Right now I am in Chaing Mai. It's a city. I'll be ordering some things from a Tailor and doin' alot of shopping. I'll be here until Wednesday than I'll be taking a bus back to my Mae Sot.
I rode down with Tad and June on Saturday. It was like a 4 and a half hour trip. I spent the first night at T and J's place and went to an English speaking church yesterday. The pastor was from Australia. So I had a bit of trouble understanding what he was saying...but got most of it.
After church I ended up talking to the son of the guy that owns the guest house T and J are staying at. He's 17 and his name is Marcus. He's half American and half Swedish. And he's homeschooled. He's a really nice guy. When he was a baby his parents smuggled Bibles into Hong Kong. They'd bring in about 6 that he would be sitting on. Wow a "baby bible smuggler." I thought that was pretty neat!
Jim J. and his fam. and some other young people are arriving here on Thurs. Yeah! English speakers! Also I'll be getting my 30 day visa stamped on Thursday. I have to go into another country to get that done.
Haven't eaten breakfast yet...am hungry!
I'm staying at a place for 3 nights by myself. And it cost me I think 1,200 baht which is like $32...for 3 nights. Pretty cheap!
Ohh! I went and saw Pirates of the Carribean yesterday! I really enjoyed it. It cost me 120 baht....which is like $3.25 ish... isn't that awesome. Yeaha! Plus I had to pay 70 baht to get there 80 baht to get back, um...and I bought soda, 35 baht, popcorn 45 baht...the whole situation cost me under $10.00.
Going there I rode in a Tuk Tuk. It's this small little buggy...I think maybe with 3 wheels.... on the way back I had my own personal Long Tow...I always forget how to say the 2nd. I'm thinking they may be gettin' more baht out of me than they should be...frown.... But I'm an ignorant american!
I got so many donations from people and I haven't needed to tons of money into Art supplies or anything else so I asked Na-Na, she's one of the cooks there...kinda like a mother to the kids if they needed anything. So I now have a long list of things they need, so sometime I'll be shopping for that. If you think to pray that the money goes far, that I get good deals and find everything I need.
These people do not have much at all. Donations is what keeps the school running I believe.
I have been teaching some of the classes the proportions of the face. A couple of the kids did really well when I had them draw someone in the class. I was thrilled:)
My times running out on this public computar. Talk to ya later:)
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Keeping my Chin up:)
Man! I just lost alot that I had written. Bummer...oh well. Second try.
Yes I am adjusting more and feeling better about being here:) Thank you for all your prayers. There was a time when I distinctly felt that I probably was the recipienct of prayer. Does that make sense. I felt upheld.:) Thank you everyone. Found out alot of people have been praying for me. Yeah!
Ok, I teach everyday,MOnday through Friday, at least that's how the schedule is set up. I teach ESL 2 days a week and Art everyday of the week. ESL is more of a struggle to prepare for. Pray that I'll get good ideas about how to teach it.
The Art classes are going well. There are times that have been frustrating to an extent when the kids stuggle to do what I'm teaching and when they don't understand the English. But because of the classes some of the girls copied pictures from some books. They copiesdrew the pictures just by looking and no tracing. They came out really good. Some of these kids are good little artists! We did some oil pastel sunset/moonset/sunrise pictures. Some also came out very nice.:)
I have had some times with the girls in my room putting make up on em, letting them look at my pictures of my fam and friends taped up. Some have wanted to look at my collection of earrings:)
One of my good friends here is Amy, silver Paw. We click. She is funny and always laughing. Her family life isn't that wonderful. And she is one of the "outsiders" at the school. There are over 20 kids from a certain camp and she's not one of them. So she seems hungry for attention and affection.
One of my buddies is Mark. He's loud and smiles alot. Great kid.
I love these kids.
I wonder what God is doing? And what might happen becuase of this trip, where is it going to lead me...what is GOd doing? Hmmm....
