Vacation - Part 2

After introducing Heather and Kyle to Northern Thailand and then exploring Angkor Wat with them, we all were ready for some tropical beach time, so we jetted off to Railay, a peninsula that juts out into the Andaman Sea, to see if we could find the picturesque beauty that Thailand's coasts are reputed to be.  So, we packed our bags, caught a tuk-tuk to the airport, and headed back into Thailand.

Railay proved to be pretty spectacular!  We had to literally wade out into the surf (with our bags hoisted above our heads!) to get to our long-tail boat that took us to the Railay peninsula.  There are no roads that connect Railay to the other towns and cities in the area, so the only way to access it is by boat.

Our first day, we did some kayaking and swimming in the beautiful water, and enjoyed laying by the hotel pool.

Blurry - but it shows that all four of us went out!

A "sea cave" that we found.

Our almost-beach-side bungalows.

We also booked a "Seven Island Tour" for the next day, which would allow us to get out and see some more of the area.  In theory, this was a great idea!  In practice, however, Dani had enjoyed the sunshine of the prior day a little too much (and thus was quite crispy), and everyone had not been scrupulous enough about inspecting our ice at dinner, so during our "Seven Island Tour" we all were experiencing various levels of stomach un-ease (to put it lightly).

A monkey we spotted on one of the islands.

Island #1: Dani: avoiding the sun.  Gabe: just about to throw up.

Island #7: Our final stop where Kyle lost his stomach contents and none of us ate much of the BBQ dinner.
But the sunset was pretty!

The rest of our time on Railay was spent either being miserable or trying to recover from being miserable for all four of us, but we did get a lot of Qwirkle games in with Heather and Kyle!

The panorama of the beach at Railay.

Qwirkle!

We had planned to head West to Phuket in order to catch our flight North to Bangkok for the final few days with Heather and Kyle, but we'd booked a night at a "remote" island resort for a nice rest spot along the way.  The resort didn't disappoint, with quiet little cabins in the woods and a beautiful infinity pool!

Watching a storm roll in from the infinity pool.

Our porch/reading nook.

We made it back to Bangkok and were feeling recovered enough to enjoy a day riding on the public transport through the canals.  It was very cool to go "behind the scenes" of the city, so to speak, and view life of the everyday Bangkokian from a "backyard" view.  We also saw some frighteningly large lizards which we researched later and found out they are not, in fact, komodo dragons as our boat captain seemed to be indicating, but are a relative of them called Water Monitors.

We said our goodbyes to Heather and Kyle the next day and caught an overnight bus back to Chiang Mai.  We realized when we got to the bus station at 2AM that we'd lost our ticket to pick up our scooter from the long-term parking where we'd left it, so 3AM found us wandering up and down the hundreds, if not thousands, of scooters parked in the lot looking for our bike since neither of us had memorized the license plate.  We eventually found it, the lot security guard gave us a jump as our battery was dead, and we made it home before sunrise to rest up and prepare for the next stretch of school!

Vacation - Part 1

The end of Term One came at a frightening speed, and we scrambled through finals and then (literally) ran out the door to head to the airport to pick up two of our family members: Heather and Kyle T.  Here's a picture of Dani and Heather on the scooter Dani was driving on the way home from the airport.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

We spent 5 whirlwind days here in Chiang Mai with our visitors, during which time we:

1. Ate some delicious food and drank tasty smoothies (coconut lime was as popular with them as it is with us!).

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

2. Introduced H&K to our students.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

3. Shared the glory of Traditional Thai Massages with H&K.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

4. Drove a long way to get to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center and saw some countryside along the highway.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

5. Attended a cooking class and learned to make some delicious Thai food.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

6. Oh, and we got stung by a centipede IN OUR BED the first night H&K were here (thankful, however, that we had let them have our room and we'd taken the guest bedroom without AC where apparently the centipedes hang out...).  This is Heather's hand with the (dead) centipede after she woke up to all the commotion we made trying to find and destroy the beast.

Photo Courtesy of Heather Tatro

After our 5 days in Chiang Mai, we hopped on a flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and encountered a whole new country while checking out Angkor Wat.  Angkor Wat, in case you didn't know, is a UNESCO World Heritage site containing religious structures from the Khmer kingdom - a kingdom that experienced its height in power during the 11th/12th-ish centuries.  The temples are ruins from that period of time.  

