Thai Space Cat

Krabi

2009-07-17T02:02:00.000-07:00

So we took a lovely little trip down south to Krabi. This is the 2nd part of our trip around Thailand we've been planning to take since we got here. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The view from our motel room.

The whole crew.

Let's hurry up and get this beach thing started!

White sands... limestone cliffs... blue-green seas... jungles... evil monkeys...

Our usual mode of transportation: long-tail boat.

Enter the lagoon.

Its not that deep.

Railay beach. World class rock climbing!

Up I go, ever so slowly.

Can you find me on the cliff face?

The view from the top. It was a lot prettier when the tide was in. I should've climbed faster.

Heading out for snorkeling! We were too poor to scuba dive, but I look cool with all the equipment.

Diving in!

The reef was more populated than this, but no fish wanted their picture with me.

Just one of many sightings.

Don't touch!

Bungee jumping time. There are many times I try to look scared in pictures just because its funny. This is not one of those times.

The jump, for your viewing pleasure.
And the result. That's right, I received a certificate of bravery! I'm putting it on my resume.

Friends forever... awwwwwww.

Chaing Rai

2009-07-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

So we had a nice little trip to Chaing Rai, which is at the very north of Thailand. Goi was kind enough to host us with her family up in the mountains. Here's some photos in no particular order.

Playing soccer with the natives. Did I make the shot?

Nope. Emo time.

The cutest little asian girl with the deadest little chicken for dinner.

I just love bamboo.

This is Goi's neice. You have no idea how many photos were taken of her during this trip. Be thankful that I posted only one.

The older generation.

Goi's house in the hills of Thailand.

During my time in Asia I've picked up a little Kung Fu.

Sadly the friendly staff broke on me.

The crew.

Goi's house in the valley.

Baby.

Goi's family, well some of them, and us... not that I need to explain all that.

The coolest temple ever! It's albino.

More of the coolest temple ever. Notice the hands at the bottom reaching up in despair.

Forecast: rain.

Gecko!

Me in a tree.

The three of us on a friendly bamboo bridge.

Can you find me among all the bamboo? Did I mention that bamboo is cool?

Me in a tree, but in a different way.

Photography is war!

Waterfall!

Hiking through the hills in the mud.

So mysterious.

He started massaging my back, it was kind of weird. Brandan get out of the shot!

The shinniest buddha I have seen to date.

No women were allowed in here.

There's something delicious on the plate I'm sure.

The Mekong... I think. Just confirmed! Cory says it is the Mekong.

Hmmm... where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, the opening shot of Space Cats. Just throw in an eclipse and a volcano or two, and we're good.

A common sight in Thailand.

Alright, we're off to the beach tonight! More pictures to come!

Haircut!

2009-07-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

Furthering the other news, I got a haircut from three Thai girls and it was very painful because they didn't use a scissors really. They used some weird pull-your-hair device. They were going for some Korean look. It actually was pretty good (so I'm told) but I had to ruin it after a few days because I've always had a dream to just take a scissors to my own head and just start snipping. But that's a blog for another time... if I have a picture of it... is it just me or is half my blog about my hair/facial hair?
Pain...

...ful.

Work

2009-07-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

So I haven't blogged about the work we're doing, at least not really in a long time. And I really think I should put something about work in or else it looks like I'm on a 6 month long, all-expenses-paid vacation. Basically since we've been back from the northeast, we've been editing a bunch of mini documentaries. I say "we", and that pretty much means I sit back and tell people what to do. Or I tell Goi, my student in all things FCP and Photoshop, how to edit and all that jazz. And occasionally I tell Brandan something about sequence settings as he edits the English stuff. So that's it! I don't do much of the work myself because I can't speak Thai, I just prepare my young pupil for the rough road ahead in documentary filmmaking.
For a limited time only, you can see two of our english projects at:
www.robinlgeorge.com/misc/solomon_english_web.mov
http://www.robinlgeorge.com/misc/Final/ReadMe.html

Here's a typical day at work.

And here's me and my protege, Goi... the one I'm pointing at... or I think that's Brandan's finger, my arm can't possibly reach around that far. Oh, yeah, and in other news I shaved off the chops and am now called Baby Face.

Goodbye Kelly, Hello Wolverine

2009-06-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

So Kelly has left us now, and in commemoration of this sad event I drew a picture. It depicts how Kelly karted us kids (AKA Me, Brandan and Cory) around Bangkok and pretty much baby sat us.
In mourning of this sad event, I shaved the underside of my beard, leaving only a mustache and chops. I then proceeded (in further mourning) to gel the back of my hair up into two points. After that I had a very painful operation that replaced my entire skeleton with adamantium and grew 3 claw that extend through my knuckles on each hand. And to finish it off, I worked out till I was twice as buff as Hugh Jackman. And then I named myself Wolverine.
The drawing itself... full of memory and Nostalgia... *tears* goodbye Kelly.

