Just saying hi!

Did you know...

In Thailand, you can have lightning without thunder? It's the most bizarre thing. There can be six or seven flashes of lightning in a row, then there's a little rumble far off in the distantce.

I also discovered that in a thunder storm, a large pillow does not replace a husband, as far as the comfort factor goes. You may think I'm childish by that last comment, but you haven't heard the thunder in Thailand. Those of you who have know what I'm talking about.

Also, frogs like to sing in the rain! I had a chorus of about a million last night... though I may be underestimating. At least I was able to wrench the windows shut. (They're open most of the time because it gets too hot with them closed.)

Alright, I guess I'll stop complaining. I hope you found my ramblings entertaining. Nothing really special happened today. Except that I think I accidently set my watch an hour early. (I can hear Jonathan saying 'getting up an hour early is good for you!) Yeah.

April and I are furthing our relationship by trying to get each other to watch movies they wouldn't normally watch in our off time. She's a 'chick flick' person and if any of you know me, you know that's the last type of movie I'd ever watch. The score so far: Kelley-1.5, April-0. (Let me translate that, I've talked her into watching two of the movies I like, and she hasn't talked me into any yet. I know my time is coming though, pray for me.)

I said 1.5 because the DVD we bought of Hero (an incredibly artistic martial arts movie) was scratched and we couldn't finish it.

...Yep, I just found out. My watch is an hour fast. Oh well.

On a sad and more serious note, it poured rain all day yesterday, so the Sports Day on Sunday is canceled. I'm actually really bummed. They will reschedule, but it will be on a day that I won't be here. But I guess that's ok. I wasn't assigned to a team or anything. The kids don't seem disapointed at all. When rain is the norm, I suppose you come to expect things like that.

Then on a silly note: yesterday April and I talked about taking a bonzai run down to one of the tropical islands because the sports day was canceled. We had heard that plane tickets would only be about $30! To say I was excited would be an understatement. Then we found out that it was $45 for a one way ticket to Bangkok, then another $30-50(one way) for the trip to the island. So our $100 weekend quickly became a $500+ vacation. I didn't think Jonathan would go for that, so we dropped the idea.

We will find other ways to entertain ourselves, believe me. I'll let you know about them once we figure them out.

Well.... I think I'll stop being silly and let you get back to your lives. I've been reading Lewis Caroll and thoroughly enjoying it, but I find that he's rubbing off on me. So if my word order seems a little archaic or silly or just plain wrong, it's his fault.

And with that mature and articulate comment, I'll talk to you later!

Jonathan is now home, safe and sound…

So I went shopping after he left, like any good wife would. (Don’t worry Jonathan, I was very frugal – I got the fabric we were talking about for 18 baht a meter. That works out to less than $0.50/yard. I’m a happy camper.)

Though I already miss my man. I suppose we’re pretty inseparable. I’ve moved into the girl’s home, and I have a great room overlooking the soccer field/front yard. The missionaries gave Jonathan a really nice send off, though he celebrated by dealing with the only time he’s been sick from the food on the whole trip. Bummer, but we still really enjoyed another’s company. The Thais wished him a very fond goodbye, and gave him a card covered with thank you notes (both in English and Thai). One of the Thai house parents gave him a beautiful hand woven Koren shirt.

Aside: the Koren hilltribe is a minority group that Zoe has ministered to and with. Many of the Zoe children and house parents are Koren, though the founders don’t want Zoe to become a strictly Koren home. Yet because of the amount of people who are Koren, there is a big influence in the mannerisms, food and clothing. So even though we’re in the city, we’re still working with the tribes. Kinda cool, I think. But I’ve always liked all things tribal.

With the exception of the frogs in the middle of the night, the girl’s home seems to be a lot quieter than the boys. Maybe it’s because I’m just a little more removed from the action here. My ‘quarters’ are in the south (I think) wing of the house, upstairs and away from the main area. At the boy’s house, we were pretty much in the thick of things.

Don’t get me wrong, that was fun! But it did get a little old hearing them singing really loudly as they walked past in the wee hours of the morning. A proverb was brought to life on this trip: A blessing shouted early in the morning is a curse. So true, so true. Oh well. I love them anyway. And what would you say? Please stop praising God because I’m sleeping? I don’t think so. Better to either deal with it, or get up an join them! I can’t say that I did the latter, but I’m pleased to be able to brag that Jonathan did.

So I think I have 12 days left over here. On Sunday the third, Zoe is going to have a sports day, providing that it doesn’t rain. They’re really excited about it. They will play soccer, volleyball and tak-row. I think I described that on a previous entry. Someone let me know if I didn’t. I’m really hoping we don’t get rained out, because I haven’t seen tak-row yet. I really want to get some video for you guys.

Oh, this was fun, someone from the States pulled out a hacky-sack the other day. The Thai teens had no idea what it was, so we showed them. It literally only took a few seconds for some of the boys to get the idea, then they were showing me up big-time. Unfortunantly, we only have one hacky, and there’s 60-ish kids. Therefore, the hacky stays in the office because it will just disappear if we put it out somewhere. One of the rules here is that you can’t give a gift to just one or a few of the kids. If you want to give something, it has to go to all of the kids.

Speaking of gifts… My apologies to the Gentry family! I didn’t let you know what happened with the beanie-babies! The Gentry family donated, last minute, 80-some beanie-babies which we crammed into our packs. Those were distributed to the kids and loved and loved. We were a little surprised when they were handed out, so we didn’t have our camera ready. But know that they were incredibly appreciated. Thanks so much!!! Could someone please make sure the Gentrys get this message? I don’t have their email or I’d do it myself. Thanks!

