Gender: Feminine
Origin: Debated
Meaning: Debated

Katherine and Catherine have to be one of the quintessential female classics of the Western World, according to the United States Social Security Administration’s popularity charts, Katherine has not fallen out of the top 100 for over a 100 years. She has remained a staple, bouncing the lowest to 105th position in 1938 and bouncing the highest to the 25th place in 1991. She currently ranks in as the 45th most popular female name in the United States (2008). Her elder English and French counterpart, Catherine, comes in slightly lower, but has remained fairly high in the American charts since 1880. Her highest position being at # 18 in 1914 and then again in 1917 and came in the lowest just this past year, ranking in at # 149.

In other countries, the rankings of Katherine are as follows:

# 78 (Canada-BC, 2008)
# 63 (Chile, 2006)

Her popularity in other incarnations are as follows: (divided alphabetically by cited country)

Katharina (# 8, Austria, 2008)
Catalina (# 3, Chile, 2006)
Kateřina (# 7, Czech Republic, 2008)
Katrin (# 6, Faroe Islands, 2008)
Aikaterini (# 3, Greece, 2004)
Katrín (# 4, Iceland, 2004-2007)
Katie (# 2, Ireland, 2008)
Kate (# 10, Ireland, 2008)
Karin (9th most popular female name among Palestinian Christians in Israel, 2004)
Katharina (# 5, Liechtenstein, 2008)
Katerina (# 10, Macedonia, 2006)
Katie (# 1, Northern Ireland, 2008)
Yekaterina (# 1, Russia-St. Petersburg, 2003)
Yekaterina (# 6, Russia-Moscow, 2007)
Katie (# 8, Scotland, 2008)
Katarina (# 7, Serbia, 2005)
Katarína (# 4, Slovakia, 2004)
Kaitlyn (# 10, United States-Combined Spellings, 2007)

As for the etymology of the name, it has always been popularly believed to mean “pure” but its history and origins are far more complicated and muddled. There are several theories as to its derivations and linguistic origins, the most popular are that it is either derived from the Greek  word, ΚαΘαροσ, (katharos), meaning, “pure”, or the Greek Εεκατερινε, (Hekaterine), a feminine form of the Greek, Hekáteros, meaning “each of the two; singly.” It has also been suggested that it is a form of the Greek goddess name, Hecate, which means “from a far”, or it is possibly from the Greek word, αικια (aikia) meaning, “torture; injurious treatment.” According to Behindthename, another theory suggests that it could be from a Coptic name meaning “my consecration of your name.”

The name was introduced into Western Europe after European Crusaders encountered the Christians of the Middle East, among them, the devotion of a popular 4th-century, Christian saint was discovered, St. Katherine of Alexandria. According to legend, the saint was spiked and tortured on a wheel after refusing to deny her Christian convictions and converting several members of the Alexandrian royal family to Christianity. Her cult was very popular among Christians in Syria, many centuries before her story even reached Europe. After its introduction, European Latin scholars assumed that the name was associated with the Greek Katharos meaning “pure.”

The name was first recorded in England in 1196. It was thereafter an extremely popular name in Christian Europe.

Catherine has several name-days, but the most popular, and the most widely celebrated during the Middle Ages, took place on November 25th. There is an old French celebration that took place on November 25th.  It was a day for unmarried women, twenty-five years and older, (labelled Catherinette’s in French). They would make caps, attend balls and crown the local St. Catherine of Alexandria statue with a custom hat. This was to ensure that the saint would provide the single ladies a partner by the end of the year. The term “capping st. Catherine” was used in reference to a single woman 25 years and up. This tradition died out somewhat, but remains a popular festivity among hat-makers and dress-makers even till today, particularly in the 2nd arrondisment of Paris. Any women who is single, working in the fashion industry, 25 years old and older, can attend a ball in a specially made hat, and go to the City Hall to present their creations for judging.

Though the term is a bit old fashioned, catherinette is a French word used to refer to a single women who is 25 years and older.

Other notable bearers, place and things include:

Catherine of Aragon

Catherina is the name of a crater on the moon, named for St. Catherine of Alexandria.

