This and that...

Yesterday (Saturday) morning we all had to leave while they sprayed the grounds for mosquitos. I ended going to China town with Kari. We took the water taxi there and then walked around in the markets. I found a nice backpack, so now I'll be able to carry my camera around with me and take pictures. After I got back I spent the rest of the day working on year plans for math. This morning I decided to go to church at Nonthaburi Baptist Church. For tranlation you sit in the back and listen to the translator on headphones. Very friendly congregation. Afterwards I stayed for lunch, then Esther (Ajahn Sahat's daughter) said we should go to youth group so I went there then someone else came in and told me I should go to the work group so I went their instead. It was a Bible study for working people. There were about 15 of us in total of ages probably 20-35. A few spoke pretty good English. The highlight was when they made Tim do the Tuk-tuk dance. At 5 I'm headed back to the church for a meeting of some sort.

China Town...

Few days back I was working in the staffroom and we heard this huge crash. Looked out the window and there was this big china cabinet laying smashed on the sidewalk. Apparantly it had fallen out of the back of a truck. Yesterday was another busy day of orientation. In the afternoon we practice taught one another. In the evening I went to Big C to send some mail. They had me fill out a form, then stood around for awhile and told me to come back in half an hour. This afternoon they sent us across the street to Nonthaburi Christian Academy (also owned by Ajahn Sahat)to observe for 15 mins. I went to a grade 5 class with about 9 students. I went to the back to start taking notes but then the teacher left. I guess she thought I was gonna teach. I hung out with them for a bit, played a game of hangman (which lasted about 20 seconds) then a different teacher came and they all left and went to Christian ethics (which was in Thai). The kids thought I was very tall and wondered if I played basketball. When I was asking their names one of the kids would spell each name out. After lunch, when I was entering our apartment, there was a snake hanging for our door bell. It slithered away pretty quickly but gave me quite a startle. Right after that I opened a refrigerator and the gecko which hangs out by our fridge jumped in. Nathan took it out so it wouldn't die, but then it started crawling up his leg. This afternoon I opened a bank account at the bank across the street. I spent the first part of the evening working on my Grade 8 math year plan, and then found out that a van of people (Ajahn Sahat and his family as well as some teachers) were leaving for China Town so I went with them. China town was spectacular. Lots of activity and lots of lights. We ate at a Chinese restaurant there. Had noodles with duck. My first time ever eating duck I think, pretty good. They drove us around downtown Bangkok and saw some awesome sights: Grand Palace, the "Pentagon", the temple on a hill that used to be the highest point in Bangkok, the center of Bangkok, various wats, both the old and new parliament buildings, the supreme court, a university. Pretty sweet.

First Time in a Thai Church...

Orientation started again at 8:30, which gave me plenty of time to get my daily strawberry yoghurt from sev and some time to skim over the Bangkok Post, an English paper. Speaking of the Bangkok post, last week I was reading it and read an article about George Bush speaking at Calvin College. It even said how some of the faculty had sent a letter to the Grand Rapids Press saying they didn’t support Bush blah blah blah. Interesting thing to see Calvin College and the CRC church mentioned in the Bangkok Post. We started the day learning about learning methods and then David Long (not the professor from King’s) talked to us about Thai culture. He’s been living here for 18 years. We then went to The Mall and had lunch together at The Sizzler. Headed back here and learned a bit about making lesson plans. We then made lesson plans for the practice lessons we are gonna teach to each other tomorrow. I am gonna teach about the circumferance of a circle. After running across the street to grab some supper I headed over to Nonthaburi Baptist Church which is on campus here for some sort of Hymn night. We went because Ajahn Sahat wanted us foreign staff to sing a song. The service was longer than I expected (2 hours) and I had a pretty bad headache but it was pretty interesting. I didn’t really understand anything but there were a couple hymn books in English so we could sing along a bit. During the service we decided we would sing Be Thou My Vision. It was Ajahn Sahat’s birthday today so the church sang happy birthday to him first in English and then in Thai. On our way out they were handing out cds with Thai hymns on them. We’re playing it here in the staffroom right now. It found it interesting that I could see a spirit house from the window while in church. A spirit house is like a fancy dollhouse on a pole that people put outside there houses so that the spirits hang out in the spirit house instead of the house. I felt strange being in a pocket of Christianity amidst an ocean of Buddhism. Pray that God continues to work in Thailand. At church this past Sunday we saw a presentation from the jail ministry program. The lady giving the presentation became a Christian while in jail. They showed us a video of a giant jail choir. They set up a choir program where they have choir practice combined with a Bible study. 80% of the choir had accepted Christ. Pretty amazing that the place which seems to be the most receptive to the gospel is the prison!

