Live From Bangkok

2010-12-11T23:01:00.000-08:00

PLEASE PAUSE FOR OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM

I'm not sure I ever posted about this, but one kind of interesting thing about Thailand is that, in public places, you must stop and listen to the national anthem. There are speakers everywhere that play it once at 8am and again at 6pm. I had forgotten all about this until yesterday, when I was at a street fair in Lumphini Park with Jenni and Niki (and the boys) and P'Nui. We were watching this dude perform from 5:40-6:20,

when this MC girl interrupted and asked us all to stand for the national anthem. I think he was in the middle of a flea circus trick. So we stood, listened to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBDKah2nnvw

and then sat down again so he could finish his show.

2010-12-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

I'm in Bangkok again for the first time in a year and a half. I realized, on my way over here, that I have been in Thailand every year (for at least a week) since 2006. That's the kind of thing I find cool.

It was quite a traveling endeavor to get here this time. Here's my trip, in a schedule format:

Tuesday, EST
930/10am: I left from Tallahassee for McDonough, GA, where I'd leave my car with my friend Rachel's Aunt Ruth. It was pretty uneventful. I listened to the Winter's Tale and drove by a bunch of plantations.

2:30pm: Arrived in McDonough. It shouldn't take that long, but I got lost in the small town. One of the streets on the directions didn't have a name on the sign, so I passed it 3 times before I knew to turn there. Rachel's aunt's name is Ruth and she is so nice. (Obviously, she helped me out big time for this trip.) We had 45 minutes on the way to the airport but we needed about 3 days to cover all that we wanted to talk about. I hope I'll get to spend more time with her one day. Rachel said she was awesome and she was right.

3:15ish pm: Arrived at the airport, finished up my last assignment for school but had no internet to send it to my professor. Bought some sour Jelly Bellys for the plane. Mmm.

6:10pm: Plane to Frankfurt took off. It had internet! I sent my assignment to my professor. Somewhere around 10pm EST the first break I've had since Fall 2009 started. Whoo hoo.

Wednesday, Frankfurt Germany time (I don't know the right name for it).

9:00ish am: The flight landed in Germany. With a little confusion, I found my way to the center of town where I planned to spend some of my day long layover. I've never been to Europe before. The train dropped me off in a really commercialized area. It had a Tiffany' & Co, if that gives you an idea. I windowshopped for a while while rain poured. It was cold (40 degrees) but not unbearable. I was wet from the rain though and decided to stop here and eat:

It's called Mutters Ernst. Let's say that's German for "Earnest Mutters." I was really missing my friend Bethany the whole time. Not only because she knows German (duh) but because I know she would like being there.

In Mutters Ernst I ate lentil soup with sausage in it and had a beer. I don't know what kind. I said "beer" and the waitress said "beer?" excitedly (I guess I wasn't looking like a beer drinker?) and she set down a glass of beer. It was okay. I'm not much of a beer drinker. (Vine ist betah)

The food was delicious but I was full (eeeem), so I decided to go back to the airport after that. It was not a great day for walking around.

Noonish: I arrived back at the airport and when I got to the customs (back to the international flight terminal) this woman stopped me. I thought she wasn't going to let me in but she said, "It's very early. I'm not sure you want to go in there." I just wanted to sleep and told her so. She let me through. I wish I had listened to her because a) I couldn't sleep and b) our plane was 3 hours late.

10:00pm: They announced our plane was late because of a blizzard.
11:30: They announced that all flights were canceled. We'd have to rebook.
11:35: someone checked and found out that they didn't mean for our flight. The one to Manchester, silly.
11:45: They announced our flight was canceled and we had to rebook.
12am: They said, just kidding! They found a plane for us but we'd have to take a bus there.
12:30: We walked to another terminal, down the steps, and onto a bus.
2am: The plane finally left. I had three seats to myself. I stretched out and went to sleep.

THURSDAY, Thai Time:

5pmish: I woke up. I'd missed one meal (big whoop) but slept a lot. We had 2 hours left on the flight. I was so excited! The monitors on the plane were showing "Golden Girls."

7:30: we landed. I met P'Nui, P'Pui, and P'Jenni. Did I mention that in Thailand, everyone's name's rhyme? My name is Nori here. :D We went back to where I'm staying (The C building this time. It's where I stayed originally) and then went for noodles. Mmm. Noodles. Oh! And at the noodle place, the TV was showing "The Wire" with Thai subtitles. Weird!

Then I went home, talked to my boyfriend and my mother (not at the same time) and went to bed.

2am: my friend Chay called. (I'm using Nui's phone. Email me if you want the number?) I had trouble going back to sleep, which is why I'm blogging to you now!

Other interesting facts:
I don't have a battery for my camera so I didn't take any pictures yet (the restaurant pictures are from a website called Bild Zoom). I left it in my apartment. Boo.

2009-05-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Movies

I don't know why I feel compelled to write about this, but on the plane over, I watched:

1) Fashion Police! The Academy Awards
I was amused that they had this as a choice so I had to watch it. Natalie Portman was the best dressed female and Jessical Biel was the worst. It was a nice way to de-graduate school. It was like watching an hour of People Magazine.

2) Twilight
This is a teenage vampire movie. I know you knew that. Did you know that everyone in the movie has one expression? I mean, the expression is unique to them, but each character has one face they make throughout the whole movie. Other than that, it made the time go by. What else are we looking for on the plane?

3) Snakes on a Plane
Just kidding! I just wanted to say I watched this on the plane.

4) Cadillac Records
I liked this. It's a crash course in blues history. Still my favorite music. Mos Def played Chuck Berry. He was fun and definitely the best part.

2009-05-15T19:45:00.001-07:00

Normal

I'm back in Bangkok for a month, after being away for a year. It rained for the first 24 hours and I remembered how much the rain impacted my writing while I was here. I mostly wrote poems, and I think there was some new description of rain in most of them. It's the start of the rainy season, which I enjoy because it's the weather most distinct from the American midwest.

Joel's here with me, and we spent most of the day at the Poll where I used to work. It was, of course, great to see everyone again. P'Nui put me right to work--I joined her in a meeting where we entertained a couple of Malaysian visitors for about three hours, describing 'our' work at the poll to them. It was fun. I assumed my once usual role of clarifying what other people were trying to say. It's a neat exercise for a writer, I suppose. Meanwhile, Joel walked around the campus. I think it was all right for him.

At lunch, we ate at a somtam restaurant I loved for its yam pladuk foo (fish and mango salad) over sticky rice. We ate with my coworkers--P'Nui, P'Noom, P'Jo, P'Otto, P'Pam, and P'Pun (P'George is photographing Prachuap Kiri Kahn this weekend). During the meal, P'Pam said, "We're back to normal." That comment had a strong effect on me. I was pretty moved, I mean. I had spent plenty of meals with them before, getting about 25% of the conversation, always feeling like the farang and the odd one out. I thought that maybe I threw their group off. That I made things not normal for them, I mean. His comment seemed to insinuate that my absense was strange to them. That blew me away.

It also was strange to think of the past year as being "not normal," with all the stress of graduate school, the idea was kind of relief. I do admit that I never really felt like I left, which is really bizarre. What's even more bizarre is that I feel the same way every time I return to Detroit. I have two places I feel really comfortable, and that's what the comment was really about, I think, anyway. P'Pam said it to be welcoming, and it worked--the comment made me feel very welcome and very comfortable. Thai people have a gift for that. Anyway, 'normal,' has never struck me as something to strive for.

Did I mention it's nice to be back? The food is just as good as I remember. Haven't gotten a hold of a pineapple yet, though...

(Please God, Please, Don't Let Me Be Normal--The Fantasticks).

2008-06-09T00:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Me

Last night I had a birthday dinner with some of my fellowship friends.

Chay and Tee both play the guitar, though not the same kind. :)

Rupar and Em are really hilarious together.

Maybe Em is just hilarious all the time. May looks amused.

My friend Lee (below) owns a clothing stand near Big C. She came by to give me a gift (a necklace), but she had to leave really quick. I was glad to see her before I left.
We ate at an Issan restaurant on Panasin. It was some of the best Issan food I've had yet. Why May didn't tell me about it before, I have no idea...
Good lord this was good food.
Then we went and got some frozen yogurt.
Unfortunately, that frozen yogurt I'm eating tasted pretty bad...

This is a table decoration.
This is the wallpaper:

The Ivy cafe is also an office for the Secret of Success...
Walking back to the C Building... near the library:
I'm going to miss these creatures:

2008-06-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

Last time to see P'Tao (and Kim)

..for a while

I went over to the Korean part of town and met them at their new Internet shop that I didn't even know they had:

Then we went over to the riverside Korean restaurant:

Korean Pizza:

P'Tao's cousin... sort of.
I'm pretty serious in this picture... Not very giggly.
This salad was so yummy:

Korean bacon:
Arroi.

2008-06-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

My Tropical Backyard

I have a garden behind my building that I like to call my backyard. Here's the photos I took so I'll never forget it.

This is a Sala--like a Selah, it's a place to rest. :) I've come to know these in Thailand to be a sign of wealth. I think the university I live at is fond of showing wealth.

Waterlilies! In my backyard.

These parrots speak Thai, which I think is easier for them to speak than English. You don't need your teeth and tongue as much to sing Thai.

I live in the building behind the Sala.

There are a few of these statues all through the garden.

These posts are one of my favorite things about Catholicism.

2008-06-07T05:55:00.000-07:00

Meeting in the Sky

A few weeks ago, P'Nui had meeting down in the center of town, on top of a sky scraper. I had to go down there to get my visa to visit India, so I joined up with her. Here are some photos.

These are the view from the window:

P'Nui and P'Nheng

And that's P'Nui, taking the skytrain in the opposite direction that I'm going in :)

2008-06-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Not red states, not blue states, but...

I’m getting ready to return back to live in the US after almost two years and so it’s a time of reflection about what was on my mind when I came here and what’s on my mind when I’m leaving. Some of it is quite repetitive from other entries, but I wanted to try to get all these thoughts down in one post. The result is quite rambly, I’m afraid.

–

When I came here, I was short of shaken up by America. I was not that patriotic, mostly cynical and disheartened at what I saw from the government. What I saw from the government (and still see) is the bipartisanship, the wielding of “issues” into “sides,” and the demand to make a choice and choose a side. It seemed like everything I did could be labeled as “right” or “left,” and that unnerved me. I saw that even reading the Bible has a “conservative” approach and a “liberal” approach. The liberals pull out this list of verses and the conservatives pull out that list, and then we argue ourselves into conservative and liberal churches.* We argue but we don’t listen.

It’s not just issues and it’s not just the Bible, it’s what news channel we watch, whether we prefer Letterman or Leno, it just goes on and on and on. Two sides.

I guess that’s why coming to Thailand floored me. The people are incredibly unified in their love for each other and for the King. Right before I left, I stopped at Harry M’s house and he told me I would love it here, he always wanted to go because it might be the last place on earth where “It’s still cool to be nice.” He was so right. He is, most of the time. ;) Now that I’m here, I know why. It’s the King. Seriously, people, it’s because of their king.

I’ve talked to some ex-pats here who like to say the King holds Thailand back, but I say they aren’t paying attention. Or maybe the concept of good reverence is just way beyond their comprehension. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was a sticker in Thai on the van that picked me up from the airport. I asked P’Nui what it meant and she said, “Volunteer for the King.” And I asked, “Does the King have a volunteer organization?” And she said he does, but it just meant that every time someone does good, it gives respect to the king. I later found out that Thai people call him “Dad.” They call each other “P,” which means older sibling, or “Nong,” which means younger sibling. And they opened up to me from day one, urging me to refer to them as my siblings. And I do. I feel like they are my siblings.

Thai sometimes seems to me like a club, a state of being and the code of conduct is to “Take care” of each other. (The quotation marks are because take care is one of the few English words many Thais know). The rule is “be nice.” It’s almost like there is a nice competition. There was a time when I worried that my Thai friends only treated me well because I was a foreigner. But I see my coworkers wait for each other to finish their sentences, bring huge bags of food to share with the entire office from whatever region they just came from on a long weekend, sit in long traffic jams without getting annoyed, let alone angry–the list just goes on and on. And it’s not just people I know. When my dad, brother, and ‘cousin,’ were here, we went to a resort as the first foreigners who ever stayed there, and the couple who ran the place were so accommodating–they called us to see if we wanted to ride with them to the resort from Bangkok, offered us a ride home, and after we stayed at the resort, the husband dropped us off at the national park and helped me bargain to get a cheaper entrance fee.

This is the Thai land of the bloodless coup, after all. This is the Thai land of the mostly bloodless everything. I feel so incredibly safe here. This is why people come here and don’t leave. This is why people come here but leave and come back, again and again and again.

It’s not perfect. I’m not saying this is paradise, that I agree with everything I see, or that the US is bad bad bad and Thailand is the only place that works. There are several things that I prefer about Detroit (the artist community being the number one void of Thailand that I’ve experienced.) Even so, in most regards, Thailand is a great place for me, even though I recognize that these people are humans and we’re all flawed, of course. But flaw and kindness go well together. The result is unity.

I feel like I’m returning home to a very different America than when I left. I will have a chance to vote for someone who shares my desire to see unity in the United States. That, itself, floors me. We don’t agree on everything, Obama and I, but we agree on that. The US will never have a King, though I think that was the intention with this “One nation, under God, with justice and liberty for all,” idea. And actually, in Thailand, there is not liberty to say and do whatever you feel like–not like in the US. Irreverence for the King is enough to land you in jail. This is what separates the United States from Thailand the most–that the view of the overlying authority (King or God) differs in the way that God doesn’t ask us to throw everyone in jail every time he is criticized. I’m not sure if the Thai King asks for that either, but luckily, he doesn’t give us a whole lot to resent about him. He’s put a lot of effort into setting a good example for Thais to follow.

The more I think about it, my desire for unity really has little to do with the US, but the entire world. It’s not practical, but I want the entire world to behave as if we have a Father who gets respected every time we’re kind, and that we’re all brothers and sisters. No, it’s not practical, but I desire it none the less.

