Quick Update
10 Apr 2010 1 Comment
So for the past few days our apartment has been getting some mysterious wi-fi. It comes and goes, but anything is better than what we had… nothing =/
So while I have the connection, I will fill you in on what has been going on.
- Ryan and Amanda came for a week, we showed them a bit of Bangkok and made it out to an island for some fun in the sun.
- They left today along with 5 suitcases of our junk. Why do we have that much stuff, I don’t know – but we owe them big time for carrying it all back for us.
- The protesters have been camped out in the middle of Bangkok for over a week now. It is only a few blocks from where we live and has made traveling around quite difficult, but other than that and extra security at the palace, it has been pretty peaceful until today.
- The police came out to try and get rid of them all but ended up getting pushed out themselves. Not sure where it all will go, just hope we can get out on Monday.
- We are packing now for Indonesia. Only two days. I’m feeling very mixed about it. I am excited about what is coming, but I hate goodbyes and I will really miss this place. Every time I am out on the streets all I can think of is how it is the last time I will see this or do that. But, life goes on =)
- I’ll try to keep you posted while we travel, maybe even upload some pics, but for sure more to come when we are back in the states!
Too long gone!
23 Mar 2010 1 Comment
Hey Everyone!
Sorry it has been ages since I have been able to post, I know you all are on pins and needles wondering what is going on over here.
Well, the main reason is because internet has been so dodgy lately, without anything at home, all we have is the slow internet at the mall, or coffee shops, but I can only sit there so long! The other reason is that things have just been busy busy busy!
When I found out that the class I was staying around for was actually a whole new term and that they would rather have another teacher in from the beginning (which means I finish much much sooner!) we decided we would peace out a bit earlier. I never thought it could be done, but I actually changed our plane tickets and suddenly our two months in Bangkok turned into less than a month! So needless to say things got a bit crazy.
I am still finishing out my classes. I posted some pictures from a parents day at the Thai school where I teach, they turned out pretty well =)
We also have been trying to soak up as much time with our beloved friends here in Bangkok. Last weekend we went camping in a nearby national park. It was a blast – lots of hitchhiking and wild animals =)
Also, the Reds are back protesting about the government again. They said they would bring in millions of people and everyone freaked out. It turned out to be not such a big deal until they started throwing blood on the parliament buildings and the prime ministers house. We didn’t see any of that, but we saw them parading around the city a few times. Why can’t we all just be friends?!
The next weeks are busy too, so I may just have to tell you about it all when we get some downtime again.
Here is the rundown… This weekend we will be in Myanmar to extend our visa. The week after that my brother Ryan and his girlie Amanda will be here! Then the week after that we will be in Indonesia for 10 days before heading back to California and then straight to New Orleans for cousin Andrew’s wedding. phew!
With all the planning and packing and saying goodbye, I am dancing on the edge of emotional stability… So far things have been ok. Matt is so patient =) And soon we will be back in America for some relaxing time at…heh, who am I kidding, that is when a whole new kind of adventure starts!
The Nightbus
03 Jan 2010 6 Comments
in Thailand, Travel Tags: Chiang Mai, Thailand
I woke up to a frantic voice “Where you going? Where you going?”
We were on the overnight bus back to Bangkok from our getaway weekend in Chiang Mai. We had managed the front row on the upper level with lots of legroom, I was sprawled over our two seats and Matt was taking up the space at my feet. We must have finally gotten pretty comfortable because until Matt accidentally knocked something over the edge onto the driver’s assistant, we were out cold.
I heard Matt say the name of the station we were aiming for – what we thought was the end of the line…
“Go already!” she shouted back.
I finally came to and looked around – there was no one else on the bus. I looked out the window, “where are we?” It didn’t matter, it was time for us to get off that bus.
In the frantic moment grabbing all of our things and getting off the bus the only answer I got was a road name I didn’t recognize and “Taxi! Taxi!”
Well, thanks a lot. We fell out of the bus as it drove off into the dark morning on the side of some Bangkok road. No clue where, still trying to wake up. Well, a cab will get us home….
*GASP* My bag!!!!
I had stowed it under the bus- something I usually avoid- but I had been assured that it would be fine down there… and it was… but now where is it? We don’t even know where WE are, or where the bus drove off to, or where it had been. Had we really missed the stop? Did they really dump everyone at the station and not notice the sleeping foreigners in the front row?! Is my bag still under that bus headed for who knows where? Did they leave it at the station? Did this really just happen?
I had a lot of questions.
With no real answers, because, well, this is Thailand… even the systems they DO have don’t really work. But we had to try. We got in a cab and went back to the bus station where we assumed the bus had stopped sometime in the last hour.
