Prayer Requests

Dear All,
This last Thursday Nai, the sister of the pastor who brought us over here (she's also the head secretary at the school), collapsed in pain and was taken to the hospital, apparently she had a ruptured annurism. It sounds as if she wasn't diagnosed early and because of this she was a bit slow in getting care, Friday afternoon her heart stopped and though they got it restarted she was in a comma that she didn't come out of and was dependant on machines. This last Sunday she died before her family could decide weather or not to take her off of life support.
Erika and I had both gotten close to her, spending time with her and her family out at their house in the village, learning to cook from her and having her direct us and take care of E at school. Her son, Deenoy, is only nine years old and though he's surrounded by family his father lives down in Bangkok and is not a big part of his life. She was only fifty one and many of our friends at school were close to her and are having a hard time dealing with her loss. So if you would be in prayer for the lot of is we would really appreciate it.

On a little higher note our Filipino friend, Malou, was not going to be able to afford returning home for the two month school holiday that is coming up. That was going to be hard as her son is just six and she really misses him and her husband, so we decided we would pay the three hundred dollars for her return ticket, allowing her to get home and be with her family. Now of course we're three hundred dollars less for our traveling and living which might end up being a bit of a pickle but we're trying not to worry (I'm trying not to worry, E has nerves of steel and is the one who always believes things will work out) and to take things as they come. Just another thing you could pray about if you remember and have the time.

On an even higher note; this last week my friends Allen and Tricia have started golf lessons and invited me to join them. It's good getting propper instruction and direction on what to do and how to do it though sometimes I feel awkward hearing instructions like "stick your butt out Kristen" and "nice butt!" when I get it right but we're told we're improving though I don't believe it much. Our teacher, Barry, lives and breaths golf and is at the course or the driving range all day long every day but sunday, he says to really improve we have to be there to practice every day. Allen and Tricia actually have been and are probably going to continue going at least five times a week, I on the other hand am down there twice a week for our two hour lessons and then that's it. I don't have the dedication or the money to walk all the way down there, rent the clubs and golf balls every day, so I'm the disappointing student among the lot.
Tomorrow we start landscape paintings in art class and I'm a little nervous about driving somewhere with my crazy teacher Neung to find a landscape that we can paint but that's what he's suggested. He's a nice enough guy and I don't mistrust him or anything but I don't really fancy being stuck anywhere with anyone for any amount of time. We'll see how that goes.

I have to be off now but I love hearing from all of you and hope you'll write lots and soon, Kristen Rose

Quotes

"Most people think they have too many responsibilities to travel, especially in the way that appeals to their fantasies. The hungry spouse, children, job, mortgage, school, army, or mother needs them. This is bullshit, of course. Most people are simply too afraid to step out of the rut to do something they would like to do.
Honest folks: the world doesn't end when you decide to do what you want to do, it merely begins." --Ed Buryn, Vagabonding in Europe and North Africa

"I never regretted any trip I took, no matter how inconvenient, expensive or unnecessary it seemed at the planning stage. I only regretted the trips I didn't take." --Carol Benet

Erika's January Letter

Dear Friends,
Well, I found myself at the end of January recently and I’ve put off writing this letter because I have so little to write. January was a very quiet month for us. I’m sure you guys won’t mind receiving less than the usual tome. We didn’t do much outside of our normal schedule this month. No special trips or exciting excursions.
We biked 14 kilometers down to the “White Temple” one day. The temple is designed by a local artist and is a really interesting local sight for Thai people. I’m afraid that the only interest for us was the trip down on the super highway. It was death-defying, at least. They call Thailand “the land of smiles” and this is largely true. People are rarely overtly rude and are usually welcoming and friendly. In fact, the problems we have usually arise out of a desire on the school’s part not to be rude—which means disagreeing openly. But once Thais get on the open road, there is only one desire—to win at all costs. There is very little stopping at red lights or stop signs, for instance. Usually, you roll through them. To stop is to concede defeat. A friend of ours contends that this is a nation whose true selves come out in the car—if so, their true selves are pretty ruthless. Add this to absence of speed limits and the highway is a little daunting for 2 girls on bikes! One excursion that I really enjoyed was a field trip with my students to the floral exhibition here in Chiang Rai. Kristen tagged along with us. It was fun for me to spend non-class time with my students. I’m not going to tell you that we had in-depth conversations but we enjoyed looking at displays, learning the names of flowers and shopping together. For this same reason, I really enjoy the English language Bible study I teach in the mornings before school starts. I usually meet one group of students on Monday and Wednesday and another on Tuesday and Thursday. It has been great to be able to get to know these kids in small groups, away from other teachers and the pressure of too many observers. We have had interesting discussions about a weird variety of subjects and have worked our way through the picture book literacy series they have here. It has taken us from Genesis to the Gospels so far. Explaining some of the concepts my theology trained mind would like to convey has been challenging at times! But the Christian classes at this (Christian) school leave a lot to be desired (so do most of the classes, to be frank!) and it’s nice to see students encountering a lot of these stories and ideas for the first time.
Kristen and I bought silk in Burma a while ago and got them made into traditional Thai outfits this month. They are quite pretty. We are still lacking the belt that should belong to the ensemble so we have shopping left to do! You can see pictures of our dresses and some of the other things we love here: http://whitworth.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010464&l=19f45&id=59401624 .
I honestly don’t have tons more to say. My current recreational activities include planning our trips in March and April (We are going to visit the south of Thailand in mid to late March. In April we will go to Malaysia and Vietnam. I’m super excited about all of these trips although I’m struggling to figure out how I’ll pay for it all! Such are the joys of travel.), painting and studying some theology books. I’m interviewing people on their views regarding women’s accepted place in Buddhism and designing clothes that I’m having made here. I’m missing pottery and Mexican food a lot but loving painting, roti and Thai fruit. I've found that there is usually something to take the place of what I miss. I'm glad I'm here. It's a fun ride.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print.
Thanks for reading,
Erika

