School

I have 9 students this year. Everyone was settled into school within a few weeks. (Last year there were a few kids who cried every morning for 3 months.) Now we're all very comfortable with each other.

Our class is quite international. We have kids from Russia, Poland, Sweden, Australia, America, Thailand, India and Japan. The kids are starting to say each others names and form friendships which is really cute to watch. There's one little boy who is quite a chatterbox but he mostly speaks in Swedish or Polish, little English. So we never know what he's saying but it's so cute to listen to him. He's now starting to repeat words we use at school. The first word he learned was 'no'.

DC in the South

I wanted to write last week but I was having internet problems for a few days and then left for the south Wed on the night train. I just got back this morning, took the night train back. Not sure if anyone saw the news about a train wreck outside Hua Hin that happened early this morning. There were 4 of us who left on the 6:30 train. There were 11 on the train that crashed, many who work at Bethel. Fortunately only 2 of them were injured but ok. The branch sent a van down to pick them up. I must say I'm quite shaken by it. But I'm sure a good nights sleep will help.

The DC itself was really good. All the new releases were also released in Thai. I had my doubts about the new book, seems like it'd be the biggest job. But we have it! There were about 360 people in attendance. There are 5 circuits in Thailand (South, North, Northeast and 2 in Bkk). Each has it's own DC except for Bkk which combines the 2. The South is the smallest but too far from anywhere else to combine. I'm really impressed at the effort everyone puts into having the DC. Most speakers had 2-4 talks in addition to demos. So much work!

In sign, our highest number of deaf was 6. But 4 of them that came are progressive students and regular meeting attenders. That makes all the effort worth it. It was also nice to see about 30 others who sat in the sign language section wanting to learn sign.

I also interpreted talks for the first time. I usually just help out with interviews and demos. So I was really nervous about being able to understand Thai clearly. Things went ok. I was able to prepare well and listen to talks someone recorded from DCs in the states. So I knew the info well enough to understand what the speaker was saying. It's not over though, I have some more interpreting at the DC in Bkk in 2 weeks.

True Fitness

I joined a gym for a month called True Fitness. (I actually bought three one-month passes.) It has some classes I was really interested in: Pilates, Body Pump (strength training), Gym Ball, etc. I really loved the Pilates classes. I also enjoyed the Body Pump class. I've never done much strength training with weights so I'm glad to have the increased knowledge about the different methods used. I will say though, that going to the gym wasn't the most mentally healthy thing for me, messed with my self-image a bit. I swear they rigged the mirrors! Seriously, think of what that could do for business if everyone is always looking at themselves thinking they have more to lose than they thought. And always being around all the skinny Thai girls wasn't exactly motivating, made me want to hide.

I really did enjoy the classes so I'll recover my self-image before I use the other two months. And this time I know what to expect (it took me several weeks before I noticed how it was affecting me). So I'll go into it with a sturdier self-image. For now, though, I'm going to focus on running. I have two weeks until my official half-marathon training begins.

Hair Hassle

It's something we all feel frustrated about at times...right? I've certainly had my own share lately. After having long hair for several years I decided to cut it all off while I was home back in May. I liked it, although I did kinda miss my long hair. It is more compatible with hot weather though.

Let me digress for a moment to mention why I had let my hair get so long. It's hard enough to explain how I want my hair cut in English . To do this in Thai could easily lead to a bad cut. It was just easier not to get it cut. So I've never had my hair cut in Thailand. I'd always wait until I visited Ohio so J, who I trust implicitly, could cut it.

Now with shorter hair I decided to get over it and get it cut somewhere. So I went to get it trimmed at a place recommended to me. The lady did a great job and I was really happy with it. Such relief to know you can trust someone. So just before I went to the convention in Malaysia I wanted to get it trimmed again. I went back to the same lady. I told her to do the same as last time. After having it washed she started blow drying it straight. I thought it was odd that she was going to cut it dry but she's the professional not me so I didn't say anything. Then when it's all dry she says it's finished. She hadn't understood that I wanted it cut. Sigh. So I tell her I want it CUT the same as last time. So she cuts it dry. But it wasn't the same as last time. I had to tell her to cut more from a few places. I was a bit disheartened. She did such a good job the first time and now my confidence in her was dropping. I left frustrated and my hair not quite right. I didn't realize how bad it was until the next day when I washed it and let it do it's natural wave that my hair was now triangular shaped. Sigh!! And I was leaving for Malaysia the following day. I kept telling myself to let it go, it's not important.

But it really bothered me. So I went to the salon at the hotel in Malaysia and asked the guy to fix it explaining, clearly I thought, how I wanted it. I had specifically said I want the front longer than the back. I lost my breath as he cut the front SHORTER than the back. Argh!!!!! I surrendered to having bad hair for the convention. There was nothing else I could do. So I focused on the program and tried to be as comfortably social as I could. (I hate that feeling of not being comfortable in your own skin.) I also tried not to be so dramatic about the whole thing. I just had to let it go.

