Creating story and accidentally eating dog, blech.

I finished the book that I had talked about (yet sheepishly not finished when I talked about it). I didn't know how good 'A Million Miles in a Thousand Years' by Don Miller was before I actually read it... haha, and am now thinking that I was completely unworthy of using his book as a basis for my blog/footnote on my trip to Thailand ;). He talks a lot about creating story, and the importance of a narrative/story in your life. He talks about writing a book, and if you never get your character to do anything or think anything, it won't be a very interesting book. So. I decided I would intentionally make myself do stuff to create story in my life :). Hehe, and I had such great adventures! I like story.

Last week was New Year's Break. I caught the first bus to Chiang Mai to see my friend Courtney before she left for Vietnam on the 27th. She was on a study abroad term and stayed with my host family for two months. As soon as I got to Chiang Mai I missed Mai Sai a lot. I had decided I would do at least one tourist thing before I went home, however. I wandered past a kayak/raft adventure tourism place, and decided I would check it out... I miss kayaking so much! It was actually the same people whom I had kayaked with the previous march. So, Wednesday I had an awesome day kayaking, took my nose ring out in order to wear a noseplug, couldn't get it back in afterwards, and now I am nakedly nose-ringless. My identity shall have to get over it until I'm back in Canada and Jonna can hold my hand again while they stick a needle through my nose. bah. I woke up early the next morning, thinking how much I love kayaking, and decided to wander past the store again... just to see if they had an extra spot. They had ONE spot left in the van so I went completely unprepared-- except for knowing I had left my wet clothes in the bathroom at the take out point by accident-- at least I had kayaking clothes to wear in hopes that they hadn't been stolen. The kayaking was awesome again, though I got stuck on a rock in the middle and had to pull my skirt... *sigh. so embarrassing. We kayaked by a elephant, all muddy and chilling eating leaves in the jungle, other elephants being driven across the river, a big water snake, and kids that splashed us as we went by. Mmm... one of my favourite parts about kayaking is the last slow stretch where you're glad you're still breathing air, your face is intact, and you're just so pumped on life. I popped my skirt, hung my legs out the side of the kayak and took my helmet off, splashing and laughing with the other rafters and kayakers. Life is good. By the end of the two days I had made pretty good friends with the kayak and raft guides (I think they were pretty impressed... my friend Nop said he had never seen a girl kayak before). These guys were all best friends that grew up in a hilltribe close to the one we were at. Jason Younkin, a guy from California that started the company found these guys and taught them to kayak so they could work for him. They are... some of the best kayakers I have seen. Effortless bow stalls and cartwheels... it's amazing. It was interesting actually, talking to them. They're all unmarried from 21 to 25ish; they said there's no one to marry: the girls in their village their age had left long ago. Mmm. Interesting to get a new perspective on the situation. They asked me where I was going for new years that night and then invited me to stay up at the bamboo raft lodge with them if I had nothing else to do. There was also an American couple there; a volunteer safety kayaker and his girlfriend that I had gotten a long well with, so I thought, 'hm. spend a night in crowd surrounded by drunk tourists in Chiang Mai or in the mountains with river people...' yes. We climbed up into the pile of rafts stacked three on top of each other on a farm truck and rode up the mountain again on washed out roads ducking low tree branches. I think I may actually like road rafting better than river rafting... ;). The hilltribe village the lodge was in was beautiful... connected over the river by a wood and cable suspension bridge that swung madly as soon as you stepped on it. I spent the evening between the guest house on the opposite side of the river and the raft lodge. I've been finding that New Year's is a bit like Christmas here. You say, 'Happy New Years!' instead of 'Merry Christmas!'. Because I only had about 4baht in my bag (I gave all my money I had in my bag to go kayaking for an other day, and I was still 600baht short... but they let me come anyway-yay!), the owner of the guest house gave me a beer because 'everyone has to have a beer on new years' :S. I spent new years eating fish that one of the guys had caught in the river and we had cooked over our little beach campfire. My friend Nop cooked a late night snack that he said was pork... but as I was eating it I was like, 'um. Nop, are you sure this is pork? I don't think it is. are you sure?' And sure enough, I turned over a piece of meat... and saw an unmistakable jaw of a dog. complete with the teeth. 'Nop. this is dog'. 'oh. haha. yeah it is.' wHHaaattt!!!??? I guess every person that goes overseas needs to try dog. oh man. You'll know if you try it. It doesn't taste like pork. The next day I was checking out dog teeth to make sure it was a match... aghh... yep. I totally ate dog. ew. (story. story. story... blech.)

