Well, it’s officially been 4 months since I have returned from overseas, and in honor of this absolutely momentous occasion, I have decided to attempt to start this blog up again! I also have come to the conclusion that there will be no sufficient way to do this other than to post pictures up from my time spent living in Thailand. enjoy!
โชคดีคะ
Betsy
Ok. So it is March 21. Whoa. This means two things.
1) I am officially over half-way done with my semester abroad in Thailand
2) I am leaving tomorrow for my Forests class in Mae Hong Son Province in northern Thailand.
Wow, time really flies here. It’s hard for me to believe that April is only a couple weeks away-how did this happen? Haha, I think being out of Chiang Mai on our field courses makes time go by pretty quickly. So, anyways, yes. Tomorrow me and the other Nak-suk-sah are leaving via bus for the city of Mae Hong Son. We’ll spend the night there tomorrow and then on Tuesday we will officially start the expedition portion of our Forests class! Wahoo for Forests! This past week I’ve been having Thai class every morning (with the best Thai teacher in the whole world-shout out to Ajaan Wilasanee) and then in the afternoons it’s a mixture of Political Ecology class/Forest Ecology/Karen Language (Karen is a group of Thai people that we will stay with for some time during this field course, and since their first language is not Central Thai, we are attempting to learn a little Karen). So while were up in Mae Hong Son Province, each student will stay with 5 different host families over the course of 15 days. Yeah. Intense. But, sanuk maak (very fun). And the best part? Instead of driving from village to village we’ll be backpacking. ohh yeah. Pretty much, this field course is the best invention ever! Also, while we are gone, we’ll be learning about how the Karen people do agriculture (swidden agriculture) and we will also learn more about their role as “forest dwellers”- Some of the land they live on has been made ”national park” land and so the Thai government wants to relocate them. Very interesting…
Well, on a different note, this past week has been busy, but very fun. Lately I have been thinking alot about just how grateful I am that I get to live here, and have the experiences I am having. I am getting really comfortable here too. I find myself thinking of/missing home less and less, and falling more and more in love with where I am. I think part of it is because I am finally getting very comfortable with both the Thai culture, and also speaking the language. I think another part of it is just the way of life in Thailand-very sabai (ahh how do I explain sabai? low key, relaxing, fill in the blank) Haha, and if you know me at all, then these words would all describe my personality well:) Ok, well, I am off to pack! Be back in 3 weeks!
lovelovelove,
Bets
Hey Hey!
I am officially am back “home” in Chiang Mai. The past three weeks have been amazing, and super intense. Wow, where to start.
First off, me and the other students have been traveling throughout Northeastern Thailand. We spent the first week or so of our field course in a region of the country refered to as “Isaan”. This part of Thailand is known for being a very dry region, which makes it a poorer region as well. We stayed in a village called “Nong Pho” which is near the Mun River. The day we arrived in the village, we immediately were swept into a dance party/celebration in honor of the village monk who had been promoted to a higher standing in the temple. It was pretty chaotic. I danced around the village temple for over an hour with my backpacking backpack on, haha! And everyone wanted to teach us Thai dances, and they would throw flour in our faces too. Well, after all the excitement, I went to my home-stay with my friend Caroline (she goes to Knox College) because we were sharing a host family for this village. In our host family we had Koon Mae, Koon Paw, and Nong Chu-an (nong means younger sibling). My host parents had quite a few more kids, but most of them were working in larger cities. Also, sometimes it’s hard to tell who is part of a Thai family, because random people just walk in and out of the house all the time, and thai people like to refer to each other as “uncle” “aunt” or other family names even if they’re not related by blood. Anyway, our younger brother Chu-an was 14 and he could speak a little bit of english. Besides that, Caroline and I used Thai the whole 5 days to communicate with them. It was fun to realize that I was using a different language to talk to and understand someone. I got pretty attached to this host family. I think I ate more sticky rice in 5 days than I had eaten my entire life though! My Koon Mae would make pounds and pounds of sticky rice each day and we would eat