I got in a taxi today, and paid 53 baht (split 4 ways) to get to the train station, and then we got out and went to the subway, and paid 15 baht to go 12 stations to the sky train interchange, and then we got out and got on the sky train, and went 2 stops and went to the mall. (My apologies for the run-on sentence. I teach English, really.)
WHAT A CRAZY COUNTRY I LIVE IN!!!
I always said that I never wanted to live in a city, and now I've figured out how to get around when I don't even speak the language. Last time I checked, I didn't have the opportunity to do any of that for a reasonable price in Edmonton.
One of my students has recently come up with the FUNNIEST phrase ever. I laugh every time I hear it. His name is Beb, and he's had some trouble grasping the English language. He's started trying really hard since October, so he gets points for that. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer though. So Beb has decided that he can express quantity using, "Miss Rachel, it's really..." EXCEPT.... He NEVER ADDS ANYTHING ELSE. He looks at something and says, "Miss Rachel, is really..." (it's really WHAT, Beb?? Really big? Really beautiful? Really tall?) It's SO funny. I just die laughing every time he says it.
I've been trying to figure out how to get all my STUFF home at the end of the year. Somehow, I've accumulated a lot of stuff, and I've been wondering how it was going to work. I looked into a crate, but i didn't want to ship it alone (that's expensive), but it all wasn't going to fit in 2 suitcases. But then Kari said that she would take a suitcase home for me (thanks Kari!!), and then I got a package from home that had my new EVA membership card in it. (EVA is my airline, and I've recently accumulated enough points to be upgraded in card class) I happened to be flipping through the membership book, and found out that because I'm a "silver member", I get 3 pieces of luggage!!! And then, I checked on the internet, and found out that I had enough points to upgrade a class all the way to Vancouver!! I felt so taken care of! It's really...!
I hope your week was just as good!
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Saturday, February 12, 2005
The Most Amazing Thing
The best part of my year happened this week:
I was sitting in my classroom in the half hour before class starts and usually, I teach ESL (which is for kids who are struggling in the classroom.) But on Friday, I didn't have to teach it and so I was sitting at my desk doing work. When I left the classroom, Por's mom asked me if I had a second because she wanted to show me something. (Usually when she says that, she'll run to her car and grab some fruit for me, or some pictures of Christmas program, or something....) But this time she pulls out her camera and turns it on. I kinda stood there confused for a bit, because it just looked like a picture of Por looking at a book. But then she told me to listen and she held her camera up to my ear, and he was reading it!
The best part is not that Por can read, because I know that already. He reads books for me in tutoring every now and then, and he sounds out words in class all the time. But the exciting part was that he had enough confidence to read a book for his MOM!!! And she was absolutely THRILLED!! It was SO cool to see her SO excited that she waited at my classroom door for me to be done teaching. It completely made my day and quite possibly my year.
The other cool thing that happened this week was Overnight Camp. The kids tented in the playground on Friday night, and stayed for most of the day on Saturday. It's always interesting when you have 90 kids camping in the playground - for instance: everyone had a hard time falling asleep, and it took until 1:30 to get them all in their tents. (for some reason, they don't understand that if you keep your tent CLOSED, there won't be mosquitos inside!) Another: at 2:00am, one of the kids puked in his tent, and Colleen had to clean it up, so when I came outside for my supervision shift at 2:30, all the kids were walking around again, and the teachers were moving tents and rinsing things off... (ah, the joys of pizza parties and pillow fights before bed.)
The cool part though, was just seeing the kids in another atmosphere. We do our best to make overnight camp feel like SummerCamp, and it's really neat to see everyone being that transparent. It's interesting to see how they react to no sleep, and encouraging to see the staff all pull together and work hard to make it work. Colleen and I led a group of grade 5 boys, and it was awesome to spend time with them and other kids and get to know them better. Erin and Deona and I had a crazy time leading a "Fun with Baking" activity center. (hmmm - we only have 30 minutes, a limited budget and one oven. HOW will this be fun??) But we ended up making cookies and having contests, and I had fun. (don't know about them) We ended, once again, with a water fight and ice cream, which was great! And so, despite the 4 hours of sleep I had, it was a really fun weekend.
And although I was sick for the first 5 days, it was a really good week! I hope yours was equally as good!
I was sitting in my classroom in the half hour before class starts and usually, I teach ESL (which is for kids who are struggling in the classroom.) But on Friday, I didn't have to teach it and so I was sitting at my desk doing work. When I left the classroom, Por's mom asked me if I had a second because she wanted to show me something. (Usually when she says that, she'll run to her car and grab some fruit for me, or some pictures of Christmas program, or something....) But this time she pulls out her camera and turns it on. I kinda stood there confused for a bit, because it just looked like a picture of Por looking at a book. But then she told me to listen and she held her camera up to my ear, and he was reading it!
The best part is not that Por can read, because I know that already. He reads books for me in tutoring every now and then, and he sounds out words in class all the time. But the exciting part was that he had enough confidence to read a book for his MOM!!! And she was absolutely THRILLED!! It was SO cool to see her SO excited that she waited at my classroom door for me to be done teaching. It completely made my day and quite possibly my year.
The other cool thing that happened this week was Overnight Camp. The kids tented in the playground on Friday night, and stayed for most of the day on Saturday. It's always interesting when you have 90 kids camping in the playground - for instance: everyone had a hard time falling asleep, and it took until 1:30 to get them all in their tents. (for some reason, they don't understand that if you keep your tent CLOSED, there won't be mosquitos inside!) Another: at 2:00am, one of the kids puked in his tent, and Colleen had to clean it up, so when I came outside for my supervision shift at 2:30, all the kids were walking around again, and the teachers were moving tents and rinsing things off... (ah, the joys of pizza parties and pillow fights before bed.)
