Monday, January 28, 2008

Of gongs and Thai culture



An amazing gong (this one's especially for our friends at WW).


Front campus, looking out from the middle of the U of the Administration building. The cafeteria is on the left, and the boys dorm is on the right. The flag is flying at half mast because the King's sister died a few weeks ago.


One of the wings of the U shaped administration building (where most of the classes are held). English rooms are on top.











Just a small piece of the beauty of Thailand


















Nothin' like good ol' "Stars War"-- you see fun stuff like this quite often.

Sore Butts and Fun Times

It's about time for a little update, eh? Yay! I know, I know... I'm just as excited as you. Well, here it is. Sure enough... when I said that 5 day weekends won't last for long, I was sure right. Granted, we still aren't working our fingers to nubs, but we are starting to feel a little more put to use now. Summer now has 12 or 13 classes she is teaching, and now she gets to teach a couple Matayom classes as well as her Pratom classes. She has the 7th graders. I have been bumped up to 14 classes now, from 8th to 12th grade, and no longer have Thursdays and Fridays off. I knew it was too good to be true. I don't mind, though. Going on our 4th week teaching, things have gotten a little more difficult. At first, they were just excited that they had new teachers, and we could really have done anything up front, and they would have enjoyed the class. Now that we are starting to settle in, though, it is challenging to keep the attention and interest of the classes. Yesterday, I had a challenging day trying to teach to blank stares. It is so frustrating when you ask a question or say something to someone and all they do is smile and look at their friends and speak Thai. *sigh* Most days aren't that bad though. They will always smile and talk to their friends in Thai, but most days they will put forth an effort to answer your question.

This last Friday was education day at the school. All the students from Pratom (1-6) came to Matayom (7-12), and in the courtyard was a stage where all kinds of things happened. It was fantastic! There were skits, cultural dances from different tribes (like Mong and Korin (sp?)), music, games, and contests. The color and decoration was just amazing! One thing I have really appreciated about the Thai is their use of color. They use so much of it, and it is beautiful. Thai people are so creative too! In the classrooms of the school, they had on display different projects and things that the students had made and done. On a whole, the students are much more creative than students at home in the states (at least, that's what it seems like to me). The standards here are just so high. Everything from the way they dress, smell, and look to their school projects to their celebrations and festivals have high standards.

After we finished with Education day, Summer and I hopped on our motor bike and drove into Chiang Mai (about 55 kilometers east and south). Let me tell you about driving in Thailand. It is cool! It is definitely structured, yet it's almost as if you are free to do whatever. Kind of hard to describe. The general rule that is observed is... if your car/bike/motor bike/bus/over-loaded truck/tricycle can fit/squeeze into a space, go for it! The correct side of the road to drive on is the left here, which (surprisingly) didn't take much getting used to. I haven't driven on the wrong side of the road yet. It seems natural to me now. I just hope I don't decide to drive on the left when I get back home, though. That could be fun.

We spent the afternoon in Chiang Mai, where we picked up the suit I had tailored for me and some other grocery items. It was the first time we had driven into Chiang Mai by ourselves, and we only got not-really-lost once. I am uber-excited about the fact that I can buy a fully tailored suit, pick out the fabric I would like, and pick out the style I would like, only to pay about $110 for it total. That, my friends, rocks my world! It was cool enough that I could wear it to church on Sabbath too, which was great. The only downside to driving into Chiang Mai on our bike, though, was that our butts hurt like crazy when we got back!

Some things I realy enjoy about being here: people are interested in you (maybe because we are white and American, but, in general they are just genuinely interested in other people); being a teacher receives a lot of respect-- students stand aside when you walk by, face you, and "wai" you; I get to take my shoes off and walk barefoot every time I go into a building; Thai people all say the same things when they see you-- "Where you from?" "Where you go?" "How old (are you)?" "Good morning/afternoon/evening" "God bless you" and "you so white." It's really quite intriguing.

On a side note, this last Thursday, we saw the first clouds we had seen since we got to Thailand... we were beginning to wonder if clouds even existed here. Yesterday, it actually rained here, which was wonderful. First rain since October, so I'm told. Well, that's enough for me. I hope it's enough for you. I'll see if I can't put some pictures up after this.

