God is Working in Incredible Ways!

It is sometimes hard to put into words experiences that you have, especially when the resounding word to describe the experience is 'surreal'. But I want to keep those of you at home up to date with what is happening in my classroom/life here in Thailand, so I am about to give it my best shot. I have shared these experiences with my teaching colleagues here and we are being blown away by God's presence in my classroom, so it is about time I caught some of you up.

Each morning we have devotion time with my kids, and it is often hard to know what to do in a 30 minute block that is allotted to devotions. Most kids are late and rolling in after the bell, as they operate on Thai time here (makes sense...it is Thailand!), so sometimes it feels unofficial to start anything before most of the kids have arrived. Regardless of this, I think devotions is one of the most important times of the day, so I want it to be something that the kids can relate to and inspires them. Initially, I was completely unsure of how this would happen, and prayed that God would provide direction for me as I conjured up topics and plans for devotions. This may sound crazy and unorganized, but I heard God clearly tell me not to plan ahead and just go day by day (if you know me, you know that I am someone who likes to plan ahead, so this is not me at all). But this is exactly what I did. The first day I thought to myself, what would help me with devotions? I have no idea what my kids know or believe, so that makes it hard to know what to say. Without knowing your audience, you are just throwing ideas out and hoping that someone catches something. God was like, well then ask your students, silly. Ok, so maybe God didn't call me silly, but that is sure how I felt. I decided to have my students do an opinion write on what they believed about God. I emphasized that they didn't have to believe the same thing as me, and that was the beauty of opinion. I was a little scared that they might all say that they believed in God because their teacher did, and they just wanted to appease me. That was not the case. In fact, I saw brutal honesty out of my kids, and applauded their opinion writing. They understood the basis of an opinion write, and I was excited. One of my kids told me this: So with Noah there was a flood. God promised that their would be no more floods, but Thailand is under water, so God does not exist. Logical. Biblical basis. Grade four understanding of this story. She wrote with a certain amount of attitude, but clearly explained to me in her logical reasoning why God does not exist. I was so thankful that she was honest, because now we have something to talk about.

In other writings, students explained to me that they did not believe in God because he does not stop bad things from happening to them. The children from this school grow up in area where they see a lot at a young age. Unfortunately, a lot of children will get chased and attacked by dogs on a  frequent basis, and two of them wrote about this. They said, if God loves me then why would he allow these dogs to chase me all the time? They are asking the age old question of if God loves us, then why does he allow suffering? I was completely blown away. I knew God needed to work in me, because I know how to answer this, but only in an intellectual, academic way. How am I supposed to convey what I know to these children at a grade four level, and when they are all ESL students? Instantly I started praying that God would give me a way to portray what I know in a childlike way. I know I need to be taught so much more to understand this at a simple level. It's crazy to think that to understand something more basically, you have to have a much greater understanding of it. If you know me at all, you will know that the past years of my life have taught me a lot about suffering and it has been a huge learning experience. I have learned a lot about Job and this has been something that I have literally been studying for years.

I knew that my kids needed to hear this, and God made it clear. Tell the kids about Job. When was the last time you heard a children's version of the book of Job? I mean, you hear about Noah's Ark and David and Goliath, but never about Job. Probably because it would seem too depressing, and kids could not relate. Well, maybe a lot of North American kids could not relate to this, because they have not experienced suffering to the extent of some of the kids here. So I knew I needed to share this, because God was making it clear. But how? How on earth was I going to share this with them so that they would not be completely bored out of their minds? I instantly started trying to find something exciting on youtube. A lot of kids bible stories are presented in fun ways, but I was not very hopeful when I typed in "kids bible stories job" in the search bar. To my surprise, there was one video. I started watching it, and it was not the most amazing, but it was much better than I could present. So that morning I prayed that God would open up my eyes to know what to say, and he would open up the kids eyes as well.

