Christmas in Thailand

Its amazing how much time flies.  Its been 5 months now since I arrived.  Another 2 months and I will have been out of the US the longest I've ever been.  People say its hard to tell where time goes here because seasons are not so well defined.  Its cold in the morning and evening here but still can get up to 90 during the day and it can start when the sun comes up.  It is very cold being a motorbike driver in the mornings however.  I was excited to find mittens.  However my Christmas vacation officially started 4 days ago, so I won't be able to try out my mittens for 2 weeks.  For Christmas break, I actually didn't make any official plans.  I went to my first wedding in Thailand on Friday.  It was for my coworker and all the staff were invited.  It was a nice, small gathering.

House of Hope kids singing for us

On Christmas eve, I was invited to another coworker's house for an Indian/American feast.  It was nice being able to meet some new people and enjoy good food although I seriously ate too much.  Afterwards, most of us headed to the international church for their 11pm candelight service.  The Christmas choir that I have been a part of, reprised one of the songs that we had sung the weekend before at the church.  The service reminded me a lot of the Methodist church although we took our candles outside and sang carols around the tree there.  My regular church had service this morning and afterwards we headed over to the children's home House of Hope for home cooked thai food and gift exchange.  It was more like all the gifts were numbered and we picked a number when our name was called.  Then we got the gift with that number.  No gift swapping or fighting.  I didn't unwrap my gift til I got home.  It is totally customary to open your gifts on your own and not in front of your giver.  I got a nice glass pitcher with 4 matching glasses.  Definitely an addition to my dishes.
Its weird being in a country where Christmas is not everywhere.  I saw some people working today and businesses are still open.  Another reminder that I'm in Thailand is that I drank coconut juice through a straw straight out of the fresh coconut.  Definitely tropical land!

Mona was determined to open the coconut and get the fruit out.  She did succeed.

I'm halfway through my school year now.  So hard to believe.  In 5 more months, I will be back in the states.  I am anticipating only spending June in the states and then returning to Thailand and hopefully getting a little traveling in.
Merry Christmas or Suk San Wan Christmas!

The Kittens

The kittens I've discovered, are a great way to meet neighbors.  The cat that wasn't mine first brought about 5-6 kids between 2-6 over to my house a few nights ago.  Some of the women came over also and I learned that some of them know some English.  They are very friendly.  After the kittens arrived, 2 girls dropped by and felt comfortable enough coming into the house to come visit the kittens.  I got the older girl's name "Pang".  We tried really hard to communicate.  She knows very little English and apparently I don't know any of the Thai that she was saying.  But they like the kittens.  So I'll be bringing the kittens outside more often to see if I can get more visitors.

4 Months In

Its been over 4 months now that I've been in Thailand.  So hard to believe.  I'm slowly settling into my new home.  Although from the outside, it doesn't look like much.  I really felt like it was the place to land.  Its a small 2 bedroom home with vaulted ceilings, a washing machine that does hot water washes and a full kitchen with a stove.   Coming from America where some things like a stove might be standard with a home, its not here.  Stoves have a tendency to move with the tenants.  My gas stove came with the house so it stays. Hot water is also a luxury here as its not frequently found with tap water, just in showers and as I've discovered, in some washing machines.  My machine does need help though as the hose is not quite long enough to reach the drain so it goes into a bucket and frequently the floor.  But I'm glad to have it and now I don't have to locate a laundry place and save all my 10B coins.   Another reason I like my new place, is location.  I'm living in a totally Thai neighborhood and definitely a working class one.  I like the feel of it though. Its a small soi where everyone comes out to look when someone new moves in.  The arrival of the former tenant's cat also brought them out.  He ran away the day she moved out and showed up 4 days later.  She didn't expect to see him again so she was on a bus to Laos when I called to tell her he was here.  She asked if I could take him while she was out of town.  I begrudgingly said yes because I wasn't sure what else to say.  He was unhappy because he doesn't know me and I was concerned because I was getting 2 kittens the following day.  The first night he complained a lot and eventually went to sleep.  When the kittens came the second day, he added hissing and growling.  The kittens avoided him but when he meowed loudly during the night for a few hours and then proceeded to bang on the screen door, I was done.  I let him go out.  Hopefully he'll return next weekend.  In the meantime, Ya ya and Smoky, the new kittens are adjusting to their new home.  I got them from my boss' family and they are brother and sister.  Originally I had planned on one kitten but glad I got two.  They keep each other company and love to play.  He's more hyper than she is and will initiate play by biting her til she starts playing with him.  But they are cute and do everything together.  They are also partners in crime and will steal stuff from me.  Lily can take on the mama role whenever I can get her here.  I'm still trying to figure that out.  Its amazing to me that it would cost more than it costs for me to get her for Lily to come.  And she gets to ride in cargo.  I'm praying for miracles of the financial kind.
I've had some blog worthy moments in the food dept.  I had traditional thai food that gets made on the floor.  I had this at the House of Hope-one of my church's childrens home for their Christmas party.  It was a most of the day affair and the kids had fun.  I also enjoyed trying to converse with some of the girls while they learned a little English and me a little thai practice.
I also had this thing who's name I'm not sure of.  It was a one time only deal however.  It was this dough like a Roti and whip cream in the middle.  You could get fruit of some kind in the middle like bananas or pineapple like I opted for with the one Mona and I shared.  It was super sweet and the pineapple had this tangy stuff on it.  Yep doing a different dessert next time.

