Inspired Art

I started reading a devotional book written by Amy Carmichael called “I Come Quietly to Meet You”.  I’ve only read the first three chapters and I am already so blessed by what she says.  Amy was a missionary in India her whole life so reading her words and seeing how close she was to God is a great encouragement to me.  She starts out her second chapter saying, “Blessed be the Lord our God, who does – if we speak the honest truth – cause His word to come to us in just this way: like a strong hand reaching out for us to take hold of firmly, and to take hold of us.”  She goes on to talk about trust and how it means ‘to lean on, to place the weight of my confidence upon’.  Then she quotes many verses that talk about leaning on God and how when we lean on God, who is our strength, we are helped.  She ends with a prayer, “… But I want to trust you.  To relax the weight of my fears and anxieties against you.  To rest, to know how fully trustworthy you are.  Help me, Father.  I reach for your hand, feel your firm grip… and I lean my weight against you now.” 

I love that line: “To relax the weight of my fears and anxieties against you.”  There have definitely been a lot of fears and anxieties I have encountered these past two and half weeks but every time I bring them to God I feel like they just fall off me.  When I trust in him, I don’t have anything to be afraid of.  When I lean on him, his firm grip holds me up.

I was also reminded of PUSH physical theater which came to Roberts Wesleyan College every year I was there.  They used to do a one person act where the main guy looked like he was falling but then was caught by a hand in the sky.  His arm was held up and he sort of dangled from this imaginary hand in the sky.  He was held up, not by his own strength, but by the hand he was holding onto above him.  I think the skit was done to You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up) by Josh Groban, which also talks about being held up by God (“Don’t give up/It’s just the weight of the world/When your heart’s heavy/I...I will lift it for you”).   It was always my favorite act they did because it showed how God is holding our hands to hold us up and if we hold tightly to his firm grasp, and trust in him, he will not let us fall.

In a place where I don’t know the culture or the people it is such an encouragement to remember that God firmly holds my hand through it all and helps me in all things.  After reading this chapter I was inspired to make a piece of art that would remind me of this truth every day.

Saturday

June 16, 2012 (Saturday)

Today has been a great day.  It’s my first day where I haven’t really seen any friends and I’ve been alone most of the day.  It’s been a struggle the past two weeks to find a balance between being with people all the time, and also being alone to be renewed and rested.  Whenever I am alone here for long periods of time I tend to get lonely and homesick so I’ve been spending a lot of time with people and keeping busy to distract myself.  However, I need time to relax and be refreshed and renewed and usually that happens when I am alone.  Up to this point I have not been able to do that.  People time has kept me distracted and happy and alone time makes me lonely and homesick, making me a little worried when it comes to weekends and I have lots of free time.  But today was a breakthrough!  I’ve spent all day by myself and it’s been great!  I’ve been lesson planning in my classroom, went to a café down the street to lesson plan some more, came back and made some artwork in my room, went out to dinner and read, and now I’m back and just relaxing for the night.  It’s been a relaxing, enjoyable and renewing day which I desperately needed.  I am so grateful to God for answering my prayers and giving me this day of enjoyable rest!

I also had some fun/crazy/sweet experiences today.  I was craving a sandwich today so I walked down to 7-11 to try their ham and cheese toasted sandwich… it was actually pretty good!  That and a bag of watermelon slices was a nice American lunch.  I also went to World Coffee this afternoon which is just two blocks away.  It is a really nice modern café run by a Thai woman who speaks really good English.  Their drinks are a bit pricey for Thailand (although nothing compared to Starbucks) and she can make an amazing iced mocha!  This was my third time going there and my first time alone.  When she saw me she asked me if I wanted a mocha (which I did!).  A little while later she came over with a cup of jasmine tea (which she refilled after I drank it all).  She also gave me a current issue of the Reader’s Digest and cut up some fruit for me that I had never tried.  I forget what the fruit was called but the outside was sour like a grapefruit but was the consistency of a pear and the inside was sweet and the consistency of gooey cotton (that sounds gross but it’s the only thing I can think to compare it to).  I’m not a big fan of sour but I liked the sweet inside.  We also chatted for a while and I found out that she used to teach management at a university in Bangkok but now she is retired.  Anyway, she is the sweetest woman and it was a great time to get off campus, have a change of scenery and do some work while this woman doted on me.

