tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2009-11-08:/MokoFeed2009-11-08T04:02:13+01:00tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-05-02:/2008/05/02/out-of-the-bush-and-into-the-city-and-ba-4123224/rachelryon2008-05-02T17:14:32+02:002008-05-02T17:14:32+02:00 <p>Well, we are finished with our time in the village and are spending a few days in Chiang Mai before our group splits up for good. </p> <p>Songkran weekend ended, and we made our way back to the village, thankful
 to escape the unbearable heat of Chiang Mai. It was nice to return to the
 village and a much slower pace of life. Our morning anthropology class was finished, so we
 started focusing on getting interviews and writing our papers. My partner and I wrote our term paper on the presence of Compassion International in the Musikhee village and their impact on the children. We became very passionate about our topic when we started finding out some very interesting facts about how money was being used and distributed. Compassion changed their policy a few years ago away from giving direct aid to the sponsored children to spending the money to “develop” the children using after school and weekend activities. While this may theoretically be better long-term, many of the poorest children are slipping through the cracks, not able to afford food or school and having to drop out or join Buddhist monasteries to continue their education. This is obviously not what overseas sponsors think their money is contributing to. This, along with a few other very disconcerting findings, convinced us that there needs to be a policy change. We plan on sending our paper to the corporate headquarters of Compassion International in Colorado Springs and presenting this information to them and, depending on their response, submitting a version of our paper to Sojourner’s or another such publication. If you would like to read more about this, I would be happy to send our paper to you.<br> But back to village life:<br> The random power outages, which 
strangely happen around the same time every day, made writing our 
papers a bit difficult for those of us using laptops. One could usually hear a
 shout of joy around the compound when the electricity 
finally came back on. 

A highlight of the third week was Sports day, an excuse for us to stop work on 
our papers and get out some energy. We had a men’s soccer and women’s
 volleyball team, and we played several Karen teams. Despite the immense 
skill (this is sarcasm) of our volleyball team, we didn’t manage to win a game. The boys
 had slightly more luck, winning one of their games. I think we all
 enjoyed taking the day off to play or cheer our friends on as they played.
 Another highlight of the week was going frogging, where we drove out to a
 rice field at night and caught tiny frogs, which we would eat the next 
day. Finding the frogs proved to be very difficult for some, but I think 
a few from our group may have found their life callings.<br> The last week in the village was filled with last-minute paper writing, making our final purchases from the Karen weaving store, and getting weaving lessons. In fact, I made my own bamboo rice sifter, which will possibly become a tea try in my apartment next year. The last day in the village we were thrown a goodbye party, complete with a roasted pig and sword dancing. It was very sad to say goodbye to the people we had come to love over the past month. The hospitality we were shown was incredible, and we will miss our Karen friends dearly.<br> We are now back in Chiang Mai spending our last few days with each other until we are parted indefinitely. Coming back to Chiang Mai really feels like coming home. It is strange to think that although I spent most of my life in Virginia, there is a random city in Southeast Asia that I know just as well as Warrenton. Most of our group will leave Saturday morning and begin their 24 hour trip back to America. I will not be on that flight, as I decided to stay an extra week. For the past couple of months I have been playing with the idea of going to Burma to teach English. I was pretty set on going until I really felt like God was calling me to examine my motives for going. After a lot of contemplation, I realized that I was mostly excited about the adventure of it, and that my motives were not entirely pure. So I gave it up to God and decided that I was going to go home. Well, about a week after I made that decision I overheard a conversation between my program director and another student about working in a refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border for a week after the program ended. After that, a series of very crazy events started happening, including one of my friends meeting a man on the side of the road who worked at this specific refugee camp and inviting us to come, my program director meeting and giving me the contact information of the director of a Bible school at that specific refugee camp, and one student and I being able to switch our plane tickets so that she could go home and I could stay longer. I have been reading in Isaiah about how God will do things and show His power so that His people know that He alone is God and is control. This idea has been so evident in the process of deciding to go to the refugee camp. Everything that I tried to work out fell through, and only when I gave up did God miraculously work them out. There are seven of us going, and we will be staying at a Bible School in Mae Sot (spelling?), which is a refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border that houses over 50,000 refugees. It is more like a permanent settlement than a refugee camp, and it sounds like we will be teaching English to the Karen refugees who are hoping to immigrate to America.<br> Please pray for us, that we would be kept safe and that we would find purpose there. God has made it so evident that this is in His will, and I am excited to be able to blog again about all the wonderful things that happen. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/05/02/out-of-the-bush-and-into-the-city-and-ba-4123224/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-04-13:/2008/04/13/songkran-4038599/rachelryon2008-04-13T16:56:06+02:002008-04-13T16:56:06+02:00 <p>Well, phase one of the village experience is completed. I arrived back in Chiang Mai yesterday after a five hour windy truck ride that made me want to throw up. We also got doused with buckets of water 27 times on our way from the village to the city. This may seem like a strange occurrence to some, but it is completely normal for Thailand at this time of year. This weekend is the Songkran festival, which is a time to celebrate the rivers and bodies of water. Naturally, they celebrate the water by throwing it at people. I can honestly say that there is no American equivalent to this festival. I can’t think of any situation or holiday in America where it is acceptable to throw things at complete strangers, at least to this extent. Sure, the occasional confetti toss at New Years happens, but there are not hundreds of people standing on the sidewalks and roads with trash cans full of confetti ready to toss a bucket-full at the next passerby. Numerous precautionary measures have to be taken if one wishes to go outside, including putting all of your valuables in plastic bags, wearing running shoes, and carrying around a small water gun to retaliate. I can tell that this is going to be an exciting weekend…<br> Nevertheless, I want to update you on this past month’s happenings. We said goodbye to our host families and left Chiang Mai on March 13th to begin our weeklong tour of Thailand. We went to Sukothai, Ayudhaya, Lopburi, and some other places I can’t remember. We traveled by tour bus, which meant that we became those obnoxious tourists that everyone hates. You know what I’m talking about –those tourists on the large-windowed tour buses who seem to be under the impression that their bus is equipped with one-sided windows because they are unashamedly staring at the people outside. No one likes those people. But nevertheless, we became them. We visited many of the ancient empires of Thailand and saw some really old temples and stuff. Don’t get me wrong, it was cool, but the intense heat was sort of a downer. The highlight of most peoples’ day was when we got to jump in the pool at the next hotel. We did do some really neat things as a group: one day we got to rent bicycles and pedal around a park, during which I decided to go off-roading with two of the boys from the group. Unfortunately, our pink bicycles weren’t meant for off-roading terrain, and the day got even more interesting when we found ourselves on one side of an electric fence (electric, to our surprise). There were some other remarkable happenings during our travel week: one day in Lopburi we visited a temple area housing hundreds of temperamental monkeys. They looked cute at first, but they attacked at the first sign that you may possess food or anything shiny. Toward the end of the week we went on a dinner cruise on a boat possessing a karaoke machine, and much to the chagrin of anyone in earshot, we made good use of it. Our group really did have a great time together, and I think that the most memorable experiences were outside of the tourist sites. The boys in our group decided to have a beard-growing contest that lasted from February until mid-march. During our field trip they got to shave for the first time, but not until we (the girls) gave out the beard superlatives. Some of the most notable awards included “best multi-colored beard,” “best Russian crust-ache,” “best creeper beard,” and “please go shave NOW.” The boys subsequently decided to make the shaving process a bit more interesting by also shaving their heads in horrendous patterns and styles and giving the bag of shaved off hair to the girls as a present. The proof of all these incidents lay in my facebook pictures.<br> After spending a day in Bangkok and visiting the Royal Palace, we were free to go off on our spring breaks. My group took an overnight bus to the Krabi province in southern Thailand. We spent the first two nights on Hat Ton Sai beach. This beach was unlike any beach I had ever been to. Aside from the gorgeous scenery, jungles, and cliffs, the beach was entirely inhabited by hippies and others still mourning the death of Bob Marley. The first day we decided to rent kayaks and paddle out to the next beach, Railay. Within ten minutes of being on the other beach we saw nine other people from our program, and just as we were finished discussing how crazy it was that we all found eachother, our program directors pulled up to shore in a boat. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. That night, back on Hat Ton Sai, we had our own set of interesting happening. While three of us were in so much pain from our sunburns that we couldn’t sleep, two others were woken up in the middle of the night by a monkey in their bungalow. Aside from the intrusive monkeys, we really did enjoy that beach, but I decided to travel to the other side of the peninsula to meet up with another group of friends staying on Kho Phanghan. I traveled by myself for the day, which proved to be more exhausting than I thought. My first bus was delayed by three hours, and when we finally arrived at the dock, I found out that the boat was also three hours late. So I spent three hours at a very sketchy dock with lots of non-English speakers, counting the minutes until I saw people I knew. I finally arrived, around 10 pm, and could do nothing but hug my two friends who came to pick me up at the dock. We stayed at a really nice resort on the beach, loving every minute of the air conditioning and ocean view. We even made friends with two Thai women who work at a massage booth on the beach and took them out to dinner. Most of our time during spring break was spent taking in the everyday conveniences we knew we would soon be lacking, such as running water, air conditioning, beds, etc. When we finally got back to Chiang Mai after our 36 hour trip back, I barely had time to recover before we left for the village the next morning.