Happy New Year, and December update

                    

From the East...

                              

To the West...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2012!!

It has been quite the month since we got back to Thailand. We enjoyed a week without classes: getting resettled, dealing with flood clean-up, and relearning the rhythm of life here. We were able to help a family from church clean their house after two months of sitting underwater. We had to wear masks to protect from the terrible mold that covered everything, but the house looked completely different by the time we left!

The bathroom, before and after:

Then, it was time for second semester to start. I won't go into too many details about all that, cause it would be hard to keep from complaining, but let's just say that we will be glad to finish this school year and get away from the controlling environment of Kasintorn. Nonetheless, it was good to see our students again and pick up classes where we left off. This semester is very challenging cause they're trying to make up for time lost. So we have 2 extra periods per day, as well as school on Saturdays. We are tired, and so are the students:

 We had a nice, quiet Christmas by ourselves in the morning, and went over to some friends' house in the afternoon for a game of Cranium. It felt strange to be so far away from our families for the first time, but we got to enjoy our little nest here.

 

And the winner of the most random gift from a student this year goes to Dana. What is it she is holding, you ask? It is... a pink plastic pig that says "I heart Summer" with a fan coming out of its head. The best part is that you can only turn it on by connecting it to a computer via USB. I have several questions: 1. Who would ever invent such a thing? 2. What company would ever then agree to make such a thing? And most importantly 3. Who would ever think to give such a thing to their child's teacher? I love it!

 Here's John at Chatuchak Market, where we went on a gift-buying spree. It's supposedly the largest covered stall-type market in the world and it's totally mind-blowing!

We hope you are all well and had wonderful holidays. Stay in touch!!

Please pray for us as we consider what we will do next year. Most of you already know, we are planning a trip across Europe in April in May, and then we are open to whatever God has in store for us next. Thanks!