The Monastery of St. Catherine’s in Sinai Egypt, which is said to be the oldest Christian monastery and boasts one of the largest collections codices and manuscripts in the world.

St. Katherine Municipality lies in the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, its city is St. Katherine’s.

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), a renowned Catholic saint, theologian, Doctor of the Church and tertiary of the Dominican order. She was known for her mystical experiences and her papal counseling.

St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463) another Italian saint, she is considered the patron saint of Bologna, artists and against temptations.

Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) the first wife of Henry VII of England. Actually, Henry went on to marry two other Catherines, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) was a Catholic Algonquin woman affectionately termed Lily of the Mohawks, she was also the daughter of a chief. At a young age she was ravished by the scars of small-pox and lived a life of devotion till she died at the age of 24.

Now to delve into her sundry variations.

Latinate Forms

Variations from various Romance based languages

• Catèlena (Artapan)
• Catin/Catineta/Catinon (Bearnais)
• Caterina (Catalan/Italian/Spanish)
• Catalina (Corsican/Gascon/Occitanian/Spanish)
• Catherine (French)
• Katia (Italian: a borrowing from the Russian but very popular in Italy)
• Rina (Italian diminutive form, used as an independent given name)
• Catharina (Late Latin)
• Catarina (Portuguese/Occitanian/Galician/Romansch)
• Cátia (Portuguese: originally a diminutive form or either a Portugeusized form of the Slavic Katya, particularly common in Brazil, where it was most likely introduced by Russian and Ukrainian immigrants)
• Catarino (Provencal)
• Ninoun (Provencal: originally a diminutive, now becoming more common as an independent given name)
• Cătălina/Ecaterina (Romanian)
• Catinca (Romanian: a romanianized form of the Russian diminutive, Katinka, used as an independent given name)
• Catina (Romanian/Sicilian)
• Catrina (Romanian)
• Catrina/Chatrina (Romansch)
• Caderina/Catellina (Sardinian)

Obscure French diminiutives are Catherinette, Trinette and Rinette.

Germanic Forms
Variation from various Germanic based languages

• Caja (Danish)
• Catharina/Cathrine/Katarina/Katherina (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
• Karen (Danish)
• Karin (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
• Katharine (Danish)
• Katrina/Katrine/Kathrina/Kathrin (Danish)
• Trine (Danish)
• Catharina (Dutch/Swedish)
• Cato (Dutch)
• Kaatje (Dutch)
• Katelijne/Katelijn (Dutch)
• Katrien (Dutch)
• Katrijn (Dutch)
• Nienke (Dutch)
• Tineke (Dutch: originally a diminutive form, used as an independent given name)
• Toos/Truus (Dutch: initially diminutive forms, used as independent given names)
• Trijn/Trijntje (Dutch)
• Kate/Katie (English: originally diminutive forms, now often used as independent given names in most English speaking countries)
• Katherine/Karen (English)
• Katarina/Katrin (Faroese/Danish)
• Katrina (Faroese)
• Kaja (Frisian)
• Käthe/Caatje (Frisian)
• Katryntje (Frisian)
• Keetje (Frisian)
• Nine/Nynke (Frisian)
• Cathrin/Catrin/Kathrin (German)
• Carin/Karin/Karina/Karine (German/Swedish/Norwegian/Danish)
• Katarina/Katerine/Katharina (German)
• Kathrein (German)
• Katinka (German/Dutch: Germanized form of the Russian diminutive, Katenka)
• Katja (German)
• Trina (German)
• Kaðlín (Icelandic: kahth-LEEN)
• Karín (Icelandic)
• Kata/Katarína/Katrín (Icelandic)
• Kett (Lëtzebuergesch)
• Kaia (Norwegian)
• Kari (Norwegian)
• Trina (Plauttdeutsch)
• Cajsa/Kajsa (Swedish)
• Katarina (Swedish)
• Reina (Yiddish)

Obscure German diminutive forms are Käthchen and Trinchen. A Swiss German dialectical diminutive is Käti. English diminutive forms are Cat, Cathy, Kate, Kathy, Katie, Kay, Kiki, (also used in Sweden and Norway), Kit and Kitty.