I started the morning by talking about Job and did a quick synopsis. I then showed them the video and told them ahead of time that I could really relate to Job. I had to explain what the word relate meant, and then started the video. It ended and we had some time to talk. I explained the reality of Job, and how some parts did not make sense, and some parts were so honest. How could he still praise God through all of this? Wouldn't you get angry? The kids started telling me that if all these things happened, they would be angry or sad, and I told them that I would be too. I thought the conversation was going well, and then one little girl (the same one who told me that she didn't believe in God because of the floods in Thailand) asked me a tough question: "Miss Chrissy. You said you relate to Job. How do you relate to Job?" Instantly, I prayed to God. "HELP!" was the extent of my prayer. How do I answer this in a way that they will understand. I explained to them that I had lost some friends and it was very said. I asked them how they would feel if they came to school tomorrow and their friends weren't there? They all were shocked, and then something unreal started happening in the classroom. One child raised their hand and told me that their puppy died, and that was really sad. I told him that this was very sad, and I was sorry that happened. Once he did this, almost every child in the class raised their hand. I took questions one by one, but none of them were questions. They were comments. "My aunt died because she got run over by a car". "My uncle died too". "My dad die because of this". Each child could tell me about a tragic situation in their own lives, and they were all itching to let me know. It was an unbelievable moment. Seriously unbelievable. In that moment I knew my classroom was a place that these children felt were safe, and they started sharing. It has not even been a week of school, and the kids feel safe. God is already working in unbelievable ways in this classroom, and that moment confirmed this. All of the sudden as I took the comments, it was time for flag. Flag happens after devotions at 9am each morning, and all classes come out and stand on the balcony. It is mandatory that all classes are out there. It could not have come at a worse time. There was huge breakthrough happening in my class, and I needed to take them outside to sing the Thai anthem and hear announcements. Shoot. Ok, but it needed to happen. So we went outside, and when we came back in I assumed their brains would be switched out of devotions mode. Automatically when we got back in the class, the conversation resumed with a students question. We continued devotions and then I told them that we could resume after school or tomorrow morning.

That night I thought about what I could do following that. Once again, I felt like God gave me clear direction. I had not read anything directly from the bible to them yet, because sometimes it is very hard for them to understand English. There are times when I read the bible and wonder what it is meaning, so I definitely feared that the stories would be lost in translation. But I felt like God was saying that I should start teaching them about how to read a bible, and start reading to them from Job. Ok God, I will do that then. Now picture a class full of students (well, 13 of them) as the most captive audience. I never imagined that a bible story would come so alive to them. God gave me the ability to paraphrase what was happening so that they understood, and we had great conversation around how we would be feeling if we were in Job's shoes. When I told them that we were done and would continue tomorrow, they were sad. I had taught them how to find something in the bible, and I told them that it was divided into Chapters by name, instead of by numbers like their math textbooks. When I said this, one of my students raised his hands and asked if he could have a bible! I was SO excited! YES! Yes, I would love to give you a bible. Someone else tuned in and said "me too!". I was beyond excited. I then took a class vote to see how many students would like a bible? 10 out of 13 kids wanted a bible. Wow. This was unreal!!! Also, I was so excited in this moment, because I knew that the three who did not want bibles were comfortable enough in my class to be able to share their real opinion. I was actually so excited that they felt the freedom to say that they did not want one!

Quick Side Note: It is super hard to find kids bibles here. I SO badly want to provide my students with bibles. If you have access to somewhere where you can purchase a kids bible, and could send one here, I would LOVE that! Just send me a message and I will gladly send you the address. I am willing to pay for it, if money is an issue. I just do not have access to Kids Bibles over here, and there is a need for those!

There have been many great, great moments in my class. Students have taken my bible off my desk to ask if they can read it for silent reading. Other students have asked to read my devotion book off my desk as well! I know that they probably do not understand what it is saying, but I am praying that God is working and allowing them to gain something from that. Even if they don't understand, they have a desire to know more about this incredibly real God that I am talking about.

This week has been a week where God has been revealing to me the purpose for me being here. I asked over and over what my purpose was for being here, and he is answering. I know that this year is about way more than just meeting the curriculum goals. It is about far more than teaching, and that is the least I can offer these kids. I have a class that was handmade for me with kids that just need to know they are loved. Students who have had parents die at a young age, students who do not speak in grade four, and students who have a disability and have been retained. Each student in my class has been handpicked for this class for a reason. I know that I have the ability to love these students, and I am confident that God is going to use that this year. Please continue to pray that God will use me as a vessel of His love more and more this year. I know God is working in amazing ways, and I have seen a large glimpse of that this past week. However, when God works in amazing ways, I feel that I am being attacked at times. Please continue to pray for me and the children that I teach, and that I would be protected through this (sometimes) tough journey.

I am sorry for the lengthy post, but there has been so much happening here, so it is hard to elaborate in a blog post. I am sure there is more happening that I have missed, but I would love to share with you if you have any questions. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers!