~M

Monday, January 21, 2008

Sabbath at the most awesome waterfalls ever!























You can climb them like stairs!

Michael getting some love from the elephant.

Tap tap. Taperoo.

Sunday, January 20, 2008



We got elephant hugs!
I wonder how one would go about the process of "borrowing" an elephant...

Making Bamboo Sticky Rice


Michael helping cut bamboo in the forest for our bamboo sticky rice!------>




Later that day:

Summer turning the bamboo as it cooks near the fire.--->

Surviving the Weekend

Well friends, I darn near killed myself this weekend. -big grins-It started off at 7:00 on Sabbath morning. The night before I had decided that I wanted breakfast from the cafeteria in the morning. (Breakfast on the weekends is usually pretty good. Fried rice or some sort of rice porridge with bits of tofu and vegetables in it. mmmmm)
Anyway, I got up and went out to our motor bike and tried to start it. It’s a rather finicky thing and doesn’t like to start from time to time. This was no exception. After a couple minutes of trying to get the thing going it finally coughed itself into wakefulness and I took off down the hill with my two cafeteria bowls rattling in the basket in front of me. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill the noise of the metal bowls clanking around was rather deafening, so out of respect for the neighbors, I put on the break and reached forward to stop the bowls from making so much noise. Bad call. As I reached forward the best I can figure is that it threw me off balance. One minute I was upright and the next I was lying on the ground with the bike on top of me. Smart Summer. Very smart.
Of course to add insult to injury, the bike wouldn’t start again, I was covered in brownish red dirt that showed up clearly on my black sweatshirt and pants and I was right outside of the vice principals house. –Smacking forehead- Great. As I sat there pleading with my bike to start up again and trying to pull my pride back together, who would come out but the vice principal. He walked up to the bike asked what was wrong and started it in one try. I smiled, said thank you and wished him a happy Sabbath.
But it’s not over yet. Oh no. Later that afternoon David took Michael, myself, and three other men who are visiting for the week to the most amazing waterfall ever. It is amazing! I don’t know if its something that is in the water or if it is in the mineral makeup of the land around there but where ever the water flows it forms this very firm and grippy white rock that enables you to literally run up the waterfall. It’s the coolest thing. Your mind tells you that you shouldn’t be able to walk up it but it’s just as easy as walking up a sidewalk, albeit a little wetter.
Anyway, Michael and I spent about an hour running up and down the three waterfalls getting quite wet in the process but loving it! On our last trip up to the top I was climbing up a particularly steep section when all of a sudden I hit my head on a tree that was covered in the same mineral deposit as the waterfall. Boy did that hurt. I thought for sure I had flattened my skull into a tabletop, but I am a Mathis/Lee! So I kept on going…only to twist/sprain my thumb when my footing slipped up towards the top of the falls.
“This is ridiculous.” I thought to myself. “No one is this accident prone.” Oh but sadly that was not all. After the falls we walked out to a spring that was a couple hundred meters away. On the way there I saw this overhanging branch/vine that crossed low over the walkway. It was large and VERY visible so just to be funny I warned Michael not to hit his head on it. Well wouldn’t you know it, on the way back I was chattering on and not watching what I was doing and I ran smack into it! The best part was that David was about to warn me not to hit my head again, but had though it impossible that I wouldn’t see it! Nevertheless it was a great outing and we had a fantastic time!
Sunday made all the hurting on Sabbath worth it because we got to go to elephant camp! It was amazing! They have over 77 elephants and they just roam all over the place with their trainers. You can feed them, take pictures with them hugging you with their trunks, visit the nursery where the babies stay, watch them bathe in the river, you name it! It’s awesome! The elephant show was really something to see. All of the elephants are so smart. They can paint, play the harmonica, build things and even play football (soccer)! It makes your jaw drop. Michael and I both got double trunk hugs from elephants after the show but sadly the memory card with those pictures on got lost somewhere and so we don’t have them. But we do have others!
Anyway that’s what we did this weekend! Two days after the fact, my bruises are brilliant and my pride is on the mend. I hope everything is going well at home, blessings and love. Summer

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

A story of Sapphires and monkeys

He keeps promising that I will write... So I have decided to do so. -grins- I'm not trying to avoid it, I really enjoy chewing the fat will all y'all but time is so tricky. It just slips through my fingers like water. -Sigh- Okay enough stalling. A story...