Cleaning...

The day officially began at 8:30 with round 2 of orientation. After devotions we headed outside for a group builder activity. We tied a rope between two tether ball posts at about shoulder height. We then had to hold hands and get the entire team over the rope. It was lots of fun and I think we were all over in about 10 minutes. Thanks to Nathan for being a human forklift. We then came inside and talked about the activity and how it applies to working as a group this year. Later, Ajan Sahat (Peter) and Ajan Surang (Sue) told us a bit about the history of the school and then Ajan Surang gave us her testimony. After lunch Kru Tu, one of the Thai employees, shared her testimony. Later in the afternoon Amanda talked to us about child development and learning. After supper spent a few hours cleaning the house. Feels much more like home now. Later in the evening Nate and I borrowed the school's projector and hooked it up to my laptop so that we could hook it up to our living room wall. We had a few people over and watched a movie whose name I cannot remember, but something to do with kids finding a caveman frozen in their backyard.

Wisaka Boocha...

Good news and bad news. Good news: after over a year and a half of waiting to become a citizen of Canada, I have finally been called in to take the citizenship test that precedes the citizenship ceremony. Bad news: I'm not in Canada. So I had to write a letter begging them to let me wait till I get home. I was gonna try to find a place to mail it but them remembered that today is a Buddhist holiday, in fact its the holiest Buddhist holidays. Today is Wisaka Bucha which marks the birth, death, and enlightenment of the Buddha.

Today was the first day of orientation. So far so good but a bit overwhelming. We fnished up at around 4 then I went home and read a bit then fell asleep for a few minutes. Got up and walked over to Big C. In the parking lot were a couple hundred people doing aerobics. It was a pretty funny thing to see. Ran into my apartment mate Nathan, grabbed some supper from KFC and then went shopping for cleaning supplies.

Chatuchak...

Yesterday morning (Saturday) a bunch of us headed over to Chatuchak market. Its a giant outdoor market in Bangkok. I hear it has over 4000 stalls and is the largest open-air market in Asia. Walked around a bit, but didn't see too much that interested me. Took a taxi back and hung out here in the afternoon. For supper when across the street with some people and had sticky rice, chicken, and papaya salad. Very good. After that went to Swenson's (icecream shop) in Big C. This morning went to Chaengwattana Community Church which is located in a planned community called Nichada Thani. Afterwards I went to Que Paso's again with Lindsay and Nathan. I ordered a taco salad but got a fajita chicken sandwich. Oh well, mai pen rai. Ironed a few shirts this afternoon, then went over to The Mall (capitalized because the name of the mall is "The Mall"). We were gonna watch a movie but it didn't start when the Internet said it did so instead I checked out the rooftop waterpark with Melisa, Hanna, and Heidi, then grabbed some supper and took the bus home. Walked over to the pier with some people then headed back here. Tomorrow orientation starts, and in the evening Nathan, Tim, and myself are gonna clean the apartment.

Water Taxis and Skytrains...