A Cultural Experience!

Today I attended my first cultural ceremony, and it was an interesting experience. I learned several surprising things about the culture here, and was both a keen observer and a participant in this ceremony. I kind of wish I could have been just the former, but the latter was part of the ceremony and its purpose, so I followed suit. Today was something called Wai Kru. Wai is what the Thai people do to show respect and it is where they bring their hands together in a prayer position and then slightly bow at you. I feel so ridiculous whenever anyone wai's (not sure if that is how thats spelt) at me, because I feel completely unworthy of their respect. I always feel very young, so it seems strange to me that parents wai at you, and some will do this without ceasing. I had a mom come to visit me simply because her daughter had told her how beautiful I was, so she quote "had to come see". The whole time she would wai every three seconds (approximately) and I felt so uncomfortable. I understand she was only trying to show respect, but it boggles my mind that I am a figure that someone thinks they should respect that much.

In Canada, teachers are not held in as high regard as teachers are here. Today's ceremony was a time for students to Wai to their kru. Kru is the word for teacher. The ceremony is a time where all students bring flowers to school for their teachers, and there is a ceremony held to present these flowers and to show their respect to their teachers. If this same ceremony was held in Canada, I have a feeling there would be a lot less participation.

Entering this ceremony, I was unsure what to expect. I knew that I was bringing my students and I knew the basic premise of the ceremony. I knew that I was not going to be going to the front until the primary teachers before me, so I was hoping that I would be able to follow their lead. Luckily, I made it through with no large social blunder and I successfully survived my first cultural ceremony. I must add that the announcing during the ceremony was taking place all in Thai, so it actually was a little confusing. With my very limited knowledge of Thai, and the fact that they were not saying hello or thank you, I was pretty much hooped. I hoped that I could recognize my English name somewhere in the ceremony preceded by Kru and then I would know it was time to do something. Luckily, I was given good direction by a fellow experienced teacher.

I find it very awkward to sit in front of a room full of people as students come forward and Wai to you. Maybe this will become less strange over time, but it is so unlike anything I have ever experienced, so it is a lot to take in. I think I associate their Wai-ing with bowing, when that is not what it is. It is simply a sign of respect to that person, but it seems to me that they are bowing at you. I don't like the feeling of being bowed at, and it makes me feel uncomfortable. I am not really sure if it is appropriate to Wai back at people, but I usually do. If they respect me, I can respect them too right? That's probably not how things are supposed to work, but I am not really sure anyways.

The most interesting part of this ceremony was what the students did as there were speeches and people presenting. They talked through the entire thing. I wondered why the presenter would even start talking when the room was not paying attention and was full of grades 1-6 students chatting away. I thought it was so rude, and was so confused. Sarah and I began hushing students, but quickly saw that most students were talking, not just one or two. I was informed that this is the way that people who are Thai will be during a ceremony. If parents are in attendance, they apparently will also talk. This is something that would be seen as rude and disrespectful in North American culture, but here it is tolerated and almost expected. I found it odd that we were in a ceremony that was centred around respect, but the students talked through the presenters and the founder of the school speaking. The only time that they were quiet was to sing some songs. I think they were anthems, but I am not entirely sure because most of the ceremony was in Thai so I was not quite sure what was going on.

Here are some photos of the lovely flowers I received from my students today! These are the ones I brought home, and I still had three bunches to decorate my classroom with!

Such beautiful colours!!

Kids are funny (especially when you don't understand them!)

Walking into the classroom this week I was confused. I didn't know what I was teaching, or what I could teach. I wanted to be able to be something I couldn't, so I felt disoriented. My head was filled with disappointment for what this year might look like and very little clarity of what I was expected to be doing. It has only been a week of teaching, but I have learned not to trust many people. I am very organized and every time I relied on someone for something, it ended up falling through. Let's just say, with the combination of all of this, I was a little less excited for my first full week of teaching than I ever wanted to be. All this diminished though the minute the students walked through the door. I have 13 little students who absolutely love me (I taught them this....they don't know any better yet) and the minute they walked through the door their bright eyes and excited looks made me realize why I am here.

