Home Again!!!!: August 9, 2009

Seoul, Korea: August 8, 2009

On the way home, I had a 13 hour layover in Seoul, South Korea. Although I was physically exhausted from the rush of the last two weeks, I wanted to get as much “tourist activity” in as possible. When would I ever be back in South Korea!?! A friend from high school, Brooks is teaching over in Seoul and literally the day before I left, he had told me he was there and he would meet me. SO we kept in touch via facebook and e-mail and when I landed in Seoul I was to call him and meet him and he was going to show me around the city. WELL…. Turns out his phone wasn’t working or was off when I landed. I tried calling for about thirty minutes before I gave up and decided… “Hell, I only live once!” So, I decided to tour around own my own.

I got a bus ticket from the airport and my first stop was to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was in an amazing setting with luscious trees and mountains in the background. The palace is surrounded by five-meter high walls with only four gates each symbolizing different seasons and the yin and yang theory of the five elements… spring and wood, summer and fire, autumn and metal, and winter and water. I was so lucky, when I was there, it was about 80 degrees so wondering around the palace wasn’t a problem, as it is all outdoors. You are not allowed to step into the actual buildings.

My next stop was to the Insa-dong market and shopping mall. This was something that was in walking distance and a way for me to see an authentic market place without going to far away. It was very expensive compared to Thailand and the items they were selling seemed more “junky.” The actual mall was nice, it was five stories, all outdoors!

From there, I headed to the World Cup stadium where their soccer team plays. I couldn’t stay much longer because I had been out for about five hours and needed to head back to the airport early since I was an international flight. Plus they had a free place to wash up, shower, relax, and get massages! :) On the bus ride back to the airport…. I could hardly keep my eyes open – at that point, I was ready to go home and sleep in my own bed and relax! Going around South Korea, I had to take all my stuff since I wasn't quite sure I wanted to leave it all with Ben, (more of a pain for him!)

Sightseeing, The Big Buddha of Phuket, and FANTASEA: August 7, 2009

House Dedication: August 6, 2009

It is an interesting day to try to sum up. It was very emotional for most of the group – it was so touching to get to the jobsite and see how far we have come. We had gotten our house done, start to finish; minus the windows and the plastering which the skilled workers needed to complete. Sak was so incredibly happy and he had a permanent smile. Not only Sak, but all of the skilled workers really opened up to us… finally! We had such a good time with them.

Today was the final day of “work”. We got to the site and found out that we didn’t have work to do, just decorating for the final dedication. Anne told us that Sak and his family would be able to move in sometime next week!!! SO COOL! In total, we finished the house in two weeks… Anne also told us that what we accomplished would normally have taken a group of skilled workers about two or three months to complete. Personally, and as a team, I know we were so honored to help Sak move in sooner and begin his life in his new home.

For lunch, we prepared our own fried lunch… it was fun because we got to eat with Sak and the other skilled workers that were there throughout, oh and Harley and Puoy!! We all had a great time talking and laughing and I think this really brought us together - I wish we could’ve eaten with them everyday!
After lunch, we had the formal dedication. We each were presented with an award for our help in building with Habitat for Humanity in Thailand. We took pictures and then were able to present Sak with a large key to his new home. This is where things got emotional for people. He is so humble and shy, he didn’t even know what to say and how to express all of the thanks he was feeling. We told him how we were so happy to help and honored that we had the chance to be a part of something this special. We also gave him a group picture of all of us that he could put in his home. We hung out and talked a little longer and then it was time to be on our way. On the way home, it was sad to think that we wouldn’t be back… even though Sak said anytime we were in Thailand… we had a home to stay in! :)

It was such a heartwarming day. We left a little bit earlier so it gave us a chance to relax…. From three-six p.m. I literally was pampered with a manicure, pedicure, and massage! Then it was our last dinner in Khao Lak, Phang Nga….. it was a hillside, ocean view restaurant. A great way to celebrate our two weeks of hard work!

Putting on a Good Face (Or the front of the house!): August 5, 2009

Pretty relaxing day on the job site as we could only do so much at one time. I had a busy day, I was one of the ones that got to plaster the front of the house! It was a much faster process mixing the mortar and then sliding it on to the front of the house. It looks a lot easier than it actually is!! There definitely is a technique and the skilled workers had to show us a couple of times how to do it or adjust what we were doing to make the plaster stick better. Doing this, you also had to make sure it was leveling out the brick walls they may have been off before as well. Mard helped me and Ashley do the front of the house. We were pretty much perfectionists when it came to this making it as smooth as possible the first time around. There were a couple of girls doing a different inside wall that would just slab it on. When the skilled workers went around to level it, they had to smooth it down again with another layer.

