Going (and leaving) home

I guess I have 2 homes now. I have spent the last month at home in Colorado with my dad and have been reconnecting with people. I am so blessed to have so many people to call my friends and family. I am forever connected to this place and these people, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm putting down roots in Thailand too. As I leave one home, I know that I'm going home at the same time. Thailand is a part of me now. Many times my Thai friends ask me if I can eat a certain kind of Thai food or if I have a certain habit that many Thai people have. When I say yes, they usually say "bpen khon Thai laaow." That means I'm Thai already. I know I will never look Thai on the outside, but I believe that in some ways I am Thai on the inside.

However, I will not trade the time I get to spend in the US. I love driving and going anywhere I want, usually without crazy amounts of traffic. I love eating cereal and milk--milk that tastes normal. I love eating as much cheese as I want to without feeling guilty about how much money I'm spending. I also love that I can easily buy clothes and shoes that fit me. And while I am fascinated by listening to and learning Thai, it's nice to go to church and understand every word of the sermon and every word of every song. The best thing is reconnecting with friends and family members. We may not talk for a long time, but when we do, it's natural and we can always pick up where we left off. They know my "history," so lengthy explanations are not necessary.

I am so grateful for people's hospitality. It means a lot when people take me into their homes or take time to stop whatever's going on in their lives to spend some quality time with me. Time is the best gift anyone could give me.

Time with my cousins, going to the ladies' retreat, visiting friends in Colorado and Cleveland and Nashville, Tennesee, and staying with my dad are priceless experiences I won't quickly forget. I thank God for all He has given me and pray that I will never take them for granted.

I added some pictures of the beautiful scenery in Tennessee and Colorado. I love the waterfalls (big and small) in the US amd I love nature in Thailand and almost everywhere I've been. God is so creative!

First post of 2010!

About a week after my last post, I slipped and fell at home and fractured my ankle (November 2009). Needless to say, I missed my first week of teaching in the second semester and went back to school the next week. After 6 weeks of wearing a cast (one was green and one was pink:), too many taxi rides to count, lunches brought to my classroom, 3 weeks of using crutches without a cast, and one month of walking with one crutch, I'm finally free! I thank God for all the friends who helped me along the way. It was quite an ordeal, but I believe the Lord used it to literally slow me down and remind me that fellowship with Him is the most important thing in my life. Everything I do has to be an overflow of God's grace and presence in my life--otherwise there's very little meaning or purpose for what I do.

Christmas was full of celebrations with friends and sharing the real meaning of Christmas with Thai people. I had the opportunity to help my missionary friend with her Christmas program in the public school where she teaches English. We had a small Christmas program with a Nativity drama and Christmas songs and then divided the kids into groups to make Christmas cards, sing Christmas songs, and listen to the story of Jesus' birth.

My new Thai language teachers are the students in my Sunday school class at church. They help me when I don't know the correct word to use and they correct my pronunciation. Our kids' church team prepared a small Christmas presentation for them to perform. They dressed up in makeshift costumes, performed the nativity story and sang 2 Christmas songs. I thank God for the relationships He is allowing us to build with some of the children in our community.

On December 26th, I went to northeastern Thailand with some teachers from my school for a short missions trip. There was lots of delicious food because we went to our friend's parents home. We ate sticky rice for every meal, drank homegrown passion fruit juice and homemade soy milk, and ate homegrown tamarind. However, we didn't go for the food. We held a Christmas party for the children in the community and over 85 children came. We had a large dinner and then lots of games and songs. After those activities, I got to tell the story of Jesus' birth (through a translator and with pictures projected on a screen) and then we gave gifts to all the children. Some of the kids came from the small church there, but most did not. It was a great opportunity to share the love and truth of Jesus with them. The next day we went to two small provincial schools and had a similar Christmas program for them. The children enjoyed all the activities, but I pray that the seed of Jesus' love fell on good soil.

I had the opportunity to sing in 2 weddings in January. One was a Thai wedding and one was for my Filipino pastor. In February, we started preparing our students for their final exams and gave their exams. I finished all of my grades and written reports last week. Thank God that's over! I will work for 3 more weeks at school and then come home to the US for "summer" vacation. I'm looking forward to seeing snow in Colorado and of course, spending time with my family and friends there.

I heard an interesting language story this week. In our most recent round of final exams, the first grade students were asked to memorize their telephone numbers for their English speaking exam. One boy was very confident and said "My telephone number is circle, circle, circle, eight, two...
He may not have used the right words, but he certainly spoke English!