But it was a busy bus station on a busy Sunday and how on earth do we communicate what had just happened. We checked in what might have been a lost and found, we tried to ask multiple people who might have seen it but mostly got blank stares and random points in other directions, we walked up and down and up and down where the busses were loading up… nothing. We didn’t have our ticket stub, we didn’t even know for sure this was the station, we even know what company we had ridden with! It was hopeless.
Matt had to use the 3 baht toilet so I went into 7-11 for some change and bought some tissue to clean up my teary hopeless face. I stepped back outside to wait for him. I didn’t even care if people stared. I was tired and groggy and had just lost my favorite backpack with all my things inside. I needed a minute to mourn its loss and kick myself for being so stupid.
When my minute was up, I turned around to head back inside and there, in the midst of a pile of bags, with a beam of light, shining down from heaven upon it, was my bag!!!! I let out a gasp of shock and amazement and ran to grab it. “That’s my bag!” I told the man standing next to it. He looked at me and looked at my bag, pointing to the tag the lady had put on it at the station, indicating which ticket it belonged to. “I don’t have it, I don’t have it…” I told him in Thai almost laughing, “but I can prove it!” I started to open up the pocket as if I was actually going to stand there and recite its contents to show him that it was really mine. I quickly realized how stupid that would be and just picked it up walked away, saying thank you over and over again. He didn’t really know what else to say except “Mai pen rai”
I still can’t believe we found it.
It could have eaten me!
19 Dec 2009 Leave a Comment
I was taking out the trash the other day, walking through the ‘jungle’ that is outside our apartment when I ran into a bit of spider web. I almost plowed right through the web but decided to back up instead. Upon doing so, I realized that it was not just a few strands, but an intricate web. Upon backing up further, I discovered that there was a SPIDER in the web, a GIANT SPIDER, a GIANT RED AND YELLOW SPIDER… and if I had plowed right through, it would have been on my SHOULDER!
I stood there, staring at the creature contemplated this for almost 2 full minutes. I think it would have eaten me.
Our Cinderella Story
13 Dec 2009 1 Comment
in Thailand Tags: Cinderella, Kids Drama, Thailand
It’s finally over! This whole week was absorbed with rehearsal and set building and gathering props and costumes… I think we are all glad it is over. It was a lot of fun though. I had forgotten how much I love performing, especially when it is just getting up there and acting crazy! We really had a blast. As soon as I can I’ll get some clips up =)
Ryan is moving to LA!!!!
13 Dec 2009 1 Comment
This pic was taken when Ryan saw the ocean for the very first time
So our friend Ryan who waited three long years to even get refugee status from the UN has been waiting for the call about his resettlement for months and he just announced this morning that it finally came! And he is moving to California!!!!
Unfortunately not beautiful San Diego, but were all just glad he is finally going to be in America! Though we will miss him sooooooooo much, he has really become one of our closest friends here. But many new adventures for him in the future as he starts a WHOLE new life in a WHOLE new world!
‘Tis the Season… already!
14 Nov 2009 2 Comments
in Thailand Tags: Christmas, Holiday, Thailand
It is still hot hot hot outside but Bangkok is already reminding its shop-obsessed population that it is never too early to start spending that Christmas bonus. I remember the malls in America rushing the holiday, but it seems even more out of place when the 100 foot Christmas tree goes up right next to a giant elephant shrine.
I guess I really can’t complain though, hearing “Winter Wonderland” as I walk past the mall just floods me with warm memories of Christmases past – baking cookies, decorating the tree, long road trips out to Houston. You know, all those things that just aren’t the same in Thailand. Also not in Thailand: snow. But for some reason Primo, the little boy I teach, has become obsessed with it. It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet and we have already read every Christmas book they own (which is actually quite a lot), had a snowball fight and built a snowman out of paper. What will we do when it actually is Christmas?
And coming right along with the season of giving, the teachers at Kids Drama have decided to put on an British panto production of Cinderella to raise money for charity. They have cast me as Cinderella- the poor, love-struck, SINGING servant girl =/ Now if you know me at all, you know that I generally avoid singing in front of or around people at all cost. Not really because I am shy, but because I care for their sanity. It’ll be an interesting production. As long as no one asks for their money back =)
One thing that I am really excited about this Christmas is that it is Matt and my first Christmas as a married couple. It is time for us to start our own Christmas traditions! And we won’t even have to worry about whose parent’s house to spend it at =)
To all the married people who read my blog, what did you do on your first Christmas?
The Next Step
24 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in PLC, Thailand, Travel Tags: Iraq, PLC, Thailand
Only one more day in Iraq and it is time to head back to Thailand. Mixed feelings. We have had such a good time here – with the team, with the Kurds, working for PLC. It has been quite a visit.
A few days ago we had lunch with the team leaders here and talked about what it would look like if we decided to come join the team. They answered a lot of our questions and filled us in on things we hadn’t even thought about. We wouldn’t be able to get here until the end of 2010 or early 2011, but there would be lots to do before then.
