Friday 11 July 2008
Finally getting around to it!
It has only been four months.......
Time does get away - and I've felt the need to keep busy.
Boy, I found leaving Chiang Mai to be traumatic. Sad to say goodbye.....
I've "adapted" back to Aussie life very easily really, helped along by settling in back at work with very few changes, and being able to board with a good friend in the country town I work in (loving all the household creature comforts!). I love working in the Aussie environment again. It's been great catching up with so many people again, including my cousins for the first time in many years. My brother recently announced his engagement - seems to be a season of engagements, weddings and pregnancy announcements. Also 11 new bubs in the 12 months I'd been away, 9 being boys - crazy!
So back to me: spare time at bike classes, replaced for winter with a paying gig, pruning at a local vineyard. Not sure what the next "big" things would be in my life, and not applying the pressure either for the moment.
Get to remininsce about Thailand every time my work screen saver comes on, and the Chiang Mai poster has a pride of place on the wall. I've done a powerpoint presentation at a couple of churches now, have helped some friends learn some "survival Thai" for their 6 month volunteer stint ("put pasa thai nit noy"), did an official handover with the next FORRU Aussie volunteer, and had fun with some friends concocting an Asian feast. I'm loving the asian grocery stores at Cabramatta and can make a pass-able Pad Thai now. I'm very much looking forward to having a good friend from Thailand stay in Oz over Christmas. Don't quite have the energy yet to think about photo albums....
My main "perspective" on my year in Thailand is that I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to be there for the year. I feel extremely blessed to have had the many meaningful and rewarding experiences that I did. I would love to continue an involvement in overseas work in the future in some form, and am very much looking forward to a ReachOut conference next month to start the "dreaming and scheming" phase again. Not too restless yet for overseas travel, but ask me again once I hit my 30's......
I'll be leaving this blog on the internet for now. Thanks for keeping tabs on me. If you've happened to randomly come across it and something has sparked an interest to find out more, look to your right for my email address. Meanwhile if you are planning a trip to Chiang Mai, are reminiscing like I have been, or are just interested in what Thai cities look like, head to this website for a look around: http://www.mapjack.com/ . I even found my house on it!
God's blessings,
Jen :)
Wednesday 12 March 2008
My last 2 weeks in Thailand - the inevitable departure
Captions for this jumble of a photo collection:
the girls at english teaching; Super Tuesday Team at the radio station; friends at bible study group; Pastor Rupert at Chiang Mai Community Church; tie-dyed Thai kids from Baan San Faan on an excursion to the FORRU research nursery; newly on foot with friend Emily, having returned the motorbike (sigh).
I jetted out of Chiang Mai on Monday 11th March and arrived back in Sydney with no issues. A long battle with the Thai flu has forced me to lie low and near death by boredom. When my headspace is together again I'll wrap up with some "perspectives" of this big year away.
Sunday 24 February 2008
A busy 3rd last week
Starting with last weekend:
Very interestingly, I met another Schabel at the conference - a retired german-american University Professor named Hans. I've only met one other Schabel in my life, and that was Dad's cousin. We had a lot to talk about - there could be a distanct relation connection. 8 generations ago my forefather Hans Schabel moved to Denmark and started a locksmith business. Funny!
Following the conference Hans and a fellow american David (who started an edible insect educational business) were interested in seeing more of northern Thailand for 2 days, so we hired a car and headed north west, to a cave lodge 15km from the Burmese border. The karst scenery is spectacular (I headed here on my MHS motorbike adventure) and we visited Tham Lod. We saw thousands of cave features, thousands of bats, a couple of 2,000 year old teak log coffins and cave paintings. The absolute highlight though happened when we left the cave at dusk: 300,000 (odd) swifts flew back in the cave in large spirals to roost for the night. This nature spectacular lasted for almost an hour (black specks in the twilight photo below). We stayed in a bamboo bungalow and went for a valley walk the next morning, stopping frequently to seek out bugs and discuss other natural science phenomena. I learnt a lot!
Sunday 10 February 2008
Lovely Laos
Apologies for the formatting issues - will try to avoid them by not including photo captions......
Beautiful Krung Si limestone waterfall, and Pak Ou cave (with 1000's of buddha shrines); bird-release sellers; whisky distilleries
Sunday 3 February 2008
Excitement at the Ellie Park
There has been a sharp decline in the number of Asian elephants in Thailand, particularly after the logging ban in 1989. There aren't many left in the wild either - habitat loss and being the target of farmers losing their crops has seen to that. This park stands out as a haven for some elephants, a "re-learning" centre for humans, and the face of an emergency medical unit, the Jumbo Express, which also provides support to hilltribes.
blinded Jokia; a landmine victim; severe deformity from a broken leg and pelvis
THE FUN STUFF