Thursday, November 27, 2003
To curious bloggers:
I actually moved to another blog - feel free to check it out and see what all the fuss is about!
I actually moved to another blog - feel free to check it out and see what all the fuss is about!
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Well, I offically turned down my opportunity to go to graduate school this fall. After a lot of prayer, discussion, and thinking, I decided it was the best decision on many levels. I made the call this past Friday, and though they were disappointed in my decision, they understood and wished me well on whatever I do next. I will also be able to get my deposit for my on campus living back, so that can go towards an apartment in Berea. I am actually updating my blogger here in Berea at the moment. I arrived this past Thursday and have been looking for jobs and apartments to get settled in ASAP. So far I have found a great apartment with EVERYTHING furnished (including washer/dryer, dishes, and furniture..etc etc), and I have applied for a few jobs. I will also be looking some tomorrow before I head home.
My official plans now are to apply for the Journeyman program, hoping to leave in March/May, depending on when and if I am approved and chosen. Also, I am praying about applying to some graduate schools/seminaries for the fall in case the Journeyman program doesn't work out. I read a scripture today in Ecclesiastes that (paraphrasing) that the man that always looks to clouds will not harvest, and the man that always looks to the sky will not sow. The commentary in my bible explained that if you keep waiting and waiting (being overly cautious), you will never accomplish anything. I also read this morning that you should "cast your bread upon the water, and in its due time it will come back to you." (Again, paraphrasing.) Anyway, I am carefully and prayerfully setting out to see where God will have me go next, even if that means hanging around Berea for a bit with a less-than-ideal job and serving Him at my church. Whatever you do, do it with all your might (I read that today in Ecclesiates too!).. and always be JOYFUL! There is so much that He is showing me now about a lot of things, all of which has to do with me completely surrendering all my wants, desires, dreams,... everything. I know that God will bring about whatever is best for me IN HIS TIME.. I've always known that. But it's so much harder to actually practice that, everyday, in all aspects of my life. So I want a husband someday to do ministry with? I give it to You, Father. So I want everything for me to work out so I can go serve God in Thailand this coming spring? I give my plans and my desires to You, Father. I want a job and place to sleep and live in the next few weeks? Lord, you know what I need and when I need it. I give it all to You, Father.. let me be so sensitive to Your spirit and Your instruction that I hear You as clearly as You want me to, and let me walk every step of my life in assurance that You have laid that step out for me before I even existed. Let everything that comes out of my heart, my mouth, my actions, and my life reflect YOUR goodness and YOUR power... and Your love, which is one of the greatest gifts you have ever given to me and those that have come to You with broken hearts. As this day begins, renew my spirit, and sharpen it so that I may reflect You to someone.. MANY someones today. I am never worthy of that privilege, but it is the very least I can do for You, God. Let my words be few before You, My Father and Holy God whom I serve.
My official plans now are to apply for the Journeyman program, hoping to leave in March/May, depending on when and if I am approved and chosen. Also, I am praying about applying to some graduate schools/seminaries for the fall in case the Journeyman program doesn't work out. I read a scripture today in Ecclesiastes that (paraphrasing) that the man that always looks to clouds will not harvest, and the man that always looks to the sky will not sow. The commentary in my bible explained that if you keep waiting and waiting (being overly cautious), you will never accomplish anything. I also read this morning that you should "cast your bread upon the water, and in its due time it will come back to you." (Again, paraphrasing.) Anyway, I am carefully and prayerfully setting out to see where God will have me go next, even if that means hanging around Berea for a bit with a less-than-ideal job and serving Him at my church. Whatever you do, do it with all your might (I read that today in Ecclesiates too!).. and always be JOYFUL! There is so much that He is showing me now about a lot of things, all of which has to do with me completely surrendering all my wants, desires, dreams,... everything. I know that God will bring about whatever is best for me IN HIS TIME.. I've always known that. But it's so much harder to actually practice that, everyday, in all aspects of my life. So I want a husband someday to do ministry with? I give it to You, Father. So I want everything for me to work out so I can go serve God in Thailand this coming spring? I give my plans and my desires to You, Father. I want a job and place to sleep and live in the next few weeks? Lord, you know what I need and when I need it. I give it all to You, Father.. let me be so sensitive to Your spirit and Your instruction that I hear You as clearly as You want me to, and let me walk every step of my life in assurance that You have laid that step out for me before I even existed. Let everything that comes out of my heart, my mouth, my actions, and my life reflect YOUR goodness and YOUR power... and Your love, which is one of the greatest gifts you have ever given to me and those that have come to You with broken hearts. As this day begins, renew my spirit, and sharpen it so that I may reflect You to someone.. MANY someones today. I am never worthy of that privilege, but it is the very least I can do for You, God. Let my words be few before You, My Father and Holy God whom I serve.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Home again. We got off the plane in Louisville about 6:30pm yesterday (Monday the 14th, EST). I fell asleep about 1:40am last night, only to get up the next day at about 9:00pm. Now it's about 2:00am, and I am wide awake. I hope this jet lag doesn't last too long.. but in the meantime, I am catching up on email and my journal, uninterrupted by slow dial-up connection (not much traffic on an early Tuesday morning).
The plane ride wasn't too bad. We flew out of Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Bangkok about 6 or 7pm. After going out on the town for some dinner (Outback Steakhouse.. ah, yes), we swung by Hard Rock Cafe and then back to the hotel to wait/sleep 3 hours before getting up and heading to the airport for our 5:30am flight. I along with a couple other girls decided to stay up and talk, which was excellent. The rest of the flight was blur (maybe it was due to the lack of sleep we had). We almost missed our flight out of Bangkok (I guess they like to board a little early.. Japan time tends to run about 20 minutes early anyway.. completely backwards from Thailand time, I might add). But it was no biggie, and the rest of the flight was good. On our monstrous flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis, MN (about 10-13 hours), we had to make a stop in Fargo, North Dakota due to bad weather in Minneapolis. It only set us back about an hour, so it was no big deal. By that time the lack of sleep for 24+ hours was catching up with me, and I crashed for about 1 1/2 hours.
I apologize to you faithful readers of my journal for not updating regularly the last few weeks of my trip (I doubt there are many of you, but hey it makes me feel important). Since I am suffering from the jet lag now, I will try my best to summarize it for you. For further details, please ask me anytime. Especially if you have any questions about my conversations with friends about God, please ask in person, since this is available to anyone and may result in unfavorable consequences if I share too much online. With all that said, here are my basic activities that happened, picking up at July 4th.
Friday, July 4th
Today was the big 4th of July party that we threw at Quintin and Kim's house, full of fun, music, food, fireworks, and laughs. We spent the entire morning cleaning, cooking, and preparing for the event. Balloons needed blown up, decorations needed taped, the street needed to be swept (we used the entire road in front of their house and covered it with awnings and set chairs under them), food needed to be set out, etc. etc. We used pictures of the American flag, as well as a paper Uncle Sam and red, white, and blue balloons to decorate. We had to hurry because we had plans on going to the American Consolate that afternoon for a couple of hours for the big 4th of July party before we started our own.
The Consolate was fun.. it was almost a shock to see so many Americans together, eating McDonald's and listening to American songs played by local college brass ensembles and choirs. One group even played "Mambo Number 5." There were also foot massages going on to help raise money for an organization that helps to pay for medical (and other) needs for children and families affected by the HIV/AIDS virus in the area. It was a good cause, and I could never pass up a good massage. :) Overall, it was fun, and we got to visit with a lot of M's and some friends we had met earlier.
The night was wonderful: many of our friends from all three colleges came, along with other farangs and M's. Some of Quintin and Kim's Thai neighbors also came to join us. Probably about 100 people came at one point or another. During the night, I did face painting for many of the children and the college students (thankfully others chipped in too to help), and we ate and ate lots of Thai and American food. Later that night, some of us lead some silly songs to sing, like "Singing in the Rain," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and the "Hokey Pokey." Old and young alike really enjoyed it, and a lot of embarassing pictures were taken of us as we lead them. :) There was also a great skit done by the Far Eastern College group, the one where a guy goes to the doctor for a check up (they modified it so that it was people riding on the song-tow, common transportation in Thailand). One guy is on the song-tow to begin with. People keep coming in with different illnesses, like sneezing, coughing, and scratching. One by one they come in, and each time the first guy keeps catching their diseases, leaving the originally sick person feeling better and getting off. The skit ends with the first guy sneezing, coughing, scratching uncontrollably, and even barking (a girl got on the song-tow with her dog at one point). The skit ends with a pregnant woman getting on the song-tow and the guy running away yelling in terror. Anyway, the story of the 4th of July was told to the Thais (and translated by an ah-jahn who is good friends with Quintin and Kim). Part of what was talked about was the freedom we received as part of our independence, particularly our freedom of religion. It was very well done, and I think it got some of our friends thinking about it. We also sang the Star-Spangled Banner and God Bless America, providing words for our non-American friends. Everyone raved about the party, making all the work worthwhile.
