Whats up Peeps!

....P. Fon (is the girl who we stay at the center with) Jess and i taught her some English slang and one of those words were "peeps" and so now she no longer address people as "people" but rather "peeps". Its great! It makes Jess and i laugh every time because we will all be having a serious conversation and P. Fon will be describing someone or talking about a situation where this "peep" said this and thats "peep" said this and it i think for Jess and i we are waiting for her to laugh or for there to be a delay in her reaction but there isn't. I would like to start bringing that word back in everyday conversation when i come home. ....just a thought. Sorry for the ramble, it just gives me great joy whenever i hear her say it.

We have been in Roi-et for two weeks now. We will be home in 30 days, not that i am keeping track...at least not trying too! I love it here and will miss it greatly but i am looking forward to be home. I get butterflies every time i think about it and feel rather anxious so i am trying really hard not to think about it too much.

We have had quite the busy run since we have been back. Although many of our classes have been canceled the last two weeks, we have been preparing for the Christmas party that will take place at the center on the 13th of December. The kids will perform the Christmas story with musical numbers and songs for the community. I am really excited. It has been alot of fun preparing for it thus far. Jess and i am p. Fon and Pure rewrote the lyrics to "Baby its cold outside" to go with our play. We even got to sing it a couple times to help the kids practice......however i think i messed them up more then helped them! :) We also put together a dance for the younger kids to dance to. Its about love, and they look adorable dancing to it.

We also had the opportunity to harvest rice. We didn't do it for very long but it was really cool. They use this sharp blade which looks like it just came out of the movie "i know what you did last summer" and i had some issues with it, i treated it more like a butter knife then a sharp SHARP knife....thing. However, i came out with all of my limbs intact which i was thankful for. We also visited the prison here in Roi-et and were able to put on a little Christmas program for them with some songs and. It was alot of fun. I was fine in the morning as we were driving to the prison. I had been to prison many times when i was in XD so i wasn't nervous and then we made our way up to the wardens office and he was telling us that we needed to be careful because it wouldn't be unlike them to grab you and take you hostage so stay close. After he said that i think reality hit and i remembered.....oh right i am in PRISON! It wasn't like any prison i had been in before. The prisoners just sleep in one big room on mattresses. Boys are on one side of the prison and girls are on the other. And then they kind of just hang out in like a common area but we were walking side by side. Its like a big compound and they are all over the place hanging out and working. It was a little strange to see that just because when you think of prison its usually all on lock down but not this place. The prisoners are treated very well. The warden that is currently working there is a very good man and really looks after all of the prisoners.

Jess is now a pro at driving a standard. She has been doing an awesome job getting us from place to place. Next week P. Fon has to be back in Bangkok for a wedding so Jess and i will be on our own on Saturday and we will drive to the school where we have to teach. It is quite exciting. I am more excited i think that i dont have to drive. I have tried it a couple times and its just too much to try and remember with the way the people in Bangkok drive, i cant handle it, im a mess the whole time hahah.

Well thats all the updating i have for you now. Thank you for your prayers and all your support. It means alot! Please continue to pray that God would help us finish strong and finish the work He has for us here.

Take Care and God bless

Katey

October Fest

So the month of October was a busy one for us. The first week we returned back to Bangkok we attended a seminar at the church. It was on the Thai culture and the people. It was really good. Very insightful. It opened my eyes up to alot of different things. As we have been learning more about the Buddhist religion i have come to find out that yes there are obviously some major differences but we really arent that different in the way we think or in what we do. I was also amazed when thinking about how different cultures can be from each other. That might sound like a dud statement but i never really realized how different one place is form the next and why that is. From what we beleive to how we think to the expressions we make. My worldview has definitely been widened in more ways then one. I feel as if i am still trying to process everything. In a way things seem to be moving so fast its hard to straighten it all out in my head.

(side note) We had to use the squatty potties alot this week because of what floor we were on for the seminar...well we could have walked up a flight of stairs and used the western toilets but who wants to walk up all those stairs unless its absoulutely necessary right!...anyways i still havent mastered the squat potts. I still end up peeing on my feet. At first i was always really ashamed and nervous that i spelt like pee but now i dont even give it a second thought...i mean for cryin out loud im trying my best alright!

My parents came down for 11 days....it was a surpirse...i mean i knew they were coming but they planned to come not even two weeks before they actually arrived. It was so good to see them. I am so thankful they were able to make it down. I am happy that i was able to share a part of this adventure with them. They hung out in Bangkok the firt week as we were in the Seminar and then we spent the next 5 days in Hua Hin which is about 3 hours form Bangkok. It was alot of fun. The beds were one of my favorite parts. It was nice not sleeping on what feels like a board :) DOnt get me wrong, im glad i have a bed but it was nice to have a change for a couple days. We wnt to a place called Monkey Mountain while we were there and it was awesome but kind of surreal becayse these monleys just chill as if they are people......Jess was brave and decided she wanted to feed them so she bought some food and before she could "hand it out or throw it" this little creeper of a monkey jumped right on her head. I was very proud of her though. She was very calm....me on the other hand i was all the way over on the other side of the road. She was freaking out on the inside but i most definitely was freaking out on the outside.

