Essay day

Worked on my essay all day today! For Econ. Essay and eating and a bit of procrastinating in the form of packig and cleaning and such lol watched a bit of soccer and went on a nice walk as a break but besides that essay. Have 13 pages and it seems to be alright. I'll edit it tomorrow and then send it in. Woo! :D

Friday

One week left in the program! Crazy. Rainy this morning and slept till 8:15! So late lol Cultures then funny youtube stuff then time with the dean to talk about he program. Then Thai class and laundry! Dinner was nice and then I looked up stuff for our trip coming up. Can't wait! :D

Throughsday

Today was good. Econ was a little shorter than normal whih allowed me to work on my essay and watch very interesting/funny youtube videos lol it was a good and productive afternoon after which I walked back to the dorms and had a nice pad Thai dinner and watched some soccer and rugby. Then reading and studying before sleep. It's crazy Thailand is almost over! But not before more work and amazing travel! Can't forget about that :)

Thanksgiving eve

Today was long! Always wake up so early! It was 6am today. Ugh! Why? Lol I see the sun rise like every day. Which is nice :) cultures class we had oral quiz and I did just fine. Then in dance we kept learning our bamboo dance where we step in and out of moving bamboo sticks. Then some work on the computer in the library before learning about how to talk about being sick in Thai. Then we had an interview with a Shan woman. The Shan are an ethnic group in Myanmar. They have been fighting for about 60 years against the Burmese government for their own separate state. There are more Shan then the entire population of Laos. But anyway she was very cool and had come to Thailand almost twenty years ago for work and has worked at Payap for almost ten years. It was really cool to hear about her life and her opinions on different things we have been studying. She speaks the Shan language which is extremely similar to the northern Thai dialect. This is because before WWII and SEA colonization the Shan state and northern Thailand were not separateted by an arbitrary boarder. So the Shan and northern Thais can still understand each other and have close ties which I think is cool. Then a good dinner of veggies and glass noodles and fruit. Then I worked on my locks and then reading :)

Tuesday

Today was long and kinda rough. Economics of the sex trade was good and we had good discussions but it is usually very saddening and this class was no exception. Then we had a lecture on the unspoken genocide in Myanmar and that was really hard to hear about. The killing of the ethnic Rohingya by the Burmese government is just wrong. Dinner was good and then I worked on my essay for Econ of the sex trade and read for that class as well which just brought up more sadness. I won't make you all sad by talking about it here but it's really hard to hear about all the atrocities that go on I this world. Especially because I'm in the middle of it and I can do very little to stop it.  

Monday

Monday I mostly rested my back. Couldn't go to dance so I ate pad Thai and watched soccer and rugby and iced my back. Then Thai class and more rest. After dinner I skyped Leanne and looked up chiropractors. My back is a lot better now though. I hope I don't have to do much except rest till I get home!

Sunday

Sunday was good. I played soccer and ate food and worked on my essay. Then I biked into town to go climbing which was fun. Then I biked to the soccer stadium expecting to watch a playoff game but instead was greeted by a huge Christian festival. I bike all the way out there so I stayed for an hour. Very interesting stuff. Then biked home. My bike is falling apart. Low quality. I'm glad I made it home without a songtow. Kept having to stop to fix it. Ugh. Got home and my back have out. It was real bad. I wouldn't walk or anything. Hadn't been that bad since high school. I think it was because of the long van ride this weekend and then climbing and biking. But I'm much better now. I think I just needed to rest it. So don't worry! :)

Home!

We drove Ll day today. Our driver was great. Love him! He stayed with us he while trip. He was so nice and so cute. Just a really good guy. The drive wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. And the trip was worth it. Great time :)

Great news!

Evelyn's coming to Thailand for two weeks! 7-21! :D

Sukhothai to Ayutthaya

The day was nice. We went to beautiful temples in Sukhothai and then drove for six hours to Auttiay and saw an amazing tamole at sun set. Beautiful :) wish it wasn't so far away though....

 

Friday

Summer palace and many temples. So pretty! So tired! Lol more later but here's this :)

Sukhothai!