Okay, I think it's enough for now. To tell you the truth, the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai was just full of awesome events, conversations, sharing times, and sad goodbyes. I am sorry to say that I will probably not be able to record them all on here, but if you would like to know more about it, please feel free to ask. Some things you may want to ask about are my karaoke experiences (there were actually 3, and they were FUN), my day helping with an English camp at a local middle school, our picnic with our buddies from school, our last few days at the dorm with students, and our final church meeting the day we left (we had invited several of our friends and other M's to join us, and it was wonderful). Please feel free to give me a call (if I already know you and you have my number.. I don't really care for psycho strangers calling me at odd hours), or feel free to email me. I am going to start working on scanning and adding Thailand pictures to my site now, so please check it out. Take care all, and I will hopefully write again soon. Please be praying for me as I decide on the next step of my life. I am praying about applying to become a Journeyman in Thailand for 2 years working with Quintin and Kim with their organization "Campus to Campus International." But that would mean postponing graduate school a few years. I just want to serve God wherever He places me, even if that means going to graduate school now. I want everything I do to be a service to Him, and wherever that is I will go. What I do know is that I have a deep sincere love for the Thai people, language, culture,... I want to go back, whenver I can. Please be praying. Thank you so much for all your prayers while I was there; there were days when I could feel the power of God through your prayers. God was merciful by keeping me from getting sick hardly at all, and for the easy transition through jet lag, and for patience when my own patience was running thin. Thanks be to God for His mercy, power, and grace. I thank God for the sheer opportunity to go to Thailand and for the conversations I could have, the friends I made, and the life lessons I learned. I could never thank Him enough for just this summer alone, much less everything He has given to me. He is truly an AWESOME God, and worthy of praise every moment of our existence.
The plane ride wasn't too bad. We flew out of Chiang Mai on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Bangkok about 6 or 7pm. After going out on the town for some dinner (Outback Steakhouse.. ah, yes), we swung by Hard Rock Cafe and then back to the hotel to wait/sleep 3 hours before getting up and heading to the airport for our 5:30am flight. I along with a couple other girls decided to stay up and talk, which was excellent. The rest of the flight was blur (maybe it was due to the lack of sleep we had). We almost missed our flight out of Bangkok (I guess they like to board a little early.. Japan time tends to run about 20 minutes early anyway.. completely backwards from Thailand time, I might add). But it was no biggie, and the rest of the flight was good. On our monstrous flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis, MN (about 10-13 hours), we had to make a stop in Fargo, North Dakota due to bad weather in Minneapolis. It only set us back about an hour, so it was no big deal. By that time the lack of sleep for 24+ hours was catching up with me, and I crashed for about 1 1/2 hours.
I apologize to you faithful readers of my journal for not updating regularly the last few weeks of my trip (I doubt there are many of you, but hey it makes me feel important). Since I am suffering from the jet lag now, I will try my best to summarize it for you. For further details, please ask me anytime. Especially if you have any questions about my conversations with friends about God, please ask in person, since this is available to anyone and may result in unfavorable consequences if I share too much online. With all that said, here are my basic activities that happened, picking up at July 4th.
Friday, July 4th
Today was the big 4th of July party that we threw at Quintin and Kim's house, full of fun, music, food, fireworks, and laughs. We spent the entire morning cleaning, cooking, and preparing for the event. Balloons needed blown up, decorations needed taped, the street needed to be swept (we used the entire road in front of their house and covered it with awnings and set chairs under them), food needed to be set out, etc. etc. We used pictures of the American flag, as well as a paper Uncle Sam and red, white, and blue balloons to decorate. We had to hurry because we had plans on going to the American Consolate that afternoon for a couple of hours for the big 4th of July party before we started our own.
The Consolate was fun.. it was almost a shock to see so many Americans together, eating McDonald's and listening to American songs played by local college brass ensembles and choirs. One group even played "Mambo Number 5." There were also foot massages going on to help raise money for an organization that helps to pay for medical (and other) needs for children and families affected by the HIV/AIDS virus in the area. It was a good cause, and I could never pass up a good massage. :) Overall, it was fun, and we got to visit with a lot of M's and some friends we had met earlier.
The night was wonderful: many of our friends from all three colleges came, along with other farangs and M's. Some of Quintin and Kim's Thai neighbors also came to join us. Probably about 100 people came at one point or another. During the night, I did face painting for many of the children and the college students (thankfully others chipped in too to help), and we ate and ate lots of Thai and American food. Later that night, some of us lead some silly songs to sing, like "Singing in the Rain," "If You're Happy and You Know It," and the "Hokey Pokey." Old and young alike really enjoyed it, and a lot of embarassing pictures were taken of us as we lead them. :) There was also a great skit done by the Far Eastern College group, the one where a guy goes to the doctor for a check up (they modified it so that it was people riding on the song-tow, common transportation in Thailand). One guy is on the song-tow to begin with. People keep coming in with different illnesses, like sneezing, coughing, and scratching. One by one they come in, and each time the first guy keeps catching their diseases, leaving the originally sick person feeling better and getting off. The skit ends with the first guy sneezing, coughing, scratching uncontrollably, and even barking (a girl got on the song-tow with her dog at one point). The skit ends with a pregnant woman getting on the song-tow and the guy running away yelling in terror. Anyway, the story of the 4th of July was told to the Thais (and translated by an ah-jahn who is good friends with Quintin and Kim). Part of what was talked about was the freedom we received as part of our independence, particularly our freedom of religion. It was very well done, and I think it got some of our friends thinking about it. We also sang the Star-Spangled Banner and God Bless America, providing words for our non-American friends. Everyone raved about the party, making all the work worthwhile.
Okay, I think it's enough for now. To tell you the truth, the rest of my stay in Chiang Mai was just full of awesome events, conversations, sharing times, and sad goodbyes. I am sorry to say that I will probably not be able to record them all on here, but if you would like to know more about it, please feel free to ask. Some things you may want to ask about are my karaoke experiences (there were actually 3, and they were FUN), my day helping with an English camp at a local middle school, our picnic with our buddies from school, our last few days at the dorm with students, and our final church meeting the day we left (we had invited several of our friends and other M's to join us, and it was wonderful). Please feel free to give me a call (if I already know you and you have my number.. I don't really care for psycho strangers calling me at odd hours), or feel free to email me. I am going to start working on scanning and adding Thailand pictures to my site now, so please check it out. Take care all, and I will hopefully write again soon. Please be praying for me as I decide on the next step of my life. I am praying about applying to become a Journeyman in Thailand for 2 years working with Quintin and Kim with their organization "Campus to Campus International." But that would mean postponing graduate school a few years. I just want to serve God wherever He places me, even if that means going to graduate school now. I want everything I do to be a service to Him, and wherever that is I will go. What I do know is that I have a deep sincere love for the Thai people, language, culture,... I want to go back, whenver I can. Please be praying. Thank you so much for all your prayers while I was there; there were days when I could feel the power of God through your prayers. God was merciful by keeping me from getting sick hardly at all, and for the easy transition through jet lag, and for patience when my own patience was running thin. Thanks be to God for His mercy, power, and grace. I thank God for the sheer opportunity to go to Thailand and for the conversations I could have, the friends I made, and the life lessons I learned. I could never thank Him enough for just this summer alone, much less everything He has given to me. He is truly an AWESOME God, and worthy of praise every moment of our existence.
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
It's our last week here in Chiang Mai, and of course we are busy, busy, busy. I am trying not to think about leaving this place. There are so many people I've gotten to know, to challenge, and to be challenged by. On one hand, I think that I am ready to see my family and friends again, but another part of me feels like I sort of developed a home away from home here. I wish that my journal over the past few weeks could completely describe all of the feelings, struggles, victories, and wonders that I have experienced here. Maybe that's why it has been so hard to keep writing in this journal lately; it only scratches the surface. At the same time, I want those at home to know some general activities that we are doing. However, because we have to be careful to disclose names (just in case), and because this is available to anyone to see, I can't tell much of the "behind the scenes" work going on. For those of you at home that would like to know more about my experience here, please feel free to ask. Now, I am going try to cover most of the main events that have happened in the last week or so... hang on..
Monday, June 30th:
To pick up where I last left off, Monday after classes were finished we went with our team to MonkChat, which is where common people can go talk to Buddhist Monks at Wat Suan Dok, the big school for monks and novices in Chiang Mai. While I was there, I got to talk to three monks. They were all very friendly, and were eager to speak English. The purpose of the program is to help the monks practice English, as well as allow people and foreigners to ask the monks all kinds of questions. It's a really good opportunity to share about Buddhism and Christianity. It certainly opened my eyes to some things, and it was just an enjoyable experience.
Tuesday, July 1st
Sightseeing with an Ah-jahn. NCC let us take the day off to go see several of the surrounding wats, as well as a couple of museums. There was much to see and take pictures of.. I'm beginning to think that I am going to have to develop an entire site just of my pictures of Thailand :)
Wednesday, July 2nd
Our visas ran out today, so we had to go get them renewed at the Immigration Office. After a couple of hours and a slew of hassles and minor ordeals, we got our visas, and even had them extended for two extra days so that we wouldn't have to pay the extra fine for going past the usual 10-day visa. After leaving Immigration, we headed for some small waterfalls on Doi Su Thep. We climbed around for a while (I fell once and broke my camera, but it was fixable), had a small picnic, and went ahead and had our team bible study. It was really refreshing to be outside, hearing the waterfalls, and just sharing what was on our hearts for a while. We broke up into small groups and discussed the bible study and what God has been showing us in the past week. I admitted to my team that I was a little downhearted. I had been looking to the Journeyman program to return to Thailand at the end of the year. However, I found out that it was not possible for me to do that, because of the large amount of applicants already waiting for spots. The IMB is also having more financial contraints, so there are actually going to be fewer placed in positions. Anyway, I have not tried to think too much about what what the next step is for me, but I have to be honest and say that it does haunt me in the back of my mind. We then shared prayer requests and lifted each other up in prayer.
