Time is Short...

Well, it's really happening.  10 weeks seemed like such a long time, and now we look back in surprise that it's almost over.  What a privilege it has been to spend time here, and develop relationships with so many amazing people!  Almost every lunch and dinner this week is scheduled with someone that we want to spend just a little bit more time with, and say thank you one more time.  People have been so gracious and treated us to such delicious food.  Tonight we visited the Chiang Mai Lemongrass, owned by family members of the one in Fairbanks.  The food was very tasty, and just a little bit cheaper. 

 

To make reality really hit, I posted my bike for sale on Chiang Mai Swap and Sell.  Would anyone like a really sweet bike with a handy basket for carrying things (like 6 liter jugs of water, groceries, CPR infant mannequins, childbirth education supplies, etc.), and an extra seat on the back that is super useful if you need to ride double somewhere quick?  My only concern with this bike was that I almost lost my left pedal a couple of times.  Then Mike "fixed" it but forgot to put it back on opposing the other pedal, and that made me feel like I'd forgotten how to ride a bike.  But Mike then reinstalled it correctly, it pedals great, and this bike is ready for the road!

 

One of my favorite things...

One of my very favorite, yet ordinary sightings in Thailand is seeing the laundromats. You will be biking or driving along a road (sometimes a main road, and sometimes a back road) and there on the side will be a completely outdoor, serve yourself laundromat. Not only is it fun that it is fully outdoors, but it's good value, since  a load costs just under a dollar. This always makes me think of our friends without water in Fairbanks, hauling their laundry through the frigid air and then just about breaking the bank to pay to wash and dry their clothes. Makes me wish they could come over for a quick laundry vacation, and maybe buy an ice cream cone to stay cool while they waited for their laundry to finish.

It's all about the getting there (and back)...

Getting from point A to point B is nothing to be taken for granted... and the last few weeks have been a true case in point.  Mike is telling the honest truth when he says that getting from home to work may take as few as 20 minutes, or as long as three hours.  You'll have to talk to him in person about his 3 hour adventures, and this might be part of why you'll think Mike is "trimming down" when you next see him.

Here are some typical sites out on the streets of Thailand:

Motorbikes are most popular by far... cheap to own and run, maneuverable through traffic, they're really hard to beat... as long as safety isn't in your top qualifications.

Personal vehicles come next- cars, trucks, SUVs, you name it and it's on the road.  Probably the most common is a Toyota helix truck.  Thai people love trucks, and the pick up beds are just so handy for hauling things, whether that happens to be your extended family, propane bottles, water jugs, onions, lettuce, garbage, furniture... You name it, it's been hauled before, and the bigger and taller the load, the better!

Mini buses and double decker buses are also common sites with all of the tourism in the area.

Tuk Tuks are the most endearing form of transportation.  More expensive than they are usually worth, but available for a little zip here and there when in need.  This may not be the best picture, but since it was transporting a friend who was having labor contractions every 4.5 minutes and destined for the hospital, it just had to be included.

And that brings us to the most memorable... song taus.  At this point, I've experienced my fair share of song taus, and no ride is ever quite the same.  We will use today as a case in point.

I left for a home visit to a family living on the other side of town.  I gave myself an hour to get there as a goal.  It started off with about a 1 mile bike ride to a more mainstream road and a place where I can lock my bike.

Mornings are a good time to catch a song tau, and I only had to wait about five minutes before a yellow one was coming in my direction.  A quick hand wave, and he had pulled over to let me on.  The yellow song taus follow a set route, and this makes them much more predictable and cheaper. It can also mean that at sometimes of the day you are packed in like sardines, and visibility out the windows to know when to push the buzzer is  a little trickier.  But today, there were only about 6 of us riding, and 10 minutes later I was at the Airport Plaza Mall for just 15 bht (about 50cents).

I waited and saw a red song tau approaching, gave it a wave, and they pulled over.  I had a map in Thai of where I was going on my phone, and thought this would be my ticket to a direct route.  Red song taus have no set route, so it's up to you to tell them where you want to go, then agree upon whether or not they will take you there and then haggle a price.  This husband/wife driver couple did not appear to read Thai, so my map was slightly less than helpful.  We began naming landmarks back and forth, and settled upon a drop off at the Big C store which was within a few blocks of where I wanted to go.  This leg cost me 100bht ($3) and I had the ride to myself.

 

I made it to Big C, and walked to my family's apartment.  I didn't quite meet the 1 hour mark, but attributed that to the fact that I didn't take the most direct route in walking to the apartment building.

3 hours later, I knew the family's history very well, had helped with a  feeding, eaten a delicious Chinese lunch cooked by grandparents, and it was time for the jaunt home.

