Well, after a wonderful four days on Koh Mak island (post to come later) I am back in Bangkok. The Ministry of Education has ordered all schools to close until November 7th (at least) and ICS is closed in compliance with that. We don't, however, want to make up all these days so we are 'conducting classes electronically', which is a bit of a pain, but manageable. There is a blog-type website that is for classes and education purposes called edmodo that many of us are using to post assignments and instructional videos and activities. It's a bit confusing right now as they kids login and have questions but I am confident that by the time this whole crisis is passed, they will have the hang of it :)
Now, in terms of the flood situation, there isn't a whole lot of new news other than that the water continues to move southward towards the sea, more areas continue to flood, and central Bangkok and my area are dry (and actually VERY hot and sunny). The main problem in this area right now is waiting and wondering and panic. I went to the grocery store today and it was half empty- though I was able to get what I needed. Just very weird. I would have taken pictures, but I dropped my camera face down in the sand this weekend so it's in need of being fixed or cleaned. Course the thing is so old I might just decided to replace it. ANYHOW... Central Bangkok is operating, but touristy stuff is either closed or up in the air and travel is a bit tough so my visitors (Juan and Claudia) are actually still on the island. No reason for them to leave paradise to come sweat it out in stressful Bangkok. They'll come back to the city on Friday, we'll spend some time together on Saturday, and then they leave on Sunday.
I guess the main two things to communicate to you at this time.
#1 The situation in Thailand is still quite dire, quite bad, and probably going to get worse before it improves. There is still little to no reliable information. Plenty of articles on cnn or bbc if you want to see their take on it. I've mostly quit reading the news. It's the no-news news, as my friend likes to call it.
#2 I am safe. I now have a kitchen full of food and water. In addition, I live on campus and the school has stock-piled water here. One thing that continues to impress me about ICS and our administration is the way they take care of their people. We have several on campus apartments that are not being lived in right now and some of our Thai staff members and their families who have been evacuated are now living on campus with us. For some of them, the water around their house is waist deep.
So please continue to pray for this nation, for the people who are affected, and for God to be revealed to them in the midst of this crisis. Some people think that as soon as this passes we'll have a coup because of the way the government has handled it (has any government ever handled a disaster well? I mean, seriously, isn't that why they call it a disaster/crisis?) so pray that that doesn't happen. My friends and I may be looking to volunteer somewhere next week, since once I get the hang of this online lesson thing (and my kids get into the groove with it) I'll have some time on my hands. Pray that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus to people who, yes, need food and water, but just as much need Jesus.
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