A Trip to 7/11

As I welcome myself back to America, I welcome myself back to American prices too. The Thais are right when they say we are rich. A dollar bill in Thailand can buy a lot more than it can here. To think about that, let's go on one of my trips to the convenience store, 7/11, found on every corner in Thailand. I loved that store and went there almost everyday for a snack or meal when Thai food was not going to cut it. Here's the menu for you.

A cinnamon roll (10 Baht): about 30 cents
An orange juice (25 Baht): about 60 cents
a milk (10 Baht): about 30 cents
Grilled Ham and Cheese sandwich (22 Baht): about 60 cents
Hot Dog (15 Baht): about 20 cents
Zenya pomegranate green tea (20 Baht): about 60 cents
Potato chips, seaweed flavor (25 Baht): about 60 cents
small Snickers bar (25 Baht): about 60 cents
Pepsi (15 Baht): about 50 cents

Wow...without going on, you can see the prices. A whole meal for about a dollar. So, now the key to living back here is not to convert the prices backwards or I'll get a bit upset. Like the time I was at Verizon the other day. My phone was broken. The guy said I could get it fixed for just 50 dollars. I had to firmly lecture him for a brief moment that nothing can be "just" 50 dollars. 50 dollars is a lot of money!

Not Hot

Today we moved my sister into her new apartment. It's a "hot" August Saturday so everyone is sweating buckets while lifting all the boxes and furniture BUT ME. Near the end of the move, Katie's friend looks at me and says, "Crazy! You're like hardly sweating!" During a break, I even sat down in the shade and put a jacket on! Last week, while assisting my mother at school, I was wearing four shirts to try to stay warm! This temperature adjustment is slow. But I'm headed back to Asheville today and the house I am staying in there has no air conditioning. :)

Being a Teacher Again

I sent this picture to Mission to the World when I first applied to be a missionary. At that time, I was a 5th grade teacher. Today I entered the classroom again for the first day of school as my mom's assistant in her 1st grade classroom. She had shoulder surgery a while ago and hasn't recovered well. With teacher cuts, her school asked her to move from being a literacy facilitator to being a classroom teacher again! God, in his perfect timing, allowed me home right on time to help her start out her year. I've been putting up all the calendars and posters, writing names on everything, etc. Today, the kids came in. This job is still the same- and I was glad to be here to feel it again, like a sweet blessing from the Lord. My heart still goes out for the ADHD kid who just can't sit down and the ESL kids who don't know how to spell "swim." God continues providing opportunities for his name to be made known through his children. While we brainstormed members of our family, one kid said, "God." I thank God for his blessing and his further calling to me today.

Rice Pride

A couple days ago, I was spending time with one of my friends who just had a baby. They ordered Thai food for their family coming over to eat together. Her family is from India, so they naturally began comparing Indian and Thai food with me. I became strangely prideful about Thai rice. I wanted them to understand what sticky rice is in Thailand. They'd say, "Like the kind they make sushi from in Japan?" I really don't know that much about rice. But I have heard Asians are particular about their rices and prideful about their own country's product. Until I know I bit more however, I'll try to be open to all kinds of rice!

Did You Know?

Interesting Trivia on jetlag. People say the number of hours you were on a plane equals how many days you will need to recover from jetlag. So, for me, that was about 30 hours! So, that's like a month! Well, it's been about 5 weeks now. But I'm still seriously sleepy! I asked my doctor and he said I need to stand still more. Ha! That's funny.

My Favorite Gift

During my last days in Thailand, I received lots of sweet farewell gifts. But my favorite one came just a few hours before I left. I was in the shower ready to leave for the airport back to the US in an hour. The doorbell rang and I wondered who it was. Once I got ready and went downstairs, Kieow gave me this monkey. She said Bird had stopped by to give this to me. Bird is one of the teenage boys from Mahathai. I had no idea he thought much of me. I taught his mom English weekly for almost a year and had just recently been invited to their house for dinner. Kieow and I were thankful for that invitation into their lives. Praise God for the way He starts relationships. Anyway, when Bird came to the door, Kieow told him I was busy. So he gave her this monkey to give me. He bought it himself and had sewn "Bird" and "Melanie" on it and a heart. How sweet.

Emailing in Thai

One of the teenagers, Fern, in Thailand has been writing me emails. She lives in Mahathai. It's so special to hear from her. Can you read it? The 5's at the end are like email-lingo. In Thai, you say five as "ha". So, in email, if you write a lot of fives, it means you are laughing.

