Here's why they're there ...
Fourteen students from Friday Harbor's Spring Street School are on a seven-week journey to Asia to learn, first-hand, about Asian life and culture. 
The students have been studying the religion, culture and history of the region for the past six months to a year. This has prepared them for an intense process of learning through experience. The Sounder is giving them this space to share their experiences with you.
While their travels will take them through Thailand, Malaysia, and India, visiting cities like Bangkok, Calcutta, Varanasi and Agra, the students will also have extended stays in remote villages in Thailand as well as in Dharamsala, India. As part of their experience in these villages, they get involved in community service through projects in the schools and public health programs that have immediate impact in the community.
Additionally the students are conducting assessments of the villagers' assets and goals. The assessments will be used to identify ways to help the villagers in their work to improve their quality of life. Areas of student investigation will include water quality, power and communications. A team of experts in some of these disciplines is accompanying the students to support their pioneering research. The assessment project is a collaborative effort of Spring Street School, the Institute for Village Studies, The 1420 Foundation and Harvard Graduate School of Education.
(Ongoing communications from Spring Street School students)
All the senses are engaged in Malaysia
Sights that astonish my eyes, scents that permeate the air, and sounds that are diverse and never-ending are only small parts of my experience in Asia so far. The culture here is so rich and varied. New customs and etiquette to adapt to everywhere we visit.
Malaysia, primarily an Islamc country, has taught me so much about the differences between our own country and the rest of the world. The people here dress, live, pray and even eat differently. For the most part, however, the people are understanding and friendly towards "ferringhi", or foreigners, who respect their traditions. We're staying in a city called Georgetown on Penang Island, which is a melting pot of old colonial British influences, indigenous Islamic Malays, Indian Hindus, and the Chinese majority who took over after the Brits left and now hold the economic power. As I walked from one block to the next around the older parts of Georgetown, experienced the tremendous mix of these cultures with merchants selling distinctly different ethnic products and food. The beaches are beautiful: clear blue sea, white sand, with rounded limestone peaks that protrude from the water. Penang is certainly a place unlike any other with literally a lesson to learn around every corner.
In a few days we return to Bangkok and the Shanti Lodge, the hotel we stayed in when we first arrived in Thailand, before we leave for India. Thai people are so beautiful and friendly. Their smiling faces make me feel at home so far across the world. Thailand is a gentle country with a subtle style and a docile Buddhist culture. I can sit on my balcony at the Shanti Lodge, overlooking the street, people-watching for hours.
Bangkok is a true example of a developing Asian city where you can see a high-rise building and, in the shade it casts along the river, you'll see broken-down wooden shacks that house two families. Looking down on the street where our hotel is located, there is a 7-Eleven store, a vendor serving squid on a stick, live eels as well as a huge Buddhist temple with impeccable design and inlaid mirrors, gold and stones. Only a week into the trip we have seen so much. It seems as though we have melted into the flow of life here which runs at a slower pace albeit a little less efficiently, but it suits these people just fine, and it's beginning to suit me better as well.
--Becca Hope
Celebrating life
Thaipusam is the Hindu festival of "mortification of the flesh." It celebrates all of the blessing one has received during the past year, where the participant feels that the more blessings they have received, the more piercings they should receive.
Feel the rhythm, close your eyes, we're with you.
Shiva dancing, sweet memories spiraling round and round, the bells sound again.
Keep the trance, lift your chin, like the peacock-feathered crown surrounding your profile, focus your energy and endure.
Hold his hands tighter, little one. Lend your support and stability. Through the cosmos, grip his soul in your mind's eye and hold him steady in your innocence.
Tip the drink higher, mother. Let the thick cooling brew of your love cascade down his throat and remind him of how honorable his cause truly is.
Pray harder, old man, send your peace of mind into his aura and help him fly high. With each breath, bless us with your wisdom.
Shine brighter, sun, reflect your majesty into all things reminding us that although it is not clear now, we are all here to serve a purpose.
Dance crazier, young man, lift your spirit upwards and let your triumph play patterns on your beaming face.
Bend lower, watcher, for we are truly those who should benefit from this procession of humble tradition, marching, weaving, praying through this street littered with trash that fate has chosen as holy ground.
Do you love the life you lead? Do you wake up each morning and live your life oblivious to the real world, submerged in fantasy? Mutilating to celebrate is difficult to understand where I come from, yet being swept up in the experience enabled me to see the meaning, letting their endurance permeate society's shield and humble me. Watching their dignity and graciousness, worn like protection against the ivy-like wants and needs of our run-away consumerism, helped me respect the nobility of their beliefs.
-Mariya Porten