A Busy Weekend

   I celebrated my first Thanksgiving  in Thailand 2 days ago.  A friend at work-Donella and her family invited me to join them at a neighbor's house where many people were coming together to celebrate.  It was fun and I always enjoy hearing stories from people who have lived in Thailand awhile.  Adapting to a new culture has many amusing moments and always fun to laugh about afterwards.  Donella's family are here as missionaries and they regularly serve at a children's home every week.  Other people at the dinner are also missionaries and many have been here for years.  It was nice of our school to give us a half day at work so we could celebrate Thanksgiving during the day by tradition.  Other international school's do not do this.  It was incredibly weird working on Friday the day after however.  Its been years since I've done that.
Friday marked the beginning of the Balloon Festival that our neighboring school puts on each year.  Apparently its an international thing.  I got up earlier than usualy of Friday so I could watch the first launch.  I was also hoping to catch a ride.  These are hot air balloons that were launching and really big up close.  I will add pictures but since my camera is dying, they are a little blurry.  The night show I missed but maybe tonight I can catch it.
Tomorrow I move to my new house.  While the move should be quite quick as I don't have a lot of stuff, its still a little stressful making sure I didn't forget anything.  Moving somewhere new is always good but its hard to tell before I live there if I will still like the place after I officially move there.  I'm optimistic though.  I will miss being so close to the coffee shop near my house and the coffee stand that I no longer need to place orders at.  This one coffee stand, I always order an ice mocha and I go regularly.  So now I simply show up, say 'hi' and she starts making an ice mocha.  Its awesome!  And its only 30B which is approx. $1.

Life Goes On and On and On

I realized my blogs are getting farther and farther apart.  Its not that there isn't anything worth writing about.  Actually there is plenty.  I just have so many distractions,  I think.  I'm actually less than 2 weeks away from moving again.  A couple of weeks ago, after losing sleep yet again when my housemate and our houseguest came home late at night and loud again, I had time to get mad and have another chat with God about whether or not I should continue to put up with this.  We recently became houseguest free a few days ago after having a houseguest for 6 weeks.  It was a very long time to have a non paying housemate and it got even longer when the late nights started.  Shortly after she arrived, my housemate started going out to bars and other places and would return late at night.  Usually they would laugh and carry on til much later into the night.  Our house transmits sound very well.  Even with my door closed and no hearing aid on, I could hear full conversations going on in the kitchen downstairs.  A few times especially in the beginning weeks, I got up or sent a text asking them to please quiet down.  They usually would and the next day I got apologies.  But then it would happen again and again.  A few times I just waited it out, not wanting to get out of bed.  I considered moving after being woken up 3 times one week.  A friend that I confided in, suggested that I pray about it first.  I did and didn't feel like it was the time to leave.  Then a couple of weeks ago, I was awoken again only this time they brought home 2 guests.  Mind you this was already after 1am.  As I lay in bed frustrated, I used the time to talk to God again about moving.  I felt like this time, I needed to leave.  It had become clear that there was no effort on my housemates part to try to be considerate after hours and waiting for our houseguest to leave didn't guarantee the end of it. 
The next morning I got up for church and discovered that some food I had just bought the day before was also eaten during the late night.  Tiredness and frustration spilled out when I did run into my housemate and guest and instead of talking to them, I yelled my frustrations and said that I was moving.  Then I left for church.  My moving plans began immediately as I told both my pastor and a new couple from Canada that I was househunting
After church, my housemate came to me and apologized and we had a calm conversation.  I can't recall if I apologized for yelling in that conversation.  A day or so later I did apologize and asked forgiveness as I don't usually yell at people when I'm mad.  I do feel bad for how I handled the whole thing as I let my emotions do the talking in the moment.    She also thinks I planned to move long before I told her as I found a place within 2 days of telling her.  I think it was just a quick answer to prayer as I didn't start looking until after I told her. 

 Currently, my housemate and I are on eggshells. I don't know if she's forgiven me as she asked for space following the incident.  I've been giving her that.  I found a new house 48 hrs after I started looking and signed a 1 year lease yesterday. I think ultimately, it will be better for both of us.  She's moving to the neighborhood she's talked about going to that I never wanted to live in. I'm getting my own 2 bedroom house in a Thai neighborhood.  I think it will be easier to immerse myself in the culture as I am surrounded by farangs in my current moo baan.  I'm excited about my new place and look forward to getting to know the neighbors who don't speak English.  From what I hear, that's all of them.  I also can have cats in my new place and dogs arent' allowed.  Sorry dog lovers but the dogs here are not nice.  Now that I'm comfortable on my motorbike, its not a problem being farther away from work.

waiting for the launch

many lanterns in the sky

Quick little note, we celebrated Loy Krathong here in Thailand just a week ago. Loy means floating and Krathongs are these floating things adorned with banana leaves, flowers and incense. My favorite part was setting off the large lanterns. There were millions in the sky. My camera doesn't do it justice. My least favorite part were the fireworks. Anyone can buy fireworks no matter how big and dangerous they are. So professional type fireworks were being set off outside my house mostly the last 2 nights and off and on all week. There were some bomb sounding ones that went off at midnight and I finally had to plug my ears and pray the fireworks only went up. Its neat to be able to be here during a festival though. I will goto the hot air balloon festival in a week at the school next door to ours. Apparently its not to be missed.