I found the first scorpion of the trip…hiding out under the concrete blocks, it was pretty big for a baby (I was told by Tom). Harley, our taxi driver stepped right over and picked it up with a piece of wood to move him where more people could see him. So I never really did find out his real name… but I started calling him Harley because he always wore Harley Davidson T’s! By the second day of me calling him Harley, he responded to it and everyone began calling him that!! He thought it was so funny everytime!

It is crazy to think that tomorrow is our last day of working here! We will have accomplished pretty much all of our work schedule that we can do. The remainder needs to be done by skilled workers and the family (such as the interior decorating).

Thai BBQ!: August 4, 2009

Break time... learning how to play marbles!!

I LOVE THESE CHILDREN...... They are our future! xoxo

MORE WALLS! Today we went all of the way to the top of the house with the bricks. The skilled workers had touched up what we had done the day before and had added up a few more window frames for us. It was a very slow day going day because once we had our walls up, there wasn’t much more we could do on the inside until that very top on the outside was done. This consisted of slicing the bricks diagonally and really needed to be done by the guys because they were taller and could get up on the scaffolding and reach!

We met a woman named Kelly, who was originally from Montana. She had been down to Thailand for a Habitat trip herself when she met a Thai man who she is now engaged too. She works for a several non-profit organizations around the area and trying to put together another organization to help clean up the grounds. For lunch she took us down to the local orphanage called, Home and Life. They have a little bakery to help raise money for their work and the children that stay there. They have about 15 kids that stay there, more girls than boys, and they range in ages from five-fifteen years old. Unfortunately, it was a school day when we went, so we didn’t get to see them! The children were there for various reasons, some affected by the tsunami, some parents couldn’t afford to take care of them, and some parents had passed away and they didn’t have any other family.

After lunch, we continued with the exterior walls – luckily the clouds were present which took a bit of the intense heat away…. But still very warm and muggy!

For dinner, we went to a Thai BBQ buffet. It was 99 Baht for all you can eat. If you left any food on your plate, you paid more – so it was incentive to take a little at a time to not waste any food! They put out little boilers and grills in front of us, four people per. We got to choose what we wanted to grill up and make! It was pretty fun!

Walls, Walls, and More Walls!: August 3, 2009

Our first day back on the job site after a relaxing weekend! It was time to continue adding on to our walls. We had done about four layers around the entire house on Friday. Today, we were to get as far as possible. We literally put up walls for six hours. It actually went by very fast, but in six hours, we only added about eight layers. We also had a lot of clean up around the bottom of our walls that drops off as we go. The good part of this is our home, is really starting to look like a home! After today we have a new appreciation for those bricklayers; it is hard, tedious work to make sure that it all gets done correctly!

Through today, we have reached the point where we are now p on the scaffolding and we only have a limited access to that – so sharing is a necessity which means that we can only do so much at one time. Should be interesting to see how tomorrow goes!

At this point, our team has really seen the first big point in which we have touched “Sak” the homeowner…. He has been smiling all day and saying that it looks beautiful, or “Suay”. He has been saving up for so long to do this and it is great to see how this is all unfolding for him!

Blessed: August 2, 2009

After little sleep, we got up to head out to church. A few went to the Christian service and everyone wanted to head to the Buddhist temple. First stop: Lunch. We headed to a beachside restaurant which was affected by the tsunami. There were trees with ladders now attached with signs saying “Tsunami, Climb Up” and pictures and memorials of those who were affected. It was crazy to think about the Tsunami, because there really isn’t anywhere to go quick enough… all of us had a thought and a prayer for those who were taken away. We then drove about forty five minutes away to a very excluded area; one of the poorer areas. When we arrived, we had about fifteen to twenty minutes to walk around look at the paintings, and pray to the Buddha. You aren’t supposed to ever have your feet facing a Buddha statue because feet are the lowest, and most dirty part of your body – then you bow three times, and have a moment to pray.

We were very lucky – Tom was able to set up time for a Monk to come in to the temple to bless us. It was a very different experience!! He was able to put the blessing bracelets on the men, but not us women… they have to hand it to us since they are not allowed to touch us. We are supposed to leave the bracelets until they fall off…. Which I will be doing! It was very small and so different from what I expected, but it was amazing all the work that went into this temple.

