Sophie's schooling

A quick recap of how we got Sophie back into school. From the first week she was admitted to the hospital, I was going to the school to talk to her teachers and try to figure out what to do about her schooling. At first, the higher ups just wanted her to repeat 7^th grade, but I really didn’t want that to happen. She’s already 14, and she didn’t want to have to redo half the year. So, if they insisted on that, I was just going to withdraw her from school and put her in what is basically alternative school so she could catch up to her age level. I kept asking them if we could just homeschool her, and they were like “What? Homeschool? What’s that?” I was like “You know, you give me her homework, I get her a tutor, she comes back to take her tests and then she continues to study with her class.” They were like “uh…I don’t think we can do that.”

However, I kept going to the school to talk to different teachers. Her homeroom teacher was amazing and I totally credit her with getting through to the headmaster. She really wanted Sophie to continue with her class, so she wrote a letter to the headmaster/principal, petitioning for Sophie to rejoin them after she was discharged. After Sophie got discharged from the hospital, I went to talk to her headmaster one more time. This time, she said that IF Sophie could do all her homework she had missed, AND take her finals from first semester and pass, AND take her mid-terms and pass, THEN she could rejoin her class. I don’t think she really expected that to happen though. But…I had my amazing Thai teacher, Kru Niti, come tutor Sophie every day for a week, and she passed all her tests! Not only that, but at the end of the semester, when I went to get her grades, she had gotten a 3.42 GPA! Not bad for a kid recovering from a deadly illness and missing nearly two months of the semester, huh? I was pretty proud of her perseverance and her good grades. She was disappointed because she wanted a 3.5 but my reaction is, hey, she’s alive and she passed. That’s enough for me. We’ll work on the 4.0 next year.

January 2012: New Year's and being a tourist at Home

Well, January was the most fun and exhausting month yet! My friend Jenny flew up from Phuket to Chiang Mai with me and stayed for 10 days! It was a blast to have someone from home to do tourist stuff with. I had jumped right into full-fledged work schedule so fast that I hadn’t really had time to explore the city much. Jenny had a whole list of things she wanted to see and do, so we did as much as we could before she left for Bangkok.

We visited Wat Chiang Man, the oldest temple in the city, Wat Phra Singh, where the walking street ends, and another one I can’t remember. All of them were decorated for New Year’s celebrations and were packed with people. It was cool to see how they were all decorated differently and see the amazing detail that went into the architecture of the elephants, the gold filigree and the buildings themselves. Jenny was excited to try all different kinds of street food, so we ate a lot of small restaurants in the areas we were exploring.

I finally got the chance to see the Lanna Museum, about the history of Chiang Mai, and the joining of Northern Thailand, or Lanna Kingdom, with Thailand. It has lots of interesting things about the king and the Thai language too. You can even listen to all the different tribal dialects spoken around the area on headphones. Thai is one of the only languages that has more single syllable words than multi-syllable words.

Other highlights of Jenny’s visit were another trip to Doi Suthep, and a hike around the Huay Kaew waterfall on the way up the mountain; another fun-filled trip to Bua Tong waterfall (the limestone one where you stick to the rocks); a trip to Mae Sai waterfall, which has 10 levels, including one where you can swim at the bottom of the waterfall, or go behind it to jump through and into a deep pool; and a Khamtoke show, where you get to see traditional dances of many of the areas’ tribal groups as well as traditional Thai dances. It also comes with a huge meal of all kinds of delicious Thai foods, so that was a fun night!

Jenny was also with us for New Year’s Eve, when we went with Ning, Sophie and Sophie’s school friend to eat moogataw and then to Thapae Gate which was packed with people celebrating the new year, letting of Kom Loi (the paper lanterns), drinking and listening to the free concert put on by the top 7 of the Thai version of American Idol. We met up with some of Sophie’s other school friends and they had a blast listening to the concert. 

This was actually one of the scariest evenings though, because it was the first time I had felt the real danger of human trafficking up close. The whole group of us was gathered close to the stage, when Jenny and I both noticed a creepy white guy with glasses staring fixedly at the teenage girls in our group, specifically Sophie. We discussed what we should do, but seeing as it was a public place and public venue, other than just taking the girls home, there wasn’t much we could do to get away from this guy. As the night progressed, we kept a close eye on him, as he moved to get closer to the girls, we would counter him, keeping a human shield between this creep and our kids. At one point, I lost sight of him and when I turned to look over my shoulder, he was literally RIGHT BEHIND ME, like in a horror movie. I kind of bumped him to get him to move away, and eventually, he shifted around away from me. Another time, Sophie had her camera and wanted to get closer to the stage to get some shots of the singers. I had warned her several times about the guy by this point, so when he was to my right with his back to the stage and staring right at her, and she tried to run thru the crowd, I physically pulled her back to me and told her if she tried to take off like that again, we’d go home, no matter whether it was midnight or not. Finally, after about 3 hours of watching this guy like a hawk and trying to have a good tie in spite of him, he disappeared into the crowd.

