Randomness for the Week!

So Thailand is a unique country... I have a few funny stories that I want to share. They just make me smile and shake my head.

Well, most people think I live in the booneys. Well, I kind of do. :) It's not San Diego. It's more like my hometown of good ol' Westmorland, but I think Westmorland is a step up from our village at least on technology and population. If those of you who know about Westmorland can believe this, I figured you'd get a kick out of it. Anyway, we do not have pigs and goats roaming around. Just lizards and a snake, which was killed this morning (thank you Mr. Lal Lian!) and tons of ants! This is at the school at least along with some cats that have adopted us. 

 

There are roosters in Thailand too. But they are quite confused. They crow at 10 pm, at 1 am and all hours of the night. I don't think they know they are supposed to crow in the morning when the sun comes up. Crazy Thailand Roosters! 

So I thought living in Westmorland was tough with everyone being in everyone's business. Well, trying living in a village of about 500 people where you are one of the few white people! They know or so they think what we do all the time. Apparently our lives are more entertaining than TV. It's like we're in a reality show, but real life. lol! I have 2 rings-- one is a silver band and one from my parents. Well, one is on each hand. I wear them all the time. So one of my students told me that there were some village people who thought I had two husbands because I have two rings! How funny is that! It's interesting to see what kinds of stories they think up. 

Well, that's my random tidbit of information for the week. I hope it brought some smiles, giggles and laughs to your side of the world.

Lots of Love,

Lainy 

Week 1 of Winter Break

Hey Everyone! 

I hope this week has gone well for everyone! This was our first week off from class. It was nice not having to prepare for classes. There hasn't been a whole lot going on. We cleaned a ton on Sunday and Monday. I've been catching up on sleeping, which has been nice. 

The students from Burma had issues with visas last week and that has all been taken care of and they will be able to stay for more Bible training, which was an answer to prayer. 

Hopefully this next week I will start getting things checked off my list of things to do. 

Yesterday some of the girls who are still here for break came over and made cookies. They have never baked cookies before and think that they are a lot of hard work. They think we are crazy. :) It made me laugh. When they make sweet things, they are usually pounded sticky rice or coconut soup.  

A couple people emailed me and asked about my leg, it's still improving. I am still on crutches. I go back to the doctor in one month and will hopefully be off of crutches!! It will be an exciting day for sure! I am really looking forward to being able to walk around again. It was pretty cold yesterday due to the rain and my leg was throbbing quite a bit. I'm assuming it's because of the metal in it. At least that's what I'm told.

That's all for now. Hope everyone is doing well. Take Care! See ya soon! 

Hugs and Love,

Elainea

Random!!

So, I was nearly out of toothpaste so I had Erika pick me some up at a store near her school. It's like a walmart, but better. (Not as good as target!:)) Anyway, I generally use Crest so I asked her to pick me up some. Well, while she was there, she called me... it was $11! How crazy is that!?!?! She asked if Colgate was okay... it was only $3! It made us both laugh! Kind of crazy.

Hope you get a chuckle out of this! Enjoy your cheap Crest toothpaste in the States!

Hugs!

Winter Break Has Arrived!!

Hey Everyone!!

Winter break is here! We get 3 weeks off from classes. I am really, really excited. There is much to do over the break. I am in hopes of seeing my two friends who are in Chiang Mai serving at the orphanage where I did on my last trip to Thailand. I am hoping to get my curriculum binders up to date as well. Erika and I were thinking about going to the beach over our break, however we have concluded that it will be best to wait until next year. So the next beach I will see is the good ol' Pacific, which makes me happy. Resting is also on the agenda for the break. I think there are some Bible studies that will be going on, which I plan on attending. I may be going on my visa run during the break to get my passport stamped so I can remain in Thailand until I fly home. I'll probably just go up to the border and cross over to Burma and back. Erika and I will go for a couple of days. Nothing too exotic this trip. I'll save my extravagant adventures for the time when I'm off crutches! :)

This week has been a tough one for various reasons. My students have been lacking motivation, which is hard to deal with at times.  A big factor probably comes from winter break. Maybe for some senioritis is kicking in, and the other contributing reason is probably because it's Asia and I am at times looking at things with my Americanisms and that mind set. This week has also been tough because I have just been exhausted. I slept for nearly 14 hours last night. My leg has been hurting off and on as well. So, I am definitely looking forward to some much needed rest over this break. Then it's back to the grind for 5 1/2 weeks and then I'm a comin' home! :)

This week we had the opportunity to take my first field trip with the school. :) It made me feel a little like I was back teaching elementary students. Ahh!! Good times and memories! (Miss Kathy, my last field trip before this was with you and the kiddos to the farm! :)) We went to see a showing of the King's projects' best organic vegetables and flowers. According to the Sextons, this has been a huge project and has developed quite a bit over the past several years. The King has given tribes opportunities that they might not otherwise have. It was interesting. Flowers, some benches and cameras with Thais = TONS of photos. Great entertainment for a good 20 minutes or so at least. :) We ended our time at the showing watching some of the different tribes sing and dance cultural dances. It was interesting. So I have some photos...

