The Hamletts’ Blog

Hello all!
=)

This past week and a half has been kind of a blur! Last week was a vacation break from school, so we had the week off from teaching. After every nine weeks of school, the kids (and teachers) get a week or two off. Although we didn’t have school, we were still very busy!

Some mornings, we woke up early and went running with Tiger (PSeua). Running around the park at 6am is wonderful because it is very tranquil and you can look out at some spots of undeveloped land and its “soi maak” or very beautiful. It’s funny to see all three of us on one motorcycle!

This is very common in Thailand! A lot of times you will see 3-4 people riding, sometimes 5 (If they’re small enough!) Just like in cars, people here maximize the space as much as possible! Here’s another picture of NaNee, her daughters Anna and Amy, and James (PNid’s nephew).

Amy, NaNaa, Anna, James

Another morning, Bobby got his haircut for a whopping $2! It is interesting to think about the prices of things – we often chat with PNid and her friends at the market about how much things cost. They are amazed at how much things cost in the states, just as we are amazed at how little things cost here in Thailand. But what we don’t remember is that people make more in the states, so things cost more, and vice versa. So really things, in proportion, probably cost about the same. We just think everything is less expensive because we’re using “American” money! But if we worked here, it would be the same as everyone else!

We also received our first electric bill - 700 baht, which is about $25. Here’s a picture of it for you all to see!

School has been going well so far this week! Before the break, we were able to watch three of the children give presentations on an animal of their choice.

Amy gave hers on the Yellow Fin Tuna

Andrew on the Chinese Fire Belly Newt

Mandy gave hers on the red breasted robin

There were also two presentations the day before that we didn’t get to wat ch – Ellie and Robert Here’s a picture of all five students with Mrs. Marie, their teacher!

It was very neat because many people were invited to watch so it gave the children a real public speaking type experience.

To celebrate the end of the nine weeks, we went out with the Firpos and the Hunts to go bowling, then have dinner! Bowling was fun – it was the Firpos vs. the Hunts – 7 on 7! Bobby was a Firpo, and I was a Hunt =) The Firpos ended up winning like 750 to 700 (or something like that!) It was a great time though!

After bowling, we went out to eat at the Sofitel, which is the really nice hotel in town. They make a lot of “fa-rung” food, so we ordered a pizza and a calzone! It was SO good! Our first out-to-eat Italian treat since we’ve been here! For both of us it was about 700 baht, which is about $25. This is considered really expensive, but it was SO worth it! It was also John Mark’s birthday, so the brought him out a cake! We really had a wonderful time with these two families!

We have still been eating well! One night we had dinner at the Alward’s and had homemade burritos! This is one of our favorite meals here! Yumm! We ate with Moe and Git (another couple on staff) one night and had BBQ and mashed potatoes! Last night we had homemade stew at the Hunts – it was just amazing! Potatoes, carrots, beef, and onion – The flavor was like Sunday-evening-get-me-a-hunk-of-buttered-bread-and-dip-it-in-this-meaty-broth – good!

Another day last week, we helped Mary Jo (a teacher here) start the process of making Christmas ornaments! Ornaments are very hard to find here, and if you do find them, they’re very expensive! So we started to make some. Mary Jo is EXTREMELY creative! We made some ping-pong glittered balls, Bobby made an extremely long strand of home-made garland (crafted from these little metal rings he had to bend apart and together), and some coat-hanger balls. Twisting those coat hangers is the hardest thing ever! But the result is worth it!

That same day, we ate out “Green Leaf” with just John and Melody. It was an excellent lunch of cheeseburger, steak sandwich, smoothies and fries! Even better was the company and the marriage-talk time. They are such an open, honest could and we really enjoy talking and spending time with them. We talked a lot about our communication and how we’re doing. It’s funny because even though we’re together, literally 24-7, I think we have to work harder at our communication. Because we’re together, we just sort of assume that the other person knows how we feel and what’s going on, when in reality, they don’t!

