COMING SOON

Before her death, the Kings' Mother made a request to Boonthan Mahavan to do anything necessary to improve the standard of living for the hill-tribe people in Northern Thailand. One of Boonthan's projects is a small school near Mae Chaem that houses around fifty hill-tribe kids. The kids come from various groups such as the Aka, Lisu, and Hmong located near the Thai-Myanmar border areas.

I had a chance to visit this amazing school and spend a couple nights at Boonthan's house. In the next few days I will attempt to piece together a series of posts that highlight the school and various projects created to improve the life of these amazing people.

The Good Old Daze

An old friend recently tracked me down via the internet and sent me some photos from the early 90's.

The Magic Van, buried in snow, was me and Brown's home for a couple years in the mountains of Colorado. It had recently snowed a couple feet on my property and Brown didn't mind at all. The silence of winter was beautiful up in the hills.

Great BIG? World

On my way to take a TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certificate course at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“It’s a great big world out there,” we were told back in the days of 55 mph speed limits, broadcast television, and green and black computer screens. Heck, it wasn’t long ago that most people believed the earth was flat and the universe revolved around the flat Earth. Oh my, how things have changed.

Just after flying over Duluth, Minnesota and Lake Superior, which holds about one-fifth of the planets fresh water, I was served up a nice hot meal. (yes, international flights still serve food…for free!) I had chosen a Korean dish since I was flying Korean airlines, and settled in for the 14-hour trip from Atlanta to Seoul.

On the side of the tray, holding several small covered dishes, I was humored to see a single pad of Land O’ Lakes butter. The Native American Indian maiden on the front of the red, yellow and green label was very familiar to this Minnesota boy.

The organization was incorporated on July 8, 1921, as the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association. In 1924, the association decided to expand its butter market, and a search was made for an appropriate brand name and trademark. A contest was announced to choose a name. To tie in with the golden color of butter, $500 in gold was offered as prize money.(www.landolakes.com)

I chuckled how this little pad of butter from Minnesota, and a Minnesota native, were flying over Duluth, where my mother was raised, on their way to South Korea.

As I panned further around the array of food, I found several countries were sharing my plate. Japan had the seaweed soup. Korea had the hot sauce. China had the dinner wear. America had the water and butter, and I guessed the bread. Columbia had the coffee.

The well-kept and polite Korean stewardess smiled and asked (in English) if I would like some wine, (from Italy), or tea (from India). I stuck with the Americas and had a coffee and Sprite.

The native Thai man next to me asked the stewardess for a wine, (in Korean) then looked at me and said, “Cheers, here’s to a short flight.”

I assumed the plane would handle enough Middle Eastern fuel to get this hodge-podge of passengers to wherever it was we were all going. It seemed most ethnicities were represented on this 747 jumbo jet. And like the little pad of Land O’ Lakes butter, we were all crossing this ever-shrinking planet sharing little bits of our cultures.

8.14.08 - Time To Fly

The time has arrived when I put down my carpentry tools and embark on another journey into the vast world outside the confines of my home country. I use the word “confines” not in an unruly or condescending manner, but in the reality that, for me, Americanism has the ability to overshadow the amazing things that happen every day at all corners of the globe. Although the computer age has given us the ability for virtual travel through news and travel websites, it just isn’t the same as experiencing foreign countries first hand.

One of my favorite hobbies when traveling is to keep an eye on the newspapers and foreign news broadcasts. It is interesting to see perspectives of current issues from various cultural viewpoints around the world. These perspectives give me the tools to help evaluate my own viewpoints and inevitably cause a revamping of my opinions.

Over the past few months I have brushed up on my Thai language skills. My new repertoire includes numbers, a vital aspect of survival. I am also now able to string together some simple sentences. It will be exciting to test my new skills in daily life around the country.

During this new journey to Thailand and beyond, I will again use my computer and camera to note some of the things I find interesting, practical, funny, amazing, or just beautiful. I will try to add posts on a regular basis over the next few weeks; I hope you have a chance to check in.