Thought for the Day: Siamese Cats

There is a breed of cat called Siamese, right? But Thailand used to be the King of Siam? Doesn't that actually mean that every cat here in Thailand is actually a Siamese cat?

Think about it.

The 411 on Thai Food

Burning lips.
Large gulps, not sips.
With fork and spoon,
Becoming tough very soon.

Noodles or rice
add meat and some spice
looks like Chinese food
but with a Thai 'tude

"Moo" is for pork
not cow on a fork.
"Guy" is for chicken
not real finger lickin'

A mountain to eat
for oh so very cheap
Two chiles I may try
Once I've kissed my lips goodbye.

Kuhn Thai Phuut

"You speak Thai," directs my teacher, Khruu Arindra everyday. I awaken at 5:30 (before the sun), meet Rhianna and a taxi at 6:30, and go to class from 8am until noon. After noon, I pick up some snack like popcorn or peanuts at the 7/11. Then its back home on the SkyTrain and then the bus. I get home around 2pm. Yep, I just called this place "home" and didn't catch myself until afterwards. Wow, its finally setting in.

My class is so awesome, it covers my need for new and interesting faces everyday! And they are colorful characters- the retired lawyer married to a Thai who lets me read his English paper, the Canadian yoga instructor, the Taiwanese monk-to-be (who I just realized speaks English!), the Indonesian married to a German who lives in Thailand, and the French guy who I think must have once been a runway model with the strut of his. There are other missionaries too, but their stories are much like mine.

Somedays are very hard and others make me feel really good about myself. As my team leader reminds me, my identity is in Christ, not in my Thai language performance. I can't differentiate very well between the sounds of the various consonants and vowels yet, but it is a bonus to have Thai roommies.

Moments in Malaysia

A week long trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I will summarize the trip as a week of feeling comfortable again in a hotel, being reminded of how many missionaries God has around the world and what we're all going through, taking a quick trip to wander a forest, and most of all being reminded of how much God loves me.

Everything in the Malaysian forest was huge, including the leaf found on the ground. Once we reached the top of the canopy, KL was very visible below us. Looking up at the canopy from the trail, it looked like a cross between algae and broccoli!

Very striking differences between Malaysia and Thailand are found in the dominant religions. Malaysia is primarily Muslim, shown in the clothing, food (no pork toppings for pizza), and rituals. We were there during the month of Ramaddan and many were awakened and reminded of that five times a day by the drones from the Blue Mosque nearby. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, making even the feeling of the country different. Yet both have a visible sobering need to know about a God who loves them no matter who they are or how many times they do things right.

Have you ever almost run into an elephant?

Picture taken by fellow teammate as she spotted the elephant walking down her street. I promised a picture of an elephant and I found one!

Yes, third elephant sighting. At night, on the phone, walking down the sidewalk and not paying attention. I almost ran into him except for my great roomies helping me!

Language school is awesome! I can now sound like a monkey in five different tones. I've just learned sounds and tones in two days, but its so liberating!

Malaysia was awesome and pictures will come soon. I love you all!

Malaysia! Woohoo!

The Mission to the World Pacific Area Retreat starts tomorrow and goes through September 19th in Kuala Lumpur. So excited! This event only happens every three years and I get to go! I get to see some of my missionaries friends and mentors again. I don't feel fully grounded here yet to be leaving again, but excited for the opportunity to learn, be encouraged, hug friends, and all that. Please pray for safety, rest for the team, and for the Thai staff and Henrys that are holding up the fort in our leave of absence. Crystal's having a baby in a month or so and needs to stay back. While I'm gone, check out my photos in Facebook or recap on my past blogs when life was more predictable. :)

The New MelanieLand

Do you see all the water in the road? It rained last night as my roomies and I were headed to the market. Aren't they cute?


We eat at Au's booth at the market almost daily. She just started coming to our church, so pray for her!


Rhianna and I registering for Thai language classes. They start Sept. 20 until Christmas!


All my roommates, (except Pawn in blue who works at office too)

Why did the Elephant Cross the Road?

Second Elephant Sighting! This time the elephant walked down the street in front of my apartment. I looked up and just stared. Wow. For real? Here? Still no camera near me of course. He was a smaller elephant with his owner on an elephant seat type thing chilling wondering why this farang (foreigner) is staring.

