Sundays

Three sisters from left to right:  Indy, Cheer, and Eye.  Eye is my brightest student.

Teacher Betty's class, my old class.  Very smart children.

Meet Dear.  She's still drinking milk daily, but she's very smart and loves to speak in my class!! That's all I can ask for :)

Sundays are pretty busy.  I teach a group of nine children that range between the ages of 3-6 years old.  It's a challenge.  Some are still drinking milk from bottles!!  Parents stay and help me, which I really appreciate.  They really aren't determined to make class difficult, they're just really young.  It's hard for me to get upset with these children, they're just so adorable.

Church Children

Brother and sister... just adorable!

Kids playing with their guns...

Joel and Brad Brad... sneaky children.

These are just some of the crazy church children.  They are so adorable... and Brad Brad is my favorite, he is SO my Andy Velasco.

English Camp #7

English camp was normal.  It's always fun for me to go to english camp and be part of the activities.  I think it's amazing that these Thai schools dedicate a full day to english learning. It's pretty awesome when you think about it.  English camp wasn't different from the others:  there was singing, laughing, having fun, taking lots of pictures, and last but not least the CHICKEN DANCE!  It's always funny to watch the kids try to do the chicken dance, and it's always funny to try to do it.  

The only difference with this camp from the others was that there were lots more native english speakers. Four men were there helping: one from Sweden who has been here for ten years and is currently married to a Thai lady, so he's bilingual... one from America, specifically Pittsburgh, yeah for the east coast!!, and I believe he's got a Thai girlfriend... one from England... and one from Canada who looks really old.  This group of men was really funny to watch, they had a lot of energy and it was obvious they loved the kids.  It was fun to converse with these men, too.  I've come to appreciate people who speak english!

Leah and I manned a station by ourselves.  We were in charge of the worksheet station and drawing.  The drawings were the best. I'd shout out a word and the students would have to draw it, some of their drawings were HILARIOUS.  These kids have such wild imaginations!!  

Camp was fun, and it might be last one I attend here.  Summer time is approaching fast for these kids.  All schools will be finished in a few weeks.  That means there will be no schools open and no more english camps... :(  Hopefully, schools will open right before we leave and maybe, MAYBE, we will be able to squeeze in one or two before we leave at the end of April.

Term 1 Party

Sadly, term 1 has ended.  Wow, it's gone by so fast.  This term was different from the other terms: we didn't have a big end-of-the-term-party.  It was sad, so Leah and I decided to buy the kids some ice cream.  We figured they deserved something for all their hard work in class.  All of my kids did really well on their test, I'm proud of them.  Some even got perfects.  One is a surprise, though.  When I first started teaching her, she was really shy, meaning she HATED talking in English and it was like I was killing her every time I asked her to speak. Now, she is my top student, and she was the only one to receive a perfect score on her verbal test.  Such a difference I've seen and it's only been seven months with these kids. 

OTOP

OTOP was the ceremony of markets and clothing shops from all over Thailand joining together to form a GIANT market at Ubon Ratchathani's University!  How lucky we were to go through the university's gym and see all of the traditions of Thailand.  It's amazing how even in Thailand there are different cultures and traditions.  The food is different down south, it's got more of a Muslim culture, and the way they make the coffee is pretty cool.  They spin around while pouring the coffee between two containers without spilling it! Leah and I were in shock and watched for a pretty long time.  

Northern Thailand was represented by its clothing styles.  They have more of an Indian style with dark cloth and pink lace with silver bells (Which is the same as the girls in the pictures I took when I was in Chiang Mai, which is in northern Thailand).  There were also pearls, real pearls, which I believe came from southern Thailand, because it is made up of many islands!

There were some Thai normals we noticed.  Such as the fried bugs and amazing fruit smoothies.  It was pretty funny that the ladies selling the fried roaches and bugs were keeping flies off them... ha.  Many people from Ubon, and other provinces outside of Ubon, so I heard, came to enjoy the events of this market.  

It was just a fun time to walk around and see all of Thailand customs come together for one market.  It doesn't happen often, and I feel lucky to have seen such an event as this.

My Friday Events

Every Friday is like our Sunday.  We have no school and it's our relax day, a day where we usually plan nothing and just chill and watch some television shows our families have sent us.  Well, this week was different.  I teach a family class, which consists of the mother and the three children.  The father LOVES to treat us to dinner about every week, but this week he wanted to take us on a "tour" of Ubon.  It wasn't much of a tour around Ubon as much as it was a tour of his work and his house.  

