Some Field trip photos

Here I am, suddenly the most popular person around
Why??? because I had a notebook FULL of paper and a pen!!!

This little cutie walked up behind me, tugged on my shirt and
climbed up in my lap. She opened my notebook, took my pen out
of my hand and got busy drawing a picture.... humming a little tune.
What a delightful time we had. The children printed their names and our names.
They drew silly photos of us and of animals.

Here is a group of girls playing a game of marbles.

More photos from our field trip

Some of the boys playing a song during Chapel

the chapel, with attached diningroom/kitchen

what an incredible view from their front steps

How are YOU ????

Hello all my sweet, fun readers. Hey if you are stopping by to read my blog, I would LOVE to have you drop me an email, so I will know who you are, and can be sure to be sending you updates. also, I'd like to know what you would like to hear or see on my blog. What questions do you have about living and serving in Thailand or or Thai culture or whatever do you have..... and in the months ahead, I'll try to include some answers and information. :0)

Today is Lawn day. I pay a fee to my mubahn (neighborhood) to keep my lawn looking nice. Here in Thailand, that means that I have SIX people working in my yard today. They all arrived in the back of a pickup truck. There is music playing from the truck radio, everyone has a job and there is laughing and chatting... joy and a sense of community happening together, as they work around the yard. The grass is cut with a weed-eater, the bushes and plants trimmed, weeds pulled, everything swept up and on to the next yard all in about 25 minutes.
Now if you were to SEE them, here is the big difference from back in the states.... it looks like I have six "terrorists" in my yard... let me explain, Thai workers wear a head covering to keep cool and to keep from getting sunburned, so all you can see is their eyes. Sometimes they wear knit ski masks..... but it is just what the workers wear to keep cool and so after the first or second time (or tenth time) that you see a truck load of what looks like "terrorists" driving down the road, you just laugh and say " we are in Thailand." and after a year here, I don't even notice it, except I still don't think it would be cool for me hahahaha!
I'll try to take a photo sometime, so you can see their smiling eyes !!!!!
Pam

Field Trip

My roommate, Eileen and I were invited to have an overnight visit to an orphanage in Fang (no don't say fang like the vampire teeth, it rhymes with song, fang.) about three hours drive northwest of Chiang Mai, high in the mountains.

The drive was very exciting.... steep, narrow twisty, curvy "road" with lots of trucks. The highlight for me was seeing a lady on her motorcycle....she had one dog in the basket, one in front of her and TWO sitting and balancing behind her as she sped past us. WOW! Those dogs were amazing!!!

The orphanage is actually a farm, just outside of town. There are about 65 children from age 4 years to 20 years old. The houseparents live with the children FULLTIME. This is more like one big extended family. There is a boys dorm, a girls dorm, a library/media center and a Multipurpose building with attached kitchen/diningroom. They have Brahma cattle, goats, and pigs. They raise their own rice, and vegetables and fruit.

The children met in the evening and sang songs for us, introduced themselves and gathered around us and prayed for us. Having children lay their hands (and their heads) on you and pray over you is quite an incredible experience and my heart was full of joy while my eyes were full of tears.

The children were watching Thai boxers in the gold metal Olympic match. (this was very exciting, since we do not have TV at our home, I did not get to see any of the Beijing Olympics. so when the children invited us to watch with them, I was EXCITED.) It was amazing to watch the faces of the children as they cheered on their Thai hero to his gold medal. When the Thai anthem was played for the medal ceremony, all the children stood and sang the anthem at the top of their lungs. What a delight!

On Sunday, all the children had practiced special songs and performances for us, their honored guests, and we had such a fantastic worship service. Most everything was in Thai, but a couple of songs they sang we knew in English and so we sang along. What a joyous time to praise our Lord in two languages at one time!

When it was time to leave, all the children lined up and one by one they filed past us, hugging us and bidding us farewell "Please come visit us again" ........and we will.

pam

School Days

Every morning the Elementary students gather on the tennis courts. At 8:00 AM the whistle blows and they line up by class, Kindergarten, then First grade, then second grade,...well you get the picture. the Principal leads the children in their Bible memory verse and gives announcements and greetings.

Then the children sing the Thai National anthem. (in Thai)

In Thailand, at 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM, everything STOPS as the Thai National anthem is played on loudspeakers. If you are handing money to the cashier in the grocery store.... If you are walking down the street at the walking Market.... If you happen to have real TV, like my neighbors do, at 8:00 AM their show stops and the music comes on.

Then the school day starts.

Here are some boys playing basketball before the school day starts. They are wearing the school PE uniform.

Here are some friends ready for the day to get under way. All schools in Thailand have a school uniform. Grace International School has 5 different colored shirts: green, blue, yellow, white and burgundy, black shorts or pants and a black jumper.

This is the brand new Climber that was just installed this year. The students and families had a fundraiser last year to buy some new playground toys. As you can see, this toy is a big "hit".

Grace has a huge, beautiful pool, so all the students have swim lessons once a week for one of their PE classes. Afterschool families meet their children for a swim. We can swim year round here in Thailand.

the children have Chapel once a week. The 6th grade class led Chapel music on this day. this room is also the cafeteria and the auditorium.

Well there you have a few photos of grace and it's students. Enjoy !!!

Pam

opps

can you believe it..... I messed up already and wrote scoll instead of SCHOOL so sorry, please forgive me. and enjoy reading............
pam

Scoll has Started..... and so has the fun (and work)

August 13th was the start of 2008-09 school year..... so today was day # 4 and it was a delight!
For those of you you missed the news.... my laptop is in the states being repair, so my roommate shares hers with me and I can check email after school in the library
....I am taking photos of the students and what is happening and hoepfully sometime soon I can post some photos for you to enjoy. Until then, those of you who are just "dying" to see the school and students and etc... you can check out the Grace International school web site at www.gisthailand.org click on the box that says WHO WE ARE and you can watch a coll little video of several students telling you about the school.

These first few weeks I am dividing my time at school in the following ways: 1) observing students in all 11 classrooms, of first through sixth grade, getting to know the children, chatting with the teachers. 2) I am reading all the student files of the children already identified as needing extra intervention to help with learning and 3) I have been covering all the recess duties so teachers could do a few extra things and I can play with the children. (of course, sooner or later, I will have to get to work, so I am just giving those teachers a little break for now hahaha).
The first day of school I sat in on the sixth grade orientation to the class... 53 students, two wonderful experienced teachers... and her are a few amazing things I learned.....

The teachers asked each child to state their name, tell where they were from and then tell something interesting about themselves. sounds pretty routine, right?
53 students representing 12 countries (Australia, Cambodia, Germany, Ireland, India, Kenya, Korea, New Zealand, Scotland, Thailand, UK and USA.), 4 of them live in dorms, 2 live with house parents, only three of them have ever actually LIVED in their passport country that their parent's are from. These are TCKs Third Culture Kids... children who are not "from" a specific place they call home, but are flexible and home is where the heart is. One boy said, "well I tell people I am from Indiana, because that is where my folks are from. Now I have been to the US, but we always go to California, because that's where my grandparents live. I've never been to Indiana. I was born in Nepal, and lived in India and then the Philipines before moving here. I hope that tells you where I am from".
Absolutely amazing children, with incredible stories, and God has brought them all here together for this time. what a privilege to BE a part of His plan in their lives. And you are here!
stayed tuned...more stories to come..........
blessings
Pam