Time Capsule Letter

Twenty three highschool students flew from a variety of places throughout our home, and presently our only, planet. You all had at least a few ideas of what this grand, life-changing experence would entail. Perhaps a couple of you imagined elephant poop, but less-likely smearing it onto trees — to protect them!

Everyone was surprised when they realized the elephant poop didn’t smell that bad! I watched twenty-three teenagers uneasily begin mixing poop, mud, and water, until I experienced minor disbelief, yet a great deal of satisfaction, as those same teenager began laughing and having different degrees of a good time.

In retrospect, those who were excited and shared a positive attitude made it easier for everyone, which was all of you! Trudging through thick grasses, while cutting out invasive plants, a couple students discovered wasps and walked away with stinging evidence! The responses were vastly different, but still echo a deeper message.

At this point, half of the group was weary and unwilling to trudge into the grasses, a sort of collective hysteria, which required reassurance and motivation to surmount. However, the group collectively returned to work, though a bit more wearily, and teamwork undeniably emerged from the unexpected.

Working in the sweaty, blazing summer heat lead us happily into “Jack Talk.” We all viscerally experienced a condensed version of jacks life. Remember?, It was a story of adventure, uncertainty, trials, and self discovery. He reassured you that if you stay positive, take the road less traveled and stay open to life’s lessons, that you will find your way! Jack’s talks culminated with the elephants shaking their heads in indecision over whether or not to swim!

We all experienced chills when the elephants finally swam and trumpeted their excitement. Wonder spread collectively as we observed the elephants social expressions, which culminated with the one elephant artfully covered in mud and dirt, elegantly displaying herself as some sort of kaleidoscopic expression of all the beauty in life.

To formally celebrate finishing the first half of service, we went to the night market, one of the first experiences in the local community. In groups you all strolled, bought souvineers and marvelled at the Thai market.

After the final day of service, we packed up and set out for Phu Chi Fa, where we had the Fortune of experiening local cuisine, an amazing cultural display of dancing, martial arts, and firey acrobatics! The campfire marked an epic transition in our living conditions as we left the world of endless heat and dove into the land of the air conn!

The next morning, everyone woke up on time at 430 am for a sunrise hike! We jumped into the back of the locals trucks and road a short way to the trailhead. A short hike culminated on the top of the mountain over looking the beautiful, rolling mountains, with clouds filling the valley floors. We were met with a whipping, chilling wind. The lack of a colorful sunrise was forgotten in the unmistakeably magnificent display of rolling mountains.

That same evening, lesson planning began for teaching English the following day. You all adapted smoothly to the playful, carefree attitudes of the Thai children. You all excelled at creating a variety of games and activities for the students to learn.

Most everyday the group cooled off the exceedingly challenging temperatures in the pool and playing post-dinner soccer on the field! The trip culminated with Buddha Caves and hot springs!

We hope you all learned how capable you truly are after all the challenges you overcame in Thailand. Never stop learning, growing, and evolving to the best version of you—that only you can be! We wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

-Dee

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Wednesday July 3, 2019

It was a 7am wake up for us today. We departed from home base ( Chang Garden) to meet and greet the first half of students that were arriving into Chiang Rai around 8:55am. They came through the arrival gates with smiles and tired eyes but were excited and ready to start their adventure!

We arrived at the Elephant Valley Sanctuary, (2nd home base), around 10am. Luggage was unpacked, lunch was enjoyed, then the students played a few ice breakers. The first game had students say their name and one thing they would bring to a picnic, that starts with the same first letter of their name.

The second game had students in two circles which moved in opposite direction then students paired up from each circle once the music stopped. The pair were prompted with a question or topic they would discuss to get to know each other better.

Once the ice breakers were finished students were able to relax, chat, and play cards until the second half of students arrived.

Everyone except two students whose flights were delayed, enjoyed “Jacks’ house rules” and dinner. All students were ready to sleep by 8 pm.

We are excited to be working with your children and waiting for our two students to arrive safely. Wish them a safe flight 🙂

PS: picture with all students will be sent with tomorrows’ blog:)

🙂 Kasandra, Keenan and Dee

Thursday July 4, 2019

Our first full day started off with a great breakfast of fried eggs, omelettes, toast and cereal. Breakfast was followed by some icebreaker games to get to know each other better.

After that we started orientation. We went over safety rules, the history of GLA and some other important topics like our community agreement and our roommate agreement. We also went over the code of conduct, where we read over important rules and then performed a role play of each. It was funny because we were acting out the ways in which we wouldn’t follow the rules.

We had some free time before lunch to relax and take in all the information. Lunch consisted of veggies, fish, eggs and some other goodies. After lunch, we ran a group activity. We decided on playing Ninja all together while waiting for another discussion led by a local Thai person who also works here at the Sanctuary. Her name was JJ and she talked to us about some cultural do’s and don’ts.

We had a little more free time to shower and relax before we met for chow circle. Chow circle is a way for us to come together and reflect and give shout outs for the good things that happen each day.
When this was finished it was dinner time! For dinner we had veggie tempura, pork and a white chicken soup.
After dinner we gathered together for an activity. Tonight we watched a video which showed how poorly elephants are treated because of the tourism industry. Lastly after a long day, we ended off by splitting into two mentor groups where we discussed and shared our thoughts on similarities and differences between people, places and cultures.

It was a busy, but fun day! Now we are off to bed.

-by Abigail and Abraham

Friday July 5, 2019

Hello parents 🙂

Today is July 5th, we stared off the day by eating breakfast with some delicious homemade jams, Mango and passion fruit. Then we had an elephant orientation, where we learned how Elephant Valley Thailand treats their Elephants.

Today we even got to see the elephants up close for the first time! Before entering the area where the elephants live, we had to dip the soles of our shoes in a bucket of solution to avoid transmitting human diseases to the elephants. We also talked about elephant’s expressions, such as when they move their ears back and forth they are happy, and when their ears are pinned back they are concentrating.

After watching them for a while we got to watch their mahouts give them a bath and we got to help feed them bananas as a snack. For lunch we had curry, lots of veggies and the groups’ favorite, sticky rice. We are always satisfied after every meal.

We then got to see the male elephant who is currently musking which is similar to puberty and makes the elephant confused and aggressive (the oil secreted from his head makes him this way). After more elephant observation a bunch of us had a ping pong tournament in which Javier won.

We were able to feed the elephants again, this time with banana leaves and banana tree trunks, then we played a group game of mafia. During free time we used a lot of brain power to solve difficult riddles. For dinner we enjoyed western style cuisine including spaghetti and French Fries.

Finally, we finished off the day with an elephant and conservation debate including group representatives that included mahouts, an elephant camp, tourists and rice farmers. We learned that compromise and listening to others perspectives is the best solution to these issues. We are looking forward to starting our service work tomorrow.

Signing off,
Allison and Addison Sawadee ka (goodbye)

Saturday July 6, 2019

We woke up today to an early 7:30 morning breakfast consisting of cereal, eggs, toasts, and the beloved mango (mamwng in Thai). And then, we started service with poo patrol (how exciting)! This involved picking up elephant poop and gathering it into a big pile. Good thing the poo didn’t smell too bad!

Afterwards, we mixed the poop up with some water and broken-up dirt then slapped the mush on the trees. Elephants like to keep away from their own poo, so putting poop on the trees keeps the elephants away and stops them from eating or breaking the tree bark. After service, we had lunch consisting of the usual dishes (chicken curry, seasoned fish and greens).

For service in the afternoon, we spent an hour uprooting plants that took nitrogen from the soil (it also was not a food source for the elephants, so the plant only had negative effects). The tricky part was that if you didn’t pull up the roots and only pulled the stem, 3 more plants would grow in its place (kind of like a hydra). After this, we had an educational talk with Jack (Sanctuary owner) about elephant behaviors and body languages and got the chance to feed the elephants for the second time.

Finally, everyone took a desperately needed shower break and at 6:00 pm, we gathered for dinner, we ate sausage, pork balls, fried rice and papaya salad. After dinner, we headed to the Saturday night market in Chang Rai (about a 30 min van ride) and brought several exciting souvenirs ranging from T-shirts, necklaces, art pieces and food. We returned from a jam packed day, ready to get to bed but excited for tomorrow!

-by Cameron Kalik and Cara Dunleavy

Sunday July 7, 2019

We started off with an early morning waking up at 7:30 for breakfast. We had omelettes, cereal, jams, toast, and mangoes. We then went for the usual clean up of the elephant poop. After that, we began on our service for the day, which consisted of grounding up elephants poop and clay with water. We used this mixture to protect trees from elephants eating the bark and scratching against the trees. After all of the hard work, we were relieved to come back to a tasty lunch consisting of sticky rice, vegetables, fish and tofu.

After lunch, we took a quick break to play mafia, and then went back to hard work and sweat. For our afternoon service work, we spent a couple hours cutting down prickly shy trees in order to allow the food for the elephants to grow. Next, we had a Jack Talk about the body language of an elephant and how the new elephant was adapting to his environment. After the Jack Talk, we fed the elephants different parts of the banana tree and returned to a well earned dinner, consisting of kao soi (chicken curry soup) french fries, watermelon, and dragonfruit.

In the evening, we learned about our capstone projects and how we can start a S.M.A.R.T. goal, and communicated our ideas to our mentors. Then we met for our mentor groups in which we participated in fun activities.

After a long day of hard work and enjoyable activities, everyone was ready to go to bed.

Written by Evie and Joel

Monday July 8, 2019

Today we started off the morning with breakfast and then later poo patrol. We all did a great job cleaning up after the elephants. After that we took a break, and then observed the elephants. We also got a great talk from Jack about following your passion. It was informative and interesting to hear a different perspective.
After a great morning, we had lunch. As always, the food was amazing!

After lunch we played a fun game called psychiatrist. Followed by more elephant observations where we got to watch the elephants swim which was really amazing. They played in the water and then started scratching themselves and throwing sand on their backs. It was really entertaining.

At 4:00 we fed the elephants parts of banana trees and banana leaves. We then took a break until Chow Circle. Our word of the day was “ping pong” and the word for the power clap was “laughter”. This was very fitting for today as there were lots of laughs throughout the day.

After, we had an amazing last dinner at Elephant Valley. Then we took a walk to a corner store and the scenery was immensely beautiful. We all explored the store and bought snacks and ice cream. After getting back from the store, we packed and then watched a movie.

-by Javier and Jenna

Tuesday July 9, 2019

After breakfast, we packed up and left Elephant Valley in three vans. We stopped at a Thai market to learn about different Thai foods from two chefs. Afterward we drove to her cooking school and we were taught how to prepare classic Thai dishes such as Green Cury, Coconut Milk Banana dessert, and papayas salad.

After our incredible meal, we embarked on a journey to Phu Chi Fa in the mountains of northern Thailand. Once we arrived after 2 hours, we were greeted with a dinner and a gorgeous view of the mountains. We then went to watch a traditional Martial Arts demonstration and a child folk dance.

After the show was over, GLA donated money in thanks in our names. Later on, we all bonded together around a campfire which ended our amazing day.

-by Sydney and Isabelle

Wednesday July 10, 2019

Today we woke up at 4:30 am to go for a hike to see the sunrise at Puchifa. We saw an amazing view up above the clouds and then hiked back down where we awaited a breakfast of tofu and mushroom soup. Shortly after, we finished up packing and left for our next home base at Chang Garden Resort.

Along the way, we stopped at a 7-11 to get some local Thai snacks for our long car ride to a mall where we could purchase lunch. We then traveled to Mae Sai market where we were right near the border of Thailand and Myanmar. After an hour of shopping, we headed back to the vans and drove until we reached our home base.

After a few minutes of settling down and unpacking, we went for a swim and we played fun pool games. Then we ate a delicious dinner and prepared for our first day of teaching at the local school.

-by Kat and Julia

Thursday July 11, 2019

Today was a great day for our lovely GLA team. We are becoming closer and closer by the day, and developing life long friendships. This morning was a little later of a start than what we have grown accustomed to, but it was nice to slow things down a little. Breakfast at seven consisted of fresh pineapple, and dragonfruit, as well as eggs, rice, vegetables, toast, and cereal. After that it was off to our first day of teaching at the Thai school.

We gathered the materials we made last night, dressed in our more formal clothes, and headed in to meet our extremely excited students. We were thrilled by their enthusiasm, and attempted to channel their endless energy into learning and remembering as much English as we could teach them. After morning classes we went back to the “teachers lounge” and ate a lunch of fried egg tofu, and vegetable stir fry. Then many of us decided to spend our break playing with and entertaining the kids at recess. (Many piggyback rides were given.) For the last class of the day, we taught the older kids many topics like shopping mall, and grocery store vocabulary.

When school ended we debriefed and exhaustedly headed back to the vans. When we arrived back at the Chang Garden Resort (our home-base) we all got changed into our bathing suits and headed to the pool for a fun game. In each group there were 3 people, each with an important job. One person was the eyes and had to use gestures to communicate to the second person who yelled the directions to the third person. The third person was in the water and couldn’t see so they could only use the vocal directions they were being given. We had to work together to find our water bottle in the water. This game taught us the importance of filtering out the unimportant voices and focusing only on the important voices and yourself.

Next, we went to dinner, which consisted of delicious spaghetti along with fresh fruit. After dinner we worked on making more materials for teaching our students tomorrow. Next we watched a PowerPoint and had a group chat about mindfulness. We learned (and were reminded) to be in the present and to breathe and take a moment to reflect before reacting in all situations. We also learned some methods on how to solve conflicts peacefully with others and within ourselves and how to take some deep breaths and relax. After a long, busy day we then all headed to bed.

-By Katie and Willow

Friday July 12, 2019

Greetings to all parents and blog-readers! We started our day at 7:00 sharp for breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, rice, veggies and fruit! We then went straight to the school after breakfast.

After a long car ride, we finally arrived with open hearts and minds ready to teach. We taught the same topics as yesterday but used different games and strategies to help the students learn. We played a lot and were so happy to make the students laugh. It was our last teaching day so we took pictures with the students and said our goodbyes until Monday where we will join them at a temple for their holiday celebration.

