The Final Days

Hey Everyone! 

I am in my final days before heading back to America. This week has been full and has flown by so fast. Tuesday will be here before I know it. I'm excited to come home! I'm sure it will feel weird to be back in the States and I will go through culture shock. I am really looking forward to seeing all of you. Thank you to those of you who faithfully read my blog and send emails and comments. They always give me a smile and make my day. Those of you that know me pretty well know that I am not looking forward to packing! Meh! My plan is to start tomorrow. Tomorrow is already shaping up to be a full day. 

Students are leaving tomorrow, thankfully that last group I have to say goodbye to until I leave. The group is getting smaller and smaller. Mr. Drawbaugh left today. Nathan left on Thursday. A couple of students left prior to that. The school is becoming a ghost town! In service today, a few of us sang special music and half of the congregation up singing. It made me laugh!

Let's see this week, I felt somewhat like a tourist so I have photos to share with you. They aren't off of my camera. Sadly, I dropped it while I was getting ready for graduation and now it won't focus. :( I'm going to see if I can get it fixed or maybe I'll have to start looking into getting a new one. I'm thankful it worked well for gradation though. Anyway, I have some photos from Mr Drawbaugh and Erika. 

The first ones are from the Tiger Kingdom

La Nu Nan and Me with our tiger friend. He doesn't seem too interested in us! 

The 3 tigers that we got to pet! They are like giant kitties! Only I think tigers are cooler than cats! :) 

Norah, me and Fon with the tiger. Check out his face! 

This was a lot of fun. They roamed around while we were in there so the trainers gave us extra time, which was nice. We were all a little nervous at first. I can now say, I've pet a tiger! So cool! 

I also went to the zoo with one of my students, Norah. We had a lot of fun. It was good to get to hang out with her before I leave. She is the one with the cute little girls that I post photos of. They will not be here when I return to Thailand. 

Mom and Dad, you can quickly skip over the next photo, ok? :)

Me on a motorbike! 

Okay, so I'm sure those of you are geniuses out there are saying this is staged. Well, yes it is. But I drove to farm yesterday on a motorbike. No worries, there isn't a lot of traffic in our tiny village, but it was a HUGE accomplishment for me. Starting the bike was a bit challenging since it is done with your right leg, but other than that all was well! 

I'm still finishing things up around here. I'm not quite finished with my curriculum. I've been slacking this week, but it's now crunch time. I'm putting on the finishing touches. I just found out what classes I'll be teaching this next year and have already had a couple meetings about them. I wish I had a little more time here to work a little more on things for next year prior to coming home, but I'm ready to be home. I'm thankful for the internet. :) 

This week a most exciting thing happened! Two of our graduate students were baptized! It's so exciting to see people take that step of faith and say they want to walk God's way of life. They will both be here next year so I'm really excited to see how they grow in their spiritual walk. 

Ah Moon is doing a ton better. She's still taking antibiotics for the MRSA on the bone, but we are praying that all goes away. She has an xray in one month. :) We are so glad she's back. She's at the farm most of the time, but it's fun to go over and see her running around and playing. We missed her while she was in the hospital. That's another miracle that God has preformed since being Thailand. God is so good. It's awesome to see how God can work and heal. We are thankful she is getting better and better! 

I think that's all for now. Hope you're having a wonderful day! 

See all of you very soon! 

Hugs and Love,

Lainy J.  

Love is My Life

Hey, Hey! 

Well, I am finished for the year minus completing a few things for my curriculum binders, which will hopefully be done tomorrow. We had graduation on Sunday. It was a bitter sweet occasion. More sweet than bitter. We have some really wonderful graduates who graduated who will do wonderful things in this world. I hope they all live up to their potential. :) They will be missed at Legacy, but moving is part of life. I would love to see them come back and visit and tell us how they are making an impact on this world. They certainly have impacted my life. I still get a lot of emails asking how my kids are or saying I'm sure the kids love you as a teacher. I want to clarify. I don't teach kids. Maybe sometimes they act like it, but most of them are the same age as me if not older making this whole experience quite unique. Another thing that makes this experience unique is living, eating, teaching, playing, worshipping, watching movies all together. Sure we don't share the same rooms or live in the same house, but for all practical purposes we live together. We are all on the same property. This experience has been life changing. I look at things differently. I have much more patience. I appreciate things in ways I didn't before my year at Legacy. God has stretched me and grown me in ways that I didn't really ask. I pray on a daily basis that God will cause me to grow and be stretched. Well, remember the disclaimer... "Be careful what you pray for." This is very true. It will make you a better person, but you'll be stretched and grown in ways you really would rather there be another way. So I guess it's safe to say that I'll be forever changed by this year in Mae Sa Luang Thailand. 

