Christmas Craziness

December is always a crazy time. It's crazier than usual for me this year because in addition to parties and people leaving for furloughs or for good, I am trying to wrap up loose ends in a big part of my job. Nevertheless, we are still enjoying this season of togetherness. These pics were taken at Gabe's kindergarten Christmas party. You can see some of the kids on the floor with their Christingle oranges. Bronwen introduced me to it last year and it's a great Christmas party activity for kids. It's short, everyone can participate in the service and it's a very concrete way to talk about the meaning of Christmas. It worked great with the 32 children we had at the party even though the majority were seven and younger. In addition to Christmas parties we have had impromptu game nights with neighbors as people realize that time is short with some friends who will be leaving. Sometimes I feel very good about this. I'm happy that we know so many of our neighbors so well that it's easy to get a bunch of families together on the spur of the moment. There are many people here that we have now known and loved for many years. On the other hand, it's so strange to have a close community, but then to be saying good-bye forever (or at least a long time) so often.

The Hazards of the Holidays

Yesterday I was injured by a sheet of wrapping paper.

Here in Thailand you cannot buy a big roll of Christmas wrapping paper; you may buy one sheet rolled up. I bought four rolls and went along to the bookstore to continue my shopping. I saw an interesting book on the bottom shelf and as I was bending down to look at it I hit my wrapping paper face on. The wrapping paper did not bend or crumple. It felt like a wooden dowel had hit my face. I thought, "that will leave a mark". Sure enough, I have a semicircle on my cheek from my sheet of wrapping paper. Beware the hazards of the holidays!

Thanksgiving

I thought I'd post a few pics from Thanksgiving. Just like last year we joined our next-door neighbors for Thanksgiving. We really enjoy celebrating with their family. We do have to make a lot of food as our neighbors always invite all the singles in our organization to join us. We still had to go to work and school on Thanksgiving. I happened to be at a seminar held at a large restaurant which caters to foreigners so the smells of cooking turkey and pumpkin pie wafted up and made us all very ready to leave at noon to prepare for dinner. The picture here is of Pii La helping me cook green bean casserole. Of course, we don't have all the ingredients here so we have to figure our subsitutes. Canned beans cost an arm & a leg so we cooked fresh beans until they were soggy. The beans at the market were so green and fresh and particlularly delicious that I was depressed to find that once they've been boiled for half an hour you can't tell whether you started with good beans or bad beans. We had no Durkee fried onions so I had Pii La tempura fry some onions. That turned out to be a good substitute as tempura frying (unlike deep-frying) is stir-frying and makes for a very light taste and texture. You can see the big pile of onions next to her. They were so good that it was hard not to eat them all. The next pic is Eric & some of the guys taking our tables an chairs to our neighbors' house. It was a lovely day and we set up some of the tables outside. After the dinner (during which we at almost no pie or sweets of any kind) (see last post for the reason) we hung around and talked and thought about how we'd miss our friends and neighbors next year, but how excited we were to being looking forward to the next Thanksgiving with family. There's no substitute for family on a holiday.

Birthdays

We are now on the other side of a couple of weeks of non-stop parties and are looking forward to another month of non-stop parties. November & December are full of celebration for the Wolthuis family. We started off with me and and about 4 times of celebrating my birthday in a week. That meant that we already had lots of leftover cake going into Gabe's birthday. Nevertheless, we had to make a Lego cake for Gabe's birthday party. In past years, I have invited a few children over for a low-key party. However, with Gabe now in school I was worried about esprit de corps so I invited the entire class-all 15 children. As the date for the party drew closer, I wondered if I'd been insane to invite all the children over. Eric couldn't come home until 12:15 and Pii La would not come until 1:00 so I had 45 minutes of the kids all to myself. Thankfully, my friend Bronwen offered to help and I'm so thankful that she could come. The kids were perfectly well-behaved (kudos to the parents & teachers) but they inhaled the food so quickly that Bronwen & I were hard pressed to keep the food stocked. Within 30 seconds of putting a plate on the table the food was gone. I was amazed it was how easy it was to keep the kids occupied and we ended with a treasure hunt in the long-jump pit at the school.

