Haberstocks in Thailand

Hello from Saskatchewan!

It has been a few weeks of silence to this blog site. Truthfully, we have been unsure what to put down in writing … literally, we are no longer the Haberstocks in Thailand. And honestly, on most days we are not sure we are the Haberstocks in Canada either.  We are truly very happy to be home, but we do feel some where in between.

 

We arrived back in Vancouver on August 24^th, after a long day of traveling. The day started at 5 AM Phrao time as we got up from a short night (Jodie and I had packed and crossed off our lists until about 4 AM). After a last goodbye to the kids from the boarding house, we were accompanied to the airport in Chiang Mai (about a 2 hour drive) by members and friends from the church, and some of the older kids from the boarding house. We didn’t want them to make such a fuss about us leaving, but the airport farewell was very really special… wrapping up a lot of great Thai memories for us. It was such a strange feeling to be standing in the Chiang Mai airport alone – just the 5 of us, after having been looked after so well by so many people. But here we were, our team of 5 – ready to head back to a new adventure, this time in Canada. Our flights took us through Bangkok, and then Manila, Philippines. We were scheduled to make a night stop in Manila but were offered a seat on the delayed connecting flight to Vancouver. We took it. The flight to Vancouver was fun – it was a huge plane full of friendly, sleepy Phippinos. We slept, watched movies, read, slept and ate. It was that special ‘in-between time’ when you are between chapters in the book of your life. We arrived in Vancouver the same day, at around 5 PM. It was great to: see that all our luggage made it, read the French and English signs, smell Tim Hortons, see familiar sites and stores, smell the Richmond sea air, feel the freshness of a late Canada summer day. It was good to be home. Our sleep in our Vancouver hotel room was sweet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we awoke early – the kids earlier (4 AM) than the adults… we spent that day walking to a local farmer’s market (oh, everything was so expensive, esp. when converted to Bahts!), hanging with Jodie’s dad, going bowling (and almost falling asleep between shots), and eating at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  Our first full day.

On Friday the 26^th we were met by our good pal Stephen, who drove us back to Vernon. As we drove down that familiar highway, we were wondering if Thailand was one big dream and we were just gone for a long weekend… instead of a year. Good thing we have this blog and the 5000 photos. Upon our Vernon arrival we were greeted there by our neighbours (first hug award goes to Jonny Mac), and Nannie. We were also greeted by cut flowers, full fridge and cupboards, and made beds, thanks to Nan, and Kristi, Heather and Audrey… more sweet friends. Nice to be home… did I say that already?

 

From then on, I’ll spare you the day by day recap. A few highlights and first impressions though…

Joel & Jodie:

• great time at Mara Lake with some St. John’s friends
• a great BBQs and hang outs with some close Okanagan friends
• having our own vehicle again!
• Spending time caring for a place (and yard) that is ours
• eating cereal in the morning
• sitting on the patio for our meals
• a Rider winning streak

Kids:

• seeing people you haven’t seen in a year
• seeing friends
• being in our house again
• seeing the nieghbourhood cat, Ringtail
• good to see Nannie

For the past few days we have been hanging out in Saskatchewan with my family. This is filling my tank. Part of the reason we knew we had to come home was we needed to be family with this sweet group of people. On Sunday the 11th, we had a $1000 day (Jodie and I call them)… we had church in the morning, a relaxed lunch at Nana and Papa’s, and an afternoon at Good Spirit Lake with my whole family (Twila, Angelo and the lovely 5 month old Zoe, Michelle, limping Randy, Darius, Nana and Papa). It was a great afternoon of frisbee, kayaks, food, football, sand and joy. It was so beautiful I can’t describe it. Just being … and being loved and playing and being and living. It filled my soul. It is filling my soul in a place I didn’t realize was empty. To cap it all off we went back to Michelle’s to watch the Riders game that we had PVR-ed from the afternoon. The Riders must have known how the rest of the day went and truly were the icing on the cake of a great day – what a masterful victory in the Banjo Bowl.  Yeah, Riders – yay family!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“How was Thailand?”, people ask us. It was an adventure – invite us over to your house and we’ll bring our pictures and our stories.  Or, see www.HaberstocksinThailand.com for more information.