Another scary thing that happened was a little girl about 18 months wandered past us with no mother in sight and we lost her in the crowd of people. About 5 minutes later, her frantic mom came running, looking for her. Jenny went off with the mom and found the little girl, but geez, what parent takes her 18-month child to an outdoor event with thousands of people and then puts her down so she can wander away?

Anyway, after all this drama, we finally got to see the big finale with the governor of Chiang Mai province speak to the crowd in English and Thai and saw the huge Christmas tree made of used cds shoot off fireworks! It was SO much cooler than Times Square: The tree was 10 levels tall, so at the 10 second countdown,  each level shot off fireworks and then at midnight, the top exploded with about 10 minutes of fireworks. It was so much fun, especially since I had watched them building this thing for weeks with no idea what it was going to be used for. 

After the show was over, we followed the crowd like sheep and made it back to the car, parked near Taw Saeng. We had gotten a couple Kom Loi on our way, so we set them off from our rooftop into the sky and nearly caught the trees on fire when the wind caught hold of them! Luckily, disaster was averted, and Sophie and her friend decided to put up the tent and sleep on the roof that night. The next morning they were awoken by pigeons, curious as to whom had taken up residence on their stoop.

The reason January was so exhausting is that, in addition to hosting a guest and getting Sophie back in the school swing of things, we were on deadline to finish all the copy for our new promotional materials, and I was taking point on it all. So, every day after work, and every weekend for about 6 hours a day, I was working on getting everything worded just right, writing up information cards about every kid for the sponsorship program, and doing the design so all the words fit correctly on the booklet and brochures. I really enjoy doing this stuff and miss doing it since it was my life in high school yearbook, but still, coming home from an 8 hour day to work another 4 hours is not the most healthy practice.

In addition, we had not one, but TWO teams come in January! It was lots of fun, but lots of work too, as we had to teach them about our schedule and help translate when they taught our classes. The kids loved having them though, and still talk about missing them. The first team was a group of students from Biola University in LA who did their Jan term with us, and helped us throw a girls night slumber party! The kids had so much fun, and we all slept squished together on every mat I could get my hands on in Chiang Mai. We watched a movie and then Ning talked to them about what it means to live in the area we live in, near the red light district and asked what the kids thought when they saw girls working in the bars. She told them that we (the staff) love them and do not want that future for them, and that even though those girls have nice motorbikes and iPhones, they are worth so much more than that. She told them that their worth is priceless in the eyes of God, so even if you work as a dishwasher and have a bad phone, or no phone or motorbike at all, it is still better to work at that and know your value than to sell your body to get nice things. It was a powerful night, and I think a lot of what she said stuck with the girls. It’s an important talk to have with them occasionally, to remind them of their worth and that they cannot find their worth in money or earthly things.

The second team came from Taiwan and filmed a lot of our activities and interviews to make an article and video for us. They also did an interview with just Sophie and me so I could use it in the US when I was coming back for fundraising. It’s such a great video of us and I love it, because it will be a great thing to have when we are older, a snapshot of our lives when she first came to live with me. 

The team was great, and paid for dinner and transport so we could take all the kids to Night Safari! When I was there in December with my parents and Sophie, I asked if they ever let groups like us come for free, and they said to just send them a fax with our info on it. So, we did, and first they said we could come for free, and the adults for half price. Then, they called back and said, nevermind, you have to pay half price, because it’s high season, so everyone has to pay half price. THEN, we decided it was too expensive, and they called BACK and said that after their staff meeting when they talked about the good work we were doing, they decided we should get to go for free after all. So! After a week of back and forth, we went to the Night Safari, and had a lot of fun. We fed the birds, did both trams and my group went around the lake to see the rest of the zoo, while the other groups discussed among themselves whether they should go see the zoo until they ran out of time to go and just went on the tram.

Christmas 2011: Taw Saeng

Christmas was wonderful this year! It started with decorating our house. Sophie and I bought a live Christmas tree from the flower market and got decorations from the Christmas store in the big open air market (Gad Luang) near our house. We put on Christmas music and decorated with Maiko. We put ornaments on the tree and hung Christmas lights outside. It was fun, even though our little tree looks like the one from Charlie Brown Christmas. But, that is why I love it. J Then, Maiko and P’Dtip (who is helping her with the house church) decorated the walls with ribbon and hung live roses with little pockets of water all over the walls and hung ribbon in our courtyard too. It looked so pretty!

We also had a great Christmas program at Taw Saeng this year! In the past, Taw Saeng has bought snacks for the families to eat during the Christmas party, but this year we decided to use Hollie’s baking kitchen and bake goodies instead. It was so fun, despite the fact that I was sick with bronchitis (typical for this time of year). I felt pretty lame driving around with my sweatshirt and scarf while seeing all these tourists running around in shorts and tank tops.

Anyway, we decided to make homemade cinnamon rolls, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies for the party. Franziska, Ahna, Ning and I went to the kitchen at the Kijkandee head office Tuesday, Wed and Thursday morning to bake for hours. It was so fun, but the oven ran out of gas on Thursday morning!! We had a mild panic attack, but luckily, P’Mary was there (she’s the cleaning lady, and is super sweet) so she called the guy to bring us a new tank. Crisis averted.

