We made it to Thailand!

Goodness me, where to start. It feels like an age since I left New Zealand and yet it's barely three days. I suppose at the beginning makes the most sense.  Please forgive me if I get a bit verbose, I struggle to do succinct.

The travel all went smoothly with no dramas at all. I managed a total of three movies on the two flights, and there was definitely a 'based on a true story' theme with 'Joy', 'The Big Short' and 'The Theory of Everything' being my picks. I enjoyed them all, and would recommend them.  During the stopover in Melbourne I worked through the Serve In Thailand handbook we'd been given in preparation for this trip. It was really interesting with stuff on history, culture and expectations. I'm glad I read it.

Gayle and I successfully met up at the airport. I'd got there earlier so was able to check out some practical stuff like Thai sim cards, and how to get to the other airport from where we were being collected. So we got away in good time, and then met up with Kim and Mary, our hosts for the first two weeks. The drive north to Suphanburi was pretty interesting. I've heard Thai driving described as polite chaos and that seems pretty accurate from what I've seen.  It's really dry and dusty here, they're having a bad drought at present, which is pretty obvious. There's still colourful flowers in the cities at least. I've also been really aware of just how flat this area is. We're staying in a small town which is called Don Chedi, about 30 mins out of the city of Suphanburi, and Don means rise. Well, Don Chedi is all of 8 meters higher than the city, at a whopping 15 meters above sea level. All the open roads are dead straight, which for a Kiwi is pretty odd!

Oh, one other thing I almost forgot to mention about first impressions? The heat! We were warned, but still it's certainly quite something. 40 degrees every day, but today has been the worst with humidity about 88%. Air conditioning is a blessing, we are fortunate to have it in our bedroom so able to sleep well, and we've been able to survive with fans and other air conditioned locations during the days. My resource conscious wee soul feels quite uncomfortable driving 100 metres to the next shop, but it really feels necessary here, as of course the vehicle has air conditioning.

So far we've done a number of things. Sunday evening church with about 12 of us altogether was good. We recognised most of the songs so could sing along in English, and Mary and Kim kindly provided some translation of the sermon for Gayle and me respectively.  I must say though we were both struggling to stay awake what with the travel and the time difference. We went to a house in another villiage last night for a cell group meeting where we shared our testimony, and prayed for a number of things after sharing a meal. We were able to give some of the gifts we'd brought and they seemed to be appreciated.

Gayle and I have had a couple of good talks, and I think we compliment each other well as travel companions. It's quite different from normal travel, and we both feel the responsibility of needing to get things right so as not to offend people with whom Kim and Mary have built deep relationships. We've been taught how to greet people correctly, and have to remember when to take off our shoes, and how to sit and stand correctly. We're geeting good at reminding each other :-)

I have got net access, so emails are great, and I've also been able to Skype my parents, and Martin as well, so that's been good.

That's enough for today,  I'll try and write more often so they can (maybe!) be shorter.

Love to all
Sarah