After our last day of class together, my students and I went on a picnic to celebrate. The students brought all of the food and made it at the lake. It was SPICY and delicious. Peter was able to come too, which made it even better. If you look at the pictures closely, you can see some people wearing long sleeves. Yes, it is winter time here in Thailand. BRRRRRRR!

During the middle of November, Peter went to Myanmar to complete the filming for the Shan documentary project. Some of his pictures are in the slideshow.

Shan School

Ever since I started studying TESOL at Payap University, I've been asking myself Do I really enjoy teaching English?? Am I just wasting my time?? But now that I've been teaching at the Shan school for about a month, I can honestly say that I love teaching there.

The school is part of a foundation (the Thinking Classroom Foundation) started to help Burmese immigrants (teenagers and adults) living in Thailand. The students are mostly Shan, though some Thai and some hilltribe students attend. One elderly Japanese couple has even started attending English classes there. Students are able to study Thai, English, and computer for free.

I teach in the mornings and it's always an adventure! For starters, I never know how many students will show up each day. Some days 15 students come to class, other days as many as 30 students have come. On a number of occasions, parents have brought their kids to the class since no one is available to care for them. Also, my classroom is outside, so it can be quite hot. It's a small space, so it's hard to move around. And it just happens to be in the same area as the kitchen and the motorcycle parking lot. The most recent challenge has been the noise due to construction behind the school. During the last class, we all got distracted watching a bulldozer level the ground right behind the classroom.

What surprises me the most about these students is their low level of English! Many of them can't even read or write in their own language, let alone English, and have had very little formal education. Most of them have had to start working at a very young age and so haven't had the opportunity to go to school. Yet in spite of these challenges, they're quite motivated and hardworking, which makes it so fun to teach them.

Last week, Peter had a chance to visit the class and get to know some of the students. Of course, they all loved him, especially the girls and said he looked like a Korean movie star. How blessed I am to be married to such a good-looking guy!

Starting in June, I'll be conducting research at the school for my thesis (the last part of my Masters program). As of now, my plan is to do an ethnographic study of Shan people learning English. I'm thankful to be teaching at such a fun place!

Thai Friends

We've managed to make a few Thai friends during our time here:

Saa is our building maintenance man. He's very friendly, and knows everthing there is to know about the dormitory grounds. He's married and has a daughter, but he rarely sees them, because he works all day long every day except once a week, and occasional holidays.

Some guys in the dorm hang out with Saa every night in a triple on the third floor. They all love to sing and some of them play guitar. Surprisingly, they sing mostly older Thai songs. Our favorite Thai song talks about how life is the same for everyone, except for our dreams. We've thrown a couple of parties with them, and at the last one we all sang "Zombie," by the Cranberries (I played guitar). We've also sung, "More Than Words," and "Superman." At the aforementioned party, our Thai friends made some delicious Pad See Iew and fried chicken wings for us! Our contribution? French bread pizza, which they politely ate, but sometimes I'm not sure if Thais share our enthusiasm for Western food. We often chat, sing, and watch movies together. We've also been able to help some of them with English homework. They made a very cool clock for us (see slideshow)!! They are:

Golf (Thai name Santisuk, which means peace) is a computer whiz, and a great singer!

Dong is incredibly enthusiastic and animated.

Neung plays guitar and sings, and loves computer games and drinking.

We are also friends with our landlord and wife (who visited and befriended my parents while visiting their son in Chicago!!).

Mick is my Thai teacher. He speaks English very well, and is actually going to England to do an internship at the end of the month (After finding out that I'm an English tutor, he asked if I could teach him. We just started last week). Mick took us to a really nice cafe that his friend works at. He's been coming to the gym with me on Thursdays for the last couple weeks. We're planning on double dating with him and his girlfriend soon. Her name is Noo, which means "mouse," so he told me that together they make a Mickey Mouse couple (some of you are cringing from the corniness, and some are delighted).

We've also met a lot of people on the basketball court at Chiang Mai University, and many other places around our building and the rest of the city. The next entry by our lovely Lydia will talk about some other people in our lives!

When the Hunter Becomes the Hunted...

We have four cats at the Create office. Two are fairly normal, and shy. Their names are Dixie and Tuna. Dixie is white with brown and black patches, while Tuna is dark gray. The two others, however, Muffin and Snickers, stray far from your average feline friend.

Muffin is quite friendly, but whenever you're around her, you get this strange feeling you can't shake that...something's not quite right. Something's...missing. Muffin is missing her right eye. She lost it in a fight (we'll get back to that later), and has since been dubbed "One-Eyed Jack," "The Pirate Kitty," and "Jack Sparrow." Sometimes, the vacant hollow of her eye gets filled with puss, but we still love her. She can usually be found rubbing up against tables, chairs, computers, and even people, apparently scratching her itchy spots. Both Lyd and Rachel (one of the staff) like to pick her up and cuddle, much to Muffin's grief, yet another poor victim of forced love.

