I Put the Asian..............................in Caucasian

2006-11-25T23:34:00.000-04:00

We went to my Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. If it could be summed up in one word, that would be scrumptious!! But, as usual, my professors have no concept of the word "break" and I had a whole truck load of work due this week, was supposed to have been done last week, and other due dates farther back than I wish to mention. :) I was not so successful in catching up ( who ever is? ) But, I did read a truly inspiring book (yes an ENTIRE book). I read Elie Wiesel's Night, a reflection and retelling of his horrific childhood experience in the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. In 1986, he received the Nobel Peace Prize, and I was so moved by a portion of his speech that I thought I would share it with you (whoever might possibly still be checking this page :P)

"And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormenter, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place MUST- at that moment- become the CENTER of the universe."

I pray that we will never forget that. This is the gospel of Jesus lived out in the world today. Let's be HIS hands and HIS feet!!!

2006-08-26T19:22:00.000-03:00

2006-07-20T11:59:00.000-03:00

I am going to update SOON.......I promise!!! Just wait, there is some good stuff to come, but it is not here yet, but it is coming!

2006-06-21T10:47:00.000-03:00

Here is a story from this past Saturday when we went out to Roi Et (another province 1 hour away by bus from here) with some of our Thai friends:

We went to a temple in downtown Roi Et that was famous for having a 50.2 meter golden statue of Buddha (does anyone know how many feet that is ?). Beside the wat (a Buddhist temple) there was a dormitory for all of the monks that live and work at the temple. We see monks a lot here, and I have been wanting to get a good picture of one of them, but I have not known if that is appropriate or not, so I had not gotten a good one yet. So when I saw all of the monks standing out on there balconies of the dormitory I knew that I had to get a good picture of one. There were a lot of saffron robes hanging up to dry on their balconies, which made a pretty cool picture, but what was even sweeter was that I saw a monk leaning over the ledge and looking straight at me. I decided to go in for the shot, and he smiled. Yes! The he shot up his hand and made a peace sign...Even better! He started waving his hands and Brandon and I figured out that he wanted us to climb some of the statue. When we got to where the Buddah's feet were, I told Brandon to go back down and take a picture of me from the ground next to the statue. When I turned around, there was the monk standing right behind me! It was like a movie, I was so shocked. I did not know what to do, so I simply said "Sawatee-kah!" and walked back down the stairs. But, when I got down to the ground, I saw that the monk was still at the feet of the statue, and posing so that Brandon could take pictures of him! He walked down the stairs and met us around the side of the temple and we started talking, and somehow, between our very limited Thai, and his broken English, we were able to have about a 30 minute conversation! And to think that earlier that day I had said to Brandon jokingly "I want a monk friend!" and now we have one!

Temple with the 50.2 meter statue of Buddha

Rachael and I running through the pigeons at the park in Roi Et.

This is from a while back, but I had to include it anyways. Bugs are a common snack for the Isaan people. Here I am eating a queen red ant cooked with lemon grass and sold by some woman off the side of the road. It had a slightly nutty taste, with a little bit of a lemony aftertaste....a refreshing snack :P

We went to a park on the way to Khon Kaen and found out that it was a monkey park....They were everywhere! Can you pick out which ones are the monkeys?

This is me and the monk that Brandon and I met in Roi Et. His Thai nickname is Gaset.

We were finally able to start English classes at the univeristy this past Tuesday. So far classes have been great. I will have to update you with more on that later. :)

2006-06-16T06:22:00.000-03:00

I find myself adapting to life here inThailand more and more each day. I am starting to fall in love with all that is Thai, the people, the culture, the food..........mmmm the food! Here are some of the things that i love about Thailand so far.

1) the people, Thailand has definetely lived up to it's nickname as "The land of Smiles," they are contagious!! :)

2) we ride around the city in song-taos, which are pick-up trucks that have benches in the back and we can usually squeeze in 30 or so people (with a few hanging off the back)

3) the food............enough said (except for the bugs)

4) Thai people greet each other by placing their hands together under their nose and then they bow and say "Sawatee-kah," which means "Hello"

5) they take off their shoes whenever they enter a building or house....it really makes sense

6) the Thai language has five different tones, so it is kind of sing-songy, but one spelling can also mean five different words depending on what tone you use.

7) Thai teenagers and college students love to Karaoke, and I must say, I am quite the diva :)

MORE TO COME!!!!!