So I have decided that funny things happen often here and the students do things that I constantly want to tell people. So I may just start posting sporadically about the funny things my children do. So to start off I have a few funny moments. One of them happened today when I misunderstood my students accent. This little girl wouldn't leave my side during recess and wanted to know everything she could possibly ask me. She wanted to know my favourite food, my favourite animal, my favourite this and that, and anything else she could drill me with. Then after asking me my favourite animal she asked me my favourite snake. Oh dear goodness. My response was "I don't like them at all". She said "None of them....at all?" I was horrified and told her "No, none of them". She looked horrified that I didn't like snakes, and then said "so I can't bring you any?" Absolutely not was what I was thinking, but I was also a little confused at this point. How could this little child who seemed so nice (and also happened to be named Peace) be so evil and want to bring me snakes? That is awful! I didn't respond quickly because I was deep in thought about how she couldn't possibly be this mean-spirited. She repeated herself and I realized what our problem was. I replied "Oh, snacks?" and she replied "yes" and looked at me as if to say "yeah, we've been talking about them for the past 5 minutes, crazy". My mind had automatically thought we were still talking about animals, because we went from favourite animal to favourite snake/snack! Needless to say, her name will not have to be changed from Peace to War, and she remains a darling young girl who seems to have no strong affinity to my reptilian arch-nemesis.

Another thing I find quite humorous is the difference between me and my students. Well, I mean there are far too many to count, but some of them are just hilarious. Obviously we have a very different language capacity for their mother-tongue and a lot of them do not communicate very well in English. But something that kills me is their belief that the classroom is a tundra when it is 30 degrees in there. When I have to set the air conditioning to 30 degrees, I think that is erring on the side of heating and not air conditioning. my kids can be overly dramatic sometimes and they will be shivering their teeth and telling me that the room is FREEZING (I put that in capitals to help you imagine the emphasis the students may use). Of course, Miss Chrissy then feels awful and changes the temperature. A blazing 32 degrees of air ( I can no longer say air conditioning, because I don't even think that is cold). Nothing like sweating through the school day just to please the students. I told them to bring sweaters to school because Miss Chrissy is from Canada and you need to feel sorry for her because she is not used to the temperatures here yet. Yesterday one of my students looked at me and exclaimed "Miss Chrissy! It's 28 degrees in here!" I instantly felt his panic and thought to myself, yikes that is too hot! Unfortunately, that was not what he was thinking at all... he was exclaiming that it was far too cold in the room. I looked back at him, and kind of cheekily inquired as to how he knows exactly what the temperature is, hoping that he would become sidetracked and I could not have to raise the temperature. Instead, he surprised me by telling me that his watch has the temperature on it. Of course it does. His watch is also the size of his head and probably has everything from the current time in Africa to his BMI stored in it somewhere. I should not be surprised that my student in Asia has such technology. Unfortunately this meant that I needed to change the temperature again. Awesome. I think I am going to label my classroom the tundra and post a sign that says "sweaters required" on the outside of the door! I showed my students some photos of Canada today and later when I was asking them if they could pray to God and ask for one thing, they said they would pray for snow in Thailand. I then told them that they were not ready for snow if they couldn't handle the temperature of the classroom currently when it is set to 32 degrees. This made a lot of the boys angry, because they knew I was right. They did not ask me to change the temperature again today. I am winning.

Discovering Who I am as a Teacher

I apologize to those of you who might have started reading this thinking that it would include some humour and be a lighthearted blog post about my experiences here in Thailand. This blog won't be funny, so if that is what you were expecting, read no further. I am writing to share what I am experiencing right now, and it is coming from a more somber standpoint. I have been seriously struggling the past few days with what my purpose here is, and it is still unclear. I thought I came here to be a teacher and use what I have learned to be able to impact my students. The problem with that lies in the fact that I believe in the Canadian education system, and I do not believe in the education system here in Thailand. I have been faced with many different viewpoints that differ completely from mine and the way I have been taught. If you are from GES and you are reading this, I caution you to stop reading now. If you read further, that's your own fault and I can't say I didn't warn you. Every time anything is brought up, I feel that my views differ 100%. I do not believe in taking away student's lunches as punishment or making them run. I do not believe in assessment that includes grades for homework and participation. And I do not believe that all students can show their knowledge in the same way. I believe in a positive rewards system. You may think I am naive and this only works in the perfect world, but I assure you this is not the case. Yes, it is true that it may be harder to implement and more work, but it is possible. It is also possible to set up assessment based on the individual needs of your students, and gauge how they are best able to represent the knowledge of the curriculum goal. Once again, it will take more work than one test for all students pulled from a file folder from years past, but I believe that students have the right to different representations of knowledge, and not all students succeed and show their knowledge in one cookie-cutter way.

