Ahhh... Thanksgiving!

Hey There!

I hope all of you had a fabulous Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, love, thankfulness and yummy food.

Thanksgiving in Thailand makes me miss home. Thanksgiving here is very different than being home. More than the food and not being with family. I seem to look at things differently and have a new appreciation for family, friends and times spent together than I did before. I have always loved time with family and friends, but I guess like the saying goes, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Even though it's not a typical Thanksgiving, I do like Thanksgiving in Thailand. Legacy tries to go to an orphanage or do some sort of outreach on Thanksgiving. I love this. In doing this, Thanksgiving takes on a completely different light than it does at home.

We went to an orphanage in Chiang Mai which provides a home for about 50 children from 3 months to 6 years. After 6 years, if they are not adopted, they are moved to another orphanage. The orphanage they are moved to is actually near our school. The children who are in the home are there because their parents took them to the hospital and left them when they were sick or maybe they are hilltribe and cannot afford to take care of them if they were sick or various other reasons. It breaks my heart to see little ones who don't have parents.

We took them milk and cake. They loved the milk, but really the cake. I thought this was funny because most kids LOVE sweet stuff. After giving them the goodies, we got to play with them. They were absolutely adorable! They were very loving and were very funny. I got to use my Thai with them and they were sooo cute! I have been looking for an orphanage to volunteer at once a week to take a break from being "Ajan Elainea" and to help out in a different capacity. I guess partly selfish motives because I miss little kids. We'll see if it all works out. It would be a lot of fun to be able to go in on a regular basis just to play with the kiddos.

Here are a few photos from our visit.

This little fellow was sooo cute! He had the most adorable smile ever! They were seemingly camera shy so you don't get to see this cutie's smile.

These warmed up to me pretty quickly. The girls were harder to persuade to talk than the boys. They were really cute. They were having a tea party in the little train.

These two were helping sweep and pick up the leaves. It was sooo CUTE!

Typical little boy picture with a gun. Haha! They even like guns in Thailand.

Let's play a game... You're tall so... I'll tell you in Thai what I want and see if you can figure it out. I pointed and then heard, "Mai owe!" "Mai Owe!" Then I would ask, "Ani?" "Mai Owe!" Haha! I got it right though. She wanted the ball. Not sure how you say it. But I got it!

To my dear climbing friends, these little guys could climb that little crib, which held all the toys quite well! They would fly up that thing no bombers needed or a belayer. However, I think a belayer would have been useful. :) I think they would make some excellent rock climbers someday.

After going to the orphanage, the three of us teachers went out for Thanksgiving Dinner at "The Duke's" We met a couple of my friends from home who volunteer at the orphanage where I volunteered my first trip to Thailand. It was a fun dinner. It was almost like home. Not quite, but good enough when you're in Thailand. :) It was yummy. No pictures this year and we didn't where hats like we did last year. We decided to be normal. Haha! Whatever that is.

Today it was back to classes as usual. No Black Friday shopping here. I got to talk with some of my family on video skype, which was fun. It was almost like I was home amidst the chaos of all the little playing. :) Almost. (I love you guys!) It diid feel a little more like home after baking some cookies and making dinner tonight.

I've have been so thankful to be able to teach this past week. Japur/Uaorawet is back in my classes with another student added. Japur is a walking miracle and to see his view on life after his near death experience with the motorbike is amazing. He has always been sweet with a good disposition, but he's even more so now. He wrote something in class along the lines of, no matter how much we prepare, how careful we are, or how we try to protect ourselves, sometimes people can still crash into us. At the time it was something that I really took to heart and was food for thought. We can try to do EVERYTHING in our power to make things go right or get things done, but in the end, we don't have control over everything. Someone or something can crash into us. It really made me think.

Thank you for your prayers for Japur. I know that's why he is doing so well. He has the Best Doctor up above. Please continue to pray as he is still recovering, quite remarkably though.

I think that's all for now and I have brought you up to speed on my life so far. I'll try and get back into posting more regularly. It just seems if I'm not doing homework, I'm preparing for a class or at least should be. :) I hope this finds you well, happy and thankful.

Sending Love and Hugs from Thailand,

Lainy J.

To Laos and Back...

Greetings!!!

I've been back from Laos for about a week. I have no idea where the time goes. It's crazy! The trip went smoothly, but the bus ride was very long and not so comfortable. I was very thankful to get back to my own bed! The trip was comprable to the flight to the US, which is rough. However, there wasn't a time change.

