Post Vacation

Vacation officially ended on Monday.  While its painful to get up early, it wasn't so bad to be back in a routine.  I did love my vacation especially when I left town.  I went down to the small town of Ao Nang on the province of Krabi.  It is not far from Krabi town.  The beach is nice and fairly quiet as beaches go.  There was another beach close by that was totally peaceful. I could easily do a quiet time there on a regular basis.  I enjoyed getting to know my friends Zina and Doc better and meeting new friends.  Zina and Doc have a Muay Thai ministry and a small expat church.  Muay Thai is thai boxing that includes kickboxing.  Its a thai sport but other countries have picked it up.  My friends are professionals in this sport and use it as a launchpad to evangelize.  They haI cve an open air church that recently started meeting at a spa resort.  Previously they met at their house and McDonalds.  It was really great to see how people are just going for it in the Lord down there.  Ao Nang is nearly all  Muslim whereas Chiang Mai has a large Buddhist community.  I have to admit that I loved it down there and hope that a job will open up for special education. 

Phi Phi Island Tour

I really did climb all those steep steps

View from the top of Watthamsua

Don't get me wrong.  I love my job at CMIS.  I enjoy being able to have ideas and people are actually interested in them and I'm not just one member of a dept but someone who can actually contribute to change.  I normally don't mention ideas or have any.  But I really feel like I'm in a place where I can grow and have grown.
I can't say it hasn't been hard in Chiang Mai.  I think its hard to relocate to a country in general.  But as a single person it seems more challenging.  I have to really look for people to talk to when things are tough or I need help.  My neighborhood has been good to me and helpful.  I'm the only one who isn't married with kids but the kids come to my house to play with the cats.  Some days it is so stretching be cause I'm tired and I don't want to monitor the kids and they have so much energy.  Also thai kids are on summer break right now so they are home all day.  But there are days when I just find myself having energy that I didn't know I had like today.  Paeng from across the way dropped by.  At first I was annoyed   because I was tired and so hot.  The temperature is in the 100s most days now and my house doesn't cool down very well.  But we went outside and she asked for the notepad that I have.  I bought some notepads because I noticed that the kids like to write thai and pictures.  She wrote some of the English ABCs that she has been learning and practiced her colors.  It transitioned into her doing hand over hand to show me how to write thai.  Then she started play acting like in a restaurant where I ordered in thai and she pretended to be entertainment.  When the rain showed up, things changed.  My sala is  covered so we could stay outside.  But we were able to see the girls next door having a blast in the puddles and the rain.  Clearly I'm not the only one who thought it was hot.  Eventually the younger kids joined in and Paeng pulled me in to jump as well.  We jumped in the puddle outside my house and ran down the street and jumped in other puddles.  It was actually fun.  The kids had a blast as we were also joined by the 2 young kids who live next door to me.  I'm glad I decided to get away from my computer and have a little fun.
Approximately 5 weeks til I arrive in the USA again.  I plan to be in the states for a month or so.  Hard to believe that so much time as past.  I can't imagine how things will look after being gone so long.

April and Spring Break and Life in General

My school year is nearly over.  Its hard to believe that its April.  Everything feels normal and routine but boy am I ready for vacation.  My students are not difficult so I don't have that fatigue.  But I miss the 3 days weekends that normally happen in February and the extra long winter break.  Come April, we really feel it.  We are on break for 2 weeks in exactly 1 day.  For the first week I will stay around Chiang Mai.  My motivation was Easter and Songkran.  I will spend only one day here for Songkran because I think I will be done with it after that.  Songkran is quite popular in Chiang Mai and people come from all over just to celebrate it here in Chiang Mai.  Songkran is basically a giant water fight and no one is safe especially if you're a foreigner.  I think the roots have something to do with washing away sin but in the Buddhist religion.  Its become a huge water party.  Tonight I saw one of my neighbor girls trying out her water weapon. I let her experiment on Ya Ya and then she got me.  But the adults were not so excited.  I think they were worried that I might be upset.  I'm roasting hot with the humidity and heat right now so I didn't have a problem with it. Figured I'd be dry in the hour. 
For my second week of vacation, I will head south to Ao Nang.  It is located by the beach on Krabi.  I met some people at the Foursquare convention in the fall and they have a ministry down there.  Figured I could relax and hang with them.  I'm totally looking forward to it.  They are actually putting me up in an apt next door to them for a really cheap price and setting up fun activities.  Lately I've been feeling a bit homesick so I'll be glad for the distraction.
I'm beginning to nail down my plans for June.  I will be in CA on June 4.  I will spend the first week roughly with my family.  Then I will head to Santa Cruz area to complete a health class-part of clearing my credential and visit with friends.  I'll be around for VBS also so I can catch some of that.  I will spend the last part of June with my sister in MT and then head back to Thailand with my Lily cat in tow shortly afterwards. 
 I'm already set for my second year in Thailand.  I'll actually get to do the same job 2 years in a row for once.  In teaching, I haven't been able to do that due to layoffs.  Finally!