Snickers is the hunter. He is possibly the friendliest of the lot, and especially enjoys rough petting around the neck and shoulders. He is also the most vocal, sporting by far the highest soprano skills of the bunch. Snickers, by the way, is the only male cat among the four. He has been known to hunt snakes, rats, and birds. But rather than keeping the building rodent-free, he often chooses to drag them into the Create office. Severed heads and entrails have been smeared on the floors in the house, including the bathroom, which is also home to three of our staff (all girls!!)!

Most recently, a yellow/orangish fat cat has started to stray around the office. He has this soulful meow that sounds like a dying sheep. The guy who does our building maintenance (we live next door), who we've befriended says the cat is lookin' for a mate. Well, that makes sense, because he hangs around our cats, chasing the females, and fighting with Snickers. We suspect he was the one who took Muffin's eye out. Sometimes we find Snickers with patches of hair missing, and deep gouges and gashes in his shoulders or lower.

The last straw was when this orange cat started coming into the office and eating our cats' food. Jasmine, one of our staff (see picture) bought a plastic pellet gun recently to scare off our intruder. It was cheap, and within days, broke. After that, she apparently bought a slingshot. She hasn't gotten good enough to hit her target (this cat must be a glutton for punishment... it still comes around even after being shot!), but she's on a vendetta!

I would like to say no animals were harmed in the making of this blog entry, but that would be a lie. Rest assured that the cat Lydia is holding in the picture is one of our own, though, just posin' for the shot!

SeAsoNs GrEeTinGs

"Why is there a picture of Winnie the Pooh kleenex?" I can hear you asking. The fact is, here in Thailand, you really should carry some of these with you wherever you go, 'cause chances are your stall in the public restroom will be devoid of toilet paper. In fact, you'll find that, oddly, none of the stalls have any of this suddenly precious commodity. Suck it up (literally) and remember your Pooh wipes next time!!! ;)

Well, it's been a crazy month, to say the least! Warmest Christmas ever!! And I never thought I'd be graduating yet again... It's been a wild and amazin' ride!

I must say, I've put on a few holiday pounds. I was just noticing this morning that my pants don't fit as loosely as before. Ah, the joys of bein' married!! No one to impress any more! Hmm, I hope Lydia doesn't read this... Here's a sampling of what we had:

• chicken and beef enchiladas
  
• German sausage and potato salad


• tom yum pizza (much better than I remembered it)


• a bucket o' fried chicken.


• steak chili

Okay, it may not sound like much, but we live in Thailand, okay?. Lyd made a chocolate mousse pie and an apple pie (fresh baked from scratch, no less!), and our friends made these amazin' cookies made from ritz crackers and peanut butter dipped in melting chocolate. Mmmm!!

That list is a pretty comprehensive list of three small parties' worth of food. One Create Christmas Party, one with YWAM friends (our long-time Thai friend Naret included), and one with some Thai friends from our building (Nope, I would never order a Tom Yum Pizza on my own). We got to share the reason we celebrate Christmas with our building-mates, definitely the highlight of our Christmas!

Our church went caroling at the big mega-mall near the airport. I've joined the worship team as well, switchin' between backup and lead guitar twice a month.

But December hasn't been all fun and games!!

Right before graduation, we went elephant riding (Our "driver" dude was riding on the elephant's head, and it looked really fun, so when he dismounted, I asked if it was okay if I tried. It was fun, but also a little scarier. And my inner thighs felt it the next day). Afterwards, we went to a waterfall, where I slipped and fell off a slimy rock into a leech-filled stream. Our camera was in my pocket (It took a while to dry, and the flash still doesn't work). To finish the day, we went on a bamboo raft ride, where I fell into the river. I remember thinking to myself, "God hates me."

Seriously, though, that was only one of a few days where everything seemed to be working against us, threatening to plunge us into discouragement and despair. If life goes in seasons, this month alone has been like a whole year's worth!

But, God has been good. Even when we felt like we were only hangin' by a mere thread, He was grasping our hand firmly, even holding us in intimacy. We are coming forth as gold refined, even more dependent and in love with Him. I guess we really needed this break... Some time to get perspective. Graduation came just in time! We've had a lot more time to pray these past weeks. It's been great! And God has opened a lot of doors regarding relationships with Thai people!

HOT DAWG!

Yup! Finally got to try dogmeat in China, and I haveta say, it's...not great. The meat is tough, and even with a lot of spices thrown in, it wasn't all that tasty. But at least I can say I've had dog, so I guess it is somethin' to write home about.

