holiday weekend recap

so, i was indeed spoiled again this weekend and able to join in on a lot of fun due to the holiday here in thailand-that being buddha's birthday, of course! saturday afternoon, we all packed our backpacks and ventured to chiang mai for the weekend. it was so fun to walk around the city and see all the attractions, but it also made me love chiang rai even more! although i love the convienences that the city has (like big malls and three story starbucks), i absolutely LOVE the feel of chiang rai--and malls just can't replace that. chiang mai is very crowded, loud, and a complete tourist city. i've kind of gotten used to being one of the only white people in the whole city! regardless, we all had an awesome time & i'm sure we'll visit again soon!



our first night in the city, ordering the "city's best curry" which, btw, wasn't the best curry in town-krystal & i found the best curry on monday and it left our mouths burnin for more!



somehow i ended up walking around the night bizarre every night. it was really cool seeing all the cool booths and all the different people out & cruising the town. the first night, krystal & i joined todd and hudson at the tailor and helped them pick out some material for some custom-made suits, pants, & shirts--look how snazzy they look!

night bizarre bonus: rotis. hudson introduced us to these, and it tops any funnel cake or anything i've ever tried-it's an middle eastern dish; think naan bread fried in butter & drizzled w/ sweetened condensed milk (and if you're like me--throw in some chocolate and bananas) divine.

 my favorite part of this picture is hudson in the background engulfing his roti--watching hudson eating roti, think about roti, talk about it, etc. has become one of my favorite things. we remind him of it often.

one night we walked down a pretty sketch road. no one in our group seemed to even notice except for krystal & me. up and down the street were "massage" parlors w/ young girls standing at the entrances. it didn't take much to figure out that these "massage" parolors acted as sex parlours for tourists. it was really an experience for me to walk down this street and see all that i've been reading about right before my eyes. besides our lost group walking down the street, the only people walking around were older men; this was a common occurrence:

younger thai girls coupled w/ older white men. it was kind of hard for me to look at this after having read many books that explore this whole industry. i think it's easy to look at these girls and simply deem them as prostitutes, but we really can't be sure of their situation. it's very possible that many are victims of trafficking or underage girls being forced into this business. many members of our group initially thought krystal & i were exaggerating what was going on and really believed the parlours to be legit. by the end of the walk, however, they were thoroughly convinced. after googling the name of this street also confirmed what we assumed to be going on as the first link said "sex massage...the biggest cluster of girlie bars is located in chiang mai..."

on a brighter note,

i enjoyed a nice, nomal, chicken-free, breakfast at a cafe around the corner & ate some muesli, yogurt, & fresh fruit which were all delish!

i also couldn't leave chiang mai w/out exploring some of the wats around the city!

i love when they have my "coca cola light" ! (the thai equivalent to diet coke)

okay. now, don't get too jealous for this one. but, monday i got to spend my afternoon with some adorable baby tigers :]

and i had to try to scare myself a little and face these big boys...however, they were just too cute for me to be scared!

as yesterday was buddha's birthday, our group walked down to the nearest temple to sit in on a ceremony in his honor

we walked around the temple three times: once for buddha, once for our old life, and once for our new life--we finished off w/ some fireworks that the monks made themselves. they literally exploded all over the place and even left some memorable holes in my shirt as the sparks burnt through my shirt. 



so it begins!

 hello again!

