Settling In....(by Amanda)

We've been here in Thailand for about 10 days now and I think we're feeling settled into our life here. It has been so good to be here, especially reconnecting with friends and familiar faces from past visits. The first part of our trip we are living in northern Thailand in Chiang Rai which is a small town surrounded by many hill tribe villages. We are living at a youth center where kids from the villages are given the chance to live and receive education so that they will have a more hopeful future. We have worked at this center 3 other times so the kids know us and it's so fun to see how they've grown since the last time we saw them. Our team is helping to do various projects around the center....they worked in the tea field this week and pruned all 5000 plants....they have been working for 3 days laying cement in what is to be the new tea factory. The center has plans to process and sell the tea they are growing in order to create more income and become more self sustaining (right now many of the kids are supported monthly from people in the US) We are so happy to be able to be part of this work that is making a long term impact on the kids and their families and villages.

We have been enjoying lots of sun and warm weather!!! :) (we are not missing seattle weather right now) It has been so fun to be able to let Zara run around outside all day and to have freedom from being bound indoors. She is doing amazing. She is a real superstar here with everyone wanting to touch her smooth white skin. The kids at the center just love her and she has them playing ring around the rosie with her and singing jingle bells (her 2 favorites right now!) She welcomes everyone with her sweet little smile and is making friends very quickly. She is very entertained with having 60 kids to run around and play with! It has been neat to see this new world through her eyes and to see how she responds. She was tentative for about 2 days and then she settled in easily to this new community. She amazes me with her resilance to all this change.....

The pace of life is so different from what I am used to and I am finding it refreshing....well, now I am.... The first few days I felt irritated at the long days, lack of freedom (it's hard to communicate, I can't drive myself anywhere, I can't get on the internet to write home!) It's a strange feeling to be a foreigner and so out of control. It reminds me what the refugees I work with in Seattle must feel on a daily basis. It can be so tiring when the simplest task takes a long time to do. But yesterday as I was spending the morning with Zara while the team worked, I just sat and looked at her for a while. I stared at her little face and mouth, I listened really closely to what she was saying. I played with her and did whatever she wanted to do and just let her lead me. We walked around the yard, picked up rocks, took out all her toys, ate lunch and ice cream and it got all over her mouth and clothes and it was so nice that it didn't matter. We walked around in the dirt and ran under the sprinking hose and just enjoyed the day. And I found myself so happy and so content and noticing more and seeing more than I had in a long time....And I wouldn't trade this for anything.....