 

“How will things be different now that you are back – how have you changed?”, people ask us. Good question. As was mentioned earlier, some days I feel like we are half in Thailand and half in Canada. We  miss it.  The proof of any change will be in the actions, not these words…

 

Joel and Jodie  After having so recently been the recipients, we want to be more generous… with our time, our resources, our compliments, our blessings. We want to savour food and meals, and conversations, and relationships, and family. We want to speak out, but we want to listen. We really loved the simplicity of our Thai lives and we hope to maintain that here. We loved the primacy we placed on our kids and our family unit and we plan to maintain that here. We loved the daily submission of our wills to God and the family blessings that we experienced, and we need to maintain that here.

Caleb – I feel more generous.  Anica  – I feel more helpful.   Rebecca – I am more helpful in the kitchen.  We’re better at meeting new friends without a problem.

“So, what is the next plan for you guys?”, people ask us. Good question. Sorry to say, but we are not sure… yet in the same breath, we are not worried. The same God who has brought us safely thus far will continue to lead us; we are confident of that. Life has been a great adventure to this point – let’s ride it out! We do need to make money at some point, but we trust there will be a right fit for jobs for Jodie and Joel. The kids should concentrate on home school and not have to beg on the streets (for much longer). Kidding!!

We plan to keep good contact with our friends in Thailand and the kids at the boarding house, via email and facebook. PrayerNet pals, stay in contact with us through this site and email.  We vow not to lose touch with this time, experience and season in our lives.

Until then, we are …

Krorp Krua Haberstock  Ajan Joel, Ba Jodie, Pi Caleb, Pi Anica, Norng Rebecca

Joel, Jodie, Caleb, Anica and Rebecca

 

 

I can’t tell you the amount of people, mostly kids, that were dismayed at the photo we showed all those months ago showing Mimi and Mee in front of the lone swing on our property.  Well, be dismayed no longer.  As of last night, August 22 – the playground is up!  Though not completed – about 3 more pieces are still to come – the new Canadian sponsored playground is set to bring some Thai joy here in Phrao.

 

Thanks to all of you who gave toward this particular project.  We want to  especially mention Peg Friesen who really got the ball rolling in Vernon BC.  Special shout-outs to the kids from Vernon Christian Preschool, and from Christ the King Lutheran Church in Mississauga ON for all the money you raised!  This has been a great way to show the love of Jesus to kids that will really be blessed by it.

Enjoy these pictures of the transition…

 

 

Hello,

 It’s been exactly one year that we’ve been in Thailand! One year! When we come home on August 24th it will be a year and week.

 I’m sorry I haven’t gotten to this for awhile but just so you know we have two kittens. We got them on June 11, 2011. We got a grey kitten and a black one that was pretty skinny. (Well, skinner than they grey one.) And by the way, their names are.. Norman which is grey, and Storm.

At the beginning we couldn’t let them out for two weeks because we had to make sure that they wouldn’t go looking for their home and mom and we made sure that they didn’t really remember their mom so they wouldn’t miss her.  Here is a  fun video that our friend Dave took of when they were little and scrawny.

When we got back from Vietnam after being there for two weeks they were quite bigger than when we left them. We let them out a lot now, but when the kids get home and in the evenings they spend a little more time indoors. Lots of times when we don’t let them go out at night, they meow at the door and climb up it. One time when we were at a church service, we didn’t lock the door and the cats actually got out and ran pretty far down the property.  Now at night we lock them in the dog run and during the day we sometimes tie the door with a piece of fabric. And we have special times to take the kittens out and we make sure that the kids who are allergic to cats don’t come too close to them. Here they are having a brother fight! 

Our cats are sleeping a lot every day, but a little less than they did when when we first got them. Usually, everyday, the cats wake me up with their meowing because they either want to go outside or come into our room. Plus, these cats are Siamese and Thailand is the old Siam!

Lots of Love,

 Rebecca

Here are some pictures and videos:

Please keep Satit and Rattana’s daughter, Kim, in your prayers. She was rushed to McCormick Hospital in Chiang Mai on Sunday morning – came back later that day, but went back in on Tuesday. She has a high fever that will not go down. The doctors are baffled. Thanks for your prayers.

