i have been in aisa for 10 days and it seems like i have been here for months. since i left the states, i have logged 55 hours traveling.
i arrived in bangkok, thailand on the morning of the 4th and jumped right into scouring the markets for material and beads. rachel, la, and i spent 4 days searching through booth after booth at the chinese market. we found a lot of amazing items that the women we work with will use to make products.
from the market and from playing around with the material we bought, we have many different ideas in the making. we are both very excited about what is coming up for eth.nik!
i left bangkok on the evening of the 7th and got to vientiane, laos the next morning. we took a 12 hour sleeper train. i use the term "sleeper" lightly, they
were sold out of beds, so we had sit-up seats the whole night.
once we arrived in vientiane, we hit the ground running. rachel took me around to meet different people and learn about different ministries. i got a small understanding of the different ministries that we are working with and how we all mesh together to help each other out. i also learned how to drive a motorbike, but haven't braved traffic yet. for now i'm sticking to neighborhood roads and parking lots.
my second day in laos, i met two girls that teach here. they invited me to go north with them for the weekend to luang prabang, laos. it used to be the capital and is known for its beautiful landscape. we spent two days there, after an 11 hour over night bus ride. my description of that is 11 hours od extreme turbulence. if you don't get motion sick, you would after that trip. but it was all worth is for the weekend we spent in luang prabang.
we met some teachers from the international school there. one lady and her daughters took us to a waterfall and we spent the day exploring there.
the second day, we took a tuk tuk (a sort of open air taxi) to a place called tad se to see elephants. we got a chance to ride them in wooded area, that i'll call a jungle just for this story's sake. i was riding bare back on the elephant and it bent down really fast to eat, and i almost fell off! i slid and had to grab his ear to keep myself on. probably one of the top 10 scariest experiences of my life.
on another long 11 hour turbulence night bus i sat next to a lao girl and a chicken the whole way back (yes a chicken). finally back in vientiane, i got some rest and went to sef (sunday evening fellowship). it was nice to be back "home" and to be finished traveling for a little while. i had the opportunity to meet a lot of people at sef and went out after with a group from there.
now, i am starting on meeting people from the different ministries, working on prototypes for products, and starting language study.
things to lift up:
-la got in a motorbike wreck (she was hit by a drunk driver). she is headed south to her home town for a couple of weeks. she isn't seriously injured, but she's in a lot of pain.
-for me as i am learning my way around and starting language.
-for rachel as she is a conference in thailand.
thanks for reading!