The cool part though, was just seeing the kids in another atmosphere. We do our best to make overnight camp feel like SummerCamp, and it's really neat to see everyone being that transparent. It's interesting to see how they react to no sleep, and encouraging to see the staff all pull together and work hard to make it work. Colleen and I led a group of grade 5 boys, and it was awesome to spend time with them and other kids and get to know them better. Erin and Deona and I had a crazy time leading a "Fun with Baking" activity center. (hmmm - we only have 30 minutes, a limited budget and one oven. HOW will this be fun??) But we ended up making cookies and having contests, and I had fun. (don't know about them) We ended, once again, with a water fight and ice cream, which was great! And so, despite the 4 hours of sleep I had, it was a really fun weekend.
And although I was sick for the first 5 days, it was a really good week! I hope yours was equally as good!
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Exciting Times
You probably cannot imagine how many times I sit down to write something on here, and the computers are SO SLOW that I get frustrated and give up. I think it's happened twice in the last week.
Every Tuesday morning we have staff meeting, and for the first 10-15 minutes, someone shares a short devotional. To be honest, I usually have trouble concentrating at 7:30 in the morning, and I usually let the stuff that's said pass in one ear and out the other. HOWEVER, in the recent past, there have been two that have sparked some thought. (thx Josh and Erin!) I thought I would share a little bit of their wisdom and my thoughts. If you don't like mini-sermons, maybe don't read the following paragraphs.
I'm not sure why I like quotes so much, but I think it has something to do with other people using better words than me. In Josh's devo, (which, incidently, I was late for, because sometimes I also have trouble getting up early in the morning) he challenged us to notice the small things that we enjoy, and stop taking things for granted. For instance, I live in a country where I can go visit beaches and islands that most people have as screen savers or desktop backgrounds on their computer.
He shared a couple of quotes that have really stuck with me. One is this: "The way you live your life is the way you live your days." And I've thought about this a lot. Your life is just a big group of days and minutes and moments, and if you take for granted the moments and minutes and think your days are incredibly boring, then guess what your life adds up to. Yup, boredom.
I've started to think that it's all about your perpective. Josh shared a scene from the movie the Matrix, where it is said about Neo, "If he's the one, these are exciting times!" And if you think about it, these are exciting times. We are changing the world, one moment at a time.
Erin shared some stuff on joy and desires, and the part that stuck out to me was a section of C.S.Lewis' Mere Christianity, where he talks about this earth being just a dim shadow; a poor reflection of the real thing in heaven. On earth we have desires for things, and often those desires are unfulfillable because we long for the real thing. We can desire relationships, or a good job, or stabilty, or (whatever else). And most of our desires will never be filled on earth. If earth is a poor reflection of heaven, then why do I expect all of my desires to be filled here? It's very easy to live like earth is IT. But it's not. Why do I expect it to be? "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Ps73:24-26) If earth really has nothing I desire (which, I confess, is not true in my life most of the time), then why do I care so much about it??
You may not see the connection of these two things, but in my mind, they are tied together. If I'm not looking for life to be completely fulfilling on earth, if I'm finding my joy in God, if I'm living like every moment counts, then these are EXCITING TIMES. AND THAT, is enough to give me more joy. I hope you see it too.
Every Tuesday morning we have staff meeting, and for the first 10-15 minutes, someone shares a short devotional. To be honest, I usually have trouble concentrating at 7:30 in the morning, and I usually let the stuff that's said pass in one ear and out the other. HOWEVER, in the recent past, there have been two that have sparked some thought. (thx Josh and Erin!) I thought I would share a little bit of their wisdom and my thoughts. If you don't like mini-sermons, maybe don't read the following paragraphs.
I'm not sure why I like quotes so much, but I think it has something to do with other people using better words than me. In Josh's devo, (which, incidently, I was late for, because sometimes I also have trouble getting up early in the morning) he challenged us to notice the small things that we enjoy, and stop taking things for granted. For instance, I live in a country where I can go visit beaches and islands that most people have as screen savers or desktop backgrounds on their computer.
He shared a couple of quotes that have really stuck with me. One is this: "The way you live your life is the way you live your days." And I've thought about this a lot. Your life is just a big group of days and minutes and moments, and if you take for granted the moments and minutes and think your days are incredibly boring, then guess what your life adds up to. Yup, boredom.
I've started to think that it's all about your perpective. Josh shared a scene from the movie the Matrix, where it is said about Neo, "If he's the one, these are exciting times!" And if you think about it, these are exciting times. We are changing the world, one moment at a time.
Erin shared some stuff on joy and desires, and the part that stuck out to me was a section of C.S.Lewis' Mere Christianity, where he talks about this earth being just a dim shadow; a poor reflection of the real thing in heaven. On earth we have desires for things, and often those desires are unfulfillable because we long for the real thing. We can desire relationships, or a good job, or stabilty, or (whatever else). And most of our desires will never be filled on earth. If earth is a poor reflection of heaven, then why do I expect all of my desires to be filled here? It's very easy to live like earth is IT. But it's not. Why do I expect it to be? "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Ps73:24-26) If earth really has nothing I desire (which, I confess, is not true in my life most of the time), then why do I care so much about it??
You may not see the connection of these two things, but in my mind, they are tied together. If I'm not looking for life to be completely fulfilling on earth, if I'm finding my joy in God, if I'm living like every moment counts, then these are EXCITING TIMES. AND THAT, is enough to give me more joy. I hope you see it too.
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