Happy Holidays!

I know that I owe updates and pictures from the last two months, but for this post I've decided to focus only on the last week since it was pretty fantastic and I actually have some pictures to post. The last two months will follow soon enough so just jai-yen-yen.

On Christmas day, rather than lounging around the house drinking coffee and eating apple turnovers, I woke up bright and early and biked to the school for scout day. I was told the day before that we would be leaving the school around 8:00 to bike 20 kilometers to a waterfall, play some games with the kids, and then bike back. You would think that after two years here I would realize that 8:00 really means 9:30 but for some reason I still showed up on time. After the morning assembly, opening speeches, bicycle repairs, and splitting up into teams we were finally on the road. Once we started biking I realized that I was the only adult biking, and the teachers were all driving motorcycles or trucks and cheering us on. It was a beautiful bike ride, through serene country roads with sweeping mountains in the background. At the waterfall the kids learned about the national park, cleaned up trash along the river, jumped of bridges, and climbed ropes while hanging upside down. I made Christmas cookies for all of the students and teachers that were devoured instantly. By the end of the day the kids were happy and exhausted as we started our bike ride home. When I got home two of my favorite kids were waiting on my porch to wish me a Merry Christmas and discuss the newest Korean popstar heartthrobs while opening presents.  As soon as they left another one of my neighborhood kids showed up asking me why my Christmas party hadn't started yet. Since I couldn't handle the look of disappointment on her face when I said there was no party this year I pulled out cookie dough I made the day before and let her decorate and bake some cookies. 

Two days after Christmas I worked with the Population and Community Development Association (PDA) to distribute blankets and sweaters to the elderly, children, and the disabled in my village. We were able to distribute over 200 blankets and 200 sweaters, helping more than 400 people stay warm during cold season on the mountain. All the supplies were donated by PDA using funds supplied by the Stavros S. Niarchos Foundation in New York. I was able to contact PDA after hearing about them from Peace Corps and connected PDA with people in my village in need of the supplies.

 You might not think of Thailand as ever getting cold, but in my village in the far north it has been dropping down to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which is very uncomfortable when you live in a wooden house with a metal roof that doesn't attach all the way. The blankets and sweaters were definitely appreciated, and the villagers couldn't have been more grateful. Most of the people who received blankets and sweaters are from either Hmong or Mien Hill tribes. 

All pictures were taken by PDA.

That's all for now. Happy New Year!

The last few months have been a whirlwind. I had been planning on writing several blog posts along the way, but something more interesting always seemed to come up. A few of the events from the last two months really deserve individual posts, but I've come to accept that that's not going to happen. 

In August I held a sexual education week with my 7th and 8th grade students. We played games, pretended eggs were babies, learned about birth control, using condoms, being a parent, and had a mini concert on the last day. The kids loved the week and even asked me when they could learn about sex ed again. 

The next week I was off to Central Thailand with five of my 5th grade girls for the first annual Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) Thailand. We brought 50 Thai youth together from all over Thailand for a week full of leadership, volunteerism, self-esteem, and goal-setting activities. For me, and the two other PCVs leading the camp, it was the long awaited outcome of over a year of planning. The girls had an amazing time and many were crying and clinging to us on the last day of camp. Some of them have been calling me regularly just to say hi and see if I can go visit them. The five girls that I brought are trying to start a GLOW Club at our school and we are in the process of making plans and working with a co-teacher so that the club can be sustainable when I go home. Before the camp my five girls were incredibly shy and self-conscious but they have since become much more outgoing and will even help me lead games and activities at school.

I took six pictures during the camp, so credit for most of these photos goes to Karissa Warner!

 Since Camp GLOW I've been back at site enjoying some time at home where things are never dull. Last week my village had a ceremony at the local temple where we blessed the dead and gave them offerings such as soap, pots and pans, clothing, money, and food. I chose to give offerings for my grandmother, who passed away during my service here. My whole village found out I was doing this and there was a big debate about whether or not she would be able to hear the monk call her name all the way from America, and the fact that she wouldn't understand a word the monk said. I told them "baw bpen yang" and did it anyways.

In other exciting news I was going to borrow a weed wacker from my neighbors the other day to cut the 'grass' around my house when I camp up with the brilliant idea to borrow his cows instead. This scary looking creature and I are now often seen eyeing each other warily across my threshold, enjoying our symbiotic relationship.