this week has been pretty eventful. We have met with the people at the local hospital as well as the people up in Mae Sai with DEPCD as we will likely partner with them and spend our time volunteering at these places. We are mainly spending our time right now meeting with the people, establishing relationships, and assessing needs. The hospital was a pretty crazy experience and really made me value our hospitals that we have in the US. I didn’t feel comfortable taking out my camera for this one, so I’ll do my best to narrate for now. They took us on a tour throughout the hospital and we each took careful note of the surroundings and established five observations to help us lead to ideas for improvements. The hospital was crowded, flooding with people, in every area we visited. The waiting room was overflowed with chaos and sick people everywhere. The hospital was kind of an inside/outdoor kind of facility. Mind you, it is blazing hot and humid here in Chiang Rai. Walking through the outdoor halls were sick people lying in beds, pushed outside and left alone because there wasn’t room for them all inside. They told us that they have only 750 beds in the whole hospital, and that is not near enough for all the sick and injured that enter the hospital on a daily basis. It was heartbreaking seeing these sick people lying outside in the heat receiving no assistance. They also took us through the area where autopsies are done. I walked through the wash room and also into the back where the freezer is...I was led to see dead bodies stacked on the shelves in these freezers. Most had sheets covering the bodies. One of which, the head area was drenched in blood. There was a picture of a shotgun drawn on the outside of the sheet. I assumed this meant that the man had been shot, the doctor went on to tell me that he was a Japanese man who was in the Mafia, shot by another member in the Mafia…pretty crazy to say the least. At the end of the day, our group had a great meeting brainstorming ideas and projects that we can work on at the hospital. I was impressed by all the good ideas that we were coming up with and am excited to see it all carried out.
Yesterday was a pretty cool experience for me. We took the bus down to Mae Sai and we were able to have a meeting with some of the directors of DEPDC and learn more about the program and volunteer opportunities. Unlike the hospital and local schools, DEPDC is about an hour and a half away from our home. Mae Sai is right on the border of Burma. They really have a pretty awesome program up there though. Their focus is on prevention. After all, the best way to stop something is to prevent it, right? They provide education and life-sustaining skills to those individuals who are at risk of being trafficked. This group includes stateless persons, ethnic minorities, and migrants from neighboring countries. They also have some kids who are survivors of trafficking. Ages range from about 5-16 and there are 137 children (97% of an ethnic minority). It is here where I will likely be spending a majority of my time. School doesn’t start until the 18th so we will have some time to figure out what we want to work on with them up there. I’m really interested in their Protection Program, which is actually a little closer to where I am living. This program targets survivors of trafficking, abuse, and abandonment. They provide a wide range of therapy that ranges from psychological therapy to music and sports therapy. I’m hoping to contact this program and see if there are any opportunities to work with them. Either way, I’m just anxious to get started with it all! 

DEPDC grounds

We have been helping out a local friend, Jiup, at the school by teaching at an English camp for grades 1-6.  My friend and I are in charge of teaching phonetics. I never anticipated it to be such a challenge and so exhausting! Nevertheless, it was very fun being with all the kids. The language barrier was extremely difficult to work with. We were partnered with one of the teachers who teaches English, but she couldn’t even speak with us, which seemed slightly ironic as she is an English teacher! We came up with a game to help them learn some sounds with various words. They seemed to have a great time once they understood how to play the game. They also loved giving us high fives and shaking our hands and when we left they surrounded us with more high fives, hugs, and countless pictures. At the end of the second day, they had a little closing ceremony for us and made cute little certificates for the each of us to show their appreciation. I really enjoyed the whole experience; it was a great way to get started and a fun way to start interacting with the people.

yesterday was the first day to our holiday weekend for buddha's bday! it was nice to relax after the exhaustion from the english camp! to celebrate a good week of work, we hiked up to a waterfall and finally were able to cool down for once!

This afternoon we are heading to Chiang Mai to see the city! We will be taking another crowded vehicle on our 2 1/2 journey there. Tonight I get to learn to meditate with monks! and I simply cannot wait!

random pics for your enjoyment :]

though you can't tell, all five of us are crammed under the covering of this three-wheeled motorcycle.

typical toilet. the bucket of water & bowl is the flushing system.

what i've learned: never leave the house without toilet paper.

krystal & i enjoying a rainy, thai lunch

a dog chilling under the table enjoying some wrigley's gum

chicken for breakfast? standard.

backyard view-moe pics to come on the house!

our typical vehicle: song taew ("two row")-usually two people hang off the back

a new favorite fruit: rambutan

me SO excited for my SO GOOD soymilk that i found at the market--fresh from australia, mate!

sawadee ka

after over 31 hours of traveling (LAX-->Hong Kong-->Bangkok-->Chaing Rai), it is so good to settle into my new home in Chiang Rai. I am still thoroughly jetlagged, so we have been taking the last two days pretty easy. this includes...

riding on the back of elephants through my pretty new surroundings!

this will be our standard means of transportation--lucky our group of 12 fits nice && snug just perfectly.

visiting our clock tower and watching the little night show!

we have also been been enjoying the delish thai food that lines every street, checked out the local night market, and enjoyed a thai massage. working hard, right?

the real work starts this week! we have been asked to help teach at an english camp that will be held at an elementary school to help assist in teaching english to 500 kids-we are all so excited about it! it will be a fun and challenging experience. i am already realizing what a struggle this journey will be with the language barrier. i'm very grateful that three of the guys in our group fluently speak thai.

