PatPong, G.A.S., and Misc

Well a lot has been going on recently hence me not posting in awhile. Brooke and I have been getting really involved with ActionAid Thailand. But I'll get to that later...
My mom randomly met a lady at Jazzercise who now lives in Thailand. So we met up with her husband who was absolutely a Godsend. He explained a lot about Bangkok, some do's and dont's, and a lot about politics. They also have an amazing place and some really good contacts. In fact we randomly met two of his friends at a store and they are going out with Brooke to talk about women right's organizations tomorrow. Brooke, had told Matt and I that we needed to go to Patpong at least once so we know what it is like. Daniel offered to take us since he knew the ropes and wanted to make sure we didn't get into trouble. And trust me you don't find trouble over there you have to actively avoid it. I was thinking it would be more like a strip-club on steroids...I was way wrong. It was INSANE and I'm completely thankful Daniel and Brooke were there, we'll leave it at that.
ActionAid desperately needs our help but the more I try the more I see that it may not be possible. This culture is so indirect that it is hard for them to accomplish anything or come to any type of conclusions. They call it a "save the face" culture. They don't want anyone to look bad or feel bad. Basically a hell of a lot different then the way business is done in the States. However, I did get involved with their program Global Action School's which is teaching teachers and kids about global issues. Yesterday I went to a 1st-12th grade school and we talked about peace, took pictures, and wrote about peace. The atmosphere was very unique...some writings had the f-word in them, there were incredibly graphic pictures of inhumane acts and one thing that made me incredibly awkward was there were a lot of "girly-boys" there as well. These kids are only in high-school but they have accepted there sexuality and so have there peers. One peace booth had two "girly-boys" dressed up in dresses giving massages behind a sheet for a fundraiser. Ying who is the head of GAS told me she wanted to showme something took me the booth and closed the sheet where I found myself in a high-school's auditorium, enclosed in a sheet with two guys dressed up as girls giving massages to their classmates. All of whom wanted to give me one...and the answer to your question is no, I didn't get one and was completely freaked out from the incident. I think it's great that people are so accepting here but I was less then ready for that culture shock.
But besides that incident watching all the kids running around eager to share with me what they learned about peace (in english) not to mention seeing what they thought of America and certain issues across the world was a very rewarding experience. It gave me a renewed mission.
I have upped my search efforts to find an orphanage around Bangkok that I can help at. I have found many in the Chang Mai area as well as down south which will be great to go visit for a week or so, but hopefully I can find something more permanant soon.
We also went and saw the JW Thompson house which is what I would imagine Jimmy Buffett's house would look like if he had lived and worked in Bangkok. Check out the story behing JW Thompson it is pretty interesting but by far the coolest part was his house!
Things are still going well for me, as I told some work buddies the trucks here have pretty intense paintings and are all Isuzu and Hino. It seems that traffic lines and rules are more of a suggestion then laws here and the non-existant sidewalks always make for an exciting walk to campus (for our 85 cent dinner).
I don't know who all is reading this but for those of you in Nebraksa hope you guys are staying fairly dry and safe. Hope everything is going well with all of you and please keep the e-mails and posts coming!!

Here's to you,
Michaud