Celtic Forms
Variations from various Celtic based languages

• Katarin (Breton)
• Katell/Kattelig (Breton: latter is pronounced kah-tel-LEEK)
• Katik (Breton: kah-TEEK)
• Katou (Breton: kah-TOO)
• Cáit/Cáitín (Irish)
• Catraoine/Caiterína (Irish)
• Caitlín (Irish)
• Caitria/Caitrín (Irish)
• Caitríona (Irish)
• Cathleen/Kathleen (Irish: anglicized form of Caitlin)
• Catreena/Catreeney (Manx)
• Catrìona (Scottish)
• Cadi (Welsh)
• Catrin (Welsh)

Slavic Forms
Variation used in Slavonic based languages

• Kacjaryna (Belorusian: kahts-yah-REE-nah)
• Ekaterina (Bulgarian/Macedonian/Russian)
• Kateřina (Czech: kah-teh-ZHEE-nah)
• Katarzyna (Polish: kah-tah-ZHIH-nah)
• Jekaterina/Yekaterina (Russian)
• Katarina (Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian)
• Katarína (Slovakian)
• Katica (Slovenian: originally a diminutive form, now used as an independent given name. kah-TEET-sah)
• Katja (Slovenian: originally a diminutive form, now used as an independent given name. KAHT-yah)
• Katherine/Kateryna (Ukrainian)

Russian Diminutives include: Katenka, Katiusha and Katya, Czech pet forms are,Káťa, Kačka, Káča, Kačí, Kačenka, Kača, Kačaba, Kačík, Kačuda, Kaťulka, Katerinka, Katica, Katja, Katka, Katla, Katuška and Rina. The most popular diminutive form in Poland is Kasia (KAH-shuh), but there is also Kachna, Kaśka, Kasienka and Kasiunia. Serbo-Croatian diminiutive forms are Kata, Kate (final E is pronounced), Katica, Katja, Katarincica and Rina. A Bulgarian diminutives is Katriška.Ukrainian diminutives are: Katrusya, Katya and Katerynka. Belorusian diminutive forms are Kasja and Katra.

Baltic Forms
Various forms used in the Baltic States

• Kaarin (Estonian)
• Kadi/Kadri/Kadrin (Estonian)
• Kairi/Kari (Estonian)
• Kaisa/Kaisu (Estonian/Finnish)
• Katre/Katri/Katrin (Estonian)
• Triina/Triin/Triinu (Estonian)
• Kaija (Finnish)
• Kata (Finnish)
• Katariina (Finnish/Estonian)
• Kati (Finnish)
• Katja (Finnish)
• Katri/Katriina (Finnish)
• Riina (Finnish)
• Jekaterina (Latvian)
• Kate (Latvian: final E is pronounced)
• Katrīna (Latvian)
• Trine (Latvian: final E is pronounced)
• Katerina/Katrina (Lithuanian)
• Katrė (Lithuanian)
• Katryna (Lithuanian)
• Kotryna (Lithuanian)

Other Languages

• Katarina/Katjusha/Katerina/Katha (Albanian)
• Gadara/Gadarine/Kadara/Kadarine (Armenian)
• Karine (Armenian)
• Katalina (Basque)
• Katalin (Basque/Hungarian)
• Katarin (Basque)
• Ekaterina (Georgian)
• Kattak (Greenlandic)
• Aikaterine/Aikaterini (Greek Modern)
• Katerina (Greek Modern)
• Katina (Greek Modern)
• Kakalina/Kalena/Kalina (Hawaiian)
• Kathani (Hindi/Arabic)
• Katarina (Hungarian/Turkish)
• Kasari (Japanese)
• Katarina (Maltese)
• Kataraina (Maori)
• Kateri (Mohawk)
• Gáddjá (Saami)
• Gáhte (Saami)
• Gáhteriinná/Káhtariinná (Saami)
• Gáre/Káre (Saami)
• Gáren (Saami)
• Kasrin ܟܐܣܪܝܢ (Syriac/Assyrian)
• Akaterina (Turkish)

Hungarian diminutive forms include Kata, Kati, Katica, Katinka, Kató, Katóka, Kitti and Koto.