Just after we let it go

off it goes

Waiting for the hot air to fill the lantern

The Rest of the Vacation

The day after I got back from Foursquare Thailand convention, I hopped a plane, a sky train and a bus down to southern Thailand.  I had planned to spend nearly 5 days in Hua Hin which is on the inside coast of the tail of Thailand.  Since I was tired and it was so hot, I chose to   relax my first night including a massage and hanging at the hotel.
The next morning I awoken to the sad news that my friend/coworker from my days at Valencia Elementary, had passed away during the night.  Mary has had cancer for as long as I have known her and has done fabulous in her fight against it.  But more recently had deteriorated and was no longer on chemo.  I'm incredibly grateful to my other friends for keeping me in the loop about Mary's health.  Even though I left Valencia for China a few years back, I still have very fond memories of my time there and have maintained some contact over the years with various people that I got to know.  One of my best memories of Mary was when she told me to 'smile'.  She didn't say it in a mean way but rather a 'life is short-enjoy it' kind of way.  We had a challenging job working with students with special needs and smiling and laughing made things better.  I still remember to do that now because it really does make a difference.
To be honest, I alway thought Mary would beat this disease.  She was always such a strong optimistic person.  While I know that alone can't kill cancer, I personally think it keeps a person healthier than one who is is depressed all the time. 
I can't say that I continued in vacation mode after hearing the news. I actually really wanted to go home to Chiang Mai.  But the cons of checking in to my flight early was that I couldn't change my ticket.  So I spent the rest of the vacation trying to be distracted.  I read a lot, swam a bit and got massages and that was a great distraction.  I actually didn't realize just how effective a distraction it was until I headed home finally on Sat.  Heading home was an all day affair but I finally got home safely.  After my housemate and our houseguest left for a Halloween party that night, I finally got out everything that I didn't know I was holding in.
I realize that there is no good way to end this particular blog.  So I'll end with this.  I want to make sure that I don't keep assuming that I'll still have tomorrow when it comes to family and friends.  Because as I discovered in Mary's case is that even though I knew she was weak, I still held out and hoped that she would be around for awhile.   

Foursquare Thailand Convention 2011

Its funny when I first heard about convention, I thought it was retreat that we were doing with Mae Sot church.  Then when it got closer, I heard that there would be churches from all over Thailand, not just Mae Sot.  This was actually more exciting to me because many of these places, I might not be able to visit.  Our Chiang Mai church-Seng Sawang was the hosting church although the convention itself was held at Wang Tarn Resort.

Wang Tarn  Dining Area

Wang Tarn Resort is a little resort like place about 20 minutes or so out of the city of Chiang Mai.  We stayed in little rooms that had a bathroom and beds.  I actually ended up in 2 rooms since the first one was apparently not supposed to be mine.  The second room reminded me of the 3 bears because each of the 3 beds was higher than the one next to it.  I chose the highest one so I wouldn't feel like I was sleeping on the floor.  I originally was sharing the room with my pastor's 9 yr old daughter and her friend but they moved to another room and I got the room to myself.  Probably good since I was killing large ants the first night.

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The day we arrived, I came up with my pastor's wife, Sariton, another church member who's name I never got and Angie Hilderbrand of the Bangkok Foursquare church..  It was nice being able to chat with Angie on the way up.  When I arrived and got settled, I started wandering around and met Zina and Doc who have a church way down in southern Thailand.  Later I met other young families; a few including a young family who are missionaries to the Ahka people in Chiang Rai, a young family who are missionaries in Bangkok and the pastor who connected me with my current church family-Pastor John.  Some people from Coastlands may remember him since he was there a few years back.  It was good to make the connection and let him know who it was that had emailed him a few months back.  I thanked him for getting me connected to Pastor Alan.
Our first evening after rocking worship from our Seng Sawang gang, Pastor Mike from Hawaii spoke.  It was quite entertaining to watch him interact with the interpreter from Mae Sot-a young pastor.  Pastor Mike is quite energetic and encourages his interpreter to be the same.  He spoke of being stuck in a wine press either by choice or by circumstances.  He prayed for those of us who felt stirred.
The second day, Pastor Mike spoke again and this time it was more on the church environment.  What sort of things should be in a church ie: generosity, tenacity etc.  Actually that covered more than one talk.  Again after some seriously rockin' worship.  I knew our worship team was energetic but I think they pulled out all the stops this weekend.  It was awesome!  Reminded me of VBS -those of you who know what that is.  Remember when we jump up and down and try to sing at the same time?  Seriously fun but tiring?  I actually didn't do that this weekend as my foot is still in recovery mode and I wanted to be able to walk afterwards.  But other people jumped and it was fun to watch.
Anywho back to everything else.  I forgot to mention that Pastor Mike also spoke on Honor, Unity and Loving the Harvest.  All related to the church.  I think its really easy to honor those we respect and look up to and sometimes we forget that honor doesn't just go up it goes all around.  I'm not going to go off on every little detail cuz that would be a book. 555 for those who are wondering when I'm going to get around to my next book.  It will happen soon enough.
Our weekend ended with worship from the Mae Sot group and closing with Pastor Mike, Pastor John and communion with Pastor Winai.  I'm imagining it was a nice break for the other team as they were admittedly tired last night after everything was done.  I thoroughly enjoyed all the talks even though there were times when there wasn't translation.  I think a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to sit through a talk I didn't understand without being frustrated.  But now being in a place where I don't speak the language, it happens a lot and its life. 
I was excited though that I was able to pick out more words from the worship set and sing them in thai.  Now worship for me consists of "English English English Thai English English English Thai etc"  Good thing no one can hear me. :)  I'm realizing that I'm very focused on worship lately.  Maybe because I've always loved it and can't wait til I can do it all in Thai.

My new friends Ket and Martha

Pastor Mike and Pastor Deer

One of the main things I prayed for this weekend, was to get more connections.  I knew people would be at the convention from various parts of Thailand.  Our church here in Chiang Mai is not large and I can't communicate with most of the congregation at the moment.  So this weekend God answered my prayer.  I met people from other churches and made connections.  I also started making more of a connection with my own church.  One young woman has been on my heart now and even though she is rather shy, I think she's getting more comfortable around me.   I look forward to building on that when we return to church.  I also had conversation with other members of my church and I think things will start to feel different now between us.  Not that anything was bad or uncomfortable before but other than my pastor, I'm the only farang at my church.  I'm seriously motivated to learn Thai quickly so I can interact more.
I'm going to end here as I need to finish packing for my next trip.  I leave for a mini vacation to Hua Hin in southern Thailand tomorrow.  Its only planned as far as the flight and hotel but other than that, I'm completely winging it and can't wait.  By the way, Lily will be in Thailand in only a couple of weeks.  I found her a ride and we're working out details as we speak.  Praying its not royally expensive.  But for those who thought Lily needed a book, I think her life in Thailand will be a book of its own.