We had a little bit of a rocky start getting everything going here. Our Englsih groups were delayed because school was 10 days late in starting. But finally we will start our English groups on campus this Monday. Yesterday and today, we have been on campus signing up students, and we already have around 70 students sign up in just the two days, which is really exciting! Monday thru Thursday we will be on campus teaching classes, and then on Friday we will just be around campus hanging out and getting to know the students. Every Friday night we will be hosting some kind of themed party, like a movie night, where the students can come over to our apartment and hang out. Please pray that we will be able to build some good relationships, and that Gods light will shine through us. We have already built some strong friendships with students that Scott and Valerie already know, but please pray that we will be able to meet more students as well.

Brandon (my teammate from Tennessee) and I are posting more pictures on the TBC website. Go to http://www.lightmessengers.org/gallery and click on Brandon and Sarah in Thailand to see more.

2006-06-16T05:27:00.000-03:00

A buddhist shrine in downtown Mahasarakam. When we pass by it on the song-tao, most people usually do a little bow with their head out of respect to Buddah.
We saw an elephant on the street!!! We bought some cucumbers and fed it :)
This man decided this abandoned song-tao would be a good place to take a nap.

These are some of the boys that go to the village elementary school, where we teach a 4th, 5th, and 6th grade english class on Monday afternoons. They also came to our English camp last week. Brandon and I taught the story of Joseph using felt board at English camp. Num (red shirt) translated. Num is a Christian university student that has been working with the Paynes for a while now.

2006-06-07T01:30:00.000-03:00

So we have been here in Mahasarakam for almost a week now. Most of the time we have been just exploring the city (eating lots of ice cream:) ) and getting to know some of the students that go to MSU. When school starts on the 15th, we will spend most of our days on campus leading English classes and just hanging out with the students and developing relationships with them. On Monday of this week, we did have the chance to teach an English class at a small village elementary school, which was a really neat experience, and we are going back out to that village today and tommorrow to lead a mini English camp, which I am really excited about doing! I could try and tell you all about what has been going on here, or I could show you pictures, which I think are more clearer, so I think I will do that instead :)

Ajon (means teacher) Peay and her grandson. I met them one night while swimming. She invited us out to eat Vietnamese food with her and her grandson one night. Warning! Just because the chili pepppers are green, does NOT mean that they are not spicy ( cough cough Brandon)Most of the Isaan people are rice farmers. This is one near the village school that we went to on monday.
Me, Rachael, and Shannon while we were touring MSU
Scott(the missionary), Whit (a student at MSU), and Brandon (one of my temmates) getting a refreashing drink in a bag.
Shannon and I while teaching an English lesson on animals to Thai students in a village outside of Mahasarakam.

2006-06-07T00:47:00.000-03:00

This is the night market on the MSU campus. Every night they have all these vendors come out and sell all kinds of Thai food for like 20 baht a plate (about 50 cents) and it is really good food there! We have been there a couple of times now. It is also a good place to meet students and teachers at the university.AH! Bubble Tea! This stuff is SO good. There are all these little vendors along the streets that sell this stuff. You can get all kinds of different flavors, like ovaltine, strawberry, lichi, pineapple etc, but of course I got the coffee flavored one :) And so they blend together ice, the flavoring, and tea and pour it on top of these gummy like ball things (hence the "bubble" tea). The fun part though is when you drink it, the bubbles shoot up into your mouth.....ah, ya just have to try it. Salted fish, my favorite new food here!
A spirit house right outside of our apartments. The Buddhists place these outside of their homes and businesses so that the spirits will live inside of these instead of in their own homes and cause problems. So, they put food and drinks inside of them in order to make them more inviting for them.

Yes, I am starting to kearn how to use chopsticks!

2006-06-03T01:59:00.000-03:00

Sawatdee kah! (hello in Thai). These are some pictures from our trip thus far.

Thailand is a Buddhist country, and this is a photo taken from a temple in Bangkok. The Thai believe that the type of tree that Buddah sat under when he was supposedly enlightened, has a special spirit inside of it that if they can appease by making offerings to it.

This is cute little Elliot Payne(one of the missionaries' kids) and Shannon (one of my teammates). They were pretending that Elliot was a rocket ship. He is so adorable :)

While in Bangkok, we took a boat ride around the city, and I just thought that this was really pretty. Bangkok is kind of like Venice, except stinkier and asian, because it has all these canals that run though out the city that people can get around on by boat......but they do have streets too!