There are a few masculine forms, the Italian Caterino, Catterino, Cattalino, Catinu (Sicilian dialectical form), and the Romanian Cătălin.

I came upon this book one day when I was in borders looking for a new manga to read. I didn’t intend to read a comedy but I picked up Azumanga Daioh when I saw it. It stood out from the other books. It was much taller and wider than the others. The cover showed several girls displayed happily in school uniforms. One looking very serious, another looking confused, and two smiling and laughing as they walked towards their high school.

The Story

Azumanga Daioh is a slice of life story about several girls who go to the same High School. Much of the story takes place around:

Chiyo Mihama: A very intelligent girl who is very young and should be in middle school but advanced onto High School. In the manga and anime you never see her parents. Unless you count “Chiyo Chichi” or “Chiyo’s Dad”, which is a cat type creature that appeared in first in Sakaki’s dream claiming to be Chiyo’s father.

Her family is wealthy and live in a sizeable house. They also have a summer home where all the girls, and two of their teachers, stayed. She is very friendly and despite her being in High School she does act her age.

Tomo Takino:

Tomo was never one of my favorite characters. Overall she is energetic and obnoxious. She seems to go out of her way to annoy others. She seems rather daft throughout, which is why some of her classmates have no idea how she made it into the school She later explained she has the capability of doing whatever it is she wants if she only concentrates and studies hard.

Koyomi “Yomi” Mizuhara:

She is commonly referred to as just “Yomi”. She is the more serious of the characters but not too serious to the point where you don’t like her. She and Tomo have been friends for years and she was the inspiration for Tomo to “buckle down” and work to get into the High School. She is one of the more intelligent characters and despite that she failed her entrance exam (an exam taken to determine what college you go to).

Sakaki:

Sakaki is one of my favorite characters. She is why and soft spoken and hardly speaks to anyone but manages to befriends everyone. She is seen as very cool and everyone wishes they were more like her. She has quite the chest that all the girls envied and she is amazing in sports beating out most of the guys. She has a love for cats and cute things that can’t go unnoticed. There are just some problems. Cats hate her. Several times throughout the whole series she was attacked, bitten, scratched, and ganged up on, by cats. Which led to her brandishing band aids over her fingers much of the time, and her parents don’t allow cats for her mother is allergic She became great friends with Chiyo once Chiyo got a dog whose name is Mr. Tadakichi. To Sakaki’s (and my) amazement, the dog let her pet him, and that was the beginning of a relationship. Soon Sakaki was able to find love in a cat on a school trip she took down to Okinawa. She befriended an iromoto cat which she was sad to leave, but when the mother died due to a car accident the cat found it’s way to her.

Ayumu “Osaka” Kasuga:

Commonly known as Osaka, is a spaced out girl who can never seem to get things right. When she first arrived to the school she constantly said to herself that she had to “get it together” so much so that she’d get lost in her own chants and not pay attention. Somehow she manages to scrape on by to my amazement. She is one of the funniest characters, often very random and spontaneous making for great laughs. Within two pages of her introduction I was laughing. Without Osaka, Azumanga Daioh just wouldn’t be as funny.

Kagura:

Kagura is Sakaki’s was Sakakis rival, until she joined her class. They are both athletically talented and popular. Kagura has some of Tomo’s traits. She seems daft as times and is quite comedic.

Kaori:

Kaori isn’t a major character but she is worth mentioning. She has a huge crush on Sakaki which Sakaki is totally oblivious to for the most part. She goes crazy over anything that has anything to do with Sakaki and it if funny to read and watch.

There are two main teachers Yukari Tanizaki who is their English and homeroom teacher who is lazy and doesn’t really care about her students, and Minamo/Nyamo Kurosawa, who is a gym teacher and seems to care.

