speaks Thai (We miss you in class William!).  I took what I learned from my ESL classes and adapted it for our purposes.  We did a lot of miming and charades, which usually resulted in laughter from all parties involved.  As time passed and the students' Englilsh progressed, I realized I was having a blast!  So, when it was time for me to leave Ricefields to lead some group trips, I was sad.  Was I excited to travel to some new places?  Absolutely.  Was I experiencing major separation anxiety after being rooted in Udon for 15 weeks?  Definitely. 

The trip ended up being amazing!  The group was 15 high school students and 2 teachers from a private school in Brisbane, Austrailia (Miss you guys!).  We traveled through northern Thailand, Shan State in Burma, and down the Mekong in Laos.  I can't imagine traveling with a better group than the one we had, and it was cool to experience some of the activities for the first time with these students.  I'm pretty positive that I was equally, if not more excited than the group!  We had a great two weeks, and I had the pleasure of introducing them to Ricefields on the last two days of the trip.  It was cool showing them around my home.  I was also surprisingly happy and relieved to see my friends!  In fact, I almost knocked a few of them over with the gigantic hugs I gave them when they picked us up at the Laos-Thai border.

 

I've been back at Ricefields for two weeks, and have resumed teaching and working on some side projects.  And sometime between a week and a week and a half ago, I had my interview for full-time.  I was honored and amazed at how highly my managers and bosses had spoken of me.  I felt so incredibly blessed by the favor God was showing me through this opportunity!  After hearing the details of my position, I was even more excited...

5 months of the year I will spend in the US selling trips.  Honestly, selling something I feel so personally invested in will not even feel like sales, but more like sharing my passion with people who are interested in our programs.  After a few weeks of meetings and a mini vaca, I'll return to Thailand and come home to Ricefields!  I will be managing the service projects that we offer at base during the summer and then I'll be teaching English and leading groups again in the fall.  I couldn't have created a better position for myself!  I am grateful that I stuck out some of the not-so-awesome jobs I had because they all prepared me for this.  I'm blessed and humbled to be in this position, and I want to constantly remind myself how lucky I am in the coming months.   

My mini wine cooler/ice cream celebration after accepting my full-time position! 

I love Rustic Pathways.  I love working for Rustic Pathways.  But not just because I get to travel to awesome places and see amazing things...even though that is an incredible perk.  I love what we do and what we stand for.  I love that we not only introduce students to amazing places in the world, but that we show them how to respect and positively impact those places without trying to "westernize" them.  I love that we hire amazing locals and teach them English and give them job skills that allow them to support their families.  I love that we build relationships with villages we work in, and that we provide assistance to meet needs they may have.  I love that every staff member is so incredibly different and unique, but we all respect each others backgrounds and beliefs.  I don't know where I'll be at in 5 years, 10 years, or 20 years from now, but I know that right now...I love where I'm at.

I realize I haven't shared any stories from my 5 months here except for the one to tell why I'm still in Thailand!  In the next few months I will post random stories, memories, and experiences that come to mind (with pictures of course!), and tell you all about trying to learn Thai!

One last completely unrelated note:  I'll be leaving Thailand on November 6 to head to Kenya!  To those of you who have helped me financially - thank you, thank you, thank you!  It's been a challenge this year, but I know I'm meant to be there.  I am excited to see the kids at the school and orphanage and to work with the Highpoint team again!  I'm also stoked to return home on Thanksgiving day (sorry Mom and Dad!) and getting to catch up with everyone before I head out for sales season.  I'll miss my family in Thailand, but I know I will see them again soon.  And to be honest...I'm ready to bite into a big, juicy, medium-well, American steak!

All my love from Thailand!