A Buddhist temple in Bangkok.

There was an amazing rainbow that completely encircled the sun, I have never seen anything like it.

2006-05-25T04:19:00.000-03:00

So I was doing some research on Thailand and the Isaan people that I will be working with, since I am leaving Monday (AH!), and this is an excerpt of what I found:

Most meals include sticky rice as the staple, along with vegetables and usually some type of protein. Many green plants are eaten, including many varieties unknown to Westerners. Hot chili peppers are incorporated into many dishes, as well as garlic, coriander, mint, and dill. Fermented fish (often raw) contributes protein but can also be a source of parasites. Other proteins include chicken, beef, pork, fish, frogs, field crabs, insects, iguanas, field rats, and other animals.

I think that this summer will be a good time to try out that whole vegetarian idea :)

2006-05-18T01:23:00.000-03:00

Me and my friend Whitney drove down to Brimingham last weekend and went to the Annual Crawfish Festival. Despite my love for the little gross red crustacions, we were really there to listen to some good music and admire the greek god-like Jason Mraz. It was good times full of good music listening, crowd-surfing, getting rained on and hiding under a blanket, and just goofiness. This is the AFTER picture. I would have actual pictures from thenight, but the security said that my oh so awesome D50 was too nice of a camera to let me take into the festival. Oh well!

Here are some random photos tht I have taken this week and had fun on Photo Shop with.

2006-05-14T23:25:00.000-03:00

Today is Mother's Day. This post is dedicated to the best mom that I have ever had :) Mom, thank you for supporting me in everything that I do, for loving me unconditionally, and for teaching me to be an independent and confident young woman. You are the best, here is to you Mom!!!!

2006-05-11T10:13:00.000-03:00

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...This is a test it is only a test. If you are out there in Sarah's Blog Checking Land (meaning YOU if you are reading this), would you please leave a comment. Due to recent events, the higher blog powers that be have recquired for an inventory of my reading audience. Thank you, and have a good day.

2006-05-10T10:37:00.000-03:00

Last night was my first night sleeping at home for the next 3 weeks before I leave for Thailand (you better keep checking this page because in a short time there are going to be some amazing stories and pics for your enjoyment). I went to a concert with two of my friends last night and it was "okay." I only paid $5 so it was no biggie, and then I finally made my way home around 12:30 and proceeded to read for a while anf finally passed out fromexhaustion an hour or so later. What is the point of this story you might ask? Well, I had a glorious night of restful sleep in my most comfortable bed until lo and behold I am awaken by my dog (who I am convinced is clinically insane) engages in a playful little game of letmescratchandbarkatsarah'sdooratseveninthemorning (for the slower or visually impaired ones that would be let-me-scratch-and-bark-at-sarah's-door-at-seven-in-the-morning). So now it is 8:42 and 33 seconds AM and here I am sucked full of two mugs of coffee watching the Today show and wishing I could just fall back asleep. Did I mention how much I love my dog?!?

2006-05-07T17:23:00.000-03:00

I have a lot on my mind right now, so I though that I would write most of it down. If you have an open ear, then I advise you to keep reading if not, this might be boring.
I finish my forth semester of college tomorrow when I turn in my third take home final (finally!...haha). End of the semesters are so strange, I am so ready to stop with the classes, but then I am not, because I enjoy them, and then there is the whole saying good bye to friends and the freedom of living on my own for 4 months. Everything is so hectic at the end, with papers to do and finals to try and pass, sleepless nights and WAY too much caffeine! And then suddenly you stumble into your last final, and there it is.......you are done. The thing that you have been waiting for and hanging on to happens, you are done and you have no earthly idea what to do with yourself.
But wait! Oh yeah, there is that whole room full of a semester's accumulation of stuff that you have to some how move from the third floor of your dorm to your car all the while realizing that you will never live in that room again, that year is over and you can not go back. Even more so, it suddenly hits you that you are 19 years old and about to be a junior in college and you wonder what has happened. You are having the time of your life, but it is nothing like you dreamt it would be like as a little girl.
So here I am on the peak of a new time in my life, a new adventure, scared, lost, and confused, but somehow excited about what is going to happen next. Life is weird sometimes.

2006-04-27T00:29:00.000-03:00

Just read and let these words soak in, I pray that this is your testimony.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
Your perfect love is casting out fear.
And even when I´m caught in the middle of the storms of this life,
I won´t turn back, I know You are near.
And I will fear no evil,For my God is with me.
And if my God is with me,
Whom then shall I fear?Whom then shall I fear?