So now that you are all aware of the trip next year, does anyone have any questions about Thailand or things they are curious about? If you want me to find something out for you, I’d be glad to. You can leave a comment here or email me at newpaen@hotmail.com

I’m very curious to see who will go on the trip when it comes!

As far as day to day life goes, things have pretty much settled into a routine here. That’s why I haven’t been writing as often. When the SFV team was here, I had too much to say, because we were doing something new and exciting every day and all of Thailand was new to us. It’s like the first time you go into a forest, every boulder, bird, bug and bush is a discovery. But when you’ve lived in the forest for a month, the discoveries don’t come as often. (And you'll run out of 'B' words after a while.)

Here's a story for you. Yesterday, I had one of the most uncomfortable experiences I’ve had yet. We were out shopping, practicing Prov. 31, being wise and frugal... Really, I promise we were... Anyway, it was our day off, so we were having fun. (‘We’ is myself and April – one of the long term missionaries.) I wanted to get something from a specific booth at the Night Bazaar, but it was only 4:30, so it wasn’t set up yet. So we bought Starbucks. And it still wasn’t set up, but at least the vender was there. We wandered around for a while, trying to kill time, exploring a little. When we came back, the vender had only laid out a blanket on her table. Very prettily, yes, but it took her fifteen minutes to do it! Amuzed and slightly annoyed, we sat down to wait and people watched. (People watching in Thailand, especially in tourist season, can be extremely entertaining!)

While we were waiting and the vendor was re-adjusting her tablecloth, a man approached us and started a conversation. He sat himself right next to me and asked us where we were from and how long we were in Thailand. April, being very happy that she wasn’t the one sitting next to him, dropped some subtle hints to not tell him too much. So we insinuated that we lived in Thailand, had lived there for a long time and weren’t leaving any time soon. (All of these things were true for April, and kinda-not-really true for me.) So the man continued to chatter and after a while he began to ask us for money. ‘Great,’ I thought and poked April who was hiding her grin. She was very, very happy that she wasn’t the subject of the man’s attention. I was.

It was your typical story, he said he needed money for the bus. ‘What the heck,’ I thought. ‘I can give him bus money, 20 baht, no problem.’ That’s only 50 cents, but it goes along way here. It didn’t feel right though, and I didn’t want him to see how much money I was actually carrying. Then he started asking for three times as much, and when I said no the first time, he started to say that he was an orphan, knowing we worked at a children’s home, and that I didn’t have a good heart. (Yeah, that’s the way to get money from a stranger.)

At that point I decided not to give him anything. We told him we worked with little kids who can’t get a job themselves, not just any orphan, especially an adult. We said that he could get a job, and a good job too because he spoke English so well. And I’ve seen the beggars around here, he was no beggar. He was far to clean and well fed. And too many teeth. So when it became clear that I wasn’t going to give him anything he moved on, towards the lobby of a nearby expensive hotel. I pity the next tourist he hits up.

I told April to stop laughing at me. (She laughed because she’d been in that same horribly uncomfortable position many, many times, and it really was laughable to watch me struggle through it.) The vendor we were waiting for had set out three whole necklaces on her table, so we decided to just ask her if she had what we wanted. She did, found the right box and allowed us to buy from her before she was entirely set up. Thank the Lord for little miracles.

It’s hard to know when to give to someone who asks you for money. Do you give every time you’re asked? Do you give to charities and direct the beggars there when they hit you up? I’m here to be an ambassador for God, did I do the godly thing? I don’t know, and it’s still bugging me. I could have easily given him what he wanted, but it could have been the price for a beer for all I know. We have been generous here, giving to the true beggars. (There’s one place that we go to where blind or mentally retarded people sit on mats and sing in the hopes that someone will give them change. We’ve given to them.) But what do you do when a man who’s fit and intelligent asks for money. How can we be good stewards in those situations, wise as serpents and innocent as doves?

I guess just do your best and pray that God directs your steps. Maybe I made the wrong choice. I don’t know. I think I made the right one, that guy could have landed a job anywhere. And on top of that, we had seen him earlier, asking other ‘farongs’ where they came from. Scam artists are as thick as the bugs around here. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. I'll never know.

It’s kinda fun and kinda depressing being Caucasian here. You walk into a store and they are immediately aware of your presence. You can tell they’re thinking ‘money has arrived.’ The nice part is you get really good service. But it’s also sad because you know that’s all they’re thinking, and you know that you won’t get nearly as good of a price as the Thai person sitting across from you. It was strange for me, the first few days we were here. Some of these stunningly gorgeous exotic Asians girls, with their perfect skin and hair, were telling me I was ‘sooo beautiful’ and not listening to me when I tried to return the compliment. That was a trip.

Then I discover things like ‘white is beautiful’ and they have things like face-whitening-cream, and they avoid the sun because they don’t want to get any darker. It’s common to see Thais, especially the female version, walking around under umbrellas on a sunny day. I was telling one of the Zoe house parents that in America, everyone wants to be tan. It’s interesting that we always want what we don’t have.

