day 5 - sept 5

This morning we woke up again around 4:30 and laid in bed for a bit thinking we should fall back asleep, but we didn't so we got up and got ready for the day, showered (cold showers, no hot water). We did our morning routine (prayer, scripture, yoga), and then headed to breakfast. We have rice with every meal. We had rice, chicken, a sweet sauce, and this broth soup think with cilantro, watermelon, and cucumbers. They grow pineapple about 50 meters from the kitchen! 

We had our volunteer orientation around 8:30am. We did introductions, learned about the Hill Tribes (Akha, Lahu, and Karen, Murn, Hong, and Lisu). And learned more about the Mirror Foundation and their purpose. They help local people with so many things. They have built a lot of roads, dams, planted rice, digging ditches, flood control, etc... during our meeting, it started to rain! It was beautiful. It was neat too because the humidity went down as it rained. For lunch we ate rice, egg, cucumber and beef. We then met up as the outdoor program. There are 7 of us who are starting this week. Some are staying for one week, up to twelve weeks! We talked about us being a family and working together, leading and following together. Our head guy's name is P Akong. He is from a hill tribe and P means old man, out of respect. He is awesome, he has worked for this organization since he was 15 years old. We got muck boots, then had the rest of the day off. 

Mom went to do some journaling and organizing her stuff, while I went exploring. There was a bamboo hut amongst the rice fields that I spent some time in, then there are rows and rows of pineapples! They are small and delicious! Very sweet. 🍍 There are a few dogs here that roam around, one of them followed me up to the pineapple fields and hung out with me! He first ran up really fast behind me and I thought I was getting chased by something large! (Maybe a tiger!) it was really neat to spend some time alone up here. He guided me on a walk along a muddy trail where I got pretty muddy due to the rain today. It's rained off and on this afternoon. They he stayed with me on the way back. It was a tender mercy to have a black pup with me ☺️ God loves us! 

This is mom playing with some plants. When you touch these little leaf plants, they fold up and hide, like a camouflage. They are everywhere here and so fun to play with! 

This is mom and Tina (Australia) 

Sarah (Canada) and I trying on Thai hats 

For dinner we ate rice, pineapple, and yummy swe
et and sour beef/vegetables. The food here is amazing! And it's neat because we feel full, but not stuffed. It's such a healthy way of living. We all met up and went into Chiang Rai tonight to the night bazaar(night market). There are street vendors selling food, clothes, and all you can think of. (Like Thai Swiss days!! But everyday). Mom bought some traditional elephant pants, I bought a shirt and handmade Fanny pack. We got Thai foot massages with Tina (volunteer from Australia who is doing the outdoor work with us, she'll be here 8 weeks, she is 48 and quit her job because the universe kept pushing her to do so. It's amazing to see her heart) and Sarah, from Canada (she is doing the teaching program for 2 weeks, she gets to teach children and monks! She is 28 and has been traveling the world for the past 8 months, she will be going home in a month) these massages were wonderful and amazingly inexpensive for Americans. They loved us and the owner gave mom and I a hug (which isn't a normal thing here, they don't like PDA). We got some ice cream and went to the gold bell tower. We then rode our bus home (a truck with 2 benches that holds up to 12 people, we fit 15 people! 

We headed back and got ready for bed. It's been a nice day and we are excited to start working tomorrow. We start off by going to a school and painting murals! We've met some amazing people who are here for amazing purposes.