It’s funny how language works.

The other day in class I showed my students the Sigur Ros video “Glosoli”.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, watch it.  There are little kids frolicking around and in the end, they run and jump off a cliff and flyyy.

Sigur Ros is a band from Iceland so they sing in Icelandic (and sometimes in a completely made up language they call Hopelandic) but regardless, my students had no idea what they were singing about.

They were learning how to write “Process Paragraphs” or “How to” paragraphs so after they watched the video I told them to write me a paragraph titled “How to Fly”.  I didn’t really explain further.  Just said I didn’t want a literal “he ran, jumped, flew” description. I had no idea what kind of paragraphs I was going to get, but I was a bit bored and thought it would be entertaining either way.

Buuuut then, one of my Chinese students who can hardly speak a lick of English exceeded all expectations and I have to share:

We all speak different languages, but once we can pass beyond that barrier and find a way to express ourselves, I think we would see our underlying humanity that extends beyond any cultural boundary.

Proof I am a teacher….exhibit A: MY STUDENTS!

(clever ones.)

(they got me a cake!…they either really loved me, or…I just told them they all passed…)

(Nan-please notice the Abba Zaba wrapper.  It’s official-no matter where I am in the world, my grandma always sends me Abba Zabas and I share with my students who will undoubtedly make a funny face when they first bite in.)

(and then they graffiti-ed the chalk board…)

(this is MICKY our wonderful, charismatic, entertaining Thai teacher!)

Not much else to say, exceptttttt we are moving to the city this weekend!!!  We have been waiting for this moment all semester! woooooo!

ok.

love.

We are extra excited about this semester because we’re moving!!!!!!  We begged until they finally let us move to the city campus so we don’t have to live out in the boondocks anymore, so we are counting down the days until November 5th! We will still have to teach at this campus but the commute is totally worth it.

It has been strange trying to get back in the swing of things after traveling for the last 3 weeks.  Although it was an amazing trip we were happy to be “home”.  Yeah weird huh?!  When we crossed the border into Thailand (and especially when we got to Bangkok), we felt at home again.  It was familiar to us.  We knew how to greet people.  We knew how to get around.  We noticed that before traveling we look little things for granted such as knowing how to take a taxi and knowing how to tell them where we want to go and actually getting there (we also took for granted clean sheets and toilet paper but that’s another story).

Again, I am at a loss for words trying to think of how I can begin to describe the last three weeks…so here’s a brief summary…

We started by flying from Bangkok to Hanoi, Vietnam (in the North) and then bussed our way all the way south to Ho Chi Minh City and then through Cambodia and back to Bangkok.

3 weeks. 7 cities. lotssss and lotsssss of hours in buses.

Vietnam: Hanoi, Sapa, Halong Bay, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City.

Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap.

Vietnam is truly a hidden gem.  We fell in love with each city, thinking that it couldn’t get any better, yet each city kept surprising us.  The French influence was very apparent in the food (BAGUETTES everywhere! which was quite the treat compared to the usual loaf of bread I buy at 7/11) and the buildings.  The apartments and restaurants are very narrow and tall and are quite adorable.  We thought traffic was chaotic in Bangkok….until we got to Hanoi.  There are no traffic rules whatsoever.  Well, if there is, noone follows them.  There are motorbikes everywhereeeeeee…even families of 5 on a one motorbike…

It was also interesting hearing about the “American” war from a Vietnamese perspective- we visited the Hoa Lo Prison (the “Hanoi Hilton”) and the War Remnants museum which was incredibly eye opening as well as disturbing.

We retreated into the mountain town of Sapa for a few days which was BEAUTIFUL!  It is near the China border and home to several different hilltribe ethnic groups who make beautiful embrodered blankets, bags, scarfs, you name it.  We did a 2 day, 1 night trek to the highest peak in Indochina (which is Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam)…the peak is called Fansipan (or Fantsy Pants as we like to call it).  It was the most physically demanding activity any of us have ever done.  But our wonderful guide and porters kept us motivated with their smiles and antics.  Our porters Zhao and Han showed us up as they skipped up the mountain in sandals carrying the heaviest packs without breaking a sweat, and the proceeded to cook us the most delicious meals over a fire halfway up the mountain in the middle of a bamboo forest….we were pinching ourselves as we couldn’t believe what we were experiencing…

From the north we had about an 18 hour overnight “sleeper” bus to Hoi An where we spent a couple days which was yet another charming little town and then another 26 hour bus to Ho Chi Minh City which was one of our least favorite cities but it was Ms. Jennifer Ranger’s 25th birthday! which was the highlight!

Then we headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  It was quite special for me to be in Cambodia since I studied the genocide in school and want to work in post-conflict countries in the future–it was incredible, yet devastating, to be there.

