As many of you have figured out, I'm not in Thailand anymore!! Wow. How strange is that? The strange part is not that I'm home, but more that I'm not going back. I've been sitting in front of my computer/university calendar trying to figure out courses and pre-req's, and all of the ins and outs of applying to university. I'm mostly just bored and decided to update this blog for lack of anything better to do....
The last 2 weeks have been really good (wow - 2 weeks already!!). I arrived here last Monday, and on Wednesday, the older brother of one of my students came to vist. Rit, who is 9, came to visit for a little over a week. It was really neat to show him things he doesn't usually see. We shot a .22, and a bow, visited my uncle & aunt's sheep (thx uncle sam!!), played on the playground, watched Steven's baseball game, visted the library, learned how to ride a bike, and did a whole shwack of other things. It was good! He left on Thursday night, and now I feel like I have nothing to do. Good, and yet, strange! (I guess it's a small pre-taste of parenting.)
It's curious - how I feel about being home right now. Everyone expects you to be jubilant that you're home, but really, I don't feel that. It's a strange mix - I'm happy to be home, yet it's frustrating to be home. I'm sad that I'm away from Thailand because I love it so much, and yet, I'm glad that I'm here. I want to be there, I want to be here. It's unfortunate that I can't always have what I want. It's good to know that God will always give me what I need, and what is best for me, even though I don't want it right now, or see how it's good. Until I see it, he'll remain the same. How wonderful! It's good to know that it doesn't all rest on me, especially with jet-lag and culture shock hanging around my head!
Have a wonderful week! I'm going to go make some coffee and decide what my major's going to be.
r
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Songkran
This past week was Songkran. It's the Thai New Year's festival, and it's one of the only national holidays that almost EVERYONE gets off. It's also celebrated in a strange way -- a HUGE COUNTRY WIDE WATERFIGHT. For at least 3 days during the week (this year, it was from wednesday to friday), everyone grabs their water guns, and sets up buckets with hoses and dumps water on everyone else. Everyone who's not standing on the side of the road is in the pack of a pickup truck, ready for the fight with huge tubs of water, guns and jasmine powder. You may think that I am exaggerating. I'm not.
Colleen and I took a walk down to the market on Thursday, and we ended up joining a family who had a bucket set up outside of their business. It was so neat to play with them, and have the little girls giggle when Colleen and I poured water on their heads. We splashed everyone - Colleen and I would stand in the center of the road with our water guns and spray the people on the non-aircon busses through the windows. HILARIOUS. It was a fun way to start Songkran for me - I missed the festivities last year, and this was a great way to ease into it.
On Friday, our Pastor invited us to come on the pickup truck he was renting. There ended up being 9 of us on the back of this really old rickety truck, driving around splashing and getting splashed. It was hilarious. It took us 20 minutes to empty the first round of water, and then our driving took us back to the river to fill up. (for those of you who don't know the river, it's DISTGUSTING) But, the water was free, and we couldn't argue with the driver, so we filled up and were on our way again. Pretty soon, we were slowing down to stop to splash a group, and the guys onthe side of the road started pointing and shouting, and we looked down, only to see that our wheel was rolling away and we had broked our back axel!!!! We all jumped out, and the thai guys started dumping water on our now smoking pickup. They decided that the truck being in the center of the road was a bad idea, so they all tried to come and lift it up. Problem: we just filled up with water! SO, there went out water, and once the truck was empty, they stopped a bunch of motorcyclists and asked them to help get our truck out of the way. It's a hilarious thing to see 35 Thai guys picking up the back end of a truck and rolling it off the center of the road.
We waited an hour for a new truck, but finally one appeared, and we filled up with water yet again and proceeded to be driven to one of the main party streets in our area. It was completely nuts and totally hilarious! Music playing, people dancing, and almost everyone is drinking. There were so many people crammed onto the street and into trucks and on motorbikes that it took us almost 2 hours to go 3 or 4 blocks. Fortunately or unfortunately, we were the ONLY white foreigners in the area, so all of the crazy drunk dancing splashing Thai people paid special attention to us. We were so wet, and covered with Jasmine powder by the end, it was crazy. But it was a good time.