End of the First Quarter

Hard to believe our first quarter ended last week. Its amazing that we have been in school that long.  I finally don't have to worry about grades but rather learning support plans and updating the one IEP that I've written so far this year.  Its much more low key than what I'm used to.  I do get lazy on grading however because I don't have piles of stuff like I used to.  This week there will be parent conferences.  I actually will be attending conferences that are essentially faciliated by the classroom teacher.  The only ones I will do on my own are with the 6th grade parents since their classes are running conferences a bit differently than everyone else. I actually don't understand it so I'm glad to do those on my own.  I currently have 5 6th graders on my caseload.  They have the most energy of any of my students but they are a nice bunch.
I'm looking forward to our week vacation that comes up after this week.  I rather like our set up.  We had a work day last week to finish up grades/reports and a day for only conferences this friday.  My last conference is quite a bit earlier than others so it may be hard to stay on task the last few hours before vacation.
And what am I doing for my first vacation?  Well I'm staying in Thailand.  But not in Chiang Mai.  I start the weekend by attending a foursquare retreat about 20-30 minutes away from here.  I've been told that people from Mae Sot, Bangkok and other churches in the country will be in attendance.  My pastors wife also mentioned Americans because she knew I'd appreciate that.  After I return, I will have about 1 1/2 days before I fly down to Bangkok and then take a bus, train or some other transportation for 3 hrs to Hua Hin in southern Thailand.  I actually have no agenda down there except to get a massage, go to the beach and hang out.  I'm hoping they still have warm weather as the weather here has cooled significantly.  Many people are happy about that but I could use a little more warmth as I pulled out my long sleeves, pants and my light jacket today.  Its also still raining which from what I hear is not terribly common.  I guess the rainy season is supposed to be ending but it almost seems to be beginning.
I'm still hoping and praying to get Lily here someday soon.  No one has been able to bring her yet.  My principal today asked me if I wanted a kitten.  They have 3 week old kittens.  If Lily comes, she may have company provided my housemate goes for it.  I love the idea of a kitten but with the plan that Lily would eventually be here too.  Who knows?

Life in General

I think its safe to say that things are becoming somewhat routine.  Most everywhere is devoid of water from the flood.  The people who's houses were hit the worst, are still doing cleanup and from what I hear, the smell from stuff the flood washes in, is nasty.  I feel incredibly grateful that getting our street blocked by a river of water was the worst that it got.

Waiting for the sky train

Last Sunday, I flew to Bangkok and navigated their skytrain/airport train system.  I'm so glad that I'm not afraid to ask for help when I'm lost although it usually takes getting lost before I do it.  I was glad that the guesthouse that I stayed in had a tv and I used the internet cafe in the mall next door to check email.  I was tired from my adventures in traveling. 
In the morning, I had breakfast at the guesthouse which consisted of food I'm used to seeing at breakfast like fruit andThai food that I normally don't eat for breakfast.  It was good and the company I shared it with was nice also.  I met another woman who was staying there, from Kuala Lumpur who during the course of our conversation, it turned out that she was friends with my coworker in Chiang Mai.  Go figure! 
The guesthouse-Bangkok Christian Guesthouse is a 3 or 4 story guesthouse that my school likes to use when teachers com to Bangkok.  They get a good deal on the price which is already good since its a guesthouse and not a regular large hotel.  Since I didn't want to miss much work while in Bangkok, I only spent one night there, and kept my backpack with my belongings with me during my workshop.
The workshop was meant to do two things.  One was to get professional development and the other was to continue adding hours that I need to successfully clear my credential next summer.  It was also a very sweet deal that my school paid for everything except my dinner on Sunday night.

Bangkok from the sky train station

The workshop itself was put on by two teachers from the University of  Northampton in the UK.  They were teaching us about an assessment tracking system using P scales.  While I think I understand the reasons behind it, I was a little disappointed that it didn't seem terribly relevant for my students.  The scales help to define different levels of students with special needs so if they transfer between schools, its easier to see where they are at.  But their focus seemed to be primarily for lower functioning students.  Most of my students do not have a diagnosed disability or an IEP.  They come to me for extra help.  But our hope is that my students will eventually learn strategies that help them succeed without the extra instruction. 
I've learned during my time at my school so far that some cultures do not readily accept learning difficulties in their children.  They want their children to be successful and having anything less makes them feel embarressed or like they failed as parents.  Its disheartening when we have parents who don't want to accept the help that we offer or become difficult because their child isn't catching up fast enough. 

On the happy side, I am exciting about our first school vacation.  It will arrive in 3 weeks.  Between now and then, I need to write approx. 9 learning support plans and finish testing one student.  But when that is over, I will be first off to a Foursquare retreat that will include our church, possibly the church from Mae Sot and possibly others??  I was doing my best to mentally interpret the announcement during church last weekend.  I only was able to get part of it.  Should be fun.  The day after we return, I head down to Hua Hin in southern Thailand for a mini vacation of my own.  The theme of that vacation is relaxation.

Women's Retreat and Flooding

Suan Bua Resort

Me, Donella and Bobbi

This has definitely been a week full of adventure.  Last weekend, I went to a woment's retreat sponsored by the local international church.  The retreat was open to all women in Chiang Mai.  Many of my coworkers were in attendance.  During the weekend, there was a lot of focus on worship, which I love.  We had one talk that focused on studying the word and hearing from God.  The talk that spoke to me the most was done by a woman who runs Full Sail Ministries.  She has such an amazing testimony and she was so interesting to listen to.  I also related on some level to what she was talking about.  A recurring thought on my heart has been whether or not to pray for healing for things that I have lived with my whole life.  All physical.  I notice that when I seek healing, I start struggling to be content with the way I am.  So that's where I found myself once again this weekend.  I was able to seek prayer from a prayer warrior who is also my coworker.  While I don't know the answer to what's on my heart, at least I had peace about it.


This weekend, I also was able to hang out quite a bit with another coworker Donella and her daughter Bobbi.  They are here in Chiang Mai as a family and doing a ministry with a children's home around Doi Saket.  I've discovered that we have a lot in common.