The North Chiang Mai College team also went to one of the student's funeral tonight. The family had actually already had several days of memorial services (the more days you have supposedly shows your status/wealth), and this was the last night- the body was to be cremated the next day. It was nothing like the typical American service. The casket is put in a huge red paper/wood? house with gold decor, Christmas lights, flowers, and strobe lights all over it. After all of the funeral ceremonies are finished, the casket along with the house is burned. The Buddhists believe that the house will serve as a living place for the dead person in the next life, or heaven, I'm not sure which. During the service, people come and burn incense toward the body, placing it in a large gold urn which is beside the casket. The service took place outside, and we arrived as a monk was chanting over a PA system. He then gave a "sermon" in Thai, and afterwards they served food. We were told that most funerals lasted a long time, with 3 or 4 monks chanting and delivering messages. However, this one only had one monk, and even had a DJ and dancing afterwards. One of the Ah-jahns at the funeral said that it was because the student was so young, and many of the students came to the funeral. We left with a couple of the administrators shortly after the monk finished speaking.
Okay, getting busy (again). I'll try to update one more time before I leave, but if not I'll do it after I get over my jet lag back home. :)
Monday, June 30th:
To pick up where I last left off, Monday after classes were finished we went with our team to MonkChat, which is where common people can go talk to Buddhist Monks at Wat Suan Dok, the big school for monks and novices in Chiang Mai. While I was there, I got to talk to three monks. They were all very friendly, and were eager to speak English. The purpose of the program is to help the monks practice English, as well as allow people and foreigners to ask the monks all kinds of questions. It's a really good opportunity to share about Buddhism and Christianity. It certainly opened my eyes to some things, and it was just an enjoyable experience.
Tuesday, July 1st
Sightseeing with an Ah-jahn. NCC let us take the day off to go see several of the surrounding wats, as well as a couple of museums. There was much to see and take pictures of.. I'm beginning to think that I am going to have to develop an entire site just of my pictures of Thailand :)
Wednesday, July 2nd
Our visas ran out today, so we had to go get them renewed at the Immigration Office. After a couple of hours and a slew of hassles and minor ordeals, we got our visas, and even had them extended for two extra days so that we wouldn't have to pay the extra fine for going past the usual 10-day visa. After leaving Immigration, we headed for some small waterfalls on Doi Su Thep. We climbed around for a while (I fell once and broke my camera, but it was fixable), had a small picnic, and went ahead and had our team bible study. It was really refreshing to be outside, hearing the waterfalls, and just sharing what was on our hearts for a while. We broke up into small groups and discussed the bible study and what God has been showing us in the past week. I admitted to my team that I was a little downhearted. I had been looking to the Journeyman program to return to Thailand at the end of the year. However, I found out that it was not possible for me to do that, because of the large amount of applicants already waiting for spots. The IMB is also having more financial contraints, so there are actually going to be fewer placed in positions. Anyway, I have not tried to think too much about what what the next step is for me, but I have to be honest and say that it does haunt me in the back of my mind. We then shared prayer requests and lifted each other up in prayer.
The North Chiang Mai College team also went to one of the student's funeral tonight. The family had actually already had several days of memorial services (the more days you have supposedly shows your status/wealth), and this was the last night- the body was to be cremated the next day. It was nothing like the typical American service. The casket is put in a huge red paper/wood? house with gold decor, Christmas lights, flowers, and strobe lights all over it. After all of the funeral ceremonies are finished, the casket along with the house is burned. The Buddhists believe that the house will serve as a living place for the dead person in the next life, or heaven, I'm not sure which. During the service, people come and burn incense toward the body, placing it in a large gold urn which is beside the casket. The service took place outside, and we arrived as a monk was chanting over a PA system. He then gave a "sermon" in Thai, and afterwards they served food. We were told that most funerals lasted a long time, with 3 or 4 monks chanting and delivering messages. However, this one only had one monk, and even had a DJ and dancing afterwards. One of the Ah-jahns at the funeral said that it was because the student was so young, and many of the students came to the funeral. We left with a couple of the administrators shortly after the monk finished speaking.
Okay, getting busy (again). I'll try to update one more time before I leave, but if not I'll do it after I get over my jet lag back home. :)
Thursday, July 03, 2003
Things have just picked up and flown the last couple of weeks. Today is the first time in almost a week that I have been able to get NEAR a computer, and it's been about two weeks since I last updated. It would be impossible to relay every single event that has happened, but I can try to record the highlights (actually I am having to look at my day planner to remember what has gone on since the 20th, the last day I updated). Here goes:
Donna's Journal: The Good Parts Version
Thursday, June 26th:
Today was Teacher's Day, which is a big deal here in Thailand. The students spend all week making big ornate flower arrangements and sculptures to present to the teachers this day (there is also a judging later of the flowers and the winners are announced that night). There is also a fashion show at night, a Kan-tok performed by the students/staff at NCC, as well as a band that comes. We were able to participate in the morning ceremony, where the flowers are presented and a monk comes and chants and gives a "sermon." It was pretty different.. we had been to the wats before but we had never really attended a Buddhist ceremony. The students also sang a couple of songs for the teachers, and awards were presented for those in the senior class with a GPA of 3.5 or better. Some of our friends received the awards, so that was exciting.
After the ceremony, we went out to watch the last day of the freshie orientation. The people here really take their orientation seriously. A couple of days before we saw the freshman rush at Chiang Mai University. For the first semester, the freshmen have to say a cheer every time they see an upper classman.. the type of cheer depends on the year of the upperclassman. They keep track of it by making freshmen ("freshies," as they call them) carry a little book and have the older students sign it when they have done it. Also, all of the freshmen boys had to shave their heads, and the girls have to wear their hair in some crazy hairstyle everyday that the upperclassmen girls pick out. The day we ate with some of the architecture students, the girls had big pigtails sticking up on each side of their heads with bright silk flowers decorating them. Anyway, here at NCC they only do it for the first month of school, but they aren't as extreme in that case as Maw-Chaw Univ is. However, on Teacher's Day it is the last day of orientation for the freshmen and the campus has been turned into something like a big carnival with different stations for the freshmen to be taken to. From about lunchtime until 4:30 or so the freshmen rotate to different stations and do crazy things, have their faces covered with whitish paint stuff, the boys' and girls' hair put up in ponytails and stuff. It was pretty interesting to watch. We talked briefly with one of the head administrators whom we've become close to. He said that the administration had tried to stop it from happening, or at least make it more constructive, but the students had pretty much disregarded them and did it their own way. I guess college students will do what they will do, no matter where they are.
Anyway, we didn't stay long because we had to leave for our weekend whitewater rafting trip. WOO HOO!! We loaded up our stuff and met up with the rest of our team (all 11 of us got to go together, along with some other Americans here working with the IMB, etc. AND one of our Thai friends who has been coming to church with us!). After three hours on a windy road (and a few stops because people were feeling sick), we made it to Pai. We grabbed a bite to eat and settled into our place to sleep, which were these cabins that were sort of sitting in trees. It was pretty rustic, and the beds were covered with a mosquito net canopy to keep us from getting eaten alive. But our adventure was just beginning...
Friday, June 27th:
We got up and headed out at about 7:30 am. We walked to the Pai Adventure hut (the group we were going with for our two days rafting on the Pai River), and ate some breakfast before heading out. We also met the owner and our head guide, Alex (he is Thai, but I think he just took on an easy farang name for his customers). :) We piled into the back of a couple of song-tows (trucks with big bed covers, common transportation in Thailand), and took another 1 1/2 windy drive through more mountains. When we finally arrived, we suited up for the rafting trip and were given some basics on safety and general guidelines. This was my second time whitewater rafting, so I was eager to hit the river. After Alex split us into groups per raft (we had 20 people, so we took 4 rafts all together), we walked down to the river, got into our rafts, and started out.
The first day on the river is to get you used to being in the raft, rowing together, taking commands, etc. There are virtually no rapids either, so most of the time was taken up just enjoying the view (I didn't have my glasses on, so it was blurry, but still beautiful). We drank in the quietness of the woods/jungle on either side of the river, and saw occasional birds, one of which was a peacock (that's what one of the guides said, anyway). About halfway through the afternoon, we stopped at some waterfalls and got out to explore. There are places in the waterfall where you can sit down in it, and it feels like a jacuzzi. There are other places where you can stand in the waterfall and feel the water pour over you.. some people swung on vines and jumped into the water off rocks. It was awesome. Then it was back into the rafts and onto the campsite.
We reached the camp at about 4:30. We tied up our rafts and walked across a bridge made of bamboo and logs. By this time it had started to rain, so we dropped off our gear at the bungalows (basically big sheds with three walls built on bamboo stilts with mosquito nets draped underneath where we sleep). Alex then told us about a cave nearby that we could explore with a couple of the guides before dinner. Several of us grabbed some flashlights and our helmets and headed up the side of the mountain.
The cave was really fun. After climbing down into it we just explored for about an hour or so. We found some bones, as well as some of the cave walls that were made of some kind of stone with little glittery fragments in them. There were a few tight spots (let me emphasize TIGHT.. we had to squeeze through a couple of really small places.. Fortunately there were big mud puddles to help us slide through (please note the sarcasm). :) Anyway, it was a blast.. we were covered in mud, sweat, and scrapes; when we got back to camp we got some pictures and then jumped back into the river to clean up before dinner.
That night we sat around the campfire and sang some praise and worship songs, and talked about some things that we were thankful for. We then prayed together, giving thanks and praying for further safety the next day on the rapids. A couple of hours later we turned in.
