Precious moments.

The princpipal of the school started to worry seeing me sit  in the office this week for hours  with coffee being my only lunch. But that's what stress does to me. Testing time, bring it on!  Who would think that preparing tests for 3-7 y.o. would take so much time, eh.

While preparing worksheets and other testing stuff  I've looked through dosens of web-sites.  One of them contained coloring pages with Precious moments babies.  Those tear shaped eye babies, you know. They are truly precious.  It stroke me that that's who one of my little students reminded me of!  Her innocent tender eyes captivated my heart from the moment I met her two years ago.  So those tear shaped eyes....  that's my little Pam! 

more Qs and As

So how did I end up in Thailand then?

During that summer in Mongolia I was challenged to find out and pursue the things which would make my broken heart come alive. Those were: travelling and being with abandoned children.  My employer was paying for the one way ticket to my next destination. So I started Googling...

So how did I find the Home?

I found them in the never-ending list of orphanages on the Internet.  I asked God that as I knock at the doors of numerous schools and homes in different countries all over Asia, He would open the very door I needed to go through.  Even the name of Home of Joy came as a promise to me. For during that time  I was feeling homeless and had lost my joy.

What has it been like?

It was hard and fun at the same time.
Sharing my life with the children and adults at the Home  and the kindergarten, as well as living in this culture has been a challenging, beautiful adventure.  The relationships we've developed with the children after many months of rejection and mistrust, the love, joy and fun we share are a true treasure and blessing in my life.

What's the hardest part in this journey?

Goodbyes.........

Did I ever regret leaving home?
Never. Only after I'd left the safe boat of my comfortable life at home did I experience what it's like walking on the water. 

And what is it like?

It's incredible... And the journey is going on!

Interview of sorts

During the last two weeks I celebrated two personal anniversaries: three years since I left my home in Siberia and two years in Thailand. 

People often ask me what it feels like to have changed one of the coldest climates to one of the hottest. So I thought why not to share some bits of my story here. FAQs about my journey  from Siberia to Thaiand, so to say...

Where did I spend the first year away from home?

- In Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia

Why did I decide to go to Mongolia?

-I was looking for an opportunity to step back and sort out my life. The teaching job in a private school came as an answer.

What was Mongolia like?

-It was hard. Wild. And beautiful. UB is an ugly soviet town, to my taste.  It's probably be enough to just say that people pee everywhere, even in the center of the town! 
Chingiz Khan who was a greater conqueror than Alexander the Great is still a national hero, even centuries after the fall of his great empire (blame it all on his kids and the Chinese). 
 
The countryside is breathtaking and is beyond description, with it's amazing blue sky, wild green meadows, two hump camels, eagles, yurts.... Oh, and don't forget the delicious goat's intenstines on a picnic, yum yum!

I got lonely. I was happy. I got heart broken. I learned to appreciate friendship and the Word of God in a new way. And the Lord was always there.

"Nothing".

The other morning at school our green team, both students and teachers,  was practising  chants to cheer for the School Sport Day. The youngest kids get a bit scared when everyone around gets so loud all of a sudden. So one little boy, Nud, appproached me:


-Kru Galina... 
-Ben arai, luk? (what's that, kid?)
- Mai mee arai (Nothing).

With that he came closer and gave me a hug.  Talk about little "nothings" which make your morning :)

R.I.P. baby Ratatouille

A baby mouse fell off a roof at Home of Joy the other day. My little Ant found it and asked a caregiver if he could keep it. He made a nest for the baby and called him Ratattioille. When the kids and I got home from school we too welcomed the new inhabitant of Home of Joy.

Actually at first we thought it was a rat. And unlike some of those very kind people I don't have that warm thing for mice, let alone rats. But the blind baby, who was probably one or two days old, left me defenseless. We fed Ratatouille with milk, the carton marked as his and stored in the fridge.

Ant was not feeling well and was staying home for two days. Thus he got to be the one taking the most care of the baby. When I talked with him the day after he'd adopted Ratatoille I was amazed to see how much love and care he was showing to the baby mouse. Like most of our kids, Ant has difficulty trusting or attaching to people. And the change wich was taking place in him was beautiful.

As we were putting Ratatouille to bed that night he asked me to pray for the baby mouse. "P'Galina, I'm gonna miss Ratatoille tomorrow while I'm at school",- he said. Earlier I'd noticed the mouse stretching his body as if he was in convulsions. Hugging Ant good night I told him that we should still keep the baby mouse in open hands before God, for He might decide it's better if He took Ratatouille to take care of him. "But maybe He will let us take care of him, honey, I don't know. Let's wait for tomorrow and see". Ant seemed to be fine with that.

After Ant went to bed I took the mouse out of the box.  "Please, baby, please!.." Ratatouille seemed to be deeply asleep. He was randomly moving his paws though. I wanted to believe we'd see him open his eyes in a few days...  I was sad thinking of the baby I so loved holding in my hands who was now dying. And thinking of Ant and the way he grew to love baby Ratatouille made me cry.

Five of my pets had died. The pain of losing them was so intense that eventually I cut myself of getting attached to pet animals. Ant with his baby mouse had touched somehting deep in my heart.

Weird, but as I was sleeping that night I heard these words spoken in Thai in my dream: หนูตายแล้ว (the mosue died) . 
 
I saw Ant at school in the morning. He came to me and said: "P'Galina, Ratatouille died." -- "I'm so sorry sweetheart. Did you cry?" -- "No. He is now with God in heaven".

In the evening we buried Ratatouille. It took us ten minutes to find a space in the neighborhood to dig a hole for the tiny body! A neighbor happened to be jogging by and asked the kids what was in the box. He suggested to just throw the mouse away.

Later that night we went for a walk to watch the starry sky. One of the kids said: "I miss Ratatouille". 


Ant said nothing.