An update as of this past week.  Kim’s fever broke the night this post went up.  Cool!  She had some troubles breathing deeply, and took awhile to recover her appetite, so they didn’t release her from the hospital until this past Tuesday, a week later.  We were all happy to see her back around House of Grace!

Hi friends, from July 20 – August 4, we toured the country of Vietnam… a long, thin country along the South China Sea.  We traveled from south to north – feel free to follow along on this map!

VIEW OF SAIGON (HO CHI MINH CITY) – Caleb

Things We Did-

• War Remnant Museum
• Independence Palace
• Cu Chi Tunnels
• Walked around a big opera house

Places We Ate-

• Margherita (great restaurant with good western food)
• Other restaurants on the same street as Margherita but I can’t remember the names
• A random noodle stall on the side of the street

My favorite parts of Saigon were crossing the streets and going to the War Remnant Museum. I enjoyed crossing the street because it felt like it should have been dangerous but for some reason I always knew we would be safe. Dad’s theory is “No sudden movements” so we just walked at the same pace all the way across the streets and everyone sort of wove around us. Check out this video to see an example.  I enjoyed the War Remnant museum because it gave good information on the war and taught me a lot about it because I have never really learned about the war previously.  I also did not really enjoy it because all the captions and blurbs were anti-American and that was sort of hard to take because it was pretty much people bashing our neighbours. I really enjoyed Saigon and had a good time there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIEW OF MUI NE – Joel

Mui Ne was our first stop after Saigon.  We took a bus out of Saigon, but in reality I don’t remember when we finally got out of Saigon… the city just went on and on and on.  And I don’t know if it is me or not, but either the roads are horrible or those buses don’t have shocks.  We hit every pothole.  But our challenge on the way to Mui Ne was to see who would see the ocean first.  Our hotel here was the Hiep Hoa… nice units right on the South China Sea.  Traveling is stressful – I think ‘cause the number of decisions that need to get made regularly.  We had an argument right as we left the bus, as we were hit by hawkers trying to get us to take their tour or stay at their place.  Anyway, we arrived mid afternoon and decided to hit the beach. There was a storm rolling in and we had to get out, but had some fun in the waves until then.  Check out this video.  That night we ate some great prawns, scallions and snail at a BBQ place right on the beach… finally seafood!  On the way home, we stopped for ice cream at Fanny’s ice cream and ended up party crashing a Vietnamese family birthday party – we ended up having a great, albeit limited conversation, with the new 17 year old (Drum) and her family.  A definite Vietnam moment.

The next day we got up early and did the Mui Ne tour of hitting the local sand dunes in a jeep.  These are a beautiful area of maybe 20 square kms that makes you feel you are in the middle of the Sahara.  The attraction is that people rent sleds and slide down these like one might in snow… and there were some serious dunes.  It was great fun.  On the way back, we stopped at Fairy Stream… this is a little idyllic stream that had lush growth on one side and sand dunes on the other.  A very unique tour.  One section of the stream had what looked like lava (actually just orange mud) flowing into it.  The kids thought it felt  like quicksand.  Then we were off in a sleeper bus, and north to the city of Nha Trang about 5 hours away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIEW OF NHA TRANG – Anica

Sin jao, friends!*

I am doing the blog on Nah Trang, so I will tell you what we did and what I liked.

We stayed at Ha Van hotel which was very nice and had delicious breakfasts!

When we got to Nah Trang, it was already dark so we went immediately to the hotel and had a welcome drink at the rooftop lounge. Rebecca, Caleb and I got a Passion Fruit juice, delisioso! Then, we crashed in our room for a little before going to dinner. That night we went to the restaurant right next door, Yen’s.  I ordered “do-it-yourself vegetable spring rolls.”The waitress showed me how to do it and it was, what I call,“enjoyable.”

