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.
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.
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