Sometimes in Thailand... - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Thailand is a country filled with so much culture and different experiences. It’s been such an adventure trying to figure it out and adjust to, leaving us with a whole bunch of funny stories to tell. Just to name a few, sometimes in Thailand…..

The person at the door is an Elephant.

My team and I were just hanging around in our room during an off day when we heard our contact shouting for us. We quickly came out and sure enough there was just an elephant hanging around the front door for us to pet and feed some bananas to!
Geckos are a girls best friend.

If you are in a house here in Thailand for 10 minutes or less you’re more than likely to spy a couple geckos running around the surrounding walls. At first you might be a little alarmed but don’t worry, they’re harmless and eat all of those pesky mosquitoes…making them your new best friend. Plus they’re just so darn cute!
Sometimes the food you eat still has it’s face.

Living right by the water means 3 things: a lot of mosquitoes, floating markets, and seafood…. all I’ll say is eating seafood has been an experience filled with a lot of prayer and questions on how to eat it.
It takes you a week to figure out to use the toilet correctly.

Believe it or not…toilets can be complicated in different countries.
You have a pet squirrel.

We named him David Steven. He’s the best pet ever, and he does flips.
You think you eat your pet squirrel.

So on the second day here in Thailand we went back to visit David Steven and he was “mysteriously” missing from his cage. Then we sat down for lunch and were served some “mysterious” looking meat. We put two and two together and were pretty distraught for a few days until we were later told that he is very much alive. In reality, he is just a very well trained squirrel that they let run around and they just call his name when they want him to come.
You see Monkeys on your way to school.

At the end of our time with this ministry my team will have gone to around 34 different schools in Thailand. Traveling to so many different schools allows you to see a lot of different landscapes around Thailand, and some of those are more tropical and out in the wilderness allowing you to see a bunch of monkeys during your drive!
You get to hold English Camps at Buddhist Monk Schools.

During our time in Thailand my team is involved in a couple different types of ministry. But our main one is holding English camps at monk schools. Each school is different but typically it consists of us holding different stations in the morning. The stations will either be all English classes, or a mixture of English, Bible classes, and Music classes. Then we have an assembly for a couple hours in the afternoon doing skits, songs, games, handing out bibles, and doing other activities with the school (During the month of December the assembly also consists of Christmas songs and handing out Operation Christmas Boxes!).
Your contact gives you “something sweet”

And sometimes that sweet thing is fried squid on a stick. That’s all I have to say about that.
It’s a gift from heaven when you find a coffee shop using real coffee.

Instant coffee is everywhere. In the houses, schools, coffee stands, and even in most coffee shops. It’s usually always a 3 in 1 coffee (literally meaning 52% sugar, 28% creamer, 20% instant Coffee), aka it’s extremely sweet. So when you find a coffee shop that uses actual real coffee and doesn’t make it sickly sweet, you treasure that place and go there as much as you can.
You should always be prepared for anything.

And know that you are never gonna be prepared. But you learn to be flexible as everything your told the night before changes the next day. Just to give you an example, on our first night in Thailand we were told to prepare to sing around 3 or 5 Christmas songs to the school. Turns out we were actually doing an hour or more professional assembly which could possibly include 3-5 Christmas songs.
You meet the Chairman of the province your staying in.

We met the Chairman during our first week to receive his blessing/give him a gift and just meet him because he apparently loves foreigners. In return for our present we gave him, he kindly gave us these oh so adorable dolls…
You get to go out to a Karaoke night with said Chairman of the Province.

Let’s just say singing Barbie Girl has never been so interesting.
You get set up with every single man in the province.

One of the first questions we were asked was if we were in a relationship. Now every time we meet any guy our contact tells us that they too are single, and if he sees you talking to them he will come up smiling and say, “Yes, _____ is really good boy”
You get to take a trip to Laos with your whole squad to renew your visas.

Even though a lot of time was spent on a bus, train, or waiting in the Embassy, Laos is a beautiful country. Not to mention that we were actually able to find pizza, hamburgers, and amazing coffee…
You get eaten alive by Mosquitoes.

Bottom-line: They’re everywhere, there’s no escape, and you don’t get used to them.
It may look like you have a mattress….

But don’t let all the fun animated material fool you… all your really sleeping on is a block of Styrofoam.
You get to kiss a snake.

I mean why not right?
You get to eat some of the best fruit you’ve ever had.

Pineapple, Rose apples, Pommelo, Guavas, Watermelon… it’s seriously the best
You get a mixture of pills as a gift for caroling.

When Christmas Caroling in Thailand, it’s customary for the person to invite you into their house and to exchange gifts. (Usually they give you water and some kind of snack). One of the houses happened to be a Politician who had prepared some delicious fruit, coconut dessert, and Thai iced tea. Afterwards she told us about how before she was a politician she was a nurse, and then proceeded to give us a container with her face on the it that was filled with a bunch of different meds inside.
You get a Thai Massage.

It will hurt… But afterwards, you’ll have never felt better.
You sing Christmas songs in the middle of a department store.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear. And the best way to do that…is by spending Christmas Day singing right smack in the middle of a busy department store of course!
You get a surprise visit from a spider as big as your hand.

Nothing makes you sleep better as much as a huge spider appearing in your room right before you go to bed…Thank God for your contact coming in with a huge mallet to save the day! Even though it created a nice dent in our wall, it was worth it, for the spider was dead and we could safely go to bed..a few hours later.
You get to wear bright yellow “We Love the King!” shirts to ministry…everyday

If you need to know anything before going to Thailand, you need to know that the King is a great man! And his birthday is in December, so naturally you celebrate it for the whole month. That means everyone was asked to wear the Kings color (yellow) for the whole month, and our contact generously gave us these fun shirts to wear everyday to ministry!