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Tuesday July 3, 2018

They made it! Session 2 is in full swing! After stepping off the plane into the Chiang Rai humidity, the group traveled to their home base, settled into their rooms and then enjoyed their first taste of Thai green curry for lunch.

The afternoon was a combination of resting by the pool, naps and a few hours of getting to know each other and the program. Everyone headed to bed early after dinner, ready to start resetting their jet-legged body clocks. It was a good and exhausting first day in Thailand.

Goodnight from this side of the world.

(not pictured: Ava Mulrooney because she arrived after dark. More pictures to come soon!)

Wednesday July 4, 2018

Sawat dee kha\krup (hello) from Chiang Rai, Thailand! After a much needed night’s rest and receiving some lost luggage, we’re settling in nicely here at Chang Garden Resort. Our first full day began with instant coffee and a filling Thai breakfast, followed by some activities in the sun to help us get to know each other a little better. After warming up, orientation gave us the chance to talk everything GLA, Thailand, and what this adventure is going to look like over the next two weeks.

We got a great introduction to working in Thai schools and came up with some student activities, and later caught a sneak peek at the elephant sanctuary that we’ll be working with, called Elephant Valley Thailand. We can’t wait to dive into these opportunities and are thrilled to share them with you all!

Thursday July 5, 2018

Hi! We are Cassie and Ava and today we visited a school in Mae Chan.

At first it was challenging because the classrooms full of children were very chaotic. It’s very different from American schools. Culturally, the children are independent from the teachers, which stems from the idea of Thai school being a business, because parents pay for their kids to be in certain classes. According to a teacher, kids have more control than the teachers because of this. Kids also aren’t as enthusiastic to learn after certain ages.

The kids are very respectful and treat you like celebrities. We signed so many arms today because the younger kids wanted autographs. Memorable experiences included receiving bouquets of flowers from the kids, playing in the field with the kids, and buying tea with them.

Once we returned to the homebase we had free-time to swim and relax after a long day of crazy, fun kids.

Overall it was a very fulfilling day and everyone is exhausted. Let’s see what tomorrow holds!

-Cassie and Ava

Friday July 6, 2018

Starting the day early, we left for the school at 7:45 in order to see the daily flag raising at Baan Mae Chan. The students all recited the national anthem in organized lines. Following the flag raising we all went to our assigned classroom to assist the teachers. The students enthusiastically participated in games of hangman and tic tac toe to teach them english. During lunch at the school we all made personal connections with the children playing games. The kids loved being picked up and swung around by us and begged us to autograph their arms. We sadly had to say goodbye after lunch but we ensured the kids we will return on Monday.

We piled into the vans and drove 30 minutes to the traditional Thai market at the border of Myanmar. The shops lined the streets filled with everything from fresh produce to sunglasses. We split into groups and explored the market, each of buying different souvenirs and new foods to try. After an hour and a half of shopping and exploring, we started our drive back to home base. A long day of teaching left us tired and in need of some relaxation. We all went swimming at the home base before heading to dinner, where we had spaghetti.

Saturday July 7, 2018

Hey guys, this is Gaby and Paige from GLA Thailand. Today we took a break from the schools and did some touring around the beauty that is Thailand. First, we started out at the white temple, which is not only a temple, but an amazing art instalation. Everyone enjoyed themselves and got some insta-worthy pictures! While we were there, many of us also got gifts and souvenirs for family and friends and drank some authentic Thai smoothies in some different flavors such as watermelon, coconut and durian. After that, we got to experience the more natural beauty of Thailand at Khun Korn, a waterfall, which was definitely worth the one mile hike there and back. The water was freezing yet refreshing. Afterwards, we all got some delicious ice cream that helped us cool down on this super hot and sunny day. Finally, we all had time to relax after this eventful day and get some very good dinner.

-by Paige Lillibridge and Gaby Morgan

Sunday July 8, 2018

Hey all!

Today we started off by going to the Black House which was an art instillation and museum that included live water buffalo, various bones and remains of dead animals including giant snakes and alligators. Then for lunch we went to Jam’s family restaurant (She is one of our counselors) and had chicken, sticky rice, and the famous papaya salad. After a delicious lunch we headed to the beautiful Blue Temple (and yes, it was super blue). The next stop was to the Big White Buddha which isn’t actually a Buddha, it’s the Goddess of Mercy in Buddhism. The statue was so huge that most of us saw it from the plane ride in.

We were all able to go up to the 26th floor and look out of her third eye and see the view of Chiang Rai. We then visited the jade temple and museum to get an idea of what a real temple is like. It was a lot less touristy and the Buddha itself was green. Throughout these visits it would pour rain. We ended our day by going to the Walmart of Chang Rai also known as Tesco, where we loaded up on snacks, and then ate an awesome American style meal with burgers, fries, chicken, and other good stuff.

We love you and miss you!!!

From Sydney and Rachel 🙂

Monday July 9, 2018

Today was our last day at school. It seemed to be a bit more hectic than the other days, but still successful! The kids were very excited to see us as always and were engaged with us. After school we drove to Chiang Mai which was about a 3.5 hour drive.

We are at the midpoint with our time with GLA in Thailand. After reflecting on the past week we feel we were successful in assisting the teachers, and giving the Thai students something they can take with them in their future education. Along with our service being successful, our excursions to the waterfall and to the temples were also successful and a completely new and exciting experience for all of us!

So far the GLA experience has been enjoyed by all, and we are looking forward to the second week and new service and setting. Hopefully the second week will be as enjoyable and successful as the first!

Yours truly,
John Wielbruda and Olivia Nacht

Wednesday July 11, 2018

Our day today began at 8:30 breakfast where we enjoyed some eggs, mangos, and toast. Afterwards, we had a discussion about our experience with the elephants in Chaing Mai. For an hour or so we had free time to either nap, chat, read, or play ping pong! Freetime was followed by lunch which consisted of curry, rice, and tofu.

When we finished eating, we separated into two groups and walked throughout the sanctuary observing the elephants eating. Afterwards, we fed the elephants banana tree pieces. Free time followed until dinner at 6. We ate rice, chicken, fried mushrooms, and cooked greens. We capped off the night with another GLA activity. Looking forward to the service tomorrow.

-by Evan and Talia

Thursday July 12, 2018

Today Is our is second at EVT. Here are a few things that we did during our service time today; it was a great learning experience for everyone.

Today’s Highlights:
Cutting grass
Cleaning the elephant areas
Thai target shopping (small, traditional Thai store)
Cutting down banana trees to feed the elephants
Planting elephant grass
Movie Night
Feeding the elephants
Eating some rice, traditional Thai dishes, fried chicken and Pad Thai

-by Drake Anthony and Brianna Newberry

Friday July 13, 2018

Hey it’s Sarah and Alyssa!

Today we worked together and put in a lot of hard work and effort. Our activity’s included golden nugget pickup, cutting grass, banana trees, and planting grass. The grass that we planted will be used to feed the elephants when it’s fully grown.

Our favorite moment of the day was when Peanut the elephant was being goofy and not lining up for snack time in the correct order. She also kept missing her mouth when she was eating the banana trees.
Today we also got to experience selfie time, where we all had 30 minutes to focus on our selves in separate locations. We both decided to take a little nap on the tile floor – which was very refreshing! A lot of our members were able to cut down the banana trees with one axe swing – very impressing.

