More Protesting

There was a lot of protesting this weekend and more today. Apparently the protesters have shut down part of the expressway near the international airport. I just saw on the news that airport authorities decided to cancel all outgoing flights due to the protesters coming into the airport terminal. The PM who has just been in Peru is due back tomorrow. I guess the protesters are early.

The government buildings, where the protesters are camped out, is on the opposite side of Bkk from the airport. I still haven't seen anything where I live which is in between the two places. The foreign community here is very cautious about the whole thing so if there was any danger I would know quickly. School would be canceled and I would probably get a few phone calls and emails. I'm supposed to have 3 studies at a university near the government buildings on Thursday. All classes were canceled yesterday through tomorrow so we'll see what happens Thursday. I promise I won't go if there is any possibility of danger.

Just to mention also that I've been told by Thais that this kind of thing happens every 5-10 years here. It's not that big of a deal to them for the most part. If I didn't have internet I wouldn't really know what's going on. It's not talked about that much. So to you, reading it in the news, it probably seems like a huge big deal. The average Thai is just going about their daily activites not giving the whole thing much thought. It's of course wise to be cautious but I'm also not that worried about the whole thing. I've been told it'll eventually blow over.

A is supposed to be flying in from Malaysia next Monday and C & S will return on Tuesday or Wednesday. Another couple is arriving from the states next Thursday. So hopefully this airport issue will be cleaned up quickly. The Thai economy is suffering from all this so I really can't see it lasting that much longer. Time will tell.

Nothing in particular...

Not much has happened this week other than service and work. A sister from the sign group is getting some training from the Branch about how to interpret so she asked me to look after three of her students for her. And I have two new students. So this week has been study after study. Now I'm home sick. I was sick last week and never quite recovered. I kept pushing myself but finally hit a wall today. So I'm home from the meeting. I have a few studies to go on tomorrow so I'm hoping I'm better by then.

School is going well. In the past month I've had 4 new students. They've all finally gotten through the crying stage, thankfully. It's so exhausting! But they're all happy now and I'm enjoying them.

We have had some violence though. Last week a little girl scratched one of the boys on the face, left a mark even. She did it again to another boy this week. Then yesterday a little girl from another class bit one of my students. Left a huge mark and bruised. Fortunately parents are very understanding. But I have to nip this in the bud. So I've implemented 'time out'. When I taught 4-year olds I had a 'thinking chair'. If anyone did something violent they went straight to the thinking chair after I scolded them. But 2-year olds don't really have the 'thinking' concept down so I have to give them a time out. It's the first time I've had to deal with this so I was kind of unsure if it was working or not. But the mom of the scratcher told me the girl had talked about it at home and understood what she did was wrong. That was a relief. The 'time out' thing is working! Here's a photo of the kids.

Then there were none...so I went on a run

The final visitor has now left. I'm back to me, myself and I. But not for long. A, who visited last week from Malaysia, is coming back. She has 3 remaining months in SE Asia and she'll spend 2 of them in Bkk. She comes back Dec 1st, just 2 weeks away. I'm looking forward to her coming, it'll be fun. But I must honestly say that I'll enjoy 2 weeks on my own. It's been really crazy, especially the last 3 weeks. So I'll use these few weeks to collect my thoughts and then be ready for whatever comes next.

I ran with K today. She just started running about 6 months ago and is really into it. She's running the 10k in CM next month. Today was the first time we've ever run together. (I'm generally a morning runner and she's an evening runner.) We met after our mtgs at Lumpini Park, Bkk's biggest park.

So K and I set off. Within the first half mile it starts to sprinkle. From my left I hear this squeeling "Oooohhh nooooo, it's raaaaiiiining!" in a high pitched Japanese accent (I'm not making fun of her, just trying to convey how funny it was). I told K that running in the rain is what makes a runner a 'hardcore runner'. I told her about my personal favorite run in the rain (you were there N and S) and how exhilarating it was. It worked, I saw her face tighten up in determination. The rain didn't actually last that long and K went on to break her personal record. Previously the most she had run is 6k's. Today she completed 7k's. She was excited and even sprinted the last bit. She had never run with anyone else before and was amazed at how much energy you get from a running partner. So we're planning on meeting up again next Sun. I really loved it too. Tonight was not one of my better runs, I've been fighting a cold all weekend and forgot my water bottle today so I hadn't drank enough water. But I enjoyed running with K, her enthusiasm and excited definitely rubbed off on me.

A story for the books

Last weekend we had a great time in the ministry! Every year the Thai governments hosts a social event for the handicapped in Thailand. There's entertainment and free food. It's open to anyone but the free stuff is only for the handicapped. A group of us went 2 years ago to make deaf contacts and it was very successful. Well, I found out Friday night the event this year was being held on Saturday. One problem, it's near all the government buildings which is where the protesting has been going on. After thinking about it, I decided to go in spite of the protesting. I would be cautious and aware. Plus I figured the protestors would be respectful of the fact that this was an event for the handicapped. Surely they wouldn't cause problems. So I made plans to go with 2 other sisters. But I was coming from the opposite direction so I was just going to meet them there.

So I started on my way around 11am. After waiting for the wrong bus (I did have the chance to witness to a lady for about 10 minutes) I finally figured out the correct bus and got on. A man sitting behind me overheard me talking with one of the sisters about the right bus that would take me there. He said the bus I mentioned won't go because the roads are blocked. But he lived nearby and said I could follow him and he'd show me the way. I was also able to witness to him.

