A Bit Less Exciting

So this post is not nearly as exciting as the last one. No elephant riding since I last posted...I think I could ride an elaphant every day though because I just think elephants are that cool.

Anyway...on to the point of the post! On monday of this week I was trained on all of my hostess duties for the guesthouse. I wasn't supposed to start until the middle of February, but since the main hostess went on holiday today they had to have someone to take care of the place! Right now I am only there in the afternoon because I still have Thai class in the morning. The guesthouse is pretty quiet right now but for the last two weeks we had a full house. So, it is good to have a break. Right now I answer email and make reservations, which doesn't take too much of my time. With my free time I go over to the library and work. I thought I was going to finish in there today, but I kept finding more books that still aren't in the computer system. I'm hopeful I'll be done by the end of the week. In the coming weeks I think I will be teaching English to a Thai woman during the afternoons. In the evenings I lock everything up, the office gets locked at 6 and then everything gets locked at 9.

I've posted pictures of where I live, but not where I work. Hopefully I'll remember to take my camera with me so you can see where I work.

So far I'm adjusting pretty well...I think. I try to take things on a daily basis. Most days are good but every once in a while I'll have a rough day. Please keep praying for me to not be overwhelmed by everything. I'm experiencing culture shock a little everyday and I'm not looking forward to when it is really full blown culture shock. I've noticed that more and more things annoy me, which is an indicator that culture shock is coming sometime.

One more thing about culture shock...most of the people I work with are Swiss so I get to experience culture shock with that culture as well. I don't handle it as well because I was not expecting it at all. I knew there was going to be adjustment to Thai culture, but had no idea that I would work with almost all Swiss people.

Thai lessons continue to be overwhelming. For someone who has always excelled academically it is hard to not excell at learning the language. Language learning is not an academic matter, even though I sit in a classroom to learn it. I have to use it outside of class to really remember anything. I would really appreciate your prayers in this area as well---it is not uncommon for me to leave class with a headache after trying to absorb so much new information.

Probably my greatest struggle (aside from culture shock issues) is thinking that what I am doing is not really ministry. Since I work in a supporting role it is easy for me to forget that what I am doing is making a difference. I think part of it (most of it) is feeling that I need to defend what I am doing to people. Today at lunch one the Mekong workers asked how working in the Hudson House was helping me learn about missions. I know she meant well and was trying to be helpful, but it made me wonder if I was doing enough. Honestly, I can't really do "ministry" because I can't speak Thai. All I can do is observe. And I can't observe all the time, at some point I do need to contribute something. So, I do a lot of behind the scenes stuff. The work that I do here frees other people and enables them to serve more effectively. I'd really appreciate prayer in this area.

Thanks for stopping by!

Climbing A Mountain

So I wasn't really planning to climb a mountain...it just kinda happened. I thought I was agreeing to go elephant riding, whitewater rafting, and bamboo rafting. I was wondering how that was going to last two days, but I didn't think about it too much. We stopped at an orchid farm and a snake farm soon after we left Chiang Mai, but those things didn't take too long.

beautiful orchids.


I felt obligated to take a picture even though I think snakes are gross.

Little did I know there was a trek up a mountain and down part of the mountain that took up a good portion of the two days.This is the only picture I took the whole way up because I was so exhausted I didn't feel like using any more energy than absolutely necessary. Thus, I did not take the effort to get my camera out of my bag.

Finally to the top.

Our home for the night: a bamboo hut. Did I mention there was no power on top of the mountain?

sunset from the top of a mountain. almost made the trek up worth it.

In the morning we got up and it was down the mountain to the elephant camp and to whitewater rafting. The trek down was so much easier than the way up. It was shorter, downhill, and cooler temps since we left in the morning instead of the middle of the afternoon.

the whole group before we got sweaty from the hike down.

we stopped for a break at a waterfall.

that's me on an elephant!

feeding the elephants...see the one in the back lunging for the bananas?

All in all it was a great weekend, even if my legs hurt while I am motionless. and even if my feet have more blisters than I can count. Riding the elephants was definitely the best part...I have a new found love for elephants now!

The Last Week Or So

I was about to say that this week was mundane and routine...and then I thought of all the things I have done and seen and it really wasn't mundane at all. My schedule so far looks like this:


8:30-9: prayer at the Mekong Center
9:30-10: bike ride to class
10-noon: Thai class
noon-12:30ish: bike ride back to the Mekong Center
lunch whenever I get back.
1ish-5: childcare for Preston or helping in the TCK library


Preston is Tim and Jamie's (my mentor) son and he's generally a really happy 1 year old so watching him is a lot of fun.


The TCK library is for resources for missionary families to use and was fairly disorganized. Some other people and myself have been working to make it more user friendly. By the way, TCK = Third Culture Kid aka a missionary kid.


the rest of the night is pretty much whatever I make of it. Usually there is some reading involved, some hanging out with the swiss OMF-ers, and some eating. One night this week I went bowling and another night I went out to eat with Tim, Jamie and Preston. (Just in case you were wondering, bowling here is pretty much like bowling in the states.)


On friday afternoon I left the TCK library early to go to the hospital. To get immunized. I waited to get my immunizations here because they are about a third of the cost here and because there aren't any outbreaks or anything right now, so I'm pretty safe. However, I definitely paid in time. What would have been a relatively quick ordeal in the states turned out to be a 2 hour event in Chiang Mai.


So far I have the weekends free, which is awesome. However, once I am finished with the Thai class I'll be working at least one day every weekend until late April. Last weekend was pretty much for overcoming jetlag. This weekend I was able to have some fun, thank goodness! Friday night I went to see the movie The Elephant King. The movie theatre was in the biggest mall I have ever seen. On saturday I went up to Thailand's highest mountain (I think...). There is a buddhist temple up there and good views of the city. I've been told that you can't come to Chiang Mai and not visit, so I guess I can cross that off my list of things to do. Here are some pictures from the temple area and a view of Chiang Mai.