Love,
Alyssa and Sarah

Saturday July 15, 2018

After an amazing two weeks of service and adventure, our trip has come to an end. It has been life changing and great to meet an amazing group of people and experience a new culture alongside them. Over the course of the last couple of days, we had some super fun trips. On Saturday, we started our day finishing up our service with the elephants (nugget pick-up). We then did a final observation of the elephants, which included watching the elephants and learning some facts about them. After the final observation, we had some free time which we used to all hang out as a group. At the end of the day, we went to the Saturday Night Market where we all got some nice souvenirs to remember our trip to Thailand.

On Sunday, we had the treat of sleeping in. After a delicious breakfast, we headed out for the hot springs. On the ride there, we made a stop at an elephant riding camp. This was very hard but eye-opening for all of us to see. Then we finally arrived at the hot springs. Some of us chose to get massages while the rest of us swam. We had a buffet lunch at a Thai restaurant. It was delicious. We then had our final dinner together.

This trip was the trip of a lifetime. We have all become best friends on this two week adventure! Experiencing every aspect of Thailand, from the kind children in the school to the hillarious elephants, has been so amazing! We will miss the temples, food, elephants and friends in Thailand so much! We have gained a significantly better understanding of Thai culture, life outside of the United States and ethical interactions with elephants. We cannot wait to share our experiences with you in person! Thank you to all of the parents who helped us get here and enjoy this wonderful trip!

-by Reagan, Morgan, Dani, Mariesa

Monday July 16, 2018

Two weeks passed in a blur…heat, autographs and golden nuggets defined our session.
Thank you for choosing to challenge yourself on this journey and step into the growth process. We hope your time in Thailand memorable.

Singing off-Brendan, Mattie and Suzannah

(Rachel, you know you deserve the key for this picture)

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Sunday June 17, 2018

We are so excited to welcome this amazing group of globe-hopping, world-changing, adolescents to Thailand! Although jet-lagged, they’ve powered through a half day of orientation, goal setting, and team building.

We’ve gotten to know more about their individual strengths and what they can bring to the team! We have a diverse crew that is learning about their upcoming service projects: having an authentic Thai school teaching/learning experience and volunteering at an ethical Elephant sanctuary by prepping food and maintaining the grounds.

Through learning about teaching techniques, elephant social/psychological development and issues within the tourist industry, we are certain these youth will come back to their home community with a new series of skills and ideas of local and global issues to begin addressing with passion, commitment, and targeted determination.

We look forward to a great session and will keep you posted from tomorrow’s Leaders Of the Day: Ryan and Austin!

Monday June 18, 2018

Say Cheese! or Say Pepsi! (as the Thai kids do)

Today we visited Mae Chan School, just five minutes down the road from Home Base, and taught kids from grades 1-8 to expand their English through math, science, and language arts. The Thai students were all very energetic, and teaching them was an experience that will never be forgotten. During lunch we were able to overcome the language barrier by participating in games and bonding. Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves, especially because we felt that we were helping the teachers and encouraging the kids to be more comfortable with speaking English around people from different cultures. Compared to America, the students were given much more freedom during their lunch and seemed to act as more of a community, as opposed to breaking off into separate cliques or friend circles. An interesting fact we learned today was about feet in Thai culture: Since they are the lowest part of the body, they are considered dirty and it is considered rude to point to something with your feet. Today was a blast and we can’t wait to go back to the school and teach different age groups! We are also really looking forward to helping out at the Elephant Sanctuary next week.

There is no doubt that this will be an amazing adventure!

Signed: your leaders of the day
Ryan & Ashtin

Our quote of the day was: “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life,” -Richard Bach

P.S. For parents who want a sneak peak of what their Group B students will be doing next week during their elephant service, check out the blog from Group A who is currently working with the elephants and will switch to the school next week.

Wednesday June 20, 2018

Hello! Today is Wednesday June 20th, 2018 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. In the morning we woke up for some great breakfast and hopped on the bus to go to the school. We spent the morning and afternoon teaching with the same groups we had yesterday. My group (Rachel) taught third grade Math and English. To teach English, we played a game of bingo which the kids seemed to recognise and love. By the time our teaching was done, the students were surrounding us with group hugs and begging me to take a picture of them with my camera. My group (Alex) graded two PE classes final assessments and timed students 15 meter dash. We then briefed them on tomorrows activities.

After all of the GLA students had lunch, we went out to the recess field to play with the kids. The kids began to swarm us, asking for our signatures and to be held or picked up. One of the obstacles we faced today was helping the students understand how to play the games we prepared for them but we persevered and eventually they understood and had a good time playing. We learned how to say hello in Thai which is “Sawadee” and how are you is “Sabaidee mai”. We are really looking forward to this weekends activities which includes the waterfall hike and camping on Saturday along with the hot springs and the Hill Tribe observation on Sunday!

-From the Leaders of the Day, Rachel & Alex

Thursday June 21, 2018

To begin the day, we observed the kids during the flag raising ceremony as we have for the previous two days. After having spent so many hours with the kids yesterday and the day before, they have gotten used to our faces––enough so that they enjoy yelling our names as we walk by (for example, yelling “Teacher Anna” during the opening ceremony). Next, we proceeded to the classrooms where we began working with the Thai teachers for the first time during this experience. We both taught middle school students a variety of food from around the world in English. The Thai teachers thoughtfully presented us with beautiful Chinese ornaments as a gift of appreciation.

Since this was our first time working with students and teachers who weren’t confident in their English speaking abilities, we faced some challenges along the way. We were compelled to use more hand gestures and body language to communicate with them. Overall, it was a really rewarding experience because we were able to establish meaningful relationships with the students and teachers despite the language barrier.

During our free time, most of us were swarmed by young students who begged for our autographs. At some point or another, all of us signed both scraps of paper as well as body parts (to clarify, arms). We also had the pleasure of witnessing the boy scouts and the girl scouts practice their traditional routines, since the school schedules these every Thursday. Most of them marched, yelled, and did synchronized group squats. Some GLA students participated in this event.

Tomorrow, we’re highly anticipating the exciting waterfall hike in the morning. In the afternoon, we will be venturing around Chiang Rai and visiting multiple temples.

-Written by Leaders of the Day, Zoë and Anna

Friday June 22, 2018

Today started out with a challenging walk through the Thai jungle to a beautiful waterfall. The walk itself was filled with interesting greenery and insects, as well as the occasional shishi-odoshi (water fountain). The waterfall was an absolute blast. It felt great to finally unwind after three days of service, and although swimming meant wet socks and muddy clothes, everyone agreed it was worth it. Following the decent back to civilization, we got our fist glimpse of the elephants at Elephant Valley Sanctuary.

The group was ecstatic to enjoy lunch whilst elephants roamed around us. Needless to say, we are all incredibly excited for next week. After lunch, we made our way to Wat Pra Kaew, home to the jade Buddha and an assortment of turtles. While some gained Buddhist wisdom from the resident monks, a few others made the pragmatic choice to utilize the temple’s wifi. This was succeeded by an excursion to Wat Huay Plakang, which featured an explorable stature of a Buddhist deity and a nine tier temple, each tier representing a stage of enlightenment. The day was concluded with another delicious Thai meal and a great final night at Chang Garden Resort with our newfound friends.

– Zachary Shuter and Cameron Nowel

Saturday June 23, 2018

Today, we started our journey to see the Black house. The Black house was very unique and almost satanic. It consisted of many animal skulls, horns and skins. Then we set off to see the Blue Temple which was much different from the previous destination. The temple was absolutely gorgeous, I found it so extraordinary that someone could imagine something like this. There was a massive Buddha in the back of the temple, as you can see from the picture bellow. There were also paintings of the naga, a sacred figure in Buddhism. We then had “Somtam” for lunch at the local staffs family restaurant. Many of the campers had catfish for the first time and I enjoyed a mushroom dish which was surprising considering I don’t usually like them. After that delicious meal we made our three hour journey to the mountain of Phu Chi Fa to camp. At the campsite we made our own meal which consisted of soup for vegetarians and meat for the others. The day was then concluded with some card games and gazing at the night sky. I look forward to being with elephants in the days to come.

