Bri's Thailand Blog

last week at Step Ahead

2008-11-18T23:49:00.003+07:00

on the bus to Phuket with kids' camp

with Sibel (left) and Monika (middle) who studied Thai with Ton and me

Scary. That's all I have to say.

Cute.

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

I just can't believe how time flies. It's only 2 1/2 more days until I go to Bangkok to meet up with Bronson, Evelyn and Lisa, then on to Chiang Mai to visit the German Christian school, and then back here for them to meet some of my lovely friends in Khao Lak. So this is my LAST week of teaching at Step Ahead, which I can barely grasp. I've gotten my classroom in order and saved teaching files for whoever will come teach here next (we still don't know; still praying for more volunteers at Step Ahead!). But my room is an absolute mess and I haven't started packing for Bangkok, much less for Austria and home. But what have I been doing for the past few days? Well, I've been looking at old pictures from the past year here, I've been reading a really interesting book about Thai society and culture that really makes sense after living here, I've talked to my mom on Skype, I've had dinner with my friend Gaan several nights in a row, I've made no-bake cookies (but sadly, without peanut butter), I've played volleyball and swam out to the raft- which I'm glad to see that La Flora put back out to sea, since it had disappeared during the rainy season, I've learned a few new songs on the guitar, I've watched a Thai pop concert with Momay and Benz, and I've caught up with an old German student of mine who got married last month! And my plan for the next 3 days is to finish teaching my classes, visit my former students at the hotels and let them know about my good-bye party, prepare a sermon to teach at my church on my last Sunday, learn some Bavarian songs from Monika, and learn Thai boxing from my friend Ake at La Flora. Yes, Thai boxing. I'm so excited about it. I never really thought about doing it until I met a Norweigan girl this week who said she learned Thai boxing from Ake for 3 days and loved it. She said it's very good exercise and that she feels like she could really defend herself, if necessary, with what she learned. So when am I going to pack? Good question.

My emotions have been all over the place as I prepare to leave, from utter despair (sometimes I feel that way when I think about leaving Thailand) to absolute joy when I think about the people and places I'm going to see in Austria and at home. But it is going to be so hard to leave this place.

Farewell to Paul, Kids' Camp, and... doing new things

2008-10-28T23:21:00.011+07:00

with friends on a camping trip; weekend before Paul left

with Paul, Dao and Jeab at Paul's farewell party

working on the church mushroom farm (our first day to all work together)

Volleyball friends at La Flora Hotel! (left to right: Chon, Hot, Note)

Benz hard at work on the bag project- Thai Totes

me and Nui, our new housekeeper, trying our hand at sewing

helping with kids' camp

Adorable! I had one sleeping on each arm on the way back from our trip to the zoo and aquarium in Phuket.

Updated Picasa albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

October has been a month of LOTS of changes. On the (somewhat) minor side, John took the car up to Bangkok to use it for the Pattaya project, so now we're really doing it Thai style, driving the motorbike everywhere (and getting awfully wet, since the rainy season seems to have come late; we've had torrential downpours everyday for the past week). We got a new housekeeper at the beginning of the month, P'Nui, after P'Jeab left. P'Nui is absolutely wonderful; she works hard and she has a lovely personality. On the major side, Paul left. :( We had a big good-bye party for him; 60+ people showed up from classes and from the community, like our friends that we play volleyball with at La Flora, friends from church, and even the managers of a few hotels where we've been teaching. I was happy that several students from my Seaview class showed up, even though they hadn't even met Paul before! Paul shared an encouraging testimony about his time here, and it is clear to see that he's had a big impact in this community in just one year!

And now, things are going... hm, well different. Everything feels a little bit different. Everybody notices that Paul's gone. The past week-and-a-half have been so hard, as I can't stop thinking about how soon my own time to leave is coming, and somehow, this has the opposite effect on me from what it should have: I feel sad and... procrastinate more on doing things that I need to do! But there have been some positive changes/ things that I've noticed since Paul's been gone for this past week:
1) I drove the motorbike for the 1st time on the main road, to Pak Ping Church. 2) I listened to a whole sermon in Thai without translation, and though I didn't understand any of Ton's stories, I understood all of his main points and felt that I'd gotten the gist of it. 3) I realized that I feel really, really comfortable around Thai people and don't miss farangs much. I mean, of course I miss my family and friends, but I don't just miss being around Westerners in general, if that makes any sense. 4) I hit almost every ball over the net in volleyball yesterday (if you saw how I played when I started, you'd know why that's significant). :) The sports guys at La Flora are so sweet! I think they feel sorry for me since Paul left, so they've been taking extra care to make me feel welcome, getting me towels and letting me know I can hang out there anytime I get bored at Step Ahead. (P'Ake said, "Chabah bpen kaeg leuy:" "Chabah is a guest here.") 5) Fri.-Sat. was the first time I've helped with a kids' camp! It was really fun. It poured down rain in Tablamu and we had to stay the night at a different place than planned. On Sat. we went to the aquarium and zoo in Phuket. Nong Poom and his friend fell asleep on each of my arms on the way back. They were so cute. 6) I've spent quite a lot of time w/ P'Maeo, one of the preschool head teachers, which I think has been good for both of us. 7) I tried my hand at sewing yesterday to help w/ the bag project and discovered that I am NOT good at it. It was still a fun time w/ Benz, P'Chompoo and P'Nui, though.

Another thing that happened this month: a group of us went on a camping trip to a beautiful waterfall on the weekend before Paul left. It was great! We went hiking, played soccer, swam in cold water, grilled and played/ sang songs until midnight.

September... a delayed post!

2008-09-26T23:35:00.006+07:00

with the kids at Happy Home in Cambodia

Playing Simon Says with giving directions at Chong Fah (I made a mistake as soon as we started the game!)

Games with the kids at church

Poi Pet, Cambodia

New pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

Somehow I forgot to actually post this entry...but here is a brief summary of September! I went to Bangkok and Cambodia for my visa and passport and came back. I got to visit an orphanage called Happy Home in Poi Pet, and although it was such a short visit, I was shocked by the difference between Thailand and Cambodia (if you look at my pictures on Picasa you'll see why.) I survived the crazy political situation in Bangkok and Phuket. There have been protests going on against the government for months. The old prime minister has stepped down, but Thaksin's brother-in-law has replaced him, so the protestors are still unhappy. (Thaksin is the old PM who was ousted two years ago due to charges of corruption.) The airport in Phuket was closed because of protests when I was supposed to fly to Bangkok, but things were semi back to normal when I flew back to Phuket.

While in Bangkok (and a bit before), I suffered from some major dizzy spells that lasted for more than a week and was diagnosed with BPPV (vertigo), which also explains my extreme motion sickness. The first few days back here, I still felt dizzy and very tired and had a hard time teaching because once or twice, I felt like I'd have to throw up while I was standing in front of the class! But praise God, I've been feeling A LOT better lately.

Classes at Chong Fah and Ramada were really good; it's been so fun to have some variety in teaching by getting outside of Step Ahead to see other places.

End of class term and Julia's visit, & political instability in Thailand

2008-09-01T15:42:00.008+07:00

Julia and I made Kaiserschmarrn (Austrian pancakes) for our students on the last day of class

students from Chong Fah

out to dinner with John. Julia and I bought the same dress. :)

Paul making friends with a water buffalo at the Moken Villae

German class

with the Ramada class

Helmets are very fashionable

Benz & Julia at the sticky rice restaurant- girls' night!

I just can't believe how fast this past month went by, and Julia's already gone! :( We had so much fun together; I'm really going to miss her. This is what I find so difficult about being here: people are always coming and going constantly. It makes me tired.

Yesterday it was uncertain that Julia would even be able to fly out of Phuket, because there have been some major protests against the government going on in Thailand, and the demonstrations have escalated over the past week. The protestors succeeding in shutting down the main airports in Thailand for a few days (though not for international flights from the main airport in BKK. I was supposed to fly from Phuket on the same day as Julia, and then it looked like we'd have to take a bus instead. So we bought bus tickets, but praise the Lord- late Sun. afternoon we found out that Julia would still be able to catch her flight to Bangkok! I couldn't get on my flight though, so I'm leaving in about an hour to catch the overnight bus. I'm not really looking forward to going to BKK and Cambodia because I'll traveling by myself again. I've been a bit worried about the situation here too, but Kim Quinley assured me that it's still safe to travel to BKK. I think I'll have a good time once I get there; there's always lots to do in BKK. But I also have a lot of things to take care of.

The end of our class term was great; I think that these classes (except maybe my evening class) have been the best ones for me at Step Ahead the whole time I've been here. For our last day of German class, Julia and I made Austrian pancakes and ate breakfast w/ our students. Then they offered to cook lunch for us on Saturday at Step Ahead! One of the guys from Baan Khao Lak (hotel) is the restaurant supervisor, and I think he can cook really well! But unfortunately, he ended up having to work, so we went out to eat instead to save time. It was still a lot of fun. On Friday night, some of our students from Chong Fah invited us to hear live music, and Julia, Paul and I were so impressed! I didn't expect the music to be that good, but it really was cool. They were kind of a reggae/ country band, and they let us request songs. On Friday we also went to the Moken village again to teach, but this time it was me, Julia, Paul and Benz, and we had so much fun together. I'm starting to really love that village and the sweet kids.

It's raining now. Julia was very lucky to have so much sunshine during her stay here! Now I think it'll rain just about every day, as it normally does in the rainy season.

Pranks!

2008-08-24T00:47:00.006+07:00

Our lovely German class!

Kata Beach in Phuket- the water is much clearer than I expected!

Julia and I teaching the Moken kids (sea gypsy village)

at Khao Lak Lamru National Park

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

I think we've been watching too many episodes of the Office. We've been in a mischievous mood, and so we decided to play some pranks on Ton last Friday evening. P'Jeab invited us

over for dinner. While Ton was in the kitchen, I stole his bag and hid it upstairs. Then I took his cell phone out and hid it in my purse, and Julia called it. He was looking around for a while before he realized where the ringing was coming from. I took his phone and hid it and called it two more times that night, but the best time was right in the middle of an intense Ligretto game- with 8 people playing (we taught the Thais how to play.) I hid his phone in a laundry basket and called him during the game. He totally fell for it again! The problem is that Julia and I can't keep a straight face, so we were trying our best not to crack up but mostly not succeeding. But Ton didn't even notice until we were getting ready to leave that his bag was missing.

Somehow the cell phone trick didn't really get old, because his reaction is soooo funny to watch, and he takes it well. So we did it again on Sunday, but one time while Julia and I were talking to the mayor of Takuapa and his friend, a psychiatrist (who had been invited over for a special dinner at Step Ahead). I thought I'd be pretty sly and call his phone (which I'd hidden on the stairs) while talking to the mayor, so that I could keep a straight face. But it didn't work; especially when the psychiatrist, whose name is coincidentally also Ton (!) started looking around for his cell phone. He must've had the same ring tone. Ton said, "you two again!!" and put us both in a headlock. But the pranks didn't stop there. We also got him a small brush and bottle of shampoo (because he loves his long hair), which we wrapped in shiny gold paper and gave to him, and we put a fork and a toilet paper roll in his bag on Tuesday. Julia made a blunder in Thai that led to another prank also. She learned how to say "how old are you" which translates literally as "age, how much?" But when she wanted to ask Ton how old he was, she just said "Ton, how much?" We burst out laughing. And then I said "10 baht" (about 30 cents or so). So the next day I put 10 baht in an envelope and asked Momay to write "how much? 10 baht" on the outside, and stuck the envelope in Ton's bag. I don't know who's going to help me pull pranks when Julia's gone!

A Day's Work

2008-08-21T22:00:00.003+07:00

In class on Wednesday, we were talking about jobs, and one girl said she does odd jobs in the low season, such as picking fruit to sell. She told me what kind of fruit she picked, but I'd never heard of it (even after nearly a year in Thailand, I'm still discovering foods and fruits that I've never seen or heard of before.) In the evening, before we left for cell group, my student showed up at Step Ahead with a HUGE bag of fruit- her whole day's work! It was about 2 1/2 kilos. I don't know the name of the fruit in English. But I sure was impressed by her generosity.

Julia and I confused our German students with a whole bunch of vocabulary about the reception at a hotel, but then when we played hangman at the end of the hour, they had so much fun that they stayed after for almost half an hour to continue playing!

Mother's Day

2008-08-19T23:06:00.005+07:00

Ton practicing songs with the kids before service

Julia, Dinay and I enjoying a good lunch!

Giving flowers to a lady who couldn't come

Have you ever seen kids so cute?? Seriously.

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

I'm so behind on blogging! I can't really catch up, but I'll tell about a few things. Well, first of all, Megan left (we miss you, Megan!) and Julia came to help me teach German. German class has been so great this time! The students are all still attending class each time (unusual b/c they usually drop off around the middle of term), and they are the sweetest and most fun students! Julia and I could nearly laugh until we cried sometimes in class. I've also started teaching at Chong Fah Resort, which has a really nice swimming pool that they let us use. That is my biggest class- 18 students, which is a bit chaotic, especially since we meet in the restaurant! It's fun though. Oh, but I saw my first cobra since I've been in Thailand- it slithered across my path right on the steps leading to the hotel! I thank God that I didn't step on it, because it literally went right in front of my feet.

We've played a LOT of volleyball at the beach w/ our friends who work at La Flora (hotel) and then a few random Germans. We made friends w/ 4 Germans actually, and ate dinner w/ them once and had them over at Step Ahead for lunch. The guys at La Flora gave me a Thai nickname- "Chabah"- which means hibiscus flower! I like it. Some people told me it's an old name and that Thais always like to give farangs old names (and names of flowers), but I don't mind. I like the way it sounds; it's better than some of the other funny names I've heard here, and it doesn't mean "frog" or "rat" or something similar. :)

A few Sundays ago we had a special service at church for Mother's Day (the queen's birthday). Ton did special songs w/ the kids, and they each presented jasmine flowers to their moms. Well, I was lucky enough to be a stand-in mom for a really cute little girl whose mom wasn't there! I was happy to do the job. She hugged me for a long time, and I just wanted to cry because she was so sweet. Actually, the whole service, I think, was the nicest one I've been to since I've been here. Some of the moms of the kids from our Saturday kids class came too, which was cool.

Last weekend Julia and I went on a short trip to Phuket to see Pia and for Julia to see some of the city. The other girls who are either staying at or hanging around Amber's house are so sweet and so much fun! We went shopping at the night market and had a girls' night on Saturday. On Sunday Julia and I went to Kata Beach, where the water is surprisingly- amazingly- clear. We didn't swim; we just walked around and then found a really nice coffeehouse called "Summer." Then we got on the wrong bus (because when I asked the bus driver, he said that the bus DID in fact go to Bang Niang...), got off, and got on the right bus to go home.

A spoonerism and a nail in Paul's foot

2008-07-30T23:20:00.002+07:00

Paul said a couple of funny spoonerisms today, but the only one I can remember is "it's not that the sin was fruitful, but..." (he meant: it's not that the fruit was sinful...).

A conversation between me and Ton the other day went like this (in Thai, which is why it turned out so funny):

Ton: Where did you go eat with Kim?

Me: the Viking

Ton: Nice. Has Kim left yet?

Me: I ate pizza for dinner.

Ton: ???

Me: Wait, what did you ask me?

This is what happens when you try to learn a foreign language.

On a not-so- funny note, Paul stepped on a rusty nail at the beach yesterday while playing volleyball. It apparently went into his foot pretty far, but he continued to serve the ball after that! Then Megan drove him home on the motorbike, and he went to the clinic to have it cleaned and get a shot. He has a really good attitude though, and I'm amazed that he's still doing all his usual things while hobbling around a bit.