Drive was about 4 1/2 hours but it was good. I listened to music and reread sections of a New Earth. It's good to have reminders like that. Got to the hotel. Very nice. I have a single as I am the only male an this is Thai culture lol I'm not complaining. Got lunch from a small shop after I finished my pad Thai from Payap. I bought something that for a second I thought was fried bugs but then realized it was just rice lol headed to a museum about Sukhothai. Very interesting. Saw some friends from Chiang Mai. Pretty funny :) then headed to two temples. The first was beautiful! I would have loved to been enlightened there :) there was a big open field and then a huge building with Buddha peaking out the doorway. It was so peaceful. Really special. There where sellers before the temple. A ladyboy who was really nice and did great hand paintings. There was also a 94 year old woman who sold handmade gifts for 10 baht! That's about 30 cents. Crazy. It's so interesting because these stalls are most likely these peoples lovleyhoods. Such a different world. Then we went to a walking Buddha image on a hill. Walked up a rock wall/path to get there. So beautiful. Great view and it was so nice to hike up a hill in the woods and be in nature again. This whole place seems different than northern Thailand. We are in the central area and there are hardly any hills. It feels like I'm in a different country lol the people even seem different. More tourist oriented. But maybe that's just what I'm seeing, as a tourist. We have a great driver. Really sweet guy. He helps us all in and out of the van even though we clearly don't need it. Touching is so different here. Guys and girls can't touch but guys can touch guys in ways that would be perceived as sexual in the US. I think it's really cool :) One time when I was getting into the van, out driver lightly spanked me lol it was sweet. More like a sign of friendship than anything else. And it was totally fine. But in the US it would be a very different story. After the temples we went to dinner at a small Thai place and I got pad Thai which had green beans in it. Different! Lol then back to the hotel for some rest. I'm excited for the rest of this trip. At first I was like, why are we doing this? But now I get it. It's beautiful and educational. Great vacation :) love it!

Rain! (It's raining)

Today was good. Had sex trade class and then had a lecture about Myanmar. Then headed to urban light, a center for boys in prostetution. Really good stuff. Then back home for thanksgiving dinner! Woo! Then hw. Going to sukkothai tomorrow to Saturday. Should be fun :) I'll write more latter! 

Great start to the week!

Ate a classic breakfast of toast and tea and fruit and indulged in the usual soccer watching before dance class. Did a bit of the bamboo dance where we dance in and out of moving bamboo poles. Looks pretty cool but it's all times out :) also learned part of a new partner dance that was confusing at first but then worked out. Just got to trust the teacher! Then I read in the library about prostetution and how to stop it. Then a meeting on sukotai which is a city we are going to this week from Wednesday to Saturday. Should be fun. But I won't be able to work on my essays! Ahh! Then I played soccer and watched a bit of the love game going on right next to me. Then dinner! Work next. At least, I hope so lol :p 

Weekend :)

So this weekend was great. I'm sure you saw the lantern photos I took and saw how beautiful the festival was. About 500,000 people there! Crazy. So crowded! People came from all over the world and I just had to drive across town. So cool :D Saturday was spent eating good food, resting, reading, watching soccer and rugby, and writing a bit for class. At five we left for the festival and were in the car for about an hour and a half, half of that being in heavy traffic. Got dropped off and started walking towards the center of the festival along a small river. There were tons of people and many shops along the dirt road selling food and lanterns. We eventually got a a temple grounds and were serenaded by hip optic chanting as we walked in hordes towards the monks and an image of Buddha at the center of the grounds. I almost felt like I was in a dream. It was very cool. The moon was shining and teers of monks were chanting and lanterns were being released. It was beautiful :) but also crowded. So we hopped the fence and got to a less crowded area. Then the chanting stopped and some announcements began in many different languages. Everyone started to prepare their lanterns at the same time so the release would be very beautiful. The lanterns can be big or small. The biggest one I saw could fit a whole person in it! They were made of a bamboo ring and very light paper making the lanturn. There was a farmable ring at the base that was light and then the lanturn filled with hot air and would flought upwards. It was beautiful. All the lanturn a were released at once and it was like nothing else I'd ever seen :) you were suppose to make a wish for all people when you release the lanturn. We released four and then started to walk back to the songtow. It was very crowded and so it was every person for themselves lol I headed to the river and walked along there and that seemed to be much faster than the path. I bought some black bean buns from my favorite guy and then went to release my candle boat that I made on Friday. I was familiar with candle boats, being a Quaker ;) and I felt very at home releasing my boat in the river with many other Thais. Then I bought two lanturns for the price of one and started walking again. Met others from our group but I lost them again but was the first one to find P. Jeiw, our driver. I was very happy to see him and he was happy to see me :) I thought I would have to wait for a long time for my friends but I only had to wait five minutes :) then we all walked back to the car. Jeiw is a great driver and was able to skip all the traffic on back roads and got us home in 30 minutes :) then it was time to watch a live rugby game, a rare thing here in Thailand halfway around the world. It was New Zealand vs England. NZ won. Classic. Then sleep! 

