September. This was arrival month. It was the only slow month I've had since being here. The Attaways graciously helped me get settled in and I started adjusting to my new life here in Thailand. Not much else to say about it.
October was a crazy busy month! First, I had a cross cultural training for those serving in Thailand called The Meekness Seminar.
It was a great time of learning, meeting new people, and enjoying meals together.
Next up was the camp where the students from Isan come to Bangkok for several days of worship, testimonies, Scripture, meals, games, and fun. Oh, and also to practice their English. Some of the games were English practice centered. There were baptisms, first time ice skaters, face painting at the Rainbow House, and a foot washing and prayer service.
During this time our field ministries person came and visited and we took an overnight trip to Ranong. We visited the schools I would be volunteering in, met the school directors, and ate yummy food.
We also enjoyed time with all of the Thai team together. which usually means more food!
Several of us had a few meals out with other couples from my church.
October also included the TMS regional gathering in Malaysia. A week and a half with TMS staff and ccws across this side of the world all coming together for rest, renewal, worship, and training. It was great. One of the reasons was because I got to see the Couch family! Woohoo! And the Drums, too! Also got to see those I've met previously and make new friends.
Then came November. Told you October was busy! In November I started my first Thai language class- Speaking level 1. It went well. Unfortunately, each level since has gotten much more complicated! I had class for three hours a day, Monday through Friday. One day at language school we made what is called a Krathong out of banana leaves and trunk, and flowers. It was to celebrate a Thai festival called Loy Krathong.
November also marked the first big holiday for me in Thailand and not at home with family. I actually had to go to class on Thanksgiving day because it's not recognized here. No worries though. I did get to have a sort of Thai infused Thanksgiving meal with a family and their church small group. It was a fun night and I enjoyed meeting new people. The next evening at my church, we celebrated Thanksgiving together with a huge feast. I even got some turkey!! Overall, November doesn't seem too busy, but then again, studying for Thai outside of class also consumes time. And also, the end of October brought Lucy's bad sickness. She stayed sick for three weeks before getting any better so a lot of November was spent worrying about her. Two vet visits later, the meds the second go around helped and she hasn't been sick since. Thank goodness!! Also, Christmas displays started going up in November so I enjoyed going to different malls and seeing the displays. I've posted all of those pictures on facebook.
It was December in the blink of an eye. The month stayed pretty busy. Level 2 of Thai speaking class was a bit more difficult. I think mostly because I had to miss three classes back to back to leave the country to renew my visa. Those missed lessons had me confused for a bit. I did some Christmas shopping, mailed some gifts back to America, bought and decorated a Christmas tree, and decorated the apartment a little. I also began helping the pastor's daughter with her math homework most nights. As I mentioned before, I had to leave the country to renew my visa. It was supposed to be a 3 day trip of Wednesday through Friday. But the Thai Embassy ended up being closed on Friday, the day I was supposed to pick up my passport with new visa and catch my flight home. I had to extend my stay by another 3 days! Thank goodness for Josh and Bekah taking care of Lucy for me. That helped with the unexpected extended trip. So, while I waited for Monday to come around, I walked to a mall every day, walked through a park most days, ate yummy food ( I found a Chili's y'all!), and saw a couple of movies. Malaysia also had some pretty amazing Christmas displays to check out. Finally made it back to Thailand with a new visa in my passport and continued to enjoy the Christmas season. I attempted to bake some Christmas treats. The toffee chex mix turned out good, but it was a little greasier than usual. I also baked a blueberry cobbler for my Thai language school Christmas party. I was a little worried that it wouldn't get eaten, but the whole pan was empty by the end of the party and many people complimented it. That night our church went Christmas caroling. I heard we'd get back late, but I didn't realize it was going to be all night! We went to maybe 5 or 6 homes of church members, sang Christmas carols by candlelight outside their house and then were invited in for food and fellowship. At every house. Thank goodness for the long drive between houses because I needed time to digest the food before the next meal was served! It was very fun though and I enjoyed getting to see the homes of others. I also enjoyed it because we sang some stanzas of the Christmas carols in English! Sunday, Christmas Eve, we had the Christmas story acted out by the children. It was a special Christmas service which even included games! I've never seen people play games in a church service