the mystery of the dancing shrimp...

Actually there's no mystery, it's fact. Somewhere in Thailand; once a year fresh water shrimp migrate to another river. Now how do I know this, well I went and saw them dance ;] I'm not too sure if I would technically call it dancing but they were out of the water moving all in one direction. Sometimes I wonder how I get into these strange situations revolving around the most random things. lol. 

Anyways, it was Saturday afternoon and Erin and I were relaxing after church, when we get a call from Pnee (the secretary of the school) inviting us to travel, "somewhere, dancing shrimp, waterfall, near Laos." That's how she described it. I know that doesn't give much of where were going, but I said yes right away. 

So once we finally got on the road, it was darkfall and I was wondering how in the world are we going to see these shrimp dance?! I was so confused, but I swallowed my confusion. I was just happy to be out exploring something new. It was a plus, cause Erin and I got to hang out with the other Student Missionary here Ubon; Amanda. It was taking forever to get there and people had to us the bathroom. But where we were, there was no such thing. Only nature. haha. So, yes we all pulled over and certain people relieved themselves out in the dark wilderness. From that point on, we weren't that far from the 'place'. All I could think was "about time!" We were greeted by these park rangers, who then led us by flashlight down stone steps. I could here rushing water, but I couldn't see a thing. I really want to go back to where ever I was and visit in the daylight. But anyways, back to the shrimp; they were there. But not what I expected. haha. They were these tiny little things on rocks, nothing too special. 

The trip wasn't a total waste of time though. We did humor the rangers and any other local for that matter, by taking pictures with them when they asked. lol. And that's always fun! The day was something different, I can't complain; I'm in Thailand!!! 

Dog Rescue!

So while walking past the park today, Erin and I noticed a dog in the moat around the park. Now this isn't really unusual; dogs often take a swim or try and catch the fish. But this dog didn't look like it was doing either. It was paddling so hard, trying to climb up the steep incline. But each time it failed. We couldn't just walk away now, we had to do something. So we entered the park's gate and went over to where the dog was. We usually draw attention for just being foreigners, but this time people were wondering what the heck we were doing around the moat. So a few Thai men came over and realized what were looking at. The next thing we know, they return with a ladder. We were so happy they were willing to help. I was scared the dog wasn't going to last much longer, it looked to be giving up. But luckily the men were able to rescue the dog. The ladder was useless though, they ended up having to join hands and lean in and physically grab the dog out of the water. You could tell the dog was very happy to be out of there, and hopefully it will think twice before venturing into the park's moat. 

Evil BEE

So today after yet another weekly shopping trip to Thailand's 'Walmart' a.k.a. Tesco, Erin and I jumped on the Song Tao to get home. We were only a few blocks from home, when I felt something bite me on my shoulder. I freaked out, and reached beneath my sleeve to get whatever it was, out. It turns out, it was a bee! My shoulder was hurting really bad. I haven't been stung in a couple of years, and I've forgotten what a bee sting feels like: not good! Anyways, Erin pulled out the stinger, but it was still very painful. I was so mad at the bee! Oh, yeah this was all happening in front of a Thai man sitting across from us on the Song Tao. But I didn't care. I used my previously used 'Dairy Queen' spoon and scooped up the bee. Erin laughed out me, because apparently the man was looking at me very weirdly. I just sat there, holding my arm and staring at the bee while it was dying. I later took it back and asked Uncle Fred (the grounds keeper at the school/church) if I was going to die. He laughed and said no. The bee I was holding was a honey bee, apparently harmless. All I can stay, Thank God I wasn't allergic!

Ubon's Simple Life

Now, living in Ubon is definitely a change from busy Bangkok. The lifestyles and the pace of the people are considerably different. Last Saturday, I had the chance to visit a community here in Ubon that I had never seen before. While handing out fliers, my group walked down by the Moon River. I had no idea the river was even there until that day. lol. But anyways, the community we visited was very interesting and eye-openingg. I decided that I would have to come back and show Erin this other world of Ubon. 