A big meal, a great family, new classes, and some time with Jeab

2008-07-22T22:15:00.009+07:00

Dinner with a few friends on Sunday night after soccer :)- and the Honeyman family with their two kids, from Bangkok

At Jeab's house

Rong (Jeab's husband), Ton, Liz! (she's visiting us for a few days)

the boys cleaning up after dinner on Sunday night

For the past three weeks, there was a lovely family from Bangkok staying here at Step Ahead-the Honeymans, with their two children and their nanny. The husband is American and the wife is Thai. Paul and Yeewa Honeyman helped us out with several things around Step Ahead: Yeewa helped Megan translate her surveys, visited the preschools, and she taught the kids in Lam Kaen in my and Pia's place while I was in Phuket. They were so kind and generous, always encouraging us and genuinely concerned about our well-being. Sunday was their last night here, and Paul and his oldest son joined us for soccer at the beach, and then they treated all of us (almost 20 people!) to dinner at Step Ahead. We were sad to see them go on Monday morning!

Our friend Liz, one of the British girls who taught here for two months but is now working in Bangkok, is visiting us for a few days this week! It's been so great to catch up with her. Unfortunately El couldn't come, because she's with her brother and sister at Koh Samet.

New classes started this week, and my English classes are too small, but my German class has 8 people! I had so much fun with those students today. My evening English class is quite unique because I have two ladies who each bring their kid to class! So it's 3 adults and two kids, and one of the kids, who is half Danish, can already speak English so well. He was in my Step Ahead kids' class over the school break! And the little girl is half German. She's adorable.

Tonight Jeab, our housekeeper, invited us from Step Ahead, plus Ton and Momay, to her house for dinner. God has been working in great ways in her life, and I learned from Benz tonight that Jeab has put her faith in Christ! God is also bringing healing and reconciliation in her marriage, and it was wonderful to see a genuine love and happiness between her and her husband. He's not a believer yet. After dinner, we talked and laughed for a long time (Momay and Ton were being very silly- as usual), and then we prayed together for God to bless Jeab's family.

A chat with Dinay. A changed life.

2008-07-18T22:56:00.004+07:00

Megan and I made the rounds in our neighborhood tonight on our way to the beach, stopping off for a while at Gan's to share some of our pictures of Koh Yao Noi with her, since she's adding Koh Yao to the list of tours she offers at the Green Biking Company, then saying "sawat dee ka" to the ladies at the massage shops and the guys who work at the yellow Italian restaurant, and after a few minutes at the beach (it was already late- like 9:15), stopping to chat with Dinay at his tailor shop. It's been so exciting to see him grow in his new faith in Jesus. It's so much fun to meet with Dinay whenever I have time to stop for a while. His face beams radiantly every time I see him, and he's so joyful. He's been reading the Nepalese Bible, which I had asked the Honeymans (a family helping out at Step Ahead right now) to bring down from Bangkok, every day. Last week I asked him if he had ever read the Bible before, and he said "no, this is the first time!" He is amazed by the story of Creation and the stories of Jesus in the gospels (he read John first). This week he said he went to Krabi for a few days for his cousin's wedding and that while he was there, he read his Bible aloud to some of his relatives. One of them was really interested and has kept asking Dinay if he's still reading the Bible.

Dinay likes percentages. Tonight he said several things that made me and Megan crack up. It went something like this:

Bri: "Is it as clean in Nepal as it is in Thailand?"

Dinay: "Oh no, it's about 20% as clean as Thailand."

Bri: "Really?"

. . . .

Dinay: "I'm too dark. I wish my skin were whiter."

Megan: "I wish I were dark like you! Does my skin look darker than when I came here?"

Dinay: "Oh yes, I think you're about 20% as dark as me."

(this makes perfect sense in his mind)

. . . .

Megan: "How many languages do you speak?"

Dinay: "About 5: Nepalese, Burmese, Thai, English, and a little bit of Italian. Thai about 60-70%. English about 60-70%. Italian only about 20%."

I might have gotten some of the details incorrect. I have a bad memory. But it was funny.

Phuket

2008-07-17T15:50:00.003+07:00

Amber, Pia, and Amanda

We found a Swiss restaurant!

me and Bua at her favorite coffee shop
)

at Rajabhat (sp. ? University in Phuket)

Chinese steamed buns and hazelnut steamed milk- yum!

I'm sitting at Amber's house in Phuket, listening to the rain while Pia relaxes on the couch next to me. This week has been such a great time to truly wind down after a busy class term and some unnecessary visa excitement last week- which worked out absolutely WAY better than I could have expected. To make a long story short, while talking to Kim, my director's wife, on the phone, she asked me what was the exact date that my visa expires, and.... when I looked at my passport, it was that very day! Exactly one month after my last visa run in June. It had been stamped wrong, which somehow escaped my attention. But Benz called around and talked to people for me, and I found out that I wouldn't be deported or have to pay a big fine, but I'd just have to go to Ranong and get it re-stamped the next day. Praise the Lord! Amber had planned to rent a car anyway to pick up some of Pia's stuff, because she is in transition and will probably be moving up north to do some different work, so she ended up driving me (with Pia) all the way to Ranong, and then back to Phuket! Ten hours in the car. The great thing is that in Ranong, I didn't even have to go on the boat! I simply walked up to the counter, explained as best I could in Thai what had happened, got my passport re-stamped and left! It was the fastest trip to Ranong ever.

So for the past week (which ended up being a longer stay in Phuket than I'd planned), I've been able to spend some great time with Pia and Amber and her family. We've done very little; honestly I've been content to sleep in, pray and read a lot, play guitar, and help Pia think through some issues. She will most likely be going up north near Hua Hin to do some new work. I'll miss her so much. She's been one of my closest friends the whole time I've been here. Another cool thing I got to do was get to know Bua, the only Campus Crusade staff in Phuket, and visit her university and talk to her about her ministry. Bua lives with the Griffeons (Amber's family) and goes to their church. Cru recently moved all of their staff to the bigger cities, so all of the staff in south Thailand, except for Bua, are now in Hat Yai. She really has a heart for Phuket, so she asked to stay and do her master's program in Phuket.

Island Adventures

2008-07-15T17:47:00.005+07:00

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

On the 4th of July weekend, Paul, Carter, Megan and I went to Koh Yao Noi, an island close to Phuket. I have to say that it was pretty much the most fun trip I've been on the whole time I've been in Thailand! It was an adventure from start to finish. We took the bus to Phuket, got off at the roundabout, and then tried to find a song thaew (taxi) to the pier, but we couldn't find one, so we hitchhiked. (Not as dangerous as it sounds- Paul assures me that he does it all the time, and he grew up in Asia). We sat in the back of a pickup truck and got there in no time. We caught a speedboat to the island, just about 30 minutes away. While on the boat, Paul made friends w/ a girl who let us get on her truck that was waiting for her at the pier, and they took us around to find a bungalow. We settled on a cute one with hammocks in front and a lot of privacy. The tide was way out, so the beach didn't look too nice, but that didn't matter b/c we could drive to another beach. We rented two motorbikes, and I got my most extensive driving experience since I've been in Thailand- before that I had only driven to the beach and on the small roads near the beach. What I didn't expect was that I'd be driving off-road, through the mud, and up and down very steep hills. That was on the 2nd day, when we went in search of the elusive "Paradise Resort." But I discovered that this type of driving was beyond my capability as a new motorbike driver with a passenger on the back (bless Megan's heart, she was brave), and on a very steep downhill part, we landed in a hole! Nobody was hurt, but I broke my flip-flop and Megan and I had a good laugh about it.

Another funny instance was when we went to the beach at night to collect firewood and made a fire, but we underestimated how far the tide would come back in. We were lying there, enjoying the stars and the fire when we heard water coming nearer and nearer... so we ended up wading back to our bungalow in water that was higher than my waist! Megan and I were kind of freaked out about it, which resulted in nervous but constant laughter the whole way back!

On Saturday afternoon we found a beautiful beach with no one on it except the four of us, and on Sunday morning we went sea kayaking out to a little sandbar with gorgeous white sand. The island itself is just a small local village, and it's not touristy at all, especially compared with Koh Phi Phi and Koh Similan. That's probably why I liked it so much.

On the way back, the adventures weren't over yet. As we were walking out of the pier road to hitchhike back to the roundabout, I had to sacrifice my freshly-cut mango to a band of vicious monkeys that surrounded me and would have attacked me! They were small, but I wasn't about to tangle with about 10 monkeys with sharp teeth! And then we returned home in a bus- made for maybe 40 people- but filled with 100 or so! It was the fullest bus I've ever been on in my life. I sat on Megan's lap, and people were sitting 3 to a seat and standing up from front to back, with about 13 people in the front area gathered around the driver.

June- the YWAM team month!

2008-06-20T14:13:00.005+07:00

Tobi and Arnaud baptizing Dini, a Nepalese guy who just accepted Jesus

Washing dishes at church w/ Erin and Arnaud

Teaching German with Tobi, from Switzerland

Visa run to Burma w/ the team

Praying for church members

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

I think that the month of June has possibly been the best month that I've had here at Step Ahead in many aspects. At the beginning of the month, a YWAM team with 13 people from a snowboarders' DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Davos, Switzerland came to help out with various things, including teaching classes, visiting and praying for church members, teaching English and hygiene with Pia at the Moken Village, and doing a bit of construction work at Pak Ping Church. At first I had some reservations about having such a big team come; I wondered how they would integrate here and whether there would be enough work for them to do... and quite frankly, how chaotic it would be w/ 13 extra people running around here! They're not sleeping at Step Ahead, but at a hotel right down the road from here, but they come here for all their meetings and spend a lot of time here during the day. I don't know how many times God will have to teach me this lesson, but every time I get anxious/worried about new people coming here, I am always surprised at how much they enrich my life, how much fun we have together, and how they seem to come at just the right time. And I think the feeling is mutual. Because I've been here for a while now and can speak some Thai, I've been able to help the team out as they navigate this area and culture!

At first I did feel a little overwhelmed with all these people. I wasn't sure how to co-ordinate things so that they could help me with my classes, and I was hitting a brick wall in my lesson planning. Also, honestly, I'm starting to feel tired of having so many short-term relationships: I meet people for a short time, we just start to get to know each other, and then they leave again. That is the nature of my work at Step Ahead, and not only that, it is the nature of my lifestyle for about the past 8 years of my life! (since college and afterward). It makes me feel like: why do I even want to put in the effort anymore? Why would I want to connect w/ ppl and then they (or I) leave? I received some of the best advice ever from Arnaud, the Dutch guy on the team, as we talked for a long time one evening about it. He said, "learn to be a friend wherever you go and whatever you do." It's so simple, but it made perfect sense. And I am so thankful for those whom I love back at home who keep up with me in spite of the distance. It's not the same as being able to talk to you face-to-face, but Skype helps a lot, and it provides a bit of stability in my crazy life. Though I find it tiring sometimes, I must say that I'm also happy with my life and definitely wouldn't change my decision to come here.

I haven't been able to join the team for all of their activities, of course, but here are some of the highlights from the team's time here so far:

having Tobi, a Swiss German, help me teach German class! It has been so fun co-teaching, and he has great ideas and interacts so well with the students. Arnaud has helped out with German class, too, and I think his Dutch accent adds a fun element. :) The English classes w/ the other volunteers have been more lively and funnier than usual, too! We did a lesson on describing physical appearance last night that had us and the students nearly in tears from laughing so hard.
seeing a lady at our church relieved of her backache after we prayed for her
having evening prayer & Bible study meetings (in English!) a couple times a week
our visa run to Burma together- doing it w/ the team was 100x better than doing it by myself, and I wasn't motion sick this time! (Evelyn sent me some magnetic wristbands which must have helped)
getting to see Dini, a Nepalese guy that Tobi, Arnaud and Rev led to Christ, baptized in the ocean this week!
Saturday morning pancake breakfasts with the team
watching late night soccer matches- the Euro Cup! Playing spoons, laughing a lot together.
big soccer matches at the beach! We had about 18 ppl playing one Sunday!
the simple love and heart of service that I've seen in the team members.

I'll close on that note for now. There's only about a week left, and then I anticipate a sad good-bye.

good-bye to El and Liz... sniff

2008-05-10T18:57:00.002+07:00

I have to say that one of my highlights from this week was during the kids' class when El accidentally threw a pink sock right at my face! We were doing a lesson on clothing, and El, Liz and I did a silly fashion show where we put on all sorts of clothes (over our clothes, of course) and then, when she was taking off a sock and trying to throw it in the bag, she missed and hit my face.

I don't have any new pics to post yet, but I will soon. I've taken some, but it's been a busy week and I didn't have the chance to upload photos from last night before leaving for Bangkok (which was very early this morning!). Now I'm sitting in the Quinleys' living room, relaxing and updating my blog! It's been a whirlwind week, and I am glad that I didn't have a lot of classes this term, otherwise this week would've been even crazier. It was El and Liz's last week in Khao Lak, so we tried to fit in as much as possible! Last Sunday after church, we went to Lampi Waterfall again and hiked up quite far until we found a very nice pool to swim in. We also found a natural rock slide, which Amnuey tried out first!

Then I had a test to write for my Lower Intermediate class and I had advertising to do for our new class term, since I knew I'd be gone all of the upcoming week. We always take a week break after a term to give us time for advertising. So I went out a couple days and passed out fliers at hotels and shops and made some good contacts with ppl who are interested in learning German.

I did a lot of baking this week too, because El and I had an end-of-term party for the intermediates on Wed.; I made banana muffins for that. Then it was Paul's birthday on Thursday, so I baked him a carrot cake. And for the party on Friday (El & Liz going away, end-of-term, + Paul's bday all together) I made banana chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.

On Thursday while I was at Bangsak Beach with a friend, I saw the YWAM team that will be coming in June to help us teach and do a few other things at Step Ahead! They're in a town about 20 minutes away doing construction work right now. They went to a DTS in Switzerland, and their outreach is in Thailand. Fortunately, there is one German speaker on the team, who I hope will be able to help me w/ my German class! There's also a Swedish guy, so I'm hoping he'll be willing to do a 4-week intro course in Swedish. In the evening, we went out to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner for Paul's birthday and then had carrot cake for dessert.

On Friday there were party preparations to be made, and lots more fliers to be passed out for classes. It rained heavily in the afternoon/ early evening, so we were worried that students wouldn't show up, but then it stopped! And we had about 35 ppl total, which was great. Lots of students. We played knights, horsemen, cavaliers (a hilarious game; if you haven't played it, ask someone to tell you about it). And I was really happy to see Mouy there, one of my dear students who comes over to cook and bake w/ me sometimes, but hadn't been able to attend class this term b/c her kids were off school. She said she'll be returning to study at Step Ahead in the next term. After everyone had left, El, Liz, Benz and I blasted some music and had a dance party. It was so funny. But I went to bed late and got up this morning to leave at 6.30 for an early flight. I'm gonna miss those girls so much. But it wasn't actually good-bye yet, b/c the two of them plus Benz are coming up to BKK on Monday, and then we'll hang out together on Tues./ Wed.- go see the Grand Palace, Siam Square, and visit the YWAM base and Ban Jai Dio (a student ministry house). Things will be different when I return to Step Ahead and the girls aren't there! I'll miss them so much. But we're supposed to be getting an American girl pretty soon and maybe a few others in the summer as well. It's hard when things are always changing, though; ppl always coming and leaving.

Massive waves & a fish that followed El home

2008-05-03T23:09:00.004+07:00

the fish that El "caught" in her hair. Much smaller than my fingernail.

Teaching the kids at church

For the past week, the waves have been absolutely massive! Earlier in the week, they were fun to just jump up with (they'd lift you about 3 feet off the ground). But yesterday and today, the whole ocean was just churning with crazy waves! Usually there will just be basically one wave that breaks on shore all along the length of the beach, but now they're breaking in many spots and going in different directions, too. I've never seen it so stirred up in the 7 months that I've been here! Yesterday El, Paul, Liz and I went to the beach in the late afternoon (as we usually do, to avoid the hottest part of the day), and all of them went in for quite a while to get battered about by the waves. I never ended up going in very far, b/c as soon as one came, it would knock me down and carry me along w/ it. Even when I tried to dive under them, they would still sweep me away! The whole shape of the beach has changed, too. Since the tide has been up so high, it has carved out some sand dunes and little hills and drop-off points, whereas it's usually just sandy (loose sand) and fairly flat. Pretty interesting. I've been told that the wind blows in the opposite direction during the low season, and that's what causes the waves to be so big, while the ocean is normally very calm during the high season. And it's definitely the low season (more about that in a minute!). When El got home tonight, as she was taking a shower, a tiny fish fell out of her hair! Apparently he'd gotten tangled up and couldn't get free, and then he went for a ride to Step Ahead. Unfortunately, he didn't survive the journey. I tried to take a picture, but it's so small that you can barely see it.