Big C seemed like a good place to be picked up.  Waiting in the direct sun was hot, and no one was responding to my waves.  It took about three attempts until I realized that there was a line of song taus waiting at the Big C exit that I had completely looked over.  All the drivers were sitting together shooting the breeze.  The driver first in line came up and I named my destination.  $150 bht was his price, and he wasn't interested in haggling.  I was not interested in his price, and smilingly declined. At this point I said a prayer and decided to just continue standing there for a while.  It didn't take but 30 seconds and a driver down the line came over to offer the same destination for $150.  However, he was willing to bargain, and I got the ride for $120.  After agreeing, we walked around to get in and he called back to his cronies $150 and off we went.

Back at Airport Plaza I waited for a yellow song tau.  Being afternoon, these yellow song taus get packed, usually carrying a lot of children home from school.  The first one went by with 3 or 4 people already hanging off the back, so they didn't stop for me.  But the next driver that came along held to the policy that "there's always room for one more."  She offered me the front seat, a pleasure never afforded to me before.  And we took off, in air conditioning and with visibility, a true rarity when it comes to song tau riding.  I wish I could have taken a video out the front of the rhythm of the traffic as everyone weaves in an out of lanes, around obstacles, and alternating between acceleration and braking in quick succession.  Someone almost side swiped us and were honked back to safety. A woman on the street flagged us down for a package delivery which I held on my lap.  We stopped to let people off and get on.  Another woman joined me in the front seat. People were picked up to hang off the back.  And all the while the driver chatted intermittently on her phone earbud and the woman sitting next to me while shifting gears around my knees. 


We reached the intersection of my drop off.  Called World Club Land, most drivers know where this development is if you say Wool-Club-Lan very fast and with lots of intonation.  This worked well today, and she gracefully pulled to a stop, I handed out $15 bht, and then all I had to do was cross four lanes of traffic and ride my bike home.

I successfully made it across the street and was just getting to my bike when I heard a loud clunk, looked back, and realized that there had just been a motorcycle/vehicle crash at the intersection.  I watched for long enough to determine that my non-Thai speaking medical skills were not needed, and continued homeward. 

Getting back home to sit in front of the fan and have something to drink is worthy of at least a small celebration every single time.

 

Yes, we are working...

Based on the content of recent posts, you might be wondering if we really are doing any of the work that we told you all was the reason for coming over. The answer is yes, we indeed have been working (more often than playing) and learning a lot!

Mike spends the majority of his workweek at Cornerstone Counseling Center. The center currently has 6 counselors, a psychiatrist, support staff, and Mike. He leads counseling sessions independently with clients, and often sits in with other counselors for observation. This week he had the opportunity to attend seminars on how to conducting debriefing for people who have recently experienced trauma. The majority of his clients are missionaries or NGO workers who are in need of some type of counseling, which could range from processing a traumatic event to dealing with depression to struggling in a marriage or family relationship, etc.  Most are here for short periods of intensive counseling, and come from all over Asia.  Each of the counselors raises their own support or is part of a mission organization.  We have found the counselors to be highly skilled in their work, and have a deep love and compassion for people that God is using to make a difference in their client's lives.  It has been a great place to learn what counseling can look like and the role it plays in church and community. Cornerstone is fortunate to have one Thai counselor at this point, and the rest of the counseling is done in English. Needless to say, it is a multi cultural experience. The physical design of the center is a welcome and peaceful respite from the moment you walk in the door.  

The entrance to Cornerstone

 We especially like the live goldfish in the goldfish pond in the reception area. 

Mike has his own office, which is super nice and spacious. 

My work as a nurse has been extremely varied from day to day. I primarily work with a local missionary woman named Lori who helps support families during their childbirth experience. Women come to Chiang Mai from all over Asia and the Middle East to give birth because of the level of medical care available. There are also many expat women who live in the general Chiang Mai area, maybe because their husband/partner is Thai, they are here for work, or just because Thailand is a nice place to live.  

Lori offers birth classes in English, labor support, and postpartum follow up to these families.  Childbirth is a huge transition for anyone, and this is significantly intensified when a person gives birth in a place where birth practices are different than at home, the language is not your own, and support from family and friends may be limited.  

Lori has been coordinating birth support for 20 years, and usually as part of a team of other women.  However, the team has shrunk considerably over the past year as everyone else has taken on other responsibilities.  As you can imagine, Lori was excited to hear that I love doing this kind of work, and would be available for 10 weeks to help out!  It has been fun for me to specifically offer breastfeeding support to families.  We are currently getting ready to initiate our third set of classes since I've been here, with usually about four couples per class.  Connecting prenatally is super fun, and offers a great chance to provide education, and get to know each other and potential challenges before birth.   After a mom gives birth, I will often visit the family in the hospital to support them with early feeding issues, and then continue to support through phone calls, text and e-mail, and home visits, either at their house or mine.  It has been a real blessing to connect with so many wonderful families, and offer support as they transition into this new role of being parents, or helping with specific feeding challenges.