Cliffs of Insanity

Dear all,
I'll start with something small from a little over a week ago before I get to the good stuff.
A little over a week ago we went out to dinner with our Philipino friends, Mary and Malou and their friend Janice and they took us to an all you can eat buffet where you cook the food yourself right at your table on an ingenious little round cooker with fire underneath. It's very difficult to explain but such fun to use. Needless to say we ate till we were overflowing and afterwards walked down to one of the posh hotels in town where another friend of the girls, Fred, is a lounge singer and rather good. We sat around and shared drinks while we listened to him play and sing before wandering home.
This last weekend though we borrowed our friends Allen and Tricia's one speed bikes and went on a trip out to Huai Keaw Waterfall, about thirty kilometers out where we were going to spend the night at the Akha Hill House that is one of the only guest houses in Thailand that is owned and opperated by hill tribes people. The first twenty six or so kilometers was rather easy and we went along at our own speed stopping when we pleased. In fact one time when we stopped for sandwiches we watched a man and his two sons build a fire down by the river, it took a while and E was the first to spot that he actually had a dog carcass. We thought they were disposing of it until they pulled him back out of the fire and began scraping the hair off him, when they gutted him in the river we realised they weren't getting rid of him, they were preparing him for a meal. It was a little disturbing to watch but almost impossible to turn away we were so fascinated. Who are we to judge but every dog we saw after that I sort of felt sorry for- who knows if they'll be next?
The road to the waterfall got a a little rough after the first twenty five k's and we stopped again for lunch, we didn't know what we were in for at that point. From then on the roads got worse and worse, turning to dirt and then washed out in areas, soon we had to get off our bikes and resort to pushing them up the hills as they were so steep. Some of the mountain was actually at 50-60 degree angles and I'm not exagerating, pushing bikes with our overnight gear in the front basket up these things was no easy feat. Especially as I was (of course) unprepared footwear wise and was wearing flip flops (my father is groaning at this point). The last six or so k's took us almost four hours and the last hill to the guest house was probably the worst as they were in the middle of construction and all the dirt was loose and you couldn't find a path up come hell or high water.
When we did finally reach the top it took us a while to get a room and ended up in a bungalow overlooking the valley and surrounding hills where tea was growing, it was beautiful but we were too tired to enjoy it and took an hour nap before hiking the ten minute route around to the waterfall. Thankfully the waterfall was almost worth all the misery and pain and we enjoyed being the only people around, wading and splashing in the freezing cold water and taking an enormous amount of pictures.
We were happy at that point as when we arrived we asked if they would take us back in the morning as they give free rides daily to and from the city in a truck that would easily hold our bikes. We had a good time talking to other tourists from the States and England that night at dinner and had a good sleep. We were happy until the next morning when we were getting ready to go and asked the man where we should put our bikes and he said it wasn't possible. They were taking the "good car" today and the bikes wouldn't fit and we would have to ride home, we were so desperate these two Italian girls who were also going back helped us get the bikes into the car but the man was so stubborn and was really mad we had put the bikes into his "good car" that he just wouldn't leave while they were in there. By that time we were making the girls late for their boat trip they were taking so finally just had to let them leave.
He gave us a different, easier route to get back but I was so angry I was crying. We spent the entire morning riding our brakes on steep downhills where at any time you could either have flown off the side of a cliff to your death or flipped over your handle bars and landed with your bike on top of you.
By the end of that ride we were so exhausted we rewarded ourselves with a late lunch at a great restaurant on the way home where we got steak and potatoes, eggs benedict and an enchilada.
It's amazing actually how fast we've recovered and what we've learned we are able to do. All jokes about me being un-athletic or never excersising can end right now, we're super impressed by ourselves and dare any of you to attempt the same ride.
Life has continued after our death defying trip and we've been out to drinks with our friend Fred, planned our trips and where and when we want to do what in E's coming holiday and I've continued my lessons.
My Thai is improving and I'm adding vocabulary all the time, stringing them together and practising them is the tricky bit and I admit I don't have the confidence to try it all the time. E improves easily as she puts herself out there and is surrounded by people who correct and encourage her (well correct more than encourage). And my art lessons are getting more and more interesting as we move into watercolors andI have more and more to do. It's interesting what translates in my teachers and I conversations and what we can't understand from each other but I'm learning and have someone to hold me accountable to getting something done every week.
That's all for now, hopefully I will get some more pictures up on the blog soon and another letter out again

Quotes

"The world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot read it." -Carlo Goldoni

"As an American who was raised in America and attended American schools- where, despite years of instruction, the only thing you learned how to say in a foreign language is "The dog has eaten my brother"- you will often find yourself totally disoriented in foreign situations."
-Dave Barry