<br> The five hour long ride to the village was nothing short of nauseating. And I wanted nothing else than to go to sleep when we finally arrived at the village, after I had thoughtlessly taken a few too many motion sickness pills. It wasn’t until the next morning that I was able to have any coherent first impressions of the village. We are living in a compound that usually houses students from surrounding villages who live there to go to school. They are on their summer break now, so we are living in their “dorms.” My house is a six person house, made out of wood and bamboo, and has a porch which is in constant use. We frequently comment on how we feel like old women, sitting on their porch and talking about the latest gossip. Another idea frequently thrown around is the possibility that we might be the victims of some candid camera “Survivor” show. We eat every single meal together, are all living within 50 yards of each other, go to the lake every other day to shower, and every Friday we vote off someone from the village. That last part was a joke, but the rest of it is pure reality. Certain phenomena occur when you live in such close proximity to the same people for an extended period of time, and one of them is speech imitation. All of us are starting to speak with the same tones and inflections, picking up quirks from certain people. I fear what will happen on May 3rd when we are indefinitely separated from each other: we may suffer short-term muteness or something equally awful.<br> Another very present reality that we have had to adjust to is the existence of strange animals and bugs. Frequently during class we are interrupted by the sound of water buffalo calls and cow bells. We do a “bug check” before entering the outhouse, and on really unfortunate days we are visited by a certain enormous moth (it is literally larger than my head) that maintains residence on the outhouse wall for at least 12 hours. The village is also full of dogs, and apparently a dog disease is going around because the dogs are dying at a frightening rate. Over ten dogs died within the first week that we were there, and six died in one day. One of the puppies got ran over by a kid on a bicycle, and I came to its rescue. I made a make-shift splint for its broken leg from bamboo and string, and within a few days he was fine! I named him Maverick…he’s resilient just like Tom Cruise in “Top Gun.” But despite the fact that Maverick remains alive, most of them aren’t anymore.<br> And on that note, I will end this disgracefully long blog and leave you sitting on the edge of your seat, I’m sure, for my return and my subsequent blog post concerning the rest of the dogs and more village gossip.<br> Until then, Sawatdiikha!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/04/13/songkran-4038599/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-03-13:/2008/03/13/time-to-say-goodbye-3870893/rachelryon2008-03-13T12:05:28+01:002008-03-13T12:05:28+01:00 <p>Well, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. And unfortunately a lot will have happened by the next time I’m able to blog again, since I probably won’t have access to the internet again until mid-April. Tomorrow we leave our host familes and begin our week-long field trip to historical sites around Thailand. After our field trip we will be “released” to go on spring break, an adventure I am really looking forward to. I, along with four friends, will take a bus from Bangkok to an island, and….that’s as much as we know. Our plan is to not have a plan. I’m sure there will be interesting stories from that week, perhaps getting ourselves stranded on a deserted island or being chased up a mountain by the local tribal peoples. Who knows. After spring break we will come back to Chiang Mai for one day and then leave for the “muu-baan Karien,” or the Karen village. We will spend the first two weeks there going to classes to prepare for our research project, then we will come back to Chiang Mai for two days for the Songkhran festival, and will then return to the village and conduct our ethnographic research projects.<br> Although I would like to maintain my image for all of you as a strong, independent adventurer, I have to admit that I miss my parents. Luckily they miss me too, and actually decided to come out and visit, along with Mrs. Shomo, a family friend! It was very strange having my two worlds meet each other. The first day my mom and Mrs. Shomo did the “touristy” thing and rode elephants and such. Dad, on the other hand, who obviously loves me more than my mother, came to class with me and skipped the elephant ride. (Just kidding mom!) In the afternoon we met up and rode out to a wood-carving village (aka: tourist trap) to see/buy these beautiful handmade (false) items. (clarification: beautiful – true. Handmade – probably false). On Saturday I took my parents up to Doi Suthep to see the temple that overlooks Chiang Mai. I tried to repeat to them everything I had been told on my tour there, but most of it has escaped me, so they got the abbreviated version. Saturday in the afternoon they came to Agape, where my internship is. Mom had brought toothbrushes for all of the kids and would teach a class on how to brush your teeth properly. I assumed that we would have someone there who could translate for my mom, but apparently that person was me. I tried the best that I could with my limited vocabulary (there wasn’t really a “dentistry” section of my Thai language book), and I hope they got the gist of it. I’m sure the kids thought it was hilarious since I was saying nonsensical things that literally translated to: “you like food? You no brush teeth, you no have teeth. You no have teeth, you no eat food. No good.” Oh well, at least they were amused. The rest of the afternoon was full of similarly hilarious sights, like Dad trying to ride a kids bicycle with a little girl on the back, Mrs. Shomo getting her hair braided and put into pigtails, and all the kids dancing for Dad’s video camera. I’m so glad that they got to come and see what has been a huge and life-changing part of my time here in Thailand.<br> The following week at school I had a 15-page ethnographic term paper due, so there isn’t much to report on social activities. Similarly, my Thai culture final exam was last Tuesday, so studying pretty much consumed my last weekend here in Chiang Mai.<br> Sunday night was our final banquet, a time to formally say goodbye to our Thai teachers and our host families. It was a HUGE event complete with buffet dinner, student entertainment (more to come on that subject), and a laser/water/light show over the water, similar but not quite equal to the “Fantasmic” show at Disneyworld. There were four student entertainment groups, and unfortunately three of them contained me. My skit group got to (I say “got to” very facetiously) perform our skit again that we had already performed as part of our Thai language final exam. I also was involved in a musical number featuring the very sappy and overused song “Graduation,” by Vitamin C. I think it was understood that it was done in a joking manner, especially since at the end of the song we tagged the chorus a cappella and added some dramatic swaying and clapping. Although the night was a bit stressful for me, it was really fun, and I really enjoyed having that time with my family.<br> Thee past few days I have been trying to spend a lot of time at home since I will be leaving my family very soon. I did, however, make some time to go to a local waterfall (where a very strange Thai boy of about 8 years old followed us and tried to grab us from underneath the water. It was really creepy) and play some ultimate Frisbee.<br> Saying goodbye has and will continue to prove very difficult. I had to say goodbye at Agape on Thursday. It’s not so bad because I know that I will be back in April and I will get to see them all again, but who knows if the little ones will even remember me anymore? When I got there on Thursday, the little girl that I always go to see was not there and had gone to the hospital. She has been reacting badly to the ARV (anti retro viral) and they think she may be allergic to it. I was so upset because I wouldn’t be able to say bye to her, but when I walked back by the nursery later that day she was in there! Apparently she had gotten back from the hospital earlier than expected, and it was such a gift from God! That little bit of time that I got to spend with her was so special to me, especially since I didn’t think that I was going to get it.<br> I will say goodbye to my family tomorrow morning, and I am really not looking forward to that. Don’t get me wrong, I am super excited to travel and live in the tribal village, but I really do enjoy spending time with them. In fact, as we speak my brother Tung is trying to get me to play the Thai version of Monopoly with him while I am writing this. Every three seconds he yells “Rachel, turn you!!” They have really become a second family to me and are so generous. Last night we went to my host grandmother’s house. She had cooked us a huge dinner of “kuay tiaw,” fruit, and pad thai. I have only seen her a total of 4 times since coming here, but last night she told me that she loved me and to come back to Thailand. It meant so much to me, and I know that tomorrow morning will be more of that except multiplied by a million...yeah</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/03/13/time-to-say-goodbye-3870893/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-02-26:/2008/02/26/my-run-in-with-an-underground-anime-smug-3783691/rachelryon2008-02-26T16:58:01+01:002008-02-26T16:58:01+01:00 <p>Sorry to those of you who’ve been asking for an update (i.e,. my dear cousin). We had our Thai Language final today, so now that that is over, I can hopefully devote more time to this, although I doubt things will slow down much. For our final, we had to give a five minute oral presentation (in Thai) in front of three Thai teachers, AND perform a 15 minute skit with a group (also all in Thai). Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but we did spend a lot of time studying and practicing. I’m really surprised at how much Thai I do understand – much more than I thought I would know after only 7 weeks. My conversations, though, are limited when talking outside the realm of the weather, ordering food, fruits, and numbers. After coming home from school, I usually feel pretty good about myself and my ability to communicate, that is, until I sit down to watch the nightly Thai soap opera at 9:00 pm with my Thai mom. For that hour I am completely entranced, trying to catch just one word that will clue me in on what is going on. I laugh or gasp occasionally so that my Thai mom will think I know what’s going on. Sometimes, though, I “strategically” laugh at an actual shocking part, and my cover is blown. Shockingly, my ability to gauge the mood of the Thai soap opera has not improved much over the past 7 weeks, so I’m still pretty sure she knows I’m a fake.<br> Speaking of my Thai family, I constantly am telling my friends at school funny stories about them, mostly about my younger brothers. My littlest brother’s favorite English word is “super,” and tries to use it in every sentence. This is a typical conversation we have in the car:<br> Me: “Tung, how was school today?”<br> Tung: “Super okay.”<br> Me: (laughing)<br> Only last night we had another memorable exchange. We have a small electronic keyboard in the house, and it has some demo songs on it that it plays and the keys light up so that you can press them and “learn the song.” Well, last night Tung was trying to learn one of the demo songs, which was Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. ‘How convenient!’ I thought to myself, since I learned that song years ago. Schemingly, I asked Tung if I could try. I sat down and played perfectly along with the demo, adding in the left hand part, which surprised him even more since those notes didn’t light up on the piano. Unfortunately, I didn’t think out my scheme well enough because he left very confused and thinking I had some magical powers since I couldn’t explain to him in Thai that I already knew the song and was playing a joke on him. I’m just hoping that tonight he doesn’t ask me to do the same thing, except with a different demo song that I don’t know. Then he, along with my Thai mom, will know that I’m a fake.<br> I think that in each blog entry I’ll start adding in a segment called “Only In Thailand.” It seems like I have numerous small and quotable cultural experiences but can’t find a place for them within the blog. So, I’m just going to start throwing them in. So…today’s “ONLY IN THAILAND” piece:<br> Last weekend 5 of my American friends and I went to a video rental shop to see if we could rent a movie to watch at someone’s house. Apparently, at Thai video rental shops you can rent not only movies, but also entire living rooms to watch them in. Upon learning this, we, of course, rented “Blood Diamond” along with the living room. It was literally a room upstairs, where I’m pretty sure the family that owns the video store uses. It was actually really nice – a flat screen TV and a nice couch. We basically rented America for two hours. Quite possibly one of the weirdest experiences ever was walking back downstairs after watching the movie. I felt like I was at home, and then walked downstairs only to find myself in a large room with about 10 Thai people staring at the 6 “farang”(foreigners) walking out from a hidden door at the back of the store. Actually…It may have been weirder for the other people in the store: Can you imagine being in Blockbuster’s, walking around trying to pick out a movie, and seeing six non-English speaking Asians emerge from a hidden door behind the “New Releases” section? I imagine I would be rather freaked out, and would probably never return to that Blockbuster’s again for fear that I was supporting some sketchy underground “Anime” film smuggling business. Maybe most video rental stores have already thought this unfortunate chain of events out, and that’s why they don’t rent out living rooms. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/02/26/my-run-in-with-an-underground-anime-smug-3783691/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-02-13:/2008/02/13/wat_a_weekend~3720315/rachelryon2008-02-13T08:53:22+01:002008-02-13T08:53:22+01:00 <p>So in case you didn’t get the pun, “wat” is the Thai word for temple. Oh, I’m so punny!<br> This past weekend our group stayed at a Wat near Chiang Rai to learn how to meditate from the monks. Fortunately, we did more than meditate during our time. It felt more like a youth retreat than a meditation weekend – we had group meals, played silly games and pulled pranks on each other. We also went spelunking through a bat cave and collected alms with the monks…that’s the part that was unlike any youth group trip I’ve been on.<br> We left Chiang Mai on Saturday morning and visited about 28 wats before we arrived at the one we would be staying at for the weekend. Okay, so it wasn’t 28, but it was so many that I really don’t remember how many. Before we arrived at the wat we drove to the opening of a cave, climbed a small mountain to get to the actual opening, and spent an hour or two wandering around. It was rather peculiar, actually. We weren’t given instructions or a time to be back, so it was sort of every man for himself. Within 100 feet of being inside the cave it was pitch black, and the tiny candles we were given didn’t help much. But thanks to my MacGuyver-esque skills, I converted my iPod into a makeshift flashlight. Some of us decided that it would be fun to all climb in a small crevice and find out where it led. Apparently it finally led into a tiny room with limited oxygen, but I never made it there because the line leaders started to not be able to breath, freaked out, and told us to get out as fast as we could. So selfish! But don’t worry: we were all fine. And I’m sure that if I had needed to, I would have been able to craft a rudimentary oxygen tank out of my water bottle and survive. That was also in a MacGuyver episode.<br> You might gather from the start of a new paragraph that all of the cave adventure stories are over, but you would be wrong. It’s just that this next experience deserves a paragraph all to itself. After we made it out of the oxygen-less part of the cave, we decided to enter into the portion of the cave inhabited by bats and see how far in we could get. Again: not the best idea ever. It was the single most disgusting experience of my life. As soon as we rounded the corner we literally hit a brick wall of humidity caused by the vast amount of bat poop. We progressed for a few more minutes and would stop every so often to listen to the hundreds of bats flying around us. (p.s. that is not an exaggeration). I took a few pictures in which I pointed the camera up and took a picture with the flash so we could see how many bats there were. There was one very mysterious image which I believe was a bat that flew right in front of the camera as I took the pictures. It’s rather frightening. Despite the thrill we got from getting pooped on by hundreds of bats, we turned back when bats started flying in front of our faces.<br> Well, we finally arrive at the wat portion of the weekend. The festivities of the night included our first meditation session. We all gathered in a large room and sat on the floor on mats in lotus position (well, some of us sat in lotus position. Others of us slightly less flexible deferred to “Indian style.” The monks led us in about an hour of standing, walking, and sitting meditation. You are supposed to wipe your mind of everything and only concentrate on what is going on then: your breathing and your steps if you are doing walking meditation. I have admiration for people who can meditate for hours, because I could only last a few minutes before my mind was fully engrossed in the fact that my foot was asleep and coming up with a way to remedy the situation without anyone noticing how completely “un-enlightened” I was. Fortunately, everyone else in the group was suffering the same plague of ADD. So meditation was a bust, but the next day was full of excitement, from 5 am on.<br> That’s right – I said 5:00 am. That’s what time we got up in order to go with the monks down to the village to collect alms. Since monks don’t cook in the temples, every morning they go out into the streets with bowls over their shoulders and people are waiting there to give them food. This happens EVERY morning. And people are inclined to get up this early because it is a way to make merit, a very important Buddhist concept related to racking up good karma that will hopefully bring you a better life when you are reborn.<br> After that we went back up to the temple grounds and the monks invited us into their “dedication ceremony” where they dedicate the food to Buddha and then eat it. I never thought that the verse in 1 Corinthians 10 about eating food sacrificed to idols would ever be literally applicable to my life, but it is. I can eat the food with a clean conscience because I’ve given thanks to God for it, acknowledging Him as the true provider, not a statue. It’s been really hard trying to discern the line between being respectful of the people here and disrespecting my God. Yes I am an observer, a sociologist, and I am grateful for the Thai people inviting me into their culture, but I am first and foremost a Christian, and that dictates things that I will and will not participate in. There are going to be many more instances and situations like this one, so please pray that God would make it clear to me the right thing to do and how to do it with respect.<br> Well, the rest of the day was much less mentally trying. It involved another short meditation session (equally as entertaining), and a trip to the sauna. Apparently temples in Thailand come fully equip with sauna rooms. It wasn’t exactly what I pictured a sauna being like: it was literally an outhouse with an herbal fire. The group that went in after us was all boys, so we of course took advantage of the situation and stole their clothes after they went in. Ahh, just like the old days of youth group pranks. Apparently it’s outrageously disrespectful to roam Buddhist temple grounds without clothes (who knew!?) so we had to give them back. Nevertheless, it was a great weekend full of excellent learning experiences, some more serious than others. Again, please pray that all of us would be able to discern the right thing to do in situations when our convictions are put to the test. Thanks!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/02/13/wat_a_weekend~3720315/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-02-02:/2008/02/02/the_beatitudes~3669355/rachelryon2008-02-02T16:12:22+01:002008-02-02T16:12:22+01:00 <p>"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.<br> You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.<br> You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being "care full," you find yourselves cared for." (MSG) Matthew 5: 3,4,7</p> <p>This has been my first week of interning at Agape, an orphanage for kids with HIV/AIDS. I taught English classes on Thursday, and taught some music classes today. (More about that later.) This orphanage was started not too long ago by an Australian woman who was working in the government orphanages in Thailand. She saw one little girl who wasn't being cared for and when she asked the orphanage workers why, she was told that the little girl had AIDS and was going to die, so there was no point in investing in her and using their resources to help her. After a long process, she adopted the little girl, Nikki, and founded a home for orphans with AIDS in Northern Thailand. The facilites are amazing - trampolines, dormitories, toys, and a staff of nannies (most of whom also have AIDS). It really is a place of hope - it's not a depressing hospital where the kids are just waiting to die. Avis (the founder) has really created a place where kids are shown how to live with the disease, not die from it. </p> <p>So on Saturdays all of the interns are given the opportunity to teach a "class" for the kids - mostly an opportunity for the kids to have something to do. Today we had some cooking classes, a computer class, an art class, and my music class. I had no idea what to expect and what I would really do. I ended up having about 3 or 4 kids in each class, and they ranged from age 7 to 16. I planned on teaching them Solfeg (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do) but really thought it was going to be a bust. To my surprise, one of the girls in my first group had seen "The Sound of Music" and proceeded to sing me the entire " Do a deer" song. It was great! There was another girl in my first class, a girl about 15 years old, who I was told could play guitar. I tried for the first 15 minutes to speak to her in Thai (very poorly) when one of the workers came up to me and told me that the girl was fluent in English and her name was Nikki (a.k.a. the girl that is the reason why Agape exists today). Wow - I felt like an idiot.<br> In my second class I decided to teach them some songs full of eternal significance such as "The Hippo Song" and "The Beaver Song." They loved those for sure, but after that we got the guitar out and started playing songs that we knew. One of the girls in my class is a 15 year old and plays the guitar really well! I asked her what her favorite song was, and she opened up her notebook and pointed to a page with the lyrics and chords to "Here I Am To Worship" scribbled down. It was at that moment when I almost cried - that song was written by Tim Hughes, who was the worship leader at my church in London and who I have been keeping updated about my internship. Her face lit up when I told her that I knew the man who wrote it and that I would tell him that it was her favorite song.