Here's us playing each of our respective parts.

The wolverine look was very popular with teh ladies!

Expressing my inner angst (this is an emo shot at heart).

Thank you liquify!

I know, I look just like Wolverine... except I'm a little too buff.

You can see my andamantium claws in this pic.

Crocodile Farm!

2009-05-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Taking the bus there.

This is a pretty cool bathroom sign.

I tamed it.

The giant fish of death, pretty much the coolest thing since great white sharks.

Ostriches are pretty much the devil.

A pile of turtles.

I joined the turtles in their natural habitat because zoos in Thailand are cool like that. I was ready to run if any turtle charged me though.

Emo monkeys... because of love.

Nice.

I touched the crocodile. Just kidding, its just taxidermy.

Hippos are gross.

Feeding the crocs.

The results.

Me, Mary, Magdalene, and kelly. The bird's going for my chest hairs.

Birdies.

Kitty cats!

Friendly advice.

So this is pretty much the happiest moment of my life.

No seriously, the culmination of my being.

I have never been happier. Never. But then the mean zookeeper came and took the baby tiger awaaaay. *sniffle* I'd appreciate some encouragement. Remember, if you read my blog and comment, you're my friend. But if you read my blog and don't comment or email or something, then you're just a creepy stalker person. Please, I need more friends after I lost my baby tiger.

Mission College

2009-05-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

We went to Mission College for the weekend and stayed with Prateep. We ate mangoes and did stuff.

Prateeps bike. I managed not to kill myself for the 3 minutes I rode around.

Swimming!

The gang.

Down the zipline with my poofy pants.

Which one doesn't fit?

The only way to travel.

Brandan can't powerslide.

The gang.

Make like a tree and get out of here.

The large mountain. We went up to the Bhudda and then Cory and I decided to brave the jungle and climb all the way up to get the greatest sunset picture ever. We got to the top(ish), but we could never really see out of the jungle, and then it was getting dark and we had to scramble back down before the nightly creatures devoured us. So no picture, but I did almost step on a poisonous green snake and then a huge spider (featured below) almost ate my face.

Getting closer.

1250 steps to the Bhudda? Thats good reason to be all emo.

The spider that almost ate my face.

The gang.

We got a sunset from the Buddha though. Thanks for the awesome weekend Prateep!

Off to the Northeast...

2009-05-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

So we took a little trip to the Northeast of Thailand to collect stories and testimonies of the Christians up there. Stuff happened and all that, I don't really feel like typing.
The man with the plan in his typical hero pose: Ajun Rungsit himself! Thank you sir. It would not have been possible without you.

The team. Me and Brandan with our new translator/editor, Goi.

We're so cool.

Where would a blog post be without an emo shot?

This pretty much epitomizes the whole trip. Interviewing people in the simple one room churches.

Documentary filmmaking is a noble art.

Once again the only way to travel.

Oh so rustic.

She was making a rug.

Our first group of interviewees.

I'll make a Thai hill billy yet.

SONGKRANNNN!!!

2009-05-21T02:07:00.000-07:00

So this all happened like a month ago, but we finally have a little video edited together. Songkran is the coolest holiday ever; its pretty much as big as Christmas, but instead of presents you just have a huge nation-wide water fight. This video is only day one, hopefully we can get day three up sometime, which includes having tuk tuk water fights and getting trapped by the huddled masses on Silom road. Enjoy and remember, its ok to comment.

The Breaking of the Fellowship

2009-05-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

So Cory, Brandan and I have been the inseperable trio for the majority of our time in Thailand. Cory was supposed to stay in Bangkok when Brandan and I went to Laos, but he joined us last minute. And then Brandan was supposed to go to the north three days early, but got sick and stuck around longer. But now finally the fellowship is broken. Brandan and I are taking three weeks to travel around the north to gather documentary stories (roughly equivalent to Frodo and Sam going to Mordor to destroy the ring), while Cory (Merry and Pippin) has stayed in Bangkok to keep working on the wall mural. I am right now in a small internet cafe in north eastern Thailand, trying to type with a spacebar that sticks everytime... so this blog is done for now.