We kind of felt like we set free in a big-kid/Indiana Jones-ish amusement part as we wandered around the vast complex, hopped on a tuk-tuk to get from monument to monument, scoped out temples ON OUR OWN (we managed to avoid the tourist crowds for several HOURS thanks to our 5AM start time), and tried to drink enough water to replace our excessive sweat levels!

After a few days in Cambodia, we headed back to Thailand to the southern region on the Andaman Sea.  It was tropical beaches like we'd never seen!  More photos and highlights in "Vacation - Part 2"... Coming soon!

Packing suggestions

From Dani:

While I was living in Rome, a couple came to stay with me for a few days that we're doing a travel-around-Europe-trip for about 6 weeks. I met them at the train station, and to my absolute amazement, the only luggage they had with them was a briefcase-sized backpack. For BOTH of them. I had never known anyone to pack THAT light, and it has served as an inspiration ever since!

My sister, Heather, and her husband, Kyle, are coming to visit us in a few days, and I figured Heather might appreciate having a suggestion list for packing. Rather than sending it directly to her, I decided to share it with you, dear readers, so when you come visit this beautiful country, you have some ideas for how to pack light... Although I'll be honest, it won't be as light as that duo!

As a note, Gabe and I are customarily carry-on size packers. We generally aim to get by with whatever we can take onto the airplane with us, as this cuts down time waiting at baggage claim, requires us to limit what we pack to reasonable carrying-weight amounts, and greatly reduces the risk of lost luggage! Since Heather and Kyle will be traveling with us for about 2 weeks around SE Asia, and our primary mode of transportation will be motorcycles, it's going to be best for them if they can pack light.

Our itinerary is as follows:

5 days in Chiang Mai

2 nights in Cambodia at Angkor Wat

5 days down at the beaches in southern Thailand (Railay area)

2 nights in Bangkok

When I travel, I typically try to do my laundry from the day every evening, unless we're traveling early in the morning and things won't have time to dry.

Essentials:

Shoes:

- Chacos or other hiking/walking friendly sandals (we're going to be doing some hiking and walking and riding on motorcycles - it's best to have shoes that can firmly attach to your feet)

- Flip flops (easy to clean, great as an indoor shoe option if the need arises, easy to brush sand off of, and helpful if you start to get blisters from the hiking sandals and need a bit of a break from them for a day)

Clothes:

- swimsuit (I'd recommend 2 - although in this hot climate, the usual dread of putting on a wet suit probably won't be as disturbing as it usually is!)

- a pair of capri-length, light weight pants IF you already have one. I have two pair of nice quality hiking-type capris (think: pockets that close with zippers or buttons) that I wear a LOT! If not, you can buy some here for less than $10. I seriously regret not bringing my black gauchos.

- shorts - 2 pairs. One that is quick-dry, running-style or board style shorts, and one that is more jean short/khaki/something along those lines. My shorts have about a 3-5 inch inseam, and as a foreigner, I feel comfortable walking around in those most places. If you want to be conservative, bring the jean/khaki style as Bermuda length. Obviously, for when we go visit Angkor Wat, we won't be wearing our shorts :)

- 1 long sleeve shirt. I prefer my cotton, button up, collared shirt the most. It's still lightweight, but it provides excellent sun coverage if I get a little pink and need a day or two to keep my skin out of the sun. It's also a bit loose, which is nice for mosquito avoidance in the evening. If you don't have one, it's easy to buy long-sleeve, tunic-style shirts here for less than $10.

- 2-3 short sleeve shirts, ideally all or mostly all cotton. I have some that are 95% cotton, 5% spandex that are fitted T's with a v-neck. I wear them ALL THE TIME! A regular v-neck t-shirt can also be nice if you find yourself over indulging on ice cream and delicious Thai food so you don't have to feel self conscious about holding in your stomach! I prefer lightweight, loose, natural-fabric, that is comfortable, and dries easily.