Saturday, June 28th:
At about 6:30 am, our group was packed up and had gathered at the river's edge for a baptism. One of the girls on my team committed her life to God about 3 years ago, but had not been baptized (she had been christened as a baby.. she was raised Catholic, but is no longer in the Catholic church). We sang a couple of her favorite worship songs, and a few of us on the team gave her some encouraging words and scriptures. We then prayed for her, and Quintin baptized her there in the Pai River. It was a really great experience, for us on the team and for our guests. Our friend from Chiang Mai University came to watch as well, and he was really interested in the idea of baptism and asked a lot of questions about it afterwards. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Afterwards, we quickly ate some breakfast and was back out on the rafts, heading further toward the rapids.
We stopped one more time before reaching the whitewater. There is a hot spring that feeds into the Pai River, and apparently there is a special kind of mud that forms because of the lava activity that makes the water scalding hot. Our guide Alex smeared my face with some of the mud, and soon after everyone had it on their faces. It is actually a good face treatment, and sells for about 2,000 baht at some spas (the equivalent to about $40-50). Several photos and mudfights later, we cleaned off and for the rapids.
We could hear the rapids before we even reached them. To be honest, I was getting a little scared. I have always had a fear of deep water and drowning, but I love the feeling of rafting in rapids. I nervously asked Alex how tough the rapids were, and he assured me that they didn't get any worse than a class 3, which is about intermediate. No biggie, I have been in worse.
We came on our first real rapid shortly afterward. Since I was sitting in the front, I jammed my foot under the front of the raft and gripped my paddle hard. The last thing I distinctly remember was hearing Alex call, "Go!" and paddling hard. For the next minute or so Alex continues to call out commands ("Left! Right! Stop! Back!..."), and the roar of the water is all around us. We are dodging branches, praying that we don't hit a rock too hard. Of course, we do and I almost go flying out of the raft.. thankfully one of the guys in my raft grab my wrist and I gain my balance.
Okay, sorry to cut this narration short, but I have just a few more minutes until I have to go prepare for our class we teach. Overall, the rafting was really awesome.. there were some pretty fun rapids, and Alex was a great guide. We spent about 3-4 hours in the rapids, and no one was injured. A few hours later (about 4-5 hours of driving on curvy roads through the mountains-some curves were literally 135 degree turns), we are back at Quintin and Kim's house, dirty, exhausted, and content.
Okay, the rest of this will be summarized for now. I hope to further elaborate my feelings in all of this, but I am running short on time. Here goes..
Sunday, June 29th:
Church was great again.. one of my friends whom I met the first day here in Chiang Mai came, which was a surprise to everyone. She is pretty devout in Buddhism, but she really enjoyed the service. Afterward, she and the other girl who came to church went with me and two of my other teammates to the Airport Plaza (the big mall in Chiang Mai). We treated them to mango frappucinos and window shopped for a couple of hours. We got to have some interesting conversations, and we got to know them better.
After that, we were invited to go to a cookout at a couple of faculty's house from Maw-Chaw. Our team, along with about 30 Thai students from Maw-Chaw, ate burgers and hot dogs, and played some fun games. I met some really neat students, and had a great time. Afterwards our team split up again, and our NCC group went back to the dorms to get some sleep before another week began.
Monday, June 30
Bad news. When we first arrive into the office we are told that two students were killed in a motorcycle accident last Thursday night. Alcohol was involved (which is pretty typical here, or anywhere else for that matter), and the family had the funeral on Saturday. It was a terrible loss to many people.. the two students were seniors who were to graduate this December. We found out later that one of them was actually engaged. Everyone was more subdued today, including the faculty and staff. We were invited to the funeral of one of the boys that died (the family was having another funeral at their house) that was to take place on Wednesday.
Okay, that's it for now. Gotta run and prepare for class. Please be praying for us as we try to utilize the rest of our time here as best as we can. Just about 10 more days left here in Thailand.. please pray for the wonderful people here, for the grieving families, for the students that who are asking questions about our faith, and for our team leaders who have made our experience here in Thailand so wonderful.
Donna's Journal: The Good Parts Version
Thursday, June 26th:
Today was Teacher's Day, which is a big deal here in Thailand. The students spend all week making big ornate flower arrangements and sculptures to present to the teachers this day (there is also a judging later of the flowers and the winners are announced that night). There is also a fashion show at night, a Kan-tok performed by the students/staff at NCC, as well as a band that comes. We were able to participate in the morning ceremony, where the flowers are presented and a monk comes and chants and gives a "sermon." It was pretty different.. we had been to the wats before but we had never really attended a Buddhist ceremony. The students also sang a couple of songs for the teachers, and awards were presented for those in the senior class with a GPA of 3.5 or better. Some of our friends received the awards, so that was exciting.
After the ceremony, we went out to watch the last day of the freshie orientation. The people here really take their orientation seriously. A couple of days before we saw the freshman rush at Chiang Mai University. For the first semester, the freshmen have to say a cheer every time they see an upper classman.. the type of cheer depends on the year of the upperclassman. They keep track of it by making freshmen ("freshies," as they call them) carry a little book and have the older students sign it when they have done it. Also, all of the freshmen boys had to shave their heads, and the girls have to wear their hair in some crazy hairstyle everyday that the upperclassmen girls pick out. The day we ate with some of the architecture students, the girls had big pigtails sticking up on each side of their heads with bright silk flowers decorating them. Anyway, here at NCC they only do it for the first month of school, but they aren't as extreme in that case as Maw-Chaw Univ is. However, on Teacher's Day it is the last day of orientation for the freshmen and the campus has been turned into something like a big carnival with different stations for the freshmen to be taken to. From about lunchtime until 4:30 or so the freshmen rotate to different stations and do crazy things, have their faces covered with whitish paint stuff, the boys' and girls' hair put up in ponytails and stuff. It was pretty interesting to watch. We talked briefly with one of the head administrators whom we've become close to. He said that the administration had tried to stop it from happening, or at least make it more constructive, but the students had pretty much disregarded them and did it their own way. I guess college students will do what they will do, no matter where they are.
Anyway, we didn't stay long because we had to leave for our weekend whitewater rafting trip. WOO HOO!! We loaded up our stuff and met up with the rest of our team (all 11 of us got to go together, along with some other Americans here working with the IMB, etc. AND one of our Thai friends who has been coming to church with us!). After three hours on a windy road (and a few stops because people were feeling sick), we made it to Pai. We grabbed a bite to eat and settled into our place to sleep, which were these cabins that were sort of sitting in trees. It was pretty rustic, and the beds were covered with a mosquito net canopy to keep us from getting eaten alive. But our adventure was just beginning...
Friday, June 27th:
We got up and headed out at about 7:30 am. We walked to the Pai Adventure hut (the group we were going with for our two days rafting on the Pai River), and ate some breakfast before heading out. We also met the owner and our head guide, Alex (he is Thai, but I think he just took on an easy farang name for his customers). :) We piled into the back of a couple of song-tows (trucks with big bed covers, common transportation in Thailand), and took another 1 1/2 windy drive through more mountains. When we finally arrived, we suited up for the rafting trip and were given some basics on safety and general guidelines. This was my second time whitewater rafting, so I was eager to hit the river. After Alex split us into groups per raft (we had 20 people, so we took 4 rafts all together), we walked down to the river, got into our rafts, and started out.
The first day on the river is to get you used to being in the raft, rowing together, taking commands, etc. There are virtually no rapids either, so most of the time was taken up just enjoying the view (I didn't have my glasses on, so it was blurry, but still beautiful). We drank in the quietness of the woods/jungle on either side of the river, and saw occasional birds, one of which was a peacock (that's what one of the guides said, anyway). About halfway through the afternoon, we stopped at some waterfalls and got out to explore. There are places in the waterfall where you can sit down in it, and it feels like a jacuzzi. There are other places where you can stand in the waterfall and feel the water pour over you.. some people swung on vines and jumped into the water off rocks. It was awesome. Then it was back into the rafts and onto the campsite.
We reached the camp at about 4:30. We tied up our rafts and walked across a bridge made of bamboo and logs. By this time it had started to rain, so we dropped off our gear at the bungalows (basically big sheds with three walls built on bamboo stilts with mosquito nets draped underneath where we sleep). Alex then told us about a cave nearby that we could explore with a couple of the guides before dinner. Several of us grabbed some flashlights and our helmets and headed up the side of the mountain.
The cave was really fun. After climbing down into it we just explored for about an hour or so. We found some bones, as well as some of the cave walls that were made of some kind of stone with little glittery fragments in them. There were a few tight spots (let me emphasize TIGHT.. we had to squeeze through a couple of really small places.. Fortunately there were big mud puddles to help us slide through (please note the sarcasm). :) Anyway, it was a blast.. we were covered in mud, sweat, and scrapes; when we got back to camp we got some pictures and then jumped back into the river to clean up before dinner.
That night we sat around the campfire and sang some praise and worship songs, and talked about some things that we were thankful for. We then prayed together, giving thanks and praying for further safety the next day on the rapids. A couple of hours later we turned in.
Saturday, June 28th:
At about 6:30 am, our group was packed up and had gathered at the river's edge for a baptism. One of the girls on my team committed her life to God about 3 years ago, but had not been baptized (she had been christened as a baby.. she was raised Catholic, but is no longer in the Catholic church). We sang a couple of her favorite worship songs, and a few of us on the team gave her some encouraging words and scriptures. We then prayed for her, and Quintin baptized her there in the Pai River. It was a really great experience, for us on the team and for our guests. Our friend from Chiang Mai University came to watch as well, and he was really interested in the idea of baptism and asked a lot of questions about it afterwards. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! Afterwards, we quickly ate some breakfast and was back out on the rafts, heading further toward the rapids.