Then I came back and did some art work while listening to music (more on that to come).  Around 5:00pm here every night it rains really hard for about 10 minutes.  Today it rained harder than usual.  When I left my apartment to go get dinner I found that the sidewalk out of campus was completely flooded!  I had to walk through ankle deep water until I got to the raised sidewalk.  I guess it rains so hard that the drainage system can’t keep up with it.  By the time I got back it was dry again. 

On my way out I saw the security guard who always sits by the gate of the school.  He started talking to me in Thai and pointing to a fallen down tree branch.  I gather that he was sitting under the tree and during the storm the tree branch fell down.  I responded in English and talked about how crazy the storm was and commented on the flooding.  We basically had a 5 minute conversation, him speaking in Thai, me speaking in English, and somehow somewhat understanding what the other was saying through the tone of our voices, pointing, and gestures J  After I said goodbye and walked away I laughed at what had just occurred and how absurd but cool it is that we can both speak our own languages (acting like the other one is understanding what we are saying) but yet still kind of able to communicate.

I went to P Nee’s for dinner (I pretty much go there every day for iced Thai tea and a meal).  She is a really sweet lady and speaks some English so we can actually communicate.  I love her cow pad gai (chicken and fried rice with vegetables… and a little lime juice sprinkled on top makes it absolutely incredible… it brings out all the flavors!).  It’s also only a dollar which is great J

Tonight I am doing some more lesson planning and then maybe I will watch a movie or read until bed.  I started reading the Hobbit and the first chapter introduces Bilbo Baggins and how he loves being in the Shire where everything is comfortable and familiar and homey and he does not like adventure!  Sometimes I feel very much like Bilbo Baggins but I have been sent on an adventure just like him.  Today I have enjoyed it!

World Coffee:

1. My complementary jasmine tea and the sweet lady who owns the cafe in the background

2. My delicious iced mocha

3. The view outside the window I was sitting by

4.  A panoramic sweep of the cafe

5. Where I was lesson planning (along with my tea cup, fruit, Reader's Digests and mocha)

6.  The view from where I was working

Pictures!

(Sorry these pics are in a bit of a random order...)

Getting Ready For School: 

1. My feet were black after a day of cleaning my classroom.  Oh, by the way, 

entering a classroom is like entering a house so you always take your 

shoes off at the door.  So I get to teach barefoot!

2. Iced Thai Tea (my new favorite drink!).  It is bright orange and 

comes in a bag and is only 30 cents

3. My first assignment: making a welcome sign with the first week of school schedule on it

4. Working on year lesson plans!!  

First Two Days of School:

1. My beautiful poster of my classroom rules

2. A Pictionary game I played with my elementary students.  I would draw an art material and 

they would have to guess what it was.  Those are some of the materials they have to bring in.

3. A game I played with my high schoolers.  They got in pairs and had five minutes to think of any word that related to art.  The group that thought of the most words won.  Then they all wrote their words on the board and we categorized them (Elements of Art, Art Materials, Artists, etc.)

4.  Self-portraits done by second graders (a last minute fill-in project!)

The Sunday Before Classes Started:

1. Riding a tuktuk home from Big C where I got a ton of school supplies

2. My friend Lauren and I in the tuktuk 

3. Jordan, Sarah, and Steve at Steve's Birthday Thai cookout

4. Thai-style cookout

Roomie Date:

1. My roommates, Sarah and Julie

2.  The big mall we went to for dinner (it has an indoor fake garden with water)

3. Sarah and Julie

4. The street the mall was on

5. The Mall

Some random pics:

1. A bunch of teachers gathered to play Jungle ball (basically like volley ball but played with a 

huge yoga ball)... with a few altered rules... very hot, sweaty and dirty but fun!