- 2-3 tank tops. I have several of Target's "long and lean" tank tops that I wear a lot. I would also recommend a loose tank top - I don't know what they're called (yoga tank tops?), but the loose, breezy, comfy, athletic ones. I would stay away from spaghetti straps - in fact, if you can find relatively wide-strapped sleeveless tops, that's usually best. I've seen a lot of Thai women in shorts, but very few in tank tops - however, we are foreigners, and we'll be in some touristy places (including the beach!) so I think we'll be fine with wearing some of these.

- 6-8 pair of cotton or breathable underwear. You could do it with less than this if you're washing them by hand every night, but I HATE wearing sweaty undies, so when it's hot, I change 'em a lot! 

- a sports bra

- a regular bra (that works with your tank tops)

- 1 pair of socks (to wear in case your feet get cold with fans blowing on them/you get TIRED of having dirty feet!)

- rash guard/sun protection shirt for swimming/kayaking/snorkeling

- a sweater/lightweight sweatshirt (I wear cardigans sometimes in the morning or evening when I'm on the scooter)

- something to sleep in - I usually sleep in cotton pajama shorts and either a loose cotton T-shirt or tank top.

Optional things:

- 1 pair of lightweight, loose long pants. They're very common and cheap at market stalls, so not necessary to bring with you if you'd prefer to not have to pack them over. However, it's nice to have them for mosquito protection or if we go to a movie - which have the AC piped down to arctic conditions!

- a knee-length, comfy skirt or dress OR a maxi-skirt - in case you want to change up your style a little. I wear skirts a lot because they provide a little more sun coverage than shorts, but are equally light weight if they're knee length or so. It's also nice to have something a little more dressy if you decide to go to a nice dinner and/or for walking into the semi-fancy resort we'll be staying at one night!

- running shoes - it's debatable whether they're worth the space and weight, but sometimes it's nice to be able to go for a run and/or to give your feet a break from sandals if your feet aren't used to them.  After a 3-week trip to Europe the summer after high school, I promised myself I would never again travel without running shoes. Obviously if you do this, you might need another pair or two of socks.

- a lightweight scarf can change up style, and is nice for using as a pillow or as a beach coverup or on an air conditioned bus.

- an additional pair of board shorts or running shorts for swimming/kayaking/snorkeling in.

Cosmetics and equipment:

- the bare necessities of makeup/a favorite face wash or moisturizer if you're picky (I am!). Literally, the only make-up I've worn for at least the last month is mascara. Coverup/powder just tends to melt and cake. The same with eye shadow. I've never been a big bronzes/blush/lipstick person, and I'm even less so here!

- the bare necessities of hair styling if you're picky. I have one kind of gel that I use, but I ran out of hairspray in the first weeks here and have never bothered to get any more - with the humidity and the fans, there just doesn't seem to be any point! 

- a headlamp - most of the lights here are overhead fluorescent lights, so lighting is sort of all or nothing. It's nice to have a headlamp nearby if you need to make a bathroom run in the middle of the night (keep in mind - you DO want to check the bathroom for critters before you go in barefoot and vulnerable!) or you're walking along a dark road. 

- flat sheet (actually, Heather doesn't need to worry about this, as we have some extras, but typically Thai hotels don't offer a top sheet, and I am one of those people that finds it very difficult to go to sleep without a sheet over me - even when it's hot!)

- tampons, if you're going to need them. They're expensive here and not very easy to find.

- a water bottle if you have one you're partial to

What I would NOT bring:

- a towel (easy to find at open markets if you need it)

- a washcloth (also easy to find at open markets)

- shampoo and conditioner (there's a 7/11 on practically every corner, and travel size shampoo/conditioner is cheap)

- soap (again - easy to find)

- toothpaste (easy to find) - in fact, you can buy a toothbrush when you're here too, if space is that much of a problem on the trip over.

- perfume. It tends to attract bugs!

Extra things to consider:

- a day pack of some kind - we have a smaller-than-38-liter backpack that we use ALL the time for transporting stuff while we're going to church/going on an aftnoon adventure. In fact, we haul our groceries home from the writ in it! Choose something with comfortable shoulder pads as you'll most likely put a lot of water into it.

- mosquito net. We don't sleep with one here at our house because we have screens on our windows, but given that we're semi-budget travelers, it might not be a bad idea to have one on hand if you have room for it.