The next morning we had a relaxed breakfast and then went to the beach. After some time there, a heavy rain hit so we ran for cover. A little bit later, when the rain let up a bit, Rebecca, Dad and I ran down to the beach and played in the water.  Later, when the rain was done Caleb and Mom came down. We set up again and Caleb and I buried Rebecca into a mermaid type thing and a dead person.

That night we ate at a restaurant called Lac Canh – a very big local restaurant and very busy! What you would do is order and then they would bring you a Terecotta charcoal barbeque pot then they would bring you whatever you ordered (we ordered beef, pork, fruits and veg just came, shrimp and spring rolls.) Then, you would barbeque your things! It was quite a fun and rainy night! When we went got back to our hotel we had some ice cream!

The next morning we had breakfast then went to Vinpearl, which is an island amusement park. To get over we took a cable car across the ocean. To start off, all of the family except me went on a roller coaster. Then we walked over to the water park. This Vinpearl place includes a water park, arcade games, rides and suicidal rides (as Caleb calls them). So there we dumped our bags and went on slides, pools, tube slides and others and had lunch. After we finished in the water park, Rebecca went on a swing ring-around ride. Then we went inside to the Arcade games which were all free. When we left we realized that paying to play games was some of the fun. Then we kids went to the bumper cars arena and got in cars that were hard to drive. When we came out, we were done at Vinpearl. We took another cable car back to the mainland and went back to our hotel to shower and dress. That night we went to a restaurant for dinner with our bags then walked to the bus station and got on the sleeper bus to Hoi An.

*Hello, Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Night in Vietnamese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIEW OF HOI AN – Jodie

The sleeper bus into Hoi An was a long, bumpy ride.  After the 11 PM meal break, we were all able to sleep until about 530 or so when the sun came up.  What a beautiful sight looking out toward the coast over rice fields and the sky slowly showing beautiful hues of orange, pink, and red.  We arrived into town an hour later and everything was just beginning to wake up.  We walked up the street to our hotel which we couldn’t get into until after lunch when a room would be available.  Turned out to be high traffic place – a good sign, really.  We dropped our bags and headed out on a little jaunt around town, specifically to the market to see life at its early morning best – vendors, fruit, vegetables, fish galore, narrow walkways, and motorcycles jostling for position as well.  Watch out!

The key feature of Hoi An is its custom made clothing and shoes.  There are SO many little shops that it is a true shot in the dark as to which one will have the pleasure of sewing something awesome for you.  I was completely ready to get something made (had no clue what), so we just chose the tailor shop next door to our hotel.  Easy peasy.  Joel and I walked in with the plan to have him measured for a suit, and I had spied a winter jacket on a mannequin out front.  Turns out the Hoi An tailor shops are making quite a few wintery weather items during these killer hot days of August!  Who knew?  The girls were very amiable, spoke great English, kept us laughing, and did a great job (along with the other seamstresses you never saw) in completing the suit, jacket, and a dress.  It all only took a day and a half, really.  Rebecca also had a pair of sweet blue and pink shoes made in a day.  She is delighted with them, and they are a terrific story to bring home with her.

During our fashion forays down the street, the kids were relegated to the air conditioned room and Discovery Channel.   They LOVED that!  Viet Nam was proving quite formidable with its heat and humidity and we usually felt quite sweaty before 9 or 10 in the morning.  The hotel’s pool was a real feature too. 

We rented bicycles for a day from the hotel on our second day (a buck a day) and rode out to the beach and explored town a bit that way.  It was great to generate your own breeze, and the girls felt quite cool as they were doubled by me and Joel.  We figure Caleb received some early defensive driving lessons in this experience… you just have to enter intersections being completely aware of what everyone else is doing.  You just carry on with your way, but you’re ready to adjust at a moment’s notice. 

After being out for a ride in the afternoon, we jumped on board a little boat and rode across the river just to check things out.  The most interesting bit was the small ferries carrying loads of people and their motorbikes to the other side.  We cannot even begin to count how many motorcycles are in this country!!  And after our boat ride, we sat between the river and the street, had a drink with some delightful candied ginger and nuts, then jumped on our bikes to head for scrumptious Indian food at Ganesh restaurant. 

