Back home...

To all my friends and family,

Words simply do not measure as a gauge for my experiences in Thailand. I have no words to describe how deeply I love my teammates, the country, the Thai people I met, and all the crazy adventures I had during my three weeks there. As I have only been home for less than a week, there is no way that I can make sense of all of it, but I do know that I will never be the same after my experiences there. The power of building a house for a kind stranger will always hold a place in my muscles. The energy of my teammates will course through my body forever. The love given to me by new friends will be present in my heart and soul for the rest of my life. The wisdom of the Thai people will challenge my thoughts and beliefs evermore. The generosity of others will teach me to be a more giving person. The acceptance of teammates will help me become a more genuine person. The laughter I experienced will surround me and resonate in me. The freedom of not having rules has taught me to not be so afraid. The pleasure of daily surprises has taught me to be more easygoing and not get so swept up in myself. The kindness I experienced will teach me that no matter how badly you make a mistake, if you do it in kindness, it will always be well received. The quiet simple moments in Thailand have already taught me to slow down. And finally, the awe I felt staring up at a house that WE built, will forever motivate me to give of myself so that one day, everyone will have a roof over their heads and the ability to shelter their children from the storms. I hope that you all have enjoyed reading about my journey and experiencing this with me. Please know that I will be different due to this experience and I hope that I have inspired some of you to go out and do something kind for a stranger.

So in place of words, I will show you…I have posted my pictures on Picasa. (see the link below) Forgive me for the large # of pictures, I simply couldn’t cut them down any further. You can view them as a slideshow by clicking on “slideshow” in the upper-left-hand part of the screen.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sherikoller/Thailand2009?feat=email#

With love,Sheri

The mean streets of Bangkok!

Ok, so I almost died. Well not totally... but let's just say that there was a bus, me in a little tuk tuk (basically a skinny golf cart with a lawn mower engine and jetski handlebars) and a couple of "our fathers." We were caught in a traffic jam (one that would put Los Angeles to shame!!) and there were huge buses everywhere... one came within a few inches... EEK!!!!!! Today has been amazing!!!!! Jennifer and I stayed up late last night looking out the windows of our GORGEOUS bedroom windows and talking. She is really easy to talk to and we talked about all sorts of stuff... not just about this trip It is going to be REALLY hard to say good-bye to her :( I think we went to sleep @ around 2am but I didn't sleep really well. The three of us were sleeping in a king size bed... and me, being the monkey in the middle was afraid to wake either one of them up :( We had breakfast by the river and walked down to Wat Pho. We toured the temple and went to the Grand Palace and Wat Prah Kaew. They wouldn't let me in with capri's and instead of staying in the long line to rent pants, we veto'd that. We took a river taxi back home and that was quite the experience. We came back to the hotel for a bit and then took the river taxi up to the north of the old city. WE had dinner and walked around abit. On the way back home, was when we got to have the tuk tuk experience! You know that the ride was crazy when the DRIVER gets out and literally kisses the ground! No joking around, he climbed out and bowed all the way to the ground!!!! WE just got here and they are both packing since they have to leave for the airport @2:30am. I will just hang around BKK tomorrow on my own until I leave for the airport in the early afternoon. I will be back home tomorrow night... talk to you all then! I'll post the website for this trip on this blog so check back!

Addendum... It is now Friday afternoon and I am sitting at the hotel, waiting for the taxi to come get me. it was REALLY hard saying good-bye last night. It's probably helpful that it was in the middle of the night and we were too tired to break down. I can't express enough how much I've enjoyed getting to know those two women and I hope that this is the beginning of long friendships with them. With Jennifer especially, I have felt an instant connection and it's as if I've known her my entire lfe (or past life what may have you). She speaks my thoughts before I speak them, and she also speaks my thoughts outloud before I even have the ability to say them... it's been really amazing. After they left, I stood up in the room looking out the window to the river and there was a storm abrewing. The lightening was like nothing I'd ever witnessed and I stood there in awe for a long time jsut watching it and thinking. This morning I had breakfast downstairs and there were these two wonderful older ladies from australia. I spent a long time talking with them and giving them sites to visit. They were very sweet. After that, I went back to the 7-11 to get some last minute snacks and ran into the monk we had met the other night. He and I talked for awhile and then I came back to the hotel to pack. I'm about to go get lunch and the taxi is coming at 3pm. I'm ready to go home but I'm not ready to go home!
Love!

