Back to School

I haven't been so good about updating this blog, partly because of bad internet connection, but also because we've been busy with the fall schedule. We arrived back on July 20 and I immediately oriented my first new teachers of the year. They were a couple that taught in PNG previously and even spent time with Eric's dad when he was there.
School started for Eric over three weeks ago and in addition to teaching 7th grade social studies, English and religious studies he's teaching comparative gov't for high schoolers. On top of that, he's also still very involved with the chapel program and coaching an intermural ultimate frisbee team. Above is a picture of Eric's students doing a class measuring project. I continue to gain respect for his creativity and energy in coming up with interesting ways to teach year after year. It's as much as I can do to plan creative lessons on my one day a week in Gabe's preschool co-op, but Eric does it every day. I always think his students are fortunate to have him for a teacher.

We've already had a "snow day" this year, due to flooding. Last week we had downpours for days on end and it was too much for our sewer system. We woke up last Thursday and saw that our street was flooded. While we were eating breakfast a teacher drove by and shouted in all the houses of students and teachers that class was cancelled. What had been a quiet Thursday morning turned into a raucous celebration on the part of the students. In the front of our neighborhood, where the water was above the knees, a hundred students gathered to celebrate their freedom. It's strange, since we do have week-ends, but it was an extra special day. Kids and parents enjoyed the leisure all day long and at night many of us in the neighborhood gathered to play games in the candle-light (the power was out).

Gabe's preschool co-op started last week and as you can see from the picture above, he's enjoying himself. He is one of the "veterans" and takes his responsibility seriously. He makes sure that the other kids know what they should be doing. Tomorrow is my day and I just finished making a double batch of play dough. It's the best I've ever made:)

Back to our reality

We're back to Thailand and have hit the ground running. I suppose that will have to be my excuse for not posting. Sometimes our trip to the States feels like a short but sweet dream, so I'm glad we have the pics to prove we were there. Though it was busy, it was a wonderful & encouraging trip. We saw so many friends and family and felt blessed by them all. We got to experience summer in the Midwest again. I will always remember the perfect days we had at my Camp Taylor (as I call my parents' place) with all my family around. I'm so glad we got to spend the time with you all.

Back in the USA

It's been nearly 1000 hours since my last post on this blog. In celebration I will finally write an entry. Of course, I have an excellent excuse in the travelling that we've done in the last month. In case you don't know, we're on vacation in the US. As we've been gone 2 years, this is twice as long as the longest time we've ever been out of the country. Lots of people ask us about reverse culture shock, and I can't really say that I would call it shock. Maybe it's more culture surprise. So here are some of the things that have surprised me.

1. Rudeness: As we came in through immigration at LAX, we cringed to think that this was the first impression many people have of America. Throughout the airport people were cranky, complaining, unaccomodating, loud and stressed. I suppose it's not much worse than LAX has always been, but coming from Thailand, where one of the highest values is a quiet and polite manner, it was jarring. We were glad to arrive in the midwest where several people smiled at us for no reason.
2. Forgetfulness: We've only been away 2 years, but Gabe remembers almost nothing from America. Dishwasher and garage were new vocabulary words for him. This I expected, but I didn't expect my own forgetfulness. As we landed at O'Hare, I went to call my parents to let them know where we were. As I picked up the phone, I realized that I didn't remember how to dial a phone number in the US anymore. It was a strange feeling. After a minute I figured it out, but I've had similar experiences since then. I couldn't remember how to use the debit machines at the grocery store, I frequently find myself searching for words I used to use frequently, I can't remember names of streets in towns I lived in for years, I can't remember whether it's acceptable to wear a bathing suit in public (away from the beach) or not, I can't remember whether the cultural norms that I now practice are for America or Thailand. On the flipside, sometimes I find myself remembering things that didn't happen. We spent a week at my parents' in a somewhat rural community outside Chicago. As we hung around Big Rock and Hinckley I found myself getting nostalgic for the small town life of my childhood. Unfortunately, it's a complete fabrication. I spent my entire childhood in a large suburb much closer to Chicago than Big Rock. How does that happen? Maybe I've been watching too much "Andy Griffith Show."
3. Choice: For everything I could possibly want to buy, I have more choice than I can handle. I spend ages looking at the choices and as often as not, leave without picking anything because I don't know how to choose after years of having no choice in many things.
4. Never sweating
5. Gary, IN can be a nice vacation
6. Beauty: I can't get over the pleasures of the midwest: The pleasure of being outside in the early morning chill, walking on green, green grass in the afternoon under the sun and not feeling too hot because a cool breeze is rustling the trees, cornfields sparkling with thousands of fireflies at dusk, laying on a blanket and being dazzled by fireworks, the clear waters of Lake Michigan and ripples of sand underneath, mounds of cherries, blueberries and raspberries at the farmer's market, concerts in the park with families in lawn chairs. These are just a few of the things that fill me with joy.
7. What we know and don't know: Why is it that we know about "Lost", but we don't know about Sudoku? "Lost" certainly gets no publicity in Thailand.
8. Stress: When we're in the US, whether for our 2 year furlough or a month long vacation, our lives our full to the max. We rush around and feel perpetually busy. I don't know if that's the experience of everyone in the US, but I look forward to not being quite so stressed in Thailand.

