Welcome to Africa - Our 36 Hour Day

Fitting one year's gear into SUV - no problem

Our journey from Thailand to Africa began with a one and half hour drive from Lampang to Chiang Mai with the Kramers.  Once in Chiang Mai, they selected delicious cafe for lunch and then headed to the airport. We decided to arrive on the early side because this trip included 3 legs and we were hoping to be able to check our bags all the way through (which doesn't always happen for a variety of reasons).  This trek will be the longest journey of our year. 

The Kramers parked out the vehicles and joined us at the ticket counter.  Here we learned that to park a vehicle at the airport means that you leave your car in neutral in a lot with many other cars.  While you are in the airport others might need the car behind you so will push your vehicle up, over, or whatever is necessary to get their car out.  It's like a real life version of the kid's game "Traffic Jam."  So when you return to your car to leave, you need to find it in the sea of vehicles and then begin pushing other vehicles to make a path for your vehicle to exit!

Immediately at check-in the problems began as we are told our first flight was delayed. With an impressive level of efficiency they rebooked our second flight (which was on a different airline) because the delay would cause us to miss our connection. OK, well all seemed fairly straight forward.  We got our bags checked all the way through, all 18 boarding passes, and off we went. The Kramers were sweet enough to see us off and walk us all the way to security, where we took a few last pics, and say some sweet goodbyes. Of course some locals wanted pictures with SJ (no need to bother with the rest of us but mom snuck in on the action).

Mom joined in on one of SJs many photo shoots

As we waited for our plane, a second delay was announced.  I had unfortunately asked at the counter when we dropped the bags what would happen if the plane was delayed further.  I noted that in America, one delay usually meant two or three.  I was thinking the tower somehow heard me and was laughing as they announced our second delay, followed by the slowest tarmac exit EVER!  So at this stage we now knew our next connection was tight.

Upon landing, we saw a guy with a Doha (our 2nd destination) sign on the tarmac and he quickly escorted us to a bus, which we have all to ourselves. This amazing gentleman then explained we should be able to make the flight but our bags likely won't. We had to decide immediately to stay or go. It's the last plane of the day. We opted to make the flight and deal with our sole possessions for a year later. He then sprinted through the airport with us, fast tracked us through security, where another airline woman joined our race. We got to our gate and were the last ones to board our huge Airbus A380 where we are row 77. This flight was 7.5 hours of bliss on Qatar Airways to Doha, Qatar.

Private escort due to delay

Private bus just for us (1AM here and they should be tired)

Upon arriving at Doha, we felt like we had landed in a mall. There were luxury shops, luxury cars (even the new Audi R8 and a Ferrari) all set up in a very clean and large airport. Our layover was now quite short because of our delays so we ventured straight to our gate, waited in line and handed over our boarding passes, enjoying a relatively stress free connection compared to the last. Then they ask for the kids birth certificates - WHAT?  We don't have those! No country requires that!  Apparently a few months ago South Africa changed the rules and all children are required to have birth certificates with raised seals in addition to passports. This was news to us. The woman opened the little cloth gate and directed us to "please step aside".  Dad explained that we have them digitally (thank you Dropbox and soccer tournaments!) and we proceeded to hop from wifi to wifi trying to find one that works (no SIM cards in Qatar) - even the boys are on their iPads at this point trying to help.  It's easy enough to locate the boys' but SJ never had any soccer tournaments requiring electronic birth certificates. We did still have our old adoption folder and proceeded to show them the translated one from her DRC certificate. The supervisor accepted it and told us that they may not accept our certificates in South Africa. He told the woman to allow us to board and she gave us the "I cant believe you are going" look and we quickly headed to plane before she found some other reason to not let us go.