It was all organic.

These were pretty (they are RED!) I'm not sure what they were, but they looked really neat.

Some peppers for Mom, Grammer and Aunt Cathy.

You can't see the sign very well, but it says USA mint! A little bit of home pride! :)

Aj. Erika and me. We were posing with the flowers. They were so pretty! I especially like the gerbers! They were selling flowers, but no gerbers... Sad Day! 

Norah, one of my students, wanted to jump in. 

(Umm, I am so white!) 

Most of the gang!

They were Karen. They were singing and playing. Their voices blended very nicely. They sang some upbeat songs to. It was fun to watch them they looked like they were enjoying it. I like his instrument. I never found out what it was. It was similar to a guitar. She also played recorder type instrument.

This is a Kachin group. They were doing some sort of play.

That is where we ended the field trip. We then piled in the pick up trucks and came back to school. Some of the boys played football. The teachers took it easy the rest of the day.

For those of you who might not believe me, I am Jai Thai. (Thai at heart.) This is a photo of me in a Lahu skirt that one of my students gave me as a gift. She is so sweet. I'll have you notice in photo behind my head is the King's flag as well. 

Jai Thai

EXCITING! Something else I'll have you notice in the photo. I am wearing real shoes... not flip flops!! Today was the first day that I was able to wear my heels since the accident. It's faster improvement since I started wearing my flip flop on my right foot after we returned from Singapore. I was really ecstatic! The heels were very small, don't worry they were the shoes I would teach in everyday. They may be 1/2 inch if that. YAY! for shoes. I am amazed at how God is healing me. Sometimes it seems like recovery is taking forever and then other times I simply sit in amazement. God is good. 

Mr. Drawbaugh gave a Bible study on setting goals last night and followed it up today with a more in depth sermon on how to take action. It was quite good. He talked about God being a planner and it's good to have a plan. I think the students got a lot out of it. I can only hope at their teacher that some of it sunk in. I tend to be a planner by nature, but it was a really good review to think about the future and think about planning for it. I have to remember not to get so caught up in planning for the future that I get lost and forget about the here and now. I absolutely want to here and present not dreaming somewhere far off in the future. I want to live in the moment so that I can be effective and appreciate where God has me in my life right now. Anyway there was a quote that he shared with us that I want to share with you. It kind of hit me today. It is something that I feel like many people struggle with, including myself. 

"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do." -Leonardo da Vinci  

We may have talents, or skills giving us the knowledge, but are we applying it in some way? We may be willing to do something, are we doing it? Or are we sitting there saying I am willing and letting others be the doers; leaving us to be the watchers? I want to challenge you to use your talents or skills and instead of sitting there saying I am willing, see what you can do. I am challenging you as well as myself. Plan to do something. :-)

I think that's all I have for you this time. I hope you're all doing well as always. I miss everyone and am looking forward to my time at home. It'll be here before I know it! Time is flying by quickly.

Lots of Love and Hugs,

Lainy

 

This is a verse that came to mind in thinking about planning and that God makes plans. This one has always been a favorite in which I take comfort.

Jeremiah 29:11 -- "'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the LORD. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Highlights of the Week

Hey Everyone! 

This week went by as quickly as the last one!

Things are plugging along. The new Bible classes started, which is quite exciting! I'm sitting in on a couple of them. It's been interesting. Mr. Drawbaugh is here and it has been such a blessing. It's nice to have another person around. I know Aj. Leon is really appreciative for his help in teaching, giving Bible studies, sermons and simply being around to answer questions might have, which helps probably more than he realizes.

This next week I begin teaching my new class teaching "How To Teach." I am excited about it very much! Please keep me in your prayers. I am hoping that I can have an impact in a positive way. I'm a little nervous thinking about teaching people to do something I'm still learning about. It's quite humbling to think about.

Monday we are going to go to Chiang Mai University to see the King's project and all of the vegetables that they grow. There are quite a few King's and Queen's Projects around, which include schools in the hill tribes like the one I visited a few months back. They also have farms to teach people how to grow organic fruits and vegetables. It should be interesting. If there is anything exciting, I'll post pictures next time.

This week we went into Chiang Mai for dinner. We found this little burrito place. It was quite delicious! We were planning on going to this place that we went when I had been here about a month and it was gone! Nothing there! Just gone! It was so weird. But the new place was really good. It was nice to get some Mexican food. (On my list of things to do when I am home for sure!)

Now for some photos of the week's happenings...

After dinner, we went to Makro, which is like Costco or Sam's Club. Erika and I have been missing baking so much! So we decided to give in a buy a toaster oven. It wasn't too expensive- Erika is going to be here for 3 more years and since I'm coming back next year, I didn't think that I could go through another year not being able to bake for another year!  

