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)

You get up, go for a jog with the dog, shower, drive to school, teach, come home, make dinner, go to bed. Same routine anywhere. Life is beginning to feel that way here for us, and then something happens to make us realize that things that are beginning to seem normal, really aren't, at least by American standards.
Saturday I needed to pick up some cortisone cream, so I went down to the local market, where I managed to find a pharmacy, which luckily had some tubes of cream labeled in English. Couldn't find cortisone, but found something that said it was a topical steroid, so I bought that. Stopped in another shop to pick up some needles to do some mending, another shop had the bamboo skewers I wanted to make kites with my class, yet another had a pair of PE shorts the girls needed. All this felt pretty normal, until I looked across into the open part of the market, saw the fans with little pieces of cloth on them brushing the flies away from the raw meat, the fresh fish flopping around on the table of one vendor, another selling vegetables I've never seen before and would have no idea how to use. And everyone chattering in a language I don't understand. Oh, that's right, I'm doing all these everyday things in a country halfway around the world, in an attempt to help others to have an opportunity to hear about Christ!
We worshiped at the bi monthly international service this evening. There were people there from Holland, Australia, America (even other Seattleites!), Switzerland, South Africa and of course native Thais, and those are just the ones I know. Worship was led by a young woman who is a missionary here with the Akha people (a tribal group that is spread across 5 different countries in this part of Asia). Her Akha worship team led for us tonight, mostly in English, but they did sing for us in Akha as well, which is a completely different language than Thai. They are preparing for a 'summer' camp for 800-1,000 Akha youth coming up in the middle of October. This camp has been running every year for 20 years. Next time she leads service, she wants our girls to help.
The diversity of the people we spend time with here is a delight for us suburbanites. The passion for sharing Christ is a delight for our souls. We are so thankful to be part of this community!

East meets West in the Classroom

Here is a funny story that could only happen when teaching cross-culturally. I told my class of second and third graders that the next book I would be reading aloud to them was a classic, How to Eat Fried Worms. Sure to fascinate kids in a funny and gross way. Josh (my only 100% Caucasian student who is half American, half Dutch, but has always lived in Thailand) and Tan (pure Thai) started chattering excitedly in Thai. Josh works as a translator in my classroom on a regular basis. This is the English conversation that ensued:
Josh: A whole book about eating fried worms? Great! They're so yummy!
Tan: Yeah, I love fried worms, they're one of my favorites!
Josh: Me too!
Cindy: So in Thailand, people enjoying eating fried worms?
Josh: Of course, they're really good! Haven't you had fried worms?
Cindy: No I haven't. In America, people don't eat worms.
Josh and Tan with completely puzzled faces: Why not? They're sooo good!
Cindy: I guess we don't have the right kind of worms!

I guess I'll pick a different book to read aloud next.

Josh's parents later told me where to get fried worms and bugs at the market. They said they like the worms better, some kind of bamboo worm. Megan is intrigued to try them, I'm not sure I'm brave enough. I'll let you know.

This link might take you to my Facebook where you can watch a video of my students singing as we work on creating a movie.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=1120652296160

And here is the movie we created!

Pictures of school

Dan and Ruth (our principal) in front of the school, which used to be a motel.


The elementary 'hallway'.


Cindy's classroom before school started.

Dan at his desk.

Teachers eating in the staff lunchroom/auxiliary classroom which looks out over the playfield.

More pictures of our latest waterfall adventure are on Facebook, I think anyone can access this link, members of Facebook or not.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017786&id=1222639240&ref=nf