Our last stop was Siem Reap, Cambodia where we spent a day at Angkor Wat!  Absolutely spectualar to see in real life! It reminded us of Legends of the Hidden Temple (remember that show?? haha)

Annnnnd we are still pinching ourselves… and feel so lucky to be able to have a job that allows us 3 months paid vacation, so we are able to travel, meet new people, learn about history, experience culture and see a new part of the world.

But for now…it is back to reality and I have lesson plans to write for class tomorrow.

(I posted pictures–link on the right.  pictures will help explain better than my words!)

miss you all everyday.

love and peace.

My favorite toy in the whole wide world is in the Flashlight market in Chinatown-Bangkok, Thailand…?!

Sorry-only my family is going to think this is cool BUT I had this EXACT CAR when I was lil, except it was pink!  And Anth had a burnt orange Mercedes!  I loved that thing to death (not to mention, it was the closest I ever got to a Barbie Jeep, Dad-I will never let you live that down…haha just kidding I’m over it.)

Before we could finish the sentence “This market has everything except the kitchen sink”  we literally came across sinks and urinals—-so it’s official, the market had anything and everything you could ever want (and not want).  It is open from sun down until sun up-basically pure insanity and we love it.

and Chinatown is kind of awesome too.

Sorry, I realize this post is pretty pointless.  Just in one of those missing “home” moods today so basically just wanted to say I miss you all!

I’m headed to bed. Goodnight and Go Irish!

I’m also in the process of making a video of Baan Dada’s story.  Although they are working towards self-sustainability and have a vegetable garden of their own, the increase in food prices-especially rice-has put quite the damper on their daily lives.  Buying food for 60 is a daily struggle and they are living from one donation to the next.  They were also forced to stop the construction of the girls’ dorm (right now, the girls and young boys sleep with the ‘mothers’ in what is supposed to be the library).

We are also working on a couple fund-raising events in Bangkok!

The one we are most excited about!–involves a few of the older boys at Baan Dada who have started a band “The Lazy Monkeys”!  They are quite good–they play both Thai and English songs mainly consisting of Lincoln Park and Slipknot ha that’s their favorite!

Sooooo, our grand plan is to bring them to Bangkok to perform!  We are still trying them to find a small venue for them-either a coffee shop or bar.   We hope to accompany their performance with a display of photos we took while we were there-to both raise awareness and, more importantly at the moment, money for them!  We have been talking to Dada and Bee (a wonderful volunteer who went to Baan Dada last year planning to stay one month; however, just didn’t get on the plane and ended up staying 9 months–quite an amazing 20 year old!) and really hope this all works out!  We are still working on finding funding for their transportation to get here and hopefully getting a hostel donated for the weekend.

Dada teaches them to take their future into their own hands.  We just got an e-mail from the “Lazy Monkeys” themselves promising they would practice hard for the big show!

In other news-we have started to volunteer every Saturday morning at the Bangkok Refugee Center.  It seems as though everywhere we turn there is war, conflict, persecution….what happened to peace and love?!

But we have met some incredible people at the BRC.  Most are from Sri Lanka; however, a few families are from Pakistan and the Congo.  The Saturday morning program is for asylum seekers-those who have not yet received refugee status and who are basically at the will of the UN to tell them when and where they will be relocated.  Since asylum seekers are not technically legal citizen, they are not only not allowed to work, they are hesitant to leave their homes as the police can arrest them at any time because they do not have a proper identification card.

I have worked with the adults English class the last 3 weeks and was so curious to hear their stories but without even asking most were more than willing to share and were quite excited to do so.  Especially an 18 year old who came to Thailand about a month and a half ago with most of his family from Pakistan as his family was fleeing from a religious conflict that affected their sect of Islam.   He gave me a full out history lesson (map and all) of the Indian subcontinent and when Pakistan and Bangledesh gained their independence and ……..I love it.  He was so enthusiastic, it cracked me up.  His bringing books this Saturday…

After the BRC, we head to a slum in Pinklao and teach the neighborhood kids in the library of their local Wat (Buddhist temple) for just about an hour.  It usually envolves losts of song singing!  Our amazing friend Dwight who is the founder of InSearchofSanuk.com- an organization which provides volunteer opportunities while also showing that volunteering can be fun (hence sanuk–the Thai word for “fun”) set this up and through him we have had so many incredible experiences and met some pretty great people along the way too.  We are actually planning on taking the kids to see the Harlem Globetrotters this Saturday!

Well now that I’ve written a novel, I think I will call it a night!

Miss you all.  I love hearing from home and would love to hear from you.

Peace.