–

*I should probably note that my parents’ church, the church I grew up in, has had a unique ability keep the right and left of things pushed to the side when worshiping together. There, the fellowship and friendships occur between people who vote quite differently from each other. There are other fellowships in the area that behave the same way. So I’m not talking about “all” here…

2008-05-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

I've taken to scolding myself at the end of every day when I don't eat a pineapple. I mean, it's one thing to dread leaving but another thing entirely to dread leaving AND skip out on the pineapples.

2008-05-27T01:13:00.001-07:00

things I'm ready for:

original music
autumn
apples
berries
mexican food
mexicans
getting yelled at by the drive-thru kid
deep conversations that are not typed
bonfires
more original music
clutching warm beverages
driving. yes! i feel i am ready to drive a car
walks through rosedale park
the nursing home bible study
my aunt donna and uncle tom's living room
the seven brothers
daily show/colbert report
the new DIA
easedropping in restaurants (and understanding 100% of what I hear)
actually getting to consider the facebook event invitations
attending a bethany p party. finally.
graffiti i can understand
robz's back yard
festivals
not having to take an elevator 14 floors up to my bed
seeing movies when they come out
more original music
and

you

2008-05-27T00:49:00.000-07:00

WHEN I GO

I put my ipod on random and the Over the Rhine song, "When I Go," came up. I was stunned, the way I get stunned by songs that seem to perfectly fit my mood and situation. I understand the song can mean lots of things to different people (all good songs can), but you can probably can guess how I interpreted the chorus:

"I want to know
Will it make a difference
When I go?"

And that this is pretty much how I'm thinking of Thailand:

"I just want to hold you
In my gaze for awhile
So I can remember
Every line around your smile"

--

I have so much love for my officemates. Do other people love their officemates? Amata asked me today, "Can I borrow your listen-ear?" and I knew that she meant headphones, just like I knew that she meant surprised when she said "shock cinema," or honey when she said "waterbee." And if she ever catches me listening to a song that stuns my face into a "serious" expression, she says, "I love you. I miss you," and I believe her.

--

This song really gets me because it sort of exposes a huge reason why this next transition is so melancholy for me. I'm afraid of vanishing from a place that I have invested so much time in, and then, eventually, being forgotten because we'll all be concentrating on other things. My mother used to tell me that I can't do everything (though it rarely kept me from trying). I guess that includes being in two places at one time?

2008-05-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

FARANG NOWW?

I might be the coldest person in Thailand. My officemates (P's Amata, Nok, and Kea) usually have the air conditioning on at full blast and they wear little white blouses and skirts. I tried skirts in the office but my legs get covered with goosebumps, so even after the university deemed that every woman shall be in skirts (hmph), I still wear pants.

The fact that I am always clutching myself or rubbing my hands together in the office, in taxis or buses or cars with too much AC, and movie theaters, really bends the minds of my Thai friends. They just don't get it and it is a never ending source of joking for them. "Farang nowww?" they ask, which means "The Farang is cold?" They also like to point out that I grew up with winters. Sometimes I wonder if they think I grew up in an igloo.

Now I am wondering... when I was in the US, was I usually more cold than other people? I know I am a cold hands person. Is this because of bad circulation? I think we must use less air conditioning in the US, or something. Anyway, I have certainly busted the myth that Farangs never get cold.

2008-05-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

A Trip to the Grocery Store

I caught wind of the fact that I have a one way ticket to the USA, so I thought I might appreciate it if I took the time to take pictures of humdrum things, like going to Big C (the Meijer of Thailand). I understand that this could potentially be very boring for my readers...

First, I leave campus through that gate:

Turn right, and I am at the songtao stop. Hurray, my songtao is already waiting for me:
They raised the price on this thing. It used to be six baht flat.
We ride down soi 24 and then turn the corner to join up with the other Songtaos and get off:

Then I walk past the line of motorcycle taxis,
a market,

a stray dog,
...and there it is: Big C.

But first I have to go up these stairs...

and past-- whatever this,

around this overpass...

And...um. There are a lot of people in Bangkok:

I took picture for Joel. This is all fish sauce:
There's a market on the first floor.

I took more pictures of Soi 24 on the way home:

Those purple things are these:

Mangosteens. They are so amazing. Ask my dad.

2008-05-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

I will miss these conversations.

P'Nui: When I say "You're welcome," or "My pleasure," what is the difference?

Nora: They mean the same thing.

P'Nui: But how about for the level?

Nora: Yeah, you can say either one--one isn't more formal than the other. I'm pretty sure that "my pleasure" is older, that's all. It might be.

P'Nui: How about, "All my pleasure?"

Nora: I've never heard that one.

P'Nui: Really?

Nora: You can say, "My deepest pleasure," but that sounds sort of funny.

P'Nui: What can I say for the most extreme?

Nora: The most extreme?

P'Nui: Yes, for the level.

Nora: Let's see... "It is my greatest, most profound pleasure to serve you. There is nothing I would rather be doing than meeting your every need. I would rather jump off a cliff into a sea full of sharks than to not serve you---"

P'Nui: Okay, okay. Too many words to remember that one...

2008-05-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

MY NEW HAIRCUT

(Is pretty much the same as last time I got a haircut?)

Without humidity:
With humidity:

2008-04-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

COLLECTED IMAGES

...of Dad, Ian, and Will's trip to Thailand, April 9-21

The Arrival:
Destination I: Bangkok

Destination II: Ayutthaya

Showing off the "zoom" on my new camera:

Destination III: Kanchanaburi:

"Why will you go all that way to see just a bridge?" (P'George)

Back West with the P's:

The Photo-Master. See his pictures of the day here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36066&id=507190879

We saw this on the way home from Koh Chang:

2008-04-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, May!

On April 7 (same day as Fenny's), we had a full day of eating and playing with my new camera. I won't tell you how old May is but I'll give you a clue: She doesn't age. Her dad said she was 18 this year. ;)

First we ate at this Farang chain called "Sizzler." Do you all have those in the US? They are the closest thing to US food in Thailand, I think.
That's May's cousin, Karen. Our friend Cel, is with is too. They are both Filippina.

Then I discovered the weird color function on my camera. P'Em has lettuce in her teeth because she's such a jokah.

Edith was there, too. with black and white water bottles.

Then I discovered "Digital Macro":

I am astounded by how amazing this picture came out and how unappetizing that salad looks. It's some kind of seafood thing May picked up at the salad bar.

I ate three or four of these chocolate mousses. I thought I'd never eat again.

That thought bubble would say something like, "Am I going to accept this invitation to eat dinner at May's apt tonight?" because I was soooooo full. Eem MAK, we say in Thai.

These guys were on my place mat. I love my camera!
Part II: May's room. She made all this food!

That is her cousin's child.

More of May's family.

Edith picked up pieces of cake at the mall. This is how Thais do it--they buy slices, not whole cakes. Really, they are enough.

2008-04-07T05:32:00.000-07:00

EATING LUNCH IN THE OFFICE

Last week I ate lunch with P's Amata, Nok-N, and Kea, potluck style. I used the event as a photo opportunity so I could play with the settings on my new camera.

This is called pak boon (in the English versions of menus, morning glory). It's the most common vegetable I've found in Thailand. I just picked it up from the corner rice shop. It was my contribution. Those are pork slices and there was shrimp in it, too.

I'm not sure what this is called, but P'Amata brought it. Her mother-in-law made it, I think. It is essentially a bean dip, though there is ground pork in it, chilis, and it had some peanut sauce. It was very flavorful--spicy and delicious. A great topping for rice.

P'Kea made that chicken. There's also pork. Thai (Buddhists) love to eat pork. I don't think I need to tell you that it was delicious--you can tell by looking at it.

We ate it all on top of red rice. I guess it's healthier. There are several kinds of rice here and this is one I don't get to see much. P'Kea brought that, too.

Fruits for dessert. I have a bag of that pineapple every day. It's only ten baht and so sweet and tangy. There's also watermelon and guava there. Guava is called farang in Thai, the same tones and sounds that are in the word they use for Westerner. So if someone offers me farang I play out the joke where I saym "sure" and pretend to eat my arm. Farang isn't very sweet--it's mostly watery and a tad sour. The fruit, I mean. :)

Eating (and gossiping) in action.

2008-03-26T07:57:00.000-07:00

Amazing....

Snow in Thailand!

2008-03-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

Thai Language fact:

ฃอโทษ (ค่ะ หรือ ครับ)

"Kor toh (kah or krup)" is the phrase we use to mean "Excuse me."

But literally translated, it means "punish me." So, while we English speakers are asking for pardon for our sins, Thai people are owning up to what they did...

2008-02-29T01:17:00.000-08:00

ALERT

Do you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who might want to come work at the ABAC Poll? It would be great to give my boss a reference of someone who likes writing emails to foreigners, trying new kinds of food, sitting in long Thai meetings (great for learning how to meditate), answering questions about the English language, rewriting sentences so they make sense, keeping conversations going at awkward luncheons, and warm weather. Let me know. :)

2008-02-29T01:01:00.000-08:00

That picture was brought to you by googling "homesick." His name is Homesick James.

I've been homesick a little this week and I think because finally, I'm starting to have an idea of when I'll come home. I applied to graduate schools last fall to start next fall, without much guarantee that I'd get in one--the departments I applied for, in Creative Writing, are all pretty small. Small, and I can't go unless someone will pay me to attend their school because, well, I work for Thai baht here--doesn't translate to much US money, unfortunately. Last week I heard good news from one of the schools so I know that I will be home by August. It's funny but I think that is the unrest I have felt in the past few days, like I'm on the edge of something, is homesickness. I'm pretty good at warding it off but it's been more difficult this week. So I'm trying extra hard to keep my mind on what I should be enjoying here.

The next big thing to come up, though, is in April I'll have some visitors, namely my dad, my brother, and my buddy (... ha!) I'm looking forward to being able to share things like 10 baht bags of fruit we buy on the street, how fruit juice=fruit smoothie here, the view from my room, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

In other news, Bethany has about three weeks left in Thailand before she returns to Missouri, where her parents are. She's finished teaching now, which is a huge accomplishment on her part. I'm a little jealous that she will return home with teaching experience but I suppose I'll get my own teaching experience soon enough. All experience is worth something, if thrown into the right direction.

2008-02-26T23:21:00.000-08:00

LIKE THAT TIME I WAS IN 'NAM (Part 2)

Here's the hotel breakfast. I could eat that french bread for breakfast for the rest of my life.

View from the hotel room window:

Our hotel room:

Jang had a personalized stamp made--that's her name in Vietnamese:

My travelling P's: (Ying, Nok, Jut, Jang, and Nui)

"Solidarity forever..."

A pretty red Chinese looking bridge at the city center.

Sidewalks are great places to park your motorcycle but not great places to walk in Hanoi:

P'Nui pretending to own this one:

The girl next to Jang was her student, Andy. Jang recruited Andy's cousin to study in Bangkok (left of Andy)

Nothing like a good old dead chicken head to look at while you eat:

That wax papery stuff is made of rice. It's used for wraps around t noodles, vegetables, egg, and pork. Then we dip it in a sauce. It's delicious:

We hung around in a "Ethnographical Museum" for a while.

I just like to take pictures of signs:

These little orange triangle trees were everywhere:

When you're on vacation, everything is a photo opportunity:

P'Nui has most of the trip in a motion picture:

Outside there was a park with a water puppet show:

It's always Christmas in Hanoi:

This is a soup called "feu." I ate it twice in Hanoi. Warmed me right up.

2008-02-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

LIKE THAT TIME WHEN I WAS IN 'NAM...

(Part I)

Last week I went to Hanoi for three days.

The trip was organized by P'Nui's friend from college, P'Jang. She has been to Vietnam regularly because her work is to recruit Vietnamese students to study at a Thai university. She's their advisor. Here is a picture of her at the airport, wearing a Vietnam flag t-shirt, and looking fabulous:

(You may recognize her from photos of when she took Joel and co. around Ayutthaya for Songkran-Thai New Year.)

Many of the buildings were sooo skinny!

I'm pretty sure that this banner has something to do with the Chinese New Year, which was still being celebrated in Hanoi. (I took this picture from a balcony on a coffee shop)

It's like this in Bangkok too:

Besides P'Jang and P'Nui, we also had P'Ying (Nui's friend from high school) P'Joot (Ying's friend) and P'Nui's literal P(sow--elder sister), P'Nok:

Nora (to Nui): It's always Christmas in Vietnam

Nui (to Nora, after someone knocks the tree down): It's not Christmas anymore.

On the second day we took a ferry tour of Halong Bay. One of Jang's students (Thai) joined us. His name is Ron but I thought his name was "Lawn" until the last 5 minutes of our trip to Vietnam.

Nong and P:

At one point in the tour, our guide told us the "lucky cave" was open and that we were very lucky for the opportunity to see it, because it's only open 4 days out of the year (because of the tide). So we got on a small boat and went inside.

Inside was a still pool of water that was supposedly lucky.

Then we stopped and went into a very big cave.

Points to the one who can interpret this:

This rock, our guide told us, symbolizes maternity...:

The secret to all the pretty colors (or the Star Wars influence)

This is a trash can:

Cave II: It had Chinese written by some fishermen, a long, long time ago:

Our guide:

Here is a view from the window on our way home:

I have so many pictures from this trip... Part II coming soon.

2008-02-18T20:31:00.000-08:00

Prachuap Khiri Kahn
Amata and Choc took Bethany and me along on a brief weekend vacation, about two weeks ago.

Our resort:

After we went for a swim in the ocean, they took us to a temple we could see on a mountaintop in the distance.

When we reached the top, we came across this list of rules:

On the way home, we stopped in Hua Hin to eat somtam:

One day I'm going to look at that picture and weep.

2008-02-04T23:31:00.000-08:00

Random Facts, Lies, and Statements

1) It's been rainy this week. This is rare, I think, for Bangkok in January.

2) I went to the beach last weekend (in Prachuap Khiri Kahn). It didn't rain there.

3) Congratulations to my grandmother, who recently finished a painting of Machu Picchu.

4) P'Choc waited 10 years before he married Amata. He was working to save money for her. That means Jacob has nothing on P'Choc (or maybe Jacob does, because he worked 14 years for Rachel? Hm.) During this time, he owned a restaurant and a dog groomer.