"hi:melanie
how are you?
ตอนนี้พี่เมลานี่ทำอะไรอยู่ค่ะ
เฟิร์นสบายดี
เด็กๆทุกคนที่มหาดไทยคิดถึงพี่เมลานี่
พี่เมลานี่ต้องกลับมาเมืองไทยนะ
เฟิร์นอธิฐานเผื่อพี่เมลานี่สำหรับการเดินทางกลับมาเมืองไทย
พระเจ้าอวยพรค่ะ
บาย555555555+555555"

Hi Melanie, how are you? Right now, what are you doing? I am well. The kids at Mahathai miss you. You have to come back to Thailand, ok? I am praying for you to return to Thailand. God bless you! Bye! hahahahahahaha.

Sing in Thai!

Karaoke is very popular in Thailand. They have small two-seat rooms and large rooms for big parties. An English class we taught on Saturdays was full of fun women who liked to take us out for karaoke afterwards. I always enjoyed this song because the chorus has English words! So even if I couldn't track all the words well, I could get back in at the chorus. The karaoke words are underneath, so take a listen and sing along! You can tell people you can sing in Thai!

(I'd like to thank Rachel for her post including this video.)

Keeping Up the Pace

I keep telling people that this "Reverse Culture Shock" is not hitting me. One person said I should be a puddle on the ground by now. But I still seem to be in solid form. I read a lot of books on this before arriving and psycho-analyzed myself to death at a Starbucks one night trying to be prepared for arrival. From what those books said and how I'm feeling, right now I'm struggling more with settling into my own place, the pace of life, and dealing with all the logistics!

The pace and laidbackness of Thailand was hard to get used to. I recognized when I had adjusted while helping a newcomer to Thailand. We were walking out of our church office to go somewhere. She asked me, "How are we going to get there?" I replied, "I don't know, we'll figure it out when we get to the end of the street." There we would encounter taxis, buses, two-bench truck taxis, and motorcycle taxis. I got used to the not knowing and being okay with the slowness of life. Maybe it was all the places I went while not understanding anyone else in the car with me.

He Gave His Life

I met Chris Leggett and his family while preparing to go on the mission field to Thailand. He encouraged me to always be reading the Gospels and Acts so I can live each day as Jesus Christ did. While I showed my interest in living among the people to serve them, Chris supported it and shared books to help me along the way. I am reading one now, Bruchko.

On Sunday, my friend at church told me Chris had been killed a couple months ago while on the field by some extremists. He was walking to the office. I stood aghast at the news. I have never known someone that had given his life as a missionary. Please pray for his wife and four kids. Thank God for his life and pray that God receives glory from Chris's sacrifice. This news reminds me yet again that our lives are in God's hands. May we live each day to show God's love to one another, showing the cost of his Son's death on the cross for us.

My Former English Class

As I said, I have so many pictures...I will keep posting them through this year. It'll be good for both of us. You, so you can remember the people in Thailand and pray for them. Me, so I can smile and have fond memories to look back on while preparing to return.
This picture has been my laptop's background for a couple weeks. My Monday night English class went bowling with me as a last "hoorah" before I was leaving. Here they are.

A Different Kind of Fisherman

I am so thankful for God's timeliness in speaking to me through His Word. While on the Parkway (from the previous post), God really met me and my questioning with his words. Returning to America means returning to my teacher friends starting school and helping my mom organize her classroom to be a 1st grade teacher again. My mind questions the reasoning for why I'm not teaching anymore as I encounter my friends and their surprise that I'm returning to Thailand.

As I read the last chapters of John, I identified a lot with the disciples as Jesus returned to them after he was raised from the dead. (Not that I'm Jesus in this story, but try to follow me.) The disciples were afraid after he left and didn't know what to do next. So, some of them returned to their previous occupations as fisherman. While they were fishing, a man from the shoreline instructed them to throw out their net on the opposite side of the boat. As they did, they were overtaken with the number of fish that came in their nets. Last time this same occurance happened, Jesus had met them and called them to be his disciples. So, they immediately realized the man on the shore was Jesus!

Out of fear, they returned to what they knew, fishing. Yet, Jesus had already called them away from that occupation to be fishers of men instead. He showed them again at the shore that they were called from this occupation to a new one. I'm not sure if my words come out right, but it was such an amazing encouragement. I need answers to explain my calling and God continues to provide. He has called me forward to the mission field. I'm so thankful for this new calling and the strength and words he gives me each day to share about it with others here.

