Friday Night Disaster

Waiting has become expected when it comes to meeting people here.  Friday night was no exception.  Leah and I waited about fifteen minutes for my students to pick us up for Friday night.  I have both a son and father as students in one of my classes, and their way of thanking me for teaching them was to take me and Leah out to eat.  I really couldn't say no, and it wasn't anything more than friendly.  Taking a teacher out for food, as I've been told, is the Thai way of saying "thank you for teaching us".  I don't really know if I felt the "thank you" vibe that night.

Both John and James were perfect gentlemen.  James, John's son, has autism- at least I think so.  He is really smart in class but his social skills are a little off.  Nonetheless, he is so much fun to be around.  He says the most random things, and they are mostly hilarious!  I enjoy having the both of them in class, but it wasn't them that made the evening awkward.

They took us to a really uppity hotel.  It was new; the walls were a cleanly marble color and there was a soothing ambiance with the piano playing the background.  I was pleased to hear American songs!! Yay!  The piano saved me, it was the only thing that made me happy.  As I took a seat across from the Grandfather of James, I was immediately surprised to hear he spoke good English.  You would think this would be good, that good conversation would occur and pleasant things would happen, but they did not.  

Many things were said that made me feel awkward.  First, he asked me whether I was republican or democratic.  Who asks someone that?  Sorry, I just feel when that is one of the first questions you ask someone you're asking for a debate.  I wasn't really in the mood so I replied with a "I'm in the middle..."  I didn't know what else to say.  I felt either answer would upset the man, who knows.  

I made one of the worst decisions of my life that night: I ordered a salad.  It was simply the worst salad I've ever had.  I can't remember the last time I had a salad so awful (except the one time I ordered salad from Cheesecake Factory, I threw up that night...).  Every bite was awful- there were about ten tiny lettuce leafs with a huge pile of cabbage in the middle.  Who enjoys a cabbage salad??? NOT ME!  You'd think that salad dressing would help, but mayonnaise didn't really cut it and it only added to the constant gagging reflex I had with each bite.  

I forced myself not to show that I wasn't enjoying the evening.  My face hurt from fake smiling the whole night.  Not only was the food awful so was the constant weird conversation from the Grandfather.  I felt jabbed at the whole night with sly remarks about being fat or what I was eating and why.  Do people think I enjoy hearing that I'm big?  Do they realize that my size is NORMAL in America?  Over here everyone is the size of a stick, no wonder they think of me as a fat ferlong (which is foreigner in Thai).  

I'm so fortunate to be here with Leah!  God has blessed me with the girl, without her I think I would be an emotional wreck all the time.  There are times like this where I am so incredibly thankful for her.  God knows how to look out for me :)

Pastor and His Awesome Family

We have one of the coolest pastors ever.  He is so chill about everything.  One of the funniest things about him is his laugh.  During the middle of a sermon he tends to chuckle at himself.  I always laugh with him, his laughter is contagious to me!  He is married to a beautiful wife, she is so kind and one of the biggest sweethearts I know!  

Their kids are some of the most adorable little people ever!  Eden, their girl of about two years, has the most pinchable cheeks.  I don't think I have ever seen her angry!  She is a happy little girl and

 I love her!  Joel, their son of about four years, is almost just as cute! He is at that age where he is smart and devious, he likes to play tricks on Eden.  That poor girl.  But, nonetheless, he is cute as well!  Every time they visit our place, I make sure they are given some candy!

I could not be blessed with better neighbors/friends/... all of the many things that this family is to me :)

Visiting the Orphanage

My butt was getting sore.  I was grumpy and tired, yet we had only been riding in the back of the pick up truck for a few hours.  Every bump and turn reminded my behind that it was pressed against a hard surface.  I had to remind myself that I was not riding in the back of the pickup for me, the purpose of my trip with a few members of the church was to spend time with kids at an orphanage.  

Upon our arrival, the kids seemed guarded and hesitant towards us.  It was like they didn't know what to think of us.  We formed them into a group facing one direction.  From there, we proceeded to teach them a few songs, read them a Bible story, repeat Bible verses, and speak a little English.  The part that was the most fun for me was after the presentation.  I got to mingle with the kids one on one.  It was fun.

The kids were all adorable.  Even though they should have all the reason in the world to be sad (some have AIDs, their parents died, or other such things...), these kids were happy and pleased to see us.  They opened up to me as soon as I opened up to them.  Of course they would be scared of me, I'm a scary looking person with crazy red hair, some probably would think it's on fire!

As I talked with the children more and more, the more they opened up to me.  Their English was okay, we mostly just laughed over facial expressions

or me trying to pronounce words in Thai, which is EXTREMELY hard by the way because there are FIVE dialects!!  I slaughter ever word at least the first 20 times I say it.  

