Adventure!

You get into a routine and it becomes very difficult to break. Every morning is a slice of papaya, two fried eggs, toast, and two cups of coffee. Yesterday we went out in the morning to a dive site called "Shark Bank" aka the home of jaws. Haha. It was a 30m dive and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Getting down was hard, mostly because of the swift currents, and we had to do hand -over-hand down the anchor line then it was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Within our first few minutes we saw a big shark and it was so graceful. For someone who has been terrified of sharks to the point where even lakes are a danger, I was unbelievably calm -- I literally wasn't scared at all and instead, was completely absorbed in watching it.

After, we saw a school of Eagle rays swimming above us. There was something very mythical about the whole experience, as if they were some sort of strange prehistoric creature, rather than something just from the sea. Then there was a huge school of baracuda.... All-in-all I was simply in awe of how beautiful the dive site was. We then saw a second shark (again I was simply in awe).

got to run... be back later to finish (?)

I'm not exactly sure where to begin this next tale so I guess I have to start from the most logical point: leaving the internet cafe yesterday. On my way back to where I am currently staying, a lovely place called Georgina's cottage, I walked with a toothless man for about half a mile talking a mixture of French and English. Between the two of us, we had a rather interesting conversation going.

By the time I got back to the dive shop where I was meeting Allie, it was 5 pm and the beers were already out. We sat outside the shop and drank for a little while with some local Seychellois and some other rift-raft (used lovingly, not seriously). We just generally had a good time and enjoyed talking about Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard (which Allie and Ronnie had both lived in for a bit of time). Ronnie even knew what Remus (the AUV my dad works on) was, which was nice and made me feel at home.

After a little while Vanessa, one of the local Seychellois girls had to go so Reggae drove her and everyone else who had been drinking on a field trip. After we dropped her off we stopped at Reggae's friend Hikol's house. Hikol, is a German architecture who has the most amazing house pretty much ever. He has started a Giant Tortoise sanctuary and has 4 juveniles and one baby. He gets them from people who think it would be fun to have them, but can't actually pay to properly take care of them. He also had a rescued dog named Floyd and two cats, one named Maw and the other (a very young kitten) named Meow. Needless to say, I was in love with all the animals.

I was then introduced to a "coconut chair" which is a stole that has a weird sort of blade on it. While you sit you rub the coconut round and round and it gets shredded. We did this because we were making coconut chicken curry.

Hikol's house was on the water and was absolutely stunning. He'd designed it all himself and had a lot of tiled mosaics for flooring. He also had raised sinks. (awesome). He was also only maybe 30. I guess he is one of the few people on Seychelles who actively keeps a garden... it was pretty impressive too. All in all, Allie and I were super impressed with the house and the meal; outstanding!

Today, I woke up and went on two dives again -- both in Bay Ternay. My dive buddy, Ronny, is a super friendly down-to-earth Seychellois guy who knows whats what except he was really adamant about having me touch fish and sea life. It sounds cool but I'm really not into disturbing animals and its hard to communicate not wanting to do something underwater. In the end I held some shrimp, touched a giant marbleheaded ray and a sea turtle.

I'm up to 5 dives on the trip so far, 9 in total.
Tonight, I am laying low and doing some creative writing. (gasp!) Actually, I've been doing a lot of brainstorming in my down time so that the next time I get Good Old Red I can write write write write!

Sweet deal

It only seems natural that you would have to go through hell to get to heaven. Leaving Thailand was a miserable experience. I kept being told that I needed to have $4400 dollars if I wanted to stay in the Seychelles for 44 days to which I politely (if it is even possible to be polite when people are being that outrageous) exclaimed NO! Eventually I was told I'd only need $500 and then I had to scramble around trying to get that and nearly failed... needless to say, I am glad to be out of Thailand. Then I almost missed my connection to Mahe...

But the important thing is I made it and my god is it beautiful. If ever there were a place to call paradise, I'm sure this is it. I arrived at the frightening hour of 6 am when the sun had just started to peak up over the ocean and color the island a deep shade of burgundy. I took a taxi to my hotel in Beau Vallon in absolute Awe. As the car marched upwards through windy roads passed Victoria (the capital) I could see for miles and miles and miles. The skyline was dotted with those small puffy clouds that you have a good time lying on your back watching drift on by. By the time I got to my hotel it was 7:00.

I dropped my bag and went to walk the beach. Absolutely gorgeous. The sand simply melts between your toes and as you watch mountain and ocean collide your breath gets swept away. Not only that but there are huge rock cliffs and boulders which beg to be climbed. From the beach you can see what would be some glorious crack climbing, but I'll have to settle for bouldering on the beach. Now, I'm glad I hauled my rock shoes halfway round the world -- I was a little disappointed to learn I couldn't climb in Chiang Mai but this seems better than anything I could ask for.

As I walked down the beach and weaved my way in and out of the huge granitic boulders I was caught off guard by a coconut crab. Apparently they are large land dwelling crabs who despite their size are very skiddish. I think it scared me more than I scared it.. (talk about being a wuss)

I love the ocean and forgot how much of a pull it has on me. I think the simple sound of hearing waves breaking lifted some sort of immeasurable weight off of me. To be that far from the ocean for so long and locked up within a concrete prison no less was a bit hard. Despite the fact that Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai were beautiful, cities, no matter where they are located, really aren't for me.

After being blown away by the incredible sights I returned to my hotel room and took a quick nap. I woke up and then had the best breakfast in the world: fried eggs and toast with butter. I had forgotten how marvelous something like bread and butter is. The foods (let alone the combination) does not exist in Thailand. Any bread there is some variation of sweet bread and has way too much sugar to ever be truly delicious.

I then walked down to a local dive shop where I made friends with a girl named Allie. We talked for awhile and then agreed that I'd come back around noon so I headed back to my hotel to grab my snorkel and mask and headed out into the water: incredible. I don't know else how to describe it.

