My day before Easter
I was hoping for a light day including some time with Sam but here we don't hope too much for that sort of thing. Here are yesterday's main activities, roughly in order of occurrence:
Lent 1000 baht (about $32) to a student who called at 7am asking for help to get to a doctor. He'd had a nasty stomach ache for a few days, getting worse. We tend to take Jesus literally when he says to give to people who ask to borrow from us, unless they develop a bad track record. Hardly anyone has.
Did some straightening around the house, collected dirty clothes for laundry. We have a helper who does laundry and general cleaning for a few hours on Saturdays. Judy and Jaimie were away at the beach with Heather and Hannah Hook, visiting from the U.S.
Tried unsuccessfully to fix our front sliding screen door, which had fallen off its track and was scratching the floor. We rent, but tenants here are generally responsible for most home repairs.
Worked on financial stuff for Monday night's board meeting.
Walked Marquita out to the main street (about 10 minutes) to get a taxi to school, to practice with friends for an upcoming lipsync contest.
Worked quite a while with Pear on learning to play the djembe, an African hand drum.
Talked for a while with 2 girls from Center 3 who came to study but were waiting for the teachers to show up. Every Saturday a few of our teenagers do remedial study here to prepare themselves to get back into school.
Biked to 7/11 to put funds into my prepay phone account. Here most people use prepay, which is quite affordable. This particular phone has unlimited calling for about $12/month. It can be somewhat unreliable, but works well at home and saves a lot of phone cost.
Discussed upcoming class scheduling by phone with Bee, our Center 1 coordinator.
Judy, Jaimie, Heather and Hannah returned from the beach, Jaimie with bad sunburn from apparently bad sunscreen.
Helped Judy move a monster 8ft. long fish tank cabinet in our entryway so we can open more windows--it's getting hot. The tank is empty but the massive cabinet was still impossible to lift. It fortunately slid well and didn't scratch the stone floor.
Dusted off my bass and Strat guitars and tested out amplifiers borrowed from Center 3 in preparation for Sunday. The Strat actually had a broken string from just sitting in the case for I don't know how long (I've had no amp). We've done sort of informal outreach groups on Sundays for a year, but are now launching a definite church plant.
Talked with Heather, Khio and Judy about inventory management changes for our products sold in the U.S.. Heather has been managing our home-based marketing completely as a volunteer.
Lent 500 baht to another student who called needing help for her mother.
Talked with Dao and her boyfriend/fiance, and fellow staff Khio about future plans for them and Dao's 4 children and neice.
Helped Sarah Bennett, a photography student visiting for a couple of weeks, get started shooting product shots of some cards.
Spent a while with Pui, who returned after running a way a month ago for whom she hoped would be the guy of her dreams. He turned out to be more interested in his friends and video games than in her.
Worked with Pear some more on the drum.
Onn called--a woman she knew from bars where she used to work called asking for help for her two teenage neices. She wanted them to come talk to me. They showed up last night at 11:30. Only one neice came, whose right eye was stuck closed from apparent pink eye. She was also exhausted, and lay down on a couch and went right to sleep. Her aunt came and picked her up at 6 this morning to take her to a doctor. They are all undocumented from Onn's country, so have limited options. They also reported that the younger neice, 17, has worked as a maid for 2 months with no pay, apparently being taken advantage of for working illegally.
One of our teen students called after midnight, saying she was trying to get home to her province of Surin but was stranded at the bus station there, that her mother wasn't sending anyone to pick her up and everyone else she tried to call wasn't answering. I said I'd be happy to help however I could but Surin was a good 6 hours away. She said to never mind, she'd figure something out.
Overall, a fun but busy day, but bummer that there was almost no family time. Spring break is coming soon--hope to get some good time with Sam then.
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Reply #1 on : Mon March 24, 2008, 15:56:15