Star Wars was great. Nice theatre too; reclining seats and tonnes of leg room. Theatre was not very full, maybe 20 people. This morning we were gonna leave at 11 for downtown Bangkok, but then it started raining. Rained like I've never seen it rain before in my life. Awesome. And the lightning seemed very close by and the thunder was deafening. I could hear it raining on my roof last night as well. So we ended up leaving at 1 instead. We walked down to the pier and then took a water taxi to downtown Bangkok. Took like an hour to get there. Once we got out of the boat we took the sky train to a mall called Siam Centre. Grabbed lunch at "Au Bonne Pain", checked out a bookstore, had a coffee at Starbucks. Took sky train to end of the track then got off and walked around in this sweet park with Lindsay and Colleen. It had a nice pond with about 5 bridges crossing it and paddle boats. Had like 18 workout stations with signs telling you how many things to do such as stone balance beams and steps to do step ups and rings to hang on and stuff. Really interesting and beautiful park. Grabbed bus 63 which takes us right back here. About an hour. Air conditioned. The money collector was a man who had recently finished highschool who knew a bit of English. He seemed very interested in our school. He said his dream was to go to university and become a teacher but since he had a bad knee he couldn't earn enough money to go. Kinda sad, but very nice guy. Got back, then went for supper down the street with Colleen and Lindsay and a Thai guy whose name I can't spell who works here as a teaching assistant. Had cashew chicken and rice. Very good. Got back here and did a load of laundry and then hung it all up to dry on the balcony.

Buses...

Last night (Wednesday) I headed over to Big C with Colleen and Lindsay. Went to the food court for supper. I pointed to a big picture of cashew chicken and then when I tried to paid they pointed to the other side of the court, apparently I had to go over there buy coupons. I didn't get cashew chicken but some sort of vegetarian stirfry. Stayed up late waiting for my laundry to finish. From start to finish it took 5 hours to wash and dry, and they were still damp when I took them out. This morning we split into 3 groups and then went to several malls using the bus system. Gonna go out for supper tonight and then see Star Wars tonight.

Hua Hin...

Had a nice trip to Hua Hin. Left here Monday morning at about 8:30 and took a taxi to the bus stop. From there it was about a three hour bus ride to Hua Hin. We stayed at a guesthouse near the beach called Nerawin. Grabbed a hamburger for lunch and headed to the beach. I have never been to the beach before that I can remember except for a few minutes in B.C. The sand squeaked as you walked on it and the sea was amazingly warm. Hua Hin is to the southwest of Bankok on the Sea of Thailand. The highlight of the first afternoon was getting in the way of schools of minnows. They would smack against you and jump out of the water as they passed, felt kinda weird and left hundreds of funny brown marks on my shirt. Spent the afternoon on the beach then headed to an Indian restaurant. I'm not a big fan of Indian food so I had some plain rice and some sort of flat bread. Checked out the night market and other stores. Headed back to the guest house with Colleen and Lindsay, but we had a bit of a disagreement on the way to take, and we ended up walking on the beach for what seemed forever. Ended up going through this 8-acre resort called the Marriot Spa and Resort to get back to the street. (in case you're wondering my way would have been the right way home) Spent most of Tuesday morning and afternoon at the beach. I didn't put enough sunscreen on my legs, feet, and neck so now I am very red. For supper we went to a restaurant that had the seating at the end of the dock. You could see about 4 Navy ships just off the coast. I was told that they were protecting the King while he was at his beach residence. After it got dark they boats had what looked like were white Christmas lights and looked really silly. This morning (Wednesday) a few of us (Nathan, Colleen, Lindsay, Melisa, Karen, and myself) got up to watch the sunrise from the beach, but it was too cloudy to see anything. Left the bus station at around 2 and got back to Bangkok at about 5:30. Very nice trip but feels good to be back home.

Oishi...

