Summer is here. The weather skips spring altogether and moves from "winter" right into summer. You know it's hot when the Thais start complaining about the heat. It seems that hot weather for them is like rain for me; they're used to it but they don't like it. Not me however, I love the heat. I just love that every day is hot, every evening is warm. I never have to grab a jacket to go out at night. The weather is definitely one of the things I am going to miss when I move back to Canada. (Of course I am writing this from an air conditioned room. I might not be singing the praises of warm weather so much if I didn't have the air conditioning.)
With the intense heat has come some intense storms. When it rains it pours. But I don't mind because it is short lived, and the streets are dry in about an hour (crazy).
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Close to Jackfruit
I have really gotten a taste for Jackfruit. It's a fruit that's really hard to describe, so I'm not going to try. And I'm really going to miss it if I can't find it in Canada (and I don't think I will find it). Mind you, they import durian, and jackfruit is about the same size and not nearly as horrible.
If I haven't said it in my blog yet, I must say it now: I love the location of The Life Center Church (which is where I work)! It is close to everything you could need: good cheap Thai restaurants, photocopy place, hardware stores, coffee shop, computer store, night market (right in front of the church), corner store that is virtually always open, 7-11, 2 food night markets that serve food until late, pharmacy and a shopping mall -AND- The Jackfruit Lady.
The Jackfruit Lady is about a 1 minute walk from the front door of the church. She is there just about every morning, cutting a jackfruit to sell the pieces. 20 Baht (65 cents) will get enough jackfruit for breakfast and a snack later on. She makes me think about how society works (well Thai society anyway). Everyone finds a job to do and does it. The jackfruit lady cuts and sells jackfruit at one little location in one suburb of a big city. It's not a particularly busy place, during her hours (which is about 10:00am-noon) but the population is dense enough to sustain her. Well anyway, I'm really glad that at least for a couple months in my life I am able to walk a very short distance to buy as much jackfruit as I want.
If I haven't said it in my blog yet, I must say it now: I love the location of The Life Center Church (which is where I work)! It is close to everything you could need: good cheap Thai restaurants, photocopy place, hardware stores, coffee shop, computer store, night market (right in front of the church), corner store that is virtually always open, 7-11, 2 food night markets that serve food until late, pharmacy and a shopping mall -AND- The Jackfruit Lady.
The Jackfruit Lady is about a 1 minute walk from the front door of the church. She is there just about every morning, cutting a jackfruit to sell the pieces. 20 Baht (65 cents) will get enough jackfruit for breakfast and a snack later on. She makes me think about how society works (well Thai society anyway). Everyone finds a job to do and does it. The jackfruit lady cuts and sells jackfruit at one little location in one suburb of a big city. It's not a particularly busy place, during her hours (which is about 10:00am-noon) but the population is dense enough to sustain her. Well anyway, I'm really glad that at least for a couple months in my life I am able to walk a very short distance to buy as much jackfruit as I want.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Testimonies
Hello all. I thought you might be encouraged to hear the testimonies of a husband and wife who recently became believers. They are members of an AIDS chruch called Bet L, and they were baptized in the ocean today.
Kwan (wife): I first heard about Jesus when I was in the hospital being treated for AIDS I was laying in bed and a nurse came and shared the Story of Jesus’ love and forgiveness of my sins. I was very interested in knowing more about Jesus so I went to Church in Bet “L” . I gave my life to Christ that Saturday. After I became a Christian, my life and my health changed dramatically. I never had to stay in the hospital again after that. My first husband died of AIDS but when I started going to the Bet “L” church and receiving medicine, I met another man with HIV and fell in love with him. After we were married, my husband became very sick. The Doctors told me that because his lungs were full of water and he could not go the bathroom anymore, that it was a 50/50 percent chance that he would live. That day, I laid my hand on my husband’s swollen stomach and began to sing and worship God. I cried out for God to heal my husband. In the evening my husband suddenly had to go to the bathroom. All his swelling went down and he was greatly relieved! The next day, the doctors examined him and were surprised to see that all his symptoms were gone. Apart from HIV, he healthy again and was told he could go home immediately!
Phuak (Husband): One day I met a friend in the hospital with HIV who told me about Jesus. She said, “If you believe in Jesus, you’re life will change” I had no other hope in life so I prayed and gave me life to Christ. I was very addicted to alcohol. The Doctors had told me to stop many times because it was so hard on my sick body. But I couldn’t stop drinking no matter how hard I tried. One day after I prayed to God, I went out and got very drunk and fell down. That next Saturday, I went to church and told them my struggle. I asked them to pray for me to be able to stop. Many people came around me, laid hands on me and prayed for me. After that day, I have never drunk again. I thank God for freeing me from the bondage to alcohol! Before I believed in Jesus I was so sick but after I believed he healed me so much that I was able to go and work in a factory. Now for the first time in my life, I have money enough money to live on and take care of my family.
