Ghettoness

In Pomona I thought I had reached a level of Ghettoness when my roomates and I put up cardboard boxes in our window to keep the house cooler. Don't knock it till you try it. It really helped us survive the extreme heat.

In Thailand I realize that I actually have become even more crafty. My sister in law has been adding accent walls to my nieces and nephews room. I, like my sister in law, have a value for nicely decorated walls and homey feeling rooms. That is why I added my own accent wall--with thin sheets of poster board and foam tape. A whole new level.

Before:
Posterboard accent wall
Diecut flowers boarder and a string with clips for the childrens art work.

Ahh to be resourceful.

Greatness

Recently my Grandma sent me a package for my birthday--it was filled with goodies and many fun things. One poster she made her self had the quote by Mother Theresa, " We can do no great things-- only small things with great love."
How true is this statement.
How deeply profound this statment is.
The more I live in Thailand the more I realize that I am not great or special. I don't have magic superpowers and I'm not beyond human. I get tired and thirsty and irritated. I have joy and hardship, but I'm often still a person who longs to be great. I want to do my best at what ever I do and when I fall short I'm often overly hard on my self. Yet as much as it is human nature to desire to be great ,I'm also overwhelmed with the desire to be normal. (I am coming to terms with the fact that this realty kind of went out the window when I decided to follow Jesus's call for me to live in a slum) I want to be remarkable and yet ordinary. This could be why one of the greatest books I've read is called "Irresitable Revolution" by Shane Claiborne.
What I love about Mother Theresa's quote is that it's true. I as imperfect, human, Christy can do nothing Great. Thankfully Jesus never called me to be Great he called Himself to be "I AM" He is Great. All he asks is that I would respond to His love and love those around me. Small things with Great Love.
If I live in this world longing to be great I will miss the chance to see Great things happens, but if I live in this world doing small things with Great Love I may actually see the Greatness of God--Which I believe to be much greater than the "Great" I could ever be.

OCD

Ever since I was a child, I have been obsessed with patterns. One of my chores as a child was to nightly set the table. Every night I picked out which colored cups I wanted and would arrange them in a "pattern"--sometimes a pattern only I could see--(this being made evident when someone else would want to change cups and I would strongly oppose or rearrange the cups to a different pattern so he could have the color he wanted. )
Recently my roomate has been noticing my "OCD" tendancies, --Silently rearranging the drying hangers to be color cordinated or eating pieces of candy in order of the pattern I've created. These are all things I don't have to do, but will admitt that there is a slight inner peace when they are done. When things around me are out of my control and or crazy (as ministry can be sometimes) there is a certain joy I get in my room being color ordered. Strange I know.
This weekend I officially moved into my own room (same house as Sara still-- long story, but my room is finally open) and it has been so exciting to start arranging my room based on the color themes I want. 3 colors= Royal darkish blue is the base. followed by light bright green and brown for accents. I'll post some after pictures soon, but for now it feels nice to have a some color order in my life. It feels nice to make my room feel like mine. I pray it will be a room of refreshment and deep intimacy with Jesus who is my real inner peace.

creativity

Creativity is something I've always had an interest in. I greatly appreciate creative art forms like painting, drawing, or poetry. Looking at well orchastrated and unique photography is something I find relaxing. I'm often the first to cheer someone on to develop creative outlets and I personaly keep an artistic journal. Living in the slums introduces a whole new set of creative outlets--Like how do you dry you're clothes in raining season or what's culturally the best way to handle difficult situations. I'm still praying for some wisdom in hard situations, but at least I've fiqured out drying clothes.

Wat of much randomness

There's many things that I find fit my personality in Thailand. There are also a lot of Buddist temples in any part of any city in Thailand. They are all about the same and all have thier own thing that sets them apart.

My best friend Kristen recently visited from the States which was both encourging and exciting. I was able to practice a lot of Thai as I translated for 2 weeks straight ( wow I had no idea I could traslate that much or understand that much) It was very encouraging. I was also super encouraged by how my neighbors reached out to welcome Kristen. They knew she was like a sister and that we'd been friends for a long time, but it was encouraging to me to see how much my neighbors cared about me as they reached out to Kristen.

Kristen found her self remarking serveral times that there is lot about Bangkok that fits my personality. Thai's love to Dance and they love things to be cute. They have a phycial and slightly sarcastical sense of humor--they love to startle people and smile all the time. Thai's are hospitiable and generous. It's a big city with lots to do, but relatively easy to be know by local vedors and neighbors. Any Thai any where is usually up for starting conversation. (sometimes having more freedom than american culture allows eg... How much money does Kristen have in her bank account in the U.S, , but Thai's generally care about people.