Sunday. 

Sunday was relaxing. I made a habit of waking up at 7am and so now I always do, no matter when I go to sleep. I kind of like it. It give me time in the morning. I'm turning into a morning person which I think is cool :) I had pad Thai and watched weekend soccer games. Then I grabbed my climbing shoes and headed for the city on my bike. Nice ride. Really pretty day and not too much traffic. I went to the flower market first and got a small and large knife to add to my collection. The flower market sells a lot of stuff, as well as flowers. It's on the Ping river. Then I went climbing and met Amy and her mom there. Her mom climbs! At like 60! Wow :) it was fun and I worked out real good. Got nice and tired and biked back home around 4ish. Had some dinner and then watched as lanturns light the night sky again :) tried to write some but was very unmotivated. I hope I can write some tonight. Then I was so tired from my full day I hit the hay after some Redwall :) good weekend :)

Lanterns

Fryday :D

Today was great. Had an interesting lecture on religion. Cool consents but the way they were presented could have been more accepting of different views. Then a break where I skyped and worked on essays. Then a very funny Thai class in the library. We talked about weird topics and asked funny questions. It was different :) then an hour break of some food and watching soccer. Then I got lost way too many times finding my way to the room where I was to get dressed for our Thai dance performance. I think I look pretty cool :) then the proformance! It was so nice! We did really well :) I wasn't that nervous. It was more just fun :) the whole international day was good :) great food and great people. Then we went out on the town. Good day :)

Candle boats

Slept well. It was nice. Last few nights haven't been the best sleep so it was good to get a full nights rest. Talked about the culture in SEA that allowed such a rough sex trade and comparisons to the US culture. Then watched a documentary on the sex trade in Thailand. Worked on my essays after that and then headed to make candle boats out of banana trees and banana leaves and flowers. So cool! I young Thai woma helped me :) I think we made something very beautiful:

I also attempted to make a small clay pot but was less susesful lol then biked home with one hand on the brakes, the other holding my boat and small pot. Then dinner out with friends to celebrate birthdays. So fun :) 

Middle dayyyy

Like halfway through November! Crazy! Had an interesting lecture about religion and religion in Thailand. Then practicing our Thai dance we are performing on Friday for the International Festival. We got it! :) then lunch with a Thai student and Thai language class where we talked about essay requirements for other classes and sang a Thai song and danced Thai dance. Not much language lol but it was fun. Then work in the library and preparing for the festival. Quick dinner after that and then headed to climbing gym with a bunch of friends for women climb free night. So fun! :D 

The Sold Project

Travel day. Went to Chiang Rai today. Driver was 40 minutes late. Classic Thailand. Listened to my audiobook on the drive. About three hours. Went to the white temple. Basically a white, artsy version of a Thai temple. Really interesting. I thought it was real weird before I realized that all the hellish bodies represented hell and the white temple represented heaven. The artist incorporated a bunch of modern media characters into his art. It was like modern Thai youth culture hits traditional Thai temple plus artsy representation of heaven and hell. Very cool. Then I had my three favorite things for lunch: pad Thai, sticky rice, and soy milk. Then headed to The Sold Preject. They work with at risk youth in northern Thailand to keep them in school and out of prostetution. They have 150 students on scholarships. You can sponsor a child for $31 dollars a month. But right now they need the Donations 4 Freedom more which is $16 a month. This is because they are at their current max and need to expand before more students can be sponsored. Donate on their website. All money goes directly to the kids if you sponsor one. Check it out and donate! Then we headed home and stopped by Cabbages and Condoms on the way home. Cool place where condoms are normalized and Thai people are taught about safe sex. Also a restrant to fund the whole thing. Very cool concept. Now home and sleep. Class tomorrow. 