Songkran is one of those things that sounds like a joke, but it's not. I sit here and wonder - 'how is it possible that I never heard about this??'. I have no idea how this crazy, silly event has escaped the notice of us North Americans. Consider yourself lucky. You are no longer in the dark :)
Colleen and I took a walk down to the market on Thursday, and we ended up joining a family who had a bucket set up outside of their business. It was so neat to play with them, and have the little girls giggle when Colleen and I poured water on their heads. We splashed everyone - Colleen and I would stand in the center of the road with our water guns and spray the people on the non-aircon busses through the windows. HILARIOUS. It was a fun way to start Songkran for me - I missed the festivities last year, and this was a great way to ease into it.
On Friday, our Pastor invited us to come on the pickup truck he was renting. There ended up being 9 of us on the back of this really old rickety truck, driving around splashing and getting splashed. It was hilarious. It took us 20 minutes to empty the first round of water, and then our driving took us back to the river to fill up. (for those of you who don't know the river, it's DISTGUSTING) But, the water was free, and we couldn't argue with the driver, so we filled up and were on our way again. Pretty soon, we were slowing down to stop to splash a group, and the guys onthe side of the road started pointing and shouting, and we looked down, only to see that our wheel was rolling away and we had broked our back axel!!!! We all jumped out, and the thai guys started dumping water on our now smoking pickup. They decided that the truck being in the center of the road was a bad idea, so they all tried to come and lift it up. Problem: we just filled up with water! SO, there went out water, and once the truck was empty, they stopped a bunch of motorcyclists and asked them to help get our truck out of the way. It's a hilarious thing to see 35 Thai guys picking up the back end of a truck and rolling it off the center of the road.
We waited an hour for a new truck, but finally one appeared, and we filled up with water yet again and proceeded to be driven to one of the main party streets in our area. It was completely nuts and totally hilarious! Music playing, people dancing, and almost everyone is drinking. There were so many people crammed onto the street and into trucks and on motorbikes that it took us almost 2 hours to go 3 or 4 blocks. Fortunately or unfortunately, we were the ONLY white foreigners in the area, so all of the crazy drunk dancing splashing Thai people paid special attention to us. We were so wet, and covered with Jasmine powder by the end, it was crazy. But it was a good time.
Songkran is one of those things that sounds like a joke, but it's not. I sit here and wonder - 'how is it possible that I never heard about this??'. I have no idea how this crazy, silly event has escaped the notice of us North Americans. Consider yourself lucky. You are no longer in the dark :)
Monday, April 11, 2005
Laos (not LAEOHS - Lah-oh)
So, school ended on the 25th, and I updated this on the 26th, and then I was absent for a good amount of time. Let me fill you in on that time.
The week following school was me organizing and sorting, cleaning and prepping for next year's kindergarten teachers. I mostly finished.... (heh heh)
On Thursday night, Colleen and I got into a taxi and headed for the train station... except that she forgot the train tickets on the coffee table in the living room. (OOPS!) We did a u-turn and managed to retrieve the tickets and make the train anyway. We spent the night on the train and arrived at one of the northern border cities around 8am. (that's a total guess.) That day we spent in transit; jumping through all the hoops that crossing the border entails. Eventually we made it to Laos' capital city - Vientiene.
We spent Friday night in Vientiene, wandering around the city and seeing the sights. We found an imitation 'Arch de triumph', which aparently has colored water fountians that go off at 9 and 5. (we missed that.)
Saturday was spent on a bus. A harrowing, nailbiting bus trip that took us from Vientiene to LuangPrabang, which is a city up in the mountians. The trip itself was INSANE - curving around, down, up and back through the mountians. The actual distance between Vientiene and LuangPrabang is 260km. It took us 10 HOURS. By the time we arrived in LuangPrabang, it was starting to get dark!
We spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday bumming around Luang Prabang in the rain! It's so insane. This is supposed to be HOT season, and we were freezing our butts off. It was probably between 16 and 18 degrees the whole time, with drizzling rain. When you're coming from 38 degree temperatures, you'll understand why we wore our sweaters the whole time. There was one day that we went to a coffee shop for breakfast, and ended up staying for lunch t0o because it was raining and we were reading. LuangPrabang is a very beautiful place. It's right on the river, and the pace is so slow there, it's almost a stop. LuangPrabang makes me feel like life in Thailand is rushed. Because of the rain, we didn't end up renting bikes or going hiking or anything, but I enjoyed the quiet and the time to read. I think Colleen was a bit bored, but we made it through all right.
