Back to the Mayhem

After five weeks, the flood waters have finally receded enough for us to return to our apartment in Thailand. Our school is still cancelled until December 13th, but since all the flights were booked on Korean Air until the 20th, we decided this was our chance to fly back.

Our friends Jack and Wendy picked us up at the airport, and took us back to their home for a few nights. We managed to drive to our apartment without any problems yesterday, although things are definitely still a mess. The traffic was the worst we've every seen, but we did get through. (And fortunately, we still remember how to drive on the left side of the street.) The major roads are now clear in our area, but if you look into the neighborhoods on either side of the road, people are still riding around in boats. There is trash everywhere, but although there is still a shortage of water and food, things are starting to go back to normal. We attempted to drive towards school, but that entire neighborhood is completely submerged and accessible only by boat or very tall truck.

We are very fortunate to live on the fourth floor, so all of our things are clean and safe (except for the vegetables and curry that we left in the fridge... yuck!!) The first floor of our apartment building is over knee deep in water, but it has been cleaned up and the electricity is back. It's great to see how everyone is rallying together to get through this disaster. People are helping each other with everything from clean-up, to rescue, to getting food and water. Everywhere you look, there are markets see up with food, since the normal places they would be are flooded, they set up in any available parking lot or road.

Please continue to pray for the people of Thailand. Many areas still have over 5 feet in water, and so many homes and businesses will have to be rebuilt. This water is going to take months to go away completely, and the clean-up on this thing is overwhelming. John and I have 4 more months to finish our contract. During that time, the school has extended its hours to six days a week to make up for lost time, so we will be very busy. Please pray that we will stay healthy and positive, and be able to help as much as we can.

Thank you to all who helped us during our trip. We were blown away by everyone's generosity in giving us a place to stay, food, money, entertainment, and fellowship. It was a wonderful time of refreshment and joy. We were thrilled to see everyone that we did, and to make some new friends, too. If you don't know anything about our trip, stay tuned... that's what's coming next on our crazy blog...