So today we decided to abandon our usual plan of jogging in the park and walk down by the river and through the village community. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the clouds were absolutely breath

-taking (I have this thing for clouds...lol.) We made our way down to the village, but to our surprise the recent rain, flooded the stairs. So we ventured out onto this man-made bamboo bridge. It was very scary. I thought it was going to break, but we made it. I'm pretty sure the locals that saw us, thought we were weird. 




After surviving the bamboo bridge, we wandered around this small community of simple houses. It was very dirty and animals were everywhere. We even had to stop for a man pulling his cows. Which made me happy (I love seeing cows!) As we wandered around, there wasn't a person who didn't take a second glance at us. I can't imagine they get many foreigners wandering around their streets. Some even said "hello" in their broken English. This little adventure are the types of things I love to see. It gave us a chance to see how the locals live. It felt like another world, and we were only a couple blocks from home.

Beautiful God

Shawn McDonald's song titled "Beautiful"

As I look into the stars
Pondering how far away they are
How You hold them in Your hands
And still You know this man
You know my inner most being, oh
Even better than I know, than I know myself
What a beautiful God
What a beautiful God
And what am I, that I might be called Your child
What am I, what am I
That You might know me, my King
What am I, what am I, what am I
As I look off into the distance
Watching the sun roll on by
Beautiful colors all around me, oh
Painted all over the sky
The same hands that created all of this
They created you and I
What a beautiful God
What a beautiful God
And what am I, that I might be called Your child
What am I, what am I
That You might know me, my King
What am I, what am I
That You might die, that I might live
What am I, what am I, what am I, what am I

I absolutely love this song. I think it's so beautiful, and it has such moving words.

Baby Eden

Meet Eden. This is the pastor's daughter. She's one and half years old. And she absolutely the cutest baby I've ever seen!

English Camp Day 3+one

So it was our last day conducting English camp at this school, and once again Erin and I started planning the morning of. As much as I love the kids at this school, this camp session was not our best. Being tired doesn't help, and to add to that, the kid's noise level was extra high. Nothing was getting done, and after only 30 minutes of leading out, my voice was dying. It seemed to an never ending day. When we finally got through the morning portion, I was so relieved. When the kids returned from lunch, the day went a lot more smoothly.

I felt that I really connected with the kids there! They taught me a game similar to 'jacks' called mak lek, well at least I think that's what it's called. lol. At first I wasn't that good at it, you know me and hand-eye coordination aren't that close; but after a little bit of practice I got the hang of it. Through out the day there was also this one boy who kept asking me for a kiss on the cheek, I kept telling him "mai chai" which is no in Thai. At first it was cute, but he didn't stop; and then it got annoying. I'm not going to lie, when the day was over I was happy to leave. 

But unexpectedly, the head teacher asked Erin and I to return and tutor two of her students for a speech competition. That night we wrote the speeches, and then the next day we returned to help them prepare. It was a lot more laid back, than the previous day with English Camp. We got to enjoy the children's company without any of the stress. That day, they were all dressed in their scout outfits. They're so cute! I absolutely love the uniforms! Especially the boys with their 'cowboy' hats. It reminded me of my pathfinder days...good times. 

Working with the students, preparing for the speech competition went really well. They are extremely hard-working, always putting 100% of their efforts into making it perfect. I really hope they win!
At lunch time we went out into the small surrounding village and ate lunch. Walking to the lunch spot, I got a chance to get close to a cow! It was really cute! The area near the school is very primanative. The people live in raised houses. It's seems to be a very simple life. Coming from the city life, and seeing this community allows me to see another world of Ubon. 

Riding Against Traffic...