Okay, enough for now. Some of you will here me talk about my experience, so I don't want to talk about all of it in my blog. :) (If  you do have specific questions that I've not talked about in my blog, feel free to email me or ask me when you see me.) So I'll move on to pictures!! Yay! I know you're all excited. It's been quite a while since I put any on here. So here they are! 

The first couple of pictures are two of my three students teaching at the local school the last week. They did a fantastic job! They had tough classes and it was their first teaching experience. I love teaching them how to teach. One of the reasons I love it is that I'm forced to reevaluate the way I teach, which is always a good thing. My class was kind of like "Survivor." However, no one was voting anyone off. They were dropping like flies. I was demanding and there was a lot of work. If you missed more than one class, you were out. Some didn't think they could commit and others for various reasons had to stop attending class. So I'm really proud of the three that completed the class. They all did and excellent job!

This is Jaseefu, 3rd year student. He is teaching 4th grade. They were learning about farm animals. :) We sang Old Mac Donald. Good Times! Miss Kathy, it made me think of the K-1 class. :) 

This is Lallian, graduate student. He's teaching simple past to the 7th grade class. Yay for English grammar! He is the student who is planning on opening an orphanage in Burma. 

Now on to pictures from the graduation weekend.

Erika, Me, Ben, Nathan

This is a photo of my er um... friends? :) Yes, my friends. 9 months ago I didn't know any of these three people. But let me tell you after you see each other nearly everyday for almost all day, you get to know people pretty well. None of us have killed each other either. I think there may have been a couple of close calls. :) We all get along really well! I think I may go through withdrawals going home for a couple of months and not being around them everyday. How are we ever going to survive!?!

At graduation... This is our lovely secretary Saew. She is amazing and does EVERYTHING! Her English is really good, but if you were to ask her, she would said it's not very good. 

These are the first year students. 4 boys. They are really good students. They were my Bible 1 class. We thought they looked like the Beatles. They were amazing! They sang a popular Thai song and then sang a song to the graduating students that Atiwat wrote! It was called "The Great Brother." Essentially it was talking about how the 3rd year students have been older brothers to them and they want to follow their examples.  

Our Thai students and can you spot the farang? We were singing 2 Thai songs. One of which Jaseefu wrote. Jay, the student on the far left of the photo has a tremendous amount of patience. He taught me the words, the melody, and helped me write it in English so I could read it. 

This is Goi. She is another one of the secretaries. She doesn't has as much English as Saew, but she is still great! 

All of the students, the Sextons and the teachers. I'm the short one.

The teachers, the Sextons and the graduating students. :) My students who I had them in Reading, Writing, Discussion, Journalism (minus a couple in this class), Teaching (only a couple) and Health.

With Norah and her girls.

Norah, 3rd year; Fon, 2nd year and Nathan sing the song, "Love is My Life" written by Jay, 3rd year student. I'm going to put the words at the end. 

Goi and Saew hard at work. :)

The four teacher and the seven grads.

The four boy grads. Buut, Jaseefu, Beka, and Jay.

The Sextons, the four teachers and grads before graduation.

The four teacher and the seven grads.

Our seven grads with almost all of them smiling! Believe it or not this is quite an accomplishment. Thai people don't like to smile in photos. 

Left to Right, back row Jaseefu, Hkawn Din, Norah, Seng Mai, Buut 

Left to Right, front row Beka and Jay

Lyrics to Jay's song, "Love is My Life" (hence the title of my blog).

Love is my life  Life to be with you

Love is what you do for me  I'm a happy man

A year is like a day  A day is like a blink of my eyes

Can you smile to me, in the blue moon

I want to see a beautiful smile from you 

Before it is too late 

I will keep what you do, for me because I know

That I can't find any you  You are my love

I will remember you from now on

I will see you in my dreams

The dream might not come true, but I'm waiting for you

Let me look at you again

I will tack you into my heart, my life is beautiful because of you.

I'm a lucky man in the world

Let me tell you a little bit about Jay. He calls himself Dr. Love. He one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He always has a story to make you smile. He tries to make people laugh all the time. He does not like it when people look sad or blue. He was a Budhist monk. He loves people. He loves love. He loves hamburgers. In fact, hamburgers are the perfect love food. I hope one day he finds the beautiful girl to share a hamburger with. He is one of the most respectful people you will ever meet. As I said before, he is very patient. I wish everyone could meet Mr. Jay. I could never forget him. 