We decorated with some stuff we had upstairs, including our fake Christmas tree and lots of ornaments. We had the kids make angels and decorate them, then we got them laminated and hung them up from the rafters with stars and other decorations we had been making. We also made snowflakes and hung Christmas lights around our little patio area for people going by to see. It was so cool to see the whole place done up for the holidays!

We had been practicing with the kids for weeks for the program. We had Franziska’s kids doing a hip hop dance with the younger boys (SO cute to watch!), Ning had Sunny, Sophie, Willow and Yvonne do a traditional Thai dance, Ahna taught the littler girls a fun dance to a pop version of Away in a Manger, we had the older boys doing a song on their guitars, and my girls (Winnie, Amelie and Miriam) do their songs on the piano.

So many family members came out for the performance and it was so exciting! We started with the kids singing a Thai Christmas song while Ahna and I accompanied on harp and guitar, then they sang Silent Night in English and sign language, then in Thai, then we started with the performances. I felt like I was running around all night doing something for setup or videoing or playing guitar. It was really fun, but it all happened so fast! I was so proud of my girls playing their songs. They all had them memorized and they did a great job even though they didn’t play perfectly. For their first performance in front of anyone other than me, they were amazing! I was so excited to have their parents come see too, because I know they must be so proud of their kids as well. It’s really cool to be able to teach them piano, because there is no way they would ever be able to afford lessons or have a place to play without Taw Saeng. I know that playing piano for me is so therapeutic, so I think it’s kind of like music therapy for them too, since they have had so much stress in their lives. 

It was so fun to watch Sophie dance too because I have only ever seen pictures of her dancing before and never seen it live. She was the best of the girls because she is oldest, but it was so funny because she was concentrating so hard that she looked super serious, while all the other girls had big smiles on their faces. Every time she would look at me, I’d be like “Smile!!” and she would smile for about 10 seconds, and then go back to her concentration face. It’s pretty funny to watch the video of it.

Christmas, Part 2: Phuket

And now, the post you’ve all been waiting for:

Christmas Day was quite full! It started with Sophie and I picking up my parents for church at the Akha church. It turns out that basically all the families of Taw Saeng go to this church, or at least attend on Christmas! It was so fun to see all the kids and I got to introduce my parents to the parents of the Taw Saeng kids. They met Lucy’s mom and dad, who were very excited to meet them, and we saw Winnie’s family too. Sophie had pulled out her Akha special occasion jackets and there were three, so each of us wore one: my mom, Sophie and me. It was hot but fun to wear some traditional clothing, considering American “traditional clothing” consists of jeans and a t-shirt. 

Even though my parents didn’t understand a word of the service, they still had fun singing Christmas carols, they just sang in English while everyone else sang in Thai. After service was over, they got ushered to the guest of honor spots at the tables where everyone was eating Christmas dinner together, family style. Of course, my parents had never had Akha food before, so it was an interesting experience for their taste buds, and quite spicy, but I think they enjoyed it anyway.

Afterwards, we took some pictures in our Akha clothing and then went back to the house, where Maiko was having a church celebration with the house church. Faa was there, Ning’s sister, so it was great spending some time with her and catching up and playing games with all the people who had come to the house church. I finished packing up, and we headed over to see the world famous Chiang Mai Walking Street. We saw Lucy’s family again and Winnie’s mom’s booth too. My parents were stoked to get all their souvenir shopping done and see the amazing things people make in Thailand. We also ate a bunch of great food, of course.

Finally, it was time to head for the airport and off to Phuket. After a quick goodbye to Sophie, we got the hotel shuttle to the airport, checked in and flew through the night. Well, it was night, and we flew, but it was only 2 hours. Phuket was great! It was so luxurious to spend the day on the beach with the beautiful, soft sand and playing in the water. The day after Christmas, my friend Jenny flew in from LA at about midnight and rallied so well the next morning that she was able to come with us on a day of touring the islands. We took a speedboat with a bunch of other people and saw James Bond Island, Ice Cream Cave and some other really cool tropical places. We had a lovely dinner on the beach and my parents got to set off a paper lantern into the night sky. 

Our final day in Phuket, we took a cab into Phuket town and walked around a bit, visiting their library, “Muddy Beach” and, since it was brutally, swelteringly hot, we got fancy ice cream. We headed back to the hotel, packed up and sent my parents off to the airport, while Jenny and I walked down to the beach for a final seaside meal before we were off to the airport and up to Chiang Mai.

Christmas in Thailand (Part I, Finally!)

March 3, 2012

Oy, I had such plans to update the blog and then life got insane. Basically, I ended up working every single day of January, most days about 12 hours, so it was like being back on set again in LA. I was working feverishly to finish all our promotional materials and stuff for the sponsorship packs because Larry is going back to the US to do some fundraising. So, here is the insanely belated update about Christmas.

