Bamboo Island and Sunburned Europeans :D

Is March already over? I'll be so glad for the opportunity for my feet to touch the ground for more than a couple days and actually notice the time flying by.

Bamboo Island is the name of one of our mission projects in Phang Nga, a southern province of Thailand near Phuket, which is overflowing with tourist because of the beautiful beaches. Even though it is close to Phuket, it is far from similar in it's surroundings and wealth. In fact nearly every idea I had about what things would look like there were tossed to the wayside on arrival. For one, I imagined the "pier" to be an ocean pier as we were told that Bamboo Island is located on the Andaman sea. I was also told that we would be taking a ferry to the island and it would take an hour. So I of course pictured like an Ellis Island ferry or something like that. Nope. We drove an hour by car from the airport before we arrived at the "pier" which was on a river and consisted of a small sloping ramp down to a series of long-tailed motor boats with colorful orange and blue taffeta wrapped around the bow. We climbed over a series of benches until we took our seats near the middle of the boat and then we were off. I felt like I was on a discovery channel nature program as we wove down the river past mangrove forests and sleepy fishing villages. In fact I told Sarah I was just waiting for Jeff Corwin to pop out somewhere with some snake or sea turtle. Half an hour later we arrived at Bamboo Island- utterly poor we noticed as we disembarked and weaved in and out of houses built on the river on stilts. Perhaps it was because it was low-tide and I could look down and see all the trash and mud below. The entire population depends on fishing for their livelihood and even that has been poor since the 2004 tsunami hit this area of Thailand. We were led by the school principle and a local friend of Dang's to our destination- the village school. This summer we are planning to have a short-term team come and paint the school here. This was an opportunity for us to look over the project once again and hash out details about, food, activities and schedules over sticky rice and ovaltine. In the mornings our team will work with students and parents painting- hopefully- both buildings. Then in the afternoons our team is going to have the chance to work with the students in different classes telling them about why they are there as Christians helping them. Our meeting over we went back to where we started, and scoped out lunch and then the hotel where our team will be staying.

Following lunch we met up with a local pastor at his country church situated on the side of the highway in a pineapple field. He can't wait for our team to come after we finish at Bamboo Island. They will lead a bible study the last Saturday of their trip. The congregation members want to know about why the team is coming as well as they have questions for the team regarding the bible. To them this is beacon of light, and an opportunity to answer questions they've been yearning to know. Praise God!

After a scrumptious breakfast, day two of our trip was spent visiting areas of Phuket and Phang Nga which were devastated by the 2004 tsunami. It was really incredible to see just how wide an area it devastated. There are many things like boats, washed inland that have been turned into museum sites now. International news, unlike American news, is not censored so these sites also had plenty of pictures showing the human devastation as well as the natural devastation. Out of this awful mess came many good things to the area, such as lots of foreign and local aid to the area schools. Dang showed us some of the schools that were helped by CWEFT. She worked there for many weeks providing relief aid and said she will never forget seeing all the thousands of white coffins lined up for cremation at the temples. Because of the immense loss of human life, many Thais have left the area or live in fear of ghosts.

Tourism has gradually started to pick back up again, so many people are going back to work and lots of rebuilding has taken place. With all our tasks done, we decided to spend a little time of R&R ourselves. so the next day we booked a day tour to Phi-Phi island. This is where the sunburned tourists come in. The boat ride to Phi-Phi was about 2 1/2 hours long. On the trip there we sat inside the cabin to stay out of the sun. Such a contrast to everyone else there who was trying to head back to their wintry homes with a beautiful tan. They all sprawled out on the sun deck or over the sides of the boat. Our first photo-op on the cruise included seeing the beach where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. I have to admit, the scenery in southern Thailand is really beautiful, this was the first time I really had a chance to experience it. Unlike Bangkok's disgusting and smelly canals the water was perfectly clean and so clear you could see the white sand at the bottom. The waves foamed white in the wake of our ship, so there was no hesitation on my part to get in the water when we stopped to go snorkeling. After a few adjustments of our equipment, Dang, Sarah and I were off to explore the coral and schools of fish. On the way back to the boat we lingered a bit to get pictures with Sarah's underwater camera of the fish that were swarming around us. I made the mistake of holding still so they would come close enough to me for a good picture and one of them bit me. Good thing the little bugger didn't have teeth, but it for sure startled me.

