weekend away

Well, I think I'm going to start posting on the weekends as my life seems to be getting busy during the week. This past weekend I went out of town (kind of a last minute decision) about 2 hours outside of Bangkok. I went with some girls from my care group at the church I've been going too. It was wonderful. I got to know some of the girls and realized my Thai is getting a lot better. When they explained about a game we were going to play, I didn't understand in Thai or when they translated into English just because it wasn't really clear. However between Thai and English, I got the game figured out :D.



Oddly enough, I think the highlight for me was seeing this waterfall. I have seen Niagra Falls, and small trickling waterfalls, but I've wanted to see one like this for a long time. It was even better because it was a complete surprise. I had no idea it would be that big!






We also got to see wild monkeys. They were so cute!!!!! I want a pet monkey! One sat close to us on the fence and he just sat so perfectly!!! I wanted to take him home and name him Bob and keep him forever and ever. hahaha. Here's pictures of the monkeys walking around.

These last two weeks have been extremely tiring. I've been trying to . . .

- learn how a big university works (since CRU is definately a small university in comparison and the school I went to is like 1/100th of the size of KU)

- learn all my student's faces (since I see them all over campus)

- keep up with the students I've let into my classes as opposed to those I've turned away (definately turned away more)

- figure out when I'm supposed to give quizzes in each of my four subjects since none of them coincide

- plan lessons (which is much easier than in Chiangrai)

- grade/correct papers

- and of course . .. TEACH (21 hours of my week)

It's been an adventure and I'm getting tired. I wake up every morning by 5:45 and leave my house by 6:30 because of traffic and bus schedules, if I leave later than that I could be late to school. However, I like it in the mornings at the university because it's peaceful and I have time to read my Bible and look over my lessons before my day starts. However, I've been bringing work home too since I'm not in a schedule yet. Many nights I've been working until 11:00 on various things. Hopefully this week things will be better as the add/drop period has ended and things seem to be settling down. However, I would covet your prayers for energy and wisdom.

My students have started waving at me when I'm around campus (or acknowledging nods from some of my guy students, which I take as a compliment) and I've been having a blast hanging out with Ting and her friends. It's nice having friends who are students because then I can see both sides of the university world and I know the students' tricks. haha. Because of my sister, I've already banned computers in my classes because she would talk to me online instead of listening to her teacher hahahaa. It also shows the other students that I want to hang out with them because I can't hide anywhere in Thailand. So, they see me hanging out with other students and they feel more comfortable talking to me. The students definately aren't used to a teacher hanging out with them, etc, however I think they like it. Please pray for wisdom in how to get to know them outside of class and show them I care while still maintaining somewhat of a teacher student relationship. Thanks to everyone! I love and miss you all. May God bless you.