First, a few days before my parents arrived for Christmas, Ahna’s friend Emily came to visit from China on her way back to the States. We decided to go up to Bua Tong waterfall because it’s SO MUCH FUN and I wanted to take Sophie too. She wanted to bring her friend Ying, so the 5 of us piled into Jasmine’s car with a bunch of food for a picnic and headed out of town. Sophie was worried because she still had a mountain of homework to get through before she started back to school on Dec 26, but she had been spending so many hours every day working on it, I thought her brain needed a break. She was convinced that she would not want to go in the water, but I brought all my swimming gear anyway, because I knew she and Ying would not be able to resist the lure of the falls. We had a nice picnic at the top, battling ants the whole time, and I was really excited to show Sophie and Ying the falls.  

After the battle of the century finally resulted in Sophie and Ying changing out of their regular clothing and into swim gear so they would not be sopping wet when we went home, the five of us headed down to the bottom of the falls. Along the way, we all had so much fun playing in the water and splashing around. When we got to the bottom, Sophie even swam in the lake, despite the chillier water. She and Ying had such a blast, I was so glad we all went. On the climb back up, they couldn’t believe that you could just climb right up the rocks and not slip off. The water was really warm too, so it wasn’t unpleasant at all. We took a ton of photos and almost all of them turned out great.

Before heading home, we went up to look at the pond with 7 colors (though I have never been able to count more than 5) and Ying and Sophie tried to catch fish in a bucket that was supposed to be for getting this Buddhist “holy” water and pouring it on the little shrine. It cracked me up that they really thought they could catch a fish that way.

On the way home, they both completely passed out, it was really funny to see. Playing in the water in the sun really takes it out of you.  When we got home, we still had time for Sophie to get some homework in too, so it all worked out.  

My parents got into Bangkok on the 19^th of December and spent the 20^th being tourists around there, doing a day tour of a bunch of temples. As a result, they ended up knowing more about Buddhism in Thailand than I do after living here for 10 months!

They arrived in Chiang Mai on the 21^st for their whirlwind trip. Luckily, I had borrowed my friend Sacha’s car while she was in Australia for the holidays, so Sophie and I were able to meet them at the airport. But of course, on the way there was first a traffic jam and then construction on our route, so we had to go completely the opposite way from the airport for a good 3 miles before finally hitting a U-Turn and heading back to the airport. I was so frustrated because it normally takes about 10 minutes to get from our house to the airport, even in a car, and this time it took about a half hour or more! My parents had no phones to contact us with, so I was so stressed out, but we got there, finally found a parking spot and saw them right away when we came in. Sophie was so cute, she wanted to get dressed up to meet them, so she made me put on a skirt and nice top too. My parents were surprised, obviously, since I would generally go in shorts and a t-shirt to the airport.

After picking them up, we headed to their hotel and checked them in, then went for lunch at a restaurant I hadn’t eaten at since I was here with my church in November last year. After lunch, we gave my parents directions to Taw Saeng while Sophie and I ran home to change and get to Taw Saeng.

That night, my parents found their way to Taw Saeng only getting lost once! Haha. They got to come to class with me and see me teach; and, despite the utter chaos that always reigns, I think they had fun. Amelie was so funny: once she found out they didn’t speak Thai, she was like “why didn’t you teach them??” and then she said “you have the same face as your dad. And a little like your mom. Well, your mom and dad must be happy, now because they have a grandkid. (Pause) But she doesn’t look like you.” Later she was teasing Sophie saying “Hey, how come you aren’t calling P’Heather’s parents Yai and Tda? (Thai words for Grandma and Grandpa) They are your grandparents now!”

After Taw Saeng, we went out to an Italian restaurant I have been wanted to try for a while now, near our house. It was so fancy and nice, and more expensive than I thought it would be, so I offered to pay for our dinner, but my awesome dad was like “What? Put your money away! I only see you a couple times a year, I can buy you dinner.” Yay! Thank goodness for generous parents. Sophie took forever to decide on what to eat and she was bugging me to get red wine because it’s made from grapes. She was convinced that it would taste sweet, and would not believe me when I told her it was really bitter, that it’s wine COOLERS that taste sweet. So, I ordered a glass and let her have a little sip. The look that came over her face was priceless! I wish I had a picture of it, it was hysterical! She finally believes me that red wine is not sweet, just because it’s made from fruit.

The next day, I sent the three of them off with Emily, Ahna’s friend, to ride elephants for the day. It was funny because Sophie had to speak Chinese to Emily, who would then translate for my parents. When they got back, Sophie said “P’Heather, it was SO much fun! But I spoke SO much Chinese today, so now I’m really tired. And your mom really loves me.” I thought something must have happened to make her say that, but no, it was just my mom being herself. I was like “Of course she loves you, you’re an awesome kid!”

That night, we visited the Night Bazaar and had dinner at the German restaurant. It was a special treat because I have not had ribs since I have been here, they are so expensive, but we got ribs and fries that night. I was worried Sophie was starting to get super spoiled, but how often do my parents fly half way around the world to visit us, right?