I think that's all for now. I may write again before I'm home. We'll see. I'll be in good ol' Cali in a week! :) Yay! I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone. :) 

Love and Hugs,

Lainy J.

Randomness about Thailand!

Thailand Love...

Okay, so as all you have probably figured I really like, no love Thailand, but with that love comes a plethora of things I don't think I'll ever understand or better yet they just make me laugh and shake my head. I hope they do the same for you.

1. "Same, Same, but Different" It's a very fitting saying that is used a ton around here. It means just what it says, same, same, but different. Example: MACs and Dells= Same, Same, but different. Same, Same- they are both computers, but they are WAY different! I'm not going to tell you which I think is better. :)

2. Karaoke... I will never view this the same. Every time there is a party, they have karaoke, which is fine and dandy and I think it probably could be fun, though I've not sung Karaoke since being here. However, really, does it have to be loud enough for the entire village to enjoy? While I really appreciate music... many different types. I also appreciate people singing, but when you are trying to go to sleep karaoke does not fall into any of the above categories.

3. Jazzercise- I don't think I'll ever get used to this one. At 6 pm, all over Chiang Mai and villages surrounding Chiang Mai break out into Jazzercise. The music is blared for about an hour and oh man! You're so thankful once it has finished. I find myself wondering how Brittany found herself all the way over here and wonder why she did it again. But props to the Thai people trying to get into shape.

4. Trash cans!! There is a severe shortage of trash cans in this country. You may have a piece of trash and want to be a good citizen, but you are forced to carry it around with you unless you cave to the traditions surrounding you. If this is the case, you find the nearest bush or fence to place your trash. This is one cultural difference I am not willing to embrace with others, but this one drives me nuts! Oh and people don't necessarily throw trash away or get rid of it. They move it from one pile to another.

5. ANTS!! Okay, there are ants everywhere! Why?! On my table I have papers and photos and my computer... that's it, but yet there are ants. Why? How? I don't get it. Random fact, did you know ants love milk? Kind of weird, but they do in Thailand.

6. Mai Phen Rai... Don't Worry About It! Go with the flow mentality. Okay, I like it. I can handle it and somethings you simply must say Mai Phen Rai or you will go bonkers. Come on you're in Asia. But sometimes enough mai phen rai! We gotta get it done.

7. Noise Pollution... There is always noise here. Always! Motorbikes, trucks, kids screaming, animals, ice cream trucks, helicopters  etc. I don't even know where it all comes from, but it's noisy! Those of you I've talked to on SKYPE know this. Some noises are nice as in the birds singing and things of that nature, but others are just noise. Has anyone heard the Switchfoot song "If I'm Adding to the Noise?" :)

8. Eyes and Ears, Eyes and Ears. A saying I will always remember. Essentially probably what you think it means. There are eyes and ears all around. :) People are always listening and watching EVERYTHING you do. It's the same in the States, but on a whole different level. Such as, if you've followed my blog, you'll remember the story about my rings and husbands. That's Thailand. 

9. Geckos... As many of you know, I love animals-- love them. There are a few that I despise such as snakes! I've thankfully only seen a couple of those since being here, but there are geckos everywhere. They are supposed to eat mosquitos. So they are good to have around, but really not something I want in my shower.

10. Speaking of showers. Most Thai people shower with cold water. If they don't shower with cold water, they have an instant water heater in their showers. Kind of weird having something hooked to the electric that's in your shower, but it one of my favorite things. 

11. Mattresses are generally hard. I don't mean firm, I mean hard! Sometimes I thought it might be more comfortable to sleep on the floor. I don't understand. It makes me laugh! I now have a pretty soft mattress with my memory foam on it so it's a fairly nice bed now. 

12. Elephants... I love elephants. I think they are pretty cool creatures. I still find it random to see a giant elephant walking down the street of our little village with someone riding on it.

13. Staring... People stare here. We're told it's impolite in the States, but not here. They just stare. I'm Farang, which automatically says look at me! There's the saying one of my sisters used to say, "Take a picture, it will last longer." Well, that shouldn't be said too lightly here. They do! Especially if you're on crutches! :)

14. Rice can be the answer to any of the following questions. What are we going to eat? What are we having for breakfast? What about lunch? Dinner? hee...hee... No, the rice isn't bad. I do skip out on it for breakfast though. Plus we eat brown or red rice, which the students call prison rice! It's so much healthier for you though. Oh and have you ever had noodles or potatoes on rice? No, you're not supposed. Well, not in Thailand. You do. Rice goes with any and every thing.

