Rice Grains

Wow, what a week! It was my last week to teach English, and it has also been a week full of social activities with friends and quite a few farewells.

SUNDAY: Ruung and I went to the hospital to see Tom and Candice and their new little baby boy, Silas. OK, so this was a first, not a last.:)

MONDAY:
-- hosted my last team prayer meeting and taught my last Monday English class

TUESDAY
-- visited The Well, where they had prayer for me and said goodbye

Mek and Nuch

--taught my last Tuesday night English class using Mark 5:1-20. Pen and Boom hung out in my room till almost 11:00 chatting after class.

WEDNESDAY

--ran errands in Bangkok all day till almost 6:00 pm

--discovered last minute that Noy, the neighbor boy, and his parents were heading to their home province to harvest rice. Took some hasty pictures...

...ran to the store and tried unsuccessfully to get the pics developed immediately (so my friends could take the pics with them), hurried back to say goodbye, scurried back to the front street to order my supper, and then ate in my room. I was still eating when my Wednesday evening students began arriving, also bearing food.

Class ended up being a quick study of the next set of verses in Mark 5 followed by a couple little games, then more eating and chit-chatting. Nui and Yun stayed till after 11:00. Yun had brought his guitar and was trying to teach us a song called Nothing at All . We didn't learn very well, but it was fun trying.:)

THURSDAY

--made the final 2 1/2-hour trek to The Shelter, managing to hop on the wrong bus, thus delaying my arrival there till almost 3:30 instead of 2:30.;) They had invited me to stay for supper for a farewell.

Here are my guys!:)

And here they are, singing a song for me. They are truly a special group of young men, and NO, I am NOT prejudiced.:)

--left The Shelter about 8:00 and headed to Ramkamheng 2 to sleep over at my friend Kwan's apartment one more time. Saying goodbye in the morning was not fun....But I think we will stay in touch.

FRIDAY

--headed towards home from Kwan's about 9:00 am to meet my friend Day for a short bit. Ended up visiting with Won while waiting for Day.

Won

Day

--arrived late at Sizzler's for one final get-together with Lee

--headed in to Bangkok to say goodbye to my doctor, get one last Thai massage, and then meet with Tawan, Payao, Pum Puang, and Anita for supper.

Tawan and Anita, silly gals!:)

SATURDAY

--slept in till almost noon--feeling pretty exhausted physically and emotionally

--went to get my hair colored one time in addition to saying goodbye to my friends there.

--went to Chinatown in the evening with Lek and her friend (hmm, I guess this is both a first and a last--the only time I've gone to Chinatown my two years in Thailand)

SUNDAY

--went with Yun and his girlfriend Nuch to Goh Gret, an island in the Chao Praya River in Nontha Buri Province outside of Bangkok. That may need to be a blog in itself, but not tonight.:)

Here we are!

--got home late for my own party hosted by the landlord's family and Kitti's family

i learned too late that I was expected to invite anyone I wanted for the party, so I did some last minute calling around with limited success. They had prepared a LOT of food, and I felt really bad--it's one of those cultural differences I think. But never-the-less, we had a good time. They love to laugh at how I put words together in Thai. Oh well, what can I say?:)

Dang is one of my last minute "invitees".:) She stayed about 45 minutes, then returned to her house where she had friends waiting for her to come back.

The party lasted till about 8:30. Then I returned to my room and have been working on this blog in between other interruptions. OK, enough for now.

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Last night Yun, one of my students, called me and invited me to go with him and his girlfriend Nut to The Ancient City, a park not far from where I live. The Ancient City is shaped roughly like Thailand and has replicas of many well-known wats and other Buddhist/history-related buildings and statues.

A Chinese temple

Nut and Yuun, a really nice young couple

Buddha image

Yun and I

Nut and me

I caught this little guy hanging on the window!:)

We had to cut our time short, as I needed to be in Bangkok at 1:00 to meet my 2 Japanese friends, Yukiko and Wakako, to say goodbye. The 3 of us studied Thai together for several months.