The fish are simply everywhere. The ocean is exploding with them. The colors that catch your eye are simply stunning. Bright blues, reds, and yellows. I wandered into some deeper water and found huge angel fish and butterfly fish...it made me remember the time I had a salt water aquarium... This was infinitely cooler.

That afternoon I saw two dolphins as we got ready to dive the twin barges wreck. It was spectacular even though visibility was "poor" (AKA great by New England standards...) I had fun with my camera and took some great pictures, but mostly I got used to using my camera underwater... it's just a little different then on land :)

When we were done with our dive and everyone was back and settled on the boat we watched this small yellow boat careen out of control and do a couple of rolls across the water. It was like something out of one of those "world's wildest boat crashes" video. The boat, which was about 8 feet long and bright yellow had a 115 engine on it and 3 people aboard. Everyone was absolutely fine which actually makes the memory sort of cool. In fact the Seychellois (a person or multiple people who is/are from the Seychelles) weren't concerned with being ok, they were concerned with how cool they looked...

This girl Jessica then went on to tell a story to me about how one time the "city" bank had a bomb threat and rather than clear the area, everyone came down to the bank to see if it would blow up or not. Of course, this was just a hoax...

That night, after the dive, I went back down to the beach and watched a crazy game of soccer on the best field I have ever been to. Sure the goals were made of sticks, but the view was great and the company was mighty fine. The sun was setting throughout the game and the boys playing were barefoot and had the most incredible first touches on the ball... I was really impressed actually.

I had dinner at a local pizza place by myself which was nice and then literally went to my room and passed out.

Today, I woke up early and did two dives. I went back to the twin barges on the first dive. It was cool seeing how different a place can be when (1) time passes (2) visibility is excellent. I had continued studying the fish I needed to learn the previous night so it was nice seeing some of the species I could correctly identify.

Our second dive was at a place called "Aquarium" which has about 3 different reefs. So far this was my favorite -- despite the fact that I nearly shot up out of the water because I lost a weight belt (a little scary!) but I was able to stay down... The best part of the dive was the sea turtle we saw. It was a female hawksbill turtle and was absolutely gorgeous. It was so neat watching it munch on coral.

After my dives, I pretty much came here to the internet cafe because I wanted to check in with my family / post on my blog. Tonight I am going out to dinner with the friends I made from the dive shop. All-in-all, I would say that the Seychelles is the most amazing place ever and if you can rock climb, you should totally meet me out here...It would be incredible.

TTFN
- Sarah

I am filled with a strange sort of sadness over leaving Thailand. Although I lived here for a month, I often felt confined and restricted by my academic life. I want to come back again for sure, but the next time I want to do it just with a backpack, a tent, and a plane ticket. You can survive very comfortably here with just a little bit of money...

Since I last checked in things have definitely been interesting. Two days ago we boarded a bus to Chiang Rai. The trek upwards over the mountains on our little 70-styles bus was beautiful to say the least. The hills got so steep at parts that the bus had to chug slow a long for five or ten minutes stretches. All the while I was busily thinking of the little engine that could and how fitting that story was for the exact moment.

What is so amazing about the Thai country-side is how well its used. Hills? No problem! you can still farm a hill! The result is the hills look like awkward pimples or moles bubbling up out of the earth. I love the rice fields and never tire of passing them by, but my heart aches for the poor souls who have to work there. From the looks of it, it is anything but easy.

On the bus I met two girls from Montreal. We chatted briefly, but mostly I stared out the window or read my book. Everyone is amazed at how regardless of how twisty or bumpy the road is, my ability to read and not get car-sick. I say its from all the time spent having to do homework in the car going to and from soccer practice.

That evening the group of us who headed to Chiang Rai (Paul, Haley, Anne, Tara, and myself) met up with a friend of Paul and Haley's who randomly happened to be in the city. We went out for dinner at a restaurant called "Cabbages and Condoms" which is run by a local NGO. The profits from the restaurant help the NGO survive. The NGO is tackling HIV/AIDS in the area...

After dinner we went to yet another night bizarre, though it was much smaller than anything we went to in Chiang Mai. There was a big open area and a stage so we bought a pitcher of beer and waited for the show. The show had many different acts but the most common seemed to be the "Lady Boys" men who dressed up as women and sung and danced. I guess they have this in the US too from what my fellow travelers say but I'm not so sure...

Things like being trans-gender or gay/lesbian are really well accepted here, which is weird given their "sex" phobia. The lady at our hotel where we are currently staying is actually a man....

Anyways, moving on.

In the morning the six of us went out for breakfast then Paul and Haley headed to Burma because they needed to renew their visas because they are staying in Thailand before they move to China. Anne, Tara, Fletcher and I went first to the white temple and then to a river.

The white temple looks as if it could have been carved out of ice. It is completely white and covered in tiny mirrors making it hard to behold in the sunlight. Honestly, I felt like I had stepped into a setting from a fantasy novel... While the temple was gorgeous the inside walls of it were very bizarre. The back panelling had pictures of the twin towers, jets, aliens, cellphones, people making out, Neo (from the matrix), and a bunch of other random stuff you wouldn't expect on a temple wall...

After that we wandered around aimlessly and ended up finding a cock-fighting ring. Obviously, we didn't stay. We then got a taxi home and went out to this river.

The side of the river we were on had a bunch of shops and was kind of boring. The other side, however, looked really interesting so Fletcher and I forded the river. The current was fairly swift and we had to walk about 50 meters in the water at waist to chest depth but it was so worth it. (Anne and Tara stayed behind)

In our exploring we found a remarkable cave temple that was overrun with feral cats. Everything smelled like cat pee. Despite that, however, it was pretty cool. We also found this strange "ball-flower" It was literally a flower that was a sphere. It's hard to explain but it felt and sort of looked like a koosh ball... All around us were huge hills, fields, and cool villages. Unfortunately it was getting late so we turned back.

We met up with Haley and Paul and spent the night wandering the streets of Chiang Rai. We got lost for about two hours but eventually made it home...

Today we went to a waterfall and did some remarkable hiking and waterfall visiting. The hike wasn't particularly long (sad) but the waterfall was about 70m high. It was incredibly gorgeous.

