Week 1: Culture Week

Hey amazing people in my life!

My classmates Chris and Tim and I in a tuktuk!

So I just finished my first school week at ISM. Each week here is themed, and this was Culture Week. So not only were we getting awesomely educated on Thai culture, but we were also living it, breathing it, EATING it, and loving it! 

My classmates and I with our Thai language teacher.

Our classes included contextualization, culture shock, thai language, ethnocentrism, sharing the Gospel to Buddhists, and more. This week made see how ethnocentric I am (If you don't know what that is, it's the idea that your culture is superior). I saw how important it is to make the Gospel applicable to another people group. The training has been fantastic!

The locust I ate. We named him Jonathan.

I've eaten locusts, fish that is cooked totally whole (skin, bones, and all), and so much spice that I sweat it. Most days, we get up, take a pink taxi to our school (which is on the top floor of a Thai seminary), have an hour or prayer and worship, have a three hour class, eat an interesting lunch with the Thai students, walk to 7-11(or sev-AHN as the Thais say) and get a drink, have another three hour class, and then whatever we may have planned for our evenings. I have two female roommates, and our two male classmates live upstairs. We have had a blast together. Each day is filled with multiple terrifying experiences. EXAMPLE! Yesterday, we were walking back to our apartment after class and I was approaching a small hole in the road. I just walked around it, and when I glanced inside there was a snake staring back at me! Of course the girls and I ran away shrieking. The language has been sticking with me quite well, and I love stumbling through conversation with the locals. One of my favourite experiences so far was our aerobics class. There is a chain of stores here called Big C (similar to a Wal-Mart), and we have one a block away from our apartment. Every day at 6pm, they hold an aerobics class outside on the cement pad. An instructor gets up on a platform and they blast Asian pop music, and we do an hour of extremely sweaty aerobics with a bunch of local women. They are ecstatic to have foreigners at their class and they love to chat with us. 

This week is Holy Spirit week, so I can't wait to grow in my personal relationship with God. Thank you for your prayers everyone.. I miss you!