Thai Stationary: RE-VISITED! (part 2 - coming to join in my wonderful!)

For some reason there is a whole range of milk themed stationary...here are some of my favourites in the writing-paper range:

Thai Stationary: RE-VISITED! (part 1 - Let's listen to our piano voices!)

It's been a while since I shared any Thai stationary with you. I thought it was time...

Folder - 'Let's listen to our piano voices'
Pencil-case - 'Thread gently on the earth'

 Writing paper - 'Pigi and Pogi: We are mini pig!'

 

Sausage-Cake Sandwich

One might expect that after so long I would write about something a bit more profound than this...however, here it is, the Sausage Cake Sandwich:

You'll see that there are 2 options - the Custard Cake Sandwich and the Sausage Cake Sandwich. These are two of the many fine items available for purchase at 7/11 in Nakhon Sawan. Now, not wanting to be too cynical about Thai bakery items, and spurred on by Heather Simmons, I once tried this Sausage Cake Sandwich, thinking that perhaps it just had a funny name and was in fact a normal sandwich. Unfortunately, the Sausage Cake Sandwich lived up to its name and was exactly what you might imagine from the name. Sausage, and cake, made into a sandwich.

Alas.

I am happy to report, that though I do in some sense miss the wacky lunch options in Thailand, I am very much appreciating British bread, sandwiches, sandwich fillings etc now I am back in the UK! May I keep being thankful, and not forget the days when the choice of sandwich was between custard cake and sausage cake!

A walk down my street...

Continuing my theme of transition from life in Thailand to life back at home, I thought I would take a walk down my street today and take photos of the people/things that have become part of my daily life here in Thailand and that I am thankful for/will miss!

Lets go on a virtual tour of my 'soi' (street)!

This is the Youth House, where I live and work! On the left is my/our bike, to the right is P'Nok who lives at the YH and sells food out the front!

P'Nok making yummy food!!!!

This is the shop where we buy drinking water - that's what those big white bottles are! It is also my emergency 'milk for tea' stop if I run out of fresh milk!

A little bit further down the road you will meet this great little stall where you can buy a chicken an rice meal ('khao man gai') for 20 baht. If you get it to take-away it comes wrapped up in a paper package, like the Thai equivalent of fish and chips! The man who makes/sells it is really friendly, and I call him 'Khao-man-gai Man!' (Original!)

This is the bucket I walk past every day that is always overflowing with an unknown supply of water dripping from above! I only notice it because every time i walk past it my feet get a bit wet.

A bit further down you get to 7/11 - convenience store of all convenience stores! Not only can you buy microwave meals here, they microwave them for you! Not only can you buy sandwiches...they toast them for you while you wait! Not only can you buy packets of coffee....there is even an area of the store to add hot water and make it yourself!

After a quick stop in 7/11 (known as 'seven' by the locals!) to buy a chocolate milk, we come to the section of the street that I like to call the 'buzzing wires' part! This is because (you've guessed it...) these electrical wires that hang down continually make an alarming buzzing sound, so that when I walk past them I always instinctively find myself veering to the right to avoid them in-case I should walk into them!!

This is just a whistle-stop tour of the street I live in and the things I pass as I walk/cycle down it! These things have become so familiar to me, and I will miss them!

More crazy stationary

You just can't get stationary of this quality in the UK....

Christ, Culture and Contentment

Nearly 6 months ago now I wrote a blog entry called Culture and Conviction. You can read it here. As my thoughts have developed slightly since that time I decided to write a culture and conviction part 2 entry, only with a different name. This is it. Actually, I haven’t learned anything new since then, only the same thing more profoundly.

The battle is hotter than ever. Perhaps you would expect me to say that an extra 6 months would have made things easier, perhaps I can speak a bit more Thai, communicate more easily and understand what’s going on around me a lot more. I actually think the opposite is true. The more I learn about this culture, the less I understand, the more uncomfortable I feel, and the more I want out. I am sure this is normal, it must get worse before it gets better, but I am convinced that the idea of ‘just be patient, it will pass’ is a cop out solution to this problem, as is the, ‘just learn to like Thai culture’ approach. So if I don’t fight these battles properly and honestly now, I will have exactly the same problems when I go back to the UK, and for the rest of my life. I must fight to value Christ more than culture. I must fight to be content in Him now, or I will never be content, in any culture.