We ate at a nice little Japanese-owned Italian restaurant called "The Green Porch". One of Yukiko's friends owns the business. It was really cute, comfy, and cozy. And we had a great time talking and laughing together. But if all my friends here keep feeding me so much food, I am going to need to buy a whole new wardrobe in bigger sizes before I leave Thailand!:)

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Tonight I was working on the computer when the door burst open and Gop came in with two ice creamcicles, one for him and one for me. Of course, he also wanted to play on my computer.:) But he quickly got bored for some reason, so I pulled out a VCD of the movie Prince of Egypt. I had bought it for another Thai person who moved out of the area before I could get it to her.

I asked Gop if he wanted it, and he said, "Let's watch it together." So I watched the dubbed-over Thai version of the movie. Gop liked it enough to take it with him. I'm happy about that. We didn't discuss it other than I asked if he knew that it was (basically) a true story from the Bible, to which he replied yes.

I never know what I'll be doing next with Gop! I told him tonight that he's funny, and he said, "so are you!". OK, so the truth is out!

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This week has been flying by quite quickly. Monday I met Sham, my "shy" Malaysian friend who prefers not to have his picture posted. We tried to find a cafe he had heard about, but after walking around the block a couple times, we opted for McDonald's instead. Ah well, we tried. :)

Monday evening no students were able to come for class, so I had a free evening. Gop called up about 8:00 to see if I had eaten supper yet. When I said I hadn't, he ran out to the market along the street and bought phad thai and 2 rolled up rotis for me. While I ate and then sorted things for packing, he played on my computer.:)

Tuesday I met Yu, my former language tutor, in Bangkok for lunch one last time.

Isn't she cute?:) I love her!

I feel HUGE next to Yu!

As we were walking around, Yu directed me to two Hindu shrines, explaining that one shrine was where people who want romance in their lives go to pray and offer sacrifices of 9 red roses and red incense sticks. The other shrine is where people go to ask for fame and success. Even though these are Hindu deities, it seems that Hinduism is very much mixed in with Buddhism here in Thailand, so yes, Buddhists come to pray to these deities.

People at theTrimurti Shrine asking for love and romance

Worshippers at the Ganesha Shrine, hoping for artistic success

I got home in time to grab supper out on the street and felt pretty special when some of the street vendors eating together called me over to eat with them. I will miss my street vendor friends too.

That evening I thought I was going to have another "no-show" evening, except for Pen, who was hoping we could just sit and chat instead of studying English.:) But then a few others came as well, so we did class.

Wednesday morning Tom and the Latin guys on the team came to take some of my furniture off my hands. My room is looking emptier and emptier....

Then my friend Pen met me to go to TIppewan to meet Candice, who will hopefully take over teaching her English and maybe do BIble study with her as well. After leaving the Mast home, Pen and I ate lunch together and sat and chatted for a couple hours before heading home.

Here we are!:)

I got home around 4 and then rushed around to do my laundry before meeting Day for supper at 5:30, after which I hurried back to my apartment, arriving there just in time to let in 2 of my students who had just knocked on my door.:)

Class was over about 8:30, and all but 2 students went home. I had a very nice time talking a couple hours longer with the 2 students who stayed. We had various topics of discussion, including Jesus, as well as the story of Job.

So, that brings me up to today, when I went to teach English at The Shelter as usual. On the way to The Shelter, I stopped to get iced coffee at The Coffee Station, where I have gotten to know the girls who work there. One of them is studying art at university, and she had told me she would bring me one of her drawings to show me today.

I didn't realize that she was giving it to me as a GIFT. Unfortunately I left the drawing at The Shelter, so I will not be able to display it now. But I did take a picture of the gals who work at the coffee shop. The one on the right is the artist of the group.

I continue to marvel at the generosity of the Thai people.