Monday night we set out for Laos on a pretty nice bus. We were supposed to arrive in Udon Thani, Thailand at 7am. We didn't get to U.T. until 9:30. From U.T. we changed bus stations and caught a bus that would take us the rest of the way to Laos for under $3 for a two hour bus ride. It just so happened that we got to the border at lunch time. Well, lunch is a huge deal here. You just have to wait. There were some tourists that didn't quite understand this fact. I wanted to tell them "Jai Yen Yen!" In essence, take a chill pill. I refrained. We got our Laos visas and were on our way to Vientiane. We arrived at our guest house, for which I was thankful for a bed and a hot shower. Nothing fancy, but fabulous nonetheless. My student was happy for the T.V.!

The next day we got to the Thai Embassy to apply for my student's visa, which went smoothly after getting there. We passed every embassy possible except for our beloved Thai embassy. I saw a white guy who said hello. I promptly followed him into a building to ask him where the embassy was. He walked into a school type institution where I was greeted by people who could speak English, which was greatly appreciated. They pointed us on our way with nice little drawn map. It was such a blessing. We got to the embassy and then had the rest of the day to hang out. There's not a lot to do in Vientiane, Laos. My student was entertained by the television! (What is this world coming to!?!) I went and walked around more as if we hadn't earlier that day. Haha! I found a little coffee shop, which was perfect for people watching. Laos is so close to Thailand, but it is very different. I love Thailand so much more especially when I travel around South East Asia. I'm always happy to get "home."

The next day we had the morning free. I found another coffee shop to sit and people watch, while doing a little reading. Then we head towards the Embassy, which took far less time than the first time. Leaving us with more time to kill than expected. We hung out at Pataxay Monument, which was about the only thing to see in Vientiane besides some comical signs. They were preparing for Sea Games. So the fountains were shut down for cleaning.

I hope there aren't any smoking games. This made me laugh pretty hard! It had to do with the Sea Games that are coming up in December.

I'm not sure what the elephants were all about, but something with the Sea Games, I think.

Jess, I thought you'd like these though!

Now here are the many photos I took at the monument while we were killing time. Taking photos and watching people is a good way to pass the time. Sometimes even taking photos of the people you're watching is fun.

Monument with tourists.

Monument!

Trying to be artsy.

Trying to get people to buy their photography skills. There were quite a few takers to my surprise.

This is the park across from the monument.

At the opposite end was a world peace gong. It was neat!

The monument from the park. This was the only fountain with water in it.

It was in need of being cleaned too.

My student.

Cheese!

We had to get one of both of us to prove we were there.

Following our photo op, we went to the embassy at 12:30. It was supposed to open at one. A line had already formed when we arrived. It was the first hot day since we had been there. After waiting in line for about an hour, the embassy opened and we were able to get it and get the visa. From the embassy, we went to the bus station, caught a bus to Udon Thani. Then from there to other bus station in Udon Thani and caught the last bus to Chiang Mai (home sweet home for now).

It was a whirl wind trip. I was happy to return to Chiang Mai. The bus ride back was much less enjoyable than the prior, but the destination was much sweeter. The trip was full of meeting interesting people and people watching.

The next photo, I call "Happiness in a Cup!" :) The following Sunday after returning. I went into the Chiang Mai just to get away and hang out. I was super excited about the red cups at Starbucks! There's something about going into a Starbucks here, which feels like home. When I need to get away from school and am missing home, this is one of the places I like to go.

Well, that's all for now. Another blog to come soon from Thanksgiving. :)

Take Care!

Sending Love and Hugs,

Lainy J.

A full Week...

Greetings to All of You Wonderful People!!!

This last week has been busy and full of everything. To start off the week, we had a football game. Legacy took its first victory. 3-1!!! I was very proud of the boys. It's a different league than we were in before, which has different rules, smaller fields and only 7 on 7. Our Sundays are usually taken over by football. I didn't take any pictures of the game because I'm starting to have a plethora of photos that all look the same. The field where they play is interesting. On one side there is a Bible school and on the other is a crematory.

I didn't have English class this last week, which freed up my time, but I don't know where all the time went. There wasn't a whole lot of down time. In Thailand, as you can imagine, rice is a major crop. Each family grows their own rice. It's time for harvesting right now. So my student had to go home and help with the rice harvest. Random, funny, side story... Erika got a call from one of the graduates from last year and he said, "I have new rice!" He was really excited about it. It made us laugh.

In order to avoid homework while being productive, I decided to cook dinner. Mexican food was a MUST! :) So I made rice, beans and even homemade tortillas. It was yummy if I do say so myself. It was fun cooking it. However, Mom and Sonia, you're right... Costco tortillas are WAY easier. haha!

Here's a picture to make all of you jealous! :)

The week before last was Loi Kratong. I blogged about it last year. I was terified enough last year. So I decided not to go again this year. It is an excuse for people to play with fireworks and not the "California Safe" kind either. I have decided they are crazy in Thailand when it comes to fireworks. However, I do think the lanterns that get hung up are really cool. Erika and I went to Chiang Mai to run a couple errands and here is a picture of some of the remains.

