Subject: RE: Hi From Thailand
Hi, Dad, I think the State Fair sounds lovely. I imagine the weather is getting cooler now? It was so great to be in MN over the summer. It's easy to forget how beatiful and rich it is up there. Man, that seems forever ago. We're back in Bangkok now after spending a week in Khao Lak. We just have three more full days of sessions, and Friday morning we're visiting the main office before people start to depart. On Saturday morning we Americans (Farong as they so lovingly call us here, much like the connotation of Gringos) will depart. I can't wait to get home. This trip in total is just two days shy of four weeks. Right now it feels like a lifetime.
I heard today that there's a hurricane headed for New Orleans...the worst we've seen in a while?? I'm going to get on MSN after I'm done here to get caught up. Justin and I had a small date night tonight while some fellow-trainees watched the kids at the dorm. It was nice to get out togther and talk over some of the things we've been learning and experiencing. Taking taxis here is a real experience since Justin and I have never been in an environment where we don't speak the language AT ALL. We have a map to get back to our dorm, but Thai's don't read maps. All we can do is say the street name and point to our translator's cell phone number:). Tonight we were close enough to the dorm to just point our way back, but Justin still tried to throw in some Spanish, clinging to the only foreign language he knows :). It was great fun. The driving here is on the left-hand side of the road, the taxis are nice and almost new-looking. They even drive somewhat in the lines (as opposed to South America where you're lucky if the doors really shut tight and the lines mean nothing).
Here's a funny story: Today our housekeeper dried our clothes on the front porch to keep them out of the rain and I had forgotten to take my unmentionables out to wash by hand. I came home to my personals flying in the wind for the whole world to see...it was very funny. I quick snatched them down and ran them inside. Hmmm, any more funny stories from the field? Oh, here's one that's interesting, but not funny. We visited some tsunami areas that FHI works in, and one of the girls in our group ventured across a muddy beach to get some pictures of a damaged house and met a family that still lives there! Those of us in sandals couldn't make it across the muddy beach, so we hiked through the tropical forest of Thailand to get to this house (thankfully the boys were back at the hotel with babysitters or we couldn't have done this). The family told us about a grove of trees that the towns people had asked them to cut down across the river, but the grandfather had refused. That grove of trees is what blocked the tsunami from directly hitting their house and it bought them time to get away. After the tsunami passed, the family returned to their house and saved around a dozen random people from the river. They lost one thatch house in the tsunami, along with their peir and tour-boats they made their living from, but their main house and one of their boats survived. The hotels are trying to get re-opened by November (the high tourist season), so the family is hopeful for the tourism industry to pick up again so they can start making money again. That was an incredible experience.
The next day, in the name of being tourists, our family and some other trainees went on an elephant ride! K, so it wasn't the regulated animal safety experience we have at the circus, so we were a little nervous as we got started, but it turned out to be quite an adventure. The elephant ride lasted an HOUR. We had three elephants with three people per animal and we went on a slow hike through the forest. The boys loved it. Alex and I were on the smallest elephant, and our seat that we shared with a friend only had a 5-inch high back on it, and it's a bench seat with the three of us facing forward side-by-side. We went up and down a really steep hill, so we had to work to stay upright with no back on the bench. It really was an adventure to remember. My friend and I were laughing the whole time, but it was one of those nervous, "is this worth it" laughs :). It was really awesome to watch the trainers work with the elephants. They talked to them like they're the family dog and the elephants responded! They were gentle things. We walked in a train of three elephants, and at one point a friend on the second elephant with Justin and Nathan dropped his camera. The trainer on the third elephant (the oldest one) said something to the animal and he picked up the camera with his trunk and handed it to the trainer!!!! The trainer dusted it off, rode up next to Justin's elephant and handed them the camera unharmed! It was way cool to watch. All our young elephant did was pass gas, schnoze on our feet, and eat when it was supposed to be walking!! :). It was awesome, but I was totally sore from trying to sit upright. The other two bench seats that Justin and the others rode had backs on them, so their ride was less of a work out :). K, I must go to bed. I'm leading our Bible study in the morning. I can't wait to send you the pictures!!
Love,
Gillian
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