Another bizarre and slightly disturbing thing was that in the Wal-Mart-ish store, in the lady’s undergarment section, there was not one picture of an Asian model. They were all Caucasian. Only one looked like she may have had a little Asian heritage in her background, somewhere. Now if that doesn’t reveal what Thais think beauty is, I don’t know what does. It’s sad, because I see beautiful faces, male and female, all around me.

Well, I think I’ll tie it up with a Thailand tip or two to conclude. (I couldn’t think of a ‘T’ word for ‘finish’) Much love to all, and I can start saying ‘I’ll see you soon!!!’

#17
All Thai snakes are poisonous, except one, and that one looks exactly like a poisonous one. Do I need to explain this one further? Don’t touch things that slither.

#18
‘Antiques’ are usually antique only in that the metal on the molecular level is old. Most everything you’ll buy in any market or store is an aged replica. If it’s a real antique, it will be really expensive, and the Thai government won’t be too happy about you bringing it out of the country. I was looking at coins once (for our beloved Pastor) and I found a US silver dollar from 1822! I was momentarily excited, thinking maybe that they didn’t know what they had. Then I found another one with the same exact date. Then another. So I could have bought a cool looking replica of a coin from 1822. Or three. But I don’t think that’s what coin collections are all about so I didn’t. (PM, I’m still on the hunt for a cool key for you though! Antique or replica.)



Is anyone still reading these other than my family....? I hope so. It's hard to tell, half-way around the world. I love you all anyway.

Cool things happen when you work for God.

So I can’t say that it was anything miraculous, or even spiritual, just cool.

Every day we drive from our room at the Boy’s Home, to the office at the Girl’s home. Between the two, there is an onion shaped shack that caught my attention the first day we drove past. One day when we had some time, we stopped at the shack and explored further away from the road.

It was a really cool hotel/restaurant thing. I say ‘thing’ because it looked more like a conglomeration of aging wooden buildings, built around a very small lake (or very large pond). We explored a little that day, but were cautious because we didn’t see anyone about and knew we were trespassing. We didn’t know if they were still open, closed for the season or if the whole complex was abandoned. We didn’t think it was abandoned because there were still signs for Visa around. So we looked around and found a business card.

If you’re wondering how we got in, remember this is Thailand, the buildings didn’t have locks, mostly because they didn’t have doors.

Once at the office we pulled up their website and thought ‘wow, this looks pretty spiffy.’ They rent out ‘suites’ for $80-100 a night, which is extremely expensive for Thailand. And they do a dinner theater thing with traditional Thai food and dancing. So we sent them an email and didn’t ever receive a response.

I had been meaning to stop by there again with a camera to shoot the place, and this morning we had time. We pulled in, expecting to find the place empty, as it had been every single time we drove past, but there were people there!

We cautiously walked in and met the owner or manager who spoke excellent English. He told us they were closed for the rain season, and that they were preparing for a garden festival in November. But he did say they had a tour group coming for lunch today, and invited us to join them.

Knowing how expensive their suites were, Jonathan wisely asked how much lunch would cost for the two of us. Then the generous host told us we could come for free, that we would be the guests of the group. Without hesitation we agreed to come back in a few hours.

Now I can say, the food was good (and spicy! Jonathan enjoyed the food a little more than I did)and the environment was amazingly beautiful. It was beautiful in the way an antique is beautiful. It isn’t perfect, there were well worn chairs and moss on the walkways, but it added to the ambiance. I think it was one of the most Thai meals we’ve experienced. (Aside from the adventures with buying from the street vendors.)

A half clothed young man came out and performed a traditional Thai dance. Thais from the main group motioned us to come and get a better view, and I must say that his dance was very cool. It involved clapping, but he didn’t just clap with his hands. He would smack different parts of his body, all choreographed into the dance. I would love to show you the video I took, but, like an idiot, I had the camera rotated 90 degrees, and I don’t have the tools I need here to fix it. SORRY!!!! I’ll see if I can find someone who has the right program.

Anyway, he only did one song, but that was fine. One Thai lady said ‘sexy’ to another when the dancer came out. The other Thai lady answered ‘Sexy boy!’ and laughed, looking at us. We laughed with her, because we were surprised to hear English from them. Those were the only English words that we heard from the Thai touring group. It’s kind of sad that those English words are somewhat universal.

Well, we got a free meal and show. I was able to take some pictures, but they don’t do the place justice. I have no idea how expensive it is, but I’m going to give the restaurant info to the missionaries here. Maybe, if it isn’t too bad, ZOE will take teams there. It didn’t see too touristy. A little perhaps, but their target audience seemed to be other Thais, not Westerners.

So check out the new pictures and I’ll try to figure out the video thing for you. Love to all!!

Jonathan's Birthday Excursion

So Monday I turned 30.

Birthdays can be a drag if one doesn’t like their environment. Or if he feels he hasn’t accomplished what he wanted to by then…

But thank God, that wasn’t the case for me. The morning of my birthday I was asked if I had moved closer to my life goals. After a moment of thought I answered a whole-hearted “Yes”. We are doing what we are supposed to be doing, and that’s a great feeling. I think God is pleased.

Time to set bigger goals…

Monday I taught two classes of English, and they were more fun than previous classes due to some successful games. I still cannot think of a better way to spend a birthday. Around 9pm, we set off towards town hoping to find a room in a nice-ish hotel. We like staying at the Boys’ Home, but they start singing at 5:30 in the morning as they clean the house…(blessing?) and Tuesday is our day off, so we planned to celebrate then. At the first hotel we tried, God gave us an adequate room on the 8th floor for only $25. I say adequate because the plumbing was audible whenever anyone used it.