You may or may not know much about the long standing conflict in Burma (the US does not recognize the legitimacy of the current ruling military regime, thus still refers to this country as Burma not Myanmar).  You may be more familiar recently because of the increased news coverage about the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner,  human rights activist, and leader of the National League for Democracy-Aung San Suu Kyi.  (Who, by the way, was sentenced to another 18 months under house arrest which will prevent her from running in next years election!…yet another sign of the extremely oppressive nature of the ruling military junta).

(I know the last geography class I’ve taken was in the 6th grade…so I thought I would help you out and give you a visual.)

The conflict in Burma is one of the longest on-going wars in the world.  Recently the violence has been between the ruling military regime that has ruled the country since the 60′s and several ethnic groups primarily the Karen, Shan and Mon.  The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)-the official name of the current ruling regime-is one of the five or six remaining governments who still actively recruits children to fight as soldiers in armed conflict.  Children as young as 11 years old have been recruited and deployed into armed conflict.  Street children, rural school children and even novice (Buddhist) monks have been among those recruited.

The UN has documented the forced recruitment of tens of thousands of child soldiers, more than one million refugees and internally displaced persons, numerous cases of killings and torture, and mass rape.

Armed conflict, forced relocation of villages, and human rights violations-not to mention poverty, disease and the devastating effects of the 2008 cyclone-has caused hundreds of thousands to flee to their neighboring country (and my new home for the year)-Thailand…

During a 5 day break during midterms, my friend Ghazala and I packed up and headed to the Thailand/Burma border in the Western Province of Kanchanaburi.  After several e-mails and phone calls we were headed to Baan Dada Children’s Home (‘Baan’='home’ in Thai and ‘Dada’='brother’ in Sanskrit) in the small village of Huay May Lai in Sangklaburi.  We had no idea what we were in for, or what experience awaited us.  All we knew was that Dada would pick us up at the 7 eleven (yes, they are everywhere!) in Sangklaburi after he picked up the kids from school in town.  So we boarded the 7 hour bus to Sangklaburi excited with the thought of playing with little kids all week.  We knew we would have an incredible eye-opening experience but I don’t think we expected to fall in love so quickly…we were instantly welcomed in like family with an overwhelming sense of love and joy despite their appalling living conditions…

I can hardly express in words my experience however I will give it my best shot, but it deserves a post on its own.

I will write more tomorrow…so please check back.  In the meantime, I have posted just a few of the hundreds of Ghazala’s lovely photos (link on the right)!

Love. Christina.

Hello from Thailand!  I knowwww, a little late… I’ve already been here for 2 months, BUT I thought I would give blogging another try…

It would be quite difficult to try to catch you up on my first 2 months here so I am not even going to try-and I’ve talked to most of you along the way anyway…

It is strange, although it has only been 2 months, when I think about it, things have quickly become pretty normal here.  I don’t really question things that would have once surprised me-like an elephant in the street, or the horribly foul smells in Bangkok, or simply buying the most delicious pineapple on the street and then eating it out of a bag with a toothpick for 10 baht (30 cents!).

I think the mundanity (I think I just made up that word-but its ok, I’m an English teacher now so maybe it is allowed..?) of having a job Monday-Friday definitely contributes to the feeling of actually “living” here rather than being a tourist…although weekend adventures and holiday trips sure confuse our bodies-one day we are on vacation and then it’s back to work.

The first couple months transitioning from being consumed with graduating college to moving/teaching halfway around the world just a couple weeks later was definitely difficult.  …and I quickly learned teaching is not my passion (which is a good lesson to learn because I had once thought I wanted to be a teacher).   But maybe I should correct myself-teaching English to University students is definitely not my passion…although I must say it is getting easier as I practice more.  When we are asked by random people what we are doing in Thailand, we joke by saying we are “actors” rather than “teachers” because it sureee describes what we do in the classroom much better!  I teach 2 academic English courses and 6 conversation classes… ever since I’ve recently decided to stop using the curriculum for my conversation classes and instead try to teach them the little I know about the world (you know because I’m so much older and wiser…nooooot-my students are 18 or 19 and hardly take me seriously because I’m just about their age).  I started with a “we are all one humanity” lesson last week haha and had them watch this video…   They just starred…and then I nervously let them out early…

Sooo other than Monday and Wednesday night yoga, Tuesday night Thai lesson (which we just started and are sooo excited to be able to actually converse with people!), and the Thursday trip to Tesco (=Super Walmart on ecstasy), my week is spent in the classroom, reading, eating, or grading papers.

Sooo rather than boring you with my weekly routine, instead I thought I could make this blog a platform to share inspirational things that I discover and people I meet on the other side of the world…(and maybe a little bit of my own adventures too!)

I’ll write again soon! Thanks for reading…

Peace…from the East.

(check out the links to the right!)