This is the hospital where most of the moms give birth.  The postpartum ward is on the 14th floor- it offers a great view of the city!

 There is a lactation clinic at the hospital.  The nurse's approach to lactation support is very different from how we do things in the states.  They offer much more hands on interventions, and much less teaching or troubleshooting than we would in the states.

In my spare time from the prenatal/postpartum work, I have been volunteering three days a week at Grace International School as a school nurse.  It has been fun to get to know students in both the elementary and secondary school, as well as the other school nurses.  Here are Cindy and Bethany on a day when we were all very color coordinated!

For all of you nurses out there, Chiang Mai is a fabulous place to learn and work!  There is currently a great need for school nurses at Grace next year.  These are volunteer positions, but the repayment in getting to know the students, serving a needed role, and the great food and weather of Thailand is not bad!  There is also need for nurses with childbirth and prenatal/postpartum experience to join the birth team over here, either for a short or long term commitment.  You just might want to think about whether these roles could be for you...

Things that are just a little bit different...

Who knew that Ronald McDonald could greet you with a wai?  Well, he does in Thailand!  Here you can get a pineapple or corn "apple pie" as well as a rice dish with a fried egg on top.  And the ice cream cones are considerably cheaper, like 9 baht each, with equals somewhere around 30 cents. :)

Orchids grow everywhere, wrapped around trees and offering floral beauty to the passerby.  

You can buy just about anything at a market... Including fish that are still alive and swimming in their bags.  I've seen live lobster at the store before, but never live and squirming fish in a bag! A picture doesn't do justice to the image or the smell of this scene, but the back black bags on this picture are full of live little fishies.

Corn... We call it "sweet corn" in the states, but we still seem to consider it a vegetable.  Well, here they take the "sweet" in sweet corn very literally, and it is a dessert item.  You can get corn in dessert waffles (very yummy), corn pies at McDonalds as already mentioned, battered and deep fried corn kernels at the end of a buffet line, corn hard candy, and best of all, corn sundaes... This tasted mostly like ice cream with creamed corn poured over the top, but it was not all bad, just a little corny.

Eggs are sold in 10 packs, not a dozen.  And eggs are never refrigerated, just out for sale on the shelf.  You can always buy little, cute looking quail eggs as well.  And the dyed eggs are thankfully clearly designated eggs that have been treated in a special solution for maybe a 100 days, until the egg is black and gelatinous inside.  Fun to look at, but I will pass on the purchase and eating of these special eggs. 

And who really needs a separate area for a shower or a shower curtain?  Warm running water still gets you clean, and this way you wash the floor on a daily basis too, as well as the sink, and anything else that might end up in te general vicinity. All is well until you want to walk back into the bathroom later and keep your feet dry...

As I write this, more and more things come to mind that could be included in this post, and Mike has several ideas as well, so this may actually post 1 of 2, or 3 or 4... But then again, some things you might just have to come and experience for yourself!  We don't want to give it all away!

Refugee Camp

Some experiences truly defy the ability to describe fully through words and pictures. However, these are the kinds of experiences that deserve sharing, so seems worth the effort to share something and let you take from it at least a glimpse of a life and place different from your own. 

Friends from Fairbanks told us before we came that if there was one thing we should do here, it was to attend the yearly thanksgiving celebration in a refugee camp along the Thailand/Myanmar border. They sent off some e-mails, we sent off passport copies, and somehow it all came together for us to be guests at the camp for the weekend. 

First, a bit must be explained about refugee camps in this area. They are primarily made up of Karen people, as well as Kareni and Shan, who are ethnic minority groups of the region.  They live in the mountainous hills in tribal villages.  They have been on the receiving end of ethnic cleansing attempts for years. There are 10 refugee camps along the Thai/Burma border, comprised of about 120,000 people. They are not Thai citizens, and are restricted from leaving the camp premises legally. If they escape to a larger Thai community, they have no documents and do not speak the Thai language. This puts them at risk from everything from deportation, human trafficking, poverty, etc.  Many of these camps have now been in place for 20 years, meaning children may have been born in a camp and raised to adulthood without ever leaving. Food is provided through NGO and government aids. Education and health care varies from camp to camp and is generously provided by so many different groups doing great work, but of course it is not a guarantee. 

Did I mention that these camps can be pretty remote?  We started our journey by mini bus with our bag riding high on top of some big boxes of fresh flowers...

We then moved on to a four by four truck for the mountains and back roads. 

We have all had a fair amount of experience on Alaskan back roads and remote areas, but we all agreed that we had never been in quite such rugged country. We were right on a fault line, and the geology of the area was impressive. The mountains were stacked against each other with almost completely vertical slopes covered in jungle vegetation. We drove up one side, down the other, and then did it again. Dramamine? Yep, I'll take some!