First, we started off with some COW-MUNG-GUY, which is white rice with chicken, it was quite a tasty breakfast.  Then we headed 30km out of the city towards their house.  We were shown the father's work: a dam out in the middle of nowhere!! 

It was pretty remote.  But, I'm pretty sure he's well off because he kept emphasizing he's "NUMBER ONE" at his work... and he had a few cooking people and people that brought him important papers to sign throughout the whole day.   The main events of the day were eating and sitting.  There wasn't really much to do other than that, it was pretty hot.  Leah and I watched the children play in the water, it was pretty entertaining.  They have such cute animals!! It made me miss my pets back home.

During the middle of the day, the parents took us to a Buddhist temple.  It was both awkward and fascinating.  They both started worshipping the Buddha once we got there, and Leah and I just looked at one another.  What are we supposed to do here??

So, we waited patiently in the back, and after they were finished they pointed to the ground, which was their way of suggesting that they wanted us to do the same... we politely said no.  I'm glad it didn't take more than that for them to realize we weren't interested.  Then, we got a tour with an english speaking monk, he spoke pretty well.  It was interesting to hear things, but some of the things he was talking about made me wonder how so many people could worship something like this.  He was talking about the bones of Buddha being sacred, and they were in their shrines.  How could anyone worship someone's bones?  I really don't follow the logic there...

Although they think these things I respect their religion.  I'm sure my religion sounds crazy to them, too, and in the same situation I would hope that I would respect them just have they respected me in my beliefs.  

The day ended with a feast at a market outside of a university.  I was really glad to be done with my long day with them.  It was fun, but it's just difficult to converse with these people all day when you don't really understand them.  It's hard to comprehend what they're saying, and it really doesn't help when they repeat it over twenty times really loud - I'm thinking: how is this helping me understand you??  I'm sure if this was caught on tape it would very comical.  

Don't get me wrong, it was quite the experience, I just don't if I'd ever repeat that day again.

If I had a daughter...

IF I COULD CHOSE ANY GIRL IN THE WORLD TO BE MY DAUGHTER...

IT WOULD THIS PRECIOUS LITTLE GIRL, SHE'S ADORABLE!!

The Ubon Way

It's not so much a Thai thing as it is a Ubon thing.  Even in Bangkok there aren't as many motorcycles/motorbikes.  In Ubon, they're everywhere.  It'll be weird for me to be back on Ohio roads and not see these things flooding the streets.  Everyone seems to have one, they are really the only things that make sense here.  It's so hot most of the year, and they're cheap transportation.  Even if you have a family of 2+ it's no problem, people just pile on here.  It's quite a sight.  If you think that's crazy, you don't know the worst of it.  People even take the dogs places, it's quite hilarious to see that.  I laugh every time. 

My Class

My class, they are so much fun and so much trouble.

Especially these boys...

Dinner: Fried Frog

During the week I teach a beginners english class to a family, with the exception of the father.  I teach the mother, the two daughters, and the son.  It's a pretty easy class to teach, and I don't have to worry about discipline because the mother is in the classroom and reprimands the children if they act up in the slightest.  One of the other benefits about working with this family is that they always want to treat me to dinner.  

Last night was no exception.  The family took Leah and I to a grand buffet.  It was amazing, and I think it was my favorite place they've taken us to.  Some of the food was a little different: fried frog.  Wow, it was really disgusting to witness one of the men just shove the frog into his mouth.  I really wanted to gag.  Other than that, the food was great!

I even got to try sum-tum, which is the really spicy papaya salad that I never have because I always see it caked in chili peppers.

But, my student Poon, made me some sum-tum with no spice! At least he tried to.  I watched the whole thing:  he put papaya, lime, tomato and peanuts into the bowl and served it to me.  It was delicious yet, it was still a little spicy for me.... and I don't know why.  But it was good!!

I always have fun with that family.  The father always tries to speak english and never really succeeds at it, and the kids and mother are always trying to please me and make me happy.  I feel so privileged to be able to know them and I'm sad the term ends soon.  I hope they come back!