5) I'm in the future. I knew who would win the Superbowl and I know who won the most delegates.

6) If you have too much money and don't know what to do with it, Night Light could use it.

7) For lent I am giving up fireplaces, wool socks, bulky sweaters, skiing, and snow boots. But not trips to Vietnam.

8) I am addicted to playing scrabble with people on Facebook.

9) Naa and Daniel moved to Canada last week (and then there were five).

2008-01-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

MSN Update
(To recap, I am going to share the MSN "headings" people have next to their screen names on the instant messenger we use at work.)

I've become a great woman since I've had you in my life

P. Alcicorne (Madagascar form)

I see but say nothing

If I live every moment, it won't change any moment, it's still a part of me and you.. I'll always have you!

Year 2

Let's begin to take free dinner

2008-01-10T17:32:00.000-08:00

I'm not 100% sure yet--it's still a rumor at this point--but I've just been told that we'll have to wear black until April. 100 days.

2008-01-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

My friend from work, Cross (the only person in the office I can call "Nong") is the boy to the right of the girl in the gray suit. This is from a website about the King. Pretty Cool.

2008-01-07T01:24:00.000-08:00

NEW LOOK

I was getting tired of orange.

2008-01-07T00:57:00.000-08:00

P'Nui sent me this to watch. Cracked me up.

2008-01-04T01:18:00.003-08:00

The king's sister passed away two days ago. In response, everyone who works at the university must wear black or white for 15 days.

2008-01-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

ENGLISH ON TOUR

Last Friday, Amata overheard that a few of my coworkers were going on a trip up north and asked them if I could go (before she even asked me if I wanted to go--but I suppose she didn't need to ask).

THE CAST:

P'Gung is a supervisor for field surveys. She arranged the trip after she supervised some work with members of the Akha hilltribe near Chiang Rai and they asked her to come back and visit. She was our driver--a trooper, since the trip took 14 hours one way...

P'Jhet coined the trip "English on Tour" when he heard I was coming.

P'Kong enjoys joking by calling animals by their wrong names. For instance, he told me a cat was a rabbit and buffalo was a tiger.

P'Mon's name means "pure," and it fits her well. She is very sweet.

The Farang

We left at 3am. Our first top: 7-11 (or jet sip-et, I like to call it).

This is my first time eating Mama Noodles (tm) from the microwave. In jet sip-et, they let you come in and cook'm. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to peel the top off all the way when i poured the water in it. So much to learn about Thailand.

Stop 2: Tak Province for Breakfast. I thought the Mama noodles were supposed to be breakfast but boy was I mistaken. We ate here:

This is the Farang pretending to have eaten all those bowls of noodles.

Stretching before we get back into the car...

Stop Three: Lunch at 4pm. We had Thai Muslim food (halal), which is one of my favorites. Kao-mod-gai.

Arroi.

Stop 4: Car switch. We met P'Gung's friend Bancha in Chiang Rai because Gung's car couldn't go along the rustic mountain roads.

We stopped at this house to take showers and play with the kids before we went to Bancha's house in the neighboring village.
Stop 5: First we went into the town of Mae Salong for a hilltribe tea festival. We were very lucky to be in the area at this time.

She's wearing traditional Akha clothing. Lots of layers because it's chilly in the mountains. We were quite cold--I hadn't felt that chilly since the campout.
There was an area where visitors could play with stilts.And a stage in another area.We ate Issan food. I was trying to pick at that chicken wing with a spoon and fork and finally P'Jhet demanded that I use my hands. I didn't want to because they were pretty dirty, but when I finally gave in, he found it to be an important photo opportunity.Then we finally saw Bancha's house. His mother and brother are in the next picture, making us tea over their in-house firepit. It was so good to warm up and the fire pit heated the whole two room house. Jhet took this picture when he got up for his morning prayer. I got up soon after that and he, Kong, and I walked around the village a bit.

Putting Joel's window garden to shame:

These girls were getting ready to go to Mae Salong to do a performance--the festival lasted three days, I think. Then we went back to the market.

Next we drove to my other coworker's house, P'Aom on the way home.
We spent one night there and then went back to Bangkok, stopping on the way at a Petrified Forest and another somtam (Issan food) stand... We also stopped at temple. This was a scarf shop near the temple. Almost home now. P'Jhet snapping flashes of camera shots in my face made it very hard to sleep.

2007-12-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

For the Record...

I am not engaged.

I probably won't be for a long time, considering that I am in Thailand and my boyfriend is in Detroit. But if I do become engaged, I'll tell you.

2007-12-19T18:17:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite things about my job is seeing what my coworkers write for their MSN status message. Lots of times it's (sort of) in English.

Current Examples:

In your heart and your mind, I'll stay with you for all time!

I am dead. z z z ....

"Dog has its own day"

Actions speak louder than words.

Mind your own business.

2007-12-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

80th Birthday Fireworks
(P'George's photos)

He still believes he's mastering the art of firework photography, but I think these are pretty good. Here are some examples of the fireworks we watched:

Color wheel

Smiley Face

These burst out of eachother--
Tree-esque

I'm the first one to point out that this is a

Chicken

"80"

2007-12-05T01:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, King of Thailand

Last night I accompanied P'Nui and P'George to the King's fireworks display, which was really a photo opportunity for P'George. I don't have pictures at this point but maybe he'll let me snag a few later on.

We rushed out of the university to make the fireworks, which my P's thought started at 7pm. We took a boat to get down there--something P'Nui isn't too fond of but it was the fastest way. That's when I learned that a) one of the princesses has a palace along the canal and b) the boat must slow down past the palace, as not to make any noise. That fascinated me.

We'd arrived at 6ish and then found a good spot to see the fireworks when we learned that the show wouldn't start until after 10. So then we roamed around the palace/government official area. It was decked out with bright lights and people in yellow shirts.

Then we returned to our spots. They turned the lights off for the fireworks, which were, to be cliche, spectacular. They were innovative--from Japan--and in shapes of chickens, smiley faces, fish, and the Thai flag. Very Gandolf-esque.

Then we followed P'George around for more pictures and sat in a McDonald's to view them at the end of the night--we didn't buy any food, just sat in their seats. By the time we all went home, it was almost 2am.

This is definitely the best time to be in Thailand.

2007-12-01T06:41:00.000-08:00

The Thai King's Birthday...

is coming up on December 5th. This means we get a day off of work. There are flyers all around the school requesting that we wear yellow or pink for the next five days.

Pink?

I understand the yellow--that's the Buddhist color for Monday, and the King was born on a Monday. We've worn yellow every Monday for the past two years to celebrate him, first his 60th anniversary for ascending to the throne and now his 80th birthday. But Pink is Tuesday's color, the color to remember Chulalongkorn, who was born on a Tuesday. I've noticed that more people have been wearing pink King shirts though...

I was puzzled about why pink is associated with the current King, until I found this article on Cnn.com

In case you are as delighted as I am with Thailand's color-day scheme, I'll remind you:

Sunday: Red

Monday: Yellow

Tuesday: Pink

Wednesday: Green

Thursday: Orange

Friday: Blue

Saturday: Purple

What's your birthday color? Mine is Orange because I was born on a Thursday.

2007-11-23T16:23:00.000-08:00

So I just got back from Chai-Nat (it's pronounced like China with a t at the end) for a "business meeting."
The only think I could contribute was to ask the interviewee if I could record the session. I asked her in Thai (kaw anuyad a-tape?) and then she thought I was fluent. I'm not sure if by the end she gathered I wasn't... I didn't understand the meetings though. Maybe 15%. That's not enough.

Taking a roadtrip to Chai Nat from Bangkok is about equivalent to taking a roadrip to Southfield, Michigan from Grand Rapids--they have the same amount of remarkability for the same amount of travel time. But on the way home we stopped at Supanburi and saw an aquarium and some alligators. The fish were big, some of them, but not that remarkable either, except P'Nui, P'Gwang, and P'Jar made hilarious comments about their expressions. It was just another opportunity for a Thai comedy routine. Everything is an opportunity for a Thai comedy routine, except the royal family...

...Speaking of which: During the trip I had my second dream about the Thai King. This, according to P'Nui, makes me a Thai person and very lucky. :) In the first dream, which I had about 5 months ago or something, I met him sitting on his (actual) throne and was quite shocked to find that he could speak English. He said, "Well, you know, I was born in Boston." I think he actually was born in Boston.

In the second dream (I had the other night) I was walking around a garden and bumped into him while he was trying to walk up a path. I didn't knock him over or anything, but I talked to him about his music and told him that I, too, love the blues. Then I told him I sang some of his music. He was very kind again, but seemed exhausted. I think that he is actually exhausted.

Well, anyway, I should be posting pictures from the short trip soon. P'Nui took them. I don't know how interesting they are, but oh well.

Oh, and the high-light of the trip was when we were in a van and I looked over and there was a puppy riding on a motorcycle. It had no chain, (no helmet, ha!), no strap to keep it on the seat. It just sat and rode as the girl driving the motorcycle zipped through town. I told P'Nui to get her camera but the motorcyle was gone by the time we got it out. P'Nui called the sight, "Amazing Chai Nat!" which still makes me laugh.

2007-11-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

THANKFUL FOR

The Usual:
-My family, immediate and extended, who are perfect for me
-A life time of good friends coming into my life at all the right times, who have shown patience with me and continue to stick by me through all my moods.
-My boyfriend who also came into my life at the right time and who is respectful, supportive, and understanding of me
-Brothers and sisters in Christ from all parts/phases of my 25 years :)

Each person in my life is an example of God at work, meeting my needs.

Specifically This Year:
-A chance to be in Thailand another year and learn more about this fascinating place
-My fellowship, who teach me so much about Jesus
-An amazing job with even more amazing colleagues
-My P's, who have taken such good care of me
-This amazing opportunity to get to know Bethany better while she's here

And...
-The fact that Bethany is in the room next door
-Amata and Choc's wedding, which was one of the greatest things I've ever seen
-The view from my window
-P'Jar's coffee shop
-That both Ian and Joel have been going to Dale's
-www.zoetrope.com
-P'Nui's grammar
-P'George's spelling
-May D.'s sense of humor
-The ability to bless people with music
-How music blesses me
-Time to write
-Youtube is back on in Thailand
-All our silly (and not so silly) groups on facebook
-That Bethany P. had Dan K. talk to Tessa P. on the phone.
-Joel's phone cards went from $10 for one hour this year to $10 for 700 minutes.
-Everytime I can read a word in Thai
-That guitars are portable (as opposed to pianos)
-The characters that swim around my brain waiting to come out in word docs.
-Notebooks and pens
-All the good memories I have of my Grandma Bonner
-The 12th floor of my building
-That God has used Leviticus, Numbers, Exodus, and Genesis to speak to me lately.
-Yam Pbladook Foo (An Issan dish)
-Bamee Tom Yum sai moo sap (A Thai soup)
-All my little Indian(restaurant)s
-Edith's laugh
-Seven-Eleven ice cream
-Indian tea
-Oatmeal in the mornings
-The ability to bargain in Thai
-Not having to drive
-The last two Radiohead albums
-Thai babies in yellow shirts
-Bible studies with Bose
-Poetry braids
-Uncle Karl joined the choir
-Coconut ice cream
-Adjan Noppadon's kindess to me (everyone's, but he's my boss so it's an extra blessing)
-Technology (makes home not so far)
-The non stop laughter that goes on here
-The Thai King
-Alex's wisdom
-Knowing God is with me all the way over here
-All the men from India that are hearing about Jesus in Detroit
-Instant messaging (is free and helps me keep in touch best with my mom and with Lisa)
-How far cameras have come in the last three years
-Being able to share an office with P's Amata, Kea, and Nok Sirin
-Business trips
-Winter in Thailand (is perfect and dreamlike)
-The collection of Flannery O'Connor stories my brother sent me
-James Brown's Greatest Hits
-That Thomas came here and boosted our fellowship for a few weeks
-Learning to eat fish
-Issan music in some song taos
-So many chances to love
-Being loved

2007-11-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

Months ago, I learned this over lunch with Amata. It's a Thai buddhist death prayer:

ไปไม่กลับ bpai mai glahb
go don't come back
หลับไม่ตื่น lahp mai tdeun
sleep don't wake up
ฟื้นไม่มี feun mai mee
never resurrect
หนีไม่พ้น nee mai pohn
this is inevitable

2007-11-16T05:28:00.000-08:00

Wedding II

(Again, P'George's photos...)

I said in my last entry that I'd organize the photos by day, but I forgot to include this bit from the first day. So here's the rest of the trip.

On the second day we went on this boat ride to see some dolphins. We didn't see dolphins but the views were worth the ride.

These are some random kids P'G snapped a few photos of. This was my favorite of those:

The boat ride was followed by another portrait session.

Then we went to eat the best seafood I'll probably ever have.

This was the view while we ate:
Then we went to the beach for more photo-ops. I think we were supposed to go to another temple but this beach visit took too much time. :o)
Self-portrait:
Bethany and I were the only ones who went swimming so we're dripping with salt-water in this picture. Ech. But it's worth it. The sea feels like bathwater and doesn't smell as bad as the Pacific.

The next day we had the wedding in two parts. In the morning we had the ceremony and we all dressed casually.

That's my boss and his son, Mieu.
P'Choc is waiting in line outside Amata's house so he can go pay his friends for her...
...but first he has to go through a room full of smoke:

Now he's bargaining with Amata's friends and sisters so they will let him pass and he can take Amata to the ceremony.
That guy in the yellow shirt is his uncle.
Whew--Thank God Choc had enough cash on him...
After the ceremony, we all ate and then went and changed our clothes to get ready for the reception, which was at a hotel. Bethany and I got out quicker than the rest of the girls so everyone who was sitting around got to play portrait studio.

These are my 1920's pictures.

This continued at the hotel where Amata and Choc had their reception.

2007-11-14T18:15:00.000-08:00

Wedding II--Nakorn Sii Tammarat

(first day)

My good friend, P'Amata, got married last weekend (of Take a Chill Pill Pleeeease fame) and we were lucky enough to have P'George to take pictures the entire time. There are so many pictures so I'm going to make three entries, one for each day.