It seems strange to me that I am leaving Thailand tomorrow. Again, I felt like I saw so little of it and came away with only a greater curiosity to come back and really poke around. While I learned a lot in my dialogue, I felt like I didn't really learn as much as I was expecting about Thailand.

Perhaps the real problem is that I am simply not a city girl and have had to spend most of my time within the confines of concrete walls rather than in the chaos of the jungle. Who knows!

Tomorrow, I leave for the Seychelles where I have no idea what to expect. I am not nervous about going, rather I am simply in this weird state of awe that the stars aligned in such a way where it was actually possible for me to go.

It seems only appropriate that I have finished the book series I started upon leaving the trip but am left with that empty void that fills you up whenever a good book ends. I now start (once again) on a book that has plagued me for the last several months by its slow narration but that I enjoy tremendously. Check it out "House of Leaves."

Anyways, I have to go get a few things in order. Hopefully I will be able to write another post soon giving details about the frequency of updates for Part 2 of my journey.

Love and Miss you all,
Sarah

It was with a heavy heart we had to say goodbye to our Thai friends yesterday. After spending so much time together and working so hard on a project, it seems strange that we have to simply part ways -- but despite all the farewells, I am not sad. I am sure I will see most of their smiling faces again at some point in my life whether here or there or in between.

Yesterday morning we did our interview projects in which we talked about one of our Thai students lives and they talked about ours. My partner's name was Puy and she was very shy so I couldn't say a lot...everyone else had these long interesting tales but I simply states some facts.

She was born in Chiang Mai on December 22, 1988. She loves Thai music and Linkin Park (strangely, they are probably the most popular American band...). Her favorite dish is Tom-Fu-Yung Soup. She is terrified of snakes. Her mother works for wages. (I am not sure what that means in the slightest) She has four dogs (so lucky!) named Soda, Milo, Nine and Gee. She is a geo-informatics major and doesn't know what she wants to do with it. Someday she wants to travel to Japan and Korea. ect.ect. just that sort of thing...

Then she talked about my family history (which the interview was supposed to be about.) I could tell you my family history but I don't really feel like it. :P

After that, many of the Thai students had to go to class. Julie and I had a quick lunch at the Canteena for the last time with Nok and Game. I had chicken with rice. I used to be a very adventurous eater but over the last week I have noticed I am sticking to fried rice, pad-thai, and tom-yam. These meals also usually have entirely cooked vegetables none of which have to be "peeled." Apparently you can get very sick from fruit and vegetables that aren't peeled properly... At least that's what my doctor said at the hospital.

After, I went to buy some more Thai clothes. They have the coolest capris EVER. I wish I could get them in the States. They are this really loose fitting fabric that is billowy. It's like wearing a cloud.

Then I started packnig which was an absolute nightmare. I bought too much and am definitely giong to have to check an extra bag. Bummer. Whatever!

The Thai students came around 5 o'clock and we got ready for our farewell dinner. We went to the Imperial hotel and were given our own dining hall. The buffet was delicious and the atmosphere was excellent. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

We had a talent show at the end and because everyone was being lame and no one wanted to do it, I (of course) stepped up. I counted to 10 in Thai, though I can actually count to 999. Then I was quized on the numbers.

People were still shy after my lame talent. (I actually thought it was awesome!) Eventually some people went up. All the Thai students went up at one point and sang us this song that's meaning roughly translates to

"Though you will be gone, in our hearts we will always be together. Someday we will see each other again and everything will be the same. Know no matter how far apart the miles spread, we will always be together."

In response we sung (rather terribly I might add!) "Lean on Me." The biggest problem was that no one knew all the words so every know and then there would be this paniced look on everyone's faces as they tried to muffle through the song. When in doubt we just broke in to chorus.

Finally, after all was said and done a number of Thais and Americans went to the Monkey Club. Dance clubs in Thailand are a really good time. The DJ was pretty stellar, then a band came on, then the DJ went back to doing his thing. There was a mix of Thai and American music.

I still cannot get over how obsessed Thais are with Jason Mraz. Every time we have gone out and there has been a band, they have always covered his latest release. (I can't remember the title)

Then a bunch of Americans got ready to head South to Bangkok. I don't really have any interest in wandering around a big city (I supposed this is why I have never been to NYC) and am instead going to Chiang Rai with Haley, Paul, Tara, and Anne. Who knows what the heck we'll do. Though I am fairly certain part of it involves going to this famous White temple and another part involves going to the Golden Triangle.

I imagine I will be able to update my blog within the next three days or so though I really can't be sure. I am also unsure of how updates will work once I hit the Seychelles. Maybe once a week? At any rate, I will try to give you a "schedule" when I know more of what to expect.

All-in-all I would say if possible, you should all try and visit Chiang Mai someday. You can definietly tell it's on the opposite side of the world, but it still feels like home.

Miss You!

I woke up after not sleeping to the bleary beating of the telephone in my room. After working from 10am til 2am I wasn't exactly thrilled that my group member didn't receive the files I sent. Myneu email sucks. Everyone needs to adopt gmail ... After figuring out the issue, our group hurried off to print press packets for the mornings event.

While the Americans really only had to "sit tall and pretty" it was still a hey-day of a morning up until the press conference actually started. Then it was a let down. The press (3 television crews and 4 newspapers) stayed for about 15 mintues. I'm sure it was more out of charity than anything else that they even showed up at all, but after all the hard work we put in it was a little frustrating.

Our group was the second to present. Our three Thais marched to the front of the room and asked that I join them for moral support. I held our sex-ed poster that we paraded around the streets on Saturday.

After the whole conference ended (I spent much of it figuring out the plot for a story I am trying to write) everyone was relieved. I went to the post office which took forever and tried sending a package home and eventually succeeded (yes there is a box in the mail going home!) but it won't arrive for another two months. One if by land, two if by sea...