<br> That happened today and I haven't been able to think about anything else since then. I think it was such a big deal to me because it gave me hope: Since being at Agape I've realized that I will never be able to fully understand these kids' lives or relate to them. But we worship the same God, and our love and worship of this God supersedes all barriers that we might have between us.<br> I've found it to be true time and time again that when you go out to help someone, you end up feeling like you've been blessed by the person you were trying to bless. I love the way The Message puts it: "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being "care full," you find yourselves cared for."</p> <p><a href="http://www.nikkisplace.org/about.htm">http://www.nikkisplace.org/about.htm</a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/02/02/the_beatitudes~3669355/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-01-28:/2008/01/28/if_you_make_pretty_rice_cakes_you_ll_mak~3643129/rachelryon2008-01-28T10:31:38+01:002008-01-28T10:31:38+01:00 <p>I got back last night from my four day stay in a Lahu village in Northern Thailand. I was really excited to get away from the schoolwork, but I had no idea what I was about to encounter. First off, we arrived and immediately got placed in homestay families. We were in groups of two, so it really wasn't very intimidating, although we couldn't communicate at all with our family because they speak Lahu, not Thai. Our house was very humble but our host family gave us everything we needed and more, constantly watching for opportunities to give to us. The bathroom situation was...very different. There were squatty potties...but wait, it gets better: the "shower" consisted of a bucket of cold water that you poured over your head while squatting down to make sure that no one from outside could see you through the 4 inch crack inbetween the ceiling and the wall (Thai people are much shorter). To make it even better: all of this was done by light of a candle. Needless to say, I only took one shower while I was there.<br> The first full day that we were there, Friday, was spent planting banana trees at the top of a mountain near their water system. Apparently banana trees produce water, so by planting them at the top of the mountain, it will ensure that the village never runs out of water. While we were hiking through the jungle on our way to plant said banana trees we decided to also try out some grub. So yes - I have eaten live maggots. Two maggots, actually. They're rather tasty, although a little more tasty when they're fried. (side note: so far I've eaten live maggots, fried maggots, fried crickets, and fried worms.)<br> After our hike we went back to our homes, ate dinner that they prepared for us, and began the nightly festivities: playing with/fending off the hoards of village children. We learned that tickling breaks all language barriers and creates instant connections. Friday night was especially horrifying for some of us: I'm pretty sure the kids got together beforehand and came up with this plan, because it was brilliant. They would ALL (and by "all" i mean at least 20) swarm one person, climb on them, tackle them to the ground, tickle them incessantly, until someone took pity on them and tried to rescue them. Then all the children would immediately leave their victim and turn on the bleeding heart and carry on the same punishment out on them. This pattern ensued for some time. I'm not sure when it ended because I was hiding in the outhouse. No, just kidding...<br> On Saturday we spent the day at the orphanage farther up the mountain. There are about 50 kids at the orphanage, some of whose parents are still living but cannot afford to keep them. We all split up and did different things: some painted nails, others played ball, and still others painted faces (me). This is the place where we handed out the toys/toothbrushes/coloring books/gloves, etc that we brought for them. Thank you to everyone who donated gloves for me to bring - believe me, they're going to good use. It is absolutely freezing up there at night! After we played for a while we all went inside and had a "song exchange." The kids sat on one side of the room and we sat on the other, and we performed songs for eachother. They had intricate songs and dances planned for us, and we sang songs like "Father Abraham," which they actually loved and made us do a second time. Ajaan Mike also presented the orphanage with a sizable sum of money that will provide lunch for evey child for the next year. In past years they have not had the funds to feed the children 3 meals every day so they only have breakfast and dinner, but now they will have lunch as well!<br> Saturday night was the highlight of the weekend. Ajaan Ann's birthday is coming up so they had a huge surprise birthday celebration for her. They had us all sit in a circle around a huge bonfire while the men and women of the village came out in a line dressed in their traditional Lahu outfits, playing weird instruments and doing their tribal dances. They even presented Ajaan Ann with what we think was a rice cake (more to come on that subject). They presented each of us with a handmade Lahu bag, which is sooo neat! And they made us get up and they taught us some of their dances. This was the point at which I realized that my pictures that I took that night belonged on the front page of National Geographic magazine.<br> Oh, and the rice cakes: The Lahus have a saying that if you can make pretty rice cakes, you will also make pretty children. So we decided to have some fun with that. The women of the village helped us make the rice cake dough (as in: they made it and we pretended to help but really got in the way) and we had a contest to see who could make the perfect rice cake. They end up looking like pinkish brown hamburger patties so none of them looked especially beautiful, but they were delicious!<br> Sunday was a very interesting day - we were asked to pray over a girl from the village who was very sick. She's 18 years old and was training as a nurse when she was diagnosed with a blood disease. The doctors said that she couldn't be cured, so they sent her back to the village to die. We met her and prayed over her, and the whole situation hit me really hard. I think it's because if she were in America, she would be given every available treatment to help her, but here that's not even an option. There is no hope for a cure through medicine - only through God. If you've taken the time to read this, I also ask you to please pray for her and her mother. As I hear more about her condition I will put it on the blog.<br> Also on Sunday morning we ate our rice cakes with breakfast, and had a processing group where we talked through some of the things that happened that weekend. The major thing that struck everyone was the idea of hospitality. The villagers said over and over to us that they had nothing to thank us with for coming and helping them with their water project. But they did so much for us: opened their homes, cooked for us, made us individual handmade bags, and let us in on some of their awesome traditions. And let's be serious: they could have planted those banana trees in half the time that it took us silly Americans. They were so grateful to us and looked for any opportunity to serve us, when in reality we didn't do anything to deserve it. My friend Tiffany described the weekend as a good slap in the face from God - showing us what we ought be like. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/01/28/if_you_make_pretty_rice_cakes_you_ll_mak~3643129/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-01-21:/2008/01/21/lost_in_translation~3609557/rachelryon2008-01-21T14:41:50+01:002008-01-21T14:41:50+01:00 <p>Not only the title of an incredible episode of LOST, "lost in translation" has been the overriding theme of my life for the past 36 hours. I moved in with my host family yesterday morning, and i have never been so intimidated in my life. The only comparable experience was when my parents sent me to summer camp in 4th grade with kids I didn't know. These experiences will go down in the books as the two most traumatic of my life, I'm sure. (I'm being melodramatic, I know). But more of that later...<br> Saturday morning we woke up at 6 am to embark on our trek up a mountain to get to a wat (temple) at the top called Do Suithep. The hike started off pretty mild, but halfway up the mountain we came to a road and were offered rides to the top, being told that the second half was a killer. Not wanting to lose face, I chose to suck it up and hike the rest of it. Soon after this point, two of our students nearly fell down the mountain when a rope we were using to help us climb up came loose and sent them tumbling. After that we found ourselves climbing up rocky slopes steeper than you would think possible until we finally reached a road and saw the wat up ahead of us. For the entire 3 hours of the hike I was reminiscing about the senior trek and how glad I was that I would only be hiking 3 hours...and not five days. (just kidding, jon!) After our time at the temple we were treated to 2 hour Thai massages which was equally as awkward as the hike was strenuous. There were "girl rooms" and "guy rooms," but there weren't enough mats in the "guy room," so one poor male soul was unwillingly transfered to our room, which allowed enough comic relief for us to overcome the awkwardness. Later that night we all enjoyed our last night together since we would be parting ways the next day.<br> On Sunday morning we went to the school to meet our Thai families. We waited at tables with our names on them as our families came out one by one to find us. Awkward? I think so. My family is a mom, dad, and two boys, ages 8 and 12. They live a little bit out of town and the mom and dad run a school next to their house for computer students. The dad is a physics teacher and the mom runs the office. Teng (the 8 year old) likes playing basketball and Tay (the 12 year old) plays the tuba. (Keep in mind that all this information could very well be false since I really have no idea what they're saying.) Yesterday was spent entirely with my family, and it was so intimidating/frustrating/exhausting/awkward. I became really overwhelmed with the language barrier and the fact that I was alone in a house with strangers. We went out to dinner that night with the family and about 20 of their students from the computer school. Talk about intimidating! When we got home I immediately locked myself in my room, called my parents crying, and tried to go to bed. The best part about it was that we left the house at 6 AM the next morning to go get breakfast...my class isn't until 8.<br> Today when we arrived back at school we all had stories to tell. The details of everyone's experiences were different, but we all had the same feelings: intimidating, loneliness, etc. Some people are living in mansions while other are in very modest houses. My friend Tim is living in a mansion with fountains and streams running through the house, while my other friend Desiree has to take bucket baths. Some are sleeping in beds big enough for 5 people, while others are sleeping on the floor. We laughed so hard this morning exchanging stories, it made all of it worthwhile. The best one of the day was from my friend Chris: his host father was trying to explain to him in broken English that he was Muslim and chose to say it this way: "you know Bin laden? ... Me....bin Laden." I can't imagine being on the receiving end of that statement. Anyway, we laughed a lot and empathized with eachother. It makes it better knowing that everyone else is feeling the same way.