By the time I had to leave I didn't want to.  The kids didn't want us to leave either.  In just a few short minutes, we had bonded.  As we walked down the road to our pickup truck, the kids kept yelling "I'll see you tomorrow".  It was a phrase that made me both happy and sad.  These kids liked seeing us and we enjoyed their company as well.  It was such a good experience.  I hope that we will go back soon!

X and Y

After the judging competition Leah and I were very hungry.  We picked a corner place that we barely eat at.  We wanted something different.  A few minutes after we sat down, we noticed a few lonely backpackers wandering the streets.  We laughed at each other, for some reason the sight of other foreigners is funny to us.  The moment we noticed them, they noticed us. 

They took a seat next to us and ordered a couple glasses of water.  They had just been traveling through Laos and were on their way through Ubon for the day.  They needed help with directions.  Leah ran quickly back to the house while I ate and conversed with these two men.  I found out a little about them.  They were traveling to Singapore the next day and were leaving for Belgium, their home, on Saturday.  They spoke English very well.  It was fun conversing with someone who spoke English well!  They only had very large bills, so Leah and I payed for their drinks.  We mentioned that there was a festival at the Moon River that night, if they wanted to get some cheap food, and they told us if they saw us there they would pay us back by buying us a round of beers.  Leah and I looked at each other, red flags going up in our heads: we don't drink!  Leah spoke up and told them we don't, so we agreed if we ran into each other, they would treat us to sodas.

Later, when we went to the Candle Festival at the Moon River, something very funny happened. We saw them!  But, we don't know if they saw us.  As Leah and I were enjoying the scenery of the fireworks, we stopped and stared next to a set of stairs.  A few feet in front of us were these two men, let's call them X and Y- we never did exchange names.  X and Y were a few feet in front of us for a good five minutes before we realized they were there.  

Both Leah and I noticed it at the same time.  At first, I didn't recognize them, I thought they were a gay couple, which would not be completely absurd because they were sitting really close and Bangkok is full of gay people.  At that moment, Leah pulled me far away.  We both thought it would be really awkward to run into them!  I was really surprised X and Y hadn't heard us, we were talking in really loud English!!  When we left, Leah and I were hungry and we decided to stop and see what one of the new restaurants had to offer.

We stopped in and sat at a table right next to the window.  And what do you know.  X and Y stroll by and we all see one another.  What are the odds?  Of all the places to stop and stare at the Moon River and then this?  Weird!  So, they came in the restaurant and talked for a little, but told us they had to go, suggesting they would be back to buy us some "softs". What are softs?  That took us a moment to figure out: soft drinks!  They had bought some souvenirs from the festival and they wanted to put them in their hotel room and they gave us the impression they would return to make the purchase.

Leah and I moved to a bigger table.  If they were going to come back, we wanted there to be enough room for them.  The longer we waited, which only turned out to be a few minutes, the more we felt uncomfortable about the situation.  We quickly ordered coffee and hot chocolate. Leah and I were laughing so hard about everything.  She laughed and spit coffee everywhere. I'm sure the Thai people thought we were very weird.  We quickly ran off into the streets.  I hope X and Y weren't really expecting us to be there!  Oh well!

Moon River

Tonight Leah and I continued to enjoy the Candle Ceremony by walking to the Moon River and enjoying the night.  People were out on the streets enjoying the cool air.  Floating candles were in the air and plenty of little kids were playing with little sparklers.  It reminded me of the Fourth of July a little.  We continued to walk beside the river.  It was a very nice evening.  People were laughing and enjoying themselves.  There were fireworks in the distance and people sitting along the road.  The most interesting part of the night was learning about the tradition of the floating banana leaves.  It's a tradition that couples perform to see if their relationship is meant to be.  The couple puts the little banana boats in the water next to each other and if they float down the river together, the couple is meant to be!  But, if the boats drift from each other, it is thought that the couple's relationship will fall apart!!  Yikes!  

Candle Festivial

Attempting to help light the candle...

John, my student, lighting the candle.

My student, James, holding the candle before it takes off!

Leah and my student Jib waiting for the candle to get really hot.

Up up and away! Bye bye candle!  

Today after class, one of my students brought me a giant candle.  I was so surprised!  It was very kind of him.  I had seen these giant candles before, but I had never been a part of the ceremony of lighting the candle.  I was honored!

He drove Leah and I to the park, along with his son and one of my other students.  They showed us how to open it and attach the candle to the paper part of the float.  It was such a fun experience!!  I prayed over the candle before and then I watched it soar into the sky.  I am so blessed to have such great students.  They are so selfless and they take such great joy in making others happy!  It was amazing.  It such a simple thing to do, but it was really fun and I felt like I was joining in the ceremonies of the festival!  

Speech Competition

Leah and I found out yesterday that we were needed for a competition today.  The timing worked out perfectly because we teach for most of the afternoon, and the competition was in the morning.  We rose early in the morning and began walking to the school at 8:15.  The school was only a ten minute walk from our house.