Yukari has a habit of saying and doing things she just isn’t suppose to. In the first episode of the anime, she was running late so she stole a students bike who stopped by to help her when hers broke. She invites herself to the girls vacations and is a bad driver who almost kills people. She is hilarious. She is pushy and bossy and likes to put people in uncomfortable situations for her enjoyment, which is evident in a few episodes where she is out with Nyamo. There is one more teacher, Kimura. He is the only regular male in the series, with the exception of the cat creature that claims to be Chiyo’s father. He is a pervert, plain and simple. He tries to sneak into the girls swimming classes and even requested a cup of pool water during a school festival when a cafe was set up.

There is no real storyline. All the characters simply co-exist and go to school and clash. There are four volumes and each one is amazing.

Manga or Anime, which is better?

I am an avid manga reader so my opinions on this may be a bit bias but I prefer the manga to the anime. There are many times in the manga where there are pauses which are comedic they usually take up 2-3 panels and never more. In the anime; however, these pauses can last from one to two minutes, which is just annoying. There was one episode that If I recall correctly only took up eight to ten pages but somehow took up 25 minutes in anime form. Whilst there are moments that do not convey well from manga to anime, there are some that do. There are also hilarious moments that do not show up in the manga but do in the anime, like when Kaori was dancing with Sakaki. It was tremendously hilarious and made me tear up with laughter. Something like that could not convey well in the manga. I recommend both reading and watching the anime, you’ll get the best of both.

Azumanga Daioh is a great coming of age story of several high school girls. It is amazingly funny and is one of my favorite mangas to read if I am in for a good laugh. I highly recommend reading it and watching it.

5/5 for the story

5/5 for the characters

5/5 for the settings

On our part, we demand dialogue. But if they are not going to do that and continue the offensives against us, we have to resist and fight back. That is our own measure. We are in a position to resist. Today, we are taking part in the revolution and it is just. The public has the right to defend itself. As for the oppressed public, if they are warred upon, they have the rights to defend themselves.’

Padoh Mahn Sha Laphan, General Secretary, Karen National Union, 10/07/06
KNU(Karen National Union) General Secretary(1943-2008).

As I lay in bed this morning, oversleeping for the first time in a few weeks (and happy to be challenged by the alarm clock 5X/week again), my dreaming mind drifted through a number of small, mostly forgettable vignettes. The only one I can still remember had Shelley and me as owners of a business where every Saturday was Sausage Saturday. I don’t recall what type of business it was. Living in Berkeley County, West Virginia, it could have been anything, and I do mean anything. (shudder)

And I also concocted a great idea for a blog entry. Something about friends. It was funny. But I’ve lost it. I do remember being very relieved to finally find some inspiration to update my blog.

Maybe it’s best I’ve forgotten the topic. Dreams can make the worst ideas seem great. I’ve had dreams where I’ve aced a KILLER stand-up routine, with audience members rolling the floors in laughter. And as I’ve dreamt this, I’ve told myself to remember this wildly wacky material upon waking. But when I wake and ponder it lucidly, it’s dumb. Stupid. Useless. Alas, my great idea for a blog entry was probably not so great to begin with.

So what next? I could do another “dot … dot … dot” entry. “I think with just a little more love, any smoker could finally break the habit … Why don’t we just call those rabid Apple computer users ‘macadamia nuts’ and be done with it already … If Mama Cass had shared part of her sandwich with Karen Carpenter, they’d both be alive today…” You get the idea.

I’ve posted two random thought essays to my blog and, if I may say so, they were pretty funny (even when pondered in an awake state). But I wanted my return to blogging to be a bit more meaty. So I decided to discuss my career goings-on.

Several weeks ago, I began doing “stringer” work for the Journal news in Martinsburg. That’s been a lot of fun. I’ve had opportunity to write articles about horse rescue farms, veterans, festivals and fairs, haunted houses, etc. My favorite assignment was to a woman’s small chocolate factory nestled in Inwood. Got free samples there. But for some reason, this article hasn’t been published yet. I hope she doesn’t think I tried to scam her out of a plate of chocolate bon-bons.

A few weeks ago, I joined the sales staff at the local radio station cluster (hence the ‘glad to be enslaved to the alarm clock’ phenom). It’s a fun job, but I fear it won’t pay much. Still, it’s better than my paycheck over the last six months, which was ZERO (less taxes, social security, medicare – still ZERO).