15. Communication... so when I come home. If I double check and triple check about something that's going to happen, it's because living in Thailand. Things are always changing. Flexibility... I love it. I'm being serious here not sarcastic. But the communication break down. Oh man! You may have to speak to 10 people to try and figure something out. 

Okay, so that's all I have for you right now. I'll probably continue to add to this list as I think of things. :) I'll write a real blog at some point. Probably after graduation when I have photos. I may get one up after church. We're taking pictures with the students so I figured. I would wait and write about this past week once I have photos seeing as I have kind of failed at taking pictures recently. I don't have the excuse of being on crutches either. :) Sorry everyone, but it's been pretty busy lately. 

Hope you enjoyed the read and had a few laughs! 

Love and Hugs,

Lainy J. 

Mae Sa Luang, Thailand 

Phew!

Phew! Wow! This has already been a crazy week and yet it has just begun! Yesterday was a very productive day. I got all of my finals finished for which I'm sure my students are grateful. :) Maybe? Today was the first day of finals week. I feel like I'm back in college doing a million things a minute! I am just now getting a chance to sit down and breathe. Take that back... I found time to walk after classes, but before dinner. It was much needed to clear the mind. 

Anyway, today was the first day of my students teaching and they did very well. Of course, there are always things to work on, but I am impressed. They are teaching in the fourth and seventh grades. The 4th grade seems to be a good grade. Oh I miss the little ones! :) I realized that a couple of times today. The seventh grade... well, let's just say it's not so endearing. Today's class I realized they are still disrespectful! I had an epiphany from it though. Are you ready? Teaching in Thailand is organized CHAOS! Okay, a bit harsh I know, but at least in that 7th grade class that's the way I feel and I wasn't even teaching. I saw at least 5  different students hit each other! I just had to shake my head.  

On a happier note, Ah Moon is home! YAY! I've not seen her, but everyone is VERY, very HAPPY! She came home on Sunday. She still has MRSA on the bone, but she is taking medicine, which hopefully and please pray that it will go away and she will have 100% recovery! God is so good and still does heal and do miracles. It's amazing!

Another cute story from today... In preparation for my students teaching tomorrow, I was teaching one of them the "If You're Happy and You Know It" song. It was so much fun. Norah and her two girls were there and they were singing. I was making funny faces at them while I was singing and the girls would just laugh! They thought I was so funny. :) It was cute and fun. It made me miss my nieces and nephews as well as teaching little ones. Even though, I miss teaching little ones, I am blessed and thankful for teaching the students I have and absolutely love it! I wouldn't trade it for anything. I feel like I'm right where I am supposed to be right now. I know one day, I teach elementary school again and I'll love it too. 

Okay, I need to clear the head and get some sleep. I have Bible class early tomorrow morning and another full day ahead of me. 

Hugs and Love,

Lainy J.

Sleeping for 30 Hours Does the Body Good!!

Greetings to Everyone!

Yes, as in my title, I have slept for at least 30 hours in the past couple of days. I've probably slept more than 30 hours. I woke up at 2am Thursday morning feeling sick to my stomach and just not feeling well. I felt like someone beat me up. I slept pretty much all day. I had a slight temperature Thursday night. I'm not sure how or why I was sick. It's weird that I got sick and no one else around me was sick being as we all eat the same food. I am happy to report I am feeling much, much better, thankfully. I feel pretty disconnected from everyone around here having pretty much slept the last two days of my life away. I guess my body needed it. 

Other than that, this week went pretty well. We're still trying to get everything accomplished with only one week of classes left, which includes finals! Kind of crazy! My teaching class will be teaching at the local school where I taught prior to breaking my leg. They have given us the 4th and 7th grade classes. 7th is a tough one. I'm not sure about the 4th grade class. Hopefully they will do well. :) I have three students Jay, Jaseefu and Lal Lian. All three of them taught lessons to the Legacy students on Wednesday night. They did a really good job. Of course, there are things that can be improved as with any teacher, but I must say teaching English, which is no their first language in English is pretty tough! For me, it's kind of weird being the person giving pointers and being the one to observe. I feel as though I was just in their shoes being observed. I am looking forward to seeing how they do this next week. I think some of them are now more nervous having taught a lesson to the students here and are able to see that lessons don't always go the way they plan and they really have to prepare.

