Musikee Center

        A few days after being in Musikee, Camp Joy started for elementary and middle school kids. Our friend Tanin ran it and had his bible school friends also helped out with it. We had fun playing games with the kids and Johanna was asked to share one of the nights and Karis the next.
We went to Chiang Mai for a few days with Don and Kay Fox. Johanna and Karis got to ride elephants, hang out with tigers, bamboo raft down the river, attend a Thai boxing match, pay under $2 for a full Thai dinner, the Sunday walking street, and eat some Mexican food. During our time there, we contacted Ahna Boyum, a Minnesota friend of the Anderson family, who happened to go to the same college as Johanna. We visited Ahna's church and worshipped to Hillsong music in English and Thai. In the afternoon, we saw where she worked, a Christian after-school center for kids all over the city.
We have gotten  in a routine where we teach English a couple hours a night to the children at the center, but have most mornings and afternoons free while the kids are in school.  They have now started a High school here at Musikee center, and we've been asked to teach English there as well on some days.
We love spicy food here now--they call us Karen because we've gotten used to the food. One thing we haven't gotten used to is the "wild-life", especially when finding a scorpion in your room! The other day, Johanna put on her shirt, moments later finding herself very itchy. The discovery was a cocoon nest inside her shirt. We found an infestation of caterpillars, and their tiny hairs fall off and make you very itchy, breaking out in a rash. The cure was a salt bath and sleeping pill ( it was 10 am, so esh slept most of the day). Unfortunately, the next day, Sunday, we both broke out in hives from we don't know what and still have them. We are a sight for sore eyes!
In our free time, we hang out with Mebomb and she takes us on her motorbike, surprisingly we can all fit on there, with Karis in the middle and Johanna on the back. Our grocery trips are exciting and you can see how many bags you can hold on the bike and try not to let our flip-flops fall off!
The way they do birthday's here are so opposite from America. We were invited to a young girl's party in her village. They sing hymns, the pastor preaches about becoming like little children in the Kingdom, and people pray a blessing for the child. The celebration is ended with snacking on local fruit of liches and dragon fruit. They are not piled on with presents like America, in fact they don't give gifts.