Rice Grains

I've been fighting a cold all week, and I forgot to bring Airborne with me, and they don't have that available here. Soooo, this morning I woke up at my normal 5:00 AM and could barely swallow because my throat hurt so bad. I decided it would be a bad idea to go to school today, so I slept in, then watched the second half of Pride and Prejudice (the long version). I pretty much lay around all day. Now it is 18:38--let's see, that is 6:38, right--and I am in an internet cafe. I figured I could make myself do that much. But I fear I made a spectacle of myself with a huge coughing fit just now. I've got two cough drops in my mouth, and they seem to be helping. Oh, the brand of cough drop is called "Hacks". How fitting!

I discovered the art of text messaging this morning. While I was lying in bed, I heard my phone beep twice. When looked, a message was awaiting me from "Johm". Hmmm, did I meet a person with that name somewhere along the line? Sure enough, I looked at my various scribblings and found that Johm is the lady from Bangkok with whom I ate lunch one day. She thinks I have a much too long commute for school, so she told me to call her if I decide to move in to Bangkok, and she will help me find an apartment. Well, I didn't expect to move, so I wasn't sure if I would get in touch with her or not. But then she text messaged me. Just a hi how are you. When I "wrote" back to her, I told her I was sick, and she told me to see a doctor.:)

Then I decided to text message Shilpi, an Indian gal in my language class. I had just exchanged numbers with her yesterday, so I decided to contact her in the hopes that she could tell Hiroshi I wouldn't be able to study with him today after all. Later this afternoon, my phone beeped again, and it was a message from Hiroshi acknowleding my previous message through Shilpi. I guess I just added another phone number to my growing list!

This Sunday I hope to try out a Thai church, probably the Hope Church of Thailand. I'm not sure what to expect. A future language teacher who is currently observing our class goes to that church. She told me Thai church is not like American church. It starts in the morning and can go all day till 6 or 7 in the evening. I will not be able to stay that long, but I would at least like to get a taste of this church.

Posted by Sharon Rice at 07:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Today I went to Tessco Lotus and did grocery shopping and bought an ironing board. I've discovered rather quickly that ironing needs to happen here. I do my laundry downstairs in room temperature water--that means I can mix COLORS, right?? Then I take it up my 5 flights of stairs to hang it out on my little porch. It dries wrinkly and sometimes a bit stiff. Oh well, life could be worse!

As I walked down the snack aisle at Tessco, I notice a Lay's pototo chip flavor of fried lobster, or something like that. Sweet basil was another one.

Oh, and after class today I walked into the pharmacy at my apartment to ask--I thought--for sore throat/cough medicine. I pointed to my throat, and the next thing I know, the clerk handed me a pack of about 10 pills and charged me 31 baat (just under a dollar). When I got home, I looked at the name and discovered I had just bought amoxicillin! So much for prescription drugs! The lady told me to take one. Then she struggled for words and said "4". So I asked her if I am to take one four times a day. She said yes. I hope we understood each other!

I am finding that people are willing to talk and give out phone numbers quite quickly. Tessco has a food court upstairs, so I ate lunch there today. Another lady joined me at my table, and I told her I am learning Thai and showed her my notes. We had fun going over those. As I left, she wrote down her cell phone number for me. I think I will need to discern who to call. A couple days ago, 2 other ladies gave me their number or asked for mine.

My visit with the Thai girl named Buu went well. She is very sweet and wants to help me learn Thai as well. I hope we can build a relationship. I talked to her mother tonight on my way to this internet cafe. It feels good to recognize someone!

Last but not least, I took a test today in language class. I don't know if I passed or failed, but I do think the teacher gave me easier questions. I was done much more quickly than the rest of the class. I was also the last one, so maybe she was running out of time?

I must go study!