Low season: I realized that the low season has really started when, on Thursday morning, Liz and I ventured to Khao Lak (a 1/2 hour walk) in hopes of having a nice breakfast at Stempfer Cafe, a lovely German bakery/ cafe.... only to find that it was closed- until OCTOBER! I was pretty sad. I'd been looking forward to a nice European breakfast and a strong coffee (and buying some bread to take home). Even the small German bakery right down the road from us is closed, but I'm not sure if they'll be closed for the whole low season. Lots of shops and restaurants are closing around here for the next 5-6 months. It's becoming a ghost town! But I expect we'll still have plenty of students in the low season; Paul said they did last year.

I'm going through a phase where I'm kinda tired of Thai food. It seems like we eat the same stuff over and over (which we probably do at home too, but it's just different to eat the same foreign food over and over... not sure why). I was especially annoyed w/ Thai food when I got food poisoning 2 weeks ago- from a noodle shop where I had lunch- and threw up literally the whole night (I haven't thrown up in years; I have to be REALLY sick to actually throw up). I'm seriously thinking I need to learn how to make my own bread. I think I've had enough rice to last me a lifetime. But it's ok; I'll pass through this phase if I persevere. Also, my plan is to search out bagels and cream cheese when I'm in Bangkok... something I haven't eaten in 7 MONTHS! And I'll probably make a few trips to Starbucks as well.

On a happier note, my friend Pia told me that I can now read and write Thai at first-grade level! So I'm now about as smart as a 7-year-old Thai kid.

Songkran Step Ahead conference: hot weather, waterfights, and James Bond

2008-04-15T17:47:00.005+07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

"Yeah, it's always better when we're together..." I like this song a lot, and even though it's kinda just a cute romantic song, the chorus actually makes me think about how much better everything is when we do things together w/ friends- especially friends w/ a common goal, purpose, and faith in Christ. This past weekend we had a big conference during the Songkran (Thai New Year) holiday. The Step Ahead staff from Bangkok, the YWAM Thailand directors, and some good friends of the Quinley family joined us here in Khao Lak. I helped Jeab make lunch on Thurs. and Fri. as ppl were arriving, and on Friday we had a nice dinner at Chong Fah Resort, one of our local favorites. Then on Sat. we went to James Bond Island in Phang Nga Bay. It's just a little rock formation sticking out of the water, but it was featured in one of the 007 movies, so it became famous. But Phang Nga Bay is absolutely beautiful. (See pics). We went out on a boat (36 of us), and we went sea canoeing. Jeab wanted to ride in a canoe w/ me b/c I can swim. She was afraid of the water, but she still had a good time. We canoed through caves where we had to lie down flat in order to avoid hitting our heads. We saw some very strange creatures- half lizard and half fish. After that, we had lunch at a little Muslim village called Panyi which literally floats on the water. It's just a line of houses and little shops, a narrow pathway, and a mosque. Really interesting. Everybody had their doors open (it was really hot!), so you could look in and see ppl having their afternoon siesta on hammocks or mats on the floor.

On Sunday we had presentations about the different ministries of Step Ahead (microfinance, preschools, language teaching) and a worship service with some very nice music from the Porter family, who live in Bangkok and run a campus ministry house. In the afternoon, some people went to join the waterfights in Khao Lak (ppl pour buckets of water over each other and spray each other w/ water guns and hoses on Songkran). Then we headed to the beach and played ultimate frisbee (YAY for ultimate!). Another lovely meal at Chong Fah concluded our conference. But actually, it was probably the in-between-events times that I enjoyed the most. I really got to know John and Kim Quinley's 3 boys a lot better (they're 15, 16, and 18), and I met some other really neat ppl as well. A group of us spent time playing games (mafia, spoons, hide-and-seek), singing songs, chatting, laughing a lot, and making late night trips to 7-11. And it was really cool talking to Steve and Marie Goode, the YWAM Thailand directors, who have been in Thailand for 28 years. They're from Tennessee. Marie and I discovered something we have in common: motion sickness. Somehow, it was a little comforting to me to know that she has found ways to cope w/ this problem over many years in spite of her very mobile lifestyle. I could really identify w/ her when she said, "I wonder why God called me to this kind of life when I have to deal w/ this problem!" A lot of the people at the conference have worked in Thailand for many years, and so it was cool to hear some of their stories. The Quinleys worked w/ some of them in Phang Nga town when they were church-planting.

On Monday we went to Lampi Waterfall. It was so gorgeous. We hiked up a steep path in the forest in search of the best pool to swim in, found the perfect spot, and cooled ourselves off. On the way back down, we went down the rocks instead of through the forest. At one point we realized all the Thai ppl below were staring at us and laughing as we carefully made our way down a fairly steep and slippery part. I'm not sure what was so entertaining about it, but that's ok. We had a good time.

A different kind of Easter

2008-03-24T21:22:00.004+07:00

Decorating the church for Easter

Kids making papaya salad

Jeab in red! She's doing a lot better.

Two new Easter albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann . There's a lot to report on this entry, so grab a drink and snack (maybe some leftover Easter chocolate) and get comfortable. I'll number them:

making pad Thai with students

another visa run

Easter celebrated differently this year
Jeab's recovery!
jellyfish and soccer
kids' classes at Step Ahead

So here goes: 1) We had another great meal with the famous cook, Jit, who's been one of my favorite students ever since I got here. She and 3 other ladies, also students here, came over and showed us how to make pad Thai. However, even though it was the 2nd time around for me to watch, it's very complicated and I still don't think I could do it on my own. It was probably the best pad Thai I've ever eaten- Taste of Thai, sorry- NO comparison. :)

2) Ok, this visa run takes the cake for number of complications and severity of motion sickness. To make a long story short, on the bus ride to Ranong, I had the barf bag out and ready (though I'd taken some motion sickness meds, a new kind though), but by an act of God I managed not to throw up. I thought I'd die. I wanted to. For the motorcycle taxi which drove me a total of approximately 15 minutes- but waited for me while I went on the boat- I paid 4x the amount of money I paid to take a two-hour bus ride from Kuraburi to Ranong! Then I was put on a boat w/ 2 Swedes, a Philipino lady and her cute little daughter, which would've been no problem except that they wanted to stay in Burma and shop for about 2-3 hours, whereas I wanted to head straight back to Ranong- as soon as possible. The boat guys wanted me to take the same boat back w/ them, but I said absolutely not- I had dinner plans that evening w/ the Australian family I'd stayed w/ in Kuraburi! After paying a bit extra in baht for having a $10 bill that wasn't "new and crisp enough," according to the Burmese officials who stamped my passport, I thought I was ready to return to Ranong. As punishment for not wanting to return on the same boat as the Swedes and Philipinos, they put me on the slowest boat, which stopped approximately every few meters to pick up Burmese and Thais. We must've had 15 people crammed on that little fishing boat. The whole boat trip including the haggling over the $10 bill on the Burmese side took 3 hours; it should've only taken 1. On the bright side of all this, I met a nice German guy on the bus ride back, and I had a lovely time w/ the Austrlian family in Kuraburi. I stayed 2 nights w/ them, and they had 2 guests from their home church who were helping w/ a water project in a nearby village. We played a fun dice game the first evening and went out to eat the 2nd evening. I love spending time w/ the Higgs, who are so sweet and so much fun. We seem to have similar preferences in books and theology as well. On the final leg of my journey back to Bang Niang, the bus driver asked for my phone number- but he asked one of the bus attendants to ask me for it. I didn't give it to him, but when I was waiting at the front to get off at my stop, I had a good laugh w/ the 2 bus attendants and the driver, and they complimented me on my Thai. They asked me how many years I'd been here already. :)

3) On Saturday, we had an especially fun morning w/ the kids at church. After some songs and teaching, they cooked lunch! They did a great job. And we decorated the church together. On Sunday morning, we had a candlelight sunrise service and ate rice porridge w/ garlic, ginger and cilantro for breakfast (have you ever had rice porridge on Easter morning?). We sang songs- really funny too, b/c they didn't sound like hymns or traditional Easter songs; they sounded like oldies- I mean 60s rock! And we played a game where we passed around a plate of boiled eggs, chopped in half and w/ candles stuck in them, and when the music stopped, whoever was holding the plate had to eat one and feed one to his neighbor on each side! Then we went home between services and had our usual service at 10. That was really nice. The kids- including the ones from our Saturday class- sang a special song- "prajao bpen kwam rak"- God is love. Paul's brother Mark was visiting for a few days, so it was really nice to get to know him a bit as well. Now he and Paul are off traveling in Chiang Mai.

4) Jeab, our housekeeper, has recovered for the most part! Praise God. She came to the Easter services and today was her first day back at work at Step Ahead.

5) I've been playing soccer w/ the boys at the beach lately, which is great. I really, really miss doing competitive sports, but I find it really hard to organize people to do anything here. Benz played tonight, too, which made me glad to not be the only girl. Unfortunately, after the first match we all went into the sea and I got stung by a jellyfish in about 5 different spots. These jellyfish are not dangerous ones, but it sure did hurt anyway! There were never any jellyfish around the first 5 1/2 months that I was here, but for some reason, there are lots of them right now. Almost everybody has been stung- Paul, El, and some of Paul's friends who were visiting.

6) Lastly, Liz and El are teaching a kids' class at Step Ahead while the kids have their vacation from school. It's great! Today was the first day. Jit's kids are studying w/ us, too.

Done!

Featured Friend- Ton!

2008-03-07T23:43:00.007+07:00

Ton with a bunch of kids from our Saturday church class

handing out prizes at Children's Day

I think Ton is the favorite emcee for any church event! (this was the Christmas gathering)

Teaching the kids some fun songs

Name: Ton (his first name is Prateep, which is Peter in English, but I can't remember his last name)

Age: 26 (exactly one month younger than me)

Interests: Jesus, teaching kids, teaching the Bible and Thai- as of recently :) , playing guitar, taking pictures, drinking coffee, playing soccer, driving a motorcycle.

Ton is such a unique person. When I first saw him, I wouldn't have guessed that he was the pastor of a small house church (that I would later attend). He looks like a rock star, for one thing, and he's really young to be a pastor! The first few times I saw him, we didn't say much at all because I couldn't speak any Thai and he only spoke a little bit of English! But a couple of months later, he became my language partner and we've had LOTS of laughs, lots of fun, and we've learned a lot together. He is such a good teacher, and he's learned quite a bit of English, too. And he has become one of my best friends here. Quite unexpectedly, I've organized two Thai classes for him to teach, and I'm helping explain things to our German students. We'll start a second Thai class next week at Step Ahead if everything goes as planned!

Ton is from northern Thailand (Chiang Rai) and he came here after the tsunami to pastor this small house church in Lam Kaen. He also worked with Siam Care, an NGO that helped children after the tsunami. I admire his commitment to God and his kindness and heart to serve and love people. He is outgoing and friendly and very funny- very silly sometimes. He has a huge smile and an infectious laugh. He takes special care to make sure that new people feel comfortable, which I really appreciate. Sometimes I don't understand his stories. And sometimes he drives me crazy. But I feel really blessed to know him.

End of Term Class Party!

2008-02-28T22:41:00.005+07:00

My lower intermediate class, left to right: Jeab, Amnuey, Kerk, me, Jit, Mouy, Barsan

They brought so much food!

And Mouy brought a cake.

Kerk eating a Chinese steamed bun. I love this picture!

This is why I love my job. Not actually because my students bring us lots of yummy food and cook with us & for us, but because they like to spend time with us at Step Ahead! Yesterday was the last day of this 8-week term at Step Ahead, so I told my class that we could have a party, and I'd bake chocolate chip cookies, and they could bring something if they wanted. But they went all out! They brought all sorts of food: several different kinds of fruit (rose apples, bananas, longan), dried seaweed, Weet-a-bix, cake, a couple kinds of steamed Chinese buns, and nuts. We sat around eating and talking for about an hour, and then I gave them their final exam. After they finished, they decided it was time to eat again! Somebody ordered sticky rice and spicy pork salad, and we went back to the table and ate lunch. It was really relaxed and fun. I am always happy to see that our students feel comfortable just hanging out at Step Ahead. The young boy in the picture just above (Kerk) is the nephew of the tall man on the far right (Barsan), two pictures up. I think it's great that uncle and nephew are studying together! They work together at a photo shop down the road in Khao Lak. Occasionally Paul and I stop by to see them there if we're out and about in the evenings. This group has been my favorite class since I've been here. It was quite small last term, but a few more joined this time, and we've had a solid core of about 7 students who never or hardly ever missed class at all. I am so excited to see their progress; several of them understood very, very little of what I said when I met them, and now all of them understand a lot! And they can speak much more, too. I love language learning, because it's something you can see tangible results with.

Hooray for bike riding! & first Thai lesson with Germans

2008-02-25T22:07:00.002+07:00

Yesterday after church, I was a little bored b/c there was no one around at all. Paul had gone to Bangkok for the weekend, Amnuey had gone to Koh Nok, and Benz had gone to dinner with some people from her church. Then I remembered that Amnuey had repaired an old bicycle that I could use! So I went out on my first bike excursion by myself! I felt so free. It reminded me so much of the old days when I used to go out for hours-long bike rides by myself in Salzburg. I explored just about every corner of the city on my bike, almost no matter what the weather was. And I loved it. It was a great adventure. Somehow, I couldn't really feel lonely on my bike. I felt close to God and close to nature. I could stop anywhere I wanted to; I could go to a little cafe and enjoy a hot cup of coffee on a cold day. I could bike up challenging hills (and partway up Gaisberg Mountain) or on the flat road alongside the river, which led out to other towns.

Well, this bike ride wasn't quite like those times in Austria. There are no bike paths here, and it's not really safe to ride along the main road, so a bike can't be my main form of transportation. But every time I set out by myself on a long bike ride, I always reminisce a bit. This bike trip had one thing in common w/ my bike rides in Austria: the bike was really clankety and rickety, and too small! As I soon discovered, I couldn't shift gears! Well, I could shift up but unfortunately not back down. That made it a hard ride up the hills. I had to go old school and stand up to pedal. I rode out a small country road that goes through the rubber tree plantations and out to the waterfall (the one I've been to a few times already). I didn't ride all the way to the waterfall b/c I didn't have a watch and I thought it'd be getting dark soon, but I rode to the reservoir. It was a cloudy day and late in the afternoon, so it wasn't very hot at all, just a bit humid. I loved it. I realized how much I've missed bike riding since I've been here, especially since I don't drive either, and I feel a bit stuck.

Today was our first German-Thai lesson: me, Ton, and four Germans. Boy, did we ever laugh! All four of them were so funny and good-natured and interesting to talk to. My brain got all mixed up as I tried to understand everything Ton was saying and then translated it into and explained in German (but really, it worked out well for the most part. Occasionally I turned to Ton and spoke to him in German, and then he gave me a confused/ amused look). I am really happy about this opportunity to help Ton (earn some money), to use my German in a challenging way, and to get to know some nice people. It's good to be connected to the German community here. A lot of them stay here for half the year or longer (they are retired). I encouraged them to all buy the same book, one that has German and Thai, so that Ton will know what to prepare beforehand, and they will have a better idea of what's going on in class. It is hard to learn a language that has a different alphabet, so you have to learn by trying to distinguish the sounds as best you can and writing them down the way they sound.

Featured Friend- Benz!

2008-02-25T21:11:00.005+07:00

These are old pics but some of my favorites. Good times. Pic #1: at the sticky rice restaurant

Pic #2: at Khao Lak National Park Restaurant, my first month here!

Pic #3: my birthday, of course! What would a birthday be without chocolate cake?