I suppose if my theology was a bit different I could just say ‘clearly Thailand is not for me, I will go home now and do something that fits my personality more’. But it doesn’t work like that. I will go home eventually of course, and maybe I will end up doing something that fits with me better for a while, and maybe I will come back to Thailand one day, or maybe I won’t. I don’t know. All I know is that right now I am here, in Thailand. And so I am called to fight the battle to be content in Jesus in Thailand this day.

Since I wrote previously, some things have changed. I rarely miss cold weather and duvets for one thing, and the battle is less about wanting to go home. On a purely functional level I feel sufficiently enough like Thailand is home now that I am not missing things from the UK all that much. What I miss is relationships. Being able to talk to people. Being able to know how to move a conversation from the superficial to the deep. Being able to know how to read people and situations. Being able to say what I want to say and what I need to say in order to not seem disinterested, odd, impolite. Being able to make friends easily. Being able to study the Bible in depth with people. Being able… just being able. In a way it feels a bit like what it must feel to have a disability. I feel weak and lame, I feel blind and deaf and dumb. A verbal cripple. But there is great joy in that. I think of all those in the gospels who were outcasts in this way – they knew they needed one thing. Jesus. And they went to Him unashamed.

The other thing that has changed is that the stakes are higher. Much more is expected of me. Deeper levels of interaction with people and culture are required, and the deeper the interaction, the deeper the wounds I have received as parts of my sinful self have come up against certain parts of Thai culture. And as I’ve grappled with these things before God I have realised that bitterness in this is lethal. Bitterness, [also known as ‘I’ve-Had-a-Rough-Deal-and-Everything-That-Happens-To-Me-is-Rubbish-Syndrome’], must be killed or it will kill us. As I take these things to Jesus, I am finding that His comfort is more than sufficient to take away the sting of bitterness, while not necessarily removing the hurt.

And so I choose to be content in Christ, and I will not be disappointed. Content with His comfort. Content that He understands me. Content that my identity is in Him. Content that He uses even the painful things that happen so that I’m better off than if they had never happened (Romans 8:28 - “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”).

Finally, be blessed by watching this interview with my newest friend, Philippa Wilson, who is a Brit working with students in France. Especially watch out for the words quoted under the video – almost exactly what I have also been thinking and learning recently, but put much better than I could express it!

Walking in the rain

Something amazing happened today...it drizzled...ALL DAY!!!

When I woke up and looked out the window at the grey, drizzly sky, opened the door of my balcony and breathed cool air, it felt like a welsh morning!

The reason this is amazing is that it I have never experienced it before here. Usually, if it rains it rains HARD! Like so hard that if you step outside for a moment to close your windows you get soaked through to the skin.

So drizzle was nice...it was familiar!

In celebration of this weather being so much like home (a chilly 26 degrees C!) I decided to go for a walk in the rain! I was very excited about this and even put on my rain coat (I got a bit hot...but it was worth it!)

I looked like a complete loony for 3 main reasons.

In general...
1) Thai people not walk anywhere.
2) Thai people do not go out if it is raining.
3) Thai people do not wear coats.

But I was thankful for my little rain walk and rejoiced!

Only in Thailand...

...is somebody more shocked that 'Banana' is a girl's name, than that it is a name at all!!

They've arrived!!!!!

The John's gospels in Thai and English for our FREE project here in Central Thailand have arrived!!!! So excited!

So you can get an idea, here's what they look like!!!






And here is an excerpt:

“และท่านทั้งหลายจะรู้จักความจริง และความจริงนั้นจะทำให้ท่านทั้งหลายเป็นไทย”
- ยอห์น 8:32

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
- John 8:32

For those of you who are the praying type – please pray that the 2000 copies of these FREE gospels currently sitting downstairs in the Youth House would not stay there! Pray that they would get into the hands of Thai students and that their Christian friends would be willing to sit down and read it with them and talk to them about the main guy – Jesus! Most of all pray that GOD would be at work in Thai people's lives showing them the TRUTH that will set them free.