Snorkeling finished, we went to the island for lunch at a hotel there. Our lunch table mates were from Sweden, Norway and Australia. I couldn't stand the awkward side glances so I just started asking everyone in English where the were from and how long they were staying in Thailand. This opened up a nice conversation with the group and we were able to tell them that we live here and work with Christian organization which is helping with human care in the area. They were all very nice and I think we enjoyed lunch. Not being used to the Thai dishes, they polished off two whole plates of spaghetti as it was the only familiar thing next to the onion rings. After lunch we had free time to shop around at all the beach stands. It was a completely foreign experience after living in Thailand for 7 months and then coming here to a place where everything was geared toward tourists. The foghorn blew on the boat which meant it was time to go back to the boat and head to Phuket. I got there early and decided to join the sunburned Europeans on the sun deck. I can't head back to the US next month and have everyone asking why I'm so white when I live so close to the equator! On Sunday, we hopped a plane back to Bangkok already thinking ahead to next weeks events.

Two things

First of all, along with the whole adjusting to a new area, La showed me an evening market on the way home filled with all sorts of Thai food, vegetables, meat, clothes, shoes, purses, etc and what do you think I bought? Donuts! I found this to be quite amusing. The only farang in the entire outdoor market and I bought the most farang food there. I did however have a nice little chat with the song taeow driver on the way home and I got to tell him that I was a Christian working with the Lutheran church.

Ok that was two things really but the real second thing, is that after a year already, I finally finished War and Peace tonight. Very interesting, especially how Tolstoy finished with an essay on free will and how in reality no one possesses free will and that the force that writes history compels man is infact a divine being (God as we Christians know). Mostly I was glad because I made myself read it knowing it was one of the greatest classics of the modern era. I didn't even know what it was about! So anyway Pastor Jeff you can have it back even though I don't think you remember that you even owned it or that I borrowed it from your office.

Gas Leak

When Dang enters any place you are bound to hear her before you see her. She often had 20 things on her mind and says them right away so she doesn't forget. This morning was no exception, only when she came into the office she had a wild and terrified look on her face like she was nearly in an accident which she escaped by the grace of God. In her case she did. Apparently yesterday, she had gas tanks delivered to her house and connected to wherever gas tanks get connected. This morning when she woke up her house wreaked of gas and she discovered that one of the tanks was leaking. The first thing that I said when she told me this was khawp coon Phra Jao (thanks be to God) that she was standing there talking to me and La. She could have inhaled too much of it and be lying unconsious in her house or her neighbor could have lit up a cigarette and the whole block could have blown! This meant that the rest of her day was spent trying to juggle paperwork as well as getting ahold of a contractor who could fix the problem. Once Dang is on a roll, you just let her go. It's fun though to watch and listen to the dynamics of the office. Dang usually starts talking to La before she even enters the office, and amazinly I've been able to tell when she is directing her question at me or at La. P Yuung is awesome and is constantly cleaning. She's amazing in that no one tells her what to do, she just does it and thins get taken care of. I occupied my time with the field guide for short term teams coming to Thailand this summer, and found a coffee cup that I think will become my favorite. Everyone watch out for the cup with the pink stripes! This evening I made my own form of gwitiaw for dinner and it turned out to be really good!

