Wan Dek (Children's Day)

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!)

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

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

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!

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

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

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.