This week has become eventful due to flooding.  We were sent home by lunch time today due to a threat of flooding in the school.  The river has been very high and a dam broke farther up making things even worse.  And to top it off, we had really heavy rains recently.  When it rains here, it rarely sprinkles, it dumps.  I had a scary ride home from choir on Monday where my coworker/friend Yara and I were on a motorbike with her driving.  It was not raining when we started, only lightening.  I found the lightening frightening enough because there was a lot.  But then we drove into a rain storm and when we hit the highway, it was windy.  I prayed a bit on that ride home.  We both made it home safely although quite soaked despite wearing rain ponchos.

But today, the river has flooded the banks.  Some streets have water quite high.  Our street is fine at the moment but we are close to those that are flooding.  I have maintained contact with a coworker who lives nearby because she has been sandbagging her house and talking about the water that is coming down the street.  We went to look at the water near her house.  We didn't have to go far. 

Our school is closed tomorrow as well and we are on standby for Friday.  I may have an extra long weekend as I am scheduled to go to Bangkok for Sunday and Monday for a Professional Development workshop.

Getting Occupied

My new ride-Yamaha Mio

I realized it had been a few more weeks than I had originally thought since my last post.  I'm recovering well from my accident and I am enjoying my new bike.  However I only drive the 5 mins. or so from home to work before traffic.  Eventually I plan to go farther.  But for right now this is good.  My new bike is easier to drive and has less power which for some people would be a drag.  For me its wonderful!  I don't drive with both legs out to the side when I first take off anymore either.  As odd as that sounds, I used to do that like I thought I needed to have my feet out to stop the bike in an emergency.

Dessert at Choir

A reason I don't write as often as I used to is because I'm getting occupied.  I joined a local expat choir this week.  I miss singing and singing at home only doesn't always work for me.  The choir is mostly comprised of people who are probably older than me with the exception of my coworker.  She and I are only a couple years apart.  I'm older.  She introduced me to the choir.  If I make it to salsa class tomorrow, it will also be because of her and ballroom dancing as well.  There is an amazing amount of things to get involved in here. 
I filmed part of a commercial last weekend and will do the voiceover soon.  Its for the local christian counseling center.  The drama teacher at my school told me about it.  I'm so excited to do drama again.  I finally have time to do fun stuff whereas school took up so much of my time and energy prior to coming to Thailand.  You could say that I'm living it up.  I also love getting to know different people.  This weekend I will be going to a women's retreat.  Its sponsored by one of the local churches but open to all women in Chiang Mai.  My coworkers told me about it. My pastor also mentioned another retreat next month for our church denomination.  I hope to go to that too right before I leave for vacation.
I have one week holiday in October so I decided to go explore southern Thailand and relax.  In the cheapest way possible of course but definitely looking for a good massage and a beach.  Its so hard to believe that next month is the end of our first quarter. I feel like I'm really settling in.  I love my students.  Its bizarre to think sometimes that I'm the expert for the elementary dept for special education.  I'm so used to being the person who seeks help from coworkers.  Weirdness!-in a good way.

A Wakeup Call

I had my first dose of freaky reality this week.  My principal is not a big fan of motorbikes.  He has made it really clear that we are never to arrive on a motorbike without a helmet.  Not a bad idea actually.  He also tells us newbies many times that we will crash.  One of my coworkers has actually had 3 accidents but she's been driving a while so that didn't actually happen all at once.  Last weekend, I decided to get on the bike and venture out onto the road.  I drove myself less than a mile away to the laundry place.  Then I drove myself home.  I discovered that I drove better when I relaxed.  Feeling confident, I decided to drive a little farther.  So a few days later I drove to the gas station and then to the store.  Had a few freaky moments when I accelerated and it freaked me out so my first instinct was not to use the brake but put my feet out because putting them down didn't really work.  It wasn't until I was headed home that I ran into trouble.  Trouble is good at finding us when we least expect it.  Since we drive on the left here, left turns are a lot easier to navigate than right turns across traffic.  I was approaching a left turn in what should have been an easy navigation.  Instead of turning, I found myself on my side with the bike on my left leg as if I had just tipped over to the left.  It wasn't that easy though.  I hit my head on the bike.  I think my knee hit the bike also and the top of my foot scraped against something.  I shakily put the bike upright, wondered if my teeth were all still intact since my lip felt banged up.  I tried to move the bike out of the way for fear oncoming vehicles would hit me.  The bike apparently turned off in the impact and I couldn't get it to move forward.  A man came out of nowhere, picked up the bike and put it on the cement area between the two roads.  Then he left.  I tried to call the owner of the motorbike but not able to reach him and instead called my housemate.  Normally one might think that that should have been my first call but I was driving the only vehicle of our household.  So it wasn't like she was going to hop in a car and come get me.  She did however make suggestions on what I should do next.  One of which was to wait until I was less shaky to consider driving the bike home or wait until someone could come to me.  I got off the phone, took a deep breath, put my shopping bags back on the bike and slowly drove home.  I was very grateful that the bike did drive.  It turns out however that I altered the alignment and the foot brake in the fall though.  So today, the bike is getting looked at.  I'm praying for an easy fix.   I'm just so grateful that I walked away from the accident with no broken bones and my life still intact.  It was however a reminder of how important helmets are.  I had mind on so the goose egg on my head was not from hitting the road but rather hitting the bike in the impact.  I also realized that I need to not be in such a hurry to be a driver.  I can do slow short driving around my neighborhood in the same way that I used to drive around the parking lot at my apartment.  I also made the decision to get back on the bike even if I only go a few feet, so that I don't become fearful.  It is believe it or not, better to be a motorbike driver here I think than  car driver.  Not because of the type of vehicle but rather because as a motorbike driver, you can fit in smaller areas and everyone is looking out for you more than the cars.  As a car driver, you have to look around constantly because motorbikes are everywhere and on all sides of the car.  It would be really easy not to see one coming.  Some motorbike drivers take a lot of liberties on the road and as I might have mentioned before, the lines on the roads tend to be suggestions of where you should be driving.  Some roads are so narrow, its difficult to stay in one lane especially for cars.  Also some drivers see empty lanes from oncoming traffic as extra passing lanes.  As scary as it all sounds, I have become a much more cautious pedestrian and the occasional driver.