Our plane left at 6am so we had to be at the airport at 5:30. (Domestic Flight.) We had to go to the old airport, which is on the other side of town, so Bethany, P'George, and I had to leave the university area at 4:30am. I wole up at 3:15am, so that's why I look like a zombie in these pictures of the first day.

From the plane ride:

There are three Nok's in this picture. Nok Sirin, Nok Naruemon, and Nok Air.

We stayed in a spa that I think is owned by Amata's aunt. We actually didn't see Amata much. She arranged the whole trip for us, though. First stop: Eat "dim som" for breakfast:

Arroi mak mak.

Then we went a'templing.

Wat (Temple) II

Then we went back to the spa and P'George played portrait studio with my gorgeous Thai friends.

P'Pun

P'Nok Naruemon

P'Kea

P'Nok Sirin

P'Tao

2007-11-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

October Where Did You Go?

I'm sorry for neglecting the blog for a month. Here's a bit of what's been happening.

1) Music.

After that last performance, I took a step out of the music scene. That performance had me at the choir house six times in one week and I was exhausted. I should be getting back into it shortly, but maybe try to balance the time I spend there a little.

2) Weddings.

Two weekends ago, Bethany and I joined the fellowship people and attended a wedding between two of them, Naa and Daniel, in a province called Prachuap Kiri Kahn. We took lots of pictures on Bethany's camera but her computer has had problems so we haven't been able to get them up yet. Here are some pictures from the wedding I stole from May and Naa:

After the wedding, Bethany and I stayed in the area and hung out for a couple days at a resort town called Hua Hin. Pictures of that are on their way.

A week from today, we'll be going to Amata's wedding in Nakorn Si Tamarat. I'm looking forward to the weekend with my friends from work. Bethany and I are preparing to sing a song during the ceremony. I need to get on rehearsing that...

3) Poetry

My cousin Rachel and I read poetry together for a live Chicago audience on October 27th. The performance was at 4:30pm Chicago time so I had to get up at 4am to perform. It felt like a dream.

We've been "braiding" poetry for over a year now. It works like this: I write a poem and then Rachel immediately responds to my poem with a poem of her own. She can respond to anything in the poem, a line she likes and wants to steal or the general theme. I originally got the idea from Joel who got the idea from Ted Kooser and Jim Harrison's book "Braided Creek." Here is an example of one of my poems that I performed. I'll ask Rachel if I can stick the whole braid on here:

My English-less Thai friend shocked me

with a perfect complete sentence. I wondered why

he knew to ask, "Have you ever seen the rain?"

until I clutched a tiger beer and heard the chorus

of another song I should have known--so popular,

it's big in Bangkok pubs.

Until I heard the song, I thought he referred to the seasonal

aquatic dumping that roars on the office rooftop

and floods through the crack in my fourteenth-story window,

coating the floor.

They say in twenty years this city will submerge

and we'll have to swim to work through a stinking canal.

I've trudged through muck up to my thighs and tripped

in puddles you could set sail through.

A column of rain's headed our way

it's over the river now, a gray tube so thick,

like smoke, drowning Bangkok. I watch

the tropical garden titter in anticipation.

I will wait and I will watch the rain again

for the first time.

The braid had a "places" theme so all our poems were about places. We wrote about California, Guatemala (okay, she did), Detroit, Chicago, and Bangkok.

4) King.

The king has been in the hospital for weeks. Not sure why. So the king paraphenilia has gone up a notch. We took some ABAC Poll pictures today and we were all to wear the King shirts as a uniform. After the official photos, a few of us sat on the ABAC steps and took some pictures. These are from my friend P'Jhet's phone:

2007-09-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Last week's festival

The pictures are from Bethany's camera. The writing is mostly from an email I wrote Lisa. I hate repeating myself.

I'm sorry, but I don't have a picture of myself in the Thai dress I wore. Bethany did film a video of me singing in it, though. I'll see what I can do to get that to you.

This is the sign outside the house where we practice and the next two are from the backyard.

Bethany accompanied me all day yesterday. P'Dtoh drove us, the piano player, and me to the wat (temple) where we'd be performing. We ended up performing outdoors. The weather has cooled down some so it wasn't tooo hot.

I ended up eating a lot that morning--a big bowl of peanutbutter oatmeal in my room (filled me up) and then at the choir house, Dtoh's father set out a huge breakfast for us. I was stuffed. So when we got to the wat, I was almost sick.

Then this Buddhist nun (they also shave their hair and wear white not orange) tried to get me to eat a big lunch and I refused it, about ready to cry because I was stuffed and nervous. She probably thought I was a crazy farang who couldn't eat Thai food. Actually, she ended up being a really sweet aspect of the day because she sort of stayed in our proximity and took care of us, making sure we had water, etc. She talked to Bethany non-stop in Thai and Bethany kept smiling though she didn't understand a word. We both thought this woman was hilarious.

I didn't know that the the event would be a Thai traditional talent competition for elementary school kids. Most schools couldn't make it so there were only 5 schools competing. I guess it was during exam time or something? hm.

The acts consisted of children with tons of make up on, dressed in vibrant Thai costumes. There was always a singer in the center. It was amazing to see kids singing in the traditional Thai style. Each singer had a colorful entourage of other kids trying to dance in sync.

(That last two pictures are of the co-winners).

After they performed and competed, the choir, Lok See Faa, sang three songs. (I am not in that picture.)Then I had to sing one with an ensemble of five. Here are the lyrics:

Oh let me say just to say what I'll say
And will you say just to say what you'll say
Oh let us say just to say what we'll say
And what we'll say? Just something to be gay
To chase the trouble and the cares of the day away
Let us all sing the song we want to be happy today.

This song is a pain to try to sing without losing it, ay.

The tune sounds like ragtime. I'm not sure that the King wrote the lyrics but he wrote the tune which is actually quite good. He might have written the words as a joke?
I wore a yellow jacket and brown pants. After I sang that song (sang as an alto) I rushed back stage to change my outfit and came out with the costume. I had Tee on guitar, Dtoh on violin, and Adjahn (professor) konvrit or something like that on the piano. I said into the microphone, "Sawatdee kah" and smiled and the audience cheered. As soon as I started to sing they cheered again. I laughed.

I got out of that dress and then went with Tee and Bethany to get ice cream, which someone was selling in the temple (Jesus wasn't around to overturn the booth). While I ordered icecream I couldn't think of the word "plao" which means plain. I wanted "I-deem plao". I-deem is how thais pronounce icecream. I love saying it. But I couldn't think to say plao and instead I kept saying "pleng" which means "song." So I probably ordered three icecream songs. Tee looked utterly confused but he didn't laugh at me. I didn't realize I was saying pleng instead of plao. Finally I did notice and started laughing and I got my ideem-plao. Later on, in the car, I described my stupid mistake to Dtoh and Tee and they didn't laugh. Dtoh told me they were amused but they wouldn't laugh at me. I'm still thinking about that. If Amata came to the US and ordered an icecream song, I'd post it on my blog, it would be so funny.

The next picture is of the awards ceremony.
The last picture is right after I sang, goofing around.

2007-09-25T19:19:00.000-07:00

I wrote this in 2002...

and haven't written anything funnier since.

PS: we did not send this.

November 13, 2002
Dear [appropriate name will go here] at Ford Automotives,
For the past three years, my best friend and I have intricately planned an extreme road trip across the United States. By holding jobs at local pharmacies and restaurants, we have raised enough funds to spend two months of Summer 2003 on our nation’s highways (while supporting ourselves as students at Oakland University and the University of Michigan.) We chose this coming summer for a variety of reasons; since we will both graduate in April 2004, this could be our last summer free from responsibilities fulltime jobs or families. We only lack one thing—a car.
We each own an automobile that transports us around the metro-Detroit area, but the mileages on both are approaching 125,000. We would feel much safer knowing that we are in a car that won’t have such a high risk of breaking down.
Why come to you? Because we know your company to distribute superiority in automobiles, and we can trust your models to provide for us a safer, more satisfying adventure than any of the rest. I currently drive a 95 Ford Taurus, and am so pleased with the fabulous shape it’s in and endurance it’s maintained, that I truly wish it didn’t have so many miles on it, so I could boast of it’s quality across the country. But let’s face it, taking a car with 125,000 miles on such a demanding excursion wouldn’t be wise for any road-traveler, no matter what make and model it was.
But then it hit us--what would the good in spreading the news of a 95 Ford Taurus compare to the good in promoting a 2003 Ford Taurus? Surely that model would be far more accessible to buy than my mature make, and we could help your company to continue producing such dependable automobiles as the one I have that has lasted so long.
So to get to the point, we are asking you to provide for us an opportunity to take the vacation of our dreams in exchange for the most effective advertising tactic out there—word of mouth. And this wouldn’t just be any kind of word of mouth advertising, we’re talking Ford-praising from coast to coast, reaching small towns that your television and radio commercials may not be able to reach. Picture this: on July 17, we stop for gas at an Amoco in Nebraska, and the attendant notices the Michigan license plate on our brand new 2003 Ford Taurus. “Where y’all headed?” he/she might ask. “We’re on a two month road trip across the country,” we’ll respond, “and thanks to this Ford Taurus, we’re able to make the trip. We were only going to go if we knew we were driving the most dependable car—and being from Detroit, we know that Ford makes the automobiles that we cab depend on the most.”
We humbly ask you to contribute to our adventure by loaning us your model that you would most like to see effectively advertised throughout the nooks and crannies of our country’s small towns as well as its most impressive cities. It doesn’t have to be a Taurus; whatever you supply us, we will promote. We trust that you would loan us the car that would back up our high praises. When we return, you can have the car back, and show it off as an automobile that has “done it all.”
Please consider our request. Our once in a lifetime excursion depends on you. We’ve come to you because we know we can count on your cars. Thank you for taking care of me for so many years with my 95 Taurus.
Looking forward to hearing from you in the near future,

2007-09-21T00:57:00.000-07:00

I really put this kind of stuff on this for myself to read later...

MSN conversation:
P'Pun: Nora. Aks you.
Nora: Yes?
P'Pun: world hot. what is it?
Nora: World hot. โลกร้อน...?*
P'Pun: Okay. Thank you.
Nora: You mean global warming?
P'Pun: Okay.
Nora: global warming=โลกร้อน
P'Pun: Okay. Thank you.

(Utterly confused, Nora turns to P'Amata next to her and makes her read the box with the dialogue.)

P'Amata: Pun make database lokrohn. Undersatand? You are dictionary Pun.

*That's "lok rohn" or "world hot" literally translated in Thai.

2007-09-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

If it happened to me it could happen to anyone...

A week from today I will be singing at a university run by monks.

I will be singing two of the King's jazz compositions in honor of his 80th birthday.

I will be part of a program hosted by 82 of Thailand's "Anti-corruption" organizations. (The King will not be there.)

I will be singing in the "trained" classical style (ie. very high).

I will be singing them through once in English and once in Thai.

I will be wearing an iridescent gold shirt and an elaborate purple, green, and gold skirt. And black heels.

I will be rehearsing/ TRAINING for this today (Sunday), Tuesday, Thursday, possibly Saturday.

I will be hyperventilating all week.

2007-09-14T00:31:00.001-07:00

The word:

Culture.

The usage:
"We have culture and values to create research."

The guess:
Something to do with company ethics.

The process:
1) type "culture" in the online Thai/English dictionary
2) Skim the following information recieved:

counterculture
[N] วัฒนธรรมที่แปลกต่างจากที่มีอยู่ในสังคม
culture
[N] วัฒนธรรม, Syn. civilization, society, way of life
Hellenism
[N] วัฒนธรรมหรือความเจริญรุ่งเรืองของกรีกโบราณ
mores
[N] ประเพณี, See also: วัฒนธรรม, Syn. culture, custom, ethics

3) Highlight the word with the most appropriate definition. In this case: "ประเพณี"

4) Plug that into the dictionary and get the following results:

ประเพณีพื้นบ้าน
[N] folk custom, See also: tradition; local custom, Example: แนวความคิดที่จะอนุรักษ์ส่งเสริมและพัฒนากลองหลวงของท่านเกิดขึ้นเพราะความรักในศิลปะประเพณีพื้นบ้าน, Thai definition: ขนบธรรมเนียมประเพณีที่มีลักษณะเฉพาะถิ่น

ประเพณี
[N] tradition, See also: custom; convention; code of conduct; common practice, Syn. ระเบียบแบบแผน, ขนบธรรมเนียม, จารีต, ประเพณีนิยม, จารีตประเพณี, Example: การตักบาตรทำบุญเป็นประเพณีที่ดีงามของสังคมไทย, Count unit: อย่าง, แบบ, Thai definition: สิ่งที่นิยมถือประพฤติปฏิบัติสืบๆ กันมาจนเป็นแบบแผน ขนบธรรมเนียม หรือจารีตประเพณี

ประเพณีนิยม
[N] tradition, See also: custom, Syn. ขนมธรรมเนียม, วัฒนธรรม, จารีต, พิธีกรรม, ธรรมเนียมปฏิบัติ, ธรรมเนียม, Example: การแห่ขันหมากเป็นประเพณีนิยมที่มีมานาน, Thai definition: ประเพณีของสังคมที่ถือปฏิบัติสืบทอดกันมา

5) Skim until eyes land upon "Code of Conduct." Voila.

2007-09-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

In celebration of US "Patriots Day", I joined a Thai choir. It's called โลกสีฟ้า (Lok See Faa), which means "Blue Planet." I am the only farang and only member under the age of 50 besides โด (Doh) whose mother got me into this gig. Let me explain.

ON THURSDAY:
I joined another band. My friend Tee (from church) got me into it, but Gung (the bass player from my last band) will also be playing. We rehearsed last Thursday night at the home of the band leader, Doh. At least, I think he's the leader. This band will be quite different than the last one. We'll play older songs, such has, perhaps:

-500 miles
-Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams)
-Where Have All the Flowers Gone (ha)
-Blowin in the Wind
-The Way We Were
-The Boxer
-Mrs. Robinson (this time with no drums)
-Bring it on Home to Me

The band has five members Doh (who sings classical music beautifully, plays the violin and a little saxophone and a little piano), Tee (Plays the guitar folkstyle very well. I think he's a prodigy. He also sings), Gung (bass, of course), and another guy who plays the piano but I haven't met him yet. And me. I'll sometimes be singing back up and sometimes singing... what? Melody? I wish I were better at some kind of instrument. They might end up putting me on a tamborine. Then I'd really feel like a folk singer.

