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Hitting the Bullseye
I have always been interested in archery. I have practiced with a toy bow and arrows and a toy crossbow, but only a few times with a real bow and arrow. When we went to the special needs retreat this year they had archery, so I tried it out. I only had three arrows to shoot and I got a bullseye on my second arrow. At the end of the retreat, I was called up on stage at the closing program. They announced that I was the best archer and gave me the target that I got a bullseye on as a reward. I was so surprised and excited!
After the retreat, my dad took me to this place called Arrow Rest. It’s a place where you can shoot a bow and have a nice drink. The instructors there are really nice and are very helpful. If you are interested in archery, I recommend this place.
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My first ZOE outreach!
A few times a year a short term team comes to Thailand to work with ZOE International. Whenever a team is in Chiang Mai they go on an outreach with the ZLT (Zoe Leadership Training) students to share the gospel and spread awareness about child trafficking. My dad has gone on just about every single outreach because he works with the ZCR (ZOE child rescue). I didn’t realize that I was even allowed to go for a while but as soon as I heard that I could go on a ZOE outreach I told my dad that I would love to go with him. But before I got the chance to go I broke my foot and Josiah got to go instead. I was really bummed that I couldn’t go so I told my dad that I wanted to go on the next one. So as soon as the next one came and finally I got to go on my first outreach with my dad and Josiah!
ZOE Outreach Day #1
It was about a three hour drive to the Hmong village. The Hmong village is on Doi Inthanon mountain which is actually the tallest mountain in Thailand. When we got to the village I went with Chome (my roommate) to our room and unpacked a little. Then we headed off to dinner and when we finished eating we played some fun ice breaker games with the team and ZLT. My favorite game we played was the game my dad was in charge of. Basically about 10 people from each team (we split into four teams) would get in a line and would hold a long skinny pole with only our two pointer fingers. Then as a team we would all have to lower our pole to the ground with out letting any of our fingers off of the pole. If on person even slightly lifted their finger off, the whole team would have to restart. The first team to get all the way to the ground wins. It’s actually a lot harder than it sounds! After we played a couple more games we headed off to our hotel rooms and went to bed.
Zoe Outreach Day #2
We woke up kinda early to go to breakfast. I believe we had fried rice with ham and eggs which was really good. Then we went to the Hmong church. We didn’t stay for the whole service because the preaching was in Hmong and if we were to stay they would need to translate it into Thai and then into English which would have been to much of a hassle. It was still really cool to go to a church service in a completely different language that I have never heard before. We then went back, had lunch and listened to a couple testimonies. After that we split into little groups and started walking around the village. We would go up to peoples houses, talk to them, give them goodie bags, pray for them, and invite them to come to our thing at the school that evening. I think we went to around 3-4 houses and even though I didn’t understand most of what they were saying it was a really cool experience. Many of the people in the village have a much different life style than I do and lots of them are very poor. It was really cool that I got to go and pray for them and help them out even with just a goodie bag and an invitation.
When we were finished we headed back for dinner and then we went to the school and started to set up. Then people started showing up. There weren’t that many people but that’s ok. We started with prayer and worship. Then the ZLT did a drama and we helped with one too. After that we gathered around some people who wanted prayers and prayed for them. Out on the street there were even some people who were stopping and sitting on the curb to watch. Then we distributed the rest of the goodie bags and went to our hotels to get some rest for tomorrow.
Zoe Outreach Day #3
We again woke up bright and early for breakfast and some worship. After that we went to the school to get ready and set up. When the kids came out of their classes the ZOE staff welcomed them with games and prizes to get the kids in a fun mood. One of the STM (short term mission team) members dressed up in the iconic ZOE elephant.
But it soon became more serious when the ZLT did their drama. You could hear the room go more quiet and the expressions on the kids faces started to become a bit less goofy. The drama drama showcased a trafficker manipulating, and abusing children. The things that some children have gone through are unimaginably horrible. There were no words in the drama only a scream. Out of everything I did and saw through out the whole outreach I think that drama was the most impactful for me.
We had the kids split into little groups and rotate through stations. The stations were about the different types of child trafficking and one about the gospel. The children rotated through the stations learning about each one and playing different games. We had the older kids in one big group staying in the main area and the younger kids rotating throughout the classrooms. And then when they had gone through all of the stations the kids switched. The older kids went through the stations and the younger ones stayed in the main area. Then when our help wasn’t needed, my dad, my brother, and I went back home.