After teaching at The Shelter, I met my friends Tawan and Payao for supper at a very nice Italian restaurant called "Big Mamma's". They have what is called "fusion food" there. I wonder if that term is used in America? It means taking another culture's food and combining it with a touch of one's own culture. So tonight we had pizza, half of which was "tom yum guung" topping. Tom yum guung is a famous specialty soup with seafood cooked in coconut milk. This pizza basically had seafood toppings. I preferred the other half.:) But the restaurant really is nice.

So, that is my week thus far!

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This morning I taught my Wednesday evening class since Wednesday didn't suit one of the students. Immediately after that, my student Lek drove me to the airport to meet Skip and Carol Tobin one last time in Thailand. They were on their way to Ubon in Isaan but had about an hour to spare.

We sat in a coffee shop and chatted and said our goodbyes. The time was short but good. Then, of course, we had to get a few pictures before parting ways.

Lek, Carol, and I

Me, Carol, and Skip

Lek and I

Lek and I headed back to the car and drove to the exit. We didn't stop at the ticket booth, and I thought, "Wow, free parking in Thailand!". At that instant the lady in the ticket booth yelled at us, so Lek backed up, and the lady asked for our ticket.

Oooops.......we didn't have one! The ticket lady promptly thought we had stolen the car and said we couldn't leave but had to return up to the 4th level to talk to a security guard there. After about 10 minutes of discussing and then checking the camera, they decided we were safe after all, and the guard phoned downstairs to confirm our exit. The poor lady at the ticket booth down at the bottom then apologizezd and let us go.:)

From there on the drive back was uneventful, though Lek wanted to take me to meet her Thai neighbor who also teaches English. So I was asked to speak English with the students for a few minutes.

Here's the class!

From there I hurried back to my apartment because I thought I had a late lunch invite to my friend down a level in my building at 3:00. For whatever reason, no one was home. I tried calling for about an hour, but no one answered.

So I started preparing my English lessons for tomorrow. Then Gop came up for his English "lesson" at 5:00. He had forgotten his English book at school, so I had to makeshift some sort of lesson. He was being typical Gop again.:) I am never quite sure how much he truly learns.

After an hour of "teaching", we played Spoon. Gop confiscated my camera and took a video which I will post below. It is--as usual--very poor quality, but feel free to watch it if you want. I am actually speaking a tiny bit of Thai on it.

Now I am trying to get odds 'n ends accomplished before getting some sleep. Tomorrow morning I will be meeting my "fan" from Malaysia since he is in Bangkok currently. Then teach English in the evening. My schedule is beginning to fill up with all kinds of last minute invitations, so I may have a variety of people pictures to post as these last two weeks pass.

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Now you can check out the feet on my previous blog. The picture loaded today.:)

Today I had a nice lunch at Sizzler with Lee and Rin. Then the Malone family came by to say hi. Their daughter Karis just finished DTS with YWAM in Chiang Rai but will be returning there to be on staff before too long.

Lee and Rin had to leave soon, so the Malones and I moved on to Coffee World and chatted over coffee. We had a really nice time catching up. They had gone home to Australia for a few weeks. Sorry, I was lazy today and didn't whip out my camera to take pictures.:)

As I walked out the door at Central World Mall, a lady stopped me and said "Hi, how are you?! Do you remember me? From the coffee shop??" "Oohhh!" I replied, skirting the issue. I couldn't think what coffee shop and I couldn't remember meeting her.... That happens so often; I'm farang, so I stick out a bit more. While Thais don't all look the same, they certainly look more the same than me!:)

Once I had gotten off the bus and was walking down Theparak Road toward my Soi, who did I bump into again, but the same lady! And she had her husband and sons with her. I at least now have the coffee shop narrowed down to the little stand on the corner, and I think she must've been there buying coffee when I was.

As I was talking to them, my friend Pen passed by and waved. OH, further back on the street, I had passed one of my motorcycle taxi friends eating with some of his family. So we chatted. It's fun to know so many different people.:)

I came back to my apartment building and was greeted at the door and invited in to the office for supper. So I enjoyed a meal with Ruung, Rak, and Gop before going to my room. Now I think it's almost time for bed!:)

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This morning I stayed with Clair and Eliza for a few hours before going to teach at The Shelter. We had a fun, silly time.