Name: Benz (Isariya Ar-ngee- one of only a few friends whose first and last names I actually know)

Age: 25

Interests: traveling, learning foreign languages and being friends with foreigners, translating (she is quite impressive at this), YWAM, Jesus, being a tour guide (sometimes), sports, being un-Thai, laughing loudly (even more loudly than I do) and singing loudly all over the house, showing ministry teams around Thailand and driving us around in the Step Ahead-mobile, doing anything that's new and fun.

I don't think Benz is afraid of anything. She is not shy at all; in fact, she has a loud personality. Another friend of ours told her to "tone it down" in public, haha! She is strong-willed and determined. I am always impressed at the energy and ambition with which she tackles new tasks. She perseveres. She loves a challenge and doesn't like to be bored. Benz is from the far north of Thailand, close to Chiang Rai (most of my friends are from the north). She is from the Akha hill tribe, which is mostly Christian. Benz's mom is really cool. She visited here and cooked all sorts of delicious northern food. Lots of people think she is Benz's older sister b/c she looks so young and she's very beautiful. Benz is beautiful, too. She says things straight, exactly as they are on her mind. She is genuine. I don't have to worry about what she might or might not be thinking, because she tells me! Benz and I are very different, but I appreciate her very much.

Featured Friend of the Week- Pia!

2008-02-24T20:59:00.004+07:00

Not bad!

Pia getting some instructions from another golfer

The golf ball actually left the ground this time (which was progress for me).

I do not know how to swing a golf club.

I've had the idea for a while to feature one of my friends each week (or at least, every so often) on my blog so that you (my readers) can get to know some of the lovely people I get to spend time with here. But then I got pretty busy and didn't post on my blog for a while. So here goes: hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it!

Name: Pia- this sounds a bit more like a "b" than a "p;" but we don't have this letter in English. It gave me a lot of trouble at the beginning, but I think I can say it now. They don't really talk about last names in Thailand, so I don't know most of my friends' last names.

Age: 29 (they do, however, talk about age all the time)

Interests: spending time with and teaching kids, laughing and having fun, being adventurous- trying new things... like golf, drinking coffee, being outdoors, watching sunsets on the beach, knowing God and encouraging others to know Him.

Pia and I have a blast together no matter what we're doing. We laugh together until we almost cry. She is from northeastern Thailand. Thai is not her first language; she is from a people group called Gui (but I'm not sure if that's how it's spelled). She came here in 2005, after the tsunami, to work with We Love Thailand (the umbrella organization that included all Christian organizations who were helping with the relief efforts). Now she works for an independent ministry. Her vision is to build a ministry house where she can have kids come and stay with her, and she can help them with their homework and teach them from the Bible. She is also involved in community development projects, including a mushroom farm that is just getting started. Pia speaks English really well, and she often translates for me at church. But she helps me a lot with my Thai, too. Pia is better at golfing than I am.

Going to Phuket to see a dog's tooth?

2008-02-22T22:54:00.003+07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann
I'd like to open this entry with a story about language learning. During my Thai lesson this week, due to a slight mix-up in vowel sounds, I told Ton that I'd be going to Phuket next week to visit a dog's tooth. What I meant to say was that I'd be visiting a dentist. Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I'd made a big mistake. Ton cracked up. During a lesson about prepositions today, Ton told me that the chairs were above the table. :) I got a kick out of that and had to demonstrate by holding a chair above the table, just for fun.

Unfortunately, the tooth that gave me so much trouble last summer has reared its ugly head again. It doesn't hurt that much, but it's about the same as last time, and the dentist told me I had a low-grade infection. Then I had the root canal redone by a specialist and hoped it wouldn't give me any trouble abroad. Fortunately, I've heard that there are some really good dentists and doctors in Thailand. John Quinley recommended a friend of a friend in Phuket, so I've made an appointment. I hope it won't be too expensive.

Interestingly, I managed to organize a Thai class for Ton to teach without exactly intending to! A while back, a German lady named Monika came to Step Ahead and asked me if we offered Thai classes. I said no, but that I wished we did. She came back again last week, and I suggested she sit in on my lesson w/ Ton the following week and then we'd see if we could learn together. About halfway through our lesson, a German guy showed up who also wanted to learn Thai! So I invited him to sit in for the rest of the lesson. Monika has two other friends who want to learn Thai as well, so starting next week, we'll have a class of four Germans, a Thai teacher and a teaching assistant. We'll meet on Mondays for two hours with a break in between. Ton will start at the very beginning with them, and I'll help by explaining some things in German as needed. I think this will be fun, it's a good way for Ton to earn a bit of money, me to brush up on my German, and for me to review the Thai I've learned already. And then I'll continue to meet with Ton on Wednesdays and Fridays to learn Thai.

Paul's parents visited for a few days. They were so sweet and funny! His dad has a really different accent. He preached at church last Sunday. We spent some time cooking and eating together, and Paul, his mom and I went shopping in Khao Lak for an evening.

I am really happy that I've been able to spend a lot of time with Pia lately. She is such a neat person, and it's wonderful to finally have a Thai (girl) friend that I can really connect with. Last Saturday, after teaching, she, Ton and I went to a nice restaurant at Tablamu Pier and had lunch, looking out over the water. Pia anad I spent the whole afternoon there, enjoying the ocean breeze. On the way back home, she took me on the Navy Base to see the beach there. Then we got the spontaneous idea to hit some golf balls at the driving range! Wow, I stink at golf. I'm amazed that I can swing and hit the ground instead of the ball about 7 out of 10 times. We had good fun, though.

Having Guests, Similan Islands, and other adventures

2008-02-14T23:42:00.004+07:00

Similan Islands

Whitney and I- does it get any dorkier than this?

Teaching the kids at church

Ton with the motorbike loaded with kids!

It's been ages since I last blogged! Here's a link to several new photo albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

So much has been going on that it's hard to know where to start! Well, first of all, there was a happy end to May's story (the girl who was living at Step Ahead, separated from her husband in Singapore due to visa problems). She hadn't heard anything for months about getting her visa to join her husband, and then one day, the letter that she needed came! Her husband flew here the next day, stayed for two nights, and we got to send them off with prayer and encouraging words. May (and her husband) joined us for our morning devotion for the first (and last) time, and then they cooked a huge Chinese meal for us. I miss May, but I'm happy that God answered our prayers for her to be able to return to her husband.

We've had lots of visitors at Step Ahead in the past two weeks, which has been really fun, and really encouraging- to have fellowship with English-speaking Christians. First we had Nick and Paula from Oregon. They're doing a trip around the world. Benz knew Nick from his DTS outreach in Chiang Mai six years ago. They were so nice, fun, and just easy to get along with. We made chocolate chip cookies three nights in a row! We went to the beach and played volleyball with some of Paul's friends who work at a hotel there, and I got a swollen, bruised wrist (I must've hit the bone; it's better now though). Paul, Nick, Paula and I stayed up late trying to solve the world's problems, and they helped me teach a really fun lesson at the Sarojin. We went to a waterfall (same one we went to with Gaan recently).

Then Whitney escaped the frigid cold of Xining and visited me for a week. We had lots of fun together! The highlight of her visit was our trip to the Similan Islands. Those pictures are definitely worth checking out if you want to see the most beautiful beach you can imagine (at least, it certainly was the most beautiful one I've ever seen!) I have never seen such clear water in my life. We went snorkeling and we climbed up a rock with a gorgeous view. We made friends w/ some ladies from Bangkok who spoke Chinese (Whitney chatted in Chinese, and I talked to a lady a bit in Thai). It was really neat to hear about Whitney's work, and we exchanged teaching ideas. She helped me with my classes as well. During Whitney's visit, we also had a girl from Chiang Rai come and stay at Step Ahead for two days. She's a friend of Ton and Chaiyot's, and she was a lot of fun too! Paul's parents are coming into town this weekend. For some reason, Feb seems to be the month for visitors.

The last thing for me to write about today is something I'm excited about: teaching the kids at our church. Last Saturday, Ton and I started teaching the kids from church, plus quite a few neighborhood kids. He did some songs w/ them and a few other things I didn't quite understand, and then I did a short English lesson w/ them. This week Pia and I will teach together. She'll do a Bible lesson, and I'll do English (obviously, since I can't teach the Bible in Thai!). We had 18 kids the first week, and half of them were kids whose parents don't come to church! I think this is a great opportunity to reach out to the community.

Oh, and one more thing: I seem to have become an expert at miscommunicating things lately! For some reason, whether I'm trying to speak in English, German, or Thai, the messages that I think I'm communicating are not getting across (or also, people aren't communicating clearly w/ me). Usually funny situations are the result. And I normally take these things in stride. But today, for some reason, I'd had enough of it and was frustrated to the point of tears. There is a German lady who is possibly interested in joining my Thai lessons with Ton, which is cool. I talked to her on the phone (in German) and invited her to sit in on our lesson next Monday, but I said I needed to confirm it with Ton first. He said sure, and so I sent her a text message saying Monday was fine, but I abbreviated Monday, and she thought I meant for her to come the next day! So while I was at the Sarojin teaching today, Monika showed up for a Thai lesson! I am sure that Ton was thoroughly confused, but (Benz told me this later) he tried to do a lesson w/ her. It didn't work out very well b/c he doesn't speak much English, so he didn't understand what she was asking him. I had a good laugh when I heard about it, but then I actually just felt frustrated b/c I couldn't explain to Ton very well in Thai what had happened (well, I sort of could; Paul said "Bri, your Thai is brilliant! You should speak it with other people besides Ton!" I appreciate his encouragement). And this was the 2nd day in a row that a major breakdown in communication had happened to me (along w/ several other minor ones this week). Oh well... it's all part of living in a foreign country.

Wan Dek (Children's Day)

2008-01-22T12:17:00.000+07:00

Ton and I handing out prizes to kids after they played darts or basketball

Benz taking down names

I'm a little behind on blogging about this, but the Saturday before last, Step Ahead and Co. (as I'll now refer to the lovely group of people who spend lots of time here- mainly including Mae, Chaiyot, Ton, and then sometimes Sai, Pia, and Chompoo) got up early in the morning and loaded up the Step Ahead-mobile with games and prizes to take to Khuek Khak school for Children's Day. Children's Day is apparently a national holiday in Thailand (like Mother's or Father's Day). We set up darts and a mini basketball hoop, and the kids came to the prize booth where Ton and I were working after they had played the games. Each kid would tap me on the shoulder and tell me the number of points he/she had achieved. Then Ton would assemble the prize and I'd distribute them to eager kids, who had to "wai" and say thank you. (If you're not sure what a "wai" is, ask anyone who's been to Thailand. Or check out this photo: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann/JohnSVisit/photo#5125593616038410562

I'm not too sure about the point system, though. The prizes seemed not to vary much, regardless of the number of points, for example:

Kid: 15 points

Ton: 15, wow!

(Prize given= comic book and some sweets)

Kid: 27 points

Ton: 27, great!

(Prize given= comic book, some sweets, a drink)

Kid: no points

Ton: Aw, no points! No problem.

(Prize given= comic book and some sweets)

The kids were so cute, and we had a really fun time. The only spoiler was some large red fire ants. I had to have Paul go back to Step Ahead to bring me my tennis shoes b/c I was getting eaten.

Chiang Mai Trip Part II (traveling- read Part I FIRST!)

2008-01-10T12:36:00.001+07:00

Bangkok slum where Step Ahead works
Chiang Mai bike shop; I couldn't resist. It's just funny.
John at the Step Ahead Bangkok office

I have a few things to say about traveling around Thailand:

Buses are really cheap in Thailand.

Bus drivers drive like maniacs. The biggest vehicle rules the road, and buses pretty much take the cake. They speed up behind every car and then honk their horn to clear the path. Ridiculous.

I will NEVER take a bus again unless I find a more effective motion sickness medicine.

Flying is the fastest and probably safest way to travel here. Most expensive, but not too bad.

Motorcycles are probably the most dangerous way to travel, but definitely the most fun! (And I don't get sick on motorcycles.)

I took a 2nd class night bus to Bangkok, a TWELVE-HOUR-RIDE with seats that weren't particularly comfortable or spacious. Pun and I took a 2nd class bus b/c there were no seats available on any other bus; everything was fully booked b/c it was a holiday weekend; in fact, that is why there were no flights available, either. The one thing I can say about it is that it was cheap! Only about $15 (I can't remember exactly how much) to travel a great distance. When we arrived in Bangkok at 5.30 a.m., I was so dizzy, nauseous and out of it from having not slept at all that I could not even think about getting on another bus to Chiang Mai (a 10-hour-ride from Bangkok). So Pun very graciously invited me to her place, where I slept from 6-10 in the morning, showered, ate a little bit, and got to go to J & J Market, a really cool outdoor market with tons of things to buy. Then I took another night bus to Chiang Mai, but a VIP bus, which was much better than the 2nd class bus. It had comfy seats that lean back really far, a movie, a toilet, and food served on board. On the way back to Bangkok from Chiang Mai, I took a first class day bus, which wasn't so great. The only differences between it and a 2nd class bus were a toilet and a little bit of food service. But the seats weren't very roomy or anything. And I was more motion sick on that bus than I've ever been in my life. I took a Dramamine before I left which, as usual, made me totally out of it. Whenever I take Dramamine, I might as well have drunk 5 or 6 beers, because it has the same effect on me. It works for several hours to keep me from feeling nauseous, but it makes me really drowsy and loopy. But then the problem is that I don't sleep anyway! So after the first 5 hours, I took another Dramamine, and when I was about an hour outside of Bangkok, my head was spinning and I was so nauseous that I seriously wanted to die. I hadn't eaten anything all day except an orange and a small bread roll early in the morning. I think a combination of several factors were at work: I hadn't slept enough, I hadn't eaten because I didn't want to get sick, but then maybe the Dramamine on an empty stomach was a bad idea. And then I was motion sick anyway.

After I got off the bus, I waited in a long line to catch a taxi and watched a taxi driver come racing between the lines of people, screeching to a halt and narrowly miss hitting a little kid! I was on and off my cell phone the whole time with John Quinley, who was explaining to me how to tell the driver in Thai the directions to their house. It took another 45 minutes through Bangkok traffic to reach the Quinley residence, but at least I was sitting in the front seat, so I didn't feel as bad as I did on the bus. I was so happy to see John and Kim's smiling faces when I finally got there. I was only able to eat a few bites of dinner, went to bed at about 8.30, and my head literally did not stop spinning until I'd slept a full night and woke up the next morning. Yuck. The next afternoon, I caught a flight on Air Asia from Bangkok to Phuket, which was pretty good! I wasn't sick at all on the plane, and it was only an hour and ten minute flight. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to arrive at a place and see somebody as I was when I got off the plane in Phuket and saw Paul and Amnuey. I am so grateful to be back at Step Ahead again. It feels like home more than it did when I left.

Chiang Mai Trip, Part I

2008-01-06T22:59:00.000+07:00

Chiang Mai, early morning
one of the temples

close contact with elephants

Three new albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann I'm starting classes again tomorrow, and this is going to be a busy term! I'm teaching 5 classes, all different levels and including 2 languages. Plus, I'll be meeting with my language partner starting next Monday for 3 hours of Thai and 3 hours of English per week. That will be great; I'm so ready to really start learning some Thai! (which is not to say that I haven't been learning it; I just haven't organized my learning in a focused way.)

Ok, I have so much blogging to catch up on that I've decided to report about my travels in two parts: one part covering what I did and the second part talking about the actual traveling, which was quite a journey- the NOT so fun side of things. Anyhow, I left on Saturday, a week and a day ago. I spent the day in Bangkok with Pun, a friend of Bea's, a girl from my church. I was grateful to have a traveling partner for at least half of the trip. I slept at her place for a few hours and then we went to J & J Market, a huge market with row after row of clothes shops, and then all sorts of other stuff- handcrafts, food, books, jewelery, etc. And cheap! I did some shopping there but really went shopping in Chiang Mai. I haven't shopped much at all since I've been here, but Chiang Mai was definitely the coolest place to shop.