- you can buy razors here, but if you have a favorite one, it might be worth bringing if you're able to get through security. My razor made it fine, but I lost my tweezers in Hong Kong.

- usually I'd suggest bringing deodorant because the stuff they have here seems kinda weird (gel? Although I haven't tried it), but I have several unopened containers of Dove or Secret brand deodorants. I personally use a salt stick deodorant after every shower (usually at night), and then in the morning I use my arrowroot/baking soda/coconut oil/essential oil homemade deodorant and I think I've only had B.O. twice in the 5 months we've been here - it works amazing!

- Bug repellant. I don't know if it's avaialble her - I would assume so, but I haven't personally gone looking for it. I find the best thing that seems to work for me is: 5 drops of lemongrass essential oil, 5 drops of eucalyptus essential oil, 5 drops of melaleuca essential oil, and 5 drops of lavender essential oil. I mix that with water in a 15 ml bottle with a spray top, and that serves about 2 applications - one in the morning, and one in the evening, spraying down all exposed skin. It seems to deter about 90% of the bugs - which is good enough for me to avoid coating myself in deet every day for a year!

- electronics. I'd personally say less-is-more. Apple products are ok with 240 volts, so you don't have to worry about a voltage converter for an iPhone (we have charging equipment for our iPad Madge Gabe's iPod touch, so you shouldn't need to bring any if you're ok with sharing ours Irish us). Having music and headphones is definitely nice. Obviously, having a camera with whatever you need for charging batteries, if you have rechargeable ones (check voltage converters). Most Thai plugs I've seen will accept US style plugs, so no need for a plug adapter. I would avoid blow driers and hair straighteners, but I don't personally use them in my everyday life anyhow.

- Most easily accessible lotions are skin whitening lotion, so if you have some all-natural stuff you prefer, bring it if you can. Chapstick is pretty easy to find if you're OK with non-organic stuff.

- if you have a lightweight rain jacket/wind breaker that rolls up really small, you might consider bringing it. It's cold on scooters if you get wet, but honestly, poncho's are cheap and they're available all over, and that cuts the wind AND prevents wetness if you need it!

- a hat of some kind might be nice, even just a baseball cap to keep the sun off your nose and forehead.

- sunscreen if you have a favorite brand,  although you might be able to find it here - I haven't really looked. I don't personally wear a lot of sunscreen - preferring to wear clothes and/or try to stay out of direct sun for long periods of time if I can.

- sunglasses - although they are also easy to find here if you need to get them.

- a luxury item: a battery powered, portable speaker is nice for if a movie-night-on-the-iPad happens. We regret not bringing ours.

And to close off: here's me sporting a typical traveling ensemble from a few years back! My goal is to always pack LESS than I did on the last trip! :) clearly I have a long ways to go until I match the packing efficiency of the couple I hosted in Rome!

Thai BBQ and a bonus!

Last night, I (Dani) took the older girls (Hope, Naomi, Sarah, Faith, Cheri, Grace, Ruth, Esther, Abby, Debbie, and Rachel) out for some fun!  Jesse had money left over from the USA team's visit, and he wanted to have some of it spent on fun times with the girls.  Due to my gender, I was lucky enough to tag along!

First we hit up Central Festival - one of the busy, crowded malls here in Chiang Mai.  Each of the girls got 80 baht (almost $3 US) to spend as they wanted.  After an hour, we met up back at the Song Taew (vehicle) and House Mother and House Father drove us to a Thai BBQ restaurant.  Thai BBQ is a unique eating experience!  There's a huge buffet of raw meats and veggies.  You dish up what you want, and take the raw foods back to your table, where you have a dome-shaped contraption over hot coals where you can put your food on the dome and cook it.  There's a lip around the bottom of the dome into which you pour water, and you can also boil your veggies if you'd like.

Since it's all-you-can-eat, we ate... and ate... and ate!  For dessert, fresh fruits (watermelon, pineapple,  and cantaloup) is available, along with an assortment of tasty Thai-style coconut-milk based jellies, and an assemble-your-own ice/jellies/coconut milk concoction.  And, of course, ice cream for the unimaginative!  