I shall never forget sitting in that pleasant room reading aloud The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll. One of the ways my wife loves me is to give me an audience. I love reading stories and poetry in character voices and she seems to enjoy hearing them. If you’re not familiar with this poem, may I heartily recommend it? It uses much of the “new” vocabulary Carroll invented for the Jabberwocky and their use in this lengthy poem lends much to the context for understanding fumious emotions and slithey toves.

I am becoming an avid fan of the father of Alice in Wonderland. Kelley bought a copy of his complete works out here at the Backstreet Bookshop. The shop looks just as it sounds. Located on a little Soi (very narrow street) near the biggest Starbucks I’ve ever seen, this paperback palace enjoys a brisk trade with the many tourists and ex-patriot residents. Next door is a delightful Italian restaurant called Stefano’s which presents a great collection of Comedia del Arte marionettes. It has wonderful food and a theatrical atmosphere. (Right up my Soi!)

After a late breakfast, we saddled up our Honda 125 and headed north towards the Mae Sa waterfall. We had heard that it was beautiful and I was itching to get out into nature again. For the last 3 weeks we have stayed in town working and haven’t seen many tropical critters. After close to an hour at 40mph, we entered a national park and began exploring. The brown river tumbles over ten sets of falls, the largest of which was about 20 feet tall. But the plants and insects made the trip worth its investment. We hiked for three hours and photographed butterflies, spiders and a lizard. The riverbed was some form of granite and it occurred to me that plants and animals change, but rocks are the same the world over. Many red and black beetles were feasting on fallen fruit. (Go see the pictures!)

The trail was mostly concrete and certain viewing stations were made of hardwood planking, but both were covered in wet moss and we slid around quite a lot. It didn’t help that my boots are old and smooth. (They’re great in the desert at home!) The return hike (skating downhill) was fun and eventful.

We ended the day with a trip to the Day Market, which is a wonderfully confusing maze of vendors and smells. This is a place for Thais, not tourists, so we stuck out horribly. Knowing that I wouldn't be here too much longer, Kelley wanted to head once more into the breach, hoping to get some more team shopping accomplished. We were victorious. But our feet were understandibly tired, so we landed at an American-ish resturant for dinner and enjoyed some great food. Then back to the Boy's Home for a relaxing evening, arriving minutes before it began to rain. All and all, it was a wonderful 30th birthday.


Kelley will close with a few more Thailand tips:

#15 – Don’t pet the dogs, cats or what ever other furry critter you come across. They may be bringing other critters along with them that aren’t so cute. Another reason to avoid them is that you never know what may be wrong with them. April, one of the long-termers here said that she was petting an adorable Golden Retriever puppy when her finger penetrated his fur and entered a huge hole behind the puppy’s ear. Cute? Yes, but look with your eyes, not your hands.

#16 – This is more of a preparation than anything else. Thais are not ashamed to pick their noses right in front of you. Some even keep a fingernail long for the purpose of…well, you’ve been warned.

More pics at the photo page!! Check them out! Thanks to those who have joined the group photo site! It's wonderful to see your silly faces! The missioaries here are in awe of some of those pictures. I haven't been able to show any of the Thais yet. Hopefully soon!

having fun online

Ok, so I was enjoying an evening off tonight, and I discovered the website where I post my photos also has group photo sites, so I made one up for us.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sanctuary_thailand/

Right now it only has my photos on it, but if you have the desire to throw one up, join and do so!!

I have kids here asking about So.Cal, and it would be cool to be able to show them some photos of where we come from and who our fam and friends are.

Love ya lots!

You ready for a long one?

Jonathan and I both wanted to write this time! He's being a gentleman and letting me start.

Someone recently asked when we are coming home. Well…

There’s something we’ve been meaning to tell you all….

We do really like it here and we’ve decided to…..…

Just kidding! Jonathan’s coming back on the 29th and I’m heading home on Sept. 10th. Though we do love it here, we miss you all (and our dogs). Thailand is incredible, but it just isn’t home. Besides, we have work to do at home. Things like jobs and looking for jobs and U-turn Men’s Advance and… maybe a Christmas play! Maybe. Let me say it again… maybe. Ok here’s a Thailand tip that’s not really G rated, but it shouldn’t offend… I hope.

If you’re easily offended, please skip the next paragraph.
Thailand Tip #14: When using the squatty-potties, you generally have to hold your pants off the floor so they don’t get wet, so the question arises, how do you hold onto the TP before it is needed? My solution is to tuck it in your collar. I know, maybe too much info, but the last thing I want to do is drop my precious wad of TP into the puddle on the floor while I’m dealing with my pants and trying not to slip on the wet porcelain. Or you could just do as the Thais do and skip TP all together. They have a spray nozzle on a short hose instead. Sometimes. Don’t ask me what they do when there’s neither spray nozzle nor TP.

Ok, is everyone back with me? Good. I have to admit that my reason for writing this is rather silly. I’m excited because we saw our first elephant yesterday. (We saw some at the Zoo, but that doesn’t count. You can see elephants at the zoo in any country.) This elephant was standing on the side of the road, with a scruffy looking man sitting on its neck. We were on the motorcycle so it seemed even bigger than it would have looked in a car. The man was talking to someone, and the whole thing was right outside a Thai bar. We must have been gaping as we drove past. Jonathan was nervous, because the elephant looked nervous. We don’t know if those things spook like horses do, but we do know they’re really big and really strong. As we drove past, it seemed to shy away from us. Turns out it was just relieving itself.
Let me say I’m glad I don’t have to clean that up. Anyway, to me, the most remarkable thing was that the Thais didn’t seem to think anything of it. There was one or two people talking to the Mahoot (the guy on its neck), but no one else in the bar seemed interested at all.

