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.