After eating until we were rather miserably full, off we went to the Saturday night walking street in one of the local towns outside of Chiang Mai.  Walking street/open markets are a common event here, and they're a GREAT place to find cheap things for sale - food, clothing, backpacks, toys, soaps, etc.

I didn't pull my camera out at the mall or at the walking street, but I did snap a couple shots from the BBQ.

Song Taew Ride to the Mall

Debbie, Ruth, Esther, and Grace enjoying their BBQ

Abby dishing up at the meat station

Faith, Cheri, Faith, and Hope - working on their meal

Abby's and my plate pile after our meal

House Mother and House Father

BONUS:
We've developed some delicious drink recipes here, and as a bonus to you for getting through these blog posts, we thought we'd share one of our favorite recipes with you.

(Note: We make this in our magic bullet, so measurements are approximate because we just make it based on how it "looks" in our magic bullet container.)

Blend together:
2 Tbs cocoa powder
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup of milk (we use coconut milk - it's quite creamy, so a good substitute for you dairy drinkers would be whole milk or even half-and-half!)

Add about 2 cups of ice cubes (we fill up the container) and splash in a bit more milk (approximately 1/4 cup - enough to almost cover the ice cubes), and then blend thoroughly.  If desired, artistically "splash" the inside of a cup with chocolate syrup, pour in the chocolate milkshake/smoothie, and enjoy!

Variations:
We've tried this with a drop of doTerra peppermint essential oil (AH-mazing... like a cold Christmas drink!), and we've also tried it with strongly steeped chia tea (rather than the splash of milk at the end), which is also quite delicious and a bit exotic :)  If you find any other tasty variations, please let us know what they are!  I'm thinking I might try it with lavender oil next :)

Thai Tea-Party

From Dani:

Last weekend, Gabe and Jesse Larsen (our short-term roommate/new long-term friend!) took the older boys on a "boys-only" adventure.  I'm not entirely sure what all it comprised of, but I know it was about 12 hours long, it involved at least 2 meals, an arcade, and a movie.  It sounded like they all had fun!

Meanwhile, since I had most of a day to myself, I decided to host the little girls (Becky, Joy, Hannah, Cadia, Blessing, and Tamar) for a tea-party at my house.  I invited them via a scroll addressed to the girls, with the option to dress in their favorite dressy outfit and come for tea at 3pm.

Once Gabe and Jesse left at 11, I took the scooter to the town about 3 miles away and made several stops:  first at the grocery store for cookies and tea-appropriate snacks, and then over to the open-air market where I found some ADORABLE polka-dot tea-and-saucer sets (I bought 7!), a teapot, and fresh flowers.  I scootered all my party-prep back home - stopping at the school to grab a pack of crayons and copy off a bunch of color-pages for after-tea entertainment - and got to work.  Since we only have 2 chairs, and a lot of tile, I decided the safest route was to set up a picnic-style tea on our living room floor - less distance for dropped ceramics, and plenty of space for all of us.  I dressed in my prettiest dress, and welcomed the girls when they arrived en masse at 2:55pm.

They helped me finish doing my hair, pick out my necklace and earrings, and we all got a generous squirt or two of my favorite perfume.  While we were donning appropriate scents, we saw one of the 3rd grade boys lurking outside the house, so we invited him in to join us for tea as well.

Tea was served, along with coconut milk as a creamer and as much sugar as I had available in the house.  Needless to say, tea was a hit!  ALL of the cookies and sugar and tea and cream got consumed.  And then we commenced coloring.  And then we watched some Barbie short videos on YouTube.  And it rained, so the girls were thrilled that they had to "stay" at Teacher Dani's house.  AND the plans were made for (at an undefined time in the future) the little girls to come have a sleepover at the house.

Below are some pictures of the day:

Sweet Joy

Impish Luke

Tea is served

Spunky Tamar

Resourceful Hannah loved the iPod!

Becky, Hannah, and Cadia

The Coloring Corner!

Overall, we had SO MUCH FUN doing girl things (Luke left not too long after he finished his tea :)). These precious girls are just a huge blessing to us.  We are really enjoying getting to spend time with them and get to know their personalities.  I think tea parties are going to have to be a regular part of our time here!

Field Trips!

