Thai Class

So many things to blog about!  But foremost on my brain right now is Thai class, since it's eating up most of my free time (M-F from 4-6pm!).  The good news is I really enjoy it so far (after 2 days at least) and I feel like I am learning a lot.  As I am sure you've noticed, I've been a bit frustrated with my Thai the past few months, so this is me doing something about it.  And though it's fun, it's also tiring- it's not yet 8pm and I'm ready to crawl into bed. Mostly, it's about priorities.  The dishes are piled high in my sink.  I just finished unpacking after arriving home 3 nights ago.  Cooking (and grocery shopping) have gone out the window.  I'm using the guest duvet since it had a cover on it when I got home- my helper can put the cover on mine tomorrow and then I can switch back.  I haven't even started blogging about my vacation.  But that's okay.  For the these 4 weeks, language learning is the priority.  And it's challenge enough on its own, without worrying about all those little things. 

Language learning is a humbling experience.  It's humbling to feel so dumb when you don't understand.  It's humbling to feel slow when others understand faster than you do (especially as this is something I never really experienced in school).  It's humbling when you try out a few words on your Thai friends and the corrections are numerous.  It's humbling when you know you've learned a word before, but you just can't remember it. Or you butcher the tone.

But language learning is also a fun way to combine two of my favorite loves: words and mathematics.  The words part is obvious. The math part comes in when I begin to see the patterns emerge in the new vocab and grammar, when word order become a puzzle I can rearrange and put together, when a rule or formula makes sense.

One thing I am learning in this class is how to concentrate like I've never had to concentrate before.  In school, I could day dream (or read a book or work on homework) easily and still understand what was going on.  But when I'm being taught Thai in Thai for 120 solid minutes, by the time I think oh, I'm getting a little hungry, I am lost and it takes a minute to catch back up again.  Or the minute my mind wanders to the only decoration in the small classroom- a map of Thailand- she's lost me again (this is why I believe less is more in classrooms).

I hope I emerge from these 4 weeks a more competent and confident Thai speaker.  I hope I emerge alive as well.  But getting 40 hours of Thai lessons in a 4 week period can't be anything but a good thing.  Right? 

Back in Bkk

I am back from loads of adventures in Cambodia and at the beach.  Great tales all around, but unfortunately, work starts in 2 minutes so I can't blog about them now :(  And, I am starting an intensive Thai course today, from 4-6pm M-F, so we'll see how quickly the adventures get posted.  I guess for now I'll take my tan sore tired (and yet oh-so-rested) self down to staff devotions.

Just the way we roll- constant change

When I mentioned "constant change" in my last  post I was referring mostly to the constant coming and going of people.  But the last 36 hours have reminded me that just about everything here is subject to change. 

We don't have school next week for our fall break.  A month or so ago my church announced a 3-day mission trip to Siem Reap Cambodia for Monday-Wednesday.  I signed up with two friends and we planned our break around that.  One of them has friends in Siem Reap so we decided to head over early, on Saturday, and have extra time before the team from church joined us for 3 days of prayer, discipleship, connecting, and outreach events (our church is currently planting a church in Siem Reap that is set to launch in January).  From there we made plans to head on  Thursday to Koh Chang, an island in Thailand right next door to Koh Mak, where I went last October. 

But then last week the former king of Cambodia died.  And the country is in mourning, so large gatherings/parties (ie outreach events) are banned, so the church has postponed the trip until early November, when we are back in school.  We found out about this late on Thursday night, so Friday was spent trying to figure out what we wanted to do.   Continue on to Cambodia anyway?  Stay home?  Go elsewhere?  To make matters more complicated, until late Friday night we didn't know if the church would postpone a few days (when we were planning to be at the beach) or till November. 

So we looked around online for cheap airline tickets.  To Laos or Bali or Singapore or northern Thailand or Malaysia, or just about anywhere else you didn't need an advance visa. 