This past year provided me with many learning opportunities, and I am so thankful for it. I was presented with challenges and a very diverse classroom of students, but I would not change that for anything. I grew to love my classroom so much and I was taught so many valuable lessons about addressing the needs of a diverse classroom. I was taught to teach in a way that addresses a very diverse set of needs within the classroom. This is something that I believe in so much, but I can honestly say i did not know how strongly I believed in this until this past week. As I was getting the list of my students and gathering information about past student's I was really excited, because even though my classroom is small, it was a diverse bunch. I have a student who was retained, a student who speaks barely at all, and a student who does not speak English. Usually this would be scary news, but I was actually excited because I felt like I knew God's purpose for sending me here. I had learned so much about differentiation in the classroom and teaching just beyond what each student is able to achieve. I felt like it was being affirmed what my purpose this year would be, and I had an excited anticipation for what was to come.

Unfortunately I have encountered a cross-cultural difference that is hard for me to stomach. Here it is important that parents do not feel that their children are in levelled classes (even if that is the case), and they want to feel that they are getting the exact same educational experience in one classroom as they are in the next. Even if both classes are meeting the same standards, it is expected that classes at the same grade are doing similar things (same assignments, test times, etc.). You teach at the grade and not below the grade. Even if the students are below the grade. There is little to no room for differentiation, and I don't even know how to teach like this. How am I supposed to teach students above what they are capable of, if I am not filling the gaps of what has been missed and giving them a fair chance to meet the rest of their classmates at that level? It absolutely breaks my heart to hear people say that they do not "teach down" to students and they expect them to breeze through to the next grade. To me, no student should feel stupid through their entire educational journey because no one spent the time to alter the curriculum for them and teach them what they need. How is a student going to feel if they are constantly not meeting standards and falling below the curriculum goals? We are setting them up to feel like failures, and no part of me is alright with that. Teaching language arts from a textbook may work for a few students, but I am grieved for those students who don't learn best in this way. Knowing that I am in a classroom where I have certain skills and knowledge that would help them greatly that I am not able to use is killing me. It has literally been an awful couple of days thinking about the robot teacher I will have to become this year. I knew I would encounter cultural differences here, and I knew there would be frustrations. I am learning what core values I have and what I am alright with compromising. I am learning a lot about myself as a teacher and what bugs me to my core, and unfortunately I am learning quickly. I believe strongly in things I have been taught and have been able to see them work effectively in classrooms. I believe adamandtly in positive reinforcement systems, assessing students based on their individual learning needs, and differentiating all aspects of the classroom (while simultaneously meeting all curriculum goals) to provide the best chance of success for students. I am not saying this is an easy thing, and in fact teaching can be a very challenging job at times. But it is rewarding, and I always want to be able to work this hard to help my students succeed.

I am in a tricky situation. I am clashing with the culture, and I in no way want to disrespect the culture here. But my core values are not aligning with the values that the school has and is implementing for their school. I was under the impression that we would be teaching in a more North American way, because all of the English teachers here are from North America. This is not the case, however, and we stick to a lot of the traditional Thai values when it comes to certain things. Please pray that I would be able to be respectful of the cultural differences here as I teach and learn in this new culture. I am not Thai, but am expected to teach under Thai values, so this will be hard for me. Please also pray that God will provide strength for me as I continue to teach. I have lost all motivation for teaching this year, because I do not feel that I am able to be myself. Also please pray that my purpose would be known and God would provide peace for me right now. Being in a completely different place and not feeling supported in everything I know as teaching is making me incredibly homesick. I know God brought me here for a reason, but I am just really unsure of what that is right now.

First Weekend Market Experience!

This morning I woke up and was excited to experience the apparently-famous Nonthaburi market here in Thailand. Sarah and I have both been early risers the past couple days, so we headed out to the market and were excited to see an abundance of produce. Vegetables are something that most rice and noodle dishes here are lacking, so we wanted to purchase some good vegetables and obviously some delicious tropical fruit! We imagined the market to be a massive produce market with a ton of fruits and vegetables and filled with colourful textiles. This is not at all what we encountered.