new blog photo

Wan Sutthai

Wan Sutthai is Thai for "the last day". Though wan sutthai is a distant memory for Thai children,(summer vacation ended in May for them) for international school children wan sutthai is almost here. Gabe had his last day of preschool on Thursday. We took the kids to the zoo, had a picnic and a little graduation ceremony. Though Gabe will be back in preschool next year, he got the same certificate and gift that everyone else received. Above you see the picture that one of the teachers had made for each child. She had a friend paint a portrait of each child doing something they love along with their name in Thai. The likeness isn't characteristic of Gabe, but it's a remarkably good copy of the photo they used for painting the portrait.

Surgery

Yesterday I went to the hospital to make an appointment for Gabe, who has a plantars wart. While I was there, I asked the Dr. to take a look at the cysts on my head, which have gotten bigger. I've had these cysts before and they are completely benign, but as they get bigger, the skin gets more and more irritated. The Dr. asked me to consult his friend, who was a surgeon. He said that he was right downstairs and could take a look at me. As I laid down on the surgeon's examination table, I was preparing for an exam and possibly scheduling at time for removal of the cysts. I felt a nurse doing something with my hair. She said she was cutting my hair. I thought she was cutting a few strands to make it easier for the Dr. to see, but when she showed me a large hunk of my hair, I realized she was shaving my head to prep me for surgery. I was quite upset as I wasn't prepared to have surgery that day, nor had I consented to the procedure. However, I was not able to escape and the Dr. went ahead with removing the cysts. I was pretty upset and even more so when I saw the bill. All in all, it was not such a good day, but as many people have pointed out, it is one of those things that happens when you live in a foreign country and don't always know what's going on. I have bought a few hairbands to cover the bald spot underneath the bandages you see. It's either hairbands or a big comb-over.

Cambodia

I have just returned from my trip and wanted to post a few pics. Unfortunately, the trip was mostly business, so I went to very few picture worthy places and most of my pics were taken in the car as we drove from place to place. Cambodia is a lot like Thailand in many ways. Going to Cambodia is for us what going to Canada is like for many Americans. Sure, they have a different currency and they have Tim Horton's instead of Dunkin' Donuts, but it's not really that different. However, there were differences. Cambodia was a French colony and still bears the marks of colonialization. Architecture, food, education are just a few areas that still show French influence. The English is very good in Cambodia compared to Thailand. Thailand, never having been a colony, has a low standard of English despite being more advanced than Cambodia in many ways. Cambodia is a bit of a wild west as well. I don't want to say anything negative here, but you've probably heard stories before. One obvious sign of this was the black-market goods so readily available. The gas in Cambodia is heavily taxed and is about $4/gallon. As a result, lots of people sell smuggled gas by the roadside. I wonder how long before this starts happening in America. You can see that they're selling the gas right out of the drums. I saw hundreds of such vendors. Crime is a bit higher and cars often get stolen. People either park their cars behind strong bars and barbed wires or park their cars right in their living room. Most houses are all French doors in the front, so this is easy to do. It was strange to look in houses and see people watching TV next to their car.