We had decided to leave LP on Wednesday, and mercifully, God stopped the rain for us. Our chosen mode of transportation was a speed boat. Also an insane mode of transportation. The speedboat is the fastest way out of Laos. You can fly, take a bus back to Vientiene, take a bus to Thailand (21 hours later...), or you can take a speed boat. I wish I could describe accurately how small it was, and how painful it was to sit in that thing for 7 hours. It was basically sitting on the floor of a boat with your knees to your chin with someone right next to your elbow the WHOLE time. It was interesting. The highlights of the trip being when the boat broke down as we were stopped for lunch, and the started taking a hammer to the engine and pulling parts off. Luckily, we changed boats, and God took us safely to the land of smiles again. After reaching the border, we took a 5 hour minibus ride to ChiangMai.
We stayed in Chiang Mai with some friends who used to live in Nonthaburi with us. They're living there with their 3 kids, going to Thai language school. Staying with them was definately a breath of fresh air - it was good to talk with them, and laugh and enjoy the time together. We stayed with them and hung out in ChiangMai for a few days, and took the night train back to BKK just in time for church on Sunday.
The last couple of weeks have been a lot of travelling, but lots of fun. I'm glad that we went! Now I mostly have fun stuff to do - get clothes made, pack, clean, watch movies, be VERY VERY HOT, and get ready to come home! I look forward to being back on the "home" side of the ocean, but I'm sad to leave too. It's so good to know that God has worked out all the details for me to be here, and that he'll work out all the details for me to be there too!
have a wonderful week!
r
The week following school was me organizing and sorting, cleaning and prepping for next year's kindergarten teachers. I mostly finished.... (heh heh)
On Thursday night, Colleen and I got into a taxi and headed for the train station... except that she forgot the train tickets on the coffee table in the living room. (OOPS!) We did a u-turn and managed to retrieve the tickets and make the train anyway. We spent the night on the train and arrived at one of the northern border cities around 8am. (that's a total guess.) That day we spent in transit; jumping through all the hoops that crossing the border entails. Eventually we made it to Laos' capital city - Vientiene.
We spent Friday night in Vientiene, wandering around the city and seeing the sights. We found an imitation 'Arch de triumph', which aparently has colored water fountians that go off at 9 and 5. (we missed that.)
Saturday was spent on a bus. A harrowing, nailbiting bus trip that took us from Vientiene to LuangPrabang, which is a city up in the mountians. The trip itself was INSANE - curving around, down, up and back through the mountians. The actual distance between Vientiene and LuangPrabang is 260km. It took us 10 HOURS. By the time we arrived in LuangPrabang, it was starting to get dark!
We spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday bumming around Luang Prabang in the rain! It's so insane. This is supposed to be HOT season, and we were freezing our butts off. It was probably between 16 and 18 degrees the whole time, with drizzling rain. When you're coming from 38 degree temperatures, you'll understand why we wore our sweaters the whole time. There was one day that we went to a coffee shop for breakfast, and ended up staying for lunch t0o because it was raining and we were reading. LuangPrabang is a very beautiful place. It's right on the river, and the pace is so slow there, it's almost a stop. LuangPrabang makes me feel like life in Thailand is rushed. Because of the rain, we didn't end up renting bikes or going hiking or anything, but I enjoyed the quiet and the time to read. I think Colleen was a bit bored, but we made it through all right.
We had decided to leave LP on Wednesday, and mercifully, God stopped the rain for us. Our chosen mode of transportation was a speed boat. Also an insane mode of transportation. The speedboat is the fastest way out of Laos. You can fly, take a bus back to Vientiene, take a bus to Thailand (21 hours later...), or you can take a speed boat. I wish I could describe accurately how small it was, and how painful it was to sit in that thing for 7 hours. It was basically sitting on the floor of a boat with your knees to your chin with someone right next to your elbow the WHOLE time. It was interesting. The highlights of the trip being when the boat broke down as we were stopped for lunch, and the started taking a hammer to the engine and pulling parts off. Luckily, we changed boats, and God took us safely to the land of smiles again. After reaching the border, we took a 5 hour minibus ride to ChiangMai.