Something that is quite frequent here is the presence of strong smells and nauseating odours. The market was like the vacation spot for all of these nauseating odours to congregate and have a good ol’ time. I am not usually someone who reacts strongly to smell or has a weak stomach or gag reflex, but there were moments at the market that I thought I might be sick. The market was a completely different experience than I imagined, and one that is going to take some getting used to.

As Sarah and I entered the market pig heads greeted us, and this was something that seemed like a Kodak moment. Sarah took out her camera to photograph the pig heads, because this seemed out of the ordinary. Little did we know what was coming. We were quickly greeted by massive slabs of meat swarming with bugs on tables all around us. There was nowhere to go but forward, and everything surrounding you was a raw slab of something. Each table was dripping with meat juice and the floors were covered in unidentified liquids. This was something I quickly needed to get used to, as this is far from what I have ever experienced in Canada. I tried to wipe the overwhelmed and possibly unintentional judgmental look off my face and push forward. I was assuming that there would be a produce section and I just needed to get there. As I walked through the meat section, however, I was quickly greeted with my worst nightmare. A bucket of snakes. If you know me at all, you know this is basically a five-alarm-emergency. I backed up quickly, not really knowing what I would back into as I did this. I was actually proud of my reaction. I did not scream, but did cry. This is a big step. It is probably socially unacceptable to scream in a market here, as I have been warned that public displays of emotion are not frequent here. Crying is probably also weird, but it was better than screaming and crying, right?

I am now officially terrified. I want to get out of the market, but we backtracked and found another corridor with vendors that we could get away from the snakes. Sarah is the most wonderful person, and we derived a system where she would walk ahead and signal if there were snakes or snake-like-objects up ahead. Unfortunately this was an occurrence that was more frequent than I would have  liked, and this forged the path for us. We did not make our own path, but instead were directed by the snakes in the market. Just thinking about the fact that snakes were directing us completely freaks me out, but at least I am far removed from that now.

There were a lot of eye opening experiences during our morning outing to the market, and this has made me so very aware of how much I need to become accustom to the culture here. In other words, I need to become sabai sabai as they say here. As I walking down one aisle of the market, there was a stream of blood coming off the table, and I had to yell at Sarah so she did not step in it. This is something that is acceptable here, but it would be far from that in North America. As well, there were cats everywhere. I have to admit that some of them were actually really cute, but the fact that they were hanging out with the food was another thing to adjust to. A lot of things here, such as a trip to the morning market, are completely overwhelming. Not knowing the language, and trying to communicate is a difficult task and requires a sufficient amount of energy. We have been trying to ease our way into things and take time to process what we are learning, but it is still exhausting. I pray (and would also love if you could pray!) that God grants us strength and patience as we get used to this new culture.

As I was saying, it is very difficult to communicate in a culture where barely anyone speaks English and you don’t know the language, and it is a tough language to learn. After we finally made our way out of the maze of the market, we looked around to be greeted by a completely unfamiliar street. Or at least we thought it was. We weren’t even 100% sure it was the wrong street, but we thought it didn’t look too familiar. A problem right now is that everything looks similar. There were not significant landmarks that we could pick out, and each street is filled with store fronts with Thai signs and street vendors that look practically identical. We attempted to find our way, and went down one street. Every person kept pointing us the same direction, but as we got closer and realized this was an alleyway that we were being led down, we got a little frightened. Mom (and Sarah’s mom!), if you are reading this I know you are probably terrified. We knew not to go down there, and used our better judgment to get back to the main street where there were at least a lot of people around.  We asked a lot of people (with the help of our handy Thai phrasebook) how to get back to the road we needed to be on. We imagine we were saying the road name completely wrong, as no one had any idea what we were saying. People kept speaking to us completely in Thai, and they had expressions on their face that were universal. I knew that they desperately wanted to help us, and compassion oozed out of their faces, but we just had no idea how to communicate. We tried everything we could think of, but were having a rough time. We decided we would walk down the main road and try to find our road (or a sign that we could understand). As we walked, we came to a woman who was washing her vehicle. We asked if she spoke English, and she spoke a very limited amount. This was a lot nicer than people who spoke nothing at all, however. We decided to take a taxi, and we hoped that we had been able to communicate where we needed to go to her. It is a little unnerving to get into a taxi when you are not entirely sure that they know where they are taking you. We told the man in the taxi where we were going and he nodded his head rapidly. This doesn’t mean a lot to me now though, because I have come to notice that often when people to do not understand what you are saying they will shake their head yes. Also, something completely strange to me is when someone says “no” and rapidly nods. I have left several conversations after asking for something being completely confused and not knowing whether I am leaving because they don’t have it or can’t do it, or just because I am confused. One time when asking for food, he said no and nodded, and then made me the food. Another time, when asking for coffee a man said no and was explaining something to me in Thai (great!) and then I walked away eventually because I got the notion he was saying no.