Everyone had a blast teaching the students, and we were all exhausted afterwards. To cool off, we visited a Huay Mae Sai waterfall Waterfall! We had to hike through rocky paths and steps for about 700m to reach the water. The water was cold, but the scenery was gorgeous. We spent time in the water and then relaxed in the sun.

After a long day of swimming and teaching, we were all exhausted when we arrived back at home base. We had chicken fried rice for dinner. And then to unwind, many students engaged in an absolute bloodbath on the soccer pitch. It was competitive but fun!

Overall, today was full of laughs and excitement.

-by Meredith and Mark

Saturday July 13, 2019

Hello parents and friends🙂

This mornings’ breakfast was at 830. We had eggs, toast and bacon! We had a full day ahead of us, so we left homebase around 930. We first drove to the Blue Temple, where we learned that artists (apprentice) from the White temple helped create it. After that, we drove to another temple that had a small museum and a beautiful Emerald Buddhist sculpture. After this temple we stopped to have lunch at a buffet. There was a good mix of both Thai food and Western food.

Our third destination was the Wat Huay Pla Kang temple where we took an elevator to the top and saw an amazing view through the statue’s eyes. The statue was of a very large woman sitting. Close by this statue, there were two other temples that we explored. Our last temple was the White Temple which had a large golden bathroom and is said to be the nicest bathroom in the world. It was the biggest temple we had seen for the day. Each building was so beautifully made with many intricate details.

After our sight seeing, we went home for a quick dinner and then at 715 we headed to the night market. We spent time shopping for souvenirs and traditional accessories. It was smaller than the first market we went too, but it had everything we could have ever needed. We bought fresh fruit smoothies and ice cream too!

-By Michelle and Mia

Sunday July 14, 2019

Hello parents, we started our morning at 8am. We were able to experience a few amazing age old traditions, at the elephant peace project! We spent the day feeding, washing, and got to experience an elephant ceremony. We learned so much about the Keren tribe and about how they would do things in their daily lives.

We started by taking a truck up a dirt road in order to get to the location where we would get outfits for the day that are made by the tribe. We later found out how these were made, how long it took to make them and we learned a lot about the history of the peace project. We also learned about Dada (the owner of the project) and how she started her peace camp and the history of her culture, family and education.

After we were properly dressed to fit in with the people of the tribe, we cut and prepared the elephant food with the mahoot, and tried to form a connection with the elephants. Then we walked down the stream with the elephants to the bathing area and we were able to get close and wash the elephants and splash around in the water ourselves. After this we had lunch in a building that was sponsored by the GLA program. We were lucky enough to be a part of a elephant blessing ceremony and were able to participate as well.

After saying our final goodbyes to the elephants. Some of the group took quick dip in the pool before dinner, after we ate a large group of the students went to go play a game of soccer (Sriracha versus The Sapphires). We ended the night by going over and improving our capstones, and goals for when we return home. We are excited for a busy last full day tomorrow!!!!

Written by Sara and Monica 🌏

Monday July 15, 2019

Today we woke up for our last day. The day was chill and not too eventful. First we went to the Buddha cave and explored the caves. There were bats , stray cats and a monk. We all enjoyed taking photos in the cave and by the huge Buddha above the river. Then we went to the hot springs for an hour.

We boiled quail eggs, talked and swam for a while. Afterwards, we rode to the school to prepare for the ceremony at the temples and had lunch. The ceremony time was pushed back unfortunately so we weren’t able to attend. On the way back home we made our last 7/11 stop with the group and bought snacks.

Next we had free time, did some packing and hanging with each other. Then we watched a surprise video after our last chow circle. After the video we ate dinner and wrote letters to each other and put them in envelopes dedicated to each person. Then we presented our capstone projects to the whole group and gave each other feedback. Lastly we took a long swim together, playing games and having fun.

-by Jade and Abraham

Tuesday July 16, 2019

This morning was an early wake up call, with breakfast at 630am! Three lovely students had flights to catch so we packed up the van and departed home base at 7am.
Back home, the rest of the students were enjoying an 830am breakfast. They spent the day packing up their belongings and hanging out together.
After lunch, the remaining 20 students brought their luggage to the vans, hopped in, and off we went. It was a somewhat joyful ride, with music blaring, sing alongs and of course, a few tears.

It took about an hour for everyone to check in and get their boarding passes. But once that was done with, we wandered up to the food court for some smoothies and comfort food. It wasn’t long before we were hugging and saying our final goodbyes. We watched you walk through security and waved goodbye.

Now that we are back at home base, it feels empty and has us missing you already! We hope that all of you enjoyed your time with us, and throughout this program.

Safe travels!

Dee, Keenan and Kasandra

Time Capsule Letter

We can’t believe it has already been so long since our Thailand trip ended! I can still remember the delicious meals we shared at Chang Garden and EVT. It seems like yesterday that you all were slathering elephant poo on trees and playing with kids at our school. You’re probably back in school (or starting college or in Japan!) but we wanted you to know that we are still thinking of you and the memories we made this summer in Thailand.

Thank you for your commitment to making a positive impact on the world. I encourage you to continue learning all that you can about issues that you are passionate about at home. We saw an impact at the school, where the kids gained confidence with foreigners and felt comfortable taking risks in English class. You’ll be thrilled to know that EVT got a 5th elephant!

And more importantly, the knowledge YOU gained on this trip will serve you and your community for the rest of your life! We now know how complex animal and environmental conservation are. And we were inspired by Dada’s inspirational leadership as she endeavors to highlight the culture of community, empower local artisans, and treat elephants as her brothers and sisters. It is truly inspirational to witness someone step into leadership with grace and strength to do better for themself and for their community (animal and human!).

Another thing I can’t forget is how much fun we had together! You guys were a huge part of making this trip so fun by being a really close knit group. We experienced Thai culture by learning to haggle at the market, prepare delicious Thai cuisine, and pick up a few key Thai phrases. What a joy to do all of these things with beautiful landscapes around us!

We worked really hard and also had a blast together. Whether it was trips to Poo Poo Island, to the White Temple, or to the beautiful view at Phu Chi Pha we all had a great time be learning, growing and exploring together!

Thanks for helping to make these special memories in an amazing place and good luck as you become the change!!

Cheers,

Melissa, Emma and the GLA Thailand team

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Monday June 17, 2019

Our group has arrived safely in Thailand. We’re excited to learn about Elephants and conservation, as well as to stretch our comfort zones!

-GLA Program Staff

Wednesday June 19, 2019

Today, we taught English and received a warm welcome from our students. A highlight was connecting with the Thai students. We’ll write a longer blog tomorrow about our great day at school tomorrow because we’re so busy preparing for our classes tomorrow. But here are some pics!

Thursday June 20, 2019

International air travel is complicated. Time zones are complicated. The Thai language is complicated (a few numbers, thank you, and hello take over all my brain power). But saying I’m having a great time is easy. How could I not be? Eating good food, having great company, being surrounded by adorable kids, and amazing scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Everyone here is so nice and accepting of us annoying American tourists.

Our first full day of teaching started with one of my roommates jumping on my bed to wake me up at the excruciating hour of 6:30. After a delicious breakfast, we got on a bus for a forty minute trip to the school. When we got there, we were greeted with the sight of tons of kids waving at us (which was probably the best welcome any of us could think of), and then we were led to a meeting room. We were then introduced to the students during their flag ceremony, which is an event which happens every morning in Thai schools.

We then went to our first class, which for me and my group was the sixth grade class or prathom six in Thai. We spent an hour playing various games with the kids to help them learn their English vocab. We used games like Simon Says, a modified tic-tac-toe, and, the crowd favorite, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes. After our sixth grade class, we were led to our next class, which was fourth grade.

The fourth graders got really into the games, and we ended up having them doing a relay race for the last few minutes of class. After that we had lunch, where for the first thirty-ish minutes we ate and then we got to go see how all the kids spent their lunch. First, we went and saw the first graders, who were very interested in Hattie’s dance moves. Then we split off (leaving Hattie to dance with the kids for a little while). We ran into a few of our fourth grade students who led us around the school and to the library, where we sat with them for a while.

Towards the end of lunch, we decided to go to a small drink shop right outside the school. We walked a little ways past our meeting room and were met with tons of kids who called all of us teacher and gave us hugs and high fives even though most of us hadn’t seen a lot of those kids before. It’s so sweet to see how excited all the kids get when they see any of us. When we finally left the gang of kids, we got our drinks and then headed to our next class. Next, we taught the fifth graders. We taught them greetings, things like hello, good morning, how are you, etc.

After our last class, we went back on the bus and stopped by a grocery store to pick up snacks and other things, before returning to our home base. When we returned, we had a quick meeting with our group to see what we thought we could improve on the next day and then had dinner. I have to take a second here to rave about the food because it is so insanely good, it’s pretty much all we can talk about when eating.

Afterwards we planned for our classes the next day, and then went to our houses. My roommates and I showered, then tried tons of Thai snacks and candy we had bought that day. We’re all extremely excited to see what else is to come in our short two weeks here!

Sawa di ka!

by Lucy Oxford

Saturday June 22, 2019

Yesterday (21 of June) was a whirlwind! It was our last day volunteering at the school. We left for the school at 9, and I had my first class with pratom 3. Then, I had pratom 2, who I had taught the day earlier and it was so fun to teach them again! Some of the kids even remembered my name-it was so cute. We had lunch with two teachers, and we got to ask them questions about their profession, and what it is like to work as a teacher in Thailand. Then after lunch, we had our last class, and I taught pratom 1. When we left, the kids followed us to the van and chased us while we drove away! I’m really going to miss the kids.

This morning, we got up early and went to the market with a tour guide to start our cooking class. There, we gathered ingredients to make a four course meal! While we were in the market, we got to try sticky rice and a thai dessert made of taro root! I didn’t like the dessert’s texture, but it tasted really good. It was cool seeing all of the local foods and fresh vegetables, there were so many things we don’t have in the United States. In the class, we made papaya salad, Tom yum soup, and green curry!

In the afternoon, the group went to a beautiful hidden waterfall! The cool water felt nice after our long and hot day. After swimming in the water, exploring the river, and watching locals jump from the top of the falls, we headed back home while watching the amazing sunset through our car windows.

-by Mary Grace Hall

Sunday June 23, 2019

I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that Sunday held one of the colleat experiences of my life. The gang woke up early that morning and left for the hills of the Karen Tribe. There, we met a wonderful and inspiring woman named Dada, who created the Elephant Peace Project, which was the place we spent the first half of our day. After giving us traditional hill tribe clothing to wear, Dada led us to the living space of her beautiful elephants. At Elephant Peace, we chopped up elephant food, fed the four elephants, and walked them upstream to give them a bath in the river. My personal favorite part about this experiences were all the hugs and kisses I gave to the animals. They were such sweeties!

After feeding and bathig her elephants, we had lunch in a treehouse while Dada explained to us how she started this project and the complexities of elephant conservation. Her story and view points were truly inspiring to the group. Her passion and love for the elephants made me all the more excited for the days to come.

After leaving Elephant Peace, we headed to Phu Chi Fa, which is right on the border of Thailand and Laos. The hill trive people in Phu Chi Fa gave us a show from their local marshall arts school that night. We were all amazed at the flips and tricks that seemed humanly impossible!

At 5 in the morning, we hiked up to a cliff to watch the sunrise. Technically, that morning, the gang was in Thailand AND laos! We can all agree that our trip to Loas was so amazing, it felt like it only lasted an hour! Well, it did but still it was pretty amazing. So far, I’ve grown to love the people I’ve met, both from Thailand and in the GLA program. We have gone through so many adventures together and Iam excited for what is to come. Next stop: Elephant Valley Thailand!!

-Joanna Hall

Tuesday June 25, 2019

Yesterday we had to wish our old home goodbye and move to our next task at hand, the elephants. At this new location we finally got to meet the elephants we will be rooming with for the next six days. So far we’ve put in a lot of hard labor, from cleaning up after the elephants to simply just observing them, but in the end we know it will pay off. The lack of AC at our new crib has inspired us to rap about our last 48 hours.

Now, this is a story about how
My life got flipped-turned upside
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit there
without further ado
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of an island called poo poo

We rolled up to the new joint
Exhausted at this point
But it was worth it
Because this place is lit

We fed the Ellies
Filled their bellies
When the sun rose
We didn’t oppose
To scoop the poop

We mixed the goods (poop stew)
And spread it on the woods
We stopped for a break
And watched the Ellies play in the lake
We’re about to drop
But we decided to shop

Poop Stew Recipe
50lbs elephant poop
50lbs authentic Thai mud
20L well water
Mix ingredients well with Hoe for about 30 minutes
Then distribute final product onto trees to prevent elephants from making the bark into a meal

-by Two Elefantz (Hattie Harden and Amber Sites)

More pics from Tuesday:

Friday June 28, 2019

Yesterday our day started with picking up elephant poop (it’s not as bad as you’d think). After a short break, we worked for an hour or two in the sun, pulling weeds out of the elephant’s food. Then we had some lunch, another short break, and spread elephant poop and mud all over the trees. Some of the mixture got in my hair, arms, and some even landed on my face! Despite how it sounds, it was a really fun day. Knowing that I’m helping the elephants makes everything so much easier. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted but I felt so great about the work I had done.

Today was a whirlwind we woke up, had breakfast, and started our last day of service with picking up elephant poop. After a short break we pulled more weeds that were growing in the elephants grass, then had another break and started packing (Lizzy and Dylan showed everyone how to fold properly) until lunch. Then we had observation where we sat in the grass with Jack (the owner of the sanctuary) and he talked to us about his life and how to be successful and passionate about what we believe in. Then we had dinner, and had chow circle where we told everyone how much we appreciate them and wrote letters to our future selves about our trip. Then “we went to bed” most of the girls had a sleepover on our living room floor and prepared for our last day together.

-by Elizabeth Smith and Tiana De Selva

Time Capsule Letter

Twenty-two high school students flew from a variety of places throughout the United
States. Oh! And one big city in Canada too! We’re sure you all had at least a few ideas
of what this grand, life-changing experience would entail. Perhaps a couple of you may
have imagined elephant poop, probably less-likely you’d be smearing it onto trees — but
you did it and helped to protect the trees!