We stayed in Chiang Mai with some friends who used to live in Nonthaburi with us. They're living there with their 3 kids, going to Thai language school. Staying with them was definately a breath of fresh air - it was good to talk with them, and laugh and enjoy the time together. We stayed with them and hung out in ChiangMai for a few days, and took the night train back to BKK just in time for church on Sunday.
The last couple of weeks have been a lot of travelling, but lots of fun. I'm glad that we went! Now I mostly have fun stuff to do - get clothes made, pack, clean, watch movies, be VERY VERY HOT, and get ready to come home! I look forward to being back on the "home" side of the ocean, but I'm sad to leave too. It's so good to know that God has worked out all the details for me to be here, and that he'll work out all the details for me to be there too!
have a wonderful week!
r
Saturday, March 26, 2005
setlao na ka
School is done! That is incredible! The week was incredibly fast - I feel like I might have possibly blinked twice and gotten a couple of hours sleep. (which isn't true, because I went to bed at 8:30 on Wednesday night...) Anyway, that's what it felt like. Thrown in there were a few birthdays, a couple of field trips, report cards, and a large end of the year party.
I managed to clean out my classroom with Deona on Friday after everyone left, and we thought about the year and how much the kids changed over time. I vividly remember setting UP my classroom, and putting up everything that I was taking down - writing names on books, dividing the kids into groups and putting together the calendar. It was crazy to take it all down. Last year was different. I took it all down, but I shoved it all in a big bag to keep for the next year.
How fast a year goes! A year is so long and so short all at the same time. A year is enough time to get involved in someone's life, and to change it. A year is enough time to learn many things, and change in many ways, and a year is definately enough time to change the world.
There are 3 or 4 students that totally stick out in my mind right now, although ALL of them were awesome and important. The first was Nat, who was one of the only students who seemed to realize that after today, there was no more K3, and no more Miss Rachel. She just sat on my lap and burried her head in my shoulder and said my name over and over. It was cute. She has changed incredibly to become one of the most sensitive caring students. She used to be really rough, but she has surprised me and become more and more gentle. She still is fairly tomboyish, and she goes and does absolutely everything the boys do, but I haven't seen her throw a punch since August, and everytime she accidentally hurts someone else, she bursts into tears. She has become so, so interested in Christianity and in the bible, and in God, it's amazing. She always has the best questions, and she seems to really understand. She tells me that she asked God for a white heart, and I believe her.
Month was the second student who sticks out in my mind - I gave him my Children's Bible on Friday, and he was SO EXITED!! It was awesome to see his eyes get wide! He asked me three times, "But why you give to me Miss Rachel??" "Because you like to listen to it so much." Then the wide eyes again. He tried to carry it around with him while he was trying to eat icecream. He almost dropped the icecream a few times before he plopped himself down on the floor to look at his new treasure. If Jesus returned today, I believe with all my heart that Month and Nat would be rising on the clouds too. It's such an awesome thing to see childlike faith.
The last one I'll tell you about today is Mind. Mind comes from a very troubled home, and he resisted coming to school every day so much that sometimes Kru Nok would lock him in the classroom to keep him from running outside to the parking lot. At first Mind was incredibly frustrating because he didn't understand anything, he never spoke and he was very very angry all the time. As time went on though, I began to see that he was just looking for love and attention. So Deona and I started to give him positive attention, read to him in tutoring and give him hugs. And then he started to stand really close to me, and the before I knew it, he would resist coming to school, but only out of the precident he had set. He would resist with a smile. And although the frown would return and stayed plastered on his face for most of the day, he became fairly obedient and he could do a good amount of his work with help, and he would come over and sit on my lap voluntarily. By the end of most school days, he was like my second set of skin. He would stand so close to my desk while I was working that it was less of a pain to have him sit ON my lap than to stand so close to my elbow. Kru Jane liked to call him my shadow.