And THEN, a couple of weeks after joining the radio station and ending my job search activity, I received a call from the search committee hiring for my DREAM JOB. I’d applied for the job prior to joining the radio station. Their decision is, as of this writing, pending. I won’t say much more here, I don’t want to jinx it. Of course, I believe in divine destiny, and I don’t think God can be ‘jinxed,’ but to be safe…

So life is returning to some semblance of normalcy, finally. Even without my recent travails into the working world, I’d still have plenty to be thankful for this week. But it’s nice to have the opportunity to be grateful for the ability to work, earn, take care of those who rely on me and honor my obligations.

And now I’ll close with another random thought: I believe that even the most staunch Calvinist is an Armenian twice in his lifetime – on takeoff and landing. Just ask any Calvinist.

by Karen united com

The comments came in the wake of a visit by European Union officials to the Mae La camp in Thailand’s western Tak province, which is home to some 40,000 Burmese refugees.
EU funding accounts for around 65 percent of the total $US60 million in international aid that goes to the camps each year.
Jack Dunford, head of the Bangkok-based Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), which provides food, shelter and amenities to the camps, said that enough funding had been secured for this year, but warned of an uncertain 12 months ahead.
“There are three variables that we have no control over: exchange rates, the price of rice and the number of refugees, so when we look at annual funding we always have to do some guess work,” he said.
“All three tend to be going against us, and with the global funding squeeze, we are expecting that next year is going to be difficult.”
While the price of rice has dropped since the peak of the global food crisis last year, he warned that widespread flooding and storms in India and the Philippines, two of the region’s main rice producers, may push prices back up. He also warned of a possible exodus of Burmese fleeing fighting in the run-up to elections in Burma next year, many of whom would cross into Thailand.
“Over the next 12 months we’re facing very uncertain times in Burma, in particular huge uncertainties about what’s going to happen in the border areas,” Dunford said. “We’ll obviously see how it plays out, but we could have a major emergency.”
The Burmese government has been aggressively attempting to transform the country’s 18 ceasefire groups into border guard forces prior to polling; a move that it believes would significantly strengthen its dominance in the volatile border regions.
Fighting between Burmese troops, supported by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), and the opposition Karen National Union (KNU) in June, forced around 5000 Karen civilians into Thailand, many of whom ended up in makeshift camps.
Another outbreak of fighting in Burma’s northeastern Shan state in August and September caused some 37,000 refugees to cross into neighbouring China.
Some of the camps along the Thai-Burma border have been in place for 25 years, and the EU has sent a senior-level delegation each year to assess conditions inside the camps. In total, around 130,000 Burmese refugees live in the nine camps, the majority from Karen state.

Oliver and his family solidified my love for thee red door. Last year around this same time Karen asked me to take family photos for their Christmas cards. I must have done something right cause they came back for more this year! Except this year we stayed inside.

I don’t do a lot of studio work anymore. I can, however, really enjoy having complete control over my environment and my weather!   It’s the subject that remain ‘uncontrolled’ Luckily for me I got a great, fun and willing-to-do-anything-I-said family.  How could it not be a good day!

Oliver was such a shy guy last year who barely said a word. This year he was all smiles, talked about starting kindergarden and made a new friend in my son Liam. The other exciting news in Oliver’s family was this past April his mom, Karen, and Andrew (aka. Ra) were married in Florida. They asked me to tag along (with my camera of course) but I was otherwise disposed in Australia. I heard it was a beautiful wedding!

Without further adieu, here are the photos.  And I will take this opportunity to say my very first one of the year: Merry Christmas!

A possible Christmas card cover?



Possibly my favorite of the day:

PS. Don’t look at Andrew’s toes. According to him they are gross. Haha, just joking of course Andrew!

I’m thankful

…that my parents love to read and made sure I did too.

…that I always had books as a child.

…for my Karen, who’s always willing to analyze a good book for hours and hours.

…for my Lid and her crazy ideas.

…for our readers, who keep coming back to see what we have to say.

…that I live in a country that allows me freedom of blog.