Please pray for the divine comfort of the Zoe Family, who is dealing with some unexpected loss right now. Thanks for understanding that I can’t give more info.

I guess that part of this update wasn’t so silly. Exciting things are happening at ZOE this week, and I think the enemy is trying to do all he can to stop them. ZOE is about to make a huge step forward in a certain area, and I could understand how that step would leave Satan very pissed off. I’ll find out if I can tell you about it.

If you haven’t yet, check out the photo page (the link is on the right, near the top) I’ve just uploaded another hoard of pictures. I realized that I haven’t really described our settings. The pictures show mostly the outreach trip to a hill tribe with the SFV team. These are not the conditions we are living in. Far from it! We live in a literal mansion. The boy’s home is one mansion; the girl’s home is another. The reason is that mansions are the only houses big enough to accommodate so many kids. The boy’s home is smaller than the girl’s, partly because the girl’s home houses the little kids of both genders. The boy’s home has only the teenage boys and the male Bible school students. (Yes, they have a small Bible school here!) Anyway, to give you an idea of size… there are 16 bedrooms in the girls' house, 3 wings, 3 stories. Really big. But when you have 60+ kids, plus house parents, plus Bible students, plus a few missionaries and geckos; you need the space. (Some of the missionaries rent their own houses. You wouldn’t believe how cheap rentals are here.) The houses are kept very clean, and everything is run very professionally. We are on the outskirts of the second largest city in Thailand. This is truly a country where old meets new, you have McDonald’s and iPod ads right next to street vendors selling wares they have sold for hundreds of years. (i.e. weird food things I can’t describe other than say they’re weird.) So, the area we are in is much more modern than the photos you’ve seen. I suppose we haven’t taken many pictures of the city we’re stay in because it doesn’t look too different from cities you’re familiar with at home. Dirtier maybe. I do hope to go around and take pictures of the sites we see every day. I’ve started with some pictures of the children’s homes. Check them out!

Oh, and I just found out: Anna and the King is not taboo conversation, but the Thai people didn’t really like the movie either. I guess any time anything at all negative is said about the king, it’s bad. (Remember the execution scene?) Apparently they wanted to film the movie in Thailand, but the Thai government was opposed to it for some reason. I'm told there isn’t one Thai actor in the whole thing. They’re from Burma. I guess the actors all have Burmese accents when they speak in Thai. Word is that the movie was inaccurate and that’s why Thai people say they didn’t like it.

Jonathan here.
I’ve been reading the red type in the Gospels recently, and came across Jesus saying not to be like the Pharisees who love to be called “Rabbi”. Jesus said not to let anyone call you teacher because the only teacher we have is God. That really hit me because the students call the missionary staff “ah-jaan”. At first, I had thought that this meant ‘religious teacher’ or ‘master’. Actually, the dictionary just says it means professor. So it doesn’t have the ‘master’ connotation we were concerned about.
However, I still need to check myself for enjoying the title of respect too much. Most of the Thai staff are called by the title “Pea” (respected older sibling), unless they have been to bible college, in which case they get “ah-jaan”. When I learned that, my head swelled for a while. I wrestled with that last week. Part of the culture shock is just that they respect everyone so much.
Sometimes the house parents are just called ‘Ma’ or ‘Pa’. Small world, ain’t it? One of our books says that the world wide roots for those intimate names are Sanskrit.

That's all for now! We love you and look forward to returning next month.
Jonathan and Kelley

Did you miss me?

Hello all!

I’m not going to break with my mini-tradition, so I’ll start off with some Thailand Tips:

#12
Don’t dog the king. Ever. Don’t make fun of him, or talk bad or even condescendingly about him. (This includes talk of the old movie ‘The King and I.’ Apparently that movie is highly offensive because of the way it portrays the king. That king was historically an incredible man, and they revere him and his son as some of the best kings they’ve ever had. I don’t know about the more recent remake ‘Anna and the King.’ I’ll try to find out, discretely.) They LOVE their king. I’d heard this, but I didn’t know how true it was until I arrived. There are portraits of him everywhere, and wherever you look someone is wearing yellow in his honor. It’s actually kind of cool to see people who actually like their monarch. (Apparently the corrupt government happens at the local level, but everyone adores the main man.)

#13 If you are shopping for a shirt for a man’s XL or larger, start praying now. All the clothing sizes run one (or more) size small. If you buy a Thai XL, you’re really only getting a large. And on top of that, they shrink! So really a Thai XL is more like a medium after you’ve washed it once. I guess my solution to this problem is to suggest you buy a watch instead.

Sorry that it’s been a while. We’ve been busy. Nothing incredibly earth shaking, just the day in, day out life on the field. Jonathan’s doing the English thing, and I’m covering a lot of ground on the computer. We did have a day yesterday though. It was the Queen’s birthday and a national holiday, very similar to our Mother’s Day. All over the country, everyone it seemed was wearing light blue shirts in the Queen’s honor and doing nice things for their own mothers. (Instead of the normal yellow to honor the king’s 60 year reign this year.)