Everything but Yule Brenner~

Hello everyone! I made it safely to Bangkok and am LOVING every minute of hanging with Sarah and Jennifer. I missed these girls!!! We met up in the airport and it took FOREVER to get to our hotel... traffic here makes LA look like a cake walk. The hotel is AMAZING and we have a view of the river from our room. It is gorgeous!!! We went to a nice restaurant that had a view of Wat Arun... gorgeous!!! After that we stopped into a 7-11 to get some wine and ended up spending a half an hour randomly talking to monk! He was really cool. The best part was when he said "your face is like a mirror... if you smile at someone, they will smile at you. If you frown at someone, they will frown at you." VERY powerful!! Anways, that's about it! Off to bed. Love ya!

Bangkok here I come!

After a long, sleepless night (I swear, even WITH the fan on I sweated off about 10 pounds! :( ) I am getting ready to head to Bangkok. I don't know what the internet situation will look like so if you don't hear from me in awhile... I'll write to let you all know I made it safely home :) Love you all!!!

Motorcycles and monks....

Ok Aunt Janet... you neglected to mention riding on the back of a motorcycle sans helmet through the crowded streets of Chiang Mai!! (p.s. I added pics to the previous blog... mae\ke sure to check them out!) Today we were up again at 6am to head into town. I was able to go with Uncle Allan to his school to see how their school day starts. It is 7th grade to 12th grade and there are about 4,000 students. Tomorrow is the Queen's birthday and therefore also Mother's day (no school). Every school day starts with all the kids lining up in the Quad area to sing the national anthem and their school song. The kids are SO obedient! They walk by the teachers and Wai them (bow). It was great to see the opening ceremonies and they also did a longer few songs in honor of the Queen. After that, Aunt Malee's son took me up to Wat Doi Suthep which is a beautiful temple above the hills of Chiang Mai. My camera died so he lent me his... he's really sweet. I walked around the halls and rang the bells that the monks ring :) After that, he showed me around town a bit and we got to see two more temples. We picked Aunt Malee up and went to Baan Tawai which is a local place for arts and crafts. I did lots of shopping! :) After that, Aunt Malee had surprised me with another Thai massage... this was for 2 hours and was only $11. I still can't get over that!!!! The woman was more stronger and I am feeling a bit beat up... relaxed but beat up :) While I was waiting outside for Aunt Malee to come get me, her niece (who is 55 but looks 32!!!) pulls up on a motorcycle and says "come on Sheri, go." She doesn't speak English so I figured arguing with her would be useless. So on I hopped sans helmet and held on for dear life. To be honest, I'm not sure she'd ever driven the thing because we stalled out twice :) Ah... only in Thailand :) We got back to her coffee shop and were both giggling hysterically. We sat around for 2 hours waiting for Uncle Allan to come get us and it was the most fun 2 hours ever. Although I have no idea what they are saying... my goofy, silly, dancing side came out and they were cracking up! Gotta run. :)

How many people can fit in a pickup truck?

