Entries by Mishala Abrams

I was so excited!  I mean i was jazzed!  I was jumping-up-and-down excited!  
why? because it was april 12, and the next day would be the first offical
day of Songkran!  what? don't tell me you don't know what Songkran is!  You
poor deprived people!  Songkran is the annual three day thai waterfight!  
For three days in the middle of april, everything in thailand closes down,
and people spend all day throwing water at eachother!  I'm not making this
up!

So I'm back, with part 2 of my saga.  But before I launch into this, I must
type a disclaimer:  I am a very blunt, down-to-earth type of person, and I'm
a CNA - nothing grosses me out.  So if you are the squeemish type, you
probably should avoid reading this, though it will be very educational! 

When it comes to creepie crawlies, I consider myself a very tolerant person, especially for a girl.  I don't scream when I see a spider or snake, (in fact I don't scream for practically any reason, and girls that do frankly get on my nerves! no offence anyone!) or run away from a lizard.  I at least tolerate most creepy crawlies.  However, they do have this one annoying problem in common:  they like to pop out at the most annoying times and at least try to scare people.  Thus the reason why I can't stand the one critter I hate: Toads.  and frogs too, but they arn't as bad. I could be walking calmly down a path, enjoying the evening cool, when all of a sudden, HOP!  right in front of me, a "rock" moves.  I mean, how freeky is that!?  (but I still don't scream!)  So that is why, when I found a gargantious granddaddy toad residing in front of my house, I asked him to leave, and not so nicely.  In fact, I even ushered him, with the help of a long stick, from his residence in my gate ditch to a new home across the street.  But this guy was huge!  He was the size of a volley ball!... ok... a grapefruit!... ok fine, just a large orange size.  But that's still way to big for my comfort.

It was that time again... time to make my monthly trip to Mae Sai to renew my visa.  *sigh*  I wasn't looking forward to it.  All day on a bus... no fun at all, especially by myself. Movies shown it thai, annoying thai music, and no one to talk to. 

"RETREAT!"  was the comand given to all the Asia AFM missionaries last week.  As any good soldier of the cross, they all needed some time to pull back from the battle front and recoup, regroup, refocus, and reorganize for their next crushing blow to the enemy.  Ya lost?  Ok, let me explain in a little more detail.  

 Dirt, heat, chickens, dirt, rice, heat, bugs, and did I mention dirt and heat?  But the ten days I spent in the village of Hoi Fai were not all dirt and heat.  It was also fun, bonding, and a great time!  ok, let me back up and tell you the whole story.

Hey everyone!  I know I haven't written in ages.  Sorry... (I always start off that way don't I??  hmmmm....)  Anyway, I just wanted to give you all an update on what's been going on here in Thailand.  
Last month, my Uncle Bob flew out from Oregon to come visit me for a while.  After a week or so of hanging around Chiang Mai, we headed south to Bangkok, and Khao Yai National Park for a much needed break (for me at least!)  We spent a week camping in the park and enjoying seeing lots of animals in the wild.  We saw lots of sambar deer, barking deer, and pig tailed maquacs (monkeys).  Also saw wild elephants, civits, guar, porcipine, jackel, and other animals I'm sure I forgot to list.  

Merry Christmas SM's and all you other readers! I'm in Bangkok right now enjoying a Christmas break away from Chiang Mai. I came down with Sam (Samantha), my New Zealand friend. Our train was scheduled to leave at 4pm. We were ready to go by 3:30. Unfortunatly, no one was there to take us to the train station! PiDuang, who was supposed to take us, finally called at 3:45 and said to find a neighbor to take us. So Sam went down the street to find a neighbor. She found one, but if you show that your in a hurry, or flustered, they won't help you, so she couldn't hurry the lady. So by the time our message got communicated it was 3:55. Right then, PiDuang came screaching up in her truck and told us to hop in. So we told the neighbor "never mind" and "thank you" and threw our stuff in the truck, jumped in, and hung on for one wild ride! We drove faster than I thought was possible on those crazy back roads. We arrived at the station in time... in time to see our train pulling out. Thai culture may be laid back, but trains and buses leave right on the dot. So Sam ran to a guard and explained our plight. The guard led her to the ticket guy who was nice enought to change our tickets to the 4:45 train with no extra cost except the difference of the tickets in moving up a class, from 2nd class no AC, to 2nd class with AC. We were really thankful for that! We had a blast on the train! We made crazy voice recordings on my little digital voice recorder, we made up songs, and we listened to my ipod. We also did practical things like writing late Christmas/New Year cards. After eating our supper that we had brought with us, we chit chatted until about 10:30, then turned into our sleeper berths. We both had top bunks across from each other. They were barely long enough for us to stretch out in, so any of you who are longer than 5'8" would have problems! The berths were comfy, and the rocking of the train was really soothing. It reminded me of taking trips in my grandparents camper as a kid. The down side was that we froze. We only had a thin blanket, and even sleeping in long pants and a sweat shirt, I still got cold!!! I just about went and crawled in with Sam! But we survived the night, and arrived at our station at 5:30 am Our station was right next to the airport, so since it was still a bit early to show up at Sam's dad's house, we went to the observation deck and Sam slept while I journaled. Finally at about 7:30, we caught a taxi to the house. Were well recieved by the maid and Annie, Sam's three year old half sister. We spent the rest of the day catching up on sleep and taking it easy. It was a great trip down from Chiang Mai. I just hope the return trip by myself goes as good! - Mishala