We're back...quite a trip!...more soon B&G

We leave Khao Lak in about an hour. It's been a great experience on so many levels. We are both sure that we will come back. Bridgett will be avoiding low walls though ;) She's doing fine but we get a complete checkup back in Texas. St. Pats was ahuge hit and the Late Late Show from Ireland are interested in doing a story on it!!! I will update you all with a much fuller story on the whole trip with pictures too once we get into the old routine. It will be very hard to adjust to western life and things we think of as problems after living with people who have faced ultimate hardships. The country and people are so lovely here that everybody who comes here is deeply affected on a more or less permanent basis. Anyway better finish packing and get our lift to Phuket airport to start our mammoth day of travel back to Austin. Love, Bridgett and Gordon.

Hi Everyone!

I was glad to see that Gordon had posted something. I have not because I had a bit of a fall on Saturday and really sprained my right wrist. We were having dinner with the people on our building team. They are such fantastic people. I went to walk my wonderful "little buddy" Louise, that's what Gordon calls her, and her daughter Nathalie out as they were leaving. I walked a short way with them and then we stopped and were talking. Imagine that. I took a step backward but there was a small ledge behind me I didn't see. I tripped on it and fell back and over the ledge. I fell about 2 1/2 feet and automatically put my hands behind me to catch myself. The bigger they are the harder they fall, and boy I fell hard.

The right wrist sprain wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't broken my left arm as well. A guy from the restaurant next door drove me to the hospital in Takuapa with Gordon and Louise. The doctor said my ulna, if that is the bone above your thumb, is broken and the bones in my wrist were all jacked up and all out of place. I had to spend the night in the hospital to see the orthopedic guy in the morning.

He was really wonderful and said that he could do surgery and put pins in my arm, but instead he hung my arm by two fingers in wire mesh "Chinese finger traps" and hung a bag with weights on my arm. Okay, that hurt pretty badly but then he unwraps this cloth and takes out a needle THIS BIG! I just kind of laughed because it wasn't like I could get away or anything. Gordon was so good and sweet. If I had had a bullet, I'd have been biting the bejeezes out of the bloody thing. The doctor injected all this pain medication into my wrist and then crack crack cracked it back into place. And yes, it hurt. Loads. Better than having surgery.

I have quickly remembered the words for hurt and fall down. I had been saying the word "lowm", with a high tone, meaning fall down. People would look at me all confused. Lowm with a falling tone means fall down. "Lowm" with a high tone means umbrella. I was saying, "I umbrella". FYI, lowm with a low tone means wind. Got all that?

Lisa, if you are reading this, I am so sorry. I am to look after her beautiful baby, Karli, when we get back. I still plan on it, but I am in a cast for month. I am to see an orthopedic guy right away when we get home. It sucks so much because I loved building houses and Louise and I have SUCH a good time. She said that now she is working with another lady and she is working faster but having less fun. The people we are building the houses for are living in temporary housing a bit down the road, but the rush is to get them in before the rainy season. The walls we are building are for just the back of the house which will be the kitchen and bathroom. The rest of the house is like a traditional Thai house that is up on stilts with a big front porch. They are beautiful little houses. I'm so bummed out though. I am working in the Center now for half days handling email. It is helping but it isn't the same as being out with the people.

Initially, I wanted to work with the orphans. There are about 400 in this area alone. However, only people who are here for two weeks or more can do that as the kids need some form of consistency. I totally understand but would have loved to do that. Maybe when we come back next time. We were actually thinking about changing our flights so we could stay for the 100 days ceremony. In Buddhism, the souls of the dead are trapped on earth until 100 days after they have died and then they are released. Don't ask me why. The 100 days ceremony is a REALLY BIG DEAL and we so wanted to be a part of it, but we need to go home especially since I am cripple.

I hope you know how long it has taken me to write this and I an exhausted with this one finger typing bs. Wyatt, thank you so much for writing me and I am so proud of you for making your First Communion. I can't believe what a big boy you are. Both Uncle Gordon and I love you kids so much. Sydney and Madi, too!!!

We love you all very, very much. Big hugs and kisses. Love, Bridgett

Well...Gordon here this time. I've ending up doing a bit more office work here this week. There's so much to do and I feel I can help in so many places. I feel so much more useful than in my Western negotiations on Web projects. It's really visible practical work here and the area really is a paradise. Very, very hot and humid but we got a nice hotel near the volunteer center and get nice meals and showers in the evenings.
Bridgett is doing some e-mail replies for the center. Last week we were the one's sending them in!!!! Amazing.
I have taken on a St.Pats event...we'll see what happens. I even managed to get some t-shirts lined up for sale. The proceeds will be funneled back into the Projects.
My lift (a jeep) has just arrived and I'm off to Phuket down south to get supplies for the center and St.Pat's night (i.e 200 white t-shirts)...everybody should do this who has a few weeks to spare...no skills needed, great food and weather and often a nice feeling that you are really really helping make other humans life better today than it was yesterday...anyway got to go...we love you all, we're happy we did this and thanks for reading.