Do you remember how happy of a surprise it was when you realized the elephant poop didn't smell that bad? It was great to watch all of you students uneasily begin mixing poop, mud, and water. It wasn’t long before we were in minor disbelief, yet at the same time, experiencing a great deal of satisfaction, as all of you began laughing and having different degrees of a good time.

In retrospect, those who were excited and shared a positive attitude made it easier for everyone, which was pretty much every single one of you! It was a wonderful feeling when the
elephant service culminated with everyone dancing and stomping around the tree like a
ritual of finality! Working in the sweaty, blazing summer heat, lead us happily into a couple "Jack Talks."

We all unexpectedly but happily experienced a condensed version of Jack’s life.
Remember? It was a story of adventure, uncertainty, trials, and self-discovery. He
reassured you that if you stay positive, keep looking, and stay open to life’s lessons, that
you will find your way! The first treat of adventure arrived and it was finally time for us to
hit the night market – one of the first experiences in the local community.

In groups you all strolled, bought souvenirs and marveled at the whirlwind that was a Thai market. The following day, we packed up and set out for Phu Chi Fa, where we had the fortune
of experiencing local cuisine, an amazing display of dancing, martial arts, and fiery
acrobatics! This marked an epic transition in our living conditions as we left the world of
endless heat and dove into the land of air conditioning! 

The next morning, everyone woke up, on time, at 430am for a sunrise hike! We jumped
into the back of the locals’ trucks and road in the rain to the trailhead. After a short
760m hike to the top of the mountain, we were overlooking the beautiful, rolling
mountains, with clouds filling the valley floors. What a beautiful, wet and calming
experience for us all to sit and enjoy the view. 

Before we knew it, everyone was transitioning into lesson planning mode for teaching
English the following day. You all adapted smoothly to the playful, carefree attitudes of
the Thai children. You all excelled at creating a variety of games and activities for the
students to learn. It was evident that you all made a difference, no matter how small, to
each of those students. 

What a relief to cap off a long day of teaching with a nice swim in the cool pool. It
seemed to be the perfect place for you to continue building bonds, form friendships and
beat the heat! During our last pool time we discussed all of the goals which you would
accomplish when you’d returned home. We believe in you. Please keep us updated,
because we would love to hear what you were able to accomplish.
By Keenan, Kasandra and Dee

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Monday June 17, 2019

GLA staff woke bright and early, giddy with excitement for the arrival of the passionate and promising students. Staff was planning to head to the airport for the first wave of arriving students, however, delayed flights pushed the initial arrival time to 2:35 pm. The time change allowed staff and one student who arrived early, Jacobe, to set out for the Elephant Valley Thailand home-base to settle in before all of the adventure, service learning, and fun began.

Once at the airport, flights landed around 2:30 and 3:30 pm and waves of our students arrived through the gates labeled “Domestic Flights” and “International Flights” shortly thereafter, sporting their blue “Be The Change” T-shirts. The students were able to exchange money and get refreshments if they wanted. We can see they were tired but they stayed active and seemed happy to have been on land.

Once they arrived at EVT, they found their room assignments and started to unpack, settle in and relax before meeting with Jack at 5:00pm. Jack is the owner of EVT and chatted with the students about the house rules and expectations. Students were eager to hear what he had to say and were all ears during the talk.

Immediately following the chat, we had our first “Chow Circle” which is a circle where students and staff can express daily shout-outs and announcements. Right after, dinner was served! Students ate vegetable friend rice, spring rolls, Chinese kale and some hot dogs just for a taste of familiar food on their first night.

After dinner, free time! Students played pool and ping pong, they wandered the sanctuary and they took the time to shower their long travels off. The group met around 7:30pm to create roommate door signs and to bond with their new GLA friends. Most of them were jet lagged, and some were ready to dance which they did. Some of the students split off and went to sleep or played Mafia in the common area.

The final students arrived around 7:00pm exchanged money, and boarded the van, though they won’t truly see the beauty and grandeur of their surroundings until tomorrow morning due to the setting of the sun. They arrived around 8:00pm to the majority of the students already sitting around playing mafia, but were much more interested in having dinner, before engaging in the game.

Today was a good day. Be proud of your children for everyone was engaged and having fun even after their long journeys. They all did their best to stay up so they can be fresh tomorrow.

Lights were out and everyone was asleep by 9:30pm

We are very happy to have them here with us at Elephant Sanctuary Project.

Your GLA staff,

Keenan, Kasandra and Dee

Tuesday June 18, 2019

The second day at the elephant sanctuary was super chill. The food is fantastic. The scenery is fantastic. The heat is bearable. For the majority of the day we were victims of the orientation process. It was long but necessary and informative. We discussed code of conduct by making skits about some of the rules, as well as the founding of GLA and its goal as a whole and our goal here.

Cobe and I feel comfortable knowing that there are measures to prevent people from ruining our time. By following the rules, I feel like we can be more productive and build good relationships with the people around us. We also learned a lot about Thai culture from the local staff. We learned how to Wai (Thai greeting) and a few Thai words which we will practice daily. We also learned about the history and the cultural norms. We had a few breaks that we enjoyed. We used that time to get to know each and play games (card games, ping pong….)

At the end the day, we did something called mentor groups, where in each of our groups, we discussed our feelings toward the day and got to know each other better by learning our similarities and differences. We are very excited to be learning about elephants and conservation tomorrow.

Goodnight!

-by Aidan Wolf & Jacobe Ellison

Wednesday June 19, 2019

We started off the day with the breakfast of champions which prepared us for the 8am poop duty we had. That included walking through the elephants’ area and cleaning up after them while also getting to observe them during their exercise time. The majority of our day consisted of learning about elephant behaviors and how we can properly treat them as the wild animals that they are striving to become in this sanctuary. We now understand that we need to give them a lot of space so they don’t become used to the presence of humans in their living area.

We had two opportunities to feed the elephants throughout the day which consisted of bananas, and all parts of the banana tree. The elephants would line up against the fence and we handed their food directly to their trunks. We also had a fair amount of breaks throughout the day, allowing us to relax and cool down.

After a delicious and fulfilling dinner, we gathered for a very passionate debate about whaling in St. Vincent islands for cultural purposes. We were assigned in groups to argue different sides of the topic, with two mediators, and went back and forth to try and come to a compromise. Overall, it was a very informational day and we feel that everyone learned a lot.

-by Amelia and Claire

 

Thursday June 20, 2019

Today was another early morning that started with a hefty breakfast at 7:30. Afterwards, we returned to our daily poop patrol and continued cleaning up after the elephants. The heat was exhausting, but we all pushed through and managed it. After a bit of a break, we had our first full day of service in order to help the elephants.

Before starting, we split up into two groups. Half of us got gloved and booted up in order to work to deter elephants from messing with trees by spreading a mix of mud, water, and elephant poop on them. Despite the sound of it, the group managed to maintain a positive attitude throughout the experience and even managed to have fun. The others prepared an area for the male elephant by digging up uneven ground to create a flat surface and clearing paths. Each group made tremendous progress, and also got the chance to feed the elephants again.

After the hard day’s work, we were rewarded with a trip to a local night bazar. Each of us got the opportunity to walk around in groups and buy souvenirs for the first time. The trip was amazing and it was definitely a new experience for all of us. Now, we’re in for a good night’s sleep and are very excited for what tomorrow holds.

-by Maya and Parker

Friday June 21, 2019

After the usual 7:30 breakfast of mangos, eggs, and cereal, the team got started on our first task of the day: poop pickup. Then we were divided into two groups to begin our first service session. Group one transported sand to popular elephant spots such as their sleeping area and bathing place for the elephants to enjoy. The others moved sand, broke up dirt, and evened out an empty space for when the male elephant would go into musk, a period of time when a male elephant is highly irritable and aroused, in other words, not safe to be around the lady elephants.

At 11:40, everyone chipped into feeding the three female elephants some bananas. Lunch was the usual delicious sticky rice 🙂 and several Thai dishes. After a quick break, consisting of many siestas, we all went to the musk area to work together as a group. The team formed an assembly line to utilize their teamwork skills and get the job done faster. The first job was breaking up dirt using hoes and then passing buckets of that dirt down the line. Next several “dumpers” poured the dirt onto an area where the rest of the group broke it up. Finally everyone danced around “patting down the dirt” and goofing off.

After the final service session, we had a nice long break to ourselves to shower off the blood, sweat, and tears of the day (jk, no children were harmed beyond the occasional blister and a whole lot of sweat). Next, we cleaned up our area and then went to chow circle where we shout people out, gave announcements, and talked about our quote of the day “It’s the only life you got so you gotta live it BIG TIME”- Big Time Rush, then we went to dinner. For dinner we had French fries, fruit, and a northern Thai dish made of chicken, noodles, and a spicy sauce. After, we had mentor groups where we discussed where we were all from along with what it means to be from somewhere. We closed up the day with a small ted talk and a meditation. Finally, we went to bed after our full day.

-by Grace and Emily

Saturday June 22, 2019

This morning, we woke up for a 7:30 breakfast as usual and started off the day with poop patrol! While this might seem smelly and early in the morning everyone is going to miss the work as this was our last day of service at the sanctuary. After poop patrol, we had a break and then went on to the hard work of breaking up the rocks in area for the elephants and moving sand to level everything out. Everybody was super motivated and did a great job in making an assembly line.

After a delicious lunch, with sticky rice of course, we went to observe the elephants and got another “Jack talk” where we learned about being passionate about what we do in our lives and how to motivate people to get good work done. Jack was very inspiring and said things about our paths that I think we all needed to hear. After a looong talk, we decided to have a water fight where the elephants get their baths before watching them, best way to cool down in this hot weather.

To finish off the hard work and great day we had a tasty dinner with chicken legs, and a very official ping pong tournament created by one of our peers along with a lot of card games. Now we’re all going to settle in for some relaxing free time and journaling, a great way to finish out our service here. Tomorrow we’re heading off site for some cooking classes and water falls!!

-Lily and Mariela

Sunday June 23, 2019

As per usual our day begun with the delicious breakfast of fried egg, omelets, bread, cereal, a jam assortment, and what has become quite the classic, a juicy mango at a brisk 7:30. Today we strayed from our typical poop duties and service to dip our toes into all the experiences Thailand has to offer. By 8:45, we had piled into buses and made our way down the the biggest market in Chiang Rai to meet up with the owners of Swanee Thai Cooking Class. Suwanneee and Nan, our guides, would take us on a tour around the market, and teach us four traditional dishes.

In need of a pick me up, we stopped at a local coffee and juice shop housed in a hotel and bombarded the baristas with endless orders of berry smoothies and lattes. With drinks in hand, Suwannee and Nan guided us through the crowded isles of alien sights, such as headless chickens and a plethora of smells. The ingredients piled up in our bag and with a quick pit stop at a Buddhist temple, we began preparing the feast. As if Thailand isn’t hot enough, Thai food is traditionally cooked at a high heat. Lucky for us, without air conditioning. While the curry and coconut soup cooked the flames of the stove, Jenga games were played and bonds were made. The dishes ranged in spice, flavor, and filled everybody up for the hike ahead. Upon arrival at Mai sai waterfall, the activity proved to be quite a challenge.

Finally, we trekked up and down an arduous staircase with the motivation of reaching the refreshing waterfall. We swam around in the cool water and sat under the pounding waterfall until we made our return down the stairs. We returned to home base after a long day, where showers were taken and many naps were had. We sat down to yet another delicious meal and began packing for tomorrow’s festivities.

Monday June 24, 2019

We woke up for a last breakfast at the Elephant Valley Sanctuary. Then we headed to our temple adventure at 9:30am. Our first stop was at the White Temple and we stayed for an hour using the buddy system to get our way around. After a long hot journey through the temple we got some refreshing drinks at a little cafe.

We hopped into our vans and headed towards our next trip to the Blue Temple which we spent half and hour observing. As we walked around some of the students found some coconut bowl ice cream. Hopped in the van once again made our way to lunch. Lunch was a Thai styled buffet that everyone enjoyed. Then we went to temple numero tres which consisted of a very large white Buda and two other temples which we lit incense and listed three things we were grateful for. Next we went to our last temple visit the Red Temple which consisted of many individual temples with an artifact museum. Then we head to our two and a half hour car ride to PhuChiFa.

We arrived at PhuChiFa at around 6 pm right in time for a scrumptious dinner. Then after we got to enjoy watching a traditional routine activity by the local people which was some rad Kung fu and fire jumping. Part of the group went to the campfire and the other group split off to their rooms for a good nights sleep for the very very very early morning ahead for a hike to watch the sunrise (which by the way is 4: 30 am). 🙂

Goodnight.

-by Joy and Sarah Lee

Tuesday June 25, 2019

We started our day bright and early at around 4:30 am, prepared for our hike up Phu Chi Fa. We made it to the top despite the rain and sleepiness. The view was so breathtaking and fantastic! Watching the sunrise allowed us to reflect on our recent service work and connected us with nature. After our hike, we drank hot chocolate, coffee, and had a traditional Thai breakfast.

After that, we headed on a long bus ride to our new home base where we jammed to music and napped. We stopped at a shopping centre for lunch where most of us ate Western food such as KFC and Pizza Hut. We also spent a couple of hours at a market where we bought souvenirs, clothing, and drinks such as Thai tea. We were all pretty tired, but it was a fun day nonetheless!

When we finally arrived at our new home base, we were able to settle down and relax. Some of us stayed in our rooms while others enjoyed the pool. We then ate a delicious Thai dinner. Following the tasty meal, we began prepping our lesson plans for teaching. We worked hard and are very excited despite the many flying bugs! We are now headed to bed for our teaching day tomorrow.

-Sarinah and Katy

Wednesday June 26, 2019

We started the day off at 8 am with a breakfast of steamed veggies, fried eggs, toast, fresh fruit, and cereal. After breakfast, our two groups finished lesson planning to prepare for our first day of teaching. Then we loaded into the vans and drove for about 40 minutes to Mae Yao Wittaya School. We went into a meeting room for some final preparation s and met the director of the school. After that, we split into two groups, one that would teach Primary 1, Primary 2, Primary 3 (ages 4-6), and one that would teach Primary 4, Primary 5, and Primary 6 (ages 7-8).