A Buddhing Friendship

2009-05-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

Since I'm in a Buddhist country, I thought this would be a great time for me to learn about a religion other than Christianity. I've read a bit about Buddhism, but almost always through Christian sources. I wouldn't want Christianity to be explained by someone who doesn't believe in Jesus, so I thought I should do unto others as I would have them do unto me, and learn about Buddhism from a primary source. A monk would be perfect. There are lots of monks running around the city in orange robes, so its not hard to meet a monk. However, its a little bit harder to find one who speaks English, and even harder to find one who speaks fluently enough to explain abstract religious beliefs.
I remembered that Kelly had mentioned that she met a monk who spoke perfect English. That was like 2 months ago. The odds of finding the same monk again were slim. But it was worth a shot; maybe she would remember where she met him and I could hang out there for a day and hope he'd came back. I mentioned it to her the other day.
“Oh yeah! He's at the temple right by Magdalene's shop. His name's John and I have his phone number!” I was momentarily dumb founded. Magdalene is one of our key church members and kind of a Thai mom to all of us. We frequently hang out with her at her sewing stand, its not more than a 15 minute walk or a 10 baht motorcycle taxi ride. This was too easy, I was just hoping she remembered where she met him, but she's got his phone number and he lived right by us. So it was settled. We would just waltz on by whenever convenient and give him a quick call. I went to bed that night and thought, “Monks have cell phones?!”
The next day around 5:00pm found Kelly and I at Wat Po temple with John the Monk. He looks like your run of the mill monk—bright orange robe, shaved head, dark eyes—but he speaks English with a slight New York accent. He says he's out of practice and his English isn't good, but anybody who uses the rather colloquial term of “whachamacallit” is fluent in my book. He took Kelly and I on a tour of the temple grounds, and during that time I learned that he was born in Thailand and raised there until he was fifteen. He then moved to New York with his parents and spent about fifteen years there. He went to a Catholic school for two years, a public school for high school, and graduated from university with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked for about 9 years, in either or Thailand or America, I can't remember, but he's going on his sixth year as a monk. Kelly had to leave, but I stuck around as he finished the little tour. I told him about my desire to learn about Buddhism from a Buddhist, how I thought it was unfair that all my information about them had come from Christian sources, and that I couldn't help wonder if I had been born into a Buddhist family and culture, would I be a Buddhist now? John agreed that you need to have information about both and then choose to have any objective merit to your decision.
We walked back through the temple grounds and met one of his fellow monks (or maybe his superior, I'm not really sure). He said that he might have some Buddhist writings in English for me to look at. I was led me to a small room where we sat down and they served me orange juice (I don't know what the deal is with monks and the color orange.) He didn't have anything in English, but he did have a Christian Bible in Thai. He said he's read it, pointing out that monks study all religions.
We ended up having a conversation for about two more hours. It moved from reincarnation, to the distinction between humans and animals, to how a tiger who inherited bad karma earns merit, to how Christians talk to God, to how God talks back to us, to me trying to explain the Trinity. From there, somehow we jumped into whether or not I have a girlfriend, do I like being single, the differences between Thai and American culture in regards to family, to why everyone at my church plant thinks I'm their IT tech support, to why there are so many dogs and cats hanging around Buddhist temples all the time... yeah that's pretty much my summary of it all. Every now and then I would think how weird it was to be chilling with two monks, but for the most part it felt pretty normal.
They invited me to come back anytime. I'm not hoping or trying to convert either of these monks; I came to the monks to learn from them--to add credence to my belief in God and broaden my understanding of him. So for that reason I plan to go back and hang out with them as often as possible--that and its just fun to talk with them.

A Visa Run with some Fun... in Laos

2009-05-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

So we had to run out to Laos to renew our visas, but long story short we were not prepared. We managed to each get scammed out of 1000 baht and then stay 3 extra days because a random Laos Holiday. Still it was pretty fun riding around the city and chilling with the SMs who were kind enough to take us in. This is a special blog, because if I'm not in a picture... that means I took the picture. There is one crossover photo--I both took it and am in it. This is a one time exclusive so enjoy it while it lasts.

So while I thought the ol 'stache was resting in peace, it was actually busy reincarnating as a beard. One day it will earn enough merit to break free of the life and death cycles and reach nirvanna.

Riding the bikes around Vientiane. Good times.

This is pretty much Vientiane's Eiffel Tower. Laos was colonized by the French, so you know what that means... there's alot of bread there. We feasted.
Oh I lied, I am niether in this picture nor took it. Brandan took it.

The monument looking all emo.

Me looking all emo.

Classic emo.

The approach.

Beefy kitty cat or something like that.

Control yourself people; its heavily photoshoped.

The Mekong river that seperates Thailand and Laos. Its mostly dried up in this pic.

Joining Brandan's favorite pasttime of photographing kids.

The park.

Taking the mug shot.

