Check out this handsome guy:)


Christopher decided it was time to shave the grizzly adam's look. And he got a haircut. I guess it's not fun to wear a bug trap around your mouth in hot sticky weather. It looked so great with his short sleeved church shirt for Thailand, that he decided to wear his retainer for the picture too.
Good News!!- Chris got accepted to UT Houston! We are still unsure whether we will give up our plans for Lubbock- once we get some more information on costs, etc, we will be able to decide. Yeah for Chris!!!!!

This past week has been full of teaching and service opportunities. Last night we taught the English teachers of a school nearby. The lesson went really well, and today I will be writing up a project proposal and some long term lesson plans to leave with the incoming volunteers for the summer. It has been a fun opportunity to teach such a variety of groups- kindergartners, at-risk children, adults, etc. I have decided that I REALLY want to teach full time this next year and am beginning to look for any kind of teaching jobs in Lubbock/Houston. Let me know if you know of any needed elementary, ESL, Spanish, or English teachers in the area:)

Lat weekend we woke up at 3 am to take a 2 hour bus ride to hike Pung Chi Fah, a hike that borders Laos. It was a foggy morning and instead of seeing the spectacular sunrise over the valley as we had hoped, we got a real taste of walking on the clouds as we hiked through the fog and waited at the top of the mountain for the sun to come up and clear away the mist. Here is a picture of the happy group of volunteers who woke up at 3 A.M. to hike through the clouds:

That same Saturday, we then utilized the van we had hired for the day and drove to the other side of Chiang Rai where we visited a legit Thai American Ostrich Farm. If i hadn't been from America, i would have thought this bird riding sport was no uncommon activity for the American cowboy westerners. All of the Thai people working at the "ranch" wore cowboy hats and we rode those birds with Johny Cash playing in the background. I don't think i've ever heard of people in the U.S. riding ostriches. I'm pretty sure it's another one of those things that wouldn't pass in America; like playing with tigers who are sedated day after day; or purchasing full elephant tusks from any road side vendor. But don't worry. We were good to the ostriches who let us climb up on their backs and hold on to their feathers while they took off.

After the ostrich adventure we drove to a long-neck village close to the border of Burma. The women of the hill tribe traditionally wear golden rings around their necks to stretch their necks. It has been a custom and a sign of beauty to do so. Some women wear them around their arms or calves and have weird shaped legs/arms from such. Once a year they remove the rings for cleaning, and then periodically add a layer of the rings to stretch the growth. It was a poor little village; I was shocked by the tradition of beauty these women maintained. It made me reflect on the plastic surgery, corsets, waxing, spa days, hair appointments, and dieting that western women have done over the years to maintain beauty. It was sobering to reflect on the torturous allusion that beauty is pain.

This boy was so cute sitting outside of one of the homes in the long necked village- I had to take a picture:). He was sitting in a pile of ants and chewing on a stick when we walked by.

Bridge made out of bamboo-I seriously thought it was going to break!

This was one of the village girls making some of the Thai silk scarves they sold in the village.

This girl was soooo cute- she took a picture with each of us;

When they take their rings off once a year to clean them, they have no support to hold their necks up and would die without keeping the rings on their neck. Ouch.

This is a picture of the creativity class we taught one day at the DEPDC. (The school for the at-risk-trafficking victims).

Good news everyone. Chris and i have decided to adopt. We don't think it should be too difficult to get one of these cute little Thai babies through security. Not really. But the Thai babies are sooooo cute!

Yesterday we went with the mobile clinic from the Chiang Rai to travel to one of the outer hospital sites and help with general surgeries. And by help, I mean, we really just watched. But it was soooo gross! We stayed with the nurses for 4 cataract surgeries. (Which was great for Chris to experience!,- i left after the first two and read my book just outside the surgery area- didn't want to lose my stomach in the surgery room....)

Chris in his element:

This morning we stopped at a market to get some fruit for breakfast:

Most of the Thai people purchase their food for the day each morning. I took a quick photo of one of the chicken tables....The little black things on the meat are flies; not raisins. Gross.