Leaders of the day – Jared Shuter & Serena Trousdale

Sunday June 24, 2018

The day started at 4:30 AM at Mt. Phu Chi Fa. In hopes to see the sunrise over the cloud cover, most of all of the group woke up to rain seeping through the tents and clanging on the roof. We all threw on some warm clothes and climbed onto the bus. After a short ride, we reached the trail head. After a slippery climb filled with lots of challenges, we reached the summit. Despite the trek, the fog was so dense we could not see 100 feet in front of us. Half of the summit is in Thailand, and half is in Laos. Lots of jokes were thrown about being in 2 countries at once. Later, we climbed down the summit with meticulousness in hopes of our feet not coming out from under us.

The second part of the day consisted of going to a local market. Although there were not many souvenirs available, we got to see real Thai street action. There were foods most of us have never seen before, as well as authentic Thai clothing, immune to Americanization. The market further allowed us to see the country not just through the eyes of American tourists.

Monday June 25, 2018

Today was our first day at the Elephant Valley Thailand. This morning we revisited our goals that we had set last week, and discussed whether or not we had accomplished said goals . We had a long discussion on how we could generate change at home and raise awarness about elephant cruelty and rehablilitation. We talked about possible solutions to create future change for elephants here in Thailand and how we could use social media to advocate awarness for elephants after we’ve left Thailand.

After lunch, we went into the forty acres given to the elephants here at Elephant Valley Thailand. We met the six elephants and learned about their pasts and how Elephant Valley Thailand was working to accommodate each elephant’s journey back to rehabilitation. We saw that the elephants coated themselves in mud to protect themselves from insects and the sun. At the end of our walk around the property, we fed the elephants bamboo and leaves, which they enjoyed. We ended the day playing a ping-pong tournament at the home base and Ashtin won.

By: Sydney Garman and Marco Lunetta

Tuesday June 26, 2018

The day started with a rainy breakfast of fresh mangoes, diverse jams, and whole wheat toast. Our group was divided by what side of the table people were sitting. We then tackled our first task at the service site. Once both groups finished their service for the morning, we had a break. After cleaning the elephants bathing area, I really enjoyed watching the elephants walk around us as we worked. After cleaning the bathing area where many of us got soaked, we headed to the other side of the camp to strip grass, dig rows for planting the grass, and then planted grass in the rainy mud. This task lasted until lunch where we had another delicious meal. We finished our tasks by 4:00 and wrapped up our labor with feeding the adorable and mesmerizing elephants.

Everyone in my room took a hard nap for free time. After dinner, we hosted an activity as our Leader Of the Day activity (although some members were not very involved, others, like myself, enjoyed themselves!). To wrap up the night, John (regional director) shared his adventures outside of America and answered many of the kids questions about ex-pat life. His wondrous stories inspired us to explore the world and discover the other colorful cultures around the world.

-by Elizabeth and Carolyn Reid

Wednesday June 27, 2018

Today we leaders of the day, Kaleigh and Ruthie, made sure everyone was up by 7:00 and at breakfast by 7:30, so we could get ready to start the adventure-filled day. We started off with our usual clean up of the elephants’ night area. As today being our second day doing this, it went by a lot faster and a lot easier. Then we had a quick break, which was followed by another day of planting grass for the elephants food.

After providing food for the elephants, we were provided with delicious food from the staff at Elephant Village. After lunch, our two activities included elephant observations and elephant feeding. Elephant observations was new today, and what we did was sketch and learn more about the individual elephants and their patterns. After dinner, we had soooo much fun with our adventure to the market. We all were assigned to purchase a small gift for someone and at the end of the day we all went around and presented each other with their gift. It was very funny and made everyone extremely happy!! Today was another eventful and successful day!

-by Kayleigh Brown & Ruthie Reid

Thursday June 28, 2018

Hey there, or as they say in San Francisco, “Howdy!” And, as they say in West Chester, Pennsylvania, “Hello.” Our second-to-last day was full of fun service and surprises. To begin the day, we woke up to a delightful surprise: Full-sized bananas, peanut butter, and Corn Flakes were on the menu, and boy was it delicious. And that is just what our day was, delicious.

Our first task was to continue the awesome service we have been doing all week. I never thought I would say this, but I really love cleaning up after elephants. It’s always a pleasure to be surrounded by peers, working as a team, and then suddenly a beautiful elephant walks by, always mesmerizing me. No matter how humid, or how wet, the young group of leaders we have here worked together for a cause much bigger than ourselves. This included clearing forest and planting grass for the elephants, as well as preparing the feeding area and then watching everything come together as we fed the elephants banana leaves, banana trees, bananas, banana pancakes, etc.

After a much-appreciated break, we were delighted to sit down and talk to Jack, the founder of Elephant Valley Thailand and master of the cargo shorts polo shirt look. He treated us to his fascinating life story, his mission to better the situation of Asiatic Elephants across Asia, and some life advice. For dinner, the long-awaited Pad Thai with a side of Pad Thai. After dinner, we sat down to watch The Goonies.

Although it was our second to last day, today was our last day of service. This allowed everyone to reflect upon the time we spent with the elephants and the current efforts to protect and save the Asiatic elephants. While we are presented with a buffet of mixed emotions about the trip coming to a close, it’s days like these that make us so thankful and blessed to be a part of the GLA family.

-by Rebecca Kinzly & Max Goldberg

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Sunday June 17, 2018

They made it!  After a relaxing night at a hotel and a good breakfast,  the ladies are ready to go!  Still fighting a little jet lag,  everyone will spend the day going over program logistics,  getting to know each other and begining service at Elephant Valley Thailand.

Monday June 18, 2018

What a great first full day together! Another two group members joined us, Payton and Samantha (yay!), we further explored what the next two weeks has to offer, collaborated on group agreements, learned about Elephant Valley Thailand’s mission, watched and fed the elephants AND explored what I means to be a leader. It was an exhausting day! Tomorrow we start our service work and will learn more about the Thai culture.

Tuesday June 19, 2018

Today was an incredibly busy day. It was the first day we did service with Elephant Valley Thailand, which consisted mainly of hoeing, raking, and gathering. We started the day by sweeping the trails where the elephants walk and cleaning up their poop. But, don’t be too jealous yet because the fun doesn’t stop there. We also cleared out a field of vines and long grass so that we could use the land to plant grass for the elephants to eat. As we were clearing the field, many of us got bit by ants that were crawling up our legs on top of being drenched with sweat and covered with dirt. Luckily, we got to take a break and eat some delicious Thai food before we went back to work. After we cleared the field, we started to dig trenches and plant Elephant Grass that the elephants would later eat and then stomp on to help it to continue its natural growth cycle. After we got a solid start on what would be tomorrows full day of work, some of us split off to trek through sharp, tall grass to get to banana trees. We cut down about ten of them to use for the elephant’s dinner. We used every part of the tree: the stock, the leaves (And of course) the bananas. It was hard work, but feeding the elephants made it all worth while.

