Sunday Night Market

It is really hard to see but this is a cool walkway lined by trees and those lamps.

This is a food center at the Sunday Night Market.

At the market there are tons of street venders who sell just about anything. Masses of people just walk up and down the street looking and buying from the vendors.

Just a look at all the people at the market.

Statues and temples are found all around the city.

Mars Hill School Photos

This is a picture of the stairs at my school. Everyone has to take off their shoes at that middle landing so there is always a huge collection of shoes. This is a picture of the preschool next door (not the preschool that is connected with Mars Hill Academy) taken from the porch of my school.

This is the statue of Budda in front of our school (it is there because it was a public school before we started renting it).

This the porch at our school and all of our fifty two students. They are getting ready for a teacher appreciation ceremony.

This is a picture of my 2nd grade classroom (which I don't actually teach in and won't until Sep/Oct when the other teacher gets here.

Our House...continued

That is the house across the street, but ours is similar. We have a pink fence and pink tile in front of our house. ;)This is our lovely bathroom (which we are thankful that it has a real toilet). However it is odd that they do not separate the shower (on the right side of the picture) from the toilet (the left side of the picture). It makes things interesting.

This is our only storage space for four people's groceries. We each get a little section.

This is our other kitchen area.

I took a picture of our stove (we don't have an oven) because I thought the brand name was funny. It is lucky flame, and it certainly lives up to its name because we are lucky if we get a flame out of it. ;)

Our house is good for our needs and we are thankful to have it provided for us. We hope to paint and make it a little bit more homey, but it is definitly a blessing.

Our House

<-- Our laundry room (yes that is where we do our laundry)

Our back "kitchen"
Our front door (Our Thai tutor gets a kick out of the fact that only four of us live in this house but we have so many shoes out front) As you can see this door is also a place where we dry our clothes.

This broom serves as a clothesline. Pretty much very available space is used to hang clothes, especially if more than one person does laundry at a time.

Fourth of July

We had a great fourth of July, at times it even reminded me of home. We had two things to celebrate. First, the freedom of our country that was bought at a high price. Second, our independence here in Thailand. Since we got here we have been tied down without any transportation. We spent a lot of time calling our already extremely busy boss to come and pick us up random places often when our song tow (a form of public transportation) drops us off at weird out of the way spots. Our boss lent us his wife's car for our five day weekend. We were sooo excited! Learning how to drive here is a very scary prospect as there really aren't any rules or laws. People pretty much do what they want. To make it worse the cars are standards and completely opposite (since they drive on the other side of the road.) Sarah (one of my housemates) drove us to the office (the only place we get internet) but we were disappointed that the internet didn't work. But the biggest part of our day was spent at Tesco, the local Walmart type store. We don't get to go very often so it is always a big event. We ate in the food court, which is really pretty good. I even ordered halfway in Thai. After that, we spent hours searching for school supplies, groceries, and other necessities. I even got a fan!!! Which is really exciting since I don't have air con and it is often 94 degrees in my room.
After Tesco we met our boss and some other friends and went to the Fourth of July party at the American consulate. We got our makeup done and housemate pictures taken for free. We also had the choice of several American foods that we are otherwise unable to get here such as: cream soda and ribs. We felt like we were at home since nearly everyone there was American, but we looked up the mountains and trees reminded us that we were still in Thailand. The night ended with a good fireworks show. After a song tow took us back to our car we made a trip to Big C, the other Walmart type grocery, because our Thai tutor told us that there was a sale on isakriim (ice cream). We were pretty excited about an ice cream sale so we made a special trip.
So that was our fourth of July. We were definitely thankful for our nation's freedom and our freedom to travel wherever we wanted. It was Misty's (another housemate) first American fourth of July. She was amazed at how much food there was. Funny note: Towards the end of the night a man came around trying to get us to take free seaweed chips (they had tons leftover) we thought they should have realized that it was an American party and Americans aren't as fond of seaweed products as some other people in Thailand.

The trip

I finally got a minute to write some of all that has happened. This is the first time we have sat down during the day with downtime. I’m typing this in our training room as we wait for our ride to arrive. We only have internet we are at the office, so I’m saving this to post later when I am able.
I don’t even know where to start. The trip was good and uneventful. I met some very nice folks but our conversation was limited as I spoke neither Korean nor whatever language is spoken in Indonesia. The layover in Korea was interesting. Our flight got in at 5:00 am so the airport was virtually deserted and the ticket counters weren’t even open. I had some struggles with the international calling card that but was able to call home using some Korean money that was change for a coffee I bought. The Bangkok airport layover was also fine: a lot of walking, sitting, and waiting.
When I arrived in Chiang Mai, after I claimed my bags, I walked out to find a large group of people (who I know had to be the other teachers because most of them were foreign (white). All the other teachers had come with my boss to pick me up. They brought me home, gave me the tour and dinner.
That night was pretty uneventful although I did learn that my air con (air conditioner) doesn't work. We only have it in our bedrooms anyway though. Also, the shower and the rest of the bathroom are not separated so when you take a shower the toilet gets all wet. I'll try to post more soon, we only have a little bit of time on the internet and I have to spend most of it preparing for my class. I try to write more interesting things next time because a lot has happened.

Countdown

Well the countdown is almost done, there are only eight days before I start travelling. I just wanted to say thank you for the overwhelming support (financial and emotional) I've received from everyone. I could not have made it this far without each and every one of you. A very good friend of mine recently shared with me some good advice she had read. "Fear says: Don't move. You might fail. You can't do it. You'll never make it. But Faith says: With God, you can do it. He will bring good out of even your failures. Choose to trust him. Let go of your fears." I am banking on the fact that God does not need me to be perfect or do everything just right, His plans will be accomplished in spite of my mistakes and that gives me great comfort. A verse that comes to mind is one of my aunt's favorites Isaiah 55:10-11. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."