Party Animals!

Wow! It seems like this Christmas season is just zinging by. My schedule is packed through next Friday already. Last weekend we celebrated Christmas at the Bang Na Daycare .

Yesterday was my language school's Christmas party. You could tell that morning that everyone had an extra skip in their step. Even though we were all testing that morning, no one seemed to be thinking about it rather they were getting ready for our big party! The kitchen was packed with people and food. Even our principle had donned an apron over her pretty red and green outfit and was helping prepare some meat. One dish we had been told about all week was Werner's spaghttie! We were released early and Ping came home with us. After eating lunch we went up to Sarah's apartment to watch part of the original Pride and Predjudice movie while we decorated Christmas cookies. We got to back to the train station near our school earlier than we thought so we decided to stop for some coffee, and man was I surprised! I had almost forgotten what real coffee tasted like. It was amazing and of course we got to eat a Christmas cookie on the side! By the time we got to school most of the teachers were in a full frenzy! Some had already done their makeup. Some were walking around with cowboy hats on. Some were in traditional Thai dancing outfits. The principle was still in an apron cooking. The husbands who had to come early because their wives were Thai dancing were helping carry food downstairs, and bringing clothing, hairdryers, shoes, makeup, etc. It was just crazy! My teacher Phimjai went straight to work caking my face in make-up. All the while Ping was running around taking pictures of everything, Robert was playing Sudoku, Hak and Kelly's kids were having a great time playing with each other, Sarah and Hak were practicing their lines while Cuthatip corrected them and instructed them how to be more emphatic. When Phimjai donned orchids in my hair, I was finished and she declared that I had taken off the American look and now looked Asian! All I had to do was don my Thai sarong and I was ready to go. The party started with an introduction to the evenings activities, as well as Christmas songs, a reading from Isaiah in many different languages and a devotion by a Finnish Lutheran pastor who is a current student.

After that we moved to the other side of the patio and got our food!!!!! We all sat on the ground-Thai style and ate everything from Salsa to Phad-thai. While we ate were entertained or entertained each other with various performances, karaoke, and gift drawings. "Team Asia" sang Amazing Grace in Thai, Japanese, and Chinese. "Team USA" sang The Twelve Days of Thai Class. The American Girls did a Thai Dance. 2 different groups of teachers did different dances, and some other students did magic shows or sang and played songs traditional of their country. It was soo fun! I think everyone had a great time, and got a chance to just let our hair down and celebrate the evening. All in all, a great success! For all the pictures from the evening click here.

Ok, so that brings me to today. It didn't seem like there was anything major going on, but it turned out to be quite interesting and adventurous today (at least it felt that way). Sarah and I went to the post office so she could mail a package and so I could buy a box to mail a package. The internet and the front door said that the office was opened until 1pm so when we got there at 12:10 we were surprised that there were only like 8 employees there who were in a real hurry to close the shop. Some guy whisked Sarah's package away while someone else was running around locking doors and turning the lights out. Before that I went to the counter to buy a box and the lady said something I didn't understand in Thai until she turned a sign around saying that they closed at noon. (that is the second time I've struck out trying to buy a box already, grrr is how I started feeling). When Sarah finished, we discovered that we couldn't leave because the doors were locked, instead we had to walk around the counter, through the doors that said employees only and then out through the loading docks and down the right alley that didn't already have the gates closed. We hailed a cab from there and the driver kept laughing at himself or talking under his breath which was a little awkward. I assumed that some of it was just making fun of us for trying to give directions to him in Thai like we do all the time. We discovered on the ride there that Bangkok decided to day was just going to be a traffic jam in the middle of the day=weird. When we got near church we told the driver to "Liaw sai tea soi sip-gow", which means turn left at street nine-teen, but instead he nearly drove past it then scolded us saying we shouldn't speak Thai and just speak English because we were saying 99 or 95 or something. I know he was wrong of course because sip-gow is not the same as gow-sip-gow or gow-sip-ha. Oh well, so then when I said in English 3 times to stop at the church and he didn't, Sarah finally said "jot" and he got that. By that time I was feeling a little bit irritated for no good reason. We waited outside with the tent guys for 20 minutes while we waited for someone with a key to arrive and then the afternoon turned to normal. We wrapped and packaged presents for all the children that are coming to the church tomorrow for our Chrismas party, and then we decorated all over the place, inside and out. One good thing about Thailand is that the weather is pretty predictable. This time of year they know that they can put up decorations outside the night before because it won't rain. So, this year I had my first experience wrapping garland around a coconut tree! It was also nice that we had so much time to spend with the church members outside of the more formal church morning. We interacted so much and I felt like we all had a chance to just relax and enjoy our time with each other. No one was dressed up and everyone was helping each other. Pastor Taweep and Wan even played tug-of-war with each other, and we got to explain to them what this banner that said "Jesus Loves Ewe" meant because apparently it had never made any sense to them. I also got to speak Thai in a more normal setting, and saw everyone from a different perspective. It was like an adopted family in a way since we were all going through the motions of preparing for Christmas and even had snacks and listened to Christmas music. I will forever have the Thai version of We Wish You a Merry Christmas stuck in my head! Cau hai me kwam suk wan Chris-mat, Cau hai me kwam suk wan Chris-mat, le sawat-dii phii-may!!