<br> Today was the first day of my internship at RICD, a center for children with disabilities, and it was different than I expected. For some reason they weren't expecting us so we didn't have much to do. There were only 3 of us, so we walked around a little and studied some Thai and generally were bored. Finally we found someone who needed our help: a Belgian man is here working on putting together a wheelchair distribution. He is actually the man who started the non-profit called "Wheels of Hope." In February they will be going around the country giving out wheelchairs to disabled people, most of which have never had the luxury of owning one. I was looking at the applications and pictures of people they will be giving them to, and it broke my heart. There was a picture of a 20 year old boy who looked like he was 10 or 11 at the most. Helping him coordinate wheelchairs with people's applications really made me feel like I was doing something. I came there to do music therapy but ended up doing something completely different, and that's okay. Mai pen rai (it's okay). </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/01/21/lost_in_translation~3609557/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-01-18:/2008/01/18/mai_pen_rai~3596439/rachelryon2008-01-18T16:11:53+01:002008-01-18T16:11:53+01:00 <p>Sawadikah! Dichann pen naksiksa thii whithayalay chiangmai. Dichann choop khaw-phat gai le naam saparot pan maa. Dichann say suia le ghankhen.<br> I promise that I know more Thai than that after taking a week of intensive Thai class, but that's enough for now.<br> Translation: "Hello! I am a student at Chiang Mai University. I like fried rice with chicken and pineapple shakes. I am wearing a shirt and pants."<br> Pretty elementary, i know. Intensive Thai language class has basically consumed my life for the past 5 days. Class starts at 8 am and goes until 2:30 with an hour break for lunch. If that isn't intense, I don't know what is. The great thing about the Thai language is that there are no verb tenses, so those awful conjugation charts that you remember from Spanish class don't exist for me anymore. The downside is that there is an entirely different alphabet complete with sounds which are not possible for the white man to reproduce. As much as I appreciate spending 5 hours a day learning how to master the art of ordering chicken at the cafeteria, I will be happy to start up a regular class schedule on Monday.<br> Monday also marks the first day of my internship at RICD, a development center for disabled children. I met with the staff at the hospital this week, assuming that my collegiate music experience would not be of help to them, but to my surprise they suggested that I help in their music therapy program. I'm excited to be there, but I feel unqualified to help in that way, since I have no idea what music therapy really is. I was trying to decide whether to take this internship or one at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS, but I really felt that God placed this opportunity specifically in my lap. I know that this semester is going to be a testament to God working through me, since I am definitely not qualified for this position.<br> Well, tomorrow we wake up at 6 am to begin our hike up a mountain. There is a temple at the top of the mountain that overlooks Chiang Mai, so it should be pretty cool! If my internet situation is any better at my host family's house than it is here at the dorm, maybe I will be able to upload some pictures. Until then, Sawadikah!!! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/01/18/mai_pen_rai~3596439/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2008-01-12:/2008/01/12/sawadi~3565396/rachelryon2008-01-12T12:16:40+01:002008-01-12T12:16:40+01:00 <p>"Sawadi" is how you say "hello" in Thai, and it is the only Thai word that I know so far. But you don't just verbally say hello, you also do something calling "wai"-ing (pronounced why-ing). The "wai" is the typical Asian hand bow that those karate kids do before they fight their opponent. Saying hello is quite a process, and becomes even more complicated when you "wai" to someone who is "above" you. Respect is huge, so when you say hello to an elder or someone in a superior position you are to "wai" lower. We've had our hands full simply trying to figure out how to do this simple task, so maybe by next month we'll know how to order pad thai.<br> So, I say "sawadi" to you and hope that you enjoy reading about my time in Thailand, and apologise (notice the British influence now emanating from my grammar) in advance because I will probably leave you hanging in the middle of my trip, just like last semester. But I promise I'll try to be better.<br> I arrived at the LAX airport on Tuesday night and arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand on Thursday afternoon, and a lot happened in that 24 hour period (yeah, try to work that math out). The handle on my rolling suitcase broke at the check-in counter and I realized that I had severely overpacked, so it didn't exactly start out fantastic. The flight itself wasn't bad, although the food was strange. The other half of our group coming from JFK airport was delayed so they missed their connection in Bangkok by 30 minutes and didn't arrive until Thursday night, along with all of our luggage which mysteriously missed our flight and arrived 8 hours later. The first day was full of introductions because most of us don't know each other since there are five universities represented in our group. It's amazing to think that 48 hours ago I didn't know these people, because I've already experienced so much with them.<br> Yesterday 7 of us went walking around town to explore. We did a LOT of walking and saw a lot of images of the king (which are everywhere!) and smelled lots of amazing food (it is said that there are more restaurants than people in Thailand). We went to a Buddhist temple although most of us could not go inside because our ankles were exposed. When monks are walking down the street you are to walk on the opposite side of the street and females are not allowed to touch the monk. We went to a convenience store on our walk and bought the most outrageous things we could find. I bought seaweed crackers, which I vow never to buy again. We all sampled eachother's purchases, most of which were greeted with sour faces after tasting. I guess Thai snacks are something I will have to get used to. We decided that we wanted to eat dinner at an authentic hole-in-the-wall, white-people-free restaurant, so we ate at this outdoor market and it was delicious! The fruit in Thailand is absolutely unparalleled! There was actually a lady making crepes in the market, and of course we got some. They were good, but definitely lacking compared to the delicious crepes at the Kensington Creperie. We headed back and went to bed early since we had to be up at 5:30 the next morning for our next adventure.<br> [Preface: The reading experience of this next section will be greatly enhanced if read while listening to the Indiana Jones theme song. ]<br> Today was so exciting, and I can't imagine what else the semester has in store if this is only the second day! Today's agenda included riding elephants, rafting on bamboo, and visiting the Queen's botanical gardens. We left the hostel at 6:30 am to drive up to a rural village where the Chiang Mai Elephant Training Center is. We meandered through the jungle atop elephants, which was surprisingly frightening. At one point my elephant decided that he didn't want to wait in line and tried to go around the other elephants on the ridge as the ground was crumbling beneath us. I thought for sure that we were going to slide right into the water, and I think that my screams may have alerted him of the imminent peril since he quickly gave up his quest to be line-leader and got back on the trail. Next we took an hour long trip down the river on bamboo rafts, and our raft got stuck on the rocks 4 or 5 times. At one point when we were stuck, some elephants were coming into the water so we had 3 elephants splashing around in the water a few feet away from our raft. That was also terrifying since elephants apparently have bad eyesight and weigh around 10,000 pounds. [NOTE: The Indiana Jones theme song can be turned off now. ] The rest of the day was not so terrifying since it was spent at the botanical gardens, although we did see some terrifying venus fly traps. Tonight we are having a bible study, going to dinner, and then I'm going to try to get some sleep before church tomorow morning, which I have a feeling will also be a terrifying experience. If I knew how to say "goodbye" in Thai I would do so now, but maybe next week. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2008/01/12/sawadi~3565396/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-10-22:/2007/10/22/donkeys_and_camels_and_temples_oh_my_par~3179920/rachelryon2007-10-22T23:38:47+02:002007-10-22T23:38:47+02:00 <p>Our first day in Cairo was incredible. We woke up in the morning, looked out of our window, and saw the Great Pyramid! We rode camels to the pyramids, which was a lot scarier than I thought it would be. There are some hilarious pictures of this endeavor, by the way. I tried to climb up the Great Pyramid, but apparently that is frowned upon and we were told to get down by the armed guards. We then decided to go into some of the smaller and less crowded pyramids near the big ones, which were tombs of the queens. The entry to the tombs were about 30 feet under the ground, and I definitely felt like Indiana Jones. I was the last one to leave, and as I was still in the burial room all of the lights went out and it was pitch black. I can imagine few scarier experiences than being stuck in a tomb with no lights! Luckily, the lights came back on promptly and I booked it out of the pyramid.<br> Funny cultural note: During the entire week of touring we got a lot of attention because of our skin and hair color. A number of times we had groups of people come up to us and ask to have their pictures taken with us...definitely a strange experience.<br> After we visited the pyramids we went to see the Sphynx, and our guide reminded us of something very interesting. The pyramids and the Sphynx were built nearly 2,000 prior to the temples and tombs that we had visited in Luxor, and yet they looked so similar and would both be easily attributed as "ancient Egyptian." But if you think it, our country has only been around for 300 years and yet if you were to look at the architecture and style from 1776 and compare it to 2007, you would see very few similarities. It's just a reminder of how fast our world is changing today.<br> On Saturday we visited an Egyptian mosque, a synagogue, and a church where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were supposedly hiding out in during their time in Egypt. After that we went to the market to shop some more, and i was told that I was difficult - a sure sign of a great barterer! After lunch we went to the Egyptian museum, but honestly most of us were too tired and hot to enjoy it. At night the resort put on a nice dinner for us, which was similar to a luau. There were funny men in dresses who danced in the middle for us, and there was a camel to ride, and lots of great food! But the most exciting part of the night was watching the World Cup Rugby game!! In our short time in London we have developed an immense sense of pride, so we were so excited about cheering for our team , who was playing South Africa. Finding the game was quite an ordeal, which included the resort finding a Russian satellite that would show the game. We lost the game, which would not have happened if our try had been counted, which it should have been. To say the least, London has been in a constant state of mourning since then.