it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At night, after dinner, Me, and Koon Paw, and Chu-an would sit and talk. Most of the time, they would teach me how to say things in Isaan Thai (the little Thai I speak is Central Thai) and Chu-an would ask me how to say things in English. Chu-an also would ask me about snow alot. He wanted to know if it felt cold, and how much Michigan had. He also wanted to see a picture of snow, but I told him I would mail him one because I didn’t have it. The house we lived in was set up pretty crazy too. The house stood on stilts, and there was one big main room(where we slept under mosquito nets). During the middle of the day when the heat has unbearable, everyone would go sit underneath the house where it was coolest. Caroline and I would sit underneath the house and read our homework, and next thing we knew, Koon Paw was cutting mangos down from the tree in the front yard. Anyway, we stayed in this village because it was (and still is) a village heavily affected by the Pak Mun Dam. The village of Nong Pho makes most of their living on fishing from the Mun River. When the dam was constructed, many species of fish disappeared from the river, and the income of the fisherman dropped off big time. Many families were forced to send their teenage children into bigger cities (like Chiang Mai or Bangkok) to work low-paying jobs. It was good to hear their stories and how they plan to get back on their feet. It’s funny, because we spent ALOT of time this course discussing dams in Thailand, and I realized that I don’t know that much about dams in the United States. I think something that’s great about studying here, is that it is pushing me to get more involved and more aware of what types of things are going on in my community back in the U.S. Wow, I’m sorry because this is just such a small slice of what I’ve been up to lately, but I have to get going-lot’s of errands to get down before I leave again for 3 more weeks! Hope you enjoyed reading!
lovelovelove,
Betsy
wow, time flies here! I’m sorry it’s been awhile since my last post! I feel like I have alot to catch you up on. I’ll try and pick out just a few things. So last weekend the nah-suk-sah (students) moved out of our home stays and moved in the apartments! There were a few random instances when I felt myself really missing spending time with my family. One time in particular, I was in the 7-eleven (there’s one about every block here) below the apartments and I was brousing through the aisle. I saw “Hello Panda” snacks (they’re like Koala’s March but not as good) and instantly thought of my younger sister Nong Yeen who loves Pandas even more than she loves me:) Anyway, I am going to Doi-saket tonight to eat dinner with my family so I am excited to be with them again. Even though the move was a little bittersweet, it has definitely been amazing to get to know a different part of the city. Chiang Mai is a beautiful city! And there’s so much going on here…I feel pretty lucky that I get to live here:)
In a two days I will be leaving for a 3 week time span for Ubon (a province in Northeast Thailand). All of the students will be canoeing down the Yom River and studying river ecology. We will also be visiting a couple different dams in the area and learning about the effects they have had on the river and the people living there. I am excited to learn from these people, and to get to know some of my instructors better! Oh, also I should let you know that during these 3 weeks I will not have my phone or internet, so it will be another long gap before my next post (sorry). Well, this is all for now, please pray for our group as we head out into the field!
lovelovelove,
Betsy
This blog post goes out to Mrs. Heyboer’s 1st grade class at West Christian.
Hey guys! How are you! Thanks for thinking of me and praying for me while I am gone. Life in Thailand is always an adventure! This past weekend I visited an elephant camp. Yup, it was pretty sweet! It’s not everyday that you get a hug from an elephant. At the camp they had elephants that were trained to do all sorts of crazy things. We watched elephants play soccer (they were pretty good), play instruments, and even paint pictures!
When I returned to my home with my host family in Doy-se-ket (the town we live in) we (me, Mae, Paw, and Nong Yeen) went for a bike ride. We rode up to a small lake outside of our town. The lake is not very clean, but it is chuck-full of carp and catfish. We stopped riding our bikes for awhile and fed the fish (there must have been hundreds of them). It was a very beautiful evening-Thailand is gorgeous! I think that sometimes I take for granted how beautiful a country it is. There are mountains surrounding the city of Chiang Mai (where I go to school) and the sun is always shining.
