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Pam

It's June............

Greetings Everyone !!! I promised you that I would post a couple of photos from the China trip, that my daughter took me on in April. Well... at long last, here they are !!!!
Here we are standing on the great wall of China........... absolutely incredible!! I mean, we have all seen it in National Geographic or on Discovery Channel..... but here we were, standing and looking out at the Wall... as far as your eyes can see, the wall snakes its way up over the mountains, down into the valleys and up again. And you must Climb it.... it is steep and up up up. Now something you may not know.... the wall is lined with Vendors, yep, there are villages at the base of the wall where the vendor families live, and each day they carry their loads of stuff up the wall to their spot, where they sell to the tourists and then carry their loads back down at sundown. You can buy t-shirts, photos, coffee cups, small pieces of the wall with the Wall engraved on it, musical instruments, lovely paintings, postcards... you can even dress up in chinese costumes and have your photo taken. And you can meet people from all over the world coming and going on the Wall. It is an experience of a lifetime.... and You Were There !!!

This is the oldest Buddhist Temple in China (so we were told, anyway) this is in the city of Xi'an, which is located on the legendary Silk Trail... where caravans trekked across China to Turkey, taking silk and spices to Europe. It was very different from Thailand, where there is a buddhist temple just about on every corner! In China, the influence of communism is very prevalent, and the absence of religion is everywhere. we were told "people come here to make a wish".

Also located just outside of the city of Xi'an are the terracotta warriors. WOW, another incredible site to see. We learned that only ONE figure was found IN ONE COMPLETE ORIGINAL PIECE, all the others that you see in the pits have been carefully and painstakingly put together from the jigsaw puzzle mess of pieces !!! quite a job!! Many of the pits have NOT been opened yet, because they are waiting for better technology to use. the terracotta figures were all painted, but as soon as the air reaches them, the color disappers... so they wait for the future when they can open and preserve them better.

Here we are in the largest city in China, Shanghai. It is truly an old ancient meets new modern city. We are standing along the famous Bund.... the international banking district is in front of us, then the lovely river and all the modern skyscrapper/businesses behind us. We walked through lovely quiet ancient chinese gardens, shopped in an old Muslim market and emerged out into modern city. As a side note, my daughter Stacey will be going to school for her MBA for one term here in Shanghai next May 2009. she is excited to return to this interesting city.

My daughter and I were surprised by some very basic everyday differences from our life here in Thailand.

In China, everyone wears shoes, lots of different shoes, (in thailand... everyone wears flip flops and they are removed when you enter homes, temples and even many businesses)

the people do NOT smile when you meet them on the street, (in thailand people always give you a smile)

there are NO ATMS, (everywhere you go in thailand there are ATMS and money Exchange booths

the hotels had HEAT, (the hotels in thailand do NOT have heaters)

the bathrooms on the street were clean with flushing squatty potties and hot water to wash your hands and vending machines to buy toilet tissue, (in thailand the squatty potties have a tub of water beside them with a little platic bowl floating in the water, after using the squatty potty, you dip water from the tub with the plastic bowl and flush the squatty potty by pouring water into it. there is NO tissue, but if you bring some with you, you put it in the small garbage can by the door- never flush it. and never hot water in a facett anywhere but in hotels)

there is NO visible evidence of religion or faith anywhere, people are NOT allowed to speak of politics or religion, (in thailand most every home and business has a small or Large Shrine next to it for the house spirits to live in, and just about every neighborhood has a buddhist temple or two. even the grocery stores have a place to "make merit" offerings at. the people of thailand would never ever say a bad word about the King and his family or the government)

Well there you have it.... a little trip to China and some cultural lessons thrown in for FREE !!

blessings

Pam

Just Arrived..............

Announcing the arrival of my "new-to-me" Four Wheels of Freedom !!!

That's right. Here I am driving my, just purchased 1989 black Honda Accord !!

What a blessing.... a sweet little place to live, with a car in the carport !!!

This week I was able to purchase the school nurse's car. (she and her family are headed back to the states.) A special THANK YOU goes out to all you wonderful partners who

have made this purchase possible. What freedom. We are "at home" in our new land.

pam

And then there was RAIN............

One day it was hot, hot, and sunny........ and then the rains blew in!

And how it BLOWS !!! when it rains here, it pours. the rain bounces

when it hits the ground, it fills the streets, it stands in the fields. the rain

is SO LOUD that you can't hear regular voices. The leaves of the banana

trees are ripped to shreds, and some of the small banana trees are blown

right out of the ground.

BUT everything is so lush green. and I swear that I can actually

"see " the tall grass growing. :-)

oh, and did I mention that I am STILL sweating, melting. sunny hot or

rainy hot.... it's still humid and drippy.

gotta love it!!

This is a shot taken off the front porch where I am living right now.

Lots of rain.... brings beautiful green tropical plants!!!

our new home

Hello !!! on the way to our new home, we get to drive past rice fields and livestock. Here is a brahma calf laying behind some bushes.

Here is our beautiful livingroom, complete with new wicker funiture. Please note the lovely window bars. all homes (solid homes not made of grass and thatch :-) ) have some kind of bars on the windows for safety and decoration. Our home has lovely leaf vines.

This is the view out our font door. we have a nice covered porch and a pretty little neighborhood.

AND here is the front of our place !!!!

Hello and welcome to May!!

My roommate, Eileen, (from Roseburg, Oregon, ) and I have rented a new home. It is cute and cozy and brand new... 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom... and did I mention it is brand new, never lived in. It is in a different neighborhood (muubahn) from where I live now.. but not too far... but far enough that I am now looking for a vehicle to purchase. (whew). We get to drive through country roads of rice paddies and grazing brahma cattle, trees and yes, we've even seen a few snakes already. Please join with us in celebrating the fantastic little home that our Father has provided for us. and join us in prayer as we thank him for the delightful sweet affordable place to make into our new home. thank you.