Keep me in your prayers, also pray for one of the boys. His name is Phillip. He's been sick the whole time I"ve been here. He's at a clinic and was there over night. He's been sick like 3 weeks. There has been a sickness going around some of the schools that has lasted like 4 weeks...
I went and visited him at the clinic. He was anointed with some of my chapstick...it has a number of different oils in it...so he was anointed with "oils" and prayed for. God commands us to anoint the sick with oil and to pray for them. It was an act of obedience and faith.
There were many sick people there...it was an open ward. Some of what I saw was heart breaking. One boy that's on my heart was very very thin....I don't know but he may die from his sickness....pray for his soul and if it's God's will that he'll get better. There were some very sick people there.
Ok well I love ya'll and am sticking with it:)
Yes I am adjusting more and feeling better about being here:) Thank you for all your prayers. There was a time when I distinctly felt that I probably was the recipienct of prayer. Does that make sense. I felt upheld.:) Thank you everyone. Found out alot of people have been praying for me. Yeah!
Ok, I teach everyday,MOnday through Friday, at least that's how the schedule is set up. I teach ESL 2 days a week and Art everyday of the week. ESL is more of a struggle to prepare for. Pray that I'll get good ideas about how to teach it.
The Art classes are going well. There are times that have been frustrating to an extent when the kids stuggle to do what I'm teaching and when they don't understand the English. But because of the classes some of the girls copied pictures from some books. They copiesdrew the pictures just by looking and no tracing. They came out really good. Some of these kids are good little artists! We did some oil pastel sunset/moonset/sunrise pictures. Some also came out very nice.:)
I have had some times with the girls in my room putting make up on em, letting them look at my pictures of my fam and friends taped up. Some have wanted to look at my collection of earrings:)
One of my good friends here is Amy, silver Paw. We click. She is funny and always laughing. Her family life isn't that wonderful. And she is one of the "outsiders" at the school. There are over 20 kids from a certain camp and she's not one of them. So she seems hungry for attention and affection.
One of my buddies is Mark. He's loud and smiles alot. Great kid.
I love these kids.
I wonder what God is doing? And what might happen becuase of this trip, where is it going to lead me...what is GOd doing? Hmmm....
Keep me in your prayers, also pray for one of the boys. His name is Phillip. He's been sick the whole time I"ve been here. He's at a clinic and was there over night. He's been sick like 3 weeks. There has been a sickness going around some of the schools that has lasted like 4 weeks...
I went and visited him at the clinic. He was anointed with some of my chapstick...it has a number of different oils in it...so he was anointed with "oils" and prayed for. God commands us to anoint the sick with oil and to pray for them. It was an act of obedience and faith.
There were many sick people there...it was an open ward. Some of what I saw was heart breaking. One boy that's on my heart was very very thin....I don't know but he may die from his sickness....pray for his soul and if it's God's will that he'll get better. There were some very sick people there.
Ok well I love ya'll and am sticking with it:)
Friday, July 21, 2006
A short blog about Soe Soe and Scott
This is a Caleb sized blog:) 
Here's the first installment of the weekend. Here's me lookin' happy, cause I am. This is Soe Soe "David" and "Scott." Not sure what Scott's real name is. These 2 guys are really small:) Short but like 13 or 14 I'd guess.
Soe Soe's a sweet heart. He's on the right. I've spent some time with him. Awhile back he got this goudge of skin taken off his foot when he was playing barefooted soccer with the guys, on the pavement (concrete) out front. So a number of times I've doctored him up. Put ointment on it and a bandaid a few times gauze over that. I gave him a pair of socks so he could wear it over the gauze to keep it in place. Poor kid would favor his foot alot.
One time after I was done doctoring him he keep hanging around like he wanted to spend more time with me. I was explainging differnt things in the medicine cabinet to him. Alot of the med. is English med. stuff. And than I told him about a pen and ink pen that we're gonna use sometime in art and I ended up showing it to him. And than he and I sat on the floor in the big worship room upstairs with an index card on a book as a drawing surface and drew together. It was fun:) He's a good little artist.
