New things are happening at ISDSI.

Good things!

Check it out here.

This year was a busy one for ISDSI, with three brand new additions joining the other kids at ISDSI — Nong Ellie, Nong Que and Nong Mai — all born in 2009!

Ajaan Wilasanee (Kru Ning), who teaches and Thai for ISDSI as well as coordinates host family placements had a baby girl, Nong Mai, on May 25th.  Pi Pu, who runs the office, Thai staff and also works with Wilasanee on homestays ALSO had a baby, on June 22 — Nong Que.  Since BOTH of the host families coordinators were pregnant during the spring semester, it was an interesting time to juggle homestays — AND they were able to set up all the fall semester homestays before going on maternity leave.  Good timing!

Last but not least to join us was Nong Ellie, born on August 19th to Pi Becca, who is a city and regional planner here with Abram, a post-doc at ISDSI.

The kids are getting big fast, so we decided to get them together for some photos.  Thanks to Pi Ben for taking the time to photograph the babies — a bit of change from his usual photos of sea kayaking, rock climbing and the cultures of Southeast Asia!

Ellie and Becca

Mai and Ning

Que and Pu

The three moms and babies!

Gettings babies to pose isn't easy!

Que's done. Time to go take a nap...

I just got back from the NOLS Outdoor Educator Backpacking/Sea Kayaking course in Alaska! It was amazing.

Everything was so natural and beautiful. True wilderness. We saw whales, including an orca that came right up to our kayaks, sea otters every day, sea lions, and fished and ate salmon! We camped next to a glacier and could hear the icebergs calving off. During the backpack section we camped on snow (my first time!).

There were so many mosquitoes they flew into our mouths. More mosquitoes than we have in Thailand!

I learned about how to pack my backpack well, good hiking technique, Leave No Trace, bomb proof camping, sea kayaking skills, navigation, and lots of other things. It was amazing to go to the other side of the world and see things I’ve never seen before!

AND the water was a LOT colder than here in Thailand where I usually sea kayak!!

-Pui