Last night (Sunday) we all packed into the GES van and went to a Japanese buffet restaurant called Oishi. We had our own room to sit in. The buffet was big, and you could put various vegetables and meets on a plate and put a clip with you table number; then you would give it to the cook and they would barbecue or stirfry it and bring it to your table. I tried to stick to normal looking stuff, although I did eat a tiny fish. I'm not sure what kinds it was but you eat the entire thing. Also tried some green tea flavoured icecream. Looked around the mall a bit with Peter and Nathan. Got back at around 9 and headed to Big C with Nathan. He tried for about 45 minutes to find sandals that fit his feet but didn't have much luck. We took a tuk-tuk home. Leaving for the beach in about 20 minutes. We'll be there until Wednesday. The only sun burning I've got so far is a small patch on my arm. I must have missed that spot when I put sunscreen on before swimming.

Geckos and tuk-tuks...

Just thought I'd let you all know what I've been up to the last couple days. On Saturday I woke up at 6:30 and knew I wouldn't fall back to sleep. Went over to 7-11, which is just down the street and got some water and strawberry yogurt (all the other yogurts had unrecognizable fruit on the labels). There are 7-11's all over the place here. At one location there was another 7-11 3 or 4 stores down. I remember being told it was crowded here but I had no idea how crowded it actually is. You walk along the street and its shop after shop after shop, all connected. And there venders in booths all over the place as well. As you walk along you see dogs all over the place. Usually there are just lying around or walking slowly. At 10 am we all met and Amanda brought us to a nearby market. The best words I can use to describe it are smelly and crowded. I was a little grossed out at the meat stands, not very sanitary looking at all! Amanda showed us to the pier. The river is fairly wide and there are many boats going up and down it. You can take a boat to Bangkok which I hope to do one of these days. We then took tuk-tuks to Big C, a nearby mall. A tuk-tuk is like a motorcycle with a back part built onto it for holding passengers. Driving around here is pretty crazy. It always looks like you're gonna hit another vehicle. After we got back I was showing Colleen our apartment and she stepped on a gecko on our floor. A gecko is a little lizardy creature. They have sticky feet and can run around on the ceiling. For supper we took taxis to a restaurant that over looked the river. We had a lot of interesting dishes but I just had rice since I wasn't feeling well. We got back just before 8pm and I headed straight to bed. Woke up a couple times in the middle of the night and thought I was in the airport for some reason. The aparmennts next to us I thought were an airport terminal. Then for some unknown reason I got up and turned off the air conditioner. When I got up later it was pretty warm! I woke up this morning (Sunday) at about 6 and headed over to 7-11 for some strawberry yoghurt. At 8:30 we took taxis to church. We went to an English speaking church in an expatriate community. After we swam in a huge outdoor pool which is right next to the church and then ate lunch at Que Paso's, a Mexican restaurant. It was a nice change from Thai food! I'm feeling much better today, just a bit of a headache. This afternoon I walked over to Big C to get a few things. Another thing I need to watch out for is banging my head on stuff. Many of the doorways in my apartment are shorter than I am. Yesterday, walking down the street I smacked my head on the canopy of a stall. Duck duck duck! a lady yelled. In a few minutes we are headed to a Japanese restaurant with Peter and Sue. Once I get settled and have time I'll take pictures of the area and post them on Flickr. Tomorrow we are going to the beach for about 3 days so that should be fun. Have a good Sunday everyone!

Sawat dee khrap...