All the kids were incredibly excited to meet us and were enthusiastic about the topics we were teaching. The first group, P1-P3, taught topics such as objects in the classroom, families, and body parts. The second group, P4-P6, taught topics such as colors, food and drink, and opposites. Two GLA students taught three to seven kids in small groups. While it was a lot of fun to interact with energetic little Thai kids, it was also difficult to keep them focused for long periods of time. We ended up playing a lot of games and singing songs to keep them engaged and excited.

After a long but exciting day of service, the group returned to home base for some well-deserved free time and swimming. Before dinner, we did a community building activity in the pool to teach communication skills. After a tasty dinner of fresh fruit, soup, rice, and chicken and veggies, we split into new mentor groups. These activities lasted until night time and we finally returned to our air conditioned rooms for a good night’s sleep.

-by Sarah Elliott and Meg

Thursday June 27, 2019

This morning, we had a delicious breakfast at 8 am. They served us very good eggs, bacon, and fruit. After breakfast, we left for the school at 9 am and we arrived at 10 am. The kids we very excited to see us again and we were super excited to teach them. The schedule was a bit different today because Primary 4-6 did not have their English classes until 2 pm. Instead of sitting around all morning, people who taught in primary 4-6 were able to help out with the other classes which were primary 1-3.

For the first three classes, everyone came together and taught primary 1-3 students. They were very energetic, excited to learn more English and even more excited to see us. The kids jumped up and down as they answered our questions or pointed to the answer. We taught 2 classes in the morning for primary 1-3 students and after lunch the students assigned primary 1-3 taught one class and the students who taught primary 4-6 taught three 20 min classes. The students who taught primary 4-6 taught the kids nature, colors, food and drinks, and more. The kids loved learning and were very enthusiastic.

After a long day of teaching, we returned back to base camp where some students spent their time running while others tanned in the sun by the pool. Afterwards, everyone joined in the pool for a cool refreshing swim. We played some fun pool games and then met before dinner for Chow Circle where people pointed out accomplishments and acts of kindness others had done. We were served a delicious dinner once Chow Circle ended and we ate some spicy, flavourful soup with rice and fruit.

After dinner, one of the leaders presented a mindfulness presentation where we learned the best ways to stay present and in the moment. We were able to have downtime afterwards and prepare for the next day of excitement and learning!

-by Caroline

Friday June 28, 2019

Today we woke up a little earlier than usual for a 7am breakfast. We ate omelets, toast, mini hotdogs, and fruit. Then we headed to the school for our last day of service at 8am. Once we arrived, we had a few minutes to finish preparing teaching materials before we were off to teach. Exhausted and prepared, we powered through our last day of service. The last day was bitter sweet. All of the kids were super cute and sad to see us go, and it was hard for us to leave them, as we had both gotten attached.

After our last class of the day, we headed back to Chang Garden Resort to have a little bit of a break before we finished our day. Some of us begrudgingly exercised and the rest of us went to relax at the pool and send some quality time together. Then after 5pm, we all headed to get ready for chow circle and dinner. But plot twist, chow circle had been cancelled and we were allowed to go straight to dinner at 6pm where we had spaghetti and some delicious homemade pasta sauce. Once we all finished eating, we got ready to go to the night market for a second time.

All of us piled into the 3 vans to head to the night market at 6:30. On the way there, the vans played music and all of us were jamming out in the vans. Once we got there, we used the buddy system and split up and shop in Thailand one last time. A lot of us had a lot of money left, as none of us realized how cheap things were going to be, so there were a lot of bags at the end of the night.

At 9pm we then headed back to home base with everyone officially exhausted. Once the geckos got taken out of the houses, people went to their rooms and went to bed which ended a long, but very rewarding day.

-by Maya and Sophia

Saturday June 29, 2019

Today we woke up bright and early for a hardy breakfast of rice, veggies, eggs, and fruit. After a nice meal we all loaded into the vans for a exciting adventure to visit the Karen tribe. As we drove we began to see the different farming methods that the Thai people use. We also saw elephants roaming the pastures and some walking on the roads!

Once we got to the top of the hill we met a sweet lady named Dada who runs the Elephant Peace Park. She explained to us what the tribe was about and what the project was about. After she showed us her tribes traditional clothing. The shirts had such intricate designs and many vibrant colors. Once we dressed in traditional clothing, we made our way to where the elephants were hanging out. We all sat down on wooden benches and started cutting elephant grass to feed the elephants later on. As we were cutting some on the elephants got a little excited and started grabbing grass right out of our hands!

We then fed them the freshly cut grass, bamboo chutes, and bananas. Once they were full and happy it was bath time. We trekked to a deeper part of the river where the elephants could lay down. With our bowls in hand we were excited to bathe these gorgeous elephants. As we played in the water some of the elephants were having the time of their lives making bubbles and splashing us as well!

With much laughter and wetness we headed back to eat lunch. Lunch was placed on traditional Karen tables made out of bamboo. We sat on the floor of bamboo huts and dug into a meal full of spices and new flavors. After, for dessert we had fresh fruit. By then, we were full and happy like the elephants so we sat down with Da-da and listened to her describe her tribe. She explained how her grandfather and her uncle encouraged her to make the business. She explained how in her tribe bamboo is used for lots of things such as fishing nets, tables, silverware, and even water bottles! After a informative talk, we looked at some of the traditional shirts, bags, and bracelets that were on sale. They were just as vibrant and intricate as the ones the Karen tribe let us borrow for the day. We were all pretty tired so we headed back to home base, but before we HAD to load up on snacks at the good ole seven eleven! 🙂

Once satisfied with our purchase we officially headed back to home base where we relaxed and swam before our group activities started. We did Capstone speeches about what we want to change when we get home and cause we would like to help. Everyone presented great ideas, and we are all excited to execute them. Once we were done it was finally dinner time. We had the traditional barbecue of hamburgers, chicken, corn, and French fries.

After dinner we got to write appreciation notes for people and stick them in their envelope to read for later. After some more swimming and down time we had mentor groups. In the mentor groups, we reviewed the importance of our capstone project, and what we can do to actually execute them. After the mentor group everyone got ready to surprise a peer because it’s her birthday tomorrow! Dee set up the surprise where Zoe would stay back with her mentor and all of us would gather to surprise her. I am pleased to say she was surprised and very happy. Once the birthday festivities of cupcakes and laughter were over we got into a little more serious vibe.

Our going away video. Although the laptop had a mind of its own we got to look back on the many adventures and many memories we made as a group. We got to see the laughter we brought each other. The tears we shared with each other. And most importantly the sweat we lost with all of our hard work. We got to see the special bonds we formed with each other, and the handprints we made on each others hearts.

Even though we will be heading home tomorrow and many of us will be miles and miles apart, the love and the joy we share for each other will be closer then ever. Thank you to all who made these adventures possible! Safe travels to all tomorrow.

– by Vrushali / GLA 2019 Thailand Group A ✌🏾

Sunday June 30, 2019

To our students,

As we drop you off to the airport and you start your journey home, we hope you know that this has been a great start of the summer sessions.

From the moment we met you, through all our adventures, to today when we said goodbye; we’ve been and continue to be so proud of you all.

For us, it was a pleasure to work with such a vibrant group. Each of you brought something unique to the team. Your individuality, personalities, humor and hard work are what made this session so successful.

We hope that all of you found what you were looking for. We hope that you left with wonderful new stories, memories and friends that you’ll remember forever.

Thank you all for being you! We love you and miss you already.

Safe travels!

To the parents,

It was refreshing to see the next generation of students be as productive and motivated as your children. We are so happy we got the chance to work with them, while they learned through their hard work volunteering. You should be very proud of all they accomplished throughout these last two weeks.

Enjoy their return home.

ELEPHANT SANCTUARY PROJET STAFF A

Time Capsule Letter

Dear Trip Two,

Hope you’re all enjoying your air conditioning and rest. Hope you’ve recovered from the jet lag.
Hope school is treating you well, and that your dogs and cats are as cute as ever.
This trip was a huge bonding experience for you—we expect some of you will be friends
forever, even if that just means the random elephant pic showing up in your memories.

Some of you pushed yourselves to your limits and we couldn’t be prouder. Those of you who cut grass like there was no tomorrow, dug a salt lick like you were trying to get to the other side of the world, got your hands dirty and held onto that rope bridge despite everyone pushing and pulling it every which way.

The community service we did was hard, but who else can say they helped Ourland Kuiburi
mere weeks after it was founded? We dug a lake, guys! Or at least, we started one. Elephants
will drink out of it someday, and maybe wherever you are you’ll know that they’re getting the
water they need because of that hard work you put in during the summer of 2019.

We’re excited to see what you do and where you go—inevitably you’ll have to face some hard
ideas, some difficult truths, participate in conversations that make you uncomfortable.

That’s Ok-that’s how we grow. That’s how we move forward as individuals, as a community, as a
species. We hope the program has helped you face some of those truths, because if we work
together to conserve and live sustainably we can make this planet a better place not only for the cute elephants that charged at us in Elephant World, but also for the banteng, for the gaur, for the Siamese cobra, for our fellow humans.

And don’t we all deserve a better world?

Some moments we’ll remember forever:

-The cabaret show
-Saying goodbye to Alisia
-Tying each other’s hair at Erawan Princess
-Staring down the Milky Way from a water tower in Kuiburi
-Sunrise walks
-Matt’s bat facts
-Amber the spider whisperer
-The meditation after we built the dam
-Kaidan making it across the rope bridge!
-Floating down the river
-Phoebe and Sydney riding bikes for the first time!
-Dancing to make mud bricks
-Izzy’s strength at the hospital
-Imi and Phoebe blessing us with serenades
-Pinam’s fan club

-Written by Kira

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Thursday July 11, 2019

Welcome to Thailand! After some seriously long flights, a couple baggage errors, and even a missed flight, all students have finally arrived and are thriving. Orientation is complete and the swimming tests have been passed. After creating a group contract, our group will be ready to go north to Kanchanaburi. Our first stop along the way of course is Our Land.

In the past day we have talked about the ethics and rules of our program, with an emphasis to create a safe space for students. Along with this we also talked about the cultural do’s and dont’s of Thailand.

Tonight we will take a boat to Asiatique market for dinner and our first round of shopping. It’s been a busy day but all are well and excited for the journey to come.

Friday July 12, 2019

After a long 2 days of traveling, today was the first day in which the entire group was together. After a delicious breakfast with selections from tofu pad Thai to watermelon and rambutan fruits, it was time for orientation.

One of the main purposes of orientation was to become educated on the cultural norms that exist here in Thailand and acknowledge the differences between here and our home countries. With a wonderful presentation from Vijo, our trip leader and Thailand expert, we learned how to do the signature hello and goodbye here in Thailand : The Wai.

The Wai is a sign of respect to the natives here, and by us doing the traditional bow, we are showing our appreciation of the culture while also furthering our immersion into the culture. We also learned how to say certain phrases such as “thank you” and “excuse me,” as we will be using these a lot throughout our trip.

An interesting difference that exists between Thailand and where we all come from is feet are a very big deal in regards to respect. You must take off your shoes before entering certain buildings and be conscious of the way your feet are facing. During orientation we also went over the basic rules of the trip to make sure everyone was on the same page.

After a long day of listening, we got to cool it off in the pool with our swim test! Thankfully, everyone passed and will be ready to swim when it comes up later in the trip! We finished off the day with taking a boat ride to Asiatique where we had a traditional Thai dinner followed by a walk around an impressive market. We bought everything from clothes to fruit and even tried durian, the smelliest fruit. Then we headed back to the hotel for bed so we can rest up and reset for a fantastic day tomorrow!

-by Sydney

Happy birthday Claire!

Saturday July 13, 2019

Today we woke up, ate breakfast, and visited a bunch of Thailand’s beautiful temples! I’ve never sweat so much in my whole life, but it was beyond worth it! 99.8% of the people here follow the teachings of Buddhism, so this is a ginormous part of Thai culture. It was so special to get a peek into something so near to Thai people’s hearts and culture, and I felt so privileged to have this opportunity.

We had lunch between temple visits at a local restaurant, where we got to practice some of the Thai we’ve learned thus far (hello, thank you, delicious, etc), and eat the most wonderful thing ever: MANGO STICKY RICE!!! It was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever tasted, and I just can’t stop thinking about it.

After our visit, we hopped back into our vans and went back to our home base for some swim time before dinner. The restaurant we went to was walking distance from the hotel, so we walked single file down Thailand’s streets taking in the night life: neon store fronts selling fragrant fruits like mango, dragon fruit, and guava, Thai people sitting and laughing with one another on sidewalks, and motorcycles wizzing by. We stopped at a fruit market and a convenience store on our way home to pick up some Thai snacks before going to bed. For many of us, our jet lag had finally begun to subside, so sleeping has become less of an obstacle!

-by Phoebe

Sunday July 14, 2019

Today was day 3 of exploring Thailand! Everyone woke up early for a delicious breakfast at the hotel, then we packed our bags and prepared to leave the city of Bangkok. It was a 2 hour drive to Kanchanaburi, where we stopped to eat lunch at a restaurant overlooking a beautiful river. We ate an assortment of soups, vegetable salads, fish, and fresh fruit.

After lunch, we went to a bridge next to the restaurant, The Bridge over River Qwai, and learned some of the history about it. Then we loaded back into the vans, and headed toward the river we would be floating down.

When we got to the river, we met some of the staff that worked at Our Land, who taught us a few species of birds to look out for on the water. We separated into two groups and put our life jackets on (diaper style) then got into the water. It was a beautiful 40 minute float down, in which some moments were very peaceful.

When we arrived at Our Land, we swam to the shore, and took a 20 minute walk through the jungle. On the way, we learned all sorts of interesting facts about the plants and animals that lived there, and how deforestation harms them. When we got there, we were given a tour of the place we would be staying at for the next few days and ate another wonderful meal that was prepared for us. After dinner, we sat around the campfire, singing songs, and playing instruments. By now we were all very tired from the long day, so we headed back to our rooms for a good nights rest!

