HELLO Thailand! and Intro

Hey guys! Welcome to my blog! The purpose of this website is for people like YOU to be able to keep up with me and my Thailand travels and to experience this cultural maze with me! And thanks for your dedication - it really means a lot. Please feel free to comment on my posts and let me know what you're thinking... knowing your thoughts will help keep me in familiar company as I read them :).

As for my journey so far, I have to say that the people here have been extremely welcoming and friendly. It really is the land of smiles! As a whole, the people are so genuinely respectful of each other and foreigners, which is incredibly refreshing coming from the United States. The food is very fresh and flavorful! For as much as I have never really liked Asian foods, this food is OK in my mouth! For those of you who have never tried Thai food, I will recommend it to you! I wish I could tell you what to order when you go... unfortunately and probably not surprisingly, I can't remember any of the names of the dishes I've been served so far. Sorry, maybe later! Which brings me to my next subject...

Learning the creative language of Thai! Purchasing my Thai learning software at the beginning of my summer and having a great, mini phrasebook with me here at all times have proved worthy of their expenses and time I've spent with them! God has really opened my mind to learning the language quickly... well, or at least quicker than I thought :). I can hear the specific words that people say instead of "asljdhuiqpcmasdenakbdk" mumble jumble, hahaha. And we have been in the care of three incredible girls that have been translating and cooking for us the past long weekend: Mu, Baw, and Ying. They're about our age and are also part of the same mission as we have all come to be a part of. Anyways, I hope that I'll be able to speak Thai well for you all when I come back! Also, I'd like to prepare some Thai foods as well, because we've definitely been taking part in preparing the meals.

To summarize our first week here, I want to give you, my wonderful reader, a taste of what it's been like for me here in as few words as possible. If there is something you would like for me to expand on, I will be glad to do so - just send me a quick e-mail with your questions and specific wonderings! E-mail has actually been fairly accessible, almost on a daily basis so far. I can't promise it will be like that all the time, but at least for the next few weeks. To continue, I've seen a couple of the biggest spiders of my life (one being a tarantula!), a beautiful (but scary) turquoise scorpion, and large, can-be-deadly- ants. I honestly wasn't aware of how "out in the jungle" we really were going to be! Squat-pots have been an interesting and amusing change from a flushing toilet, and I've thoroughly enjoyed bathing with a large basin, ladle, and chilly but refreshing water from the ground. It's actually very fast and efficient! There are rice patty fields everywhere - literally - and they're vibrantly green and beautiful. And so far I haven't payed more than... oh... a dollar for a full-fledged meal. I'm finally getting used to the time change; I haven't been getting sleepy around noon and 4 o'clock for the past couple days. I guess that means it has taken about 5 full days to adjust, which is not bad now that I'm looking back on it :).

Well wishes to you until next time. Thanks for joining me here! I'll be posting some pictures soon...