New Things

I had two interesting experiences this weekend.  First was the offering song.  I was asked by my pastor last weekend to play the offering song this weekend.  I had a song on my heart so I was into it except for the part where I didn't have a piano to practice on this week.  So I emailed my pastor let him know where I was at with it all and figured i was off the hook.  Today I came in and one of the women in the church asked me if I was singing a song for offering.  I said no but thought maybe I should check on whether I was playing offering.  Turns out that I was still on the agenda.  We were just waiting for the regular keyboard player to show up with the keyboard so I could practice.  I got a new song on my heart.  Not really new actually but quite old.  I couldnt' get "May the Words of My Heart" out of my head.  I even asked God for a new song because I've played that song for offering years earlier.  Nothing else came to mind so when my opportunity to practice came up, I played that song, shaky fingers and all.  Then I was reminded of all the times in the past when I've been asked to play songs for offering with no practice or even a worship set without practicing.  That's when I knew I could pull off an offering song even if I made it up on the spot.  But I was annoyed with myself for being nervous.  I decided even though I wasn't singing the words for the offering, I was going to keep them in my head and remind myself that I wasn't playing for me or the congregation.  In the end, it was fine with only minor errors.

My other new thing was my driving.  I have plans to go look at a motorbike this week that is completely automatic-much easier for me I think.  So I figured I should practice driving-like on the street.  Until now, I had only driven in a parking lot.  I don't have a parking lot at my new place so I decided I would take the motorbike to the laundry place down the street.  It required me to go down the street and down another street and finally on the street with the laundry.  The getting there was easier especially when I relaxed. I even shifted to the next gear.  The reason it was easier was because it was all left turns.  Keep in mind that we drive on the left side here.  Coming back, I decided to do the shorter more practical route which meant making right turns including one on a busy intersection.  While that freaked me out, I didnt' hit anything or anybody and navigated it ok. I also did this while strattling one of my laundry bags.  My other bag rode in the basket.  I now have the confidence to try driving other places.  I'm not sure I'm ready for the city yet but the other streets aren't so bad.  Now at least when I go to look at the other motorbike, I can drive it without looking like I've never driven before.  Why on earth would I want to drive a motorbike in the first place?  Well, sometimes it is hard to get songthaews and tuk tuks to take me where I need to go.  It took me 3 to 4 tries just to get one to take me to the dentist last week.  The first time was 3 but the 2nd time was more.  Its also much easier to navigate the road on a motorbike than a car since motorbikes can go many places and cars cannot.  Will I still use other transportation?  Most likely as I don't like the idea of driving in a downpour and I do still like walking.

Making Connections

This is how Lizzie and I get around.  I'm really good at being the passenger in back

One of the things I love that has been going on since before I arrived in Thailand are connections.  First it was connections on email.  Then I arrived and put faces to names.  Now I meet new people and get to know those I've met even better. I spent this Saturday shopping with one of the vice principals who was gracious enough to volunteer to take me to the store when I mentioned the difficulties of loading stuff up on a motor scooter.  Lizzie and I have loaded up lots of stuff but its challenging as stuff gets bigger.  Since we are settling in to our house and buying stuff like dishes and supplies, we need to go to the store more.  So I spent a few hours with my boss getting stuff and having lunch.  Lunch was interesting as we ate at KFC but didn't have the usual fried chicken.  We both decided to go with chicken and rice covered with green curry.  The chicken itself was fried with a bit of spicyness to it.  The whole thing was served on a normal plate with silverware and our sodas were served in glasses.  Nothing disposable except the napkin wanna be.
Saturday I also experienced having someone else do my laundry.  Lizzie and I discovered that there is no coin laundry super close like we had thought.  There is a laundry service place.  So I took my laundry there and they told me to come back the next day at the same time.  I arrived today to have my laundry clean, folded and possibly ironed.  It costs me about $5. I might do that again.  They charge by the kilo.

I spent Saturday night having dinner and drinks with several ladies most of whom I work with and we were hosted by Su-one of our coworkers.   Its fun being able to hang out with people away from work and talk about non work stuff.  It was actually my second night with coworkers as Lizzie and I were invited to dinner by coworker couple-Laura and Mike and their family.  I'm loving the eating out life.

Today at church, we had a Canadian guest speaker-Florilee who spoke on dream and deserts.  I was able to talk more with her after church as I was invited to join my pastor's family and her for lunch.  She was very encouraging and even prayed for me at one point.  Another connection!

New Beginnings

On Monday, Lizzie and I moved into our new place.  For those who don't know, Lizzie is my coworker who is also from the states.  We met over here when our superiors decided we would be housemates at another house.  We did not end up going to the original house but it got us thinking about being housemates and then we started looking for places together instead of apart.  The house that we chose was the 2nd of 3 houses that we looked at.  It was the one we both were excited about and its close to everything.  Our landlord has been wonderful so far.  He is a former long time parent of our school and has several houses in the city and other teachers also rent from him.  Our neighbor is also our coworker.
The house is a cute little 2 story 3 bedroom home that we both have adapted to.  I hope to bring Lily here in the future as well since cats are allowed.
Both Lizzie and I are settling into our new place and our new life now.  Its easier having a more permanent home.  We both knew that our apartments were temporary and I always felt like I had one foot out the door.  In our new place, we have furniture but very few dishes and a stove we haven't figured out yet.  But since eating out is so cheap, we have both been eating out 1-2 meals a day.  Usually we buy the school lunch since it too is cheap and good as well as dinner from a nearby restaurant.  I've discovered that even the smallest hole in the wall places, know enough English for me to be able to order something. Nice thing about being from CA is that lots of people have heard of it.  Maybe not the place I came from but at least the state. 
At work, I'm finalizing my schedule tomorrow and meeting kids and parents.  I've been making a daily appearance at the morning coffee chat with the parents so they can see who I am.  Since its by grade, I have to show up each day til they get to 6th grade.  Each day I get better at my presentation.