Anyway, I spent the day at Carol Hart’s (the founder of ZOE) home, helping her prepare a beautiful dinner that we gave to the Thai house mothers.

An aside: The way ZOE children’s homes work is that the missionaries are there to support/train/EMPOWER the Thai staff who live with the children and are their ‘parents.’ Yes the missionaries interact daily with the children, but it’s the house parents who are the real front lines In countless ways, they accomplish what the missionaries cannot and should not do. They know the language, culture, country, subtlies and intricacies of Thailand, things it takes a lifetime to learn. . And these people are so sweet, so caring and so loving, I know that they are doing an incredible work by helping these kids.

So anyway, we set out to honor them, specifically the mothers. We prepared a formal dinner, making sure we ordered food they would like and we served them. (‘We’ was myself and the other women missionaries. We did make two of our missionaries sit down to be served because they were mothers also. We had to lovingly force them not to help.) Afterwards we asked if they would like to go and get their feet massaged, and after a few minutes of discussion we discovered that most of them had never been shopping at Night Bizarre. We were in shock! Night Bizarre is one of the first places tourists go to, it’s a conglomeration of shops and vendors, selling everything from throwing knives and weird instruments to shirts (see above Thailand tip) to baseball hats made out of Heineken cans to idols to delicate flowers carved out of soap. Basically, everything a tourist could ask for, and just a lot of fun.
We asked them where they would rather go, and they all said Night Bizarre. (Two later changed their minds and got massages anyway, but the massage place was at Night Bizarre so it wasn’t a problem)

They had a blast (I think. It’s hard to tell sometimes. ) The whole night really blessed them, we could tell. They said they had never been served by ‘the adjans’ before. (Adjan means teacher, master or headmaster, and that’s what they call all the missionaries. ZOE Missionaries asked not to be called that but the Thais said it would be culturally inappropriate to not use that term.) It was beautiful to be able to serve people who are so used to serving themselves, they didn’t know what to do. They were so grateful and I do hope, pray and believe they were blessed.

That night Jonathan was at the children’s home holding a sort of seminar on how to write a sketch. When we were first getting to know the kids, they discovered that our background was theater and they practically begged us to teach them new skits. We asked if they had ever written their own and they fell silent. Apparently the idea had never occurred to them before. We told them that they were better equipped to reach their people, and they would know how to communicate to them than we would. After talking about it with the people over us, we scheduled a night and spread the word.

Only about ten kids showed, but Jonathan said any more would have been too many. He went over plot and characters, conflict and resolution. He also spent time on themes (the idea behind the sketch or skit) and then had them start writing. We gave them the freedom to write in groups and in Thai, so we have only a basic idea of what they wrote, but it seemed to go very well. We’re going to get one of our friends to translate it for us, and then discuss what our next step should be.

At this point all I know about what was written is that one group wrote a skit containing five characters: a doctor, three missionaries and a Buddhist monk. I’m curious, just knowing that.

Well, my brain just stopped working for some reason, so I think I’m going to go take a nap. Days off are great, aren’t they? I’m going to try to get a bunch of pictures up in the next few days. They’re ones I took at the beginning of our trip, but just haven’t been able to get up yet. I’m hoping to show the inside of the children’s home, so you’ll be able to better imagine our surroundings. Let me just say that we haven’t been suffering.

We love you all and hope things are going well on your half of the world!!!

Just an update

I'm still not feeling 100%, so we're wondering if it really was food poisoning or if it was something else. Part of the problem is that I was afraid to eat anything, so we went to a western grocery market and bought stuff I wasn't scared of. When all is said and done, I'll still eat the food from over here, because being sick isn't that bad, it's just annoying and uncomfortable.

The good part is I lost the few pounds I'd been trying to loose since last Christmas. Missions work is great!

A few more Thai tips:

#9 male A showing affection to male B (holding hands, playing with hair, cuddling) does not equal/is not congruent to: they're gay.

This is taking some getting used to. At home, it's common to see girls leaning on each other, playing with one another's hair, just being physically affectionate in a totally innocent, sisterly and childlike way. But boys don't touch each other because it would mean they were gay.

Here, it isn't wrong. We've talked about this with the long term missionaries. It's a cultural thing. When the long term Americans arrived and saw this, they thought the boys should stop, but the Thai Christians assured them repeatedly that it was not wrong or unscriptural or sinful. They are just showing one another healthy love. (PM, I know you are lovin' reading this!)

Anyway, it's still surprising to turn and see one teenage boy playing with another's hair, or to hear of them holding hands with fingers interlocked. But, if anything, I think our culture's the one that is a little messed up in this area. We have made something innocent into a taboo because some people have twisted what God intended.

If you are wondering, there is a large homosexual population in Thailand, and it is much more culturally accepted here than in the States. Yet even with this fact, the male affection is apparently unrelated.

#10
Always keep toilet paper with you. Kinda like the parka thing. Even if you're going to a developed area. Sometimes they charge for TP.

#11
This one comes from the Aussie pastor of the church we're attending. I told him I was sick from the food and he said in his great accent: "you should go eat a dog, that'll fix stomach problems." I haven't tried it. I still don't know if he was kidding or not.

Ok, a little about the ZOE kids without giving too much away. (Due to the nature of their backgrounds, I can't tell too much about them because it would endanger them. A very real and scary thought.)

