sawasdeekah! hello! I’ve been wanting to write this blog for so long, and now that I am in my last few days of living in Thailand, I think it would be a fun way to show my people back home what my days here look like. each day looks so incredibly different from the day before, so this is going to be super general. Hopefully this can show a little bit of my perspective!
my morning starts at 5:30 am every day. i wake up (normally drenched in sweat), grab my clothes for the day and head up to the roof to take a cold shower (seriously the best) and cool off. at 7am, we have morning devotions as a squad. I sit in my favorite bean bag chair, listen to some worship music, and have my morning conversation with Jesus. At the beginning of my race, the Lord really put the book of Matthew on my heart, so for the past 2 months I have been studying and diving into that specific book.
once we finish morning devos, we walk upstairs where Mama has breakfast ready for us. Almost everyday we have pineapple and watermelon along with whatever she decides to cook for us. French toast day is our favorite, and sometimes Mama will just hand you a bags of bread and tell you to start popping them in the toasters. 50 of us cram into the tiny kitchen and grab our plates, eat fast, and then wash dishes before we have to leave for ministry.
after breakfast, I go sit in Bella Goose, the coffee shop below where we live. I say good morning to my friends who work there and we always laugh and pick on each other. Hope knows my order by heart (a salted caramel iced coffee, and sometimes I’ll get cashew chicken to eat for dinner), and she always makes faces at me over the counter and makes sassy comments, which never fails to make me die laughing. I usually write out a prayer for my day while sitting and waiting for our songthaew to arrive, and lately it’s been one of my favorite ways to connect with the Lord. It drastically shifts my day and i love going back and reading old prayers and just being able to see how God has answered them!
around 8:30, our song thaew driver arrives. 8 of us pile into the back of the red truck and ride 35 minutes out of the city. our daily songthaew rides to and from ministry are one of my favorite parts of the day. I usually put my headphones in & get reminded of driving back in the states, with the windows down and the music up. We watch the busy streets of Chiang Mai slowly fade into rice fields, dirt roads, and water buffalo. The road that our ministry on has huge holes that are almost always filled with muddy water from the rainy season. Our song thaew drives through the puddles, and the water just almost comes in the truck. Sometimes I secretly hope that it does come in the truck and splash our feet.
once we get to ministry, we are immediately greeted by kids yelling & waving from the daycare. we hop off our songthaew, take our shoes off and go sit on the floor in the dining room. we patiently wait for Sister Lena to say, “good morning. are you ready to work?” and “okay, okay, come come.” and whatever Sister says, we do. For the first month, I spent the majority of my days at Wildflower in a pit of dirt. pulling weeds, cutting things down, shoveling dirt, tugging wheelbarrows, and tilling soil. this month however, i have spent my days in the daycare. I help Constanza and Mo with the kids. every day, walking into the daycare I am greeted with hugs and kids tugging at my shirt to come push them on the swing. they yell my name, “Tay-luh!” or “yoo” (older person) over and over to get my attention and show me bugs they caught, play food they’ve made, or even watch them slide down the slide. they don’t speak english, so sometimes trying to communicate with them can get a little difficult. every single day, they make me die laughing with something that they do. each day is something different.
at 11:30, we have break for lunch! lunch is always something interesting — whether it’s our favorite: fried mushrooms or even the days they surprise us with homemade coconut ice cream! & other days it is a little more daunting as we pull chicken heads out of our soup. i’m learning to embrace the thai spices & not always knowing what exactly i’m eating. we laugh and talk as we share a meal & then walk outside to wash our dishes. all of our leftover food goes to the compost to either be pig food or fertilizer. after lunch, we get nap time. yes. you heard me correctly. we have a special time dedicated to rest & recharge! this is still so unusual to me, especially because American culture is that of going and going and often overworking yourself. but here, rest is so valued! i love it! we recharge by taking little power naps or reading scripture, and are able to go back to work feeling refreshed.
at about 3:30 every day, our song thaew driver arrives to pick us up. as he pulls in, the kids in the daycare point and say “bye-bye! see you tomorrow!” i give them hugs before leaving everyday. our team piles in the songthaew, usually sweaty & dirty from a long day of ministry. we ride the 30 minutes back to our home, most of the time singing or playing games. our songthaew driver stomps on the breaks, whips us around a little, weaves through traffic before getting us home (almost) in one piece.
after getting to the hostel, we all run to rinse off in the showers. a long day of sweating and having dirt between your toes makes you feel (and look) pretty gross. we have free time to do whatever it is that needs to be done— such as running to BigC or 7Eleven for groceries, doing laundry, or getting dinner. on the nights that Mama doesn’t cook for us, we go to the night market. the night market goes for streets and streets of local vendors selling all sorts of food, clothes, jewelry, and gifts. my personal favorites: mango sticky rice, tom kah gai, or pineapple fried rice. we sit and eat while listening to someone singing “hey there delilah” or “wonderwall” and strumming a guitar. sometimes we walk around to look at the different vendors or just explore. when we’re done, we make the walk back to the hostel to make it back before curfew.
my nights look pretty different — we have movie nights, play cards, have rooftop conversations, have dance parties in the kitchen. we’ve learned to get creative with new ways to entertain ourselves. it’s always something interesting or weird. i love it. nights at the hostel are my favorite time of the day!!
and that concludes a day in my life. pretty bittersweet that soon this won’t be my life anymore. i’m going to miss it! but excited to see what’s next. thank you for reading! xx Tay Morg
