my address

so, i'm in chiang mai, and have been since last saturday.
i'm getting settled in, and thought i'd post my address so you can all send me lots of mail to get me even more settled in...
there's a post office just around the corner and down the street from me, right near the chiang mai gate and it's wonderful 24 hour market, so i hope to send off some mail of my own soon...

for lovely letters:
my name
17/1 Soi 4 Wualai Road
Haiya Tambon Amphur Muang
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50200

for packages (preferable):
my name
PO Box 118 Chiang Mai University,
Chiang Mai, Thailand 50202

Darjeeling

today is sun and sweaters and clear skies and the Himalayas outside our window (so close i could touch them it seems) and a rooftop breakfast of lemon tea and rice pudding.

today will be more sun and walking and an india post office (where they wrap your packages in newsprint and linen and stitch it by hand and seal it with wax) and an indian dinner and more Darjeeling tea.

it's good to be in the mountains...

An overview

it's been days, i know, since i've had much connection to anyone in the states. the internet cafe has been closed for the holiday. the holiday! for the past few days, and especially nights, the streets of India have been teaing with action. We've been here in Siliguri for more than a week, with short 3 days trip up to Pedong, a mountain village about 3 hours away. It feels like i've been here longer than 11 days, though. We have really gotten tosee a lot and konw a bit of Siliguri, the few streets and restaurants that we frequentare becoming familiar. i'm becoming quite used to the crazy roads and varied means of transportation. so far, claire andi have traveled by: jeep, car, tuk tuk, "auto" (a 3 wheeled open-sided vehicle), rickshaw, bus, and train! Sometimes dusty and dangerous, usually bumpy and crowded, and always exciting. I can't imagine having to drive here myself! now that would be exciting!

We have met some really neat people since arriving. many of our first aquaintances were made up

in the gorgeous mountain village, Pedong. We drove by car up the winding hills on our first Sunday here

being up there was a really amazing and breath-taking experience. so much color and life! we looked out

the car windows to see the mountians-the himalayas!-in distance, surrounded by clouds and blue sky and

cool, light air. the bumpy and winding road passed through forests and jungles, the road plunging down

to ravines and green rivers below. i couldn't help but think of the jungle book as we swerved past vines and moss

covered rocks and temples, with monkeys just an arms length away from the car. Claire and i laughed

tried to remember all the characters names!

We passed through a few towns, but mostly villages and strings of modest houses-wood or bamboo with metal or thatched roofs, and dirt-floor kitchens and washing areas. there is also a lot of stairs and tile and plants-i was surprised by the number of potted plants, both herb and flowers, we saw. most houses have them linign their walkways and porches and rooftops, and it is so nice.

While in Pedong we stayed in a beautiful, simple, andclean hoome of a couple who are living in the states for a while now. we shared teh house wiht a great couple from New Zealang, Margaret and Denise. we met and spent time with Pastor Jonathan and his wife Usha, who have a variety of ministries, including a home for 46 children. we met their son and an elder from their church and went out to a few villages for medical camps. the medical clinics were interesting. we would drive and/or hike out to a village in the hills and set up the clinic, once in a church, once in a school. Claire and i were given the job of "chemists", and after checking each person Dr Chip would send them over to us to get medication. It was great to see the villages andmeet the people (their hospitality of open homes and tea is inspiring) but also a little sad and frustrating. i would hand out cream for scabies or iron tablets for anemia and think, this iwll only last so long, and then, because of bad hygeine and no health education, the person willslip back into their problem, only now it will be worsened by the expectation that "a pill" is what they need to solve it. We talked alot about this, and it seems to be a big issue. Chi is in contact with a number of people who are less about diagnosis and pills and more about community development and education and it was so good to hear about and meet some of these people.

After our 3 days in Pedong, spent meeting people: local villagers, missionaries, and the sweet children from jonathan and Ushas children home. We traveled to and from medical clinics and woke up early each morning for the sunrise over the mountains (unfortunately it was always quite overcast), or a walk in the village. we really fell in love with that incredibly beautiful area and it was sad to have to make our winding way back down to Siliguri.

We've been here, staying at the same hotel since then, and it has been good. we've had a medical camp in a leprosy colony, which was very difficult and tiring. we've taken a long train ride out to a village where we walked across a river to get to the town, and take two different buses home (the first one ran out of petrol!). we've drove out to james (a health car worker) and martha (a nurse and his wife)'s home for dinner and to see their most recently school development. that was also through a river, though this time the car was doing the wading, with the tires submerged in water! we visited the market with Binu, and incredible young Nepali woman who works with the local ministry "Him Serve". i bought material for a punjabi shirt, brought it to the tailor where i chose a pattern and gave my measurements, and then picked it up two days later! all for about $5 US...