My friend Nee picked me up at the bus station in Chiang Mai on Monday morning and took me on a quick tour of the city on the back of her motorbike. Chiang Mai is absolutely lovely! It's an old city with plenty of interesting things to see- the old city walls, temples, and mountains! I was so happy to see mountains. We have small ones in Khao Lak, but the ones up north are tall. The weather was perfect- chilly at morning and night, so I actually wore a jacket for the first time since I've been in Thailand. Nee was a great tour guide, and she booked a guest house for me to stay in, too. I got to enjoy some northern food specialties which they don't have in the south; they have these curry noodles that are to die for. And they sold strawberries everywhere- with a chili sugar mix! Yum. I really fell in love with Chiang Mai; I think my pictures will tell a good story, but here are some of the things I liked:

the walking street, a completely amazing outdoor market that sells beautiful things for really cheap

the night bazaar, crazy and chaotic, similar to the walking street but bigger and a bit more expensive

tuk tuks

used bookstores with English books

wonderful little cafes and restaurants; Chiang Mai definitely has the feel of a uni town

fireworks and floating lanterns for New Year's Eve! (I watched from the bridge over the Ping River, close to my guest house)

everything is much cheaper there than in the south!

I went elephant trekking and bamboo rafting about an hour outside of Chiang Mai (a must-do for anyone traveling in Thailand). I was pretty amazing at what those elephants could do- kick soccer balls, play harmonicas, paint pictures, "massage" people.

That concludes part 1; hopefully I'll be able to do part 2 tomorrow, but I envision a very, very busy week coming up.

Christmas outreach celebrations

2007-12-27T13:15:00.001+07:00

Paul and I manning the Step Ahead booth
I won a toaster oven at the gift raffle! Good for Step Ahead.

Ton emceeing
Benz emceeing
Pak Ping Church choir caroling

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann/ChristmasFestivalMarketplace

On Sunday we had a big Christmas celebration at Pak Ping Church. I was surprised at how many people showed up. Benz told me that in Thai culture, if an important person (a teacher, or someone with a title) invites people to an event, they feel obligated to show up! So I think that because Pastor Achara invited people personally, the whole front lawn was packed full. As always, we had dinner, and then there was a gift raffle, a skit, the choir sang, and a pretty neat dance number performed by some cute little boys in gold costumes. (a traditional Thai song and one that sounded Indian). But it is also Thai culture to have LONG meetings and ceremonies for hours on end, oh my goodness! I am absolutely meeting-ed out at the moment and am looking forward to a few days of actual rest. Even though this is supposedly vacation, it hasn't been one yet. But it's still been good.

The Christmas festival at the marketplace went well. Praise God, Benz has been feeling a lot better the past few days and was able to emcee as planned. She and Ton did a great job together, and Benz looked so gorgeous! I've never seen her so dressed up before. I was supposed to be an usher, which is why I had an official-looking badge, but nobody told me anything I was supposed to do, so I just stayed at the Step Ahead booth and talked to people about out new classes coming up, which was good. Quite a few people stopped by to learn about Step Ahead, and a few seemed really interested in taking classes. I enjoyed it. The event was not translated into English, so I didn't even try to pay attention to most of it, because my brain is TIRED from all of these long Thai ceremonies. Some things were pretty amusing, though, like when the little kids were on stage performing, the Jesus birthday cake, and Ton throwing stuffed bears to screaming teenagers. The director of the Bible school where Amnuey, Ton, Chaiyot, and Mae went gave the message. A lot of people attended, so I think a lot of people got to hear about the meaning of Christmas, which is cool. Some of our neighbors showed up (the couple who own the bar across from us, Geng from the bike shop), so Paul and I can continue to build relationships with these people. At the end of the evening, my number got called out, and s0 I won a toaster oven! I was standing next to Chaiyot listening to the numbers and was so surprised that mine was called! It's good for Step Ahead.

Now the Quinley family is visiting (John, Kim, and their 4 kids), so I can spend a few days relaxing and getting to know the kids. They are teenagers actually, not young kids. It is really nice to have them here. Carter, their oldest (only) daughter is sharing a room with me. She's a freshman at Univ. of Richmond. John and Kim do such a good job with Step Ahead. When they are here, I feel relaxed, because I know that I can bring any concerns I have about the center (or any concerns about life!) to them, and they often have solutions! They are like Bronson and Evelyn- older and wiser than me, resourceful, and committed to caring for people. I can see the same traits in their children, who seem very mature for their ages. Their oldest son, John John, is only 17 but he's already taught English courses by himself and helped on outreach teams in different parts of Thailand and (I think) Laos and Cambodia. I may be a little biased, but I think missionary kids are just the coolest.

Visa run to Burma wins prize for the most forms of transportation in one day!

2007-12-27T10:45:00.000+07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann/VisaRunToBurmaDec07

Ok, I have some blogging to catch up on! I'm going to post two entries today, but separately, about the visa run and then about the Christmas celebration. Last Friday I went for my much-dreaded visa run to Burma. It's not that I was worried about my safety; I feel really safe in Thailand, and Paul had just made the same trip about a month ago. I was more worried simply about traveling by myself in Thailand, not knowing the language- getting lost somewhere or stranded in the heat and not being able to communicate where I needed to get to, or getting motion sick on a bus or boat. In fact, I had a stomachache for two days before I left. On Friday I went to stay with some of Paul's friends in Kuraburi, on the way to Ranong. They are a wonderful Australian family. They picked me up because they had dinner in Khao Lak that evening. We drove through the hills, along windy roads and beautiful landscape, but it was mostly dark, so I didn't see it much until the morning. (I was sitting in the front seat, so I was fine). There are really tall mountains where they live! And their house was so nice! I took a bunch of pictures. I haven't been in a spacious, Western-style house with a large kitchen in 3 months, so I was surprised to realize that I've missed some things... like couches! They just don't really have couches here. They usually sit on the concrete floor, sometimes on little mats, or sometimes there are plastic chairs. Step Ahead has wooden chairs, but couches or comfortable reclining chairs are pretty much non-existent! Their house was all decorated so nicely for Christmas, too. I had a cozy little room to sleep in, complete with a library of John Piper and other great books. I went to bed early and slept better there than I've slept in 3 months, I think.

I was awakened early in the morning (5:00!), though, by the call to prayer at the mosque just down the street. I took that opportunity to pray for the people there. In the morning, we had a nice breakfast and read from Luke, and then I was off for my 2 hour bus ride to Ranong. I took a Dramamine, which helped me not feel quite so nauseous on the windy, mountain roads, but it also made me so drowsy and SO out of it; I might as well have had 5 or 6 beers! The bus let me out in Ranong, where I caught a ride on a motorcycle to the immigration station. There I picked up a departure form and caught another motorcycle to the port, which smelled strongly of fish (gross). There were a bunch of men with small fishing boats, and I thought, "is this official?" But this is actually how you do a visa run, so ok, I went along with it. I was in my own boat with a captain and a two little boys. We stopped at about 5 check points altogether, at one of which the little boy ran my passport up, and then I got off at the Burmese immigration station, where I paid 100 baht for some guy to walk with me from the boat over the bridge, just a few hundred yards or so (ha! I could've easily found my way alone). Not only that, I was sure that Paul didn't get fooled like that when he did his visa run (I asked him later; he didn't!). Anyhow, I got my little stamp (my passport is filling up with stamps quickly), walked back over the bridge and returned to Thailand. The Thai port of entry is really cool looking, with a big golden statue. The police searched my backpack there and eyed my tin of ginger mints suspiciously, and then we headed back to the port. The boat ride was actually quite nice; it was beautiful and relaxing. I was afraid I might get seasick, but actually it was not any different from going out on the lake with my parents.

From the port, I caught a song taow (sp?) back to the Thai immigration station. I just love the variation in prices for things, too; I was charged 100B to take a motorcycle from immigration to the port, and then 12B on the song taow the same distance- back to immigration! What?! Anyway. While standing in the (long) line with other farangs to get my re-entry stamp, I asked around to find out if there was any space available on one of the shuttle buses to Khao Lak (they go directly there, so you save lots of time). I met a nice English guy who said he didn't think there was room on the shuttle he'd taken, but fortunately for me, there was one space available! Unfortunately, in the very back seat though, so I took another Dramamine before we left. Again, I was pretty loopy from the Dramamine, so the good thing was that I wasn't aware enough of my surroundings to be nervous about the crazy driving which is the norm in Thailand. Apparently, when I called Paul, who was traveling back from Hat Yai the same day, he said I sounded really out of it- deadpan and talking really slowly. We laughed about it later; I asked him if I made any sense. Whew! And this is what all farangs who live in Thailand for longer than 3 months have to do- every 3 months! I left at 9.30 in the morning and returned at 6 p.m., worn out but happy for God's protection and blessings along the way, even though it was a trip I'd rather not have taken. I counted up 6 different forms of transportation in a 24-hour- period: car, bus, motorcycle, boat, song taow, shuttle bus.

Preschool visit and small Christmas meal w/ students

2007-12-20T22:14:00.000+07:00

Chanpen, Jit, and Mouy helping make a small Christmas lunch
Champu and an adorable little girl at the preschool
Kids playing tug-of-war

I am really enjoying my time off from teaching! I'm finding enough to keep me busy here this week, but it's nice to have a change of pace. On Wed., I visited my friend Champu's preschool (she is the head teacher there) in Lam Kaen. I've been planning to do this for a while but hadn't found the time. It's one of the 4 Step Ahead preschools. The head teachers are all really neat people; they meet here every Thursday. They had a Christmas party when I visited, so there were games and a gift exchange, a Christmas tree, lunch and ice cream. It was really fun.

On Tues. Benz and I went to Takuapa to get the cable boxes (T.V. cable, that is) fixed, and I thought I might do some Christmas shopping, but really there aren't any good shops in Takuapa. It's bigger than Khao Lak, but actually we have to go to Phuket to do any real shopping. Benz and Ton are emceeing the big Christmas outreach celebration that will take place on the 25th at the big boat that was washed on shore in the tsunami (it now serves as a memorial). So I helped her look for a dress to wear and tuxedo for Ton to rent, but I think that will be too expensive. We had lots of laughs that day; once again, I went to the wrong side of the car to get in, but this time, I fooled her also, and she was about to get in on the passenger side and then said, "oh man! You made me go to the wrong side! Since you went to that side, I just figured I should go to the other side." It seems like no matter how long I live here, I'll always get confused about which side of the car the steering wheel is on. John Quinley told me that if he's supposed to be driving and he goes to the wrong side, he just reaches into the glovebox to "look for something." That won't work for me though, since I'm never driving!

Today three of my/Paul's students came over to make a small Christmas lunch. We made basically the same stuff I made for Thanksgiving, just much less complicated, thanks to the stuffing mix I go in the mail (thanks!) and my decision to buy already cooked chicken! These three ladies, Jit, Chanpen, and Mouy, love to cook and we always have a great time together. I am so happy that they actually like to eat Western food! (a lot of Thais think Western food is gross).

Tomorrow Benz and I are going to Phuket, and the evening, I'll go to Kuraburi to stay the night w/ some of Paul's friends on my way to Ranong to do my visa run. That will take all day Saturday. And now I should go to bed before it gets too late.

Step Ahead Christmas Party

2007-12-15T18:55:00.000+07:00

Check out new pics and one short video: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann/StepAheadChristmasParty

Thanks for praying for our Christmas party! It was a huge success. The turnout was much bigger than I'd expected! (We had planned for a lot of ppl; we just weren't sure how many would actually show up). I don't know exactly how many came, but it must have been about 50. I think 6 or 7 students came (2 from my upper beginners class, the rest from Paul's beginners class). Our friend Gaan came, and she invited a friend also. Then we had Heather, Richmond, and Hope with us, who are traveling around the world and serving in different ministries. It was great, because they helped out a lot with preparations- cutting out shapes from cookie dough and decorating cookies, decorations, and then clean-up afterward.

I was the emcee for the night; Benz translated, and Paul gave a very good, clear message about the meaning of Christmas. Paul, Benz, Amnuey and I sang a song in Thai and one in English, and they did several more in Thai as well. It seemed like the students really enjoyed the singing; some of them sang along, too. I really enjoyed a couple of the Thai Christmas songs; they are very joyful and fun! During one of the songs, some of our goofball friends from church (Mae and Ton) turned the lights out, lit sparklers, and sprayed us with silly string from the second floor (which is why you can see green or white stuff in our hair in some of the pictures). We had SO MUCH food! We ordered from our next door neighbors, Joe and Tanya, who run a nice guest house and restaurant (we eat there a lot). The food was all delicious; we had phad Thai, green curry, a vegetable dish, and some kind of spicy pork with lettuce. It reminded me of having Thai meals at the Arkansas House, except even bigger! :)

We played a game called "pass the parcel," which is a little package with different layers that you pass around while the music is playing, but when the music stops, whoever is holding it has to peel back a layer and do whatever it says. Some examples: Hope had to rub baby powder on her face. One girl had to tell somebody she loved him (she told Paul, hehe). Somebody else had to do the chicken dance. It was hilarious and chaotic. After that, we did the gift exchange, which was also slightly chaotic b/c we didn't get the numbers quite right. Each person had to present their gift to someone by drawing numbers (it was more complicated than that, but that's the simplified version). I got a set of Tupperware containers for food, which was really practical! (Plus, they're pink, so I was happy). All in all, it was one of the best Christmas parties I've ever been to, and I'm happy that some of our friends who don't know Jesus had a chance to hear about why Christmas is so important.

Last day of classes, Christmas prep, cell group

2007-12-13T23:12:00.001+07:00

Two new photo albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq

Wow, it's been quite a while since I last blogged! Things have been so busy, but lots of cool stuff has been happening as we've just wrapped up our classes for this 8-week-term.

I can't believe it; I taught my last class today! Now I have a long Christmas break, which I had worried would be a little too long, but I've figured out now what I need to do to keep myself busy and happy. I still have not finalized my travel plans for Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Bangkok; it's a little complicated to find the best time. I think I will stay around here until Christmas and do my visa run in Ranong. Then I'd like to go up north after Christmas, but John and Kim and their family are coming down here, so I want to be here for their visit. So maybe I'll just be here for part of their visit.

I've started going to the cell group that Paul goes to (Ton's church), and actually, I'd like to switch to his church because I absolutely love it, but the only thing that makes me hesitate is that Paul would have to translate for me every time, and he needs a break from that. But actually, there are two other girls who speak English quite well who might be willing to translate for me some, too. I'd like to get to know them (Champu and Bea) better as well. But the point is also that I'm really wanting to focus on learning Thai now and building relationships with Thai people, so this smaller, less formal, wonderfully warm fellowship is a better fit for me. For the next term, I've switched my Wed. evening class to Thurs. evening to free up Wed. to go to cell group.

This week we did Christmas lessons, which was really cool because we had a great opportunity to share the Gospel with our students. With two of my classes, I read the story of Jesus' birth from Luke, and in two of them, Paul and I sang "What Child is This" (and he played guitar). I used the bridge illustration to show why Jesus is such an important person (not just a person), whose birthday we still celebrate 2,000 years after his life.

Last week I went on a really fun shopping trip to Phuket with Benz, Mae, and Ton. It was the king's birthday, so I didn't teach classes, and we really took advantage of our mid-week day off. We went to a store called Supercheap, which is the Thai version of Aldi. It was great, except it was boiling hot in there with no A/C! Oh, and I had my most interesting toilet experience in Thailand so far. We went to a shoe store on a little side street, and I wanted to use their bathroom. After I made my way to the back of the store through a maze of boxes and junk piled up, a crate with puppies, and there was the toilet: no stall, no curtain, nothing: just a toilet in the open surrounded by junk. No walls; behind the toilet was a very short sheet of metal for some privacy (but I could see right over it anyway) and behind it the alley. I did my business as quickly as possible. (but you start to find things like this amusing; it didn't actually bother me.) Then we went to the big mall to get some things for the Christmas party, for the gift exchange, etc. I didn't find everything I was looking for, but Paul found the cookie cutters (plus food coloring and sprinkles!) on the weekend when he went with Nuey.

