What does "waiting in line" mean to you?

Since I was young, I was taught to wait in line directly behind the person in front of you. Surprisingly here, you might find someone standing right beside you in line, though they are waiting to go after you. If you are waiting at the Skytrain, the line looks very polite and straight until those doors open. Its everyone for themselves. If you were the first person in line, don't be surprised if someone steps right past you inside. And lastly, if you are waiting at the Embassy or ATM even in line, don't be surprised if someone jumps right in front of you. Though to us it seems that our bodies positioned behind the last person looks like we're next, its not seen that way here. I've learned its cultural to be somewhat aggressive in both posture and speech in order to follow the order of waiting.

Food Poisoning Strikes Finally!

My whole Vietnam trip proved without a food problem. All digestive process were working fine. Then I get home, celebrated Easter, and a great tonsil infection takes over swelling up my throat from out of nowhere. Right before the doctor visit on Tuesday, I start feeling pretty nauseous and dizzy. The doctor tells me that I have tonsilitis AND food poisoning! I almost laughed. It seems that the food brought in to take care of me while I was sick got me sickER! Well, down for the count, and finally back up and moving. The doctor says that during hot season, I must be much more careful of what I eat from the street because the food ferments and contaminates quicker. Pray for that, because I almost always eat from street vendors!

I am thankful that the food poisoning went out the other way and I didn't throw up! I'm now much more intelligent including the five books, three Newsweeks and 1 People magazine I read while in bed. And during my odd hours of insomnia, I found the sounds of street dogs howling and fighting on my road under my window a much more normal sound. Just don't make me think about fried pork for a long time.

Good Morning,Vietnam!

Yes, I woke up this morning in Hanoi, Vietnam. My first day of a five-day vacation with two teammates. While walking down the road, I barely missed a lady throwing water down from her third floor balcony onto the street! I tried to buy cheese with our baguette, and I swear the salesguy motioned (no language similarities) that we would throw up if we ate it. Lastly, we visited the "Hanoi Hilton"-- home of many Thai prisoners during French colonization and American prisoners during the war here. More on that later. Having a good time, talk to you when I return to Thailand.

My Idiosyncracies

It has been requested to share my wierdness on my blog by my friend, Catherine. Here are some of the quirks that make me, Melanie.

1. I type words with my hands all the time. I don't even have to be near a computer. If you happen to be holding my hand during a prayer time or something, you might feel the small twitches as I type random words I hear subconsciously.

2. Whistling like a song bird-- I'm like a request line for tunes. Make a request of any song, and if I know it, I can whistle it. When I'm really happy, I just start whistling without knowing it. I was prohibited as a kid from whistling in the car or in the house, because I guess it can be annoying? But in Thailand, girls don't whistle, so I try to stop.

3. I speak in wierd accents randomly. I absorb other accents wierdly and start talking in a combination of a few. When people hear me talk, they can't figure out where I'm from. Many have guessed Canada. I once taught a whole rotational symmetry math lesson in an Indian accent because otherwise that lesson would have bored us all!

4. I like eating green vegetables. Since I was a kid, I picked to eat the green vegetables on my plate. Especially broccoli, on pizza, in omelettes, or whatever. I once had a fairy tale written about a me as the princess. My Prince Charming won my heart by taking a long epic journey to find the broccoli plant.

I'm sure there's many more, feel free to add some, friends. Being in Thailand stifles some of my wierdness, generates more, and makes me wierd for just being this white girl walking down the street!

I tag Holly and Melissa next!

My Favorite Thai Food

What is my favorite food in Thailand??
Drum roll, here they are!

Cow Soy, from Northern Thailand. Really spicy curry sauce, crispy noodles and yellow noodles, and then you add vegetables on top. So good, and SO spicy.
Finished, yum! But its so spicy, it required 10 tissues to blow my nose and two cups of tea. I just can't help it. My roommate called me a baby, but at least I try!

My birthday fish! They clean it, grill it, marinate it, and serve it. Before I came, I saw pictures of eating these whole fish and I didn't think I could handle it staring at me. But I love it! I did find out the Thais do eat the eyeballs, but they do it when I'm not looking to be nice to me.

Walk around my Neighborhood

My neighbor, Uum,'s son is visiting. During the school year, her son lives with her mom in her hometown. Very often, parents have their parents raise the childrne. On the left, is my housemate, Yu who helps me talk to them.
Nim across the street sells omelettes and spicy basil pork. We speak to he and his wife often about Christianity.
Uum, his wife, sells noodle soup with pork. Its good, but with chopsticks and a spoon, it still ends up all over me and its not easily eaten.
The shortcut I take to avoid the busy intersection. Step around the dead rats. Karaoke bars are on both sides.
The view from my house toward town. On the left is another noodle shop, a motorcycle repair shop, and a karaoke bar.
The view down my road headed away from town. My "townhome" is behind the gray pickup truck. Most houses are restaurants on the bottom floor with the family living upstairs.

Thai Wedding

It was just the reception, but I didn't know that until a couple days later. You know how it is, sitting at a whole table of language school friends. No one really knows whats happening. One of the guys in my former language school class got married to a Thai girl and invited us!

Norihiko, my Japanese friend, with his beautiful new bride!

Due to my encouragement, Natsuke put the beautiful hotel folded napkin on his head!

A whole table of students from language school, Japanese, American, and Korean, I miss them! With our greater Thai skills, we can actually talk to each other.

The menu included duck, shark fin soup, and huge shrimp salad. I traded my bowl of shark fin soup for my Japanese friend's empty bowl next to me. What a gourmet dish that I passed up after a taste. I can only say it was like tasting a really fishy egg drop soup. They served the cake by giving each table a huge piece to split!

Sing while directing traffic....

As I crossed the intersection this morning, someone was singing! I look all around and its the police guy directing traffic!! He's singing so loud! So hilarious.

Then he passed me again singing on a motorcycle! Haha.

A Thai Pastor Search

Next Sunday is our church plant's one year anniversary of holding services. Yet, we still don't have a Thai pastor over our church. Presently, our sermons are given by a combo of a three staff guys, two interns from the local seminary and one soon-to-be-elder. The lack of a pastor has offered them much practice and leadership opportunity.

Yesterday, our prospective pastor visited, preached, looked around at all our ministries and had some question and answer time with us. Its tough to have an interview in Asia where its more important to "save face" than answer questions directly with vulnerability. I know the man has a Godly heart but with my language ineptitude, I can only pray that God directs us to the right man for the job.

Please pray for our church and a future pastor for it. Thank the Lord as well for our one year of holding church services. May this be the first year of many more. Its wonderful to be worshipping the Lord in a place where He receives little worship.