Hoi An was a real treat to see in Viet Nam, and was just a complete cultural gem within all else that we saw.  The beautiful yellow painted buildings with dark brown doors and windows, its rich history, and friendly people really gave this city a small town feel and made it very warm and inviting too.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIEW OF HA NOI – Rebecca (as dictated to and partially written by Caleb)

Things We Did-

• Water Puppet Show
• Walking Around The Lake
• Military Museum
• Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museum
• Cathedral

For three nights in Hanoi we stayed at the Madame Moon guest house. Aleida, Twila, Caleb, Anica, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching cartoons on channels such as Cartoon Network and Disney channel while we were in the room. On one of the nights we had to go to dinner on our own as just the kids while the parents went to a play. It was fine but we ate fast so that we could get back to the hotel room and catch a movie we had been waiting to come on. On almost every day we had some street food. The best street food that we had came on the last night we were in Hanoi. It was vegetables, meat, and sauce in a baguette or a 1/6 of a circle piece of pita bread. They were delicious!! On the Sunday morning that we were in Hanoi we went to a nearby cathedral for a 10:30 mass. When we got there, practically nobody was there, except for a handful of foreigners who were waiting, like us, for the English 10:30 mass. When the doors finally opened, there was only a Vietnamese janitor there who reluctantly let us in for about 20 or so minutes. In there we saw beautiful stained glass windows that told stories of Jesus in them. They also had stained glass images of many saints. After the 20 minutes the janitor ushered us all out and we realized that there was in fact no 10:30 mass in English. So we ended up having church with just our 2 families on the top floor of nearby café.  At that café they gave us big pieces of paper to draw on and because it was church we picked a churchy theme to draw about. Our chosen theme was trust. On another day, we went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Inside we saw the dead body of good old Uncle Ho. The kids got to go into the museum because kids were free and the adults stayed outside. We just looked around and every so often people asked if they could take pictures of/or with us. On another day we were there we went to a water puppet show. I really enjoyed it because it showed all about the Vietnamese legends and history. I really enjoyed Ha Noi. 9 out of 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIEW OF HA LONG BAY

We had a terrific time on this junk, The Dragon’s Pearl, with Indochina Junk, and would highly recommend it!!  What a great wrap up to our time in Viet Nam, and very nearly, our time in SouthEast Asia. Check out this video from cruising in the bay, and at our parking stall in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just wanted to give you a quick update you on what is happening in SE Asia from a Haber perspective…

Vietnam was the lone remaining country on our list of ‘make sure you see this’.  We are enjoying discovering this unique country as we make our way north.  Vietnam is LONG!  Jodie will do a full recap when we get back home to Phrao on August 4th.  But it is Sunday morning and we are sitting in rainy Hanoi.  We flew into Saigon (now called Ho Chi Minh City), in south Vietnam, back on July 20th and have slowly made our way up the coast to Hanoi.  We stopped in places like Mui Ne, Nha Trang, and Hoi An.  These places were just random syllables until this past week.  Since then they have magically transformed into pictures, experiences, memories.  On the 29th, we flew into Hanoi and met up again with our good friends the Whiddens who are finishing their 4 month tour.  We have traveled around this sprawling urban mess, seeing such places as the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the War Museum, a water puppet theatre and the oldest university in town (circa 1037).  Today will be our Sabbath – a local Catholic church has an English mass.  Our plan is to head out on a ‘junk’ to Halong Bay – an incredible group of islands in the South China Sea, on Monday morning.  The rain that is falling is the periphery of a tropical storm that is moving through and still threatens our trip (boats don’t run if there is a threat of nasty weather).  The forcasters say that it will be all clear by Monday.  We are looking forward to this trip… again – watch for the photos soon.

Our anticipation is building for our return to Canada.  We will have 3 weeks in Phrao before we leave.  During that time I will continue teaching English in the local elementary school, Jodie will be doing an English program for the community and we will be packing to leave.  The time will go by quickly I know.

If you would like to know what’s up with us.. I will tell you. We went to a retreat center for the Lord’s guidance in either staying in Thailand or going home to Canada. So on Rebecca’s birthday (July 12th the last day we were there,) we made a decision combining dreams, verses and thoughts. I cannot tell you the final decision yet, because we are telling my mom and dad’s families first…

Those were Anica’s words in a recent email that she sent out to her friends.  All I should add are a couple details. 