Food

Here it is finally! I think I've finally got an expansive enough set of pictures of some of the food I eat here. Before coming to Thailand I had never had Thai food and had no idea there could be so many ways to make rice. It's like potatoes for us. The first thing you learn when eating Thai food is how to eat it. Almost all the dishes are eaten with a fork and spoon. the fork is used to push the food onto a spoon. Even a lot of noodle dishes are eaten that way. Occasionally they will use chopsticks to eat soup or noodle dishes. It just depends. When I first got here I bought a lot of my food at the grocery store, but now nearly all of it comes from the local market or street vendors I pass on the way home or on the way to school. The fruit here is just wonderful. I eat fresh pineapple nearly everyday! Also eating at the garage kitchens around here is really inexpensive so nearly every day that's where I eat my lunch with Sarah 3 of my teachers as well as several other students.

This first dish is called Kai Jee-oww Muu saap which is a Thai-style omelette with minced porked meat cooked in it (or plain or with vegetables) served on a bed of rice and with thai chili sauce over it! It's a must try if you ever eat Thai food. When Dang teaches me how to make it, I will even cook it for you!

The next is called satay and it's often found at street vendors. Basically meat on a stick served with sticky rice that you eat with your hands. Following that we have types of food that are called kap-khaw which means "with rice". So they are plates of food that are supposed to be eaten over rice and range from fried minnows to stir-fried veggies.These are a couple examples of kap-khaw: egg and squash and bitter-root with eggAnd ginger chicken with black fungus.

The next one some people are familiar with. It's Phad Thai. Since it's often served with shrimp I don't always order it but it is still pretty good, and what most foreigners are familiar with. This brings me to the next plate which is one of my all-time-Asian-food-favorites; fried rice. This isn't the kind I usually get. This is a pineapple fried rice that I got at a hotel.

The next on our plate is my latest favorite called Phat-see-eww. It is rice noodles that are stir-fried with egg, veggies or meat and then covered in soy sauce! Mmm...so good!

Next on our plate are desserts. If you ever see bundles of banana leaves, you are almost sure to find some sort of desert sticky rice, that either has banana, taro or some other sort of sweet mixture on top of it. Don't pass it up though and even enjoy it with a cup of coffee or thai tea.Another desert, are these little things; fried banana! They are coated in -I don't know what- but they are really good. All the visitors we've shown around here we've had them eat these.

Thai food can be very spicy, especially dishes like Phat-phak boong, and Som-tom. More than once I've cleared my sinuses and burned my lips eating hot food, but not all of it is like that, and you can always ask for it to not be spicy. This is only a very small portion of all the different food I've had here. Some foods like this: I avoid. I'm not a fan of having my food watch me eat it, and I stay away from things like frogs, crickets, snails, and organs too!

I think that's about all for now on the food. We'll see what the next topic will be. For now though there are a lot of things coming up very quickly in the next two weeks, so I'll try hard to keep up with them! Cheers!

Bangkok Art Center

Two more days til Christmas break!!!!! I'm so excited! Today was also exciting at school. My class went on a field trip to the Bangkok Art Center. It just opened recently so there wasn't alot there but it was still exciting. My class this term consists of 5 other students and my teacher named Phimjai. She is really sweet and friendly. She is also part of the group of us that goes to lunch everyday after school. Anyway, I am the only girl in my class. The rest of the students are from America, The Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Singapore. At the center we saw two exhibits. One was Bangkok and what it looked like before the introduction of wester influence and the other was Bangkok after the introduction of western influence. It was pretty neat, and I was glad for a break from reading Thai. We still had some time to kill so we went downstairs to their art library and a few of us took advantage of the free internet. I even got to talk to Sarah Steiner on IM!! Here's a few pictures of the trip.