When we got there, we didn't know what to do.  I didn't know how many kids would be there or if I had to say something in front of a bunch of people... I wasn't ready for anything! I felt like I was in a movie as I walked through the school.  The school was huge!  Massive buildings overwhelmed me, I craned my neck to see the top and there was loud school music playing over the megaphones.

It was an environment I was not used to.  

Things finally got situated and I settled in a room with lots of kids.  

There were 17 different schools competing.  I felt so honored to be a part of something so big!  It was amazing.  I sat at a long table with three other older ladies.  We laughed, talked, sipped coffee and nibbled 

on some cake all while we were judging.  It was so fun!  The kids were adorable.  Most of them could not speak English well.  They had a thick Thai accent.  

There were also some very funny speeches.  Some kids danced, some stuttered, and some even ran to and from the stage from sheer 

embarrassment!  It was quite entertaining.  But, I do have to say that they did very well.  There were two parts to the competition.  First, the competitor gave a three minute speech about themselves.  And second, they gave an impromptu speech about a random topic given to them.  I was really impressed with these children!  

The most humorous man was the host.  He talked in half Thai and half English.  He mentioned how he learned to speak English.  It was funny, he mentioned how the words SALARY and CELERY sound similar, hmmm.... I had never thought about it before.  They really do sound similar.  Anyways:

One child did so amazing.  He was so adorable with huge ears and big eyes.  He was very cute. His english was impeccable.  If I had closed my eyes I wouldn't have known a Thai was talking. His words weren't choppy, he was very fluent in his speech. I really enjoyed being a judge, I hope that I will have the opportunity to do something like that again.

  

Cold Weather? In Thailand?

Ah, yes.  The "Winter" months of Thailand have arrived.  No longer am I sweating in my sleep, or burning my forehead when I take a ten minute walk to the nearest Seven Eleven.  Instead, I have actually become a little chilly.

Waking up in the middle of the night because my thin sheet and small blanket won't suffice has led me to believe it is finally cooling down here.  It's actually refreshing.  I don't mind it, and actually enjoy it.  I find myself complaining about the cold of the 70 degree weather, but then laugh at myself when I realize that Andrews University might receive a light snow shower in the temperatures of higher 20s and low 30s.  Now that is cold.  I'm quite grateful for a change in the weather, it reminds me a little of home.

Finding Nemo = Finding Heaven

Leah and I were so fed up with our trip to Laos!  We arrived at Udon Thani to find out that the next bus to Ubon didn't leave till 5 am!  So, Leah and I said our quick goodbyes to the girls and trekked off to the nearest Seven Eleven.  Oh how we missed those stores from heaven! 

We were in a foreign city and didn't know where to stay.  We hadn't planned on staying the night in Udon Thani, but we were forced to given the busing situation.  We found a really nice hotel.  It was decorated in Finding Nemo paintings.  It was like America!!  We hauled our stuff to our rooms and then went out in search of dinner.  Pad Thai did wonders for our hunger and then we retired to our room early, we didn't feel like exploring the city at all.  

God is so amazing.  He blessed us so much.  We were cranky from the long trip and the traveling situation.  But, we managed to find a hotel with awesome hot showers with great water pressure!  I took a really really long shower.  And, to our amazement, some of the channels on the TV were in English!  Leah and I watched the news and music until our eyes wouldn't stay open any more.  We were so blessed!  We were able to watch about the elections and such, we were so behind on everything!  God is good, he gave us a little heaven just when we were feeling down.

Blessed by a drunken man

There he was. I had seen the sick looking blonde man three times that day.  I was sick of seeing him and tired of inhaling his second hand smoke.  I really wanted him to know I was pissed at him for making me breathe his dirty air while we waited in the long visa line.  I kept making it completely obvious by coughing really loudly... I don't know if I made myself clear, but I figure I would understand the person behind me didn't like my smoke if they were coughing in my ear!!  

There he was.  And he was looking our direction.  I was thinking OH GREAT.  Now we're going to have to talk to the man...  Every time I had seen him, he was smoking and drinking.  I hadn't seen him without a can of beer in his hands yet.  He approached us.  We couldn't escape if we wanted to, we were stuck in the line to go to Thailand.  As bad as he looked, he wasn't that scary.  He did make quite a few jabs at America.  Who does that?  He knew we were all Americans... what are you supposed to say when someone tells you they think your country sucks?  I love Ashley, she had the greatest comeback for his comments, it was smart but not too offensive... 

He was actually very friendly and nice, except for the slams on America... he found us a discount on a bus ride to Thailand.  Then, I was amazed at what I saw.  He was drunk and weird, but he had a nice side.  There was a beggar at the bus terminal.  I was sick of everyone at that point, and didn't even think of giving him any money.  But, this drunken man gave him some money! I was amazed!! Who was I to judge this man?  He gave money to a man and I didn't even think about it!  I was shocked, and it made me realize that he was more of a Christian than me!! I learned something from this drunken man.  God surprises me and speaks to me through things that I never thought possible!