Here is our lovely new appliance! I think the boys are quite excited about it as well! Mostly because they get to eat what we bake. :)

Mixing our batter up... well, making up the recipe too. 

We live in a village. Our village's name is Mae Sa Luang. We are about 15 minutes or so from the nearest supermarket like store (TOPS). We go there about once a week. However, our village has little home based stores that we can get things like chai yen, yogurt, milk, chocolate, and random goodies. Anyway, you can't get American things in our village. Some things, but not for making cookies. So Erika and I decided that we were going to try and make cookies from ingredients we could get locally. 

We used tempura flour, raw sugar, olive oil, vanilla, cinnamon, Alfie chocolate bars, lemon juice and eggs. (The lemon juice counter acted the saltiness from the tempura flour.) We didn't end up with cookies, but this chocolate bread cookie type thing. It was rather good. It was like cornbread with chocolate in it. It was better than other pastries we have gotten in Thailand. We shared with the students and they thought it was good.

We are sooo EXCITED!! 

Look at that! It's baking! Woot Woot!

So after our success, we really wanted to make REAL oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. So Erika bought the ingredients on her way home from school on Friday. We mixed up the batter and before our Bible Study on Friday night we were able to share cookies with the students and they were super excited! 

Real BATTER!!  YUMMINESS!!! 

Ahh! Ready to bake.

Baking, Baking!! 

So baking was a success! We shall see what kind of recipes Erika and I can think up. It's going to be an adventure. So fun!

As I promised... picture of my legs. I think they are rather beautiful. What do you think? :) My leg is healing quite well as you can see. My leg is still a bit swollen and still hurting off and on. Continued prayers are appreciated. I know it's because of the prayers that I am healing so quickly and so well. I go back to the doctor on January 26th and hopefully get rid of my sticks.

I think that is all for now. We are going to be starting our last week of school before winter break. We may be going on a visa run over the break to get our visas stamped. Maybe traveling somewhere within the country and hopping across a closer boarder on a weekend. 

I hope you are doing well. I really love hearing from all of you and what's going on t home. I miss everyone very much. I'll be in the Golden State in 79 days! I'm on the countdown. Not that I don't love it here or the people, but because I miss home and love the people there too! Look forward to seeing all of you soon. 

Have a fabulous weekend and fantastic week!! 

Lots of love is being sent your way.

Hugs,

Lainy

Just Another Week

Hey Everyone! 

I hope this note finds you well! 

There isn't a whole lot to report on this week. It was just another week of teaching in Mae Sa Luang! The weeks seem to fly by even faster than they did before. I have heard that this gets worse with age! Time goes faster and faster. I can hardly believe that tomorrow is Friday! I feel like it was just Friday and we just had a Sabbath! 

Tomorrow is the King's Birthday so we have the day off from classes. It is also Father's Day in Thailand. It's the same as the Queen's Birthday being Mother's Day here. It's because they are looked up to as a father and a mother. (Dad, Happy Thai Father's Day!) I'm not sure what we are going to do tomorrow. If everything works out, we may go to the orphanage where I was last time I was in Thailand, which would be a ton of fun! I haven't gotten the chance to get out there since being over here, which is really sad. It's just been terribly busy and then the broken leg just threw in another obstacle.

King and Queen of Thailand

Speaking of my leg, it is still getting better. I have been in pain the last few days and had to start wrapping it again. The cold weather and the metal in my leg are not friends! It's weird because I could be fine and then be in pain. I'll put up photos of my leg next time I post a blog so you can see the progress. My next doctor's appointment is January 26. He said by that appointment I should be able to walk without crutches, which is super exciting! Keep the prayers coming. :) I would love to be able to run and rock climb again someday with no problems.

Legacy is having some new developments. They have asked me to develop and teach the graduating students and the graduate students a class on "how to teach." I could really use prayers here. I'm really excited about it, but a little nervous as well. I feel at though I am still learning how to teach and will be teaching others how to teach. Mr. Drawbaugh was here during the Feast and he has come back to help teach 3 new Bible classes along with Aj. Leon and Nathan. Keep them in your prayers as well. Everyone is really excited about all of the new classes. We all need prayers so that we can do this to the best of our abilities. Prayers for the students to gain understanding would be good, too.

Aj. Leon (my fellow crip) is getting better too. He still has trouble with his right eye and working on the computer. Continued prayers for him would be greatly appreciated. It's amazing to see how God is healing him. The power of prayer is amazing. Seeing the improvement with Aj. Leon and in my leg is so exciting!  

Classes will end in late February, which is right around the corner and then I'll be jumping on a jet plane back to Cali and can hardly wait to see everyone!! 

Have a great rest of your week! 

Sending lots of love and hugs your way! 

-Lainy :)