Friday we had the day off from work, but Sophie wanted to go to school to get some extra study help for starting back to school the next week. In the morning, my mom and I tried yet again to see Winnie dance (this is the 5^th time I have tried and failed). We got there at 9:25 and were just in time to see the last 20 seconds of the dance. I was so disappointed because I asked her so many times what time to come and she said 9:30am! At least we saw the tail end of it and then we saw her little brother’s class dance, which was super cute. They were all dressed up like cats and did a song with a lot of meows in it. After we saw a few of the other classes dance, we went back to the hotel to get my dad.

 We went up to Doi Suthep, which is the big temple overlooking the city of Chiang Mai. It’s a beautiful view and you have to climb 300 steps to get to the top. It was cool to finally see Doi Suthep, but it was SO hot up there! It was fun to get a bunch of food for my parents to try, like fruits and quail eggs. However, I didn’t realize there was a waterfall so close, and I was super bummed when I found out about it later cause my mom loves waterfalls too. We didn’t have time to go out of town to visit the big ones, but we could have gone to the one near Doi Suthep, had I realized its proximity. Oh well, more reason for them to come back, right?

We headed back down the mountain after about an hour and I dropped mom and dad at their hotel while I went to pick up Sophie, Winnie and Winnie’s mom. The four of us went to the market to get food to make for our big Christmas dinner that night. We bought enough for 10 people to eat, and it was only about $18. Plus, we had so much food left over! We went to Winnie’s house to cook because they have two burners and we only have one at our house. I took some back home with me and showered and changed while Winnie’s family showered at changed at their houses. I went to pick up my parents and we all gathered at our house about 7pm with a huge spread of food. It was so fun and was the perfect Christmas dinner. We had Maiko, me and my parents, Sophie, Winnie and her mom and brother and Winnie’s two cousins who I have become friends with since I’ve had Sophie. Then we had Winnie’s family open the presents we got them and they were all very happy with them. They went home, I took my parents to their hotel and then Sophie and I did dishes for a long time! J

Christmas Eve was Saturday and I had some last minute shopping to do for Sophie’s stocking. I dropped her at the hotel and ran to get some candy and the new Justin Bieber Christmas CD for her. Then we all went to the Night Safari, where Sophie and I got discounted tickets because of our Thai status. J Having that Thai driver’s license gets you discounts everywhere! Best deal I’ve gotten here.  

We had a great time at Night Safari and saw a bunch of animals and Sophie got to feed a lot of them. Dad got scolded for feeding the zebras because there are signs everywhere in English saying “DON’T FEED THE ZEBRAS” and they told us that when we got on the tram and again when we got to the pen with the zebras. But, Dad fed them anyway, so the tour guide said “Sir, please don’t feed the zebras. They have very sharp teeth. You will lose your hand and I will lose my job.” HA! Luckily, he didn’t try to feed the lions.

We had dinner at the international buffet for only $4 a person! After that, we went back in to see the evening show and watch the water show, which was pretty cool but not quite on the scale of Disneyland. I know, I’m a bit biased. Afterwards, they had a baby white tiger that you could take pictures with. Sophie and Mom sat with it and Sophie was holding a bottle and had something shiny on, maybe her earrings, so the baby tiger tried to attack her! I got a bunch of pictures of her getting pounced on and finally a nice picture with my Mom as a buffer between Sophie and the tiger. It was half scary and half funny.

We got home and it was time for presents! Wow, my parents brought so much stuff from the US. Sophie was very excited about her new Converse (from me) and her new pea coat (from Mom and Dad) as well as a necklace that matched one they gave me.   

Next time, on The Thais That Bind: Christmas Day at Akha church, Phuket, touring Chiang Mai with my friend Jenny. Also, pictures!

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

or, Welcome Home! It's a Construction Zone!

That was an unintentional rhyme, btw. So, we are out of the hospital! Hooray! 24 hours after we got back, I was missing my mat on the floor of the hospital because the townhouse connected to ours was undergoing major construction. At least at the hospital, they would wake us up and 6am and then leave us be for 3 hours so we could pretend we were getting a full 8 hours of sleep. Not so here! The construction noise is so loud that Sophie had her tv turned up ALL THE WAY and I could not hear it until I sat directly in front of it. This morning at breakfast, we were standing about 2 feet away from each other screaming at the top of our lungs: “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DRINK?” “WHAT?” “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DRINK?” “ORANGE JUICE!” “WE DON’T HAVE ANY ORANGE JUICE!” “WHAT?!??” “WE DON’T HAVE ANY….” You get the point. Loud.

At one point Sophie was screaming at the wall WHY ARE YOU SO LOUD????!!!!!  Despite that, it’s nice to be home, OH, wait. I have not told you about what they are doing. So, I go outside to do some laundry and the entire back wall is missing for 3 stories. Like they just jackhammered the crap out of it and now there is no wall. Oh, and no FLOOR on the second level. I have no clue what they are doing, but I guess they really like their ceilings high. Today they built scaffolding out of bamboo and rope. Very interesting. And unsafe. I think. But what do I know? I’m not a builder. 

I also think that the demolition has caused structural damage to our house, because Sophie’s bathroom now is leaking dramatically from the floor and the other day, the plugs holding the pipes into the wall burst and started spraying water everywhere! We didn’t have water for a day because it emptied our water tank. Oy.