Holiday (British for Vacation) adventures

School is starting again on Monday, but I had a great holiday (in British English, "holiday" refers to vacation or time off from work or school. I hear "holiday" more often than "vacation" or "break." I also say "lift" more than "elevator" because I constantly remind my students to "be quiet in the lift." My English is becoming Britishized...it also has some heavy Thai and Filipino influences. I guess that's life in a foreign country :).

I went to Hong Kong to visit a family friend on my school break. We had a great time! We rode the tram up Victoria's Peak and we could see all of Hong Kong. It was an amazing view (as you can see from the picture). We went to Lantau Island the next day and took a cable car up the mountain. We had a beautiful view of the bay and the islands. The island is covered in trees, so you can't see much of it until you get to the top. We went back to the city that night and watched the light show from the Avenue of Stars. We even happened across Jackie Chan's hand prints, so I took a picture of course. We went to Ocean Park the next day and saw some different ocean wildlife and rode a few rides. It's a very nice theme park, but make sure you take the escalator to the top of the hill. If not, you'll have a very long walk...I know from experience. We did some shopping at the Ladies' Market that night and I got some great deals on a purse and a watch! I think my favorite part of the day was eating at California Pizza Kitchen though. It was soooo good! Hong Kong is a great city. You can go almost anywhere by train and you can use the same pass to ride the trains and the buses. It's also very clean. I really enjoyed the trip!

I got to go on a church retreat with my Filipino church the following weekend and it was also a great time. We went to a boy scout camp (all Thai students are required to be in girl scouts or boy scouts). There were lots of totem poles and statues of Native Americans. They had covered wagons and animal skulls. It was interesting how hard they tried to make it look American.

We went "trekking" one morning and I felt like I was in the jungle! We were surrounded by tropical trees and the path was muddy. I'm used to hiking in the dry mountains of Colorado. It was fun to experience something new. The only downside was prickly branches that were often protruding onto our path. I tried to move one with my arm and ended up with lots of the small "prickles" in my arm! They were acually quite harmless. They stung a little at first, but once I pulled them all out, I was fine.

I've spent the last few days preparing my new classroom (in a brand new building--Praise the Lord!) and classroom materials for the second semester. We start on Monday!

Fun cultural experiences

It's been way too long since I've posted a blog. I decided that it's time for an update. I've been having fun teaching my 3rd grade boys. They call me Teacher Emily, which is the appropriate way to address teachers here. I had to teach them about punctuation and how to use periods. One way is to put a period at the end of Mr. or Mrs. To help them understand, I used my name as an example. They'd never heard of anyone with the last name Green, so they thought that was very funny. One boy especially liked calling me Miss Green and now his whole class uses it when they greet me at the beginning of class. Who knew that my name would attract so much attention?

Lots has happened in the last few months, so I'll just try to mention the highlights. My birthday was August 27th and I couldn't believe how many people remembered and greeted me at school and church, but also on Facebook (those little reminders are great). The day ended with a dinner at my house with friends from church. My Nepali friend made burritos, which made the night! They were fabulous! I also did another Thai dance in August for our school's 157th anniversary. It was lots of fun.

I started attending a Thai church on Sunday mornings in January. I don't fully understand the services, but I'm getting a lot of practice reading and listening to Thai. We've started a children's church and we have some kids from the neighborhood attending. They're very open to the Gospel. Praise the Lord! I think they are hearing it for the first time!

There is a Lisu church that meets after the Thai church and before the international church that I'm a part of (they all use the same building). Lisu is a tribal group of people living in northern Thailand and Myanmar (formerly Burma). They asked me to speak in their service at the end of August. I had a translator, of course, and I didn't understand any part of their service except the two English songs they sang. Still, it was a very rich experience. Thank God for the opportunity to share His Word my Lisu brothers and sisters. Their written language is composed of English letters, but many of them are backwards or upside down. It's very interesting to look at.

Last weekend, the international church (mostly Filipino) I attend took a mission trip to Koh Si Chang, an island east of Bangkok. We led the activities in an English camp for middle school and early high school students on Saturday and attended a local church on Sunday. I had the privilege of bringing three Christian American friends with me who are student teaching at my school in Bangkok. It was good for them to see what life is like outside Bangkok. They were really sports as we truly "roughed it" by American standards. On Sunday morning, the four of us got to sing a song in the service. I was really stretched that day because my Filipino pastor asked me to translate his sermon from English to Thai. I would not have volunteered for that position, but I guess my Thai is better than most people who went on our trip. I didn't come close to translating it perfectly, but the Thai people understood me and said "Amen" to what the pastor was saying. Thank God for using me and allowing me find out that I can do more than I thought I could.

The end of the semester is quickly approaching. This is our exam week. We have one more week of teaching after this. I'm looking forward to my two week vacation in October.