We are well into the school year flow, and we feel like we've (mostly) hit our stride. Praise The Lord (and THANK YOU for the prayers!)!

This last week and the week before we had field trips. These were the only two field trips we've done this year, so I think it was accidental that they were in two consecutive weeks. Both were an adventure!

The first one was a "science day" field trip hosted by a local university. We think every.single.child between the age of 3 and 18 was present. It was nigh unto insanity! We were given charge of 8 students. Fortunately, the other teachers were very gracious toward us and gave us 8 of the easiest students to handle!

The day started full of anticipation - and rain! All the students showed up in their purple PE uniforms, and the teachers wore their pink shirts. We lined up for our usual routine of singing National Anthem, reciting The Lord's Prayer, singing the King's Anthem, and reciting the school motto. Then everyone got divided into their teams with their adult supervisors, and we loaded up into the vehicles. Grades 4, 5, and 6 rode in the back of one of the very large songtaews, and grades 2 and 3 loaded up into the back of the small songtaews. Grade 1 piled into a 15 passenger van, and off we went on our caravan to the university.

Once we arrived, there was loud music, there were exhibits, there were dance troupes, there were snacks, there were booths, exhibition halls, and 5 buildings on campus to explore. Due to our lack of Thai language reading ability, we mostly just wandered around with our 8 kids trying to keep everyone together and find interesting things for them to do (at which we were only partially successful!) but at least everyone made it back to the lunch rendezvous location :)

Last week we went to a Lanna Heritage day at one of the schools here in Chiang Mai. This event was to celebrate the culture of the Lanna kingdom - formerly Northern Thailand. This event was much smaller than the Science Day. We enjoyed getting to browse through booths selling traditional Lanna style food, watch the kids explore the very large playground, and see some traditional Lanna dancing and games - and a lot of cute little kids in their traditional clothing uniforms (usually worn on Fridays).

One of our first graders getting a little goofy at Lanna Day.

My lunch at Lanna Day.

Playing on the playground.

This week it's been back to normal, although we do have an additional person in our classroom these days:

Jesse, a fellow that came on the team from Longview last month, is here for another few weeks. He's been working a lot with our second graders, who love having him around!

I'll close with this blurry picture of grade three doing a "get your wiggles out" dance. We figured out how to get the to do it: turn it into a competition! Ah, the joys of teaching!

A letter home

Dear friends and family of faith in America,

Like much of the world, we've been watching the news coming out of the USA in the past few weeks and months.  As we scroll through Facebook news feeds and gain glimpses into the thoughts and feelings of our dear ones and their reactions to recent events (racial tensions, the Supreme Court's recent ruling, the undercover interviews with Planned Parenthood going public, and even the New Yorker article regarding the threat of "The Big One" destroying western Washington, Oregon, and Northern California and the news of forest fires in Western Washington), we've had frozen fingers over the keyboards. What do we write?  What can we say?  Honestly, our life here seems quite far removed from these news events, but that doesn't mean they don't affect us - that they won't affect us.

We've been talking about it this week as we walk in the evening through the neighborhood streets with roaming dogs as our companions and the regular interruptions of smiling to our neighbors and attempting to communicate honor and respect and love in a culture that is foreign to us.

What would we say if we were in our home town receiving this news in your presence?  How would we respond if conversations about these topics came up at a coffee shop? At church? Over a family dinner? Walking the lake with a friend?

Obviously, we won't be in those exact circumstances, but as we've discussed how we should respond via long distance, this is what we've realized:

What a privilege we are experiencing.

What a privilege it is to be alive today.  To identify as a Christian today.  To seek to follow Jesus today.

What an INCREDIBLE privilege it is to be alive when the world might seem to be going completely mad.  How special is it that we get to truly test our faith?  To explore these topics earnestly looking to Scriptures as our guide?

We get to decide for ourselves what it means to US, individually, to risk our reputation, our social standing, our popularity, our influence, our "fan club" (so to speak) in order to stand firmly for what we believe the Bible says is true.

We get to decide what it looks like for each of us to take up our burdens - the very burdens that seem like they might destroy us - and follow Jesus.  We have countless opportunities to respond to harsh words with sweet words in an effort to turn away wrath.  We have moments in which we get to decide if we want to respond with a heart that blesses those that curse us, seeking the best for those that oppose us, and desires good for those that seek to inconvenience, undermine, or slander us.

