Boat house retreat!

After Laura brought us back to our house on Saturday night, we got settled in, took ice cold showers (best ever!) and went right to bed. I didn't have a hard time falling asleep at all because I barely slept on the plane. I woke up a few times in the middle of the night, but I was able to fall back to sleep quickly. It was strange having no concept of time for the first few days. My body was telling me one thing, but the clock was telling me a totally different thing. Other than a bit of confusion, the time change hasn't been too bad. :)

Sunday (May 27) afternoon, Laura took us to one of the five Starbucks in Chiang Mai to meet up with David Allen, his wife Michelle, Bay, (one of the members of the Cheung Doi Church) and the other interns from ACU that will be working with the Cheung Doi Church of Christ. We drove about an hour out of town to a man-made lake. From there, we parked the cars and took a long boat out to the boat houses where we were we stayed over the weekend (May 26-27). 

The boat houses were really nice and we had a great time together! It was so much fun to spend time with the other group of ACU students and catch up. Sunday we swam in the lake, (Sorry Rachel and Ben! But I lived to tell the tale! The river monsters must not have cared for me.), enjoyed a delicious meal of Thai food, and went to bed at about 8:30. I honestly can not remember the last time I went to bed so early! When David told us that because of jet lag, he was going to keep us up and that we were not allowed to go to bed until 8pm, I was sure I wouldn't have a problem with that. However around 7pm I wasn't sure if I was going to make it till 8pm...and a few people were begging David to let them go to bed. :) We all made it though, and it was one of the best night's rest I have ever had! Our bed had a beautiful mosquito net that made Becca and feel like princesses. :) It proved to be effective too, because we woke up to a beautiful bug display above us. 

Monday morning, I woke up around 6am and got up and had my quiet time on the dock by the water. It was so beautiful with the sun rising behind the mountains and mist hovering around the mountains and over the water. Words can not express the beauty of this place and the pictures below hardly do justice. It was the perfect place to worship, listen to, and talk with my Savior. It was a very special time that I will never forget.

When 7am rolled around, we had our "American Breakfast" which consisted of bacon, eggs, fruit, toast and...hotdog wieners? ;) After breakfast, we got down to business. David reminded us of a lot of the cultural issues that we learned in our WorldWide Witness class this past semester that helped to prepare us for our summer abroad. He also gave us very useful information about things we needed to know about living in our area such as, don't drink beverages with chipped ice (it's not factory-made, so you don't know where it's been), how to use a Song Tao (which means red Truck, it's kind of like a bus), girls should not make eye contact with a monk, be on the same bus or Song Tao, and stay as far away from them as possible out of respect, because they are not supposed to ever have physical contact with women (For example, we were walking down the street the other day and saw a monk off in the distance. He crossed over to the other side of the street before we even came close to him). 

We also learned some cultural do's and don'ts of Thailand like how and who to "wai" (a Thai greeting), always take your shoes off when entering a building, and to never let the bottom of your feet show (it's very offensive). It was so interesting to learn about things that I have never thought about before, but that are so important to the Thai culture. After learning about culture, Bay gave us a short Thai language lesson. It was SO helpful! Although we are by no means fluent, it was so nice to know how to say the important, basic phrases. We don't feel as helpless now. ;)

Over the course of the weekend we ate so many DELICIOUS meals! I love Thai Food! Some of the things we had were fish, cashew chicken, vegetables, the sweetest most amazing fruit I have ever tasted (pineapple, dragon fruit, mango, rose apples, papaya) coconut chicken stew/soup, rice (of course!), spicy Thai soup and breaded chicken. 

As we were packing up to leave we experienced our very first rain storm in Thailand! We got to watch the storm move down from the mountains and cover us in torrential down pour for about an hour. It was so incredible! I have never seen it rain so hard! I love the rain and am looking forward to this rainy season!

Monday night, Laura picked us up at the Starbucks she dropped us off at and took us to the outdoor market for dinner...our very first outdoor market experience! We got some delicious food (with Laura's help) for less than 60baht (which is under $2). Food is really cheap here! That meal lasted me for two days. Not too bad for only $2!

Below are some pictures of our time at the lake!  Enjoy! 

The whole team before heading to the boat house.

Heading to the boat house on a long boat! 

Our boat house

Swimming!

ACU Wildcats in Thailand! 

The whole Thailand team

The Agape team! 

The room Becca and I shared

The view from our room

One of our amazing Thai dinners!

Rachel and I! 

Becca and I got to take a "dip bath" because our showers didn't work. We had a bucket of water and a scoop. :)

David and Michelle getting ready for the day

The ACU Thailand team, minus Charlie who took the photo. 

Cute Asian babies :) 

Our beautiful mosquito net  

After the rain!

It was so beautiful

Playing Farkel before dinner

The view before heading "home."

My first meal from the market! Sweet and sour chicken with rice and watermelon!