100 days!

the joys of school, work, exercise and language... 

School: Well, just as my fellow Australians are beginning school for the year, we celebrated the 100th day of school here on Monday!

I enjoyed a wonderful morning at Tobi's school helping out with the "100 day" themed activities for the second year in a row.  I felt like I could've done with about a hundred hours sleep by the end of it though- I'd forgotten how exhausting it can be in the classroom LOL.

Which brings me to my next bit of news.  That I have volunteered to be a class helper on a Monday afternoons now in Grade 1.  I'm kind of excited about this because there's still a big chunk of my heart that loves being in the classroom and I think one afternoon a week might just be enough to fill that little void!

Work: I am dedicating more time this year to writing for the ZOE Children's Home blog, so if you are interested in reading more about all the "official" ZOE news, be sure to keep visiting that site too.  In the coming weeks, I'll be sharing a bit more about what we're doing at ZOE this year too.  I'll also be starting to plan our mid-year trip back to Australia soon so please begin to think about whether your group, church, school or men's/women's ministry would like us to come and share.  We are happy to talk about our experiences ministering and living in a foreign country, as well as our passion relating to helping children in need. 

Exercise: Did you watch the ZOE Rescue Walk clip? I would, of course, be so into this if it was happening in Australia or Thailand so for all the American readers of this blog (who live near by) go and join a team!!  Growing up, I always loved running and sports but, I guess, after Spencer was born I really didn't make regular exercise a priority in my day and my fitness really spiraled down hill.  Last year, in about April or May though, I began to exercise.  It was one of my goals last year to get more fit and (besides the few times when I had been sick) I pretty much exercised every week-day for the remainder of the year.  

Well, I am excited now because in a couple of weeks time, I am going to attempt to participate in the 8th Annual Run For Relief.  It's a 5km run/walk to raise awareness for the million villagers in Burma, for whom running is not a choice.  I'm going to join with some of the other ZOE missionaries and people all around the world choosing to run for our brothers and sisters in Burma.  I had my first "practice" run/walk last night.  I usually only run/walk about 3km but last night I attempted to push myself further and I barely survived {I mean} I did it!  I still have a couple more weeks left to increase my fitness so I'll let you know how I go.

Language: I have a new Thai teacher!  I'm still at the same language school but I've been swapped to a new teacher.  I would've been happy to stay with the beginners teacher for a few more years but the change is stretching me so I guess that's a good thing- it had to happen!  This teacher is a lot more conversational... like deep, real-life conversations! I'm currently picking up about every tenth word she says and trying to piece it all together in mind.  She even had me write a story for my first homework assignment, which in English I would've loved but in Thai... not so easy.  I did get it done though and she was actually very encouraging towards my attempt.  So whilst I leave the two-hour class with a massive headache from concentrating so hard and I can already feel even more of a love/hate relationship coming on, I am hopeful that this new style of teaching will be good for me.  Isn't that just true of so many areas of our life- no pain... no gain, right?      

A big heart-felt "congratulations" to all the new Preppies who began school over the past week in Australia too, in particular my gorgeous niece Bella.

Have a great week,

Andie:)