It was a sweet ending to our long day of work. Seeing the elephants reach their trunks through the fence out to us made us realize why we’re here and how our hard work helps keep this amazing place going. But the moment didn’t last forever because when we were done feeding the elephants, we found out that there was no electricity. No electricity means no showers, no hand washing, no fans and no flushing toilets. This came at a bad time considering that we were all sweaty, smelly, and filthy. Luckily we didnt have to sit in our filth for too long because just before dinner, the electricity came back on so that we could be clean and relatively cool while we had Thai Time with John. John is an amazing man who lives in Thailand and answered all of our questions about Thai culture. Overall the we had a tiring, but fulfilling day and we can;t wait to do it all again tomorrow!

By: Alyssandra DeSeranno & Kate Laughlin

Wednesday June 20, 2018

Today, our group accomplished a lot of wonderful things. For starters, our group finished planting grass in a field that we worked hard on both today and yesterday. The field was overwhelming when we first encountered it, but it became far less intimidating as time went by and we continued to work hard as a team. To accomplish our job, we hoed, cut out unwanted plants, and planted new elephant grass. Banana trees were cut down with great effort once again by the group.

Our group also got to feed the elephants their delicious plants and bananas. Jack (the founder of Elephant Valley Thailand) graced us with his presence and knowledge of both the Thai culture and elephant life. It gave everyone in the group a broader understanding of how unique and interesting his elephant sanctuary is. Our group is having an exciting excursion to the night market tomorrow evening. The girls cannot wait to see the different treasures and souvenirs that will catch their eye and remind them of their time abroad in Thailand.

Thursday June 21, 2018

Today was riveting! We completed our final day of service at Elephant Valley Thailand before heading off to the night bazaar. We watched the elephants playfully taking a swim. We even observed what appeared to be an elephant drowning another one, but they were in fact just messin’ around (#elephantsbeingelephants).

After lunch we watched a jarring video detailing the horrors that occur in abusive elephant camps. We’re incredibly grateful that we get to experience a genuine elephant sanctuary that allows elephants to be in as natural of an environment as possible. Before everyone could completely erupt in tears, we discussed how we could prevent further elephant abuse in Thailand. After dinner, we grabbed our baht, hopped in the party vans, and drove to the night bazaar.

There, we all bought presents for our families (you’re welcome) and got to sample some tasty Thai food. Today we had to say goodbye to our newfound elephant pals, but they’ll always remain in our hearts. We’re looking forward to the scenery we will see and school children we’ll meet in the week to come!

P.S. Fun elephant fact: An elephant’s trunk can hold up to five liters of water! Also, elephants can die of a broken heart :,(

-by Anna and Thalia

Saturday June 23, 2018

Olivia Danner, Audrey Lamey, Caruna Gillespie, Sydney Dicker, Rebecca Unruh

We left our first home base yesterday morning, and our highlights of the past two days were visiting temples, camping, a sunrise hike, hot springs, and reaching our new home base. Friday morning, we visited three temples named Wat Phra Kaew, the White Buddha, and the Blue Temple. An interesting fact we learned at the temples was taking fun pictures, having Buddha tattoos, as well as house decor are considered very disrespectful. You can travel up into the White Buddha via a long staircase. After the temples, we had a three hour car ride to a mountain camping site. Our tents overlooked a beautiful valley view. For dinner, we made a traditional Thai dish over a coal fire, picnic style. The following morning, we went on a hike up a hill to view the sunrise. We were in the clouds, and we got glimpses of mountains, forests, and rivers below us. It was very slippery coming down, but we made it. After eating a savory Thai breakfast, we drove three hours to the hot springs, with two stops for snacks, and a buffet lunch of Western and Thai foods. The hot springs were hot. We had the option of a large pool, or smaller three-person pools, and Thai-style massages. We walked past a traditional elephant camp, and after staying at a true elephant sanctuary for a week, it was heartbreaking to see elephants chained up and rocking back and forth with lifeless eyes. While strolling through the Hill Villiage Tribe, we visited different shops and got ice cream. Then we arrived at our new home base, and were pleasantly surprised with air conditioning, a pool, and an abundance of showers.

Sunday June 24, 2018

Today, Sunday June 24, was a fun-filled, relaxing day for us girls at GLA. Beginning with a healthy breakfast including rice, eggs, and veggies, we then quickly moving in to our first activity of the day. We started off with a few fun games like “Captain’s Coming!” and “Metamorphisis” that brought us together as a group. We also discussed how important it is to use social media for the right reasons when engaging in trips like these and how important it is as young teens to not further stereotypes and generalizations as we travel in other countries. After that, we ate an awesome lunch and took some selfie time.

Selfie time is a period of time in the day with no talking and technology to allow time for personal reflection. At around 2:30, John (the Local Director) came in for orientation of Thailand education to teach us the ways to communicate with the kids when we go to the school tomorrow. We had a group discussion about how Thai school systems categorize students and other specifics to be aware of when we enter the classrooms tomorrow. We then had a few hours of free time and at 6:00, ate another amazing dinner here in Chiang Rai!

-by Chloe Campbell and Sabrina Castle

Monday June 25, 2018

Today was our first day at our Thai school. We were all really nervous but we didn’t need to be, it was super fun. First, we woke up and ate breakfast at home base- delicious rice and pineapple. Then, we took the bus to the school just in time to catch the flag bearing ceremony. We then got assigned teachers and got split up into different classrooms. We were so excited to meet the kids! All the teachers were super nice and welcoming. We followed our teachers to different classes like mathematics, science, physical education, health and English. During lunch time we got the chance to go to a Thai tea cafe to order some yummy drinks and get wifi.

After the lunch, the fun continued with more classes. The kids were super enthusiastic to have us there; all of us had sore hands after giving out so many autographs.

After a fun filled day, we were all drained and came back to home base for a surprise…a later breakfast the following day which meant we got time for a (needed) few extra minutes of sleeping. Most of us then took time to prepare some educational activities for the kids we would be working with tomorrow.

This consisted of making flash cards or drawing fruit to introduce and quiz the children on new vocabulary. Once our little homework assignments were finished, we had a delicious dinner during a light drizzle and even got to see Flat Ears, the resident dog. We spent some time together doing a GLA activity and finished the night with some free time before bed. As the trip is coming to an end, we realize how lucky we are to have this amazing experience and we are so grateful for this service opportunity.
See you soon!

-by Dannie and Sami

Tuesday June 26, 2018

This morning we got to sleep in and then went back to the school to teach the children. We taught the children new songs and games. All of our groups got to know their children better. We played and took photos with the kids. They loved to do peace signs in all of the photos. The kids each gave us flowers and clung to us. We signed even more autographs than yesterday. We then went back to class. Everyone had success in teaching classes. The teacher even treated us to tea. We then made our way to the Masai Market. Everyone bought as much as they could, including lots of ice cream. We ended our trip to the market with more tea at the coffee shop. We headed home and went straight to dinner. We were all shocked to see pasta instead of rice for dinner. We stuffed ourselves with pasta and then had time to relax before mentor groups. We discussed our day at the school. We learned about the pool party for tomorrow and we couldn’t be more excited!

-by Sarah Happy and Elena Kreger

Wednesday June 27, 2018

When we woke up this morning we were surprised by the chilly fog that hung over the home base. None of us were inclined to pull ourselves from our slumber, nor get to work. This groggy feeling was quickly swept away by the excitement of the school children. Our group was split first thing as some went with the Thai teachers and the rest followed an international teacher to their next adventure. We then had waffles and a surprise dance party during the lunch break. Our group spent time frolicking in the bright gym and listening to live Thai music with the kids of the school. After lunch of lunch we split up into two groups again.

Nine teens headed back to the classrooms to create new memories at the school. The remaining thirteen teens ventured to the tiny tea shop on campus and spent there time bonding with their fellow GLA participants. We met up for the final time with the kids and departed from the school at 3:30. On our arrival back at home base we searched deep into our souls for our final service reflection. We ended the day at dusk with a divine dinner provided by the delightful resort cooks.