-by Zoë

Monday July 15, 2019

Today was by far the most eventful day so far, so be ready to join in on this adventure. As always we started off with an early breakfast before heading off to Ourland for our snake course. I was surprised to hear that more people in the group were interested in the snakes rather than scared. Both Vejo and Randi educated us on the snakes of Thailand combined with a bit of general information, much more than I’m about to share.

There are 200 snake species in Thailand and 60 of them are venomous. Within a year there are 15,000 snakes bites, but only 20 to 40 deaths. There are many reasons as to why the deaths are so low, but if you were to be bitten by a snake you would perform pressure and immobilization. The first step in pressure and immobilization is DO NOT PANIC!

After you avoid panicking you will, starting at the bite, take a sort of ace bandage and wrap it up the limb. Following the first wrap you put a stick on the limb and wrap a second bandage around it to prevent movement. You then avoid using the limb.

Following the snake course we learned about the human wild elephant conflict. The human wild elephant conflict is in short a fight for space. Farms take up a lot of land in Thailand and Elephants try to cross the land whether for water, food, etc. The farmers usually scare them off by using firecrackers, shooting firearms in the air, or electric fences.

Recently they have been changing their tactics. Farmers can hang beehives tied together, so when elephants try to cross the hives are pulled together, the bees will get irritated causing them to sting the elephant and irritate the elephant in return.

After learning about human wild elephant conflict we headed over to the tree nursery. At the tree nursery we first learned that there are 60 tree spcies, most of which are endangered. The trees take 6-8 months to grow enough to be replanted in the wild. We learned about the amount of sunlight the trees need to grow in their different stages and how you transfer them from one spot to the other.

Next up, the dam. We trekked off into the forest where we found a stream damned up into several water holes. The water was down due to the lack of rain, but nonetheless very important. The “water holes” help animals, such as elephants, and trees to easily access water. So, we lined up in what could be known as an assembly line to pass many rocks down the hill into the wire fence that creates the mold for the dam.

When we successfully moved hundreds of rocks into a dam, we proceeded to hike further into the forest. We stopped in a beautiful spot of the forest where we sat to meditate, appreciate where we are and the goals we’re accomplishing. At the end of the day, Devin seperated us into groups for an interesting debate, to say the least. We enjoyed our dinner and grouped by the fire to relax before our next earth changing adventure.

-by Allison

Tuesday July 16, 2019

Today was a really interesting and fun day! We first started off our day with some great breakfast of rice, bread, and eggs. Breakfast is really fun for everyone to hang out and talk before starting the day. After breakfast we headed over to sanctuary for a critically endangered species of cow called the Banteng.

At the sanctuary we had a crash coarse on the animals and what is being done to repopulate the species. We found out that, since most of the Banteng are bread and kept in captivity for the majority of their life, the best way to reintroduce them to the wild is by gently taking away human contact and getting them used to the idea of finding food by themselves and being alone in the wild.

After our crash course we went to actually see the animals up close. They were really beautiful. The women have lighter skin and horns that point upward a bit and the males had dark skin with horns that pointed directly at eachother. While we were looking at them it started to rain a bit. It was actually really nice rain. It was warm and made all the plants around us pop.

After we went to see the Banteng we headed over to make seed bombs and salt licks. This was a really fun and cool activity. To make seed bombs we used clay, fertilizer and seeds. We flattened out a tiny peice of clay, put fertilizer on it, put a seed in it and then rolled it up into a ball. We made about one-hundred of these up to the point where it stained our hands red from the clay. After making them, we set them aside to dry and moved on to make the salt licks. To make a salt lick we smashed a block of condensed minerals and a bag of salt in this big stone bowl with a giant wooden paddle. Making these was a really good activity that taught us new ways that we can help the environment.

At about 12 in the afternoon we started our hike. It was really long in the beginning. A lot of us kept getting bit by fire ants. On one part of our hike, we stopped and grabbed slingshots to shoot the clay seed balls into random parts of the jungle. This was such a cool and interesting activity that was fun and taught us something. After our little break of slingshotting, we continued our path to a river. At the river, Vijo showed us how to best take in the moment and live in the present by meditating and listening to the sounds and smells around you. It was very relaxing and nice to just stop for a second and take everything in.

Once we finished meditating, we sat down for lunch next to the river. Lunch is always a really fun time for our group. It allows for everyone to talk and play and talk about the day ahead and what we look forward to. After lunch, we stopped at some dirt patches where we turned up the dirt in a circle and poured our salt lick mixture into the dirt and mixed it around. This is so different animals can get the minerals they need from watering holes like these when it rains. The hike ended pretty quickly after that at which point we headed to the river to zip line and climb ropes. Everyone got really muddy and wet, it was so much fun.

When we were done at the river, we finally got back in the vans and started to head back to Ourland. On the way we stopped at 7-11 and some outdoor markets where we got food and clothes. At Ourland, we ate a really good dinner of noodle soup and celebrated Phoebes 18th birthday with an amazing cake. After, we all went around the bondfire to play cards, talk, and hang out. It was a really fun and adventurous day that was super exciting and taught everyone a lot of things.

– by Dylan

Wednesday July 17, 2019

This morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the erawan princess hotel & enjoyed some good food to energize us for the day ahead. We then travelled to the Phra That cave where we hiked up 600 meters of stairs (a killer workout) and we were able to explore the huge cave. We learned about limestone, stalagmites, stalactites, and more. The cave was filled with incredible formations and the bats were ubiquitous, as was their guano.

Next we went back down and got a delicious Thai lunch in the Erawan National Park before looking around the nearby shops. Afterwards we started up to the Erawan waterfall which has seven different levels to visit. Some groups went all the way up to the seventh level, where a monkey was spotted, and other groups stayed near the third and fourth levels. We let the fish nibble at our feet as if we were at a spa and we slid down natural rock slides.

After having our fun at the waterfall, we hiked back down and headed to OurLand. There we had an interesting discussion on eating ethically and the questions that come along with it. Then we enjoyed a delicious vegetarian dinner and later relaxed by the fire. The day was filled with adventure!

– by Annie

Thursday July 18, 2019

Challenges. Today was full of challenges. But it was also full to the brim with rewarding moments. From biking 8 miles through the beautiful Thai country side to floating down the river Khwae to doing volunteer work at the Thai military sustainability facility.

Today started bright and early, like usual, we charged up with breakfast and headed out to take on the bike trails. Many of us were afraid and skeptical about the long trek, but most of us powered through it, and everyone who finished agreed that it was well worth the physical strain. We couldn’t stop smiling at the gorgeous sites surrounding us. A few of us may have gotten a bit of sun on our arms and cheeks, and a couple of us took some diggers. But we all made it to the river one way or another.

The float was much needed after all that expended energy. We geared up and set sail on bamboo rafts made by our guides. And then jumped off the rafts only to find out just how brutal lifejacket wedgies can be.

We were greeted by our first downpour of the trip as we sat in a beautiful open air restaurant that served us some absolutely delicious Thai food! The rain stopped by the time we left the restaurant and headed to the military base! What perfect luck!

Tiredness may have been circulating through the group but once we were put to work, we all seemed to get our second wind. We were split into groups and assigned to three different stations. Mud brick making, charcoal deodorizers, and another, different type of brick making using cement and dirt. I think I speak for all of us when I say it was so humbling to make something like a brick from scratch. The soldiers were kind, and showed us around the facility. We got to see some of their farm land, pet some piglets, and learn a little about water buffalo.

Just as we thought the day couldn’t get any better, Vijo brought us to one of his favorite view points where we saw an incredible sunset. We learned about the history of the spot, which used to be a vantage point for Thai soldiers to spot invaders.

Our mentors practically had to drag us off the mountain, but then Vijo treated us to dinner at his house which was an authentic Thai style fried noodle dish, and of course, Phi Nom, was there cracking jokes, and making us smile. Now, back to the hotel for some much needed rest and recharge for tomorrow!

-by Jo

Friday July 19, 2019

Hi GLA families, it’s Claire!

Today was a packed day!

Waking up bright and early this morning, everyone remembered it was laundry day. So exciting! With our laundry in tow we headed off to breakfast. After breakfast we headed to OurLand nature reserve for the final time. Everyone gave %100 on the service.

We had three different projects, we split into three teams and everyone was able to rotate through the projects. My group worked in building the tree nursery first. We dug a small trench along the border of the nursery so the next group could build the wall. After that, our group headed over to learn how to properly plant trees, then we took off into the jungle looking for spaces to plant them. Finally, we finished cleaning the salt lick of mud and rocks, so the elephants passing through OurLand could enjoy it more. We ate our final meal of rice,tofu, and vegetables with the OurLand staff, then we said our thank yous and goodbyes.

After that we loaded into the vans and took off for our kayaking expedition. Kayaking was so fun! Me and my partner Sydney tipped over twice and it was such an arm workout.

Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner. It’s pizza night!

Very fun day!

Saturday July 20, 2019

Day ten was quite eventful. After eating breakfast, Vijo talked to us about captive elephants, and why they aren’t domestic. Next, we took vans to elephants world. On the drive in, we saw Asian elephants in person for the first time on the trip. We put our bags at one of the dorms and moved to the observation deck, where we watched elephants followed by their mahouts, and were able to feed pineapples and watermelons to the elephants that came closer. The elephants preferred the watermelons.

After feeding the elephants, we walked down to the river and saw elephants being bathed, then met and fed two baby elephants and their mothers. We then cooked banana sticky rice for an elephant to eat. We ate a filling lunch, fed our cooking to one of the elephants, and then made our way down to the grass farm, where we cut bana grass. I managed to take down an entire cluster with one swing of my butcher’s knife.

After what seemed like only five minutes (but was probably much longer), we made our way to the river. We began giving one of the elephants a mud bath, but this quickly developed into a mud fight. As soon as we moved to the river to wash mud off of the elephants, it started raining, and the fight continued, but with water instead. After we finished washing and brushing the elephants in the river, we jumped into the water from the two diving platforms. Some people also decided to use the rope swing to swing into the river.

The weather cleared, and we met the sanctuary’s founder, Dr. Samart, and asked him questions about the sanctuary and it’s history. We had some down time after we settled into our rooms. At approximately 5:30, we were called over to have a discussion about elephant sanctuaries. It revealed some of the sad realities of the lives of domestic elephants. We discussed how much human contact elephants should have, the situations they were in before and after being in sanctuary, human-elephant conflict, the objectives of organizations and businesses, among other things. Some people even noticed some things they found unsettling about the sanctuary. This entire discussion reminded us that no solution can satisfy all parties, and why elephant sanctuaries are generally seen as the best option for captive elephants.

We ate a hearty dinner, and then finished off the night with two videos about international service, and the “don’t help when help isn’t wanted” philosophy. We ended the day by going to bed an hour early.

– by Matt

Sunday July 21, 2019

During our GLA trip today we learned by observing the elephants in Elephants World. Lots of the students here seemed eager to learn more about these wonderful creatures. We talked about elephant anatomy. We learned a lot of new interesting facts about the elephant like they can lift up to 1,000 pounds because they have 40,000 muscles in their trunk. Also, the fact that wild elephants have a shorter life span than captive elephants.

Today we have seen elephants for what they truly are. We have seen them as living creatures trying to survive, just like us. It’s truly remarkable seeing all their different sides. Their energy is incredible. I could feel what they felt and that was very special. We are still learning about them and how they live in general. I’m a feelings person so I want to learn about how they feel, their behavior patterns, and their emotions.

– by Tara

Monday July 22, 2019

Today was a day of service as after finishing breakfast we were immediately taken out to a field of bana grass. Once at the field Dee, a staff member at Elephantsworld, explained how to chop down a stalk of bana grass, and separate the mothergrass from the leafy tips. The mother grass would be used for planting a new field, and the tips could be fed straight to the elephants. The technique was to cut down straight and swift as to make a clean cut that would encourage growth.

After loading up the truck with chopped bana grass, we drove back to Elephantsworld and got to planting a new feild with the collected mothergrass. First brown leaves were removed from the stalk, and than the stalks were laid side by side in shallow dirt trenches. Finally surrounding dirt was pushed over the mothergrass with a hoe. Once the work was finished it was time for lunch back at Elephants world.

The afternoon sent us back out to the bana grass field we were chopping before. This time we were instructed not to separate the mother grass, but just cut down and collect the stalks. I found cutting down the grass to be fun as well as satisfying. When the truck was filled to the brim with bana grass we started back towards Elephantsworld to feed the elephants.

First we unloaded some grass for three elephants near the river, before driving up near the lobby to feed the baby elephants. Both baby elephants and their mothers were released into the field to eat the bana grass. The little ones played around and the mothers watched and protected them. After the babies were done, the final drop was at another herd of three elephants, one of which Gai-na is easily recognizable due to her stumped tail.

After this dinner commenced, with a tasty BBQ prepared by the staff. We all had some free time to try out some friendship yoga and massage techniques (stepping on each other’s backs). And after a bit of time and a movie, “Hunt for the Wilder People”, we all bid the day farewell and went to bed.

-Fiona

Tuesday July 23, 2019

So we woke up in Elephant World in a hurry to quickly pack and get to breakfast. Here we had lots of rice, as usual, fried eggs, boiled eggs, french toast, fried bread and watermelon. Before we knew it we were on our way to Yoko resort.

Once we settled there we went to Elephant Haven. Here we had a fun day alongside Asian Elephants. We made sticky rice balls and cut watermelon for them. After feeding the elephants we ate an all vegetarian meal. Then we joined other students for some fun in the mud and the river.

After such a long day we just wanted to sleep, but theres more. We spent some time in in the resort and then went back to Elephant haven. Had a short cooking lesson and then settled down for dinner. After all this, we finally went back to the resort.

– Marena

Wednesday July 24, 2019

Today was our 2nd and final day at elephant haven. To start our day, we ventured out into the fields to cut grass for the elephants to snack on. Even though the grass was super scratchy and irritating, the group persevered and gathered as much grass as possible for the elephants.