before but it was awesome! We sang Christmas songs, heard a message, and picked up a present from the gift exchange before enjoying a huge Christmas feast together. It was a wonderful time indeed! Christmas morning I was invited upstairs to have breakfast with the pastor and his family. It was kind of a strange day. I woke up early so I got up and got ready for the day. I walked down to the 7-11 and oh my goodness were the streets crowded at 7am! Nothing was closed and it was business as usual! Anyway, I bought my coke zero and walked back home to open presents and await breakfast. Lucy was crazy about opening presents. I don't know if she just smelled familiar American scents or what but she was trying to grab stuff out of my hands as I was pulling it out of the boxes! Enjoyed breakfast and fellowship with the family of four and chilled for a bit back home before I was off to meet another friend and her family to see a movie, Ferdinand (super cute movie btw). I enjoyed hanging out with them for a bit and then headed back home. I kind of got home latish, but I still cooked my traditionalish Christmas dinner. I had some sliced turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and ham. Overall, a delicious celebration in my mouth for sure! It's crazy how much you can enjoy something so familiar. Earlier I said Christmas day was a bit strange because everything was normal and people were at work and such. That's because people here in Thailand celebrate New Years really big! Unfortunately, I was sick and didn't feel like leaving the house. I was supposed to go to this place called Asiatique with friends, but I ended up being asleep before midnight instead.
Now it's already January. It's so hard for me to believe that it's been over 4 months already because it doesn't seem that long, but yet so much life has been lived already! At the beginning of this month, I got Lucy's hair cut for the first time ever. I told myself that I would never cut it. But here in Thailand with fans blowing and all tile floors, it's just too hard to keep clean with her shedding. But I think she looks cute and I think she likes it. What do you think?
I'm taking 6 hours of Thai classes now and oh my, I'm exhausted all the time! My 3 hour level 3 speaking class is in the morning at 9am and I'm really struggling. They speak so fast and I can't keep up and don't understand most of what they say. My classmates are all way more advanced than I am and there's me sitting in the corner not knowing what seems like anything. It can be super frustrating and make me feel all kinds of crazy, but I'm hoping it will get better. I take 3 hours of Thai reading and writing in the afternoons at 1. It's relatively easy EXCEPT for the dictation part. We've just added high class consonants to the low class consonants which adds another tone but with no tone mark and so I have to listen to tones to mark them on the appropriate words as well as listen to tones to know whether or not to write the new high class consonants which sound the same as the low class consonants. Super hard!! I always struggle with hearing initial sounds and the way the teacher says some things sound the same to me so a quiet environment would be great. But I got stuck with three kids in my class who are always making sounds or talking or tapping things and it makes it 10 times harder for me! Hoping for no kids in my level 2 class. I did not pay this kind of money to be constantly distracted in class with sound effects and behavior. Anyway, as you can see, my life is consumed with Thai study. I'm gone for 8 hours a day for class. I come home and cook dinner and eat. I then help CJ with her math homework. Then I shower and sit down to do my Thai homework, as well as study my Thai vocabulary. It's like everything I do revolves around the Thai language. It even haunts my sleep! Even on the sky train home mistakes I made during the Thai dictation part come to my mind and I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake! There are some days when I think I'll never understand and never learn. But then there are better days when I don't mess up too much and actually remember enough Thai to put a sentence together semi correct. One day I will get it. And that day will make all of this worth it. For now, I will keep on chugging on through it. But I think I will have to repeat level 3. There's just too much that I'm missing and not understanding to try and move on to the next level.
Also, I was blessed to get to go out of town for the weekend two weeks ago. Ccws from another organization invited me out to their place for a late Christmas celebration. They let me bring Lucy and even picked me up and dropped me off! I enjoyed getting to know them and others on their team. We ate lots, swam at a water park, worshiped together, and played games together. It was a great weekend away from the city.
And now you're officially caught up on life with Cheryl on the other side of the world. Semi short blurbs for each month with a few pictures to help with visualizing. Hope to keep up with this a bit better from here on out, but since I eat, drink, and sleep Thai we'll see how that goes. It really took a good chunk of my study time to write this today! Talk to you soon! I'm off to eat some dinner and study some Thai!