Next week, I begin having students come to my room.  Mostly we will do informal assessments in the beginning.  But then jump into a routine shortly afterwards.  I look forward to the routine.

New Experiences

On Friday night, I went with my pastor and a pastor couple from Australia to Chiang Mai City Gate Church.  I know very little about the church but in the time I was there, I could tell that they were full of life and going for it in God.  Worship reminded me a lot of CA but not because of what they sang but rather how they did it.  There were times when the worship leader felt lead to speak out words of praise and pray.  They were a young appearing team and had a lot of energy.  Since it was all in thai, it was like listening to people sing worship in tongues.  I could feel the heart behind it even when I didn't recognize the songs.
The sermon itself was actually presented by the Australian guests that I had arrived with.  This pastor couple are missionaries and they travel to many countries preaching the gospel.  They have a ministry of healing.  Both spoke and with energy and many stories from their travels.  Its just amazing to hear all that's going on in other parts of the world.  They have so much faith that they have no fear.  They know that God is protecting them and using them for the kingdom.  During their preaching, the pastor of the City Gate Church was translating.  I've never seen someone translate with the same energy and passion as the person preaching.  He was even doing similar gestures.
After the sermon, there was a time when people who wanted healing to come up.  Some people had big responses and passed out and other were smaller.  But I don't think anyone was disappointed.  They also made a point to let people know that sometimes healing is immediate and sometimes it happens over a period of time.  I was glad that they told the congregation this.  I wasn't sure how many of them had ever experienced healing before.  I myself chose to use the time to pray.  I'll be hearing the couple speak again at our regular congregation location on Sunday.
Today Lizzie, my new housemate and I signed the lease for our house.  Then we went shopping with another co worker for sheets and towels and garbage cans.  Ultimately we need stuff for the kitchen but since its incredibly cheap to eat out here, we're not terribly worried.  Both of us are going to be living on as little as possible til pay day next month.  We actually have to pay rent for our current place, rent for the rest of this month for our new place, and a deposit and we haven't gotten our first paycheck yet.  Thank heavens for flight reimbursements and being able to access my American account from Thailand.  After our first payday, we can finish stocking our house.  The house is furnished so we don't need to look for furniture.  Just a tv at some point.
The house itself is a 3 bedroom cute little place.  It has tile floors and a balcony upstairs.  Downstairs, there are places to sit and relax and a fountain on the porch with fish in the pond it feeds into.  In our little neighborhood, there are other ponds and at least 3 other houses. One of my other coworkers lives in one and a family in another.  Eventually we will have a housemate in the remaining house.  I also think there may be one more house that we didn't see.  The entire neighborhood is gated and there is a security guard.  But like other places we still need to be watchful because farangs(foreigners) are targets for robbery because they think we are rich.  We have been advised on how to make our house less of a target.  I will post pictures when we move in.  Moving day is Monday as we need to be out of our apartments by Tuesday morning.  We both have to work so we'll just pay rent and turn in our keys at that time.  Our vice principal was kind enough to let us borrow the school songthaew and some workers to help move our stuff.  Should be a quick move.
For now, its back to packing.

First Day of School

My apt from the outside.  My window is the bigger one.

Today was the first day of school.  For me, that means no students.  I get to spend the first two weeks observing my students and doing testing so that I can set up my schedule for the rest of the year.  I have met 3 students now, one was introduced to me by another student.  I look forward to when I can work with them and get to know them better.
This first day was not without some event though.  It was quite stormy from the very beginning.  Storms have this habit of just showing up here.  Never leave home without an umbrella and a poncho if you plan to be on a motorbike.  The thunder was so loud and sudden, it was a wonder to me that the little kids could even do class.  The power when out for a short time as well.  My room is a little dark without light and dark clouds don't help.  Thankfully it didn't last long. 
We had our first recess meeting in the elementary dept and the food was great!  I will never go hungry here.  Lunch is also a new experience.  Since its a bit cheaper to buy lunch here and the options are nice, I plan to eat school lunch or the lunch they get from take out everyday.  Its not the fast food take out that we might think of, its thai food.  The cafeteria has a new manager so the menu has changed.  It includes salads, sandwiches, thai food and breakfast.  I had a ginger/pork stir fry today with rice for a dollar.  Can't be that!

My room where I live now

Yesterday, Lizzie, my coworker and future housemate, went to look at a house owned by a parent from school.  He has several houses and several coworkers currently and previously rented from him.  The house is a nice 3 bedroom place with sort of an Italian/Thai fusion theme(that's how my coworker describes it since he's Italian).  The floors have colorful tile.  There is a lovely pond, a balcony(which is what really clinched it for me) and a nice little outside area.  One of our neighbors is a coworker and the other is a family-American I think.  Its very close to school, local shops and still quiet enough to feel like its in the country.  We will be moving next Monday.  Both Lizzie and I are looking forward to ditching our apt which does seem a lot like a dorm since it lacks a kitchen and its mostly just a bedroom.  It has been nice to have a place to stay until we found a house though.

2 Weeks In

Hanging with the elephant

Elephants working the crowd

I arrived 2 weeks ago yesterday.  Hard to believe.  All of my orientation and staff development finished yesterday.  One day we ended with a thai massage-just the new teachers who wanted it got it free.  Yesterday we ended with a welcome back BBQ.  The elephant Maesa Elephant Village that we visited this week was really cool.  No elephant ride this time because the rain showed up in buckets.  But the show was neat.  The elephants have a lot of character.  They also can play soccer, throw darts and paint.

