Eliza's current favorite song to belt out at the breakfast table is "Leavin' on a jet plane', thus the title. We're leaving tonight for a four day team retreat. We'll take the 14 hour train trip to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, hopefully sleeping in our bunks most of the way there. We're looking forward to a brief break from the city.
This week has been a good/busy one. We're enjoying have a more predictable schedule these days with Claire going to school and Tom teaching classes (or planning lessons for classes). Claire now has off for the school holiday for the month of October. She already can't wait to go back, so the first two weeks were a success.
Well, it's time to finish packing- we'll post pictures of Chiang Mai when we get back. Have a great weekend!
Claire has completed her first three-day week at school - and enjoyed it very much. Despite the early mornings and daily battle with heavy traffic she has gotten off to a terrific start. She comes home excited every day and is making good progress already with learning a few Thai letters and adjusting to the classroom routine. I've been able to spend parts of every day in her classroom, but other than one episode involving a wild running game that she didn't understand she hasn't needed me at all. She seemed glad for a chance to sleep in this morning, but she's already asking about when she can go back.
Every morning all of the kids line up to sing/shout the national anthem. They also practice standing at attention and listen to one of the teachers give some sort of instruction.
Every day the class sits on the floor in front of the board and works on memorizing and drawing the Thai alphabet, numbers, etc. The teacher has involved Claire in this from the very first day and I've been amazed at how willing Claire is to jump right in and participate to the best of her ability.
Finally, here's a video of this teaching time. The teacher is helping Claire write a couple of characters on the board while the rest of the class shows varying degrees of interest.
During the days that Claire is at school I've been helping the head English teacher with some of his classes (sometimes more crowd control than teaching). Every evening this week I've also had private English classes - Monday, Wednesday and Friday with two little girls and Tuesday and Thursday with 7 employees of a local steering wheel factory who want to learn basic telephone English. On the weekends I also tutor one man and three siblings. It's been busy - but after several weeks of unstructured time it's been good to get my mind off of visa issues!
Motorcycle taxis - by far the fastest and most exciting way to get through Bangkok's traffic jams!
At the other end of the speed spectrum...the bus. I recently read an article from The Nation that described the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority's plan to overhaul the public bus system. In an interview, the agency's director acknowledged that "many city residents and tourists had a bad impression of the public bus service, which they often associate with hot and humid, old and polluting buses with rude conductors yelling at passengers.
Other complaints include drivers refusing to stop at bus stops to allow passengers to embark or disembark, drivers arbitrarily changing routes, overcrowding, loud commercial radio blaring through scratchy speakers, breakdowns, dangerous drivers and accidents that result in injury or death."
That about sums it up from our experience! (To be fair, we've not been involved in any accidents resulting in injury or death. But I have had to switch buses following a fender bender.)
Here she is this morning. All excited about her first day and wearing her Monday uniform. Her backpack is school issue and says "Mahesak Pittaya School."
And they're off! A huge thunderstorm last night left our street underwater again. Tom will be teaching English classes at the same school Claire is attending.
Claire's other uniform that she'll wear on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
One arm of the L shaped school. Claire's classroom is in the middle on the bottom level of this building.
Claire's very energetic class- there are only around 8 other kids ranging in age from 3-6.
Claire's very nice teacher (khun crew) is in the center. On the right is the teacher's assistant, from the Philippines, and on the left is Manat- Tom's friend and contact at the school. Tom will be assisting with his English classes.
Starting out, we're trying to keep Claire's schedule intentionally low key, as there can be a lot of pressure for school kids here. She will be going three half days a week. The school holiday is in October, so she'll only be going for a short time and then will have a long break. Hopefully she'll be excited and ready to return!
Report on her first day: Well, it got off to a rough start. It took THREE HOURS to go the approximately 8 miles to school!! Because of the flooding, the traffic was in complete gridlock and they inched their way to school first in a songtaew, then wading down the sidewalk, and then by taxi. Quite an adventure for the first day!! Because she got such a late start, she spent the remainder of the school day there. She arrived home talking a mile a minute, jumping up and down and excited as can be. She told Tom this morning in the class that she felt "a little bit proud and a little bit nervous." Her class worked on colors, days of the week, and the alphabet (all in Thai of course) and did some practice writing. Her homework is practicing a few Thai letters in her notebook. She told me she had "some sort of chicken skin with eggs inside" with rice for lunch. Hmmmm? She is in love with her teacher, met a girl names Im, got her face powdered after lunch (a cooling technique) and laid on mats for "naps." She looks very tired but is still bouncing around with excitement.