Gabe also greatly enjoyed the presents from family. Here's Gabe in his Superman costume from Kev & Jen and playing with his Contraptions Balloon Vehicle from Sam. Only days later we had a little family party for Eric. Gabe planned and performed most of that party with help from mom. He did all the decorations and planned a treasure hunt, science experiments (the picture is from Gabe's experiment), pass-the-parcel and snacks. Eric's students also outdid themselves with presents and treats then on Sunday night we also had friends over to play games and MORE treats were brought. On Monday our small group celebrated and we brought home even more treats. By the time Thanksgiving came we had a refrigerator stuffed with cake, cookies, brownies, bars, candy and we were tired of sweets. I guess it'll help with acclimating ourselves to the season of non-stop sweets:)

Misunderstanding

There are times when the best language skills are just not enough. Cultural understanding is essential as well. For example: The other day I needed to move a filing cabinet from one of our offices to another. Unfortunately, I had to take the large metal filing cabinet down 4 flights of stairs and up one long flight of stairs so I hired Uncle Blessing to help me. Uncle Blessing is an older man who drives a songthaew. He could be out in the night bazaar fleecing the tourists, but he is content to charge modest fares to drive the clients of the clinic below one of our offices. He is a little, bald man who likes sleeping much more than working. Whenever I see him, I enjoy thinking of him as a chubby, happy baby whose parents adored him so much that they named him "Blessing". Uncle Blessing drove me to the other office and as we reached the top of the stairs I smiled at him and thanked him for dragging the cabinet up and down the stairs. A minute later I looked for him and he was gone. He had left me instead of taking me back to the office with him. Baffled, I got another ride back to my office. I asked my secretary, "What happened? Why did Uncle Blessing leave me?" It turned out that saying thank you meant, "thank you and you may leave." My secretary said, "Don't say thank you unless you don't need any more help." Uncle Blessing summed it up, "You speak so clearly, but in the end you don't understand."

The above pictures have nothing to do with my story, but they are pictures of Gabe making crafts, one of his favorite activities and attending a superhero party for his buddy Stanley.

The Outdoor Life

Even though our houses and building are designed to let the outside in, we actually spend relatively little time just enjoying the outdoors. The main reason for this is that it's so hot. Spending a couple of minutes under the blazing sun is usually enough to make me light-headed. In the cool of the evening the mosquitoes come out to play, so we spend most of our leisure time indoors. For the kids of our neighborhood it's a different story. Seemingly immune to the heat they play in the streets at all hours of the day and have lots of elaborate games. There are some favorite hang-out spots. This blurry picture is the neighborhood soccer field and trampoline. Most afternoons and evenings kids of all ages hang out playing soccer and other games. Gabe loves going there, but unfortunately, he's a little bit young to go there alone, so he has to wait for mom or dad to take him. Most of the time one of Eric's students will play with him. Gabe has always been popular with the girls of Eric's classes.

There are also intramural sports for kids at the school. The school fields just across from us are in constant use. Right now it is frisbee football season and Eric with his team, the Turboslugs, have been doing well. A few days ago Gabe & I went to watch. It was a perfect afternoon: cloudy and breezy. Instead of watching I spent time playing in the perfect grass with Gabe. It was so much fun teaching him to do gymnastics moves and kicking a soccer ball with him. It made me realize just how little time we spend outdoors together.

Finally, last week-end we went to an outdoor party. Our friends, the Coes, officially opened their cricket net. Because they thought it would be fun to have an American try it out, I was the first one chosen to bat. Though I haven't played any sort of batting games for a long time I did manage to hit that very hard, scary little ball once. Here I am covering myself with glory. I'm wearing pads meant for a six-foot plus man.

As of a couple of weeks ago David came to live with us. David is in 10th grade and came back to Chiangmai while his family are on furlough in New Zealand. We've known David since our first year here in Thailand. He stayed with us last year when his parents were away and I guess it went well because they asked us if he could stay again. Gabe is really enjoying his stay as David likes to rough-house with him. We've learned lots of new Kiwi slang and Eric has actually been watching rugby this week.