 

There was a lot of smog, but if you look closely you can see the city.

Prayer requests: continue to pray for my mind to be sharp, especially with learning Thai. My sinuses have been bothering me for the last couple of days. Also, would would you pray for me to find contentment in the work I am doing? Since most of the work I do is behind the scenes (because I can't speak Thai) it is easy for me to get discouraged and forget that what I am doing is still ministry. This was definitely what I struggled with the most last week. Thank you so much for your prayers--I am so grateful for them.

The Place I Call 'Home'

Here it is in all its glory...the Saeng Pratheep Dorm. My home for the next 4 months.

It's Time For Something Positive

Life has improved since I last wrote. Still not great, but definitely good. The shock of being here has worn off some and I feel like I am somewhat orientated to where I am. I've got a long way to go before I am adjusted, but I am in a much better place today than I was a couple days ago.

I am really grateful for your prayers. I heard about a small group of high schoolers were praying for me back home...probably right around the time I was walking to language class, by myself. It is really encouraging to hear that people are praying for me and I can definitely feel the effects! Thanks so much!

Now for some pictures...

Sunrise in Hong Kong -- the first thing I saw after being on a DARK plane for 16+ hours!

This is my home for the next 4 months. I wish the bed were as comfy as it looks, but it'll do. I have my own bathroom, which is just through the door in the corner. The door to the far left leads out to the balcony.

Here's my desk and a cool Asian-y lamp.

That's all for now on the pictures. I'll try to get one that shows how big the dorm is -- It's a monster. It has 13 bathrooms total!

Updated Address

Jessica Reeves
c/o Serve Asia
PO Box 27
Amphur Muang
Chiang Mai 50000
Thailand

[Insert Creative Title Here]

I don't really have the energy to think of something creative for the title...so that is that.


Disclaimer: I'm going to try to be as transparent as possible, which means you're going to hear about my struggles. But I'll try to include the positive things that happen as well. This post is quite long too...


Today is day 3 in Thailand. It's incredibly overwhelming to be here and not necessarily in a good way. Don't get me wrong I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here, but I'm finding that this is so much harder than I thought it would be. Day to day life is much more difficult because everything is different...the culture, the language.


I'm finding that I am lonely a lot of the time. By a lot I mean like 80% of the time. That is not an exaggeration. I have my mentor (Jamie) here but I can only spend so much time with her, after all she has a family and she is also a student. Yesterday when I finally met Jamie (face to face, we had communicated through email) almost the first thing she told me was that I would struggle with loneliness. she has mentored 6 girls before me--they all struggled with it --and she said she still struggles with it herself, even after being here for 3.5 years.


There are lots of other missionaries here, but most of them are Swiss. I have nothing against the Swiss, in fact I'm part Swiss - my mother's family can be traced directly back to Switzerland. However, they are Swiss, hence another language and culture that I have to navigate. They all know some english, but its choppy and its pretty tiring to have a conversation with them. It's just a lot of work to listen. I'm finding that I have to put twice as much work at least into a conversation with them. And did I mention that most of them are at least twice my age...add that to the list of barriers between us.


Today I started Thai lessons. For those of you who don't know Thai is a tonal language. There is no comparison between western and eastern languages. There is truly no way to describe how challenging the language is.


There are some bright spots:

• Jamie's husband, Tim, is from Vandalia, IL -- for those of you who don't know that's about 10 minutes away from my hometown!
• I made one of my first friends at Thai class. Her name is Cara and she's been here for about 3 months. She is on a 2 year internship for her masters degree. I'm hoping that we will have time to hang out together in the coming weeks. She gave me some good tips - drink lots of water, get LOTS of sleep, don't be too hard on yourself. It was so good to have someone to identify with who understands the loneliness and knows what it is like to miss home. And she's American!
• Jamie is awesome! I don't know her that well at all, but she is open and honest with me and is a reminder to me that God really is faithful and that my time in Thailand can be an incredible experience.
• I don't really know how to explain the place where I live. I guess its like a dorm. I have my own bathroom (which I love!). One half of the dorm is for people like me, the other half is missionary kids. I think that most of the kids are American, at least they all speak good english. The dorm parents are also American. Last night I ate dinner with them and I really look forward to getting to know them more.
• The Thai people are super friendly and polite. And the Thai teacher that I have is hilarious. She described herself as hyperactive. She could not be more right! She jumps around the room all the time.
• While the Thai language is tonal, making it rather complicated...there are parts of the Thai language that are much less complicated than English.
  
• I have internet access all the time and I love hearing from home! So...please leave me comments or email me. Better yet send me real mail. I love mail! (hint, hint)
  

Right now I am trying to take things a day at a time, which is easier said than done. Today was not great, probably not even good. BUT today was better than yesterday and yesterday was better than the day before.


You have no idea how thankful I am for your prayers. Please pray for about the whole loneliness issue - that my loneliness won't become debilitating and also that God will do some of his greatest work during my quiet and alone times. I would also really appreciate it if you would pray for my mind to be sharp - for learning Thai and just in general.


Much love to all of you.

I...Have...Arrived

I just want to let everyone know that I have at long last made it to Chiang Mai. Actually, I've been here for about 6.5 hours now and have had a chance to get all moved in and stuff. I'm not going to lie, I am really stinking tired. It is already 8 pm on monday here (13 hours ahead of IL) and I'm forcing myself to stay up just a little bit longer.