Feet

Heads

The girls did three different "dances" and chose the following one as the one to post.

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I forgot to include a picture of fireworks that Rak (I discovered that Lak's name is really Rak:) took last night. He tries so hard to be helpful. The fireworks were too far away, and the night was too dark to catch much on camera, but I like the delayed effects on the picture below.

As for my doctors' checkups today, I am feeling officially free. My cardiologist said I can wean myself off the heart medication over the next two weeks and then if I feel panic attacks or unusual heart palpitations, I can put myself back on the medicine for a couple weeks. I also need to inform doctors before any surgery of my mitral valve prolapse and my "encounter" with endocarditis. And I need to get annual checkups. But apart from that, I'm free!:)

Dr. Onumar, my infectious diseases specialist, had a gift awaiting me. She is such a sweetheart. To refresh your memory, here's a picture with her.

My unopened gift

My opened gift--a silk pillow and sheet complete with matching bag. Beautiful!

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Today--as happens many days--I had an unexpected change of plans. I was woken up EARLY this morning at 7:30 (it's nice to be able to call 7:30 early:) by a phone call, which I actually ignored. But then I felt bad and decided to return the call to my friend Day.

My Thai understanding is still pretty pathetic, and so I misunderstood him to say he was inviting me to go see his mom who was down visiting from an Isaan province. So I readied myself for a visit to Day's mother on this mother's day in Thailand.

What we really ended up doing was visiting his friend Joe, and Joe's family who were visiting. It was a fun time, though most of the food we ate was rather spicy--and they even toned down some of the dishes because of me.:) Still, I went through about 3 tissues with my complaining nose! I was also introduced to a variety of what they called Isaan fruits, most of which I enjoyed, but one of which I attempted one bite and decided I might as well try to eat a ROCK!:).
Here is Day's friend Joe, with his wife and sister.

After lunch, Joe and his sisters paid their respects to their mother.

Soon after that, Day's older sister, Tim, came and joined the group. She was a lively, life-of-the-party kind of person. It was funny to see how the atmosphere in the room turned loud and animated after she arrived. Tim is the 2nd person from the left in the picture below.

Day with his adopted big sister (Pii Sharon:)

About 3 pm, I left to meet Anita at Big C Bang Na, where we went to a hair salon to use up 2 free coupons for hair conditioning.

Here we are!:)

After "getting our hair done"--blow dried straight, as usual--we trekked over to Starbucks for coffee and chatting. Yep, that's us!

I came home to teach English tonight, and we played a short game of Spoons (SP) before everyone parted ways. Wow, today was full! But not at all rushed. I like that about Thailand. You go with the flow and don't worry too much if plans change or get delayed, etc.

Tomorrow I go for my final doctor's appointment regarding my hospital stay back in March and April. I am hoping my cardiologist tells me I can quit taking those little heart-shaped pills that I have been consuming for the past 4 months.

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Last night I taught English in my apartment. About halfway through, Gop (remember the "busy" 12-yr.-old?) burst through the door huffing and puffing from running up the five flights of stairs. Now, as I have often said, Gop is a very curious, "busy" boy. Cute and lovable but sometimes exasperating.

Last night was one of those exasperating nights. He interrupted me to speak Thai about totally unrelated subjects, hung over a stool, squirmed around, never sat still for a second. I was feeling quite bad for my adult students who came to seriously learn, but I think they had more patience with him than I did.

Jew, the one guy student in the class, kept snickering throughout, and at one point, when he apparently could tell I was a bit exasperated, he blurted out, "I have a gun!".:) Way to release the tension. I never expected such a comment from Jew, quiet, soft-spoken Jew.:)

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Yesterday when I was teaching at The Shelter, people kept coming down off the roof of the classroom building. People in uniform. People wearing police uniforms and people wearing military clothes. And people with GUNS! I looked at the guys, and asked, "What's going on??" "Oh," they replied, George Bush is leaving Thailand soon, and so security is using our roof to look out over Don Muang airport when Airforce One takes off."