Culture and Conviction

'Culture disorientation' has caused me to ask some searching questions over the last few months. The struggle of living in a culture that is so different to what I'm used to, and at times longing for home. I have grappled with how to deal with these feelings. How should I feel? Why do I feel like I feel? Where should I send my thoughts when I am feeling like this?

It's been a much needed wake-up call because it has made me question some of the foundations my life is built on. When I long to be in the UK simply because it is easier to live in a culture I am familiar with, I know that I am starting to treasure comfort over Christ. This is the first warning sign.

And when I think about the future and ask myself - where would I like to live? What would I like to do? I betray the fact that I value culture over conviction.

What I mean by this is that I judge my contentment and my ability to work with certain people by how well I can understand their culture and feel at ease in it. If I don't feel at ease I see this as something that needs to be overcome. I feel that I need to in some way love the culture I am in, in order to minister to the people. Now of course seeing positives in any culture I find myself in is a good thing, and no doubt helpful!

But what I have been realising, as I've struggled with this culture and as my heart has been torn between wanting to be at home and knowing that if I was at home I would want to be here (!!!), is that I am not about culture. We are not called to love a culture, but to love God, to love the gospel, and to love people. I don't want any of my life choices to be built on vague ideas like 'i like those kinds of people...I'll work with them'; 'I like that place...I'll work there'; 'I fit in well in that culture...I'll go there'. I want my choices to stem from deep convictions about who God is, who we are in light of who God is, and the unchanging truths of the Bible, of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may end up falling in love with the culture/country we work in along the way, but that is not to be what drives us.

When my eyes turn to earthly comforts, and I feel like I would be happier if only I was with people that understood me, or in a country where I could wear jumpers and coats and have a big thick duvet at night and have a hot bath, where I could understand what was going on in church and where I wouldn't offend people all the time accidentally on account of not knowing the cultural cues...

...that's when I know that my convictions are built on culture and comfort instead of on Christ.

So where should I send my thoughts when I am longing for home? Lingering on thoughts of earthly comforts certainly do not satisfy! Instead I should send my thoughts to God, the God of all comforts, to my Saviour, to the cross and resurrection of Jesus, where my eternal salvation was bought and secured. To my home in heaven which is where my only lasting possessions are, which anyway is my only REAL home.

My prayer is that God would use all these experiences to build deep conviction in me. Praise Him for already starting this process, I know He will finish it.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

- Edward Mote 1834

"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." - Philippians 3:18-21

Mae Jan, April 21-25: Kids Camps with Karen Tribe Children [In Words!]

After 10 hours of travelling, and 1,219 bends in the mountain road (so I’m told...before you ask, I didn't count them!), fellow missionary Julia Birkett and I, a Thai student worker, and a mixture of 4 Thai students and recent graduates, arrived in the Karen village of Mae Jan, which is right on the border with Burma.

For the next 3 days we ran a camp for 90 kids, all of whom are supported by the organisation Compassion, with the theme ‘You are Special’. With a mixture of games, crafts, drama, songs, testimonies, (and at one point a full scale waterfight!) we sought to communicate the message that the only opinion of us that matters is God’s.

It was amazing to be in the mountains in N. West Thailand. I loved sleeping on the floor under a mosquito net in a wooden hut and sitting on the porch in the evenings reading by candlelight. I loved hearing 90 kids singing about Jesus in Thai as well as their own tribal language, with the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. I loved eating rice for breakfast. I loved seeing the most majestic and beautiful scenery I have ever seen on the way home. I loved seeing students have their first taste of cross-cultural mission (even if it was in their own country!) And most of all I loved getting a glimpse of how God is working in people’s lives – ushering some into the first steps of following Jesus, and others into deeper, darker waters; yet with the promise to be the guide and light for all who keep walking with Him.

It was a brief, but incredibly encouraging experience. Praise God!

Learning

Learning something new is hard. For the last 5 months since I arrived in Thailand I have been learning to speak Thai; sometimes formally in language school, sometimes informally in conversations with students, and 2 weeks ago I started to learn to read and write. For the most part I have been really enjoying all of this, but this week I have started to feel how difficult this whole process is!