Doh is an architect that grew up in a musical family. He lives with his family in a large house about 15-20 mins from where I live. His father writes music (over 80 songs, says Tee) and his mother runs the business side of the Blue Planet Foundation, a choir that sings about the King, Thailand, and the Environment. I learned all of this when I arrived at their house. There were instruments all over the place, photos of their choir, and his father (probably in his 80s?) was sitting at a computer perfecting something that sounded like a Thai Traditional Concerto. The choir has sung for the royal family and does about 1 or 2 performances a month, says Doh.

So after the family's cook (they have a live-in cook) made us a huge Thai meal, we went into the living room where all the instruments are and went through Doh's family's books of English songs to choose for the band. Our intention is to sing on the deck of some outdoor restaurant--there's lots of those here, with live music-- or maybe a hotel. Hopefully somewhere nearby because I wasn't too fond of the 3 hours of traveling across Bangkok that my last singing job required.

So we were singing those old(er) songs I mentioned above and Doh's mother asked me to join her choir. I didn't think about it too long (I usually jump at opportunities like that) before I said I'd give it a try.

TUESDAY
I went back to their house after work and the choir had already started (because they start at 4:30, when I get out of work). About 30-40 people were sitting at desks in their living room. A woman sat at the head, directing them. They practiced along with a CD (some sort of thing Doh's father put together--maybe that's what he was working on on Thursday?). Doh's father came in a few times and gave them some directions. Doh's mother sat next to me as soon as she saw that I showed up and started to give me private lessons about how to sing Thai songs.

Let me tell you, Thai songs are HARD. They sort of sound like Indian music--Bollywood type stuff. That's definitely in there as an influence. Also, they don't hold vowels very long. If the word stretches across a few notes they sing it on a "nngggg" even if the word was something like "wai". So instead of going "waaaaaai" like Farangs would, they go, "Wai nnnnnnnng."

I was so tickled to be there. I'm sure they were tickled I was there. We sang about 6 songs. This is going to be a real challenge but I think it will be a great way to:

1) improve my Thai
2) improve my thai reading (they are in the Thai alphabet, of course)
3) stretch myself musically

Besides, of course, build relationships with a new crowd of people.

The most interesting part of the night was right after practice. Most people stayed after for another giant dinner. Then Doh went to the piano and they had a sort of Karaoke thing going, live. I thought I'd gone back to a world without radio... They were so appalled that I didn't know most of the farang songs they were singing... I can't even remember the titles. "Pretend" was one. I have a song familiarity deficit...

After a while Gung showed up and we chose more songs for the band. I'm happy for the music overdose I'm getting.

2007-09-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

Thai Wisdom

There's a big knife on my desk. I picked it up and asked why it was on my desk. Amata said "Nora! Thai people believe we shouldn't play with with the knife. Because we might have accident."

2007-09-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

Youtube is back on in Thailand.

2007-09-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

Rambling about Roots

Yesterday I ran into an Irish guy (of my parents' generation) who teaches English at Assumption University. He is also a poet and I saw him read last year--I really liked his delivery. He had a lot of life.

I'd never had a very long conversation with him, though I have seen him walking around. But yesterday I did... he asked me where my family was from, and I told him that is interesting he asked because we always thought we were from Glasgow, Scotland but recently found out we were Irish and not in Scotland for very long. He asked me my last name and then said, "Ah, your family is from Donegal" and proceded to explain to me about the great migration of Donegal Irishmen (many of whom are named Bonner) to Glasgow. He said he lived in Glasgow and Donegal for a time because he's a writer, and he wanted to trace this particular migration.

None of this stuff was rocket science (i.e. the Bonner side had figured most of it), but it was nice to have some of it confirmed.

He said the migration is still going on, poverty being the main cause. He said there is part of Glasgow, sort of like a ghetto (but he didn't like to use that word, he preferred "community") of Donegal Irish. He also said that the freedom fight had a lot to do with it, and he has some friends from Donegal living in Glasgow, who at one time weren't even allowed to go back to Ireland to their own mother's funerals, for fear of being shot by the British.

Another detail he gave was that there is now a special airport from Donegal to Glasgow because so many people go back and forth so often. This is relatively new.

I guess this was all interesting to me, and I told him this, because it was always kind of a secretive thing in our family--we didn't know we were Irish and when we found out, we sort of felt like maybe our family was trying to keep it a secret. Granted, I never knew any of the Bonners who immigrated to America (in the 1930s? 1920s?) except for Auntie Jean, who died when I was three and the only thing I can remember about her is reeses cups in her freezer and that she intimidated me. But one of my uncles said to me, while I was home, "I hate to break it to you, but we're not Scottish" as if it were like a big scandal or something. I guess if I had to choose, I'd go for being Irish anyway, because there are a lot of Irish plays I like.

I told this Irish guy/professor that it seemed in my family that the immigrants identified wholeheartedly with being Scottish. I thought of Grandma Bonner telling me she cried the time she went to Scotland--I guess she felt some kind of tie to it, and that Aunt Judy and Lisa (Miller...Tate) cried too because of their roots... so I know being Scots was important to us.

He said that that was quite common, the people who immigrate, and especially their children, tend to dive into the Scotsman thing. But he says if you ask many of them they will say they feel they are both. They see themselves as Scottish but they still carry Ireland in their hearts.

I like the idea of carrying Ireland in my heart, though I've never been there. Again, this probably has more to do with the Abbey Theater than anything else. And maybe the Chieftains? Maybe U2.

I wonder where my grandparents and great grandparents fit into all that. Besides, there's the other side of my family, which is pretty heavily Irish too, I think (Henrys are from Belfast?). And a lot of people mistaked my Graduate Instructor friend at UM from Ireland to be my brother because we looked an awful lot alike. The eyes, people pointed out.

After all of this thought, I'm not sure how important it really is to me. I tell people the only place I tend to identify with pride is Detroit. Sometimes I feel like I'm a Detroiter but not necessarily American. I hear Motown and say "that's my roots," though some people might disagree. I hear my Aunt Donna and Uncle Paul singing their homemade gospel music and I know that's my roots. No one could disagree.

2007-08-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Photo Album
from last weekend

P'Nui stuck some beans in some cabbage.

and instructed Bethany to make a wish because, as she put it, "everything is blow"

Big Whopping Shrumps...

...that P'George opened up for us to eat.

(still getting over my little mermaid complex)

That's P'Pun.

Our other food included (som tam papaya salad and garlic/chili greens. Not pictured are an amazing duck dish and some chicken wings that Bethany didn't eat.)

Happy Birthday to you...

Post-Supper activity

"Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?"

My P's singing in English. Aren't they lovely?

Bose's bringing down the room with "It's raining men (halleluia)"

The next day... that's the edge of campus.

Burning up on the songtao.

Melinda D. (May)

Our vegetarian dinner:

tabouli, curry quesadillas, veggie au gratin with dill.

"mmmmmmmmm"

Tai chi in the park next to the emporium (through the gate)

(Not through the gate)

Night flowers in the park

2007-08-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

Question of the week:
In America, how many people are named Front? ~P'George

2007-08-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

Back to the Future
(across a world without my grandmother)

Saturday marked my one year anniversary for setting eyes on Thailand for the first time. I've been back for a week now. It was a busy week. I was tremendously grateful that the Monday after I returned was a government holiday (election day--The Thais voted and passed a new constitution). Even though I had that day, I still was unable to get normally until the last couple of days. Perhaps that is because I didn't sleep regularly while I was home.

At the moment I'm waiting for my boss to call me in his office so we can discuss an article he wants to read with me. He presented the idea to me this morning, asking if we could have something similar to a Bible study, but with an article. That made me laugh. We'll see what the Holy Spirit of Gross National Happiness has in store for us today.

Last weekend was especially delightful. It was Bethany's birthday and the P's and I (am a P too, to Bethany) took her to dinner and then to Karaoke*. We ate huge shrimp (bigger than my head.) The other P's were Nui, George, and Pun (his nickname means 1000) among other things. Really good fish, some Thai salads, etc. The Karaoke was intense--almost 4 hours. I was zonked out but the boys couldn't stop. They kept adding more songs at the end and extending our time in that small room.

The next day May, Bethany, and I went out to the "high-so" part of town to get vegetarian food. This was a special treat for Bethany, as there are not very many interesting vegetarian options in Thailand. Shocked, mai? We also went to a English language bookstore where Bethany found some piano music (she wants to play in the practice rooms at the campus, Bang Na, where she teaches) and I found a book of short stories called "Sightseeing" by a Thai author, Rattawut Lapcharoensap. He was born in Chicago, raised in Bangkok, and got his Creative Writing MFA at the University of Michigan (where he won a Hopwood). There are several rave-quotes in the front of the book, the last one from one of my favorite writing professors, Eileen Pollack. What a treat. I read the first story, called, "Farangs." It was frightningly insightful and very well written. Reminds me of the kind of short stories I wish I was writing.

This morning I finished Harry Potter Seven. I liked it a lot and am a bit sad that it didn't go on forever because I was getting attached to that world. Next I believe I would like to read Salman Rushdie. That will be a change of pace...

*Thais pronounce "kah-rah-OH-kay" which is actually closer to the Japanese prononciation. They have no idea what I mean by "Carry-OH-key"

2007-07-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

.home.in.my.mind.after.eleven.months.

.the sauteed onions, thin, and sweet, winding over al's hamburgers
.the sunlight through the big window at the ywca on a cold day, picking at a cheese bagel
.belle tire man welcoming me back to rosedale
.jackie's dining room filled with smoke, laughter, righteous anger
.cars kicking up dust at the campout loop
.piles of books, papers, and notebooks, and empty vitamin water bottles on the passenger seat
.yellow flowers hiding the house across the street
.just jelly sandwiches for john
.the black and white plaid comforter on the guest bed
.potholes and broken glass and short buildings
.cars on their last breath with ducktaped plastic over the back windows
.the air, from all the way over here in bangkok, seems crystal clear in detroit, crisp even
.teenage boys selling water as you get off the southfield at grand river
.the steam of bodies at the magicstick, straining to absorb the band
.sliding into a booth at the traffic jam and snug restaurant and pouring over the menu
.sitting on the back patio with a candle burning and talking to my dad while he cooks a late-night steak
.walking across woodward after a tiger's game, to get back to the car
.stretching my neck up to see the colored triangles in the compuware building
.stretching out on the couch on the second floor of the planet ant
.sour cream and pepper on my perogies
.delivering lines to my own voice, soft, high and slightly nasal coming from my tapedeck while i drive
.peaking into my mother's home office to see if she's still working and then making up a reason to be there, something to say or ask
.the impossible parking lot next to the abreact
.ads for liquor lighting up gray abandoned streets

2007-07-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

"Take a chill pill, please"

I taught the idiom, "chill" a while back and all it's many uses, including the phrase, "take a chill pill."

A few weeks ago, in the old office, I bumped into my coworker, Kea's, computer and Amata said, "Take a chill pill, please." I wish you could hear the way she says it. She pronounces her ls like ews, "chiew piew," and she scoops up the "please," with the inflection we'd associate with an British old maid.

Perhaps I shouldn't teach phrases like, "Take a chill pill." I mean, I think they are fun, but they aren't altogether polite. I should have figured my edgy teaching style would come back to haunt me. It did.

P'Tao, P'Amata, and some others went down to another province for a seminar the week before last. They were standing by an elevator with another coworker, P'Rong. Tao and Rong were playfully shoving each other and arguing when a British man came up to them and said in Thai, "Jai Yen Yen," which means, "cool your heart" or "calm down." This phrase is polite. P'Amata then looked at the man square in the face and said, "Take a chill pill, pleeeease." I guess he laughed. P'Amata said he was amazed at how much English she knew.

2007-07-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

LeMON and MA'now

Believe it or not, Thailand has almost no lemons. They have tons of limes. I'm told that in their early stages of schooling, their teachers tell them that the English word for lime is lemon. (The Thai word for lime is ma'now). This, of course, is rediculous, so I have set about convincing my coworkers that lemons are yellow and limes are green. I use the above photo. "Which is a lemon?" They point.

Other information about lemons and limes in Thailand:

There is a Thai idiom, "ma'now mai me naam" which means, literally, "the lime has no juice," and idiomatically, "blunt," as in language.

Warning: on most Thai menus, you will see the option to get lemon this and that. It's not lemon this and that. It's lime this and that.

I figured the next time I'd see a lemon would be when I return home for a visit (which is soooon). I do miss slices of lemons in my water. I was surprised to see that my favorite kohn naam (juice man) had them in his booth. I was going to order naam tang-mohh (that is, watermelon juice) because I was feeling sick and an inrush of water sounded nice. Oh, and when you order Naam+fruit you get that fruit (fresh) crushed with ice, and extra sugar upon request. This is glorious. I saw the lemons and of course decided I needed a naam-leMON. I had a bit of a sore throat.

The kohn naam asked me if I was sick and I said yes. He gave me a slice of lemon with SALT on it and told me to shove the whole thing in my mouth. Whoa. He said it would help, skin and all. Well, first I ate the fruit not the peel. I'm an Amurrican, I don't eat the peel. Salt and lemon is painful but yes, it does help the throat. He insisted I eat the peel. It has lots of vitamins, he said. So I did. He told me to chew it slowly. I did. Bleeah.

He then refused to put naam keng (ice) into my drink because sick folk shouldn't have ice (but it feels so good on the throat!) and gave me near- straight up lemon juice with naam peung (waterbee, I mean, honey). I enjoyed it throughly. I told him I missed lemons. I got my lemons.

2007-07-11T08:55:00.001-07:00

Coverbandemonium

The guitar player called me and told me that we won't be playing anymore on Khao San road. Lynchee works on movies (soundracks) sometimes and I guess he just got another job doing that. I must say, I am surprised at how thrilled I was to hear it. The timing couldn't be better--I'm coming home soon and a friend of mine was learning the songs to cover for me while i'm gone (cover for me in a cover band). It's good that she doesn't have to bother.