Anyone have any ideas? Let me give you some hints... there are two seats behind the first row and a regular size cab with a cover and two benches... 6?? 8?? Give up? How about 13!!!!!!!! 4 in the front and 9 of us sandwiched in the back! Oh, and to make it even better... FOR 2 HOURS each way!!! You know you are jealous! If it makes you feel any better, when I get back to the states I will sit on all of your laps to show you how it feels!Today was my big excursion tour. I was feeling a bit ambivalent about it. We had to leave the house by 6:30 so that Uncle Allan could get to work. He dropped Aunt Malee and I off at the market and we ate something like rice porridge off of a stand. Only $3 for two porridges, donuts and hot tea! NICE! She dropped me off at the tour agency and I waited for them to pick me up. The tour consisted of 4 guys from France, 4 girls from Ireland and a couple from Berkley. The couple from berkley were really cool and I spent most of the day hanging out with them. First we went to an Orchid & Butterfly farm... not my scene. We then traveled about 20 minutes on this dirt (I don't think you can even call it a road!) up to where we were let off. We had to cross the river and had to get into this metal cage and pull ourselves across. PRETTY FREAKY!!! On the other side, we hiked about 10 minutes and came upon the elephant ride. We climbed up onto the wooden platform and got on the elephants. Megan, Matt (the couple from Berkley) and I rode on one. i was a bit nervous about riding on the neck so Matt rode up there and Megan and I shared the seat. No seatbelts, no helmets, just a really tight grip... eek!!! It was AMAZING! We trekked through the jungle for about 45 minutes! It was amazing being so high up and feeling the lumber of such an impressive animal under us. It was really freaky riding up top and our elephant would get really close to some of the cliffs and it would freak us out! After that, we hiked about 1 hour up into the jungle. it was REALLY hot and my clothes were drenched in sweat. We at lunch near a stream and changed into our bathing suits. We hiked for another 20 minutes across the river and up the mountain and finally came to the waterfall. I'd have to say... one of the most impressive I've ever seen. we stood underneath it and it was so powerful that you couldn't stay standng. We then trekked back down in the rain as it had started pouring while we were at the waterfall. We then got back in the truck a rode for a few minutes to the white water rafting place. It was only a level 2 and the rapids were pretty mild. We then tried rafting "Thai style." which is a bunch of bamboo boards lashed together. With 11 of us on it, we were submerged up to our chests but managed to make it the rest of the way down the river. It was much less stable and we had to lean right and left to keep it from tipping... a lot of fun!!! Once out of the water I went to change into my sweaty stinky clothes. What could make that worse? Oh, i can tell you... dropping your t-shirt on the disgusting floor of the outhouse and having to wear it anyway because it's the only shirt you brought... NICE!! We were then supposed to go to visit the "Hill tribes" for a cultural experience but we ran out of time :( As it was, we got back 2 hours late into Chiang Mai. I was filthy, stinky and drenched. My shoes were SOAKING wet and my poor feet were wrinkled from being in wet tennis shoes/socks for 4 hours. We had dinner in town and drove home. I was still wet and so Aunt Malee made me sit on a plastic bag... it was pretty funny!! Talk to you all soon! :) Hard to believe that I only have 4 more days until I leave Thailand... boo!!!!!!!!

Cold showers and 32 bug bites in an hour... sounds like a Sheri trip!

From L-R Jirasak, me, grandpa, the director of habitat


Jennifer and I drawing out plates... she is pointing to the jellyfish that stung me :)


Jennifer, Sarah and I at dinner


Laura and i laughing at Dam (Mr. beck, beck himself :)


Riding up top (Carol, me, Diana, Sarah, Sallyanne)!