I had so much fun on this outreach. I learned things I didn’t know before, I had experiences that I don’t think that would have anywhere else, and it was definitely something I would love to do again!
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Grandma and Grandpa in Chiang Mai
Just like our cousins, our grandparents knew that we are the most awesome people in the world and they wanted to come to visit. My grandparents came for a whole month!! We went on sooo many adventures with them and I wanted to share them with you!
We had to make sure they got to see plenty of the Thai culture so we took them to a Thai temple. At the temple there was a sky walk and we got to see them painting the temple. We even got to add gold leaf onto the temple walls. There were many Buddhists statues everywhere. Some of the statues were only a couple feet tall and others were HUGE!
For even more Thai experience we knew we HAD to take them to see elephants! On the way to Elefin Cafe we stopped at Carp Cafe to get some food. This place is awesome! Its so hard to describe because its unlike any restaurant you’ve probably ever been to. There is water everywhere with Koi fish inside and the tables are even placed in the little pond. You can buy fish food to feed the fish and as soon as you start feeding one fish the whole pond of fish will swim to your table.
After we ate lunch we went to go see elephants! We went to Elefin Cafe which is a cafe with elephants to go see and feed. It is so fun!! When we went this time, there was a baby elephant and it was so cute!
We also went to a water park and we were having so much fun but you won’t believe what happened. I went on a slide with my grandpa and our tube flipped over!! Luckily no one was seriously injured but I did bang my shoulder against the slide and I got a bruise on my shoulder. Nonetheless, we had a bunch of fun!
One thing we really wanted to do with them was go to Sticky Falls! Click the link to read my blog post about sticky falls.
Later that day, after we went to sticky falls, we went to the movie theater and watched Inside Out 2. And after that I went to gymnastics. At gymnastics I fell and BROKE MY FOOT! The day before I was gonna teach line dancing, and a week before vacation: a BEACH vacation. I had to use crutches the whole time which really stunk because I couldn’t swim. One day, my brothers, my grandparents, and my dad went on a snorkeling outing and I couldn’t come. I have never been snorkeling in the ocean and I was looking forward to it. Let’s just say I broke my foot at possibly the worst time ever. I did get a lot of rides on my taxi (dad) though.
If you want to know more about our Beach trip, go read Jeremiah’s post Our Trip to Krabi.
My Grandma and Grandpa aren’t just my grandparents they are my best friends and it meant so much that came across the whole world to see us. It was so much fun hanging out with them and I’m so glad I got to make more memories with them. 😁🤪
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My Autobiography Wrap Up!
A while ago I started writing an autobiography. I split my autobiography into 6 different parts and started posting them on our blog. In my autobiography, I wrote things about my life and my special memories. I decided (well actually Mom decided) to write a wrap up post to go over everything I have written about and share it with you!
My first post autobiography post was about My Sister. 5 years ago, we went to China to adopt my sister Tallulah. Click the link to go check it out!
My next post was about My Cousin. My cousin Avery is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world to hang out with so I had to write a post about it. Go ahead and click the link!
The next post is about My Adventures. This one, like that previous one, is about Avery but it is also about my grandparents and a trip we went on together! This one one of the best trips I have ever been on, so make sure you click the link!
I then wrote about My Passion. I have been dancing for as long as a can remember and dance is a big part of my life. Click the link to read about my dancing journey!
As you probably know I live in Thailand. But I only moved here about 1.5 years ago and Thailand wasn’t always home. To read about the places I call My Home click the link.
Lastly, I wrote about A Day In My Life. I thought you guys might like to know what it like being a 13 year old, homeschooled, missionary in Thailand. Click the link!
I hope this autobiography gave you a little peak into my life.
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Conversations with the Keim Kids
During the last school year, we (the Keim kids) set up a YouTube channel. Our friends in Atkinson Nebraska sent us pictures and asked us questions about our life in Thailand. We made videos to answer their questions, but instead of just making videos for them we decided to put all the videos we made on YouTube so everybody can see them. Josiah, Selah, and I did all the work so that we could learn about it and have fun with it.
These are all the videos we made so far if you want to see them:
Episode #1
Episode #2
Episode #3
Episode #4
Episode #5
Episode #6
Episode #7
Episode#8
Episode#9
Okay I got to go now, so see you next time!