Claire and i have been a little tired most days, though have only felt a little sick today, and it has been nice these few days, while Chip is away doing medical camps, when we can relax a little. the two of us had dinner the other night with a mixed group of misisonaries. between the eight of us, we represented five different countries: India, Nepal, New Zealand, Germany, and the U.S.!

it is more than incredible to be here. i know that i am learning so much through these experiences, and i think, despite being a little out of it today, i'm doing really well. all the learning and thinking and talking and time spent with claire is so precious to me, and i'm excited that it has really only just begun!

anticipation

for me, this autumn brings more than just an anticipation of harvesting and crisp weather and holidays and falling leaves and first frost. i leave for asia next week and will be gone until february...

i feel the anticipation of that big unknown clenched inside me. nervous excitement. somehow that seems to make the known even dearer to me this season. pressing fallen leaves, sweaters worn all day long, hugging my brother, apple picking, misty mornings, leaf piles, sleeping outdoors, big mugs of hot tea...

spring skin

through my camera lens...

spring
is so wonderful and perfect.



i always have this toss up with spring and autumn as to which one is my favorite season. it seems whenever one is happening, i always think, now this is my favorite season, but then the other one comes along, and i think, no, this is my favorite.
and although i think i've decided on autumn as my absolute favorite, spring is a close second, and today, especially, is a day to win anyone over. it's a balmy 59 degrees this morning, with a slight breeze, sending the smell of new lilac buds my way.
sun streams onto the porch where i'm sitting.



i woke up early this morning to help gell and spray my brother's hair into a mohawk for "Decades Day" at his school (he decided on the 80s, with his purple skinny jeans, a small, tight t-shirt, miss-match converse all stars, chain necklace, and mohawk). since i don't have work or class until tonight, i got to slip back in bed for a while longer, and then meander downstairs hours after he left for school. i have the house to myself this morning, and it was grapes and toasted almonds for breakfast (in my opinion, grapes basically make the world go round). i'm out on the front porch now. i've spread a blanket on the chipped bue-paint floor, and a compilation of homework, journaling and collaging materials, grape stems, and paints are my company. an art picnic all to myself!


the beginnings of a journal entry...

on another note, i soaked some deliciously dark black beans last night, and am now trying to decide what to make with them. black bean soup? tangerine and black bean salad? black bean chili? or, i could even make black bean brownies!
any other yummy black bean recipe ideas?

International Women's Day!

so, this coming monday the 8th is international women's day!

how shall we celebrate?

slushy people-watching

#1 must-have for today: sigur ros

listen and enjoy.

so, unlike many, we didn't lose our power in last nights big rain and wind storm. lots of houses in town did, but not us! mostly i'm thankful although i have to admit that a part of me feels left out of the excitement. no flashlights, candles, and creeping darkness. i have to get the excitement second-hand from my sister (her whole university lost power!)...
i did have to drive in the storm last night after class. it was a very long 30 minutes of heavy rain and hydroplaning. yikes! when i got home, i lit candles in my room anyway, and huddled under my blankets to listen to the wind and rain. safe and sound. this morning my computer is happily plugged in, and i have all the water i need. i am so fortunate.

i did see the affects of the storm on my morning walk. one of my favorite pass-times is galumphing in and around the cemetary that lies behind my house. this morning was quite the tromp. broken branches and whole trees littered the ankle-deep snow and slush. it was beautifully bright and clean, though, and i was reminded of spring by the birds and the constant drip-dripping of melting snow and ice...

* * *

* * *

true confession: i spy on my neighbors.

not in a creepy way, but i have such a nice, overhead view from my room's window, and sometimes when i'm sitting on my bed i can't help but glance out. the duplex next door is home to the two most adorable kids. today they were shoveling mud puddles and slush in their driveway. a huge shovel in hand, the one went after a puddle prepared to conquer. he would plant the shovel in front of him and as if it were a shopping cart, push the water forward and back, mearly sloshing more snow into the puddle. and that's what makes him happy! i know i just love the satisfactory splash of stepping into a pile of slushy, sloshy melted snow. even the word *slush* has such a satisfying quality to it, don't you think?

i want to allot more time for people-watching in my life. after feeding myself well on literature for the past week, with: anne tyler's a patchwork planet, j.d. salinger's 9 short stories, and a spattering of o'henry, i realize how important and intriguing people's idiosyncrasies are, and i want to be someone who can captured them in writing and art...

drip drip drip

exploring the sky through a thorn branch


Lorsque on ne s'efforce pas d' exprimer l' inexprimable, alors rien ne se perd et l' inexprimable est contenu inexprimablement dans ce qui est exprime. * -L. Wittgenstein

*When one does not force himself to express the inexpressible, nothing is lost and the inexpressible is contained inexpressibly in that which is expressed.