And then around a corner, through a gate, a paperwork exchange, and there we were. It was nestled into a tight river valley were over 15,000 people living in bamboo huts.

We were hosted by the Karen pastor. Because this is not intended to be a permanent settlement, everything is to be made for temporary use. That means all buildings are completely bamboo with leaf roofs. Everything is built off of the ground which accommodates for the climate well. Some people were generating electricity from the river and would have a line running to their house for electricity. There was no running water, but some pipes running from the river or mountain springs.

Back to the Thanksgiving celebration... This takes place each year at the new year as an expression of thankfulness for another year of life and provision. This year was a big party, because it commemorates the 20 year anniversary of being a camp.  The Karen people love to sing, so singing was at the heart of each event. The people are largely Christian, so church was also a huge component of the festivities.  It started Friday night with singing competitions that lasted well into the night. 

Saturday morning dawned, and it was time for a baptism. 225 baptisms to be specific. There was a mass river crossing by hiking up your skirt or pants and wading over to the baptism site, and a very organized baptismal process, with about 20 ministers performing the baptisms just as the sun was breaking through the mountain mist across the sparkling water. Maybe it was a little touch of heaven. The song, I went down to the river to pray was spontaneously sung a few times by those of us westerners.

We spent the afternoon exploring and smiling back and forth with people of all ages.

That evening, the program continued with choir competitions. Over 10 choirs competed from within the camp, most with between 110-160 choir members. Everyone sat on a straw covered expanse with tarps overhead. 

The next morning was the culminating church service. We sat on the stage as honored guests with a variety of missionaries and officials from Thailand and the states. The service was mostly in Karen, a little Thai, and, a little English. Attendees sat on the straw. The service lasted three hours. There were many songs, choirs, sermons, and prayers. Mike gave a greeting for us from Fairbanks, Alaska. 

We pray that the hope for a free and full life for each of these children can be a reality in this life.

The church service included a time for former members of the refugee camps to stand up who have since immigrated to other countries.  There were people who had come back from the US, Canada, Norway, Australia, Finland, Netherlands, and maybe even other countries I have forgotten.  We are grateful for the opportunity that these countries present for new lives for these people.  Here are a few things happening with Karen people in the states.  We met some of these people who were visiting families of Karen people they now work with in the states.  That was fun!

Karen Konnection: http://www.karenkonnection.org/index.php3

Habecker Church: http://habeckerchurch.com/who-we-are 

There were so many questions and conversations we wanted to have with people, but were limited by language. However, the spirit of true thankfulness and joy reaches beyond words. Children love to smile, laugh, and play wherever they are, and they exhibit a sense of hope and contentment that is contagious.  We pray that the hope for a free and full life for each of these children can be a reality in this life.  The gifts of music and laughter really are gifts- they offer hope and joy and meaning in places where we might overlook it.  We listened to the most stunning performance of the Halleluiah Chorus in Karen  that reminds us that indeed, our life here is temporary and we live now with eternity in mind.

Being a Tourist

Our time with Karen during the Christmas holidays proved to be a great time to participate in some of the tourist attractions northern Thailand has to offer.  The day after Christmas we went zip lining with friends of Karen's from Korea.  It was a wild ride through the rain forest of Thailand with our guides Oven and Johhny.  It was definitely a once in a life time experience, filled with long zip lines over the tree tops, and vertical drops that left us feeling like we'd left our stomachs in the tree top...

A trip to Thailand does not seem complete without actually learning how to cook some of the tasty Thai dishes we have been eating... And if you're going to try to learn h ow to cook, why not start with the best... like The Best Thai Cookery School.  Led by Chef Ritchie, we joined a couple of Karen's friends from Korea for a day of cooking and eating.  Now let's hope we can replicate some of this flavor when we return to Fairbanks!  It's hard to pick a favorite out of the seven or so dishes that we learned, but that mango sticky rice is hard to beat...

We discovered that Thailand grows some big catfish!  We also discovered that maybe one of the reasons for their giant size has to do with their diet- we spent the day fishing for them with balls of day old bread/cake/donuts.  It was quite a bit of work to reel one in- our largest (caught by Mike) was over 30 kg (60lb).  Karen wins the reward for most, Laura for catching the first fish, and we all felt like winners by the end of such a successful day!

Karen and I participated in a once is enough experience by "treating ourselves" to 15 minutes in a fish spa.  For 40 baht, we sat with our legs in an aquarium filled with fish that nibbled off all of the dead skin on your feet.  We can sum it up in one word: ticklish. But now we've done it, and our feet are more beautiful and healthy than ever (or so we're telling ourselves)!