And the Clock Strikes Midnight

Church gathering for the baptism!

So it's all over now. My gap year, I mean. Even after 365 days of summer I still don't feel like I got to do everything I wanted to. Five months in Portland, a killer marathon, learning to ski, Amsterdam, Germany, Switzerland, Costa Rica, America by train, cruise the Caribbean, chill in DC, Thailand, Singapore, and Thailand again. And yet it still isn't enough. Unfortunately, I've run out of funds and parents are making me do this school thing, so more travel is out of the question. I guess that means it's time to reflect on everything that's happened in the past year. But first I have to fill you in on what's been going on lately in Thailand.
From my point of view, life here has become normal, and while it's still exciting, I don't feel like anything headline worthy happens here. But it does. Tons of stuff happens here, and I just forget that for other people it might actually be interesting. So here it goes:


Harry Potter


Last weekend I went to Chiang Mai with Megan, my friend who's here as a Peace Corps Volunteer. There we met up with her friend Lisa, who is also a Peace Corps volunteer, and we watched the premiere of the new Harry Potter movie. This was a little awkward because I've never actually seen the previous Harry Potter movies, nor was I anticipating the new one. I went for more of a social thing. But now that I have seen the last (and only the last) Harry Potter movie, I can feel a little more in tune with all the wizard freaks of my generation. The movie was well-made and the acting was good, so I'll give it that. I've just never been into the whole witch/wizard thing. I mean, I wouldn't mind being able to be invisible every once in a while, but people really freak out about the whole Harry Potter stuff-- to the point where I was convinced that it was a like a big whirlpool, and if you accidentally fell in, well.... you're just a geek for life. 
But it wasn't like that. Actually, it was nice being able to catch up on the entire series without having to sit through seven 3-hour movies and read a bunch of 1,000-page books. In 90 minutes I was set with the whole Harry Potter thing. And for all of you HP freaks: I'm sorry it's over. But look on the bright side! They all lived happily ever after. So in the end it's just one long series that ends like a chic flick with smiles and kisses. Except it didn't have Jen Aniston or Julia Roberts or attractive guys (I refuse to believe that Harry or Ron are attractive). But that's okay. A happy ending is all that matters, right?


Village Visit!

The only picture I took in the village...

When I got back school was out for a few days because of the Buddhist holidays, so I went on a village visit with our staff to Baan Maneepruk 1, a Hmong village way up in the mountains. I really like the villages because they're eternally cool, not hot, not cold, just pleasant. And you know how I feel about the heat.....
I wish I could tell you that I was able to us my awesome Thai language skills to talk to tons of people and bring villagers to Christ. I wish I could say that we held a big VBS and tons of kids came and heard the gospel message and got saved. But none of that happened. And none of that will probably ever happen. I don't know if I've explained much about where I live and the people I work with, but I'll tell you now.
Here we have three missionaries from the states, David and Cheri, who have two children, and Jeri. Jeri is in charge of the Life Development Center (LDC) and David helps with the Thai staff and Cheri is in charge of all the English programs. Our Thai staff (there are 14 of them) are mostly tribal, meaning they come from the villages and thus speak Hmong, Mien, Lua, and all the other languages that people in the villages speak. Villagers speak their native language first, then they learn Northern Thai, which only has about a 60% overlap with Central Thai (the same as Spanish and Portuguese), and then they learn Central Thai, and, if they're lucky in school, English. So obviously, their Central Thai is substandard and their English is even worse. Therefore, it's impossible for the missionaries and I to communicate with them. That's why we need our Thai staff, people who have been villagers and speak the same language and are considered more trustworthy by the locals. So our Thai staff goes into the villages every day to do evangelism and community development. Our Thai staff is awesome and they're all awesome at what they do. I love them all. 
So when I went into the village with our Thai staff, I walked around with them, and every time we got to a house or a project they were going to help with, I was told to "Seet don." Then I watched, listened, and had conversations with me, myself, and I until it was time to go somewhere else and work on another project. Although it sounds uninteresting, it was great being a fly on the wall in this village. The way of life is completely different than that of the Thai or American way. For example, we didn't eat dinner until around 8 pm. As I was about to gnaw off my arm, I remembered the Thai way of eating, which is to take a spoonful of rice from your plate, carefully sculpt it for about 30 seconds, insert it into your mouth, chew it approximately 47 times, swallow, have a short conversation with the person next to you, and repeat. It takes them about 30 minutes to finish one bowl of rice. I was a little worried I wasn't going to be able to keep this pace with my empty stomach, but I was quite pleased when dinner was served. It turns out the Hmongs like to stuff their face as fast as possible for 10-12 minutes, and once no more food can possibly fit down the throat, the plate is placed in the wash bucket. Let your stomach go empty. Stuff your face for 10 minutes. Wash your plate. This is totally my kind of eating. If I were to come back to Thailand next summer (which is 99.9% guaranteed), I would prefer to live in a village because of the pleasant weather and the better food (besides the way in which food is consumed, all the villagers have ulcers and are thus unable to eat spicy food or MSG, both of which I hate). And pleasant food and weather equals a pleasant Gabbie :)