Well, Michael really has covered the most exciting things that have been happening to us lately. So I could either re-cover what he has already done a great job in describing or I can make something up. hmmm. How about some truth and some elaboration? Oh I like it!

So wednesday we went into Chiangmai with Annabelle. We had been super lazy that morning, making paperclip castles and painting the walls of our bathroom with red berries, so it was nice to get out of the house. She picked us up in her super awesome pink and green car that has purple flames on the sides and we rode into town.

After picking up her dashing husband David at the train station we went to a resturant that served farang (or western people) food. It was this awesome low-lit resturant with antique guns on the walls and miniature flags from each country lined up on a shelf near the ceiling. It was nice to be immersed in an english speaking enviornment for a short time, and also to be able to eat food with Cheese in it. (It's expensive here so we have stricken it from our diets. )

We did a lot of shopping in the afternoon, visiting Central, a down right maze of stores that is four stories high, and then going to the night market. The night market is unlike anything you will see in the states. There are ninjas and street performers and elephants walking around. (okay that may not be entirely true, but there are stalls with people selling things that go on for about a mile and a half). As you walk hilltribespeople accost you with their wooden frogs and shiny silver bracelets, and everyone wants you to see what they have to sell. It's brilliant! Colorful fabrics, pillows, dresses, skirts, videos (all illegally copied of course), games and foods invade your senses! Its beautiful!

As we were leaving the market a man came up to us and wanted us to buy this sapphire jewelry. Bangles were hanging from his ears and as the light caught them it cast blue rainbows on our faces. I started reaching for my wallet when I was bumped from behind by a hunchbacked old woman. She had the wrinkliest face I had ever seen and had a patch over one eye. I wai'ed her out of resepect and that seemed to please her because she looked around me to where the sapphire vendor was standing, and lifted up her eye patch. Instantly I heard a crash and when I turned around, there was a monkey standing in the middle of a bunch of broken glass 'sapphires.' The old woman laughed, snapped her fingers and the monkey jumped onto her shoulder. I looked up at Michael in utter disbelief and then turned back to the woman, but she had disappeared.

So that is the story of our evening at the night market. Hopefully it entertained you some. Much love, the ever scheming Summer.

5 Day Weekends, Shopping and Sticky Rice

"Mission trip?" you might ask. "That doesn't sound like much." "It's not really this way," we'd reply. Well, sort of... I have found myself with an inordinate amount of free time this week. Summer is teaching right now, so I figured I'd give you the story about Sunday as well as last night. About the 5 day weekend thing... There were no classes for anyone on Wednesday, because the teachers all had meetings to go to (except Summer and I). Right now, the way the schedule is set up, I don't have any classes on Thursday or Friday. I guarantee, it will get heavier soon. And so, there not being any classes on Wednesday, my weekend started then. I helped Summer out in her classes this morning, though, so I don't feel like a total slacker.

Well, on Sunday, Summer and I took our motorbike and followed Adjan (Teacher) Printt up the rutty, treacherous path up the mountain behind the school. We did well, only managing to stall the bike once and coming close to tipping it over twice. Anyhow, we followed him for about 3-4 kilometers, to where we parked our bikes and went trapsing through the forest. Printt found some good bamboo to cut, an started hacking away at it. It was cool, we helped take it down and then used some big leaves to wipe the bamboo down. It has little hairs/fibers that probably aren't the best to breathe in and can be itchy if you get them on your skin and in your clothes. When we did that, Printt chopped the bamboo into small pieces to haul back down the mountain.

The trip didn't just consist of chopping down bamboo, though. We got to try some fruits that were growing wild. One was a small berry-like fruit that was green and very VERY sour. It left your mouth kinda dry too. But after biting it, if you took a drink of water, the water tasted really sweet. It was cool! The other fruit was about the size of a kiwi and was pretty sour too, but had a very sweet aftertaste. The consistency was less than desirable for me, but it was fun to try.

