Exercise

I know alot of runners. They love to go out running because it helps them think, clears their minds, makes their bodies feel great and provides an outlet for stress. I am not runner. I am most definitely a jogger. I go out because I like to eat (I need to write a whole blog about all the wonderful food here) and I don't want to get fat, my dog needs exercise and I want a healthy old age. I don't find it addicting, enjoyable or relaxing in any way, except for the time spent with my husband, who is in equal discomfort. I wish I did enjoy it since it's cheap and convenient and because we do it four mornings a week (in the dark). This time of year the routes we normally go are too dark (no streetlights) so we've started running in circles around a quiet, pretty block behind us that has streetlights. That is not helping my enjoyment any although Lacey loves it because she can be offleash and sniff and race to her heart's content. I suffer through Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday because I can look forward to the weekends.
On Saturdays we generally go bike riding. Bike riding in Chiang Rai is alot of fun. First of all, it's flat. It is located in a huge, flat valley surrounded by mountains on three sides. A block or two off the main road and you're surrounded by farmland; rice fields, cows, chickens, small villages, and always with the backdrop of the mountains, steep, but low and covered in green. Now that the rice fields are greening up again, it's really beautiful. We have one good bike and one bike that is good exercise that the Quesenberrys are kind enough to let us use while they're back in the States. On Saturdays we often ride for an hour or more, just enjoying the scenery, the beautiful weather, and the change from jogging.
Sundays are even better. We go to a 50 meter pool about 15 kilometers north of us. It belongs to a man who built it for his daughters who love to swim. He charges 30 baht (just under a dollar) for people to come use it. It is a beautiful outdoor pool, set in a garden of palm trees. The owner lived in the States and speaks English fluently. His daughter is trying to become fluent enough to get her master's degree in the States, so it's fun to talk with her as well. When I get in the water, I have all those sensations that runners talk about. I feel like I could go forever. I relax, get in a zone, love the sensation of using my muscles, and feel the stress fall away. This time of year the water is chilly, but after a few laps, it feels great, and so do I.
Yesterday we biked with friends up to the pool, swam our laps and biked home (after a stop at the pink windmill coffee shop, which is owned by new Christians and which is absolutely beautiful). We finished by stopping at the outdoor restaurant down the street and picking up deep fried bananas and sweet potatoes, sticky rice and papaya salad for lunch. Yum!! No sore muscles, but I did get sunburnt. Imagine swimming outdoors in February and not freezing!
Things I will miss when we leave Thailand? The great biking and swimming!


This area of Chiang Rai province is famous for its pineapples and they are delicious. Sweet and ripe, they come in all sizes from smaller than an apple to the huge ones we're used to seeing. You can eat a whole pineapple and not get a sore mouth. There are dozens of these little stands lining the roadside in this area.

A typical view in our area. There are two temples in this shot, the red roofed gate in the front leads to one behind the tree and the white tower is another one in the distance. There was one more even further off and further to the right.

Post swim and feeling great in the warm Thai sun!




Butterscotch frappes await! (The pink windmill is off to the right, you can't see it in this shot.)


Sorry about the bad angle, Ruth, but you can see how pretty this shop is.

Working in the rice fields looks painful. Most of the work is still done by hand, I don't know how they can stand up at the end of a day.

A well earned lunch.

Sticky rice is far stickier than any rice I've had before, and the best rice ever. Green papaya salad has a vinegar and coconut sugar dressing, tomatoes, green beans and peanuts. Lindsey and I love it, Dan and Megan don't care for it. Deep fried sweet potatoes are a favorite food for me here, Dan likes the bananas. Off to the left is morning glory. We eat it stir fried for school lunch reguarly, but somehow I just wasn't interested in the raw stuff.

January 15, 2010

The unharvested rice straw has all been burned off and the soil turned under. Fields are being flooded and the nursery fields have a haze of green as the new rice begins to come up. The days are beginning to get warmer and more humid again, although they're still quite pleasant. I got very brave and killed a cockroach in the dog food today (just a small one, and I'm waiting for Dan to get home to dispose of it because it's still wriggling and I can't seem to get it completely dead). We stopped at the local market today and picked up allergy medication for Dan, which he can get very inexpensively here. While there we picked up sliced papaya and little Thai donuts, which are mouthwatering. They put Krispy Kreme to shame, especially when eaten dipped in sweetened condensed milk, a staple desert ingredient here. One woman was selling live toads, presumably for eating. She laughed at my startled reaction.

Today was a teacher inservice day. I have been working with the elementary director to try and get the science curriculum in shape. We have developed a flow for the various types of science at the various grade levels and are working to get the curriculum we need to fill in the gaps. Today we reorganized the resources we had to fit the changes. It was fun for me, since teaching science is my passion. It looks like we might get some K'nex from the States next month. I can hardly wait to play with those!

There was a solar eclipse today. We were wondering why the day seemed to be getting dark and a little cooler when Julie, our elementary director heard that there was an eclipse. One of our Thai staff found a welding helmet that allowed us to look directly at the sun safely. Evidently it was the longest eclipse of the century and was full just north of us in China. It was really amazing to see. We just wish the students were all there to see it, too!

Lindsey has made it a goal to make dinner once a week since she has more time here. Last Sunday we had meat loaf and cheesey mashed potatoes. Tonight it was cream cheese pesto with pasta and fruit with cream cheese dip. She has discovered and fallen in love with Recipes.com. I just hope she keeps this up, it makes all of us happy!

Yes, we live in Thailand

This has been a week of knowing we live in Thailand.