Posted by Sharon Rice at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It's Sunday evening, and I'm sitting in the internet cafe down my street. I am not attempting to use my laptop because the guy didn't offer trying with that again. He simply pointed me to a computer of his. I asked my landlord and his wife once again about internet access at my apartment, and I don't think they completely understood. They did suggest maybe they could get internet access for the whole apartment complex if there is interest, and maybe charge 1,000 baht per month. I don't know if that is a good price or not. I will need to find out.

Yesterday I met a lady and her daughter who speak some English. Her daughter's name is Buu, or something like that. She wants to meet me on Tuesday to speak English, and I'm hoping, she will help me learn a bit of conversational Thai. And as I was sitting here in this cafe, a boy came up to me to say hi. My, he has sparkly eyes! It turns out I just met him earlier today at my apartment complex. He is the son of the apartment manager. OH MY, as I write this he peered over my shoulder at my screen! He is playing a video game on the computer next to me. That's what most of the people in this cafe are doing. They are mostly young people playing video games.

I must go study more Thai for class tomorrow.

Posted by Sharon Rice at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier this week I ate my words and ate a grasshopper! So why did Tom and Candice do this to me??? They stopped by and told me they had a snack we could enjoy together. Hmmmm, some snack! I couln't stick the thing in my mouth so long as I saw its big eyes staring at me, so I had to stuff it in without looking! Initial taste not bad--mostly a barbecued/grilled taste. But the chewing went on and on, and the legs were getting stuck in my throat. I think one will be plenty for my 2 years in Thailand!

I have been trying to do some clothes shopping. I am finding sizes run quite differently here than in the states. If I can fit into a size large, I'm happy. Most mediums are too small, and even some of the larges aren't big enough. So far I haven't bought anything in extra large. So far.....:)

Learning Thai is proving to be most challenging. I am realizing I need to be happy with the small steps. Today our seats were moved and I am now sitting next to Hiroshi, a Japanese guy who is, I think, the smartest one in the class. He learns with amazing ease. But he is so funny, makes me laugh and relax more. And he tried to help me learn some of the new words and phrases today during class. I think God used him to cheer me up a bit!

I still do not have internet in my apartment--not sure how or when that will happen. Yesterday I spent about an hour in an internet cafe close to my apartment, and the guy there worked really hard to set my laptop computer up for use there. But his attempts were futile. However, he told me to come back today to see if he could make it work, so I might try again.

Posted by Sharon Rice at 02:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I just finished my second Thai class in Bangkok at the Union Language School. My mind is SWIMMING!!! We are learning the five tones: mid, low, high, rising, and falling. I find it difficult to distinguish between them all. I will need MUCH practice!!

I am sitting in an internet cafe close to the language school. It is very conveniently located next to the sky train that I will take for the first part of my journey back to my apartment. Hopefully I will be able to get internet service at my apartment, but until then my news may be rather sporadic.

My trip into Bangkok took 1 1/2 hours this morning--I left at 5:45 to be sure to be on time for my 8:00 class! Yesterday I left at 6:00 and arrived at my class too close to 8:00 for my comfort! Traffic is absolutely AMAZING! The trip home yesterday took only an hour; time of day makes all the difference.

I am living in a nice little 5th floor apartment-airconditioned-closer to the area we hope to target. The rest of the team is staggered not far off the main road (Tepharak) over a stretch of ?? quite a distance. My closest team members are the Mast family. Tom and Candice and their little girls live about a 10 minute taxi ride from me.

Wow, the sights and sounds and yes, the smells, are quite different from the small town of Plain City, Ohio! I walked down my main street last evening and passed a street vendor selling deep fried grasshoppers and worms and who knows what else! I am praying I will never have to eat those--God will have to give me a STRONG stomach!

There is much I could write about, but I must close for now. I hope to take a taxi to Tesco Lotus, a store much like a Super Walmart or a Meijer, and pick up a few items. And later this afternoon, the lady who made me my curtains will be delivering them to my apartment.

Posted by Sharon Rice at 01:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)