Yes, another country another blog about the logistics of what I am doing on the World Race. It’s been a while writing blogs and firstly, I would like to apologize for that…..AGAIN. The Race is a time when I get so wrapped with work during the week all I want to do on the weekends is relax, sleep, have fun, sleep, eat, and sleep some more! I will try and bust out a couple blogs today and then post them periodically over the next couple weeks.
YO GUESS WHAT?! I’m headed to Africa next week. Holy crap. I can’t believe it, but lets stay focused on Thailand because it deserves it.
Country Overview:
Location – Chiang Mai, Thailand
Language – Thai/ English
Currency – Baht ($1 USD = around 30 Baht)
Ministry Name – Wildflower Home
Team Name – Team Spice Girls- for the third country!
(Teammates: Codi Moore, Missy Leuthold, Katrina Chaney, Emalea Macinnes, Alyssa
Boss, and Vanessa Donnamaria)
Our Home: We call Chiang Mai our home this month. Chiang Mai is a city that has around 200,000 people living here. Chiang Mai is also home to an AIM base (The World Race organization has a property/business in which they can serve the city all year-round while also hosting Racers). Lucky for my squad and I, the business is a hostel! Therefore, we are living with great amenities. This month we have beds, AC at night, a kitchen, great showers and bathroom situations, and live above a tasty coffee shop. While I miss living in a village like we did in Cambodia because of the simplicity of it, I have loved being able to walk around the city and see it all has to offer. One of my favorite things about where we are living are all the open-air food markets and night bazaars! Each market has a different vibe that it gives off and so it’s been amazing to go in search of different markets and bazaars. Pad Thai is a regular meal for me. In America you think you can eat good Pad Thai, but nope. You must get it in Thailand to know what real Pad Thai tastes like. It’s life changing…and usually its less than $2.
Our Mission: This month we are working at Wildflower Home. This organization is a home for women and their children fleeing from domestic violence, family abandonment, and/or refugees looking for a safe place to stay. Wildflower Home focuses on providing therapy, empowerment programs, teaching self-defense, and teaching self-sustaining jobs such as eco-farming, sewing, making organic soaps/shampoos, etc. Women and children can stay for as long as they want/need to get back on their feet. The Home is also a self-sustaining farm so almost everything that they are eating is produced on the farm. There are chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, mushroom houses (where they are farming mushrooms and then able to sell them in markets), banana trees, and every sort of veggie and herbs you can think of in multiple greenhouses. I could go on and on about this place because it is everything that I love in life: Empowering women who have faced trauma and the joys of farm life. You can take the girl out of Iowa, but you can never take Iowa out of the girl! My team and I have had the opportunity to provide free labor to the Home. Without volunteers coming in and helping with what we are doing, Wildflower Home would have to use their money to pay for laborers. With this being said, much of our time at the Home has consisted of moving dirt via wheelbarrows from where the dump truck can reach to an area deep in the farm that has had issues flooding. We are leveling out the whole area to create better landscaping for them. As a wheelbarrow operator (Ha!) I have walked around 5 miles a day in laps from the dirt pile to the hole site! It has been great to see the progress throughout the last couple weeks. We have also helped clean out a daycare building and koi pond, played with the children, spent a lot of quality time with the women, host a spa day, join the women when they tie dyed and made soaps, and so much more. My favorite thing that I have been able to do while here has been helping one of the women with pig chores every day! While it gets pretty messy, it’s been great to be able to interact with the woman and the animals in a special way. Overall, this may be one of my favorite organizations that I have ever worked with – there is something amazing about the way they empower and teach that has my heart melting.
How am I?
In the past “When In…” blogs, I have exposed you to different check-in activities that we do at the end of the day with our team. I’ve shown High Low Buffalo, Rose Bud Thorn, as well as ESP with you. Because we have gone through all the major check-ins, I will continue with this theme and simply choose the one that best suits the country I am in. This month I will be doing RBT. The activity Rose, Bud, Thorn, stands for: Your favorite thing happening (Rose), What you are most looking forward to (Bud), and What’s been hard for you (Thorn).
Rose — To me it seems like everything about Thailand has been a Rose for me this month. I have enjoyed my living conditions, the food, the city, my adventure days, and ministry! But I guess if I have to pick I think I would choose my adventure days (simply because I have not talked about them yet!). This month I had the opportunity to go and care for elephants for a day at Maerim Elephant Sanctuary. I have seen elephants in zoos and at distance but here I was with them all day (up close and personal!). We fed them, walked with them through the jungle, got them all dirty in a mud pit, and then swam with them in a river. It was so fun to be able to give them love and be educated about how elephants should be cared for by a trained elephant advocate.
Bud– I am looking forward to my last week here in Thailand (not because I can’t wait to leave but instead the exact opposite!). I am thankful that I have been able to have three and a half weeks in this amazing country and been able to fully immerse in everything it has to offer. I think I am going to have to write an open love letter to South East Asia because it surely has my heart (blog to come??). I am looking forward to making the most of my last week here by continuing to make relationships and love on people as much as I can before heading on my next journey: Africa. I think that would be my other bud. I’m looking forward to again go to another continent and fall in love with it. South East Asia and Latin America were great and I have learned so much from all the various cultures and I am ready to learn even more about all the different cultures I’ll be exposed to in Africa.
Thorn– To be complete honest, I think my thorn for this month and overwhelming for most of the Race has been we don’t get more time in each country. When you first think about the Race a month in each country sounds sufficient. It sounds like that will be enough time to get to know the culture, learn from the country and its people, and by the end of three weeks you’re ready to leave. Wrong. I wish I could spend at least two months in each country, especially Thailand. This country, the locals, and the culture have so much to offer and I want to soak it all in. Unfortunately my time here in Thailand is coming to a close and I anticipate the goodbyes will be some of the hardest yet. I have fallen hard for Thailand, so therefore, saying goodbye is my thorn.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- I would love prayers for the squad as we travel to Botswana in a week! Last time we were flying internationally we had a run in with an active shooter in Los Angeles so I would love prayers for BORING travel days with no big surprises or dangerous situations.
- Also, prayers for my squad and me as we are entering a new continent with brand new cultures. Prayers for wisdom and our mind to be open to respect and immerse into the new culture smoothly
I hope this helps give you an image of some of the things that my team and I are doing here in crazy Thailand. As always, feel free to reach out to me via email ([email protected] or [email protected]) if you have any questions or just want to chat.
-e