We're praying for all our other little friends starting school right now.... Dara, Evan, Gaby, Judah, and Acacia- we think you are brave and smart and we're thinking of you!
To all you pray-ers and supporters out there:
It's been a stressful few weeks for Tom and I. We keep waking up in the morning with our stomachs all in knots! God has really been encouraging us though. Yesterday especially, I felt a lot of encouragement and comfort throughout the day that I knew for certain came from Him. After Tom freed the blog comments from the spam filter, I read your words of encouragement last night and it was really comforting to know that you are praying and that you care about our situation here. Never doubt that God is using you in our lives to be a tremendous blessing.
We'd really appreciate your prayers for Claire right now. She will be starting school on Monday. Today was very exciting for her as we all went to the school, met her teacher, observed her class and made arrangements for her to begin. She had fun playing with the other kids and her teacher seemed really nice and very flexible which we're so thankful for! She got her uniforms (for sports/activities, swimming, and her regular skirt outfit) and then we went shopping for the proper socks, shoes, hair clips, pencils, and all that. She is absolutely thrilled and excited and can't believe she has to wait TWO whole days before she starts. :) Despite all the excitement, we know the first days could be a challenge in a class of all Thai speakers, so pray that she will understand and have grace for when she doesn't! I asked Claire for her requests and she said, "Pray that I would have friends!"
She has been working on learning some more basic Thai phrases to use in school like "Arai, na?" (What?) "Mai kao jai (I don't understand). Kuhn Crew, ka (Teacher), Koh pbai hong naam (May I go to the bathroom).
Thanks again for all your prayers and your words of encouragement! For those interested, I promise to post pictures of Claire's first day, her school, and classmates.....
-Candice
Well, we're safe and sound back in Thippawan with permission to stay in Thailand for two more months! Woo-hoo. No, we're grateful each time we are allowed a few more months, however, it was discouraging that we were not able to get our Type O business visa. We were waiting until the last minute before we left to receive the paperwork from the English Language Center where Tom hopes to teach. However, when the lawyer met us at the bus station he told us there was a problem with the paperwork for his company. He proposed another solution which may have enabled us to get the visas but which would have required some dishonesty on our part (it's a long story...).
Some pictures of our trip to Laos (for this visa run we had to actually stay out of the country and apply for a brand new visa instead of doing a quickie renewal).
It all started with an overnight bus trip which was blessedly uneventful except for quite a bit of tossing and turning by all of us. We waited a few hours at the border for the next bus over the new Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge, with two stops for paperwork along the way.
That day we did some crashing and sleeping in the hotel and then found a little place by the Mekong River for dinner. This was the amazing view across the river toward Thailand from our table....
Claire sucking down the clay pot soup - see that squid dangling from her spoon? Points to Claire for downing the
oh-so-chewy legs!
Eliza listening to the story of Joseph in our hotel room. Tom and I did a lot of praying and thinking on this day and felt at peace about our decision to not try to obtain visas based on bogus paperwork. Claire asked anxiously if "we were going to lie."
Tuesday we attempted to apply for a business visa at the Thai consulate. Our inadequate paperwork was quickly brushed aside and we were told almost immediately that we would only be able to get a two month tourist visa. We were expecting it, but it was still disappointing.
More pictures of Savanaket....
Typical street scene (love that the restaurant is called the Four Seasons). We did find another French restaurant in town that was quite nice and enjoyed a really, really great meal, our favorite part being the fresh homemade rolls! It was interesting to observe the lasting difference that colonization by the French has made in Laos.
Tom met this man making Buddha images at one of the wats in Savannakhet. They use some type of mold to make the body and then attach the arms later. These will be coated with gold paint and purchased by individuals who will then donate them to other wats.
Eliza hiding in a cupboard in our hotel room. The girls were super troopers through all the waiting and riding in buses, and paperwork.