It is hard on the mind because is has to learn a completely new way of thinking. It has to connect sounds with a whole new set of symbols, and then work out the meaning of those symbols when they come together to form words.

It is hard on the body because so much time has to be spent sitting still concentrating on learning this new code, and then turning symbols into sounds, spoken clumsily from a mouth which is still getting used to how different all these sounds are! It is physically draining.

It is hard on the emotions because I feel like I am a child again. I have to accept the fact that I put hours of work into reading, understanding and discussing with my teacher, what is effectively a simple, children's story - only a few lines! And I still don't understand all of it! I spend what seems like an AGE reading out-loud to my teacher, one word at a time. Sometimes it is so slow that we spend a whole lesson working on only one paragraph! It is demoralising.

Right now it is hard to believe that I will ever get faster or better at this! And my pride wants me to be good at it for all the wrong reasons. Reflecting on all this I have come to the following conclusions (not all connected to each other!):

• Aside from all that I believe about God and His helping and aiding, on a purely rational level I know that I WILL get better at this language, because that's what just happens. I learned to read and write English, I learned to play the guitar, I see my improvement on the piano all the time. When we practice things they get easier. Simple fact of life! We just need to be patient. I've been doing this for 2 weeks...of course I won't be able to read properly yet!
  
  
• My attitude in the midst of this process is all important. My very first day of learning to write, I learned a huge lesson. Making a mistake, I threw down my pencil in exasperation. My teacher exclaimed 'jai-yen!' (calm down, be patient) and with this single word I felt instant conviction of my childish attitude. It is not only important for my own growth in likeness to Jesus that I watch my attitude as I learn Thai, but also for my witness to others about my Lord Jesus.
  
  
• It is good that I feel weak. I think perhaps I have become too comfortable. I remember when as a VERY new Christian I first started to understand 2 Corinthians 4:7-9:
  "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."
  I was SO excited to realise that it was ok that I felt weak - in fact, it is when I am seen to be weak that God is seen to be great! Imagine if I was some superhuman amazing person, then no-one would wonder why I don't fall apart when life gets tough, they'd just think it was part of my amazing powers! But then imagine (no, don't imagine, this one's the real one..!!) if I was a frail, broken, weak person who struggles and groans - then when I keep going in tough times people will wonder why such a rubbish person is able to do so. The only conclusion can be that it is God, it is His power, His energy, His love, Him at work - cos it is obviously not me!! Why do I always work so hard to throw doubt on this truth? Why do I want to be strong? Why do I want to cover up God's power at work by appearing 'together' myself?

Wow, I feel a whole other blog entry coming on here....better stop before I get carried away!

My prayer is that my whole attitude to learning Thai, including my motivations, studying and attempts to use the language, would bring God glory - if that means I have to be weak, so be it!

Sola Fide, Sola Gracia, Sola Deo Gloria.

Uthai Thani - escape to the country!

Lady carrying a TV on a motorbike...


And then on a boat...


The local temple.

Uthai Thani - Church

The service

The Wonderful Sisters: Wear and Way

The youth washing up after lunch!

It's all relative...

This isn't, as you could be forgiven for thinking, a discussion about post-modernism. I do have some opinions on that topic, but right now they are not on my thought-agenda.

No, this is about the weather!!

So, picture the scene: I wake up in the middle of the night in my Thai bed (in Thailand) shivering. I pull the blanket up around me, I put on a hoodie (my old Bristol Uni one...received this weekend in the post from my mum!). Morning comes, I creep down the cold stairs, glad of my warm hoodie, make myself a hot drink, take it back up to my room where I clutch the hot mug as I delve into the day's portion of God's Word. I briefly consider whether or not a cold shower is essential this morning...decide it's not worth the trauma, so dress quickly (jeans and a long sleeved jumper) and go down to grab some breakfast before heading out.

This is where I realised that my temperature was 'all relative'!!

I took two pieces of bread out of the freezer and watched in amazement as both were thoroughly defrosted after less than a minute of exposure to room temperature...! So there I was shivering away in my warm hoodie, and my frozen bread was doing the exact opposite!

The cold season is in full swing here, with the temperature regularly going down to 20 degrees C, and sometimes as low as 17! It feels genuinely cold, but its blatently not!