That night, we went to Printt's house and built up a fire outside. He had put sticky rice with coconut milk in the bamboo (it's a special kind of bamboo, by the way), and we set them up on a grill right by the fire. Then, we just let them cook. People make this all the time (in season) and sell it at the market. When the bamboo is good and brown, you take them off and cut the outside of the shoot off, so it's easier to get to the sticky rice. Ours didn't taste as sweet as the ones you buy in the market, but we are going to try again. This time we'll put some sugar in with it.

Last night we had another adventure. We got to go to the night market in Chiang Mai. Let me tell you... it is awesome! It was a little crazy at first, because they see you and immediately start trying to get you to look at their stuff. "Come, look! I give you good price. You first customer. I give you good price, yes?" Then they would proceed to hock their wares. If you know Summer and I, we are both of the personality where it can be difficult to say no. I was worried that we would spend our life savings that night, but we did alright. One of the things that's fun about the night market is that they expect you to barter. I bought some over-priced dried mangos when we first started, but learned quickly to change my tactics. Everything from food to clothing to jewelry to trinkets to electronics to decorative household items were there. And it is such a tourist place that you have people from all around the world visiting. It's quite exciting! Anyway, that is the story of our lives recently. Summer promises to write a blog soon. All our love to our friends and family.

~M

Monday, January 14, 2008





The Mathis Gang right before we left from Seattle.








At the Train Station in Bangkok







Both of us at the train station







The new church at Chiang Mai Adventist Academy.

More Shenanigans

Michael here again.

We have successfully navigated our first week of teaching. Let me tell you, it was highly experimental. We spent the week trying to figure out what and how to teach the kids here. As we begin our second week, things are a little bit more relaxed (at least they should be). Last week the school was being evaluated by the Thai government, which happens once every 5 years. So, that was a high stress time for everybody. In general, I found my stress levels to be fairly low (all things in consideration). If last week was a high stress week for everybody, and my stress levels were lower than I expected them to be, I'm anxious to see how this week goes.

The week was filled with lots of exciting discoveries and experiences. I had my first meal which was too hot for me to eat. Well, I ate it, and my stomach felt like it was host to a small fire for quite some time afterward. I have really enjoyed the food otherwise, though. Speaking of food, on Thursday, we went to the market again. There are so many fruits and vegetables... and then there are the other things as well, many of which are not identifiable. The smell is a bit overwhelming at times. We haven't really learned how to cook much Thai food yet. We are still trying figure out what all we have in the kitchen and what foods and groceries we need to buy. If rice and noodles are not in your good-tasting food vocabulary, you probably should not come to Thailand. We eat rice every meal, and noodles just about every meal. They also cook a lot of soups here with different vegetables and spices with varying levels of spicyness. If you come visit, I hope you like spicy food.

On Friday, we went into Chiang Mai with David Bell and about 15 students. There was a grand opening of the Hill Tribe Handicraft Center right next to the Adventist Church that the students sang for. After that was over, we ventured off on our own to explore the city. We made our way to Central Superstore, which is in a 5-story mall and explored around there for a bit. The mall is very western. Almost like any mall you'd find in the states. Many of the things to buy were just as expensive too. We found ourselves at a booth that was selling movies for 100 Baht apiece. That's about $3. Awesome! Then, of course after we got home we found out that the the movies are encoded in PAL, and most of the DVD players in the states only play NTSC movies. It's kinda funny how the U.S. is so different than the rest of the world. For example. U.S.: 110 Volt electrical sockets. Everywhere (almost) else: 220 Volt. U.S.: NTSC DVD players. Everywhere else: PAL and NTSC DVD players (dual). U.S. "Standard" measuring system (only to find out it's not so standard). Everywhere else: Metric measuring system. But I digress. After we bought some cheap movies that we won't be able to watch at home, we walked into the "old city" which is inside the moat. It was fun to just walk around and look. We ended up at a wat (Buddhist Temple) that was pretty large. It was nice to walk around it, look inside, and just see what the culture is centered around so much. There's even a place for "monk talk." When the monks are there, people can go in and talk to them about whatever. Maybe we'll do that sometime when they are there. To end the little adventure, we took a song tao (truck with covered bench seats in the bed) to another superstore, where we met Annabelle and went home. It was a good day!

