a few of my favorite things.

Somedays we need lighter posts, and today is one of those days!  Here’s to a few of my favorite things as of late.

The Burmese market. This has always been one of my favorite places in Mae Sot, and it just keeps getting better. It’s a really beautiful market of colors, vegetables, flowers, meats, bicycles, and shouting.

Great books. Though many might consider it a depressing book list, but I have loved reading recently.

Though I’m years behind on this one, I would recommend Half the Sky & A Path Appears to most everyone. Half the Sky is a great picture of women’s issues around the world, all presented in a very realistic but hopeful way. A Path Appears looks more broadly at development and poverty both locally and globally, and somehow presents very personalized and hopeful stories and perspectives. I loved both.

I also have recently been reading about community development lifestyles similar to our little collective, and though Restoring At-Risk Communities is very much written in the 90s, it was a great little find! I would recommend this to anyone wanting to move into impoverished or marginalized communities. It was refreshing to see that what we do isn’t as crazy as it sometimes feels (or people tell us it is). I also love that we got this one for 99 cents on Mardels’ sale shelf.

Most recently I finished Invisible Hands, another incredible Voice of Witness book. It gave great insight into the labor behind most of our worlds–from factories, agriculture, mining, and more. Living among migrants that often work in factories, fields, and mines, it was a personal, intriguing read that made me so thankful to be here and love on this little border town.

And on that note: Voice of Witness books. Buy every single one they’ve written and will write! This is such a great organization that publishes books about current human rights crises from oral interview perspectives. It is stunningly interesting and puts a personal touch into modern crises. They really do their best to present a balanced perspective, and they’ve written my favorite book on Burma to date, Nowhere to be Home. 

The Rock Game. I have no idea what to call this, really, but it is what it is!

There is this little rock game that all the Burmese kids learn and many of the adults continue to play. I started playing a few weeks ago. In short, you throw the rocks out and choose one. You throw it up, pick some up, and catch the one again. The first throw & catch you get to keep. Then you have to collect the rest one by one; if successful, you go again.

It looks much easier than it is, but I’m moving up to about a 10-year-old skill level. I still get squashed when I play with Nyein Nyein & Pyo Pyo on Thursdays while the bread bakes.

It really is so fun, though! There is something so beautifully simple in a group of friends playing with rocks!  It does destroy your nails and fingers, though.

All of these cute kids and a husband who loves them, too.

…And their cute little quirks.

Flowers. I was never much of flower person, really. I bought them occasionally in the market, and then a few times as they were sold at our door. And then we started a flower delivery business, and I buy them most every week. They are so incredible!  I have loved having something so beautiful in our home week after week. It is incredible to see the colors, varieties, and detail that God put into each and every flower. It is also beautiful to watch them bloom and die each week; I find it oddly cathartic.

beFREE designs. I went to university with Nicheyta ages ago, and her work is just lovely. I love the simplicity and elegance of her jewelry, and some of the smaller pieces I can even get away with in Mae Sot. And what I can’t really make practical use of, I simply admire on Etsy regularly.

Friends. I am really getting to know and love these two women. They hold a special place in our hearts and home.

And last, Mae Sot. It’s a really weird, beautiful place to lay your head, but it’s becoming home. We borrowed a friends’ motorcycle to make a loop around the city and enjoy the sunset on Sunday night, and it was just gorgeous.

The monsoon season is just great in so many ways, not limited to making everything a million shades of green and creating stunning skylines.

I also love the corn fields laced in banana trees, where my childhood and life here on the border just roll into one. It makes me feel so deeply at home.