-by Sophia and Emma

Thursday June 28, 2018

Today started off with the surprise of getting to sleep in until 8. After a healthy breakfast of fried rice, eggs, toast, and fruit we started off towards the white temple. After we arrived at the white temple John then tasked us with a photo scavenger hunt around and in the temple. During our time at the White Temple we discovered that it is actually an art installation with influences of the Buddhist religion. Inside the temple there were many paintings with references to the American pop culture such as the Avenegers and George Bush.

Around lunch time we ventured off for our second surprise of the day…PIZZA! After a quick stop at Starbucks we left for the third market of the trip, The Chaing Rai Local Market. This market was similar to the one in Mae Sai, however it was more cultural, fewer cars and motorbikes, with more food and the lovely stench of the local fish. With the shopping all wrapped up we headed back to home base at the Chang Garden resort to relax for the rest of the evening.

-by Julia and Thea

Friday June 29, 2018

Sadly, today is our very last day of fun with Global Leadership Adventures in Thailand. Our day began with a yummy breakfast at 8 am with toast, fruit, and eggs. After breakfast we were off for the waterfall hike. The hike was slippery but well worth the trek once we got to the waterfall. The waterfall was breathtaking as we climbed down the hill and felt the mist hit our skin. The water was refreshing to swim in and was very fun to stand underneath as the water dumped on us.

After the hike, we jumped back in the van and ate a delicious lunch on the water. Some of the students even made friends with a cat who tired to steal our chicken! Next, on our agenda was visiting the Black House where we saw water buffalo and lots of different pieces of art. One room was filled just with crocodile skins! Finally, when we arrived back at the home base to start packing, looking at our flight agendas, and eating our last meal together as a group.

All of us are very sad to leave, but are so grateful for the adventures we embarked on in this amazing country. Thailand is a beautiful country surrounded by beautiful people and we are so lucky to have experienced this amazing culture. We all are looking forward to eating cheeseburgers, sleeping in our own beds and snuggling with our pets. We will always have a special place for this unique trip and the friendships we have made.

-by Kaitlin Violette and Payton Curley

Saturday June 30, 2018

So long, fair well…it has been a beautiful journey and we will miss you all dearly. You are all officially on your way homeward towards new an exciting adventures. Thank you for bringing your individuality and unique perspectives. Thanks for being a great group to start the summer.

Yours sincerely,
Mattie, Brendan and Suzannah (And Peanut and Flat Ears)

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Friday July 13, 2018

Good Evening from Thailand!

Yesterday, arrival day, was filled with our 21 students filtering in sporadically. Our first flights arrived at 9am, while our last group didn’t land until 9:30pm. Needless to say, when the last group arrived at home base most of the students were already sleeping.

It was great to see everyone coming together for the first time at breakfast, well rested (maybe a little jet-lagged), smiling, and already asking a lot of questions of what our next 20 days together in Thailand would hold.

After breakfast we got to know each other a bit and got right into our program orientation. During this time we learned about the program, the culture, and dove even deeper into why we were here. We also covered what we valued individually and as a group, and what we expected from this experience. After finishing our orientation some students got in the pool, while others did their med-checks/swim tests.

We took to the streets and went for a nice bicycle ride through back streets, fields, and small neighborhoods. Before dinner we asked the students what they noticed; some of the answers included:

• Dogs
• Different farming practices
• Water buffaloes
• Friendly people everywhere
• Controlled burns
• Different construction of houses

Before dinner we reminded them to keep noticing, stay present, and continue to always ask questions about they’re surroundings. Staff and students are extremely excited to take on the next 20 days of this journey!

Tomorrow we check-out of Little Village Resort and head to the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital!

Saturday July 14, 2018

A highlight of today was touring the city of Chiang Mai and exploring some famous temples. At the temple, we interacted with monks, where we all got a bracelet. In the city, we tried some local street food that was very different and exciting. Then we went to pick up necessities at a superstore for the following week.

A challenge for the group, was dealing with the heat and humidity of the climate. Also, there are still a few setbacks from the jet-lag.

Something we learned was about the lifestyle of monks, and how the Friends of Asian Elephants hospital was formed. Additionally, we learned and about some of the patients that have been in and out.

-Written by: Brooke Dubner , Sam Flax, and Dominique Lombard

Monday July 16, 2018

Hello from Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital here in Chiang Mai!

Today on the fifth day we had a very busy day filled with service, adventure, and fun! We started the day split up in our service groups to either sweep the hospital grounds, tend to the elephants, or cut elephant grass. After which, we had a nutritious breakfast and got ready for a day out on the town. Experiencing the local market and eating exotic delicacies including insects quickly became the highlight of the day. However, the heat proved still to be tiring to the students. Through these experiences in the city of Lampang, we learned how to branch out from the natural friend groups previously established. Adding to this, eating insects brought many students and teachers to get out of their comfort zones and step into a day full of adventure and new experiences!

Written by: Malia Wulbrecht, Nick Mouskondis, and Brittany Williams

Wednesday July 18, 2018

Today we all thought it was going to be a normal service day, but the weather changed the plan. We woke up to hard, pouring rain crashing on our windows that had been going on since the night before. In result of that, we lost our morning service but, we gained two more hours of sleep.

Everyone enjoyed the extra sleep and was energized for the service that was to happen after breakfast, but later was cancelled.
Later in the day, Dom and Jing taught us Thai and we even learned how to spell our names which was a good learning activity. Even though it was a very chill day, we all did face some obstacles, like being unsure of how the weather would affect our set schedule.

To sum it up, today was a very relaxed day where we all bonded more by playing games and doing various fun/service activities. We also had our first guest speaker, Dr. Preecha. Dr. Preecha was the first elephant vet in Thailand. He explained each elephant’s need and how they’re being treated.

As leaders of today, we felt accomplished of our duty and learned more about our peers.

-Written by Emma Sohn and Emilie Heller

Thursday July 19, 2018

Highlight: Planting bananas, beautifying the cemetery, planting fruits and vegetables

Challenges: bugs, humidity, and the heat made it extremely difficult.

What we learned: spiders can swim and elephants can sing

Today was quite eventful in the way of service and what we encountered. We woke up at 5:30 AM as per usual and catapulted straight into service. Anna’s group was with Boon-me the elephant, sweeping out her enclosure and taking lots of pictures J. Fernando’s group was sweeping home base and the road, right after the tree trimming. Georgia’s group was cutting grass to feed the elephants.

After morning service, we ate a combination of western and Thai food for breakfast. Just after breakfast was morning service. For 2.5 hours, we gardened, planted banana trees, and beautified the elephant cemetery. A big challenge during this part of the day was the bugs. Fernando and Georgia’s groups worked close to unattained plants and having to dig holes to make a new home for future banana trees.

Fernando’s group learned that spiders could swim. The rest of the day was very chill, with one guest speaker at 1:00 and time to rest before our evening activities and dinner.

Written by: Fernando Lopez Contia, Georgia Feinberg, Anna Kraeski

Friday July 20, 2018

Today was our final day of service at FAE. We finished up beautifying the cemetery, cleaning the pond, and working in the garden. It was very satisfying to see how all our hard work had paid off. Some highlights included seeing the finished product of the cemetery as it was our main service project and we accomplished our goal of making it more aesthetically pleasing. It felt good to know that we were paying respect to the past elephants. Another highlight was daring our friends into jumping into the grimy pond, knowing there was a chance of encountering the unknown. Three girls took the challenge and plunged right in!

