Time Flies

I can't believe my month in Thailand is almost over. Things have been so amazing and I am really looking forward to returning to South East Asia in July.
Right now we are staying in a small village 30km from Khao Lak. We are here until Wednesday then we take an 11 hr bus ride to Bangkok, from there we go to the island of Koh Samet for our last couple of days in the land of smiles.
I don't remember the last time I laughed so much or so hard over so many days. Things with our team have been awesome. We have hit some small bumps along the way but that is to be expected when you have no privacy around 10 people over 30 days.
Our leadership team is amazing and I couldn't have asked for better Interns, we have become so close, in so many ways (some are even creepy, lol).
I believe since my last post, we have travelled from Chiang Rai in the North all the way to Phuket in the south. We took a 13 hr train, then we flew from Bangkok to Phuket for one night. From there Pastor Wasan and his Wife drove to pick us up in Phuket, however we did not realize that Phuket to Khao Lak is almost 3 hrs away. They have been so great to us.
We are at Pastor Wasan's with a GYN team from Lethbridge, Alberta so we have enjoyed meeting other Global lites from another province as well as making new friends.
We have been to many Tsunami memorial parks and spoken with survivors it has been very surreal and has really caused me to stop and think. We stood on the beaches that took over 2000 people's lives and walked on ships that were washed up and left nearly 2 kms from the beaches.
Something funny... an elephant totally snotted on my head and I fed him bananas, it was amazing!

We have just completed 2 days of "Wonderland of English Camp". Unknown to us we were this highly anticipated English camp that kids from over 20 schools had been waiting to attend. When we drove into the school for our first day of teaching we saw this giant sign advertising the camp and then we realized oh crap that's us! We were all so nervous. We had over 100 kids, they were so cute and so willing to learn. We taught 4 different workshops on the first day and 4 on the second.
So many stories to tell, so many friends made and a lot of base tan has been achieved so far and we only have 9 days til I am back in Canada.

Meditation retreat

So we just spent 24 hrs with Monks at a Meditation retreat. We were not allowed to talk and we all wore the white robes. I love love loved it. There is nothing like clearing your head than learning the art of mediation and staying silent with your own thoughts. Before our silent time started I laughed harder than I have in a seriously long time.
After just 24 hrs I feel 'cleaner' the time spent with the Monks and the knowledge I have gained will hopefully forever change my way of living, loving and thinking. We have some fantastic pictures and I couldn't have asked for a better 24 hrs.
I struggled through the back pain, tried to ignore my numb feet and never gave up.
More to come about this later
Tonight we are on a night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok, then afternoon flight from Bangkok to Phuket, then our next contact Pastor Wasan will meet us there and take us toKhao Lak.
I cant believe this trip is half over, things have been amazing

Hill Tribes

Disclaimer... Yes I realize there are many grammar and spelling mistakes, I am in South East Asia, usually typing as fast as I can on a really slow computer, I do not have time to spell check etc, :P

So we are leaving Chiang Rai today, We have been here since May 7. We lived with 2 different hill tribe villages and we literally trekked 30-40km through the hills to arrive at the villages. this is not an exaggeration; I have never walked so far and so much in such humid heat in my life. Yesterday on our way back to our base camp we made our best time yet, 8km in 2 hours; We were all very proud of ourselves. While we were in the Lahu Tribe we helped to build 7 toilets. The first day we worked 12 hours from morning to night fall moving cement bricks, cement bags, and bags of sand. We all worked really hard in the heat and I think we all gained some serious muscle during the toilet building sessions. At this tribe we really got our hands dirty. I am now a pro brick layer and cementer.. lol
We finished our 7 toilets in 4 days, then trekked to our next village.
The Akahu Tribe was the home of Dr.Dave's local volunteers (5 boys between the ages of 10-16 years old, Dr.Dave helps pay for their school fees so they help him on their days off)
We set up a medical clinic for an afternoon and we saw approximately 40 patients. I had the honour of taking every one's blood pressure.
Both of these villages really embraced us in their arms, they were very kind and shared their lives with us. It is a week that I will never forget.
We are packing up to go to Chiang Mai today there we will go to the Buddhist University and participate in a 2 day long Buddhist learning retreat. I will have more for you on our amazing time here with Dr.Dave
But right now I am in a rush

Swine Flu??

So we have been in Thailand for 2 days now. Boy did we have some fun during our stop in Tokyo... so we all know the Japanese are known for wearing masks every wear they go, and do to the H1N1 (swine) flu they made the entire plane fill out a form about their health. Then a "health" team boarded the plane with a thermal camera to check if anyone on board had a fever. WELL lucky for us Mik, one of the interns (also a team member from the Bolivia team) did have a fever. The Japanese guy got all freaked out and took him temperature twice, then went and got more 'health' people (all dressed in Quarantine gear, right out of the movies, No Joke). Everyone on the plane was given a mask and we were informed that our entire section of the plane was under Quarantine because Mik might have Swine Flu...
almost an hr later they take Mik and I to first class were they swab his nose and throat and they test him right on the spot for the flu!
Luckily for us and at the amusement of the flight attendants He did not and does not have swine flu and our "quarantined" plane could be released. So after more than an hr of holding approximately 100 people in quarantine we were allowed to leave and to our amusement Japanese press and news were waiting at the departure gate, luckily the entire flight crew found it quite amusing and so did we. Funniest team moment yet, dont worry we have many pictures

SO NOW we are in Chiang Rai it is so freaking out, 40 degrees right now. It is very nice here, clean, geckos everywhere including the toilet and I am not enjoying the squatty potty. We are headed into the hill tribe villages to work for the week. It is a 2.5 hr trek by foot into the villages, we were told we might have to help the doctor with a birth this week :)

Time to jet
lates :)

Getting Ready for Orientation

This week started off stressful as I expected it would. We moved out of our Hamilton apartment and drove many times to Niagara Falls for goods storage. Finally late Wednesday night we dropped off our keys in the mail slot and never looked back. Since most of my stuff is being stored between 2 houses finding what I needed to pack for the next month of Thailand was like a scavenger hunt, literally. I find myself in complete disarray and unable to pack. I sat down Thursday afternoon to complete the task and spread the intended items in the living room, taking up the entire area rug plus some. Once the items were in the bag I realized a) there was much to much and b) it was way to heavy... once again over packed on the snacks in true fat kid style. I give up; I pushed the bag away and left it until today. Yes I am a procrastinator. My excitement has yet to reach full force yet, maybe I am nervous because I am leading this year, maybe it's because it is my first time to the South east or maybe it is because my last GYN team volunteer trip did not measure up to my expectations (not the Country's fault)

Now finally just 1 hr before I need to leave for orientation in Cambridge, Ontario at Camp Shalom I have showered (possibly my last shower for a while), watched some 'Cold Case Files' and packed my bag to a reasonable weight. Orientation will last all weekend; tonight all the team leaders from across Ontario will arrive and the team members tomorrow morning. We all know how much I love orientation (insert sarcasm here). Hopefully this orientation I will be spared from sharing too many of my 'feelings', however as the 'Globalites' know that is not a possibility. We arrive in Bangkok May 5 at 1125pm, losing 12 hrs of my life due to the time difference.

til then...