Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Babysitting and Bus Sitting

Today I am home at the Zone alone trying to get over a cold while Mark and Robert are taking the Chinese students to the caves. It's a good time to catch up on the blog. This weekend Mark and I went to Phayao with our friends Nathan and Neung to babysit for the mission team there while they had a workshop. Pretty much the only kid I ever see is Onglee on Sundays so it was great to hang out with the 6 kids from the team. They are so cute and full of energy and we had a blast playing games and having dance competitions and watching movies. It was a good time to catch up with the adults as well and see how their ministry is growing since we saw them last. They are having worship every Sunday rotating between their houses and they are inviting lots of their neighbors and friends and it is really encouraging to hear about the connections they are making with people in the community.

Meg loves to take pictures

Feeding everyone lunch


On Saturday Mark and I went to Mae Sai, the Burma border, from Phayao to renew our visas. It turned out to be a lot more complicated than we thought getting all the right buses but our Thai was equal to the challenge and after a long day of bus sitting we made it back to Chiang Mai. One of the buses was a fan bus that wasn't too full at first but as we went it got more and more crowded til we were pretty much sitting on top of each other and sweating like pigs. Two girls started talking to me on that bus that were students from Phayao and we had a lovely Thai conversation that felt like it was straight from a class exercise. I actually could understand all of her questions and asked some of my own. I've been feeling frustrated with myself that I don't want to practice my Thai more so that was a good confidence booster.


Dao and Onglee at Amanda and Kara's going away party

Yesterday my friend Dao came to the Zone to say goodbye. Finals are this week and all of the Thai students and going home for their summer break. I won't see her again before I leave on May 1 so I was sad. She hasn't been coming very often this semester but always brings a big smile and hug when she does. Her friend Bew also came and gave me a hug and we promised to Skype to practice our English and Thai. This coming Saturday I am going to Angkor of Faith 5 in Cambodia. The Thai team has a lot of responsibilities so we have been planning and buying things to prepare. Apparently Thailand has the cheapest stuff around so we bought hygiene items for all the kids, about 200, and are taking them with us. It is going to be interesting to see how we fit all of the stuff into our bags. I'm really excited to see all the kids again and get to know some more international friends from all over Asia!
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMarch 17, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Hilary!!!!
    It's your cousin Josh :) I asked my mom to give me your blog link the other day and I've really been enjoying reading it, first of all. Your experiences are so interesting and I really respect what you all are doing there. The reason I am asking is because I'm in a Literary Journalism class right now (or "Narrative Nonfiction"- basically journalism but written almost like fiction) and we have a creative paper we are working on throughout the semester, and it can be about any topic at all...as long as it involves heavy research and is obviously about a nonfiction topic that we want to learn more about.
    I've thought of a few ideas but I think it would be really awesome to do some research about Thailand and exactly what kind of work you guys are doing there and why your work is so needed. Most importantly then, I want to focus on missionary work in general, the types of people that partake in it, and the benefits and/or consequences that this kind of work has on you and society. Would that be something you'd be okay with talking to me about?
    Obviously distance is going to be an issue and I'm sorry I have to write this long message on your blog like this but my mom didn't give me an email or anything. So if you have an email or something, that would be great. Mine is jb2k5@mail.missouri.edu. I check it pretty often at school. I do have Skype but my internet at home almost never lets it work for long enough but I can take it somewhere else to use if that would be something you'd be okay with as well.
    Any help at all you or your friends could give would be wonderful. I know you are very busy, so I promise I won't take much of your time if you can help me. I think there is a lot of valuable information in your blog itself.
    It would be cool to use some actual excerpts from the blog, but only if you are completely okay with that, because this could also potentially be published depending on where it goes. (Which, in that rare case, I'll inform you and anyone else involved of it). You don't have to do anything if you don't want to or don't have time, just let me know. Thanks so much.
    I miss and love you.... keep up the awesome work!! We are all so proud of you. I'll be praying for you and everybody there :)
    P.S. Ever heard of the book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman? It is wonderful

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