That's been over a month now and my hair is a bit better. It was starting to get triangular again so I cut it myself a bit (I know I don't have your approval on that, J. Sorry.) It's improved and I'm grateful to feel somewhat normal again.

I know I shouldn't give up completely on getting my hair cut here. But I'll wait until it's completely necessary and I'll be very specific and tell them to stop if I see them about to cut something I don't want them to.

Oh, and no, I don't have a photo!

My other pastime

After getting back into a regular work routine, I'm now focusing on getting back to a regular running routine. I'm planning on running the half marathon in Chiang Mai again this year. I don't officially start training for it until October but I want to be well into a routine by then. I ran 4 miles Sunday morning. The sun was strong even at 8am but I pounded through it and had a great run.

Later on I was on the bus heading to my meeting and noticed a couple signing to each other. I said hello and the man responded. After talking for a few minutes I realized that the lady with him was mostly blind, she can see a little out of one eye but not enough to know that I was a foreigner. I noticed his shirt had a picture of 2 runners in a race and asked him about it. He said it was the 2 of them finishing a 10k together. Wow! I'm not sure how often they run races but he knew about the race in Chiang Mai. He even knew the exact date for this year. I sure was glad I had run that morning! I'm sure they'll be crossing my mind each time I run, how inspiring!

Malaysia

We flew into Kuala Lumpur and then took a van to Melacca. There's lots of history in Melacca. The British had a big settlement there for a long time. There are lots of interesting old buildings there. Thursday was one of the only nights we had to see the town.

The DC was great of course. There was sign language interpreting which was exciting to watch. I appreciated being able to listen in English and watch how it was interpreted. Malaysian deaf schools have taught ASL for the most part so that's what was used in interpreting. There are about 6 Americans who moved there to help with sign so it was nice meeting them. There were 50 deaf that attended on Sunday. Impressive!

After the DC we rode down to Johor Bahru with an English couple who lives there. We met up with some friends for lunch the next day. I met them 2 years ago when I first went to Malaysia and they've been to Bkk a few times. We had great conversations. They both think deeply and express themselves with passion. But we only had the afternoon with them. That night we stayed with another friend. She showed us all the exciting spots of JB and took us to a great restaurant. We thoroughly enjoyed some naan and dahl with her.

The next day we went to Singapore. It was kind of a hassle getting across. We had to walk what seemed like miles through mazes of hallways. Then we boarded a bus that took us over the bridge and left us at the border. There were more mazes on that side until we finally reached daylight and took a taxi to where we were staying.

We had made arrangements with some friends of friends. They were beautifully hospitable and took care of us well. We didn't really see much because we only had 24 hours there. But Singapore is somewhere I'd definitely go again just to be with the friends. They were really remarkable. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the sights too.

I really enjoyed meeting all the people in Malaysia and Singapore. They all have work under unique circumstances that remind me of how privileged we are in Thailand and in other places. There are other details that I can't post since this is a public site. All I can say is that it was very thought provoking to work with them.

Here are some photos from Malaysia.

Thap Sakae

Thap Sakae was my first destination. It's a small town near the most narrow point in Thailand which is 10km wide. It rained a lot which isn't so bad except for when you're on a motor bike. So I bought a raincoat for 20 baht that kept me mostly dry. We were on the bikes a lot traveling around in their territory. I didn't get to go up into the mountains though. Another time.

There were two things I really enjoyed. First, the couple I stayed with are really teriffic. We had some really great conversations. They're people I can really be myself around. And they're so kind and good. So I feel like I can learn from them too. Th'ey had some others (3 Koreans, 1 Japanese and 1 Thai) from the cong over one night and we played 'Uno'. I have fond memories from childhood playing Uno with my family. My favorite was when my grandpa, whose eyes weren't so good, would play a green card thinking it was blue or the opposite. We'd have to correct him a lot. It became part of the game. This time the most amusing player was one of the Koreans who has really good manners. She would apologize each time she played a bigger card (skip, draw 2, etc). I usually play those cards with an evil laugh. We had a great time.

Second, we went to a deaf school in the next town to the south. The school was literally right next to the beach, great setting! We got there in the afternoon at about 2:30 so some of the kids were already finished with their classes. We talked with them for a bit, they were surprised to see us there and were full of questions. Little by little the few kids became a crowd. Then teachers were coming out. It was overwhelming but fun too. The sister who went with me is wanting to learn sign language. I think they'll be happy to help her out at that school. I loved meeting all of them. They're so excited to talk to new people, especially foreigners. We stayed for about 45 minutes and could've stayed longer but had to get back. I'd love to go down there again.

Here are some photos of the territory.