Thailand Jounals: Day 3

Monday, April10, 2006

Today started at 7:15 a.m. with our general gathering before breakfast. After breakfast, we piled into the back of a few trucks and headed for Mae Tang Tribal Children’s Home—our work site for the week. After a tour of the property, which included a visit to see pigs…we anxiously waited to start building the wall. W had to wait for the Thai workers to get there and give us a task to do. “Thai” time is a lot like “Venezuelan” time…there is no rush to get things done…there are no schedules.

Before I forget, it was neat, getting the tour of the property and listening to the four returning individuals enjoy seeing some of the results of some of their labor from the year before.

We got to work a little before 10:00 a.m. and got quite a bit done before lunch. Coming from Korea where most of us had on fleeces or jackets on our way to the airport, going to 40°C temperature and working in direct sun…it was HOT. However, we all handled it pretty well. Everyone has been good about downing the water and slapping on the sunscreen.

After lunch, we had more workers than tasks to be done. We only worked until about 2:30. We then piled into the trucks, went back to the hotel, changed into our swimsuits, and headed for the waterfall.

The waterfall, so far, has been the highlight of this trip! Oh…on our way to the waterfall, we all got drenched by people throwing water on us. We are in Thailand during the hottest week of the year and during their New Year. It is tradition on April 13th to throw water on people as a way of blessing them (the roots go back to Buddhist traditions). Though people often start blessing people with water before the 13th, those we were working with living in Thailand, we as surprised as we were to have water thrown on us. Apparently, they normally do not start throwing water this early. This water throwing was one of the most fun things I have done….to boot…we are surrounded by mountains, enjoying hot weather, and surround by green! A small taste of heaven.

By the way…the backs of trucks are our form of transportation for the week, along with one van. Therefore, we will be soaked all week. There is not much to say about the waterfall other than it was beautiful and so fun to play in! It brought back memories o playing in the river the year we lived with the Sweet’s.

About 10 of us decided to go up to the bat cave…that was cool even though we did not see any bats…just bat droppings. The walk there and back was beautiful.

From the waterfall, we returned to the hotel, changed, and walked down the street a bit and had dinner. It was yummy! The end of a wonderful start to our week.


Tad and the Thai workers cutting wire.

"The Wall"--our primary purpose for coming...our service for Mae Tang Children's Tribal Home and for the Lord...or at least it under construction.

First, we piles stacks of 48 bricks in front of each section of the wall.

As you can see at the very front of the picture...there was nothing. That is what was there when we got there...only five sections of the wall were already up.

I forgot to take a picture before we started working...so you never will get to see a complete before picture.

How many students does it take to build a wall?

One to work, and two to wacth!

Just kidding...though it looks like Antone and Joseph are watching Casey work...the truth is everyone was working really hard.

Shin and a few others learned how to put the metal frame structure together for the foundational beam of the wall. On the first day, they finished doing the frame for most of the rest of the wall. Then the Thai workers poured the cement so that would could start laying bricks on top of it the following day.

Another picture of them working on the framework for the beam. On the right we have Steve and Michael. On the left is Joseph, the Thai worker, and Tad.

In hundred degree weather you learn to appreciate...the shade, ice-cold water, and hats.

Clean-up so that we can go and enjoy the COOL waterfall.These are pictures These are pictures that were taken after our first suprise soaking due to those getting into the New Year's festivities early.

I was too busy enjoying the waterfall to take pictures at the waterfall. However, I did remember to have someone take a picture of me before I started playing. After this, I put my camera up in a safe place.

The Bat cave. I was actually the one who said it would be fun to climb up on the ledge. However, when I found out I would have get my hands and feet covered in bat poop to accomplish the feat...I decided was finde not climbing up to the ledge.

So...it's dark in the bat cave. We did not bring flashlights. Casey was one of the first in. He says, "Hey, in this hole there are a bunch of bats." I then take a picture to see if it really is bats because the camera will flash when it takes the picture allowing me to see if there are really bats there. By this time a few others are nearby, listening to Casey. We are looknig at the screen and Casey is saying...see all the eyes? He got a few of us and went to put his hand in the hole...but of course there were no bats. It's just a black spot on the cave wall.

This picture was taken on the way to the car from the bat cave. This is a group shot of the few of us who were smart enough to want to see the bat cave.

Monday was Casey's 16th birthday. Most people when you ask what they did on their 16th birthday they have some story about driving there friends somewhere for their birthday.

Though Casey cannot boast of his newly aquired driving priviledge...if asked what did you do on your 16th birthday? He can say, oh I got water thrown at me as I was traveling down the highway in a truck, I played at a waterfall, explored a bat cave, and got to build a wall for the glory of God. Not a bad way to spend your birthday!