Back to My 2nd Home

​I have returned from my holiday in the States. It was so great to see friends and family and be refreshed and refilled for another year in S.E. Asia. I am so thankful for all the time I got to spend with everyone, I only wish I had even more time. I guess there is always next summer ;).

My Old Kentucky Home. It was so good to go home for 5 weeks. I will miss the blue skies and bluegrass :).  

Saying goodbye is so hard. But new adventures await!  

I have officially been back for a week as of last night. I arrived on Sunday July 10th at 8pm local time. Got to the apartment by 9:30pm. Then had to be at work the next morning by 8am. Let's just say I don't really remember anything about that Monday. The good thing is that a team from Canada came to do a summer camp at our school and they had everything planned out so I was just an extra hand when needed :).

The Watermelon group. :)  the team from Canada did a VBS about the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc) and all the teams were different fruits (watermelon, grapes, cherries, coconut, lemons). 

Going back to work right after landing kind of helps with jet lag. It makes you have to adjust to the time faster. The only thing that is hard to overcome is the eating habits. Since the time is the complete opposite it is hard to tell your body to eat at noon when you are used to it being midnight. But I have survived and I think I am adjusting pretty well.

The summer camp ended on Saturday and we said see you soon to our incoming students and good bye to the team from Canada. Today (Monday) I went back to work to begin getting ready for the upcoming year.

All our camp students (future GIS students) and the team from Canada!  

Please be praying as there are many thing that need to come together in order for us to begin the year. Today we learned that we need 2 more English teachers, our building won't be ready for us to move into before school is scheduled to start, and our books/curriculum won't be here until October. To us these things seem major but God is in control and everything will work out better than we can imagine. Please be praying for God's favor over all these issues and over the school. Also please pray for the new members of our English staff as they are traveling from the States these next couple of weeks. :)

End of Summer School

Done! Finito! Complete! The summer school program at school has come to a close! Today was the last day! We had so much fun finishing our books and coloring different dinosaurs. The kids have learned so much this summer!  

Our school had an assembly to show off everything they had learned. Let me just say it was chaos! LOL. But that seems to be the norm in Asia. In the States when we hear assembly, we think a small school thing where parents are invited but there isn't much preparation for it. However in Asia, they don't really know the word assembly. Here it's a program/performance. So the English teachers did short songs to show the parents what we were doing in class (assembly). The other teachers did performances. These performances would have been spectacular had there been more than 1 week to prepare. I guess it's just cultural differences. Hopefully next time we will have more time to prepare and it with be worthy of being called a program. (Trial and error; the joys of starting a new school)

So the kids have off for the next two week! But teachers still have to work. So I will be at school (8am-4pm) everyday getting ready for the upcoming year! I have to set up our library (Thanks again to everyone who donated books!) and getting our curriculum together for the English program! Lots to do. Oh and teacher orientation begins on the 11th! Yay! I am hoping for a couple of mornings off to go see some of the sights here! 

I haven't had the opportunity to travel much but I am enjoying getting to know my way around! I walk to and from school every day (the school is literally 1km from my apartment). Sometime I can get a taxi but they usually don't like taking such short trip, but I tip them really well if they do :). Good thing it's not too hot in the mornings or evenings so I don't mind walking. 

The only downside to walking, everyone stares! Also the guys at the "restaurants" I pass usually always have something to say. Sometimes it just makes me uncomfortable. Hopefully this will stop soon, as for now I will continue to listen to music on my walks home. 

til next time!