Nail Dance

The end of orientation concluded with a traditional Khantoke dinner.  We ate dinner on the floor and it was very good.  It consisted of sticky rice in a small wooden container.  We each had our own.  We rolled the rice into a ball and dipped it in a couple of different sauces.  They were only mildly spicy.  We also ate sweet potato fries, fried pork skin, fried chicken, veggies, and pork curry.  This was all served on these round little tables that sat on the floor.  There were 4 of us sharing the food on each table.  For dessert there was coffee/tea and a rice like cookie. 
We were entertained with traditional music and dancing.  I love watching and experiencing all of this.

Khantoke dinner on the floor with the group

There is just this huge sense of family that has been both talked about and demonstrated in the CMIS school community.  Its going to be a great year.  The students will be returning monday.  I met one yesterday during new student orientation.  I met another one a few days earlier.  I have been told that I have 2 weeks to get my schedule up and running.  This is good actually because it means that I can spend time familiarizing myself with my students through observation and reading their files.

Most of my students have a learning support plan.  This means that they are having difficulties in the classroom but do not have an identified learning disability.  I've been told that I only have 2 students with IEPs.  Very Nice!  I have lots of freedom to use different strategies to help the students which is also very nice.  My dept has been very helpful.

 So very soon life here will kind of become a routine.  It will be nice not being in college class fulltime for once.  It makes it easier to be social.  Like running around town and doing lunch with Lizzie and Yara. 
I am planning on doing independent study though through my grad school in CA.  I decided to maintain my status as a Master's student a little longer.  I don't yet know how to complete the final 2 classes yet from abroad but at least I can work on my thesis plan with an international twist.

Life in the Kingdom

I've now passed my one week mark here in Chiang Mai.  I absolutely love it here and I haven't started my regular work with students.  That starts in one week.  Our last day of Thai orientation and culture is tomorrow. It should be a lot of fun as it involves a visit to the elephant place and a traditional Khantoke dinner.  This weekend has been fun too.  My coworker/future housemate and current neighbor, Lizzie and I were invited to lunch by another coworker and his family.  Its been really nice the way our coworkers both new to the area and been here forever, have really embraced us and made us feel so welcome. On friday night, most of us were at the dinner at our principal's house.  That too was a blast especially hearing the stories from where people have been and their experiences.  We are all coming from different places and some have been on the missionary field all their life due to parents moving here and others are fairly new like me.  That dinner was the beginning of a really relaxing weekend. I say relaxing because although I've been gone from home most of the weekend, for once I'm not worrying about homework or work related stuff on a weekend.  So I've felt free to be spontaneous and hang with people.

Mahidol Rd.  Doi Suthep in the background

Tha Pae Gate

Getting back to Saturday, we had lunch with our coworker's family and they took us to a shopping area on the other side of Chiang Mai.  A place we hadn't been to yet.  We were able to explore one of the malls here and walk the neighbor.  The walk turned out to be quite long as we had to go where there were sidewalks and find our way from there. Eventually we decided to return to the old city via songtaew.  This is like a taxi sort of but its two rows of seats behind a cab but enclosed except the back end where you get in.  We negotiated our fair and made our way to Tha Pae Gate.  This is on the eastern side of the old city. We wandered in the gate but shortly after wandered back out in favor of finding a place for dinner.  We found an inexpensive restaurant serving thai food.  Of course!  I actually had a hamburger with our friends for lunch so I opted for Khao Soy for dinner.  I don't know the difference between good Khao Soy or bad yet but apparently there is one.  Khao Soy is a traditional thai noodle dish with yellow noodles, a meat of choice like chicken, beef or pork.  Then you add raw onions, pickly veggie and hot sauce but to your liking.  Its quite yummy.  I had it my first day in Thailand.
Since the rain here is showing up quite a bit, we got caught in it while downtown.  So we negotiated a tuk tuk to get home.  Tuk tuk's are like open air taxis and it helps if you aren't tall as the roof is quite short even for me.  I also have discovered that Lizzie is a Glee fan.  That totally rocks!

Tuk Tuk coming down the street

Sunday-today for me, I returned to Seng Sawang church.  I had considered also going to an English international church later in the afternoon but you'll find out later why I didn't do that. 
Church currently means that I enjoy it all in Thai.  Actually, they've been translating bits and pieces for me.  They actually is multiple people.  Last week, the sermon was translated due to our guest speaker.  San, a thai woman that I met, translated bits and pieces of the non sermon parts.  This week, I was told that Amos, one of the pastor's sons would translate.  Poor guy had a lot of difficulty as its very hard to translate especially when you are only a teen.  I saw between his mom, Sariton(spelling?) and him and between those two and an occasional translation from the pulpit, I got a translation.  While I love the translation, I actually felt okay in the times when I didn't know what was going on.  The family has really been quite welcoming to me.  After church, we went to another mall where father and son were buying shoes and mom and I were just shopping.  We also enjoyed a lunch in the cafe court area.
Only an hour after they brought me home, I got to experience another part of the culture; the motorcycle or scooter as it reminds me of.  One of my coworkers, Andrew who we had lunch with only the day before, has loaned Lizzie and I his extra motorcycle for as long as we need it.  Incredibly awesome and generous!  Lizzie knows how to ride one already so it was easy for her to acclimate.  Me on the other hand has never even been a passenger.  So I rode on the back around the neighborhood for a trial run.  That was easy.  So then I drove around the parking lot.  Yes,  I drove!  But the reason I never left the parking lot however is that I have a little lack of confidence with acceleration and I like the brake.  I did find that I drove better when I went faster however so Lizzie and I were figuring out when the quite time of the neighborhood might be so I can practice on a street.  Our parking lot isn't that big.  We did go out- me on the back of Andrew's cycle and Lizzie on our cycle and went to coffee.  Unfortunately the rain made an appearance so that's it for practicing for today.  But I can't wait to get more practice.