I think I'm in Asia

The busy schedule I anticipated is beginning. In some ways it's nice because it keeps me, well, busy, but I also do enjoy spending time alone, relaxing, communicating with people back home, sleeping, stuff like that.

This past weekend was pretty packed. On Friday I got to visit my friend Nan's university. She is in my small group and is an English major at a respected university in the area. She gave me a tour and we met up with her friend who is Chinese but studying Thai. Between the three of us--none of us really fully speaking the same language--we had some fun conversation. :)

On Saturday I joined a big group outing to visit Kanjanaburi, the famous site of the Bridge over the River Kwai. There were about 25 Americans--the regional directors of the Baptist General Conference (they visited our classes on Thursday, and I happened to have Dr. and Mrs. Sheveland in my class, who I found out are the president of BGC and his wife...haha, no pressure)--and about 15 Thai students and staff. One of my students, Jan, came :) She's a sweetie. There's a girl from Bethel here with her dad, who's one of the regional directors. It was nice to have an American girl my age around, too, though surprisingly I find myself connecting well with any random people I meet these days.... I feel most comfortable with the Thai people who I've been getting to know, but I've had some good conversations with middle-aged visiting Americans, too. ANYWAY, the outing was nice. It was good to get out of the city, to see some green and some hills and some beautiful rivers. Very...Asian-looking, rice paddies and all that.

Sunday after church, I had ice cream with the girls in my small group, Nan, Gaan, Joy, and Jin. Then Rung invited me out for dinner. I wasn't sure I wanted to go because I hadn't done any lesson prep yet (and I really have to work on the creative writing class that starts in March!!), but I'm glad I did--it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. We went with four other Santisuk staff and drove about half an hour in a direction I'd never gone out of the city. It was getting pretty; the sun was setting and there were marshes and lighted restaurants along the way. We pulled into a parking lot and went into what I thought was the restaurant but turned out to be a dock where we boarded a boat and took off down a series of waterways (I can't for the life of me figure out the word for rivers and lakes that are actually part of the ocean). It was like driving down a street in a rural neighborhood, except that the car was a boat, the road was a river, the houses were on stilts, and the driveways were docks. We could catch glimpses of people in their homes; I guess walls aren't that necessary when you don't have close neighbors or cold weather.

Eventually we pulled up at a large, long restaurant on stilts, sitting alone where the river opened up into the ocean. The floor was an uneven boardwalk; there were spaces where you could see through holes to the waves below. There were no walls, just a thatched roof and a row of lights hanging from the beams. We sat at a low table on cushions on the floor and stuffed ourselves with fresh fish, crab, squid, clams, and shrimp. It was pretty busy, but it was awesome because it wasn't touristy at all--a perfect tourist setting but totally local. I was the only white person and for sure we were the only table that spoke any English (though I mostly sat and listened to Thai). It reminded me of eating outside in Tiwi with Fatuma and Juma--totally dark outside, good but unfamiliar food, and a foreign language drifting around on a warm breeze. It was so fabulous, I wish I could describe it better. Needless to say, we didn't get back until late, so I didn't get much sleep and I'm feeling even more crunched to work on class stuff.

Some new developments--Isaac is applying to teach here April-May! We talked and prayed about it for a while, and we both feel like it would be good. He is taking a break from school spring quarter anyway (starting film school in the fall) and I think teaching and working overseas would be a good fit for him. And of course we would both love love love to not be thousands of miles away from each other. There will be challenges, definitely, since we'll both be busy with different schedules and we'll have to adapt our relationship to fit what's culturally appropriate (haha...I'm sure everyone knows how hard it will be for us not to be able to hold hands). But it's kind of a dream come true, working in a cross-cultural setting together, both feeling like we're doing something to help others.... Any challenges will be worth it.

So. I think I'm in Asia. It's finally settling in on me. I live in Thailand, can you believe it?