Thomas journals

We decided to accept teaching positions at Yongsan School for next school year! We will technically be mission workers of the Network of International Christian Schools, seconded to Yongsan for two years.   It's exciting!

Just back from the International Recruitment Center conference in Bangkok, exhausted and reassured -- 10 interviews, 9 different schools, all encouraging and polite.   Most firm offer from Yongsan International (Christian) School of Seoul, Korea.  Barb would continue in first grade, and I would teach Grade 9 English.   I am aging out of technology relevance; but in English, age (presumed wisdom) is a benefit.   I came to dread the question "How do you keep up with developments in technology?", as that felt like the undertow of stereotypical gray-haired irrelevance.   What would a 25-year-old respond to that question?  or would he be asked the question in the first place?  Yes, I find that many people, including tech types, get mired in expectations borne of past mistakes and find it difficult to shift mentally to new paradigms.    The good Calvinist reminds us that we all are sinners and must be constantly on guard against the human tendency to repeat past mistakes. 

The departure wall at Dammam Airport, just prior to passport-exit-check: we bid farewell to Chris; then we all drive to Bahrain (typical 90-minute crossing time at the frontier), check in at Holiday Inn Express , walk to dinner at the nearby Arirang Korean restaurant, then drive Coleman to Bahrain airport to bid him farewell.   Ironically, due to the vagaries of air-ticketing, Chris flew to Bahrain to make his flight connection--he passed through there an hour before Coleman.   Then back to the relatively-conveniently located hotel for an easy night's sleep (too-smoky bar, cough! cough!), a pleasant breakfast meeting a Saudi ex-military guy (apparently visiting Bahrain in order to boost his blood alcohol content, now hungover, still quite red in the face, and very amicable).  Barb is at Ellie&Jean's Beauty Salon to get her hair done while I wander through Bahrain's business district looking for lunch with wi-fi.    There is a McDonald's clone -- even the logo i

New Year's Eve at friend Jefferson's house near the beach at Ras Tanura, a nuclear family Nu Year's Eve it was, watching movies (the guys watched the first umpteen episodes of Battlestar Galactica while Barb watched that and at the same time watched Downton Abbey on the computer screen), playing card games, and at 12midnight, walking out to the beach.  It was surprisingly empty, little noise, only a very few houses had party lights on.  The weather was in the 60s, gorgeous but breezy. Then on New Year's Day  (no photo evidence of it?) Chris and I went swimming.  The water was probably 75 degrees, chilly but not too cold.  o.k., yes, I wore my Christmas present: a shorty wetsuit.  It certainly made the chilly water more comfortable. Happy New Year 2013!