Sawadee ka! Hello and good morning from Kao Lok. Another day in the coal mines coming up. We work 6 days a week and take Sunday off. The Tsunami Volunteer Center MAKES everyone take one day off because it can be so overwhelming. I have discovered that the only way for me to put anything on the blog is to get up extra early and arrive at the center before we all go to our respective projects. There are about 150 people here. Some have been here since the begining and will be here as long as they are needed. Some have been here a month and are leaving in another month. Some people were just traveling around backpacking and decided to come here and help. They are not taking anymore volunteers who would be here less than 2 weeks because it is so difficult to train someone new everyday. There are alot of different projects here. Gordon and I are on a building crew working at a village called Taptuan that was totally wiped off the face of the earth. The people are called the Morgahn and they are sea gypsies. They aren't actually Thai citizens and Thai is the second language. They speak a combination of Thai, Indonisian and something else I can't remember now. Most of the village, including the animals, survived because before the first wave came the animals started acting really upset and freaking out. They all ran for the mountains and the people knew something was up so they took off too, fast. The same happened on the Similian Islands. When the sea went so far out, the village people knew that the sea was going to "eat them" so they high tailed it up to high ground. There wasn't a single death in his village and they saved about 300 additional people. We hear amazing stories everyday. This morning was sad though. Our hotel is about 1 mile from the Center and we usually hitch hike. I am so sick of hitching rides. I can't wait to get back into my VW instead of a back of a truck. We decided just to walk to work today and on the way, we pass a small police station. We are out in the countryside so there isn't much around. When we passed the police station, we went over to look at the notice board. They had all these pictures of people that are still missing. Small children, entire families, husbands and wives. There were also morgue pictures that we weren't expecting to see. They are unidentified bodies and we couldn't even tell what race they were. There was an old Thai man there looking at the pictures. He said his house was washed away and two people in his family are still missing. They are dead of course but people have a hard time thinking that it could be real. Kao Lok where we are was the hardest hit part of Thailand. We are just north of Phuket. Everything is gone. There is an enormous police ship ( like the coast guard) that is nearly a mile inland. The tsunami carried it so far and just dropped it. They are going to leave it there as a memorial. The ship was guarding the King of Thailand's daughter and grandson who were staying here. The grandson had something wrong with him. Like autisim or something like that. He died in the tsunami so that is why they are leaving the ship there. I think it would be pretty impossible to move it anyway. I better go meet my crew. Hopefully we will have a truck arranged, but most of the time we have to hitch.

Gotta go. Love you all so much. Bridgett Joyce

Good morning! We are so sorry that we haven't been able to update the blog. We had difficulty getting internet access and once we got to Tsunami Volunteer Center, we have been so busy that we haven't had time.

It is so incredible to be here. We flew from Austin on March 1 and landed in Tokyo. We spent two nights there. When we were leaving Texas, Gordon said that we should take jackets. I thought he was out of his mind. We were going to the jungle you know. I am so glad he did as it was FREEZING in Tokyo. We aced the subway system. It is so easy and well marked and huge. In Boston and London, the subway is a rats maze compared to Tokyo. We were there at rush hour and I was a bit concerned because I have seen the pictures of people actually being shoved into subway cars with big poles! There were so many people but it was so orderly. Everyone lines up and waits calmly. Really amazing. We went to the "historic" section of Tokyo, visited a few temples, burned some incense and ate some things that were weren't sure of the origin and had a good time. The highlight was that we visited the Kodokan Judo Center. Gordon plays (yes, they call it play) judo and he has wanted to go here forever. This is where Jigaro Kano invented judo in the 1800's. Gordon was so excited! We got to watch practice and some matches and it was really neat.

We were leaving the next afternoon. I woke up in the morning and Gordon said, "Guess what it is doing outside." I thought "Oh great. It is raining and we have to drag all these bags to the train to get to the airport!" No rain, but it was snowing ! It snowed and snowed and snowed all day long!!!!! Apparently, it was completely out of the norm. But what is the norm anymore? Cool summers and snow in winter in Texas. Craziness!!!

Anywho, we got to the airport. No problems. Checked in and waited. My host mother from Thailand had arranged that her sister, Nelly and brother Nah Suan would pick us up at the airport. Because of the snow, we were 3 hours late. They stood at the arrival gate with a sign saying "BJ" for three hours. We felt awful about it.

We get to Thailand and I just couldn't believe that I was back and that Gordon was with me. We kept saying, "Can you believe that we are in Bangkok?!?!" It was so fantastic. It wasn't too hot either so that was nice. This is a pretty cool time in Thailand, relatively speaking. Mostly high 80s and 90s F. We stayed at Nah Suan's gorgeous home in Bangkok. He is a highly respected architect in Thailand. All my (Thai) mom's family are very smart. Both my host mom and dad are doctors. So we visited and went to bed. My Mom and Dad were driving up from Rayong, where I used to live for a year, and were going to pick up my little sister, Nit, ( means little) from University and come to Nah Suan's in the afternoon.

Our first morning in Bangkok, Nelly drove us to the Royal Palace area. She showed us the market, the ferry to cross the river and many little shops and stalls. The smells and sounds are so foreign to us.

........I have to go now. It is about 8:15am and we are about to leave for our building site. Gordon and I have been on a building team. In the past three days, I have become a "bricky". Laying bricks. They aren't actually bricks, but cinder blocks. I partnered with a woman from Quebec who is an absolute doll. She is here with her daughter who is about my age. We were laughing yesterday because we never thought that we would develop a preference for different kinds of cement. We are about to leave so I have to run. We hitchhike to the site about 20 km away. More on all that later. Things are reall;y interesting. All my love and Gordon's too. Big hugs and kisses, Bridgett

We're all ok and working hard building houses in Khao Lak, Thailand.