2. (right pic) Andi and Lauren already dirty from Jungle ball

3. My friend Dev and her meal cooking on our table at the Japanese restaurant we all went to

4. Part of my meal... stir fried chicken and veggies (after eating lots of sushi!)

Some more random pics:

1. My meal yesterday (Saturday) while lesson planning.  So good to have some watermelon and a ham and cheese sandwich!

2.  Mango with sticky rice and coconut milk.  This dessert was good but really sweet and rich!  The rice is purple from a flower that doesn't change the taste but just changes the color.  

3.  A really large centipede/millipede/wormy thing

4. Note to self: Don't sit outside at night just to get internet or you will get eaten alive!  And by the way, I finally have internet in my apartment! YAY!

5.  Three of my closest friends here: Chrissy, Lauren, and Sarah with their fruit smoothies in a bag from P Nee's.

My Art Classroom:

1. The view from the back (and entrance)

2. Another view

3. A panoramic view

(still have some work to do on my classroom to decorate and organize but it's much better 

than when I first came!  It also has tons of windows which is nice but the windows

on the left lead to the cafeteria which can be really distracting for the kids.  I need

to put some artwork up so they can't see through!)

Long awaited update...

(to catch up on the last week and a half!)

Wow!  It’s been a while since I blogged!  I have been going pretty much nonstop for the past two weeks.  Last week was orientation so we were busy from 8 in the morning till about 8 at night.  The first two days of orientation were with just the new teachers learning about different policies, paperwork, and everything we needed to know about the school.  The rest of orientation was with all the teachers (new and returning) and was more meetings about school and teaching, etc.  Friday we went into Bangkok to a teacher store and were able to buy supplies for our classroom.  All the school staff also went to a nice Japanese restaurant on Friday night, which was delicious and fun. 

Saturday was a rough day.  I was really homesick which made it hard for me to do anything but I ended up having dinner with Megan and Michael (two returning teachers who are married) and then watched a movie with Megan.  Sunday I went to church (which I still really like), went to a grocery store and then went to Que Pasa again and ordered Hawaiian Pizza (which I’ve been eating for leftovers all this week!).  I also went to Big C for some more school supplies, went to a Thai-style cookout and ended the day in reading group.  One of the teachers was having a birthday so he planned a Thai-style cookout which is when you put meat on a rounded metal covering which goes over coals.  It was pretty good.  After that was reading group where about 8-10 teachers get together and listen to someone read (and there are milk and cookies!).  In the past they’ve read C.S. Lewis and similar authors.  It’s kind of nice to end a Sunday listening to someone read Christian literature and to have that community.

Monday to Wednesday I worked 14 hour days setting up my classroom.  The past part-time art teacher left the room a mess so I had a lot of work to do to clean everything out, organize everything, and get ready to teach on Thursday.  I’ve also had a lot of beginning of the year paper work such as year plans, weekly lesson plans, substitute packets, newsletters, bulletin boards, etc. in order to be ready for the first day of school.  But it all got done and I had my first day of teaching on Thursday.  Most of my classes are in the afternoon so most days I don’t even start teaching until 10:25.  The first two days of school were also early dismissal so the kids got out at 2:00.  All that to say, I only had two classes on Thursday and two on Friday. 

Thursday I had second graders and high schoolers.  The second graders were good but everything I had planned got done really quickly so I was left with half an hour of class time and nothing planned.  I came up with a fun game on the spot and then let them draw self portraits until the end of class so it worked out okay.  The high schoolers were good too although I feel really young and unqualified to be teaching them.  There are some fun kids in that class though so I think it will be good. 

Friday I had 6^th grade and my other 2^nd grade class.  The sixth graders were really good (that is my biggest class of 25 kids) and they were really attentive as I went over rules.  I also had them draw self portraits.  It was interesting to see their idea of a self portrait.  One girl drew Mickey mouse and a robot with  claws.  Most of the other kids drew themselves but in an anime style, so they were pretty unrealistic.  There were only two or three kids that actually drew a somewhat realistic picture of themselves.  One kid drew a real anime character with spiky hair, square eyes, and armor.  It was definitely interesting and gave me some insight into what they view as art.  The second grade on Friday went much better because I read them a book called The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola which they enjoyed. 

