Two suggestions for living in community: never sweat the small things, and always rejoice in the smallest gestures.  Living in community can feel like living in one of those old McDonald’s kiddy ball pits.  You’re bound to get smacked by a few errant balls; there are sticky smelly things everywhere- diapers, a forgotten pacifier… Amber’s diva cup… all submerged in a sea of color.  Yet, in spite of the occasional sting and stench, there is a joy that cannot be contested. ...

I’m a people watcher, I love to see people’s reactions to things, study the way they carry themselves, how they look at/ act around certain people, basically get to know them by their actions. I have seen so many things and different people in Thailand. Just walking around the mall and sitting in Starbucks I have seen couples, married or not, angry people, people laughing, crying, presh lil’ tinnies, men in speedos (yuck!) Girls who are self-conscious and girls who look like they have all the confidence in the world, men checking out women, people in really nice clothes,...

I've met more people here that don't like Dumb+Dumber than I have in my whole life…seriously, it's a phenomenon. I'll make a reference+I either get nothing, or someone slams the movie- I'm shocked…and have taken this to heart as further proof that me+Asia are like cats+dogs,World Racers+hygiene,Whitney Houston(RIP)+Bobby Brown, Crocodile Hunter+sting rays(honorable mention because someone got stung by a sting ray here last week, couldn't resist while on the RIP role) Aspects where I'm feeling Asian persuasion: Thai tea stand I visit daily(50...

For so long, my whole life actually, I have dreamt of being married. Starting as a young girl just wanting to marry my daddy, then getting into junior high and wanting to marry the first boy that told me i had pretty eyes, and recently just wanting a husband to share my life with. I have invisioned the ceromony in my mind. I searched through countless wedding magazines to find the perfect dress. I found the ring I want. I even keep a journal to my future husband and have written vows that include me washing his feet with my hair at our wedding! Over and over in my mind I have walked down...

  Another Valentine's Day on another continent, I'm OK with it- something about celebrating holiday's outside of the US of A= special. At home I probably wouldn't have cared too much that it was V-day. I wouldn't go out of my way to say "Happy Valentine's Day" to every passerby (asians+all) or be offended if people ignored it altogether… but being away gives me some sense of patriotism(cue I'm Proud to be an American song)+ I go to extreme lengths to celebrate the crap outta the day of love… ...

So there are currently seven Thai women working at the SHE center. A number of them have children, and the ones that are three and under are taken care of at the center during the week day. The older ones attend school just down the road. Of course, they are the cause of many smiles among all of us here. I think it's awesome that the women working here can have their children so close, and of course that we can enjoy having munchkins around. One more tragedy that many of the women still working in Patong have to deal with is that their children are often hundreds or thousands of...