We stopped one more time before reaching the whitewater. There is a hot spring that feeds into the Pai River, and apparently there is a special kind of mud that forms because of the lava activity that makes the water scalding hot. Our guide Alex smeared my face with some of the mud, and soon after everyone had it on their faces. It is actually a good face treatment, and sells for about 2,000 baht at some spas (the equivalent to about $40-50). Several photos and mudfights later, we cleaned off and for the rapids.
We could hear the rapids before we even reached them. To be honest, I was getting a little scared. I have always had a fear of deep water and drowning, but I love the feeling of rafting in rapids. I nervously asked Alex how tough the rapids were, and he assured me that they didn't get any worse than a class 3, which is about intermediate. No biggie, I have been in worse.
We came on our first real rapid shortly afterward. Since I was sitting in the front, I jammed my foot under the front of the raft and gripped my paddle hard. The last thing I distinctly remember was hearing Alex call, "Go!" and paddling hard. For the next minute or so Alex continues to call out commands ("Left! Right! Stop! Back!..."), and the roar of the water is all around us. We are dodging branches, praying that we don't hit a rock too hard. Of course, we do and I almost go flying out of the raft.. thankfully one of the guys in my raft grab my wrist and I gain my balance.
Okay, sorry to cut this narration short, but I have just a few more minutes until I have to go prepare for our class we teach. Overall, the rafting was really awesome.. there were some pretty fun rapids, and Alex was a great guide. We spent about 3-4 hours in the rapids, and no one was injured. A few hours later (about 4-5 hours of driving on curvy roads through the mountains-some curves were literally 135 degree turns), we are back at Quintin and Kim's house, dirty, exhausted, and content.
Okay, the rest of this will be summarized for now. I hope to further elaborate my feelings in all of this, but I am running short on time. Here goes..
Sunday, June 29th:
Church was great again.. one of my friends whom I met the first day here in Chiang Mai came, which was a surprise to everyone. She is pretty devout in Buddhism, but she really enjoyed the service. Afterward, she and the other girl who came to church went with me and two of my other teammates to the Airport Plaza (the big mall in Chiang Mai). We treated them to mango frappucinos and window shopped for a couple of hours. We got to have some interesting conversations, and we got to know them better.
After that, we were invited to go to a cookout at a couple of faculty's house from Maw-Chaw. Our team, along with about 30 Thai students from Maw-Chaw, ate burgers and hot dogs, and played some fun games. I met some really neat students, and had a great time. Afterwards our team split up again, and our NCC group went back to the dorms to get some sleep before another week began.
Monday, June 30
Bad news. When we first arrive into the office we are told that two students were killed in a motorcycle accident last Thursday night. Alcohol was involved (which is pretty typical here, or anywhere else for that matter), and the family had the funeral on Saturday. It was a terrible loss to many people.. the two students were seniors who were to graduate this December. We found out later that one of them was actually engaged. Everyone was more subdued today, including the faculty and staff. We were invited to the funeral of one of the boys that died (the family was having another funeral at their house) that was to take place on Wednesday.
Okay, that's it for now. Gotta run and prepare for class. Please be praying for us as we try to utilize the rest of our time here as best as we can. Just about 10 more days left here in Thailand.. please pray for the wonderful people here, for the grieving families, for the students that who are asking questions about our faith, and for our team leaders who have made our experience here in Thailand so wonderful.
Monday, June 23, 2003
Sorry, sorry, sorry for not updating lately. We have had some packed days.. everyone keeps us pretty busy. We actually had our first free afternoon this past Saturday (freshman camp was going on this weekend so we couldn't hang out with the students and make food, etc.). Anyway, I will try to cover the highlights quickly, since I only have about 20 minutes to do this...
Wednesday, June 18:
The classes with the staff are getting better all the time. We had a great time, and we are joking and laughing a lot more with them, which is cool since we interact with the office staff everyday, moreso than the students.
Okay, Sarepta and I got a haircut. Hers looked really cute.. mine looked like a mullet. We both showed the lady a picture of what we wanted, and neither of us really got exactly what we were wanting (isn't that sort of a universal rule with stylists?). Anyway, we went back to the dorm and Sarepta cut off the longest layer of my hair that was hanging down kind of by itself, so that it is sort of a short choppy layered look. The longest part of my hair goes to my chin (that's in the back).. since I didn't pack a lot of hair products, it's just kinda going free now. Oh well. It will grow back someday.
Thursday, June 19
Tonight we had our team Bible Study time at Quintin and Kim's. It was really amazing. We started our bible study with The Joy of Fearing God. It is a really good book, and we covered the first two chapters, talking about the true meaning of the word "awesome," and what "fearing God" actually refers to. We also had a long time in worship, which the team has asked for me to lead. We also shared what God had been showing us and been doing through us in our day to day lives. It was really cool to hear what was going on in different lives and situations. After the Bible study we just jammed a little and talked and laughed with the other campus groups. It was just nice to speak English as fast as you wanted and to eat some farang food (Kim's Thai helper made some American chicken and dumplings, and big baked potatoes.. Thais' idea of a baked potato is a little spud about the size of a small lemon). Oops, just looked at the time.. hurry, hurry, hurry...
Friday, June 20
Today we went to the Flooded City, Wiang Koom Kam. Apparently the big river in Chiang Mai changed its course about 500 years ago, and the old Chiang Mai was completely flooded. It has since dried, and has recently been escavated and turned into a big touristy place. We went for most of the day.. our student buddies went with us, along with our team from Chaing Mai University (they had the day free). We rented bicycles, and rode around looking at the old temples and buildings. There were also random elephants that you could buy sugar cane and bananas to feed them. I fed a couple and pet them for a while (I really liked elephants before I came here, but I am beginning to just love being around them and hanging out with them.. is that weird?). :) Anyway, that night another Ah-jahn (he studied in Chicago for a couple of years) took us out to his family's restaurant. We ate a lot of traditional Thai food, and he and his musician buddy played about a 45 minute set of folk songs, including John Denver (Thais apparently love John Denver). Anyway, it was a lot of fun..
Okay I will have to finish updating later.. it's lunch time. I'll try to catch a few minutes in here tomorrow or so. This is going to be a very busy week for us. Okay, later on..
Wednesday, June 18:
The classes with the staff are getting better all the time. We had a great time, and we are joking and laughing a lot more with them, which is cool since we interact with the office staff everyday, moreso than the students.
Okay, Sarepta and I got a haircut. Hers looked really cute.. mine looked like a mullet. We both showed the lady a picture of what we wanted, and neither of us really got exactly what we were wanting (isn't that sort of a universal rule with stylists?). Anyway, we went back to the dorm and Sarepta cut off the longest layer of my hair that was hanging down kind of by itself, so that it is sort of a short choppy layered look. The longest part of my hair goes to my chin (that's in the back).. since I didn't pack a lot of hair products, it's just kinda going free now. Oh well. It will grow back someday.
Thursday, June 19
Tonight we had our team Bible Study time at Quintin and Kim's. It was really amazing. We started our bible study with The Joy of Fearing God. It is a really good book, and we covered the first two chapters, talking about the true meaning of the word "awesome," and what "fearing God" actually refers to. We also had a long time in worship, which the team has asked for me to lead. We also shared what God had been showing us and been doing through us in our day to day lives. It was really cool to hear what was going on in different lives and situations. After the Bible study we just jammed a little and talked and laughed with the other campus groups. It was just nice to speak English as fast as you wanted and to eat some farang food (Kim's Thai helper made some American chicken and dumplings, and big baked potatoes.. Thais' idea of a baked potato is a little spud about the size of a small lemon). Oops, just looked at the time.. hurry, hurry, hurry...
Friday, June 20
Today we went to the Flooded City, Wiang Koom Kam. Apparently the big river in Chiang Mai changed its course about 500 years ago, and the old Chiang Mai was completely flooded. It has since dried, and has recently been escavated and turned into a big touristy place. We went for most of the day.. our student buddies went with us, along with our team from Chaing Mai University (they had the day free). We rented bicycles, and rode around looking at the old temples and buildings. There were also random elephants that you could buy sugar cane and bananas to feed them. I fed a couple and pet them for a while (I really liked elephants before I came here, but I am beginning to just love being around them and hanging out with them.. is that weird?). :) Anyway, that night another Ah-jahn (he studied in Chicago for a couple of years) took us out to his family's restaurant. We ate a lot of traditional Thai food, and he and his musician buddy played about a 45 minute set of folk songs, including John Denver (Thais apparently love John Denver). Anyway, it was a lot of fun..
Okay I will have to finish updating later.. it's lunch time. I'll try to catch a few minutes in here tomorrow or so. This is going to be a very busy week for us. Okay, later on..
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
All right, it's Wednesday, halfway through week 3 in Thailand. The time is going by so fast... I wish it would slow down a little. I don't think I'm ready to start thinking about heading back to the States. Ah well.
Okay, so Monday night we went to Kan-tok, the traditional northern Thai dancing/dinner theatre. It was really fun. The dancers were beautiful and talented, and the food was great. We sat on the floor, and were served a huge plate with several different bowls each containing different types of food. Several of the foods were new, but they weren't nearly as spicy as much of the Thai food has been. The dancers were really neat.. one dance a woman dressed in a shiny gold dress with a fin coming out of her back- she was supposed to be a fish. Then another character joined her, and he was supposed to be a monkey. They both came out into the crowd and got pictures with some of the kids and the audience. I got pictures of both, so hopefully I can post them when I get home.
