Thailand Journal 1 – Aug. 26, 2022

 

Walla Walla University started this mission and cultural trip to Thailand in 2003. It took COVID to break into this annual event in 2020 and 2021. But we are back this year with a team of 14 strong: Alyssa Rumbaoa (who will be joining us in a few days); Brett Wilson; Elizabeth Saldana; Gabby Jung; Willy Sowa; Holly Harrison; Janelle Macias; Jenny Keshishzadeh; Keziah Perez; Miranda Wredberg; Rachel Gampu; Zachary Mayer; Nursing Prof., Deanna Ludwig-Bos; and myself. Ten on the team are nurses. It’s a great and fun team. Yesterday was long! A two-day journey. We all got in to Thailand after midnight, but we had to stop at 7-11 and shop at 2:00am and visit the bathrooms. Remember it is also a

“cultural’ trip! Got to bed at 4:00am This morning Deanna joined me in running into town to get the telephones set up, and to visit with some of the business folk with whom we have established good relationships and friendships. After the formal orientation we were on our way to Tesco Lotus! It is now just “Lotus.” We, of course, had to stop at the fruit stand and introduce the team to some exotic tropical fruits. At the Mall we followed tradition and ate at The Pizza Co. The

day ended at Vespers. The numbers at the university seems to be down. Not the packed house of students, faculty and staff that are usually there. By now most of us are struggling to stay awake…. Remember that I’m 14 hours from Walla Walla’s time-zone. My Thailand cell # is 66-64-980-8247.

I’ll be posting photos daily on my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143715478@N06/albums/72177720301582890