tuesday i get to meet with DEPCD (which is the non-profit community based NGO that works to prevent human trafficking) where we can start interacting and coming up with ideas and projects to be worked on this summer. i am really looking forward to this and have been preparing by keeping up w/ my readings that i talked about in a previous post.

friday is a major holiday here in thailand--happy birthday buddha! this means a day off for us as the whole city kind of shuts down for a religious celebration. i'm hoping to visit the white temple and maybe do some meditating!

loving this already and looking forward to start interacting and working with these amazing people.



i have officially earned and raised a total of $4,100 with the help from YOU!

THANK YOU:

my inspirational grandpa. one & only nana banana. my sweet soni parents. personal mentor ann. best big brother & sister ford. three amigas, always julianne & christie. supportive arch & kiley. little bro josh. burtons. admirable bob & dayna. uncle clay & aunt natalie. helpful hawkers. uncle richard & aunt elaine. my loving thiessen family. generous watts. beautiful waters. considerate cheryl. coach rose. dr roberts. aussie parents brian & karen. londons. cousin jenni & jason. kind dave & bev. uncle tom & aunt diane. my dear jelinski family. the sweet hopkins. giving paulette. eversofriendly steve & shurie. amazing angela bramlett tahne & carey. my favorite tiffany pratt. the loving segals. wonderful workmans. friendly fish family. don falkner. the nice neilsens. diana briggs. cousin michelle & dave. bennetts. oneofakind & too distant friend jenien. lil sis steponme. thai lover & bestfriend kiersti. lovely isabelle. homeslice ashley. 
my rock, mother teresa & daddio.

[in no particular order--equally touched & thankful for EACH of you :) ]

i truly cannot express my gratitude for all the help and support i have received from each and every one of you...this journey would not be possible without your generosity. i can't tell you how much it means to me to be surrounded by such kind, helpful, and supportive people in my life. already, this process has been such a humbling experience and blessing to me.
i am set to take off tomorrow night! i leave may 4th and arrive in chiang rai may 6th (skipping a bday & staying young...happy unbirthday, grandpa!) i just finished one of my last semesters of school and  was able to spend a quick week at home with my family and friends before i take off. i am continuing to prepare and get ready for this amazing journey. please follow me and see how your donations are being used! our group has some amazing volunteers with amazing ideas to benefit the lives of the thai people. i'm ecstatic beyond belief and anxious to see what i can try to do to make a difference...
the next time you hear from me, i'll be on the other side of the world--wish me luck!

getting there

I just wanted to make a quick post and let you all know where I am at with my goal...with the combination of donations and my personal savings, I now have $1400 more to raise. I have been so impressed by some of the generous donations that have been made...I can't express my gratitude enough for all those who have helped. I hope you know that you are making a profound difference in the lives of the Thai people from your donation. 
You guys are awesome.
I am continuing to fundraise in any way that I can and also continuing to put all my earnings into this cause. I just had my last day of classes for the winter semester yesterday and am now preparing to go into the treacherous week of finals! I'm doing my best to survive through the next several days. I just have to keep telling myself that it will all be over soon enough! Next week I will pack up my stuff, move out of my apartment, and make the drive home to California before I take off. 
At least I have some awesome things to look forward to!

unsettling statistics

Throughout Southeast Asia, it is estimated that some 300,000 women and children are involved in the sex trade

Over 80,000 women and children have been sold into Thailand sex industry since 1990

In Thailand, trafficking is a Bt500 billion annual business, which is 50%- 60% of the government's annual budget and more lucrative than the drug trade

Girls as young as 8-12 years old are forced to service men in the Thai sex industry

...some, forced to have sex with 5-10 different men. In one night.

Extreme poverty causes many families to sell their daughters into the trade for only $50 to $200

70% of prostitutes and 50% of child prostitutes are HIV positive

Victims are forced to perform sex acts and undergo physical and mental abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, and sometimes death

Large numbers of women and children from neighbouring countries are lured into prostitution and trafficked through the four Thai borders...one being Chiang Rai

Child trafficking will only increase in Thailand due to the Asian economic crisis

...do you want to make a difference? I do.

learn more: http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/asia/thailand/humantrafficking.html

show support. promote awareness. HELP me HELP them.