The First Day of School

"Ramona could not understand why grown-ups always talked about how quickly children grew up. Ramona thought growing up was the slowest thing there was, slower even than waiting for Christmas to come. She had been waiting years just to get to kindergarten, and the last half hour was the slowest part of all."-Ramona the Pest
I think this quote sums up the feelings of the kids and the parents on the first day of school. Gabe couldn't wait to go to school. He woke up extra early and immediately asked me if I thought he looked like a bigger boy now that he was going to kindergarten. Eric left a half hour before Gabe did and Gabe was very impatient. He was yelling "I can't wait to go to school!" at the the top of his lungs and I'm sure it was causing the teenagers next door to roll their eyes.
When we arrived at school there was a big crowd of parents sending off their children. For some, it was the first day of kindergarten. For others, it was the first day after a couple of years of homeschool in the village. Some were sending their children to their very first day of school living in a new country. You can see the crowd at the fence in the background of this picture. There were tears and some anxiety(mostly from the parents) and even after the children had lined up and the Thai national anthem had been sung and children were ready to go inside over a hundred parents lingered, clogging the walkway. Some stayed for a prayer walk around the school. The kindergarten moms went to one mom's house for brunch-a pre-arranged event designed to keep our minds off the fact that our babies are growing up.

Gabe thoroughly enjoyed his first day of class. Many of his classmates were in the co-op last year. His teacher is Mrs. Jarot, whom some of you may have met. She has been teaching for longer than I've been alive and has raised/is raising 6 children. We've known Mrs. Jarot for 7 years and although her style of raising and educating kids is very different from ours, we know she'll have a lot to offer Gabe. Gabe has a very diverse class. The classmates I have met are from America, the UK, Thailand, South Africa, Australia, Burma, Korea and the Netherlands. It should be a fun year.

Sunday Afternoon

"In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2.55, when you know that you've had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul."


I thought of this quote from Life, the Universe and Everything a couple of weeks ago. It was another hot and listless afternoon at home on a Sunday afternoon and I finally decided I that there had to be more. A couple of years ago, Eric decided that we should not work on Sunday afternoons and that we ought to avoid shopping and other things that prevent us from resting on Sundays. It was actually a great idea because I do feel more rested, but sometimes it does feel a bit dull. As I mentioned above, a couple of weeks ago I started to feel that sitting around reading and sweating wasn't as restful as it could be. We decided that we'd try to go out and do restful outings after church more often. Last week we went to the night safari and walked around the lake and enjoyed a truly beautiful sunset over the mountains. This week we went to a lovely botanical gardens. The gardens seem lovingly cared for and besides an extensive waterway on which you can take a paddle boat or canoe and miles of shady walks there are lots of bushes shaped like animals. These monkeys were the oddest bushes I saw. They also have a hedge maze. Gabe is peeking through the branches on the other side of the wall in the maze. The highlight of the day was sitting in a sala (a small, covered pavilion) and watching the rain come down in sheets onto the little lake in front of us. I really love watching rain.

Vang Vieng

After a few days in Vientiane we headed to Vang Vieng. Laos pretty much only one decently paved road going through the country. This road is from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, the ancient capital. We had wanted to go to Luang Prabang as it is supposed to be amazing, but decided it would be too difficult a trip for Gabe. Even though the road is paved it goes through the mountains and is not a terribly pleasant trip. Gabe is a little to young to really appreciate Luang Prabang anyway. Vang Vieng is about halfway to Luang Prabang and many people break their trip in this little town. Even though we took the aircon bus, the trip was still pretty uncomfortable. I was just getting over food poisoning and the air con wasn't really working on the bus so it was hot and the hills were getting the best of my stomach. We didn't arrive in the best of moods, but a couple of days in the quiet but beautiful town did a lot for our spirits. Vang Vieng is surrounded by Karst mountains and they were just gorgeous. My camera could not do justice to their beauty.

