What would you picture if I told you that these last few days have seen us fall into bed, a pile of sweat, exhaustion, and throbbing muscles. What would you picture if I told you that these last few days have seen us step out into a brave new world, try strange delicious foods, and chew on new languages. What would you picture if I told you that these last few days have seen us go from strangers to fast friends, put our heads together in a brainstorming sessions, and share the start of what is sure to be a wonderful journey.
The last two days have been all of this. All of this and more. From the moment we stepped off the plane, it’s been a whirlwind. Bags lost and found. New foods tried. The words learned. In the mornings we are serenaded by unfamiliar birds, and at night, as the world begins to cool, the frogs start up their chorus.
We’ve done yoga, spent our days exploring Chiang Mai, and talked about the upcoming weeks. Yeah, we’ve spent sometime on the boring necessary stuff–reviewing health and safety, laying some ground agreements, the sort of things that usually accompany the start of something. But the boring stuff has always been peppered with yummy street food and energizing games.
Our introduction to Thailand has included a visit to the gloriously gold Wat Poi Sutthep, where legend has it that a hair from the Buddha’s was left. To get to the wat, we all piled into a sungtao and drove a good thirty minutes out of Chiang Mai and hiked up a long staircase past many colorful statues. We kicked off our shoes and spent a long time wandering the temple and watching the strange mix of tourism and devotion that passes through the area. It was a really cool look into Buddhism, the religion that many people here practice and a religion that we will continue to learn about throughout our trip.
We spent a night wandering the famous night market in Chiang Mai. Many of us bought awesome pants and we sampled a lot of street food–including mangoes and sticky rice, a new favorite.
And an afternoon was spent on a city wide scavenger hunt. In pairs, we tracked down Internet cafes and local restaurants and chatted with locals we met. You might have seen the blog posts about that afternoon. The scavenger hunt ended with us all meeting back up at the Sunday Walking Market and we finished the night up savoring delicious coconut ice cream. It was sooo good, the sort of good we’ll be talking about all trip.(“Hey, remember that time we ate coconut ice cream in Chiang Mai? Yeah, I could really have some of that right now.”)
These last few days have only been the start. The moments of preparation, the deep breaths before the plunge. The following days will see us further our study of Thai and continue our first home stays.
Soon, we’ll be fully recovered from jet lag, (somewhat) accustomed to the heat, and confidently testing out our newly learned Thai.
But today we are only just at the start, lined up along the edge of a pool, holding hands, giddily anticipating the jump. We’re ready for our feet to leave the ground. We’re ready to dive in, connect and find something real and true in our time here.
Some shout outs to the people back home:
Emma: to all the people back home who made this trip possible. Sending love your way, and just wanted to let you all know how happy I am.
Leanna: shout out to my mom and dad
Karenna: love you and miss you, Mommy and Daddy
Julia: Voovie, Lalo, and Tomás, love u more than all the fishes in the sea! Go get ’em!
Karen: Hey Hanseil and to my family at Future Connect! Just wanted to say hello and share with you all that I am so very happy and smiling 🙂