Praise God people are being healed not just physically, but spiritually too!
Kwan (wife): I first heard about Jesus when I was in the hospital being treated for AIDS I was laying in bed and a nurse came and shared the Story of Jesus’ love and forgiveness of my sins. I was very interested in knowing more about Jesus so I went to Church in Bet “L” . I gave my life to Christ that Saturday. After I became a Christian, my life and my health changed dramatically. I never had to stay in the hospital again after that. My first husband died of AIDS but when I started going to the Bet “L” church and receiving medicine, I met another man with HIV and fell in love with him. After we were married, my husband became very sick. The Doctors told me that because his lungs were full of water and he could not go the bathroom anymore, that it was a 50/50 percent chance that he would live. That day, I laid my hand on my husband’s swollen stomach and began to sing and worship God. I cried out for God to heal my husband. In the evening my husband suddenly had to go to the bathroom. All his swelling went down and he was greatly relieved! The next day, the doctors examined him and were surprised to see that all his symptoms were gone. Apart from HIV, he healthy again and was told he could go home immediately!Phuak (Husband): One day I met a friend in the hospital with HIV who told me about Jesus. She said, “If you believe in Jesus, you’re life will change” I had no other hope in life so I prayed and gave me life to Christ. I was very addicted to alcohol. The Doctors had told me to stop many times because it was so hard on my sick body. But I couldn’t stop drinking no matter how hard I tried. One day after I prayed to God, I went out and got very drunk and fell down. That next Saturday, I went to church and told them my struggle. I asked them to pray for me to be able to stop. Many people came around me, laid hands on me and prayed for me. After that day, I have never drunk again. I thank God for freeing me from the bondage to alcohol! Before I believed in Jesus I was so sick but after I believed he healed me so much that I was able to go and work in a factory. Now for the first time in my life, I have money enough money to live on and take care of my family.
Praise God people are being healed not just physically, but spiritually too!
Thursday, March 16, 2006
The Land Of The Good Enough
One common theme that I've noticed throughout Thailand is that NOTHING is perfect. Everything is a little crooked, a little off, not quite straight etc. Where Canada is the "Land of the perfect", Thailand is the "Land of the Good Enough". The Thai workmanship stops when it is functional, not when it's perfect or beautiful. If it works...good enough.
Coming from a country where everything is done "right", it sometimes gets frustrating at the workmanship of the tradesmen. It's like they finish it good enough so it won't break while they're still there, and it will last just long enough so that if/when it breaks, there will be some question as to whose fault it is (and they will absolve themselves of blame). The same goes for the manufacturers. It will work long enough for you to get it home. Or things like the plastic will be so cheap and brittle that any slight mistreatment and the thing shatters.
The Thai wiring may look like a web spun by a giant drunk spider, but it works, so they leave it. The light switch might be upsidedown, and in the far corner of the room (or even better, in the next room over), but it turns the light on so that's good enough.
You can NEVER assume that two adjacent rooms will be at the same floor level. Way too often there will be a subtle, unmarked, 2" step. Not enough to see, but enough to trip over. Sometimes the floor level will change within the same room, so you must always be alert to this. On staircases, top stair or bottom stair (or both) will be a different hight than all the others. Like no one bothered to do the math to make all the stairs even. Sometimes you will get stairs unusually narrow and/or steep. Unsafe for sure, but it gets you from one level to the other, so what's your problem? It works, good enough.
The only place where they don't say "Good Enough" is with their cars. All the cars and pickups are perfect and they wash and wax them. There are very few "beaters" that I've seen (except for commercial vehicles). Strange.
Coming from a country where everything is done "right", it sometimes gets frustrating at the workmanship of the tradesmen. It's like they finish it good enough so it won't break while they're still there, and it will last just long enough so that if/when it breaks, there will be some question as to whose fault it is (and they will absolve themselves of blame). The same goes for the manufacturers. It will work long enough for you to get it home. Or things like the plastic will be so cheap and brittle that any slight mistreatment and the thing shatters.
The Thai wiring may look like a web spun by a giant drunk spider, but it works, so they leave it. The light switch might be upsidedown, and in the far corner of the room (or even better, in the next room over), but it turns the light on so that's good enough.
You can NEVER assume that two adjacent rooms will be at the same floor level. Way too often there will be a subtle, unmarked, 2" step. Not enough to see, but enough to trip over. Sometimes the floor level will change within the same room, so you must always be alert to this. On staircases, top stair or bottom stair (or both) will be a different hight than all the others. Like no one bothered to do the math to make all the stairs even. Sometimes you will get stairs unusually narrow and/or steep. Unsafe for sure, but it gets you from one level to the other, so what's your problem? It works, good enough.