On the plane, Dad paid for wifi ($5 for 12MB) and shot off some notes to Ray to get a picture of SJ's official MN birth certificate, figuring that would be easier to try to sell immigration in South Africa.  Once again, THANK YOU Ray! who promptly dug into our firebox of documents to send a copy. This leg was 8.5 hours so we had a lot of time to consider our options - which were none by the way. The internet seemed to indicate that if SA rejects you, you are required to fly home or back to where you came from on your dime. Not good.  Not to mention the fears that run rampant due to the fact that we have a different colored child heading to a country which changed laws due to child abductions. The working plan was to find the Delta lounge and hopefully print off our digital copies.  The issue here was that the rule changed just before we left home but when we left home, we were not sure we were going to Africa. It was something that we were prayerfully considering. God opened some doors and we felt pulled to go and checked the visa requirements on www.visahunter.com, which we have used often to figure out what is required in each new country when landing.  Upon further searching, it appears this is the only site on the web that doesn't mention the need for birth certificates - ugh.

This was about hour 24- oh to be limber :)

Once on the ground in Johannesburg (after about 22 hours of travel) we were greeted with a long que to clear immigration and there was no gate section to find the lounge in - stuck we are. We finally got our turn and our guy sort of laughs at us, calling over a supervisor.  We kindly explain, as best we can, that we did not know about the new birth certificate rule and we only have these digital copies. "It was all over social media" he explained. Maybe dad should get a Facebook account after all!  Eventually we charmed and prayed our way to get him to look and he approved our entry!  We were in... welcome to South Africa. Now we needed to see our bags pulled off as a miracle, get some cash, SIM cards and our rental car because we had a 4 hour drive to Swaziland in front of us. As expected they had no idea where our bags were at this point and we tried to determine if we were better off waiting or just heading to Swazi.  The bag guy explained there was no chance for today and they could be flown to Swazi where we could pick them up at the airport there.  We figure dthis was as good a plan as any.  We were pleasantly surprised that the children handled this extremely well. All the stuff they have for a year was lost and no one really complained or threw a tantrum - that's progress!

Cash proved challenging again because Visa put another block on our card. No SIMs and no wifi worked, so we couldn't call the bank to unblock the card. We couldn't help but laugh at this point. Eventually we found a SIM card store that accepted credit cards and got our SIMs, called the bank via Skype, unblocked our card and got some cash.  Now for the rental car. Guess what?  It's not there.  They offered us a larger car, which we were fine with but would have to wait about half an hour for it get there. That became an hour,  but the rental place did allow us to print the birth certificates on their printers so we had them for our exit. Had we not been delayed yet again here, we would have left without doing this, thus complicating our exit. Eventually we hit the road in our 8 passenger van with about 30 hours now logged on our day. Ironic that this is the largest car we have had had our trip but no luggage to load into it!

The drive went smooth enough and as we drove across South Africa, the landscape began to change from rolling agriculture to beautiful mountain and rocky landscape (Swazi we would learn is called the Switzerland of Africa). The only ordeal was getting pulled over on the SA side at a routine check point of sorts that the police set up.  Feeling a little apprehensive, we stop and rolled down our window.  The officer seemed kind enough but asked to see our "triangle", but with the heavy accent we struggled to understand the word.  Eventually we grasped the word, but now have no idea what he wanted.  Dad turned on the hazard lights and asks "those"?  "No your triangle the officer asked with increasing annoyance. We were baffeled.  So Dad got out of the car and walked to the back and started looking.  We had a stick like thing in a case that unfolded to make a reflective triangle should we have to pull over with car trouble (we later would see lots of these as African cars seem to break down frequently).  The officer was satisfied and off we went.  We grabed some food, successfully got our exit visas stamped with no looks of disdain or someone pulling us aside because of our our newly printed birth certificates. By the time we rolled into our lodging, greeted by the Prince family, it's been 36 hours and 22 minutes since we left Lampang. 

Good Bye SE Asia

A few last thoughts as we wrap up our Asia posts.  Our time here has been much more favorable than we expected.  While we understand that it is the custom in most of the countries we visited, to be kind to one’s face and not show one’s true emotions, we do feel that overall the people have been genuinely enjoyable, kind, and helpful. 

