day 3

Hello! Fun fact: this is my first blog post that I am typing in the dark. While that is normally a very common practice for me in my new york life in my new york bed (bedS mom, both places are my home ;-), I haven’t experienced much night time here bc of all th crazy traveling and time changes. So it feels good to be back in my normal routine of “night typing”…I was about to whip out my mumford and sons Pandora station to really get in the zone, but apparently they don’t work in this country, wtf! Attn.: Pandora, Netflix, hulu, etc… its time to start functioning in asia! Anyways, as promised, today was much lighter and super fun! After putting up my post, it was time for the group to meet down in the lobby to head to chabad for some breakfast and to start the day. The place was super chillin (well actually, not literally, it was actually quite the opposite, with the temp. at about 90 degrees) but anyways, we were in somewhat of a rush to start the day so the staff was pretty adamant we do the whole eat and run kind of thing. Only problem is, I was told to finish up before my food even got there! I ordered a very simple meal: tuna fish. (I know, shocking, me and fish, but after having chabad chicken for about 5 meals straight I needed a change) back on tangent: got my tuna and ran to the hotel conference room where we would be starting the first part of our day; meeting with a woman named Boom (pretty sweet name, I know. Can’t count how many times I sang boom boom pow today. For those of you thinking, wow deena that’s so annoying of you, boom actually thought it was refreshing bc all people sing to her is boom boom boom lemme hear you say ayooo) aside from having a really cool name, boom also lives a very cool and inspiring life. She is the founder of one of the NGO’s (non governmental organization. Ie: non profit) that justifi works with. It is a human trafficking task force called “The Hug Project Thailand” (check it out on fbook if youre interested) which aims to prevent and protect street children from violence, exploitation and abuse. They deal w prevention, retention, recovery & aftercare of child victims. Boom gave us a background on human trafficking, specifically trafficking children, something we touched upon yesterday but did not go into depth with. We learned about the “industry” and what they do to prevent these kinds of things, as well as how they intervene and how they support these children after they’ve already been abused and/or trafficked. It was extremely informative and again, made me aware of something that I really had no idea was such an issue. There are tons of “street children” here in Thailand who literally have no place to live, either because their main care giver is broken, they have no one to take care of them, and people have failed to help them. Boom has taken it upon herself to make sure these children are safe and getting the help they need. Emotionally, physically, etc… one very small thing out of the many things boom does, and that stuck out to me, was that they have a “pow-wow” once a week, where all the children share a “pow” (downer) and a “wow” (upper) part of their week. Something that I found comforting is that the police in this area actually happen to be helpful and cooperative in terms of tackling this issue, sometimes even serving as social workers for these kids. (dk: half police officer, half social worker #itshappening #nextdegree) after the session was over we actually did something pretty crazy that was a justifi first. We went to lunch with some of the kids who are currently living on the street and part of the hug program as well as go karting with them!! If you see my go karting pictures, you will actually not see one of the street children in them, that is because 1) it is illegal in Thailand to post these pictures in the media b/c they are so obsessed w/ “saving face” 2) so this way they are not poster children of this terrible issue 3) to hide them from pedophiles on the internet. It was really such a fun afternoon, and to take a step back and think that for these kids, this will be a highlight for them for a very very long time, while for us, go karting, generally, is not the BIGGEST deal. You could see the smiles and excitement on these kids faces all day. Jumping on the trampoline, putting on the riding gear, etc.. I will remember this afternoon for a very long time. On top of the children coming with us, there were also under cover cops who came riding with us! This is in order to provide the children w/ some comfort and support, and so that they know that should they need help the police are trustworthy and there for them. If you see some older peeps who don’t look part of my trip in the background, those are undercover police offers. It was quite the experience. (on a total side note: while I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, bc lots of you already think I drive on the wild side, I was going way too fast, couldn’t break, and went straight through the tires onto a different part of the track….hey I was just trying to represent rhe usa against these thai kids, what can I say #miniolympics #london2012vsThailand2013) it was SO HOT there, I know I keep saying that, but the heat is rly so intense, so I spent some time outdoors and some time “indoors” in the shed thing. Amazing afternoon. After we said our goodbyes (oh I forgot to tell you about one of the volunteers, she was born out of a failed abortion in kazakstan, her parents left her on a door step of an orphanage, she was adopted by American parents who moved her to Utah, her adopted brother suffers from fetal alchoholism aka: when his mother was carrying him she was an alchoholic and that got into his body, and now she is sponsored by her church to come work here for two years.) we headed back to the hotel for some SHOWER time and we were told to meet in the lobby at 5pm sharp covered in bug spray for the big surprise! We found a baby lizard in our room, who I accidentally killed w a glass cup when I was just trying to move him out of the room, so now he lies dead in a cup right outside my room #survivorsguilt. What was the big surprise you ask?! We would be taking a trip to one of the most gorgeous temples in thailand that is above a mountain top (aka 200 stairs) and climbing it for sunset. Was I prepared? No. excited? No. did I think they were kidding when they said 200 stairs? Yes. Was it amazing in the end? Hell yes. Let me tell you, these stairs were worse than the mercazia stairs and fort wash stairs COMBINED #movingbackontop #yayassociated. I happened to have been wearing sneakers bc my friend SHELBI #shoutout (who got a severeeee allergic reaction to a fruit she tried yesterday that was so scary to look at) told me that wearing sneakers might help w the kim kardashian feet syndrome #heat #traveling #ugly. So in the end, me wearing sneakers by chance was a hugeee help. When we got to the top the views and sunset was absolutely breathtaking. After a brief session w rabbi Jamie we were asked to take some time to medidate by ourselves, walk around alone, and just take in the moment. My moment led me to head inside the temple and see what it looked like. After I was stopped to be skirted by monks in training! Aka little boys who accosted me a askirt and proceeded to tie it around my waist. Mrs spirn can learn a thing or two from their methods. But headed in, and it was beautiful. Climbed back down the stairs and to the bus back (rocked out to some awesome music on the way back by DJDK #kanyenewslaves #matisyahu #theshins and everyone got a song request. Good music was all around) for dinner atttt….#ifyoudontknowthisyouneedhelp chabad! We also booked our excursion to tiger kingdom for tomorrow. Just so you all know in advance bc ive been getting a lott of comments about this, the tigers are NOT drugged. They are fed milk from when they are born and not meat (vegetarian tigers) and are raised from birth to be calm, its as if they don’t know they belong in the wild. My trip leader STEVE told me that he does not have a problem going and I trust his word when it comes to these things #helivesinportland. So yea, dinner, booking plans for our free day, and then back to the hotel since the hour was late. Random facts: it is buggier here bc we are higher up north. SERENA laughs at inappropriate times, and ARIANNE forced me to murder a lizard. #shoutoutscompleted. Im hoping tiger kingdom has wifi so I can watch the heat/ spurs game 7 #gospurssssss. Maybe ill cuddle up w a tiger and we can watch together. Thatd be cute. Going to sleep! I have plans tomorrow #sonotlikemysummer2013 Xoxoxxo And ps: Mazal tov Ray Ro and Shai!!! So sad ill be missing your party Saturday night, but hopefully we can go out when I get back, compare some Thailand stories, and celebrate in style.