Other than all of that I've been working at the school doing life skills activities, teaching some English, entertaining the students on the weekends, and teaching everyone how to make cakes. I've also been spending more time than ever at my host families and neighbors houses as I start to think about how quickly my time here is winding down. Right now is school break for a few weeks, and to take advantage of that time I'll be spending some time exploring Laos and different areas of Thailand. I leave tomorrow for Laos, then heading to Nong Khai to see the Naga fireball festival, taking a ferry to an island to get scuba certified, than island hopping on the Andaman Sea for a few days before heading to Bangkok for Halloween.

The night my village flooded

Last month I was sleeping peacefully at 3:30 in the morning when I heard people screaming and shouting at my neighbors house. I lay in bed for a minute trying to hear what they were yelling and trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The screaming showed no sign of abating so I quickly jumped up and rushed downstairs to see what was happening. I opened my door and stared in shock at the raging river that was rushing between my house and the neighbors houses. My neighbors screamed for me to pick up as much as I could from the first floor of my house and then to try to get over to where they were. I immediately grabbed Porky (my hedgehog) and brought him upstairs. On my second trip I grabbed my running shoes and before I knew it the water was rushing into my house and I couldn't even get back to my front door to try to shut it. I called my neighbors to tell them that I was stuck in my house and could not get out because the water was too high and moving too quickly. The water was rapidly rising and began splashing onto my second floor (there are only 4 steps up onto my second floor so it's not quite as crazy as it sounds). The current was incredibly strong and I saw motorcycles being swept away, a dead cow, and my neighbors washing machine rushing past my house. I had never seen a flash flood before and had no idea what to do, how long the water would last, or how high it would rise. I grabbed my phone to call Peace Corps and let them know that I was in trouble in case anything serious happened. PC immediately reacted (thanks Phanuthat!) and called the Nayoke (similar to a mayor) to see what was going on and if they could get me help. Next thing I know the Nayoke is sending a boat of soldiers to try to rescue me from my house. A few minutes later I got a call from the soldiers telling me that the water was flowing too quickly around my neighborhood and no one could get in or out, even on a boat. They told me to wait it out on my second floor, and not to enter the water. I told them not to worry about me and that they should assist the elderly and children before helping me. For some reason I was oddly calm (or at least that's how I remember it) and skyped with my family as I collected some water bottles, some oatmeal, and settled down to wait out the flood, hoping that it subsided quickly. About an hour or two later the water level was slowly going down and people began to emerge from their houses. Hundreds of soldiers showed up to offer assistance and get everyone to safety. My front door was blocked by a motorcycle that had washed away from someone's house and there was debris everywhere. I walked through about 1.5 feet of water full of debris to get to my neighbors with my emergency bag packed since we were told it might flood again.  I only suffered a few scrapes/gashes and some bruises. Unfortunately not everyone was as lucky as I was. One woman died from a tree that collapsed on her house during the flood and many more were injured trying to get themselves or their vehicles to safety.

Most things on my first floor were damaged or lost as they were swept out of my house, but I am thankful that nothing else happened. For my villagers, the flood had a much greater impact. Some people lost nearly everything in their homes as well as the fields that they make their living growing rice and corn in. Countless chickens, pigs, and cows were killed which was a major blow to some villagers.

The mud left behind was unbelievable. The mud in my house covered my ankles, and trying to walk between houses was impossible with shoes on as the mud sucked them right off our feet. Everyone soon banded together and people from all over showed up to help. Soldiers came by with a fire truck to hose out our houses and helped carry things back that had been swept away. The Red Cross showed up with bags of rice, canned food, ramen noodles, and bottled water. I spent 3 weeks without a refrigerator, 1 week with no running water, and still don't have any chairs. I stayed at my neighbors house for the first week after the flood, sharing a bed with my host sister. That entire week every time it started raining at night we both lay awake in the dark preparing for another flood and praying that it didn't happen. One of my coworkers left her house that night and has yet to come back. She found another house to rent and had friends and family collect her belongings because it was too traumatic. Others are talking about moving and finding higher ground to build houses on. No one was prepared for this since my village hasn't flooded for 18 years. During that flood 18 years ago the water rose much higher, but it didn't move as swiftly so in some ways it was less scary and caused less damage.

It's now about one month later and things are pretty much back to normal, or as normal as they can be after what happened. We're still walking on pieces of wood artfully arranged between the houses to get around, and are constantly wary of more flooding. However, the kids are back at school, the adults are back at work, we're eating actual food again and are back to our regular routines.

None of these pictures can capture what it was like during the flood, and my camera died after one photo so I didn't actually get any in my house while it was happening, but they give you a decent idea of  what the aftermath was like.