The only place where they don't say "Good Enough" is with their cars. All the cars and pickups are perfect and they wash and wax them. There are very few "beaters" that I've seen (except for commercial vehicles). Strange.
Everything In A Bag
I guess we do this in Canada too, but I find it funny that everything you buy--no matter how large or small--gets put into a bag. The standard Thai bag is a white semi-transparent crinkly plastic bag. They come in various sizes but most of them are pretty small. The best is when the the item is already packaged in a bag, and then they put that into a bag when you buy it. Or when you're in the market and you buy some deep fried whatevers, they put it into a small heat resistant plastic bag, and then put that bag into the standard Thai bag. By the way, the bag also makes a great substitute for a cup. A lot of fruit shake stands will give you a fruit shake in a bag rather than in a cup.
Tinglish
I've noticed that when I talk to Thai people in English, I don't speak proper English, but more of a dumbed-down simplified English. I know that it's not really good if the Thai person is trying to learn to speak English properly, but if you use the "extra" words in your sentence, it just confuses them. It is butchering the English language for the sake of communication. Most of the time I want to convey a message. How that message is conveyed becomes secondary. Examples (to English speakers, to Thai speakers):
English: Where're you going?
Thai: Where you go?
English: I'm going over to Lamthong Mall.
Thai: I go to Lamthong.
In English we have two ways of saying verbs. For example, you can say it the simple way "I go" or the more complex way "I am going". Unfortunately, for some reason conversational English dictates using the complex way for most cases. And that requires a more complex form of the verb. Most Thais know only basic English, so if you want to be understood, you have to use the simple form of the verb. (Yes, yes, I know you might be thinking "Or you could just learn Thai"--I'm not there yet.)
To keep things simple, you have to cut out all the non-essential English words, such as : a, the, am, are and -ing endings.
Also, if you want to be understood better, you will have more luck if you say things in the butchered English way that the Thais say it, rather than saying it using proper English pronunciation. For example, there is a large department store here called Lotus (The full name is Tesco Lotus). I have asked the Songtau drivers to take me to Lotus (LOW-tus) and they give me a puzzled look. If you want to be understood you have to say TES-go Lot-AAAS. If you tell the van driver "Royal Ping Resort" he will not understand, but if you say "Loyl Ping", they will know what you are talking about.
Their English also takes some getting used to. For example, in Thai if a word ends with a consonant, you end the word with your mouth in the shape of the consonant as if you were going to say it, but you don't actually say it. Pronouncing the last consonant is a foreign concept to Thais, so they often don't do it. That means they don't say mouse, they say mou, and science becomes sien (silent n). Then theres the pronunciation of two consecutive consonants that really throws me. If they see two consecutive consonants, they try to put a vowel between them. So "st" becomes "set", "sp" becomes "sep", "tr" becomes "ter", "sc" becomes "sec". So the name "Scott" become "Secott", and "Sprite" becomes "Seprite". One time a student was telling me what software programs they use in school, he told me he was using Ill-you-set-ter-rater. That one really threw me. Eventually I figured out he was saying "Illustrator", but he was separating out those consecutive consonants (and butchering a perfectly good English word).
What I have learned is that learning another language goes deeper than just the different words and the accent. It means learning a number of rules about the pronunciation that we just don't have in English. The rules are foreign to us, but a lot of our rules are foreign to them. And it helps to explain why they have an accent.
English: Where're you going?
Thai: Where you go?
English: I'm going over to Lamthong Mall.
Thai: I go to Lamthong.
In English we have two ways of saying verbs. For example, you can say it the simple way "I go" or the more complex way "I am going". Unfortunately, for some reason conversational English dictates using the complex way for most cases. And that requires a more complex form of the verb. Most Thais know only basic English, so if you want to be understood, you have to use the simple form of the verb. (Yes, yes, I know you might be thinking "Or you could just learn Thai"--I'm not there yet.)
To keep things simple, you have to cut out all the non-essential English words, such as : a, the, am, are and -ing endings.
Also, if you want to be understood better, you will have more luck if you say things in the butchered English way that the Thais say it, rather than saying it using proper English pronunciation. For example, there is a large department store here called Lotus (The full name is Tesco Lotus). I have asked the Songtau drivers to take me to Lotus (LOW-tus) and they give me a puzzled look. If you want to be understood you have to say TES-go Lot-AAAS. If you tell the van driver "Royal Ping Resort" he will not understand, but if you say "Loyl Ping", they will know what you are talking about.
