Busy busy busy

Yesterday I had dinner with a Thai friend, and for the first time since being here, we ate "Thai style".  In true Asian community-orientated fashion, Thais generally order for the table when they eat out, and then everyone shares.  As a newcomer to Thailand this is great because I got to try a variety of dishes.  It's also nice to not have to choose just one menu item and it makes the whole experience more shared and communal.  Good times, great food. 

I am finding that life here is a lot busier than I anticipated.  For one thing, I think I am working longer hours than ever before because of my planning.  I have this awesome smart (Mimio) board in my classroom and I love it- so much that I use it for every lesson.  The downside to this is it takes a larger chunk of time to create the lessons in Mimio.  The upside is that it will all be done for next year!  In the meantime I may need to find a way to quicken the process.  I know there are plenty of people in the world who work much longer hours than I do, but this 6:30-4:00+ is killing me. 

I'm also adding to the busyness by volunteering to lead a Life Group at school, which is basically an after school small group/ Bible study for students. I'm going to co-lead a group of 8th grade girls. I'm so excited about this because it is a chance to go a bit deeper with a few girls and to help them grow in their relationship with God.  So although the time for that and planning for that will be another thing on my schedule, it is completely worth it. 

In addition, I am making some feeble attempts to exercise more often.  And I have not signed up for Thai classes yet, a huge must.  And last night my friend and I discovered that we both really want to get involved with outreach to an orphanage or children's home, so we're looking into a trip we can take to do that.  I'm also spending lots of time (often over dinner) socializing and getting to know people better.  I collapse into bed around 8:30 or 9:00 every night. 

Living on campus it's pretty easy to forget that I live in Thailand, that I can't speak the language, that this place operates in a completely different way than I am used to.  Over time I want to stretch and reach outside of the "bubble" more and more, even with the frustrations that will bring.  The more you get out and interact with the culture the more you encounter the differences and little problems they entail- but without those things I might as well just stayed home!