The Dentist :(

Let me first of all say that I am weird in the fact that I have always liked going to the dentist. This is because my dentist in the US is Dr. Mark Shue and he is the greatest. With that in mind, I went just to get my teeth cleaned today, (I had to leave work early anyways because the pest control dude came to spray at the office) and I found out that not all dentists are as great as Dr. Shue. Either it's been a long time since I had them cleaned (true story) or this lady felt that my gums were in fact tartar and had to scrape them off also. Yikes! The next thing I have to do is go to get my wisdom tooth pulled, and I may wait till I go home in May for that. The upside of this experience is it only cost me $45 for a cleaning and x-ray. Ping and Bruce told me later on that there are better places to go that are much more likely to be more gentle. Bottom line, you can get quality dental care at super cheap prices, just don't go where I went unless your gums are made of steel.
Consequently, I treated myself to a cup of Starbucks (so much better than a loli-pop) for my trouble, then I hung out with Sarah, Ping and Bruce while watching movies and drinking Indian tea.

My First Day!

After 6 months of living in Thailand it's weird to feel like I am going through an adjustment period all over again. I have to learn the van, truck and bus systems. Learn how to tell a taxi how to get to my house (still not so sure on that one). I have to find food; the real kind that is healthy and I can actually cook with. Then today I got to experience my first day of the next year and a half working at the LCMS-WM/ CWEFT office. First of all, La showed me how to get there by climbing into the back of the blue truck until it stops at the 5-way intersection, then from there take the van that says Minburi or Future-Rangsit (in thai script) and have the driver stop at the Big-C. Then cross Chaengwattana road using the overpass, walk through the back yard of TK Palace hotel, up an alley and voila! I'm at work 45 minutes to an hour later!
At the office, I got to work on installing Pastor Bob's scanner to one of the computers, then I updated internet explorer on my computer because version 4 or 5 wasn't cutting it for me. Dang and I then met and discussed the focus, goals, and plans of our team, local churches, other partners and how we all work together. This gave me lots of notes and an assignment to work on. It's so exciting to see the work of all these individuals come together in a whole. It reminds me of how we are all the body of Christ working together to accomplish His will.
By that time it was lunch which P Yuung went and delivered to us. The afternoon included me putting my notes into a word doc diagram and teacing La how to save files that she scanned. Before I knew it, it was time to go home and it only felt like an hour! La and I completed the circle back home using an un-airconditioned bus that drives like a tank and another truck or song taeow as they call them here. The greatest thing was forcing myself to keep work at work and to spend time reading, watching scrubs online or actually cooking a real dinner for once and eating it at a kitchen table instead of over a sink! In all, a great day!!

It's raining, it's pouring!

Well, our 3 1/2 months of dry weather are officially gone now. The rains are back and the heat is turning up. I was just about to go out and get some groceries when all the sudden it started downpouring, and it hasn't stopped for the past 20 minutes. This is good for the farmers in the area though who have been getting the rice fields ready for flooding. If this weather keeps up, they'll have all the water they need!

My New Home Sweet Home Away from Home!

So Sunday was the 15th of March which meant.... moving day! Dang and I got all my stuff packed into her car in one trip, then after some negotiations with my old landlord lady, we were off to Nonthaburi where my new apartment is located! Here is a video of my room. I did some rearranging when I moved in, and I like it pretty well.

The apartment is in Nonthaburi which is just outside of Bangkok, so it's strange that most of the noises I hear out here are dogs and rooster's that crow all day long. It's not as polluted out here either, but it's a little more inconvienient to get places unless you take a taxi. The building I live in is part of an enclosed neighborhood with each building having a theme name. My building's theme is Angkor Wat. Here is what the hallways and stair areas look like. It's really kinda cool! Anyway, I feel really at home here. My landlady is really nice, and I feel like I can make this a place of my own. Yesterday, I decided to explore the neighborhood and I met 2 people; a guy from Canada named Danny and then he introduced me to a shopowner named Bpen. She is really nice, nd helped me find a few convienience items so I don't starve before I can make it to a Big C!