I'm so happy to have my Friday and Saturday nights back. I used to hang out with P'Nui and P'George on those nights--go bowling or something--but I haven't been able to do much fun stuff since I've worked. Now I can take Bethany to more places. Also, there's only so much Khao San road a person can take in their short life... (it's really touristy and piratey... hard to explain).

Lynchee mentioned that we might try to play sometime after I come back from the US--in september or something... in another location. If we do, that would be okay but I guess we'll see. I'm glad for a break. He said "we played there from March till now. That is enough." Yep, I agree. There might also be some other music projects coming up for me when I get back, but they are tentative and I'll write more about them when I am more certain.

Here's some pictures Joel took of the band, so you can see what we looked like:

sabai sabai

gung is on bass.

lynchee on the guitar

I really needed that water

I'm very sorry that I don't have a picture of the drummer. We did promise each other that if we ever put together another band, we'd stick the other in it... his name is Nui (different tone than P'Nui) and he is a prodigy child.

All in all, I am grateful for the opportunity to do the band thing. We'll see what else the world's got in store.*

*wilco lyric

2007-07-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

(Pictured: Emmanuel, Naa, May, Chay, Beng, Thomas, Alex, Me, Jeremy, Bethany... not pictured because she was taking the picture: Jeremy's wife, Sarah)

Churchfolk

Our church, Huamak Christian Fellowship, rents a small apartment to meet in. It was the first time we didn't have enough chairs. We're not obsessed with counting heads in our small fellowship, but it's certainly true that more faces make the Sunday morning merrier. In that picture, we are on the steps of the apartment building.

I'll give you a brief lowdown about the people in the picture, so you can know who my friends are :)

A couple, Sarah and Jeremy, have arrived from Washington state. Jeremy lived in Thailand and was friends with Naa, Thomas, and May at the old church. I believe they will be here until October. They are sort of scouting to see where they might be able to set up a medical center or something, maybe in Cambodia (Sarah is going back to school for medicine).

Beng and Emanuel are brother and sister from the Philippines. Beng found our fellowship at the last minute, when we were in the old place. We still had a website then, for the old church in the other location and she found us from there (same way P'Nui found the church for me). We shut down the website the next week. She travels 30 mins to see us on Sunday and we are so grateful for her. Her brother, Emanuel, just arrived in Thailand. He's looking for work.

May is also from the Philippines. Most of you know about her already, but she lives in the building next to mine. She also works at the University, in the . I spend a lot of time with May.

Chay is Thai. He is also from the old church. He played the guitar for us on Sunday. I don't know him tremendously well. He goes back to live with his grandmother in another province quite often. It's always good to see him.

Naa is also Thai. She's one of my closest friends here in Thailand. She has the best English of any Thai person I've met. She's studied in England.

Alex is from Kenya. He just came back to Bangkok after being in Nairobi for a few months. We didn't know if he would come back. We are so glad he did.

Thomas is from India. He left Thailand this morning to go to the US, where his wife is. She was in Thailand last week, as were his parents. They are all very sweet people. I think he's going to try to study in the US...

Of course, Bethany is my friend from way-back (or, at least, from UM). She's teaching English at the University, on the Bang Na campus.

2007-07-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

Winging It

(That is, performing without practice).

Last week the band winged:
Top of the World by the Carpenters

Bad by U2

This week, the band will wing:

Show Me by Over the Rhine

Across the Universe by the Beatles

Ease on Down the Road from The Wiz

Walk On by U2

For My Lover by Tracy Chapman

Talkin' About a Revolution by Tracy Chapman

Don't Speak by No Doubt

Saturday night was an adventure. There was a rain/thunderstorm. It took me 45 minutes to get to the bus stop from the C Building because the streets were flooded. Sometimes I just had to lift my skirt and walk through it and I got soaked and muddy from my ankles to my lower back. Then we took a taxi from the bus stop, 40 mins. I was such a sopping mess and in no mood to sing. When I sat down, my friend Emily from the UK came up to the stage--I know her from Night Light. Through out the set, I think the mixing was bad... I couldn't hear myself at all and kept fearing I was off-key. I think partly it's because the guitar player added these effects to the band...

I am, however, really grateful that we're expanding our repertoire because I was starting to fall asleep at the mic and the bar manager wanted to know why we weren't learning any new songs... Now we have enough to switch up our setlists quite a bit, I think.

After the first song, I announced to the audience that our band swam all the way to Khao San from Bangkapi. (That's like swimming from Livonia to Ferndale).

2007-07-05T00:15:00.001-07:00

I’m in my new office, alone. I just got back from lunch. Everyone else is at various meetings—the other three girls, I mean—and it’s raining very hard. Outside our window, Bangkok appears to be getting washed and blown away and the sound is incredible.

Our band plays “Have you ever seen the rain” which may or may not be by the Ramones. I don’t know because a) I’m too young to know and b) Lynchee (the guitar player) often writes the wrong names for who sings what song. Lots of Thais know this song though, it’s quite popular here. I back up the chorus, “I want to know have you ever seen the rain?” and in my head I always think, “I never saw rain before I came to Bangkok. I thought I had seen rain, but I hadn’t really seen it until I’d been through a Thai rainy season.” Monsoon season is what the rest of the world calls it, I think. Thainglings call it the raiNY seaSON. And ohhh what rain it is. Walk outside and it seems as if someone is dumping buckets on you. We get one or two rains like that a year in Detroit. Here we get them every day, during the rainy season.

I almost put my headphones on to listen to Erykah Badu, “Mama’s Gun,” but then I remembered that the rain is wonderful to listen to and that some day I’m going to miss it. Someday I will miss so many things.

Yesterday at lunch I realized that I wanted to be sitting in my parents’ family room and eating bbq better-made chips and drinking faygo rock and rye and watching a tiger’s game on tv, with my legs up. That’s called homesickness. But I got very melancholy when I realized that if I were there, I’d be wishing I was at that filmy outdoor black-pepper pork and rice joint listening P’George and P’Nui talk to each other in Thai while I poked at my watermelon smoothie and watching the Thais, Indians, Burmese, Nepalese, and Bangladshi students and faculty skirt on by. Learning how to enjoy where you are is an art.

2007-07-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

Samed/Samet

Thais call their language translated into Roman letters, "Karaoke" because when they sing-a-song karaoke, the romanized Thai appears below the regular Thai. How one translates the Thai into roman lettering is always up to interpretation. For instance, you can tell when a British person must have done it (ThongLor is pronounced Tong-Loh). Because of this, the names of places generally have many Karaoke spellings and it's easy to get lost. This weekend we went to Samet island, as I like to spell it, though the signs usually say "Samed." That looks, to me, like "sammed" or something one syllablish. It's up to you how you want to spell it...

Amata asked me a few weeks ago if I'd like to go to the sea. This trip is what she had in mind. Her boyfriend drove us, along with Bethany and Tao to the pier where we parked the car and took a 20-min speed boat to the island. We stayed one night. Here's some photos.

The three waiting for the speedboat (Bethany, Amata, and Tao)

My sophomore year, we did a forensics (drama competition) about this boat. Or about a little boy with AIDS. Or something.

They're getting married in November.

There was a full moon behind those clouds (reminds me of a song...) and a full moon party:

That chilli.... is wonderful

Choc is using his vacation license to read comic books.

My curls are outta control

This is a spirit house. Daily offerings are made to keep away demons. "Pass me please oh gentle spirits..."

Sunthorn Phu (pronounced "Soon-torn Poo"), the Shakespeare of Thai Language and Culture, used this island as a setting for one of his mermaid stories. Alls I got to say is that must be some music...

Bethany* says....

"This group of photos was brought to you by the (table) number 29...

...The letter 'a'....

and the only Mexican in Thailand."
*It was her joke first... the Sesame Street thing, I mean.

2007-06-25T21:21:00.000-07:00

The Fax Machine

Today I found my desk in another room, with P'Amata, P'Nok, and P'Kea--all staticians. I am happy about this because it got kind of loud in the other room. Also I am friends with those three so I'm sure it will be a good time.

Now that I'm moved, I can tell you about my adventures with the fax machine that used to be on my old desk. I don't know who decided to put me at the desk with the fax, but I'm sure they regretted it. The phone rang all the time--it was also an office phone-- and I was always afraid to pick it up. Sometimes the girl who sat next to me would answer it but if she was away from her desk, someone had to cross the room and I knew it irritated people that I didn't know enough Thai to speak into the phone.

As the months went on, people tried to teach me to say, "Sawatdee kah, ABAC Poll kah" but I still refused to answer it because, sure, I can do the greeting but then what?

One day I decided I could probably have a conversation, or at least understand that someone needed to send a fax or something. So I picked up the phone and said the greeting. Then I understood that whoever was calling needed to speak with a girl, Rong, who has a desk in another room. And then I blanked. I forgot how to say, "just a minute," and never learned, "please hold." So what did I say? "Ha-sip na-tee." What does that mean? "Fifty minutes."

This occurance has served as a fine excuse for never ever answering that phone again. Still, P'Nok Sirin threatened to put our new office phone on my desk.

2007-06-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

25th Anniversary of My Birth

I was in New Mexico for my 21st birthday. Maybe I'll try to spend my 30th birthday in some weird place, too. On June 10th (that was Sunday) Bethany and I went with Amata and her fiancee, Choc, to pick out a wedding dress. Her friend 'Pun came too. That's short for Appun, which is Thai for apple. They pronounce the l's at the end of words like n's because of this letter: ล That is the Thai "L" but at the ends of words it makes an n sound.
After we took this picture, in the first bride shop, we were told we weren't allowed to take any more.

In the second bride shop, they let us take pictures of the dogs that flounced around. This picture is called "Dorothy Complex." I still have it.

"Face is same-same." ~Amata

I don't remember this dog's name but the other one is Mimi.

Mimi gets clothes too...

So they did find a dress. In Thailand you rent the dress and the renting package comes with a suit for the man and photos. The photos are taken senior-picture style. Amata and Choc chose a farang white dress for her wedding day but will take traditinoal Thai wedding garb pictures too. This is the opposite of what my friend P'Da did. Noppadon gave everyone in the Poll a holiday in November to go to their wedding. It's in Nakorn Si Tamarat--that's in the south east. I'm pretty excited to go, as I hear there are pink dolphins down there. Amata and Choc really want Joel to come back for their wedding. He's taking donations.

After the bride shops, they took us to this park near the emporium shopping mall. The park was full of statues and this was one of my favorites.

Bethany, me, Amata in front of a big queen coin thing.

The early evening had good light for pictures.

Amata told us this was a baby dinosaur because she only saw the top of the trunk.

I love that kid.

I love that kid, too.

"We're off to see the Condo ."

That seven-up has up in Thai. So it says, "jet-up."

That's the Emporium.

That, too, is the Emporium.

"Home alone, lost in Bangkok."

We ate at a place called the Coffee Bean. We all shared these two pieces of cake. Believe me, it was plenty. We ate so much that day! This restaurant was what I'd say was the Thai equivalent to the Cheesecake factory. It had a huge menu and had farang food as well as Thai. We ate mashed potatoes and gravy (my first since Christmas day), spaghetti with a sort of creamy alfredo bacon sauce, this tempeh stuff with a shrimp sauce (this was my favorite thing), red curry and vegetables, and cheesy spinach. It was all delicious, whether or not it sounds like it was. For the cake, Amata said that the strawberry piece was me and the white chocolate piece was Joel. She finds Joel and me in everything. 555.

The airconditioner made candle-lighting difficult.

Alloy.

2007-06-06T23:56:00.000-07:00

update

I'm sorry i don't have more interesting pictures or anything to post but here's what's going on in the Thai land of Smile (as t-shirts/bags say).

**The coverband made it through a week(end) with a substitute guitarist because the guitar player had a kid--a boy. We just barely made it...

**I bought a pair of badminton rackets and have been playing every day in the big whopping sports complex they have down the street. Thai people play badminton like our (US) folk play basketball or maybe baseball. I got May and her cousin to join (Bethany comes when she can) and we have a good time. It's so hot out that it's easy to work up a sweat. I am very happy to be getting exercise, as I sit around a lot at work.

**I am starting up my Thai classes again. I had put them off but it's time for me to start that up. I really enjoy being able to speak Thai (some) and since my band and I have trouble communicating, the more Thai I know the better. I have put Thai keys on my laptop so I can type in Thai on there. I've been able to practice instant messaging some of my Thai friends. That has been pretty productive though Thai is quite hard to spell. More spelling rules than English, because there are tones.

2007-05-26T00:33:00.001-07:00

I guess it's time for a little update. Things have changed a bit around here for me, here in Bangkok. I have been thinking about how change is mostly promoted by people coming and going and lately, for perhaps the first time in a while, the changes have come about from other people's moving around, rather than my own.

Our dear friend Edith went back to the US on Monday. She works in Baltimore as a nurse for four months of the year and uses that money to fund her annual 8 months in Thailand visiting jails as a missionary. Her missions are a combination of telling people about the Gospel and helping the people out in whatever way she can. The jail system in Thailand is a bit sketch--basically the system is you are guilty until proven innocent. So lots of accused are in jail waiting to be proven innocent. Edith spends her time writing "King's pardons," delivering letters to loved ones, etc. She's an amazing woman and had a sort of motherly place for me here so I'm really feeling her absence.

Our friend Alex returned from Nairobi and got a wonderful job here. We're so thankful for his return, as he is a big source of spiritual encouragement to those of us who fellowship together on Sundays.

And finally, Bethany G. arrived on Wednesday. She stays in the room next to mine! That was an unexpected blessing. She, also, get's an amazing view from the 14th floor. She'll start teaching at the university next week. She has a different job than me, as I am more of an English consultant for the research center here and she will be teaching students in a classroom (the same thing that her sister, Jenni, did, for those of you familiar with these people).

We were almost afraid she wasn't going to make it on the plane, as the Thai Consulate waited until the day before to send her her passport and visa. Whew, I know Bethany is glad her life will slow down a bit after the rush she's been through trying to get here and move out of Ann Arbor.

Oh, and I'm coming home on July 28th for three weeks. I already have my plane ticket. I'm pretty anxious to see everyone. I guess that would be my own coming and going...