On our last morning in Laos, Tom and Eliza went to check out the That Inh Hang Stupa. We didn't really know much about it at the time, but it was apparently built in the 16th century and is one of the most sacred places in that part of Laos. Eliza's favorite parts were the 30 kilometer round trip ride in a tuk-tuk and field full of cows beside the stupa.
We loved this video of Eliza, the Buddhas, and Laotian boys. (Special thanks to YouTube and the Thai government for working out their differences and restoring YouTube service to the country.)
After another trip back through the border and another round of paperwork, we killed a few hours in a Chinese market on the Mekong and then took the overnight bus back to Bangkok and arrived at 5:00 this morning so we're having a groggy day around here.
- Candice & Tom
Unfortunately we don't have good news to report on our ongoing visa quest. Today was supposed to be the day we received our work permit and visa in Bangkok. Too good to be true. We hung out in BKK all morning waiting for a call from Max, our lawyer, only to be informed this afternoon that we cannot extend our visa in Bangkok, as Max had been previously told. So... we'll have to leave the country as our visa extension only lasts until Sunday and we have to be out of the country before then. We have bus tickets for tomorrow night and plan to head to Laos. We'll stay in a town near the border and apply for a business visa (with the paperwork for our work permit for Tom to teach English for Max's company SPT International Languages and Law Center). So we'll leave for Laos Saturday night and hopefully return to Bangkok Tuesday with 90 day visas in hand!! (This can be extended to a year in BKK once we have our work permit). Sigh. Thanks for praying and keep them coming!
Just to make this depressing entry a little more fun...here's some random recent pics.......
Eliza being goofy while getting dressed. But when is Eliza not being goofy??
Claire in the garden of at a wat we visited with Anita.
Eliza and Aunt Anita at lunch. We miss you Aunt Anita. Praying for you in Israel! It's been a big week in our family- I now have a sister in Israel, brother in Spain, and sister in a new city in Morocco. Miss all of you so much!!
Like a true Thai family, this is one of our modes of transportation. Don't worry...we go very slowly and only in our quiet neighborhood! We've seen even more kids, dogs, multiple adults, etc on one motorcycle. :)
P.S. Tomorrow is our big day at the Labor Department and Immigration Bureau. Please pray! Thanks.
-Candice
"...live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." (I Peter 1:17)
I am more impressed than ever before with what the Bible has to say about followers of Jesus living as aliens, foreigners, and strangers in this world. Here in Thailand we have no problem remembering this truth - we do not belong to this kingdom. We are foreign guests. We hold temporary, non-immigrant visas. We do not take our continued ability to live here for granted.
As we've experienced the stress of immigration laws and expiring visas we have been challenged and blessed by a series of sermons that we found online. A couple of weeks ago we watched a CNN special on "God's Warriors" and were very impressed by Greg Boyd, a Minnesota pastor who provided a refreshing counterpoint to many of the Christians who were interviewed. I won't try to summarize his sermon series - but his warnings about the danger of confusing power in the kingdom of the world with power in the kingdom of God are worth hearing. We're discovering first-hand that foreigners often feel weak and vulnerable - but that's how God's kingdom operates!
Our quest for a work permit and renewed visa continues. Our original visas expired on Sunday, so yesterday we had to go to the immigration department to ask for an extension. We filled out our paperwork and then waited in a crowded room for four hours until our number was called and we met with the immigration officer. We were asking for a 30-day extension but only got 7. Our lawyer says this will still be OK since the work permit should be ready on Friday (that will involve another all-day adventure).
While we continue to hold our breath and wait for the day when all of this is behind us, we are moving full-steam ahead with English teaching. My marketing plan has so far consisted of putting up a sign and giving a couple of friends a small stack of brochures - but I have been amazed at the response. I'm at the point now where I'll need to start turning people away. I have an interesting variety of adults and children - all at varying levels of English proficiency. Next week I'm scheduled to start teaching twice a week at a local business (I'm not even sure what they do - but they need to speak on the phone in English, so they want some help with that.) Claire and I also plan to begin going to school together next week and Candice and Sharon are preparing to co-teach a class at a local church next month.
Thanks again for your ongoing interest and intercession!