I drew on my card his name David and Soe Soe, and King with the David all fancy and gave it to him. This week I was in the boys room for a bit and saw that he has it taped to the front of his bed.:) I really like him. And he understands English better than alot of the kids. He definately has alot more to learn though.
Scott doesn't talk to me much. He's shy toward me but he's a sweetheart. He has fuzzy spiky hair and whenever he sees me he smiles. A sweet sincere smile....
I'll write more later. Things are better. BUt it's still not easy easy. Being as I"m the only staff at the school that lives at the school that speaks English as my first and only language.
Shabbat Sholam ya'll.... This weekend I'm at Tad and June's house. We're gonna have us some fun. Going shopping tonight at the night market!
Here's the first installment of the weekend. Here's me lookin' happy, cause I am. This is Soe Soe "David" and "Scott." Not sure what Scott's real name is. These 2 guys are really small:) Short but like 13 or 14 I'd guess. Soe Soe's a sweet heart. He's on the right. I've spent some time with him. Awhile back he got this goudge of skin taken off his foot when he was playing barefooted soccer with the guys, on the pavement (concrete) out front. So a number of times I've doctored him up. Put ointment on it and a bandaid a few times gauze over that. I gave him a pair of socks so he could wear it over the gauze to keep it in place. Poor kid would favor his foot alot.
One time after I was done doctoring him he keep hanging around like he wanted to spend more time with me. I was explainging differnt things in the medicine cabinet to him. Alot of the med. is English med. stuff. And than I told him about a pen and ink pen that we're gonna use sometime in art and I ended up showing it to him. And than he and I sat on the floor in the big worship room upstairs with an index card on a book as a drawing surface and drew together. It was fun:) He's a good little artist.
I drew on my card his name David and Soe Soe, and King with the David all fancy and gave it to him. This week I was in the boys room for a bit and saw that he has it taped to the front of his bed.:) I really like him. And he understands English better than alot of the kids. He definately has alot more to learn though.
Scott doesn't talk to me much. He's shy toward me but he's a sweetheart. He has fuzzy spiky hair and whenever he sees me he smiles. A sweet sincere smile....
I'll write more later. Things are better. BUt it's still not easy easy. Being as I"m the only staff at the school that lives at the school that speaks English as my first and only language.
Shabbat Sholam ya'll.... This weekend I'm at Tad and June's house. We're gonna have us some fun. Going shopping tonight at the night market!
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
I am here
Yes I have arrived safely to my destination finally. I got to the school Saturday afternoon. It was about a 4 day trip. Crazy! Plus I was in Chiang Mai for quite awhile. In Chiang Mai, a big city, I got a foot massage, up to below my knee and a back massage (which included neck, arms, hands, head, shoulders) and both came to about $5.00. It was nice!:) Yes, part of my trip was in the back of a pick-up truck up and down, in this mountainous area for like 2 hours.
Thailand is very different! And the school is differnt from Thailand because the kids and most of the staff are from the Karen nation... they actually aren't refugees, refugees have status. These people don't even have refugee status they are a displaced people. Burma doesn't want them at all.
There are 31 students at the school. I've already started learning their Karen/Karenni names...and also they have English nicknames which is helpful. Let me give you some of the Karen names, Ku Moo (boy age 15?), Silver Paw, um...Soe Soe (very cute, small 14 year old boy) and there's more.
They treat me as a guest in some ways....which actually makes me feel more isolated. At meals I eat at my own table if Tad and June aren't at the school. Tad and June are a couple from the US, missanaries to this school.
Also at the school we eat Karen food which is differnt than even Thai food. We have rice at the regular meals.
I have taught one day so far. There was a holiday Tues. and today they have big tests. At this point I'll be taking 2 of the 3 ESL classes and teaching art. I just bought some special pens for pen and ink drawing and the ink for about $7.00. It will be enough to start with the kids for now. Cheap:) I just want to get some good paper.