Please continue to keep Ah Moon and her family in your prayers. On Tuesday, they found out that she no longer has MRSA in her nose, lungs or her blood stream, which is awesome!! However, they have found spots on her bone. Poor little thing. Please keep her in your prayers. Her dad, Seng Aung looked so sad the other day when he came back from the hospital with the news that it was on her bone. 

I think that's all that's going on right now. We are trying to get ready for graduation and just the normal end of the school year jazz. I'll be home in 18 days! I'm really excited! All of us teachers are getting kind of bummed thinking about next year and the graduates not being here. They will definitely be missed.

Thanks for your prayers! 

Lots of Love and Hugs,

Lainy J. 

25 Days and Counting...

Yes, that's right 25 days until I'm sitting on a plane on my way home! It's 14 days until the last day of finals. It's 16 days until Graduation and 25 days until I'm back in good ol' Cali! It blows my mind how fast this school has gone. I feel like I've been here forever and yet at the same time if feels like I have only been here a couple of months. 

As things seem to draw to end, I find myself frantically trying to give my student every little bit of information I can cram into a 50 minute class. Sometimes this is harder than others. I find myself taking nearly the whole hour set aside for class. I wish for some classes that we had simply another week while others, I would like another month or so. :) Isn't that the way it always is! All of my classes are going well, just really full. It's interesting to see how students get that last little jolt of energy before the semester ends. It makes me laugh because having just finished college, I can empathize! I can now relate to my professors too. Well, almost! :) Reading and Writing class are coming right along. We're reading through the book of Daniel in the Bible. For writing we are learning about adjectives. Just as you think you have the rules down where you can explain them, you find a sentence that breaks the rule. English is such a tough language! I like the challenge of it though. It makes class interesting and frustrating all at  the same time. In my Bible 1 class, we are reading through Esther at the moment. I really love that class. It's probably my favorite class that I teach. It's so great seeing how they have progressed in nine months. Full imersion is definitely the way to learn a language. (Although my Thai is not very good. I really only know a few words. I guess that comes from living and teaching at an English imersion school.) The teaching class is going quite well. I began with 8 students and am down to 3. It's an elective class so they don't have to take it, therefore those that are in it are really committed. That makes teaching this class nice. They will be student teaching at the local school where I taught before I broke my leg. I got them placements in a fourth and seventh grade classroom. I'm really excited about it. It's going to make that last week of school kind of crazy, but it will be worth it. They will teach their first lesson at Legacy on Wednesday. I expect great things from them. Journalism and Health class are going. We are just wrapping things up. 

Update on Ah Moon: She is doing better smiling and walking some now. She is still in the hospital and could really use your prayers for continued healing. We really miss having her and Seng Hpa here. Another thing in the realm of prayer requests is our student Beka. He hasn't been feeling well lately and has not been in class since Monday. He has a heart condition as well. Please keep him in your prayers. Please pray for the Health of Legacy that everyone will be able to stay well for the last two weeks.

I have been walking free of crutches now for 2 weeks! It's so nice! Sometimes I still am just in awe of how good God is. I am still have some pain from muscles, and the bone as well. If I feel like being wonder woman one day, that evening and/ or the next day, I will be in pain. Please pray that I will be completely healed. I did play basketball on Tuesday. Well, by playing I mean I hung out by the basket and shot. That's about all I could do. :) No jumping or running. I was kind of afraid at points, but it was fun. I opted out of sports class on Thursday and just kept score, which was just about as much fun. If you ever get the chance to watch a court full of Thais play basketball, do it! It's hilarious! Good times for sure. 

The four us teachers went into Chiang Mai on Monday night to watch the Super Bowl. We felt like Americans in Thailand eating a hamburger and watching football. It was a lot of fun.

Anyway, I think that's all of the excitement I have for you this time. I know I had some funny stories that I thought about posting, but I can't remember right now and I really wanted to get my post out for the week! 

I hope every one has had a fabulous week! I will being seeing you very soon. I still love hearing from you and am thankful for those of you who are diligent in writing me. It means a lot! Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them coming.

Bible thought for the week... if you were Daniel or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, what you do? Would you have the courage to stand up as they did? I know we all would love to simply say, "yes" as our first instinct. Give it some thought... a den of lions and a fiery furnace. It puts things into perspective. Sometimes it's good to think about things like this.

Sending My Love and Hugs,

Lainy J.