We have the privilege of following a person that didn't seek to be popular.

And in the midst of growing uncertainty and chaos and scandal, we have the privilege of knowing that our government might rise and fall, our physical world might collapse and crumble around us, we might witness atrocities beyond our worst nightmares, and we might see the members of our nation seeking to destroy each other, but we have the privilege of worshipping, serving, trusting, communing with, and chasing after a God that knows us by name, is constantly working to turn us more into his likeness, and lives among us as "The Comforter."

If you're wondering what we would have to say about these recent events, this is it.

We are privileged.  The two of us living under this roof are astounded at the honor we have been granted.

Our earnest prayer for you - for our churches, for our fellow Christ-followers - is that we all would be filled with the knowledge that we have been placed on the earth for such a time as this, and that we would live accordingly, in a way that brings honor and glory to the character of our Heavenly Father.

We love you and are praying for you every day.
Gabe and Danie get to decide what it looks like for each of us to take up our burdens - the very burdens that seem like they might destroy us - and follow Jesus.  We have countless opportunities to respond to harsh words with sweet words in an effort to turn away wrath.  We have moments in which we get to decide if we want to respond with a heart that blesses those that curse us, seeking the best for those that oppose us, and desires good for those that seek to inconvenience, undermine, or slander us.

We have the privilege of following a person that didn't seek to be popular.

And in the midst of growing uncertainty and chaos and scandal, we have the privilege of knowing that our government might rise and fall, our physical world might collapse and crumble around us, we might witness atrocities beyond our worst nightmares, and we might see the members of our nation seeking to destroy each other, but we have the privilege of worshipping, serving, trusting, communing with, and chasing after a God that knows us by name, is constantly working to turn us more into his likeness, and lives among us as "The Comforter."

If you're wondering what we would have to say about these recent events, this is it.

We are privileged.  The two of us living under this roof are astounded at the honor we have been granted.

Our earnest prayer for you - for our churches, for our fellow Christ-followers - is that we all would be filled with the knowledge that we have been placed on the earth for such a time as this, and that we would live accordingly, in a way that brings honor and glory to the character of our Heavenly Father.

We love you and are praying for you every day.
Gabe and Dani

Teaching and Relationship-Building

Hello again!

We've got some new stories and new photos, so we'll get right to it!

Wai Krue day at school - i.e.: Teacher Honoring day

Teaching:
School has now been in session for 5 weeks.  At first, teaching was a bit rocky.  Learning names, establishing classroom order, figuring out what the different classes did and didn't know, and developing a strategy for how to proceed in each class's English learning was... daunting.  There were a lot of late nights, some tears, some frayed tempers, and a heck of a lot of sweat.  However, these latter few weeks (with much prayer on the part of our parents and a few key texting-buddies!) we have felt like we're starting to not figuratively splash around in this new pool quite so much - we might actually be beginning to tread water and possibly even swim!

We'll briefly introduce you to each class:

(Note: the photos we're sharing here are intentionally chosen to not reveal much of our students' faces as a security measure for these kids, including some that have been rescued out of dangerous situations)

Grade 1 has 10 girls and 4 boys in it.  They are adorable!  Before school begins for the day, they start trickling through our classroom to greet us - which includes everything from sneaking up behind us to "scare" us, to a bold running/jumping action into our lap, to a shy wave from the doorway.  Every morning they eagerly line up outside our classroom door and wait for us to come out of the door to say, "Good morning, students," to which they respond, "Good morning, Teacher Gabe and Teacher Dani; may I come in please?"  They love songs, they love to use crayons and draw, and the color pink is a predominant class favorite.  Castles, butterflies, princesses, and flowers are frequent additions to homework assignments :)

Two of our 1st graders

Grade 2, on the other hand, has a boy-majority with 7 boys and 3 girls.  These kiddos are active!  Wrestling, karate kicks, wiggles, and competition dominates this class.  They quickly progress through classroom materials, so we have to keep a stock of fun learning-oriented activities on hand for the times that we run out of lesson plans!  We have this group of students up until lunchtime, so especially at the end of class we have to be creative in keeping them distracted from their hungry tummies!  Dancing is a favorite pastime of the boys, so our daily "brain break" an hour into class is a popular time to get some energy expended!