So today, Erin and I had an interesting experience involving a motorbike and many, many cars. We had just finished eating at our favorite new restaurant, "Black Canyon Coffee." Side note, the food there is amazing and not to mention the coffee is heavenly! I'm so addicted. But anyways, afterwards we're walking to the supermarket about two block away and we hear honking. At first we didn't think anything of it, cause there are many tuk-tuk's and song tao's that honk to get your attention. But in reality, the person honking was someone we knew from church. He was on his motorbike and apparently he had seen us walking (we stand out like a sore thumb.) Now this road we're on is a two-way highway, but it's divided in the middle. We exchange hello's and he offers to take us to Tesco (the supermarket, America's "Walmart".) At first we hesitate cause there's two of us and that would mean there would be three of us on the motorbike, but we get on anyways (we have done this once before.) Now what I didn't realize, until we were already going, was that we were driving the opposite of the traffic. It was so much fun, but scary at the same time. This kind of thing is done a lot here, so it wasn't weird for anyone but us.

Hunting for Spiders!!

Yes...that title is correct. I did hunt for spiders, well maybe I didn't personally, but I was there. Last Saturday, Erin and I accepted the invitation to go with some of the church members and look for spiders. They collect them to fight each other with their spiders. No, these aren't kids, these are grown; mostly married, men! lol. But anyways, so we went. I have no idea where we went, but it was really dark. We parked off the side of the highway, and they got out and preceded to walk into the bushes with flashlights. All I could think was, "crazy, crazy!" I still can't wrap my mind around the idea of delibrately looking for spiders. But they did just that. They would catch them with their bare hands and quickly blow into their fists to control the spider. I saw some of the spiders, they captured and omgosh!! I would absolutely die if one them got close to me. To me these spiders are nightmare status. They can play their spider games all they want, but you won't catch me getting any closer!

Not English, What?!

So today, Erin and I jumped on Song Tao #2 and took it to the mall. We really wanted to see a movie, so we took a chance and decided to see "Bangkok Dangerous." Our soon as the first scene began, we knew we were in for a treat. We both looked at each other and laughed. The whole movie was in Thai! Only through the action did we understand the story-line, which is very corny by the way. Anyways, we ended having a good times despite the language barrier! The movie was almost more fun, when we had to figure out what was going ton. After we ventured to this coffee shop and had lunch! It felt amazing to finally have a normal sandwich. I'm totally missing food from back home right now! I mean Thai food is good, but sometimes I just want Subway or a simple salad!! Believe me, when I get home, I'll definitely be taking advantage of all my favorite foods!

Going from two to seven

So I've been teaching a beginners English class to a couple of young adults. To my surprise, this week my class grew from two to seven students. My first and initial reaction was, "yay! more students!" But I didn't realize how much harder it is to teach a bigger class. The first couple of days were very frustrating. I was really stressed and at the point of tears after one particular class period. To teach English, I have found it takes double the effort and energy. Out of my seven students, there is one student who is so much farther behind then the others. It was extremely hard to pay attention to my other students, when the one is constantly needing help. I felt like a complete failure to my class. But luckily Pnee, appointed Erin to help out in my class. So she's been spending time with my student who needs one-on-one attention. It helps a ton to have another mind there, and it allows me to get through my lesson!

Besides that factor, I love my students. Since they're older, I know that they are there because they want to learn. It's not their parents will, but their own. Knowing that, pleases me and makes it all that more fun to teach them!

English Camp Day 2

So Erin and I were once again invited to conduct English camp this week. The head teacher, who usually goes with us was sick this week. So we were on our own. The night before we hurried to prepare activities, and in a way we dreaded the day ahead. We knew it was going to be a long day, a never ending day.

But to our surprise, everything at the English Camp went really well. The students of course recognized us (we are the only white people, lol). We stayed with the same group for the whole day, and we had a lot of fun. It so interesting getting to know these kids, once again in hope of getting to know us, they politely ask, "Miss, are you married?" Haha, does it look like we should be? It's so bizarre to me, to be asked that, I'm only twenty! lol. Towards the end of the day, Erin and I taught the class "slide" the hand clapping game. They absolutely loved it. I'd like to think we introduced that to Thailand. lol.