After, Julie and I took a tuk-tuk (think glorified motorbike cab or motorized rik-shaw) to the Horizon Hotel about a half hour outside of Chiang Mai. We went to the hotel because it was this huge compound. Think of it like a Thai version of the Arboretum with all sorts of palm-trees from different parts of the world. It also hand these huge ponds scattered throughout, a zoo, a cacti garden (aka heaven), an herb garden, an orchid garden... Basically the place was just gorgeous. We rode our bikes around for about two hours.

I got to feed some deer after having been stared down by an ostrich...Let me tell you, they are one nasty looking bird -- especially because they have those big dinosaur legs... We also got to chill with a couple camels. What odd looking creatures.

After, we got back from our wild tuk-tuk ride and met up with a bunch of our Thai friends: Nat, Nok, Game, Mu, Min, Jim, and Pou-Pei and went to the local mall "ga-son-gao" which is 7 stories tall and did karaoke.

The second time around was better because now, after having been here for a while, I actually knew some of the words to Thai songs. This is a really popular song in Thailand. Check out the music video for it on youtube. It's kind of long and takes awhile to get to the actual song (about two minutes in) but whatever!

Nobody But You - Wondergirls
Sorry Sorry - Super Junior

These two songs are really popular and there are a couple different covers but I think these are the versions I've heard the most...

Other than that not too much is new. I'm leaving Chiang Mai on Wednesday and am really sad about it. I've made such good Thai friends here that the idea of having to say goodbye is really hard... Tomorrow is our farewell dinner...

Anyways I'm tired and running on six hours of sleep. Gonna go to bed now!

OH!

I almost forgot! My Thai friends gave me a Thai nickname "P-noho" (literally pronouced Pea - no -who " which means Owl in Thai because I have an Owl Purse and an Owl wallet. Noho means owl while P means "older sister." It's a sign of respect...

(Strange that I am calling an early night 11pm when I am named owl!)

first draft of a paper my group is turning in. FIRST not FINAL

We originally wanted to do a project that tackled poverty. When we broke poverty down into several of its root causes, we thought that unplanned or unwanted pregnancies due to ignorance of contraception could have been a potential cause. When we went out into communities to research this, however, we learned that there was a far bigger issue facing the Thai people: Thailand’s overwhelming lack of sex education.

Because of the taboo nature of sex in Thai culture, both teachers and parents try to avoid teaching sex education. Important information regarding safe sex is not taught to these healthy and sexually active young-adults. Without proper safe sex education, students remain susceptible to catching sexually transmitted diseases because they do not know how to prevent spreading or catching them.

This ignorance has led to an HIV/AIDS pandemic for young-adults: within the 15-24 year old age group it is the second leading cause of death. Despite this, safe sex still remains an uncomfortable issue to talk about. 88% of students want to learn more about sexually transmitted diseases and prevention, but there is currently no structure in place to provide this education.

Initially, we hoped to provide sex education by creating a student group on the Rajabhat campus that would go into classrooms and villages to teach the subject. We though that a peer-led approach would make talking about sex easier to do. We quickly learned, however, that our grandiose idea would not work with the time restraints we had for our project.

After much deliberation, we came up with the idea of teaching students about safe-sex and then having them participate in some sort of event where they could share what they knew. Over the course of several days, it became clear that this event would be handing out brochures at both Nantaram village and a local market.

We received help from both Family Planning Northern Thailand who had their speaker, Benjawan Surichiwa, come in to give the sex education presentation. The presentation ran from approximately 8:30 to 11:00 A.M. Thirty six Rajabhat freshman attended the presentation: very few had ever had a sex education course before. We really didn’t know what to expect from Surichiwa because our communication with her had been limited: we only confirmed she was speaking the day before. Needless to say, she was excellent. Her presentation was lively and used a combination of group activities and lectures. The most interesting to watch (for the Americans at least) was how shy the Thai students were about drawing genitalia.
After the presentation we asked the freshman if any of them were interested in volunteering to hand out brochures about what they had learned that day. Sixteen students said that, yes, they would like to come help us out. In the end, we decided that asking them to help all day would be too much and settled for them helping us at an afternoon street market.

Before we could meet with our volunteers on Saturday, we spread our awareness campaign to Nantaram village, the former home of Nat, one of our Thai group members. At Nantaram village we split up into three groups: one Thai and one American then headed off to see who we would bump into. We brought 180 brochures to Nantaram and gave them all away either to people we met on the street or to leave in restaurants that were frequented by our target population. The brochures, which gave a brief introduction to sex education, provided information on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and also included a diagram on how to properly use a condom.

Later, when we met up with our freshman volunteers we were excited to see how actively they would participate and were stunned by their lack of shyness. We paraded down the market with a big sign that said “Let’s talk about sex” in Thai and handed out brochures to young-adults who were at the market.

People seemed genuinely interested in the brochures we were handing out – though we were met with some odd stares. Looking back, our biggest issue was how quickly our fliers went. We brought 320 brochures and 220 condoms to the even and within a half hour had handed them all out save the ones our volunteers were keeping “to show to their friends and family.”

Our project came off tremendously well and everyone in our group truly believed in what we were doing. Despite the face that we had to scale-down our initial vision, we accomplished what we set out to do in a methodical manner. More importantly, however, we accomplished our goal in a way that involved both the Thai and the American students equally, without any real group conflict.

The biggest problems our group faced were trying to find a speaker who was interested in helping us with our project. We went to several organizations before finally securing Benjawan. Another difficulty was getting condoms. Due to Thai culture, we needed special letters specifying how many we wanted and for what purpose.

Finally, we learned a lot about cross-cultural relationships. While the Northeastern Students stressed punctuality and turning in assignments on time, the Thai students continually made us wait either to depart for a meeting with a local non-governmental organization, or for their work to be completed in Thai. But perhaps it was a blessing in disguise as now we walk away with better patience. Another issue or group faced was that our Thai group members had an identical course schedule: if one Thai student was missing, they were all missing. But we were distinctly blessed in the fact that we never really had to employ a translator in group discussions because Nat’s English was excellent.

