Slowly Settling In

We are slowly beginning to settle in in our home in Chiang Mai. Just as I was getting into a rhythm with the teaching at Payap we have the Thailand International Composers Festival on our campus. All classes are basically canceled so that students can go to the lectures and performances. It is a good thing because it features composers from all over Asia, especially Southeast Asia and showcases their new compositions. I am performing in the Chiang Mai Community Orchestra and Wind Ensemble in two concerts where we will be playing many of these new works. There is some very good writing and it is an honor to be able to help out with the percussion sections of these two groups. The students that take part in this are very talented and it's a good chance for much of the faculty at Payap to be involved playing with the students.

What this means is that I won't be seeing much of my classes this week because of the festival and then next week is mid-terms and classes are canceled for mid-terms. So it will be almost like starting over again two weeks from now. My Jazz Improv class was asking if we could go ahead and have class next week. That made me feel really good because they all seem to be enjoying the class so much. I'm enjoying it to. I really feel like relationships are beginning to develop and I am praying to see how the Lord wants me to progress. I really do like the students and am beginning to find the ones that are really serious about moving forward with their music. Good times.

Kalya just finished being sick the past couple of days. We are thinking it might have been the flu or maybe something she ate. Either way she is doing much better now and we feel good about that.

We are hoping that things will continue moving towards settling in so that we can begin looking into the volunteer work that we want to do in Chiang Mai with child trafficking. Pray for us to not lose sight of why we are here and that we would make the most of our opportunities to show the light of Christ with all of the people that we come in contact with.

My language skills are doing a little better, especially in the private lessons. The lecture classes are still a real challenge but I trust that it will get better and better as I continue on.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We miss home very much.

Bryan and Kalya

Settling In Thai Style

We have now been here in Chiang Mai for just over one week. There has really not been a moment to post on the blog until now. My first day on the campus I was warmly greeted by the Dean of the college of music and the staff that I had gotten to know when we were here last summer. I now have an office space that I can use to teach private lessons in and get work done for my teaching assignment.

Did I mention teaching assignment? A normal class load for a college professor is 12 hours per week of contact time with the students. My schedule is 18 hours and six different classes. I had 3 syllabi written before I came and still have 3 more to write and we are in the 5th week of the first semester. When we arrived I was already 3 weeks late. I am overwhelmed with the lecture classes that I have to teach because of the language barrier. The University encourages me to teach in English because, after all, this is an international school and the students need to be learning English. That's all well and good, but the teacher in me wants to make sure that the students understand what is going on. Please pray for me as I find a rhythm in the teaching schedule.


Last Thursday the entire student body and faculty participated in a ceremony called Wai Khru. Khru is the word for teacher and Wai is a term of honor. Each department of the university is presented with a beautiful arrangement put together by the students in that department. Two students carry identical arrangements up to the stage, drop to their knees and walk on their knees to present their arrangement to the president of the university. This is a very humbling and respectful act by the students. Speeches are given and the students are then encouraged by the president. In the evening each department has their own Wai Khru and the faculty each has a chance to give words of encouragement to the students.

On the home front, we have found a house and yesterday I purchased a scooter for transportation. We need to report to the licensing office in town to get the scooter's title changed over to our name. We are praying that the official we encounter will be in a good mood today and the switch will go smoothly. "Rules" are handled very differently in this culture and we are doing our best to navigate them in a calm and loving way. We met our friends' landlord and teaching colleague, Christina. She is a Canadian who has lived here for 15 years. It was such a blessing to meet Christina and she really helped ease a lot of our anxiety. She introduced us to a Thai woman, named Kat, who is married to an Australian. Kat owns the house that we will be renting and is a wonderful lady who really hit it off immediately with Kalya. This will be a great opportunity for Kalya to build a relationship and begin building community in our new neighborhood. Kat (who does not know the Lord) lives just a few blocks away and is very eager "hang" with Kalya. The house will be nice and is in a nice mubahn (neighborhood). We have an extra room for any of you that will be coming to visit :)

We miss our family and freinds very, very much. Skype has been so good. We are able to see the grand children and have good times talking with them. The best part was seeing that Ella remembers us and the first time we saw her on Skype she greeted us with that heart melting, beautiful smile that she has. After that she couldn't stop staring at us and interacting with us. It was as if she was just waiting for us to reach out of the computer and pick her up and hold her. We are so happy for that. That helped Kalya a ton to see that.

In the last post I was talking about how easy it is to romanticize
this adventure and that the reality would be much different. There would be many challenging times as well as many amazing and wonderful times. I've been trying to wrap my mind around how we look at circumstances we encounter in our lives. We look at the amazing and wonderful times as the ones that make us feel really good and excited and the challenging times as the depressing, difficult "downer" moments. I have been struck with the realization that all of the events we encounter should be viewed as amazing because everything we go through builds character and makes us stronger. In the book of James, he writes, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance." We are praying for trusting in God to guide our steps here and to let the light of Chirst shine through in the challenging moments that we face.

Now.....on to the next challenge!

Bryan and Kalya