My Last Day of Teaching

Me creeping out my students.

My last day of teaching was pretty nice. I mean, it was my last day, so there wasn't anything to complain about. I've enjoyed teaching English here, I really have. But I can now say that I'm glad I'm not two years into an education major, because I would be changing that once I arrived back on campus. I don't mind teaching, and I've been told I'm good at it, but I couldn't do it for forever. Especially not kids who don't want to learn (like those I taught in public school). But nonetheless, my teaching experience here was pleasant, and it ended with a gift from the school and an applause from the class. My teacher told me "The children go to clap their hands to show thank you to you." Best applause ever. I really am going to miss being around people who speak broken English. They make life much more interesting :)


Weekend Classes


However, I did have students that I helped Rebecca and LaRanda (two Nehemiah girls) teach. And these kids did want to learn! So it was super fun. It was a teen/young adult class, and these kids were already learning English in school, and they just really needed a place to practice it. We taught on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. But here's the even cooler part: 
We had about 12-15 kids in the class (it varied every day). Only 3 of these kids were Christian and went to our church (remember that less than 1% of the Thai population proclaims Christianity). So the rest of the students were friends of Mu, Nook, and Jeffey (our Christians). And guess what happened two weeks ago? Neung, on of Mu's friends, became a Christian! This is super exciting, obviously. But it's even more exciting because of where we are. Thailand is a Buddhist country. Buddhism is more than just the religion, it's the culture (just like Christianity in America). At first Neung's mother kicked her out for converting, but later let her come back, telling her that she would receive beatings from her father when he returned home. The awesome part is that Neung never backed down. She was baptized the following week and I'm proud to now call her my sister in Christ! And did I mention she recieved Christ on a Buddhist holiday weekend? Let me put this into perspective for you: it would be like a Southern Baptist preacher's daughter coming home on Christmas and informing her family that she was converting to Islam. Obviously, it wouldn't be well-received by the 'rents. So, go Neung!

Our Pastor and Neung!

Leaving


Leaving the country is actually quite exciting. I get plenty of gifts and chocolate cake and cookies and tons of other excuses to eat junk food. Sunday night Megan and I had a High School Musical marathon, since we're both die-hard fans of Zac Efron (a perfect example of perfection in biology). We had Mac & Cheese (from the blue box!) and chocolate cake. And then chocolate cake for breakfast! And for my going away dinner at the compound I learned to make Pad Siu, a dish that's kind of like Pad Thai but with smaller and dryer noodles. My parting gifts from students and friends have included purses, clothing, a table cloth, little dust-collecting trinkets, jars of candy, and a teddy bear half my size. My poor, poor suitcase....