…for bargain book racks.

…that my parents took the time to read to me when I was little.

…to have such fond memories of my Grandpa Mick’s book talks.

…that I’m from a family that values literacy.

…that my mother enthusiastically reads to her students.

…that I had teachers who read to me.

…for Barnes & Noble gift certificates.

…that Auntie Sherry handed me Speak.

…for Laurie Halse Anderson’s brain.

…for Ann M. Martin and Ann Brashares and Ann Patchett.

…for all the writers who make me think and urge me to be better.

…for you.  Thank you for reading.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I got a phone call on Friday afternoon about 2:30 while I was still at school from LS. She was confirming that I was going to the refugee camp that day and she wanted to give me the phone number of the person to call. I tried to add, “wait didn’t we talk about pushing it to next weekend so you could go with us because you are so busy”. I had talked to her on Wednesday but I think she was too distracted then to understand. I called A asking if he was ready to go even though we hadn’t expected it, he said yes! I was not ready or even emotionally prepared. By the time I got home from school we were still waiting on LS for part of the directions. In the meantime he called F, a Thai Christian friend, who said she could come. At 5 we got the rest of the directions from LS who ironically said we should have left at 4! We took the 6:30 bus from the Southern Bus terminal to Ratchaburi and learned on the way that F had come without telling her parents when they had previously told her not to go.

The person whose phone number LS gave us had no idea that we were told we could stay with him, so when we arrived we needed to find arrangements. Luckily the Lord provided us with the nicest tuk-tuk driver ever. He took us the hour to Don Bueng then asked where we were going. We told him we needed to find a hotel. He proceeded to ask 50 random strangers on the side of the street where there were hotels. They pointed to many different places and shrugged their shoulders. He took us to one of the resorts and quizzed the owner on everything imaginable. F understood and was talking along about something or other. Both agreed that this was not the best place. The tuk tuk driver then took us somewhere else, a place that we passed along the way. It fit all of the qualifications I guess.

Because F had never gone on a trip as last minute without telling her parents, or without planning the trip in its entirety she was a little anxious. We tried to be encouraging and tell her to continue calling on the Lord.

The next day we woke up and got bus to Suan Peung and there met the truck driver who would take us to the camp. It took about an hour in the truck bed on a dirt gravel road to get to the camp, but it was nothing to complain about. The views were spectacular. The mountains were full of dense jungles and large ferns.

This is a view of the Tham Hin looking out to the beautiful jungle covered hills

When we got the camp, we were met by C who spoke good English. He works for the Karen Refugee Committee at Tham Hin and he described their current situations inside the camp. There are 12 main organizations involved in helping the Karen at this camp, which provide water, food, clothing, shelter, education and entertainment. Their basic needs are provided for, however the water is only 3 times a day for half an hour, the food is often the same thing, they are not allowed outside the camp and they have no electricity, or access to media, or communication.

These problems do present issues. Not being able to leave the camps, forces the Karen to be completely dependent on outside help. They cannot make any kind of income. Also, education has no value, because both educated and uneducated have nowhere to go or jobs to find. The lack of communication is also a problem in that they are so close to the Burmese Border. They are concerned, justifiably, that if the Burmese soldiers get in for some reason, they could do a lot of damage before anyone knows. There have been recent attacks by Burmese in Mea Laa camp and once even a story about a soldier caught trying to put cyanide in the water.

After hearing this news we went to the Boarding house where there are currently 36 children, all without parents, either orphaned or their parents are missing in the jungle. Honestly we were so quickly thrown into this environment and they put us in the front of the room and said we could ask or say anything we wanted. Luckily after a while C said the children had some songs prepared to sing to us. The Karen are beautiful singers and there’s nothing to compare their singing to. The kids also sang an English song, “Lord I offer my life to you”. After the songs we were able to ask them some questions, about how old they were, their favorite subject, what they do for fun, how long they’ve been in the camp, and even how many of their parents were killed directly by Burmese soldiers. To the last question about 20% of the kids raised their hand saying they lost at least one parent to the Burmese soldiers.