Santa visits Bang Na

Today was the annual Christmas celebration at the Bang Na daycare. I had never been there before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. All the LCMS staff carpooled with Dang and we drove and drove and drove. When we finally got there I was totally surprised because we turned off the freeway into an alley. I knew right away when we got to the right place because Lek was waiting at the gate with a bunch of other children, parents and daycare staff wearing santa claus hats. The way they received us made me feel like we were stepping out onto the red carpet at a movie premier. They were so happy to see us, it seemed like some of them were tripping over each other to greet us. The rest of the morning was just a blur of activity.

Mostly, just try to think of 70 children brimming and overflowing with excitement that they can't contain. They know today is special because there are so many people; guests, parents, former students, volunteers and neighbors there. They know that by the end of it at least one of the gifts donated to the center and sitting on that huge pile by the Christmas tree will be all theirs. It may be the only gift they get this Christmas. While they await the arrival of Santa, it's all fun and games. They laugh and giggle, at the adults as they run around trying to be the first team to pass a balloon over their head and run to the front of the line before the other team does. They do the same as they struggle to pass a rubberband to each other only using a straw held in their lips. Even though they can't understand some of the English speaking visitors introduce the music, they all join in on the familiar song of Jingle Bells. Waiting in the wings are all the angels dressed up for their nativity play they are getting ready to perform. They've already made it through hair and makeup and now have beautiful braids and glitter in their hair. One girl is particularly enjoying the fact that whenever she twirls around she looks like a ballerina. I'm not sure exactly but I am guessing that all the clothes they are dressed up in belong to the center as most of the children wouldn't be able to afford them. They are all so proud of themselves, performance after performance. There is everything from a traditional Thai Monkey dance, to a dramatization of the nativity.

At the center of all of this activity and excitement of course, is the message that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas! It's so amazing the kind of effect that children have on adults. They brought so much joy to me as they just radiated happiness. When they were getting their presents from Santa (one of the regular volunteers, a student from Germany) I almost felt like crying. They had so little, yet they were so happy. For the first time I was able to see firsthand what a blessing the children's ministry at Bang Na is. It's really exciting also to know that our church in Phong Phet is determined to start a church there now, and I look forward to visiting there regularly when school is finished!! Enjoy the pictures!

SHE'S HERE!!!!

Well, finally after much anticipation, waiting and praying, my niece Ariana Grace Williams has finally arrived!!!!! God be praised!

She was born on December 5th and weighed 6lbs, 8oz. My brother Jasen called me Friday night to tell me they were on the way to the hospital, so having to wait a whole day to hear the news and see pictures made the day so much longer! My sister and Ariana are doing just fine. Big brother Marshall got to camp out with Grandpa Karkan the whole night in the waiting room. This is what they were doing at 3:00am :D They apparently had a whole stock-load of video games to keep them occupied when they weren't sleeping. Grandpa also had to take him on laps of the hospital after Ariana was born, because he couldn't sit still to contain his excitement at meeting his sister. Grandma of course was very proud of the fact that she was up the entire time, but admits falling asleep before she hit the pillow when they got home that night. Grandpa of course is very proud and will have a lot to learn now that he has a grandaughter to spoil as well as Marshall.

It makes me so sad to think that I can't run right over to the hospital and hold her and touch her baby skin and hold her tiny hands and feet in the palm of my hand. She'll change so much every day, and by the time I see her she'll practically double in size. As sad as this makes me feel, the joy I feel from this new blessing God has given our family entirely outweighs the sadness. I know my parents will make sure that she is never deprived of hugs and kisses, and that I will have a full photo library to keep me updated on how she's doing.

In addition to prayers of Thanksgiving for Ariana's safe arrival, please remember Aaron's mom. She wasn't able to be there for Ariana's birth because she was hit by a car that was fleeing another accident scene going 80mph. She is in the hospital in serious condition with several broken bones and a concussion. The guy driving the car on a suspended license however got to go home. We'll keep praying for him too.