Valentines Weekend

It's kinda awesome that Valentines Day fell on Sabbath this year.  I got to enjoy the creative sabbath school lesson on love.  The church interviewed five couples from the church and asked them about their love with questions like "When did you know your spouse was the answer to your prayer" and "What was the sweetest thing they have done for you lately".  It was both comical and entertaining.  I like when the lessons are a little different, it makes it enjoyable and fun.

*** First pic:  giant spider found in Leah's classroom!!

Potluck was great, I'm really beginning to enjoy Thai food.  Who would have ever thought?  I remember the first potluck I looked at the food and thought it was disgusting.  All the peppers and mashed fruits... it just didn't look appetizing.  Now, I take most of the things, except for the sum-tum, which is a really

spicy fruit salad.

Saturday was a very enjoyable day and went by too quickly. Sunday was a big day.  I taught from 8-3, with a one hour lunch break. I had a two hour kids class, and all of my kids were new and around the age of five or six.  I thought it would be more difficult to teach them, but I think it helped that their parents were in there.  I find it difficult to be teaching kids a second language when they don't even know how to write and read in their first language!  Nevertheless, the parents payed for the english class, so I tried my best.  Phonics, flash cards, and the ABCs were all we covered.  

After class some church kids went to a swimming pool, and Leah and I joined them.  It was enjoyable to watch them, but the humidity was devastating!  I soaked my pants with sweat, it was embarrassing to say in the least!  That sums up my weekend!  It was good, and it's weird to think that I only have about 10 more like this....

Did they give birth?

Last night was a little different from other nights we've spent here in Thailand.  Something crazy happened:  there were suddenly hundreds, if not thousands, of moth-like insects swarming lights everywhere.  As Leah and I were buying smoothies last night at the park, we were shocked to see so many insects flocking around each booth.  We wondered where they came from, their appearance was so sudden.  Did they give birth?  We considered that a possibility.

But the situation worsened when we went back home and flipped the switch for the lights.  The same insects came alive in the house!  It was a great terror for us to realize these mysterious insects were in our house!! We devised a plan for them to leave the house by leaving the main hall light on, it seemed to work for the most part.  But how did they get in our house??  That's the question.  As we were sweeping up the remains, which remind me of cicadas because they leave a weird shell-like or wing-like substance behind, we noticed most were near our windows.  We'll have to keep our windows more sealed.  I hope this doesn't happen again.  But then again, don't I realize I'm in Thailand where the bugs are extra large and overpopulated?  I should by now!

Happiness

I never knew how hard it would be to show others Jesus here.  I didn't take into account the big difference between buddhism and christian beliefs. It's like the name Jesus turns people off here.  They don't know Him, and they don't want to. It's almost like His name repels people.  It's a difficult thing to be a missionary in Thailand.  That's why I believe it's not necessary to push Jesus on others for them to see that He is good, instead I need to show others who He is through me and how I interact with these people on a day to day basis.

The health message is an easy way to lead others to Jesus here.  Thai people are very health conscious, they strive to look and feel good.  That's why many people attend the health meetings that the church provides over here.  They simply want to know more, and when this happens, they see what we are saying is good, and they see more about our beliefs.  They become interested, and some convert, others don't.

Another factor that draws people to our religion is our happiness.  Yeah, I didn't believe it either, but I've seen it and heard it from others.  Leah and I were eating with one of our students and they told us we were very happy people.  This surprised us, really?  They don't see us complaining and they compared us to other foreigners that have come over to Thailand.  According to our student, we are always smiling and having a good time.  They believe our religion is made of happy people.  I'm glad they could make the connection there.

Another witness to adventists happiness attracting people to the religion is Pastor's wife.  She actually used to be buddhist before she became an adventist, she didn't grow up in the church.  I asked her what drew her to the church.  She said she walked by a group of very happy people, watched them for a while, and wondered what made them so happy.  So, she walked up to them, started talking to them and found their religion interesting.  She became converted a year later.

Wow, to think that our happiness can lead others to Jesus.  How simple it should be show others how happy we are in our faith.  If that's all it takes, I hope I don't screw up.  I hope that I can always show people here how happy I am to be an adventist. 

Orphanage Round II

These kids are some of the most precious I've seen.  They are very enthusiastic about life, and I know that they must have had a hard life to be in an orphanage.  It boggles my mind to see people so happy when life gave them lemons.