Visiting Post-High school Students at Tham Hin who were very excited to see westerners their age.

One of the many houses that had multiple families living together

At 3pm we had to leave the camp, it felt too short for us, but we were very grateful of our many experiences and prayed for the opportunity to return. We thanked God for the opportunity to visit and for providing all of the connections necessary. We were so surprised at how the Lord had put everything together so perfectly and provided for us in our weaknesses.

In Suan Peung, we waited for our bus to take us to the bigger city, Dong Beung. We didnt really want to return to the same hotel as it was expensive so we asked the bus driver if he knew any hotels. One of the men on the bus said their was a nice hotel next to his house. We got off with him; nervously followed him through a pack of crazy dogs, where he turned away and said follow the road another kilometer. Sure enough out in the middle of what we thought was nothing but farms, there was a cute little resort where the owner spoke perfect English. They gave us a good deal on a room plus breakfast and let us use their motorcycle to go get some dinner. Pretty incredible! But by then we weren’t too surprised God was showing just how much of a provider he is!

The next day after breakfast we thought before going home we could visit some of Ranchanaburi’s tourist sites. We talked to the hotel owner who told us of the many caves in this province and provided us with a free ride to the closest cave. There were at least 200 monkeys outside this cave all starving hungry and waiting for us to feed them once we dismounted from the truck. We had a blast helping the women who were selling food to tourists fight off the hungry monkeys, who didn’t want to pay, or wait for tourists. They knocked over a full basket of corn and as half tried to take the corn the others snuck through the distracted women going for the tastier, bananas and peanuts. Then we bought some of the food and handed it out to the monkeys.

After playing with the monkeys we hired a couple young students to be our guide through the cave, they told us the names of rock formations such as crocodile, kissing rock, and many others. Seeing one cave was not enough and we felt the need to visit Rachanburi’s other main cave so we waited on the road to catch a bus there. This next cave was about 2 km off the main road so we asked a motorcycle driver to drive us in. There we found a great souvenir shop where I think all of us spent way too much money. Luckily the storeowner who by then knew us very well offered to let us leave our stuff as we looked at the cave.

This time we decided to be our own guides and name the rocks ourselves. The cave was much larger and had many more exciting rock formations, which looked like turtles, elephants and old men. After the cave we went back to the store got our stuff and looked for a motorcycle back to the main road but couldn’t find any. A woman told us to ask one of the tourist buses if they could take us to the main road. Luckily, because we had F this was a feasible option. She asked a parent who looked like she was with a large group of pink shirted children. She took us to a monk, the apparent leader who quickly agreed. In fact he made the other parents give us some water. After a while of conversation, he asked where we were headed and after hearing Bangkok, he said they were headed back to Bangkok too and could take us all the way! So we returned to Bangkok paying nothing to travel with a Buddhist Sunday school group! Just to show that God will use anyone to provide for his Children! Thank you Lord!

We got home safe, completely encouraged and ready to proclaim everything that God was doing for his people and all that he wanted to do. In fact, what we learned from the Karen is that you can take away their land, their friends, and their family, but you cannot take away their faith and you cannot separate them from the love of the Lord! What God taught us was, that he will provide for us every step of the way if he have faith and walk for his purpose.

Conforme vamos nos aproximando do Top 10, a competição vai esquentando e ninguém está seguro. Sete casais dançaram para permanecer na competição e eu já tenho a dupla para quem torço: Ashleigh & Jakob.

Na semana passada o posto de melhores da noite foi pra eles, mas essa semana outro casal me surpreendeu e vem surpreendendo muita gente, Kathryn & Legacy dançaram Pasodoble e foi excelente, em compensação Karen & Kevin, por quem torcia, principalmente ela, não foram tão bem dançando Broadway.

Melhores da Noite – Kathryn & Legacy – Pasodoble

Piores da Noite – Karen & Kevin – Broadway

Na noite de resultados, mais três casais ficaram em perigo: Karen & Kevin, Channing & Victor e Molee & Nathan. As eliminações foram bem justas, dando adeus à competição, Channing & Kevin. Isso significa que Victor irá para sua terceira parceira antes do top 10.