xoxo Chrissy

The Land of Smiles

Wow! I'm in Thailand. It's still feels kind of crazy to be saying that! I arrived in Bangkok 24 hours ago exactly, luckily with a fellow RP employee who I met in Bahrain. There is nothing like the immediate bond you share when traveling with someone who gets your situation! It was good we met because after our flight our hotel shuttle showed up 40 minutes late, which was extremely stressful! Bangkok is a HUGE airport! It was nice to have company :) When we finally arrived at the hotel we had like 20 minutes to change and meet the group for the tour. It was a little awkward at first standing in a room with 20 people you've never met before but that changed very quickly! It is a great group of people and I feel very understood here. A lot of them resigned from their jobs recently like me, are living at home again, and they just can't stop traveling. One girl who was here last year described how she hasn't felt like herself since she left Thailand and now that she's back, she feels whole again. It made total sense to me because it's exactly how I feel about Kenya! We took a van (20 people squished in), then 3 different "subway" lines and then a boat tour down the river Chao Phraya that runs through the city. Bangkok is an interesting city- very old mixed with very new. You'll see temples built in the 1600's right next to a modern high rise. We got off of the boat and ate at an INCREDIBLE restaurant on the river. The deck faced the river across from the most beautiful temple I have ever seen: Wat Arun. We ordered a massive amount of chicken pad Thai, chicken fried rice, chicken sate', spicy coconut rice, veggies, and the best spring rolls ever and all just dug in. Oh.my.gosh. Heavenly!

Wat Arun from across the river.

Afterwards we walked to a temple with the gigantic Lounging Buddha - we entered barefoot, as you must in all temples. Next we went to the Grand Palace compound where the king used to live. They LOVE their king. It was a huge compound with many buildings and our tour guide was quite funny. I had to borrow pants because my capris were two inches too high above my ankles =\ but it was funny. 9 of us had to cover up more.

At the Grand Palace compound (not looking so hot after 27 hours of travel!).  Do note the crazy pants they made me wear.   

 

 

 

We then took 60 baht tuk-tuks (glorified golf carts basically) to the road with all the shopping stalls. It's a pretty famous road (Edit:  I later found out it is called Khao San Road). I bought a shoulder bag as my small purse was exploding with pamphlets and such, and a pair of cinched-at-the-bottom loose Thai pants. We walked back to the river and took a water taxi back to the rails. For dinner we grabbed some very spicy pad Thai from a street cart and then came back to the hotel to crash. It was a longggggg day, but was definitely a fun way to get to know everyone. This is the first group of employees the company has done this for and they paid for everything! Which was no small pocket change for 20 people! In a few hours we will leave for Udon Thani by plane where we will get settled for staff training at the Ricefields base. We are all very much looking forward to the pool! Florida's idea of hot is a joke! This is a 24/7 sauna!

My first ever view of  Ricefields!

Departure Day!

Wow!  I can't believe it's already June 3rd and I'm leaving for Thailand today.  It's weird to think that I only found out I was going a short 4 weeks ago...so much had to get done before today and I somehow pulled it off (with the help of great friends, family, and boyfriend!).  We will be leaving around 1:00 to head to Miami, and my flight leaves at 5:40pm.  I am flying Gulf Air, which will be new experience, as well as the two connections in Paris and Bahrain (Saudi Arabia)! I'm all ready to go, so now I just have to wait *sigh*.  I found out yesterday that we will be staying two days in a hotel in Bangkok before taking an internal flight to Udon Thani where the base is where I'm staying.  One of the company's guides will be taking us around Bangkok to sightsee on the 5th - Yay!  Then, it's off to the Ricefields Base (Take a tour here!).  Don't be too jealous, I'll be working lol ;)

For those of you that don't know, I'm working for a teen travel and community service company called Rustic Pathways.  My job as Program Leader is to make sure the teens stay safe, have a great time, and get as much out of the experience as possible.  It won't be hard seeing as I'll probably be more excited than all of them put together!  When I was a teen I was constantly looking through catalogs of teen travel programs, but never had the oppurtunity to actually go.  So now's my chance...10 years late, but better now than never!  I'm excited to meet some cool kids and experience some crazzzzzzzzzy cool things there.  It will be hot and humid but hey, I live in Florida so what's new lol. 

In case you would like to send letters (You know you want to! I wouldn't send anything after July 20th as I might not get it before I leave), here is the address:

Attn: Christine Schmidt
Rustic Pathways Ricefields Base
c/o Panuwat Noikamkong
141 Moo 2
Tambon Chiang Yean
Udon Thani, Thailand 41000

Good luck spelling all that correctly!  I don't know how often I will be able to post, or if pictures are even an option, but I'll do my best :)  I hope everyone has a great summer, and please keep my safety, travel, and health in your prayers - I would greatly appreciate it!  I'll be back August 15, so I look forward to sharing stories and pics then!

Bye!