Greetings from Nonthaburi! Quite an interesting last couple of days. Flight left Edmonton at 7:45 am. After a three hour layerover in Vancouver, we boarded a China Airlines flight headed to Taipei. Boarding announcement were made in Chinese followed by English, instead of the English followed by the French as I am so used to. I was very impressed by the airline. After we had boarded stewardesses gave everyone a moist warm towel to wash there face with. Later we got a little bag of "mixed nuts" which actually contained peanuts and green peas. Meals were pretty good, had eel and rice for one meal and pork and rice for another. Later on they went around with instant noodle cups. All you could see was a solid bank of clouds the entire way. Saw very little of Taipei because by the time we were under the clouds we were at the aiport. As soon as we pulled up to the gate the airplane lost power. When I stepped off the plane I could instantly feel the humidity. We had a 7 hour layover in Taipei, as surpisingly we were all freezing cold because of the air conditioning. We got a meal voucher for this food place in the airport, and even though everything looked gross I thought I should use the voucher so I got a bacon vegetable sandwich. I couldn't tell if the bacon had ever been cooked before and I felt sick the rest of the day. Took a few gravol before the last flight to Bangkok so I slept through quite a bit of it. I woke up and saw that we were flying above a lightning storm. Once we got underneath the cloud, the lights of Bangkok were fabulous. Getting our passports checked and going through customs didn't take much more than 15 mins. Customs amounted to walking through a hallway with your baggage while some officers watched. After trading in our money for Thai Baht, we were met by Amanda (lady in charge of orientation), Peter (operator of school), Coleen (returning teacher), and Nathan (new teacher from Virginia who arrive half an hour before us and is my roomate). The baggage was loaded into the back of a truck and we all squished into the GES van. Traffic was light at that time in the morning so we arrived at GES at about 2:30 I think. Unpacked some things at the apartment, took a shower, and went to bed at around 4. Could here traffic in the distance, airplanes, a few birds, the air conditioning unit, and some kind of lizard, which concerned me somewhat considering that on one side of the apartment you can reach out and touch the trees outside, leaving plenty of room for a man eating lizard to come in and eat me. Planning to get up at 9:30, I woke up at 6:30 and headed over to the staff room. At 10 we're supposed to meet and Amanda is gonna show us around I think. Thanks to all of you who kept me in your prayers during the trip, and I hope you keep me in your prayers throughout the year.

Your Ex-Lover is Dead...

I'd like to thank Joel for introducing me to this song. Right now he's on the Honduras water project so keep him in your prayers. Check out his Flickr site here.
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"Your Ex-Lover is Dead" ~ Stars

When there is nothing left to burn
You have to set yourself on fire

[Man] that was strange to see you again
Introduced by a friend of a friend
Smiled and said "yes I think we've met before"
In that instant it started to pour

Captured a taxi despite all the rain
We drove in silence across Pont Champlain
And all of that time you thought I was sad
I was trying to remember your name

This scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin
You tried to reach deep but you couldn't get in
And now you're outside me you see all the beauty
Repent all your sin

It's nothing but time and a face that you'll lose
I chose to feel it and you couldn't choose
I'll write you a postcard, I'll send you the news
From the house down the road, from real love

Live through this and you won't look back
Live through this and you won't look back
Live through this and you won't look back

There's one thing I have to say so I'll be brave
You were what I wanted, I gave what I gave
I'm not sorry I met you
I'm not sorry it's over
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save
I'm not sorry there's nothing to save
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Globes and Maps...

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"Globes and Maps" ~ Something Corporate

Light breaks underneath
A heavy door
And I try to keep myself awake
Fall all around us on a hotel floor
And you think that you've made a mistake
And there's a pain in my stomach
From another sleepless binge
And I struggle to get myself up again
I wanna hang on to something
That won't break away for fall apart
Like the pieces of my heart

Globes and maps are all around me now
I wanna feel you breathe me in
Globes and maps I see surround you here
Why won't you believe me?
Globes and maps they chart your way back home
Do you wanna leave or something?

Dreams came around you
In a hazy rain
You open your mouth wide to feel them fall
And I write a letter from a one-way train
But I don't think you'll read it at all

Globes and maps are all around me now
I wanna feel you breathe me in
Globes and maps I see surround you here
Why won't you believe me?
Globes and maps they chart your way back home
Do you wanna leave or something?

I can't take this anymore
I know that I can't take this anymore
I can't take this anymore
Cause I know someday I'll see you walk out that door

Globes and maps are all around me now
I wanna feel you breathe me in
Globes and maps I see surround you here
Why won't you believe me?
Globes and maps they chart your way back home
Do you wanna leave or something?
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