Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Yellow People

I have officially joined the yellow people. Every Monday, the majority of people in Bangkok wear yellow polo shirts with the royal insignia on them. Ever since the 60th anniversary of King Bhumibol's coronation in 2006, Thai people have worn yellow shirts every Monday because he was born on a Monday. If the yellow shirts don't convince you of the Thai people's love for their king, then the life-size pictures along the highway and the pre-movie king video at every movie theater should do the trick. I wore my yellow shirt for the first time on Monday of this week. My school was giving us yellow shirts for free, so I did not want to spend money to buy one. The other perk to wearing a yellow shirt is that female teachers are allowed to wear pants if they wear a yellow shirt. Woohoo!

I recently found out that it is indeed against the law for motorcycles to drive on the sidewalks in Bangkok. I used to think it was legal because it happened so frequently. When walking on the sidewalk, you have to keep your eyes and ears open. You have to be very vigilant because you may only have a moment's notice to dart out of the path of an oncoming motorcycle (slight dramatization added for effect). The worst are those that approach from behind. I finally asked a Thai friend about the motorcycles and he said it is illegal to drive on the sidewalk. Who knew?

The highlight of this week was a day of prayer called "Hunger for Purity." Approximately 200 people from many Thai churches came together to pray for Thailand. About half of those who attended were youth and young adults. It was amazing to see them passionately worshipping and crying out to God. They are not afraid to express themselves through dance (both spontaneous and choreographed) to the Lord. The powerpoint had the song lyrics in Thai and English and my friend translated the prayer topics and messages for me. It was very refreshing to spend the day with other believers in prayer for cleansing and revival in Thailand.

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