They are gold and blue... the king and queen's colors.

When you have an elementary school teacher who is out of ideas on how to motivate her students, she gets all creative and cutesy. She begins to treat her students like little kids even though they range from 18-28. I decided to do a drawing for participation. I bought pens, pencils, colored pencils, etc. I needed to put them in something so I found a box, but it was tooo ugly. So I decoupaged it. We don't have very many magazines. But we do have the economist and had another random magazine that worked. I was surprise with such limited resources that I found some pretty cool pictures to put on my box. It was so much fun putting it together. It made me miss teaching real little kids! Erika decided to be the photographer so you are blessed with picture of my really cool treasure chest.

Cutting and pasting.

Arranging and gluing.

Thankfully it was one of those boxes that unfold. :) It made it easier to decorate.

And TA DA... ...

Side 1

The back

The front

Putting in the goods... aren't you jealous?!?!

We also came up with a "Spic and Span Spatula Award!" The kitchen crew that had the cleanest kitchen while they were on KP gets the award and the really cool part for them is that they get white rice for one week. They are stoked about that part!

So hopefully our incentives will work for motivation! :)

Update on Japur: He is doing soo much better. This week he will begin attending classes again. What a miracle he is! We are so thankful that he is doing so well. Thank you all for your prayers. God is so good. Japur is still recovering and has a long road, but it is remarkable to see how well he is doing so far! He has a doctor appointment tomorrow for his eye and to get his jaw unwired. I think he's excited to get the wires off of his teeth so he can eat.

Besides that, I've just been plugging away at doing homework and teaching.

I'm off to Laos this week to go with a student to get her visa. I'll take pictures!

Hope this finds you well!!

Lots of Love and Hugs,

Lainy J.

Random Thoughts...

Hey Everyone!

It's hard to take photos, when I'm trying to blend in. Blending in hah! Have you seen my hair and the color of my skin. I know all of you want to see pictures and trust me I'll take more photos. But I haven't lately. 1. Well, because I've not seen anything too terribly exciting where I've had my camera with me. 2. I don't want to look like a tourist. I want to live here to some degree blend in with my surroundings. I have been reading about culture in some of my school assignments and this is one of the things that came up as well as in prior cultural training I have had. Not to worry there will most definitely be photos in the future just not for this post.

We are finishing up our third week of classes in the new semester. It's crazy to think we're already finishing the third week. Time is going by quickly. Classes are going well. My Bible class is becoming my favorite again. :) Yesterday, one of my students prayed in ENGLISH for the first time as we began class. I was excited! Praying is one of those things that I think is easier done in your native language no matter what that language is. When he began to pray in English, I was shocked because he normally would pray in Thai or Lahu. That must mean he's becoming comfortable using English! YAY!

Japur is back at school. He has not started back in classes yet, but he's here! He's walking around on crutches. He doesn't want to use the crutches and I can empathize, but he tries to walk around without them. I think he's over that, now. It's only been 3 weeks since his surgery and I know I wasn't able to weight on my leg at that point. I'm assuming it has something to do with breaking the femur as opposed to fibula and tibia. Anyway, his jaw is still wired shut and he has some swelling in the face, but he look infinitely better than he did. He had a trach, but they removed it before releasing him from the hospital. He can drink liquids, but can't chew so we are figuring out things to blend for him to drink so he can get enough nutrients. He still has a long road of recovery, but we know God will continue to heal him.

The other one of my students came up and said, "I NEED... I WANT ONE." (Yes, all caps is to indicate a raised voice.) Hmmmm... I looked at him and said in English you need to use please and thank you. I gave him an example of using Thai. To be polite, men end what they say with cup and women with ka. I told him it's the same idea when you use please and thank you. So after he got a blanket, he said, "Thank you. Please." I could see how the confusion happened, but I thought it was hysterical!!!

The students are on a kick of saying they want things NOW. Of course, I think Whoa, whoa, whoa, you want it now? I explained that telling someone especially a teacher you want something NOW! is very rude.

But I guess even with the rudeness, at least they are speaking English, right? They'll learn and get it with time.

The weather has begun to change. We are entering cold season, which means lots of tourists and well, cold weather. I'm sure many of you wouldn't find it cold, but after being here and acclimating, it's time to start pulling out the long sleeves and sweatshirts. I think Mr. Drawbaugh wore short sleeves all through cold season while he was here. But for us, it's getting chilly!

I think that's all that's happening on this side of the world. Not much to report on this time. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the change of the seasons!

Lots of Love and Hugs,

Lainy J.