Yesterday I started making cookies for the Christmas party w/ Jit and Chanpen; I made a triple batch of chocolate chip and a double batch of sugar cookies. I haven't baked the sugar cookies yet though; tomorrow morning I'll roll out the dough, cut the shapes, bake and decorate them. There are 3 Americans visiting here to see what Step Ahead is about. They're traveling the world, actually, getting involved w/ different ministries. Paul's taking them to the mushroom and orchid farms tomorrow, and afterwards I think they'll help me with the cookies.

I made my first curry w/out the help of my cooking partner, Jit, tonight! It was green curry, and I thought it tasted really good. I'm slowly learning how to cook stuff and I feel settled and very happy here. My stomach has been MUCH better for the past 1 1/2 weeks or so; thanks, everyone, for praying for me back at home. I'm eating normally again and I feel so much better. I'm still having trouble sleeping, though. Speaking of sleep, it's getting really late here. Signing off.

John's second visit; plans for this month

2007-11-30T16:12:00.000+07:00

Check out new pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann/ChongFahDinnerLoyKratongPingAndPumpkins These are some random pics from Benz's camera. My dad is sending me a camera which I hope will arrive before I go up north for Christmas break! I haven't finalized any dates yet, but I'm planning to go up north to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai for maybe 5-6 days to visit a friend, do a visa run, and enjoy some cooler weather! Classes for this term end Dec. 13th, and then we're having a big Christmas party at Step Ahead Dec. 14th. So sometime after the Christmas party (maybe the 16th or so) I'll head up north. I'll stop off in Bangkok to visit John and Kim as well, maybe both on the way there and back. I wasn't expecting (or perhaps hoping NOT to) spend Christmas day here in Khao Lak, but I think it looks like I will after all, because we have a lot of things going on here and a lot of good outreach activities; we'll do Christmas caroling in the area (at hotels and stuf), have the Christmas party at Step Ahead for our students, and then a big service for all the churches in the area, plus any visitors who want to attend, on the 25th. Though I am definitely sad to be away from my family/families (both my American and Austrian ones!) during the holidays, I am reminded that I'm here to serve and share Christ's love and hope, and there's no better time to do that than the Christmas season (except for maybe Easter). I thought everyone from Step Ahead would go home for Christmas, but I found out that 4 out of 5 of us, at least, will be here. I'm not sure about Ping, but I suppose she will probably stay here, too. Benz will be getting ready to take off for New Jersey for a year to do a cultural exchange program with a church there, so she's not going home until January.

John came down on Thurs. and had a short visit with us; he left again on Fri. afternoon. We had a really nice dinner together at the Chong-Fah hotel/ restaurant on the beach (I've included a few photos from that, but they didn't turn out so well). It was really good to meet with him, though. I am encouraged every time I talk to him. He's such a good boss. He's definitely the visionary type; he has tons of good ideas and is always optimistic about carrying them out! (or having them carried out). But at the same time, he really looks after the well-being of his volunteers and listens to any concerns we have. He encourages us to develop our talents and empowers us to step out in new areas. He and Kim are both like that, and I appreciate them so much, even though I only see them once a month for short visits. There are a couple of exciting new projects/ things coming up for Step Ahead: Amnuey is going to start teaching a computer class, and one of the preschool teachers is going to start an eco-tourism hotel, where people can come stay and learn about Thai culture and lifestyle. I think they are planning to hire some guys from the Moken village (I wrote about/ posted some pics of them a while back) to work there. During the "downs" and sometimes boredom w/ my daily routine and the limitations I have to work w/ here, I am still reminded that this is an amazing opportunity that God has given me here.

Last night we loaded up the vehicle and went to Takuapa for a music contest put on by our friend Mae's church. It was really fun! The contestants were all teenagers. Our friend Ton was the emcee, and Mae translated the message given at the end by a Philipino guy. The music was not particularly good (often off-key!), but the kids had a great time, and it was a great outreach opportunity. Paul did some translating, too, for the judge (an American guy). It was a late night; we helped tear down and then left from Takuapa at around 11:15, picked up Benz from work and ate dinner around 11:30! Then we dropped off Ton in Lam Ken and Chaiyot at his house and got back around 12:30. It was such a good evening, though; I am happy that I'm starting to feel more connected here.

This morning, I finally got to visit Paul's church. Ton is the pastor there- in Lam Ken. Actually, I visited their cell group on Wednesday night, but I can't remember if I already wrote about that. Benz, Paul and I went there together today. It is a small, very simple house church. The meeting room has a concrete floor, and they set up plastic chairs for service and clear them away to sit on the floor for lunch. The bathroom is a squatty potty, and to wash your hands, you go to the backyard, dip some water out of a bucket and lather up your hands w/ a bar of soap! There is a small cooking unit (not a stove, but something like one). Needless to say, there's no air-conditioning, but there's not at Pak Ping Church, either, so I'm trying to get used to being HOT on Sunday mornings. (Last night, however, there was a wonderful cool breeze; I was almost chilly sitting outside!). I really loved Pastor Ton's church. I don't know how to describe it except that it's sweet; without all the unnecessary extras, these people just focus on loving the Lord and each other. They have so little but they are so generous. Pastor Ton has barely enough money to live on, but he insisted on paying for our meal last night (and would not be persuaded otherwise) -and not out of an attitude to show off, but just to bless his friends. It's a small church, maybe 12-15 people. No instruments except guitar, but I felt that the worship was genuine and beautiful. And God does not require a big, fancy building in order for us to worship Him. Ok, that's all for now, though I always feel like I have so much more to share than I can write about!

Birthday, Thanksgiving... and health issues

2007-11-28T15:19:00.000+07:00

This is going to be a long entry... I was a little worried about spending my birthday and Thanksgiving in Thailand; holidays and special occasions can be the worst times to be abroad, so far away from your family and friends. But actually, my birthday turned out great! My friends at Step Ahead got me a chocolate birthday cake (it was yummy!), and Paul, Amnuey and I went to the beach and swam to the raft and dove, swam, and enjoyed the sunset and waves until the moon came out (lovely)! During the day, Ping and I made banana and pumpkin bread. We had a fun time in the kitchen, and I am so glad that we are starting to connect more. She's using a lot more English, I'm using more Thai, and I think she's warming up to me (she's quite shy). That girl is awesome in the kitchen. She chopped that pumpkin up in about 3 minutes, whereas it would've taken me about 15 to cut it (no joke). She was excited about making the bread; she'd been wanting to learn how to make it since the last time I did it. She thought we should try making mango bread, or papaya, hehe. She is cute. After the beach, nobody else wanted to go out, so Paul and I went to an Italian restaurant in Khao Lak that I've been wanting to try for a while. I had pumpkin gnocchi w/ creamy gorgonzola asparagus sauce. It was delicious. Then we visited Benz at work (she's working part-time at a tour company now; can't remember if I already mentioned that).

Saturday was the big cooking day. Paul roasted 3 chickens in the oven and helped me w/ various side dishes, and Amnuey peeled and cut the sweet potatoes for me. It was so much work, though. I cooked enough for about 20-25 people, but only 15 or so showed up. Two of our students came, plus Gan from down the road. I'd invited Al and Karin (Canadian couple from our church) and Jay and Melanie (another Canadian couple from church) plus their two kids. They brought some food, too. I chatted w/ the students, prayed for the food, we sat down to eat... and then halfway through my meal I got REALLY nauseous and had to go upstairs to the bathroom. The nausea was followed by a fever for a couple hours, so I was in bed for the rest of the afternoon until around 5:30 p.m. I've had recurring stomach trouble since I've been here, but it's so hard to figure out what the problem is, b/c it's not every day or even all day when I get it; it might be 1x or 2x a week. I eat quite a variety of foods (Thai and Western), and this time it was food I cooked at the house that made me sick! So I went to the dr. in Khao Lak yesterday, and the diagnosis was: inconclusive. He said it didn't sound like I had a bug; I looked healthy, stomach felt and sounded normal. He supposed it was a reaction to food but that I could get tests done at the hospital in Phuket if I wanted to. Bronson and Paul's mom both suggested that I keep a food log, writing down everything I eat and how I feel. So I've been doing that since Friday. I decided not to go to the hospital in Phuket yet, b/c my stomach is feeling a lot better since yesterday. But then yesterday I woke up w/ a migraine that lasted until late afternoon! At least I can thank God that when I get migraines, they are relatively mild (I don't usually get nauseous; but my vision blurs, my eyes are very sensitive to light, and then I feel a lot of pressure behind my eyes). So those of you who are praying at home, please pray that I'd stop having so much health trouble! It makes me feel worn down and stressed out to deal w/ this stuff all the time. But God comforts me in my distress, when I turn my worries over to Him (I Pet. 5:7, I think that's the one, but I'm not going to look it up at the moment!)

Saturday was also Loy Kratung (still not sure about spelling), a Buddhist festival. By evening, my stomach was settled (still hurting, but settled) so I went w/ Paul and Amnuey to the fairgrounds, which were bustling. People were sending off little boats made of banana leaves and flowers and candles on the river. It was very pretty, actually.

Our household has been more harmonious lately, and I'm happy about that. The conflicts were getting a bit tense, but I think that usually happens when people live together. In general, I feel like we're more balanced and settled w/ each other now, which is great. I love my teammates! Another good thing is that my Thai is coming along... well, I need to take a more active approach (and Bronson gave me a good idea about that), but I'm happy to be understanding a whole lot more now. OK, I've got to go for now. Thanks, everyone, for the birthday wishes, packages, etc. :)

Cheese at the local supermarket!

2007-11-22T22:07:00.000+07:00

This blog entry is partly for me to report with great delight that they are now carrying actual cheddar cheese (and Nutella, too) at the local supermarket! Which means that I'll no longer have to travel all the way to Phuket to get those precious commodities. On Tuesday night, there was a good-bye party for Saskia, the Dutch girl who works at Child Trac, an NGO that a lot of Paul's and my students work for. We really enjoy the Child Trac group; they are a tight-knit and really fun group. So Paul and I took off on the motorbike for the 40-minute-ride to Takuapa, the closest larger town in the area. But it started pouring on the way there. We had rain coats, but I discovered later that mine had ripped at the armpits, which is why my arms got so wet. It was still a fun trip, though. We went to a really nice restaurant, outdoors but covered (like most Thai restaurants) and surrounded by little ponds w/ fish and little stone walkways. The food was really nice, too. Some of my students lit sparklers, which is why there's smoke in some of the pictures. We had a good time, but I found it sad, too, to see the kind of lifestyle these people are living. There's a lot to pray for around here. Lots of homosexuality and gender confusion. Paul says there's a lack of good male role models in families.

Tomorrow I have a ton of things to do to prepare for our Thanksgiving meal on Sat. (you guys have all celebrated already, but there's too much work during the week for us to have had it today!) I only know of two of our students who are coming for sure, but I am glad that they are coming. There is actually a Buddhist festival on the same day, Loy Graton (no idea how to spell it), where they make miniature boats out of banana leaves and float them down the river to carry away their sins (I think that is the idea). It will still be a large group for Thanksgiving, w/ us from Step Ahead, two Canadian families, two of our students, and a few of the guys from the Step Ahead preschools. It's going to be lots of work, since I'm the main organizer and head chef. I hope I'll get a chance to rest at least some this weekend. I'm still feeling really, really tired most of the time and can't usually sleep past 7:00 even when I have the chance to (which is rare). I find the holiday season the hardest time to be away from home. Don't know yet what my travel plans for Christmas break are.

The rhino beetle incident, biking and a Thai foot massage

2007-11-16T20:29:00.000+07:00

Check out new pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann

My sister keeps asking me if I've seen any strange bugs here yet. I hadn't yet, but I got my dose this week. When I came downstairs for morning devotion, there was a huge rhino beetle on the dresser where we keep the music! I have actually seen these before (I guess it was in Arizona), but nevertheless, I was terrified to see such a large flying insect in our house. I immediately alerted Paul to the presence of a deadly insect, but he was not alarmed at all. In fact, Ping had brought the beetle in as a pet, and Paul just said, "oh, it's a rhino beetle! Cool." I said that if it started flying during our devotion, though, I would certainly freak out- guaranteed. So you can guess what happened next. Of course, the humongous beetle started flying around like crazy, into walls and up to the light, then down low, narrowly missing my head. It was like a june bug but about 3-4x as big. I was sitting on the long bench in the middle, so I was trapped. I asked Amnuey to let me out so that I could escape if the beetle flew near me again. Everybody else thought it was funny, but I didn't find it all too amusing.

I had a busy week, and today I decided that the best medicine for my homesickness and frustration about not being able to get out and about was to join a bike tour w/ our friends Gaan and Geng from down the road. (Side note: is it possible to be really busy, but bored and sad at the same time? Apparently so. I have plenty of work to do, but I still feel bored from being in the house most of the time, w/ the exception of trips to the beach to go jogging or watch the sunset- which is always gorgeous here.) It turned out Gaan couldn't go biking today b/c she wasn't feeling well, so it was just me, Geng, his friend Nai, and a Swiss guy named Felix. It was cool b/c I got to speak some German w/ him. We drove to Thai Mueang and biked about 22 km altogether, stopping at a shrimp farm, a fish farm, and the beach! At the beach, we met a class of schoolkids who were doing an art project. It was neat. We rode on the roads through the countryside- past water buffalo, mosques, temples, rubber trees, spider webs, over bridges, through a small town w/ little shops... it was fantastic! Then we had a nice Thai lunch at one of the cool restaurants made out of wooden benches that still look like tree limbs, all very natural and beautiful. I just love the way they design things here! Then, unfortunately, I developed a stomachache (don't know if it was the food or other factors), so I missed the next stop- the waterfall, b/c I was sitting in the truck in the air conditioning w/ the seat leaned back and trying to nap. I prayed that my stomach would feel better, b/c it was pretty miserable, and then it did! So I got out at our next stop, which was at an aquarium (or something like that), where we saw sea turtles, different kinds of fish, and lobsters! It was so cool! Especially the turtles. I only have pics from the first part of our outing, though, b/c then my camera stopped working after that.

Kim Quinley (director's wife) arrived this evening from Bangkok, and we enjoyed a lovely evening out- a girl's night! We had dinner at the sticky rice restaurant and then got foot massages! And man, a foot massage here is awesome. It's not just a foot massage- they massage your legs, too, and afterwards they do your shoulders, back and head for a few minutes. And they serve you tea. Wow. After that, we had gelato at an Italian restaurant. It was so nice, b/c I haven't had a fun night out w/girls yet since I've been here. It's been hard this week; I've been feeling lonely and just really realizing how small this place is (and the fact that I can't get out! I'm going to learn how to drive the scooter so that I won't be quite so limited in where I can go and what I can do.) So even though it wasn't the best week, it sure ended nicely.

Nam Kem, English service, Thanksgiving, an Asian fair

2007-11-05T20:04:00.000+07:00

I'm a little behind on this post, so I'm going to finish it up now. Last Saturday Paul and I went to Nam Kem, a town just up the road from here that was the worst hit by the tsunami in all of Thailand. We looked at the memorial there, which has a big boat that was washed on shore and the names of ppl who died on a wall. It was raining the whole day though, and since we were on the motorbike, I didn't take my camera. En route we saw a white guy and his wife in front of their house, and we decided to stop and talk to them (Paul figured they were missionaries). Well, his wife went off to a church meeting, but we ended up chatting w/ Joe, who was from California, for about 1 1/2 hours! He invited us in and told us about his work (church-planting w/ Thai and Burmese) and about his journey of faith. It was fun to talk to him. On our way to the memorial, we saw Brad, a guy from Fayetteville (!) who's doing church-planting w/ Burmese, too. He is going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wish I were. I usually don't feel sad about being here except when I think about the holidays. But I've decided, in order to combat my holiday blues (or at least Thanksgiving blues), that I'm going to organize a Thanksgiving meal at the Center and invite my students. There are actually a lot of dishes I can make easily, as long as we get the oven fixed. And it'll be a great way to build relationships w/ my students. I suppose most of them will not be able to come, but even if only 4 or 5 come, it'll be fun!