On Friday during our party, Mind huddled himself in a corner. I thought maybe he was sick, but he shook his head. I thought he was tired, but he shook his head. I thought maybe he was hungry or shy but to those too, he shook his head. Finally I asked him if he was sad. And he nodded. I read to him what I wrote in his yearbook - that God would take care of him and that God was with him all the time, even if he was happy or sad or angry or scared. I told him that his teacher next year would love God very much, just like me, and I told him that his teacher next year would be very kind. To the first few things he just sat and looked at me. But for the last two, he shook his head and scowled. I think he felt abandoned. The poor kid! He says he hates his dad, and he doesn't love his mom, and now the only place where he feels safe is about to be shaken up, and he couldn't deal with it. I think that was the hardest goodbye I've ever had to make. Eventually his nanny showed up, and he went home, but I think his heart was broke. I just pray that God will be very close to him and transform him from the inside. As of now, I can't do anything else to help him - I can't change his parents, I can't change his feelings, I can't even make him feel loved at school. But I can pray, and that's more important. If you think of Mind, pray for him too.
Like I said before, a year is enough time to change the world. I have been with them for a year, and that is enough time for God to change how they act, how they think, and how they will live. How incredible!! Hopefully, the lives of these kids will be different because they spent a year with me, because I'm trying my best to follow God. God doesn't need me, but he lets me have the privilege to be used. I feel so honored to have been a part of these lives for this long. What a great blessing these two years have been!
r
(by the way - setlao means done and na ka is polite)
I managed to clean out my classroom with Deona on Friday after everyone left, and we thought about the year and how much the kids changed over time. I vividly remember setting UP my classroom, and putting up everything that I was taking down - writing names on books, dividing the kids into groups and putting together the calendar. It was crazy to take it all down. Last year was different. I took it all down, but I shoved it all in a big bag to keep for the next year.
How fast a year goes! A year is so long and so short all at the same time. A year is enough time to get involved in someone's life, and to change it. A year is enough time to learn many things, and change in many ways, and a year is definately enough time to change the world.
There are 3 or 4 students that totally stick out in my mind right now, although ALL of them were awesome and important. The first was Nat, who was one of the only students who seemed to realize that after today, there was no more K3, and no more Miss Rachel. She just sat on my lap and burried her head in my shoulder and said my name over and over. It was cute. She has changed incredibly to become one of the most sensitive caring students. She used to be really rough, but she has surprised me and become more and more gentle. She still is fairly tomboyish, and she goes and does absolutely everything the boys do, but I haven't seen her throw a punch since August, and everytime she accidentally hurts someone else, she bursts into tears. She has become so, so interested in Christianity and in the bible, and in God, it's amazing. She always has the best questions, and she seems to really understand. She tells me that she asked God for a white heart, and I believe her.
Month was the second student who sticks out in my mind - I gave him my Children's Bible on Friday, and he was SO EXITED!! It was awesome to see his eyes get wide! He asked me three times, "But why you give to me Miss Rachel??" "Because you like to listen to it so much." Then the wide eyes again. He tried to carry it around with him while he was trying to eat icecream. He almost dropped the icecream a few times before he plopped himself down on the floor to look at his new treasure. If Jesus returned today, I believe with all my heart that Month and Nat would be rising on the clouds too. It's such an awesome thing to see childlike faith.
The last one I'll tell you about today is Mind. Mind comes from a very troubled home, and he resisted coming to school every day so much that sometimes Kru Nok would lock him in the classroom to keep him from running outside to the parking lot. At first Mind was incredibly frustrating because he didn't understand anything, he never spoke and he was very very angry all the time. As time went on though, I began to see that he was just looking for love and attention. So Deona and I started to give him positive attention, read to him in tutoring and give him hugs. And then he started to stand really close to me, and the before I knew it, he would resist coming to school, but only out of the precident he had set. He would resist with a smile. And although the frown would return and stayed plastered on his face for most of the day, he became fairly obedient and he could do a good amount of his work with help, and he would come over and sit on my lap voluntarily. By the end of most school days, he was like my second set of skin. He would stand so close to my desk while I was working that it was less of a pain to have him sit ON my lap than to stand so close to my elbow. Kru Jane liked to call him my shadow.