On our way home, we stopped by the Tsunami Memorial. It was a little building that had pictures of before and after of the land, demographics and people. It also had outlined plans of what was to happen for the aftermath, cleanup, long-term plans, and help. There were two little stands that sold things, some of which was from the Tsunami Foundation – I purchased a lot really cute souvenirs from this place because it was all going to a great cause.

Life in the Bay’s of Phang Nga: August 1, 2009

Our first full touristy free day!! When you go on trips with Habitat for Humanity, you generally have at least two days that are fun-filled with activities within the area of visit. We are in Southern Thailand, staying in Khao Lak. Just outside is Phang Nga which is a city comparable to Seattle in size. For our free day, we traveled about one hour through Phang Nga to the Bay’s. The drive was mostly through town and it was much more busy than where we are staying. Although, I think that it looked to be one of the poorer areas I have seen so far; slum like.

The Pier & Our Tail Boats

One thing I will mention right now (that I have found to be the biggest and only disappointment) is that it is very hard to know about the areas we visit because of the language barrier. Tom, one of our hosts speaks English, but very little and at times it is hard to communicate. While we were driving through, we had so many questions about the area, but no one to tell us about it…. unfortunately, this was similar with all of the places we visited today. My plan is to go home and read more about the places in the books I have borrowed and piece my trip together! :)

Anyhow, we arrived at the pier about 9:00 a.m. and split up into two tail boats. We headed to a large ferry-like boat about fifteen minutes away that was anchored in the middle of a bay. This is where we got into small, two-man rubber canoes. I went with Ashley and we had a guide take us around. When I say guide, they just would row; as I mentioned – it was very hard because they don’t speak English so we didn’t get to learn about what Bay we were in. He took us to several caves and within the rocks because we got there during low tide. The two rock formations that he said in English were “Pigs Nose” and ”King Kong”. It was incredibly relaxing and I could have done it all day long!!!

After he took us through the caves and paddled around for a while, we headed back to the ferry to jump into the tail boats to head to a floating village called “Koh Pan Yee” where the sea gypsies live. It was originally built for the “James Bond, 007” movie. It is now only a tourist based community and as soon as it closes its hopes, it becomes an excluded, quiet, muslim community. It looked really cool from the water, it was all raised up on a pier and had two large restaurants and marketplaces. The team had a seafood lunch there….. I as you all know am not a fan of seafood. If anything, this freaked me out even more. Whole fish, bones, skin, and eyes were cooked up and thrown on the table, uhhhhh. I passed on that!! Afterwards we had time to roam through the trinket shopes, a lot of it was jewelry such as pearls and t-shirts. Not much of a variety…. At times, it smelled so bad walking through because of all of the dead sea life and the hot heat. The people were very very pushy at this place, they would touch you, follow you, and beg you to look at their shops. It got to be awkward – but good to see the gypsy community.

After about an hour and a half, we jumped into our large tail boats and headed for James Bond Island. The actually island is called “Khoa Tapoo; (Nail Island)” and its famous landmark is called “Khoa Ping-Gan; (Slide Rock).” This first found its way onto the international map through its starring role in “James Bond, The Man with the Golden Gun.” This is what most of us were looking forward too because you are constantly hearing about it and it is supposed to be beautiful. On our way there, the bay started to get extremely windy. We arrived and the sand was covered in a layer of broken sea shells… a little surprised they hadn’t broken down more from the water. As they were pelting us left and right, we sprinted up from the water to check out the island. Maybe this is why it is called Nail Island???? It was packed full of tourists; we asked Tom a few questions as we went and he said for some reason it seems to be that they bring all of the tourists there at the same time! The rock formation was huge and it had a beautiful setting. It was hard to take pictures because as we were saying the “other” foreigners would just stop right in the middle of your pictures!! It took us several times to try to get a picture! We walked around, they had a few shops, also very touchy, and a small cave that you could climb up to. We soon were headed back to the pier… it had been a longer day than we had expected; but it was so good to have a day out in the sun relaxing instead of building! We are spoiled and really miss not having a lot of free time!

After we got back and showered, all of us younger kids wanted to have a pub crawl… naturally, it turned out to Tiffy’s for dinner (the place we go every evening for a beer and internet!) and a little place called the Everyday Bar and Grill. Every night they have a Thai guy that sings and plays guitar…. His hits were shockingly The Rolling Stones! SO FUN! They even had a dart board for me to show off my skills! :) It of course ended up to just be me, Ashley, Ben, Matt, and Heath – we played a few rounds of cricket and talked with the locals… it was really fun to be there.

We called her Luna... reminded me of Luna Lovegood!!! (Harry Potter Fans...!) & Had to post for Dad!!