One of our major concerns was how SJ would be treated while in Asia, as she has tended to be a source of fascination to some of the cultures we have been in and that has been a struggle for her and us.  Thankfully, most people here respected her space and were very sweet towards her.

We’ve learned much about their customs and religious beliefs.  SJ loved pointing our the many Buddhist monks that we observed most days.  However we found it interesting as we learned more, that there doesn’t always have to be training to be a monk, one can just decide to wear the robe and avoid certain behaviors and add some new ones for a certain time period, and then return to their previous behaviors when he decides his time of being a monk is over.  One can be married and decide to be a monk.  It seems to be a very loose understanding of what a monk really is these days.  There are also females who devote themselves to Buddhism and they shave their heads and wear white robes.  We did not see many of these women in our day to day activities.

Many people in the countries we visited consider it to be extremely beautiful to have whiter skin.  The main healthcare market markets their products as “whitening,” this includes everything from body wash to deodorant!  While there might be 20 types of whitening body lotion offered at a store, there will only be one or two non-whitening lotions sold.  The women spend a lot of time and effort to maintain pore-less skin that is lighter in shade and mom was amazed at all of the beauty products and technology some of the places had.  The women truly are beautiful, but we were shocked at the price, effort, and thought that is behind some of it.  We were also told that some people opt for whitening injections into their skin.  We are not exactly sure what this involves and were told that it is usually singers and those in the entertainment business that go to this measure.  Overall, it was interesting to us to observe how different cultures view “beautiful” in their own unique way and the lengths that they will go to to achieve their ideal is they are able. Americans seek to be darker and Asians lighter- a true case of wanting what we can't have perhaps.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE EYEBROW!

We enjoyed the Asian foods that we ate, and other than most of us coming down with a stomach bug in Cambodia, we are grateful for our overall health during these last few months.  The only place we've stayed in Asia that had a decently clean kitchen that we felt was hygienic to cook in was in Koh Samui - and we enjoyed some home cooked meals and loved having access to a blender for smoothies!  All of our other places didn't have enough plates, utensils, or cooking devices, and all had a few too many cockroaches, so that it just seemed to make more sense to eat our meals out.  Thankfully it was affordable to do so (in Lampang, for example, it was not uncommon for us to pay less than $20 for the 9 of us to eat a full meal and have drinks).  Some of our favorite foods while in SE Asia include Pad Thai, Tom Yum Soup, Cashew Chicken, Lok Lac Beef, and Vietnamese Hot Pots.

We've been privileged to come alongside some amazing people as they do kingdom work, we've been stretched in our understanding of the mission field, we've learned much about the history and religions of these cultures first-hand, and we've enjoyed new foods that we will definitely be incorporating in our meals back in the States, and we had an unforgettable day with elephants.  We continue to be amazed at each new place we visit and they are all special to us for different reasons, all unique and yet interestingly, we've been pleasantly surprised that we could see ourselves living in any of them - so either we are all more alike than we thought or we are becoming more flexible and open to different lifestyles. 

Goodbye Asia, we will miss you!

Refreshing Lampang!

Our last week in Asia was scheduled to be spent with the Kramers, who are missionaries from our very own home church in MN. We were extremely excited about this time because they were some of the first people we really broached our travel idea with well before we had officially decided ourselves. They were on furlough the year before visiting our church campus back home when we approached them about coming to visit.  We were also excited because they had just relocated to Lampang, which gave us another city to visit but, more interestingly, would allow us to see the ground breaking work that missionaries do, which often is not appreciated. It is easy to see the fruits from 15 or 20 years of work, like we had experienced with other missionaries through visiting their schools, orphanages, and medical clinics, but Lampang is ground zero with the Kramers having just arrived a few months ago after having worked in Chiang Mai for several years.

We arrived on Saturday night which is the evening that their walking market takes place, so we wandered around that for awhile and enjoyed some delicious popcorn.