Well, a decision has indeed been made.  A couple significant verses stood out to us…

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Jeremiah 29:10 – 14 (the Message) …

This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12″When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. 13-14″When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—”bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.”

Besides the great words of affirmation about a future and such – twice Jeremiah mentions bringing you back home… an unexpected section of a cool verse.  And very appropriate for our situation.  And we loved those words that spoke about God being quite in control.  As our retreat time drew near to a close, we had a family meeting and prayer and asked everyone what they were thinking… Unanimous – we’re coming home to Canada.  We’ll be heading to Vernon, as that is the place from which we were sent off.  Don’t know too much beyond that.  We are happy!  We’ll be checking to see when the cheapest flights are in the latter part of August… someone save me a golf game!

We know that this ‘following God’s leading’ thing doesn’t get any easier in Canada.  We also know that our future, along with yours I suspect, includes many questions, decisions and ambiguity.  But we agree that it may be the only, and best, way to live.

Joel and Anica for all the Thaiberstocks

 

 

 

For two weeks we travelled down south with the Whiddens to the Thai islands of Phangan, Samui (the unscheduled stop), Phuket, and Phi Phi. We had a great time and here are the highlights from the five of us.

Best Beach:

R – Kamala on Phuket

A – Phangan

C – Kamala

Jd – Phangan

Jl – Phangan (west coast – the only one he could physically enjoy)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Meal:

R – the great lunch place we found on Phi Phi where we ate EVERYday – fruit shakes were incredible, and the cook/family was from Chiang Rai

A – Red Snapper in Ko Samui

C – Italian restaurant in Phi Phi where we had our last meal with the Whiddens (he ate A LOT of food – thanks Roger and Linda!)

Jd – Nok’s on Phangan for amazing Thai food and Gringos on Samui for Mexican – miss that!!

Jl – Duck Spicy at Kamala on Phuket – great Thai food, cheap prices and the restaurant had great Christian posters and Bible verses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Hotel:

Hands down, the entire family agrees, Phi Phi Popular.  If you get to go to this island, you need to come off the pier and turn left.  It was the absolute best. Our room looked over the beach with a towering rockface behind it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Favourite Activity:

R – snorkelling and swimming at Phi Phi Leh

A – wave jumping at Kamala beach; building booby traps in the sand on Phangan; snorkelling and swimming at Phi Phi Leh

C – wave jumping on Kamala; swimming at Phi Phi Lh cove; hiking to the Phi Phi viewpoint

Jd – swimming in the Phi Phi Leh cove; motorcycling for my first time

Jl – hiking to the Phi Phi viewpoint; hiking in the National Park on Phangan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place/Activity You Would Teleport to Right Now:

R – snorkelling at Phi Phi Leh

A – snorkelling at Phi Phi Leh and swimming at the cove there

C – any of his aforementioned favourite activities

Jd – swimming at the Phi Phi Leh cove without the longtail boat ride getting us there

Jl – Phi Phi Leh cove, and getting to swim this time.

 

Least Favourite Part of the Trip:

R – the motorcycle accident (she was VERY upset at the scene)

A – the longtail boat ride to Phi Phi Leh

C – throwing up on the ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi

Jd – walking around in fear after Joel’s accident, just waiting for something to happen to someone

Jl – seeing Jodie so fearful

We are back in Phrao and again getting used to life at the House of Grace. We had 4 beautiful days at Ko Phi Phi – one of the most beautiful islands in the world.  We had a super room, right on the beach.  I can’t count the number of times I said – “this is so BEAUTIFUL!!”  Pictures coming soon. We parted ways with our good friends, the Whiddens, on Monday morning.  We really needed their visit, for our own health – it gave us a good shot of home, and ‘normal’.  More on that later.

