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!

My first snake!

I was so excited to spot my first snake in Thailand this morning! This beauty was climbing on the electricity pole directly outside our bedroom window.

It's a golden tree snake apparently. Mildly venomous but harmless to humans. Gorgeous! I have since discovered that these are also known as flying snakes for their capacity to glide through the air. I'm thankful I saw it first in climbing mode and not gliding towards me! Hoping it might stay around until the boys get home from school but probably unlikely.

While I'm here, thought I'd add a few more nature discoveries we've made recently. We found these cicada molts resting on trees on a recent trip to the beach.

It was weird because I would wake at 6 am to really loud cicada singing and then by 6.10 am, it had stopped and I went back to sleep. Not sure if they sing right before they molt but it was fun to discover anyway.

And one more discovery from this morning as well.. . .  a heart-shaped fig found on the ground at a local market. 

Now isn't that a beauty?! Enjoy the nature around you today and take the time to stop and look! Thanks for clicking!

(Click here to read about more wild things we have encountered here in Chiangmai.)

Thai Village home visits - a volunteer's perspective

Only a handful of our artisans at Thai Village work out of our small office in Pa Daet, Chiang Mai. The majority come in for training and to pick up materials, and then take their work with them to complete at home. It's for this reason, that home visits are a really important part of taking care of our Thai Village team.

Occasionally I get to go with our Thai managers on one of their home visits, as I did this week. We sit on the floor together over lunch and hear our artisan's struggles, their hopes and dreams and how we can support them. We hope it's an encouragement to them. It certainly is to me and here's why:

1. Purpose: A lot of my work at Thai Village is paper-pushing behind the scenes. I actually quite like it and I'm happy to do it but the home visits remind me why I do what I do. On home visits, I get to see in person the impact of a stable income on our artisans, on their families and on their communities. We hear how it is enabling them to climb out of difficult situations and how it has brought hope and dignity. For me, this is the "why" of the number-crunching on the inventory and the following up of sales contacts. That "God is Good" banner that I just sold is more than just a pretty decoration; it's a livelihood; it's a medical bill paid or school fees covered; it's a true symbol that God's goodness has reached a small cement room in a corner of Chiang Mai. That is what spurs me on. 

2. Inspiration: So often, I find that visiting our artisans leaves me inspired and motivated by their example. It's a challenge honestly when I meet a young Mum, working multiple jobs, barely sleeping to provide for her family or a Christian convert so passionate for Jesus that he is spending all his spare time and money visiting neighbors and villages to share the good news. I often leave with renewed vision to live my own life with more faith, more perseverance and more gratitude. 

3. Perspective: It is too easy for all of us to live a life separate from those who are different to us, who have not had the privileged life we have. Here in Chiang Mai, my kids go to an international school, we have air conditioning in our home and access to health care and travel opportunities. This is a privileged life for sure but if I didn't see first-hand the paths that my brothers and sisters have to walk, I could easily forget that. I could feel hard done by that we can't travel to the US/UK as often as we would like or that our car is old and falling apart. I'm so glad for work that adjusts the lens on my view of the world and helps me keep things in perspective. 

4. Responsibility: On that same note, it is being with our artisans that reminds me of the responsibility I have to use what I have to serve those less privileged - to give, to pray, to volunteer, to buy ethically, to speak out for justice. We know the command to "love our neighbour" but we don't always know how to do it. I often stall at this. But the home visits help me see tangible ways to help, to hold hands in prayer, to encourage and to help sell our products so our artisans can make a living. You can make a difference too. Our customers are a hugely important link in the chain of self-sustainability here at Thai Village. We all have a part to play.  

5. Connection: Finally, I love home visits because it gives me the chance to connect, to build relationships across the lines of culture, language and economic status. To be honest, it is not easy or fast. My language acquisition is slow. I don't get a lot of what the conversations are about over our lunch and I rely on our bilingual team members to fill me in, but I am learning, I am growing, I am present and that bond is somehow powerful. I feel a connection with these new friends and I hope they feel it too.

Today I got to meet this lovely family. 

Jalern is a skilled carpenter and is currently working on a new Easter design for Thai Village. He and his engaging wife are hard-working, talented, creative, humble and kind and the visit hit all five of the above points for me. I know many of our team left inspired, encouraged and energized in our work. These are salt of the earth people and we are so honored to be partnering with them.

On behalf of Jalern and many others, thanks to all of you who support Thai Village with your prayers and purchases. It makes a difference. 

An important piece of paper - part 2

I've been hearing good things about Chiangmai immigration recently - less waiting, less paperwork and even stories of immigration officials bringing out Birthday cake for people celebrating their day by waiting in line!

This is good news because honestly, if you live overseas, you spend a lot of time at immigration. It's one of the less glamorous parts of an overseas life . . . . 90-day check-ins, visa renewals, applying for re-entry permit before we leave and updating our residence every time we get back. I have not added up the time spent filling in forms for a family of 5 or waiting in line for someone's important piece of paper but it has been a lot. 

As some of you may know, I have been having a bit of drama with my visa recently. When I started work at Thai Village I switched my dependent visa linked to Tyler's job to a volunteer visa of my own. Thanks to a lot of work by my Thai Village team-mates, I was able to get a 1-year work permit on this visa in November last year! A big answered prayer as work permits had previously been disallowed for holders of volunteer visas. 

The checklist of papers for the work permit is pretty extensive!

Jessie and I are holding the papers but really Jade (front right) did all of the work!

This was a huge high point on the paperwork journey . . . but there have been many low points too like being denied visa renewal recently and having to leave the country unexpectedly at short notice.

So far, in the past 9 months, I have done 3 visa run trips to neighbouring countries - Vietnam, Malaysia and Laos - plus obtained one visa during a planned trip to the UK. If you know me, you'll know that I love to travel so it's not the worst burden ever, but honestly visa runs are costly and are mostly all the boring bits about travel and not much of the fun stuff, unless you have time and money to add on some extra days. In Vietnam we did (see this post) but not so much the other times.

Our most recent visa run to Vientiane, Laos was 2 days spent mostly waiting at the consulate and working in coffee shops but I enjoyed a few walks around the city and snapped this pic outisde Wat Sisaket

Tyler and I are very lucky that we have colleagues at our places of work who prepare most of our immigration paperwork for us. With rules often changing and officials being very strict about how forms are filled, we are so glad we are not on our own in this and we're very grateful for the hard work of our team-mates. Thank you!

I am writing this post now, because my visa obtained in Laos will be up for renewal soon and together with my colleagues at Thai Village, we are hoping to successfully extend our visas for a full year, thus eliminating the need and expense of more visa runs. I would be grateful for your prayers in this process. The pile of papers required will be even thicker than for the work permit!

In the mean time, I will be going to immigration next week to do a 90-day check-in for two of our kids (don't ask how the five of us got on four separate 90-day schedules!!) and maybe, if I'm lucky, someone near me will be having a Birthday that day!