All in all we accomplished what we set out to do and had some fun along the way. We gave 36 college freshman an important introduction to sex education and spread more knowledge to another five hundred. Ideally, we would hope that a student group on campus would be interested in continuing the work we have done thus far as we believe that is important for communities, families, and individuals to know.

Yesterday we spent the morning at Nantaram village where we handed out brochures we made. The brochures were "sex ed on a page." We focused primarily on sexually transmitted diseases and condom use. It was a little bizarre handing them out especially because the Thai students would tell us "you can hand it to that person but not to that one" when to me, there was no perceviable difference. Everyone who got the brochure looked at it. I hope it was useful.

After that we had sixteen freshman from the day before volunteer their time to help hand out brochures and condoms. I don't know what I had been expecting from them but I think they passed any expectations I ever could have set. They were not shy at all! They paraded around handing out fliers and condoms to anyone who looked their age with passion. Over all it was a huge success.

I'm not really sure what else to write about the event itself -- not because there isn't a lot to say, but because I've spent the past twenty-four hours writing about it. Maybe I will post some of that here when I get a chance.

After, we all went out to the bar to celebrate. They don't do pitchers of beer here. Instead they do pitchers of these weird mixed drinks that come in blue, red, or brown. They are really sugary and sweet and you drink it out of a glorified shot glass. The bar scene in Thailand is very interesting simply because its so different and so similar to the US. The biggest difference is hardly anyone was drinking beer (they all had these pitchers) and people were hanging out more than anything. I wouldn't call what they did going out drinking.

Today I have spent the day trying to get work for our press conference done. It's been really stressful. I've been working with the Thai students a lot trying to help them translate. I feel like you have to hold their hands through a lot of things. They will say "yes we will do this" but unless you sit down and do it with them, it doesnt get done. For fun, I went out with Nat on her motor bike. We went to the bookstore (comic books) where her mom works so I got to meet her. Then there was a Thai monsoon so we stopped and got some icecream with fruit.

When the rain had lightened up a bit, we got back on her bike and went to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother lives with her aunt on a hospital compound. Because of her job at the hospital, her aunt gets free housing there. From what I have understood, this is relatively common.

Now its work! work! work!

Tonight, maybe I will go to the walking street, but who knows.

The past two days seemed to have lasted a thousand years each...time slipped by so slowly. I wish I could recount everything accurately with all the apprehension and dread I felt two days ago about how our project was in shambles, but it miraculously came together today and I can't write about how worried I was because I'm simply escastic!

We had a woman from Family Planning Northern Thailand come to Rajabhat University and give a sex ed presentation to 36 freshmen (college) students who had never received it before. The woman who came in to give it was named Ban-ja-wan. She had the Thai students break into four groups and draw either a man or a woman. It was strange seeing our Thai peers (for they were all around 18 years old) be so shy about anatomy. They initially would not draw a penis on the man or boobs on the woman. When they finally did do that they quickly covered them up.

It was very different from the US where the whole thing is made into a joke. The Americans talked through a translator about how easily we talk about sex in our culture. In Thailand condoms are expensive and it is only appopropriate for men to buy them. We told the Thai students college students in the US can get them free pretty much anywhere... After the hey-day of that was over, Anne and I walked to the Mercur hotel and used their pool. Technically we aren't really supposed to do that, but we were hot, we just finished a good day, and the sun was shining!

I am now a little sunburnt and very well relaxed. I go back to work shortly to finish our project. Tomorrow we are handing out brochures about safe sex to a Village Festival and to Thai students at a popular hang out called the walking street.

Our Professors were really impressed with how well we pulled off our event. I think a lot of other groups are struggly but I think we really lucked out. We didn't get our speaker til yesterday at 3pm and she came today at 830 am. She was so wonderful!

Anyways I hope everyone is well. Thailand is still super amazing and I am having a good time with the Global Pact program.

I'd like to say hi to my family (including you Tia!) quickly. Thanks for all your love, support, and comments. I miss Scraggy Neck a lot -- esepcially sitting down at the beach or on Robin Too skipping around Buzzards Bay. I also miss sitting out on eel pond, listening to the hub-bub of Woods Hole from the sailboat as evening is setting in and all the tourists flock to the Phusion, the Kid, and Shuckers. I don't miss the creepy bell tower that stays lit all night long. (I'm not sure why I felt the need to share that)

I'd also like to say a hello to my friends. I'm not sure who of you are following this, but it means a lot to me. I hope summer on the Cape or in Boston is incredible. Take pictures for me!

I hope you all have the pleasure of coming to Chiang Mai soon!

Love,
Sarah

The things that drive you crazy are always the little things. It's the Thai-time that all the Thai students run on. 1:00 pm? Sure no problem, they say, and then they show up at 2 pm. My Thai students almost completely quit yesterday. I can't really blame them. They are in classes full-time and most of their teachers will not excuse any absences.

When they are around, it's equally frusterating because of Thai-time, Thai customs, and their general lack of disinterest in our project. We finally got our Thai students cornered and decided to change tactics on our project. On Friday we are giong to teach a group of Freshmen about sex because apparently the freshman (and we think our groupmates?) are clueless about sex and safe sex. Scary! Then on Saturday we are going to a Buddhist holiday festival in Nantram village and handing out information sheets on contraception, safe sex, and local NGOs involved in HIV/AIDS testing and family planning. Saturday night we are taking the freshman we trained to hand out fliers to Thai students around Chiang Mai. After that we are going to celebrate and eat delicious Thai sweets!

Last night we all laid low and hung out. I called home which was nice.

Today we (and by we I mean only a few people in our group) got up early and drove to Phrao on our day off to see our professor's NGO, The Warm Heart Foundation. I cannot say how impressed I was by the scale of their operation for an NGO that is only 11 months old.

