Hello, friends! Sawadeeka!
It certainly has been quite the trip: A three hour delay at JFK to start, followed by a seven hour flight to Anchorage (Alaska, how cool!), which caused us to miss our connecting flight from TaiPei to Chiang Mai...so we had to stop in Bangkok and had a five hour layover there before we caught our last flight to Chiang Mai...suffice it to say, it was a very long two days full of travelling. But we made it--safely--and with most of our luggage! (I brought two pieces, a pack for myself and a duffle full of donations and fortunately, both made it).
Already, it feels so wonderful to be back here in Thailand. Even though I have never been in Chiang Mai, this place has a certain familiarity--the smells of the night market, the flourescent street lights, the loud motorbikes and songtaus, the deep beautiful greens--almost like a homecoming. It feels good to identify things and feel very welcomed in this place.
The people of Thailand are so kind and thoughtful and I was made aware of that particularly last night at the airport. We had finally arrived after a long 30+ hours of travelling--smelly, overwhelmed, and exhausted--and running up to us comes Ajan Aad (one of our professors) with strings of fragrant jasmine flowers to put around our necks. Welcome to Chiang Mai! Such a perfect display of Thai hospitality and graciousness, reminding us that there IS a plan, we HAVE arrived, and they WANT us here. What a relief it was to arrive on the other side of the world and feel like I was in the right place.
Anyway, I'm still incoherent and jetlagged, but I am so happy to be back in this place--in all its newness and familiarity. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us as we make adjustments and start the intense language program next week.
LOVE YOU ALL...and I miss you! Stay tuned for more updates!
Desiree :)