We found a nice guesthouse room for $10 a night (the whole trip was ridiculously cheap). The town was so small that we rented bikes were able to use these to get around during our few days there. Vang Vieng is a big hangout for backpackers on their way to Luang Prabang, so the whole town is full of restaurants where European, Australian & American 20-somethings lie around on makeshift beds and watch American TV sipping fruit shakes and Beer Lao. It was a bit weird to be around that scene and we could tell that a farang family was an unusual sight. Everywhere we went we could hear Lao people saying, "Look at the little white boy." It didn't bother me, but I could tell they thought we didn't understand what they were saying. One time I heard this I repeated in Lao, "Yeah, just look at that little white boy." They just stared at me.



Anway, the backpacker scene aside there is a lot to do in Vang Vieng. Of course, just taking in the scenery was enjoyable enough. While in Vang Vieng we finally learned how to ride a motorbike. There were so few cars that we felt safe riding around as beginners.



Most people spent a lot of time on the river that runs through the town. I really wanted to go tubing, but we weren't sure how safe it would be for Gabe so we chose to go kayaking instead. The river was actually pretty calm, but at the same time swift enough that we didn't have to paddle much. It allowed us to take in the scenes along the river. Lots of backpackers enjoy drinking while tubing. There are little bamboo huts along the river advertising beer for sale. As added inducement many have built jumping platforms from which you can swing down into the river. This was my favorite sign. Not only can you jump for free but you also get a free banana!


Vang Vieng also has lovely caves. We didn't have time to go to the famous elephant caves where the cave formations look like various animals, but we went into this cave with a guide. Gabe didn't much like the dark, but it was interesting and the air was cool.

The restaurants in Vang Vieng are humble but they have a million-dollar view. We ate one night at a restaurant along the river and watched the sun set into the mountains. O for a better camera to capture the beauty. All too soon we had to go back to Vientiane, but we hope to go back again some day. In a few years Gabe will better be able to appreciate Luang Prabang and then maybe we can make the trip south to Vieng Vang again.

Girls & Boys

The family we stayed with has three girls aged 10, 7 and 5 and one boy aged 21 months. Gabe used to play a lot with Laura, the five-year-old and I wrote a blog about it a couple of years ago. Apparently, Laura was thinking that she & Gabe had been engaged for the last two years. However, Gabe and the 7-year-old, Allison, really enjoyed each other's company. Allison and Gabe are both very talkative and they really made a connection. They bought each other the Laos caps they are wearing in this picture. A few days into the trip we were sitting at a lovely little French restaurant and Laura reminded Gabe of their engagement. Gabe chose that moment to tell her that it was off. Our attention was drawn to the situation by hearing Laura say "I'm going to be honest and share with you!" in a very loud voice. She scolded Gabe for breaking faith with her and ordered him to sit quietly in his chair and think about what he had done. Gabe obeyed. A few minutes later I asked him what he was thinking about during his "time out". He said, "I was thinking about flying cats." Sounds like a typical relationship.



We did notice quite a difference between boys and girls during the trip. Gabe frequently has other little boys over to play and inevitably there is some fist-fighting or kicking or wrestling. I don't think I witnessed any physical violence even once while we stayed with our friends.

Vientiane

We crossed the friendship bridge across the Mekong into Laos late on Friday evening. It was dusk when we crossed over, but by the time we had done all of the border crossing paperwork it was night when we arrived in Laos. As we drove the 1/2 hour from the border to our friends' house in Vientiane, the capital, we noticed store after store with stacks of yellow crates. We soon found out that these were cases of Beer Lao. Being a communist country, you don't see as much in the way of thriving businesses but all day, every day you see Beer Lao trucks making deliveries to little shops. It seems that even if there are 5 shops per block selling Beer Lao each shop is still able to making a living by selling it. The shops don't even bother to put the beer on the shelves it is sold so quickly.

The next day we went to visit Patuxai (Baht-du-sai) one of the few tourist sites in Vientiane. In the 60's America gave Laos some money to build an airport. They used the money to build Patuxai instead as a memorial to those who had fought in the struggle for Laotian independence against France. It looks very impressive from afar but up close you can see that it's still not finished. This is kind of theme in Laos. We saw many unfinished projects. However, they have finished the park around it in recent years and we enjoyed our time there. On the upper floors of patuxai numerous vendors are selling the usual t-shirts and post-cards.