I have been in the midst of painting by bedroom.  When I came the walls were white except for one wall which had a very bold mural on it painted by the last person who lived here.  I decided I needed to paint over that so I painted my whole room yellow.  I did the first coat last Saturday (my roommate helped me which was great!).  Friday I finished it up so I could put my furniture back in place (all week all my furniture had been in the middle of my room and I was ready to get things back in order and have a space to relax in).  I realized that I didn’t have enough paint to do a second coat so I just did the one wall that had the mural on it (it was a dark blue so it took a lot of coats for the yellow to cover it).  Overall it looks pretty good and the yellow cheers up the room a lot.  I wiped down the floors which were filthy, put my furniture back in place, and now all I have to do is decorate the walls (I will put pictures up when it’s all done)!  It’s nice to finally have a place that is comfortable, warm, and somewhere I can let down and call my own.  Friday night a bunch of teachers got together and had a game night.  I learned two new games – Nuns on the Run and Jungle Speed.  Both were really fun and it was fun to hang out with other teachers and get to know them better.

Mailing address correction

Also, a correction on my mailing address:
(somehow I missed some things...)

Global English School
24/29-32 Pracharat Road
Moo 6, A. Muang Talad Kwan
Nonthaburi 11000
THAILAND

(I think the one most of you have will work but I left out the third zero in the zip code and I'm not sure what 'A. Muang Talad Kwan' means, but I guess it's good to include it :)

Thanks!

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from my first week before orientation started:
Starting at the top left:
1. Items to buy at JJ's market
2. Walking through JJ's market with other new teachers
3. Trying my first fried banana... delicious!
4. Another view of JJ's market
5. The church we went to on Sunday
6.My first Starbucks sighting (saw it at the mall but didn't get anything because it was evening)
7.Drinking my first iced coffee here from the 7-11 down the street (their iced coffee here is really sweet because they put sweetened condensed milk in it, but quite delicious)
8. New teachers riding open bus/large tuk tuk to Big C (Big C is kind of like a small mall with a food court, stores and restaurants, and Walmart type store)
9. Pad Thai  
10.Cashew chicken

More pictures to come :)

A Glimpse of the First Week

(This was written on Monday night.  I didn't have internet to post it until now.  I also tried to include some pictures but the internet is not strong enough yet.  I will try to post some when I get better internet!)

Dear friends, thanks for your patience in waiting for an update from me!  Internet has been hard to come by (hopefully we will get our own soon) and I've also been keeping busy so I haven't really had the chance to write.  It's also been a tough first few days so it was hard to even sit down and write how I was feeling.  During the first three or four days I was really homesick and wondering what I was thinking coming to this foreign place where I knew nobody.  Although I've been on mission trips before and been overseas I've never gone alone so this has been a unique experience.  The first night I got here I felt feelings of fear, loneliness, and homesickness like I have never felt before.  Luckily a few other new teachers arrived with me so I wasn't completely alone and even though it was nice to have other Americans around they were still strangers. 

When I first got to Thailand it was about 2 a.m. on Wednesday so I just went to bed.  Thursday and Friday the other new teachers and I got to know some of the stores and places to eat around the school and I had my first experiences riding a taxi and a tuk tuk (a motorcycle with a covered bench-like seat on the back). 

Saturday we decided to explore a bit more of Bangkok so we took a taxi to JJ's market, which is one of the largest outdoor markets in Bangkok.  This market has pretty much anything Thai... it is huge!  We walked around for a couple hours in the morning before it got too hot.  Then we tried to take a taxi back to the school and got lost but eventually found our way back.  We got lunch, did a little shopping, and then rested for a bit.  At night we decided to be adventurous again so we took a bus to the mall to get dinner, which we successfully did (although we are pretty sure we didn't end up at the right mall.... oh well, it still had food!).

