a rocky start....

this week has gotten off to a rocky start.  every monday we have late start which means the kids do not start school until 10am.  during 7:30-9:30 we have collaboration meetings and professional development.  today, i realized that God is teaching me to be patient.  around 9ish i began to freak out a bit since i needed to print some pictures for my writing activity that was to kick start our first (my first as well) unit of inquiry.  i did not have access to a color printer in the time frame i had free.  some colleagues and i came up with a brilliant plan B using my class projector and the images i had saved to my usb drive.  yeah!  then when i returned to my classroom, the power kept going on and off.....there is nothing like teaching in the dark.  the nice side to this is that the kids are used to it, so they just keep working regardless.  we have been working outside some too.  i began to worry about my plan B since the power was being twitchy....i definitely needed power to use the projector and computer.  after about an hour of solid power, i felt confident that all would work out.  until about 10:45am when i got the kids back on the mat, set up the activity, handed out paper, talked about what we were going to do, plugged in my usb, and pushed power to the projector-----nothing.  yes, the projector did not turn on at all.  zip, zilch, nada, zero.  this came to be a very teachable moment of flexibility--my kids totally understood and we went on to plan C.  i think God was really trying to remind me to be flexible and patient--not my students.

pray that i can continue to be patient and flexible as the week continues.  quite a few new meetings to attend, ideas to be shared, and planning to be worked on before friday rolls around.

new country, new blog

after four years in korea, paul and i are now living in phnom penh, cambodia. since my first blog was started when i was single and chronicled my adventures while living in seoul, i am now making a blog for us and all about our journey while living in asia.

so, with all that, welcome to the falgouts in asia!

we have been here in the penh for about six weeks now. it has been an adventure already. we have set up our apartment, bought furniture, found some great places to eat, had our first overseas visitor, been to siem reap, seen the ancient temples, dealt with communication issues, had curtains made, learned about the local markets, sweat quite a bit, started back to work, meet my students, and managed to keep our sanity. it has been great! we are loving living here and find the people quite friendly. it has been affirming to be here knowing that God has a plan for our lives.

we hope you will join us on this journey that we are on...
stay tuned for more.

--mandy