We did make it back to the school (cost: $1.00…everything here is really cheap!!) and I am so thankful that God is watching over us as we step out and adventure here. We are taking small steps and adjusting slowly, and it is definitely something to get used to. I am loving it so far and really happy that we have some time to settle in before orientation and teaching begins.

Wipeout (And I'm not talking about the TV show...)

I made a critical error while packing this weekend, and today it came back to haunt me. Usually when something comes back to haunt you it is after years, and sometimes even decades. But no, not this time. This poor packing decision came back to haunt me within 72 hours. Just awesome. The error happened when I packed all of my backpacks into storage or sent them home to Ontario because I did not have room for them in my suitcase. Sounds like the logical thing to do, but there is a small problem. In order to carry out any errand on my bike, I need something to carry belongings in. I also need the necessary In-Case-Of-Emergency diabetic supplies at all times when doing physical activity. Without a backpack, this is a difficult thing. I tried carrying everything in my pocket for one bike adventure, but this was just a little painful and awkward. When you fill your pockets with the following items: insulin, needle, glucose tablets, cell phone, and debit card, it makes sitting on your bike a little painful. I had this fear that when I was biking that the needle was going to somehow escape from the orange protective lid and attack me. This is highly unlikely, however, I think I have made it quite clear that the thoughts that I have on my bicycle are not always normal.

This morning I needed to solve this pocket-storing dilemma. I needed to take the plates off my car to remove my insurance, and there was no way these were going to fit into my pockets (well, not without some significant embarrassment). I already needed to borrow a screwdriver from the people upstairs, so I decided to ask if they had a backpack I could borrow at the same time. Knowing that they have two small girls, I was kind of awaiting a Dora the Explorer backpack or something of the sort to come out of this request. So I asked, and Sandra told me that she thought she might have one. She delivered a backpack to me within a few moments of asking, and it wasn't exactly Dora the Explorer, but a close second. She even gave me options. The first was one of those drawstring type "backpacks" that is basically a cloth bag with a string. This one did not have a drawstring, however, but instead had very child-sized yellow straps. Initially I thought it was great, and started loading up the belongings I would need for my day on the road.  Unfortunately, once I had everything loaded and I was taking the final step to put it on my back and head out, this is when I realized the issue: the straps were miniature. Like they seriously did not even close to fit on my back. So that made my decision quite easy. I would be going with option #2. Good thing I had options!

Let me explain to you what option #2 was. Sandra did not have a normal backpack, so the second option can kind of be described as a diaper-bag-looking object. She has a newborn and two young girls, so this is not an odd item for her to have. This is, however, kind of a strange thing for me to be biking around Langley with on my back. I thought about my options, and immediately noticed that bag #2 was far superior to my non-backpack option. So I took the diaper-bag-looking object and made sure that the strap was tightened enough so it would not move around as I was riding. I then began to load up my bag with the necessary materials for the day.

This is what I decided I would need for the day on the road. Keep in mind that I left the house at 10:30 this morning and will not be returning home until 8:30 this evening. I basically need two meals and everything else you would put in a survival-kit for the day. I have night class (I may or may not currently be writing this blog during night class) so I needed to pack dinner. I packed up all the contents of my house the other day, so I am living with basically nothing to cook with and food that requires something to cook it with. Example: the sweet potato that I packed into my bag because I could microwave it at Trinity. This combined with edamame beans, which I can't magically heat without a microwave or oven (without any pans for the oven). So I packed my bag with these very important items (sweet potato and edamame beans) and put the diaper bag on. I was ready to face the road.

It only took moments to realize that this diaper bag was awkward. I was cruising (by cruising I mean flying at ridiculous speeds) down the 200 st. hill to head into the downtown area. I had a close call where the weight of the bag shifted from behind my back, and I carefully had to make sure that I shifted the bag back over without falling off the sidewalk into the busy traffic (Note: I usually don't ride on the sidewalk, but I have decided that when there are a bajillion cars on the road and there are no bike lanes that I would rather be ticketed or yelled at for riding on the sidewalk, rather than dying).