Thankfully, we found that Lao and Thai are very closely related. I was able to communicate very easily with Lao people who are familiar with Thai from watching Thai TV. They were very friendly and eager to speak with us.

Most of the time in Vientiane we spent hanging out with our friends which Gabe enjoyed very much. They have three girls and one boy and a large yard. Gabe would've been happy to spend the whole vacation playing in their yard. We also spent a lot of time going out to eat. We ate a lot of delicious food there. They have a great variety thanks to influences from France, Vietnam and China.

Funny Money

On my first visit to Italy, I remember being impressed by the value of the lira (the exchange rate was something like 1,200 lira to the dollar). Well, Italy got nothing on Laos, where $1 gets you about 10,000 kip (geep). For the last week, I carried around a pile of 1,000 (10c), 2,000 (20c), 5,000 (50c), 10,000 ($1) and 20,000 kip (2$) bills. Since the 20,000 kip seems to be the largest bill, we got a large stack of bills when we changed money. I can’t imagine trying to pay for anything really expensive (more than $100) in cash. So…when was the last time you spent 100 grand on dinner?

We actually didn't need to take much money as there isn't much reason to spend. We stayed with friends most of the time and even our guesthouse room in Vang Vieng only cost $10 per night. Since it is a communist country private enterprise isn't much encouraged and most products come from Thailand with a mark-up. However, we did find some electronic products unique to Laos. Interesting names, we thought.

Very Sad News

Please pray for Eric's principal as she and her husband lost their 25-year-old daughter to a mystery illness on Friday. Their daughter, Angela, worked with us last year and the year before at Grace. She was a wonderful young woman.

Laos

We have finally done something we have meant to do for many years now (7 years, to be exact) and have made it out of Thailand. Angela has been to Cambodia, but this is our first trip to another country since living in Thailand. We are 5 or 600 miles from home in Vang Vieng as I write this. The reason that got us motivated enough to leave Thailand to visit good friends in Vientiane which we have been doing for the past few days. Since this is vacation as well we thought we'd try to see other parts of the country and decided to head up North. This is a really lovely town on a river in the mountains and I'm sure my camera won't be able to capture the beauty. We plan to take a trip down the river tomorrow and explore some caves. Hope to have some pics when we get back to Thailand.

Sunday Outing

No one could say that Burger King isn't persistent. They have abandoned Chiangmai twice and yet they have come again. This week signs dotted the city announcing that BK was back. I don't know that I ever made an effort to go to BK in America, but there seems to be a strong correlation between distance from your home country and strength of affection for food that symbolizes that country. As we entered the brand new BK, I felt like my mother, for whom going to Burger King was a Sunday treat when she was young. Of course, many other foreigners had the same idea and it was packed with the after church crowd. I must say, it was pretty good.

Back on Blogger

Well, I am finally posting again. My long absence is not due to busyness or lack of subject material, but my problem of being functionally illiterate. I can read a little and know all my letters, but reading in Thai is not the same as reading in English. The consonants go from left to right, but vowels that belong to the consonant can be before, after, above or below the consonant, or they might not be there at all, and you must understand that they are there. This wouldn't be so difficult if the sentences had word breaks, but they don't, so as I read a line of text, I get hopelessy muddled in trying to figure out what vowel belongs where. So if I know what I'm looking for, I can read it. Unfortunately, I know very little language that pertains to blogging.

As a result, when I came back and I must now use blogger in Thai, I can't really read anything on the website. It wouldn't accept my password, and I couldn't read why. So I just kept trying and finally got in today. With a little trial and error, I'm managing to figure out how to publish, but I don't think I'll be changing the appearance or settings of my blog anytime soon.