Ah, but speaking of construction, we are super excited about a team coming from Canada in February to help fix some of the kids’ homes. We went on a walk through of three of our most needy kids’ homes with an architect friend of Rob and Judy’s, Michael, who was able to give us an idea of what we could do to improve their living situation.

One house is up on stilts because it frequently floods underneath, but the stilts are made of wood, so they have been eroded over the years. We want to replace those beams with cement blocks to make it more stable.

House 2 currently has only one room to sleep in and we are going to divide it into 2 rooms so that the girl of the family has her own room and the boys have their own room.

House 3 is a total reconstruction project. The house has been falling down for months, and will not survive another rainy season. The walls are buckling and the roof has caved in more than once. The plan is to demolish it and rebuild with cement posts in the corners, as well as add a loft for sleeping in so there is space downstairs for the kitchen and a living space.

Hopefully we will have enough builders come to finish all 3 projects and be able to get a lot of the prep work done and supplies purchased before the team arrives in February. Please keep the building project in your prayers, as it is a big one but will give hope to the families involved that their lives can be better than they are. 

Stay tuned for the Christmas program update with pictures.

Chiang Rai, Poo Chi Fa and other Funny Names

So, I have written a little about the complications surrounding Sophie’s citizenship status, but this weekend was the most stressful part of it so far. Basically, because Sophie was born in the village at home, she has no official birth certificate. There is a village book where births are recorded, but apparently her families’ copy of it was lost years ago. In order to gain citizenship here as a hill tribe member, you have to apply for it through the government. For some reason, when her mom filled out the application, she put two names on the form for Sophie’s parents that were not really her parents. She also put that Sophie is two years older than she really is. Why, I have no idea, because it is really screwing with her life now. Even more complicated, her mom had one ID with her Akha name in Chiang Rai but then got a different ID with a Thai name in Mae Taeng. When she opened a bank account, it was with her Akha name, which is not officially recognized by the Thai government and she was admitted to the hospital with her Akha name, so now Sophie can’t access her families’ bank account either. It’s so, so complicated and hard to work all this out. They say it could take up to 10 years to get her Thai ID, which means that she will not be able to work a real job, have health insurance, own property, go to university as a citizen, or many other things.

So, Ning and I drove up to Chiang Rai, where Sophie’s mom’s village is to try to track down these people and get going on her Thai ID application process. We had a blast on the way there, jamming to my iPod with Thai music and Switchfoot (obviously). Ning kept saying how we were teenagers because of what we were listening to. So, we finally get to the province of Chiang Rai and Sophie sort of knows where we are going, but not really. In her defense, she hasn’t been there in nearly two years and has never driven there herself, she’s always gone with her mom. However, I had specifically told her to call the people in this village the day before to get very specific directions. So, what happened next was at LEAST 50% percent her fault.

We drive down this main highway looking and looking for the entrance to the village. We turn off the main road onto a dirt road. At first this is fine. I’m thinking it can’t be that far right? Wrong! SO wrong. We start driving down the dirt road and come to a fork. We sit there for about 10 minutes debating which way to go. The obvious answer is to call the people who live there, but wait! We have no cell service. Awesome. We decide to go right. Bad idea. The road gets more and more rocky and I’m driving super slowly over these rocks trying to avoid the numerous potholes and ditches and praying no one comes flying around a corner while I’m on the wrong side of the road. We are getting further and further from civilization and no people or houses in sight!

We finally come upon a guy on a tractor. He actually knows where this village is so he agrees to lead us there. We keep driving, the road getting ever more treacherous. Finally we come upon what can only be described as a pile of boulders. We are in a small SUV, but not a freaking bouldering Jeep for crying out loud! I was adamant that I was not going over this spot because it was too dangerous for the car. I was like “We leave it and walk” but Ning said that robbers would strip the car if we left it there, so we had to keep going. I wanted to turn around go back to the road, but it had already been an hour by this point, so finally I was so frustrated, I ordered Ning and Sophie out of the car to watch and tell me if the car was going to get the bottom ripped out by a boulder. I put it in 4-wheel drive and drove as slowly as possible over the rocks, but apparently not carefully enough because the exhaust pipe got cracked. (Too be honest, I’m not sure if this occurred at this point or later as we were climbing Poo Chi Fa in the fog on a road riddled with potholes.)

I was so stressed by this point from all the driving and not knowing where we were going, that Sophie got back in the car and was like “P’Heather, are you ok?” (in English). It made me laugh a bit and get a little less tense, but I was like “I don’t know. Is the car ruined?” Finally, we found the village and Sophie recognized the house we were going to. We met with the village elder (by we I mean Ning spoke for about an hour in Akha and I sat there trying to keep my stomach from growling.)

Finally, Ning looked at me and said, “We have to go to Mae Fah Luang. Now.” I was like, “Ok, let’s go.” By this point, it had been about 5 hours since we had eaten. I figured we’d get to MFL and eat some lunch. This plan was not to be. The village elder and another older woman joined us in the car, which required some rearranging, and we headed off. Yeah, so the way out was on a hard packed dirt road with very few potholes and very wide. This is the way we should have come in. It took about 15 minutes to get to the main road, rather than 90.