Incredible! They have four big projects going on: Micro-financing, A biomass plant, children's home, and an HIV / AIDS project. The most interesting (to me) was the children's home. The Children's home is two houses that have been built for Children living in villages up on the mountains who don't have access to school. Without these homes the two options facing these children would be either to go to an orphanage so that they could attend school or to simply not attend school. Warm Heart offers housing for children within the village of Phrao. Right now only 5 students are living there because the project literally just kicked off this past month but they have space for 20+. The complex has a fish pond (fully stocked with 1000 fish), an orchard for fresh fruits, a chicken coop, and a soccer field -- all of which was built within the last year. The place is simply mind blowing.

I hope I can describe it better in the future... but man, was I impressed. If you have a vision, you can do amazing things!

Everything about this place was cool -- from the mountains encasing the village to the lushness of it all. We were also shown a good time by our hosts -- they various members of the NGO and were given a great lunch at the children's home. We were also taken to Village #2 (that's literally its name, I think) by the District's President who is very excited that Engineers Without Borders is coming to fix their drinking water supply. Apparently they have a lot of manganese in the water and it builds up on the pipes. The President actually took apart a pipe to show us. It was pretty disgusting.

At the children's home I was simply overwhelmed by how well-thought out everything was and how perfectly put together everything appeared to be despite only having been in operation for one month. The kids, of course, were at school. Apparently, however, it has become the local hangout and all the village kids come to Warm Heart to do their home work and receive extra English lessons.

Another cool part is the silk worm thing they have going on. They have a ton of silk warms (thousands) and make their own silk and then use it to make various products which are sold in the USA to help support the NGO. I got to hold a worm (glorified Caterpillar) which felt weird. The feet marched across you like little suction cups, tickling your skin. They were this strange green-yellow color and simply chowed through leaves.

Again, I noticed the huge number of stray dogs and, at one point, this little white mutt of some kind came up to me and started whining. I can't explain how you know a dog is friendly and wants something but I cautiously offered out my hand and ended up spending about twenty minutes de-ticking the poor thing. I felt pretty bad for him. Thai people don't worry about ticks, however, because I guess they don't have Lyme disease here. Still, they are so gross! Especially when they get big and fat.

Sorry this is ramble-y and more chaotic than usual. I was going to stop about four paragraphs ago but then found I had more to say. Well I'm off to bed.


read more at www.warmheartworldwide.org
<3

What a lovely low-key day I had. We didn't have class so everyone slept in late. Construction is going on across the way though so it was very difficult sleeping in. They work on the project every day of the week. It's strange looking at the construction site. It looks nothing like a US construction site... no hard hats, no cats, just this weird drill thing that is being used to make the foundation. (They don't dig a hole first. Bizarre, right)

At around 10am I got up, posted about yesterday, and then went to reserve the dinner boat. After we (six of us) met at this fancy hotel, and got an American style buffet. It was good but very very expensive. Oh well. You should have seen the dessert table though! There must have been 50 different kinds... I tried hard not to make myself too sick by gorging on them...

After I went back to the hotel (this is now around 1pm) and took a nap. At 3pm I went with Kelsey and Ally to the Chiang Mai cultural museum. I enjoyed it but man! do they love their dioramas. It was like a super intense book report... It's always interesting walking around different places though. An odd thing you notice is that either there will be a cat or dog usually roaming the building. This particular building had a black cat with bright yellow eyes that was super friendly and kept following us everywhere. No doubt to make sure we didn't get in too much trouble...

After, we did a preliminary walk through of the Walking Street. The Walking Street is pretty much exactly how it sounds: a few streets shut down for the weekend from 4-11pm that are filled with roaming shops. Watching people set up was very very interesting.

Then it was off to the boat cruise. First of all you'd expect the river to be really buggy. I didn't see a single bug let alone a swarm of bug. They must spray or something. Second of all, the river (called the Ping River) is unbelievably brown. Some of it has to be from pollution but I think some of it is also from the fact that it is constantly raining. (Did I mention the reason I took a nap was a Thai Monsoon???)

The ride was your typical boat ride except that the boat was a long traditional Asian-style boat. We all got hamburgers and french fries for dinner. I am not sure how the Thai students felt about this but they ate particularly slowly, even for them. Plus they don't pick hamburgers up. They cut it with a knife and fork.

Julie and I were sitting with two Thai students Sita and Ohm, both of whom are really awesome. Sita's family is originally from the south and lives on an island. I guess he owns a couple of elephants.

Ohm is extremely shy. He got in a really bad motorbike accident a year-ago and has been very quiet ever since. At least that's what the Thai students say. He is pretty much the nicest person ever.

After dinner we went back to the Walking Street which was far more lively. I can't even begin to explain how awesome these little pop-up street fairs are. You definitely have to know how to haggle and get what you want. Usually, you can get them to drop the price anywhere from 100-180 baht (3-6 USD). I've gotten pretty good. You just have to pretend you are not that interested from the get go. If there is something I really like, I usually don't haggle that much.

Anyways I picked up a few things here and there. I met a very kind soul last night named Poy-Pei while I was shopping. He had no hands and only one leg but that didn't seem stop him from having a huge smile on his face. We talked for awhile about nothing specific. His English was incredible.

Anyways I have to get ready to go visit Phrao, one of the poorest districts in Thailand. My Professor's NGO the Warm Heart Foundation is based there. I am really looking forward to it! We have about a 2.5 hour drive to get there over a windy mountainous pass but I don't get carsick. In fact, I'm bringing a book. I need to read as many books as possible so I don't have to carry as many on to the Seychelles. The thing is, however, I don't really want to part with my books either -- after I've read and marked them up so much...

Decisions, decisions!

The laundry machines here are super high-tech -- I guess it's because we are so close to Japan or something. But seriously, you put a load in and there is some sort of internal scale and it washes based on how much your load of laundry weighs. This is a great concept until you are met with a time constraint. I was a little late to class because I had to spread things out over my balcony to dry. Driers aren't necessary in this environment, provided you have a covered area to hang things in.

School was more of the "usual business" which, I guess, is very unusual in the scheme of things. I am having a great time both in and out of the classroom. I had lunch witha friend at the resturaunt across the street. We all go there so frequently that I think they've come to expect two or three of us for both breakfast and lunch. I got hot and sour soup. Delicious!