Good day!

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Soonday

I did a lot today. I watched football, played football, wrote a short essay, ate lunch, biked to prom, went to the city, went climbing and worked out, bough myself a ring, walked around a bunch and bought food and tried to buy other stuff but the shop was closed. Then I rode back to prom in late night traffic and the biked home. Busy day! Very tired but happy :) 

Sat. Ur. Day.

Today was great! Had an awesome breakfast of pad Thai and then long Skype with Evelyn :) then I biked to prom and headed to the city from there. Got a present for people which I very excited about. Then I went climbing for an hour before hurrying back to catch the ride back to prom. Then I watched Thor. Good movie. I enjoyed it. Sometimes I forget it's all about the Norse gods but when I relate it back in my head I enjoy it more. Then a enjoyed the moon. So beautiful! As I was about to go Glenna got off the songtow and I ended up going to dinner with her and Erin at Dukes. So funny how if I hadn't taken time to admire the moon I would have missed Glenna. Life it so cool!! :D Dukes is an American restrant. I haven't eaten American food for months! It was interesting lol I love my pad Thai :) I got a great veggie flatbread and onion rings. I thought it was so expensive but it was like half the price of US prices. I'm going to have such culture shock when I go back to the states lol I felt so full afterwards. But it was a heavy full. I'm use to a light full that's gone in an hour or so. But American room sticks with you. I don't like it! I don't wanna leave Thailand!! Lol we had some quality conversations. How did I not hang out with these people before?! Then I biked home and sleeeeep! Tomorrow I plan to watch soccer, do hw, climb and go to the market. Should be a relaxing and fun day :)

Thank Buddha It's Friday!

:D had cultures class today. Hadn't had that for a while. But that's not nessisarily a bad thing lol it was alright. Read a lot. Then to the library where I wrote emails and did a bunch of housekeeping stuff. Then just an hour of Thai 2 because Jenjit had a meeting. Then off the Payap's Got Talent. It's a talent show based off of Thailands Got Talent/ Americas Got Talent. There are a lot of talent shows in Thailand. Kind of like the beauty pagent I was in lol there were judges and everything. It was cool. Like being on a tv show. A lot of good talent. But the best was Erin! She sang opra and rocked the house!! :) then good dinner of rice and tofu and light veggies and watermelon. Then I took a shower and did work around my room. Tomorrow I'll head into the city for rock climbing and maybe a movie :) then the walking street market on Sunday. I looked up climbing techniques and I can't wait to try them out tomorrow! :D 

Registration

Today we discussed the readings about bar culture in the sex trade and why some Cambodian men don't think gang rape is gang rape. Watched a really intense documentary on the Cambodian virginity trade. Horrible stuff. Then a quick lunch break and over to practicum to discuss paper topics and then to a temple for a "monk chat" where we ask monk questions about being monks and the monks can practice their English and work on understanding different ascents. Learned a lot :) one of the students parents is here so that's cool. Then dinner and preparing my mom to register me for classes today. I'll be asleep when my time comes so she has to do it. A little stressed but I know it'll all be fine :) more class tomorrow :) 

Back to Vietnam, for dinner :)

Our discussion in Ho's class was soooooo good. We read about traveling John's and what motivates them to do what they do. It made me really mad and sad but I wasn't surprised by what I read, unfortunately. But our discussion about the paper was great! It reminded me of SMCM :) I brought up the influence of pornography on johns and our society and wrapped it in with what we were discussing. It was so nice to have a really good talk about this stuff. And the SMCM students dominated the discussion lol I guess we're use to this type of stuff and are real passionate about it :) then I went climbing at the gym. It was nice to get back to boldering. I worked on my form and stamina which both could use some improvement. It felt good :) then back to promenada and then I biked home so that I would be back in time to go out to dinner with Ho and the other SMCM students to talk about the flaws in the Payap study abroad program. Basically, Thailand is amazing but Payap could be very much improved. But it is what you make of it and I have loved my time here. It's changed my life in so many ways. But is that because of Thailand or because of Payap? Probably more Thailand. So that's the kind of stuff we talked about with Ho. He's going to talk to both schools and see if things can be improved. We ate Vietnamese food and it was great! Once again :) then back to Payap and had a great conversation with the SMCM crew. Love them! So nice to have people to have real deep conversations with :) talked till 10:30! Then I went to sleep! Tired! Then off the renew my visa early tomorrow morning. Woot!

