We survived the hot season! …but not before our staycation in Bangkok during Songkran (Buddhist New Year). The break brought a much-appreciated venture “away” from our home before facing another lockdown. We visited tourist sites, like the giant Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) and an art museum where we saw an intriguing collection of the princess’s photos from the past two years. We tried long-anticipated restaurants, including one known to have the best Pad Thai in Thailand, and found a unique coffee shop that detailed stories behind each location’s beans.

Locked Down

Thailand is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases and has since increased restrictions such as park closures, mask mandates, virtual schooling, no dine-in, no gatherings, and reduced hours pretty much everywhere. We have been supporting local restaurants through delivery from favorite restaurants and new ones, take-out from the shops in our beloved “Garage” next door, and ordering from families who support themselves through cooking.

Online work is keeping us busy (details below) and we’re still loving our jobs as much as ever! We are making the most of this time by baking for friends, studying the Thai language, video chatting with you guys (Reach out, we’d love to schedule more!), online church, watching shows/movies (Netflix recommendations, anyone?), exercising in the fresh air (with a mask…), home improvement projects…However, lockdown fatigue is definitely a thing for us!

Online for Now – J’s Work

Jonathan is teaching all his classes online right now. That looks like video calls on Monday and Tuesday and then homework and activities the rest of the week. He spends a lot of time writing assignments and grading through Google Classroom, but still finds creative ways to engage and inspire his students. The big challenge at the moment is helping his AP Studio Art students meet their May 20th deadline for portfolio submission. They have to finish up their artworks, photograph their portfolios, and get it all turned in correctly through an online portal – even though they cannot enter the classroom where many supplies, resources, and their artworks are located! They have risen to the challenge and it is so fun to work with creative and passionate students.

Online for Now – L’s Work

When the recent restrictions started getting stricter, I learned that a visit to Mae Sot would require TWO 14-day quarantines, since Tak and Bangkok were both red zones. Now, Bangkok has been elevated to “dark red” and travel outside the province is restricted. However, the children’s homes (orphanages/boarding houses) I have been working with are willing to receive workshops (I had hoped to lead in-person) via video. Imagine Thailand Foundation’s co-founder and Mae Sot Area Director, P’ Li Mei, is willing to deliver the content and facilitate the activities I planned to follow the information sessions.

I have been hard at work investigating differences between ways nutrition is taught in the US vs. Thailand vs. Myanmar. The US’s Food Pyramid and My Plate are different from Thailand’s Nutrition Flag. While both countries have 5 main food groups, the groups are not the same. Burmese schools teach 3 groups that are drastically different in categorization. Their model does not depict portion sizes or relative amounts and the groups stem from food’s functions in the body.

Through collaboration with Thai contacts in Mae Sot and Burmese contacts in Myanmar, we developed a method of teaching nutrition that should be understandable, memorable, and fun for Burmese and Thai students. I am so excited about this! Another blessing, is that a contact at university in Myanmar is tirelessly translating the slides I have developed. Even better, he is taking the speaker’s notes I have prepared and hand-translating them into Burmese to be used as subtitles! He is translating forward and backward, asking friends to cross-check, and ensuring a universal font. It is amazing to see hard work and relationship building materialize into usable content!

My nutrition projects with women and children on the Myanmar-Thailand border are so sweet and rewarding. Thank you SO much to those of you who have been supporting this work! I am super encouraged that as of end-April, I am only $1,000 USD below the fundraising goal set in August to cover the hours I have worked and work-expenses incurred thus-far. Will you please help me fill this gap? If you have not joined in yet, please band with me in supporting mothers and children in Mae Sot by donating here. I am thankful for your prayers, please keep us in them. God is doing great things!

Stay Tuned

Keep your eyes peeled for a Thai food recipe Lyndsey has been working on!