After lunch, we embarked on a city wide scavenger hunt. I was really looking forward to it despite the "Thai Monsoon" that had broken out. But our group had a bit of an issue with group dynamics and my energy was quickly burst. So running around in the city became a headache rather than an exciting adventure. Oh well.

Last night we went to a dance club. We were again met with the awkward fact that many Thais simply don't dance but man! Can those Djs spin! The music and the clubs are unbelievable. I can't imagine anything being like that in the US and if it were it would definitely be saved for the uber rich. We went to two different clubs and both had multiple rooms, sitting areas, lounges, and music choices. Live bands vs. Djs and the what not. I'm not really sure how to describe the experience simply because it was so unique. Thais love lasers, bright lights, and disco balls and are not afraid to throw them together in a weird mix-mash that is absolutely blinding.

Because we stand out, we are also an object of fascination. It's weird dancing when you know the rest of the room keeps looking in your direction. It's even worse when some of them try to dance with you. Mostly because the club scene there has such a wide age range and there were some old sceevy Thai guys.

Today is rainy here. We have the day off but I think everyone is just on the relax-track. At least I know I am. Well I am off to book a reservation for tonight. We are going on a dinner cruise complete with American cuisine! Crazyness!

Ok ciao.

Our project is coming along nicely. Thought I'd give you a taste of the Thai alphabet. Their writing is unbelievably beautiful but I cannot understand how anyone writes it! Lots of practie I suppose.

sorry if this didn't make sense, I'm exhausted.

The below is a simple copy and paste job. Sorry, I will try to write more later.

Problem Statement
Thailand lacks adequate sex education resulting in unplanned pregnancies and a higher rate of sexually transmitted diseases. The main reason for this is that sex is an uncomfortable subject in Thai culture resulting in neither parents nor teachers taking responsibility in educating children about sex. Because of this, a new peer-led approach must be taken in teaching sex education rather than an authority-led approach.

Mission Statement
Our goal is to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and the number of sexually transmitted diseases. We do this by providing sex education to local schools and villages through peer-led video presentations. We believe that by reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, we will improve the lives of individuals, families, and communities.

Short-Term
Our short-term goal is to create a network of individuals interested in helping alleviate the lack of sex education Thai students are receiving. To do this we plan on reaching out to similar organizations, schools, family planning clinics, and hospitals with the hopes of making an effective sex education video.

Medium-term goal
Our medium term goal is to educate the students of Nambram village on how to prevent pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in a peer-led presentation and discussion and to inform them on where they can receive more information or treatment if needed.

Long-term goal
Our long term goal is to create a student group at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University that goes into classrooms and villages to give presentations on sex education and to answer any questions or concerns students, teachers, or parents may have.

Today had that slow day feel to it. We spent a lot of time inside talking about concepts and I saddled off into daydreaming (whoops). When it was time to break free I was supposed to go out at 1 pm but Thai people are nearly impossible to move. We didn't leave until about 3pm which literally meant two hours of sitting around and doing nothing.

It was painfully boring and I got pretty aggrivated. When we did finally leave we went to a temple which was absolutely gorgeous and met with a monk. For those of you who don't know, meeting with a monk is stressful because there are so many weird cultural traditions that you have to follow. For example you cannot, under any circumstance, touch a monk. You also can never put your feet in his direction. Then there is the whole issu of wai--ing (pronounced Y) which is the bow you do in Thailand. You bow all the time except for monks there is this whole special routine for wai-ing which includes bowing to the floor... The monk kept laughing at Julie and I who got the routine horribly wrong.

He was very good at his English and therefore talked with us, which the Thai girls we were with later told us was "very impolite." He gave us sa-sei which are blessed bracelets and threw water at us.

Today is Chiang Mai's 713 anniversary...talk about an old city...

Last night we went shopping and I worked on my bargaining skills. I got 5 outfits for about $30 USD. What I like is I'm not getting the clothes because they are "Thai" I'm getting them because really, it's what I would pick out at home. They have good style over here (haha).

Dinner took forever because they cook one meal at a time (this is true virtually wherever you go) and there were 11 of us.

Sorry this is so scattered, I'm writting on my lunch break and want to go get some delicious Thai food before I have to head back.

<3

Wow. Today was breathtakingly awesome. So many good memories were made in so little time. Sometimes its hard to believe how long a day really is. I woke up early to prepare myself for a full day of adventuring. By 8:40 we were out the door and on our way. I couldn't have been happier. We were loaded in to two different tuk-tuks and our first stop was a botanical garden that had a special butterfly unit.

Walking around amongst the Thai horticulture was absolutely stunning. The orchids were amazing though most of them were not at all fragant. I don't know if that's typical of orchids or not but they were beautiful in themselves. The butterflies that were flitting around the gardens were simply stunning. There was even one larger than my entire face. The colors were stunning and it was as if it were snowing in technicolor. We wandered around the garden for about a half hour before climbing back on our busses.

The next stop was the village of the karen or long-neck people. This was without a doubt the strangest experience I have ever had as we were going to look at people. Something about it felt terribly wrong and yet I also found myself fascinated by these long-necked women who sat dutifully at their looms weaving the most beautiful scarves I have ever seen. Although these tribes were originally from Burma, the fighting there has caused many of them to flee to Thailand where they make most of their money by opening up their villages to tourists and by weaving. Even though we were expected visitors, I couldn't help but feel like an intrudor. Plus, it was the one place in Thailand were no one smiled. An overwhelming sadness hung in the air like some thick sort of fog choking everyone into an awkward state of not knowing what to do.

In the end, we decided it would be best to buy a few trinkets from them hoping that they got to keep all the money we eagerly wanted to give. The encounter still sits awkwardly with my heart...

After that we went to a place went to an elephant camp and rode elephants. I thought it was going to be a weird-touristy thing (and it definitely was) but there was still something unbelievably cool about it. Not only that but the elephants seemed to really be enjoying themselves. Before our trip began we fed them bananas which they eagerly grabbed from our hands with their trunks. I never would have guessed how strong an appendage a trunk is until that moment. It was just so cool!