Yesterday we taught our crash course in English for the office staff for the first time. It went pretty well.. we have to keep remembering that we must keep our English very simple. We went over titles and parts of names, as well as an introduction to the course. He actually sits in the back of the class while we teach it. Overall I think it went well.. I believe that the "students" had a good time. We recognized many of them because most of them work in the office where our table is (we have a table in the middle of the main office where we work on our projects, read, etc.). We have nine more sessions to teach, so I'm sure we'll get all of the bugs worked out. Our next session is actually this afternoon after our Thai lessons.
Last night was pretty laid back. We went and at dinner at the Im Jai House with the kids and the staff. We helped to serve dinner (there are about 50 kids and about 10 guests that we had to put food out for). There are a couple of farang volunteers there, two of which are from America (one girl actually goes to school with a few people on our team.. we saw her on the plane ride here), and one is from Canada. We talked to them and sang/played a few worship songs.. they loved it. It can be tough going so long without hearing English being spoken or singing songs that you know the words to. We also got to play with the kids, which is always fun. They seemed more preoccupied last night, not as eager to crawl all over us and to talk (there are always a few that are consistent, but as a whole they weren't like a whirlwind like they usually are).. We came when they were working on homework (before dinner), so we tried to stay out of the way. I got to play with a little boy that always comes and finds me when we visit for a while. He is probably about 4 or 5. He just wants to be held most of the time.. he tries to communicate with me with a couple of words of English, and with hand motions. Yesterday he wanted to show me all of the photos on the walls, and to point himself out when we came across one. It was fun, and I know that he loved the individual attention. We're going to try to go at least once a week, so hopefully we can get to know more of the kids and help out when we can.
Something else that was really neat last night happened when the Im Jai House took us back to our dorm. There are two security guards that stay at our dorm (they have a little station at the bottom), a man during the day and a woman at night. When we pulled up last night in the van with the Im Jai House logo on the side, the lady security guard came out, and seemed pretty excited. She was trying to ask us something, and managed to say, "You Christian?" and made a cross with two fingers. We said yes, and she pointed to herself, grinned, and said, "I am Christian!" We were completely surprised, and thrilled to hear it. I asked her something in English, but she looked puzzled, so I asked her in Thai if she spoke English. She said that she didn't, which was disappointing. I suddenly felt pretty frustrated at myself for not knowing more Thai. There was so much I wanted to say to her and ask her. But just knowing that about her was really great. Hopefully by the time we leave we'll know more Thai and we can talk to her a little more. I also have a Thai-English New Testament that I may give her.. I got to figure out how to ask her if she has a bible already. Another question to ask Ah-jahn Nena in Thai lessons today..
Tonight our group is going to the Airport Plaza, which is the big mall in the center of Chaing Mai. Sarepta and I are going to get our hair cut. It's a pretty nice place to go.. you get your head massaged, and your hair washed, dried, cut, and styled, all for 200 baht (that's about $5 in American currency). A few of the other girls from other teams have gone, and they loved it. The guys from our group are going too. They say it's for protection, but I think they just want to get to the Starbucks in the mall. :) Actually, we are gonna eat there tonight and make a stop at the Starbucks. It's kinda weird to go to the Airport Plaza, because it's like a little USA mall in the middle of Chiang Mai. People actually stand in lines there (usually it's first person to get to the counter is first served), and you don't bargain in the mall (you bargain for everything else, just about). It's sort of nice knowing that if something says it's once price, that's what you pay for it. I kind of get tired of bargaining sometimes, though it helps when you want to get something cheaper than you originally think.
Anyway, I should wrap it up. Thanks for all your prayers and support. We are meeting and getting to know more students everyday. Yesterday we spent a long time with a student who is half German and half Thai.. he speaks German and Thai fluently, and his English is excellent. He said that he was Buddhist and Christian, which seems to be sort of prevalent here. Anyway, he seems to be very eager to just get to know us and to hang out with us. We also ate lunch with a girl who is friends with one of our buddies. She is extremely sweet, and her English is pretty good, especially for a freshman. She wants us to cook some American food for her, so hopefully we can arrange that. Instead of us trying to get students to go to Toby and Patricia's this Saturday, we may invite them to come to the dorm and we could bring American and Thai food to share with the students, as well as sing and play some more songs. We were thinking about making some chicken broccoli casserole and creamed corn, so we will see. Anyway, I'm rambling again as always, so I will cut this short. Have a great day, guys.
Okay, so Monday night we went to Kan-tok, the traditional northern Thai dancing/dinner theatre. It was really fun. The dancers were beautiful and talented, and the food was great. We sat on the floor, and were served a huge plate with several different bowls each containing different types of food. Several of the foods were new, but they weren't nearly as spicy as much of the Thai food has been. The dancers were really neat.. one dance a woman dressed in a shiny gold dress with a fin coming out of her back- she was supposed to be a fish. Then another character joined her, and he was supposed to be a monkey. They both came out into the crowd and got pictures with some of the kids and the audience. I got pictures of both, so hopefully I can post them when I get home.
Yesterday we taught our crash course in English for the office staff for the first time. It went pretty well.. we have to keep remembering that we must keep our English very simple. We went over titles and parts of names, as well as an introduction to the course. He actually sits in the back of the class while we teach it. Overall I think it went well.. I believe that the "students" had a good time. We recognized many of them because most of them work in the office where our table is (we have a table in the middle of the main office where we work on our projects, read, etc.). We have nine more sessions to teach, so I'm sure we'll get all of the bugs worked out. Our next session is actually this afternoon after our Thai lessons.
Last night was pretty laid back. We went and at dinner at the Im Jai House with the kids and the staff. We helped to serve dinner (there are about 50 kids and about 10 guests that we had to put food out for). There are a couple of farang volunteers there, two of which are from America (one girl actually goes to school with a few people on our team.. we saw her on the plane ride here), and one is from Canada. We talked to them and sang/played a few worship songs.. they loved it. It can be tough going so long without hearing English being spoken or singing songs that you know the words to. We also got to play with the kids, which is always fun. They seemed more preoccupied last night, not as eager to crawl all over us and to talk (there are always a few that are consistent, but as a whole they weren't like a whirlwind like they usually are).. We came when they were working on homework (before dinner), so we tried to stay out of the way. I got to play with a little boy that always comes and finds me when we visit for a while. He is probably about 4 or 5. He just wants to be held most of the time.. he tries to communicate with me with a couple of words of English, and with hand motions. Yesterday he wanted to show me all of the photos on the walls, and to point himself out when we came across one. It was fun, and I know that he loved the individual attention. We're going to try to go at least once a week, so hopefully we can get to know more of the kids and help out when we can.
Something else that was really neat last night happened when the Im Jai House took us back to our dorm. There are two security guards that stay at our dorm (they have a little station at the bottom), a man during the day and a woman at night. When we pulled up last night in the van with the Im Jai House logo on the side, the lady security guard came out, and seemed pretty excited. She was trying to ask us something, and managed to say, "You Christian?" and made a cross with two fingers. We said yes, and she pointed to herself, grinned, and said, "I am Christian!" We were completely surprised, and thrilled to hear it. I asked her something in English, but she looked puzzled, so I asked her in Thai if she spoke English. She said that she didn't, which was disappointing. I suddenly felt pretty frustrated at myself for not knowing more Thai. There was so much I wanted to say to her and ask her. But just knowing that about her was really great. Hopefully by the time we leave we'll know more Thai and we can talk to her a little more. I also have a Thai-English New Testament that I may give her.. I got to figure out how to ask her if she has a bible already. Another question to ask Ah-jahn Nena in Thai lessons today..
Tonight our group is going to the Airport Plaza, which is the big mall in the center of Chaing Mai. Sarepta and I are going to get our hair cut. It's a pretty nice place to go.. you get your head massaged, and your hair washed, dried, cut, and styled, all for 200 baht (that's about $5 in American currency). A few of the other girls from other teams have gone, and they loved it. The guys from our group are going too. They say it's for protection, but I think they just want to get to the Starbucks in the mall. :) Actually, we are gonna eat there tonight and make a stop at the Starbucks. It's kinda weird to go to the Airport Plaza, because it's like a little USA mall in the middle of Chiang Mai. People actually stand in lines there (usually it's first person to get to the counter is first served), and you don't bargain in the mall (you bargain for everything else, just about). It's sort of nice knowing that if something says it's once price, that's what you pay for it. I kind of get tired of bargaining sometimes, though it helps when you want to get something cheaper than you originally think.
Anyway, I should wrap it up. Thanks for all your prayers and support. We are meeting and getting to know more students everyday. Yesterday we spent a long time with a student who is half German and half Thai.. he speaks German and Thai fluently, and his English is excellent. He said that he was Buddhist and Christian, which seems to be sort of prevalent here. Anyway, he seems to be very eager to just get to know us and to hang out with us. We also ate lunch with a girl who is friends with one of our buddies. She is extremely sweet, and her English is pretty good, especially for a freshman. She wants us to cook some American food for her, so hopefully we can arrange that. Instead of us trying to get students to go to Toby and Patricia's this Saturday, we may invite them to come to the dorm and we could bring American and Thai food to share with the students, as well as sing and play some more songs. We were thinking about making some chicken broccoli casserole and creamed corn, so we will see. Anyway, I'm rambling again as always, so I will cut this short. Have a great day, guys.