Now MFL is a province as well as a city, which I did not realize at the time. So, we exit for the city and get to the bottom of a large hill. We can either turn right or go straight. All the people in the car agree we need to go right. All the people in the car are wrong. So, we drive and drive, up and down windy roads. No, windy is putting it to mildly. They are basically Z curves stacked up so tight that I have to turn the wheel 100% to the left and then basically stop the car to turn the wheel all the way to the right to avoid smashing into the rocky mountain and stay on the road. These roads have no guardrails and in most places are about the width of a car. I am praying no one comes tearing around a corner going downhill. Luckily 95% of people in Thailand own motorbikes, not cars.

After driving for about 3 hours, Ning decides this is ridiculous and realizes that no one has a clue where we are or where we are going. We pull off the road at a village and ask the people for directions. “Oh, no,” they shake their heads. “You should not have turned right.” Three hours ago we should not have turned right. THREE HOURS! They decide that rather than describe where to go, they will just jump on a motorbike and lead us there. Thankfully, with someone who knows where they are going, this trip back down goes much faster. We finally get back to where we started and go up the other way, until the village people see the sign pointing to the village.

At this point, I am getting really irritated, hungry and tired, not to mention the stress of driving someone else’s car through these crazy mountain roads is giving me a massive backache. I am relieved that we finally are at the right turnoff, but another hour goes by before we get to the village and the further into the mountains we go, the narrower and more full of potholes the road gets. We stop at every village on the way this time, making sure we are going the right direction. We finally come to a building at the top of a hill and I’m like “This is it. I know this is it. I’m going up the hill.” But Ning says “No, that’s just a school, keep going.” I stop and I’m like “really? Really it’s just a school? Don’t schools need people? This is the village.” But of course, I know the least of anyone in the car, so I am outvoted. We keep driving another 20 minutes until we hit—wait for it—Burma! Yep, a dude with a machine gun and a gate you would see in a parking garage are just hanging out at the top of a mountain. The soldier probably hasn’t seen anyone in hours, and is a bit surprised to see a farang driving a bunch of Akha people around. We ask him for directions and shocker! I was right. I would like to say I refrained from saying I told you so, but at this point it had been 12 hours since I had eaten, so I totally said “I TOLD YOU SO!”

At this village, the guy we were supposed to be meeting was not there, he wasn’t coming home til about 8pm. It’s now 5pm so Ning and I wander around and meet some of the families who live there and play with the many litters of puppies running around. Sophie discovers that these people have a satellite, so she is happy just watching TV. Because she has to take medication at 5pm with food and we haven’t eaten since breakfast, I force her to eat all the fruit and chips and junk food in the car so she can take her meds. The wife of this village elder is so sweet and makes us dinner at about 7pm. Nothing better than Akha food, I’m telling you. Nothing. So good!! 

After dinner, the elder is still not back, so the entire village congregates around a fire and watches an amazing full lunar eclipse. Despite the many frustrations of the day, I gotta say, if I were almost anywhere else in the world at that moment, I would not have seen that, and it was pretty awesome. Because there are so few lights in the village and we are so far removed from any city the stars are incredibly bright and close and the moon is full so it’s so bright out. I keep hearing guns go off and it’s kinda freaking me out so I ask Ning about it. She tells me that in ancient times, when the moon would have this “problem” (I’m like well, it’s not a problem, it’s gravity, but ok) then they would all shoot guns to scare away the shadow from the moon so it could be free again. Kinda cool, right? Side note: They don’t put bullets in, just powder. That would be unsafe. 

Finally the guy comes back and Ning, the village elders from Sophie’s mom’s place, Sophie and myself sit there and go through all these documents and talk and talk and talk in Akha, so I’m completely lost. Finally, it’s over and we go to sleep. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s like 20 degrees F up here in the mountains? No? Oh, and Sophie and I are prepared for this by having flip flops, capris and t-shirts with a hoodie. Needless to say, I woke up with bronchitis. The fun continues. Strangely, Sophie, the one with the lungs ravaged by tuberculosis, has no ill effects from the cold whatsoever.

Our plan was to wake up early, like 7am and eat breakfast and go right away to get back to the other village and head out. The old people had different plans. I ended up sleeping for another hour in the car waiting for them to come back from finding the old people. Then we ate breakfast and waited some more for them to get some tea. So, only late by 3 and a half hours, we headed back to the Chiang Rai village.  

It only took 50 minutes to get back to the freeway. Then, we headed back to the village. Here is where communication broke down. For some reason, instead of turning into the village on the road we took out we took a “shortcut” that the elders “knew.” We start driving and driving and going up and down what is basically a goat path. Just dirt tracks where wheels have driven over, no road at all. I keep asking “Really? This is the way?” while elders bicker in the back over why they don’t know how to get to THEIR OWN HOME! Seriously? At one point, Ning is laughing, saying that first they blame each other, then Ning, and finally me for driving. I was so ticked, I was like “I will STOP this car and you can WALK yourself back to your village!! Are you KIDDING me?”  By the grace of God, I refrain from actually executing this threat because we come to a rise and see the main road below us. You’re safe for now old people, but watch out for next time. We drop them off and I’m like, ok, no time for chitchat. Let’s go. Ning is feeling the same way, so we say “Peace!” and drove off.