The mug shot.

15 second exposure, we had to hold so very still. It was a full moon that night, but sadly we can't document that here.

If I ever run for a political office I'm using this as a publicity shot.

We're losing light people, get the camera in place.

Classic. Thank you Brandan.

A cool monk who spoke a little English.

Our tuk tuk driver.

He was pretty happy about all the money he squeezed out of us rich, pasty farang.

The birth of the "preppy" look: you dress up for church in the morning, take a 2 km walk back home in the blistering heat, turn your collar up on the way to protect the back of your neck from the sun, unbutton the top buttons to expose a few chest hairs and let some heat out, get home and realize just how stylish you are and snap a self portrait.

The return of emo. So so emo in the Mekong River.

RIP: 'Stache

2009-04-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

So the mustache has been growing in length and stature, and in favor with Thai and American people alike. Thank you for all the glowing comments I have recieved telling me just how beautiful I am sporting it... but sadly all good things must come to an end.

But good things never come to an end without first passing through a Charlie Chaplain/Hitler phase. Goodbye 'stache, we'll miss you.

'Stache: February 2009 - April 2009.

Lost in Translation

2009-04-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

So a while back a ordered my big fat kite from a company called Pansch based in China. I was looking forward to some poorly translated English, as Asian countries are notorious for it, but was dissappointed to find pefect English. And then I found it. They were describing a kite, and the last sentence in the description was, "This kite will bring you much fun and honor!" It was pretty much my favorite joke for like a month.
During my stay here in Thailand I had enough bad English to last a lifetime. Here are a few samples. Oh and yes, my kite did and will bring me much fun and honor.

The Coolest Lady in Bangkok

2009-04-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

And where would my stay in Bangkok be without Smoothie Lady? I get a real fruit smoothie from her pretty much everyday for 10 baht (thats about 35 cents). Sure its not Jamba Juice, sure I don't get a free protein boost, but what about the boost it gives my spirits? Awwwww.

Lumpini Park

2009-04-07T00:37:00.001-07:00

Loch Ness monster... in Bangkok.

Ta Khra (spelling?) is the coolest sport ever.

Seriously, way cooler than volleyball.

Me in a tree.

Me in a tree with Cory.

And the sun set on a beautiful Sabbath day in Bangkok.

They're not real space cats... but still cool.

2009-04-06T00:40:00.000-07:00

So this all happened a long time ago, but better late than never. These guys were doing some cool tiger dance thing on our street. We took some cool video of it, that will probably never be seen, but enjoy the pics. Cory has more on his blog. But anyways, Cory and I followed them around for a long time and watched multiple performances.

So after we followed them around for long enough, this happened (watch the video).

And the resulting photograph. Brilliant.

Chaing Mai English Camp 2009

2009-03-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

I didn't know what was going on the first day of camp. I didn't know if I would have a class of kids, how long I would have them for, what I was supposed to do with them, if any materials would be provided for activities, if I would be sleeping with the kids, or if I would have anytime to myself. Oh, did I mention that we couldn't even really talk to these kids because of a slight language barrier? This was the epitome of not being in control of one's environment.
We started with morning worship and song service, and that was ok. And then the main camp dude, Ajun Saipin spoke for a while, and then we split into classes. Suddenly I was responsible for a dozen kids. I still didn't know what was going on. Luckily there were two teachers for each class, and my partner had a few ideas. We played some random games and taught them a song or two, and somehow an hour passed by. The kids went to lunch and I wondered what just happened.
Over the next three days most everything was done spur of the moment. If you got 5 minutes of cramming time before hand you were lucky. I ended up telling the story of David and Goliath one night--I'm ashamed to say that the story I told more closely resembled the Veggie Tales version than the Bible. By the last day (maybe even from the first day) everyone was pretty ready for the camp to end. We were having fun, but exhaustion was setting in. We were just sitting around chilling after our last official "class time" (or activity time, or whatever it was) when Cory mentioned that it just didn't feel like camp if we didn't have a camp fire at least once. This was our last chance. We ran over to the nearest 7 Eleven, bought a lighter, cleared a spot in the sand, grabbed some dried out Banana leaves, collected some old bamboo and kindled a small fire.
The kids gathered round and we tried to sing some good ol' American camp songs. They didn't know what was going on, they only knew a few songs in English. We decided we would tell another story and act it out, that had been a favorite with the kids the night before. We ended up telling three. Cory told the story of Shadrack, Michack, and Abendego, (spelling?) Jorge told a story of Daniel and Prayer, and I told the story of Daniel and the Lion's Den. Anyone who wasn't talking acted it out, and Supap translated. Afterwards, Brandon, Cory, Jorge and I stayed by the fire and prayed.
I felt that that night, as we kindled the fire, the Holy Spirit was kindled in each of us as well. I felt the difference in myself. I started the week out pretty pissed off, but here we were volunteering to spend extra time telling stories to the kids and praying with them.
I find I have a negative attitude when things are thrust upon me or I don't know what's going on. I threw up quick prayers throughout the week that God would help me have a better attitude. But I don't think God asks us to have the a good attitude. Just be willing, and don't worry about your attitude, because it will come with time. Its not our job to have everything figured out and be the perfect. I still don't know what's going on. I guess I'm ok with that.