This is the second time Leah and I've

visited the orphanage.  It was a lot more organized this time, and there were so many more people helping with the program.  There were lots of songs, Leah provided the story, and I aided her by giving them visual images with a felt board.  It was pretty hilarious.  We told the story of Noah, and we couldn't find the ark in the felt box, so we managed with a little boat.  Another thing we worked with was a duck, which was supposed to be the dove.

 The kids didn't seem to mind, but I thought it was pretty funny.  

We worked as a pretty good duo.  After the story, the church provided a game, which we made from poster and post-it notes.  We played Moses jeopardy.  It was fun, and too easy for the kids, they know so much!!  I was amazed!  We didn't get to spend much time one on one with

them this time because our program was longer, but I hope to have just as much fun next time I go back!

UPSET

I've been trying to make my class as exciting as possible.  So, I've been adding new ways to of learning, for example I've added a "word of the week".  All week, I explain one word, give synonyms to the word, in hopes they understand it a little more and to broaden their vocabulary.  I haven't been doing this very long, I've only been doing it for two weeks.

Last week, the word was GIANT.  This was pretty funny to them.  They enjoyed this word, and I let them draw anything they wanted at the end of the week that was GIANT to them.  Some of their pictures were pretty funny, such as giant strawberries, whales, giant people, godzilla was even one of the pictures.  It was pretty funny to see what some of their imaginations of the word were.

This week the word was UPSET.  I described this as similar to mad, angry, furious, and not happy. They understood and we repeated it the whole week, I think they got a very good understanding of the word, and here's why.

Thursdays are the end of the week, and I'm usually tired of trying to hold myself together in my very loud classroom.  Thursday gives me hope because it's my last day of the week, and yet I'm very irritated with my class, so I have little patience with my class. I admit, I got angry with my class today.  They just did not seem to understand me!  I was even going so far as doing their work with them on the board.  I usually do a few things on the board first, then let them try on their own, but that was not the case today.  

I did everything with them on the board.  But, they still didn't seem to understand.  I think they did, they just were too lazy to try and write words on their paper.  I believe they try to get away with things sometimes, but today was different.  I wanted them to write everything I had written.  I was getting angrier and angrier.  I was yelling, my class was loud, and I was trying to be the teacher and teach them something.  I felt like I was failing.  I tried and tried to help them, but they didn't seem to want to learn!  

One of my students said out loud: "Teacher's upset".  I stopped everything I was doing and stared at the student.  Suddenly, I couldn't contain my laughter, I kept laughing and laughing.  I felt like it was spilling out of me and I couldn't stop!  It was so funny to me, they were using the word of the week!! They had learned something!!  It was funny, and the same time I was proud of them.  I felt like I had actually taught them something.

As my student were leaving, I felt very proud of them.  I feel like they've progressed, that they've learned at least a little bit, and that's all I can ask: is that they learn SOMETHING.

Goodbye Amanda, Hello Sunburn!

Leah and I have spent the last few days spending as much time as possible with Amanda.  Sunday, we went out to eat with her after our last classes.  It was fun and the food was really good.  Salads are always wonderful, so is chicken.  

Yesterday, we went to a hotel and laid out in the sun.  Sun baking is fun!!  The only thing was we were treated like celebrities.  Thai people stood out on their balconies to look at us, try and talk to us, and holler at us.  It got awkward after a while... I don't really enjoy being half naked in front of anyone, let alone strangers!  

I made an awful mistake:  I stayed on my stomach the whole time.  Last night, I realized my

terrible mistake.  I am seriously a lobster.  A lobster!  The only thing I lack are the pinchers...We went with Amanda to the train station, said our goodbyes, it was really sad.  We hope to see her again, either to visit Australia, or for her to come to America.  I really hope to see her again in my life!!  

Anyways, back to my sunburn:  Ae, the pastor's wife, cut multiple leaves from the aloe vera plant out front of the school, and made an aloe vera mix.  It was freezing!  I laid on the floor of my apartment, pretty much naked, and got treated to a spa of frigid aloe vera leaves.  It felt good and relieving since my skin felt like it was on fire.  

I don't understand myself.  I must not think at times.  I have the greatest chance of receiving skin cancer given my red hair, fair skin, and blue eyes.  You'd think I'd take

precaution to the sun, but nope.  I always find myself burning.  I did it in Mexico last year for spring break, pretty sure that was a first degree burn, and here I am in Thailand burning again.  What is wrong with me?