Popcorn treat - unusually yummy!

We were staying at a sweet little guest house that was on a waterway.  It was a beautiful set up and the kids had a room to themselves and so did mom and dad which was a treat!  As the week progressed and we drove to and from our accommodations, we would notice men carrying what looked to be rifles.  This seemed odd to us.  Then one afternoon when mom and dad were sitting on the deck they kept hearing a strange noise.  Wondering if it was an animal under the deck, they got up to look and were surprised to see a man in the water with a scuba suit on, goggles, and a harpoon.  He was hunting for fish in the water and had tied empty milk jugs to his feet so that when boats drove by they would see and avoid him.

View from guesthouse deck

Fisherman harpooning in water way behind our guesthouse

Sunday we started the morning with a group devotion and then the guys accomplished installing a couple of sinks in the Kramer’s home and the girls grocery shopped in preparation for the week ahead.  Meanwhile the boys challenged themselves to learn how to unicycle while in Lampang, as Paul had several bikes for them to practice on.  During the afternoon we met Lauren, who works with Robyn and Paul, and who we’d also be spending a lot of time with this week.  In the evening we did park ministry.  The boys played soccer with a group of older kids and young men, Paul played a bocce-like game with some men, the girls walked the track and then took SJ to the park where she made some new friends.  In the evening many of the local people come to the park to get exercise.  Being new to the community and wanting to make connections, Robyn and Paul come here often and have made some friends and are always looking for new opportunities.  It was fun to see that this evening Paul was invited to help with an English camp that one of the guys was running the following week, and that the ladies’ visit with SJ’s friend’s mom at the playground provided insight into some cultural thoughts as well as a new connection for Robyn.  In this way, even though our family dynamics are unique as to what we can do to serve, we are grateful God allowed us to see how He can use us in simple ways to advance His kingdom work.

Sweet retired teacher that we walked the track with.

Monday was the SuperBowl and Dad woke us up early and the Kramer’s graciously opened their home to us so we could watch the game.  The girls updated some picture frames and Robyn and SJ made some chocolate chip cookies – such a treat!  Our oldest made egg sandwiches for everyone for breakfast and the boys practiced their unicycling.  It was strange to have a breakfast SuperBowl party, but we made the best of it!  Afterwards we went to the local university and split up into guys and girls and each took a portion of the campus to walk around and pray.  Again, so simple, but necessary to be in touch with what God’s doing in this city and it was very encouraging to sense that there is going to be some great things happening here.  Lauren joined us for lunch and then we all went our ways to get some rest and school done before re-connecting that evening.

Working up to a unicycle performance!

Sugar & spice & all things nice - that's what girls are made of!

Monday nights are their large group gatherings or church time.  It is at Robyn and Paul’s home and in addition to Lauren we had a lady named Ching join us.  Our oldest led us in worship, playing his guitar and then Lauren told the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 in a simple way that kept us focused on the exact details given in the Bible, we then relayed the story in our own words while being faithful to Scripture, and the kids were all very engaged.  We had communion together and afterwards all gathered for a meal and played some games.  It was a sweet time of fellowship.

Worship time

Thanks to our friends the Pahls - the Kramer's like to play Dutch too!

Learning Monopoly Deal - the boys' new obsession

Tuesday morning we had small groups and the guys went to a coffee shop while the girls and Lauren met at another coffee shop.  We read the Bible, encouraged one another, prayed for one another and shared what God’s doing and teaching us in our lives.  It was a breath of fresh air, especially for mom who has missed this type of fellowship with her girlfriends back home.  Afterwards we went for lunch before separating for a couple of hours in the afternoon for rest and school.  That afternoon we all did our own thing as Robyn and Paul had language lessons and the kids needed to get some school work done.  That evening they blessed us with a date night while they took all 4 of the kids to do park ministry and have pizza.  A great time was had by all and everyone in our family enjoyed the change in dynamics. 

