Goverment Protests

I don't know if any of you have been following the news, but things have been heating in Thailand. Thais are unhappy with the current Prime Minister and the party he represents and want him to resign. The demonstrations have been going on for several weeks, but have escalated the last couple days with tear gas being used and some of the airports and train stations closed. Today there was an emergency parliamentary meeting.

Here is the link for the cnn coverage of the latest news:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/31/thailand.protests.ap/index.html

Olympics

This year was my first experience watching the Olympics from outside America. Thailand was certainly proud of their athletes. By the end of the Olympics they had 4 medals and ranked in the 30's for total medal count. The two gold medalists are pictured above, one for weightlifting and one for boxing. Thailand is a country that rewards its medalists with money. Actually
according to the internet, Thailand -- so far -- is giving the highest financial incentive to its Olympic medalists. Gold medalists will earn $314,000, silver medal winners will take home $187,788 while a bronze is worth $125,213.

I have a little black and white 4 inch T.V. at my house, so I caught some of the Olympics on that. Of course, it was all Thai narration though, and they don't really do segments that show the back stories of athletes like the coverage in America. I think the most frustrating thing for me, was that there was no schedule of what events they were showing each day. So I just randomly turned on the T.V. and watched whatever was on. Some of the sports that were most popular for Thais are ping pong, weightlifting, boxing, and water sports. Things like gymnastics and track and field were not given as much coverage. Just this week, my teammate gave me some coverage she downloaded so I was finally able to watch Phelps races which were very exciting...even if I did already know the outcome. I'm still hoping to catch up on some of the gymnastic coverage through the internet when I am back in the States next month.

Anyways, it was fun to cheer on the Americans and just to watch so many skilled athletes from all over the world compete together!

Isaan Conference

This past weekend I attended a YWAM conference with one of the teams from Ubon that I am looking into. The 3 day conference was all in Thai, so it was good practice, but also the reality that I still have a long ways to go in being able to understand and speak. It was great to be with others who have a heart for Isaan. Almost everyone was Korean or Thai with a few of us other ones sprinkled in :) My roommates were really sweet...all single girls, two of them working all by themselves. I was blessed to meet more Thai brothers and sisters who know the Lord and have a heart for ministry. On the last night, we had a "mini-Olympics" and pig roast.

Country Living

Rice Planting 2008

This is some of the farmland of Ning's relatives. I've been able to go out a couple times this month to help plant rice. You can see the different stages...plowing, planting, transplanting etc. This year has been very dry. It is quite late for the farmers to still be planting. But they have had to wait for the rain to fill in the fields. Even with some of the rain , many still need to pump in water like one of the pictures shows. The last picture shows a field that hasn't fared to well. Some of the plants have died already, so Ning's grandma wanted me to take a picture of her so that she can ask the gov't for money to compensate for some of the harvest that will be lost.

Mother's Day Dance

Some of the Jr. High students prepared 3 different Isaan dances to perform during the Mother's Day Ceremony at school.

Mother's Day Ceremony

I'm not sure why all these pictures are on here twice.... Anyways, last week August 12th was the Thai Mother's Day. Mother's Day is chosen based on when the Queen of Thailand's birthday is. At the school where I teach, they had a special ceremony in honor of the moms. First, there was the Buddhist string tying ceremony. After that, the mothers came and sat up front while their children came to bow in front of them, offer flowers, and receive a blessing. I got to sit up front and "fill in" as a mom for those students who don't have a mother or those whose mothers were not able to come.