It's pretty common to see someone riding an electric motorcycle, even in some of the poorest areas of China. At first, it was alarming for me to see people comin' outta nowhere without warning (usually, you can hear 'em comin'), but soon their novelty wore off. I did not get used to the traffic, however, and the rules it seemed to go by (or lack thereof). I never thought any place could make driving in Thailand look desirable!

Everyone plays basketball in China. Once again, even in the most unlikely villages, you could find a basketball court. And, of course, everybody everywhere you go knows the name "Yao Ming." A lot of rural village folk got money together and bought satellite dishes this year so they could watch the Olympics.

They have these mosquito rackets (like tennis rackets) here (I've seen/used them both in China and in Thailand). They're so much fun! It's hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction one gets from zapping mosquitoes with these contraptions. It has a screen-like mesh that sparks when coming in contact with "mozzies," as they call them in Australia. So wonderful! What'll they come up with next? Actually, I have some ideas. Like, maybe some chemical that makes them turn on each other, or causes them to spontaneously combust or implode...

I've also noticed that in both China and Thailand, "Playboy" is simply a brand of clothing. You can see people wearing the infamous bunny symbol on shirts, jeans, even plastered on motorcycles (Ours had one on it when we bought it used. Don't worry, we've since peeled it off)! In fact, our cultural advisor had a pair of said jeans. Of couse, he didn't know better.

Thankfully, we had Western toilets most of the time, but squatty potties were prominent everywhere we went. In fact, one hotel that was pretty confidently named (see photos) had a pretty surprising one. It wasn't bad, though, and gave me a chance to perfect my "asian squat."

My Nike's finally fell apart the last week in China. There was this really cool specialty shop, exclusively for repairing shoes. They used some interesting tools, including really strong glue, some metal tools, and a blowdrier. They're as good as new now! Cheapest new pair of shoes ever!

Well, it was a really good trip! But it's good to be back, too! Lydia is teaching English to some Korean kids now, so she brings back tons of Korean food every week! It's sooo good! God is good to us!

schoolboy

school again . homework...papers...it's been a while. in a lot of ways, i feel like i'm in dts all over again. christian staff and curriculum far from family and friends...and constant reminders of how far my heart is from God's for the nations. it's still so hard for me to care about anyone besides myself...

and yet, i'm not the same. this time, i didn't come alone. i can't be nearly as selfish as i was back then. i remember praying, pleading that i wouldn't forget the things i was learning, and that i wouldn't return to the same life i'd left (God really answered those prayers in His timing!). now, i'm more worried about forgettin what the Lord taught me back "home." worried about gettin' lost in the busy-ness of school and married life, livin' for the weekends. i can never forget why i'm here. i gotta keep growin'...not backsliding...not stagnating.

and there's so much opportunity here:

there's a slum of sorts basically in our backyard, where people live in houses made of tin. we've been prayin' for opportunities to just show 'em Christ's love. last week we finally made first contact (lyd baked some of her amazin' cookies, and we paid 'em a visit). we're prayin' for wisdom on how to continue building a relationship with them.

we've been gettin' to know a few people playin' basketball once or twice a week (lyd runs around the track nearby). we'd like to invite 'em over sometime, but our place isn't real hospitable (it's kinda like a dorm room).


it's hard living in tight community here at the school. hard, but good. there's a lot of opportunity for misunderstandings, frustration, and selfishness. but, there's also so much opportunity to show love!

we've also started a relationship with an older YWAM couple (named Jeff and Jean!! our pre-marital counsellors' names were Jeff and Jane!!!). they're really cool, and we look forward to fellowshipping and learnin' from them.

God's been speakin' a lot to us through His word, sermons at church (yeah, we finally settled on an international church called the Christian Outreach Center. it's got an australian flavor, and worship rocks! yup, very hillsong-ish, as you can probably guess), pictures, movies, video clips... we've been really encouraged as well as challenged!


not everyone's excited about God's work in our lives, though. the devil is attacking us fiercely in areas ranging from our health (we all got pretty nasty food poisoning last week) to our marriage (attitudes towards one another at times). we've heard that some of the strongholds in thailand include miscommunication (there's this seal that thais wear on their uniforms that signifies the god of miscommunication, or somethin' to that affect) and apathy (buddhism).

but we know the One who's in us is greater than the one who's in the world, and nothin' can stop Him from pourin' out His blessings on us! it'd be great if you( readers) could pray for love and wisdom as we build relationships with our neighbors, for me to do a good job on my paper, for obedience to God's leading, and for us to have joy as we grow closer to God through all these changes! kahp kun krahp!