Monday, June 16, 2003
Wow, what a great weekend! We got to spend some wonderful quality time with our team (all 12 of us from the three campuses). Saturday we students from North Chaing Mai College and Chaing Mai University went to the elephant camp. Elephants are one of my favorite animals, so it was really exciting for me to go. We watched a brief show with some of the elephants as they did some tricks, like roll logs, play musical instruments, and play soccer and basketball. After the show they gave us a bunch of bananas and sugarcane to feed them with. I had never really been that close to an elephant before.. it was really fun. After the show we took a ride in wooden ox carts. The older man driving was pretty funny.. when we starting moving, I called out to the half of the team that was riding in a separate cart, "Rock and roll!" He picked it up almost immediately, and started calling out, "Rock and roll!" to everyone we passed. He then let me get up front to the driver's seat and steer the ox cart. After that we got to actually ride the elephants. We rode in twos along with a trainer. The passengers ride in a sort of roller coaster seat, with bars around it and a seat belt; the trainer rode on the head of the elephant. It was really fun.. we got to go around the mountains on beaten paths, as well as through 2 rivers that weren't too deep. The trainer even let some of us ride on the head of the elephant for a while (of course I had to try it out). It was a blast.
After that we breaked for lunch briefly and we were off to some tourist traps in the area. We visited a huge umbrella factory, where they make the sai paper (really pretty paper has a rough texture) and then use it to make fans and umbrellas. There are also artists there that paint designs on the umbrellas and fans. After that we visited a silkworm factory, where they showed us how silk was made as well as how they weaved the silk and other threads to make fabric. It was really neat. They also have handicapped Thais to paint designs on the cloth. I met one of the workers there.. he had no hands, but he painted beautiful flowered patterns on cloth. I said hello to him in Thai and he greeted me in English. He said that he didn't know any more English, but he smiled and I understood and we communicated from there on out with gestures and broken English and Thai. He actually let me help him paint a little on the flowers.. so someday someone around the world will have a beautiful white tapestry with red flowers that I helped to paint. After that we visited a pottery place with amazingly beautiful stuff. It's too bad that it would weigh too much to buy a lot. The northern Thais are famous for their sage-colored glaze that they use on their pottery. Sage is my favorite color, so I had to buy a mug with elephants carved into the sides. I also got a light red-clay colored tea set shaped like elephants for a very good price.. I've learned that as my Thai improves the Thai people are more generous with their discounts. They generally open up more as well in general, so I am eager to learn more Thai and build more relationships with the people I meet.
Yesterday we had our first church meeting/service at Quintin and Kim's house. The 12 of us were there, as well as two students from Chaing Mai University. It was really great.. we sang some songs, a couple of us shared our testimony, and we shared a bible story- the one about Jesus telling Peter to cast the nets out after he hadn't caught anything that night, and they pulled in so many fish that the boats started to sink. One of the students was amazed at the story. He has said before that he is a Christian, but it is more of a borderline belief that several Thais practice- they pray to Jesus and believe in God, but they also continue Buddhist practices.. sort of covering all their bases. We hope that he will come to realize that when you truly follow Jesus you don't need to follow anything else.. He is our everything, and because He is we do not worship or follow any other god. We always have to remind ourselves that we cannot push. Here in Thailand we have to share the gospel in the same way that we do anything else here.. it is all about relationship-focus, not time-focus. We are so used to being task/time-oriented in the U.S., but here in Thailand everything is really laid back and relationships matter more than how long something takes.. "Mai pen rai" is the motto here, which means "Nevermind," "It doesn't matter.." People say it all the time.. it's more about quality than quantity. It's a little frustrating sometimes (like when they say you will get your much-needed laundry back when they promise it but you get it three or four days later with no explanation)... but that's just the way it is. To each his own.. I'm getting used to it.
Okay, it's about time for lunch. Tonight after we leave we are going to Kan-tok, which is a sort of traditional northern Thai dinner theatre. It is very traditional: you sit on the floor and eat with your hands, and people bring out bowls of different food at once for you to eat. There are also dancers and music and stuff. It's also outdoors, so if it is a clear night then we can see the stars and everything. I'm pretty adjusted to Thai food now, so I'm pretty excited about trying some new stuff. Will keep you posted.. please keep praying for our team. Some of us (not me, thankfully) are getting a little under the weather, like cold or allergy-type symptoms. No one is too bad, but a couple have been feeling a little under the weather. Please be praying that we stay focused on our mission here and always for more patience, understanding, and guidance. I'm praying for you all at home as well. Please email me and let me know what is going on with you guys.. I miss hearing from the states from time to time. Have a blessed day.. actually, look for the blessings; they're already there, it's just a matter of if you see them or not!
After that we breaked for lunch briefly and we were off to some tourist traps in the area. We visited a huge umbrella factory, where they make the sai paper (really pretty paper has a rough texture) and then use it to make fans and umbrellas. There are also artists there that paint designs on the umbrellas and fans. After that we visited a silkworm factory, where they showed us how silk was made as well as how they weaved the silk and other threads to make fabric. It was really neat. They also have handicapped Thais to paint designs on the cloth. I met one of the workers there.. he had no hands, but he painted beautiful flowered patterns on cloth. I said hello to him in Thai and he greeted me in English. He said that he didn't know any more English, but he smiled and I understood and we communicated from there on out with gestures and broken English and Thai. He actually let me help him paint a little on the flowers.. so someday someone around the world will have a beautiful white tapestry with red flowers that I helped to paint. After that we visited a pottery place with amazingly beautiful stuff. It's too bad that it would weigh too much to buy a lot. The northern Thais are famous for their sage-colored glaze that they use on their pottery. Sage is my favorite color, so I had to buy a mug with elephants carved into the sides. I also got a light red-clay colored tea set shaped like elephants for a very good price.. I've learned that as my Thai improves the Thai people are more generous with their discounts. They generally open up more as well in general, so I am eager to learn more Thai and build more relationships with the people I meet.
Yesterday we had our first church meeting/service at Quintin and Kim's house. The 12 of us were there, as well as two students from Chaing Mai University. It was really great.. we sang some songs, a couple of us shared our testimony, and we shared a bible story- the one about Jesus telling Peter to cast the nets out after he hadn't caught anything that night, and they pulled in so many fish that the boats started to sink. One of the students was amazed at the story. He has said before that he is a Christian, but it is more of a borderline belief that several Thais practice- they pray to Jesus and believe in God, but they also continue Buddhist practices.. sort of covering all their bases. We hope that he will come to realize that when you truly follow Jesus you don't need to follow anything else.. He is our everything, and because He is we do not worship or follow any other god. We always have to remind ourselves that we cannot push. Here in Thailand we have to share the gospel in the same way that we do anything else here.. it is all about relationship-focus, not time-focus. We are so used to being task/time-oriented in the U.S., but here in Thailand everything is really laid back and relationships matter more than how long something takes.. "Mai pen rai" is the motto here, which means "Nevermind," "It doesn't matter.." People say it all the time.. it's more about quality than quantity. It's a little frustrating sometimes (like when they say you will get your much-needed laundry back when they promise it but you get it three or four days later with no explanation)... but that's just the way it is. To each his own.. I'm getting used to it.
Okay, it's about time for lunch. Tonight after we leave we are going to Kan-tok, which is a sort of traditional northern Thai dinner theatre. It is very traditional: you sit on the floor and eat with your hands, and people bring out bowls of different food at once for you to eat. There are also dancers and music and stuff. It's also outdoors, so if it is a clear night then we can see the stars and everything. I'm pretty adjusted to Thai food now, so I'm pretty excited about trying some new stuff. Will keep you posted.. please keep praying for our team. Some of us (not me, thankfully) are getting a little under the weather, like cold or allergy-type symptoms. No one is too bad, but a couple have been feeling a little under the weather. Please be praying that we stay focused on our mission here and always for more patience, understanding, and guidance. I'm praying for you all at home as well. Please email me and let me know what is going on with you guys.. I miss hearing from the states from time to time. Have a blessed day.. actually, look for the blessings; they're already there, it's just a matter of if you see them or not!
Friday, June 13, 2003
YAY, it's FRIDAY!! This morning Ah-jahn (professor) Jason took us to Ban Thawai, about 15 minutes from the college where lots of northern Thailand woodwork and other crafts are sold. It has become a real tourist trap, but it was really nice, and some of the stuff there was amazing. I took a lot of pictures of the crafts, as well as a couple of shots of the craftsman. One picture I took was of an older man making delicate designs in silver. Anyway, when I get back to the states I will post all (if not most) of my Thailand pictures on my website, so you will just have to imagine it until then. :) The rest of the day we worked on two of our projects, the "English Zone" and the "English Clinic." The sort of head administrator (a great guy who has made it his personal responsiblity to take care of us) suggested that we do fun puzzles with vocabulary and topics to talk with the students about. We decided to start with a fruit and vegetables matching game, so we decorated our board that is designated the "English Zone" with pictures of fruit that the students are supposed to identify on pieces of paper that we will be passing out next week. We also have a table set up in front of the board, which is the official spot for the English Clinic, where students come to practice English. We are going to prepare questions for them, like asking what their favorite foods are and why, etc. More of the students are approaching us now, and we are slowly building relationships. We met a guy today who wanted to know about Kentucky (he is going to visit his aunt there in the fall). It was nice, and we met some of his other friends he was sitting with. All in all a successful day.
