New Blog Site : ” sea-team-russ.blogspot.com ”
March 7th, 2007Please go to the new address : sea-team-russ.blogspot.com
It is much better !!
This site will no longer be maintained. Pass the word !
Thanks, Russ.
Happy March 1st
March 1st, 2007Can you believe it’s March already? Kelli, Aubrey and I are so excited–We passed the first course in Thai Language school!! We have graduated to Conversational Thai!! Now we are learning how to order from a restaurant, greet people and go to the market. We are so excited when we can understand how much we owe for something. We have new Korean neighbors who have moved in. They have asked us to teach them English. So, Kelli is teaching the 5 and 10 year old. And I am teaching a friend of theirs. She is a sweet lady that has two kids and wants to learn how to understand what she is saying in English. I didn’t know the English language was so full of slang and unnecessary words. We are thankful to be given the opportunity to be a blessing to them. It is getting hot here! We are beginning the hot, dry season. In June the hot, rainy season will begin. We are looking forward to a group from CRCC coming to see us in June. Aubrey got a new puppy. She is a two month old shit-zu. White with brown spots named Sadie. Take care–We’ll write more later. Sydney
Happy Chinese New Year!!
February 18th, 2007Today is February 18th, Chinese New Year. We have been hearing firecrackers and seeing some lights in the sky. Unfortunately, our ADSL is not working so we are trying to get a technician to come check on it. The girls and I passed our first test in language school. We are now in Module 1, Conversational Thai. Our teacher brought in some green koolaid type drink on Friday and we lifted our glasses and toasted our accomplishment. She is so cute. We are now learning to say the numbers and how to greet people and ask their name. The weather here is changing, it is becoming very hot in the afternoon. We are enjoying our new house. Everything is finally coming together and we are feeling a bit more organized. We miss all of you. You should be getting our newsletter in a few weeks. Write us a letter. We’ll write more soon. Love and Blessings, Sydney
We are hooked up !!
February 13th, 2007Feb. 14
Hallelujah !
We now have a phone line and internet.
We rejoiced as we saw the guys ( 8 or so with bamboo poles and ladder ) running the wire down the street. Then one of them gestured to me the international “phone to ear” symbol. I smiled and he, as usual here, laughed at me.
We are all doing fine. Settling in our semi-permanent house.
We are looking forward to keeping this blogg updated.
Please let us hear from you.
More later.
Russ & the Girls.
February 9th
February 9th, 2007Quick update.
We are all doing fine and adjusting to a new culture.
We are still without a phone-line and internet.
We are hoping to have it hooked up within the next week.
We’ve heard that before.
Please be patient with us as we wait.
Be looking for our February newsletter to go out soon.
If you are not on our mailing list, please e-mail us.
Hoping to “blog” soon.
The Bridges.
Jan. 14 Update
January 13th, 2007Sorry for not keeping current, but we have had a lot of technical difficulties and have been swamped with house hunting and settling in. We will try to do better.
The girls have one week of Thai. language school under their belt. Their heads are aching and so are their mouths (from all the new sounds).
I am searching for a B. language tutor for myself. (I am learning Bur…).
We have almost all of our appliances and bedding needed.
Today I bought a motorcycle – Honda 125. There a “millions” of them here. If you stay with the “swarm” next to you, you do fine.
Driving here is really a challenge, ok, crazy. A totally different mind-set.
Lines are mere suggestions, and the biggest vehicle has the right of way.
We are trying not to be too frustrated with our new culture and limitations. Our new phrase is “so why would that surprise me”.
It takes about 20 times longer to do anything. We are learning patience.
The weather is pretty nice – 80’s and cool at night. Always humid.
I was able to spend the day with a good friend from B. yesterday. We had some great talks.
Also, Simon, Ruth and Manasseh from B. are in town for a week. We had lunch with them today. We look forward to more visits this week.
Thanks for all your prayers ! we really feel them.
More later.
Russ.
Our New Year Begins!!
January 6th, 2007Our New Years Eve began with dinner at the Night Market. The servers were dressed in international costumes–a cowboy, Snow White, Geisha girl, Mexican hombre, Dancers, etc. It was so funny–we took pictures. We came home and watched the fireworks from around the world. At midnight there were fireworks going off all over the neighborhood. In Thailand they send into the air paper bags with candles in them (looks like a balloon) We had party hats and blowers and noisemakers. It was not quite like the states, but everything is different here. We have been working at getting our house set up. You can finish one or two things a day, so it takes a while to get things set up. Today (Sunday) we are going to attend the International Church downtown. Tomorrow (Monday) Sydney, Kelli and Aubrey start language school. We will try to update the blog more often so tell everyone to come here to keep informed.
Happy New Year
December 31st, 2006Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas!!
We pray that this letter finds you healthy and joy-filled.
We have had quite an adventure since arriving in Southeast Asia !