Riding the elephant was also a bizarre experience. While I thought I would have been able to compare it to a horse, the experience was not at all similar. It was rickety and bump and just plain hilarious. It's clear that the elephant is in charge doing what it wants to do and the fact that it is taking you from point Y to point Z is all well and good provided it can do what it wants in between. (mainly eat). I was also surprsied as how coarse elephant skin is; some weird combination of sandpaper and stone. Looking back, I feel like I should have expected them to have rough and tough skin but it really never occured to me.

When we got off our elephants we then walked a short bit (we didn't ride in a loop, rather we rode in a line) and arrived at a river where we entered a cage on a zip line and then used it to cross the river. It was awesome.

Then we went for a hike. Thank goodness we went for a hike. I have missed being outside so much that this was simply heaven. You know all those scenes in Jurassic Park where they are simply running around through the forest? Imagine that except with cows spotted about here and there. Thailand is fantastically beautiful. Like something out of a Tolkein novel. You can't explain how gorgeous it is with words and pictures, no matter how crafty the photographer, fail to capture the unending depth of the gorgousness.

My favorite part (besides the cows) was the bamboo forests that burst up out of the forest floor like living fireworks. The greenery is simply overwhelming. Along most of our hike were lechee trees and my classmates picked and ate their fruit but I am not allowed to eat fruit for the next few days. (bummer).

I wish I could capture how in love with this country I am but every time I go to try and express myself I feel that words are simply lacking. Everything about this place is amazing. The wildlife is amazing. The people are happy, eager to please, and always full of smiles. The kindness people show one another is simply overwhelming. ...

But back to my story. Our hike stopped briefly at a village where we eat pad-thai out of bamboo leaves and then continued further up the mountain until we arrived at about a 50 foot waterfall. I wish we could say we went swimming but in truth all we did was stand under the water fall but it was still pretty epic. Surprsingly, this was a lot of people's first hike so they found it difficult. Even having been in the hospital yesterday I found it easy and our Thai tour guide asked me why I was so good at scrambling over rocks, crossing rivers, and that sort of thing and simply told him that I love hiking. He smiled and said some sort of Thai expression that I don't remember...

The hike back was quick and we got to see the cows again. I love Thai cows. I'm not really sure why. Maybe its simply because they are everywhere or maybe its because they have this weird sort of beauty to them in the way they slowly carry themselves across the mountain or the rice paddy. I guess their dull expression makes them look strangely at peace. I don't know. I just really like them -- but I guess I've always had a thing for livestock. (weird, i know)

After that we did some "whitewater" rafting except there wasnt really any whitewater and was kind of lame but still a good time. The bamboo rafts we went on were hysterical as they sort of sunk under the water a little bit. You also had to sit perfectly still or else you risked tipping them completely over. I got to steer our boat (awesome!) which basically consisted of using a giant stick and poking it into the ground.

When all is said and done I'd say today was pretty amazing. To top it off we went out to dinner and then a couple of the girls went out to get massages. (nice treat!) Anyways I'd write more but I'm dreadfully tired after such a full day of adventuring.

Happy days!

Oh and on a sidenote sorry if I don't respond to emails / comments i love getting & reading them but I have limited time on the computer. Everything you send / post means a lot and I am so happy I have so many followers. Also sorry my gram mar isn't up to par -- I am pretty much free-writing my day down and don't have time to proof read : ( I wish I was better at grammar so I could get it right on the first go-round but..... ?

<3

I woke up Sunday morning clearly not well. After tossing and turning all night I realized that I was not a little bit sick but a lot a bit sick. I went through my first aid kit, found my thermometer and realized I had a really high fever. I waited til a normal hour, found my professor and then we went to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital where I was soon admitted and told I would have to stay overnight...

While I probably should have been freaking out at the idea of staying in a foreign hospital, I was more interested in seeing what my experience would be like. All-in-all I would say that it was good.

After being told I would have to stay (after no wait, literally no wait) I went up to my new room which was NICER than my HOTEL ROOM. I had a full kitchen, bath, coach, lounge, a karoke machine, and a great view of the city because I was on the tenth floor.

I spent the day pretty much passed out as they pumped antibiotics into me via IV. I also got to have american food again which, surprsingly, I realized I had really missed. Club sandwhiches are delicious even when they are made with a fried egg. ( you should try it out).

The best part was all the people who came to visit and the overwhelming kindness from both my friends, the nursing staff, and my professor/translator Carol. She brought me a stuffed animal dog so that I wouldn't be alone. I named him "Sou! Sou!" after a Thai expression which means "Lets go / You can do it! / We will perservere!"

Then a group of American students came to visit. They didn't stay very long but were in awe of my kickin accomadations and very jealous of my dinner (chicken breast with a mashroom glaze -- fancy, right?). After that my Thai friend Nat came to see me and told me about my group's progress during the day and said some sort of Thai goodluck / get well thing to me. Then Julie and Ally came to visit.

After, I went to bed. When I woke up in the morning I still had a fever so I had to stay later and therefore missed our class fieldtrip to see the historic temples in Chiang Mai. Nat said she would take me some day instead of going to class (haha). I stayed in the hospital until about 7:00 this evening and was really ready to go by the time I got discharged.

After getting discharged, I went out to dinner with some friends to celebrate my recovery and had a hearty meal of noodle soup. After that, we went to the Shang-ri-la (?) hotel/bar which was incredibly ritzy for drinks and to say goodbye to Carol. I was particularlly sad to see her go after all she had done for me.

That pretty brings me right up to this moment. Tomorrow I am going on a very touristy excursion but that's ok. I didn't have the energy to plan anything for myself. I am going to visit to a village where woman have the long-necks, to swim in a waterfall, to ride an elephant, and to whitewater raft. I may skip the rafting depending on how I am feeling but probably not I hear its a pretty low-key rapid and I love rafting!

ok well goodnight / goodmorning / don't worry I am better now!