Last night our buddies took us out to eat at the Mango Tree Cafe. The owner is one of our buddy's sister, and it has all kinds of real western food (she lived in England for a long time and had a restaurant in London before, and she is married to a British man). It was so good.. most of us ordered breakfast food or burgers. We couldn't believe how good it was.. I almost cried. :) But seriously, it was a great time to get to know our new friends better. That is ultimately what is important at this time.. we have to be very careful not to impose on their beliefs and customs, though we are not afraid to tell them what we believe and what we live by. It was definitely a good step, and we all had a great time laughing and learning more about each other. We actually invited to treat them there again Sunday after church with the rest of our team. I think it will be great.
Tonight is our get together at Toby and Patricia's. Unfortunately, our friends just told us that they could not come because one of the girl's father had a car accident and they were going to go with her to see him. I don't think anyone else we invited is coming tonight, so it may just be the farangs at our farang party. But it's okay.. we already talked about it and decided that we would just use the opportunity to pray for our new friends and those we will continue to know. Please be praying as well.. We still have a little more than 4 weeks, so you never know what might happen. It is flying by so fast that I keep wishing that we had more time. But you never know.. I have talked to the college, and they are interested in having me come back and work here. It would be awesome.. I love it here, and part of me just wants to stay here and keep getting to know the people and the culture and the language. I just really have to keep seeking God about it.
I may not get to update again until Monday, since the college will be closed for the weekend. However, on Monday I'll you all about the elephant camp we are going to tomorrow (we get to ride elephants!!!), as well as our church service that we are beginning at Quintin and Kim's house, and eating with our friends. Take care you guys.. I'm praying for many of you. Be open to God's leading, and be listening for His voice. You never know when He'll speak, or what He'll say. But I do know that it will change your life. Have a great weekend.
Last night our buddies took us out to eat at the Mango Tree Cafe. The owner is one of our buddy's sister, and it has all kinds of real western food (she lived in England for a long time and had a restaurant in London before, and she is married to a British man). It was so good.. most of us ordered breakfast food or burgers. We couldn't believe how good it was.. I almost cried. :) But seriously, it was a great time to get to know our new friends better. That is ultimately what is important at this time.. we have to be very careful not to impose on their beliefs and customs, though we are not afraid to tell them what we believe and what we live by. It was definitely a good step, and we all had a great time laughing and learning more about each other. We actually invited to treat them there again Sunday after church with the rest of our team. I think it will be great.
Tonight is our get together at Toby and Patricia's. Unfortunately, our friends just told us that they could not come because one of the girl's father had a car accident and they were going to go with her to see him. I don't think anyone else we invited is coming tonight, so it may just be the farangs at our farang party. But it's okay.. we already talked about it and decided that we would just use the opportunity to pray for our new friends and those we will continue to know. Please be praying as well.. We still have a little more than 4 weeks, so you never know what might happen. It is flying by so fast that I keep wishing that we had more time. But you never know.. I have talked to the college, and they are interested in having me come back and work here. It would be awesome.. I love it here, and part of me just wants to stay here and keep getting to know the people and the culture and the language. I just really have to keep seeking God about it.
I may not get to update again until Monday, since the college will be closed for the weekend. However, on Monday I'll you all about the elephant camp we are going to tomorrow (we get to ride elephants!!!), as well as our church service that we are beginning at Quintin and Kim's house, and eating with our friends. Take care you guys.. I'm praying for many of you. Be open to God's leading, and be listening for His voice. You never know when He'll speak, or what He'll say. But I do know that it will change your life. Have a great weekend.
Thursday, June 12, 2003
We are almost through our first week at North Chaing Mai College. Things are getting better all the time. The first couple of days the students wouldn't really talk to us or acknowledge us (we were told that they were shy because they don't speak English very well). However, yesterday was a real turning point. We have been assigned "buddies," which are Thai students who speak exceptionally good English. They have been busy for the most part, but yesterday they found us and invited us to eat lunch with them. It was really great, and since then more of the students have approached us and have tried to talk to us (I think it helps them if there are other Thai students there to help them when they get stuck). Actually, our buddies are taking us out to eat tonight. One of their sisters has a restaurant that serves American food, so they want to take us out and eat. I think they also want to take us to do a little shopping as well, so that will be fun.
We are also beginning to plan for our Friday night cell groups. During those times, we get to invite our new friends to a house that belongs to a farang (American/foreigner) couple. The couple who we are working with are Toby and Patricia. They seem like great people, and are very eager to meet with students and make them feel welcome. They are going to prepare some American food for the students, and we are planning some games, songs, and a little skit taken from the Bible (this week we want to use the story of David and Goliath). Hopefully this will be a way to very slowly introduce a little of Christianity to them without being too pushy. We have to be very careful not to come across that way. Eventually we hope that we will be able to introduce more a bible study at these meetings, but it will be very gradual. What we really are supposed to do is just set the foundation for a cell group. OH! Something really cool just happened about an hour ago. A student stopped one of my teammates in the hall and asked if we were Americans and if we were Christians. She said yes, and the student expressed that he was a Christian too, and was wondering if we were starting a cell group. You see, God has already began a work here at this college. That is extremely encouraging, and it also gives us hope. Please be praying for us as we get together with the students. It will be tomorrow evening for us, so that will be Friday morning about 7am-11am. If you are up at that time, please say a prayer for us that it will go well and that seeds are planted.
Last night all of the teams from the different universities got together at Quintin and Kim's house for bible study. It was so great seeing them.. it felt like it had been weeks since we saw them, even though it had only been about 2 days. We heard about some of the "adventures" some of them had experienced so far, one girl's being getting sick all day after eating food at an elementary school that her group is helping to teach at. She is better now, but we will still pray for good health while we're here. Kim (Quintin's wife) made some real lasagna and tossed salad for dinner, with chocolate cake and brownies for dessert. I don't think lasagna ever tasted so good; I ate two big portions, and sighed with contentment after the meal. The chocolate was treat too, since Thais really don't like to eat chocolate as a whole (I'll never figure that out). Anyway, after the meal we had some worship (I played guitar and a couple other teammates sang), which was really refreshing. I miss music more than anything here, since the only American music we hear is portions of pop music from the States. Anyway, the team also shared what God had been showing them since we separated. It sounds like everyone is learning patience and flexibility now.. I think we are learning to see God's blessings in the small things, especially when our attitudes can be a little sour. The culture thing can be hard sometimes, I'll admit. But when you compare our small outward inconveniences to some of our Thai friends inward needs and hurts, it seems like such a small sacrifice.
Well this is getting long (as usual), so I better get off here. I have a project for the summer here at N.C.C. that I'm supposed to help cultivate and organize: an English clinic. Pretty much it's something that students can come to and just practice speaking English in their free time. I am trying to come up with some ideas, like having a theme to talk about each day or something.. I think our supervisor liked the idea. We'll see what happens.. until tomorrow...
We are also beginning to plan for our Friday night cell groups. During those times, we get to invite our new friends to a house that belongs to a farang (American/foreigner) couple. The couple who we are working with are Toby and Patricia. They seem like great people, and are very eager to meet with students and make them feel welcome. They are going to prepare some American food for the students, and we are planning some games, songs, and a little skit taken from the Bible (this week we want to use the story of David and Goliath). Hopefully this will be a way to very slowly introduce a little of Christianity to them without being too pushy. We have to be very careful not to come across that way. Eventually we hope that we will be able to introduce more a bible study at these meetings, but it will be very gradual. What we really are supposed to do is just set the foundation for a cell group. OH! Something really cool just happened about an hour ago. A student stopped one of my teammates in the hall and asked if we were Americans and if we were Christians. She said yes, and the student expressed that he was a Christian too, and was wondering if we were starting a cell group. You see, God has already began a work here at this college. That is extremely encouraging, and it also gives us hope. Please be praying for us as we get together with the students. It will be tomorrow evening for us, so that will be Friday morning about 7am-11am. If you are up at that time, please say a prayer for us that it will go well and that seeds are planted.
Last night all of the teams from the different universities got together at Quintin and Kim's house for bible study. It was so great seeing them.. it felt like it had been weeks since we saw them, even though it had only been about 2 days. We heard about some of the "adventures" some of them had experienced so far, one girl's being getting sick all day after eating food at an elementary school that her group is helping to teach at. She is better now, but we will still pray for good health while we're here. Kim (Quintin's wife) made some real lasagna and tossed salad for dinner, with chocolate cake and brownies for dessert. I don't think lasagna ever tasted so good; I ate two big portions, and sighed with contentment after the meal. The chocolate was treat too, since Thais really don't like to eat chocolate as a whole (I'll never figure that out). Anyway, after the meal we had some worship (I played guitar and a couple other teammates sang), which was really refreshing. I miss music more than anything here, since the only American music we hear is portions of pop music from the States. Anyway, the team also shared what God had been showing them since we separated. It sounds like everyone is learning patience and flexibility now.. I think we are learning to see God's blessings in the small things, especially when our attitudes can be a little sour. The culture thing can be hard sometimes, I'll admit. But when you compare our small outward inconveniences to some of our Thai friends inward needs and hurts, it seems like such a small sacrifice.
Well this is getting long (as usual), so I better get off here. I have a project for the summer here at N.C.C. that I'm supposed to help cultivate and organize: an English clinic. Pretty much it's something that students can come to and just practice speaking English in their free time. I am trying to come up with some ideas, like having a theme to talk about each day or something.. I think our supervisor liked the idea. We'll see what happens.. until tomorrow...