A challenge of the day was that there was another large storm throughout the night. This caused branches and leaves to fall where we had been working, hindering our progress on both cleaning up the cemetery and sweeping the property. However, we worked with even more determination to complete the projects, even with the setback. We learned to persevere through even the most difficult obstacles and not to give up even when some hope is lost.

-Madi, Jadyn, and Alexanna

Saturday July 21, 2018

A most fun and interesting day today was. Unlike the past week, we slept in and woke up at 7 for breakfast as there was no morning service (though we must say, it was somewhat fun, particularly shadowing the mahouts of the elephants Boonmee and Mosha).

A goodbye-thank you poster was also created for the wonderful and generous staff of FAE. Afterwards, we were off to a cooking school in the city. There, we learned how to make staples of the Thai cuisine: spring rolls, pad Thai, soup, and mango sticky rice. Everyone found the activity fun, even suggesting that it was a highlight for the day. Everyone also felt satisfied in cooking their own delicious food. These dishes that we made later became a nutritious lunch before climbing a long flight of stairs to a temple in the mountains.

Indeed, this journey of stairs was extremely tiring, but it paid off the end as we were greeted by a great red temple with golden decorations inside and out, surrounded by wisps of clouds, overlooking the humble city of Chiang Mai (but unfortunately, with the clouds, we were unable to see the city from this angle). This experience inside the temple also became a significant highlight to some in the group, not only getting to see a 700 year old temple up close and personal, but to learn its history behind its founding. Of course, with a long stretch of fun came a stretch of nonchalance, an opportunity to wind down for the night. Following our trip, we returned to our first home base, Little Village, ate dinner, and played a game of 8 ball pool!

Written by: Malia, Pascal, and Breier

Wednesday July 25, 2018

Today was a very eventful day. It started out with a nice hike to two different waterfalls. The hike was quite slippery and ended with a few people falling in the mud. The second waterfall at which we stopped and swam in for an hour.

We then had a lovely picnic lunch of chicken and pad Thai straight from the market. We topped off the day with some bamboo rafting which was probably the highlight of the day. Here many people also learned how to steer and control a 15 foot long bamboo raft.

Overall today was a great day!

Written by: Brooke, Brittany, and Emilie

Thursday July 26, 2018

Today’s GLA adventure started off with a nice early-morning hike through some of the beautiful scenic farm lands of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

We headed out from our hotel at the crack of dawn, 8:30 am. Some struggles we were met with at the very beginning were muddy up hill terrains, some wind & rain, wet socks, and who could leave out the sudden barrage of leeches. Some people escaped with only one or two, but there were some students who reached double digits. Despite all that we hiked through the jungle up hills to reach the Hmong village, led by our normal mentors and local staff, we also were lucky enough to be lead by people who lived in this area and even in the village itself. We were humbly welcomed into the local shaman’s home and learned about his duties to the village. Also, learned about their village’s livelihoods and struggles. After leaving the village we all hopped into cars and enjoyed a gorgeous ride through the mountains, seeing other villages and impressive terraced farms. This ride was concluded by and amazing lunch that over looked the stunning valley we had trekked around that day. Because of the dreary weather the group decided to return to the home base. The day was concluded with a traditional Hmong show. The shaman, a young man who had been one of our guides that day, and some young girls from the village put on a very engaging show.

Personally this was one of my favorite days filled with interesting, engaging and fun activities, and I wouldn’t love to shout out of amazing staff and mentors. They are incredibly understanding and work with each student’s needs and at the same time are so much fun to have as leaders through this amazing experience!

– Hannah Kevin

Saturday July 28, 2018

Today we woke up, and had a good breakfast at Royal Ping Resort! We got in the vans and arrived at elephant carer home to see our four legged friends waiting for us. We all got into our ma-suits (Mahout : Elephant keeper/trainer + Suits = ma-suits) and headed over and started raking the elephant dung.

We then went to the river. After, we ate lunch, which was chicken chow fun.

Later, we planted sugarcanes in the fields as a part of our afternoon service. Mud fights have quickly become a part of our afternoon rituals. 🙂

Then, went to the river again to bathe ourselves after our mud war.

After that great day we went back to the resort, showered up and prepared ourselves for dinner and our evening activities!

Another great day in Thailand!

Written by: Georgia Feinberg

Sunday July 29, 2018

Today was a day full of amazing service and hard work! We started the day with shoveling dung and having a competition of who could throw it the farthest.

Then, we headed over to the fields to plant some grass. This was probably the challenge of the day! This was the challenge because the group struggled with having a plan to start with, too many cooks in the kitchen, and a lack of communication. In the end we were able to finish planting the grass and come together as a team to problem solve. Then, we figured out what to do better next time.

Like always we finished the day with feeding the elephants before we ended the day of service. We had a water fight, floated in the river, and scrubbed ourselves clean. This was the highlight of the day!

Overall it was a very productive day that went by super fast and did not feel like only one day!

Written by: Breier, Bella, and Dominique

Monday July 30, 2018

If we were to put today in a nutshell, it was similar to the past few days with some exciting variation mixed in!

Our service began as usual with cleaning up elephant dung with rakes and our gloved hands. Then, unlike the other days, we helped lay the foundations for a new shelter for the mahouts. Some of us dug holes for the pillars while another group brought over logs for foundations. Indeed, both tasks were tiring, digging through rocks and clay, lifting log after log, giving our arms a workout. Though we did not entirely finish building the shelter, we provided enough of a head start for the mahouts to finish the task in the foreseeable future. Grinding labor was greeted by a delicious lunch of spicy minced chicken on a bed of rice served in the typical banana leaf wrapping.

Elephant time afterwards was met with an unpredictable downpour, but nevertheless we made the most out of once in a lifetime routine. After miry trails, puddles, and elephants snacking on bamboo, we reached the bathing site. The bathing site is a small section of the Ping River where we proceeded to splash, brush, and clean the elephants. Coincidently, the downpour let up at around this time, allowing for a dry walk back to the camp.

Dinner consisted of tempura, fried pork, vegetables, and tofu. For our evening activity we had an unofficial GLA Elephant Health and Welfare talent show. Though the talent show was rather short, there were some impressive and comedic acts. To note a few, Sandra read some poems that she wrote; Pascal showed off one of the katas that he learned from seven years of training in karate; Jadyn made herself cry and showed us her freestyle skills. Jessica made animal impressions, causing everyone to completely loose it and burst out laughing throughout the whole act. Lastly, Patrick and Jonathan told knock knock jokes while playing their guitars, and Neha spun poi. Who knew that seemingly normal people have unique talents. The abrupt talent show led to an unofficial dance party.

Tomorrow is our last day at the elephant camp. We all are headed to get some rest before tomorrow’s eventful day!

Written by: Pascal Cheung

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Monday June 18, 2018

Sawaddee-khrab (Hello) from Thailand!

Our main arrival day was a huge success as we have just finished a delicious meal together and retired to our bungalows! With some students arriving late last night, and the remainder throughout the day today, sharing our first meal as a group was a great feeling. Just before dinner we did a quick activity to get to know one another and just like that we learned new things about each other, shared laughs, and bonded as group.

As for now, it’s time to get some rest as we have a big day tomorrow!

Tuesday June 19, 2018

On our first official day of programming saying we experienced a lot is an absolute understatement.

We started out our morning by having our program orientation. This was comprised of icebreakers, program breakdowns, setting expectations, cultural awareness sessions and even coming together to speak about what we valued and the creation of a social contract.