O no, You never let go,Through the calm and through the storm
O no, You never let go,In every high and every low
O no, You never let go -Lord You never let go of me.

And I can see a light is coming for the heart that holds on -
A glorious light beyond all compare.
And there will be an end to these troubles,But until that day comes,
We´ll live to know You here on the earth.
(And I will fear no evil)

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on,
And there will be an end to these troubles, but until that day comes,
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You.

2006-04-27T00:02:00.000-03:00

My Great Aunt Helen, one of the most inspiring and amazing woman that I have ever known, passed away this afternoon. My first reaction was that I wished she was still here. I wish that we could go to Pizza Inn one more time, or to have her make us vanilla nut cookies and brownies for our 12 hour car ride back to Nashville. But I realize that she is much better off now. She has gone through a lot in the last year, and I know that she is much happier now. I can not help but be selfish and wish that I could still have her here. My mom said something really profound after we visited Helen over Spring Break. I told her how it was hard for me to watch my family getting older and sick, and she said "You know, when we used to come visit them, they used to always take care of us. Now it is time for us to take care of them." I feel like I'm growing up and I am not sure how much I like it.

2006-04-23T01:19:00.000-03:00

More photos!!!!!

2006-04-23T01:03:00.000-03:00

For the past month, I have been teaching photogrpahy classes up at Youth Encouragement Services (an inner city after school program that I worked at last year). I have four girls in the class, Keshawn, Jordan, Tyler, and Jatisha. The first week I asked them to bring one of their fave. items so that they could take photos of it. We ended up going to the pedesterian bridge and I just let them run wild. They amaze me by the way that they see the world around them. They find some of the most ordinary things hilarious and some of the most obscure things mundane. The camera is such a powerful tool because it allows the photographer to relate what they see in the world to other people. Here is some of their work that I have enhanced on photoshop.

2006-03-29T21:25:00.000-04:00

Two posts is one day!!! This has got to be a record, hey! tow posts in one month is a record for me :)
For the past 8 months, I feel like God has really been trying toteach me about his love. And recently he has been teaching me what it means for his love to be steadfast.
This is an excerpt from my journal while I was in Goldsboro, NC visiting my grandmother over the last few days of my Spring Break.
"Today I looked into the face of my mother and grandmother and I saw how beautiful they are, how gracefully they had aged, and how very much alike we really are, and for the first time I was not ashamed by it. Latoya, one of the sitters that helps Aunt Helen eat while she is in the nursing home, thought that I looked a lot like Ma-Ma, and I cherish that thought. I feel like I am beginning to find my place in this narrative of my life.
I want to be able to love, to outwardly express it. To show the steadfast love of God overflowing from my life and effecting the hearts and lives of other people. I am sick and tires of living a life of vain conceit. I want to be able to love myself and others wholeheartedly as God does."

2006-03-29T20:31:00.000-04:00

I have not posted in a LOOOOOONG time, and there is oh so much to update you all on. It is hard to even know where to begin, so I will start with some pictures from my last trip. Over Spring Break I went with a team of 8 people (5 girls 3 guys.... they were not out numbered at all :P) to hike 26 miles of the Appalachain Trail. We started in D-something, Georgia and hiked to Woody Gap (somewhere 26 miles away in The Middle of Nowhere, Georgia. We were the prayer team for Belmon't other mission trips to Scotland, Mississippi, and ATL. I can not fully express to you my experience, so if you are interested in knowing more, call me or just ask me and I can share more of my experience on the trail with you. Here are some of my pictures from the trip.......

2006-02-09T00:11:00.000-04:00

I went to a convo tonight about these people, the invisible children of Uganda. We watched a documentary about 4 California college student guys travelled to Africa in order to document a story. The story that they found was of the invisible children that are currently in hiding from rebel forces that would otherwise abduct them, brainwash them, and wire them to be killing machines. When the guys got bcak to America, they made this documentary that we saw and are travelling around the nation in order to bring awareness about the inhumane and forgotten children of Uganda. Check out the website and find out some more!! http://www.invisiblechildren.com