We’ve still been helping in Sunday school - we took a video of the kids singing a song - you can see Bob doing it too =) Click on the link “my-god-is-so-big” to watch!

my-god-is-so-big

Last week, staff training/development started. Usually every 3-4 months, the staff takes about a week and do a development time. We were able to participate in this for two days last week (Th. And Fri.) One morning, we listened to Brian give a sermon in Thai – only picking out a few words here and there. He had given us an outline in English so we could try and follow along. It was a really neat experience! After the sermon, we discussed what was taught, and it was really neat to share how we felt and hear how the Thai’s reacted (of course, Brian was interpreting everything for us!) But it’s just an amazing feeling to know that God’s love can penetrate through anything – including language and culture. God doesn’t judge based on what language we speak – He is there, with open arms for every single person on this earth. I know that we know this in our minds, but it’s just a different feeling to actually experience! God is just amazing =)

During this staff training/development time, all the families got together one night for dinner and games. We played Pictionary and Charades, which was a challenge for some of the Thai staff! It was so much fun though! We’ve really been playing a lot of card and board games – the families here really enjoy them. It’s really a great thing because it brings the family together; we hope to incorporate games into our family time. Katie has always loved card and board games, whereas Bobby was never really a card player or board game player. But he has grown to like Skip-Bo and Catch Phrase a lot, which is a victory!

Here is a picture from one of the nights we went out to dinner with all the staff and families - you can’t even see the end of the table because it was so long! These are the two pictures - one from each end! (This is the same buffet place we came to with PNid and her friends, Mimi and Jen)

Another night of staff training, all of the couples got together for a communication night – Brian and Terri, John and Melody, Gary and Robin, Moe and Git, Steve and Marie, Guy and Ying, and us! We talked about the changes we want to make and what is holding us back from communicating as couples and as a team. Bobby and I both agree that this is something truly great. It is rare that you find such a close-knit community where everyone is open and honest with each other. It’s hard to describe the joy that we feel just even being a small part of it! It’s truly a God thing!

We’ve been reading a lot! Brian gave us several books to read – Currently Bobby is reading “Who You Are When No One is Looking”, and Katie is reading “The Autobiography of George Muller”. We’ve also been continuing our study of Thai – learning recently about all the different fruit, family members, and emotions… etc.

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

The Alward’s (aka Hokie enemies)

Gary is a University of Virginia alumni and Robin an alumnus of Wake Forest. They have been here in Thailand for over ten years and are just great people and wonderful examples of how to lead and live a Christian life. Gary has been doing P90X which is a workout program you can do at home with minimal equipment. One day, Bobby and Gary worked out together and Bobby really enjoyed it - Bobby was sore for 3+ days.

Robin is an amazing cook. We’ve had homemade burritos and pizza that she has made. Now when we mean homemade, it’s really homemade. If you want to eat ‘farung” food here you pretty much have to make all of it; including the pizza crust and burrito wraps. We are really spoiled when we eat over at their home!

Gary and Robin have 4 wonderful children:

The oldest is Robert, 8 or 9, and he is a great kid. He enjoys playing soccer, doing P90X with his dad, and playing cards. Bobby says he is one of his best PE students - he always gives great effort.

Ellie, 7, is very polite and well spoken. She is kind of a “girly-girl” like Mandy Hunt =) Mandy, Ellie, and Amy Firpo are all very close friends!

John, 4, is a bundle of energy and fun. He is very outgoing and always enjoys playing with the older children.

Becca, 2, is the youngest and is very close with her mother. She usually is involved with many things but is never too far from momma’s side.

From left to right: Waiter, Robin, Becca, Ellie, Robert, Gary, John

Here’s what is written about them on the Campus Outreach website:

Gary and Robin have been on staff with Campus Outreach since 1992. After serving 5 years with Campus Outreach Augusta they moved to Thailand in 1997 to work with COT. After serving 7 years in Bangkok they moved to the Northeast of Thailand to join the COT team in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Over the last two years Gary has been involved in building relationships with students and sharing the gospel. As of August, 2006 Gary is studying the bible with 3 students who are in varying stages of committin their lives to Christ.

Gary and Robin have 4 children; Robert, Ellie, John and Rebecca.
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY:

NaAck, NaSome, PNid, James, and PSeua (or Tiger)

NaAck is Bobby’s aunt (one of Lee’s younger sisters) and her husband is NaSome. They live on the main street (our apartment is behind their’s a little way - you get to it by a little “soi” or “little road” - very hard to drive a car). They have two children - PNid and a son that we don’t know his name. James is their grandson who they care for. It is very common in Thailand for the grandparents to raise their grandchildren. We used to think that James’ name was “Game”, because of the way the Thai’s pronunciate it! (Thanks Uncle Paul!) PSeua (Tiger) is PNid’s boyfriend. He really is the one who mostly drives us! He’s extrememly kind, like most Thais.

We don’t have a picture of NaSome, but will try to get one soon!

This picture is of Apple, Katie, and PNid - getting ice cream at KFC!

PNid and PSeau

Bobby, NaAck, and PSeua

James