After having lunch we had little time to catch our breath, lather up in sunscreen and pick out bicycles for our next adventure! The sun had been out all morning, but as we took off from Little Village clouds rolled in and we were treated to a tranquil and cool (thank you clouds!) bike ride.

We pedaled right from the Little Village Resort and weaved through neighborhoods, along narrow back streets, past watermelon and lychee farms, and eventually ended back at the resort. Along the way we learned about the area we were in, and stopped at a temple to explore, ask questions, and catch up on our hydration.

After freshening up and exploring some of our own space we were treated to a traditional Bai Sri Ceremony. This is a ceremony that is held during special occasions, including welcoming our group into Thailand! A local shaman came and performed the ceremony which we all took part by listening, observing the techniques, and holding a communal string throughout the duration. The ceremony concluded with the shaman cutting the string and tying a bit around each of our wrists that we are all wearing now as bracelets. It was a great day of cultural learning, an adventurous bike ride, and officially being welcomed into this wonderful country!

Wednesday June 20, 2018

This morning we had an exciting visit to Doi Suthep temple in Chiang Mai. We learned that you have not really visited Chiang Mai without taking a trip up the 300 steps to this temple. The view from the top was definitely worth all of those steps. We could see the whole city in front of us, with a giant gold temple behind us. This was our highlight of the day.

After the temple, we ate a delicious buffet lunch at a restaurant where we were able to try all sorts of Thai food. A challenge at lunch was 100% trying foods that we had no idea what it tasted like. We learned that there are a lot of foods with different textures to what we are used to. After lunch, we all napped on the way to the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital. As soon as we hopped out of the vans, we saw beautiful elephants! We took a tour of the grounds and learned about some of the elephants and their caretakers.

Our challenge for the day was our after-dinner debate (leadership activity), where we all had to take different positions on the issue of whaling in a small island in the Caribbean. We challenged cultural norms, environmental issues, and how the world deals with problems as a whole.

-Written by Alessandra Malone and Alice Nobles

Thursday June 21, 2018

Today was our first day of service! This morning we split into three groups and did our first two hours of service; cutting grass for elephant food, sweeping the hospital grounds, and service in the elephant enclosure. Once we were done cooling down from service we talked to the owner of the elephant hospital and she was telling us her stories of how she started Friends Of The Elephant Hospital.

After lunch we did another two hours of service, where we worked in the garden. We planted betel leaves, Chinese cabbage, and pepper plants, which was another highlight of our day. This brought us closer together and we had a lot of fun.

A challenge we had was waking up at 5:00am since we had to be downstairs by 5:50am. We learned that in Thai culture their days start much earlier then what we’re used to. What we learned today was that waking up early gives us the opportunity to get more things done in a day, and that hard work is necessary to get things done!

-Written by: Alecia Cartwright and Alexandra Urbat

Friday June 22, 2018

Highlight: Today we volunteered to help out at the Hangchat local school to help the students practice English. First we participated in their traditional dance in a large group, then split up to talk to the students; 5 Thai students, to one of us. We talked about ourselves and learned about our similarities and differences and later moved into a smaller classroom and had a very fun game of Pictionary.

Challenge: We had a challenge today touring the city of Lampang because it was 90 degrees and we hadn’t walked around in this environment. We packed plenty of water but it was still difficult with energy after volunteering and walking around, so we had to cut short our tour which was disappointing because we all really enjoyed the people and the city and wished we could do more.

Something We Learned: We learned about the similarities and differences of our cultures. First by meeting first hand the students in the school and seeing how they had a wildly different campus and different attitudes towards us, but also appreciated the same things and had many of the same personality traits as us. Later when walking around the city we saw the people far more accepting and friendly to us than you would expect with reversed roles. At the end of the day the staff gave us an activity where we were told individually to mingle in a fake party with secret “cultures”, like long pauses before answering, or being closer than normal while talking. It showed us that what could be respectful in one culture could be misunderstood as rudeness and told us to pay attention, learn, and adapt.

Written by: John Carter and Briyona Ziegler

Saturday June 23, 2018

Overall today was a good day. We started service at our usual time and some of us got to see a baby elephant while others bathed Mosha. Before lunch we got the chance to sit in with Dr. Boonyoo as he showed us the steps in making a prosthetic and answered all our questions.

While there was a language barrier between the prosthetic doctor, Dr.Boonyoo and us, we had a translator that helped us understand the full process of how prosthetic legs for elephants are made.

During our afternoon service while planting, the sun wore us down, but with the help of everyone’s hard work we got all of the garden planted in a short amount of time. We decided that the word of the day should be prosthetic “kha tiem.” One of our leader of the day responsibilities has been choosing activities to lead. As our leader of the day activity we chose to play a group game of charades. We all had fun and then headed down to have dinner as a group. Headed to a mentor meeting to finish out our night before getting to bed so we’re ready for our early morning service!

Written by: Anna D’Agui and Isabel Powell

Sunday June 24, 2018

Today could be described as what the mentors call, ‘low energy.’ On most days, we can point out one or two coffee cups at breakfast time. Today, eleven. The 5:30 wake up call for morning service had seemed to take its toll. Throughout the rest of the day energy increased, but overall the main challenge was simply fatigue.

Nonetheless, we got a lot done during the day, and it was overall quite productive. After morning service, our main activity of the day involved learning more about Thai culture from our lovely local mentors. Thai language was as beautiful as it was confusing, and taste testing Thai snacks was a joy (well, some snacks). The evening concluded with a lively and competitive game of spoons.

Today we learned that perseverance and a good mindset could change the course of a day. Starting off sluggishly and concluding on a high note is entirely possible with open communication and positivity. Before dinner, during ‘Chow Circle,’ everybody gave a compliment to another person in the group. It was truly heartwarming and a solid end to our first week.

-Written by Kate and Molly, June 24

Monday June 25, 2018

Today we started the day off with something new in our 6am meeting… early morning stretches! We thought to utilize this time to combat our low energy crisis. For some, it had the desired effects, and some not. Maybe some professional assistance is required in the future.

The day is always filled to the brim with new knowledge-based activities. Today we got the very rare opportunity to meet one of the original elephant vets in Thailand. We learned not only how he got into his occupation, but also where his heart and mind lie in the treatment of elephants. I think we were all very intrigued by him and his presentation of thoughts.

After working so intensely in a new environment, we all began to feel the sluggishness from putting our best foot forward for the past week and pushing through the day suddenly became our biggest challenge.

Not so far from where we sleep each night, Mosha has her living quarters. Since she has an amputated leg, we need to help make her as comfortable as possible. Mosha’s mahout asked us to help replace the burlap sacks she rests her injured leg on when she’s not wearing her prosthetic. A lot of us can most certainly agree that being able to interact and care for the sweetest and most playful creature is always the best part of our day!

Tuesday June 26, 2018

One of the highlights of today was being able to look back at all the progress and work we’ve done here at FAE. Today being the last day that we were able to work at FAE gave us a unique opportunity to reflect on all of the work we’ve done and the things we’ve experienced.

This week we have been cutting grass for the elephants and it was amazing to see all the change in the field. When we first showed up to the field the grass was up to the road and seeing how far back we’ve been able to cut showed how much we’ve accomplished in this week. It has also been interesting to reflect about how much we have learned this week through discussions and seminars about the way elephants are treated in Thailand.

This morning, our journey to the Thailand Elephant Conservation Center led to us learn a lot about the royal family and white elephants, how Buddhism and elephants are connected, and how conservation of elephants in Thailand is being done. It’s been a challenging week with getting up early and having very busy days and this last day here was especially challenging. Energy was low and getting places on time proved even more of a challenge today than it has other days. However, we have been good about pulling each other up and staying motivated. It really shows how we have come together as a group this week at FAE.