On Sunday we had a meeting after church to discuss starting an international worship service in English on Sunday nights for the tourists who come here and any Thais who are interested in practicing their English. I am really excited about this, because it means that I'll actually be able to understand sermons on Sundays (we do have translation, but I always feel like I'm still missing a good deal of what's being said.) And I was given a job- I'm going to lead worship! I'm excited but nervous about this, because I've never led worship before.

On Wednesday night (or Tues, can't remember), Paul, Chaiyot, Amnuey and I went to a little fair just down the road. It was so much fun! It was like a fair you'd go to in America, yet it was distinctly Asian. There were lots of different kinds of foods and Thai sweets and drinks. Instead of hot dogs and nachos, there was phad thai, curry, sticky rice, and then Asian cookies, gooey candies, and stuff kind of like Rice Krispy treats but not exactly. And there were vendors selling clothes, sunglasses, health/ beauty products, shoes, you name it. I bought some body scrub- milky rice scented. We walked around looking at everything and then played balloon darts and bingo! (great number practice for me). There was a dance and singing contest that was pretty funny. And a big slide and jumping castle for the kids. For the most part, I've settled into life here, and I'm glad to have a routine. But every once in a while, something reminds me that I'm actually in Thailand!! And how cool is that?

Taan's good-bye party and 3 on a motorbike

2007-11-02T23:47:00.000+07:00

On Thursday night, we had a good-bye party for Taan, who is leaving tomorrow. We had a huge BBQ in front of the Step Ahead Center. It was really nice! In fact, a few of us spent a good portion of the afternoon skewering meat and veggies to make shish kabobs, which turned out delicious. A lot of people came, mostly from the two churches here. We watched a video with pictures of Taan, people made toasts to her, and we prayed for her. She will definitely be missed around here. I don't have any pictures from her party, but I'll post some when I get some from Benz's camera.

I spent pretty much the whole day working on lesson plans, which seem to be going very slowly, but I looked up a lot of games online that I can use for class, so hopefully that will prove useful in the long run, though it was very time-consuming. And at least I got my two classes for Mon. planned before the weekend. After a whole day of being inside, I said to Paul that we had to get out of the house, rain or no rain. I had cabin fever. So we went down to Gaan and Geng's, and I brought Ligretto to teach them how to play. It was so fun! Gaan was too tired to play, but Paul and Geng loved it, and another guy who was hanging out there joined us. Then we went down to the beach to James's restaurant (our Burmese friend that we met while running on the beach one day). The drinks were so pretty that I had to take our pictures with them. When it was time to go home (it was getting late), James offered us a ride home on his motorbike, which was nice b/c the streets were really flooded. But for some reason, I found it hilariously funny to actually be riding three on a motorbike (which they do in Thailand all the time), w/ Paul perched on the back (I think he was sitting on a luggage carrier, not an actual seat) and so I laughed the whole way home! I was really tired, too, which might have had something to do w/ it. James couldn't figure out what I was laughing at, but then he started in laughing anyway, and Paul just chuckled and said "brilliant," which set me off even worse. One might have wondered what I'd had to drink when I staggered off the bike, still laughing, but it was only orange juice.

new accountant, Ligretto, and care package from America... a good day!

2007-10-30T21:33:00.000+07:00

Today was a day full of good things! First, we've been praying for a new accountant, since our lovely Taan is leaving us on Fri. to be an au pair in Virginia. It all happened so fast, but I think we just found out the day before yesterday that somebody would be taking Taan's place. He arrived this evening; his name is Amnuey, and he's from Chiang Mai. This is really good for two reasons: he's a guy and he's Thai! It helps balance the place out (at least a little) to have another guy so that Paul's not the only one, and also it'll balance things out for the Westerner- Thai ratio when the two new girls arrive from America. When they get here, there will be 4 Westerners and 3 Thai staff, although Paul really counts as either Western or Thai; I think he can go both ways w/ his language skills! Paul is in Phuket this week w/ his parents at a church retreat. He said he was giving me a break from his cheesy humor. It's true, he is a goofball. But we sure like to laugh together.

Anyhow, it was just a really nice evening, because our friend Mae came back from Bangkok today (you might have seen him in some of the first pics I took in Thailand, but he went to Bangkok for almost a month). So Amnuey arrived, and then we all ate dinner together. Amnuey is really nice. He just finished Bible college in Chiang Mai. I think he doesn't speak too much English, but it's good, b/c I can practice some Thai w/ him, and he can practice English w/ me. After dinner, I taught them how to play Ligretto, which was pretty good therapy to fight off my homesickness, because I REALLY miss playing games! I miss playing games, and I miss playing ultimate frisbee. Since it seems to rain day and night here, I don't think I'll be able to get too many ppl interested in learning ultimate at the moment! It might be pretty hard to organize anyway, since ppl have such busy and different schedules. Lastly, I am very happy to report that I received a letter from my host mom in Austria and a care package from America today containing a large bottle of Tums and some chocolate! (thanks, Scott, and whoever else might have contributed!) My friends at Step Ahead are happy about the chocolate, too. The chocolate made it intact (surprisingly!), so if anyone else feels inspired to send me chocolate, just ask me for my address. (Haha, I just realized that I said "chocolate" 5 times in the last few sentences). Tomorrow I'm teaching my cooking partner how to make banana pancakes so that she can have a break from teaching me how to make Thai food. Life is good. God is good.

John's visit and first week of teaching

2007-10-26T18:42:00.000+07:00

Check out my newest pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann I finished my first week of teaching! This will be a long entry b/c I had a very busy week, so now I have a lot to share w/ you guys. I was kind of stressed out about it last weekend b/c I didn't know what to expect, but it went really
well. Paul was at the Sarojin all week testing the level of the students, and he apparently got some pretty funny responses to his questions, like: "what's this called?" (the object was a spoon) Response: "poo." Oh, the joys of learning a language! But the flip side of that is sometimes even funnier; our director, John Quinley, is visiting this weekend and told a story about his wife, who went to the market one day and asked a lady how much this "dirty thing" cost, b/c the word for "pineapple" and "dirty" apparently sound rather similar in Thai. John's friend David, a retired missionary who worked in Thailand and India, told another funny story: there was another missionary whose last name is Rideout, and some Thai people asked him what his name meant. He tried to say the word for "ride," like to ride a horse, but he got the tone wrong and apparently said "excrement out." The Thais apparently howled w/ laughter and said, "you farangs sure have funny names!" Oh, if language learning weren't so funny, we wouldn't have good stories to tell. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I had such a wonderful time this week meeting my students and getting to know them. I'll reiterate what I've said before about teaching Thai people: I'll never want to teach in America again after this year! The Thai students are so welcoming, enthusiastic, and respectful to their teachers. They laugh and smile a lot in class, (in fact, we laugh together quite a lot) and they really put forth a lot of effort. At the Sarojin, one of my students who works in the bakery brought me a sample of fine chocolates! (definitely wins points with the teacher). My intermediate group at Step Ahead is a true joy, though. They know each other quite well, and so there's a great class dynamic, and they really participate 100% in classroom activities.

John and David came into town yesterday, and it has been wonderful to talk to them about their experiences on the field. My busy week was just winding down as they came, so I was able to just sit and talk with them at length yesterday afternoon. John also showed me a Powerpoint presentation this morning about his family's involvement in Phang Nga province after the tsunami, and how the Step Ahead Center was born! It was very exciting to learn about. Also, he's putting me in touch w/ Matthias, a German guy who developed a German course and taught it at Step Ahead. He'll have materials for me, so I think I'll get rolling w/ a German class (pretty) soon, b/c while Paul and I were out advertising for classes last week, three of the hotels asked specifically whether we were offering German. This is a really exciting possibility for me. It means more preparation time, though! After a few weeks, I'll have a better idea of how to manage my time, what is a reasonable amount of work for me to take on, etc. OK, and then also, very importantly, I have great news about my living situation: I'll get to keep my own room! So I can finally unpack my stuff and settle in a bit better. I explained to him why it would be an emotional stress to me if I had to share a room w/ 4-5 people for a year, and he understood. He suggested that we use half of my stipend to put toward the room, b/c they'd normally rent this out as a guest room (like a hotel). In fact, I didn't even know if Step Ahead would be giving me a stipend (it's a small one, but every bit counts!), so to me this is a double blessing. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. My mind is at ease. This afternoon, we went out to eat- everyone from the Center, and then we visited the mushroom farm and the orchid farm that Step Ahead is sponsoring (these are microfinance projects). The orchid farm is at one of the Step Ahead preschools. I've visited two of the four (?) preschools that Step Ahead runs. It is really exciting to be a part of an organization that is impacting this community in such a positive way and to share God's love with these people. In spite of some difficulties and frustrations, I am truly so happy to be here.

first day of classes

2007-10-22T14:15:00.000+07:00

Today was the first day of classes! (that is, I finally started teaching my own classes). I'm teaching Beginning II and Int. I at Step Ahead and Int. I and II at the Sarojin starting tomorrow. The first class went pretty well! I have 3 students in Beg. who were in Paul's class, which is nice, because I already know them. Then I had 3 new students, but two of them will probably move down to Paul's class because I think mine is too hard for them. We need more students, actually, so I'm hoping that more will sign up this week.

On Saturday, I met with my language partner, Clear (that's her nickname) for the first time! We are planning to meet for a few hours every Saturday. We are a good match for each other, I think. We spent the afternoon just getting to know each other, and I learned a few new Thai words. Her English is quite good, which is nice. She mainly needs help w/ pronunciation and tenses. We talked about our families and how we came to know the Lord. She became a Christian at her university in Chiang Mai.

On Wednesday, Jit is teaching me how to make a different curry (I think it's called Mossiman). I am looking forward to that! Unfortunately, I had a migraine yesterday, and it has carried over to today a bit. It is a very mild headache, but I had the visual symptoms yesterday morning (blurry vision in one eye, extreme sensitivity to light). I'm getting a little annoyed w/ all the health problems- it's either stomach problems, or being really tired, or migraines... please pray for me to be healthy again.

Eating caterpillars

2007-10-17T22:24:00.000+07:00

Benz's mom and sister came down from northern Thailand, and they cooked a huge lunch for everyone. But I had already arranged to make lunch with Jit (the one in the blue shirt, who taught me how to make phad thai). So she taught me how to make green curry- yum! It was so delicious and actually really easy. It only took about 20 minutes! So now I can make two Thai dishes. We all sat down for lunch, and Benz asked me if I wanted to try "Thai French fries." I said "yes" hesitantly. I quickly changed my answer to "no" when I found out what she meant- fried caterpillars (as you can clearly see in the pictures). Well I might be pretty adventurous, but I don't eat bugs unless my life depends on it (that might be a slight exaggeration). In any case, I thought it was really gross but kind of funny, so I took pictures.

This evening, we had a really great class with the intermediates. It was the last class for this session, so we did a review game with the students and played charades. Next week, I'll finally start teaching my own classes! And today we got the schedule sorted out. I'll be teaching MW at Step Ahead and TR at the Sarojin. You can check out pictures of this amazing hotel, if you're interested: http://www.sarojin.com/overview_gallery.html .

After class, Gaan stopped by to ask for some help with German translations for brochures, so Paul and I went down to their shop and hung out for a while. Paul chatted with Geng while I corrected mistakes on the translations. The funny thing is, they were written by a native speaker, but there were a few spelling and grammatical errors. I am happy to be able to help in any way; Gaan and Geng are fun to spend time w/ and they've been so generous toward us. Plus, hehe, German tourists stop by a lot and I get to chat with them a little!

first baking experience, mildly poisonous jellyfish, a demonic festival, and beach volleyball

2007-10-15T12:04:00.000+07:00

It was quite a weekend, although most of the excitement happened yesterday. On Friday night I went to the church's community group, where we ate a nice dinner and had a good time of sharing. We went around the circle, and each person shared something the Lord had encouraged them with. There were lots of foreigners there b/c of the visiting missionaries (Steve and Melvin, as well as a few others from the Philippines). We sang a very simple Thai worship song that was fun; the foreigners had to stand up during the "hallelujah" part, and the Thais had to stand up during the "praise the Lord"- in Thai- part. On Saturday night, Paul, Steve and I went to Gaan and Geng's for dinner again; this time we brought the seafood and meat to barbecue. Oh, and I baked for the first time in Thailand! I made banana bread, which turned out delicious, but unfortunately nobody in the house can figure out how to work the oven (or it's not working), so I had to borrow the neighbor's oven. Anyhow, Gaan and Geng enjoyed the banana bread, but I'm still determined to cook dinner for them; Gaan is a little wary of Western food, haha! But I'll change her mind.

This weekend and throughout this week, there's a festival going on in Phuket and in this area called the Vegetarian Festival. It is a gruesome and demonic thing. People abstain from meat and other things (caffeine, alcohol, etc.) and then some people mutilate themselves by sticking sharp objects through their cheeks and try to become possessed by "gods" (the devil). So we've seen people in the back of pick-up trucks driving around, shaking and in trances with sharp objects sticking out of their faces. They drive around in a procession and beat drums and shoot off fireworks. It is really dark.

On Sunday after church, Paul, Steve, Chayot and I took off on the scooters to hit the beach. But it poured on us all the way there; the rain was pelting us like nails and it was really cold! So once we got there, we ran into the water, which was warmer than the rainwater. But almost immediately, Chayot got stung by a jellyfish! (and then Steve, then Paul... but somehow I escaped them!) Apparently, they only have the kind that are mildly poisonous, and Paul said the rain must have brought them closer to the shore. Well, we ran back out of that water in a matter of seconds! It was kind of a funny situation, but I felt bad for the guys. I guess stings from these jellyfish aren't too much worse than a bee sting. By then, the rain had let up, and we just hit the volleyball around on shore for a while.

In the evening, we drove out to one of the small churches for a BBQ, different style than any I've done before! The church is pretty primitive- concrete floors, no sink, and just a squatty potty. But there was electricity. Rach won't like this at all, but the guys killed a live chicken and barbecued it, and we had barbecued squid and fish as well. We sat on the floor around the little grills and dipped stuff in really spicy lime sauce. It tasted really good. I didn't use much spicy sauce, but I had to use some, b/c it was the only seasoning. We had a great time and just sat around the fire talking for a long time.

Sarojin Hotel is swanky

2007-10-12T22:35:00.000+07:00

I started this a few days ago and didn't finish, but I'm just going to post it:

Today, Paul and I got to visit the Sarojin Hotel, where we'll be teaching classes soon. And man, it is NICE! I'll post some pics as soon as the wireless is working again. We met with the general manager, but we still have some details to iron out next Monday (with scheduling, levels, etc.). So it looks like for next week, I'll just keep helping Paul plan and teach his classes at Step Ahead and really start planning my lessons to teach at the hotel the following week. I'm pretty lucky to have this time to chill out a bit, meet people, spend time with ministry teams passing through, learn Thai, get sick and get better... and go to the beach. But actually, I'll still go to the beach every day once my schedule gets busy, b/c it's my place to run, think, and pray early in the morning. I love it. There's usually (almost) no one there at 6:40 in the morning. But Khao Lak is starting to get more crowded, day by day. There are a whole lot more white faces around (farangs) than there were just 2 weeks ago.

I think I am going to ask Jit, one of Paul's students, to give me some Thai cooking lessons in exchange for English practice. I can go shopping at the market just fine and get fresh fruits and vegetables, but I don't really know what to cook except for omelettes. I'm not familiar with the spices or the cooking methods. Actually, we usually go out to eat b/c it' s just so cheap anyway, but I like to cook and don't want to go out all the time. But I won't be able to cook much during the week, b/c it looks like I'll be teaching morning, afternoon, and evening classes.

sour stomach

2007-10-11T12:24:00.000+07:00

Yesterday, my stomach finally rebelled a little against all the new and spicy foods I've been eating. It wasn't too bad, but after helping teach class, I just went to bed for most of the day and either read or slept. I got to spend some time with Ping, too, which mostly consisted of her speaking in Thai, me speaking in English, laughing, and not understanding each other. I learned the vowels yesterday, though. Thai has a lot of vowel sounds. I ate bland foods (and not much) all day, and after evening class, Paul and I went for dinner with Steve and Melvin, two guys who are doing ministry in Malaysia and Indonesia and are scouting out possibilities for organizing short-term trips to Thailand. Steve is American and Melvin is Indonesian (I think I mentioned them in my last entry). It was really neat to talk to them. I think Steve was relieved to talk to some white people, haha. He's been in Panang, Malaysia for six months. I was relieved to eat some non-spicy chicken noodle soup. Unfortunately, the curry that they ate last night did not agree with Steve and Paul so much this morning.

a different kind of day- starting to understand some Thai!

