Sunday, August 16, 2009

Leaving on a jet plane

So we are waiting in between connecting flights right now, I think in Taipei maybe? The Aggies had to say goodbye to the 7 Thais that took us to the airport at 5AM, and it was not very easy.

Our last week was actually pretty busy, even though we didn't hold our regular classes. Wednesday we went on a day trip with 50 christians or so to provinces around Bangkok, where we explored an aquarium and the 100 yrs. market and a farm with some water buffalo. Saturday we went to a theme park called Dreamworld with a few of them. The other days were full of last minute errands and last chance activities with friends we won't see for a while. Yesterday we threw a going away party for us and held games (they all pretty much love childrens' games, like one game we played was pretty much duck duck goose), and had a pinata.

As this will be the last post of my trip, I kind of wanted to sum up my thoughts on my summer right now. I saw how valuable learning the native language was, because the Aggies were completely dependant on translating and there was a real bridge we had to cross to connect with Thais outside the church. I am extremely happy with the people we helped connect to the church and the interactions our group encouraged this summer. Volunteering to teach English classes in order to bring new Thais to the church was a challenge, sometimes a grind, and ultimately a blessing for me, and hopefully everyone involved. It was definitely a perspective changing experience for me to see just how small a blip on the screen I am, and yet how small the world can be when random connections with people seem to pop up everywhere.

One last thing we did before we left was exchange pictures and video between the Aggies, so keep checking my Facebook because i am sure there will be lots of awesome stuff. Thanks again, and keep praying for me because I have no leeway to get over jetlag, my job starts as soon as I get home in college station (: