yi peng festival

we had one of the most beautiful experiences this past weekend...  saturday night truly left us breathless.

first: some background.  we are in the midst of the yi peng festival (it coincides with loi krathong).  it's a festival of lights.  one weekend before loi krathong (which involves floating thousands of handmade boats down the river), there is a massive sky lantern (in thai: khom loi) launch.  a multitude of people gather to send thousands of khom loi into the sky at the same moment.  it.  is.  amazing.

the crowd gets ready to light the paper lanterns.

a friend lights our khom loi.

ray helps hold it while the lantern inflates.

our group releases the khom loi!

amazing sight!

a light-filled sky.

home again

the beach was fantastic...but it's always great to be home!  some pictures from around the yard:

amaranthine orchids

fallen starfruit

green bug in a yellow flower

molly and silverleaf

snail slime

wind chimes

bird of paradise

shy torqtang

october break

I just finished 2.5 days of parent conferences.  I cannot express how well things went.  I feel so lifted up from each and every conference!  The days were long, however, and very intense.  These students are so incredible and gifted in so many areas (and almost all have very involved parents!) that there's no way to only talk about the grades.  I'm here to help these kids grow and stretch and strengthen in character.  God gave me an incredible time with each parent to work with them in helping their kids become the best they can be.  I feel both humbled that I get to do this AND inspired to keep reaching each kid beyond the academics!

It is now officially October break!  I have left piles of grading behind and come home earlier than I had planned.  My mind is so crammed with ideas and philosophy and excitement for all things school that it's worn out!  So Ray decided last minute that we should take a quick trip down south to get away from it all!  How many times in life will we live so close to world-renown beaches?  And how many times will a local airline offer such crazy-good deals?  (Hm, actually, we hope the answer is often for both of those questions!)

We are truly happy here.  I feel at such peace and happiness being back in teaching, able to work with kids all day, every day.

But the transition has still been hard on both of us.  The feeling of starting all over in almost every way has made us weary.  The constant learning is exhausting.  These are common things, to be expected.  But they have indeed made us tired.  This holiday comes a good time.  We will have 4 days to relax, reflect, talk, swim and sleep!  Then we will have 3 days to explore more of this city (and I will be back at school working for a few hours each day, I'm sure).

We are privileged to be here and we are privileged to take a break! 

black&white

it was black and white day in 6th grade (as part of spirit week)!  here are some pictures of my fantastic students!

starting the day off happily!

notice how he grabbed a white eraser to fit the day's requirements!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i love this sweet girl!

taking the opportunity to show off some all-blacks pride!

the whole 6th grade!

...and of course we had to get in on the action!

flood

molly was ecstatic today when we got home early.  we got home early because my principal dismissed us.  my principal dismissed us because she got news the ping river flooded.  she told us about the flooding because the house we're subletting is in the flood plain.  so i left my class and we went to discover what was going on in our neighbourhood.  we've gotten lots of news about all the flooding in america these past months.  i've felt terrible for everyone affected.  we knew it was a possibility here as the ping has been dangerously close to flooding ever since we've arrived...but has never quite done so.  this is where the water has hovered:

 until today....

there was definitely a palpable feeling of panic in the air.  traffic was very heavy today during a time that is usually slow:

once ray and i arrived home we ran around like crazy trying to elevate everything we could:

the river reached the landlord's compound first:

and then made it's way through the neighbourhood...until it eventually flowed into our yard:

after we had done everything we possibly could, we were advised by a friend to cut the electricity and spend the night at his house.  we had already taken the cars to higher ground so we left by foot.  this is us leaving like refugees:

we have now brought molly the dog and the cars to our friends' house, far from the river.  we'll go back to check on the house tomorrow.  the water levels are continuing to rise--rapidly--so we might do quite a bit of wading.  this is what downtown looked like earlier today (and it's risen lots since then):

the latest weather reports say to expect steady rain until 4 october.  we're hoping that's not true, but are thankful to have a place to stay if the worst happens!  i've enjoyed the adventure of it all, but feel terrible that it's someone else's house in danger!  we'll continue to do all we can....and hopefully end up with some great stories!

hungry

i had a little meltdown yesterday.  hm, maybe the correct wording would not include little...  there were a lot of tears.  i never thought food free from gluten (or lackthereof) would be such a problem.  yesterday it coloured everything. 

there was not even rice to eat at lunch.  so i swallowed my daily lunch sullenly: 3 tasteless pieces of lettuce, 4 slices of pale tomato, 2 rings of green peppers and a handful of very hard flavorless beans.  i just couldn't get any more down.  it's the same lunch every day.  across the table the delicious scent of thai coconut chicken curry wafted into my entire being.  the lady eating it complained loudly for the entirety of lunch: 'this is too spicy!  i can SEE the red flakes of spice!  doesn't everyone think this is awful?!' no one did.  and her ungratefulness made me want to dump the plate of food on her. 

i don't usually feel SO angry.  yeah, it's frustrating to not be able to eat what i want, but at least i'm healthy!  but the last week i haven't felt healthy.  i don't have enough fuel through the day.  i ended the last 6 days with a raging headache, no energy, and a loudly growling stomach.  i am always so very hungry! and yesterday it all came to a head.  all i could see was the rest of my life in thailand stretched out for endless oblivion, filled with meal after meal of flavorless vegetables, while being taunted by some of the world's most amazing food.

i left (so as not to throw any plates) and tried to give myself a pep talk on the way back to my classroom.  instead, i went the bathroom and cried.  after 3 more hours at school, i went home and cried for another hour.  i probably wailed the phrase, 'i'm just so hungry' forty-plus times.  ray sat and listened quietly.  he wisely did not try to fix anything.  after i was done wailing i kissed him and said, 'thank you.'  

later i thought about the future.  is this not going to work?  am i not going to stay in an incredible place, doing what i love most, because of the food?  food is pretty important but so is doing what you love...

i really do believe God Himself wants us here.  He worked countless miracles to enable us to move here.  and our lives have already been greatly enriched these last six weeks in thailand.  so if i truly believe that, do i truly believe God is enough?

i work with some incredible people.  many have challenged me deeply.  one lady's husband is in afghanistan for the year.  instead of saying, 'wow, this year will be awful without him,' she felt like she should use the year to serve.  so she packed up her kids and they moved from alaska to thailand (alaska to thailand!) to help in any way possible.  she's the one who subbed for me the entire week i was out with bronchitis.  her son is in my class and i love him. 

one of the speech therapists here is married to a lawyer.  they both could have stayed in a posh neighbourhood in the west, living the good life.  instead they gave up their lucrative careers to serve here.  their personalities are perfectly suited for thailand; their love for everyone surrounding them is so evident. 

yes, people and money and food are all necessary.  but the absence of these beautiful parts of our lives can make us more dependent on God; thus we are able to be used more.  and if asked by God to forgo them for a season, am i truly willing?  is He enough? 

back at school

i got to go back to school today. it was beautiful.

i was greeted by this sign:














here are some of the incredible kids i have the privilege of working with:

 

here was a totally random visitor in our classroom (please note: we are NOWHERE near the ocean!):

 i love these kids.  ...i am truly blessed.