Tad and June took me out today! Yeah! It was fun! I had a hamburger and fries for lunch at a restaurant and a lassi, like a yougert fruit drink. Very good drink.
We walked through a market and stopped at different stores.
Pray for me. It's harder than I thought. I'm lonely cause I'm the only English as a first language speaker at the school. And I think I'm also dealing with Jet Lag. I'm tired right now....
Ok I should get goin' someone else is payin for the connection.
Also pray for my teaching ESL, some I haven't known how to teach them....they really need to work on actually speaking.
Love ya'll....wish differnt ones could pop over for a few mins. just so I could get a hug.
One of my friends at the school is Ebenezer, out of the staff I've talked with him the most...he's Karen, 27 years old. Has a "special friend" at his camp...that he only sees like 2/3 times a year.
The thai and Karen are beautiful people.
Ok bye again! Write me comments please! I read some comments from my last blog and got teary eyed.
I won't be able to get to the internet as much as I thought I'd be able too.
Thailand is very different! And the school is differnt from Thailand because the kids and most of the staff are from the Karen nation... they actually aren't refugees, refugees have status. These people don't even have refugee status they are a displaced people. Burma doesn't want them at all.
There are 31 students at the school. I've already started learning their Karen/Karenni names...and also they have English nicknames which is helpful. Let me give you some of the Karen names, Ku Moo (boy age 15?), Silver Paw, um...Soe Soe (very cute, small 14 year old boy) and there's more.
They treat me as a guest in some ways....which actually makes me feel more isolated. At meals I eat at my own table if Tad and June aren't at the school. Tad and June are a couple from the US, missanaries to this school.
Also at the school we eat Karen food which is differnt than even Thai food. We have rice at the regular meals.
I have taught one day so far. There was a holiday Tues. and today they have big tests. At this point I'll be taking 2 of the 3 ESL classes and teaching art. I just bought some special pens for pen and ink drawing and the ink for about $7.00. It will be enough to start with the kids for now. Cheap:) I just want to get some good paper.
Tad and June took me out today! Yeah! It was fun! I had a hamburger and fries for lunch at a restaurant and a lassi, like a yougert fruit drink. Very good drink.
We walked through a market and stopped at different stores.
Pray for me. It's harder than I thought. I'm lonely cause I'm the only English as a first language speaker at the school. And I think I'm also dealing with Jet Lag. I'm tired right now....
Ok I should get goin' someone else is payin for the connection.
Also pray for my teaching ESL, some I haven't known how to teach them....they really need to work on actually speaking.
Love ya'll....wish differnt ones could pop over for a few mins. just so I could get a hug.
One of my friends at the school is Ebenezer, out of the staff I've talked with him the most...he's Karen, 27 years old. Has a "special friend" at his camp...that he only sees like 2/3 times a year.
The thai and Karen are beautiful people.
Ok bye again! Write me comments please! I read some comments from my last blog and got teary eyed.
I won't be able to get to the internet as much as I thought I'd be able too.
Monday, July 03, 2006
"Sabbath Hike"
Two days left....than I'm outta here!:) (Keep prayin' for me, please:)) "Bye USA, HELLO Thailand!"
We had a family over from Church Friday night and 2 other friends, Jessica and Tara. We watched "8 Below" with a projector outside on a sheet hung on the V-ball net. Which is fun, let me tell you. Also another couple from the church showed up and watched the movie with us. They left after the movie.
Than Saturday Jessica left for work...and the rest of us went on a hike. We have the appalacian trial really close to where we lived. The total hike may have been 2 miles. I don't know. At the end of the hike was this wicked neat waterfall. It's been raining alot recently so it's got some power.
Tara, Adam, my mom and I all climbed down next to the water fall where we could look up and see a big part of the waterfall pounding down. It was really fun exploring the waterfall...climbing around in my barefeet, in the mud, and wading in the water.
Here's some pics from the time:) Come and visit after I get back from Thailand and maybe we could hike it together, whatdya think?;)
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