Count down from 10.

So then, 10 days left. Where is the time gone?

2 weeks time we will be 3 days into our trip. Excited? Scared? Packed? Stressed maybe? Well however your feeling your not the only one.

What are you most looking forward too?

Don't forget that on Sunday we have the BBQ round pete and Janes. Lets hope that the weather will be better than recently. And if you thought you were getting away from the rain then think again as it rains pretty much every day in Thailand. But at least it will be warm!

And how exciting is this new project that Jill and Simon have come up with for us to do? I'm really excited about it and hope that you are too.

Well thats all from me too. Look out in your inboxes for the millions of emails that I am sending to you. Any queries get back to me. For those of you in exam hell, then good luck, and I hope that they all go well. For those of you not then have a restful 10 days and make the most of English meals before we go!

Take care, have good weeks and see you Sunday
Kenny

Count down from 11.

I really enjoyed Emma's blog yesterday. I find when I think about the Thailand trip delivering a sermon translated into Thai that is the thing that generates the nervousness then Emma raised. It's not that I feel I got nothing to say or that I don't know God speaks to me. It is just that Thailand seems such a different country.

Anyway to matters less lofty. Although I'm really keen on Thailand I still have a whole load of stuff to do before we go away. First a meeting Tuesday then I have a triathlon on Wednesday night. I have a church awayday on Saturday and then our Service and BBQ on Sunday. Jane and I are hoping to sell our old house on the 30th and there is still cleaning to be done there. Oh yes and there is that little matter of sorting 5 weeks worth of work cover in the next 11 days!!

Wow 11 days now that brings things into focus. We have been planning and discussing this trip for over a year. Despite the fact that Will and Ali are constantly ribbing for even going to Thailand (I was very vocal about the previous trip so that ribbing is entirely appropriate). I am looking forward to the trip, but not without some trepidation.

Basically though I think it will be great. Jill new project idea to build toilets and washrooms in an orphanage seems like a good addition to the time out there and it fits really well with the 'practical helping' we discussed at our time together. I hope that all the elements of the program work really well together. We have certainly have tried our best to arrange a good trip, but I have been really surprised at the amount of work that it has needed. But then as I read once nothing that is really worth something doesn't need some amount of effort.

Anyway I have gone on long enough. My thoughts and prayers to all the people still finishing off their exams. I hope you get all the best questions and do really well.

See you all later

Pete

Things I have most definately not done today.

Anyone else feeling a slightly stomach crushing nervousness about this? No? Just me then...

Still, I am excited too. I love travelling. Love that odd and out of place feeling you get when you’re within a new culture, trying to remember how to ask those basic questions like where the nearest loo is (Always important. Last time there were several instances of “Tao ri...tao rie...ti na... Oh for the love of – who’s got that phrase book?”) I’m also going to try my best to find a foodstuff that can squick out the most people, with bonus points if it wriggles on the way down.

Not so excited about the sun though. I’m not built for sunny time zones. I’m built for rain and mist and the dreary British climes. My skin is so pathetically pasty that even my scalp burns, and who puts sun cream on their scalp? Makes everything horribly sticky. So, sun cream. A lot. Probably to the extent where you will all have to be careful to keep at least a one metre distance so you don’t suddenly find yourself stuck to me.

Just remembered this blog is meant to be some kind of informative what-we’re-doing-today thing, not an outlet for my complaints. Right. Does doing my jabs count? I know they were done ages ago... right, no, don’t count. Pete says he’s packed. Saying “I’m not packed” doesn’t quite seem to do things justice. Before I pack I’ve got to clean my room, so I can actually find those things that need packing. Before that I’ve got to find a place to clean things to. Not the floor. I’ve run out of floor.

I’ll find a cardboard box.

Next. Getting one of those lovely this-is-Thai-culture handbooks that Andrew has; honestly, that thing could train you to be a native. Pretty sure that permanently borrowing his is not an option. WHSmiths? Waterstones? Bah, I’ll find one. This is turning more into a list of things I haven't done...

Visa! Done that! You know, that thing that’s going to let me stay in Thailand for another year in a pleasingly legal manner (Not sure I’m cut out to be an illegal immigrant)? It’s all sent off with too many bits of paper, and should be back within the week. Ignore the rest of this post, just concentrate on this paragraph. Then I shall appear as if I have properly used this blog.

Don’t know the weather in Thailand at the moment. Probably too hot. But with lots of cloud cover. It's weird like that.

Emma

2 weeks to go!!

Hello everyone,

As there's only two weeks left before we leave for Thailand we're going to start the blog up again... This is so we can get in the swing of things and so that people who are interested can find it etc.

While we're in Thailand we'll be using the blog to share what we're doing with everyone back home - until then, I'll upset everyone who is fed up with the weather this weekend by pointing out that it's currently 32 degrees c out in Chiang Mai (http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/1251).

That's all for now,


Andrew