The team.

The Hokey Pokey is not what its all about in Thailand.

Its me preaching!

Just kidding, I could never preach. I'm just telling the story of the Good Samaritan. Cory is the Samaritan, Supap is the victim, and Brandon is the donkey.

And the full cast! They were all remarkably silent... leaving me to try to sum up the moral of the story. Hopefully most of my bad sum upage was lost in translation.

Ruining Kelly's picture with the skin I just peeled off my forearm.

Oh, check out the elaborate costumes we designed and made! Remarkable craftsmanship, I know.

Making sure my group spells C, CH, CHRISTIAN correctly.

Flowery necklaces...

After Graduation.

The students' rendition of me. They spent like three hours on the shading on my upper lip.

Everyone!

Chaing Mai Bay Thiaw

2009-03-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Wall Mural

2009-03-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sometime during the first or second week of our stay in Bangkok, Cory had the idea of painting a three story high wall mural on our street. "Just something to brighten up the neighborhood," he explained. However, as guests in a foreign culture we don't want to just slap any Christian image up. Over the past 5 weeks much discussion, consideration and prayer has been put into what exactly could be painted--what would be acceptable to put up in a part of town full of Buddhists and Muslims. We may have found the answer.

About 30 years ago a Christian missionary commissioned a distinguished Thai artist to paint certain stories out of the book of Revelation. The artists had no exposure to western illustrations of Revelation; his art was to be strictly from Thai eyes and in the Buddhist style. Four distinct paintings were completed and delivered; unfortunately, though they were beautifully rendered with exquisite detail, only a handful of people have had the privilege of seeing them.

The paintings were an attempt to illustrate Christian themes in a Buddhist medium, but it managed to alienate both sides. Certain Christians complained that the Bible should not be illustrated in a Buddhist style, and a group of Buddhists actually filed a lawsuit claiming that the paintings had been stolen from their temples.

The paintings are now in the keeping of a wealthy Thai, Christian family. Two paintings, one of heaven and the other of the millennium after the 2nd coming, are in their home. The third depicts the resurrection of the evil at the end of the millennium, and can be found on the 6th floor in the school the family owns and operates. The forth portrays the second coming, and cannot be found; I have yet to see it.

Four distinct paintings were completed exquisitely, full of painstaking detail. Each painting tells a specific story, but within each are sub-narratives to be discovered. We spent a good amount of time going over the paintings inch by inch and finding more and more meaning in the illustrations. I felt sure that if we were going to paint a wall mural, it should look like this.

So as of right now, March 28, we still don’t even know if we’re going to attempt this project. We may want to try to copy one of the paintings as closely as possible, merely rearranging design elements to fit a vertical aspect ratio, or we may decide to illustrate something less overtly Christian and just emulate the style. Or we may not do anything at all. This would be a leviathan of an undertaking. I have very little experience with real paint and no experience with three story high canvases. Cory has done some wall murals so that is encouraging, but the logistics of making this happen are far beyond my knowledge. Please pray that if it is God’s will that we spend our time in Thailand this way, that he will open the doors and make this happen. I know for sure that it will be a miracle if God completes this project through us.

PS These quick snapshots do not give the art justice.

