Living the Life

...and I just seem to keep landing in places of continual chaos. For those of you who have been to Bangkok, today all around Siam Center (which is the same location as the lovely Chulalongkorn University) there have been thousands of protestors telling the Thai Prime Minister to resign. The protests have been going steady for a while now, but this is the alleged 48 hour ultimatum

Yesterday's guest lecturer talking about conducting research in rural areas of Cambodia which still possibly contain landmines:

"So, what we do is we put a pig on a leash and let the pig walk in front of us through the area. That way, if there is a mine it makes a pig roast."

See, and some people don't think I am getting a quality education here in Thailand.

"...I was in prison and you came to visit me...whatever you did for the least of these you did for me." -JC

Yesterday I had class all day, so I sent the CO guys to visit some foreign inmates at a local prison. Life sentenced drug smugglers. They told me afterwards that one young Australian guy they visited has had only five visitors in the last four years. The CO guys said that he was so excited to talk there was no silence during the twenty minute visit. I keep imagining the excitement that he must have had when the prison guard called him and told him someone outside of prison walls knew and cared of his existence.

The guys on a boat to Burma.

Jeremiah and his new Burmese pals.

Randomness from Burma/Myanmar. Oh and for the record I read in the 2005 Human Security Report yesterday Burma/Myanmar is the number one conflict-prone country.

My girl in BKK, Iram and yours truly. My face is darker than hospital wall white after that boat ride. Skin cancer in the making.

That's it for now.

1. Doing about 6.2% of my homework.
2. Sleeping on a bus more than 50% of nights this week.
3. Getting an Andy Roddick serve down. (ahh, if only this were true! but, have
been playing a fair share the past few weeks).
4. Exposing my Colorado friends to my "Polly" ways through Bangkok and South
Thailand. Sorry, guys- I'm am by nature a spaz.
5. Visiting a monk named, Sie. Yeah, we went there and because I say "Sie" instead of "Tsie" the monk master said, "Oh that guy de-robed and went back to Laos to find a job." 10 minutes of saying, "No, I know Sie is here" and then finally mentioning our mutual friend, Somchit, the man and the other monks had an epiphany... "Ohhhhh.... you mean Tsie! Yeah, that monk is upstairs sleeping." Woah. Such a difference the tone makes.

Gosh, I am so behind in school its ridiculous.

So, if you really know me then you probably know that during college I hung out with more high school kids than I did Baylor people. Not just any high school kids, but the coolest kids ever who lived some of the hardest lives ever. Practically raising themselves between some of the hardest times imaginable, growing up in inner-city Waco is a lot rougher than it sounds. Sometimes I like to think I was raised in the suburbs but I grew up on 10th and Colcord. Meaning... those kids taught me so much more about life than anything.

So fast forward to today and I got an email from one of the kids I haven't talked to in about exactly a year and it was the most amazing thing ever. He is a freshman in college (which in and of itself is amazing if only you can wrap your mind around the lives of these kids) and he has written and directed his first play about growing up through hard times inner-city style. And the name of this play is "We Ain't Tha Huxtables"-how cool is that? Seriously I am in tears just thinking about how amazing it is that this kid has beat the odds and hasn't become another statistic. I am so inspired.

And.... as if my Mission Waco memories couldn't be any better.... my girl Crystal Hampton, another Mission Waco kid grown up, is coming to THAILAND!!!!!!! There is probably nothing in the world that could make me more excited than to see one of these Mission Waco kids standing on the other side of the world seeing life. Most of the kids hardly leave Waco and I bet she's among a rare few who will ever step foot abroad. So, yeah. I am thrilled.

Oh, and I got to hear Ivory and Michael's eight month old kiddie, Trey cry on the phone. I cried right after he did. Haha.

That's it. I love you, friends.

A 24 year old American girl meets a 20 year old girl formerly addressing herself as a Palestinian, now calling herself a person 'from Jerusalem'. Back in the day when she used to call herself a Palestinian, she also used to 'have a heart for Mohammad' and be a zealous fundamental Muslim and a member of the Hamas. She says that once her friend converted to Christianity she 'felt like killing [her] friend'. The same girl who cursed her friend then becomes a Christian herself. Now, let's take the whole two girls meeting scene and throw it in the middle of the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand.

Random much? Welcome to my life.

That's why I feel okay about posting pics so late. I just stole these from my classmate, Martin, the guy from Kah-nay-dia (you know, the 51st state- just kidding :) ). They are from our trip last month. Shh... don't tell him I posted them on my blog.... he might want royalties :)

These are boats crossing the Mekong River from Thailand to Laos.

I really like things that look like a monster of concrete.

Isn't this country beautiful?

Rob, the Brit, told us that these things- between a hill and a mountain- are known as a corbit (i don't know how to spell that) in "real English".

I love the satellite dish in the middle of nowhere.
I love Laos. Somchit, I am moving to your country and riding bikes with these kids all day everyday.

What a struggle it is to throw up our fists in the fight against the Beast of Evil that is not Society but is Me.

Make a shout against Immorality, Indecency, Injustice, Corruption of Governance, Masses, and The World as a Whole. Good.

But not good enough.

Even those who do not know Christ and His Love can do the same. One unable to point out the obvious and undisturbed when toe-to-toe with the blatant must be but a fool.

The discontent of the Christian must not rest only in the external. Yes, there must be unrelenting determination to foil the disparity caused by one man against another. Compassion must drive so greatly that to stand still is unthinkable. Justice must be so compelling that to afflict change is the only option. Love must be so undeniable that it becomes the axis of revolt against oppression. Yet, first the internal must undergo much scrutiny.

The self none other than mine must be of the greatest bother. The adversary that lurks in shadows but lives in the heart secretly seeking first me, mine, and I must be the beginning and the end of revolt.

What a challenge to enter the most daunting of confrontations- between me and my self.