Anyway, I am posting one of the reasons we went back to America over the Bhuddist new year holiday. To the left is a picture of my grandma with me and my siblings. My grandma is quite old, as you can see, and I really wanted a chance to see her one more time. We had a great time in America and were able to be there for my friend Christina's wedding, for Eric's dad's 65th birthday celebration, for Eric's mom's birthday, for Easter. We were able to pack lots of family into our three weeks there.

It took some time to get back as I was stranded in Chicago by tornadoes, but it was nice to have a little extra time, even though many hours of it were spent at O'Hare.

When we got back, we were greeted by much cleaner air and rain every day. It was actually cool when we arrived back, by our standards. The temperature has now climbed and it's very hot and humid, but that's OK. With the rains and humidity come an abundance of delicious fruit and the promise of the slower schedule of summertime. Plus we get to wake up to this lovely sight in the morning: Wet mango leaves brushing up against the windows. It's more refreshing than this picture can capture.

For right now, we're trying to make it till the end of the year. Eric is even busier than before break with lots of meetings and games and end-of-the-year concerts, plays, shows, grades and all that that entails. As always, it's a bittersweet time of year. We know we will soon say good-bye to many friends and students that Eric has seen daily for three years. On the other hand, many students have come back for summer vacation and almost daily we have the joy of greeting old friends again. Another bittersweet part of this year is the end of an era. Gabe is finishing preschool. He is leaving behind the part of his life when his world is basically his home and his neighborhood. I don't think that it will change much next year, but it still feels like the end of an era.

Speaking of eras, this picture is from our mini-trip for our 10th anniversary.

A busy couple of months

This last couple of months have been kind of a blur. Eric has been coaching soccer (or U-16 football, as it's called at Grace), planning for the week-long middle school outdoor ed trip, and planning for Spiritual Emphasis Week. Ang has been remodeling a house for their landlord, taking Gabe to various appointments to fulfill the requirements for going to kindergarten and helping out some new members. All this in addition to the normal round of teaching 7th grade, going to the office, teaching preschool, learning Thai, helping with Sunday School, etc. We've also hosted Eric's dad and Walt (pictured above). I'd say this week has been the busiest so far. This week Eric attended special services and meetings before school and in the evening for Spiritual Emphasis Week, planned outreach trips for Spiritual Emphasis Week, planned logistics and classes for next-week's outdoor ed trip to Doi Inthanon, led the 7th grade in a simulation called "Feudal lords of Japan", and taught English after school in the slums. Ang has been less busy with planning a big party for an office employee, taking Gabe to the doctor for illness and gash on the head and working out details for the remodeling to be finished in her absence. It may seem crazy, but in some ways, it's fun and rewarding, especially since we know we will have a nice long break starting week after next during the Thai new year. I think we'll sleep a lot and look forward to a quieter last quarter of the school year.

Translation

I was just thinking about translation after having Dad W here for a few days. I regularly translate for Eric, but having guests gave me a lot more to do. I don't really mind. I kind of enjoy it, in fact. First, I'd have to say that my Thai is not beautiful. Our language learning coordinator, who is also a sort of coach, tested me last year and said that I was not the sort to master a language. When she tested me, she graded me at elementary fluency and said "You can understand quite a bit and you've learned to talk your way around most everything you want to say, so I don't think you're going to get much better. You go for the simple communication." That's definitely true. When I took French I got a high score on the AP not because I had a wide vocabulary or because I was a master of conjugation but because I could always think of a simple but correct way to say everything. My secretary says I talk like a child, but she does understand me.

However, translation isn't just about language mastery. It's also about cultural accuracy. I don't always translate exactly what is said because I'm trying to translate the meaning and make the speaker more acceptable to the hearer. It can also be a matter of embarrassment for me. Thai people think it's totally acceptable to comment on a person's body. I feel a bit awkward translating "You're really fat!" or "You have a great body!" Or in some cases I don't really want to translate what is said because I would never say it myself and don't want to be associated with the comment. Sometimes it's humor and I don't really get it. For example, Dan said to some ladies, "I'd rather have darker skin." I translated and one of them said, "He should pour hot water on himself," and then the Thais laughed uproariously about that for several minutes. I could translate the words, but none of us got the meaning.

