moments

its that moment when...

you're sitting in bed (which is also your couch and table) in your one-room house room, eating sticky rice, and listening to the rain, and thinking how excited you are that its raining because that means it may cool down at least 5 degrees. and
you wonder is this really my life?
everything around you is 99% different than it was one month ago.
you don't understand about 90% of what is being said either.
you go to the mall and know where not one thing is.
you realize that no matter how many hours you fix your hair or how many products you use it is never going to look the way you want.
you are impaired from making any kind of decision because everything is so new.
you take a bus, skytrain, taxi, and subway to get everywhere along with the other 9 million people.
you realize this is your new life and you like it here. and you liked it there too.
things just don't phase you like they used to. and some things you held closely just go out the door and you hold them a little less tight now.
you don't know what on earth you are doing or saying but you know that you're exactly in the right place.
you realize that it doesn't matter that everything is crazy and confusing and hard because god is right there with you.
you realize that he is doing a good work in me because if he wasn't than i wouldn't be here.
you realize that all you have to do is keep on trusting and believing that is he is faithful to complete it. and that's all you can do.

photo credit

book one...

wannii rian phaasaa thay nangsuu nung setlow (aka) Today I finished studying book one at school!

we love our teacher, khruu knock.

Today was an exciting day as we finished the first book at language school.  One down and 6 more to go!  Thank goodness we all passed and we start book 2 tomorrow.  Seriously we aren't wasting any time.  Hopefully our book 2 teacher will be ready for us, because we are quite the class!  We had so much fun this month and I said my share of ridiculously wrong things.  (blog post to come about all the dumb things Jen has done/said since she arrived).  We loved our teacher and she always made class sanuk (fun), which definitely made me excited to go everyday.  

I can't believe how many words and phrases we know.  We probably know about 400 words and we can have basic conversations with people.  It is really cool to see how some of our friendships are developing as we learn more and more Thai.  Most of our friends from the church speak some English, but a lot of other people speak little to none.  So it is really necessary and important to learn the language to develop friendships with people.  There are a few places we eat all the time near our house and slowly we are beginning to have conversations with the people that work there.  I love it!  

There is a lady that has a little shop in the bottom of our apartment complex and we have definitely 

come a long way with her!  The first week we were here we tried to bring our laundry to her and neither of us could understand each other so I was relying heavily on hand motions (which was highly comical).  But slowly as we are learning we can say new things to her, which is so neat.  I am just awaiting the day when we can have long conversations!  It is definitely what you call a relationship that takes time.  She also thinks Kristen and I are the funniest people and she is always smiling and laughing every time she sees us.  

Well I'm off to small group but I will leave you with this little gem...

no clue, just go with it.

I'm pretty sure I laughed my head off at the awkwardness of this pic. Apparently it's the Korean way to pose for a picture?

 

happy effers day!

happy happy birthday stephers315!

Today is my bestie and cousin, Stephanie (aka Stephers, Effers, Stephers315), birthday and since I couldn't be there to wish her a happy birthday a blog post is in order.  We have been super close since birth and we have so many sweet memories growing up together.

Dear Stephers, 

hope you have an amazingly, wonderful fun-filled day.  you are about to have a baby in a month....oh my! i can't even begin to tell you how excited i am for you to have a baby girl or how sad i am that i won't get to meet her for a long while.  you are one of the sweetest and most tender-hearted people i know.  thanks for always letting me crash at your house anytime i want.  i know it will always be a party when we get together.  wish i was there on your b-day for some karaoke.  thanks for being such a  great friend. (insert handshake)

love yf&c, 

fer fer

stephers. la la. me.

miss this trio. 

sawatdii ka

Sawatdii Ka!

Don't worry. I'm alive!

Forgive me blog for I have neglected you!

Well its been about 2.5 weeks since I got to Bangkok and I apologize for the lack of updates.  It took about a week or so to get our internet up and running and we have been going non-stop since we arrived!

How am I adjusting?
   Well I didn't suffer too badly from jet lag because we arrived in the evening and got to pick up a regular sleeping schedule after that, but I was pretty exhausted by about 8pm throughout the week.  We were greeted at the airport by our teammate, Lonnie, and some of our new Thai friends from the church.  Then we went to Lonnie and Courtney's house for little welcoming party, which was pretty much a blur and I'm sure I came off like a complete zombie to everyone we met.  So much for first impressions.
   The first week we stayed so busy I barely had time to let my family know I made it.  We spent the week getting our apt. set up, doing some orientation, helping work on our teammates', the Barnes, house which was damaged by the floods last year, hanging out at the church, and going to a church retreat.
   Kristen and I share a little one bedroom apt. with a bathroom and a small deck.  Pics to come. Think more of a dorm room.  No kitchen.  Just beds and desks and dressers.  That aspect has definitely been an adjustment as we eat out for every meal.  However, there are tons of street vendors a little restaurants right by our house and it costs about $1-$2 to eat, which is wonderful!  We live right down the street from Lonnie and his family and across the street from them Walker lives with 3 Thai guys.  So we are all very close to one another which makes it very convenient.
    Honestly these last couple weeks have been me trying to survive and get adjusted and acquainted to my new life.  Its the weirdest feeling to wake up and not know where you live, not know how to speak any language, not have a phone, not have any money, not know how to get anywhere, and not know where or how to get food.  It's weird and extremely humbling.  It has caused me to lose all my independence and become completely dependent on other people for everything.  I'm finding it a little difficult and weird to talk to people back home about my life because everything is so new and I am still processing it all.  But once I figure it out I will try and let you know.
    Last week was a big week because we started language school!  I never thought I would be excited about it but after about 1 day being here I was so ready to start learning. The moment I finished my last final at A&M I can honestly say I never thought I would be going back to school but oh how funny life is.  Everyday from 9am-12pm we go to school downtown. We leave at around 7:30am in order to get there on time because of the ridiculousness of Bangkok traffic.  We either take a taxi or bus to the SkyTrain and then walk to our school.  Lonnie and some of our other friends brought us to school the first day and we kept telling him we felt like he was the father dropping his kids off at school.  Language school has been good and we are learning so many new words.  Its amazing how fast we are learning things.  It has really been a blessing to have so many Thai friends because they are very gracious and patient and help us with our Thai all the time.
    Definitely the best thing about being here is the people.  They are so kind, so gracious, and so servant minded.  I don't know if we would have made it without them.  They are constantly welcoming us in, taking us places we need to go, helping us, translating, and just serving us in any way possible.  It really challenged me to think what it would be like if they came to America and I was sad to admit that I don't think the majority of people would be that nice to them.  How much I am learning from the Thai people already!
    Overall, I'm doing really well and God is teaching me so much already in these past few weeks about myself and about him.  Its just crazy.  Everyday we get up and pray at the church at 6:30am and it has been one of the best things.  I have felt so challenged and encouraged by doing this and it gives me the strength I need to make it through the day.  I'm just excited to see what is to come.
  
Well enough with the words here are some pictures from the last few weeks.  I'm working on a video to post so be on the lookout for that....
  

arriving at the airport. please ignore our looks. we spent 2 days in travel.  mao. me. kristen. pi da. pi tote (pastor of the church). walker.  yay for new friends.

first day of school pic. ahn. kristen. walker. lonnie. me.

listening so intently to lonnie explaining the bus system. ahn. kristen. walker. lonnie. dang (walker's roomie).

made it on the bus. 

on the skytrain. 

oh hey language school. we made it. finally.

here we go....

learning numbers.  starting with the small things.

out to eat with friends. 

more to come....