<br> We left Cairo on Sunday morning, and soon found that the Cairo Airport is quite possibly the most poorly organized airport in the entire world. I won't go into detail about our experience, but here's a taste: within the hour that we were there, fights almost broke out between a German lady, a group of unruly Asians, and an Arab man who was yelling and screaming at one of our girls for looking - that's right, looking - at his son. A girls' arm got stuck in the x-ray machine, and people were crying by the time we got on the plane. We were happy to be out of that airport, but sad to leave Cairo and our amazing field trip experience. I've been so blessed to be going to school here, and I've been so blessed to have this amazing experience! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/10/22/donkeys_and_camels_and_temples_oh_my_par~3179920/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-10-22:/2007/10/22/donkeys_and_camels_and_temples_oh_my_par~3179824/rachelryon2007-10-22T23:08:51+02:002007-10-22T23:08:51+02:00 <p>This past week was our EFT (educational field trip) to Egypt. After this experience, all my past field trips to aquariums and zoos seem utterly boring. We left on Monday morning and arrived in Luxor, Egypt five hours later. I can't imagine the ruckus that we, 40 19-year olds, caused on the plane. Since Egypt isn't exactly the safest place in the world, we had to stay inside our resort when we weren't out touring, so we got to know the Movenpick resort and its services very well. <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"><br> Tuesday was a very full and exhausting day. We spent the day on the West bank of the Nile, where the ancient Egyptians buried their dead. (They lived on the east side of the nile because that is where the sun rises, and they built their tombs on the west side, since that is where the sun sets). When people started looting the pyramids, the Egyptians decided to start building their tombs in more inconspicuous places, so they started digging into the side of rocks. The result of this was the area known as the Valley of the Kings, which was the first site we visited on Tuesday. We got to enter a few tombs and look at the reliefs and hieroglyphics on the walls. Later that day we rode DONKEYS to the temple dedicated to Hatshepsut, the "Margaret Thatcher" of ancient Egypt. We also went to Karnak Temple, the largest religious site in the entire world! We got a rude awakening when we walked outside that day and were greeted by the 95 degree weather. Luckily, that was probably the hottest day of the week.<br> On Wednesday about 20 of us woke up at 4 am to take a hot air balloon ride. Boy, if we only knew what awaited us in the next 4 hours... We were supposed to be on the hot air balloon when the sun was rising, but when we got to the site we were the 4th group in line, so we missed the sunrise. Getting into the basket was quite an ordeal - basically they hoist you up and you jump in and sit as far down as you can because the heat is so intense. Once we finally got off the ground, it was so neat! Our ride lasted about 45 minutes and we followed the path of the Nile and saw the things we had seen the day before from a bird's eye view. Landing the balloon was a little different. We were told to get into landing position, which consisted of us crouching down and holding on for dear life. We hit the ground about 5 times, dragged for a while, and then flipped over. We were laughing hysterically, especially when we realized that the van wasn't there to pick us up and were surrounded by Arab men wanting to take pictures with us in the middle of the Egyptian desert. Don't worry - The Arab men were very nice and the van finally found us and took us back to the resort, right in time to leave for our coach tour of Luxor. We went to papyrus "factory" where they make papyrus paper the same way the ancient Egyptians did. We then went to a local market and I may or may not have bought some Christmas presents. <img src="/img/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="middle" border="0"> The afternoon was spent at the resort recovering and relaxing, which was really nice. Around 4:00 some of us took carriage rides through Luxor, which I had some mixed feelings about. It was really fun, but at the same time I felt so guilty about riding on a horse-drawn carriage to see how "primitively" people live and to observe them. I can't imagine how dehumanizing and humiliating that must be for the people living there. I know that we are contributing to their economy which is good, but at the same time it's still hard for me to rationalize that. Anyway, that night back at the resort we got to hang out on the docks overlooking the Nile, where there was a live band and "shisha." Just another day in Egypt...<br> On Thursday we woke up at 6 am to tour another temple before catching our flight to Cairo. We arrived in Cairo at night and went directly to our next Movenpick resort, this one slightly less accomodating. Our bathroom sink wouldn't turn off, our floor flooded from the shower, the television wouldn't turn on, and we all started getting strange bites, presumably by some sort of bugs.<br> But hey - TIA...</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/10/22/donkeys_and_camels_and_temples_oh_my_par~3179824/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-10-11:/2007/10/11/free_falling_at_13_000_feet~3119932/rachelryon2007-10-11T15:59:49+02:002007-10-11T15:59:49+02:00 <p>This past week has been absolutely insane. I left for Switzerland right after my last class ended on Thursday, got back Sunday night and went directly to church and didn't get back to the house until around 10 pm. This wouldn't have been a big deal if I hadn't had midterms the next day...but oh well. Monday was very stressful, as was yesterday, but today they are over and I have my life back - which is why I'm writing in the blog now.<br> So, Switzerland:<br> My first challenge was actually getting to Switzerland. It was my first time leaving the UK, and I was traveling by myself. Somehow I made it there without losing any luggage or missing my flight, and the Lovely Laura met me at the airport and took me the rest of the way to Lausanne. A lot of my friends are studying in Lausanne with the Pepperdine program there, so I was so excited to get to see them again - some of them for the first time since April of last year! One of my friends, Alex, was supposed to go to Paris the weekend I was there, so I didn't think I was going to get to see him. But as Laura and I were walking toward the Lausanne house at 1 am, I saw some sketch guy sitting by himself at an outdoor table. It was Alex!!!! He decided to wait and leave for Paris on Friday night, and I was so happy I got to see him! The next day I got to see Elle and Alyssa for the first time, and got to spend the whole day with them and the rest of the group on the field trip. I felt so welcomed in Lausanne - the group there is amazing and so fun to be with. The field trip was to a watch-making factory, which was...cool. The neatest part of the day was actually lunch. We ate at this random restaurant overlooking a canyon, and it was the weirdest place I have ever eaten at. There was a real bowling alley inside the restaurant, a working witch's cauldron, lifesize Smurfs outside (p.s. life-size smurfs are only slightly larger than life-size elfs), and 240 items on their dessert menu, the signature dessert being a swan made out of marangue. It was certainly an experience. On Friday night, Laura, Elle, Alyssa, and I went to an Italian restaurant in Lausanne. We were there for over two hours - a truly European experience! Oh, and I learned that I absolutely not cannot speak French - and the phrase that my mom taught me when I was little: "Ale, toot suite, veet, veet" does not actually mean "hurry up. go faster." <img src="/img/smilies/icon_smile.gif" alt=":)" class="middle" border="0"> (I apologize to those of you who actually know how to spell in French - I probably butchered that.)<br> Laura and I woke up at 5 am to catch a 6:20 train that would take us to Interlaken. We got there smoothly, but that's about the only thing that went as planned that day. There was fog covering all the moutains, and that dang fog nearly ruined our entire day. We were supposed to meet the skydiving company at 9:00 at the train station. They still weren't there at 9:30, so I wandered around trying to find a payphone. Apparently, pay phones in Switzerland only take credit cards and only give directions in German. So we finally got in touch with the skydiving company, which informed us that it was bad weather (obviously) and that we would try again later that day and see if the weather was better. So that meant that we had to call the canyoning company and change our canyoning time to later in the day as well. They didn't have a later time, so we ended up canceling our reservation and paying an outrageous cancelation fee. <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0"> Laura and I hung out in Interlaken for a few hours, admiring the Asian influenced architecture (weird, right?) and buying genuine Swiss army knives from Switerland. How legit is that?! So we arrived back at the train station at 12:30 to meet the skydiving company. They picked us up and took us to the store, but the weather was still terrible. So we waited until 2:00, and the weather was still bad. Alex, from the skydiving company, told us that she would take us back to Interlaken and would call us at 4:00 to tell us if we would get to jump. The odds didn't look and we didn't think that we were going to get to do anything exciting that day. So Alexis told us that we could probably go bungee-jumping if the weather didn't get better. We obviously didn't want to come back from Interlaken, the extreme sport capital of the world, with the highlight of our day being getting "yeah, we got some sweet Swiss Army knives," so we decided to go bungee jumping. (side note: Alexis, who is a professional skydiver, told us that bungee jumping scared the life out of her and would probably never go again...as our reservations were being made. Awesome. hahaha). So at 4:00 Alexis called us and told us that the weather was still bad and we wouldn't be able to jump, and so we confirmed our bungee jumping reservation. I was so bummed and was trying to figure out when I would ever be able to go. I had already planned the rest of my weekends, so there was no chance of being able to come back. And yes, you can skydive anywhere, but there's absolutely no comparison to skydiving over the Swiss Alps. Well, about 2 seconds later our friend from Pepperdine who was with us made a phone call to some other people who were going skydiving at Interlaken that day to tell them that they probably wouldn't be able to go, and they replied with "Actually, we're on our way to the jumpsite right now." So in a time span of about 2 minutes, we cancelled bungee jumping without having to pay a cancelation fee (thanks, Alexis!!) and ran to the train station to meet the other skydiving company. (By the way, let me just say that Alexis, who runs the first skydiving company, is amazing. She drove us around all day and tried to organize other things for us to do. She knew that I wouldn't be able to come back, and totally encouraged me to go with the other company if they were jumping that day, even though it meant that she was losing business.) On the way up to the jumpsite, Laura was so torn between whether to go or not. She had not originally planned on skydiving that day, since she was planning on going in December with her brother in Arizona for much less money. She ended up deciding to go, which I was so happy about, and she is too!