Their English also takes some getting used to. For example, in Thai if a word ends with a consonant, you end the word with your mouth in the shape of the consonant as if you were going to say it, but you don't actually say it. Pronouncing the last consonant is a foreign concept to Thais, so they often don't do it. That means they don't say mouse, they say mou, and science becomes sien (silent n). Then theres the pronunciation of two consecutive consonants that really throws me. If they see two consecutive consonants, they try to put a vowel between them. So "st" becomes "set", "sp" becomes "sep", "tr" becomes "ter", "sc" becomes "sec". So the name "Scott" become "Secott", and "Sprite" becomes "Seprite". One time a student was telling me what software programs they use in school, he told me he was using Ill-you-set-ter-rater. That one really threw me. Eventually I figured out he was saying "Illustrator", but he was separating out those consecutive consonants (and butchering a perfectly good English word).
What I have learned is that learning another language goes deeper than just the different words and the accent. It means learning a number of rules about the pronunciation that we just don't have in English. The rules are foreign to us, but a lot of our rules are foreign to them. And it helps to explain why they have an accent.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Visa Run
If you are going to stay in Thailand for any length of time over 30 days, most likely at some point you will have to go on a "Visa Run". You leave Thailand and cross the border into some neighbouring country and then turn around and re-enter Thailand. It is a pain, but that's what is required when your Thailand visa expires.
From Chonburi, the nearest border is Cambodia. It takes about 3 1/2 hours to get there. It is the most confusing border I have ever seen. There are people everywhere selling stuff, and it isn't very clear exactly WHERE the border is. There are buildings but the whole time we were just hopping from one building to the next, never sure when we actually crossed. Maybe the whole thing is intentionally confusing. That way, you feel the need to hire a guide, which will hold your hand through the whole process, for 200 Baht a person.
The most annoying part is that there is no free short term visa for Cambodia. When you enter Thailand, you automatically are granted a free 30 day tourist visa. For Cambodia, you have to pay 1000 Baht (about $25) and fill out a page long visa application, WITH a passport photo attached (I didn't know that, so I had to pay an extra 100 Baht). In a few minutes your Cambodian visa is added to your passport. Then you can go to the next building to get it stamped so you can get in.
Cambodia is a very poor country. My only memory of it was observing that they drive on the right side of the road. That's all I know because as soon as I got my passport stamped to get into the country, I walked across the street to the other building to get it stamped to leave. In total I was officially in Cambodia for 5 minutes.
I guess it's neat to be able to add another country to the list of places I've been, but I don't look forward to the day-long affair, the next time my visa expires.
From Chonburi, the nearest border is Cambodia. It takes about 3 1/2 hours to get there. It is the most confusing border I have ever seen. There are people everywhere selling stuff, and it isn't very clear exactly WHERE the border is. There are buildings but the whole time we were just hopping from one building to the next, never sure when we actually crossed. Maybe the whole thing is intentionally confusing. That way, you feel the need to hire a guide, which will hold your hand through the whole process, for 200 Baht a person.
The most annoying part is that there is no free short term visa for Cambodia. When you enter Thailand, you automatically are granted a free 30 day tourist visa. For Cambodia, you have to pay 1000 Baht (about $25) and fill out a page long visa application, WITH a passport photo attached (I didn't know that, so I had to pay an extra 100 Baht). In a few minutes your Cambodian visa is added to your passport. Then you can go to the next building to get it stamped so you can get in.
Cambodia is a very poor country. My only memory of it was observing that they drive on the right side of the road. That's all I know because as soon as I got my passport stamped to get into the country, I walked across the street to the other building to get it stamped to leave. In total I was officially in Cambodia for 5 minutes.
I guess it's neat to be able to add another country to the list of places I've been, but I don't look forward to the day-long affair, the next time my visa expires.
Living in an Orphanage
Well I'm not really an orphan, and it really isn't an orphanage...yet. But I'm living in an orphanage. Team 2000 and TLC Church have been working on a project to start an AIDS orphanage. If you know Ricky and Karen Sanchez, you may also know that they were in Canada for 4 months last year, doing almost nothing but fundraising for this orphanage. It worked, they raised over $100,000 USD (which is staggering when you turn it into Baht). Now the process has started and it is just a matter of logistics, setting up and running an orphanage.
The current situation is that they do not yet have any AIDS orphans, however, they do have a townhouse rented and partially furnished. But until the rest of the logistics work themselves out, I will be living there. It is more room than I need, and it is definitely more room than the 1 room apartment I was sharing with two other guys from the TREK team. Now I've got a king size bed, the room has A/C and a large front deck. It is unlikely I will be there when the orphanage gets going. (I am not a caretaker, and that is not why I'm here anyway). But I think I finally have a place to call my own, for now.
The current situation is that they do not yet have any AIDS orphans, however, they do have a townhouse rented and partially furnished. But until the rest of the logistics work themselves out, I will be living there. It is more room than I need, and it is definitely more room than the 1 room apartment I was sharing with two other guys from the TREK team. Now I've got a king size bed, the room has A/C and a large front deck. It is unlikely I will be there when the orphanage gets going. (I am not a caretaker, and that is not why I'm here anyway). But I think I finally have a place to call my own, for now.
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