The night before, I had made friends with a family over the river. They were going to deliver blankets and toys to a hilltribe village on New years day and invited Stephanie (the kayaker's girlfriend) and I to come along. Yes please! They gave a lovely fuzzy blanket to each family and gave loads of school stuff to the school and New Years presents to the kids. Hehe... I found a little boy at his house and he said he wanted a truck. So I went over to the box where they were giving out toys, found a sweet big hydraulic dump truck and came over to deliver it to him at his house. Ahaha! his eyes went so big and said thankyou about 5 times. Hm. I totally don't agree with materialism and just giving things to people to make them happy. BUT... yeah I don't have any excuses... ;). I also got to go bamboo rafting with them back down the raft lodge! We hiked in for about an hour to the river, and then bamboo rafted for about 2 hours... one of the kids in the family was an autistic boy... and I just LOVED watching how the family doted on him and enjoyed his presence and companionship. All I wanted to do was take pictures of his little brother making sure he was okay, his Mom holding his hand, or his Father giving him piggy-back rides. He and his family were more beautiful than the stunning mountains, jungle, and waterfalls around us, hands down.

I ended up getting back to Chiang Mai on Saturday afternoon because they didn't want me to hitch a ride with anyone else going back. I think they felt really protective over me... the son of the owner/chief of the village said I would only need about 2 more weeks on the river and I could be a volunteer safety kayaker! YES PLEASE. I love that place... it was so lovely to be in such a tranquil environment with no pressure... there was no internet and my cell battery was dead, even if there had been a network around to let me receive any calls. I rode in the back of a truck taking pictures with the photographer and the safety crew... hehe I watched as a mahout (elephant trainer man) pointed to things at a little convenience store while sitting on the back of an elephant.. it gave a whole new meaning to a drive in... hehe. Man. That was good for me :). I miss being dirty, bare-feet, water, and campfires... I think I wore the same t-shirt four days in a row :S.

I had a hilarious evening on Saturday night with my Mom and little brother in Chiang Mai- we went to see Sherlock Holmes together and ate expensive cakes. Wow. my little brother is so hilarious. I could joke around with him for hours. He was trying to carry me in the parking lot, and needless to say I ended up sprawled out on the cement, both of us in fits of laughter.

I am now back in Mae Sai, alone for the week as Sarah is in the South with her boyfriend who is visiting from America. I have suspicions she'll come back with a ring on her finger ;). There are 15 or so students from a University in Wisconsin here for the next two weeks running an arts and dance camp for the kids. It's so great to see what my kids are capable of! Even the boys are getting into like.. ballet-type dancing. wow. Surprises everywhere. I wish I was 15 people. I wish I had that kind of energy even after two months. But... I'm getting tired. Tired and kind of discouraged and out of ideas. But its so good to see people here loving the kids. I wish they could stay forever.

On Monday when my monks came to class they surprised me with a New Years Present! 'Happy New Year Teacher!'. Oh! I'm so emotional. Beautifully wrapped, a little glass figurine of two birds and a big box of TimTams--- delicious Australian chocolate cookies :). I went to my favourite group of food stalls afterwards and shared them with all my friends. A lot of things are changing around the food stalls. I cried a couple of nights ago because I didn't want anything to change there; they feel like family. The milkman (Asoe) got deported to Burma and he's never coming back. I never even got to say goodbye. And the lady who makes Khow Pat Gai and Patsee-ew hasn't been here for the last week because her Mom died. It hurts to think that their lives are so different then mine. Tonight at CLC I taught Moei, Dang, Arnone, La, two other younger monks that joined the class, and two Burmese women who also joined the class, the history of Christmas day, and why it's celebrated. I had written a simple version of the Christmas story, had them write it down, learned the vocabulary, and read the story. Hm. It was pretty cool :). It felt funny talking to Buddhist monks about Jesus... haha, I probably wasn't allowed... but oh well ;).

Alright. So. Creating story. It's a great motivator to get out of bed in the morning ;). I've been trying intentionally to convince myself, 'if I don't do it now, I just won't even do it. I'll just always make excuses.' So, when I go past a guy selling pets and think, 'I would like to buy a fish', I force myself to turn around a buy a fish. My fish is lovely :). It's name is fsh. Once someone told me a joke about a fish with no eye that was called 'fsh'. My fish has eyes... But I still think the joke is funny :). Anyway. Just trying to grasp opportunities and such.

I've also just began an online course on Peace and Conflict Studies through the University Of Waterloo. The lectures and texts seems really great so far :).

Blessings friends.
Nicola