So I had avoided the most embarrassing moment that could ever possibly happen while on a bicycle until this morning. That is right. I did in fact wipeout off my bicycle. It is tricky to ride with a diaper bag with considerable weight in it on your back, and I didn't execute it very well. I was just leaving from getting my insurance removed, and I was down 2 license plates and a sheet of paper. This obviously threw off the weight of my bag considerably, so I was not accustomed to what my ride would feel like (this is my main excuse for what is about to happen). So I took a corner hurriedly and all of the sudden the bag on my back shifted and swung a lot. I needed to compensate for this swing, but I couldn't do this before something awful happened. I was focused on how to re-swing the bag back to my back, but at this moment my bike had responded to the massive amount of weight that had shifted from above the frame of my bicycle (I blame it on the sweet potato) . I now have a simple problem of the distribution of weight on my bike. My weight is distributed evenly on the frame of the bike, and this is how I am able to ride. When I am riding with the bag on my back, the weight is still evenly distributed. When the bag swung, this weight is now no longer evenly-distributed and myself  and the bike swung to the side. As the bike veered, I just happened to meet a pothole (what are the chances!?) and the rest is history. Me and my bike, shoulder, and face met the ground quite quickly. It was graceful. I'm sure of it.

Now let me explain where this took place. If you know Langley at all you will maybe feel sorry for me, and if not, you probably won't understand this at all. But what you need to know is that it is possibly one of the busiest intersections that I could have fallen at. I was directly by the Willowbrook Mall on 200th across from the Tim Hortons and McDonalds. It couldn't have been busier. Immediately when I fell, every car that was there rolled down their window in shock to ask if I was alright. Yes, I was alright. My pride was injured, but I would survive. I got up and tried explaining to one woman that the pothole killed me, but I just gave up. I couldn't do anything but laugh hysterically at myself.

So I think this means I am becoming a more seasoned biker. Everyone has to fall at one point in their biking career, and I have now successfully checked that off my list of things to do!

Chrissy vs. Hill

Each time I am about to encounter the massive hill on my way home from Trinity I imagine that it will become easier and easier, and one day it will pass by unknowingly and I will wonder where it went. Unfortunately it has come to my attention that this is not a reality, and that hill will never pass by without some serious motivational chanting (inner dialogue, of course). As I was about half way through the hill, I remembered those wise words from my father: "Chrissy, this hill would be a blessing to a professional cyclist. They would have to travel hundreds of kilometers to find a beauty like this" (or something to that effect). I had a choice, I could view this as a blessing, or I could view it as a really sucky huge hill that just generally sucks. Let me make it clear that it is a lot easier to view the hill as a blessing when you are not in the middle of it. I am sure I could view it as a blessing from the top looking down, or maybe even from a car, or some form of public transit.....or a horse....or anything that didn't require my legs to move me up it. Just kidding, but I noticed something as I was recalling what my dad said. It would be a blessing to a professional cyclist. Key words: to a professional cyclist. Now, we don't have to hold a meeting to discuss and vote on whether I am a professional cyclist. It is a unanimously resounding no.

I have not managed to become a professional cyclist, but I have managed to become professional at one thing: encouraging myself! This is a necessary thing when your legs don't want to move anymore, and you still have kilometers left of a hill. If you think I am exaggerating about kilometers of hill, I am not. I mapped it out, and there are 2 km of hill with the bottom (first portion) being rather severe. You don't exactly have time to ease into this hill. It just hits you, and before you know it you are motivationally speaking to yourself (important part: this must remain in your head, or else you look crazy!).

As I was motivationally chanting my way up the hill, it crossed my mind that even though I was not chanting aloud and looking crazy for that reason, that I may have the strangest facial expressions. I mean, every part of me is tired, and in my head I am repeatedly telling myself how great I am and how I can't stop pedalling or else (note: I am not really sure what the 'or else' even means when I say it to myself, but it makes me seem more serious to myself). This combination probably produces the strangest facial expressions. Not only that, but when you start becoming conscious of how strange your facial expressions may be, I swear they get exponentially worse. Then you try to forget that you even had that thought, but it's one of those thoughts that happens and you can't take it back.

I am a long, long way from ever being close to a professional cyclist, but perhaps I will strive for something else: professional encourager. I may look silly, but if I keep telling myself that I am great and I can do it, I think I am winning! Take that, big hill!!