Farewells

This past Saturday and Sunday all the different people that know Pastor Bob and Diana got together to give them a proper send off. First, on Saturday, all the CWEFT, LCMS, LISA and Bang Na daycare staff got together at Bua Restaurant for a luncheon. We asked for God's blessings to be with them as they journey and begin their retirement in Iowa, and then we had a chance to hear them talk about their experiences and joys of living in Thailand. Of course then we gave them gifts and cards. Pastor Sompong gave Pastor Bob a Thai cloth and then he demonstrated all the different ways that it an be used including a bathing suit! It was a really nice time. On Sunday Concordia Lutheran church in Phong Phet also had a going away luncheon, with lots of great foods and more gifts. Let's hope the have room in their suitcases!!

Hmong Hill tribes

Yesterday I got back from a 3 day trip to visit 2 Hmong hill tribe villages in the North of Thailand with our team. I really had no idea what to expect going there, but I must say that just these 2 days in the villages were an experience that I will never forget.

After we arrived in the town of Tak Monday afternoon we looked around, ate dinner and then everyone retired to rest for the trip up into the mountains to visit our first Hmong village.

To get to this village we drove in our hired van to the nearby National Park where we were met by the son of the village leader and two soldiers who work with the Hmong and the nearby King's project. The trip from there to the village took an hour and a half through jungle and really impressive country side. It was so neat I didn't even mind being covered (literally) in dirt from the dry road. We went straight to the daycare where the preschoolers were just getting ready for their naps. We met the teachers and several village leaders as well. We took this time to discuss arrangements for our short-term team that we'll be bringing with us this summer to do some work on the school. Because we will be coming back in August which will be during the rainy season we are going to have to stay in the village as the roads will possibly be rained out and going back and forth everyday will be quite a hassle. I can't wait for this as we will get to stay with some of the Christian families in the village.

After plans were made, we were toured around the village and introduced to some people. Pastor Bob by a Hmong Home, and the village road below.We were then invited to one of the village leader's house were we ate lunch of rice, fish, omelet, and water with some sort of vegetable in it. It was very good and the company afterwards was fun as well.This is the preschool director and her daughter. She is the wife of the son of the former village leader.

This is the former village leader who is now in charge of overseeing all the King's projects in the area.
And this is Pastor Bob showing off the fact that he doesn't have any dirt of him from the trip. He rode in the cab.

Another truck came after lunch and took us to see the King's agriculture project nearby where they are teaching and employing the Hmong in new farming techniques that will cut back on slash and burn farming and yield more crop per year. We finished this day hot, tired, and dirty, yet we were so excited for all the opportunities we are going to have to work here this summer and in the future.

Our 3rd and last day we went to the second Hmong village where we met with Pastors Ning and Suphan as well as many church leaders, and their families. They recently built a new church and Pastor Bob and Diana wanted to visit the finished project to report back to their churches who gave money to have the church built. They did a wonderful job of building the church and everyone at Pastor Ning's house went with us to show it off. I got to spend some time with the children, and absolutely loved every minute of it. This little boy Jaw was shy around me at first, but by the time we headed back to the house we were best friends. He's so cute. I also got to meet his sister and her friend who told me that they have never seen snow, so I promised that when I visit them next month I'll bring them pictures of snow. For lunch we ate traditional Hmong style, meaning that as the guests we ate with the men, while all the other members of the family ate separate. Afterwards we were joined by everyone and Pastor Bob led us in prayer before we headed back to Bangkok and he thanked God for the special people there, for the work that continues and the Gospel that is being spread. Really, it was so neat, as Pastor Bob said that we represented several different cultures and languages, but we all shared one heart which is Jesus Christ. I can't wait to go back in April and again in August to work with them some more and continue to share Christ's love with them.

Here are the pictures from the whole trip. Enjoy!

Elephants and Tigers and Stairs...Chiang Mai!

