Reflections on service project in Thailand

Hi,
It's been a few weeks since we got back from our service project in
Thailand. I thought I should share some of my thoughts about how our
experience met with my initial expectations. I had never been to Asia
before, so this trip opened my eyes to a whole new world. I had also
never done a service project like this before, but this experience sparked
my interest in service work.
Thoughts about how our experience met with my expectations:

BETTER FOOD
- I had heard authentic Thai food was supposed to be good, but this
exceeded all expectations!
- Lots of wonderful new fruits that I had never even heard of before.
- Delicious authentic Thai pad, fried rice, egg noodles, cashew nut
chicken, spicy shrimp, garlic fish, fried chicken, sticky rice with
banana, grilled pork on a stick served with peanut sauce, fried banana
pancakes, snacks wrapped in banana leafs and much more.
- Shared all the food, ordered many different dishes and got to taste
some of everything.
- Rice or noodles with all meals, even breakfast!
- Smaller portions and little sugary food: may explain why there are few
overweight Thais

BEAUTIFUL TEMPLES EVERYWHREE
- Beautiful shining, gold temples everywhere, even in poor areas.
- Buddhism plays a huge part of Thai culture

WESTERN INFLUENCE
- American advertisements in Bangkok
- Poor hilltribe-girls wearing makeup
- 7-Eleven and McDonalds
- Expensive and fancy shopping-malls in Bangkok.

HUGE MARKETS
- Cheap and easy to bargain
- Weekend markets, night markets and everyday markets.
- Great authentic Thai food (lots of good snacks) sold by street vendors.

FUN VACATION
- Beautiful paradise beaches in Krabi with awesome snorkeling
- Fun elephant trekking in the jungle
- Watertubing in jungle river with beautiful scenery
- Amazing and cheap massages

BIG REHABILITATION CENTER AREA
- Huge island with hospital and housing for disabled by accident patients
and leprosy patients.

SERVICE WORK
- Mostly gardening work (weeding and planting).
- Two trips to give food and rice to leprosy patients by the Burma border.
- Translated brochures about the McKean center and leprosy.
- Met with many St Olaf alumns and discussed vocation.
- Group got along really well!
- Thai language difficult to learn, but became easier with practice and
interactions with Thais.

I could have written a lot more, but there is just too much to tell. The
trip could not have been better, and it exceeded all expectations. I am
definitely going back to Thailand!
Sawadee ka, Linn