Of all the gin joints...
"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." - Casablanca
Our first few weeks in Bangkok at The School were filled with frustrations and challenges. This is a campus riddled with inefficiencies that are truly maddening, and I liken it to Alice's rabbit hole, because they seem to go deeper and deeper the more you seek resolution. However, early on, we had a most unexpected turn of luck.
It was one of our first days of school, back in May.
Before coming to Bangkok, David and I had searched extensively online to see if there was any trace of a swing dance scene in the City of Angels. Unfortunately, there was none to be found. We resigned ourselves to a year without swing dancing and boarded the plane.
We arrived on a Sunday, May 1st, around 9AM. We reported to work for the first time at 8:30 the next day. We quickly began to take stock of the school and our situation.
On one of our first days on campus, David was in the computer lab, prepping for his classes. He glanced over at the next computer screen, where the teacher next to him was updating a Facebook page for "Bangkok Swing". Imagine his surprise!
It seems that, out of the hundreds of schools in Bangkok, we happened to work at the exact same school and campus as Ben Lepp, the guy responsible for getting the swing scene started in Bangkok. They had also just recently launched their website and Facebook page, and it turned out that we arrived just as the Bangkok swing scene was set to explode.
The weeks and months that have followed have contained weekly social dancing, lessons, and much joy, fellowship, and great friendships.
I can't describe the feeling I had then, and still have every time I think about that day. The best word for it would have to be "blessed". There are two communities in the world where I feel most at home, and they are among Christians and swing dancers. It was like getting a bear hug from Jesus to walk out of all that was familiar back home in Winnipeg and straight into the arms of the swing community in Bangkok, Thailand. Even more so as the resulting conversations with Ben revealed that he usually avoids letting his co-workers know about his hobbies outside of school hours. We could have very easily been working alongside Ben for months without ever knowing that he was the guy hosting weekly dance nights on the gorgeous dance floor in his amazing apartment, but for the providence of God in this most fortunate coincidence. It was one of those times when you could almost feel God smiling on you.
And so it began, making a home in Bangkok.
Our first few weeks in Bangkok at The School were filled with frustrations and challenges. This is a campus riddled with inefficiencies that are truly maddening, and I liken it to Alice's rabbit hole, because they seem to go deeper and deeper the more you seek resolution. However, early on, we had a most unexpected turn of luck.
It was one of our first days of school, back in May.
Before coming to Bangkok, David and I had searched extensively online to see if there was any trace of a swing dance scene in the City of Angels. Unfortunately, there was none to be found. We resigned ourselves to a year without swing dancing and boarded the plane.
We arrived on a Sunday, May 1st, around 9AM. We reported to work for the first time at 8:30 the next day. We quickly began to take stock of the school and our situation.
On one of our first days on campus, David was in the computer lab, prepping for his classes. He glanced over at the next computer screen, where the teacher next to him was updating a Facebook page for "Bangkok Swing". Imagine his surprise!
It seems that, out of the hundreds of schools in Bangkok, we happened to work at the exact same school and campus as Ben Lepp, the guy responsible for getting the swing scene started in Bangkok. They had also just recently launched their website and Facebook page, and it turned out that we arrived just as the Bangkok swing scene was set to explode.
The weeks and months that have followed have contained weekly social dancing, lessons, and much joy, fellowship, and great friendships.
I can't describe the feeling I had then, and still have every time I think about that day. The best word for it would have to be "blessed". There are two communities in the world where I feel most at home, and they are among Christians and swing dancers. It was like getting a bear hug from Jesus to walk out of all that was familiar back home in Winnipeg and straight into the arms of the swing community in Bangkok, Thailand. Even more so as the resulting conversations with Ben revealed that he usually avoids letting his co-workers know about his hobbies outside of school hours. We could have very easily been working alongside Ben for months without ever knowing that he was the guy hosting weekly dance nights on the gorgeous dance floor in his amazing apartment, but for the providence of God in this most fortunate coincidence. It was one of those times when you could almost feel God smiling on you.
And so it began, making a home in Bangkok.