After a morning of service, we then took an afternoon break to visit the Krasae cave where a giant Buddha structure lies with beautiful decorations surrounding the structure. Right outside the cave is the death railway, which is famous from WW2 for having prisoners create the railway. It overlooked a beautiful scenic river with some huts on the water. We then proceeded to shop at a market that was in the area and people bought things such as skirts and souvenirs.

After our break, we went back to elephant haven for lunch. Once we finished eating we headed back out to the fields to plant some banana trees for the elephants. After a days worth of hard work, we cooled off in the river with a fun swim. To finish off the day we got to have something we all have been missing.. pizza for dinner!

– Kate

Thursday July 24, 2019

Today we woke up dark and early at 4:45 to catch a train to Kanchanaburi. This railroad is known as the death railroad, and was built by Japan (specifically there war prisoners) during world war 2. It is known as the death railroad due to the fact that over 300,000 people lost there lives in the construction of the railroad.

We got off the train after crossing the river Kwai, and returned to the same market square that we had visited on our first day in Kanchanaburi. In a way this brought our experience in Kanchanaburi to a perfect close and started the next leg of our journey.

After a 5 hour car ride we arrived in Kui Buri. Kui Buri is very different from Kanchanaburi, the rich diverse forests faded away to vast fields of farmland. Everyone was starving and excited for the meal laid out for us.

After lunch we made pineapple paper. Pineapple paper is exactly what it sounds like, paper made from pineapple. We made the paper from the spiked leaves of the fruit, hitting them against bricks until they frayed. The second step is boiling the fibers of the leaves into a pulp. The pulp is then taken and filtered until it is thick slime, with no giant pieces of leaf. The substance is then poured into a wire frame then left to dry, or designed.

Finally we got in trucks and ventured into Kui Buri national park where we got to see wild elephants and learn about how the community and government had come together to create a national park that would still benefit there economy. It was amazing and a wonderful way to bring our experience with elephants full circle.

We ended the night by eating dinner at a farm house, and reflecting on the day.

-Ben

Friday July 26, 2019

Today the morning was split. Whilst the majority of us were unconscious drooling on our pillow from the early start he day before, the rest left at 5:45 and took a tractor up a hill overlooking the mountains to have breakfast. As I was fast asleep at this point and looked like I’de just been shot with a tranquilliser dart, I had my friend Phoebe explain what happened: “We had a little taste of home up there” she said whilst Fiona presented me with a picture of the sunrise, Vijo also led a meditation and the whole experience was “just a really nice way to start the day”. On the way back a few of them got to drive the tractor with supervision, and when getting ready to drive Izzi asked “which ones the gas” to which the driver just said yes.

After the rest of us had finally gotten up and had breakfast we all went to help the community plant trees. This was a government initiative but they kindly let us tag along.

Next we helped make rubber and fertiliser by separating worms from fertilised soil (there were so many).

After this we drove a little down the road in the ‘Swaggen Waggen’ where we learned how to carve wood then auctioned off the piece we all contributed to making. the wooden cup went for 2000 baht. Unfortunately I couldn’t take part in this activity as the noise from the drill gave me over-stim, but I was very impressed by the carving everyone had made.

After lunch we started the first piece of work on Ourland’s newly acquired land. We dug out a stream and collected rocks so we could build a dam to collect water when it rains to support reforestation efforts. Kaidan continued to prove that he is Pi Nom in disguise by pulling our weight as if his hands weren’t already covered in blisters.

We went on our second safari and saw more Gaur, Elephants, and Banteng. We ate dinner then had some free time to enjoy the last moments of this beautiful land. We also went out at night for an hour to see elephants and stargaze. Vijo spotted some lights in the jungle that belonged to illegal hunters so he shined a light back at them and scared them all into turning them off.

-by Imi

Saturday July 27, 2019

After a good nights sleep we all awoke for a delicious breakfast and went on our way to our next stop: Hua Hin.

The hour long drive to our hike was filled with music and some chattering, but mostly naps. when we finally reached the beach we all stopped to use the bathroom and look around the few shops that were open. Next, we got on a short boat ride to the beach and started our hike!

The short hike was mainly stairs made of rocks with many places for many of us to stop and catch our breath. When we finally made it to the cave, the sight was breathtaking. This particular cave had a pavilion in it that was made by King Rama 5 and was signed by most of the kings after him.

We made it back to the beach for some lunch and time to hang out on the beach before heading back on the boat to the hotel.

We spent a little time in our rooms before enjoying some Italian dinner and headed back to our rooms for a nice long night of sleep.

– Izzy

Sunday July 28, 2019

Today we woke up to a delicious breakfast in our amazing hotel in Hua Hin. We then went on a fairly long car ride to a very steep and short hike. The views were stunning and after the site seeing we then made our way down back to our vans. We met up with the people that opted out of the hike. After everyone made their way down we then got into our vans and drove off to a delicious lunch.

Our lunch was very delicious with several different options that were available. These included cashew chicken, soup, vegetables, and many other traditional Thai dishes. We then ventured out to the markets near by the restaurant and looked at many traditional Thai antiques. After all of the exploring we then looked for a place to chill on the beach.

When we arrived at the beach everyone stepped into the ocean and swam. We then encountered many live sand dollars. Many of us had never encountered a live sand dollar which was a very special moment for many of us. We then walked along the beach and went across the street to the many markets lined up against the ocean.

After all of that we got into our vans once more and had a 45 minute drive back to our hotel in which many of us took a nap from the eventful day. Once we arrived at the hotel we had free time and socialized.

After free time we met in the lobby and got into our vans for the market which we would spend money on dinner. Once we arrived we split into groups of four and explored the many shops at the local Hua Hin market. After all of our adventure throughout the day we arrived at the hotel happy and worn out. But we all had a eventful and exciting day.

– by Noah Wagner

Monday July 29, 2019

The day began as pleasantly as it could, with us being woken up by a combination of the Thailand sun and various alarms for breakfast. Preparing to move on from our current hotel, we all rushed to pack our bags, while those who were more prepared watched. Dylan even went out of her way to assist Isabelle with her bags! What great connections we have made here!

After packing both the bags and the vans with those bags, we set out for the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand, a place dedicated to the preservation and medical treatment of exotic animals. Ironically, despite elephants being both present and cared for here, elephants in Thailand are considered livestock! Imagine back home, farmers herding groups of elephants as if they were sheep! Anyway, other creatures we saw included a wounded tiger, various monkeys and apes, parrots, a crocodile, some moon and sun bears, iguana, and a peculiar bird that looked like a crossover between a dinosaur and Kevin the bird from Up called a cassowary. We also learned quite explicitly how much Grace does not… like monkeys.

After leaving the animals in the care of the WFFT, we ate lunch in their state of the art cafeteria/bar(don’t worry parents, only soda was sold) and took pictures of elephants we could see in the distance. After the gourmet food, we all piled into the vans like fish in a barrel. After that, we all confronted Bangkok traffic head on. It was a valiant effort, but soon we grew restless from being cramped for so long in the vans. To solve this, we did pit stops and talked to each other in the car to not get bored. Myself, Jo, Kate, Annie, Dylan, and Sofia all had a blast this way. This all culminated in us arriving at the same hotel we started our trip at!

Pleased to see such a familiar sight, we all roomed up and helped each other with bags. Careful not to overload the elevator(to avoid what happened last time) we got roomed, and then met up downstairs after an hour and a half of free time. Dinner commenced, and we then went into separate groups to both reflect on the trip, and make future goals for later in life. We then split up into two groups: one who wished to discuss further, and one who wanted free time by the pool. The pool area was bustling with conversation, and a few tears as well, since Alisia would be leaving us on the morrow. Sad, but remembering the good times, we each said an early goodbye, and then goodnight.

Blog post by Aidan Grant

Tuesday July 30, 2019

Our last full day in Thailand was very eventful! We started our day with a breakfast at the Witchuwan hotel. We then headed over to a fruit market where we spend half an hour walking around, trying new products until we moved on to the next market. The next market was much bigger and had many different stores with multiple local artisans. We split up into smaller groups and wandered around this market for most of the day exploring and buying souvenirs. We ended our outing at the markets with ice cream before heading back to the hotel.

Once we arrived at the hotel we completed a survey about the trip and had a couple hours of free time. During this free time we made sure to spend very last minute appreciating the time we had left with one an other. We then ended the day with a dinner cruise where we enjoyed our time singing, dancing, and saying our last goodbyes!

-by Margaux

Time Capsule Letter

Dear Students,

What time is it there? Have you recovered from the Jet Lag? Have you seen that movie you were
holding out for? We hope you’ve snuggled your dog or cat, and we’re sure you miss cozying up
to the baby elephants at Elephant World.

We meant it when we said your group was amazing—From the questions you asked about the
human elephant conflict to the way you threw yourselves into planting corn and cutting grass.
You were committed and overcame every obstacle to make this trip the best it could be—not
only for yourself, but for each other.

The work you did will leave a mark; from the corn they’ll harvest to feed the elephants to the
trees that will grow all over Thailand. From the tree nursery we began at Ourland to the salt licks
we built in Kuiburi. Animals all over will have more nutrients and food thanks to you. And as
you educate your friends and family, you’ll decrease harmful animal tourism, partake in a
movement that will ripple out far beyond what we can see.

Some of you may not buy a piece of land and reserve it for elephants trying to make their way to
the water. Some of you may try to permanently rent a hut at Ourland so you can spend the rest of
your life ecofarming and rescuing snakes.

I imagine all of us will end up somewhere in the middle—telling stories of what we’ve learned at Thanksgiving while figuring out how to turn our passions into careers. You may become a professional singer, an FBI agent, a farmer, a snake breeder, or a renowned journalist.

Take those dreams you have and let this trip shape them. We know you can save the world; we have no doubts.

Some moments we’ll laugh about until we meet again (and probably cry a little too):

-The endless surprises of the dinner cruise
-Celebrating Abby’s birthday
-About 90
-Pinam showing up with fruit and flowers
-Pidi’s cabbage pancakes
-Belting the Backstreet Boys (TELL ME WHY)
-Watching the family of wild elephants (and that Gaur) at Kuiburi National Park
-Brown Town (and Brown Town 2, and 3)
-Eating peppers (and drinking milk, or eating bananas)
-Pinam pushing Devin (and Rivers) off the rope bridge
-LANDFISH
-Throwing elephant poop
-Swag Wag
-Mudslides
-Trying all the delicious food Vijo and M shared with us

One Meaningful Goal: Reduce single-use plastics

-written by Kira

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Monday June 17, 2019

All students have arrived and are safe and sound in Thailand! After some very long flights, uncomfortable airplane food and new experiences of flying alone, all students are feeling well and ready for the new experiences to come. The first day was spent with introductions and first impressions of the wonderful world of Thai food.

Orientation is currently underway and students are engaging in the process of creating a safe space for learning and a strong group culture. The day is packed full of activities, instruction, and discussions about what to expect for the next three weeks. After orientation a swim test will ensue to gauge swimming abilities for the water activities to come.

 

Wednesday June 19, 2019

The second night of our journey, the group went to an open air market called Asiatique. We ate dinner and walked around the many stalls till late in the evening. The dinner was light as there were many interesting foods to try and souvenirs and clothes to buy. There is one particular fruit, a durian, which smells like sewage and tastes like an avocado and an onion had a disgusting love child. Some in the group did enjoy it, but many quickly decided against it.

Asiatiques biggest attraction is its Ferris wheel. The large ride was lit up by blue lights and crowded with passengers. It was expensive, so many did not ride, instead opting to walk around and listen to the music. We got home very late, some is barely awake.

The next day we were allowed to sleep in. We left around nine to visit the Buddhist temples of Bangkok. We visited three in total and also explored the shops around China town.

The first was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This is the largest of them and is located in the center of the city. The Buddha is not actually emerald, but green jade. The gated area is divided into three zones. The outer zone, where the common people could enter; the mid zone, where previous kings lived; and the inner zone, where the temple of the Emerald Buddha sits. When entering the temple, it is required that shoes be removed. While photography of Buddhas is normally allowed, the Emerald Buddha is not to be photographed. The walls depicted the story of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Everything in the temple was symbolic.

We were starting to fell hungry and tired, so we stopped for lunch near China town. At one point on the way to the next temple, we passed through a fish market, which smelled as bad as it sounds.

Next, we visited Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha. This Buddha is more than 40 meters long! The temples was very colorful and covered in ceramic flowers and structures. Wat Pho is not just a temple though, it is also a school’s of massage. The statues there depict different ways to massage yourself and others.

The last temple we visited is home to a solid gold Buddha. We had to climb the many steps to the top to visit this temple. The best thing about this temple, in my humble opinion, was the cats. There were about twenty or so lounging about near the bathroom. They are community type cats that are cared for by the workers. All the cats are very friendly, but many were sick and it was clear that none were spayed or neutered.

We finally headed back to home base for an hour of rest before leaving again. This time we walked a few minutes to a restaurant for dinner. The food was nice, but many of us were now tired, hot, and sweaty. We left the restaurant and stopped to look at the Siamese fighting fish, also known as betta fish. We learned a little about how they are bred and how big of a deal they are to some people.

We returned to home base again and met on the roof for mentor groups. We talked about general behavior rules and got to know each other better.

Overall it was a very tiring day, but also fun and enlightening.

-Written by Lucy

Thursday June 20, 2019

We started our day waking up to a delicious breakfast and 3 hour van ride. Along the way we stopped for a bathroom break 2 hours in, where we tried fried banana. Continuing our adventure we ate lunch on the the bank of a river next to a historical site from WW2. We were able to see the bombs that were dropped on it and what was going on surrounding the historical background of the bridge.

Following the bridge we drove out to the edge of “Our Land” where we were able to float down the river for a good 30 minutes. Continuing, we started a 20 minute hike to Our Land while we learned about the surrounding environment and how it came to be with all the human impact. The rest of the day we toured Our Land and got to relax while a few of our counselors played music on the ukulele. To finish off our day we did mentor groups discussing how we liked our day and our thoughts of it.

-by Jake H.