-by Sienna Colucci and Rebecca Harbour

Wednesday June 27, 2018

Today, we departed from FAE Hospital early in the morning and headed to downtown Chiang Mai for a cooking class! We first went to the market, which was a highlight since we got to see how the local Thai people got their food and what special ingredients go into Thai cooking. We learned how to make spring rolls, phad thai, mango sticky rice, and coconut chicken soup. My favorite was definitely the mango sticky rice, which I can hopefully bring home and teach my family how to make. We got to eat all of the food we made ourselves, and it was all so yummy!!

After lunch, we departed for a walking tour of Chiang Mai; we visited a beautiful temple, which is also where we were able to get the chance to talk to some monks. They have a special area at the temple called “Monk Chat” where monks can practice their English with tourists, sharing special details about their religion. We learned that every Thai Buddhist man has to become a monk at some point in their life in order to protect the women in their family.

A challenge for today would be moving with all our stuff to a different location, as we didn’t know our schedule or what the new flow of things would be. We were at the hospital for 7 days with a pretty consistent schedule, and now we’re back in the city for some cultural exploration and adventure! We’re all very excited for what’s to come!

-By Stephanie Wu and Alessandra Masone

Thursday June 28, 2018

Today we went to the Maetang River. We hiked and crawled over the rocks to the waterfall at the end of the gorge We were surrounded by sugarcane and lychee trees. Once we reached the end of our hike, the gorge opened up to a beautiful waterfall, surrounded by bamboo. Some of us jumped in the pool under the waterfall, laughing and playing, but also realizing how truly small we are compared to the awe-inspiring scale of nature. After the hike, we had originally intended to go white water rafting, but heavy rains and rising water levels didn’t allow for that. As an alternative, we visited central plaza mall, where some of us got massages, while others roamed to find food or go shopping.

Some highlights of the day included swimming under the waterfall, karaoke at the end of the day back at homebase, and experiencing Thai massages. Some challenges of the day were the rain on our hike, which made rocks slippery and hiking more difficult. Some of us were also disappointed by the cancellation of white water rafting. Many of us had been looking forward to the rafting, because a lot of us hadn’t done it before and were excited about seeing the terrain from a different perspective.

We learned that having a positive attitude will get you through most challenges, or at least make slippery rocks more bearable.

-by Alecia Cartwright and Alice Nobles

Friday June 29, 2018

A highlight of the day today was that we got to walk around and shop in the Chiang Mai night market bazaar with all the different exotic food and interesting new clothes. Many of us bought items for ourselves and people back home to introduce them to the culture

A challenge for today was that we had so many exciting and fun things to buy for many of us it was difficult not to overspend. Recognizing we would have other opportunities, and figuring out what we genuinely wanted or not was difficult when we were presented with a opportunity to own so many new things for the first time.

We learned a lot today, but something specific was when we ate ate the monsoon tea shop. One of the employees talked to us about the history of the original tea plant and how it originated from Southeast Asia. We learned how it was was fermented and originally used to spice food. Only later was used for tea. He told us how the tea plant has been changed to fill the demand for tea and he talked about how the company’s mission was to bring back the natural tea plant to plant and use the way it was in the beginning because it was more natural and didn’t require deforesting.

Sunday July 1, 2018

Today we went to a elephant camp and (an elephant) poopoo paper park. The highlight of the day for us was the poopoo park and seeing how elephant poop was made into paper.

One challenge was going to the elephant camp and seeing all the elephants in the enclosures but it was still a fun learning experience and interesting to see. We learned about how our peers felt regarding the elephants in their enclosures. There were a lot of really great perspectives shared. ​​

Written by: Anna D’Agui and Alexandra Urbat

Monday July 2, 2018

The Chai Lai Orchid is a truly beautiful place. It was a pleasure to meet the friendly co-owners of the organization, and a joy to spend the afternoon with the elephant residents. A definite highlight was meeting the dear baby elephant (only three weeks old!). Watching her parade her miniature, adorably uncoordinated body around was incredible, and she was as playful as any puppy I’ve ever met. I miss her already, and can’t wait to see her tomorrow.

On another note, I can barely believe this is the last week of service. It seems impossible to picture the final day of this trip approaching. Thailand has felt surprisingly comfortable to me, which I’m sure I can attribute to the lovely people I’m with. This has been a beautiful whirlwind of a journey, and I feel so grateful to conclude it at such a beautiful place.

Written by: Kate Netto

Tuesday July 3, 2018

Today was our first day of service at Chai Lai Orchid elephant camp. The emotions were very hyped up this morning and we were all excited to work with elephants and their mahouts. All our groups split up to do different volunteer work before lunch. After lunch, we had a conversation about our experience, which, for the majority of us, was very difficult. This is because we all have very mixed opinions about the things we have experienced in the past couple of days.

Arguably, the best moment of the day was being able to bathe the elephant’s first hand in the river. Every single person had a smile on their face. We learned the background for why GLA created the experience for us all in the first place. Always great to work and be inspired by the people we’ve met on our journey!

Wednesday July 4, 2018

Today we spent the day with elephants at Chai Lai Orchid, which was a ton of fun. While we had to work hard taking cleaning up after and feeding the elephants with the Mahouts, we got to spend our breaks with the elephants. After indulging in lunch, we split into two groups. Half of us chose to hike up to a waterfall to swim. The rest helped around the elephant camp by planting nearly 75 pineapple plants.

Although we split up for the afternoon, at night we spent time around a campfire, telling stories and having a generally great time. We got to release paper lanterns into the night, and they were absolutely beautiful! All in all, it was an enjoyable and productive day, and we look forward to spending more time at Chai Lai Orchid.

-Written by Stephanie Wu

 

Thursday July 5, 2018

Today’s highlight was sleeping in an extra hour before getting up for service. Just kidding! Today was filled with excitement – we split into groups and rotated through different activities. One group made herb medicine balls for the elephants. It was awesome to feed and help these magnificent creatures.

Despite all the days fun, the heat wore us down. With sweat dripping off our faces, the whole group worked hard to assist Chai Lai Orchid with some daily tasks. Some of us even helped build a fence to keep a pair of young mischievous elephants in.

With only a few days left we really had to made this one count. #awesomeday #lovegla

Friday July 6, 2018

Today we started our morning service off with our elephants. Our group got to take the three week old baby and her mother for a walk in the jungle. We learned that, like our mothers, the mother elephant is very protective of her child. When she feels like her baby is threatened she will growl as a way to ward off the threat.

For our afternoon service we got to have a great conversation with some Karen (ethnic group from Myanmar/Thailand border area) refugees who are now trying to further their English skills so they can start their own businesses, work in the tourism industry, or get their dream job. We ended the day with a nice refreshing cool down in the river.

Before dinner we had a short Muay Thai class, which is their form of boxing. Overall today was a great day!

Written by: Olivia Pullin

Sunday July 8, 2018

Our last day in Thailand together is one for the books. It was emotional, fun, and memorable. Some of us finished with service while others trekked in the jungle with elephants and ate by a campfire.

We dressed up for dinner and shared our appreciation for one another through multiple activities. The most challenging part of today was unique to this day, it was about of enjoying the time we had left but not getting too emotional knowing it was about to end. We know we will miss each other and remember these past three weeks with the best light (even if we got on each other’s nerves at times.)

We learned how each individual has their own quirks and can be an incredible contribution. We also learned that while three weeks can be a lot but it can also be so little. I think we can safely say we will miss GLA and every opportunity that has been given to us.

Written by: Isabel Powell and Olivia Clossick