I would say that 2/3 to 3/4 of the kids here are teenagers. There are some that have graduated and are attending ZOE's small Bible school. But these most of these guys are teens, pure and simple. They're the most responsible group of teens I've ever worked with. (Sorry U-Turn teens, but they have you beat. You know I love you still and miss you incredibly, right?)

They LOVE music, of any form. They like to sing all the time, play guitar, base, drums, keyboard, anything they can get their hands on. Including an annoying recorder that someone brought out at about 6am this morning. Like I said, responsible or not, they're still teens. They have their own worship team, that one of the Thai Staff leads. From our perspective, a different teen leads the singing each meeting. We could be wrong about this though.

They also love sports. At least the boys do. I think the girls do also, but I don't live at the girl's home, so I don't know. They are such incredible athletes; they worked Jonathan in a game of soccer. Jonny Mac has met his match. This is a country of Jonny Macs. (I will say for his sake that he never played soccer before, and they play every weekend almost, and practice whenever they have a free moment.) They also love volleyball and have a cool came called Tac-craw (closest English spelling I could come up with) It's played on a volleyball type court, but the net is only chest high. And you don't hit the woven wooden ball with your hands, you kick it or head it, hackey-sack style. So, it's kinda a mix between volleyball and soccer. I haven't seen them play yet, but I've heard it's incredible.

One thing I've noticed about the ZOE kids and Thailand in general, is that everyone is very polite. Even the street vendor who's trying to rip you off is still really really polite as he does so. (Try to bring a long term missionary or Thai friend with you on market trips. Bartering is the name of the game.) Something that goes along with the politeness is that they are often pretty quiet.

I was standing in line at the airport in Bangkok, watching people about their business, trying to imagine a group of people from our church invading the place. I couldn't help but smile. We are so loud and boisterous and... well... just American to the fullest. There's no way we could ever blend in and disappear into the crowd. There's nothing wrong with that, but I found it incredibly funny.

I have sense seen the ZOE kids really having a blast, and realized that they are as noisy as any other nation; you just need to see them interacting with each other and having fun. This is a video of family game night. The goal of this game was to not have any 'snowballs' or wadded up pieces of paper on your side of the room at the end. Which is a fancy excuse for having a paper wad fight. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql4v836v9js

The little kids are just that, little kids. Jonathan was trying to teach them to juggle during free time. Of course, the little girls were nicely throwing the ball as Jonathan instructed, the boys were throwing it at each other's faces. Boys being boys. They learned the English word 'gentle' that day.

Well, the computer with Photoshop that I've been waiting for just opened up, so off I go. Love to all!!

Now I'm a real Missionary

It's official. I have become sick off the 'native' food. Ok, so it wasn't that native. It was just a donut type thing from the Wal-Mart-y store. I think. It could have been the water, or the fruit, or the wanna-be-pizza or... the list goes on. Whatever it was it cleared out my stomach in a hurry. Thank God it only took me out for a day. I'm feeling much, much better now and I'm back at 'work' at the Girl's home.

Just a note, not one person (that I'm aware of) got sick because of food from the SFV team. Someone did have a little issue with car sickness, but you can get that anywhere. So that should encourage everyone, right?

I'm taking it easy and eating mostly Ritz crackers. (There is a box of Cheez-its on the desk across from me, tempting me. I'll be strong. Or I'll tell you about my failure to resist in my next post. One of the two.)

*update... I failed. But at least I got permission first.*

I bet you're wondering what I'm doing over here. Well, frankly I'm doing whatever I'm asked. My jobs here are more hands on with the missionary staff than the kids. I'm helping them create photo packets, designs for play rooms (think of the Reign Forest room) designing and creating their Christmas brochure and card. I spend most of my time on the computer and did regret it for a little while. I was telling myself that I could do this from home. But then the missionaries reminded me that I probably wouldn't have time at home, and that because I am here, I am accomplishing in a few days what it would take them months to do. This is because I have experience on the programs and also because they have many responsibilities on their plate, while I do not.

I also help with odd jobs whenever I'm asked. The other day I went with some of the long-termers to the Night Market and helped them pick out 500 pairs of chopsticks. (They will be gifts to ZOE donors in the US or something like that.) That took a while.

One of the most enjoyable jobs that I have is to come up with designs for a children's fort/playhouse/jungle gym and matching puppet house. I know I don't have the time to build it, but it would probably be better to farm that job out to a local, because labor is so cheap here. But if I can do all the design work, and make up good plans, it should be easy for anyone with some experience to build. At least that's the hope. You can imagine the fun Jonathan and I are having with these projects.

Well, I need to go shoot some kids (with a camera) for a graphic design thing I'm doing, so I'll sign off. Love to all!!!

ps - I've reposted some of the pictures that were too dark before, that's why they may look familiar. I've found a computer with Photoshop!!! YEAH!!!

'Jonathan makes an entry' or 'fording the mighty road?'

May I make a quick request? If you've dropped by the blog and haven't left a comment yet, please do. From our perspective it looks like only ten or so people have seen the blog. (Or you could just drop us an email which would be faster: newpaen@hotmail.com ) Thanks for understanding!! We miss you all.

