Wednesday, January 26, 2011

lately...

Everyday feels like a week... in a good way though. I'm still at that point where every little thing is an adventure and fun and new. Each has new fun and food and tons of schoolwork too. On Tuesday my friend and I ventured into downtown Chiang Mai using awesome public transportation. Naturally, it was quite eventful. We had to go to the mall to get a camera battery and charger for my camera because silly me left mine in my wall at home... nice. It was an adventure packed day with a lot of laughs, a lot of confusion, and a lot of food. Also, Tuesday night we had a party for our professor's wife who was heading back to the states. Two words: Thai Karaoke... soooo many laughs. Then we lit floating lanterns (like in Tangled) and it was magical. Wednesday (yesterday) 3 of us girls went to a sports day for the Bible colleges in the area. It was great supporting our "team" aka the Lahu people we share a campus with. On the ride back we got to know some of them better and once again... had A LOT of laughs and good jokes. Basically, if we want a Lahu boyfriends... we have our pick. Also, I completed my first paper of the semester. Well, I'm off to pack... today we're going to a Lahu village near Chiang Rai to do surveys for a class project. We'll be gone till Sunday so this will be quite the adventure Hmmm.. I sense some themes here: laugh, adventure, food. Sounds good to me!

Monday, January 24, 2011

classes. massages. and weaving. oh my!

Ok, so I'm not the most faithful blogger ever, but nonetheless... here I go... where we left off... sleep is gradually getting better each night. It's awesome because I go to bed around 10 every night and naturally wake up by 8. If you know me at all... you know that's pretty darn impressive. Well, let's see when I last blogged, it had been all adventures and fun, but then reality set in on Wednesday morning when we had class. :D Fortunately, my profs are amazing and I'm learning so much and gaining so many new fresh perspectives and insights! We have had class from 9-11:30 and then 1-3:30 every weekday. BUT starting tomorrow we'll have a varying schedule and varying classes. So far we're taking Social Context for Community Development which is incredible and aligns closely with my passions and what I want to do in the future. The second class in Thai Cultural Arts which combines studio art concepts with cultural, religious, and philosophical perspectives. SO FUN! I've really been so challenged to dig deeper and search for answers to tougher questions. I have grown so much already academically and spiritually too. God's been teaching me so much about myself and others. I love being stretched like this and am grateful for it. Sometimes it takes getting out of our own context to really examine who we are and where we're headed. Good stuff. Just some food for thought.

On Saturday, a few of us girls went to the pool nearby and swam. perfect. Later in the day we ventured to the nearest town and got an hour massage for $4 US. Amazing! We also attempted brick oven pizza with dough and sauce from scratch and had merengue and salsa lessons while we waited. It was pretty much an ideal Saturday.

Today (Monday), we learned Lahu weaving! Basically, we have a ton of strings everywhere and have to figure out where they go. Those who know me more than just a passing glance or stumbling upon this blog know that I am not typically the best at art projects, however, this is really neat. It's crazy the amount of skill it takes and how unique weaving fabric is... To backtrack... the Lahu are a marginalized hill tribe group and the campus I live on is basically a Lahu Bible college where they also do practical life skills too. Also, they're trying to make it more self-sustaining/sustainable in terms of food production too! I'm a huge fan of that. :D

Random Fact: we get smoothies, iced coffee, and iced tea all the time and it's awesome!
Random Quote: "Bloom where you are planted" -random family favorite (although I'm sure it's not that original)
Random Story:: We often venture on our own for lunch to little roadside stands/restaurants where no one speaks English so half of the time I have no idea what I ordered until I'm eating it.


Also, brief disclaimer: this blog is just a simple college student updating her family and friends back home... so... sorry for any typing errors and for the hey-this-is-me-actually-talking-to-you-laid-back-type-of-thing format. Thanks.

Keeping-it-down-to-earth-but-focused-above,
Tiffany Noel

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Camping, Waterfalls, and FUN!

