Happy Thanksgiving - and Beyond!

Our weekend was a full one, going in many different directions as students and their cell groups went on various outreach events.  We kicked things off with a Thanksgiving party in the parking lot on Friday night during Santisuk's normal service time.  Over 50 people ate chicken, duck, mashed potatoes, stuffing, stir-fried vegetables, mangos, and quite a variety of other foods together after hearing Pastor Steve share the history of Thanksgiving.  After dinner, we sang songs, played games, and listened as Amy N shared what it means to give thanks.  Mo, from my cell group, stated on Sunday morning that she had been really excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with us as this was her first Thanksgiving ever - and wished that the party could have gone on longer! 

Weekend events included visits to the Grand Palace, the weekend market, the floating market, two different beaches, and an amusement park.  Cassidy, who went to Pattaya, said she enjoyed the weekend though was saddened to see the business in the red light district there.  At another beach called Rayong, Krista enjoyed riding a "banana boat" with three of her Business Correspondence students while Reilly's six students made him try new foods - coconut juice out of the coconut, durian chips, and a Thai jellied dessert.  Amy R and Ashley said the amusement park trip with the Santisuk youth group was exciting (or perhaps more exciting for the kids than for them, yet they enjoyed the day).  The Northwestern students who went to the Grand Palace were glad to have been warned ahead of time to wear appropriate clothes (which, ironically, the Thai students hadn't prepared for) - knees covered, shoulders covered, no ripped jeans, etc.  Never fear, one could rent the proper clothes outside the gate for a small fee before going in to see one of Thailand's most historical sites.

We're enjoying the time with our Thai students - and are excited when they join our cell groups!

Teaching at Santisuk

I'm spending the day observing our students in their new roles as teachers.  They're enjoying their task!  And probably learning more about English grammar than they ever dreamed they might.  As the saying goes, the best way to learn something is to teach it.  And teaching is anything but boring.  Just ask Anastasia and Kristen, pictured here.  Kristen (left) is watching a short skit about a prince in a dream, performed by her students; Ana (right) is listening to sentences her students make up using new vocabulary on the board. I'm sure the rest of the team all have stories to tell you when we get back home!

Seeing Pattaya with Eyes Wide Open

Each weekend the Northwestern students and their respective cell groups go on different outings with their Thai students.  Most of them are in and around Bangkok, while some go out a bit further and even include overnight stays at popular destinations which Thai students (and American ones, too!) would love to go to.  One popular destination which three of our students and a Thai youth group went to this past weekend is Pattaya, a popular beach destination about 100 miles from Bangkok.  Pattaya is well-known to Thai and "falang" (foreigners) alike.  There is a sizable foreign population living in Pattaya, especially retirees from Western nations who find the prices in Thailand more agreeable to their pension budgets.  And naturally there is a good-sized group of Thai living in Pattaya working in the tourism industry.

In preparation for this trip, our students read a book by David Livermore called Serving With Eyes Wide Open.  The gist of the book is to be aware of cultural differences and basically to expect the unexpected.  Three of our students felt that their eyes were opened when they came face to face with one of Pattaya's darker industries, catering to both foreign and local clientele, blatantly and unashamedly advertising along the streets as the sun began to set.  The Thai students were also shocked - one of them commented that he was glad he'd never been exposed to this sort of nightlife in the past. The youth group and the American students returned to Bangkok with a bit of heaviness on their hearts as they considered all of the people involved in this aspect of the "tourism" industry.

Please pray for the Thai people involved in this dark industry.  Although there are many Christians in Thailand working to serve at-risk girls and boys by helping them develop cleaner marketable life skills, there is still a very long way to go.

Loy Khrathong

Loy Khrathong is an annual festival in Thailand, a day for the Thai people to put small boats made of banana leaves on the river to ask the river goddess forgiveness for making the river dirty throughout the year.  Historically it was a day for people to ask forgiveness in general, though today it's more of a day full of fun activities - from beauty contests to carnivals to fireworks, accompanied, of course, by "loy"-ing a "khrathong" on the water. 

Pastor Steve gave a sermon on Friday evening about the "khrathong" of God and how we have forgiveness available to us every day of the year.  We understood the parable and hoped that our Thai friends were given something to think about.  Most of the Northwestern students were able to see the khrathongs on the rivers for themselves and also had some good discussions about what it means to put the little banana boat on the river. 

First Week Done

Our first week of teaching is now over and we've survived just fine.  Most of the team discovered they actually like teaching in spite of any misconceptions they had about it ahead of time.  The curriculum here at Santisuk has been tried and tested over the years, so it's quite easy to walk into the classroom and follow the instructions.  Ana and Koob have had few problems communicating with their Level 1 students; Amy N loves the depth she can find in conversation with her Level 4 students.  Krista's been doing a bang-up job of presenting the business correspondence material which I put together while here last year; we just hope the students in our class are learning something useful amidst the fun bantering! 

Tonight is our first worship service here (worship services are Friday nights; cell groups meet on Sunday mornings).  This weekend promises some exciting outings as some cell groups take both Northwestern and Thai students on adventures in and around Bangkok, and other Northwestern students will get to experience the weekend market.  Sunday is the annual Loy Khrathong Festival which I know the Thai students will want to take us to.  More updates to come!

Sawatdee from Thailand!

We are finally settling into a routine here at Santisuk English School in Bangkok, Thailand. The group spent the weekend in orientation and training at the school. Today, Monday, we are starting to teach a variety of levels of English. Classes here range in size from 8-12, giving our students (who are generally paired up in each classroom) a great opportunity to get to know the Thai students. After only one class, Karen was already getting involved in her students' lives over lunch. There will be plenty more opportunities to eat and hang out with students in the coming weeks!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Immediately after arriving in Thailand from our 10-hour flight from Tel Aviv last Tuesday, the group took an overnight train 12 hours out of Bangkok.  In and around that area we had many opportunities to experience culture in new ways.  Our song-taew* driver took us many places: an introductory language lesson, a monk chat at a local Buddhist temple (which that day happened to include a funeral complete with rockets to set off the funeral pyre),  prayer walking around an ancient stupa (which purportedly houses a piece of the Buddha, although no one can exactly say which part it is), prayer walking around a statue recently built for the upcoming 450th anniversary of the city, lunch and a party one evening with some local university students, and dinner in a traditional home another evening. 

Note to parents: this next sentence may be difficult for you to read, so please keep in mind that this is what your child is studying at Northwestern.  After our whirlwind travel the past few days, Ashley said she never wants to leave!  I assured her that she was more than welcome to stay for as many years as she wanted.  :)

*a song-taew  is a large covered pickup-like truck with two long benches down the sides.  The one we were in was the perfect size to haul 18 people around town.