My roommate says he's the neighborhood elephant but usually he doesn't come out but for holidays. The owner usually calls out for donations so the elephant can eat.

We followed them on the way to our church office. Elephants don't have to stop for traffic, or play frogger like we do. How fun! That reminds me of a nonsense joke my sister used to tell as a kid, "Why did the elephant cross the road?" Answer, "To get the newspaper." She thought that was hilarious. My answer is, "Why not. They can do whatever they want. They're elephants!"

The Challenges of Coconuts and Noodle Soup

Missionaries get days off in the middle of the week and it screws up my internal calendar. So, if yesterday was my day off, then today is Monday? Nope, its Friday. I wandered downtown with my American roomie and a soon-to-be possible Thai campus ministry teammate.

Coolest thing: Drinking coconut milk from a straw from a coconut. Yes, I did do that in Honduras. But this time, we were walking down the busy streets of Bangkok where they don't even believe in designated lanes of traffic or even sidewalks. And we stopped at one of the many vendors and my friend, Moo, ordered me a coconut. The lady chopped off the top, stuck in a straw, and handed it to me. I walked around slurping from a coconut. So wierd, yet shouldn't I start to realize that is now my normal?

Challenging Thing: Noodle soup. I was ordered noodle soup with duck. It came with chopsticks and a spoon. I tried to use the chopsticks but the noodles slid off. The spoon wouldn't hold anything. Dana says pull up the noodles with the chopsticks and then put it on the spoon. Then put the spoon in my right hand and eat from it. Moo is finished before I get my second bite. Everyone is done and I am still crafting my third bite. I told them to stop staring, so they look on separate walls and laugh. I did finish, and it was good, but challenging. I don't remember it being that hard in Japan? Everything seems harder when you want to learn to do it for two years!

Being a Substitute Teacher

Yep, I can never run far from teaching. One of my teammates is on vacation, so I'm taking about four classes for her. I've taught English before to Japanese, Chinese, and Colombian. Not Thai and not full-on grammar. Past participles!! For those of you like me without that knowledge, that's when you add have + the particle of a verb like "I have already washed the dishes."

I had nine students, mostly my age-ish. One girl is in high school. They all have short nicknames here. Their real names are really long, so they are called things like "Yu" or "Moo" or "Gluay" (which means banana!). I think I talked really fast, but I smiled a lot which helps. Friday is my next class with them, and I have to combine past tense and participles!

Our team offers about seven English classes for about 60 students. From these classes, we establish some awesome relationships, hang out outside of class, and hope to connect them to our church and JESUS! Very fun because I know how to teach (somewhat) and they can speak English somewhat. Woohoo!

How Harry Potter and I are Alike

Just completing the last Harry Potter book has found me once again identifying with book characters. Let me set the stage...Ron has just rescued Harry Potter from drowning and kills one of Voldemort's horcruxes (if you haven't read these, just stay with me as best you can). He's sharing how he feels with Harry Potter, the hero of many such adventures.

"That sort of makes me sound a lot cooler than I was," Ron mumbled. "Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was," said Harry, "I've been trying to tell you that for years."

It does sound pretty cool that I've traveled all the way to Thailand. It makes me sound much cooler than I really am and than this experience seems. I try to imagine a globe and myself on the other side of it than the US. It doesn't feel like that. And I'm the same. Just a bit overwhelmed, confused, and slower. I bet Paul felt like that in the Bible. His adventures for the Lord sound amazing, yet while He was living them, it was just life around him.

Soi Dogs

No, its not a type of organic veggie hotdog, its what Thais call "street dogs" here. "Soi" means "Street". And they are in abundance. Six of them are found on the porch of my apartment in the late afternoon. I pass five in the two blocks to work. You might ask why are so many dogs around? In Buddhism, (forgive me for not explaining this well, take in account my week and a half here so far) they believe in reincarnation in some way. These dogs might be the reincarnated image of someone they know. They can't kill them or treat them badly because that could affect their own karma. Therefore, the dogs roam in abundance.

Mostly they're harmless. My roommate has had a few scary moments with a couple of them but I hear I can swing my bookbag at them if they snarl. Many nights I can hear them behind my apartment howling, moaning, or fighting. My last apartment in Asheville did have three dogs that woke me up every Saturday morning howling. But not this way.

I wish I had pictures....but still haven't really got my computer connected to the wireless office internet. And I still don't have internet at the apartment.