Island Times

All is well, hot, and happy! Strange Christmas time without my family and no snow =)

This blog brought to you by: Internet connection at the local tourism agent's office and funny symbols on the keyboard... and viewers like you =)

My computer has decided for no understandable reason that I need a driver disk to connect my camera to my laptop and download the pictures I've taken. The only thing that is different here is the fact that I don't have the disk, so I'm pretty sure that's why it is insisting that I need it =)

So, wait a bit for pictures, but here are some mental pictures to get you started...

Hot sun, white beaches, fruit galore, strange smells, good hotel, shopping from a chair on the beach, amazing food!, snorkeling, little sunburns, Christmas Eve on the beach and Christmas day moving into Bangkok.

Have a very Merry Christmas one and all! I hope for better connections in Bangkok between some serious sightseeing!

Off to Thailand!

True to form, I have left all the details for leaving town until the last second (resulting in pulling an all-nighter before departure!) It's hard to believe I'm actually jumping on a plane to go to yet another foreign country. This is normal in my new world where travel is fairly convenient and getting to "faraway" places is not out of the question, the question instead is, "why would you stay home?" I was surprised how it really feels like home here as I say goodbye to church friends and co-workers for a couple weeks-- a little bit sad to be away!

Though I won't see a white Christmas on the beaches of Phuket, Thailand, we did see about 3 inches fall overnight (of course, the snow wouldn't think of falling in inches here, only centimeters are allowed as long as it's below 0 Celsius-- not Fahrenheit =) A few pics from my window show our winter wonderland....

An icy, snowy, slippery commute to church today convinced Sylvia and I that sandy beaches were definitely going to be nice! I have no idea if I'll be able to connect to the Internet while I'm away, but if not, I'll be back just before the end of the year with lots of pictures to post and some fun stories, I hope.

One More Week...

This is our final week of school before the long Winter break! The week will be filled with drama productions, concerts, and practices to get ready for them. It will be a more laid-back week in the classroom as a result. Our Staff Christmas party was quite fun-- many Korean delicacies prepared by the mothers (my first taste of sushi!) and a fun gift exchange with no rules "because it's Christmas."

One week from today, I'll be boarding a plane to Phuket Thailand where Sylvia and I will relax on the beach, read, catch up on sleep, and generally enjoy the warm weather; Christmas day we'll move from Phuket to Bangkok to spend a few more days being proper tourists taking in all the sights and boosting the local economy ... not too much!

Then I'll have a week at home before school starts again, time to explore yet unvisited corners of Seoul, a New Year's Eve bash with my church, and baptism the first Sunday of the new year. It's true, I've never been baptized-- denominational hazard -- but it's time, and then I will begin to be involved in ministry at my church (music and youth Bible study in English).
Oh! and I'll have a new-to-me guitar by then too! One of the worship leaders at church offered to help me find a good used guitar to buy (he's got connections!), but now, someone is giving him one, so he's passing the free gift along to me!! Again, God has provided beyond my wildest prayer!

This year has flown by with so many new experiences and 2007 already promises to hold more of the same! I'm thankful for some down-time to reflect on the year and make some new goals for the coming year. Goals-- not New Year's Resolutions-- completely different! Goals last a whole week longer than resolutions