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My Home
Autobiography Part 5
I was born in Denver Colorado, after I turned one we moved to Atkinson; but we lived outside of town. When I was six years old we moved into town. Every time we moved; I liked the next house more that the first. I loved our home at the ranch and was sad to move, but then I started to like our next home even more (after we got all of the bats out of the house of course). It wasn’t just because of the house itself that I liked it, it was because of the life it gave me. When we moved, we met our neighbors and have been good friends ever since. Also, I lived closer to my friend, Paisley, and I got to see her more often out of school. We also started home schooling in that house, which was a big–but great–change.
Here’s the thing: Our house was the oldest house in town. Most of the people in the town thought we were crazy for wanting to move in. There wasn’t a single room in the house that we didn’t redo, and it took a very long time. Like I said, we moved in when I was six years old, and we finished the house when I was ten. That is a LONG time. But after all that time it was finished, and we even had an open house at our house and everyone in town was invited to come see our house as it was completely remodeled.
Our house was finished around Christmas time. When May came, the big news hit: We were moving again. This time, we were moving to Thailand. There were a lot of tears shed that night. I remember my mom calling us for a family meeting. I asked her if it was good news and she just said, “I think so”. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it was not that. Everyone was sad, but I think we were all a little bit happy too. Even if we didn’t say we were happy, I think that there was a little bit of happiness somewhere.
Then the journey began. We started fundraising by telling our friends and preaching in churches (this was mostly my parents work). Our church even hosted us a goodbye party and gave us a great farewell. We gave up a lot. I gave up dance, which was really hard for me. My dad gave up his business. And we all gave up things like our family, friends, and home. Even though it was hard, we made the most of it and came to Thailand feeling hopeful. We knew that this is where God wanted us to be, and we knew that new friends and a new life was waiting for us in Thailand.
Packing took a long time and a lot of effort. We had to think of all the things that we were going to want but we were also limited, so we had to think of all the things that we were going to need. Think about when you go on a trip and you must pack all your things. You are worried that you don’t have everything, and you must make sure you haven’t forgotten anything because you are not going to be back for some time. Well, think about that but you are not going to be back for two years! We had to make sure we got everything! When we got to the airport, we officially had thirteen checked bags and six carry-on suitcases. We also each had a back-pack on our back. We are a family of six, so that means we had a total of 25 bags!
We had three flights. The first flight was from Omaha to Detroit, the second flight was from Detroit to South Korea, and the third flight was from South Korea to Chiang Mai, Thailand. When we made it to Chiang Mai it was pretty late at night and we were all so tired that we could barely stay awake. We all were ready to get to our house and fall asleep. When we got to our new house some of the other missionaries gave us bed sheets and other things like shampoo and conditioner. Then, for the next week or two, missionaries took turns helping us shop for things that we would need and showing us their favorite places to get food. After a while, we started to finally settle in and Thailand slowly started to feel like home.
I have lived in Thailand for one year now, and I love it here. Even though I miss a lot of things in America, I think that I could live in Thailand for a long time.
PS. If you want to see our house in Atkinson, Nebraska for yourself, you can! Since we aren’t living in it right now, it is an airbnb for people to stay at. Check it out here:
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Cousins In Thailand
Recently, our cousins, Avery and Jaxon, came to Thailand!
Jaxon and I are like best friends. Selah and Avery are also like best friends.
They brought us American candy. It was sooo good.
Jaxon ate a cricket! Can you believe that?
We took them to our favorite pool, to our favorite restaurant, and to Sticky Falls. (P.S. My sister made a blogpost about Sticky Falls.)
Next we took them to a hot spring, Art in Paradise, and a temple that was really high up. (PS. I wrote a blog post about that temple before.)
Also, we went fishing and it was so fun!
We also went to Elefin Cafe.
Then the adventure was over…
the book was read…
and they had to leave.
See you next time,
Jeremiah (:
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Prik Pao Cheese Chips
Hope you had a good Christmas Break! Since it was Christmas Break, I haven’t made a chip post in a while so I am fixing that today. Today isn’t my first day trying these. The first time I saw these was when we were eating dinner at ZOE with the short-term team that was there last November. They had a table full of Thai treats and our friend Ben pointed these out as his favorite. My dad was impressed with these and got them again. Today, I tried them again in order to write a critique for you. And here we are.