Pam

Now THIS is Freedom !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEP, that's right, Today I finally got to drive a car!! Oh my goodness, it was SO sweet and what a delightful sense of independence and "NORMALCY".
My roommates were blessed (by a couple from their agency who are going to the states until June) with a nice little car to drive until June!! Jeannie is out of town visiting friends until wednesday, and Eileen left town today..... So I get the car for TWO DAYS hurray!!!
I haven't driven a car since arriving here over 7 months ago..... so it was a real delight to go run errands ALL ON MY OWN today.
First, I drove up and down every street (Soi ) here in the neighborhood (Muuban). It is very odd to have to glance to the Left to look in the rear view mirror, and the turn signal is on the right. So at first I turned on the windshield wipers every time I wanted to make a turn! I am used to driving on the Left side of the road.... but I gotta admit, sitting on the right side of the front seat to drive is very unusual, and knowing where the "left-side: sense of the car is also interesting and different.
When I felt ready, I eased out onto the real road with all the traffic...especially MOYORCYCLES. And off I went. Motorcycles can pass you on either side and squeeze in to the smallest space.... but I was able to negotiate the roads and parking at the store.
Such a blessing..... so much FUN. And Pam drove a car in Thailand today !!!!

Songkran, Thai New Year

Songkran, Thai New Year... is coming this next week. It is NOT your typical USA one shot at New Years eve with fireworks and a toast at midnight. OH NO !!! this is a religious holiday... And a very commercialized holiday and it revolves around WATER WATER WATER. Which works out well, since this is the very HOT season. And it lasts 4-5 days or more. (after the photos, you will receive an explanation of Songkran.... but since I am still technologically challenged, you get what you get hahahahahaha.)

When I went to the grocery store today, I found that they had ALL my Songkran holiday needs to make a great celebration !! Here you see Hawaiian print shirts, for ONLY 79 baht... (30 baht to one US dollar... now you'll be able to figure out all the prices in the photos, if you are that kind of person, ha!) And behind this rack are racks of short-short levi shorts!! Very Festive!!

Down the main aisle of the store are displays of all the essential Songkran items:

Here you have yellow buckets filled with survival-items for the Monks at the temples.

It is filled with toothpaste, toothbrush, a bottle of water, inscence candles, laundry soap

and other things. People purchase these buckets and present them to a Monk when they

go to the temple. It is a one of the ways they can "earn merit" in the Buddhist religion.

Soaking People with water is "VERY important" during Songkran.... the best way to accomplish this is to fill huge garbage cans with water and put them on the back of your pickup truck and drive around town.... looking for ANYONE to SOAK!!! (and after the holiday, you'll have a new garbage can for your house!)

If you don't have room for a garbage can, then you can use a bucket and scoop. These are much easier to carry with you, so you can "chase- after -people" to throw water on them.... AND you can scoop water out of the river, stream, ditch or moat with your bucket.

And then of course , there are the various selections of shapes and sizes of water guns!!! You can't get someone as wet as with a garbage pail..... but these babies are so much more accurate! Do you want to shout someone who is in a car with the window down.... this will do the trick!!!


And Now.... the Story of Songkran.......... just like I promised.

This week during my first grade class's Thai language and culture class, the children learned about the upcoming Thai holiday, SONGKRAN, the Thai New Year.

This holiday is known for the HUGE city-wide water fights!! Yep, that's right. where ever you go, expect someone to squirt you with a water pistol, or soak you with a super-soaker water gun, or DRENCH you with a bucket of water from a garbage can on the back of their pickup truck. Now foreigners, or FORANG as we are referred to, are the favorite target... because we are often "unsuspecting" for the first dousing. After that, we wise-up and join in the fun, or avoid going anywhere for 4-5 days!!!

The children learned that there is a REAL reason for Songkran, AND for how the giant water fights began!

Songkran is a family holiday, where families gather together to eat and celebrate. Once the family is gathered, the elders sit in front of the room, and the rest of the family (especially the children) walk past each elder, pausing to pour water over their hands and giving them a blessing. Afterwards, the elders say blessings over the family. Water is used to show respect and also used as a symbol of washing away old ways and bad things and becoming renewed. Families go to the temples and pour ladles of water onto the buddha statues.

In fact, all the stores in the area have put up temporary buddha shrines and statues, so people can pour water and pray right at the store while shopping. (commercialism, it's NOT just a USA thing, ha!)

The children in class all got to line up and pour water over the teachers' hands and give us a blessing. But our blessings were... "God bless you, Ms. Thomas" and afterwards, we prayed over our children.

The children also got to learn a traditional songkran game to play. We all sat in a circle on the floor. A small cup with water and talcim powder mixed into a wet paste was passed around the circle while music was played. When the music stopped, whoever had the cup, got to draw a paper out of a different cup that had one of three things on it: 1. yourself, 2. person to the right, 3. person to the left. The person with the cup of paste gets to smear the paste on someone's face OR perhaps has to smear it on their own face. Everyone chants Yourself, Yourself.... while the cup person draws out the paper to see who gets smeared..... then on with the game. At first no one wants to be smeared, but as the game goes along, everyone wants it. There was lots of laughing and fun. In the end, we were all smeared.

We ended our celebration with Thai dancing. This is a circle dance, moving your hands from side to side (in a lovely graceful way, hahaha) as we walk around the circle . We had a FUN time learning about Songkran... AND how we can enjoy it without being Buddhist.

So.... If you come visit Thailand in mid-April..... be prepared to wear your hawaiian print shirt and short shorts, grab your bucket and join in the fun of SOAKING everyone.... it is soak or be soaked..... smile and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!! a nation-wide water fight !!!