"No Punishment, Please"

Today was like any other day, I prepared my lesson plans and at 4:30 my tutorial arrived. But today, instead of teaching my second class (consisting of two students; 20yr guy/18yr girl) I ended up dismissing early. Why? Well to my surprise, not everyone was in the right mind.

Things started off strange when my male student was not there on time. Both my students are usually very punctional, but today was different. When he finally arrived on his motorbike, I went out to greet him. I waved to him and gestured for him to come inside. A couple minutes later, he stumbled him. The first thing he says to me is, "no punishment, please." I thought he was talking about him being late. That was not was he was referring to. He begins speaking to his classmate in thai, and she informs me that he had drunk acohcol before coming to school. His giggly nature (usually very quiet and shy) made it evident that he was impaired. I was shocked. I did not know how to react. Since I have two students studying in this class, I hesitated to move on with the lesson plan. I would have to reteach everything to him the next day, so I opted to dismiss and resume class the following day. I tried to make it clear to him and told him never to come to class after drinking. I couldn't believe what I had just experienced, I was totally out of my element. On top of that, I was worried about him driving. I tried to tell him, he shouldn't be driving; but he just giggled, and kept saying "sorry." This experience made for an interesting class, but I hope it never happens again.

Getting Acquainted

After being in Ubon a week, Saturday rolled around. That means several things, REST! and church. I was particularly excited about this Sabbath, since I had yet to meet the church family. To Erin and I's surprise within the first five minutes, we were approached. A women came up to us, and without introduction; asked if we were the new teachers? We told her yes, and then she preceded to "ask" us if one of us would do children's story for THAT service. I'm pretty sure, both our faces said exactly what we were feeling: fear! But there was obviously no getting out of it. We later learned it's the thai way, spontaneous requests at a moments notice. Erin willfully volunteer to do the story, and i was off the hook until next Sabbath. hehe.

Our first impression of the church was wonderful. Everyone was so welcoming! That afternoon, a group invited us to go along for an AY outing. We visited Wat Nong Pahpong. The compound of the Wat was very beautiful, it felt good to finally be out in nature. While walking, I overheard a few of the men talking about spiders. I even saw one guy looking around in the bushes. Now, I had no idea what they were doing, but didn't want any part of it. I HATE spiders! So I asked one of the wives, what her husband was doing in the bushes. She simply told, "oh looking for spiders to fight." Now I thought she was kidding. But nope! When we got back to the mission compound, there they were; a group of grown men sitting around fighting spiders. I was terrified. The spiders were huge, and they just handled them like nothing!

We ended night, by having dinner by the river. We ate picnic style on the ground, and the food was family style. It was only the first day of knowing these people, but I knew it already: they're our family! We went back to our apartment, smiling and in good spirits. It almost felt like home...

Kill It! Kill It!

Last night, after Erin and I enjoyed some reruns of "Will && Grace" we discovered that we had a visitor. Sitting on the side of her mattress was a giant cockroach!! A couple days earlier, Erin freaked out cause she found a cockroach running around in her room. She tried to kill it, but the stupid thing escaped. We're not sure, but we think this is the same one and it's been living under Erin's bed for the past couple of days.

So we devised a plan to kill it. Erin goes at it with one her shoes, but that only makes it run under her bed frame even more. So we take off the mattress and lift up the bed frame. There it is, hiding in a corner. Erin takes her hairspray and sprays it, which makes it very mad and it tries to get away. It falls on the floor, with Erin yelling "kill it! kill it!" I go at it with a shoe, until it's very dead. Afterwards we had a good laugh, not to mention how relieved we felt to have conquered the evil cockroach!!

My Name Is: Teacher Leah

Now only having Bangkok's Language School to compare, I had no idea what teaching here would be like. I had been told that the students were extremely respectful, especially to foreigners. The first week of teaching, Erin and I shared one class of students. A group full of life and a desire to learn. We hoped and prayed more students would come, and thankfully more have slowly trickled in.