Kids pizza night with Aunt Robyn & Uncle Paul

Wednesday we met up with Lauren who took us to the Indra Ceramic factory.  Lampang is known to be the home of the famous rooster bowl.  We went and toured the museum of the history of this bowl and then saw people creating these ceramics.  We went for a lunch of Khao Soi soup and then returned to our guesthouse for rest and school.  We all met back up with Lauren and Ching at the Kramer’s house that night to celebrate Robyn’s birthday and the Visas that Robyn and Paul had obtained that morning.  We enjoyed more good food, birthday cake and games.

The famous Lampang rooster bowl!

Aunt Robyn's birthday celebration!

Thursday the guys and Samara fixed the Kramer’s roof, went to the park, and ran some errands while Mom had the treat of getting to celebrate Robyn and making her birthday special.  The ladies had massages and pedicures, went for lunch, and did some shopping enjoying a leisurely day of fun and inspiring conversation.  This last evening in Lampang, we ordered pizza for the kids and set them up with a movie at Paul and Robyn’s house and us adults went out to dinner – such a treat!  We came home and SJ got to give Robyn a Kinder Joy candy bar for a birthday dessert (these are yummy bars that mom and our oldest discovered in Ethiopia last year on a mission trip, but we’ve since discovered they are available around the world and even come in a delicious ‘egg’ form – these are a special treat for us as we travel).

DATE NIGHT!!

Our time in Lampang was health-giving on many levels.  It was a simpler, quieter, and slower pace and yet God was very evidently present and our time here was refreshing.  Observing Robyn and Paul, we learned so much about setting up good routines and seeking God’s will along with waiting patiently for His timing to play out, all of this building a strong foundation.  It was educational for us to observe all that goes into establishing a presence in a new community as it broadened our understanding of mission work since the places we have served up until this point have been with well-established programs.  It was also insightful for us as a family who foresees a transition back to American living this coming summer, to begin contemplating what we can do to simplify and begin being intentional about all that we’ve experienced and learned together and how that will make our life in the US different.  Meanwhile, the boys are leaving Lampang with unicycling skills, a love for Monopoly Deal, and some new card tricks!  While we hope that our time in Lampang was beneficial for Robyn, Paul and Lauren, we are humbled and grateful for the way they included us into their daily life, included us in their fellowship, and spoke life to us.  Robyn and Paul encouraged us with unique insight from the perspective of being “newer” overseas missionaries who could relate to some of our struggles with being overseas for 6 months, and being marriage mentors, they blessed us with life-giving thoughts about staying healthy.  We are excited to see how God works in Lampang and continues to use these amazing people, and we are leaving Lampang refreshed, having made new friends that are like family to us.

Chiang Mai - Part 3: Temples & Poo

Our last full day in Chiang Mai, we met up with Noot, who graciously offered to show us around and gave us some background about Chiang Mai and Thailand culture.

We began our day at the Wat Phra Singh Temple, built in 1345.  A “wat” is a Buddhist temple.  In Chiang Mai there are over 300 wats and within the old walled city, which is roughly a square mile, there are 36 wats!

The walled city was constructed in 1296.  The king put 10,000 men on each of the four walls, gave them a shovel, and had them dig the moat, which is still used today.

At this time Chiang Mai was part of the Lanna kingdom, which consisted of the land south of China including modern day Laos and Myanmar (Burma).  The Lanna kingdom was its own country and not part of Thailand (known as Siam at the time), which was to its south. In 1892 the Lanna kingdom was colonized by Siam but was free to rule themselves.  Overtime the Lanna kingdom merged with Siam and in 1949 Siam officially became known as Thailand.  Thai New Year is celebrated in April because this celebrates the Lanna New Year and combining of the two kingdoms.  During Thai New Year the two Buddha images in the Wan Lai Kham temple are removed and paraded through the streets with the Thai people showing honor the statues by sprinkling water on them.

Kids in front of Walled City

Monk at the temple in front of were the important Buddha statues are housed.

