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.