Here in Phrao, Jodie has begun a couple of new areas of help, including getting the pre-school kids (15 of them) up and dressed in the morning – 5:20 AM.  She is doing remarkably well with this… yes, I did say 5:20.  Also, she and the kids are on shower (ab nam) duty with the young ones after school.  I have to let her put her own blog entry about this soon, as she already has a bunch of funny stories.  As you can imagine, this close interaction with the kids is changing the nature of our relationship with many of them.  Ya know, when you see someone in their underpants regularly – things change.

We were at our local elementary school last week to spy out the location of our new English program.  We will be teaching a class of different elementary kids each time we go in to the A/V room, and  the class gets broadcast around the school.  It should be interesting!  They want us there 3 times a week.  There are 1000 kids at the school, including about 40 of our own from House of Grace.  We’ll let you know how it is going.  Certainly an item for prayer – as it is perhaps the coolest thing we have done.

Thanks to those who have asked and/or are praying for the healing of my broken clavicle.  I went to see a doctor at McCormick Hospital (we know it well) in Chiang Mai.  He took a look and asked about mobility.  Both were good.  I had a nurse in Emergency take out the staples, and he said, “feel free to shower – freedom!”  The doctor will see me again in a month.  Both he and sister/nurse Jill reaffirmed that there is to be no lifting for 3 months.  Yikes!  Healing will be slow. I am feeling very good, though.  Can’t ride my bike for a while – that will be nasty.  Can’t throw kids around for a while.  Kids here are already asking for me to do it, because when I don’t wear my sling, I look kind of normal.  I will continue to wear my sling off and on, as it reminds both me and others, that I am not yet healthy.

And speaking of health – as a family we have struggled with overall health here.  And I’m not even talking about our tour of Thai hospitals!  Besides the accidents, our physical health has been great.  Really, it has!  But emotionally… it is hard living out of your own culture, living in another language with less than 4 other people in your community who share any of our cultural norms; and spiritually… we really do miss English worship and a group of Christian friends who can support and love you up close.  We’ve talked about these losses being too much for a family to bear, for a sustained period.  Sometimes I wonder about being in Thailand … the Haberstocks: so brave, so clueless.  But deep down we know we couldn’t have handled more of the same old same in Canada.  We needed a break, needed something different.  We said many times before leaving that we were not out to change or save the world… we wanted to make a difference but more than that, we wanted to have a family adventure.

But now I bring some of my own baggage in… what is 42 year old Joel searching for, what am I needing?? Do I need something big and world-changing to justify us being here… or was the leap the important thing?  As our time grows longer here, I can feel my behaviour changing.  I have moved from free spirited, loving the people I’m with, reveling in the new normals like having prayers and meals with our kids every night, daily conversations and interactions with sweet Buddhist friends, and having the free schedule to hop on any random adventure that comes up.  Lately I feel like I have an agenda, looking so hard for the big picture that I don’t see the wonder of the minute… the conversations, the smiles, the moments.  And isn’t this what life is about, in Canada or Thailand or anywhere in between?  It is about the moments… I have forgotten.  Tom Cochrane was right – I knew it!

Thanks for reading some ramblings after 10 months in Thailand.  Thailand – so beautiful but confusing, fun yet stressful, refreshing but frustrating, friendly yet distant… Haberstocks in Thailand, we are.

 

Joel

Just a quick update

All is going remarkably well, regarding the series of unfortunate events from last week.. I was feeling really good up until Tuesday morning, when i was forced to sit through the canucks game three – set my recovery back by a few days I’m sure… but was still (honorably) discharged from the hospital Tuesday (yesterday) afternoon… I feel really good, and am on very few Tylenols, (though i can’t type worth crap)… The wound looks good, on the surface. The lovely nurse Jodie will look after daily cleaning from here on out…. that will be the big concern – keeping things clean… no infection. There are 15 staples and some dressing that are keeping the dirt out. But like i said, i feel good and have 90% mobility.

We are off to the west coast (Phuket area) today to continue our vacation… with Caleb doing a bit more of the gear hauling. We have a week left before we fly back to Bangkok/Chaing Mai.

Love you all – doing well. The family got out to see Pirates of the Caribbeans 4 last night – love that Johnny Depp!   Thanks for your prayers and notes – hope you are well.

still smiling,

Joel and the fam.