Ayutthaya

2009-03-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hua Hin Bay Thiaw

2009-03-27T19:51:00.002-07:00

My Legacy in Bangkok

2009-03-27T19:51:00.001-07:00

As a short term missionary you live for those moments when you know that you are leaving a lasting impression—when you’ve made a difference that’s tangible, lasting, and… well concrete. Last Friday night I had one of those moments. I had just been dropped off by the sang tao and was walking the rest of the way home. As I strolled down the street I noticed that something was different.
“That’s weird,” I thought to myself. “Where are all the street vendors?” Typically the side walk is crowded with make-shift shops and eager peddlers. But as I continued onward I saw only a smooth void of concrete.
“I guess they all pack up early on Friday nig—.” Suddenly my foot slips and I start to fall backwards. My spacecat-like reflexes kick in and my other foot slips backward to catch my fall. Close call. I look down in bewilderment. No banana peal in sight, just cement…cement that is wet…I’m walking on wet cement. As any good American I immediately wonder, “Why didn’t they mark it off? Where was the sign?” I look around hoping no one saw me. Immediately behind five solid footprints bear witness against me. Looking up I see a few Thai ladies peering from their shops.
“Give me a break, ladies. Where I come from we have clearly demarcated areas complete with a graphic of a man slipping just when someone is mopping a floor. We even have warnings on our coffee cups informing us that our coffee is in fact hot. I need something to tell me the cement is wet. I'm not smart enough to figure it out myself.”
At this point I would like to say that I thought about how I could make it right—you know, like when you back into someone’s car, you leave a note with your number on it, right? Yeah, I didn’t think about that at all. I just wanted to get out of there with as much dignity as a big, illiterate white guy in Thailand can muster. So I exited to my left stepping over the rope boundary wisely placed on one side to make sure no one walked into the construction zone—yes they put one there, but not where I had entered. I walked down an alley and never looked back. Actually that’s not true, I went back to see the damage. A dog or two had also been victim. I actually have been noticing a lot of the cement work in the city since the incident, and there are often footprints imbedded in the sidewalks. Apparently spick and span cement work is not a priority to the city planning committee of Bangkok.
So there it is. That’s my lasting impression on the city of Bangkok—something concrete I can go back to and say, “I made that. The city will never be the same because of me.”

The Stuff I'm Doing

2009-03-11T00:18:00.001-07:00

Another thing I’ve forgotten to blog about is the work we are doing here in Bangkok. Basically we are doing documentary video projects around the city, and in the future we will travel around Thailand. That’s our main work. Cory and I are also trying to find time to do sketches for a three story wall mural we want to paint before we leave. And last but not least, each of us, Brandon, Cory and I, take turns teaching English in the Center. The first two times I taught I hade about 2 minutes warning, but it actually turned out to be pretty fun. My favorite thing to do is to draw diagrams of the mouth to illustrate how to correctly pronounce consonants. My newest method is to split the word up into consonant and vowel sounds and have them ununciate each sound by itself. I then try to get them to do it faster and faster until they can say the word. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. OK, that’s pretty much my work in a nutshell. Oh yeah I several weekends ago we went to Pattaya Prison and Cory and I drew caricatures of the prisoners. Ok, the end.

Chaing Mai

2009-03-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

So I’m still catching up with my blogs. We went to Chaing Mai two weekends ago, and I’m finally posting something about it. Chaing Mai is the 2nd biggest city in Thailand, located in the north. We went to the Adventist center about 45 minutes outside of the city. This is the place I probably would have been working if I went to Thailand earlier. It was a really chill weekend; we just hung out with the SMs there and enjoyed not being in the city. The highlight of the weekend was going to this amazing waterfall. You can see video and a bunch of pictures on Cory’s blog. Seriously, click here now and see the video.

We're ready for a weekend away from Bangkok.

The new media and health centers. I'm not really sure why we all walk so far apart.

Captures the look of the area nicely.

Politically correct.

Not politically correct.

Only a piece of the waterfall. Go check it out on Cory's Blog.

The only way to travel.

Goodbye Paasaa Thai

2009-03-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

Paasaa Thai class has come to an end, and I can now say that “phom puut nitnoy paasaa thai” (for all you ignorant Americans, that’s “I speak a little Thai language). But that being said, even the most basic communication with Thai speakers is very difficult. If nothing else, I feel paasaa Thai lessons have……strike that! As I was typing “Thai lessons have” I received a phone call that Cory was kind enough to record on his Mac. This illustrates my paasaa Thai skills better than I ever could write. Enjoy.

So I think it’s pretty clear; I’m condemned to play a losing game of charades for the next three months. So if I gained nothing else from paasaa Thai class, I have some warm glowing memories as contained in the following photos and video.

Me and my kruu (aka teacher)

The whole class. *tears*

So if you want a taste of learning Thai? Look no further.

Pictures at Last!

2009-03-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

So we just finished paasaa Thai class yesterday, and we finally got the wireless internet working! So I should be able to post more often. Its hard to believe I've been here a month already. Everyday in this country has been bursting at the seams. Its been hard to find any free time to post whats been going on. These pictures will have to suffice for now.

Our night of arrival after a nice 20 hours of flying time.

The kids on the street where I live.

View from our balcony.

The talat behind our home.

baan phom yuu klay anusaawariiphrochaaw taaksin

The river I cross pretty much every day.

I am way too happy about this elephant.

Way too happy turns to panic.

I see potential.