So it's almost 1pm by the time we get off. He shows me where I need to go. I follow the road and then see all the roadblocks. But I could just walk through. Then I see where I need to turn and go straight up towards where the event was being held. The problem was that's exactly where the protestors are set up. They've been camped out there for a few months. So I proceed with caution. At the main entrance (which is the only way to go) I see a guard letting cars through. I very politely tell him who I am and where I'd like to go and ask if it's ok to go through. He said it was fine. He asked me a few other questions (where I'm from, what I do for work, etc. I didn't witness to him.) All was quiet so I walked through. It was actually really quiet. Almost ghost-town quiet. The tents were set up like they were expecting an army of people but NO ONE was there. I could hear someone make a speech off in the distance but didn't make too much of an effort to see where it was coming from. The few people I did see looked at me funny and I just smiled politely and kept going. When I got through to the other side, near the entrance of the park where the event was, I couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief and laughing. I just walked through the protesting area! Whoa! This is the same area 2 people had been killed and soldiers had sprayed tear gas! Whoa! Whoa!

Now, before you say "Julie, that was so stupid! Why would you do something so risky like that?!" I was very cautious. I would not have gone through if I'd seen people actually protesting or rallying. If the guy at the entrance had given me the least bit of trouble, I would not have gone through. If the event wasn't for the handicapped, I wouldn't have even thought about going. But the whole time I was very aware of my surroundings and was ready to run if it was necessary.

Finally, the event. It was really good! We met 2 deaf people who used to attend meetings regularly but haven't been for over a year. We were able to give them the special tract and invite them back. We also met lots of new people. We had such a good conversation with one man that we made arrangements to continue the conversation the following Saturday. Another person, a young guy, ended up coming to the meeting the next day! And he commented during the Wt study! Going to the event was so worth the effort!

I wish I had pictures to show you, but you of course would understand why I didn't take any of the protesting area. But I should've gotten a picture of some of the deaf we met. Oh well, next time.

Motigating

The list of running participants in the Chiang Mai race is growing. K from Japan started running about a year ago and is really getting into it. She decided to run the 10k in Chiang Mai. This is her first race!! K who is here from NY is also going to run the 10k. A, who was just here from Malaysia is coming back and running the 10k. All those are in addition to C and I who are already signed up for the half marathon. So there are now 5 of us running! We should start a SE Asia running team! Any suggestions for a team name?

So running has been good so far this week. It feels great to be adding the miles on! This is actually the best time of year here to be running. The "cold" season has just started. Thais have their jackets out. In the morning it's usually in the low 70s (brrrr!) So running has been really comfortable. The great thing about living in Thailand is the availability of massages! I plan on taking advantage of this during the training period. I got a Thai massage last week and plan on getting one every other week. It's really great for my legs of course and also for stretching. They fold you like a pretzel...it's great for stretching!

A Sad and Happy Day

I took Jesta to the airport this morning. She's on her way back to Ohio. I'm really going to miss her! We had such a great time together! It's actually really impressive how well things went. Neither of us had a whole lot of personal space sharing my one bedroom apartment but it never seemed to be an issue. So I'm really sad she isn't here anymore but I'm also really happy with how her visit went. So that's what I'm focusing on. Plus, I'm almost sure she'll be back (no pressure, Jesta!)

So our week didn't go quite as scheduled but we accomplished all the important things. We ended up going to the Sunday night football game on Monday morning. A few others had planned to go that day so we wanted to join them. It was really fun! We went to a pub called Bully's. There were only about 4 other people there. Kinda funny to go to a football game with such a non-roudy crowd. I miss the roudy crowd! But I'm determined to go to the Superbowl this year so hopefully that will bring the roudy crowd.

Here we are in front of Bully's. The second photo is our little group (excluding C who was taking the photo). I think I was concentrating on the food. It was really good!

We didn't end up going to the Tiger Temple. We found out it was going to cost $100 just to get there! I was actually kind of glad. As cool as it could've been, I've heard that they drug the tigers so they aren't aggressive. Some friends of mine who visited said it isn't true but I'm still leery. I feel better not contributing to something like that.

Last night we went karaokeeing. It's really popular to do here and Jesta has been wanting to do it so we finally went. It was such a great time! We went to a restaurant where they also rent rooms for karaoke. It's like renting a living room. Pretty cool!

I must admit that I haven't been on top of running this week. But I have a visitor from Malaysia right now and her visa run who wants to run. So we'll go several times while she's here. It's always helpful to have a partner!

Jesta's last meeting

Today was Jesta's last meeting. I've been really impressed with how well she has done with Thai sign language and getting to know others in spite of the language barriers. She will be missed by everyone. The most asked question was "When are you coming back?" She didn't have an answer but I think she really does want to come back. Tomorrow we're visiting a school that a friend of ours works at. They hire part-time English teachers and provide a visa. So maybe that will give her some incentive to return sooner than later. We'll see.

So Jesta's last week is quite busy. Tomorrow we're going over to someone's house. Tuesday I'm going to take the day off work and we're hoping to go watch a football game somewhere in the morning. There are pubs that will show the Monday night game in the states. Then in the afternoon she wants to go to the Tiger Temple. It's a temple outside Bkk where monks raise tigers. You're supposed to be able to walk right up to pet them and everything. I'll make sure to get pictures. Thursday we're hanging out with some friends. Then Friday morning is her flight back. sniff sniff