2009 has come!!!!

New Year's is a much bigger deal in Thailand than it is in America. My theory on this is that Thais aren't tired from Thanksgiving and Christmas, so they're ready to party! After mid-terms week, I got another week off. Traditionally, Thais go to visit their parents and other family members during New Years, so Arm and I followed suite and went to his hometown for 3 days. What did we do? Eat, sit in the house and talk or watch television, clean the fish tank, ride around rice fields on a motorcycle, and visit family members. We ate mu-ga-tat, which is an amazing Thai BBQ. Basically, you buy and cut up a lot of raw meat and vegetables and then you cook the meat as you eat it. It's honestly a lot of fun and perfectly safe if you do it yourself. Going to restaurants is usually fine too.

It was a nice time to spend with his family and just relax from the big city. We didn't take any pictures from New Year's, however, I do have pictures from other trips to his hometown that I'll include in this post.

Please pray for continued discipline in my work as it is the middle of the term and it is the tiring part of the term. I have to stay up on all my classes and make sure I cover everything and get all of their grades in on time. Also pray for Jan (the student who came to church last week). She said she would come back this week, but she never came. Her family might have gone on a trip for New Year's or something else could have happened. Pray she will come back. I will probably see her tomorrow.

Enjoy the pictures and may God bless you in the new year!!!