Jeremiah and Tallulah really like these. In fact, as I write this, Jeremiah is waiting for me to give him the rest of the bag. Now, for the flavor: Prik Pao, for those of you who don’t know, is a spicy-sweet relish or paste type sauce that is made with charred chilis, shallots, and garlic mixed with dried shrimp, fish sauce, tamarind paste, palm sugar, and–in keeping with Thai tradition–lots of oil then cooked in more oil. If you don’t know what cheese is: your loss. With these chips, it is very hard to pinpoint an exact flavor, but you can get both the Prik Pao and the Cheese at the same time. The cheese tastes like swiss (which is what the picture shows) and the Prik Pao tastes like every ingredient I have listed. I love the spiciness of the Prik along with the garlic and shallot flavor. I can even get some of the dried shrimp. These chips would be one of my favorites if it weren’t for the cheese flavor which I feel shouldn’t be there. Without the cheese, these chips would for sure be on the podium for favorite Thai chips.
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The Big C
We go to The Gathering Church here in Chiang Mai. The Gathering and several other churches meet at Payap University which happens to be really close to Big C Extra. So almost every Sunday, we go to church and then leave to go to Big C for lunch and shopping for the next week.
The closest thing I can compare Big C to in America is a big Walmart, but it is completely different (like everything else in Thailand). There are several little businesses in Big C, such as, Pizza Hut, Swenson’s, Dairy Queen, Black Canyon Coffee, KFC (which is very popular here for some reason), and even some non-food related businesses, such as phone stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores, Watson’s (like Walgreen’s), and a couple small toy booths. I guess I could have compared Big C to a small mall but Big C itself is like a Walmart with a food court, and I don’t think any malls in America include a Walmart.
When we go to Big C (I am seeing how many times I can write Big C in one post), we always go straight to the food court and get our cards, each with 100 baht. In the food court, there are several booths along the side, almost every one with its own dish that the other places don’t and several individually owned booths in the middle. While my parents often get food from the middle booths, the rest of us have one or two main places or dishes we eat. Tallulah has a favorite place with a really nice lady working there. It has lots of sushi and other Japanese and Korean food, but Tallulah always gets Yakisoba, which is a dish with very thick noodles, vegetables, meat and a sweetish sauce made of soy sauce, ketchup, and other seasonings (according to Google). If you have met Tallulah, you know that she doesn’t really speak many words, but she gets Yakisoba every time so when Tallulah walks up to the booth, the lady smiles and confirms with me that she wants “one Yakisoba.” The answer is always yes. Almost nothing makes Tallulah happier than handing someone her card and bringing food back to our table.
But that’s just Tallulah. I always help her order, which works out because the yakisoba booth is in between the Pad Thai stand and the Khao Mon Gai Thot stand. My favorites.
I may have told you before, but Pad Thai is the national dish of Thailand. It is a saucy rice noodle dish with dried shrimp and always comes with bean sprouts, chives, chili flakes, sugar, and a lime. Usually it is also covered in an omelet. ข้าวไก่ทอด translated is “fried chicken with rice” and it is actually, drumroll please……..fried chicken with rice! Except the rice is cooked in the chicken broth for more flavor and I always cover the dish in a sweet chili sauce.
Jeremiah always gets BonChon chicken which I believe is Korean sweet and spicy chicken and rice. Nothing more to say there, really. Selah loves a good Pad Thai (as long as it has no dried shrimp: she has this thing about not liking to see little eyeballs on the food she’s eating. I know right? Weird.) Dad likes to get ส้มตำ or ข้าวซอย. I have told you about ส้มตำ in an other post, so check out the link. ข้าวซอย is spicy noodle soup usually with a drumstick and some crispy noodles on top, as you can see from the picture below. And mom changes everyday so she doesn’t have a usual. Although, she does like the fresh samosas that one of the middle stands make.
Now, every Sunday we have a 100 baht budget to buy whatever food we want (100 baht is about $3). All the meals above are around 45-70 baht. Unless I decide to change it up, my usual meals are both 50 baht. This means I always have 50 baht left over, which is perfect for my dessert. After we return the cards and get our cash back, I go to the smoothie guy’s booth. I do this every single time we go to Big C so, of course, I have a usual smoothie and the guy knows it. Whenever I walk up there, the man smiles and says, “Lemon-Coconut, no milk,” then I smile and nod and he makes it faster than lightning: check out the video! He has two blenders and a huge cooler full of ice behind him, along with piles of coconuts and other fruits. He also has two clean garbage cans: one full of water and the other for dumping water into. After he is done making a smoothie, he will clean the blender by quickly dipping the blender in the trash can with water, giving it a swish, then dumping the fruit residue water into the other can. That way he can make smoothies without them tasting like the ones he made before and it is super fast. My lime juice (Thai people call both lemons and limes “lemons”) and coconut water smoothie only cost 30 baht and is full to the brim so it always lasts till we get to the car. However, smoothies aren’t the only thing we can have as dessert. And I still have 20 baht left!