2006-02-01T18:10:00.000-04:00

Today was a freakin' BEE-a-U-tiful day! The sun was shining, the breeze was blowing, and yes, I got to wear flip flops!! I don't know what it is about flip flops that make me so happy, but they do. It is not just any jo-shmoe flip flop either that does it for me, but it is only my rainbows. Ah! alas my rainbows! :) How amazing is it that it is the first day of Feb and I get to wear my rainbows (and not freeze to death)! Some people say that our unusually warm weather is a result of global warming. And while that might be true, I do have to admit that I like the warmer weather better!
So, since it was so beautiful outside today, I decided to take a power walk (yes, a POWER walk, like the mall walkers do!) down Belmont Blvd and the Lipscomb area and listen to some David Crowder;s "Illuminate" CD. As I was walking and watching the people that were driving by me, or running laps around me (those crazy marathon trainers) I decided that I would make it my mission to smile at every single one that passed by. Not just any smile though, I am talking a big momma "hey it's sunny outside enjoy the weather, i'm trying to be nice to you" smile. It was interesting how many people that I passed by, or they passed me several times, brightned up and gave me a huge smile back. I mean, doesn't everyone need to smile every once and a while?

2006-01-26T17:27:00.000-04:00

I updated, so THERE!!!!! lol :)

2006-01-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

With school starting on Wednesday, there is not much going on right now to take pictures of and share with yall, unless you want to see a picture of me drinking coffee with friends, or riding the exercise bike, or playing yahtzee with my dad (by the way I am officially the yahtzee champ no matter what my dad might say). Those things are all good and all, but not too interesting. In between caffeine buzzes, stationary bike rides while watching CMT an singing at the top of my lungs, and slaughtering my dad at Yahtzee (yes....slaughtering!) I have found myself entranced with Photoshop. So, I thought I would share these pictures from my trip that I have photoshopped.

2006-01-07T13:23:00.000-04:00

Well, it is done, finished, finissimo (?!)! My hair has been cut, colored, highlighted, sculpted and recreated, and here is the final product! I have to say that I decided to stray away from the medusa or palm tree look (eventhough I think they are freakin' amazing and if I were Katie Couric and had some stylist doing my hair every morning I would make sure that it looked just like one of those, or if I ever took up a career in runway modeling........wait, no, that would never happen, i'm too short). Oh well, I guess I would have to title this my "big girl-half way normal-not too boring haircut. "

2006-01-05T23:08:00.000-04:00

Tommorrow is the big day...the day that I have been anticipating for......well 2 weeks or so. Nevertheless, it is a most exciting day. What could be so exciting you might ask? Well, it is time for my anual hair cut, color, and highlightation (?) :) At least once a year I become bored with my current hair style and color and decide to do some drastic change to it. Last year I cut it really short, I mean REALLY short, spiked it, and dyed it red. That was cool and all, but now it is time for another change. I started the research (this is a SERIOUS procedure here) about a week ago, but I just can't choose which hairstyle I want to go with. So, I thought I would get your feedback. Out of these three styles, which is your fave? Comment and let me know!

2006-01-02T01:20:00.000-04:00

so, i was looking through my pictures from spain, organizing them, editing them, basically wasting time becaue i have nothing better to do. and..... well, i decided that i should do this post just to prove eva wrong in the fact that she said that i would never post if i were to create a blog. so eva, this blog is for you. and then i was thinking, what should this post be about? BAM! it hit me! of course! i should spotlight the most unflattering head shots of me and eva. so, i hope you enjoy, or at least get a laugh out of it!

OOOOO.....that's nice

we're doing the eva smile

sisterly love, isn't it beautiful

i don't know anything about this one, you gotta ask eva what her problem is
yeah.......you know you are scared!

2005-12-19T07:28:00.000-04:00

Drinkin' LOTS of Christmas Blends from Starbucks, OF COURSE!! We are both addicted, so at leats we have company in our addiction.

This is us being scary in front of the Sagrada Familia. Why?!? Because we can, that's why :)

OOOOOO

BEE-ah-U-tiful Montsurrat

I have been in Spain since December 14th and I will be here till Dec 28th to spend Christmas with my sister Eva. She has been living here since February and this was the first time I have seen her since she came back for a short time in May. YEAH! So, these are some pictures of what the two of us have been up to :)

2005-12-18T11:02:00.000-04:00

So, finally.........after many years of refusing, I am now part of the bloggin' community. This is my first of many posts (BLAH Eva!) full of my ramblings, stupid wonderings, and hopefully pictures and stories from my worldwide wanderings. So, YEAH, I hope you find it interesting, or at least entertaining :)