<br> As for skydiving itself, I can't even put into words how amazing it was. My tandem partner was Hans (The Hansinator), and a guy named Mick jumped with us and filmed me. The guys were absolutely hilarious and tried to calm my nerves...not really. I asked Hans how many times he had jumped, and he said "five." I was about to cry, and then he said "No, between 5 and 6 thousand." Holy cow!!! I can't imagine skydiving 6,000 times!!!! Anyway, the flight up to 13,000 feet was incredible. As I was about to jump out of the plane I saw the snow-peaked Swiss Alps at eye-level (amaaaazing!) all around me. I was the first one to jump, and was absolutely terrified. There's nothing like standing on the ledge of an airplane and someone pushing you out. We were free-falling for about 30 seconds (I'm not sure exactly how long it was - I was a little out of my element at that point). We were spinning around and doing flips (at least that's what Hans told me afterwards). Then he pulled the chute and we were soaring over Switzerland. If you've ever been on the ride "Soaring Over California" at Disneyworld, you have a taste of what that feels like. It was the most exhilarating thing I've ever done, and can't wait to do it again! (sorry, mom!)<br> On Sunday morning back at Lausanne we went to a little church of Christ that some people from the group go to. We sang some classic CoC songs in French, which was really cool. And as I was looking around, I spotted a picture of my friend Bryn hanging on the wall. Random! Then I remembered that she had done "Let's Start Talking" in Switzerland a few years ago, and that was the church that she worked at. Isn't it funny what a small world we live in !? After church we had a Swiss potluck, which is the best kind. There was a crepe maker in the middle of the table, and toppings and fillings all around, and everyone made their own crepes. We seriously need to reform our potlucks and adopt this method. It was incredibly yummy!<br> When I got back on Sunday I went straight from the airport to church, backpack and all! I started studying for my midterms really late, and basically pulled an all-nighter. I won't bore you with the details of my midterms, but imagine this: I had gotten less than 5 hours of sleep every night in the past week, and had to take four essay tests on subjects such as "Describe everything you know about the Fall of Rome." It was fantastic.<br> But midterms are now over, and I am ecstatic about having my life back!<br> Tonight I am going to see "Phantom of the Opera" with the group, and I can't wait! I'll be sure to tell you how it is.<br> So until next time, "Au Revoir! And go to Switzerland!" </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/10/11/free_falling_at_13_000_feet~3119932/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-10-04:/2007/10/04/life_is_as_good_as_an_abba_song~3084288/rachelryon2007-10-04T16:07:53+02:002007-10-04T16:07:53+02:00 <p>This week has been much more pleasant than last week. Our professors have decided to have a little mercy on us, since midterms are next week, so the work load has been manageable. Last weekend I was planning on traveling to Heidelberg, but my plans changed at the last minute and I ended up staying here in London (not such a bad option). Most of my other friends here were in other places like Amsterdam or Dublin, so I was on my own for the weekend, for the most part. On Friday I decided to explore London, looking for vintage shopping. I started out at Notting Hill and didn't get much further. There were literally vintage clothes and record shops all down the streets. I found some great deals (a leather jacket, two pairs of shoes, belts, and scarves for a combined total of under 30 pounds)!! Then I made my way over to Oxford street and joined the 8,000 other people shopping at Primark, and pretty much negated any originality I thought I had.<br> On Saturday I took a day trip to Brighton, a little beach town about an hour outside of London. I was unsure whether or not I would be able to get on a train, but I went to the train station anyway. Luckily, the train system was much less complicated than I expected, so within 10 minutes I was headed to Brighton. Every Saturday morning they have a flea market on one of the streets, so I scoped that out for a while. I actually found a really neat old pilot's helmet that had been used in WWII, and I was going to get it for my dad, but when I came back to buy it, the man was gone. (sorry, dad!!). After the flea market I had some classic fish and chips, and spent some time at the pier. If you ever get to go to Brighton, definitely pay the 7 pounds and get a tour of the Royal Pavilion. It's said to be the most unique palace in Europe. Before George IV was king, he owned the pavilion and decorated it himself. It looked nothing like the hundreds of other castles and palaces in Europe (thank goodness), and had gold dragons hanging from the ceilings. It was truly an experience! When I got back from Brighton, my friend Erin and I decided to go see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." When we got there, we were told that they didn't have any tickets left, but when we went back outside a woman came up to us and offered to sell us one ticket. We almost turned her down, but another man came up to us and offered to sell us his ticket. Somehow we ended up sitting about 5 feet apart, despite the fact that we bought our tickets from two separate people. How crazy!! And the show was definitely amazing! Apparently the actor who plays Joseph won the equivalent of "American Idol" to see who would get to play Joseph in the London production of the play. So when we tried to get his autograph outside afterward, we were accompanied by about 200 people. Apparently he's a bigger deal than Fiyero. Too bad!<br> Tuesday night was the first "HTB Student" group. About 10 of us went, not knowing what to expect. There were about 60 people there, and everyone was so nice! During the "mingle time" I met another American girl who goes to Boston University and spent 5 weeks in Tanzania this summer! As soon as we found out that we had both been to Tanzania, we started speaking in Swahili to eachother - it was soooooo exciting! We exchanged lots of Africa stories, and she shares the same view of Ugali as I do. (for those of you who don't know what Ugali is, it's a...blob of cornflour and water that is basically eaten with every meal. Yummy!). And then I found out that Mike, one of the leaders of HTB Students, grew up in Tanzania, so I got to talk to him about Tanzania as well. What a small world we live in!<br> One of the ministries that the Student group has is that it runs Student Alpha. Alpha is a "course" for people who want to know more about Christianity, and HTB's Student Alpha is held on the top floor of a club in London. So on Monday we're planning on going to that to participate in that, and then go see Vanilla Ice, who's the performer at the club that night! I know that I talk a lot about how great this church is, but I really can't say it enough. It is so encouraging and challenging at the same time to see a church that is so intensely involved in their community. They have poured so much into organizing Alpha (you can expect to hear about Alpha in every single sermon) and God has blessed the ministry and has spoken to so many people through it. Nearly every week someone gets up in church and shares their testimony of how they came to Christ through the Alpha ministry!<br> Well, I am about to leave for Switzerland, so I'm sure I will have lots of adventures to share with you in my next blog.<br> Au revoir!<br> (check out the new pix from this week!)</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/10/04/life_is_as_good_as_an_abba_song~3084288/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-09-26:/2007/09/26/wicked_witches_football_and_bears_oh_my~3045556/rachelryon2007-09-26T23:04:43+02:002007-09-26T23:04:43+02:00 <p>Sorry for not updating this earlier - this past week has been so busy, I've hardly had time to sleep.<br> Last weekend started off with a day trip to see Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge was...large. It's much more impressive in real life, but still not worth the 5 pounds it costs to go inside, which is why my friends and I admired the large rocks from outside the fence, sipping our lattes. Dont' worry - we got lots of pictures, fence and all! The city of Bath was really neat! We ate in a small cafe called Sally Lunn Bun's, which is in the oldest house in Bath. We went inside the Bath Abbey, which was huge! There were vendors lining the streets of Bath, selling overpriced trinkets to the naive tourists. Poor saps. (We don't really consider ourselves tourists anymore: we know to look to the right first when you cross the street, and we walk fast so that it looks like we know where we're going.) We took a tour of the Roman Baths, which was really neat. Apparently the people who lived there associated a god with the hot natural spring that they transformed into an ancient spa. So they would write down curses on pieces of parchment (?) and throw it into the springs, hoping that the god would act on their behalf. They had some recovered "curses" on display, and it was humorous to read them. Almost all of them read something like this: "so-and-so has stolen my gloves. Make sure that they pay with nothing less than their blood." A little intense, don't you think?!<br> On Saturday we went to our very first football (a.k.a. soccer) match. I have seen few people in my life as excited as these fans were. Imagine this combination: Robert (Ray's brother from "Everybody Loves Raymond") plus the most outrageous sports fan you know plus a lot of alcohol = the guy sitting in front of us. He was a Manchester City fan sitting in the middle of the Fulham section, and it was very hostile situation, to say the least. He would run up and down the bleachers when his team scored, and I'm pretty sure he started every chant that would eventually echo throughout the entire stadium. What a fun game!<br> But it was back to the grind on Monday. One of the coolest things about studying here is that we have class in museums sometimes. When I first considered studying here, the draw for me was NOT the museums, and all that "history coming alive" junk. But there's nothing like hearing a lecture on Medieval Europe and then hopping on the tube (the subway) and hearing an explanation of the Medieval altarpiece sitting right in front of you.<br> On Thursday night 33 of us went to the Apollo Victoria to see "Wicked." Oh. My. Word.<br> I saw this piece of musical and theatrical genius in L.A., and this time was just as good! The British accents shook it up a little bit too. (If you've seen it, trying imagining Fiyero singing "Dancing Through Life" with a British accent, and you'll have a good laugh). If you haven't seen it, drive to the nearest booming metropolis and go see it! The best part of it was that after the show we waited outside the stage door to meet the cast. Fiyero was greeted by the 8 of us girls screaming "Marry Me!" It was truly "swankified." (if you don't understand that word, that's another sign that you need to see this play.)<br> Tonight was another exciting night. Bear Grylls - as in, THE Bear Grylls, the "Man" from "Man vs. Wild" was speaking at the church that I go to as an outreach event, so we went to go hear him talk. If you know my youth minister, Jon, you've probably seen an episode of his show. So you can imagine how excited I was to meet him. I mean, this is the man who drinks water from cow dung, drinks his own urine, guts animals to sleep inside of them, and traps wild animals using only a piece of string and a stick. He is the MacGuyver of the outdoors. He spoke candidly to a full house about his job, the recent controversy that has surrounded the show lately, his family, and his faith. It was a great night!<br> Well, as I finish up this blog, I have a long night ahead of me. I have a 2,000 word essay to write (the 2nd one I've been assigned for the same class). I think someone forgot to tell our teachers that we came here to travel and see Europe, not do homework. Oh well.