My love is a hundred pitchers of honey. ((Jack Gilbert))

While Mercy is dry, those of you that own a television or have access to the internet know that most of Thailand and parts of Bangkok are still under water. It has been hotter and drier (sans rains) than usual here and while we aren’t swimming at Mercy, we are feeling the impact of the flood. Food prices have gone up, you STILL can’t find bottled water anywhere and the kids are on their 3rd week out of school. I just heard today that my kids won’t be back in school until the 15th – the projected date for now. This means that by the time they go back to school they will have been out for a full month. At least their teachers are pumping them with homework via google documents. However, tonight I went through their homework assignments to find they have been receiving these assignments since week one – now reports on scientists, reading questions and math homework has piled up quite high.

The people in the area are still split over whether or not our neighborhood will see water. The latest hypothesis I heard was that there are 3 meter deep waters coming towards us that have to pass through our neighborhood to finally make it to the river and out to sea, but because we are 3 meters above sea level we will only see a few inches of water. The Mercy flood team has been going out into surrounding areas to meet with the people affected and there are pictures on Facebook of them wading in waters up to their waists. (See the Facebook page “Mercy Emergency Flood Team” or the link on my page for pictures.) Concerns are brewing over the health risks of wading in these waters and some of our staff members are out there every day.

On Halloween, amidst all the flooding chaos, Mercy had a small celebration for Father Joe’s 72nd birthday. It was really incredible to see all of the Mercy homes together in one room and it really felt like one extremely large family – sort of like the Boulier family reunions.

Fr Joe and the part of the crew that I could fit in the frame.

Love these boys.

Some of the Mercy 6 crew.

Tomorrow night marks the first movie night at Mercy 2 without Ben. The kids continue to ask me where he is and when he is coming back. I’ve been telling them Australia, but I get blank stares, so I think I’m going to start making up some really cool stories, like he is flying a spaceship to the moon. With these pictures they may believe me…

Captain Ben.

It’s CRAZY to think that I have just 5 more weeks here at Mercy – where has the time gone?? And to break it up even more, I have to go on a VISA run in a week and a half. Looks like Ho Chi Minh is calling my name and from there, a little beach bar in Cambodia. In true Alex fashion I have made plans to travel with someone I don’t know! Fortunately, he has good references. Cathleen’s boyfriend’s brother is living in South East Asia as well (The Philippines) and has to do a visa run around the same date as me. We have been emailing a bit, seeing if there was a way we could meet up, since he knows Cathleen well and I have met his brother a few times and finally it has worked out. So, another day, another adventure. See you cats for Christmas, it looks like I’ll be coming back!

ABA