Right now it's Sunday morning about 8:00. Our maebaan (housecleaner) and her husband are here to fix our kitchen sink. Our landlady is here also to chat with them. Our sink has been clogged for several days. It took us a couple of days to locate Draino. After detailed descriptions of packaging and location at Makro (Thai Costco) from American friends I finally managed to find the last bottle hidden behind several varieties of floor cleaner. Unfortunately it didn't work. We called a friend who speaks Thai well and had him call our landlady and explain the problem. She was hoping he and Dan could fix it, but they insisted they couldn't. Our maebaan's husband, who does some gardening for us, is also a great handyman (he fixed our broken toilet a couple months ago), so they came this morning. The plumbing for our kitchen sink is interesting. The drain pipe goes out the wall, along the back patio and empties into a small cement trench along our back fence. When they opened up the drain and flushed it out with a hose, a dead toad came out. I guess we'd better put a screen over the open end of the drain pipe! While he was waiting for the glue to dry on the pipe, he also fixed our front gate so it rolls better, at least temporarily. Since we have to roll open and closed this big gate every time we go anywhere, that will be very nice.

Our washer has been leaking out of the bottom for awhile now, but a week and a half ago it got to the point where it wouldn't hold water well enough to wash a load. Shortly after we discovered that we got an email about a missionary family that is moving from Chiang Rai to Pattaya, down in southern Thailand. They had a washer for sale, so we immediately called them and told them we wanted it. We picked it up yesterday and have done about 10 loads of wash. Yea! Clean clothes! We were lucky, it is sunny and quite warm. Yesterday even had a slight breeze, so the clothes dried very quickly hanging on our racks. We have room for about 2 loads of wash on our racks, so when there is a large quantity of clothes to wash, warm dry weather is very helpful!

This has been one of those weeks when I am very frustrated at my inability to speak Thai. It makes everything so much harder. If we were going to be here any longer than a year, I'd definitely be studying. We are so very thankful for friends here who speak Thai well and are so willing to be helpful to us over and over and over again!

Flight of the Gibbon

We have had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas vacation. This week, we spent several days down in Chiang Mai with Chiang Rai friends, Michael and Hope Johnson. He is a pastor of the Thai/English church we attend here, Hope is the counselor at FLC and teaches classes as well. Their daughter is Megan's age and they have 7th and 5th grade boys as well. We had a great time with them, I could listen to Hope's southern accent forever, but it makes me jealous that I can't get away with saying y'all. We enjoyed going to the Sunday Night Market, which is different than the regular Night Bazaar that is open every night. It was crowded! We also got to see the pandas at the zoo, although we got there too late to see the baby, we had fun watching the daddy lounging in a chair eating bamboo. He was very picky about which pieces he would eat. The highlight, however was the Flight of the Gibbon. Both families splurged on this experience with Christmas money from home. Thanks to our wonderful families! The Flight of the Gibbon is two kilometers of ziplines, bridges and platforms. There is a very brief video below of the experience.

The Sunday Night Market

The daddy panda at the Chiang Mai zoo.

Dan holding a classic Thai pose.

Cindy going straight down, a little scary even for this adventurous type.

The three girls zipping all together.

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve evening with new friends here in Thailand and learned a new Christmas tradition. Each year, each member of this beautiful family gives a gift to Jesus, we had the privilege of joining in on the tradition this year. It was a precious opportunity that helped us focus on the reason we celebrate Christmas, as well as getting to know each other even better. I wish all of you could know the Penningtons. Julie's two favorite words are precious and beautiful and they describe her perfectly. She is the director of the elementary program at FLC, teaches and is a mom of three. Brent, who always has a smile on his face and a sparkle in his eye, is the director of FLC in charge of teaching several classes, developing vision for the school and working on fundraising. Both of our girls are privileged to have him as a teacher. Ben is in seventh grade. He is the oldest son, he is quiet and smart, and loves to play board games. Kate is in fifth grade with all the sparkle of her dad and the beautiful spirit of her mom. Jack is five, he has more energy and strength than anyone I've ever met, and is presently enjoying dragging around their two month old puppy everywhere he goes.

Christmas day we spent at home with just the four of us, a first. Several of our wonderful friends here did invite us to join them, but we were in the mood to stay home. We enjoyed playing Apples to Apples with new cards from home, opening gifts, watching most of A Christmas Story online and just being together. It almost felt like Christmas except for the 85 degree weather.

Christmas Day Pictures

The girls with their presents:
Lindsey


Megan

Christmas Dance

FLC is a special place. We've known that for months now, but last night was an excellent reminder. Ruth, our principal, had a dance at her house last night for all present and past FLC students and their families. Her husband, Chuck, fired up his outdoor pizza oven, which is always a delicious treat. We adults had a great time visiting, but the real joy was in watching the kids. The teenagers danced in groups, in pairs indiscriminate about gender, with parents and with all the little ones running around. Just a relaxed, happy atmosphere, so different than what Megan has told me about dances at home. At home, Megan won't attend the dances because the atmosphere is so terrible. Here, she loves them and so do we. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be part of this community!

By the way, check out our very amateur Christmas video on You Tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7NeXDOlheI




Cindy with teacher friends

Chuck teaching proper pizza technique

Megan and Lindsey and friends

Chris and kids making pizza

Just some favorite scenery pictures. My dream: to be a National Geographic photographer!

From our neighborhood:

Sunrise




Just a weed


A temple window


During the rainy season. This is the view from our house, the back of Makro (Thai version of Costco) can be seen in the background.


In the Chiang Rai vicinity:







Taken while riding a bike during harvest season.


Chiang Mai area (Chiang Mai is 3 hours south of Chiang Rai)