Thailand

So I loved Thailand. Well I was mostly just in Chiang Mai. So I guess technically I loved Chiang Mai. Not only do a lot of people speak English but there are tons of Western food places. Thai food is really delicious. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to try Thai food I recommend it. One warning though is that it can be spicy.

My reason for going was threefold. 1. I need to have my health evaluation every two years and the service in Thailand is more like a western medical setting but without the high cost. 2. My dear friends were having a baby and none of their family were able to come so I said I would come to help. 3. I needed a vacation.

The results were as follows: 1. I am just a little bit fat. (my bmi was 30 when it should have been 29) When I received that news all I could wonder was what my bmi would say after I have spent 3 months in America. Yikes!! My vision has not changed significantly so I do not need new glasses. But I did have three tiny cavities and so they were filled. 2. I was able to help my friends after their baby boy was born by doing dishes, laundry, and hold him while parents napped or ate. He was so very tiny. 3. I vacated with the best of them. I went on a night safari and rode an elephant!!! I shopped till my legs were tired. I also stayed up late and slept in late-I even ordered some room service. I read several books and ate delicious thai and western food every day.

Some interesting things about Thailand.
1. Every place of employment has an alter in it.
2. Every alter I saw had some sort of offering on it-from candles and incense to a can of coke.
3. The King owns all the elephants in Thailand.
4. Thailand orchids are grown in bottles before fully grown.
5. Thailand's King is the world's longest serving current head of state and the longest reigning monarch in Thai history. He is loved. It is a crime to insult him.
6. Chiang Mai doesn't have tall buildings and many of the homes have yards.
7. Thai people are very laid back.

So here are a modpodge arrangement of photos for you.

Me helping to give little Silas his second "real" bath. Needless to say he was not happy.

My first picture of Silas.
Me in the back of a Tuk Tuk.

another tuk tuk photo.

Lil' Guy slept right through his diaper change.

My first Thai meal. Some sort of noodle dish with chicken. Delicious!!

Attempt number 1 to have a picture with both of us in it.

Attempt number 2.

Since I couldn't get a good shot of both of us I could at least get a good one of him.


This is the reception area where I had my general physical.

This amazing looking cracker and cheese was just part of a huge cheese platter that was part of the holiday inn's breakfast. Weird but kinda AMAZING!!

The rest of the options at my breakfast.


The sock clothes line from a distance.

And up close.

This little guy lived in the bathroom

Temples or idol alters were on every block if they weren't on every corner and most shops had their very own inside.

We went to a orchid farm and here are some of my favorites.

The crowds at the beginning of the Saturday Night Bazaar

My favorite dish. Tom Kha Gai. A Chicken Mushroom soup with lemon grass and coconut milk

The next set of pictures are from the Night Safari.

This was hyenas but you cannot see them in the dark so I had to add my flash.

Pretty Exciting.

But the High point of my time in Thailand was the Elephant Camp. It was awesome. The trainers showed us all the different tricks the elephants can do such as play soccer, basketball, paint and work. We got to watch the trainers bathe them in the river and then I and my friend got to ride one. The other good thing was that we knew that these elephants were treated well because they were revered as gods as well as owned by the King himself.

2011 Yunnan State Fair

In August there was a big event held in Kunming and I know that many of you have been holding your breath to hear how it went. The Second Annual Wai Guo Ren Yunnan State Fair!! (translation of Wai Guo Ren: foreigner)

Since this was only the second annual I was nervous. Last year the event had been treated very seriously by all who had attended and I was hoping that this year it would be as important. But I was unsure because only one other person and myself had attended last year. All last year attendees were unable to make it this year. So the risk was that all the new attendees would not see how serious the event truly was.

However, to my great joy and encouragement Everyone were very excited and intense. The Judges were very impartial even though they had threatened to take bribes and every entry was top notch. I would not have wanted to be a Judge. Out potluck was amazing and this year we rode on more rides than we did last year. I almost lost my glasses!! So, because I know you are waiting to hear how well I did or didn't do lets begin.

The first entries

Faye made this Chocolate Creme Filled Yunnan Shaped Cake. She won first prize.

Kellie's second prize Chocolate Silk Pie.

The first four vegetable entries.

All the vegetables entered. In the category for Largest are: two zucchinis, one carrot, two tomatoes. Int the category for Most Beautiful are: cherry tomatoes, one eggplant

Faye's beautiful Tomato.

A very long zucchini.

My beautiful Eggplant. Won Second place to Kellie's gorgeous Cherry Tomatoes.

My large Carrot also won second place.

Faye also decorated this Cabbage into a self portrait. The judges had a hard time choosing between her's and Kellie's.

Kellie's decorated vegetable entry takes the shape of a mouse family. She also won first place in this category.

Kellie's Largest Tomato won first prize.

Morgan's beautiful art and craft entry. Artwork behind glass and on top of glass.

Kellie's first place art and craft entry.

My second place scarf, eggplant, and carrot.

The "Fair Grounds" were decorated in umbrellas and stars. We were sure that is was because they knew we were coming.