<br> Don't forget to look at the new pictures I uploaded!<br> Thanks for listening, and thanks for holding down the fort!<br> -Rachel </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/09/26/wicked_witches_football_and_bears_oh_my~3045556/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-09-19:/2007/09/20/wow_this_was_so_unexpected~3009065/rachelryon2007-09-20T00:51:22+02:002007-09-20T00:51:22+02:00 <p>It's so funny how God surprises you sometimes. I had a whole set of ideas of what I thought Londoners were like and how things were going to be here, especially in relation to church. I had this idea in my head that all the churches here were going to be stagnant. For some reason I thought that passionate Christians didn't live in London. I've quickly learned that my stereotypes about London were wrong. On Sunday night I attended one of the most passionate church service I have ever been to, rivaling that of the Moshi Town Church of Tanzania that I attended for 6 weeks this summer. As a Church of Christers, I was a bit shell-shocked, I'll admit. There was dancing ... boy, was there dancing! People of all ages were worshipping freely with one another. The 75 year old man was raising his arms and jumping up and down in joy just as much as the 20 year old girl standing next to him. It was amazing! I can't express how encouraged I am by the church here. There's a college group that I'm going to start going to, and I went to a worship team meeting on Monday night. The worship leader at this chruch (Holy Trinity Brompton) is Tim Hughes, who is a huge name in contemporary worship music. He wrote the song "Here I am to Worship" and "Beautiful One," and I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to learn from him! In fact, the most exciting thing that I got out of worship team on Monday night was a booklet that they handed out. It was written by Tim Hughes and Al Gordon (another worship leader at HTB and an awesome guy!) and it was entitled: "Worship leaders remember the poor." It's about how God's heart aches for justice and for his people to work for justice, and it talks about the ways in which we as worship leaders can do that and enable people to do it too. As I was reading it I was so overwhelmed because they were combining the two things that I'm passionate about: music and injustice in the world. Those two things have always been mutually exclusive for me, and it's so cool to see people who are combining them in meaningful ways!</p> <p><a href="http://www.htb.org.uk/">http://www.htb.org.uk/</a><br> <a href="http://www.tearfund.org">www.tearfund.org</a><br> <a href="http://www.invisiblechildren.com">www.invisiblechildren.com</a></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/09/20/wow_this_was_so_unexpected~3009065/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-09-19:/2007/09/19/scotland_home_of_the_extreme_sheep_and_t~3003341/rachelryon2007-09-19T01:05:06+02:002007-09-19T01:05:06+02:00 <p>Last weekend was my first trip outside of London. 15 of us took an overnight coach on Thursday coach to Edinburgh, Scotland. Most of us (including me) weren't able to sleep on the coach, so we arrived at 8am very groggy, and some of us quite grumpy. The only thing we had when we stepped of the bus was the name and address of our hostel. Our plan was to go where the wind carried us...and carry us it did. hahaha.<br> We finally figured out which city bus to get on that would take us close to our hostel. We then asked the bus driver which way to go, and he very wisely *insert eye roll* suggested that we take the short cut "across the way" that would take us right in front of our hostel. Great idea! So we proceded to hike through a field, take the first dirt path we could find, and we somehow ended up in the middle of a golf course. I can only imagine what this must have looked like to the poor chaps golfing there: 15 sleep-deprived, backpack-wearing teenagers walking out of the woods, very confused. But not to worry: after 2 more miles of walking we finally found our hostel, which was surprisingly very nice!<br> The first thing we did was to take a bus up to the Royal Mile and walk around the "city." We took a free three hour walking tour (sounds appealing, doesn't it?) of Edinburgh. I've never really been enthralled by history or guided tours, but I have to say that this was very interesting! We saw the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling penned "Harry Potter," and saw some old stuff too. I had been running on 5 hours of sleep in the past 40 hours, so that day was mostly a blur to me.<br> On our second day in Scotland we went on a tour of the Scottish Highlands. This tour was one of my favorite things about my time overseas so far! We practically had a private tour, since there was only one person in the van who wasn't in our group, and our guide was hilarious! We went with the "Highland Experience" tour company, which I would highly recommend! The company formed because they decided that they wanted the people who came to Scotland to know the real history of Scotland, not the sugar-coated version that is widely circulated. Our guide told us stories of clan life, battles, and the very dark history of Scotland. He was really passionate about his country's history, and it really had a profound impact on all of us. I really have a new appreciation for my heritage now, thanks to our awesome guide. There were also some humorous moments on our tour. We passed a whiskey distillery with metal pipes running down the face of the mountain, and someone asked what it was. Our guide replied "Well, that is actually the world's largest water slide!" We were thrilled to hear this and wanted to know how we could go on it. Apparently he was just kidding, and he told us what it really was: in the event of a natural disaster, it was an escape route for the sheep." Again, we were enthralled and wanted to know more about it. Well, he was kidding that time too. He then proceeded to tell us that it was a porridge shoot, and that they used the proceeds from the porridge business to fund the "Gullible Students Fund." Most of us caught on then. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/09/19/scotland_home_of_the_extreme_sheep_and_t~3003341/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:rachelryon.blog.co.uk,2007-09-18:/2007/09/19/week_1_cumulation~3003224/rachelryon2007-09-19T00:02:20+02:002007-09-19T00:02:20+02:00 <p>First I'd like to start off with a disclaimer: for those of you family members who read Kristen's weekly e-mails about her time in London, prepare to be disappointed.<img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0"> I'm going to try my best to keep this updated, but I'm not sure how this all is going to go down. Also, I'm not an English major, so disregard any grammatical errors. I'm really excited to be starting this so that y'all can "travel with me" and hear about and see what I'm doing here.<br> So....<br> Week one:<br> I started off my trip here very apprehensively. I was really sad to be leaving everyone behind. In fact, I told my friend Matt who took me to the airport to take me back to school because I didn't want to leave. To my chagrin, he left me at the airport with 39 other people I didn't know. That really wasn't a great day - in fact, I was crying so much on the airplane that right before take-off the flight attendant got out of his make-shift seat and brought me a kleenex box. Embarassing! Anyway, after the 9 hour flight we arrived to Heathrow Airport early in the morning on September 5th. The first few days were a blur to me. I was still sad after leaving home, but we were doing things all through the day so I didn't really have time to be sad. And thanks to skype and AIM, I've been able to audio and/or video chat with most of my friends and my parents, which has been such an encouragement.<br> Despite our jet-lag, we filled our first few days with exciting activities. We went on bus tours of London, went to see the Prime Meridian, walked around Greenwich, and sat through hours of informational sessions - everyone's favorite activity...just kidding. I'm rooming with Elizabeth, our RA, and she is amazing! I didn't know her two weeks ago, but I've gotten to know her and have already been blessed by her Christian character and her sweet personality! We have our own room in the basement, complete with our own bathroom (which includes the world's smallest shower) and a disco light! Apparently the previous room renters were avid dancers, so maybe we will aquire some similar skills this semester, thanks to our disco light. On our floor we have the house kitchen, common room, internet cafe, and laundry room. Needless to say, our floor is pretty busy all the time, but I like it that way. The London House is, in a word, breathtaking. It's located in the "posh" area of London, only a five minute walk away from Harrods. The house is very Victorian looking, and our "classrooms" are gorgeous rooms with intricate ceilingwork and chandeliers! Our program directors are amazing, too. Thomasina is the assistant program director, and she is a native Londoner (accent and all). She is definitely the mother figure of the house, and is a comfort for those of us who miss our moms (me!).<br> As far as classes go....well....I have a lot of them. I decided to add another class, so I now have a full load of 18 units. But I feel like I can handle it since we only have class four days a week (They give us Friday through Sunday to travel). I anticipate that Science will be my hardest class, considering that on the first day of class our professor assigned us a 2,000 word essay to be turned in the next week. And the day that we turned it in he told us that we were to give 10 minute presentations the next class period. Sounds like a fun class, doesn't it? I do really like my English class. Part of the requirements for my English is that we have to go to plays. Sweet!!! Anyway, I won't bore you with classroom talk anymore.<br> My first week here I tried to get out of the house a lot. I'm starting to really value time to myself, so I've tried to take time out of my day to journal or go to a coffee shop to do homework and such. I've really enjoyed exploring the city by myself - I truly feel like a real Londoner, especially with my new boots! Speaking of boots, fashion here is very unique. The only fashion rule is: if you have confidence, you can wear anything. In fact, I've rarely seen a Londoner NOT wear straight-leg jeans. I could be wrong, but I feel like it takes a lot of confidence to pull of straight-leg jeans.<br> So now that I'm onto cultural differences, here are a few:<br> -As you probably know, cars drive on the wrong side of the road. So to help out the rest of the world, they've written "Look Right" or "Look Left" on the crosswalks (called Zebras). It makes the foreigners pretty easy to spot, though, because they intently stare at the road when they approach a crosswalk. I think it's pretty hilarious.<br> -You're not supposed to make eye-contact with people as you walk down the street. That is actually considered rude. Weird, right?<br> -And since tip is already included in the bill at restaurants, waiters really have no incentive to be, well, good waiters. So you'd better have a good two hours to spare if you eat out.<br> -And how could I forget to mention the extreme difference between the dollar and the pound? Basically, all of us here are in shock at how much money we've already spent. I'll go to Starbucks and spend 2.50 pounds on coffee...and then I leave and realize that we just spent over $5 on a tall latte.<br> Okay, well that's enough for now. Hope you enjoyed reading! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://rachelryon.blog.co.uk/2007/09/19/week_1_cumulation~3003224/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>