May musings

I thought I'd post a few snippets from our day-to-day life this month. It's May. The end of term is less than 3 weeks away and, as all teachers and parents know, it's a pretty mad and emotional time of year - tests, projects, awards (or not), graduations, farewells, parties. There's a lot for kids (and parents) to get frazzled about.. . . . . and a lot of reasons to turn to the Prince of Peace and rest in Him. Sometimes we do a better job of that than others but He is faithful.

Here's a few eclectic thoughts and pics from our activities this month.

The rains have come now, so the pollution is mostly gone (hallelujah!) and we are enjoying being outside again. Badminton in the garden in the evening, biking to school again and even a family bike ride this past weekend.

Just getting ready to turn into our driveway.

When we first came to Chiangmai on holiday from India, we hired bikes and rode around the old city, so somehow it feels reminiscent of being on holiday when we take the time to ride again. Always good to play tourist in your home town.

Biking amongst the pigeons and the tourists at Thapae Gate. 

We have also been making the most of time left with special friends. The end-of-year farewells when living overseas are hard, and this year particularly so for some of us. Our church does an annual farewell service at this time of year and our school puts on a sale for people to sell off their possessions before they pack up. Both of those were last weekend. The goodbyes are coming and we can't hold them back forever but we can make the most of good friends while they are here!

Game night with some dear friends this past weekend

At Thai Village, I got to visit a lovely elderly lady last week who gave me an interesting perspective on goodbyes. At 72, she had recently lost her husband of over 50 years but she told us she didn't want to be sad "because then his spirit won't be able to leave." Instead, you could see the joy in her as she reminisced about their shared experiences together.

Sharing stories over a fried ant snack! (Look carefully in their hands). Even my Thai colleagues were a little bit dubious about chewing it so I didn't feel so bad for only taking a token bite!

During this conversation under a tree we found out that in her culture (Northern Thai), if a young man touched a woman at all, it meant he had to marry her. She explained how she met her husband working in the fields and because he touched her foot when they were gathering the crop, that was it, their future together was sealed! I'm not sure if she was making it more dramatic than it was but how fascinating to learn about these different concepts of courtship and marriage. I was grateful for this window on a life so alien to my own and yet, despite huge language and cultural differences, we could still enjoy a shared moment together in the shade.

Well I told you it was an eclectic post this month! Thanks for reading and being interested in our lives here in Chiangmai! Next month - our first trip to the US in 4 years!