However, sometimes I think the translator has too much power. The translator is the only person in the conversation who really knows what everyone is saying. For me, the temptation to steer the conversation in the direction I want is often too much for me to resist.

Just a Friday

I always write about events but felt like breaking the cycle tonight. It's very quiet, and I just finished tidying. Gabe fell asleep on the couch and I'm eating a mystery ramen cup (tastes like chilis, cardamon & anise) and Jell-O hoarded for sickness days with strawberries (the only fruit besides citrus that grows in this cold weather). Gabe & I have spent most of the day on the couch. He is ill from his vaccinations and I, guarding against dehydration, coaxed him all day to keep drinking. Eric is at a lock-in for the seventh grade class and without him here it feels eerily still with Enya echoing off the cement walls.

This week we bought a guitar for the orphanage and wondered for the thousandth time if we are doing the right things for them and prioritizing correctly. This week I worked on Gabe's kindergarten application and argued with myself about homeschooling vs. "regular" school, as I have done since before he was born. Thinking about kindergarten naturally led to many discussions about Gabe's future and our future and what we will do in it. That question never seems to go away. This week I read The Rose Rent a Brother Cadfael mystery, and enjoyed it. This week I found out that the staff I supervise is planting a garden together at our office and was pleased that our team-building efforts seemed to working (or maybe it had nothing to do with it). This week Gabe told me about the project they are planning to do with their Thai teacher at preschool (she doesn't speak English) and am wondering if he understands Thai why he won't speak it unless I tell him exactly what to say. This week we spent lots of time talking with our small group, Sunday School staff and pastor about the difficulty of getting missionaries to commit to the local church and then felt guilty for my cynicism after watching a video about Bonhoeffer and his grand hopes for the church in spite of witnessing the cowardice of the German church in the face of Nazis.

I always wonder how to best capture the rhythm of our lives in this blog. I suppose it seems a bit egocentric, but if we don't do this, when we see our families again it feels like this time didn't exist. It's just too hard to summarize years. I don't know if this makes it any easier to get a picture.

Christmas

I've had my very serious post about Christmas up for a while, so I think I'll finally follow up with the sequel: Christmas Day. As I said in a previous post, I almost didn't want to be at home for Christmas this year as last year's Christmas was a bit depressing. Last year, we sort of celebrated by ourselves. We got up, went to church, ordered out lunch with a friend going through cancer treatment, hung around the house all day together, then went to the orphanage in the evening. These were all fine things to do, but it didn't feel like Christmas. It just sort of felt like any other Sunday. Good friends of ours (the Holts) had the same experience. They decided to have a family-only Christmas last year as well and they described it as "a bit sad". We decided not to repeat last year. The Holts and we decided on a time and restaurant to go to Christmas lunch and invited a bunch of people. We also were invited to Christmas dinner with our neighbors who have become a bit like family. I think it was just about right for a Christmas without extended family. Without any cooking to do, the day was pretty relaxing and we had the morning just to be together. At lunch there were lots of kids of all ages for Gabe to play with and friends for us to enjoy. Afterward we went back to the Holts' house to chat for a bit. Then back home for a bit of a rest then over to the neighbors' house for a relaxed meal and jigsaw puzzles. It was nothing too particularly original, but it had what the previous year lacked-celebration. I suppose it depends on your personality, but without others to celebrate with, we sort of fell too much into our family routines and failed to really get into the celebratory spirit of the day. As we chatted with the Holts, we all realized we'd had a bit of a hard year and had felt a bit under seige. As I talked about in my previous blog, it seemed like the darkness was growing darker and being a light was a struggle. As my Christmas Eve reading (see previous blog) prepared me for thankfulness for the Light of the World, I (and I think our friends) felt the need to truly celebrate the coming of our Saviour. Planning to celebrate, taking time out from the routine and just being together with others who share the same joy made all the difference this year and I can truly say that it was our best Christmas overseas so far. Of course, my first choice would be to celebrate with extended family, but I hope that no matter where we are, every Christmas will have as much joy as this year did. I hope I'll never again make the same mistake of not planning enough celebration for the spring of our hope.