Ok, so the word for the past few days is OVERLOAD! On Thursday night, we went out to dinner… our last dinner in Phang Nga and we went to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the sea. I had a tummy ache and wasn’t feeling so great. Dinner was really yummy though and we put on some karaoke music and danced… cured my tummy ache! J We did the “termination” activity and it was REALLY cool!! Everyone really got into and I was really pleased. When I got mine back, I couldn’t believe some of the comments. They were things like “you bring light into a dark room” and “you bring light and happiness on rainy days.” I was very moved!!! After dinner, a bunch of us stopped off at a tattoo parlor (Jen and Matt both got tattoos) with a bamboo striker instead of a machine… ouch! After that we went back to our German bar to hang out but we were all a bit tired. After a few glasses of wine… I was ready to knock out! We awoke the next morning and I was EXHAUSTED! I think the emotional toll and physical toll of building a house for the past two weeks had finally caught up to me (well that, and also, the fact that I had only been getting less than 6hrs of sleep a night.). We ate breakfast and hopped into the vans that would take us back to Phuket. Coming back into Phuket was really hard. For the past two weeks we were living in Camelot… a deserted town with only locals. Wherever we went, we were the only ones in the restaurant. In Phuket, it was crowded, noisy, dirty and busy. It was a HUGE overload on my senses. We went to a mall and I couldn’t even go in because I was overstimulated. The thought of entering a mall when after all of my experiences in the past two weeks seemed selfish and (for lack of a better word… forgive the food reference) gluttinous. We then went to a Japanese buffet for lunch and again I was overwhelmed by the abundance of food and busy-ness… I couldn’t handle it. On the way to the hotel in Phuket I was feeling really carsick L Once at the hotel, Jennifer, Sarah, Diana and I went down to swim in the moat/pool. We had a few glasses of wine and then Jennifer and I had some quiet time to process some of the happenings in the past few days. It really started to hit me that all these people (the good, the bad and the ugly) had become my family in the past two weeks. I was sad to leave the homeowner, the workers and also my new family.That night we went to the show and again… OVERLOAD!!! It was like… how do I describe it… Disneyland on Acid! It was like a theme park with all of these horrific creatures painted in bright, glow in the dark colors. It was TOOOOOOOOO much!!! And there was some stupid theme song blaring over the speakers in a repetitive way. We ate at a buffet and again, the food was just overwhelming. After dinner we went to the show… it was crazy getting in there. You had to go through metal detectors and check your camera!!! The show was like my worst nightmare. It had elephants performing tricks, cheesy magic tricks, dancing, pyrotechnics and who knows what else. It was hard to watch the animals perform knowing that they probably are not being well taken care of. Leaving the show, I felt like I had been run over by a truck and the massive crowds didn’t help. Back at the hotel, Jennifer, Sarah and I sat down by the bar so that Jen could call and change her plane ticket (now she is coming to Bangkok with Sarah and I … yea!!!) and I got 32 bug bites on my legs alone… FREAKING AOL! The next morning I finished packing because I was on the first cab to the airport. It was really hard to say good-bye to everyone and most people were crying. Ashley and I were on the same flight and we made it to BKK together. I flew up to Chiang Mai and noticed Uncle Allan right away. Aunt Malee was also there to get me. It was POURING rain and we went to a restaurant for dinner after stopping at some place to book a tour for me tomorrow. The tour includes a butterfly farm, an elephant ride through the jungle, a hike through the jungle, lunch, white water rafting, swimming in a waterfall and a visit to the Hill tribes. Anyone want to take a gander at price….. 8 hours for…. Dun dun dun… $30!!! Can you believe it? Chiang Mai is very pretty! We came back to their house which is about an hour out of town and I went straight to bed. I could hardly sleep because of the crickets/noises but finally fell asleep. This morning when I went to take a shower… freezing cold!! I was hyperventilating and barely made it through the shampoo portion (I guess no conditioner or shaving of the legs for the next 3 days!!!). We went to an elephant rehabilitation center where they care for sick and abandoned elephants. We also watched a show where the elephants showed us all the jobs they would do during the logging industry’s era. Wonderful, magnificent animals! After that, I went and had another Thai massage. Then we went shopping for a bit at the night market. After that we went to a Khantoke show which is dinner and traditional Thai dance… AMAZING!!!! During dinner we were talking about our family back home. It feels weird to be talking to someone here in Thailand about my cousins and aunts back in Massachusetts… VERY cool though. Tomorrow I have my tour but I will try to write afterwards. Love ya all!