A Ride in the Mountains

One of my favorite parts about living in Asheville is the Blue Ridge Parkway! Today, I went driving to find a good spot to sit and read, but I just kept driving. I hadn't seen it in so long. I stopped at the Visitor Center to get a map. Looking out their wide window at the view made me want to cry. It was gorgeous! I rode all the way to the top of Mt. Mitchell, the tallest mountain in North Carolina (I think!). It was 63 degrees at the top and I didn't have a jacket. Then I rode back down, finding an overlook to stop at and then back down the mountains. What a great drive!

A Reunion with my Clothes

Last night, I finally reached the house where most of my things have been in storage the last two years. It was like a reunion. I passed by all my teaching stuff and my quilts. I smiled gently at each one, but ventured deeper. At last, I found my clothes bins. What a reunion! I opened it up and reached it to find my purple pajama pants and my UNCA shirts. Then I found my shoe bin and spotted my awesome red shoes I'd been thinking about while across the world.

Here's a couple thoughts along the way. If you ever want to see how much you can live off of, put away 7/8 of all you have, then move across the world from it for two years. You'll be amazed when you return and find you'd forgotten all about it. Lastly, if you do move across the world, try to store at least clothes for the season you return to in the first spot of your arrival instead of your last. :)

Today I'm wearing my first sleeveless shirt in two years. Modesty means wearing sleeves often where I minister. I feel scandalous!

2nd Thai Restaurant Here

Went out for Thai food again yesterday with my friend, Sarah, in downtown Asheville. Pretty place but always checking to see its authenticity. We ordered Tom Yam soup again and Pineapple Curry. It was Sarah's first time for Thai food. The Tom Yam was good and spicy. The Pineapple Curry was a more sweet than sour. Then for dessert, yummy mango and sticky rice! But it was so fun to be there.

I'm out in search of some Thai friends, so I started talking with the waiter and waitress. They've been in the US for just a couple years. One of them is considering returning to Thailand real soon. After explaining a little about why I was in Thailand, they said they were both Christians! Wow, Thai Christians, I don't run into many of those. I recommended our church plant to the guy when he returned. It was so fun to talk with them. Maybe I'll get a chance to go back and befriend them more.

There are lots of Thai places around, apparently. So, let me know if you want to come with me. I'm charting the Asheville and Charlotte territories for good food and even better, some Thai friends!

Forgetfulness

Though I've lived in Charlotte for a long time growing up and Asheville for like 9 years, I seem to have forgotten so much of my mental road map! It's coming back, but it is embarrassing to ask. I have been making lots of u-turns.

I ran across a tool I had forgotten about in two years, the window ice scraper! That made me laugh.

And though my old Spanish skills were good once, they had been taken over by Thai in my head. But now, I'm slowly remembering some old words again. I can understand people talking to me, but I can only reply in Thai.

I even forgot that I had loaned out my bed to someone before I left town! I thought it was in storage with the rest. My friend told me she had my bed in her guestroom and I was a little shocked! :)

Being Home

"Welcome Home!" is all I heard since I've gotten back to Asheville. Home is a lot of places to me. Home is where I called home for two years in Thailand still. Home is where my parents are and I grew up. Home is here in Asheville amidst the mountains, hippie-ness, and church family. Home is where my heavenly Father is and where I'll join him one day.

It was just such a good feeling receiving all the hugs the last few days and pinches to check to be sure I'm really standing in front of them. It's nice to know that though everyone's changed, home is still here. Even when I move halfway across the world for two years, I can still come back to this. This is a comforting feeling as I continue living in this home, and look at going back to my other home in a year or so. God always gives us a home here and has one ready for us with him.

Thai Food in America

Two of my high school friends and I went out for a Thai evening tonight at a local Thai restaurant. They wanted to hear me speak in Thai and wanted to eat Thai food. I had a great time speaking to the owner.

We ordered some red curry, tom yam soup, pad thai, and somtam (papaya salad). The first three were good and it was nice to eat them again. But the papaya salad, which is such a traditional Thai dish was sad in comparison to my neighbor's in Thailand. It is nice to have some restaurant here that I could go to, speak in Thai, and eat some good food. I'm headed to Asheville tomorrow...so I hope to find a good restaurant there too!

You Know Thailand's Hot When...

I turned on the heat in my car because the temperature outside in America is 74 degrees Fahrenheit.