Today is August 21 and it is a little over a week since we arrived in Bangkok. Since we arrived (August 12), we have been very busy and there has not been enough time to sit down to write a blog post until now.

Later in this post you will find some pictures and text from our journey, from departure in Oslo up until today. We have set up and we are testing a new, simple, photo gallery further down here, where you can browse through the pictures we have published by using the arrows to the right and left.

Departure from Oslo

We woke up early on August 12. For luggage, we had packed 6 suitcases for check-in and 2 suitcases and backpacks to bring into the cabin, in addition to Bonzo and Ivo who traveled in their own dog crates, underneath us on the plane.

We were very excited about this day and really looked forward to just getting on the plane and knowing that all documents and preparations for the dog crates were approved for departure.

We drove 3 cars to the airport, Ole with his family, Malene with her family, and we met together at Gardermoen for a “final” farewell before departure.

Arrival in Bangkok

On arrival in Bangkok we were very anxious to see Bonzo and Ivo and to know that they were ok after the long flight.

We had to go through immigration, and get our dogs from the oversized luggage area, through the animal quarantine station where they would check all our papers, and then through customs.

Luckily the dogs were fine, and almost every person we passed by and talked to in the airport were smiling at those cute dogs. We had all our papers and could go outside to meet Sunitra (our local thailand NMS collegue). Finally we could bring all our luggage and our dogs to our new house in The Centro Sukhumvit 113.

First visit in our new house

When we got to the house in The Centro moo baan (gated community) it was pretty empty apart from a bed and a mattress and a couple of blankets and some pillows.

We started to unpack right away and quickly found a lot of stuff we needed to get for the house to live here properly.

Experiences of the first week

This first week has been a mixture of getting everything we need for the house like some furniture, towels, soap and more, to visiting ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Thailand), to trying to relax and getting a glimpse of what life will look like for the next few years. Our colleagues at NMS have been so accommodating and helped us a lot with answers to our millions of questions, taking us to eat out and getting to know us, helping us with our visas and showing us around.

Other than that we have already locked ourselves out on the balcony in a thunder storm, forgotten my (Malene) phone and wallet at 7/11, been to the veterinary with Ivo, and had to fix the air conditioner. All in all, we have had some good challenges, and everything is fine.

Plans for the coming weeks

Now that we have settled down at The Centro. Tomorrow (August 22), we are traveling to a church in Khao Yai National Park (a national park a little east of Bangkok) where we will visit a church and take part in a program called “Use your talents.” For us, this will be an opportunity to learn about how NMS works with the churches.

We are starting to get ready for what we will actually be doing in the coming year. In September, we begin language courses (every day throughout the coming year) where we will learn Thai orally and—hopefully eventually—also in writing. The locals here in Thailand speak little English, especially in the areas where we will be working, which are quite far from the usual tourist spots.

Stay tuned, we are very excited!