Friday June 21, 2019

Today we woke up at around 7:00 and quickly headed to our 7:30 breakfast. We ate at a camp lunch area that was surrounded by an obstacle course style swimming pool. After breakfast we headed to Ourland where we’ll be hanging out at consistently for the next three days. Vijo and others gave us a course on the snakes of Thailand with VERY real life examples of some of the more venomous species.

After our introduction to the snakes of Thailand along with the ones that Ourland has rescued, we headed off to a village head’s house where we learned about methods of preventing human-elephant conflict with again, real life examples. The village heads house has a bee farm to the left of it that produces some aroy mak mak (very delicious) honey. We then headed to a local tree nursery where an incredibly knowledgeable and wise woman taught us about some of Thailand’s species of trees along with how to plant them/ keep them where they need to be and healthy. This activity wouldn’t have been nearly as fun however without Vigo painting our faces with charcoal.

After about an hour of moving baby trees to their next stage of growth, we sat down for a delicious Thai meal and some mind games courtesy of the GLA staff. After our aroy mak mak meal, we headed to our third location of the day which was our hike through a mostly dried up section of river which ended promptly at a small but meaningful waterfall. Much was to be learned along this hike in terms of methods locals were using for human-elephant conflict prevention. We passed by multiple man-made damns, both from different periods of time, and also with different pros and cons. After getting helped back down the path by some caring and lovely Thai Ourland staff, we were back into the vans and to one of our final stops of the day.

We arrived at the put-in where we floated down the river yesterday, and enjoyed a much deserved 20 minute swim. Once we were all cooled down we headed back to Ourland (after of course stopping for ice cream along the way, thank you Vijo) for some more snake interaction, relaxation, peaceful debating, and incredible Thai food. Thailand has been an amazing experience so far and each day is a new adventure.

-written by Owen

Saturday June 22, 2019

While staying at the Erwan Princess Hotel, I have found a strong new addiction of mine. Ellse cakes have taken over my life ever since I first had one at breakfast on Friday. They are kind of like a Twinkie, just not as gross, not as unhealthy (or that’s what I tell myself), and they don’t contain as much filling. In short, they are pure deliciousness. To further fuel this unhealthy addiction, the chefs laid out even MORE Ellse cakes for us this morning. They would put out more and more after I’d get one, and someone had to eat them. Throughout the day, I think I consumed about ten of these delicious deserts.

After eating breakfast, the group gathered in a circle to do some stretching. We all were pretty dead from the countless activities we do daily so this was a nice little way to wake up. We then boarded the bus and headed off to the Khao Nam Phu Wildlife Education Center.

The first thing we did upon our arrival consisted of having a dance off and singing along to I Want it that Way by the Backstreet Boys. Let me say, this song has become the GLA anthem this past week. About every 30 minutes you’ll hear someone singing or whistling the tune. Next, we gathered around a tv to learn about the, sadly now extinct, Koupri. This animal was a type of wild cattle that lived in the jungle, but due to heavy hunting, the species hasn’t been seen in over 30 years.

This was an introduction into the endangered animal we got to learn about and see today, the Banteng. They too are a type of jungle cattle that many people have killed off over time. There are 11 of these beautiful cattle at the Wildlife Education Center where they are being protected, reproduced, and released back into the wild.

We walked around for a bit and got the opportunity to see the Bantengs. I thought they were beautiful, they have light brown fur, white stockings, white around the nose, eyes, and booty, and a black stripe on their back.

These animals at some point in their lives need to be released back into the wild. However, animals under human care tend to trust and rely on people too much. To combat this, the staff here had to find some way to make these cattle scared of us. However, they don’t want to hurt the Banteng. So, how does one go about making a species scared of something without hurting it? You cut off the animal’s contact with it completely. For the Bantengs, they are kept in an enclosure with black tarp all around it in order to prevent them from seeing humans.

They stay here for 6 months before they are relocated in a large box and released. Unfortunately, transportation of the animals posed another threat to their survival. Stress of being in the box could very likely kill them and has killed them before. To prevent stress, food is put into the boxes used to transport them, making the cattle walk into it on its own. As they eat their food, the door closes them in there. Over the time period of 6 months, the time spent in the boxes slowly increases from about 5 minutes to 3 hours (the time it takes to relocate them). In order to observe the cattle in this specific stage, we had to climb a metal ladder that led to a door you could sit on that was held up by a tree’s branches.

The next service activity was making seed bombs (to slingshot them off a mountain) and crushing minerals for a salt lick. To make the seed bombs, we got some clay, put a pinch of fertilizer into it, added a seed, then we rolled it into a ball. Typically these take 1-2 days to dry, so we used seed bombs made by the group before us and began a hike into the jungle. We ate lunch by a stream with the jungle above us and LOTS of butterflies around us. It was wrapped in leaves in order to decrease the amount of plastic used.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but eating chicken, rice, and a fried egg out of a banana leaf increased the food’s taste by 200%. We then walked a little further to a salt lick and began to dig some dirt and mix new minerals into it. Then we hiked a strenuous 5 minutes to throw out some seed bombs with slingshots. The hike back to the pavilion was very relaxing and beautiful. We had to cross a very… janky bridge to get there. We had to ‘duck waddle’ our way across, spreading our weight across multiple bamboo stalks to prevent the bridge from breaking. Luckily, nobody fell to their death because who knows what was in the water beneath us.

When we made it back, we went swimming. I was told there would be a zip line and I was hesitant to go down it because I am afraid of heights. But, I told myself I should try it so I wouldn’t regret it. That is, until I saw the zip line. It was basically a thin tire that you had to sit in and I did not trust it. I was terrified and all my courage vanished. Once again, I knew that if I didn’t, I would regret it. So I jumped out of my comfort zone and I zoomed over the river. It wasn’t even that bad—I can say I enjoyed going down it.

The night came to an end with a wonderful diner back at Our Land. On the way there we stopped at a 7 Eleven for some Thai snacks and I found a whole box of Ellse cakes. My addiction is serious and I hope my family back at home expects me to bring a whole suitcase full of them. Anyways, back on track now. We all gathered for a campfire under the bright stars after eating. Kira and Devin played instruments while the whole group sang together. It was a beautiful moment that I want to hold onto and cherish forever.

-written by Skye

Sunday June 23, 2019

We woke up early and went to eat a delicious breakfast. Afterwards we had a 40 minutes drive up into the mountains. Once we reached our destination we hiked up over 40 flights of stairs to a huge cave. Inside the cave there was a pathway to follow and walk along while admiring the limestone and bats. We eventually exited the cave and walked back down all the stairs to go to lunch.

Everyone ate a wonderful lunch and prepared themselves for another flatter hike. After lunch we started on our short hike to a gorgeous waterfall. There were seven different levels to the waterfall, each one more beautiful then the last. Some hiked to the very top while others swam around on the third and fourth levels. We swam around for half an hour with some decent sized fish that would nibble on our feet. Then we walked back down and drove back to Our Land to discuss animal cruelty and eat scrumptious vegetarian dinner. At the end of the night everyone came back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep.

-written by Raven

Monday June 24, 2019

The journey continues!

As we travel through the wondrous rural areas of Kanchanaburi, I find myself more and more in love. The endless green canopy and towering mountains never cease to amaze me. In the last week we have traveled from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi learning and experiencing things I could only dream about. The wildlife and environmental sustainability lessons we are learning are so important and enlightening. I and my fellow students undoubtedly will incorporate these lessons into our own lives while doing our best to inform our community back home. There is no planet B.

Today, I and my fellow students in the “hardcore” group went into our stretch zones and biked through mountains and rural towns in the middle of a rainstorm. I am so thankful I did this as it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. The views were breathtaking and the rain was cooling. The mud was just a plus. I can say for myself and my fellow students that the feeling of accomplishment and bliss at the end of that ride was everything. Our “hardcore” group then joined the rest of the group to float down a river on bamboo rafts, and can I say, so fun. It was the perfect way to end the days activities as we enjoyed each other’s company and the surreal views around us. All I can say is I am so grateful for these experiences and this trip. I’ve loved it so far and I’m so excited for everything to come!

-by Abigail Harrison

Tuesday June 25, 2019

As our time at Our Land animal sanctuary comes to a close, the Our Land staff and us build a tree nursery to help reforestation efforts in and around the facility. We made the structure first by digging holes in the ground for posts made from an invasive species of tree. We then made the roof structure, support beams, and covered it with a plastic mesh that will filter out the sunlight.

After a delicious lunch and a heartfelt goodbye to the staff at Our Land, who have been with us in all our excursions these past few days, we drove through the scenic karst landscape. Here we went for a beautiful and mostly peaceful kayak in the pouring rain down the Khwae Noi river that runs through Thailand.

– Phoebe

Wednesday June 26, 2019

As one journey ends a new beginning starts! We start off the morning driving to Elephants World, were we get to tour and do touristy activities that are involving the elephants. The day included feeding the elephants, washing them, giving them mud baths, making sticky rice balls for the the older elephants (they lose their teeth so it is harder for them to eat the stalks of banana trees) and of course enjoy playing with two baby elephants.

As the day proceeded we were able to swim in a near by river were Kai, Maya, and Naya did back flips and front flips off a platform into the water. Don’t worry parents the water was deep enough;)! For the rest of today we are relaxing and chilling with the elephants! Today was a blast to finally see elephants that all of us have been waiting for!!!

By Shelbee Weiss 🙂

Thursday June 27, 2019

After the LONG first night in our new hotel we started the day with a delicious breakfast. Then, we walked with some mahouts to retrieve the elephants. Watching the elephants play together after a night of being apart was so much fun (the baby elephant was even more playful than the rest). We then learned about elephant anatomy. Did you know elephants have 40,000 muscles just in their trunks?

After lunch we observed the elephants without interacting with them and made ethograms. An ethogram is used to categorize animals behaviors and actions. The group then split up, some went swimming, others just relaxing. To finish the day we had a group discussion about our time in Thailand so far.

-Talia Salvatore

Friday June 28, 2019

Today we got to sleep in and have a late breakfast at 8:30 to help prepare for a long day of service work. After breakfast we took a ride to a piece of farm land where we were taught how to plant corn which will be used to feed the elephants. This proved to be a much harder task than expected but helped us bond as a group. We then returned to Elephants world to make banana grass balls which are the perfect snack for elderly elephants who have lost their teeth and struggle to eat normal food.

We then had a delicious lunch and prepared for the second half of the day. We continued our service by cutting down Bana grass which was then fed to the elephants. We then had free time which we spent swimming in the river and learning acro yoga. After dinner we had an insightful discussion on how we can best benefit the community with our service work. We ended the night by watching a movie as a group, and went to bed early to prepare for the long upcoming day of travel.

-by Naya

Saturday June 29, 2019

Today we said goodbye to Elephants World and said hello to Elephant Haven, our new home. Our first activity was making rice balls for the Elephants. We mixed bananas, sticky rice, and crushed bana grass pelts. Next we chopped watermelon and fed them to the elephants. They loved to use their trunks to hook onto the food. Following the elephants into the jungle we sat in silence and enjoyed watching them in their natural habitat. Some of the students (including me) sat on a branch. An elephant came and started scratching their body along the branch and almost knocked us over!

After lunch we gave the elephants a mud bath. While washing elephants many of the students slipped into the mud. I am not sure who got muddier us or the elephants? We then followed them into the river, scrubbing the mud off. Some students went down the mud slide but the pain in their face didn’t convince me to go down. Others did Acroyoga or made themselves into mermaids with the sand. Unfortunately we lost the chicken fight against the other group of students but I think we can make a comeback tomorrow.

Today was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I have never laughed or smiled so much in my life!

– Written by Olyvia

Sunday June 30, 2019

Today was day number two at Elephant Haven. After we ate breakfast we made some for the Elephants. We made some rice balls from banana, rice, and mashed bana grass pellets. After making the rice balls we chopped up watermelon for the beautiful girls. When we were done feeding them we took a trip to a railway. Some may know these tracks from the film Bridge Over The River Kwai. We walked on the tracks and explored a cave off the track which had a Buddhist temple inside. Once we had seen the whole cave as well as a huge Buddha we decided to head off the tracks to a cute outdoor market right next to it.

When we got back to Elephant Haven we had lunch and then we cleaned up what the elephant’s lunch turned into. We used A wheelbarrow when we needed to drop a load. We all took turns shoveling raking and sweeping poop. We’d collect it into piles then we’d dump it in to the wheelbarrow. Although it was a gross experience there was no complaining and no butts. When we finished we bathed in the mud with the elephants. It was very fun to play and tackle each other. Some students stayed off to the side, some sculpted a small mud town, some covered them selves with mud, while others got covered by mud, and others got covered by other people. After some time the elephants decided to head towards the river so we followed. When we got to the river we cleaned ourselves and the elephants. We also enjoyed an exciting mudslide. At the end of the day we headed back to the hotel.

~by Maya Flanagan

Monday July 1, 2019

Today is day 15. This trip has gone by so so so so fast. But I think we are all loving every minute of it. This morning started off with a 4:30 am wake up. And as shocking as you all would imagine no one was ready for that one. We left to catch a train to kanchanburi around 5:45 am. The train ride was along death rail way. I knew the railway was connected to the deaths of many people throughout World War 2 and the Vietnam war. Over 250,000 died by malaria related illnesses or injuries. After arriving to kanchanburi we stopped at our favorite place 7-eleven. Everyone filled up on a “breakfast” of some kind. We then had to take a 5ish hour drive to Kui Buri national park. I got to take part of the so called quiet van and nap all morning and finish my book. If you ask me it was a great morning.

Our activities started out with making pineapple paper. The pineapple leaves are used as a paste and glue to create craft paper. This was really cool I think because I’ve noticed alot of Thai people dont really waste anything. Its nice to see everyone using every part of everything as much as they can. We got to add flowers and leaves to give the paper some texture. The afternoon was spent going to kui buri national park. We went on a safari type adventure. We rode in trucks together being able to spot birds, wild elephants, and beautiful beautiful trees. Only to add to the magic of this adventure my truck was filled with Jurassic park references just for the heck of it. This truly was one of the best things we have ever done. We sat for what felt like hours but was probably only minutes watching a herd of elephants eat and walk and eat. Let me tell you: nature is something extraordinary.

