School is out for a month

Hello to all! Well, this semester feels like it went very quickly! My students were a lot of fun and I began to build some relationships with some of my students in the classroom. I had a group of English majors and I would chat with them a little after class or outside of class when I saw them at the university. Many of them said they would like to take another class with me, so pray that I will teach more classes that they need in the future so I can continue these relationships. I will miss them. Pray that I will see them around school as well and maybe have lunch or supper with them. All of my classes were a lot of fun and I will miss a large majority of my students.

What's next? Well, my schedule is still busy. I have graded 6 out of 7 sections of final exams. I need to have them all graded and the grades figured up by the 6th of October, so it's quite a job, but God has given me disicipline and the ability to get it done quicker than I was expecting. I should finish the last section of finals tomorrow and should finish all the grades by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, which will be ahead of schedule. We have a new system of putting the grades on the internet this year. Please pray that I will understand quickly how to do it and it will not be a cause of stress.

In other news, I will be doing flowers for my friend's wedding on October 11th and my parents and their neighbors will be coming for a visit on October 14th! I am a little overwhelmed with the flowers for the wedding because it's the first time I've ever done it by myself, but I have 4 other girls from church helping me and plans are getting under way very nicely. God has given me wisdom into what they will possibly need and I've been checking with other married women here just to make sure I didn't miss anything. I am VERY excited to see my parents again as it has been a little over a year and a half. They are coming with another couple who lives close to their house. I've never met them in person, but we have talked on skype and e-mailed a little bit. I'm exciting to meet them. It has been a lot to plan, but we're coming to the end of our planning. Between hotels, activities, plane tickets, and organizing schedules, it's been interesting, but praise God I think we're almost finished. They will arrive here on the 14th and then we will all go to E. Asia for a few days to visit some family about a week later. It will be a lot of fun. Pray for them as they travel and for energy while they are here. It is a lot to travel all the way to Asia and then to adjust to new food, temperatures, and lifestyle.

Please continue praying for the political situation. There are some city elections coming up in Bangkok and one of my friends told me a Christian is running in the election. I'm not exactly sure what he is running for, but to have a Christian in office would be wonderful. As you pray for the American elections, which are also very important, please pray for the Thailand politicial situation.

Well, that is all for now. I apologize for the intermittent updates, but life got busy as I have several projects in the fire. However, now that I am not teaching and most of the final exams are graded, I have a little more freedom. Here are some more pictures of Bangkok so you can get a better idea of where I live. May God bless you all as you continue to seek Him and walk with Him.

Politics

So, I don't know how many of you have heard about the political crisis, but I know words like "State of Emergency" and "protests" and "protecting democracy" have been thrown around a lot, which could make many people nervous. I've also read a little bit of what the American news is saying and it's obvious they're interpreting things with an American mindset, which would make sense. However, I thought I would share what I have read from the international Bangkok newspapers along with some things I've heard from my Thai friends.

First, the PM has had people protesting during his entire time in office, which has been brief. The protests escalated within the past couple of weeks. There was one clash with the anti-government protesters and pro-government demonstraters, however from what I understand from people who were actually there was the pro-government demonstraters were given compensation in order to cause a scene, hence the PM was looking for a reason to call for a "state of emergency" and, as many believe, he created one. However, the leader of the army refused to use force against the people to break up the demonstration, even though a state of emergencey would allow him all the power he needed to get them out of the equivalent of the White House. Last week, the PM said he was going to remove the "state of emergency" because no one was listening to it anyway. Yes, I actually read that in the Bangkok Post.

This week has been a bit more interesting. The PM was brought to trial for violating the constitution. What did he do? He hosted a cooking show and recieved payment for it. Did he break the law? Yes. By Thai law, no PM is to accept any money outside of his payment as a PM. Did he do a silly thing to break that law? In my opinion, yes. What is even more ironic is that he was dismissed as PM on Tuesday and now his current party is renominating him for the "new" PM. Is this legal? Somehow, yes it is. I'm not exactly sure how, but I have been assured by many people and newspapers that it is legal. Early this morning I saw that a lot of people were against him becoming the PM again and many powerful people do not want it, but we shall see what happens. They were supposed to vote today, however less than half the Parliament showed up because they didn't agree, but rather than say no, they just didn't go to vote. So, since not enough people showed up to vote, they couldn't vote on it.

Now, the big question . . . What is life like in a "state of emergency"?

For me, nothing was different. I went to work. I came home. My students studied adn they went home. For primary and high schools, teachers and students got 3 days off. If you were around the government district, it might have been a little tense, but everywhere else in Bangkok, life proceeded as normal.

Please don't get too worried if you hear these things in the news. The best thing to do is to go to a Bangkok international newspaper or talk to me :D. I hope you laughed about some of it as I have while all of this has been happening. However I would greatly appreciate your prayers as there is more to this story than I know. More is here than meets the eye and money is an ugly thing when used badly. Pray for the people of Thailand and for the leaders as well.