Sunday we went to church in the morning.  Although there is a church right on campus, it is in Thai so they recommend that we go to an English speaking church.  We went to a church about 15 minutes away by taxi.  The church was fairly small with a lot of North Americans, which I must admit, was a welcome change!  I was ready for a bit of America after four days in Thailand.  I was craving familiarity.  I really enjoyed the church and met some other families who are part of the Global English School community.  After church we went to a store that has imported goods so we could get some groceries that are uncommon in Thailand (like peanut butter and cereal!).  Then we went to a Mexican restaurant (which also had Italian and American type foods).  Again, it was really nice to have something other than Thai food for a change.  After church we relaxed, napped (which has been a daily occurrence due to jet lag), and watched a movie at night.  Saturday night and Sunday I really started to feel a breakthrough.  I had been really homesick and nauseous up to that point but I finally started to feel comfortable.  I finally felt that I was getting to know the street the school was on, where I could buy things and get food, and feel somewhat comfortable in this environment.  Most importantly, God gave me some really good interactions with people.  After being so homesick and lonely I was ready to make friendships and Sunday I had some really great conversations, met some wonderful people, and enjoyed an afternoon with new friends that are truly beginning to feel more like friends than strangers.  Praise God! 

Today was the first day of orientation for us new teachers.  All the new teachers met for breakfast to begin our day together. However, one of the teachers ended up having a seizure so I went with her and her roommate to the hospital, along with the woman who founded this school.  Although it was an unexpected event, it was amazing to see how we all came together to help out and do what we could, and that we were all praying over the events taking place.  It was also really neat to be able to spend some time with the woman who founded this school - she is so wonderful.  In the afternoon we came back to the school and finished off the day of orientation with some information about teaching and Thai culture.  Tonight we all went to another mall, had dinner, and walked around a bit.

There are so many things I could tell you about but it would take forever... everything is new and different.  I've been eating a lot of rice and noodle dishes, drinking iced Thai tea (a new delicious favorite), and yes, drinking lots of water.  It's hot and humid here but not unbearable.  We have AC in our apartments and in the school so it's not too bad.  Around 5 or 6 every evening it downpours for about 5 minutes and then it's clear again.  My room is really big but I still haven't fully unpacked... still need to work on that.

Well, I should go to bed.  Last night I couldn't fall asleep until 4:30 in the morning and had to get up at 7:30 (although I'm surprisingly not tired right now... oh jet lag).  Actually, I have been doing pretty well with jet lag so far... it's a bit harder to fall asleep, I wake up multiple times throughout the night and it's harder to get up in the morning, but other than last night I've been getting plenty of sleep.  All week we have orientation so I'll be learning more about the school, teaching, my classes, and getting to know the other teachers. 

Even though this first week has been challenging, God is faithful.  I know that he brought me here for a reason and I know that he will provide.  He is already giving me glimpses of hope and peace in getting more comfortable being here and making friendships to help me through.  Although there are challenges ahead, I believe the fruit of this year will outweigh them.  I truly believe that.  Over and over God promises to never leave or forsake us, to uphold us with his righteous right hand, and promises that the water will not sweep over us, and the fire will not burn us.  Even on our darkest, loneliest nights we can believe that.  I have never felt such intense feelings of fear and loneliness in my life as I did this past week.  However, God did not let me drown in those feelings.  He pulled me out and set me on higher ground.  I may feel those feelings again throughout the next year but I know that they will never overtake me.  God has brought me here for a reason and I know that he will provide for all my needs.  I look forward to this year with eager expectation to see all the great things he will do in my life, the lives of the other teachers, and the lives of our students.  I just need to keep holding onto his promises and reminding myself of their truth.  God is very near even when I don’t feel it and since I know that this is his will for me, I have nothing to fear.  There is nothing safer than doing what God has called you to do, no matter how risky or scary it may seem.

This week I’ve thought a lot about Jonah and I can totally relate to him.  He was instructed to go and warn a group of people that they would be destroyed if they didn’t turn to God.  However, he didn’t want to go so he went in the opposite direction and ended up getting swallowed by a big fish.  In the end he went and told the people what God had said and they ended up turning to God and repenting.  The first three days here I just wanted to go home.  I wanted to keep all my things in my suitcase, buy a plane ticket, and turn right back around.  But God has called me to these people and therefore the safest and best place I can be is right here and I know God will honor that and bring me joy as I follow him (and who knows, if I turn around now I might get swallowed by a big fish!).  I’ll take Thailand over the belly of a fish any day J

Thank you all for your love and prayers... it is so encouraging to know you are all still back home loving and supporting and praying for me.