God's Sufficient Grace

This is Thailand

Today the power cut off for almost 2 hours during the school day. (Turns out it was not just at our school but the whole neighborhood, including my apartment complex.) No lights, no computer and most importantly, no AC! My 7th Grade string class came into my room after PE already hot and sweaty. During the whole class time they kept asking to open the windows (which we did, but it actually seemed to make it worse!) and if they could "try" out the lights, "just in case" the power had come back on. After about 45 minutes of rehearsing in a hot room and hearing my students complain, I saw sweat dripping from one of my Thai student's faces down onto his violin and decided to call it quits. I told them to pack up (20 minutes early) and we went to the cafeteria where I bought them all ice cream! : )

When I got back to my classroom at the end of the period, I noticed that several teachers in the Elementary building had opened all their windows and doors in hopes of catching a breeze. Hot as it was, it was kind of fun as the whole campus seemed to be more connected. I could hear teachers' and students' voices in the background and it made me wonder if this was (is?) how a lot of Thai schools were not too long ago. When the power came back on, I could hear cheers from all over the campus! : )

My friend Jaime and I look at days or events like this and say to each other "This is Thailand!" It's just one of many things that happens fairly regularly here that didn't seem to at home.

I don't know if I've written this on my blog before, but the Thai word for hot is "rang" - pronounced "wrong." I agree, it's just wrong!

posted by Catherine Rogers @ 5:02 AM