On Friday during our party, Mind huddled himself in a corner. I thought maybe he was sick, but he shook his head. I thought he was tired, but he shook his head. I thought maybe he was hungry or shy but to those too, he shook his head. Finally I asked him if he was sad. And he nodded. I read to him what I wrote in his yearbook - that God would take care of him and that God was with him all the time, even if he was happy or sad or angry or scared. I told him that his teacher next year would love God very much, just like me, and I told him that his teacher next year would be very kind. To the first few things he just sat and looked at me. But for the last two, he shook his head and scowled. I think he felt abandoned. The poor kid! He says he hates his dad, and he doesn't love his mom, and now the only place where he feels safe is about to be shaken up, and he couldn't deal with it. I think that was the hardest goodbye I've ever had to make. Eventually his nanny showed up, and he went home, but I think his heart was broke. I just pray that God will be very close to him and transform him from the inside. As of now, I can't do anything else to help him - I can't change his parents, I can't change his feelings, I can't even make him feel loved at school. But I can pray, and that's more important. If you think of Mind, pray for him too.
Like I said before, a year is enough time to change the world. I have been with them for a year, and that is enough time for God to change how they act, how they think, and how they will live. How incredible!! Hopefully, the lives of these kids will be different because they spent a year with me, because I'm trying my best to follow God. God doesn't need me, but he lets me have the privilege to be used. I feel so honored to have been a part of these lives for this long. What a great blessing these two years have been!
r
(by the way - setlao means done and na ka is polite)
Thursday, March 17, 2005
another week
...
And all of a sudden, it's been a week and there is only a week left. I feel like I should sit down and write something profoundly interesting and fascinating about my week this week, but I don't really have much to say.
Things have been CRAZY BUSY around here - testing takes up a lot of time. Report cards take up a lot of time, prep for the week when you don't have any books takes up a lot of time. I kinda feel like I've been going insane, but it's a good insane...
My favorite moment of the week was definately Nat and Seven having a spat after school yesterday. I walked into my classroom after hearing about 6 people yell "Miss Rachel, Nat hit Seven." (I thought they said Nat kiss Seven, which isn't all that unusual so I wasn't worried.)
But when I got into my class, Seven was standing there bawling, and Nat had a tissue and was roughly wiping away all the tears that were sqeezing out of his eyes.
Then Seven goes, "miss rachel, nat do this..." and he starts to demonstrate. I asked if Nat had said sorry, and Nat starts to bawl, saying over and over, "I say sorry already!!" So now there are two crying kids - one is crying because he got hurt, and the other is crying because she was the one who did the hurting. It all worked out in the end, and Nat gave Seven some of her prize to alay his bitterness towards her.
I hope your weeks have been going well -- I can't believe that mine here are numbering 4... The year has gone so fast! See you in 4 weeks!
And all of a sudden, it's been a week and there is only a week left. I feel like I should sit down and write something profoundly interesting and fascinating about my week this week, but I don't really have much to say.
Things have been CRAZY BUSY around here - testing takes up a lot of time. Report cards take up a lot of time, prep for the week when you don't have any books takes up a lot of time. I kinda feel like I've been going insane, but it's a good insane...
My favorite moment of the week was definately Nat and Seven having a spat after school yesterday. I walked into my classroom after hearing about 6 people yell "Miss Rachel, Nat hit Seven." (I thought they said Nat kiss Seven, which isn't all that unusual so I wasn't worried.)
But when I got into my class, Seven was standing there bawling, and Nat had a tissue and was roughly wiping away all the tears that were sqeezing out of his eyes.
Then Seven goes, "miss rachel, nat do this..." and he starts to demonstrate. I asked if Nat had said sorry, and Nat starts to bawl, saying over and over, "I say sorry already!!" So now there are two crying kids - one is crying because he got hurt, and the other is crying because she was the one who did the hurting. It all worked out in the end, and Nat gave Seven some of her prize to alay his bitterness towards her.
I hope your weeks have been going well -- I can't believe that mine here are numbering 4... The year has gone so fast! See you in 4 weeks!
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