The night ride home some of us got to ride in now deemed “swag wag”. It was a big tractor pulling a trailer with plastic chairs on it. And may I mind you no tractor ride can be just average. No, we got special treatment. We stopped several times to look at the lights, stopped to turn the lights off and drive, and my favorite: walking into the jungle to watch how rubber is made from trees. Today was one of my favorite days and sad we are nearing the end but I’m also extremely pumped for the last few days.

– by Abbey Rivers

Tuesday July 2, 2019

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!” – Helen Keller

Our morning began as all mornings in Thailand begin- with an Elephant trunk crashing through the window of our dorms. Monkeys hung from the ceiling throwing durian fruit at us while a swarm of mosquitoes assumed the shape of a human body and charged through our door! I’m just kidding! Our day was not as dangerous, but it was just as exciting!

Our morning began by waking up at 5:50 for a lovely sunrise breakfast up in the mountains. A lucky few saw some wild elephants on the drive up. The food was as delicious as the scenery was stunning. The fresh, locally grown pineapple was the best I’ve ever had! (My pineapple addiction is almost as bad as Skye’s Else cake addiction!)

After breakfast, we headed to a fertilizer facility to learn about how earthworms contribute to the making of high-quality fertilizer. We filtered buckets full of cow dung and earthworms to separate the cow dung and earthworm dung. We then placed the earthworms in a new bucket of cow dung. We weighed the earthworm dung and placed them in bags, each weighing exactly 6 kilos.

We also learned about rubber making. A lot of us were surprised to learn that rubber comes from trees (which amused Vijo to no end). On our way to the rubber facility, we stopped for a quick coconut break! At the rubber facility, we saw how rubber is made from the rubber sap. 4 liters of rubber sap, 2 liters of water, and a scoop of vinegar are all mixed into a tray and left to sit for 30 minutes. Once the solution has solidified, it is shaped by a variety of machines until the rubber resembles a thin sheet. It is then left out in the sun to dry.

On the way to our next adventure, we stopped for more local cuisine! This time, we had chili peppers. According to Vijo, these peppers were some of the spiciest in Thailand and they were a 7 on his “spicy scale” from 1 to 10. This means that they were a 15 on the average GLA student’s scale! The brave souls who tried the peppers are shown below. I believe these photos really convey just how spicy these peppers were. If you’re wondering, yes, that is a tear on Anna’s face. Major props to these guys!!!

Our next stop was a woodworking shop at the edge of a farm. There, we witnessed a wonderful artist who carves cups, bowls, bracelets, and much more from simple blocks of wood. He was gracious enough to let us try his craft. He uses a machine that spins a block of wood around very quickly and carves into it with a big, scary knife. Together, we made a gorgeous wine glass.

It was Vijo’s brilliant idea to hold an auction for the wine glass and that’s just what we did! Bidding started at 100 baht (around 3 US dollars) and the price quickly rose. Many participated but only two really pulled ahead; Owen and I were the final competitors for the wine glass. We battled it out in what is safe to say the most intense auction that GLA has ever seen. Eventually, the price hit 350 Baht and I walked away, victorious, with the wine glass in one hand and Owen’s broken heart in the other.

We traveled back to the hotel in what some call “The Swaggin’ Wagon” and cooked an amazing lunch for ourselves. We cooked four dishes, each one more delicious than the last! We cooked pork, tam som (papaya salad), fried vegetables, and a coconut milk desert. I’m sure many parents will be happy to hear that their kids know how to cook authentic Thai food! We were taught by four lovely, patient, and very skilled local women. Each one specialized in one dish. We all learned so much from them.

After lunch, we had a much needed hour of rest. Before long, we were heading out on another adventure. This time, we went into Kuiburi National Park to replenish a salt lick for elephants and all herbivores in the park. This is extremely important to make sure that the animals get the minerals they need to survive. This also helps to keep the elephants inside the park and not wander to neighboring farms in search of food. One of the most important things we’ve learned is about human-elephant conflict and how to solve it. A salt lick helps both the humans and the elephants!

To replenish the salt lick, we dug around a preexisting salt lick and added – you guessed it – salt. This was hard work, but we finished within the desired time! Everyone who worked to complete it (GLA staff and students alike) deserves a huge round of applause!

On to the next adventure! We rode deeper and deeper into the national forest until we reached a gorgeous clearing. We were given dried jackfruit (my new favorite snack)to munch on. These pictures do not do justice to the overall beauty of Kuiburi National Park. Magic seems to radiate from the hills themselves. I’ve never seen a place so genuinely alive. To add to the wonder that we all experienced, we saw multiple wild elephants on our way back to the hotel. Before coming to Kuiburi, the way we interacted with elephants was much different. We were so close to them, feeding them, washing them, playing with them. Although that was an amazing experience, seeing the elephants completely free was somehow freeing itself.

We drove to the hotel and enjoyed a delicious dinner of pineapple soup, eggs, chicken, and (of course) rice.

What an amazing day it was! With every passing minute, I fall deeper and deeper in love with this country and its people. One can’t help it when looking at the vividly colorful landscape, tasting there incredibly delicious food, and interacting with the warmest people on earth! It means even more that I’m experiencing this place with a group of people my age who are just as in love as I am. If you’re still reading this, I admire your patience. Thank you for making it through my crazy long blog!

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

– Written by Lila Moyle

Wednesday July 3, 2019

After what felt like months of sleep deprivation, we finally got some gosh darn rest. We slept in until 8:30 and ate breakfast outside. We were served egg noodles, fried rice, and… wait for it… NUTELLA TOAST. Every time the toast plate was replenished, plastic chairs clattered to the floor as we raced to the table. The spirit of the jungle filled our veins as we fought for the toast. We bit and scratched and hissed. Just as Darwin theorized, only the strongest survived. At the end of the morning, poor Lila was left toastless.

In front of us lay a platter of a mysterious fruit. I was later informed that the name of it is mangosteen, but back then I was dumb and immature. I studied the purple fruit. I had never seen it in the States. The outside appeared to have a hard outer shell, so I went about peeling it. After I spent several minutes removing the shell, I was stumped because there was a strange pulpy layer. I went to Vijo in confusion, just looking for a friend to lend a helping hand. Instead, I received nothing but cruel mockery.

Vijo called out to the other Thai folks, summoning them to look at the ineptitude that is inherently part of my Americanness. I had no idea what they were saying as they crowded around me, but jeering is universally understood. It turns out that I had not yet reached the white fruit part on the inside. The correct way to open it is to crack the fruit in half, and I had merely clawed at the skin like a dying shrew claws at dirty moss.

Anyway, we hopped in the vans for an hourlong drive to our next home base in Hua Hin. Of course, our trip was lengthened due to the mandatory 7 Eleven stop. As we approached our destination, the mountains somehow became even more beautiful, perhaps caused by the sea brightly shimmering in the distance. We drove all the way to the shore, where we then removed our shoes and frolicked in the sand like a bunch of happy deer -or whatever animal frolics. I wouldn’t know because I didn’t really pay attention in freshman year biology class.

So we frolicked all the way to some boats that were conveniently waiting to take us around a cliff to another beach. This trip has been so convenient it’s almost like someone planned the whole thing ahead of time!! Crazy!!! At the next beach we began the 500m upward trek to the Phraya Nakhon Cave. Arms and hearts pumping, we worked our way up the countless stairs until cartoon stars circled in front of our eyes.

Finally, we made it. Devin, our onsite geologist, had a field day. He could barely contain his excitement at all of the limestone surrounding us. Inside the cave there was a large temple thing. This cave is important to Thai citizens because three past kings have visited, giving it much historical and cultural value. After spending some time climbing rocks and shrieking at spiders, we headed back down the path. Some may think that the way back is easier.

At the end of the path sat a restaurant that was just dying to feed us lunch. After lunch we did a group activity that strengthened our teamwork, leadership, and trust skills. It takes a bit of time to explain but the short version is that we utterly killed it. We got about 45 minutes to play in the ocean after our activity, so myself and a few others took advantage of this time to summon the crab army to do our bidding. With every step along the shore, dozens of crabs emerged from the sand, ready to fight in the coming crab wars. After all, war is shell.

We made it to our hotel and had an hour to get ready for dinner. On the way, I suffered through 20 minutes of bad jokes in the van. I don’t want to talk about it. Dinner was located at a very obviously Italian restaurant, yet Kira, our beloved mentor, still managed to convince several people that we would be eating pad Thai yet again. Those people were pleasantly surprised to find plates of French fries and pizza magically appearing in front of them. All was well. After dinner followed the classic post-supper 7 Eleven run, because what else do you do when you have 20 minutes and 3,000 baht to spend?

We made it safely back to the hotel, lugging bags of 7 Eleven treasures inside, where we ended our day with mentor groups. Overall, the day was good one, filled with bad jokes and slippery rocks.

Written by: Anna Polivka

Thursday July 4, 2019

Happy 4th of July! Although we may not have been home to celebrate, we had such an incredible day in Thailand!

We started our day at the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand, a wildlife rescue center that takes captive animals out of bad situations and rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured wildlife. We got to take a tour of the facility and learn about just a few of the many animal species that they have rescued and now house. There were animals such as monkeys, bears, peacocks, dogs, cats, elephants and even a cassowary, that had either been injured, used as pets, illegally traded, or used in the entertainment industry at some point in their lives. It was absolutely horrible and heart breaking to hear about just a few of these animals’ stories and how they ended up here. Some were kept in cages too small to even walk around in for a large majority of their lives, some were saved from savage trading industries that they would have likely died in, and others were saved from accidents caused by human animal conflict.

One of the most horrific things we learned while we were here was about how some bears that are illegally traded are farmed or used for bear paw soup. This is where a paying customer chooses from a selection of caged bears and requests one of their paws. The bear’s foot is then amputated in front of the customer and made into bear paw soup. Not only that, but once the bear’s foot is amputated, the animal is kept alive until all of its limbs are gone and someone pays a heavy sum for the rest of the bear’s body. This is an incredibly vile act and incredibly illegal in most countries, but sadly these animals are still taken from the wild and traded in areas that still allow this to happen.

It was quite a depressing morning, but also super eye opening to how mistreated some wild animals are and how destructive captivity can be to them. However, aside from all of the sob stories, we also got to hear about how well a lot of these animals were doing after they had been rehabilitated and settled into their new lives inside of the rescue center. There is no doubt that this was one of the most incredible places we have visited thus far and I think it’s safe to say that I’ll hopefully be back some time in the future to volunteer (you hear that mom and dad ;)). Once we finished our tour and lunch we raced to the gift shop for a quick 5 minute shopping spree, due to a crunch on time, and headed to the beach for a nice relaxing afternoon.

On our way to the beach we made a surprise stop at Monkey Mountain where there were literally monkeys everywhere! There must have been hundreds of them running around, looking to dig into tourists pockets and snatch objects out of their hands. We even witnessed one monkey jump on a kid and steal his bottle of sprite, but luckily our group didn’t experience anything past some minor shoelace tugging and the occasional grabbing of a foot or leg. We stayed and watched as they interacted with each other and random objects around them (one monkey even found a pair of scissors and was running around with them!). When it was time to go we reluctantly said bye to our newly acquainted furry friends and continued our journey to the beach.

When we finally made it to the beach it was raining a bit, but that didn’t stop us from swimming or hanging out on the shore. After swimming around for a while we gathered back up and had a nice long conversation about what we had learned through out this trip so far. We did a brief beach clean up and loaded up in the vans to head to our final stop of the day, the night market. This was a glorious place full of all kinds of magical foods. There were Thai cuisines, crepes, coconut ice cream, heavenly chicken kebabs, and so much more. It was food heaven! Once we had walked around a bit, filled our bellies with numerous different foods, and spent way too much money on souvenirs we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

-written by Kennedi

Friday July 5, 2019

The final move to the last hotel. We went onto the national park. The park was called Khao Deng park. We began the track for the 300 cliffs hike. Sadly we all failed to notice that the sign right outside the hike mentioned only for moderate to high climbing and fitness ability. As we started the hike it began to rain and me being the smart 17 year old I am decided not to wear a rain coat. However! It had not down poured which saved us. The entire walk up was filled with shrieks and the sounds of feet sliding from Skye and I. When we made it to the top the view was breathtaking. According to Vijo if you sit long enough you can really count the 300 cliffs.

One by one we made the descent giving each other enough time to walk incase we slipped. I was about to take a step and I kid you not, a snake fell from the tree. A TREE!!! Right in front of where I was about to step. Now, I consider myself very comfortable around snakes. But you bet the minute it came towards me I walked away real fast and pushed Jake in the way. I dodged a bullet right there as the wild snake climbed up Jake’s legs and slithered away.

The afternoon was spent with a supposed to be a 3 hour car ride that turned into a 5 hour car ride. We got stuck in Bangkok rush hour traffic which Is ABSOLUTELY terrible. My van got stopped by the police so the royal family of sorts could cross the highway. We were stopped for probably 15 minutes and all we got out of it was not even seeing the royal parade!!! However, the day ended with dinner and cards (one of our absolutely favorite things to do together). Sad to say it was the last real night in bangkok.

– by Abbey Rivers

Saturday July 6, 2019

Today we started off the day with heading straight to the market after breakfast. The market had over 2,000 stores, and some groups, after the group as a whole was split up, saw the pet section of the market. This section was particularly distasteful, as it embodied the very thing we as a program are hopefully looking to end, which is the trade and selling of exotic animals, which can lead to abuse and mistreatment. After seeing what there was to see and buying what there was to buy in the market, we headed to a “surprise”, which happened to be a treat of free ice cream at a parlor in the market.

After spending 3 or 4 hours at the market, we headed back to the hotel and did a survey based on the trip as a whole. The survey asked questions about every detail of our experience in Thailand and how we felt about those details, making it very open to judgement which may just lead to improvements. After doing the survey, we had a few hours of free time, and after walking for hours on end, it was well needed. Finally, we ended the day with a Dinner Cruise down the Chao Phraya River. It was a fun experience with lots of singing and dancing, along with an unexpected twist.

By, Kai Martin