While pure Buddhism did not involve idols or images, modern Buddhism in Thailand today includes much symbolism.  Today’s Buddhism in Thailand is a combination of the superstitious religions of Brahmanism (traditions, dates, and zodiac) and Hinduism.  In addition to Buddha images, which are illegal to use on merchandise, for decoration or tattoos, and cannot be exported out of the country, there are other sacred images.  The elephant is important in Thailand because it is believed to uphold the Buddhist religion.  The Narca, a mythical dragon-looking creature believed to be the ruler of the underworld (but not hell), symbolizes guarding and protecting.  The Sacred Fig tree, often called the “Bo” tree, has heart-shaped leaves and is thought to be the tree that Buddha sat under when he achieved enlightenment.  The lotus flower is a Buddhist symbol representing the stages of the soul as this flower begins below ground in the mud and rises through the water in order to ultimately bloom above the water because of its overall strength.

The chedi at Wat Phra Singh

Close up of the Phrathatluang chedi, a Narca lining the steps with elephants in the background.

Look closely, this is not just a Narca, but is actually 2 animals and the Barca is being spit out! It represents the desire to be free from the occupation of the time

Wan Lai Kham is the main attraction of the Wat Phra Singh complex as it houses two important statues of Buddha.  This building was built in 1345.  The pictures on the walls of this temple read as a story telling the life of Lord Buddha who is considered the perfecter of Buddhism, which existed before he was born.  Lord Buddha is Indian but he was born in Nepal in 624 BC.  He was a prince but was not satisfied with life and sought to have a deeper understanding of fulfillment.  When he was 29 years old he left his wife and child and wandered and fasted for six years searching for answers to being content, the purpose for suffering and the goal of life.  During this time of simplicity and searching he wore a robe/cloth that was used to bury the dead.  These cloths were often bloody and difficult to clean so they would be dyed with tree bark.  This is why the Buddhist monks we see today where saffron colored robes.  Roughly at the end of his six years of searching, he sat under a tree and many of the answers he’d been searching for came to his mind and he attained enlightenment which strives to be middle of the road in just about everything.  After one goes through nirvana they are free from the cycle of reincarnation.  Because Lord Buddha is now free from this cycle, it is predicted that another Buddha is coming, just as there were Buddhas before Lord Buddha. There have been about 40 in total, but a few are not universally accepted.

A significant amount of effort is given to earning merit in the Buddhism religion.  There are twelve different stupas in Thailand, one for each of the twelve years of Buddhism (cat, rat, dog, etc..).  The most significant merit one can make is to go on one’s birthday to the cheti that matches the animal of the person’s birth year and to make an offering.  

Another way to earn merit: 7 Bowls for each day of the week's offering (two for Wednesday) along with 8 Buddha
poses (each position shows a different attitude that has significance).

After learning about Buddhism and the temples, we headed outside of the city to the Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park.  The boys really wanted to visit this place to see all of the products that can be made out of poo.  It was interesting to learn about the process and to get to help stir the poo, add some to be beaten into pulp, and make sheets of paper with it.  The kids enjoyed making a craft afterwards with some of the paper and found the concept of this place entertaining.  As a business this is brilliant because elephant poo is everywhere, virtually free, and really has no other uses.

G stirring a patch of elephant poo!

The princess and the poo!  Poo needs to boil for 7-8 hours.

Elephant poo ground into pulp for making paper

Cuties with dyed poo-pulp balls!

Making large sheets of paper with the elephant poo pulp.

Screens of paper set out to dry

We then went to lunch where we devoured amazing food and salads from an organic garden grown alongside the restaurant – what a treat for us travelers who don’t often get to enjoy greens due to being health cautious!

We learned so much and enjoyed visiting with Noot and continuing to learn about her life and ministry.  We are grateful for this connection in Chiang Mai and for her willingness to give us an insiders perspective on life in Thailand.  Thanks Garborgs!