As much as I love the sun and warm weather, I have to admit that there are times when I miss the snow in Michigan. How are things in Kalamazoo? And West Christian? It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was sitting in class at West Elementary like you! I will keep trying to update my blog so that you can read more about what I am doing! Thank you so much for listening to Mrs. Heyboer (she is a very smart lady) and for listening to my stories! Just listening to my stories means alot to me, thank you!
Blessings!
Betsy
Weekends are generally a good thing, but for some reason I had an absolutely spectacular weekend. It started with our group from ISDSI (17 students and 3 instructors) heading out to a site outside of Chiang Mai called “Crazy Horse”. Crazy Horse is a site for a series of caves and cliffs. We spent the morning exploring a couple different caves and learning about the different features of caves. We then zip-lined across one cave to a stalactite and repelled down 150 feet! It was pretty thrilling. We had lunch and then spent the afternoon rock-climbing the cliffs outside of the cave. I’m not the best climber, but I was surprised to find that I was very capable of climbing the different rock faces. I spent Friday night with my host family, and singing chereokee with Nong Yeem (my younger sister).
Saturday came and for the first time in about a week I got to sleep in! (til 9! haha…) I ate breakfast and did some homework, and then my Paw said that I needed to relax from my long day of climbing….so….our family went to the hot springs outside of the city! My afternoon was pretty harsh….taking a hot mineral bath (pretty much like a hot tub) and ending the day with a Thai massage. The hot springs are a popular picnic area, and when people eat at the hot springs, they boil eggs in the hot spring! haha it’s pretty sweet! My Paw asked me if I wanted an egg, and I said yes, so he popped an egg into the hot spring bath for about 3 minutes and bam! soft boiled egg!
On Sunday my Mae took me to church, which was mostly in Thai, but very relieving to be in communion with all kinds of people worshiping God (I love it when my definition of church is changed and expanded because of experiences like these). Then I ran errands with my Mae for the next couple hours, and while we were in the heart of the city, I actually had the opportunity to see a very good friend from Calvin (I know, crazy, huh?). She had been gone this past fall semester serving abroad with YWAM (Youth with a Mission). Needless to say, the long-awaited reunion was definitely exciting! Please pray for her as she continues her work with YWAM in the states this spring (her name is Emma by the way).
Annnd, after all of the excitement this weekend, I have to say that this week has been pretty amazing thus far. We just started our Foundations course, which deals with the history, geology, and culture of Thailand. We are learning super interesting and useful things in this course! It’s very different from taking some classes back in the U.S. where the information you learn may or may not be applicable to your everyday life. I think it’s safe to say that I use just about everything I learn in both my Foundations class and my Thai language class-it’s a very satisfying feeling! Thai culture is very interesting, there’s so much to learn. I feel like I’m learning so much all the time (to be honest sometimes I feel like a toddler). But, it’s very good, and I am loving it so far! More to come soon. Hopefully pictures too if I can figure out how to post them…
lovelovelove,
Bets
Wow, what a week it’s been! Today marked our last day of Thai classes for the week (we just started to learn characters!) and tomorrow our group from ISDSI (there are 17 of us all together) is going rock climbing. This week has been very intense but good. Mostly we have been learning basic Thai words and phrases this week. I have learned things like..”Di-chan cheuu Betsy ka” (My name is Betsy). There are some phrases which have become quite helpful, such as “eeem mao” (I’m full) for when my Mae tries to keep putting more “chao” (rice) on my plate. I also have most recently been nicknamed “Sao-Nuah” (young girl from the north) by some of my neighbors. Haha, I love it, because all I can do is laugh. ISDSI tells you alot of things to prepare you for living here, but one thing they did not warn me about was how beautiful this country would be. The weather is perfect, not too hot, not too cold. And the sun is always shining! My Mae and Paw keep asking me how much snow Michigan has, and when I tell them they both laugh and say “too cold”. I have some time off this afternoon so me and some other students might walk to Ajaan Danai’s (professor Danai-one of our Thai instructors) coffee shop in the city and relax–sounds perfect! Until I post again, Sawadee-ka!
