December Oh-Eight

Hello family & friends in North America,

Again, it blows my mind to think about how two weeks have already passed & how, in a little under three weeks, we'll celebrate the culmination of 2008 & usher in the last year of single digits in this third millennium since our Lord's physical manifestation.

As the time has flown by, many of the events in these 14 days seem rather fleeting also, but I'm sure that they have importance somewhere to some people, so I'll relay them to you now.

For those of you who've been tuned in to the international scene, you probably heard about how the PAD stormed, occupied & blockaded Suvarnabhumi International Airport over here in Bangkok. You probably also heard that it took a week of cancelled flights & stranded passengers before the constitutional court ruled in favour of the PAD, calling for the leadership of the governing party in Thailand to be stripped of their offices & denied political authority for five years, owing to corruption & vote-fixing in last year's election. You also probably heard that flights have since resumed & that everything's pretty much back to normal. In fact, you guys probably know more about it than we do: while living in Bangkok, it has been difficult to tell from our surroundings that any political turmoil whatsoever transpired. Honestly, the only way that I even knew that there was unrest was from people in Canada asking me how things were over here. My usual answer was "Fine? Why, is there supposed to be something that I should know about?"

Indeed, very little has seemed to change before the uprising & very little has changed after the uprising (save for less white faces), and it's life as usual over here in the good ol' BKK. In fact, flights seem to be back on schedule and everything, which is why some of you may see me in 7 or 8 days.

As the year draws to its close, so do classes meet their expiration date before Christmas. We have four days of school left before the break & 2 days of Christmas program celebrations this upcoming weekend. I've been asked to act in the official program—a small bit part, but one that requires an adult actor. It should be pretty good. I've yet to memorise my lines, but I'm not too worried.

What does worry me a little bit is this surprise that I discovered on Wednesday this week. I woke up one day & realised that I had a tick dining on my haematic fluids (that's "blood" in normal-speak)! How did it get there? That's another story which will follow shortly. Anyway, the reason why this tick worries me is because apparently 3 in 10 ticks from the region where I probably acquired it carry pathogenic bacteria, which if left untreated, potentially can damage my internal organs permanently & possibly even lead to death. I wouldn't be so concerned, except for the fact that the lymph nodes closest to where the tick was hiding have been persistently tender since the day I removed said beastie. I think I may go to the hospital today just in case (better safe than sorry, right?)...

Last weekend was a long weekend, due to the King's birthday. Because of this, one of the families at GES gave out a general invitation to the teachers to go on a trip up to Lopburi & make a few stops along the way: one, to see a waterfall in Khao Yai National Park (a UN World Heritage Site) and two, to see the famous sunflower fields that were blooming this time of year. I went along on this trip & am not certain at which stop I acquired my arachnous parasite, but it had to have been some time on that trip, since there isn't any brush to walk through in Nonthaburi...

Alright, that's pretty much all there is to tell at this installation. My birthday this year was one of the best on record: I didn't have to remind people that it was my birthday! My grade 11 students, the witty bunch they are, ran up to me during the morning announcements / flag ceremony & presented me with a shopping bag filled with Coke Zero bottles (*Ahh* they know me too well!); after school, one of my students who no longer attends GES stopped by to visit (and it was her birthday the week previous, so we co-celebrated) and _then_ about 8 of the teaching staff decided to head out to eat a celebratory birthday meal with me at Fuji—a Japanese restaurant—at The Mall. But it didn't stop there, either: while 6 of the girls decided to go watch "Twilight" later that evening, the rest of us went to eat ice cream & then grab a less girlie movie to watch back at school. It was stellar.

Things to pray about in this last week of school before the break:

• The Christmas program. That the students, teachers & support staff would all be un-stressed & that what _should_ be stressed would be the news/memorial celebration of Jesus' birth.


• My job situation & my students. This may potentially be my last week of teaching at GES. There are plans in the making to get me working full-time (as was the original plan) in the library, so that when the school-year is finished, the online catalogue would be completed & that the books themselves would have a consistent & effective method of organisation.


• My health. That I don't have some weird disease from the tick that I acquired last weekend.


• Wisdom for the future. Pray that God would continue to give me direction: that He would open & close doors as needed for me as I pursue His will in my life. How long does He want me in Thailand? In what capacity do I enter / stay (my work visa expires mid-July 2009, and I'd need an official purpose to stay longer)?


• Safety. Many teachers & students will be travelling this break. I'll be flying out in a little more than 6.5 days from the time I write this. Where will I go? Canada. Will I see you? Maybe: that depends on how flexible our schedules are. I'll be in Canada until the 3rd, when I fly back to Thailand & resume the rest of the school year.

Any questions, comments or concerns? You can e-mail me. If, though, you're okay with waiting, give me a shout when I'm on the same soil as you are. That said, I probably won't give another update on this blog until January. Merry Christmas & happy New Year!