She adopted me for a Sabbath afternoon.

Just chillin'

She thought I was handsome...

One of the very few pictures I took. Special thanks to Brandon and Cory who took all of these other pics, and whose blogs you should check out for more of Bangkok. I'm going to bed, its 3 in the morning and uploading photos takes forever.

So what am I doing here?

2009-02-24T03:21:00.000-08:00

Its 11:11 right now according to the clock, that special time of night when the ones align according to their twelve hour orbits. I should be in bed. I’ll be the first tomorrow morning in Thai language school to give directions to a fictional Tuk Tuk driver, and I am anything but ready. But here I sit on the steps outside our room, with Brandan’s laptop on my lap. I’m here to finally answer an irksome question I was always asked back in the States—the question that would always show up like a bad penny. “So um… what are you doing in Thailand?” If I had a penny for every time I was asked that. The problem was that I didn’t really know. Eventually I kind of ended up with a script to not answer, but at least respond to it.
“Yeah, I’m gonna be doing some media work on health and drug awareness in Bangkok … but actually every SM I’ve ever talked to said that they went expecting to do one thing and ended up doing something entirely different… so you know… I’m just keeping an open mind I’m not sure what exactly I’ll be doing.”
What was really exasperating was the fact that no one would remember what I said. Members of my immediate family would ask the question at least once a week each.
“So I’m still not really sure… what will you be doing in Thailand?”
When I met Brandan in LAX to fly to Thailand we laughed as we realized both of us had been going through the same thing--not really knowing what we would be doing, but being asked over and over again. We were sure that when we finally arrived in Thailand we would know.
Upon arrival in Bangkok I started asking the other SMs what we would be doing. They didn’t know. Our boss, Pastor Doug Venn was gone on vacation and we would need to talk to him to figure out exactly what was going on. “So what have you been doing?” I asked Kelly since she had been at the church plant I would be at (Thonburi) for five months or so. “Oh you know… just hanging out,” she joked. But it was one of those jokes you say that are half true. My last two weeks I’ve been realizing that full truth of that half truth.
Being in a new culture has been a little bit like going back in time. Brandan, Cory and I are all eight years old again, and Kelly’s been babysitting us. We tell her what we want and she orders. We follow her around the city clueless of where we are. We ask her what we’re going to do today. Everything is new, everything is a discovery. I didn’t even know how to use the toilet in our house. (It’s of the crouch and spray variety, as Brandan put it.) It’s fun to experience this foreign culture, but a little hard function as an adult. However I am growing up to the challenge of Bangkok. I can get to school and back again by myself. I can order khaawphat phak say khay (fried rice with vegetables and egg). And if you dropped me somewhere in the middle of Bangkok I’d say there’s a 20% chance that I could find my way back home as compared to 0% chance when I first got here.
I met Pastor Doug and liked him immediately. He’s full of enthusiasm and I feel that I can talk to him and he will understand (there are more types of communication barriers than language barriers). That day it was outlined what Cory and I would be doing. In a nutshell we’ll be shooting and editing short documentary films on mission work. In addition to that, Cory had the idea of painting a three story mural on an vacant wall down our street. But Pastor Doug made it clear that the official job we have in Thailand isn’t the point. Anything we undertake in Thailand will stop the moment we leave; so as short term missionaries we will have accomplished pretty much a bunch of nothing. That is why everything we do must be done with the Thai people. We are not the ones who will convert Thai people, Thai people are the ones. Our role here is to encourage and empower the Thais--to teach them and let them go out among their countrymen. A Thai can reach a Thai much more effectively than any farang (Thai word for white foreigner).
So any project we undertake must be with the help of Thai people. It’s through relationships and example that people are converted. As farang we are emissaries of Christianity, whether we like it our not. And as farang we kinda stick out in Bangkok. So it’s also our job to lead exemplary lives, reflecting Jesus through our daily actions.
So what am I doing in Thailand? You know… just hanging out.

PS. I most sincere and heartfelt apologies to anyone who made it all the way through this post. I promise from here on out that there will be a higher concentration of pictures and less bothersome text.