There are two mini waffle stands, one on the top floor and the other on the bottom. While I like the ones downstairs better, especially the cashew and and cranberry ones, they are more than double the price of the ones upstairs which has more variety. The ones upstairs are only 10 baht, no matter if you get a plain original, strawberry jelly, or chocolate filled one, while the ones downstairs are all 22 baht with no filled waffles. At both places, after you pick your waffle, they put it back into the waffle iron for a few seconds and then put it in the bag: nice and hot.
Selah’s favorite dessert, over all other Thai desserts, is Roti. There is a Roti stand right next to the smoothie stand and he is great. Roti is a kind of like a crispy crepe with countless different toppings, such as chocolate, sweet and condensed milk, bananas, sweet corn, pandan custard (made from coconut leaves and coconut milk), butter, peanut butter, etc. Roti is hard to make, but the guy at Big C is a pro and kind of a show off. I think Selah has a video of him tossing it till it almost brushes the ceiling and then folding in up on a really hot, oily pan.
There is one other dessert option that we indulge in every trip that I should mention: Ice cream! While there is a Swenson’s (which we never eat at), Dairy Queen is a cheap easy way to fill your hankering for ice cream. A small one scoop cone is only 12 baht. Upgrade it even farther and get a two scoop cone for ฿20 or a huge three scoop for ฿25 baht! Pay a little more and you can have the cone dipped in chocolate! There are also 5 different sizes of blizzard but they are a bit pricier so we only get them on special occasions. Dairy Queens are very common here but they don’t sell meals like they do in America. While some locations may offer hot dogs, the only reason to go there is for the ice cream. We always stop at Dairy Queen on our way out, but often we need to do some shopping first.
Like I said before Big C is like a Walmart. That is because it is. A big store that sells everything from clothes to food to toys to bikes. Usually after we eat we head to the store part of Big C and grab a cart which Tallulah sits in until we get to the produce on the other side of the store ’cause by then she is bored of the cart. Since we usually have Homeschool Co-op on Monday we pick up food for our picnic lunch the next day at Big C. Apples, bread, eggs, little pomelo salad kits, mama noodles (Thai ramen), etc. There are also displays of stinky raw meat like pork is but it also has tons of fish, shrimp, crab, and squid/octopus (very common).
Big C is one of our favorite places to go to eat because all the options. As a bonus, we also get all our groceries at the same time. Definitely one of my favorite places in Thailand.
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Double Whammy
It has been quite a while since I last made a post, and these chips were in our cupboard forever waiting for me to try them, so I thought I would make a double-post today.
Stir Fried Shrimp with Chili and Garlic Flavor
As soon as you open a bag of these Stir-Fried Shrimp and Chili and Garlic Chips, you are blasted with an unappetizing aroma. Selah knew what they smelled like right away. She said, and I quote, “Ew! Those smell like fish food!” She is one hundred percent correct. They smell horrible, but the taste actually isn’t that bad. These are the spiciest chips I have eaten so far, but not too painful to not eat them. Not even close. I immediately get a lot of strong shrimp flavor and a decent amount Thai chili, but I barely taste any garlic.
So not the worst and not the best. 7/10
Boat Noodles Chips (ก๋วยเตียว)
I didn’t know what “boat noodles” were until I read ก๋วยเตียว. The Thai characters are saying Guay Tiaw, which is a clear soup with the pork, chicken, or beef bones, and is seasoned with salt and pepper, garlic, cilantro, and some sugar. The picture on the chip bag makes Guay Tiaw look disgusting because it shows the kind of Guay Tiaw with blood broth. I haven’t tried that kind, and I am not sure I ever will. I have only had ก๋วยเตียว with clear broth and duck meat. Duck meat seems pretty popular in Asia, I saw it a lot in China as a meal option and I see it a lot here in Thailand, too.
I haven’t eaten Guay Tiaw in a while so I didn’t know what to expect when I tried the chip version. They smell like all the other weird flavors of chips. Gross. They aren’t as gross as they smell, but they don’t taste very good either. There is a little spice from the pepper and a brothy taste.
Not the best. Not the worst. We still have seaweed chips keeping the last slot. 6/10