So I’m back at the Bangkok airport, having arrived here about five hours early, in line with my paranoia about missing flights and also the knowledge that taxis apparently go off the meter later in the day. Getting a taxi here was an experience in itself – a little bit scary not having a seatbelt when the taxi’s zipping in and out of lanes without indicating at the speed this one was going! And then there was the tiff that resulted when I demand...

Thai people sure know how to give great farewells! The Christmas party at the NS youth house last night pretty much felt like one big farewell. The students were really sweet, giving us little gifts and lots of hugs – but only girl-to-girl and boy-to-boy of course, as is appropriate in Thai culture. Red roses were given to each of the 50-odd party-goers to give to a team member who’d been special to them in some way, and I felt really honoured at...

I feel like so much has happened since I last updated. Yesterday we went carolling while giving out tracts and invites to the Christmas party – a job for me and someone else in the team who are a little musically challenged! In the afternoon we joined a couple English classes to perform a skit about Jesus’ birth and to teach English by playing Christmas games.  The second class I went to was small – only six students until two turned up ext...

Yes, that is a baby crocodile I'm hugging.Today's our day off so, after a much-welcomed sleep-in, we went to the crocodile farm, where we marvelled at the big crocs and held a little one. Lunch was a picnic on board a raft-style boat which took us around Thailand's biggest marsh.Sunday our sub-team stayed in Phitsanulok longer than expected because one of our team members was too sick to travel back. A few of the team members have been a bit ill ...

After recovering from camp with some R ‘n’ R on Tuesday, we’ve had a pretty busy week. Mornings have been spent on campus, talking and lunching with students, and afternoons have generally been spent prepping for evening activities. Wednesday night we had Cool Café, with a mammoth turnout – 27 people, which is phenomenal compared with the usual; Thursday we had an English class followed by an evangelical bible study; and last night ...