Learning Thai

The really great news in our lives is that Eliza is healed! As she says, "Tank oo ye-sus" (Thank you Jesus!). We took her to the hospital yesterday for her last appointment. The doctor said she is fine although the new skin on the burns might feel sensitive for awhile and they don't look too pretty with the skin still peeling. It's wondeful to have the bandages off though and now she can re-enter the wonderful world of baths and sleeping wtih Claire (who's been exiled to the guestroom) and playing in the hose! The doctor and nurses were really caring and we feel we were wonderfully taken care of. Dr. Damrong (who I thought of as Dr. Dumb Wrong- unjustly- just to remember his name) is actually a surgeon but took the time to see Eliza almost every time we visited and even changed bandages himself. Even better, he could sing E-I-E-I-O!

Our family had a nice long weekend together (Monday was a holiday, Chulalongkorn Day- commemorating the death of Rama the 5th). We enjoyed going back to an English church for the first time in awhile and Claire had fun in Sunday school. We also enjoyed an Italian buffet with cheese (!!) and pizza and pasta(!!) and tiramisu (!!)- so our stomachs were quite thrilled. To Claire and ELiza's delight, we rewarded them for 1) Eliza's brave suffering and 2)Claire's tolerance of all the extra attention for Eliza, by getting a new dollhouse at Toys R Us. We also checked out the night market in the city and rode an extremely large ferris wheel that made me feel a tiny bit panicky at times (tried to hide it from kids who were having a fantastic time).

Now we are back into our normal week- Tom in language school in the mornings, language practice and study in the afternoons. I have tutoring with my teacher, Ju, on Thursdays and Fridays. I'm excited to be making some new Thai friends. Tiang is a Christian and fellow mom who lives nearby. We attend a playgroup together and she brought her two boys over to our house for lunch last week. Another new friend, Chaweewan, lives in our neighborhood and is planning go with me for my first haircut here this week (yikes).

Dan Byler will be returning to Thailand Thursday and we look forward to seeing him (and the presents we heard are being sent back with him!) and having a team meeting at our house this weekend.

-Candice