My language partner in particular took it upon her self to show Kristen much of Thailand. We hung out with her several times including a day trip to a nieghboring ancient city (ayutitya). Kristen had her tourist books, but we didn't hit all the tourist spots. We did hit some local Thai hot spots and our favorite wat ( temple) which Kristen and I have sense titled "the wat of much randonmess." It's a must go see if you're in Thailand (just ask the Thai's). As I mentioned before Every wat is pretty much the same and every wat has it's own unique element to it. The wat of much randomness is unique (more than it is the same) because of it's BATHROOM. That's right known for being one of the most beautiful bathrooms in Thailand and the 1st airconditioning bathroom in a temple in all of Thailand. Each stall had it's own airconditioning complete with carpeted floors. It was amazing. If you haven't gone to the bathroom you haven't been to this temple. It's also decorated with clay children and plaster animals all over the grounds. You can feed ravinous large cat fish as well as see all the traditional temple things like bells and merit stands. Of all the touristy things in Thailand I've done so far. The wat of much randomness might be my favorite because if you know me I too am quite random.

children playing intruments

Is this the Thai verson of that one kid's sunblock in the US

Ahh it's me in clay form

No were not just weird, Were imitating clay fiqures behind us

Thanks Gop for taking us to the Wat of Much randomness. That and eating fresh Roti from ayutitya was definetly a highlight from the other wise really hot day.

Let's make coffee!!!

In Thailand people sleep very little--which may explain why caffinine is readily available in any form anywhere here. Energy Drinks come in plenty, coffee stands of various kinds are everywhere you can get nescafe, powdered drip coffee, real coffee-- you can get it sweet or not sweet, hot or cold. I liked coffee before coming to Thailand, but living with a roomate who has a cup every day and in a city where it comes in plethera--I've started to enjoy it even more. Coffee has also been a place of great relationship building and language pratice. Almost every Saturday I go to small coffee shop really close to my house and talk with the sister and sister-in-law who run it--their becoming Thai friends of mine. Some days I get some by the bus stop and they too know my name and my order before I even say it. Coffee has become a casual friendship builder and a way to feel a little know in this massive city. It also helps that when I get coffee here it is never more than $1.00. ( Another reason I don't understand why starbucks are so popular here when thier cup of coffee is still $3.50, and I can get good coffee for $1.00--it must be the rasberry syrup :) )

But who would of thought that Rat's like coffee too. Yes that's right Rat's in my house like to make coffee. One morning Sara and I woke up only to find that Rat's had made morning coffee for sara and I. --it's was almost like Ratatouille.
Here's how Rat's make coffee--maybe as strong as french press.
Step 1--knock down a full glass bottle of instant Nescafe red cup
Step 2- Roll around in water and or lick the coffee to become sticky paste all over the floor
Step 3--If you let it steam for several minutes it becomes even stronger
Step 4--Add water while trying to mop the coffee ( this is my part, the rat is too small to do it by
it's self)
Step 5--Add more water and soap while still trying to mop the coffee up
Step 6--repeat steps 4 and 5 about 5-6 more times--each time more coffee being produced
Step 7--drink and enjoy--okay just kidding Sara and I really didn't drink the coffee, but I think the rats might of because they seemed more active and jittery that night.
Can Rat's get coffee buzzed???

Hospitality of Thailand

So as mentioned before Thai people are very generous and hospitible. They love exchanging gifts and have an impecable memory for how much things cost. If you give them something they will give you something back of equal value (sometimes to the 1 baht ). This has always been a fun thing about being here and getting to know my neighbors. They love to share.

Since being in Thailand i've recieved many different kinds of fruits, fried chicken, various curryies, a wrap around skirt with elephants on it, an eraser, a go green in Thailand bag, hair conditionier, Thai desserts ect. You get the point we exhange a lot, many of this is from my language partner who is still trying to find ways to "pay" me for teaching her english. Sara and I have picked up some ques and have learned how to exhange gifts with her as well. Some of it is from other neighbors who see me passing by. So far I've enjoyed just about everything, but last night I got the best gift yet. A bowling shirt. My neighbor bought it and then decided it was a little to big for her, so she wanted me to have it. It was very thoughtful of her....

I'm not so sure I want to wear this huge bowling shirt around, I mean it does say hot hot vegas, Bang Bang bowling, so maybe i just sport it once or twice in the privacy of my house when she comes over --- just to be polite.

How do I ever give an exchange gift for this one????? Not quite sure, I'll fiqure it out.