Well, I'll let Summer tell the adventures of yesterday (Sunday). They were a blast! Pictures are coming soon. They are being difficult.

Mangos!!

Michael and Summer eating Mango Sticky Rice at the Walking Street Maket

Monday, January 7, 2008

Amo, Amas, Amat... No, wait! English...

Michael here.

Ah, the newness of it all. Then again... what did we expect? Getting married, having a new home in a new country with a new job, new food, a new culture, and a new language-- it'e enough to overwhelm anybody. So far we have survived with only a couple minimal breakdowns. We bounce back quickly, though. One really doesn't realize the power of familiar things in a foreign country unless he/she has experienced it him/herself. When we first arrived at our house, I was a little scared about all the things we needed to do to it to make it feel a little more like home for us. I didn't know where to start. Luckily, Summer is amazing at organizing stuff. When we started, we plugged in Summer's computer and turned on the iTunes. Ahhhhh!!! The familiar sounds of home. It was revitalizing. Now our house is starting to turn into a home. There's still a little way to go, but I'm sure we'll be sinking in in no time.

Just because everything is new, however, doesn't mean we don't like it. Thai culture, people, and food are amazing! We have really soaked it up. I'm anxious to learn more and feel less like a fish out of water, but I know that will come in time. The language is looking like my biggest hurdle. I would love to learn it. It is so difficult, though! With all the tones that we are not used to in English, it makes for a difficult lesson. I'm hoping my proclivity toward languages will kick in and make things a little easier. Speaking of difficult languages, I've never really thought about how to make English simple. It's hard! Especially when you have to teach it. We are just now getting into teaching our classes, and we have nothing to go off of. There are some books with activity suggestions and such things, but there is no curriculum. We don't even know how much they know. How do you even ask someone who doesn't know English how much he/she knows? This will be quite the ride.

Please let everyone who might want to hear from us know about this blog. We haven't collected an e-mail list. We've been a little busy (in case you haven't noticed) :-) Feel free to e-mail us as well. We will try to write short individual notes and responses to your letters. We love you, and if you ever want to visit, just let us know.

~M (and S)

Sunday, January 6, 2008

The new and exciting!

Hello one and all!
This edition is going to be wordy and less pictorally pleasing because the last time we tried to upload pictures the computer froze. Bummer. Anyway here we go.
So many things are new and exciting! Try buy 4 skirts, 1 pair of pants and a new shirt for just under $30. And they are all so pretty! Michael and I got to visit the walking street last night. Its a market that is open each weekend and is just teeming with vendors. There is something for everyone. Skirts, shirts, ornate wood carvings, earrings, baskets, bags, mango sticky rice, 30 minute massages for under $2.00, you name it. Everything is sooo inexpensive. I bought this fantastic skirt yesterday for 400 baht, about $12.00 and that has been the most expensive thing I have purchased.
I have gone crazy for skirts! I have been female my entire life, but it has taken me coming to Thailand to turn me into a girl. -grins- Since things are so inexpensive I have begun indulging my girly side and I am loving it.
For those of you planning to visit, let me give you a few words of advice. #1-Start saving #2-Pack light and #3-Bring an extra suitcase. You will go home with a new wardrobe.
As for food. When I was back home I didn't really care for Thai food. I could have it every once and awhile, but the idea of having it everyday was just short of torchure. Since arriving, I have begun to love it! There are so many different kinds, most of them spicy, but in general all very good! Annabell and David Bell, our Canadian contacts and friends here, have been introducing us to local Thai culture and food. From spring rolls and sticky rice, to ginger taffy and cococnut pancakes, it has been quite the experience.
Michael and I began teaching today. I am teaching the lower grades, primary or patom, and he has the higher ones which I can't remember the names of. Patom 1 is my most challenging class because they don't listen and...they don't listen. It makes things difficult. But the others are good so far. The older they get the more respect they show, so hopefully my 5th and 6th graders will be angels.
This is all I have time for now, but we will keep you updated and will send some pictures your way soon! We love you and miss you all!
Summer and Michael