Ultimate!!!!

This past week was so much fun! Here's why:

1) Church
Last Sunday I went to a new church (new for me) with a housemate. It was a multicultural congregation, though predominantly white. But people were from America, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. There were also Thai and Burmese services. I met a lot of cool brothers and sisters, too. Overall, it was a good experience, and I discovered an option to worship in English.

2) Physics!
I really enjoy physical science. In the science classes I've been teaching, we have been covering forces and motion and just moved into work and simple machines. This provides a lot of opportunity for the students to get some hands-on learning... and for me to play in class. I made a lever out of PVC pipe and the kids loved it. PVC pipe and guys will usually turn into one of two things: a plumping project or a spud gun. Guess what. I don't plan on getting wet! When this beautiful work of art is completed, I'll have some photos and hopefully a video or two to upload.

3) Teacher's Day
Wednesday was Teacher's Day in Thailand. While teachers aren't treated to big celebrations and freebies everywhere like children are on Children's Day, it did mean a day off... and on Wednesday! I think a Wednesday off is better than a three-day weekend. It made the week fly by! I had dinner Tuesday night with some coworkers and friends at the #2 restaurant on TripAdvisor for Chiang Mai. The next morning I slept in and had brunch with some of the same people at an amazing breakfast joint called Good Morning Chiang Mai in the old city.

4) A Basketball League?!?!?!?
A friend stumbled on a could-be men's basketball league. He played in high school and intramurals in college, loves competitive basketball, and wants to play in Thailand. So when he described the games, players (big, talented, etc.), and competition level, I knew I could trust his judgement and became very excited. We went to see the final game of their tournament after Thai class and dinner on Friday night... Wow. This looks like fun! The guys were pretty good! The winners won 10,000 baht (about $333, but that's quite a bit over here)! It looked promising, but we couldn't tell if this was a school tournament (one of the girls' teams had a school name we recognized on their jersey) or a league tournament. Neither of us could speak enough Thai to ask, so I took a picture of a banner to get a Thai friend to translate. Good news: It's a a league! The next step is figuring our how to join if we can.

A side note: my friend and I are eagerly practicing Thai whenever we can because we both want to learn the language. We think if we can get in this league, playing basketball with these guys and making friends would be a great way to improve our proficiency.

5) A new housemate!
We have a new housemate for about 6 months, maybe longer. His name is Woody, and he's from California. He plays Ultimate (see below), has a goatee thingy, and likes long walks on the beach but not vegetables. Well, I don't know about the walks on the beach. He seems to be pretty cool so far. That's about all I can tell so far.

6) Ultimate Frisbee!
My housemates play ultimate frisbee, commonly referred to as simply "Ultimate." I would say it's like soccer and American football combined, but played with a frisbee. It has a pretty big following internationally. In fact, our house is called "Baan Ultimate," or "[the] Ultimate [Frisbee] House." It's an unspoken but understood rule that you play Ultimate if you live in the house. Until this weekend, I got away with playing just once since moving to Chiang Mai. There was a tournament yesterday in Chiang Mai that my friends' team/organization hosted. I've played pick-up games in high school and college, but nothing as competitive as this. I was on a team with one of my housemates, and he, along with a couple teammates, encouraged and coached me all day. I had a blast, and I'm a little sore. It seems I found something that fills my gaping hole of fitness and competition, so now I plan on playing 3 times a week like my housemates. Hopefully I can balance this with basketball, if it works out!

7) An old friend
A friend from high school is taking a year off of work and travelling the world. I met up with her and her friend from college that is travelling with her after the Ultimate Frisbee tournament. They met up with us (the Ultimate group) for dinner and hung out with us all night. It was a great time! I'll meet up with them again at the Sunday market, aka Walking Street- a must-do whenever you come to Chiang Mai.


Sorry for no pictures. I'll grab some from Facebook when the photographers upload them and post them on the blog ASAP.


So here's how you can pray for me:

1) I still don't have a "church home" here. Maybe that's not a bad thing. Attending worship services at a variety of a few different churches, each having a different style, may be good. However, I would like to have a stronger, tighter community of believers than I have now. One possibility, and a great one, would be the guys I live with. There are five of us now with Woody coming in. Each of us comes from a different background but we all believe in the same God and Savior. We have talked about different things we can do, such as a Bible study, but nothing has advanced past just talking. We do have a weekly housemate dinner that we use for fellowship, accountability, and prayer. I would like to see more come from our group, and I know a few others do too. Great potential... So pray that we grow closer together as a brothers.

2) Pray for guidance for me as I plan my next step in my career, either to take a step forward and stand still a little longer.

3) Pray for a little boy at my school. I don't know his name, but he's the little brother of one of my students, Gina. Thursday afternoon he was running full-speed and turned a sharp corner. He thought a door would be open, but the plane-glass door was shut. Skip to the bottom to avoid the description of what happened.

His hands slowed him a little, but his poor little head still made contact, breaking the glass. Then, he fell down, cutting his legs on the shards at the bottom of the door. He cut his forehead pretty badly and one of his legs, just below the knee, to the bone. He lost quite a bit of blood rather quickly, enough to turn pale, and was taken to the ER right away. Friday, I was told he was doing OK, but needed over 50 stitches. Not only did he cut his one leg so deeply, but when his face went through the glass, a large chunk of flesh was peeled back from his forehead. I believe he was having or will soon have cosmetic surgery to help avoid severe scarring.

Pray that this kindergartener, Gina's little brother, will not have severe scarring, that his wounds would heal beyond what any doctor can expect or take credit for, and that God will be glorified through this.