Bye Vietnam!

Vietnam was great! Stayed at Cat Ba island and went deepwater soloing and kayaking and beaching the first day. It was so amazing to climb up rock cliffs and then just jump off into the water. So cool!! Great food on the boat and met a lot of cool Westerners. I saw mountains like no other before. They were sheer cliffs shooting right out if the water for hundreds of feet. It was like I had been imagining for years. It was wonderful :) Then climbing in the center of the island the second day. Did so hard moves on a 6b but need to work on my stamina lol then did my first lead climb on a easy 4c+ called roots reggae because for a third of the climb you're climbing up free roots :D drove back in the dark and made it home safe. Hurray! Then I decided to do something a lot less fun. There is a red light district on the island and I wanted to go and experience what it was like to be a single white male walking through that area. I wanted to see who was buying and who was selling. I wanted to find out the price and I wanted to talk to people. When I walked through at 10pm there was hardly anything going on. But I did find the middle men. These guys ride around on motor bikes and offer to take men to go have "boom boom." I asked how much it was. He said 500,000 dong or $25. It was very sad to witness. While I was out some of my climbing friends were at a bar and an older man and a prostitute were sitting with them. My friends told me that the young woman looked sad and unhappy. But they left before I got back to witness the "couple." These no doubt in my mind that Vietnam is beautiful and an amazing place with great people. But that doesn't mean there aren't horrible aspects. It doesn't mean there aren't hard parts to witness. I'm glad I decided to see what I did. I'm sad and happy I didn't see more. But I know I will in the sex trade class. And now I have tons to write about and examples to compare to. We left the island after three nights and rode on four buses and one boat to get back to Hanoi. Then we saw water puppets!! It was like nothing I've ever seen. Such skill and beauty! It was an art :) while I was waiting to get in a bunch of Vietnamese students came up to me and asked me questions in English as part of their hw. It made my day!! They were so happy and sweet and nice. Their English was good and it was so nice to finally feel like I was getting a cultural experience. As in Myanmar, I hated going to a country and havin little time to learn the language and culture. But in Vietnam it was worse because I was there for a short time and on vacation. I felt very much like a Western tourist and I didn't like it. So it was really nice to talk to some local people and see Vietnamese water puppets. Btw, Hanoi is crazy! So many people and so many motor bikes!! I can't believe that more people don't die of crashes! And the helmets are basically plastic shells. But more people wear them than in Chiang Mai. Went to the street market bu it was mostly low quality/fake western products. Went to sleep in a nice hostel and woke up at five for the plane. Finished my book, Wild!

Now I'm back in Bangkok and about to head to Chiang Mai. It was really nice to be in Vietnam. It was my first real vacation here. And in the end I was happy with the balance of cultural and non cultural experiences. It was very nice :) but it'll be nice to be back at Payap :) 

Immigration office!!

Today was spent at the immigration office. Woot! Was there from 8am-5pm. About as long as the employees. Was there with Alice and Erin. Thank god. We read and talked and ate and made fun of the traveling johns that were all over the place. It was fun and annoying and frustrating and crazy. We didn't have any instruction and messed up and ended up spending the whole day there. But whatever. It happened and it was an experience. I finished my hw and wrote emails and got my classes for next semester figured out and played fun games with my friends. By the end I had laughed way too much and was a little crazy lol but we got the visa extension!! So it's all ok :) dinner then hw and sleep!!!! It was a beautiful day today! No clouds and a cool breeze. Here's the sunset :)

Hanoi

Made it to Hanoi. Five hour journey. Now water puppets!!

Island life

Yesterday we did deep water soloing and kayaking and beaching and great food. It was awesome :) more sports climbing today and then another night on the island. Then heading back to Hanoi and then home again! So much traveling!!