Oh, I almost forgot. I read on the cover of the Bangkok Post this morning about the earthquake in Haiti…Wow, how devastating. I think there is an interim trip in Jamaica right now? I hope that they are all safe and sound. Please, pray for the survivors, for the dead, the wounded, and the country of Haiti in general. Blessings!
So. I am here, and it’s been a long journey! I just got through with my first day of Thai language classes, and it was intense to say the least. I am very excited though, because it can get frustrating to live with my family and not be able to communicate with their native language. Oh, I’m sorry, I never introduced my Thai family. I have my Mae (mom) and Paw (dad) and also my sister Nong Yeem (Nong means someone younger). Living with them is excellent, they take me in as if I was literally born into their family. In return, I try to spend lots of time at home, and helping out with chores (yes mom, that’s right!). Last night I got the opportunity to explore the city of Chiang Mai a bit with a couple of students who were on this same study abroad program last semester. It was soo helpful to learn about the city from these students (they hail from Kalamazoo College by the way:) and just learn little things about this new culture I’ve been immersed in. We explored a market called Got-Luang and also one called “the Walking Street”. The Walking street is a large series of streets all closed off for vendors and what not. It’s perfect for shopping and getting a cheap meal (a plate full of pad thai is 20 baht-or 75 cents). This is special too, because it is a market that only takes place on Sundays. After leaving the market, I returned home to my host family’s house in the small town on Doy-se-ket and I ironed my school uniform with my Mae. I have so much more to share with you, but there are also many other students who need to use the computers, so I must get going. I will post again as soon as I can!
lovelovelove,
Bets
So, there is a group of five Calvin students (including myself) who are flying together out to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Yesterday we left Chicago O’Hare and departed for Seoul, South Korea. This plan flight was about 14 hours long…not tooo bad…And it made it easier that I met a women who was a native of Thailand and had heard of Calvin College (I know, crazy. right?). So our group is currently settled in a small hotel near the airport in Seoul, and our flight to Bangkok leaves tomorrow night around 8 p.m. (it’s about 10 p.m. here right now).
Earlier tonight me and two other students I’m traveling with decided we were hungry….and wanted to try the local cuisine. We took our camera, our American dollars, and our appetites to the neighborhood Korean restaurant. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We quickly realized that none of us knew ANY Korean. We were a little nervous about ordering food, simply because we did not know what we were ordering. A Korean man at the table next to us noticed we were American, and so tried out his English speaking skills. He was very helpful and kind, even if the only word he knew was “rice”. Our waitress was very thoughtful, and quickly brought us out a picture menu! We pointed at something that looked edible and continued sitting with legs crossed on the heated floor (yeah, that’s right, no chairs). Well it was very flattering, because although we had not really ordered very much food (or so we thought) we ended up getting just about every Korean dish you could ask for! I tried every dish that was brought out to us (except for oysters, sorry mom) and for the most part, they were all very delicious…and spicy. So, after attempting to eat all that we possible could, we paid and walked back to the hotel-just a side note-Korea just got a massive snow storm recently, and they have lots and lots of snow (yup, more than Michigan). So when we were walking back to our hotel, it almost felt like we were in a small ski town. Anyway, enough adventures for one night, my next post will hopefully come from Thailand! Blessings
lovelovelove
Betsy
Hey all! Thanks for spending some time to check up on how things are going in my life. I (along with about 7 other Calvin students) will be leaving for studying abroad in Thailand in about a week. I am planning on leaving for Chiang Mai early in the morning on January 6 out of Grand Rapids. I know that this is still a few days away, but there is still much planning and preparing to be done before I go! Please pray for me and my group as we scramble to finish packing for our journey.
lovelovelove
Betsy
