Life Without a Computer

     My computer died on Christmas day.  Talk about bad timing.  Thankfully I was able to use my phone to send a message to my brother to let my family know I couldn't skype anytime soon.  The day after Christmas I was scheduled to head to Ao Nang.  I took my computer in hopes for a quick fix.  Nearly had a coronary when they told me at the computer shop that they couldn't do anything with the files on my hard drive-translation: I was going to lose everything that wasn't on a thumb drive somewhere.  They told me they could send my computer to Bangkok for two weeks to a lab that could pull files off my hard drive and save them.  It would be 8000-10000 baht.  I emailed my IT coworker who said not to do anything til I returned.  Glad I listened because in the end, he had me bring in an external drive and he put my files on the drive without a problem.  Costs less than 2000baht.  Then I took my computer to a computer repair place in town and they tried to repair it but in the end I had to replace my hard drive and then they loaded the files back on.  It was all done in about 6 hrs.  3 Weeks without a computer is painful but at least the cost was much lower than expected.
      During those 3 weeks, I discovered how useful my smart phone was and maintained contact with people that way.  I also discovered a boatload of movies on Youtube.

This year I rang in the new year in Ao Nang.  My friend Zina was scheduled to MC at a resort place so her daughter Margo and I got to come along for the fun.  It was a fun night with Thai dancing, Muay Thai demonstration, games and lighting lanterns.  From what I hear, it was not as earsplitting or insane as it would have been had I stayed in Chiang Mai. I have yet to spend a new years in the city of Chiang Mai.

      Also in Ao Nang, I was able to spend time with my friends down there and got a meeting at the school that I'm interested in.  The meeting went well but no job promised.  The school is about 5 years old with around 40 students or so K-6 grade.  They are interested in having special needs services but need their enrollment to go up.  I could potentially teach something else there in the meantime if there is an opening.  I'm waiting on God's next move at the moment.  This whole process has been a walk of faith.  I've never pursued a job that didn't exist. But I really feel a calling to that area and know that it will happen but it won't be in my timing.