Rice fields and smiling folks...

Soooo.... I love Thailand. The longer I'm here the more I want to stay here. The thai people never stop smiling, I've worn my shoes maybe 25% of the time, geckos are plastered all over the walls, the sky is insanely beautiful (you wouldn't believe what the clouds look like) and Americans can pretty much get away with anything.

I'm learning a few thai words, mostly so that I don't stick out like a giant sore thumb amongst the crowd of well traveled individuals that I work with... but also because the language is beautiful. It's good comic relief to listen to the "pharong" (foreigners) start to talk in short english... for example... You smile is good.... you like cricket?... it so hot... so when i go back to the states don't be surprised if you catch me talking like this.

The last week we've done team training... I think I mentioned it in the last blog... team training also included plenty of team bonding which in turn leads to sleepless nights and beyond exhausted days. I have no idea how i'm up functioning enough to write this blog right now... I can't justify napping though, not when I'm in such an amazing place with some of the most interesting people I've ever met.

The first group of teens got in today... the second group gets in tomorrow, From what I can gather a typical week goes something like this:

Thursday- arrival/departures

Friday-intro to Thai cultures

Sat-Wed- service/adventure things

I will be at the ricefields for 5 weeks. That's where I am now... I'm helping to lead the village health care program that is ran out of here. We go into local villages and the teens get hands on experience taking blood pressure, testing blood sugar and figuring out blood types. Then I will lead an Amazing Thailand trip for one week, followed by the Elephant conservation camp for a week, then head to Laos to lead the Mystical caves and shamans for a week and then back at the ricefields for 2 weeks before I head home.

We have been told too many times to count that things change at the drop of a dime here though so all I can do is pray and beg to keep my schedule the way it is...