Hu Kou

Where did you grow up? Some of us were born and raised in the same house and if not in the same house then in the same city or town. Others were born in one place and traveled to and fro until they couldn’t really tell you where they grew up. In the first case your environment shaped you in a way that that house or town or school feels like your childhood. In the second case your environment shaped you in the way that you see your childhood in chunks of where was I and who did I know when such and such happened. Both of these ways of growing and learning and becoming who you are are important in their own special way.

I lived in like 5 towns before I was 8 but then stayed in one town until I went to college. So I would say I grew up in Lincoln-it is my home, and yet there is a bit of me that still cherishes the pioneer in my youth. I feel like I hold my immediate family closer to me because I only had them as constants from a very young age.

Recently I have learned some very interesting information about China and Chinese culture that has to do with moving. The one reason I hated moving as a child was because I would have to change schools. This luxury is not something children in China have to worry about.

户口: The cultural and governmental quality called the Hu Kou is very important in both social, family, and work life. Children are only allowed to go to school in the community where their hu kou is, or if their parents are wealthy enough to pay extra money to the school. Adults are free to move from city to city but cannot receive any kinds of benefits in a place that is not their hukou. Hu Kou is easily changed from city to city or village to city if you are able to afford to purchase an apartment. Renting an apartment doesn’t change your hu kou. Similar to a US passport it depends on your parent’s hu kou. Lets give Nebraska the cultural and governmental quality of a Hu Kou and show by example how this looks in China.

I am a woman who was born in South Dakota and lets pretend that both my parents were from the town I was born and therefore my family and in turn I have Brookings, SD hu kou. When my parents moved from SD to Lincoln, NE they would need to make several hard choices. 1. buy a house which changes their hu kou to Lincoln Nebraska. 2. keep their SD hu kou but forfeit any medical, life, or educational benefits for themselves and their children. 3. leave their children in SD with grandparents so that children have all of the above benefits and send the money from NE back to SD.

This scenario gets even more confusing if you are a minority people group because as a minority you are allowed more than just one child but only if your hu kou stays in the minority home land and doesn’t change to a large city hu kou.....so in this case you must choose standard of living vs two children vs one child lives with your parents and one lives with you (meaning each child has a different hu kou).


The basic meaning of all this is that if you need to move to the city to provide a better life for your family because the home farm doesn’t sustain all of you- you have to either leave your children in the village or doom them to a lack of education in the city.

The poor get progressively poorer and poorer. If they cannot afford to educate their children the children do not get education and therefore sink into more poverty.


Obviously this system provides challenges for individuals. Originally it’s purpose was to help the government organize and control the vast numbers of people who live within their country. But China is a country that is changing so quickly that the theory of policy and the realty of life no longer align. So, sacrificing your relationship with your children so that they can have an education or sacrificing their education for your relationship. What would you pick for yourself or for your children??

My language helper is going through this dilemma as I write this. Her and her husband have one beautiful little boy but they are pregnant again. They are both minorities but have lived in Kunming for seven years and own their own apartment. They are believers and will not have an abortion both because they think it is wrong as well as because they really want a second child. They are really happy but also very nervous and anxious about what will happen to them and to this new child. They must make a hard choice. Please be thinking for them during this time.

September Newsletter!

Ni Hao!

The fall is my favorite time of year at home. When the air is just beginning to change from blistering hot to needing a long sleeve tee shirt. The trees are changing from green to yellow to red to brown and there is that itchy feeling to go on a road trip. I know then that pumpkin pie and family gatherings are on the horizon. It truly is a wonderful time of year.

In Kunming the weather change is not as obvious as in Nebraska, Illinois, Wyoming, or South Dakota. Yet there is still a hint of anticipation. Anticipation for what though is the question I have this year. What do the people of Kunming anticipate? I know what I anticipate when I live at home and I know what I am anticipating this year. This September I anticipate meeting the newest Jasmer baby: hopefully a little niece!! This 15th of September I anticipate celebrating my two year anniversary of living and studying in China. It has been a long two years and yet it is amazing how the time has flown. This September I anticipate going to a new city in China to visit a clinic associated with an other non profit organization.

I will begin my research career this September. I am so excited!! I will be asking all my questions regarding how to do and start medical work in China. At this point I don’t know if I will get all the answers I want or if I will need to ask more questions later but I look forward to starting this quest. This beginning to answers to what is always a growing need to know more or know why comes at just the right time.

I told all of you faithful that I would go to school for two years and then start doing medical work here-hopefully with leprosy patients. At this point I do not have enough information to know if the leprosy work is still where I am needed. That is part of my plan until December. To ask the right questions to find the next step for me. Right now I can tell you that me in the trenches may be a little far off still-not two years off-but perhaps a little farther away than March of 2012. I have only 68 hours of formal class time, 78 hours of informal class time, 52 hours of tutoring, and 2 trips before I return to the United States for Home Assignment. When I return in March I will return to school, return to research, and (if I haven’t already) discover the next step for me.

Praise Father for the anticipation of new starts-new life, new roads, new seasons!! Ask Father to reveal His purposes to me as well as to allow the people of China to have something to anticipate.

Love you All. Denise