{"id":640,"date":"2021-04-08T14:04:26","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T14:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/?p=640"},"modified":"2021-04-08T14:05:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T14:05:11","slug":"may-i-never-lose-my-wonder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/08\/may-i-never-lose-my-wonder\/","title":{"rendered":"May I Never Lose My Wonder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It has been just a short 30 hours out of quarantine as I write this. I made to another rung on the ladder before entering my new home. With every ride (passengers on the left side of the car), every market, every bit of stimuli, I realize I know nothing! I am a<strong> <em>farang<\/em> <\/strong>(white, westerner). It is a new experience to not have something to &#8220;do&#8221; here every day. No class to teach, yet, just life. Life, without knowing how to drive on the left side of the road, yet. Life with fumbling through the limited vocabulary in the language. Life seen back through the eyes of a small child. Everything is new, leaving me with thousands of questions. May I never lose that perspective here. May I never lose my wonder of learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am continuing training here, just with more hands-on, but really hands-off experiences happening. While in quarantine, my interactions were limited to 45 minutes a day in the &#8220;culture&#8221;, with most of the interactions with foreigners that all spoke English. Now, when I can hear a word said that I recognize, I jump for joy, because I understood one thing in the millions of other words. I actually read a word in Thai script, yesterday on a sign! Of course, reading something and pronouncing it is a great start, I still had to ask the meaning of the word. Again, with that small child mindset. However, there was a little victory celebration there! I share this story because that all happened in my first day out in the culture. I look around and just want to know more. I desire to understand. I don&#8217;t want to be reliant on someone to translate for me. I know it won&#8217;t always be like this. May I never lose my wonder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wonder (Spontaneous) - Amanda Cook | You Make Me Brave\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3F7lxt5fTeo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption>The words of this song really speak to the essence of my desire out of the last two days. Take a look.<sup>1<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Staying Power<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Training this afternoon was talking about the things that are going to help me keep &#8220;staying power&#8221;. Things to do to help me not burn out here. Aside from the self-care, growth mindset, scheduling wisely and not overloading; one really stuck out to me: Pace Yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Pace yourself for the &#8220;long game&#8221;. God isn&#8217;t rushed. Neither should we.<\/p><cite>Crossworld<sup>2<\/sup> Home Office Staff <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This is something I will have to be continuously reminded of. I am not going to learn everything overnight, not even in two years! I will have to figure out how pacing myself is realistically lived out here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Pacing with language learning<\/li><li>Pacing with cultural understanding<\/li><li>Pacing with learning how to teach effectively in this environment<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Though training is something that can be heavy at times and a little overstimulating, I was able to do some fun things as well. One of them being a muaythai workout class! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Muay Thai And Massage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This morning I experienced a muay thai workout class at Thaitan Muaythai Circuit in Chaing Mai.<sup>3<\/sup> Intense is the only word that comes to mind (well other than sweaty&#8230;). Muay thai is a form of martial arts that contains boxing techniques. It is known as the&nbsp;&#8220;art of eight limbs&#8221; because it uses the fists, elbows, knees and shins. I cannot wait to see the bruises on my feet, shins, basically all over my body. Do not get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this grueling experience! However, I am not sure it will become one of my regular hobbies here. Too bad I had gotten the massage a day prior to this class!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery aligncenter columns-2 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"285\" src=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/muaythai-thaitan-2-300x285.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"650\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/muaythai-thaitan-2.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/?attachment_id=650\" class=\"wp-image-650\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/muaythai-thaitan-2-300x285.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/muaythai-thaitan-2-580x551.jpg 580w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/muaythai-thaitan-2-320x304.jpg 320w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/muaythai-thaitan-2.jpg 671w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"651\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/?attachment_id=651\" class=\"wp-image-651\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-720x900.jpg 720w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-580x725.jpg 580w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut-320x400.jpg 320w, https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/thaitan-muay-thai-circut.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption\">Pictures supplied from Thaitan Muaythai Circuit&#8217;s Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday, I continued my tradition of getting a massage. When in Asia, you must go! They are way cheaper than the ones in the States. This time, it was a foot massage. An hour of massage from feet and legs, ending with a pretzel-like stretch with your arms, neck, and back! It was serene and relaxing. It brought up many cultural questions, which I will touch more on in many posts to come, as I learn more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason I am cautiously in writing about culture, is because I am new, I am a foreigner, and I will always be a learner here. I look forward to coming to some answers and understanding in the future, but I have a while to go. I have repeated several times in this post, may I never lose my wonder. May that be my prayer throughout my season of life here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5>Reference Information<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><sup>1<\/sup> <em>Wonder<\/em> by Amanda Cook<br><sup>2 <\/sup>For more information on Crossworld, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/crossworld.org\/\">http:\/\/crossworld.org\/<\/a><br><sup>3<\/sup> For more information and photos from the muay thai experience, please visit their Facebook page at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thaitanmuaythaicircuit\/\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thaitanmuaythaicircuit\/<\/a>. If you are ever in Chaing Mai, Thailand, be sure to check them out. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been just a short 30 hours out of quarantine as I write this. I made to another rung on the ladder before entering my new home. With every ride (passengers on the left side of the car), every market, every bit of stimuli, I realize I know nothing! I am a farang (white, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,2],"tags":[41,44,43,25,40,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":655,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640\/revisions\/655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pursuitofone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}