(Love to anyone who still reads this ole' thing.)

2007-05-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

My 100th Post

(For Broadway)

It's actually pretty wild that I'm already to 100 and I haven't written about durians yet. Durians are a type of fruit that look like this:

In my Lonely Planet book there is a special section on Thai food. There is a page dedicated to Thai fruit. Let me write what it says about durian:

"No discussion of Thai fruit is complete without mention of thurien (durian), dubbed the king of fruits by most Southeastern Asians, yet despised by many foreigners. A member of the aptly named Bombacaceae family, this heavy, spiked orb resembles an ancient piece of medieval weaponry. Inside the thick shell lie five sections of plump, buttery and pungent flesh. The durian's ammonia-like aroma is so strong that many hotels in Thailand, as well as Thai Airways International have banned the fruit from their premises."

I heard somewhere else that Thai people love to see foreigner's taste this fruit. Where did I read that? Well, when I arrived, I had lots of new food thrust at me to try but durians weren't among any of it. In the past few days, (almost 9 months after I got here?) P'George has decided I need to taste it and asked me every day if I ate it. Today I had dinner with him and P'Nui (and our friend P'Pun who told me the other day he was going to order Islamic pork and it took me about five minutes to get his joke... part of that was because it was in Thai) and George asked me if I'd eaten it yet and said no, but I'm willing to try it after dinner.

He jumped up from the table and disappeared for twenty minutes. "Where did he go? To buy the whole farm?" I asked P'Nui. She said it takes a little while to cut up. He came back and said that he ordered one but as the vendor was cutting it up, it was extra smelly so he told the vendor to cut up another one---There was a farang waiting to try it for the first time. So two Durians later, P'George handed me a section.

It feels and looks like butter but tastes kind of like almonds and apples in a paste. But what it does, that's what's remarkable. If bananas make me feel like there are little men in my stomach crochetting with my intestines, durians make me feel like the little men have poured gasoline on them and tossed a match. Tequila shots in the belly. No chasers.

This burning effect doesn't kick in until about three minutes after you've gobbled it up. While I tasted, I had three pairs of Thai eyes glued to my expression. When I said I liked it, P'George said, "You's a lie!"*

*what happens when you bring Nora in to teach English.

2007-05-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

Nora: Is P'George done with his cooking class now?

Nui: Yes. Now he is the Thai-ron Chef.

2007-05-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

A little update...

While I'm trying to get ready to sleep. I'll do it in the form of "THAILAND FUN FACTS" because, why not?

Fun fact...

#1 Bethany G. is on her way to Kreunteap (Bangkok). She has to stop in Missouri for a few days, then in Virginia for another few days, then San Fran, Tokyo...

#2 My coverband still doesn't have a name but tonight I kept announcing that we were the ESPN Soundtrack Band because the pub we play in instilled a television to the right of the stage (actually, stage left for you nerds) and ESPN was playing football (or soccer for you nerds).

#3 Its' supposed to be the hottest season, the summer season but, I'm not kidding, it's rained since Joel left. I'm not kidding. So now it's the rainy season and we only had a week of the hot season. That is a blessing!

#4 I don't have to work monday because it's some King holiday and there are really pretty lights all over the city.

#5 We played our first request tonight. That is, we played a song someone wrote on a slip of paper that wasn't already on our particular setlist. It was Zombie.

#6 Thai people's favorite songs to hear covered are: Zombie, Out of Reach, All the Love in the World, Tears from Heaven, Kiss Me, hm. There's more.

#7 The guitar player's favorite new song to play is "Faithfully Dangerous."

#8 The guitar player will be a dad in about a week.

#9 I'm currently reading a short story collection by an Argentine (and French?) guy named Julio Cortazar and, let me be honest, I wasn't struck by any of the stories too hard until I read one called Gates of Heaven which is right up there with Sonny's Blues.

#10 It's time for me to get some sleep.

2007-04-30T02:16:00.000-07:00

this week we added for the coverband:

lucinda williams:
can't let go
drunken angel

over the rhine:
faithfully dangerous

stevie wonder:
sign, sealed, delivered

u2:
bad

cranberries:
zombie

the cake version of:
i will survive

2007-04-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

Our Songkran

I think the water festival deserves it's own entry, as it could be my favorite thing about Thailand so far. For three days out of the year (in some places, four or five days), the Thais have a national waterfight. Joel and I got to see the best of it. The holiday takes place over a four day weekend.... From Friday to Monday. An article P'Nui sent me about Songkran (that's the name), said that this weekend in April is the Thai New Year and the water represents a ceremonial cleansing. I read that early on, Thais believed the water serpent, Naga, came out of the sea and sprinkled water over the land during this holiday (it always rains on Songkran, says Nui. It's a phenomenon. It certainly rained this year. Several times). Buddhists go to the wats and give food to the idols and pray at this time, also. The first Friday is used for cleaning the house (something I've heard only the elderly do). The Saturday is reserved for the family. The article warned: the water should only be distributed ceremonially. I think that means, as in a small sprinkling (like Baptism). This catholic sprinkle baptism has transformed into a protestant dowsing.

On the Friday before, Joel and I just hung around my neighborhood and went to the department store. From our Songtao (that's a sort of thai transportation that is basically two seats slapped onto the back of a pick-up truck), we got sprayed pretty well. Young adults (I'd say 15-25 year olds mostly) stood at the side of the road with water guns and buckets, baptising those who passed on any kind of vehicle. Our favorite sight was these parents who had their two toddlers in a giant bucket and hosing them down. The bucket was full of water and they were laughing so loud. We bought mini guns near the dept. store and returned any blasts. We were ultra impressed by the comaderie of the Thai people. Everyone got sprayed by water, young and old (though usually it was just the young who sprayed).

That evening, we found ourselves in a park on the other side of town waiting for P'Tao to take us to her house. We have about an hour in that park. Two very young boys (four? five?) got Joel sitting on a bench so he chased after them and got them back. After their battle, we watched the boys chase after anyone running through the park, old or young. They giggled and shot their little guns. After a while, they got bored and decided to get Joel and me again, so they sneaked up on us... by walking backwards... and provoked battle number two.

The next day, Nui, and her friend Jaeng took us to Ayutthaya (where I snapped photos of giant Buddhas last August...) where we had a full day of visiting wats and memorials, a riverboat ride that outlined Ayutthaya, a fantastic Issan-Style meal of papaya salad, bamboo salad, roasted chicken and pork, pork shish kabobs, and probably more that i'm forgetting about. Issan food is amazing and they just don't make it like that in the states. P'Tao, her nephew, "Good" and her friend from Japan, Nobu, also joined.

We visited these two Memorials:

1) Naresuan's Memorial: Naresuan was the first king of the united Thai nation(westerners called in Siam, but I'm pretty sure Thai people have always called their nation "Bratet Thai..." I'll have to look into that). Right now, the Thai cinema has released two of a trilogy about him called Naresuan. I have seen both of these. His story is that he was a Siamese man who grew up in Burma and trained with a monk there. He later led his people, captivated, back into Siamese land for freedom and they defeated the Burmese there.

His symbol is a rooster because as a boy, he liked cock fighting and had a siamese rooster that beat the burmese one. :) Now, people pray to his spirit at the memorial and if their prayers are answered, they buy a rooster and set it at the foot of the statue. (Before prayers are answered, Naresuan gets pig heads, fruit, and water as an offering)

2) The Burmese Temple of Defeat (I named it that). Jaeng said that this temple was built when Burma took over Ayutthaya. She said the Memorial for Naresuan was placed to compete with this temple, to show that they were better. A sort of architectural competition. Jaeng had a good sense of humor about this. She said pretended to be a referee, "1, 2, 3, build!"

And after our boat ride (we didn't take pictures :( ) we took the van into this traffic jam. All of these pictures were taken from inside a van because I didn't want to get Rob's camera wet. You can see the ones of Joel in the previous post (below). Here are some more...

One more thing, that powder is made of something like white chalk. it's part of the tradition. See below how Joel got fully painted with it.

2007-04-24T23:00:00.000-07:00

In one of my teaching sessions, I used this article for teaching material.

2007-04-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

It's time for a super update.

Joel's visit is coming to a close. He has been here since Erinn (and May’s) birthday, April 7. I will take him to the airport at 4:30 am tomorrow morning so he can go back to Detroit. He had the best two weekends in Thailand he could possibly have had. For the first week, we were taken care of by my friends at the ABAC Poll... they played badminton with us, took us out to dinner every night, invited us over for birthday parties, and most extraordinarily, took us on a dinner boat ride down the Chao Praya river--17 pollsters showed up for that one.

On Saturday we went to Ayutthaya with P'Nui and her friend, Jang. P'Tao and her cousin and her Japanese friend Nobu also came. This was the second day of Songkran-Thailand's national 3 day water fight festival. It was a great place to celebrate Songkran. Not as commercial as Bangkok...

For Sunday, I jumped on the opportunity to take Joel to Phuket Island for 5 days. This ended up being a much needed time when we could sort of see where we stand about things, especially the next few steps in our relationship. We decided that we both are needed in our places of residence (He needs to be in Detroit, I need to be in Bangkok) at least for the near future so, in case you were wondering, I have decided to stay in Bangkok for one more year--potentially coming back in Aug. 2008 for good. Some factors in that are a) Bethany Goad just got offered a job at ABAC, b) I am in the midst of a few music projects that won't be done any time soon, d) I feel the need to be with some of my church folks in this difficult time, e) I feel that these friendships are just getting started... And spending time with the people here, Joel understands all of these things. So, that's what we were able to discuss during our time away from Bangkok at the Andaman Sea (Post Tsunami land, nowadays.)

I am very sorry if some of you are saddened by my extended stay. I am planning on returning to the USA for three weeks for the campout and then some in August. And of course, plans change all the time. This is just were things stand for now. I have to see what I can pull up financially... I did get permission from my boss to get a special leave. I asked for 2 weeks and he gave me three. He is very happy that I am planning on staying longer.

Here's some pictures.

Wat Pra Kaew and teh Grand Palace:

How Pad Thai is supposed to look (P'Choc and P'Amata took us out on Weds. night)

Our Dinner Boat:

Joel is ready for Songkran...

We walked through this mess for about an hour. People spread this chalky white stuff on our face and squirted us with water. An incredible time to be in Thailand...

Down in the South of Thailand, on an island near Phuket called Raya Yai:

Around Patong beach on Phuket:

We took a Day trip to the Similan Islands... there are 9 islands that have one of the best diving spots (top 5 says P'George) in the world. We snorkelled three times and ate fish and swam in that:

Representing...

Our last dinner in Phuket, at a place called Baan Rim Pa. For a restaurant so "Hi-So" we thought the food was only so-so, but the view was great.

The Sun went down on our trip to Phuket...

2007-04-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

In case anyone who reads this was wondering, Joel arrived here safely on Saturday evening. Yesterday we had the treat of going to P'Nui's family's house where we celebrated her nephew's birthday and met her aunt. This woman cooked a ton of food and asked us to come visit her (she lives around ABAC). My favorite part of the evening was when she said (in Thai) that she had drempt that she got a small piece of the birthday cake. She drempt about the cake! I just love that. The food was amazing.

Today I took Joel to Bang Na--it's the other ABAC campus... I think I'm probably lame for doing that, but I think the place is amazing. It's about an hour away. If you surf around this page: www.au.edu you might be able to see pictures or something. Joel took a few on his friend's camera (Rob's camera) that maybe I'll post on another day.

Cheers.

2007-04-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

(That picture is brought to you by image-googling, "English Teaching.")

Today at the ABAC Poll we had a meeting where we met our 7 new staff members. In the process of that, we had to introduce ourselves. I introduced myself in Thai. "My Name is Nora, I teach English." Mucho impressivo.

Also during that meeting, my boss mentioned that he wanted me to start teaching people one on one in conversation practice. This was great news to me, as 1) I'm better at teaching one on one because that is my experience, and 2) I will have consistant work now... Before I had some days when I had nothing to do and I found those days to be extra boring. Sitting in front of the computer all day with no assignments can be draining. I tried to write but often couldn't (sometimes I could...) Well, anyway, now I'm teaching. I've scheduled everyone in half-hour slots. Some people are meeting together as duos.

That's a work update. Hurray. (I was starting to think my boss would call me in his office any day now to send me home because I was wasting baht. I'm glad, very glad, that's not the case)

2007-03-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Coverband/Music update

Okay, so I'm playing in a coverband that has no name. I got the opportunity about 2 months. I have two musicians in my fellowship, Tee and Goong. Goong is a bass player and a bit older and seems to have more music things going on--he teaches and plays in a few bands. He is the one that started the project to record gospel songs that Tee and I wrote. That's still in the making. People are asking me when I'm coming home. I guess I can only say that I can't imagine coming home until that's done but God is in charge of my life so I really can't give you any answers.

Okay, so Goong also knew this other guitar player (Lynchee--which is Thai for Lychee, I guess, which is a fruit, which makes fabulous yogurt) who wanted to put together a coverband so he could make some extra money. He asked me if I'd join because I'm a native English singer and I guess those are kind of rare in Bangkok. He figured with a girl who can sing in English, they'd be able to sing on Khao San Road--that's a tourist street, filled with fruit and t-shirt vendors and restaurants. It's not Pat Pong--a lot "cleaner," in case you were wondering.

Okay, so I said I'd try this band thing. It is always nice to make a little side cash. So for two months, I went once a week to practice the following songs:

1) Don't Dream it's Over (Six Pence None The Richer)
2) Kiss me (same band)
3) All the Love in the World (The Corrs)
4) Don't Know Why (Norah Jones)
5) 7 Years (Norah Jones)
6) Stuck in a Moment (U2)
7) Wild World (Yusef Islam)
8) Losing My Religion (REM)
9) Creep (Radiohead)
10) What's Up (4 Non Blondes)
11) Don't Speak (No Doubt)
12) Mrs. Robinson (S&G, though we sing it like the recent cover... it's really loud)
13) Out of Reach (Someone named Gabrielle?)
14) Don't Wanna Miss a Thing (that I refuse to sing again...)

