| July
14 , 2003
Deena,
It doesn’t
seem possible, but it sounds as if you are busier than we
are these days. Besides the fact we have been busy, the other
reason I haven’t written is that nothing exciting is
going on. Our days pretty much consist of teaching Monday
through Friday, doing laundry and shopping on Saturdays and
spending most of Sunday with our church.
Just when
we get into some semblance of a routine though, something
comes along and turns our schedules upside down. The school
has begun a remedial English program before and after regular
school hours. In addition, the Mathematics head has taken
ill and had to return to England. This means more classes
in addition to more prep work.
We find
ourselves crawling into bed by 8:30 each night, so the weekdays
are pretty much just devoted to schoolwork. On Saturdays we
shop at the plethora of markets in the neighborhood. We have
sent along a picture I took earlier this evening of a market
just down the soi (street). (Photo
on next page!) It just had started to rain so
we scooted home and thought we would use this ‘down
time’ to say hello. Feel free to post this on the
web site you created for us as I have not been in touch with
anyone for awhile.
We still
love the church that we found and are starting to get more
involved with them. Leslie and I teach English on Sunday mornings
before worship service which is then followed by lunch. After
lunch one of the church members tutors us in Thai. By the
time we return home we need to get our act together for the
coming school week.
Our days
of exploring tropical islands in the Gulf of Thailand are
on hold at least until October. We have found time to root
out some awesome veggie restaurants in Bangkok though, and
all last week we hosted a seminary student from Pittsburgh
who was here on a scholarship. She was doing research for
a paper on the reasons for the slow growth of the church here
in Thailand. It was fun having someone around who spoke English,
and I think Leslie and myself came close to talking her ear
off.
We spent
half the day Saturday bumming around Chinatown, which was
a blast. Picture the strip district multiplied by a million!
We had so much fun and at one point five of us were in one
tuk-tuk (kind of like a motorcycle with a bench in the back
best suited for 3 people at the most.) We returned on a river
boat down the Choa Phyra River. Next time we head out like
that I promise to take some pictures.
We miss
all our friends and it seems like we have been gone forever.
Take care,
Kevin
& Leslie
Things
we miss:
- family
and friends
- ginger
snaps
- PNC
Park
- Sunday
Post Gazette
- fried
veggies w/cheese at Three Rivers Art Festival
- breakfast
(Kevin heard ‘Dancing Queen’ by Abba coming
from a neighbor's apartment early this morning and he thought
this is not so different from home. Just then the door opened,
and a women walked out holding a baby in one hand and eating
some pork and octopus on a stick with the other. No such
thing as pancakes, French toast, home fries, omelets etc.
- trees,
grass, anything green. (Although much of Thailand is lush,
Bangkok is truly a concrete jungle.)
Things
we don’t miss:
- television
- having
a car (the bus costs 3 ½ baht …8 cents)
- washer
and dryer
- toilet
paper (Kevin has seen the light! The hose is the way to
go!!)
- rude
behavior (these people are reserved and polite almost to
a fault)
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