One of the staff members then proceded to show me a few pictures he had taken of Air Force One landing the day before. (The Shelter is very near Don Muang, and all landing planes swoop over the home with deafening noise. I often have to stop talking until yet another plane passes.:)

Anyway, I asked them to send me pictures of Air Force One. Below is one of those pictures. Wish I could say I'd seen it myself.....

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Last night we had a farewell party for the REACHers. What a fun time. This team has such life and energy and enthusiasm and silliness and humor! And they have been a great support to our team, including staying with me when I was in the hospital.

Following are various pictures from the evening.

Enjoying Lowell and Amy's newest addition to their family.

Ben and Pud came for the occasion. It was good to see them again. They are both studying at ABAC.

As it was also Colleen's birthday, we had a cake for her and sang Happy Birthday.

Party guests

Eliza and a little guest. Aren't they adorable??:)

More guests:)

We had a time for various people to sing and play guitar. Here's Nisxon playing a REACH favorite. I have no idea what the song is about since he was singing in Spanish.

Peh, a Thai friend, sang a song in Thai. Again, I don't know what he was singing.:)

And Pon sang a Christian children's song in Thai. It is a fun song with crazy motions.

Then it was time for all kinds of group pictures.

I got my own special pic with the team.

The final event of the evening was a "food challenge". Those of us who weren't brave enough to participate in eating all kinds of bizzarre (at least to us) Thai foods, contributed 50 baht to go to the winner of the contest. I am absolutely certain that I had MUCH more fun watching than I would have had eating!

The final round was eating a hardboiled egg called a "horse urine egg". These eggs were pink on the outside and black on the inside. And they smelled REALLY bad--like they were rotten.

And here's a close-up of the egg. Really makes you want to run out and buy some doesn't it??:)

And that was the end of the party!

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It rained today. It's supposed to do that in the rainy season.:) Anyway, it rained a LOT! I walked from Theparak Junction to my apartment while it was still sprinkling slightly. The road near the intersection was majorly flooded. Getting off the bus and a few other places I had to wade through murky water higher than ankle height.

This evening I had a great time with my students who came to study English. We did the lesson and then they decided to stick around for another hour or so to play Spoon. I had taught that earlier to Rak and Gop, and they wanted to teach it to the others. I love watching them thoroughly enjoying themselves like they were tonight.

Pen got Spoon first. She tried diligently to get the others to talk to her, but they were tough and didn't give in.

I have a feeling we might be playing more of that game in the future.:) What a great way to end the day!

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This weekend Anita and I had the privilege of spending time with Tawan and 3 of her siblings. Her oldest brother lives in Rayong, so we stayed at his house for the weekend and spent our time mostly at the beach.

After dropping our bags off at the house, we drove to a nearby beach to eat lunch. One of the menu items ordered was this beautiful platter of shells containing snails, according to Tawan.

Anita immensely enjoyed the snails...??? She ate at least one!

From the beach we went back to the house to change clothes in order to return to the beach to play in the water. I like traditional Thai beaches--they provide lots of shade!

Playing in the water:)

Instead of playing beach volleyball, Thais apparently play beach football (soccer).

Me and Tawan, soaking wet!

After going home to shower and change clothes, we drove off again to eat supper at a barbecue restaurant.

About 10:00 this morning we left for our next beach destination on our way back to Bangkok. But before we took off, we had a group photo.

Our next destination was the beach at Bang Saen, in the province of Chon Buri. Once again, lots of shade was provided, along with comfy chairs to relax in.

Me and Tawan's younger sister, Pum Puang.

Another aspect of Thai beaches that I like: food service on the beach!

More shells and shrimp, plus sticky rice, chicken, and somtam (papaya salad)

Relaxation, here we come!

While the others relaxed in the shade, I went exploring a tiny bit and got my feet wet.

Cute kids having fun

A young mother sits in the shallows playing with her young children.

And last but not least, I met some other Thais who wanted to chat. Then they offered to take my picture, so here I am!:)

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