Dance Time in 2nd grade!

The boys brought a friend to class last week.

And then there is Grade 3.  Grade 3 comes after lunch every afternoon, when the classroom is reaching its hottest point of the day.  Grade 3 has 22 students in it, equally split among boys and girls.  The main word I can think of to describe this group of kids is "social."  They LOVE to talk with their friends!  A secondary word that applies to them is "diverse."  Grade 3 is the most challenging for us at this time because we have 8 brand-new-to-our-school community member kids that appear to have had very little English instruction, along with a strong group of students that have now had several years of English instruction.  Dragons are quite popular among this group, as are princesses.  Play dough is a big hit, as are connect-the-dots and (surprisingly) copying spelling words from the white board into their English notebook.  And looking through picture books (reading comprehension is low to nonexistent, I think) is a HUGE passion for these kids.

(Sadly, we have no photos from Grade 3 because we never think to take out our iPad and snap a photo - we always feel like they need both of our eyes on them AT ALL TIMES or else the class will fall apart!)

Church/Relationships:

We've been attending an English-speaking church where many short and long term foreigners worship.  We've met a fair number of people and have been enjoying getting a chance to get to know some of them over after-church tea and coffee fellowship, lunches after church, and even a few outings.

One weekend we joined a group of young adults at some floating houses on a lake for some swimming/hang out time.  It was a combined birthday/going-away party celebration for several of the attendees.  The day was a restful, fellowship-filled time for us to get to know some of these like-minded, inspiring peers.

Our transportation to and from the floating houseboat village

The lake/houseboat crew

Gabe and the guys did some fun stunts off a rickety platform

En route!

Last weekend we met three students from a Bible School in Canada that are here doing a 5-week intensive ESL training, and we've enjoyed lunch with them as well as a fun evening of exploring the Chiang Mai Sunday Evening Walking Street Market.

The art area of the Sunday Walking Street Market.

Life/Food/Us:

We feel like we're adjusting to living here.  Physically, the temperature is still quite warm (as we write, it's 9:30pm and the temperature here in our living room has cooled down to about 88 degrees), but we find that we're not always as "energy-zapped" as we were when we first came.  We try to be very disciplined about drinking water!  Of course, one of the HUGE blessings is having fresh, cheap, delicious fruit available all the time, including one of our favorites right now:

Mangosteen!

We purchased a 125cc scooter to get around the area, which has been an extremely convenient addition to our life here.  For now, Gabe does almost all of the driving and Dani does most of the praying from her position behind Gabe, but we're working up to Dani feeling road-ready as well :)

For now, our weekdays are dominated by teaching, lesson planning, and preparing materials for classes.  For the most part, we don't leave the "grounds" here were we live and work until the weekend.  Sundays, of course, we head into town and that's when we do any running around in Chiang Mai.  Saturdays we use for more time at the school if we need it, laundry, cleaning the house, adventures (if we have the energy), or just sleeping in and trying to recharge before the next week starts :)  Every so often we'll head off to a coffee shop or go to a movie or out for lunch and get a salad or some other such luxury!

Getting some "alone" time at Starbucks in town after church today.  Gabe on his half of the 3rd story veranda.

Enjoying guacamole at a local Mexican food place!

Our $3.75 meal on a Saturday lunch date recently.

We're enjoying getting to hang out together throughout the week!

Of course, we also continue to have our regular adventures with exotic critters!  Geckos, large spiders, cockroaches, millipedes, centipedes, lightning bugs, extra-large wasps, scorpions, and itty-bitty ants seem to just be a part of life here!

A recent unwelcome bathroom invader.  The alarming thing is that this location is about 3 feet from out bed!

One of our constant prayers is for wisdom in how best to reach the hearts of our students while also helping them grow in their English language skills.  We also ask God for wisdom in how to best be an encouragement here in our little world - demonstrating honor for those around us and recognizing their value and unique gifting to participate in God's Kingdom.  As always, we would appreciate you joining us in those requests, if you feel so inclined!