We are excited because this would be our chance to do something on purpose; to go somewhere with a clear idea why, with goals and something to work. Not only would we be helping children receive life saving heart surgeries, we would be investing in the lives of families by spending time with them and loving them with Jesus’ love, a love most of them have never known.
Our specific roles here would be working on public relations for PLC and caring for families of the children. It has been fun to see that there are very tangible and specific ways for us to serve here.
I was also excited to find out that in order to learn the language we would live for a few months with a Kurdish family, hopefully out in one of the villages. This is actually on my top 100 list of things to do before I die (as is kill and pluck a chicken with my hands, there may be opportunity for this too =) Living the way they live would be so far out of our comfort zone, it would pull and stretch us so much, but I think it will be so beneficial to us too, not only to learn Kurdish.
So we have a lot to think about when we get back to Bangkok. We are leaving for Turkey tonight and will be in Bangkok Wednesday afternoon. Please keep us in your prayers as we are traveling and as we make this huge decision.
More to come – picture too =)
What’s been up.
17 Sep 2009 4 Comments
in Thailand
Its been quite a while since I have been able to write. Well, I probably was able, I just didn’t have anything to say. But a lot has been going on, so I thought I would update you all on what has been up lately.
I got a visa. Even the one I was trying to get… unfortunately though we were told that it would be for a year and I only got 90 days, which is longer than one month and definitely longer than 15 days, so it is not so bad… but I will have to go back to immigration and reapply every 90 days… another 2000 baht. Bleh.
Classes are going well. I started at a new school a few days ago. In one of my classes I had 14 three and four year olds! It was an interesting hour =/ Until I start again at the Thai school, all my classes are young kids so we don’t do as much drama as we do playing around, but it is fun. Challenging, but fun =)
We finally bought tickets for our October holiday. Matt has the whole month off, and I had arranged to take off a few classes, so we had planned to go to India. Plans changed when our friends from northern Iraq came to visit and told us that we should come see what they do there. It is something we have been interested in a long time so we decided to take this opportunity to put some reality to what we know about what they do there. If you are interested in knowing more about it, visit their site at www.preemptivelove.org. We will be there almost three weeks. Pray for us =)
Pray also for my family, Grandma Dot passed away this week. It wasn’t expected. I hadn’t even responded to her last email. I miss her a lot, I miss her long notes about everything that is going on in the world and her silly forwards. And I know I will really feel it when I go back to visit. Wish I could have gone back this week. But love can go even all the way around the world. I know I always felt Grammie’s even way over here.
Well, that has been life here. Most of it anyway =) More to come later. I won’t wait as long for the next post I promise =)
The stress of living overseas…
25 Aug 2009 3 Comments
The title of this really should be “The stress of growing up…” but we are particularly feeling right now because we are trying to live in Thailand.
There is a certain point in life when responsibilities start becoming more than just waking up and going to school, cleaning your room or showing up on time for work. Matt and I are feeling the growing pains of being out on our own a lot more this year than we did last year. Along with the difficulties of being newly married, we have been thrown into what has become quite a daunting task to renew our visas. It has been taxing not only on our time and energy but our bank account has taken quite a hit and I haven’t only lost sleep but a few tears in all the stress. On the way back from Cambodia today (a trip that really should have been avoided) we were sitting in the back of the van and my eyes just started welling and I got all choked up. What was it that put me over? It could have been the merciless officers who charged me extra for my Cambodian visa because I didn’t have a picture or maybe it was standing there with the immigration people knowing they were just telling me what I wanted to hear so that I would go away, or maybe even Matt talking about getting deported and just not coming back, but I was just crying there in the back of the van.
What it really was was me feeling the pains of growing up. Of having my own responsibility, of not being in control and not having anyone to come in and make everything better. If this process never gets us visas, it has definitely served not only to bring Matt and I closer together but also to teach us valuable life lessons (and not only the untrustworthiness of beuracracy =) I have been forced to realize that I am not in control of my life. I live in Thailand, but not for long without a visa… I might have a job, but it certainly isn’t what defines me. I can’t trust my money to back me up, because people keep snatching it right out of my pocket. I can say I hope to get a visa tomorrow, but with everything we have been through, that doesn’t mean much.
Suddenly, there, crying in the back of the van on the rainy Thai road somewhere between Arranyaphet and Bangkok, the idea that Jesus is my life had new meaning. Jesus has to be my life because everything else is so hopeless and so temporary. It has no meaning. Yet I can live in this world with hope because Jesus is enough. Because he came to earth as a man to bring God’s Kingdom to us. Because he died on the cross so we could take part in that amazing relationship. And because he left the mission to us. Its not about me or my job or my money or my friends or even my family. It is about Jesus, what he did and what he left for us to do until he comes back. To live in God’s Kingdom here on earth and to keep spreading it. When I keep my eyes on that, everything else just seems so silly.