So there's my thought of the day....admittedly it's not Einstein....

More profound Christmas related thoughts to follow!

Encouraging words...

Tonight at the night market with a group of students:

Fern: Do you like shopping?

Alison: No.

Fern: I guessed.

Alison: How?

Fern: You look like a boy.


I love Thailand.

'piip'

I want you to close your eyes for a moment and imagine the sound that you hear a thousand million times in a supermarket at the check-out when an item's bar-code is scanned. I think I can be almost 100% certain that we are imagining the same sound because it is the same everywhere in the world.

I have one question.

Why??

Sitting waiting for some friends earlier in a Thai supermarket I tried to imagine how it came to be that someone chose this particular sound effect. Was there a committee meeting at which it was discussed? Did they try out a few different sounds and then decide on this one? Did they test several different sounds in a large room to find out which one would carry most effectively so that it could be heard everywhere in the building? Did they do a survey of people on the streets to find out which sound was most appealing to them? And how did they even think this sound up in the first place!? Did someone raise their hand in the meeting and say
"when items are scanned at the till, it would be wonderful if we could get the scanner to make a sort of 'piip' noise...how do you think we could make that?"

The ideas I came up with for alternatives for the 'piip' sound are as follows:
- a light flashes, different colours for different sorts of items.
- the whole floor vibrates.
- a spotlight comes down from the ceiling onto the cashier and/or customer.
- the name of the item is spoken loudly by the scanner in a pre-recorded Russian accent - particularly funny for buying embarrassing items!
- the scanner is attached to a pair of electronic dancing shoes worn by the cashier, that must perform involuntary tap dance moves each time a barcode is scanned.
- Nothing.

It is frightening what bizarre things my mind can think of when it's late at night!

Things that get me through a church service:

Church here is hard work (because it is 2+ hours of Thai that I don't understand).

These are the things that help me survive:

- not thinking about time - i.e. what time it might be, how long the service has been so far, how long it will be til it's over....etc.

- reading the English on people's clothing.

- eating sweets.

- making mental lists of things I need to do/emails I need to send.

- planning my next blog entry.

Things I think I probably could do during church that would be more productive than what I actually do:

- trying to listen out for words I recognise.

- read the Bible.

- try and read the Thai along with the songs.

- pray for people.

Favourite language mistakes #1&2

So, I thought it might be amusing to document my favourite language blunders on here! I made two today (a good sign as it means I am using language!)

#1: My teacher asked me (in Thai), how long it takes to go from England to France on the train. I replied confidently (in Thai) ‘1 year’! She looked very surprised and assumed I had misunderstood the question, I on the other hand was oblivious to my mistake…so we went through it bit by bit, and I was assuring her that it really was that fast (I thought I had said ‘1 hour!) Eventually we went through it in English: ‘by train-it takes-1-hour….’ As soon as I said ‘hour’ I realised that I had said ‘pii’ (year) instead if ‘chuamoong’ (hour!)

#2: After dinner we went to get rotee (dessert). The lady who made it was very good at it, we were amazed by the way she did things with her hands and flicked the knife back into the butter, so I leaned over and said (what I thought was) ‘you are skilled’…but what I actually said was something more like ‘you are cold’!

Hmmm…I have to laugh, don’t think there is any other way of getting through this!!!

Thai Adventures...all in my own home!!

Language study has been busy, busy, busy the last week, but I have still had time for some adventures!

Last weekend we had a visit from a giant poisonous centipede (about 30 cm!) Julia (roommate) and I attempted to dispose of it (well…if I’m completely honest my role was more of the ‘assisting’ variety) but, despite our bravery, our attempts were in vain. The creature was fast and very hardy! But, upon hearing our screams (screams of bravery of course…) our housemate Sheila came down and, using a mop handle, got rid of the beast. A great girl to have around!

The next day I dropped the (full water) container that we get our drinking water delivered in. It must be at least 10 litres. It promptly broke and within seconds had spread right across the whole of the downstairs of our house! Another use for our mop!

Pictures:

1). 2 warriors preparing to face the giant centipede

2). Sheila, the hero of the story, killing the beast

3). Our 'flooded' house'