Sleep has not been my friend so much since being here, but that will come after the jet lag subsides. Yesterday (Monday) I woke up around 6 am before the sun. Although it was exhausting... the sunrise was awesome! The sun, first pink, peeked over the mountain and made incredible reflections on the soaking rice fields. As the sun rose it turned from pink to orange to bright yellow. Two of us went on a sunrise bike ride through the village surrounding our campus. We packed, ate lunch (amazing rice stir fry), and left for Doi Inthanon. It's the tallest mountain in Thailand. Up the mountain there are two cheti(s) which are temples built in honor of the king and queen with beautiful gardens (check out facebook for pictures)!!! We've been eating at little roadside places that are just the tastiest ever! Last night was camping which was pretty cold but adventurous in a pine forest. Sleep, once again, was nonexistent. For breakfast I had rice soup with pork (basically tasted like chicken noodle soup only BETTER). After that, we went to WATERFALLS! A lot of gorgeous waterfalls where we adventured and then swam in one! Seriously, BEST EVER! I love this place. We ate lunch on these little stationary bamboo rafts literally over the water. SO COOL! This has been amazing and... it's only DAY 3!

Random Fact: we only use "squatty potties" .......
Random Quote: "there's a big difference between exfoliation and chafing"
Random Story: I slid down a rock/waterfall like a slide... video coming soon to facebook...

Sunday, January 16, 2011

An additional p.s. to the post below... I'll try to make them shorter and quicker to read. Also, I'm seriously tired so maybe they'll be more poetic and descriptive once I sleeeeeeeep.

Adventures in Asia

Orientation began on Wednesday near Dulles airport outside of DC. Ironically for dinner we had amazing Thai food. Thursday we ventured into DC and went to the Asian art museum, Holocaust museum, and Union Station for dinner. Although I've spent a significant amount of time in DC, I had never been to either of these museums. The Asian one was intriguing, but the Holocaust museum was very sobering. It kind of put things in perspective as we're going to be living around and working with exploited and marginalized people. A quote from the wall on the museum was directly from scripture. Deuteronomy 4:9 says, "9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." I hope to carry this through as a goal for my time in Thailand. Pretty amazing stuff.

So back to the travel... we endured a 12 hour flight to Tokyo followed by a layover in the freezing airport there. Next we flew to Bangkok and I enjoyed red beef curry, som tum (papaya salad) and mango with sticky rice. Most everyone slept during that layover, but I didn't. In fact. I've only slept 4 or 5 hours since Thursday. I'm a zombie writing this pretty much. So we arrived in Chiang Mai (oh, fyi, Thai airways is incredible!) We were greeted by our student life coordinators (SLCs) annd other faculty with amazing-good-smelling flowers. Then we drove to our campus (shared with a bivocational school for the Lahu hill tribe people.) It is incredible!!! unfortunately, I lost my camera battery and charger so no pictures for a while. BUT I'm soaking it all in. We're surrounding by fields of rice and thai chilis. All of the art and architecture are so intricate and beautiful. We went on bike rides to explore. The weather is UNBELIEVABLE! It has been so much fun and our group of girls has had a blast and bonded so well already.

We had a brief orientation time and then went to the Chiang Mai night market. The public transportation is a blast! The night market was so cool and food so cheap. Like my full dinner cost about $1. This place is incredible. I know, I know, totally in the honeymoon phase of culture shock, but I never thought I would love it this much. I love the food. Every sense is awakened when walking through the market. It's wonderful.

Random fact: there are a lot of small domesticated dogs everywhere and they all wear t-shirts and sweaters. hehe.
Random story: one of my friends/housemates/classmates whatever we call ourselves.... and I laughed hysterically as we tried to ride a bike with two people on it. Balance is hard and we almost fell into a soaking rice field.
Random Quote: "One cannot consent to creep, when one has an impulse to soar."

much love,
T. noel

Sunday, January 9, 2011

From Swaziland 2008 to Thailand 2011...

Well, this is the old trusty blog from a few years back filled with heaps of incredible memories. Needless to say... I'm fond of this whole traveling bit, so I'm back at again. This time... study abroad for 4 months in (drum roll please)... THAILAND. I leave in 4 days(ish) and am looking forward to a whole new spectrum of adventure and culture. But for now, I must sleep and pack and sleep and pack, so stay tuned for more information and fun to follow!