Well they talked me into it. Our last day of school, and my birthday so why not take a short break to Chiang Mai? Bruce, Ping, Sarah and I left for the airport right after school. Once again Bruce found himself with a group of laughing, teasing, and trouble making girls. He is so patient. We did so many things in two and a half days I can hardly remember them. For my birthday gift, they took me to a spa right when we got there and I got a relaxing facial massage. I've never done it before so it was really neat. We then went to Duke's restaurant which Bruce has heard about for years and has always wanted to go to. It's like Tony Roma's and has really good ribs.

The next day was our own version of an animal safari. We started the morning out at the Maetman Elephant Camp where we got to watch elephants do all sorts of things like play soccer and paint pictures. After the show was over, one of the handlers asked me if I wanted to sit on an elephant, so I did. Just stepped on his knee and put my leg over his shoulders. I wasn't expecting him to stand up though ie the expression on my face. We rode on an elephant named Dta through the jungle. Here he is showing off! When we finished there we went to lunch at a place that turned out to be called Tiger Kingdom, so after I finished my noodles Bruce and I hopped into a tiger cage to play with the tigers! This is something I've wanted to do since I was a little kid. Yes, you can call me a cat lady. His name is Mikey by the way :D

After dinner at Mikes Burgers we went to the Night Safari. Mostly the best part of the night safari was the last tram ride conductor. He pointed out the fact that the Yak's were ugly, ostriches were dumb because their brains were the size of peas, so if they walked in front of the train they would stand there deciding whether or not they would move, and then would surely get hit indeed. He told us that there was no point in running from a cheetah because you would surely die, and he said one of the types of antelope had a beautiful but because of the white circle around it. All the people that understood english were pretty much laughing the whole time!

Our last day in Chiang Mai, we took it slow and checked out several of the dozens of used book stores there. For lunch we ate at a little Italian place. The funny part was when they messed up my order and offered to give me the dish they made wrong for free, but then they brought out the actual dish I wanted also. We were all in good spirits by then, and then stood outside a hair salon while Bruce got his hair cut.

We also hike up several hundred stairs of Doi Suthep to get a view of the city of Chiang Mai from the temple up there. The only problem was that they are doing slash and burn this season so the atmostphere was hazy from smoke. We made it up the mountain and back in time to catch our plane back to Bangkok. We made it back late enough to go to sleep, and get ready for one day off for tomorrow's trip to the North. I'm not sure what this trip has in store, but I'm sure I'll have stories.

Here's the rest of the pictures!

One day off

Last night Sarah and I got back to my apartment from the airport and crashed. This morning we unpacked and repacked and went to church. We had a special guest Pastor Marcus Nietske from Germany preach for us, which was a special treat especially as the sermon was in English. After the service we had a church meeting to talk about a potential partnership with their German Mission foundation and the Lutherans here in Thailand. Everyone had a lot of good questions. It was great getting to meet them and hopefully we'll get to meet them in the future.

After church we crashed at the Hedtke's house and spent the afternoon watching movies and catching up on all that's been going on with them and their plans to move back to the US in less than 2 weeks. Tomorrow though we are off to the North to visit a couple Hmong Hilltribe villages and work out arrangements for our summer teams to work and stay there during their service trip here in Thailand. I'm stoked!

Last week of school

Well this last week of school went by faster than I could count. Starting Sunday, Sarah moved out of her apartment and is staying temporarily with me until all our travels are done.

For my last field trip in Thai class I ended up going to Starbucks and a book store with my teacher and the the 4 guys in my class. While the guys talked politics and sports, Jutatip and I actually practiced speaking Thai.

For lunch that day, Sarah and I went out with a friend of her family and his Thai friend to an Italian restaurant. Norb is another one of those people that everyone knows wherever he goes. So this Italian restaurant was no exception.

Wednesday we went out to lunch with our teacher Jutatip for one last time at our favorite garage kitchen in the alley behind school.

The last day of school was my birthday, so I got to celebrate with my classmates. Jutatip bought a cake for myself, Bruce, Dai, and Paul who all have birthdays this month. The rest of the day is to be continued...