God has been so good to us, calmed our fears and has provided for all our needs.
Here is a quick overview of December.
Watch for our Newsletter soon.
We left Vegas the end of November and visited with Russ’ family in Calif. for a few days. We had one last “Disneyland fix”, said good-bye to Candace and left LAX on December 5. We had a lay-over in Hong Kong for 3 days and were able to go see “MI-KI ” Mouse ( long “ I ’s”) at Hong Kong Disney—what a trip. Main Street was very similar to Disney in CA and the people (Asian) looked about the same, but the food was odd ! Kelli did enjoy her Mickey-shaped ice cream bar though. The shows were primarily in Chinese with side monitors in English—but whenever they sang Christmas Carols—they were in English. It was wild! It was so much fun … different, but definitely Disney (quality surroundings and attractions.)
We arrived in Thailand Dec. 8th and immediately went to work. Shortly after Sydney, Kelli and Aubrey registered for Thai Language School, we found out we needed to go to Singapore to apply for long term Visas. Since Language school starts on the 8th of January, we needed to leave quickly. After a lot of work, we found Plane tickets on Tiger Air. We left for Singapore on Dec 17 and returned on Dec 21. While we were there, they had record rains (which made the “Visa Run” more difficult)… but we were blessed us with a great hotel (by mistake / or providence). Singapore is the most beautiful country we had ever seen. The city goes all out for Christmas - everything was decorated and lit up beautifully (what a blessing, since we were away from home). We turned our Visa paperwork in on Tuesday and found out that Kelli had to get her own Visa because she is over 20 years old. That began a scramble to get the necessary paperwork processed. After accomplishing this, we went back to the Thai. Embassy and found out that Russ needed more pages in his passport. They wanted 2 clean Visa pages to put his visa stamp on… that meant a trip across town to the US Embassy… and on and on. Anyway, we went back to the Embassy on Wednesday to pick up the Visas and we shouted Hallelujah and Thanked God (literally right there on the steps of the Thai Embassy).
After we returned to Chiang Mai, we were able to find a house to sublease for 3 months.
The house is very small, but will do fine until we can find a more appropriate one. We are now in the process of setting up “Home”. We have located a Stove, refrigerator, wall shower heater (there is no running hot water in the houses here), beds, pots, pans, dishes, washing machine (no dryers here), refrigerator, toaster oven, rice cooker and coffee maker … all the household items needed to make life work. We started moving in on December 23. Our friend here, Jo, has been helping us to find the necessary items and taking us to stores that have what we’re looking for.
The day we moved in, Jo brought Russ a truck and we have been able to drive around on our own, not having to rely on taxis or a Tuk – Tuk (motorbike-type “taxi” with a covered seat in the back). Wow, has that been a challenge ! We keep saying, “stay on the left”. If that was the only difference… no problem. People have a totally different driving mentality… a survival of the fittest philosophy. For example, lines in the street are a mere suggestion and they continue through the intersection a good 10 seconds after the light turns red. And motor scooters everywhere !
We went to the Hofbraus house for Christmas Eve Dinner. Our waiter, “ Mr Mashed Potatoes” asked Russ to write our names on a piece of paper and then he came and gave us a Christmas card. It was so cool. He is one of our first “projects” here.
Our Christmas day was one to remember. We woke up and opened presents, and then we went to breakfast at the Amazing Sandwich. Then Kelli and Sydney went to have manicures and pedicures, Aubrey had a facial and foot massage and Russ had a foot massage…all for about 300 Baht (4 bucks ). For Christmas Dinner we went to the Dukes Restaurant. They had a special Buffet: ham, turkey, salmon, roast beef, scallops, and mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes and great desserts. Santa Claus was even there and he gave us all a package of cookies and we had our picture taken with him. Later, we were able to Skye with our families and the SEA Team. It was a good day.
We moved into our house on December 28. I’ll write more about that tomorrow!!!
Dec. 14
December 14th, 2006Doing fine adjusting to 15 hours time change and cultural differences (Food, climate, customs…).
Spent the day regestering for language school and looking for prospective houses to rent.
We will all need to travel to Singapore (Probably next week) to apply for a year-long Thai. visa .
More travel - ugh ! He is worthy.
Pray for a house and for transition strength.
Russ & the girls.
Note from the Bridges
December 12th, 2006This is our first try at blogging on the web page.
This web page / blog is under construction.
We will keep it updated as often as possible.
Please pass this web-site on to others.
About us: We arrived in Chiang Mai on Saturday. We are 15 hours ahead of Vegas.
We are all doing fine. Dealing with major jet-lag, and adapting to the hot - humid weather.
We are currently living at a hotel and are pursuing rental options. We have been able to keep in close communication with our family & friends through SKYPE, a web-based phone with video. Great !
That’s all for now. Will write more later.
Russ & the Girls.
Ps. did anyone hear about an earthquake ? We were awakened last night by one / swaying bed.