Onto Thailand tip #8
This is an incredibly modest country. Even though there’s an invisible cancer of prostitution and sexual immorality, for the most part, it stays invisible. So, how does this affect us as missionaries? If the general Thai populous is modest, then we as missionaries and representatives of Christianity must be even more modest. This is all about the ladies. Girls, no tight shirts. Period. Even if it is just close fitting, loose is best. Shorts must be at least at the knee, calf length is better. After people watching at the local mall and then the Wal-Mart type store, I saw that this ‘extreme’ modesty really is the norm here. Girls wore loose polo-ish shirts and long shorts. Even the stunning ones. I would say one in fifty had on a tight shirt or short skirt. It was amazing. So remember, loose is good, tight is not.

And finally, a full entry from Jonathan. Enjoy!

A day in the life at the Boy’s Home:
These guys are really well trained and very respectful. Most of them wake up around 5:30 am and start certain chores around the house, (and singing. That’s how I know they’re up). They often have group singing and devotions at 6, breakfast at 6:30 and the high schoolers leave for school at 7. Bible school students often lift weights and exercise at 7, eat at 7:30, do chores at 8 and start class at 9.

After a full day at school (arriving home at 5 pm), they eat around 6, do their laundry, homework and have a little fun, but in no particular order. They do their own laundry, by hand in big buckets of cold water. They even bathe in cold water! One night, I wandered up onto a somewhat secluded roof to find out where all the water pouring past our windows was coming from. About six of them were out on this patio running the hose fully open. Two were washing clothes; some were bathing, most wearing speedos, others in boxers. The culture is very modest but this group of guys has lived like brothers for years.
We’ve come home at 9:30 several times to find them in the meeting room working on homework. Many times we’ve joined them to help with their English studies. Things get quiet around 10 and then the whole process starts again the next morning at 5:30.


I’m experiencing some culture shock, having been raised in the desert; I hate to see water running down the sidewalk. But this is a tropical plain, and the water table seems to be 12 feet down! This house has its own well and the nearby Ping River is flooding its banks right now. Speaking of the water levels, please pray for Chiang Mai. They’ve been sandbagging all week. And that leads me nicely to the next section.

Tuesday, Kelley and I rode the scooter into town. (We have rented a Honda 125 for 5 weeks for $75!) What an adventure! We left at 5pm hoping to get back before dark. In a car, with a driver who knows the roads the trip should take about 15 minutes. We took a route we’ve only seen twice because it seemed direct; never mind that we didn’t know it very well. We headed north and jogged left at a Y. As we approached the river we came to some vacant lots and remembered hearing “This is usually a day market crowded with cart and venders.” That day it was under a foot of water and no one was around.
This time the lots were still underwater, but the market had moved to the road! Scooters could still make it through the crowd but I doubt a car could. It was just like all the pictures we’ve seen of a crowded marketplace in Asia. Meat venders had some innovative little spinning machines for keeping the flies off their merchandise. After riding at a pedestrian’s pace for 5 minutes, we left the bazaar and came to the bridge over the Mae Nam Ping. The brown water came up within 3 feet of the bridge! (We are not in any danger at all from this. Breathe easy, Mom. I had to pick the most extreme picture I've taken so far. You understand.)

Apparently the river floods every year, but has gotten worse in recent years. It’s regular and expected, so I don’t know how much it threatens human life, but it sure makes a mess of things and breeds mosquitoes. (The soccer field at the Girls’ Home is a swamp right now.) So we rode North for a while following the river and found we were not the only ones taking pictures of the swollen flow. Thais were also shooting down from bridges. Sandbag teams were still working to keep the streets from flooding. That was desperately needed. Several times, we held our feet up as high as we could and the bike waded through knee deep streets. We didn’t see any cars going through. Only scooters were fording the floods. It made me wonder is the cars knew something I didn’t...

This road put us out on a 6 lane highway with a median and no U-Turns. Of course we were headed the wrong way, and ended up riding all the way around Chiang Mai. At 6pm, we arrived at the night bazaar, finished our business and returned home a different way with a new set of adventures; more flooded, one-way streets not taking us where we wanted to go. I turned down a little soy (alley) hoping to make 3 left turns and come out on the proper one-way highway. However, it turned out to be a dead end driveway guarded by a ferocious poodle. The scooter could barely outrun it as it snapped at Kelley’s sandaled feet! It chased us until an old lady called it off. Finding no other way to get onto the highway we wanted, we jumped up the curb, and rode on the sidewalk until we were at speed and could safely hop down onto the roadway. Thankfully, there was no traffic that night, and traffic laws here seem to be pretty loose. We arrived home after dark, but well before our next appointment.
One more note about their Zoe kids’ chores: they work without being nagged! I wouldn’t understand the words if they were being nagged, but you can usually tell from the tone and context. These kids (I’ve seen it at the Girls’ Home also) clean up after themselves, sweep floors, wipe down tables after every meal... It’s amazing! Carol Hart showed us the chore rotation they have in place which is posted on a wall. Everyone’s job changes every week or two. I’ve never seen a house of any size run so smoothly! I’ve never heard any arguing or complaining. I’m sure much of this is the general Asian respect for others, but I also see great leadership here at Zoe Children’s Homes.

English classes are going very well. I haven’t had any lesson plans bomb yet. The students are very motivated and eager, and that makes teaching a joy! I’m teaching vocabulary through praise tunes in English. Anyway, they already know some of the tunes in Thai.
Please pray that God will continue to bless my efforts learning the Thai language. I had been overwhelmed about learning it when I came, but the Thais have been so helpful and gracious, it’s been easier than I expected. They seem thrilled to see a farang (foreigner from the west) trying and their smiles make the process fun. I am learning vocabulary, but I can’t really put together a sentence yet.