So this month the girls and guys on my team have been split up. The girls have come to Chaiyaphum, while the guys are working on a goat farm. For this month I have been asked to step up as a leader to lead the ladies on my team. It's been an awesome opportunity, definitely not easy, but I've been learning lots of new stuff. The girls on this team are so awesome. Thailand is incredible. The people are nice and the food is amazing. We have been teaching English in schools and going to a billion (maybe a slight exagerration) Christmas parties. This month has been full of fun and interesting events. So there was one day when there was a funky smell lingering around our house, and about 10 feet from our house we have a brick wall. So our contact decided to go investigate this funky smell, and as he approached it he began to gag. About 5 feet away, there was a dead dog. We decided to bury it. It was the most disgusting smell I have ever smelled in my life. So the morning after that, I was woken up very early by an alarm clock that was set wrong, and our contact asked me to go to the market with her. So I was like "Sure." On the way home we stumbled upon an elephant. And if any of you know Olivia on my team, she LOVES elephants. So I decided to ask if we could bring the elephant home to surprise them, and sure enough they did. So we woke the other girls up and brought them outside with their eyes closed and surprised them. And Olivia started to cry, it was her dream come true. We got to feed the elephant sugar cane, take pictures, and pet him. Later on that day, Pa, our contact's dad brought out some cocunuts and opened them so we could drink them. It was a great day and I couldn't ask for anything more. Even though this all might sound awesome, sometimes being on the Race isn't easy. Sometimes it's really hard to wake up because you're so exhausted. Sometimes you have to just remind yourself you are not here for you, but to love on people. Here in Thailand alot of people are Buddhist and don't speak English at all, so it's very hard to speak to people and very tiring and, the other day, Olivia and I went on an adventure with Pa, we rode bikes to his rice farm. We ride bikes alot around here. These spontaneous adventures though, are definetly where I get my energy, and they are blessings in my life.
