Hanging...in there

These past couple of weeks have been rough. The book issue has gotten worse and more stressful, which has taken up a lot of my time and concentration...so now I'm swamped with grading and lesson plans. I'm so thankful that it's the weekend, and I can sleep in and hopefully get things done. I miss running, though. Wish I had time to run...maybe I'll make time tomorrow and try to find the nearest park everyone keeps telling me about.

We got our work permits this week, so it looks like we'll be able to travel out of the country after all. Most of us are already planning where we want to go. I can't wait to get some distance between me and this madhouse. People always told me the first year was the hardest; nobody ever told me it would be quite like this, though. Of course, I'm guessing most first years don't get attacked in the same ways I've been.

Hmmm...don't know what else to say. Last weekend I went downtown with some friends and had really good Indian food for the first time in a really touristy section of Bangkok I'd never been to before. I came back early to try to get some work done, but it was already dark as I rode in the taxi by myself. And it struck me again, as it always does at night, that I'm in a huge city...and a city on the other side of the world. I'm not a city girl by any means, and there definitely was a little thrill at the thought that I could get around in this huge place by myself. Of course, it doesn't always seem so big when I rarely get out of Bangna. I don't know; I'm kind of disappointed that my time here has been so consumed by teaching that I really haven't been able to go out and appreciate the being in Thailand part.

Teaching's going well, I think...I'm just exhausted. This past week, I did a lesson with my seniors that I really enjoyed. We were talking about the faith of the Ibo people in Things Fall Apart, so I took a moment to do a demonstration of faith vs. blind faith by blindfolding one of the kids, having another spin him around, and then having him decide where the door was and start walking toward it. Then, I asked him where the door was again after he'd taken the blindfold off. The point was to show that faith has evidences and experiences to back it up, whereas blind faith does not...in blind faith, you don't know why you believe what you believe, but you're determined to believe it anyway. I can give you more of the metaphor I used if you're interested, but it was fun to do with the seniors.

Adam's still at basic...I've heard from him a couple times via his dad or mom, and his mom posted a couple of his letters on his blog. I miss him. Part of what's made these last weeks so weird is not being able to talk to him about all this stuff. *sigh.

Well, I should go try to accomplish something before I completely crash. Later.

View from an Ambulance

Well...even after living here for a month, Thailand continues to surprise me. For instance, I have no idea why ambulances here are even equipped with sirens at all, since they accomplish nothing. No one pulls over; no one stops; no one gets out of the way. And what truly left me speechless was getting onto a toll road...the ambulance actually had to stop and fill out paperwork to get out of the toll, taking twice as long to get through there. Lissa and I wondered how many people died in ambulances in Bangkok each year just trying to get to the hospital.

Let me start over. Today was our first soccer tournament. The girls played hard and definitely figured out some things we have to work on (wished we weren't having a tournament this early in the season, but maybe this was the best time to figure these things out). Then, near the end of the third game, one of our players got hit and fell to the ground...and didn't get up. By the time I got there, her eyes were slits and her body was shaking from shock. It took a good ten minutes to get her off the field, and at least 30 minutes for an ambulance to get there. She did get her eyes open more, started breathing more normally, and was able to say a couple of things before we wheeled her out onto the ambulance stretcher.

We determined that Lissa and I would go with her in the ambulance, but we found out that we weren't allowed to ride in the back with her, which made me mad because she looked really scared. So, we sat up front...our speechlessness growing at the speed bumps, the uselessness of the siren, and the toll booth fiasco. But it should be fine now. Her parents were there when we showed up, and the doctor told us she had a muscle spasm in her neck from the collision. She was sitting up, looking better, and heading for x-rays when we left.

Teaching continues to be up and down...depends on the day and the class. I feel like it's going well, but there are always random factors that influence it. I wish I didn't feel so tired all the time....but, ah well. Not talking to Adam is still weird, particularly on the weekends. Hard to believe that on Tuesday he will have been gone two weeks. How is it that time can seem to move so much more slowly when you're waiting for something? In the meantime, I'm definitely keeping busy with school stuff and trying to reward myself in small ways. I could definitely use a fun trip somewhere, though. Right now, my breaks look like a bowl of chocolate cereal, playing with Larisa's puppy Chang (Thai for elephant), and wondering why there's a bunny hopping around the floor of a nearby restaurant.

Oh, Thailand...what will you think of next?