Chiang Rai The Beautiful

So we have already been here a month crazy to think we are halfway done with this journey!! We have seen some beautiful places here in Chiang Rai... The white temple was breath taking, the waterfalls, and the black house had some unique beauty to it. All in all it is a gorgeous place and I am blessed to be seeing it!! I have met some amazing people and am frequently in awe at how humble and happy the people of Thailand are!! Liz and I work hard during the week and on the weekend spoil ourselves to 3 dollar foot massages and ice cream that we can find in town...
I was lucky enough to have my birthday here... It was truly a birthday I won't forget. I woke up to my good friends here singing happy birthday and wearing the party hats my sister packed. When I walked out for breakfast my leader here at mirror foundation had a birthday cake for me as well as a card from all the volunteers!! One of my favorite surprises was the package of notes my family sent... I am truly a blessed girl!! The night ended with a trip into town for a grilled cheese sandwich dinner and a performance by some "lady boys" dressed up in scandalous outfits lip singing to female pop artists haha. Like I said a memorable day :)

Staying Among the Villagers!!!

So our home stay experience was quite the event!! We drove two hours through the straight up jungle... When we arrived at the school we were so excited to teach.... Well who would have ever guessed that it was three holidays in a row the three days that we were supposed to teach... So we got in a lot of reading time while gazing at the beautiful view from our patio.

Then we were lucky enough to get to stay with a family in the village!! Let's just say we weren't as lucky as the other girls with our homestay in the village. Liz and I got a family that acted like they didn't really want us, speak no English, and thought everything That came out of my mouth was hilarious... I was trying to communicate through hand signals and eventually became
The laughing stock of the village... There was a little three-year old girl who was adorable and kept sitting on our laps... She had her fists clenched and we wondered what was in it.. Come to find out it was dead moths! She came up with the game to throw dead moths and beetles on us through out the night. Let us not forget stoner grandma! She was in the back corner smoking and making her own homemade cigarettes. Haha, and the village gathered in the room Liz and I were supposed to sleep in to watch Thai soap operas for three hours. All in all it will be an experience I forever cherish and remember!

After our week in the village we were given the opportunity to go on an Elephant ride!! Seriously one of my favorite memories I've ever had. I even got to sit on the head and steer it. We trekked through the river and through local villages.

All in all we are having some amazing moments!! The good and the bad moments are what makes it so memorable, and I feel so blessed.

Sawadee ka!! (Hello in Thai)

Greetings!!!!

Sorry, keeping a blog can be pretty complicated in the middle of the jungle. Internet connection isn't so grand :) so things here are going great! We have our good moments and our not so good moments... but all in all we are making many memories and having quite thee experiences!

Last week we began teaching, which was awesome!!! I had the opportunity to teach some monks (they are awesome!) I also was able to go to day care and play with all the beautiful little children! Teaching english is pretty difficult, because for most of them it is their third or fourth language. Most people here speak Thai, but also come from different hill tribes so they speak their tribal language! I'm telling you ASIANS ARE BRILLIANT! ( I dont mean that as a stereotype in any way...)

As far as the food goes... ya, I'm struggling!! Haha I wish I were more adventurous like Liz and some of these other girls that try most things... but I just cant! So rice and little sugar candies have become my new diet..

Last weekend we were able to take a bus into Chiang Mai... it was absolutely stunning! The bus ride there was three hours long, and had AC!!!!!! We were in heaven.. When we got there we took a Songteaw to our hostile.. and were loving the flushing toilets ( a nice break after using a squatter for a week.) We then got up and went to this amazing Buddhist Temple that was up on the hill, I believe they said it was the tallest point in all of Thailand.. it had the most incredible view looking over the city. Afterwards we took our songteaw back down the hill and went to the Zoo for the day. The Zoo was also unbelievable! The cages are so much closer to the people, so we had the chance to feed Elephants and pet them, along with hippos, and the zebras. Afterwhich we ate some dinner (we found a Mcdonalds!!!!!) Praise the day for french fries!! Sunday night we went to the Sunday market in town.. it would have to be the worlds largest market! It stretched out across several blocks.. me and liz enjoyed ourselves' to a nice $2 foot rub that lasted 30 minutes! Talk about heaven!!!!!! On our way back we ran into an LDS church!!!!!! Literally, ran right into it! We were so excited, we ran in to see if anyone was still around. Sure enough the sister missionaries were there! We had a nice chat with them, and even found out that we had some mutual friends! It was a great weekend in Chiang Mai..

liz and I at the Temple teaching the Monks.

My class of Monks.

The children are seriously beautiful!! I already am in love with all of them!

Reading to day care, they sure love story telling!

They like to grill, marinate, and feast upon their insects over here, we on the other hand just want a picture!

At the Buddhist Temple in Chiang Mai, such a beautiful place!

All the volunteers at the mirror foundation!

"Do not dwell in the past, Do not dream of the future, Concentrate the mind on the present moment." -- Buddha

So the Mirror Foundation

Well I arrived! Talk about a Journey to get here! Sleeping in airports over night and understanding no Thai. All in all it's an adventure! We are definitely living in the straight up jugle.. Bugs the size of dogs and geckos that sound like monkeys! Rice every meal, squatters, humidity that allows you to be wet all the time. Yesterday was fun though! We celebrated Budhas birthday, we went to two different temples where the Thai people are chanting something (no idea what) and the monks are leading them in a walk around the temple while carrying flowers and burnt incense. Afterwards we lit off the huge floating lanterns which looked awesome! All in all it has been sort of rough, but I think I'll learn to love it! The people smile and laugh nonstop and are super friendly! Here are a few pics I'll write more when I can!!

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
 Life is beauty admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
 Life is a challenge, meet it.
 Life is a duty, complete it.
 Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
 Life is a sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
 Life is a struggle, accept it.
 Life is a tragedy, confront it.
 Life is an ADVENTURE, dare it.
 Life is luck, make it.
 Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
 Life is life, fight for it!
Mother Theresa

So it begins...

Alright, here it goes my first attempt at a blog... A lot of my close friends and family have been interested in what I will be up to this summer; so Liz and I would like to document it on this blog and give you all a glimpse of what we are doing, where we are living, and if we are SURVIVING!  

     Two years ago I spent my summer in Tanzania, Africa.  It was such an amazing experience! I kept telling my best friend Liz that she needed to do something like that with me!  Well, the time has come and I have convinced her to hop on the bandwagon of my obsessive adventure disorder!  We will be spending a little over 2 months in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Living in a straw hut, having no toilets, and only using bucket showers!  No worries... we may not have toilets, but we have wifi!!! So I should be able to keep y'all posted on this "beautiful blog" (However, I think I would prefer toilets over wifi if I'm being honest)

IVHQ

I've been asked a lot what program I am going with.  A program called

IVHQ

They have been wonderful to work with so far, and I'm excited to volunteer with them.