The rest of my "summer" vacation

After staying for 3 weeks in the US, which was amazing, I spent one day in Thailand before going to the Philippines. It wasn't an ordinary day, however, because it was the end of the biggest holiday in Thailand. Songkran Festival, which is the Thai New Year and water throwing festival, is April 13-15. I went to a pottery village with some friends that day, but I got soaked coming and going when I was in the bus. As you can see from the picture, you're not really safe anywhere you go. People stand on the sides of the streets with buckets of water and Super Soakers poised to spray everyone who passes by. They also throw water in open bus windows and sometimes put a tan-colored powdery mud-like substance on people's faces. It's a really fun holiday and throwing water is very appropriate because April is the hottest month of the year, with temperatures in the 100s.

After my one day of celebration, I went to the Philippines for my friend's wedding. Her father and brother are officers in the military and they stay on a military base in Manila. I stayed on the base with their family. The wedding was beautiful. After the wedding, we went to their house in another province and then went to a beautiful mountainous area called Baguio City. I decided to take a souvenir photo in a traditional costume because the proceeds benefited a senior citizens' group in the area. Not wanting to take the picture by myself, I asked the older women (who were also dressed up) to join me in the picture. I had to pay for that too, but the total price was less than a dollar and it went to a good cause, so I decided it was a good idea. I've never seen a souvenir photo for that cheap in the US (I did use my own camera for the picture, which I think contributed to the low price:).

I spent a few more days in Manila with a different friend from my church in Thailand after that. We had a great time and visited another beautiful mountainous area outside Manila. I managed to escape eating the Filipino delicacy "balot" yet again, which I consider a big accomplishment. Balot is a fertilized egg in which the chick is about ready to hatch. They enjoy eating the baby chick. I think I'll pass. I did eat ube jam, which is made from purple sweet potatoes. Although I wouldn't usually put potatoes in jam, it was very good.

I'm back in Bangkok now and preparing for my first day of a new school year tomorrow. Back to the classroom!

A Night in Thailand (in Colorado)

 

 

 

Coloradans experienced a taste of Thailand on March 28th. We enjoyed pad thai, green papaya salad, and mango and sticky rice with coconut milk. Hopefully, people left smarter after taking part in the Thailand trivia competition. Some very smart attendees left with wooden elephant key chains in hand (some of them may not have been smart, but they know how to use their i-Phones and Blackberries:).

I am so glad I got to share about one of my passions in life, the House of Hope Orphanage. The children are beautiful, but more than that, they love Jesus. They know that He is the reason they have overcome lives of poverty in Burma and they know that He has good plans for their lives. We were able to raise funds to build them dormitories. Praise the Lord!

Last post before I come home!

Just like November and December, January and February flew by! Lizards like the one in the picture are very common in my house. I accidently stepped on one and its tail came off and started twitching violently (the tail, not the lizard). It was pretty gross. The lizard tried to get away. I thought that it might be ok because I remember learning that lizards and reptiles can regenerate their tails and lost limbs. I continued to see this tailless lizard for a day and then I came home to find its carcass being devoured by ants! Sorry for the disgusting story, but I just thought I would add a little excitement to the other things happening in my life. We also had a rat last month. I bought the sticky trap ( I think because of Thai beliefs in reincarnation they prefer to trap the rat without killing it). My roommates took the caught rat outside. I'm grateful I didn't have to do this. I'm not very brave when it comes to creatures that run and hide inside my house.

I seem to have become the token foreigner who will dress up and do Thai dance at my school. I have done this three times this school year! I actually enjoy it, but I'm surprised that they continue to ask me. There was a som tum making competition with some other Christian organizations in Bangkok. Som tum is a salad made from unripe papaya, fish sauce, peanuts, garlic, chilis, tomatoes, fresh green beans, and dried shrimp. There's another variety from Laos that people here like that substitutes fermented fish sauce and preserved crab for the regular fish sauce and dried shrimp. I really enjoy eating the first variety, but the smell of the second one usually discourages me from eating it. Nevertheless, the competition requires one som tum maker and one dancer. I was the dancer. As soon as I started dancing, all the people from my school cheered. It was really fun.

I visited House of Hope Orphanage again and my friend took lots of pictures that will be useful for fundraising. As always, the children's love for Jesus is amazing. They are very sweet kids and I want to do all I can to help them.

THe last two months have been filled with giving final exams, writing student evaluations, and English camps. I got to go out of town for a week for English camp, which was fun and was a nice break from my somewhat busy schedule.

I'm getting ready to come home for about three weeks! I'm making all of the final preparations now. I can't wait to enjoy some American food, drive a car, and just feel "normal" for a few weeks.