When we returned home form Hua Hin it was time to say goodbye to my parents and head to Loas to renew our passpotrs.....we decided to lay low the last two months we are here and cooperate with the law and stay here legally! It was a good trip. It was very short but it was nice to see another part of Asia. The bus ride however was not so nice. There were cockroaches and it was raining outside so rain was leaking in directly on top of me......i didnt know if i should laugh or cry.

We were given an amazing oppurtunity we were able to go to Phuket for 10 days to help out with the Tsunami releif with a pastor named Wasan. It was really awesoem to be there. It was sad as well. We went down to one of the big memorials in Bang Nam khem and it really made what happen a reality. It really brought prespective for me . Because it happened so far away i guess it was just a passing thought , something that i was sad about but then i moved on and didnt really understand the implications of it all and how it effected the people and such. But it was also cool to hear how God worked in the lives of the people during this time, i was able to hear this man named An, his testimony and it was just awesome how God worked in his life.
We taught a bit of English and were also able to help start the building of the foundation for a preschool. That was alot of fun...i have been reminded just how weak i am hahaha. I am asking for weights for Christmas.........(haha thats funny)

We were also able to see soem of the Island, Phi Phi Island and we went and saw Maya Bay where the movie the Beath was filmed with Leonardo Dicaprio. It was beautiful and it was so sweet of God how it happened. Jess and i really wanted to go but we knew it wasnt going to happen and when Wasan picked us up from the airport he was telling us about how the week was going to look and how he had to go to Phi Phi island to officiate a wedding and jokinly we said we will come with you and he was like okay! He knew the owner of the resort and we were able to stay for free. It was a huge blessing. It was alot of fun...however my legs didnt have such a fun time. I woke up the next day looking like i had gotten the chicken pox but only on my legs hahah. Good times!

We are now in Roi-et once again for the last 6 weeks. It is hard to believe it is almost time to come home. It will be bittersweet for sure. I am happy that we have another 6 weeks here in Roi-et. I missed the kids for sure. It is still pretty warm here but i am going to try and take advantage of it while i can :)

I am going to try and be better with my posts.
thank you so much for reading and for your supporrt and prayers
Miss you all
Love
katey

Bad Girls Bad Girls whatcha gonna do when Thailand comes for you!?

So first off i need to apologize for my lack of posts.........I am really sorry. Time has gotten away from me so the next couple blogs will be recent (but not so recent) events from the past two months.....

Ok so funny story now.....it wasnt so funnt at the time. Jess and i went in August to go and renew our visas but when we went the guy at the desk looked at my passport and the stamp said we had a month more...(till Sept 25th) So we were mightily releived gien the fact the Jess forgot her passport. So we headed to Roi-et and then September 16th we decided to head to Bangkok and get the process over and done with a little early....or so we thought.....

Jess ahnds the lady her passport and says that she has been staying in Bangkok for the last 22 days illegally......which made no sense because i remebered seeing my stamp and it said we had till september 25th. So i whipped out my passport to "save the day"......"have no fear front desk lady her stamp must be wrong..." thinking to myself (jess i have it under control aint no thing) SO i handed the lady my passprot and it turns out my stamp was wrong. So at this point it was still okay we were going to change my stamp because clearly the man at the airport gave me the wrong stamp so no harm done......

To make a long story short....Jess had to pay the fee because he stamp was right, and they couldnt do anything for me unless a left the country ASAP and then as i entered back in they would correct my stamp....however after all was said and done it would have cost the same to travel somewhere as it would to just pay the find of 11000 Baht which is about 320 ish us dollars. I wont lie....i had a bit of a break down. There were a couple different things going through my head at the time. At first i was reminded of the Movie 'broken down palace' i was thinking "great i am going to be put away in jail because i am now an allegded offender in Thailand and i will never be able to go home and blah blah blah..." and then i thought about the movie "Babel" The part when Brad "hottie" Pitt was screaming get the American Embassy on the phone...thats all i wanted to yell...." someone connect me to the Canadian Embassy right now this is an outrage!" Then all i wanted to do was call my daddy hahah.

So after many hours at the Visa place.....we left with our passports stamped with a stamp stated we are alledged offenders.......eek.......It was a good lesson. We were told that they sometimes do that in order to make money for the economy which helps the people in the end, which I'm all for helping the people it just sucks the way some of them try to do it. But i will now always look at my stamp on my visas.....you should too......you never know it could be you next!

Good times.......listen, the law is no joke!

Godbless

Katey (offender of the law) Merriman