January 18, 2015
I wanted to assure all of you out there (in case it hasn’t been clear on facebook or the blog) that I am really ENJOYING my time here! I just discovered that when I posted things on facebook, the setting was set to private—so only one person was seeing my posts. I changed that and hopefully you all can see them now on facebook.
Just this past Saturday, Jan 17, our squad got to ride elephants! We all climbed into two “Saungetoaws” (sp?) and traveled outside the city to where the elephants were. Our conversation in our vehicle is probably not blog appropriate as it contains graphic details on what to do in survival situations, particularly with human waste. We all were both greatly entertained and disturbed by the discussion. 
I got to ride an elephant named Muku with Hak Young and Kylene. Kylene was the lucky one, however; she got to actually ride on the elephant and not on the seat on top of him. I loved our ride, but I very much hope that we will get to ride elephants again without the seats and have a more interactive experience with them. Then I can scratch that off my bucket list. But ugh! We were so lucky just to hang around elephants at all! I love them!!!
Our elephant was pretty mellow and boring. However, some of the other elephant riders had VERY interactive experiences. One elephant was kind and picked up one of our leader’s shoes when they accidentally fell on the ground, and literally handed them back to him.
Another elephant was cranky and slapped it’s rider on the chest with its muddy trunk. One girl on our team wore a dirty elephant marked t-shirt for the rest of the day.
Others rode the parents of a baby elephant that traveled with us on the trail–they freaked out when the little one stumbled. All riders yelped and clutched their seats as the parents scrambled to help their baby.
Aubrey, I think, had the most exciting experience. She sat on the head of an elephant that was so hungry it would climb the hillside scavenging for food, with no thought at all for the people on its back whatsoever. Many times she could be seen clutching the elephant’s head with Scott, our leader, clutching her shirt so that she wouldn’t fall, as the elephant was nearly vertical trying to reach a bamboo branch. 
Besides riding these elephants in beautiful Thailand trails, we also got to sail down a river on bamboo rafts! Jay, Joy, Maggie, and I were on one and we had a fun time trying to balance standing up, doing the wobble when we felt extra brave, spotting river snakes (For Elijah, I saw a “nake” ssssssssss), and striking yoga poses, all the while desperately trying not to touch the actual river! Others were not so fortunate. Many rafts tipped dangerously and a couple people slipped right off of them into the river. Others had mischievous raft partners who would try their hardest to throw their teammates off the bamboo rafts.
After that we walked to a waterfall that some of us got to swim by. The water was sooooooo cold it was hard to explain. Your lungs have trouble remembering to how to take a full breath, and all the muscles in your body, including the ones in your face, contort in a fit that says “I don’t like it!” A few of us tried swimming as close to the waterfall as we could, but the current kept pushing us back. It was the first time I’ve been swimming in two years, since my surgeries, and I LOVED it!
The night before we also had a farewell party for our Fusion parents, and were so excited playing a balloon popping competition that people downstairs thought we were actually being shot with all the loud pooping and screams. One brave girl raced up the stairs armed only with pepper spray to save us!
We’ve been having dance parties where we do the Wobble, the Cupid Shuffle, and the Macarena. At one point we had a dancing circle where people would call each other inside to do dance moves. I apparently shocked my squad badly when I did the worm with one of our squad leaders, See Eun. They now look at me a look that either shows respect or a little suspicion; I’m not quite what I seem. 😉 I’m just glad that I can still do it!
So yes, we are enjoying ourselves as well as working and praying hard in our training. J
And hallelujah, more stories and adventures will come!