A Weekend to Remember

2009-02-24T01:44:00.000-08:00

So our first weekend was another overwhelming introduction to Thailand. It started with the four hour train trip down south from Bangkok. I had not had more than two or three hours of sleep the night before, so as I got on the train I was ready to hit the hay; sadly a hot crowded bus isn’t the most conducive to sleeping. Even worse was that the four hour trip turned to a four and a half hour trip which in turn became a five hour and twenty minute trip. We got there in a little over six hours. It was right around midnight by Thai time, too dark to really get an idea of our surroundings, and I didn’t really care at that point. I just wanted to sleep.
The next morning I would find that we were right by the beach surrounded by miles and miles of coconut groves. Up the beach a mile or two was a gentle hill crowned by a Buddhist temple. I won’t waste words recounting the whole weekend, pics and eventually video will do that a thousand times better than I can. But I will say that Cory, Brandon and I lucked out because we got to do things our first weekend that other SMs had been waiting six months for. We swam in the ocean, visited a Buddhist temple, saw monkeys, rented motor bikes and cruised around, watched muay thai matches (Thai kickboxing, Thailand’s national sport) and a myriad of other stuff. And in between all this we would get Thai food and the more experienced SMs would share with us the wisdom they had acquired while being in Thailand.
I think it was Sunday night, after grabbing some sticky rice from a vender at the fair, I was driving myself along the beach on a motorcycle/moped on the left side of the road (not the right) that it struck me how weird this all was. And it was weird because driving a motorcycle on the left side of the road in a foreign country felt so normal. Los Angeles seemed like another lifetime ago even though I had only been in Thailand three days. So much had happened that it just felt like long, long ago. I got to wondering if these months I’ll spend in Thailand will fly by or feel like an eternity. Time will tell.

So it begins...

2009-02-24T01:21:00.000-08:00

So this is my first blog from Thailand. I’m typing this in an internet café in the middle of Bangkok full of 10 year old Thai boys playing computer games. I’ve been in the country for a week now, and I’m starting to get into the groove of how to get around and function in the city. But let me start at the beginning—which would be when I arrived in Bangkok.
It was about 1:00 in the morning by Bangkok time when we (Brandan and I) arrived. We had been chasing the sun on a 747 from LA to Taipei creating an 8 hour sunset. We then moved on from Taipei to Bangkok for a grand total of 20 hours in the air. We were met by Kelly, Cory and Jorge, and it was nice to some familiar faces. All of us crammed into a taxi cab and headed on “home.” As we drove Kelly made small talk to the cab driver in Thai as I pressed my face against the window trying to get a glimps of the city that is to be my home for the next 4 months. But it was about 2:00 in the morning by that time and I could see very little. We arrived and were presented with home: a dark little back alley--classically ghetto in every sense. The dirty little street was bordered by three story high apartments. Each apartment had what looked like a garage sized metal gate, the kind most shops in malls use after they close. My reaction was mixed. I simultaneously thought, “am I really gonna live here?” and “awesome! I’m living here!” The inside of the buildings more or less match the outside, and our room was small but quite clean, but most importantly included an air conditioner! Praise God! We went to bed about 3:00am ready to get up at 6 in the morning to go to Thai language class. We had missed the first day.
The next morning we needed to get to class quickly, so we each took a motorcycle taxi. Basically you just sit behind the Thai driver on his motorcycle/moped as he weaves in and out of traffic. We quickly weaved in and out of pedestrians and onto the main street into the organized chaos of cars and motorbikes that is the traffic of Bangkok. As we threaded a needle through two moving cars I tried to wipe the goofy grin off my face. This was the most amazing first taste of Bangkok. No windows came between me and the city, only a 360 view and air rushing past. And the smells! Smells of garbage, smells of meat being cooked on the street, sweet smells, putrid smells, smells you can taste, smells without a name. I was still trying to wipe that grin off my face. I didn’t want to look like some tourist or anything like that. We arrived at the Sky Train, and took it the rest of the way to school. Brandan and I had missed the first day, so we just got thrown into it.
Thai is a very hard language to learn for many reasons. First it’s not English. Secondly its tonal, meaning that your voice going up or down can change the meaning of the word. Third, they have crazy weird vowel sounds. We think its just A E I O U. But someone had the bright idea of thinking there are vowel sounds in between those ones. Try saying A E I O U slowly, morphing from one vowel to the next. Yep, those are distinct vowels. Think of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. Class is pretty much hilarious because we have all been reverted to toddler status. We have 12 people in our class, all speak English and most are middle aged. With as much dignity as each of us can muster, we let out a eeeuuuu as the teacher makes us repeat it over and over. Apparently we never really get it right, just kind of close.
Anyways, this is getting way too long, so suffice it to say that it was a crazy first day. It was a Friday, and we and bunch of the other SMs were heading about 6 hours south by train to a beach. We had been in Thailand for a day, and we were already getting a vacation! But the weekend at the beach is a story for another day. I’m a week behind and I’m skipping so much, but eventually as things settle down I’ll get caught up. Anyways, this is how I plan to let everyone know what’s going on, so I don’t need to repeat myself to everyone. I hope to hear from all of you. Peace.