TESOL Classes Begin

First off, for those of you who aren't familiar with TESOL, it stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. We are taking an intensive 3 week course in order to earn our TESOL certificates that allow us to teach English anywhere in the world. We are in a classroom with 14 other students; most are from the US, but there is another young couple from England, and a woman from Russia, as well.

We just finished our third day of class. It's been super fun, but also mentally exhausting. Our brains got out of shape in the past year and a half since we graduated, I guess. In addition to lesson planning, teaching techniques, and exercises, we have had Thai sessions every day. Before leaving for Asia, we started working on learning the Korean alphabet, but now that we know we will be staying in Thailand, we have to switch gears and learn the much-more-complicated Thai language. So here's a quick lesson for all you fellow beginners:

Sa-wat-dee-kah! (for the ladies) and

Sa-wat-dee-krap! (for the men)

Hello!

We have been learning a lot about Thai culture as well. First off, no one cooks here. Everyone goes out for every single meal, including breakfast. You can get a good sized meal for less than a dollar, so it's just easier for everyone to go out. Perhaps the hardest thing for us is that Thai people eat exactly the same thing for breakfast as for any other meal. One of these days, we're going to have to have someone ship us some bread and Nutella! :)

We have enjoyed getting to know our fellow TESOL students, and explore Chiangmai with them.

Everyone gets around in these red trucks called song thaew:

On Monday, our instructors took us to the Northern Thailand Cultural Center, where we ate a traditional Northern meal (on the floor), and watched several traditional folk dances:

It was a family style meal with everyone sitting on the floor and sharing from these dishes. No, John and I didn't actually eat all that food by ourselves. We learned from Sangeeta, one of our teachers, that the reason people in ancient societies always eat sitting on the floor is that when you have to bend over for every bite, you never overeat. It hurts too bad!! A good lesson learned...

Then, they even made me (Dana) dance on stage:

We also had our first experience with a Buddhist temple. Thailand is about 97% Buddhist, and since the Buddhist lent has just begin, we saw many, many monks at the temple during their worship service.

Tonight, we explored a different part of the city with the British couple. We took a trolley through Chiangmai University. We found a great Korean-style restaurant, and were very proud of ourselves for figuring out how to order and what to do with the food. Basically, they pour broth into a fondue pot and you order side dishes of meat, veggies, rice, noodles, etc and drop it all it there. You can also barbecue the meat on the grill. It was absolutely delicious!!

Prayer Requests:

-Several of our classmates have gotten very sick from mosquito bites or the water. Please pray that we will continue to have good health.

-Please pray that we will not be afraid to share our faith in a culturally-appropriate way, and that we would form good relationships and have good conversations with our fellow students.

Love you!!

John and Dana

Arrival in Chiang Mai

Isn't travel an amazing thing? You sit down in a chair, wait a while, and two days later you on on the other side of the globe!

Well, we made it. After 4 flights, many hours in the airport, and a neck ache from carrying our heavy luggage, we are finally in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We both feel much better after a good night's sleep in a real bed, and are ready to settle in and get ready for training (it starts tomorrow).

Chiang Mai is situated in Northern Thailand. It is really beautiful here, tropical and green. We landed yesterday, stepped off the plane, and immediately started sweating, although the lady that picked us up said that it was cool and comfortable compared to normal! We settled into the hotel room that will be our home for the next 3 weeks, and spent the afternoon exploring the area around here. The main street is littered with food carts and tiny restaurants, and although we don't speak Thai (or read the alphabet), through a combination of pointing and grunting, we were able to order or first Thai meal. Here are some pictures:

More street food. Yum!
Our first Thai meal. We were so proud of ourselves for ordering food for the first time, especially since we don't speak any Thai, the vendor doesn't speak English, and the menu was all in the Thai alphabet.
Our first breakfast in Bangkok
Exhaustion in Shanghai.
My best friend Nikki has been teaching in South Korea for a year. We got to see her in the LA airport for about 10 minutes. She was going back to Denver, and we were coming from Denver. Nice God moment.
John and all our heavy luggage...

The Pre-Show

Well, the adventure began even before we left the US. We had been waiting for several months to hear back from Henry, our contact in Korea, about a teaching position. Since he stopped responding to our emails, we decided to write our American TESOL Institute (ATI) contact in Thailand and ask her what was going on. We finally received an email from her 6 days before we were supposed to leave. It said that since they could not find us a job in Korea, we should postpone the trip to Thailand until September, and then re-apply for jobs in Korea next March! This came as quite a shock, obviously.

We decided that we still really wanted to go to Asia this year, so we asked her to try finding us a job any where she could, and prayed that God would lead. Finally, about 32 hours before our plane was scheduled to leave Denver, she responded and told us to come to Thailand.

So here is the new plan (at least until it changes again): We are going to Chiangmai, Thailand to receive our TESOL certificates. Then, we will hopefully teach somewhere in Thailand for 4-5 months, and maybe re-apply for a job in South Korea after that.

What have we learned through all this? We know that God knows what he is doing, and that we can trust him no matter what. Also, we have no idea what this year will hold, so it will be as much a surprise to us as we write this blog as to you that read it.

Love you all!

John and Dana