songkron and dog

grrr! i just wrote a HUGE blog, and it didn't save! long story, so heres round two...im pressed for time, so hopefully i can get it all out....
songkron. its the thai new year celebration, and songkron means water festival. LOTS of water. so basically, people stand on the side of the road and throw buckets of water on you, and drive around in truck beds with barrels of water splashing you. well, drenching you. its a three day event, but up here in the north its a bit more rowdy, so were looking at a week of walking around soaked. our mode of transportation here is a truck, the bed is fitted with bench seats on either side and a covered soft top. there are bars holding us in, but its pretty open. and they just LOVE to soak farangs! (foreigners). so we've been wet for the last several days, and even though tomorrow is the official end, it'll still happen for the next few days a bit. not all of the team is happy about it either, but my take is that im in their country, immersing myself in their culture, so if that means im going to walk around wet for a week, so be it. and im loving it! i think its so funny, becuase its not a competitive,vindictive act, but a celebration. (fun fact: according to the thai calendar its the year 2551).
so, speaking of immersing ourselves in their culture...
we went to an ahka village the day before last, going around praying for a few homes and families, and as we walked into the last hut, they were chopping up meat. and then we saw the dog head laying next to it. no joke. they were chopping up dog! the family was getting ready to re-roof their house, and its a pretty big deal, and the neighbors pitch in, and they prepare a special meal for the occasion. DOG. and you want to know what? I ATE DOG!!! our entire team, minus one, ate it. some asked for seconds! there was a bone in mine (a little ironic) but i ate dog! and im proud of it. its so funny when you say oh i went to the philippines, i went to thailand, and people ask, what did you eat, dog? and now i can say, why YES, yes i did eat dog! it was disgusting that its head and innards were laying right next to it, but an experience i will NEVER forget.
the team is having a bit of a rough time the last few days, but i think im chalking it up to a mid-outreach slump (does such a thing exist?)
our living conditions are a bit less than comfortable, we are up in the hill country, and there are bugs everywhere. there is a ginormous black and white striped spider that lives in the rafters above our eating table. we named him owen. we fed him a headless moth last night. i have no idea what happened to its head. theres a friendly toad we named trevor, and countless huge beetles that love to fly under the bathroom door and buzz around your head. grr.
shoot, outta time. more to write, hopefully i can get to internet again really soon!
please pray that we would really grasp everything that God has for us here, and wouldn't waste our time, and that i would have endless love and patience, im having to work harder on it lately, my supply seems to be dwindling.
okay, more to come hopfully soon!