As much as I love Thailand, and as much as I would like to keep traveling for another year, I'm looking forward to getting back to the States, visiting my family, and having a more routine schedule. There are a lot of things about Thailand that I've gotten used to, but now that I'm leaving, I realize just how weird they are. For example, in the shopping mall in Chiang Mai, they have a karaoke studio. Not one in which you get up and sing in front of people, but where you sit in a little compartment with a TV and microphone and sing to yourself. Weird, I know.
People in Asia also have no sense of a "personal bubble." They insist on holding my hand to cross the street (interlocking fingers and everything), even though I'm seventeen and came all the way to the other side of the world on my own. Cheri's kids, Noah and Sydney, have picked up this cultural trait, and I started charging them every time they popped my personal bubble. They quickly learned the American way.
As I mentioned before, people take forever to eat. However, they don't wash their hands before they eat. Or before they do anything, for that matter. Hand washing is a foreign concept here, and I'm sure my immune system is more powerful than Napoleon's army after 3 months here. It is also perfectly acceptable to pick your nose in public, however picking at your teeth is considered insulting. 
You must also never point the soles of your feet directly at someone. The bottoms of your shoes are considered filthy. Every time you go into a building you remove your shoes, so life is easier if you just wear flip flops everywhere. Also, every time you pass by someone older and more respected than you, you must bow your head below theirs. And when you pass younger people, like children, you must never wai them (do the little bow-greeting that they do). Apparently it wishes them bad luck and it is rumored to take 10 years off their life. This rumor is not true, however, since I tried it on some of my students two dozen times and they are still alive. 
There's another thing you should know: I broke the law here. Big time. If you receive a postcard from me from Thailand, you should know that that stamp was placed illegally on the card. Why? Because the stamp has the king on it. And you can't lick the back of the stamp, which is essentially the back of the king's head, a most holy part of the body. And I licked the stamps. Not in public, of course, because that would have been bad. But I'm a closet criminal. Don't tell the cops.
One thing that worries me as I go back to the states is the driving. Here they drive on the other side of the road, and I'm just getting used to that. I no longer get those little panic attacks when we turn into the opposite lane. But I have a feeling they'll be returning when I get back to the states. Also, everyone here drives little mopeds. EVERYONE. In the States they're only for gay guys and people who can't afford a real motorcycle. But here they're the common mode of transportation. I'll miss the sounds of those little motors humming at 30 mph....


And now as I sit here at the airport waiting to go home, I'm supposed to reflect on life and pop out a few deep and inspirational quotes. Except I don't really feel like doing that. So I'll tell you about my taxi ride from the bus station to here. My driver's name was Jak, and he has been a taxi driver for 5 months. He used to work in business but "something went wrong" (whatever that means). He has two children, a son, 20, and a daughter, 16. His favorite sport is football (soccer) and read in the newspaper this morning that the American economy is in turmoil. He also told me that someone told him that every country and corporation has corruption. I told him I agreed, and he said he agreed. He has been studying English for two years, and loves having English-speaking passengers so he can practice. As I got out of the taxi, I realized that my job as an English teacher doesn't stop until I actually step on the plane. And when I do step on that plane and it takes off, I will be able to say that I had a pleasant time here in Thailand. I love it, I really do. Thailand makes Europe seem unoriginal and boring. The culture, the people, the food, the taxi drivers, everything is different here. Even the toilets are different. And they put salt in their lemonade and sugar on their popcorn. But that's okay. If you can get used to that, you're set. Come step out of your comfort zone, you won't regret it!


So now it's time for me to go back and go to school. For those of you who haven't heard, my ROTC scholarship was revoked due to my history of exercise-induced asthma. Oh well. I suppose that's how the Department of Defense is dealing with budget cuts: crack down on medical reviews. I suppose I'm not supposed to get a free education and go into the military after all. But that's okay, because I have a new plan. I want to go to college at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, become a pilot (something the military would never let me do because I'm not a perfect specimen), and do the whole fly-missionaries-and-supplies-to-remote-places thing. And medical and disaster evacuations. And the Samaritan's Purse shoebox thing. So that's the plan. Fly planes. Save lives. Return to Thailand next summer to live in the village. 
This is my last blog, so for those of you still reading, thanks for still being interested in my noninteresting life! This year of travel has been a blast, and if I could do another one I would. Except that now I have to pay for college, so if you see me on a street corner with a coffee cup full of change, be generous to me. I want to come back here :)