Flat Emma Visits Thailand

I took a paper doll around my Thai neighborhood for an American 3rd grader's school project. She had a great time exploring as you can tell.

Where's Emma? A big church picture of everyone at church this past Sunday.

Emma riding in the back of our church pick up truck with the kids we just picked up from Mahathai on the way to Sunday worship.

Valentine's Day Campus Ministry party. Don't you love the flower bouquet stuck in the water bottle?

Ying helped Emma cook some Thai food. It's easier if they squat and cook on the floor.

My English students pay respect to their new teacher by the "wai".

Flat Emma celebrates Chinese New Year at the mall. Aren't the lanterns so pretty?

The Streets of Mahathai

A few pictures recently taken by a team who joined me at Mahathai for the morning.

Some of My Friends

Pizza Pals

Last week was full of food and friends at Mahathai! Our mercy ministry team just recently talked about what we wanted to do more in the next three months. One goal was to spend more time with people longer. We often visit quickly, but don't sit and talk to just one family very long. Since then, in just one week, I've been hanging with three different families. Sometimes we have to wait on God, and sometimes he's just waiting for us to ask!

Tuesday, I invited my gang of women around my age to make pizza with me at Dave's house. We can't make it at my house because I don't have an oven. The women's names almost all start with "B". Bong, Beau, Bang, Bee, and Daw. Daw decided she'll change her name to "Bess" so she could fit in better.

We made 8 pizzas of various sizes! Lots of toppings including squid, shrimp, and spicy pork were included. The last pizza shown above had everything we had left on it. The garbage pizza! Praise God for the fun times we had together.

A Tale of a Bike and a Car

Yesterday, I got a call from my friend whose brother had just got in a small accident when he supposedly ran into a guy's car with his bike. Yet, due to her more limited Thai abilities, it was difficult to talk to the owner of the car. The owner of the car wanted them to pay him $50 for the damage. We have to be careful about that, because he might have been being swindled since he was a Westerner. Kieow and I decided to head over there to help settle the problem. A witness at the scene said there wasn't damage at all, and told my friend to "Run!" when the owner of the car wasn't looking. Isn't that crazy advice! From that and my later experience, I learned how accidents are handled in Thailand...

We got there and Kieow proceeded to argue for a whole hour about whose fault the accident was. I, personally, didn't think my friend hit the guy's car at all. After a long while with no resolution, we threatened the guy with having to go to the police station with us to settle. He said ok, but come to find out, that was the perfect thing to do. Shortly after, he said "Nevermind" and let the whole matter go. He didn't want to spend any more time on nothing.

So in accidents in Thailand, the thing to do is either run fast or argue an exhorbitant period of time and then threaten to go to the police station. Good lesson.

Collision in a Bus

Sitting next to the window on Bus 46, dazily staring out the window I was. Hot day but the wind was blowing strong as we drive down Bangna-Trad Road. After a long day, I'm headed to the mall for some research time at Starbucks. Up ahead, I see the Central Mall approaching. Someone has already pushed the button with a "Beep!" signaling the bus driver to stop at the next bridge. I wake up from my half-consciousness to stand in the line by the bus door while the bus is still moving. The bus brakes and I am propelled forward with into the lady in front of me. I say "Ka Tort" and try to back up. I forgot to hold on. No one stares at me and everyone is quiet. Don't we love Asia? I can't believe I was so dazed I forgot to hold on! When I got to Starbucks, I shared the story with a couple friends there and laughed hysterically.

This story really was hilarious in my head, but now as I write in on my blog, its not so funny. Sorry for that.

Speaking in 3rd Person

In the Thai language, if talking to good friends, you can speak in third person. For example, if I'm telling my neighbors were I'm going, instead of saying, "I'm going to the market," I say "Melanie is going to the market." Wierd, huh? I was corrected for not speaking in the 3rd person this morning by one of my many friends that call themselves my teachers. So, I have a new resolution to speak in 3rd person more often. Did I mention how warped I'm going to be when I head back to America?