We made it!

We arrived in Chiang Mai 3 weeks ago.  We are fully adjusted to the 12 hour time difference and we're getting settled quickly.  We found a great house and moved in almost 2 weeks ago.  The neighborhood has a nice park for the kids and a great swimming pool!  We managed to lock ourselves out of the house twice in the first week though!  We've been learning from our mistakes and now know exactly where to find a locksmith at the local market when we need one.

We also bought a car, an old 96 Honda Accord.  The bad thing though is that it's a stick shift and we had to add that complication into learning how to drive on the left side of the road.  Cory has had no problem driving around and even tries to blend in with the crazy drivers out there on the road!  I just got up the nerve to drive on the main roads on Saturday.  Not so bad, but my legs were shaking every time I had to stop at a light, afraid I'd stall when the light turned green.  Since Saturday, Cory's been riding our friend's motorbike back and forth to work.  It saves a lot on gas money, but I've been praying a lot for his safety!

Everyday has been a learning experience and we are always exhausted by the time we fall into our rock-hard beds!  It's amazing how many little things are different that you have to figure out on a day to day basis.  We've managed to get most of what we need now though.  In order to start cooking at home, we had to go to the store and buy a small stove/oven to be delivered, then we had to figure out where to get a tank of gas from, then we had to figure out how to turn the oven on (You have to turn the gas on and then actually light the oven), now I'm figuring out how to control the oven flame to keep it around the temperature I want (But the oven is in Celsius!).  (Also, there's no sink in our kitchen, it's in the backyard!)  So, we rejoice in every small victory, like my being able to go grocery shopping by myself on Saturday, and we try not to get too frustrated by our failures, but readily accept God's grace that He has been pouring out on us!

Evie and Winnie started school last Monday.  We bought little school desks for them and it has been exciting to finally get them in a routine again.  They also like the church we're going to, and have met some friends in their Sunday School classes.  This Sunday there will be a Christmas program at church.  Evie's class will be doing a dance, which she is soooo excited about, and Winnie's class will be dressing up as angels and singing a christmas carol.  

It definitely does not feel like Christmas around here though, it's in the upper 80s and without a single fan in our house, we get pretty hot!  (Sorry to all of you who are dealing with snow and ice right now!)

Cory's been working a lot of hours at the Centre, because a short-term team came in from Australia on Saturday and he is helping a lot with them.  Sunday they had baptisms too.  (We've included a short video of two of the students from the Centre getting baptized.)

 

We'll try to update this blog frequently now that we've got it figured out, and we'd love to hear your comments too!