In spite of these downsides, Phnom Penh is rapidly improving. They are working on paving all the roads in the city and major roads outside the city. It's not nearly so crowded or crazy with traffic as Bangkok. The riverfront is lovely and well-plannned. We ate at a riverfront cafe that was right across from the unfinished structure that is supposed to be the courthouse for the Khmer Rouge trials. Apparently some foreigners had donated the money and been the driving force behind the trials but the Cambodians don't want it so no progress has been made on it for years. It's a bit eerie to look at.

Going Away

Just to let you all know, I'm going to Cambodia for the rest of the week. Pray for Eric & Gabe at home and me on the road.
I'll put up some pics when I return.

Gabe, the ring bearer

Over the week-end, Gabe was in the wedding of two of our friends. We met the groom, named Man, through a friend of Derek's about 5 years ago. When we returned this time, he was dating Eaw, whom he married yesterday. It was a lovely wedding, though a very heavy rain prevented us having the reception outside, as had been planned. Gabe did a very good job. He had to stand in the front for about 15 minutes until they got to the part with the rings. I was very proud of how well he did.

Gabe's Wrting

If you don't want to read a long account of Gabe's new accomplishment, skip this post:)

For at least six months, we have been trying to get the kids at the playgroup to learn to write their own names. We haven't been trying very intensively, but we make worksheets so that they can trace their names and provide opportunities to see how it's done. Gabe is the only one who never seemed to pick up on it in any way.

The other day, I was having lunch with another mom from the playgroup. Unlike the rest of us, she actually is a professional early education teacher. She was talking about the learning styles of each kid, and mentioned that Gabe was a mostly auditory learner. I had recognized previous to this that Gabe's auditory memory is amazing, but had never thought about trying to teach him in this way. So I thought, "I wonder if I told him how to make the letters, if he could do it." It seems very difficult to me for a 4-year-old to learn to make letters by description, but nothing else had worked with Gabe.

The next day, I sat him down and described how to make the letters of his name. Sure enough, on the first try he made crude, but recognizable letters. This was a great improvement over previous attempts which were basically scribbles. He even makes them in the right direction. After he worked on his letters, he asked me about how to draw people. I told him what he should draw, and he drew it. It's pretty amazing because he's never drawn before. So here is his first drawing ever. His portrait of mama & papa is surrounded by some A's, E's & B's.

Public & Religious Life

What would you think if on your next trip to Jewel-Osco you saw people lighting votive candles to an image of Mary next to customer service? How about a minister offering communion in Meijer? You'd probably feel uncomfortable and strange. Why? We (westerners?) think of religion as mostly private--as not belonging outside church or our homes. However, Thais don't see religion the same way. For them, religion is very public. As often as Westerners talk about quiet times, Thais talk about "making merit" which involves public actions that better the karma.

Yesterday I went to Lotus (like Walmart) and right in front of the store were placed some shrines to a bunch of golden idols in the shapes of various animals. I'm not exactly sure how people worship them and I didn't stop to watch, but it wasn't the first time I'd seen worship of an idol at Lotus. Sometimes they have shrines set up inside the stores and people worship right there in front of everyone coming into the store.

Despite the obvious issues here (idolatry, for starters), I did think it somehow refreshing that they aren't ashamed to bring their religion into the public sphere. I realize that there are corrupting factors in public religious practices, but in the West we are often embarrassed to bring our beliefs into the public. I would be nice to feel that displaying our faith wasn't impolite. In many workplaces the employees make offerings at shrines and burn joss sticks first thing in the morning. It is a normal part of their routine. I just can't imagine anything similar in most American workplaces.

Octopus hat & fishy sunglasses.

Candyland

Eric had the students of his chapel team over for dinner. While waiting for dinner, Gabe organized a game of Candyland. He was in his element, telling the bemused students where to move their pieces.

Gabe with his best friends

Gabe at last night's basketball game with Leah (his favorite baby-sitter and next-door neighbour) and baby elephant, his constant companion. Grace won the tournament.

Chain Saw Gang

I haven't posted much lately as there hasn't been much to write. However, yesterday I was reminded that there's always something a little unique to see. On my way to work I crossed paths with a caravan of old men riding motorbikes while carrying chain saws under their arms. Since riding a motorbike in Thailand requires quick reflexes and lots of tricky maneuvering, a chain saw is not something I'd like to be carrying toting while riding a motorbike. An accident of such a caravan brings up images of severed limbs.

Gabe finally has another little boy living in our neighborhood. His name is Stanley & he lives behind us. Stanley's family just moved here (you can probably guess the country they came from by Stanley's shirt) and he has all the latest Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank engine toys. Of course, this made an instant friendship. Between our next-door neighbors who Gabe visits daily, Laura and Stanley, Gabe has developed quite a social life in our neighborhood.

V-day at the playgroup

Valentine's day bingo, played with bottle caps. The kids were more interested in the bottle caps than in Bingo. They hoarded them and refused to use them lest another kid steal from their stash. One man's trash...

Here are some pics from mini-golf last night. The theme was around-the-world. Each hole was a different country. It was actually quite creative and one of the hardest mini-golf courses I've ever played on. There were several holes that none of us were able to complete. Anyway, one of the holes had this jeep as a prop. Gabe was enthralled by this old jeep and his expression in the first picture pretty much captures his rapture over pretending to drive it.

Eastern and Oriental Express

For those who have read the account of Kev & Jen's trip to see us, you may want to skip this entry.

Last week, Eric's brother & sister-in-law came to visit us here in Thailand. We met up in Bangkok and took the train down to the beach, Hua Hin. We had decided on Hua Hin because it's a good place for families, fairly inexpensive and the train to get there is about 160B/per person (about $4). Hua Hin was very nice, but the train trip wasn't exactly luxurious. The train compartments were completely open to the air, which at this time of year, was quite nice. However, much of the trip, we travelled at about 30 miles per hour. What was supposed to have been a 3 hour trip dragged on and on. Each time I asked the conductor how much farther we had to go, he'd say, "One more hour". We finally arrived 3 hours late. We felt bad about it because Kev & Jen had just finished the 24 hour flight to Thailand and we reassured them that the sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiangmai that we had already booked had always been reliably on time.

Famous last words. About 7:00 am we woke to find that the train had stopped. After about 45 minutes I asked a passing conductor why we were stopped. He responded that the train was broken down and we wouldn't be able to leave for at least 3 hours, maybe 4 or 5. Our 12:00 arrival time was changed to 5:00. We were in the mountains with only a small village in sight. About 15 minutes later the conductor came back to say that they had contacted a songthaew driver to take us to the nearest town with a bus station. Looking out the window, we weren't too excited about getting of the train. On one side we'd have to cross a rickety, thin bridge on the other, we'd need to climb down a steep hill covered with brush. In addition to our luggage, which was a lot, since Kev & Jen had brought us two large suitcases of things from America, we also had a four-year-old and a 2-month-old. Kev & Jen chose the rickety bridege and we chose the hill. Safely on the other side we climbed into a songthaew that was at least 30 years old. It moved faster than it looked able to and we arrived in town about 20 minutes later. At the bus station, we could see that getting out of the town wasn't going to be easy. We were in a small town in the mountains that didn't have many buses come through. In addition, there were about 100 backpackers who had gotten off the train before us and had reserved all the earliest buses. It was beginning to appear that five hours late on the train would have been faster. Thankfully a few Thai people we met on the songthaew decided to rent a van and invited us to join them. Thankfully, we got back to CM only an hour after our scheduled arrival time.

At the train station in Bangkok we saw the train we should have taken. The Eastern and Oriental Express looked like a train straight out of an Agatha Christie novel. Beautiful wood and soft lighting filled the train. It had the gleam of careful maintence that our train unfortunately didn't have. Sadly, at $1000 a ticket, I don't think we'll be taking it.