Among those students, there is one in particular. I tutor a four and half year old little girl. When I first met her, she looked terrified of me, hiding behind her mother and father. The next day, when she arrived for her tutorial, I was the nervous one. This girl does not speak a word of english, all I could think was 'how am i suppose to do this, there's no way.' Her mother escorted her to the classroom, and surprisingly was able to leave without any problem. After we practiced numbers, abc's, and colors; I took her back to her mother. To my surprise she said (in thai of course) that she had a lot of fun, and that she liked me. I was so excited and super surprised. I really didn't think it went that well. The surprises didn't end there, after I spoke to the mother one on one, and she was at the point of tears. She told me that she thanks God that I came here. Now when she said that, I almost cried. It was so comforting.

I also teach a class comprising of a twenty-old year guy and an eighteen year-old girl. It helps to have this class with older students to balance out my day. This class really depicts what I want to do, later in life; teach older students. It feels amazing to see them actually learning and understanding. Teaching english is a lot harder than I imagined. It takes double the energy, even after two hours of it, I'm exhausted.

Evenings in the Park

One of the first things, I fell in love with here in Ubon was the PARK! I know that doesn't sound too exciting, but this park is exceptionally nice and something is always going on. On our first visit, we sat around watching a group of break dancers. It was really funny to watch them show off. To the left of that, were several people painting. It's something I've put on my list of 'things to do' while here. You buy a picture and paint it right there in the park. There's not a night where there isn't a bunch of futbol (soccer) games going on, and not to mention basketball and badminton. There's also this sport that I've never seen before, and I'm not sure what it's called. But it looks like volleyball, but is played like hackysack. It was really interesting to watch, not to mention funny. There's also a fitness center with exercise equipment and dance classes. We've been invited to dance several times, but have yet to go (no time). Maybe one of these days, we will. Haha, me dance? That'll be funny. If anything we can watch, there's several gay guys who take part, and are hilarious to watch.

Finally Connected!!

So I've been in Ubon for about a week and half now. You don't realize how much you use the internet until you are without it. I mean I was completely without, I had the internet cafe, but it's the same. Luckily we were able to get wireless connected here at the school and church. It feels so good to be back using my own laptop. I have a ton of catching up to do, in regards to my blog!!

"License Please, Miss?"

Today Erin and I had the opportunity to go to another Thai school and conduct an 'English camp.' We had no idea what to expect. The head teacher (a women I had never met before) picked us up early in the morning and drove us to her school. Driving there, we passed through a very rural area of town. Farming and cows on either side of the road, it only made me wonder more; "where are we going?" When we finally arrived at the school, students stopped what they were doing and did the 'wai' to our passing car. (The Wai is a hand gesture, resembling praying with a bowing motion.) I felt so respected, as if I were some kind of royalty passing through, it was very strange. But it didn't stop there; people had told us, over and over, that Thais love foreigners. They did not exaggerate. These kids loved us; over and over telling us that we're beautiful and always asking us questions (their favorite, "are you married" lol.) At one point in the day, the head teacher spilt the students into two groups; one with me and the other with Erin. We each sat in the center of the students and each student was allowed one question for us. Of course the first being, "are you married?" lol. We each had about 30 students surrounding us, so there were a ton of questions to be answered. One girl asks me, "license please, miss?" I did not understand what she meant by 'license' but she rephrased it and handed me a pen and paper and said, 'name'. I figured out she wanted me to write out my name for her. So I did, T-E-A-C-H-E-R L-E-A-H. Little did I know that I had about 29 students ready with a pen and paper, readily wanting for me to do the same for them. After I finally finished, Erin students begin doing the same and quickly followed over to me, to receive my 'license.'

It was really strange to me why they would want my name, but I didn't question it. There's a lot of things I don't understand here, but it seems to be the way things are done. I am happy this opportunity wasn't only a one time thing, we get to go back this Wednesday and the following. I'm looking forward to seeing my students again!