2007-10-09T21:15:00.000+07:00

Think I forgot to mention this last time: you can look at all my albums on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/briswann
For some reason, this blog web-site finds it amusing to keep switching everything into Thai (except for what I write). I keep switching it back to English, but it reverts to Thai. So now I've put it in German; maybe that will stick. I want to thank everyone who's praying for me back home. The past weekend, though filled with excitement, was so frustrating with culture shock and language barriers that for most parts of it (minus the biking), I felt like I could just burst into tears at any moment.

Today I seem to have had a small breakthrough with the language! We did some interesting and different stuff today. There is a ministry team here from Malaysia- which consists of an American guy, an Indonesian guy, and two Philipinos who are living here. The American and Indonesian came to scout out the area for possible short-term mission trips around this area, and they asked Paul to go along and help translate. So I joined them for fun. We visited a people group called the Moken, a fishing community- sea gypsies (that's what they're actually called; I'm not making that up). First, we visited an elderly couple who were looking after their 2 or 3-year-old granddaughter, who, upon seeing me, immediately attached herself to me for the remainder of our time there. She was adorable! She sat happily in my lap the whole time and frowned when we left. Then we walked around the village (?)- I guess it's more like a settlement of houses w/in Bang Niang- with a 17-year-old boy who explained to us some about their culture. It was really neat! They have a community center with pictures and descriptions of the history of their people, a school, and a little soccer field.

Today, for some reason, Thai started clicking with me! While Paul was conversing with people, I really started understanding bits and pieces from the context and from just recognizing words that are often repeated. I think I have also figured out what kinds of situations overwhelm me and what kinds don't. I feel fine hearing a lot of Thai if it's 1-on-1 or in smaller groups, like 5 people or so. But when I go to events with lots of people, like church or church meetings, and I'm the only one (or almost the only one) who doesn't speak Thai, I feel pretty uncomfortable. Part of that is also just because I feel shy around large groups of people I don't know!

This evening, the weather was nice, so Paul and I went swimming at the beach- caught some nice waves! It was sunny and hot today and yesterday. Maybe the rainy season is ending soon (which is kind of a bummer, b/c that means it'll just be hot!).

Ok, signing off now to try to get some better sleep tonight. Sleep has not been all that plentiful for me so far.

a very wet adventure

2007-10-06T17:13:00.000+07:00

On Friday, for the first time since I've been here, I was feeling a bit homesick and out of sorts. Probably because the only other native English speaker that I know had left town to visit his parents. :) It can just be a little exhausting when you're hearing a foreign language all the time and trying to learn it, plus (trying to) communicate in your own language with non-native speakers, with lots of missed and mixed messages. Add to that lots of cultural uncertainty, and it makes for some tiring and frustrating days.

So when I jogged by Gaan and Geng's shop on Friday evening and she stopped me to invite me on a biking tour with some German tourists, I gladly accepted! I knew the exercise and time speaking German and/ or English with Westerners would do me good. Plus, I love off-road biking! They picked me up just before 8:00 on Sat. morning with the bikes on top of the truck, we picked up the Germans from their hotel and headed for the countryside. We started off biking on the road in beautiful weather- not too warm, slightly overcast. We stopped at a little guesthouse to use the bathroom and eat some bananas. That's where I saw my first monkey in Thailand and used my first squatty potty. The owners of the house had several pet monkeys- they were so cute!

We continued on toward the waterfall and went off-road for a while. Then it started pouring on us. We rode up and down hills, over slippery rocks, through mud and creeks, while getting drenched the whole time. We were so muddy! It was great. Finally, we came to a spot where we were to leave our bikes and hike up a bit to the waterfall. I hadn't changed into my bathing suit yet, so Gaan said I could go into this unfinished house to one of the rooms and change there- haha! I figured "ok, anything goes." I wore my bathing suit top and bottoms w/ my biking shorts over them; putting back on my soaked and muddy shirt in the drenching rain seemed pointless. We traipsed through the jungle and waded through creeks, but when we came to a spot where we'd have had to wade up to our necks in the creek, the Germans objected. I wouldn't have minded, since we were already so wet and I wanted to see the waterfall, but I was ok with turning around, too. We drove back down to the guesthouse for lunch, because we'd had enough of getting soaked for the day. The food was great, and on the way home, we got to stop and see a waterfall anyway. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my adventure; I didn't take my camera because I knew it was likely to rain, or my camera could get broken in the rough conditions. Christine and Lars took a picture of me at the waterfall, though, so when they e-mail it to me, I'll post it.

In the evening, I went shopping at the market by myself for the first time. It was fun. I took my time and looked at all the pretty fruits and vegetables. I can understand and say the numbers pretty well now, and that's about all you have to know to go shopping.

cold showers

2007-10-04T16:48:00.000+07:00

The main problem I've had so far is that the water heater doesn't work very well in my bathroom! I've only had one warm shower since I've been here. It certainly motivates me to get out of the shower quickly. Since I go running at the beach pretty much every morning, at least I'm hot when I get back and ready for a cool-down. Fortunately, the beach hounds a.k.a. devil dogs (stray dogs) didn't bother me this morning, but now I'm wary of every dog I see.

Last night Paul and I went out for a drink with one of his students and a friend of his, who is from Australia. They both work at Child Track, an organization that helps tsunami orphans. They also apparently do some work with Burmese refugees; there are a lot of them here, since things are so bad in Burma right now. It was neat to hear about their work. Joanne (the girl from Australia) is leaving soon, so we might meet up again before then.

Today, after some brainstorming about the lesson for the beginners on Monday, Paul and I went to lunch with Benz in Khao Lak at this beautiful restaurant overlooking the sea. It was pouring rain though, so we couldn't see too much! Khao Lak is absolutely gorgeous. We actually live just a bit outside of Khao Lak in Bang Niang. Khao Lak is hilly and has some great look-out spots. The road that goes through Khao Lak towards Phuket winds it way up and around the hills and through the jungle (at least, that's what it looks like to me), with an occasional breath-taking glimpse of the ocean through a break in the trees. I don't even mind the rain. It's kind of an adventure to slosh around in the puddles. After lunch, we dropped Paul off at the bus station, where he started his 8-hour journey down south to see his parents for the weekend.

Thai students spoil me

2007-10-03T23:12:00.000+07:00

This week I've been co-teaching some with Paul for his lessons. It's been really fun. I'm going to be so spoiled from teaching Thai students that I won't want to teach anyone else after this year. They are so sweet, enthusiastic, respectful, and fun. Even with the language barrier, it is somehow easy to communicate with Thai people because they are so warm and welcoming. It is true that body language and a smile can often communicate more than words. During the intermediate class tonight, unfortunately I got a bad case of laughter while we were doing a dialogue. It's like when you're not supposed to be laughing at church, but then everything just gets even funnier. I had to focus very hard on my paper with the dialogue on it and could not look at Paul anymore because he was laughing too.

I feel that in the past few days, my Thai has not improved at all, because I've been really busy trying to put together the curriculum for the intermediate and advanced classes. There are books and some lesson plans here, but there's not an entire curriculum for any of the classes, so that's what we're working on. It's hard. I don't even know how to go about planning the material for a whole class! (and for several different levels). One of the girls in the beginning class told me today that she's interested in taking a German class, so I'll decide how soon to offer it. I need to focus on the English classes first, though, which are quite enough to handle at the moment. Ok, it's getting late... time for bed.

starting to get over jet lag

2007-10-02T21:38:00.000+07:00

Last night was the first night that I slept all the way through! It was great. I slept from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., and then I got up and went running at the beach. Unfortunately, a dog ran after me and started barking, which I didn't appreciate too much. Yesterday I went running at the beach in the pouring rain, which wasn't so great. It rained so hard it hurt, so I didn't stay out for long. It's been raining so much that almost every pair of shoes I have here is wet. Flip-flops are the best bet, since they dry quickly. Socks are pointless.

I don't think I wrote much about the church last time, so I'm posting a picture of it. It seems to be a very traditional style church. It was cool, because there was a Canadian visiting pastor who preached (he's lived in Thailand for 7 years already, so he preached in Thai). He was here w/ another Canadian guy who's in language school in Chiang Mai. There was translation, but it was hard to understand, and then the songs and prayers weren't translated. But I enjoyed Sunday school; it was a small group, and the Canadian pastor sat next to me and translated. What I really like about the church is that they eat together after the service (every week). It's a good time for fellowship.

This morning I bought multi-grain bread at the German bakery just down the road. It was the first piece of bread I'd eaten since I've been here, and it sure was good! I had Nutella and peanut butter on it. Yum. It was kind of expensive but worth it. I'm just not keen on eating rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (yet, anyway). So I think it will be worth the few extra baht to buy a loaf of bread per week. Tonight, Benz took us out for a welcome dinner for me and Paul. We had "farang" food (foreign food). It was a lovely restaurant w/ all kinds of dishes- German, Swedish, Italian, American, Thai. And I really enjoy our group. I'm including a picture of them; it's not the best picture, but anyway, these are the people that I spend most of my time with. From left to right: me, Paul, May, Benz, Taan, Ping. And the other pic is of Surin Beach in Phuket.

Paul's teaching me a few chords on the guitar, so maybe soon I'll be able to play some praise songs! Since we have so few people here at the center, it's probably not a bad idea to have a couple people who can play guitar. I'm trying to start figure out lesson plans, which is not an easy task! At this point, I have no idea where to start, so I'm looking through the books and some of the previous lessons that are saved on the computers here. I think we've worked out who will be teaching which levels, and we'll be teaching two classes each (2x a week) at a hotel and then at the Step Ahead Center I'll be teaching two more and Paul one more. This was kinda long, signing off for now.

Rules for driving in Thailand

2007-10-01T02:52:00.000+07:00

As far as I can tell, these are the rules for driving in Thailand:
-in general, drive on the left side of the road
-however, feel free to make use of all other space available: center line, shoulder, the other lane, etc.
-a solid double yellow line does NOT mean you cannot pass
-follow the car in front of you as closely as possible
-watch out for scooters
-fit as many people into one vehicle as possible (or on top of the vehicle, if necessary)
-What's a speed limit...?

Today after church, we went to Phuket to go shopping at Tesco, which is very similar to a Wal-Mart Supercenter, and to pick up Benz from the airport. She had spent the weekend in Bangkok for some Step Ahead business. It was really neat to see Phuket while not in a complete daze. We drove through part of the city after shopping. We passed through a couple of Muslim neighborhoods with mosques and bustling markets. Then we went to Surin Beach (I think that's what it's called) and had a nice meal at a restaurant right by the water. It poured almost the whole day, so it wasn't weather for swimming, and the waves were kinda rough at that beach anyway. But it was beautiful. Phuket is gorgeous! It is surrounded by lots of hills. We were only there for a few hours, so I didn't see much, but I'd really like to go back and spend a day there.

Last night, Paul and I went to dinner at Gang and Geng's place (I don't know if that's how to spell their names, and to make matters more confusing, Paul's Thai nickname is also Geng). The couple own a shop that sells adventure tours for tourists (like riding elephants, bamboo rafting, etc.). The lady, Gang, speaks German pretty well, which is why Paul introduced me to her. We sat out on a mat in front of their store and barbecued shrimp and squid and ate rice and curry. It was wonderful. We stayed for a long time and talked about all sorts of things; in fact, they shared with us their story of how they survived the tsunami. I just can't even imagine how scary it must've been for all those who witnessed it. People here are afraid of ghosts of all the people who died. Gang was interested in talking about spiritual stuff and she asked me how/ why I became a Christian, and that opened the door for me to share the gospel with her. She lives right down the road, so I'm sure I'll be seeing more of her. I think Paul and I will cook something for them next time.

A perfect day

2007-09-29T13:26:00.000+07:00

Yesterday the jet lag hit me (for some reason, it skipped a day). I hardly slept at all on Thurs. night, so on Fri. I was kind of in a daze the whole day; I had to lie down for a nap after I sat in on Paul's advanced class in the morning. The class was really neat. There were only three students, but they were very enthusiastic and spoke quite well. They asked me some questions about me and about America, and I helped with the lesson, which involved reading a text (ironically) about an English girl who went to Korea and had jet lag. :) I think I am going to take on the intermediate and advanced classes soon, because I've discovered that it will be very hard teaching the complete beginners without being able to speak any Thai with them. In the afternoon, Paul and I took off on the motorbike to get me an adapter for my computer and see the countryside. It was so fun! We went to a beautiful beach about 20 minutes from here. When we got back, everyone else from Step Ahead, plus a friend of theirs from church, and I went to the beach and threw the frisbee around and swam for a while. The water is the perfect temperature! The waves weren't too big. It is really hot in the afternoon, but it's been beautiful evenings- a nice breeze and not hot at all. In the evening, Taan, Ping, Paul and I had meat fondue, Thai style. Most of the restaurants are open air, and you just sit outdoors amongst the palm trees at these little wooden or wicker tables. It is gorgeous.

2nd day in Thailand

2007-09-27T18:44:00.000+07:00

This place is amazing! I love it. I did so many fun things today:
-sat in on Paul's lesson and did a few conversation activities with the students
-one of his students taught me how to make phad thai (yummy!)
-went to the market with Benz and bought some flip-flops for about $1.25
-spoke German w/ a Thai girl who runs a shop just down the road
-learned lots of Thai words!
-prayed w/ everyone from the Step Ahead Center (we have devotions every morning)
-went running barefoot on the beach
-Paul taught me how to drive a scooter (um, sort of). I need some more practice :)
-visited a preschool that is also run by Step Ahead. I might teach some English classes there, too.
-ate green curry
Surprisingly, I haven't really had jet lag. I slept well last night, only woke up once in the middle of the night but then slept straight through 'til 6:30 this morning. I feel great. I love this place!! Did I mention that? I love it.

first day in Thailand

2007-09-26T22:08:00.000+07:00

It sure was a long trip! 30 hours, or a bit more counting the drive from Phuket Airport. But I must say that God really comforted me on all my flights (5 of them, as a matter of fact), and I wasn't as nervous as I expected to be. Sat next to some interesting people, including a German lady with a very cute baby. It was really nice to speak some German. Singapore and Silk airlines were great! I also liked the Hong Kong airport. It was very pretty- surrounded by really tall mountains. So now I'm at the Step Ahead Center, which will be my new home for the next (at least) 6 months. It's great here. So many impressions of a new place all at once. We drove past a mosque, a Buddhist temple, a bunch of stray dogs, and a school bus w/ the back open and full of kids! The scenery is lush, green, and beautiful. It actually reminds me quite a bit of Florida. My co-workers at the Step Ahead Center are so wonderful and helpful; they've made me feel right at home. It was Benz's birthday today, so we had a birthday cake for her. Benz is the Thai staff girl who coordinates all sorts of things at Step Ahead, and Paul is the other teacher here; he's from England but grew up in Thailand for at least part of his life. The living quarters are really decent. The Step Ahead Center has three levels with the living quarters on the third, 2 classrooms on the 2nd, and a large common area with computers, a nice dining area, and a kitchen on the 1st. Ok, I've stayed up 'til night so I can hopefully minimize jet lag. I'm very tired now, signing off.

Second post

2007-09-22T11:38:00.001+07:00

From my e-mail. :) GB

my first post

2007-09-22T11:09:00.000+07:00

Sam and Caroline are helping me set up my first blog! They are visiting me on my last weekend in Arkansas before I take off for Thailand. I'm flying out on Monday evening and will arrive around 2 p.m. (Thai time) on Wednesday in Phuket. The pictures are of the beach where I'll be going and some shorts that are readily available at the market in Khao Lak (pics courtesy of the British teacher at the Step Ahead Center).