By 10pm Friday night we decided that we would still go to Siem Reap, but leave Sunday instead of Saturday so we had one more day to prepare and rest after a hectic week.  We also don't need much time there if the church isn't coming.  Hopefully we'll still be able to connect with some of the folks from church involved in the plant while we are there, and will still definitely be able to go on prayer walks and things like that.  For me, it also doubles as an advance scouting trip.  My brother is coming over in December and we're going to spend some time in Cambodia, including 2 days in Siem Reap. So it will be good to know more about how the visas, currency, transport, and all that works since I'm not a real experienced SE Asia traveler. Yet :) 

"While you're young and single"

I always half-chuckle and half-seethe when people tell me that it's so nice that I can teach overseas while I am young and single.  I laugh because with nearly 9 years of teaching experience under my belt, I am not near as young as I appear or as people assume.  I scoff because their comment quietly infers that at some point I will, of course, return and get married like a good girl.  I shrug my shoulders knowing that most of them will never understand that I am not here because I am young and single. 

And I know, people mean well. But I do question some of the assumptions under their words.  I think people would be surprised to find out what percent of my colleagues are "old", or married, or heaven forbid- both.

I did not come here because I need to stretch my wings, because I am young and rootless. If anything, the opposite is true.  I am not right out of college. I am tired of moving and ready for consistency in my life.  I am very strongly rooted in an amazing family in SE Michigan.  I did not come here because I am single.  Yes, being single in this context does have some advantages (It's easier to pick up and move when only one job is needed, not two), but it also carries very strong disadvantages (If all your friends were to decide not to come back all at the same time, at least your best friend isn't going anywhere without you).

I may have landed in international Christian education by happenstance (or perhaps better put: God-stance) over 5 years ago, but I made a clear decision 2 years ago that international Christian ed was my career choice/calling.  It doesn't always fit my personality.  I like things to be decidedly fixed and certain and I live in a community where the only constant is the constant change.  I like living within my comfort zone and I am continually placed in situations that stretch me beyond what I would like them to.

But God has also been incredibly gracious in that.  I am learning, slowly, to deal better with the inevitable unpredictability of life.  One of my friends put it quite well last week when she said, "Clare, you are the most flexible rigid person I know!".  God has dealt graciously with me by allowing me to discover (over the past 5 years) that I love travel and I love languages and I love cultures and history.  And he has given me a career calling where I am able to enjoy and explore all of those things- even when they pull me out of my comfort zone! 

I don't know what all that means for my future.  I don't know how long God will call me to this work- neither in general nor at ICS specifically.  But I do know that for now, this is where he has placed me, so for now, this is where I will stay.  I'm thinking of buying a white painting canvas actually, and hanging it on my bedroom wall, blank and white, as a reminder to let the canvas of my life be open before God, to take the light he has given me for this step I am on and to trust in that.  Even if I am less-young and more-single than I always care to be. 

Back to the blog-o-sphere

The last few weeks have produced many things, but blog posts and sleep have not been among them!  It's been a flurry of activity and fun that has finally caught up with me in the past 24 hours.  Yesterday I could barely keep my eyes open all day. I slept for 11 hours last night before getting up for Nak Suu teaching this morning, and napped for an additional 1 1/2 hours after I got home.  I'm starting to feel more like myself again.  Just to give you an idea of the pace I've been keeping- this past Wednesday was the first evening in weeks that I was home alone- no activities, no guests, no nothing.

So what have I been up to?  Teaching and tutoring lots, but also lots of friends' birthdays, Thai class, baseball watching (well mostly just following the scores while I teach, but watching when I can on Sunday mornings), dinner with friends, hosting students from Chiang Mai, church, and other fun-ness.  This past week I've also spent a lot of time planning upcoming vacations.  I live a rough life, I know. 

We have one more week of school until our fall break, where I'll be in Cambodia on a mission trip with church for a few days, and then on Koh Chang (an island back in Thailand) with friends.  I'm sure I'll have lots of great stories and pictures to come about that.

Today, in addition to checking in, I want to share a video with you about the ministry that runs Nak Suu, the rugby program where I volunteer.  The short video gives you an idea of the greater context of our Saturday program, and also gives you a glimpse into life in Bangkok.  You'll even see me teaching English and the kids playing "Uno" in English. 

The Inn at Parkland

The Inn at Parkland is officially open for business and awaiting your arrival!