On the way up, Ning had talked about going to see Poo Chi Fa, a beautiful area of Thailand. “Since we are in Chiang Rai anyway,” she said. What does this statement lead you to believe? That Poo Chi Fa is close to the city of Chiang Rai, where we already were? Silly people. Of course it means that it’s another 4 hour drive to the very edge of Chiang Rai province and, incidentally, the edge of Thailand, overlooking Laos. (That’s a country, in case you are unfamiliar with Southeast Asia). Clearly I was just along for the ride, having no idea what exactly Poo Chi Fa was to begin with.

Yet more crazy windy roads, chock full of potholes and danger around every turn. We climb and climb and climb to the top of this mountain. It’s a holiday so when we finally get to the mini resort area it’s packed with people. It’s also freezing. Literally. It’s 0 degrees Celsius. Did I mention our packing preparation? We find a hotel, rent a room with a queen size bed, a door with huge drafts, and windows that are the slotted type, allowing all the cold air to blow right in, for the three of us for 500 baht (this is only about $18US but expensive for this type of setup in Thailand) and attempt to take a nap. We fail. For some reason, we have failed to notice that a huge loudspeaker was being set up in the parking lot/courtyard area of the hotel right outside our window. So, as soon as we start to fall asleep, the band starts up followed by announcements in Thai at 3000 decibels (or something like that).

We give up on sleep and go to buy some things to warm us up. Sophie gets a new hat and gloves while I get socks and a scarf to protect my throat in an attempt to deny the fact that I already have full blown bronchitis. Here’s a weird thing about Poo Chi Fa. Despite the fact that it gets incredibly cold in the winter, there are literally no restaurants that have walls. None. They are all open air. Imagine going to Utah for Sundance and having to eat outside all the time. You’d have to drink so much alcohol to keep warm! Come to think of it, that might be a great way to boost alcohol sales at Sundance (like they need it).

Anyway. So, we eat dinner all bundled up as much as we can and try not to spill our food with all our shivering. We find a place with hot cocoa, which I am excited about, and then head back to the room to take lukewarm showers, which arguably end with me colder than before I showered. I end up with the middle spot in the bed, which is fine by me since I’m freezing. My toes and fingers are white with cold by this point. Any extra body heat iss appreciated. All of us wear every piece of clothing we have with us to stave off the cold.

The next morning I finally understand what this whole crazy detour is about. We wake up at 4:30am. We pack up mostly and head to the main office where a bunch of other people are waiting already. I have no idea what is going on. “What are we doing?” I ask Ning. “They are taking us up the mountain.” Um, ok. We pile into a truck, Ning, Sophie and I scoring seats on the inside rather than in the bed of the truck. We drive up to the top of a hill and get out of the car. “Now what?” Ning replies, “Now we go up there,” gesturing into the blackness. My eyes finally adjust and I realize that there is even more mountain and that people are climbing it In the dark. They have flashlights for rent at the bottom, but why would I have brought money? I look at Sophie’s feet, clad in socks (day 3 or being worn) and her slip on sandals and look at my own crocs. We are not prepared to climb a mountain, but up we go. We keep losing Ning because we have to keep stopping so Sophie can catch her breath. The air is oxygen depleted up here and it doesn’t help that she is still fighting TB. We finally get to the top, or close enough. Let’s say we get to a point where I am fine not going any further. The moon finally breaks free of the clouds above and I realize what we are looking at. We are standing at the top of the world. In the moonlight, all around us we see peaks and valleys and oceans of thick clouds stretching into the distance. I try to take a bunch of pictures, but my camera is just not fancy enough to capture the view. 

It’s very exciting but very cold. Sophie and I are clinging to each other and Ning for warmth as we practically have convulsions from how cold we are. Finally, Sophie points behind me and screams for me to look. I turn around and there is the sun just peeking around the mountain. It gets lighter and lighter and the clouds are spectacular. We cannot stop taking pictures, but none can capture the splendor and beauty of what we are experiencing. Now I understand why we spent so much energy getting here. What an incredible experience to witness the beauty of God’s creation.

About 7am the novelty wears off and the cold and desire to return to warmth takes over. We head down the mountain, slipping and falling a few times, but luckily not off a cliff. At the bottom, Ning has money so we get some instant oatmeal type cups to warm up. At 7am, 1000 feet below where we had been standing it is 0 degrees Celsius. I estimate it must have been about 10 below where we were. That translates to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

We get back to the hotel, load up the car and take off back home. I have never been so excited to sleep in my bed in Chiang Mai. The bronchitis takes another week and a round of antibiotics to finally recover from, but the memories will live on. Despite all the stress, anxiety, frustration and downright anger I felt this weekend, I do not regret going because it was a great time of bonding for Sophie and me. I’m really glad I got to see where her mom came from and got to stay in a traditional Akha village and experience the kindness and generosity of the people there.