Okay, so we did get a job and will be playing on Friday nights from about 8-10. We had our first show yesterday and it went really well. There are four people in the band. a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and me. I am the only English speaking person, though Lynchee's is pretty good. He also sings a few more songs, mostly Oasis and u2 covers (pride, I still haven't found...) which I back up with harmony. He also sings Knocking on Heaven's Door (the Guns and Roses version?) which I sing the harmony to so it becomes our version.

Joel asked me if we were like that once scene in Lost in Translation when Bill Murray goes somewhere and hears a coverband. The answer is yes. But we have fun.

Some notes about the songs:
Many of the songs aren't really supposed to be sung by a woman but Oh. Well. I find that I'll probably try to weed Creep out of the setlist because though it is an incredible song, it's not for me. Haha. I can't sing it without smiling and found myself apologizing after I sang it for doing so. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be smiling... You all are supposed to feel miserable after that song and I blew it." Laughter ensued. So maybe for the next few shows but I'd like to see it off the setlist.

The band leader insists I sing Dont Wanna Miss a Thing but I'm afraid that after what Steven Tyler did do it, and what radio stations did with it, it musn't be sung again by anyone.

Mrs. Robinson is such an immensely hard song to sing but people love it. It's so wordy and the words are tongue twisters. I play up the cute while I sing it; that seems to work. Also, the tune is really hard. Really! How many people actually have ever found themselves singing along with the verses? Really? :)

Losing My Religion has probably never been covered before but I find it to be the most surprising song of of the bunch, as in, it gets a great response. I do my own thing with it, since I can't sound like the original so why try. (try cry why try...)

I was afraid to sing Stuck in a Moment because it's so hard and it is, but it somehow fits my voice real well... Why is it that U2 songs are in my range?

What's Up (or Hey-ay-ay-ay, Hey-ay-ay-ay, I said Hey. What's going on?) is what we finish with and it is a beast. It's a good finisher song and it's good to follow Losing My Religion with... :)

Other notes:
Throughout the performance I asked the audience for suggestions for a band name. They didn't give me any. My suggestions are "Four Thais and a Token Farang" or "the Detroit Thaigers"

Kidding.

Though, I am starting to wonder if "Detroit Thais" is a good name... Do cover bands even have the right to have a name?

2007-03-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

i might be in bangkok, but i saw what rasheed wallace did.

2007-03-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

thainglish adventures

this story was produced with the permission of P'George, who demanded 500 baht for my right to publish it. i told him I'd pay him next year.

PG: Oh my big lord.
(NJ produces the loudest laughter imaginable)
PG: Why you laugh?
NJ: Because I've never heard "Oh my big lord" before.
(PG rummages through his thesaurus)
PG: Oh my imperial lord.
(More laughter)
PG: why you laugh?
NJ: because Thai people shouldn't say "oh my imperial lord," since... given your history*, it's extra insulting. You don't want to associate God with an imperialist...
(NJ explains, to the best of her ability, how cultural history has influenced the context of the word, "imperial")
NJ: Try, "oh my good lord." That should be fine.

...as a result of this exchange, i've started to further the use of "oh my big lord" in every day conversation. not necessarily on purpose. it's funny how language works.

*Thais are the only nation in the region that haven't been settled by Farang. It's because their 5th king of the current era, Chulalongkorn, made it his life work to prove to the Europeans that he was perfectly capable of running a respectable nation without their help. There was a period, during WWII, when it looked as if the Japanese were going to skillfully take over Thailand, but (maybe because of their defeat?) they left Thailand as is.

2007-03-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

Adventures in Eating Thai Food in Thailand
(with a Detroit Native)

Last night, at a shop near one of the many 7-11s in Bangkok, across rom the university, I had an interesting cross-cultural experience. I was eating with Nui and some other pollsters and at the end of the meal, as usual, Nui (and others) asked me, "Eem, Mai?"which means, are you full?

I should note that when we eat, it's sort of the custom to keep up with how other people are doing with their food. When you get a plate, before you get a taste, you'll probably hear, "arroi, mai?" (or alloy, in Thai pronunciation... it means, "delicious, no?") and then you taste and respond with one of the following:

1) arroi (delicious)
2) arroi mak (very delicious)
3) arroi mak mak (very, very delicious)
4) arroi seud seud (very very delicious, slang)
5) cheuoi cheuoi (rising tone, it means "it's okay")
6) mai arroi (not delicious)

You'll get asked, "arroi mai?" every time you have a new type of food on your spoon (Thais use spoons like forks).

Okay, so AFTER the meal, P'Nui asked me, as usual, "eem, mai?"

Responses include:

1) mai eem (not full)
2) eem nit noi (a little full)
3) eem (full)
4) eem mak (very full)
5) eem mak mak (very very full)
6) eem seud seud (very very full, slang)
7) eemer than a mug*

*if you're Nora.

2007-03-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

While helping a coworker with English day, this question came up:

Why does "terrible" look so much like "terrific"?

Because English is hard. Or "yaak maak" as we say around here...

2007-03-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Eastern and Western Thoughts Cont'd...

I am delighted to have sparked a discussion.

Today's post was brought to you by image googling, "meditation."

The other day I had the priviledge of eating dinner with P'Nui, when I could relate some of the things I read to her.

I found that though (as I've already explained) I stumbled on some serious contradictions with my relationship with Jesus, I haven't thrown everything I read about Buddhist theories/ideas out the window. Actually, some of the ideas grew on me. Mainly, in dealing with emotional circumstances, I found myself taking a step back before jumping to conclusions about what the feeling might mean or acting according to that feeling. Though I do think impulse makes great art, I don't think it always makes great love (ha) and was grateful for the reminder to seek out perspective...

I talked to Nui about this, about how I really did like some of the ideas the Buddhadasa outlined... One of them being, not believing something just because someone tells me to. Another being, don't hold on too tight to your own ideas that nothing can change your idea. I liked the perspective that he introduced. Last week I had a struggle in regards to discouragement and this type of reasoning proved to be quite helpful.

What is meditation? When I was in South Africa, the woman I stayed with made a statement that really preyed on my mind. She said "Buddha said anything can be a meditation, so even washing the dishes can be a meditation." Nui told me she meditates while she walks. I always thought of meditation as being what so many directors made me do before a show... close my eyes and breathe and focus on the breath. Kind of hard to do while washing dishes (though maybe it's possible) and impossible to do while walking down a Bangkok soi without running into someone frying up some meat. Ouch. Now, I have found that closing my eyes and focusing on my breathing is great, though admittedly, I have never practiced it regularly. It certainly is relaxing and leaves one better equipped to concentrate on something like, say, performing a play. Gets you in the zone, one might say. But I couldn't put that together with washing the dishes until my conversation the other day with Nui.

So, right, I was telling her that I found, after reading the book, that I had the desire to be a tad less impulsive. I was feeling discouraged and then isolated the feeling and began to acknowledge other existences around me, aside from my feeling... like the hum of the refrigerator, the fact that I was in Bangkok and could see Ramkhamhaeng Rd. from my window, had many good friends in Thailand, etc. I explained to to Nui and she said that was meditating. It's acknowledging what's happening... So while we wash the dishes, we can think about how we're breathing, if there is any tension in our necks, what the water feels like beneath our hands, etc. I was so relieved to finally get this definition...

So, where does God fit in? Well, if meditation is noting what's going on and we have a relationship with God, he is part of that meditation. I can meditate now and say I am sitting in my bed, there is a slight throbbing pain over my right hip bone, I'm breathing through my nose and they are short breaths, I'm balancing my head with a whole lotta tension in my neck, and God is here with me, living inside of me, listening to every thought. You see? He's part of the meditation. Taking a time to sit and acknowledge reality, for those who have God in their lives, of course includes acknowledging him.

This part of Buddhist doctrine can certainly be applied to some of the demands of the Holy Spirit. For example, if we are focusing only on our impulse of anger, discouragement, doubt, frustration (which are all the kinds of suffering that Jesus asks us to stand up to), then taking a moment to put our minds on what is true, noble, etc is quite helpful as Paul recommends to the Philippians. I wanted to write Filippinos there, I think because that's the kind of thing Joel would write. Anyway, it's not rocket science to see why this sort of meditation might be useful in getting past the feeling in order to fix our minds on what is true. I described meditation to Nui as taking a step back and seeing what was there. She liked that. I then told her that if I take a step back and acknowledge what is there, I'll be acknowledging God, because he's there too.

Of course, one needn't meditate all the way to heaven, but for some in the Lord's diverse creation (some of those depressive-prones like me), it can be helpful. God is creative, you know.

2007-03-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

Encountering Buddhist Thought (Volume II)

(Today's post is brought to you by image-googling the word, "Suffering." Enjoy!)

I really appreciate some feedback I got on my last post about the subject, so I thought I'd go a bit further. I finished the Buddhadasa's book yesterday and felt quite satisfied with the insight it gave me into the religion. I believe that the sole purpose of "The Handbook for Mankind" is to strip the add-ons from Thai Buddhism and get back to Buddha's main ideas. Those of us who have relationships with God would probably appreciate a similar book that got to the core of Jesus that, perhaps, stripped away some of the products of merging Christianity with Western Culture. I'd write it, but...

If anyone is interested in this book, you can find it here: http://www.buddhanet.net/budasa2.htm

Okay, before I go on I want to say that I'm not about to get apologetic about this subject. God doesn't need me to argue for Him.

Perfection, in Buddhist thought is quite different than Perfection in regards to a Christ. In Buddhism, perfection means to be without suffering. As a Christian, perfection comes about through suffering (or resurrection).

To be in a relationship with God, suffering is expected and welcomed. Every time God speaks to the believer, the believer dies a bit and is then raised a bit more to life. Suffering adds validity, one might say... substance. I believe that's why the best plays come from Russia and the best stories come from Ireland and the best music comes from the post-Civil War South because, as you knowm this is my piece of writing, my blog, and I get to spoon feed you my opinions! Muhaha. By the way, that last statement was so utterly unbuddhist...) Someone, though I don't remember who, said if you read Jesus' words and don't feel a little death come in, you didn't hear them right.

Here's some examples from the Gospels where Jesus floors some Bible-Folks:

A couple guys drop a paralytic off at the feet of Jesus to be healed and Jesus says to him, "Your sins are forgiven." (Luke 6:17-26)

A guy walks up to Jesus and says, "Good teacher, what must I do to recieve eternal life?" and Jesus says, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments." (Mark 10:17-31)

Jesus gets word that one of his best friends is on the deathbed and instead of going to heal him, he stays put for two days. (John 11:1-44)

When God speaks, he exposes us and we have the choice to either run to him or run in the other direction. If we run to him, we grow.

In Christian love, suffering is a key element (ie, the cross) so it's difficult for me to imagine where love fits into this:

"...one must be directly concerned with bodily action speech and thought. That is, one must perservere in one's efforts to control and eliminate the defilements so that the clear insight will arise. One will then be capable of acting appropriately, and will be free of suffering from that moment right up to the end."
-Buddhadasa Bikkhu
(Handbook for Mankind, second to last paragraph of the first chapter)

I believe that without suffering, love is surfacy. The more we get to know someone, the more hard it is to love them; the more love it takes to love them. Perseverence through suffering (and I'm not just talking romance here) deepens love.

In another part of the book, the Buddhadasa says:

"If one is completely free of suffering, this is the very best attitude to have. There need not be any self as master of the body. Discrimination alone enables the body to carry on by it's natural power. The example of the Buddha shows that the power of pure discrimination and pure goodwill keep an arahant (enlightened one) living in the world, and, what is more, doing far more good for others than people still subject to craving. Defiled people are likely to do what benefits themselves since they act out of selfishness. By contrast, the deeds of the arahants are completely selfless and so are perfectly pure." (From the chapter called "Insight by Nature method," VII)

I can grasp the idea of selflessness being imperative to service, but what I cannot grasp is how we can be directly concerned with action and thought but be selfless at the same time. Undoubtedly, it's something that comes with practice and concentration.

I guess the question here is, can a person will away defilements? The method he describes in the book is merely recognizing things for what they are (emotions, actions, reactions, etc...) and not clinging to them. That is the way to overcome various kinds of suffering. Much of the book is comprised of lists. 10 defilements, 4 noble truths, etc etc etc (I had only written one etc but since I'm in Thailand I had to write three). I felt like I was back in Ms. Edmund's bio class. I would like to ask a monk about how imperative it is to memorize for this religion... do we need to know the elements to recognize the elements?

The Buddhadasa, near the end, says everyone has the opportunity to be perfect. That, I agree with. But the narrow Buddhist path seems to be quite discriminating; those with any sort of brain damage are left behind in the dust. Meanwhile, Paul writes that nothing can separate us from God's love, and that in Jesus, there is no favoritism...

Overall, reading that book was a good experience for me. The roots of these two types of thinking are major barriers when it comes to understanding the people in my surroundings. I am very interested in going further--to see where Jesus stands in the middle of it...

My next bit of reading is a book by Thomas Merton, which was written at the end of his life in order to try to level a discussion between Western and Eastern types of thought. Isn't interesting, I pointed out to Joel the other day, that Jesus lived in neither the East nor the Western cultures? And if God decides to look at the world upside-down, East becomes West, right?

2007-03-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

ain't no joke

2007-03-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to take a sledge hammer to the language barrier. Two mysteries were solved lately, which have helped...

1. "Ver"
Someone gave me some fruit the other day and when I tried it I made a face because it was so sour. My friend P'George yelled across the room, "Nora face oVER" and said it over and over again. "What is over?" I asked. He couldn't answer. Later, P'Nui told me that he meant "over acting." Thais usually just say "ver," (which sounds more like "wuh") to say that someone is being over dramatic. So, native English speakers, I just wanted to give you some insight into what Thai people are doing with our language. I find it to be delightful. But I wasn't being "ver" when I tried that fruit. It was sour.

2. "Appun" etc.

Thai people always pronounce the l sound at the end of a word to be like the n sound. That is why they call apples "apuns," and why when I don't clean my plate, P'Amata tells me, "You only eat littun." This puzzled me until I started to type out the colors in Thai... The reason they pronounce ls as ns is because their letter that makes an l sound (law ling: ล) is always pronounced as "n" at the ends of words. I realized this with the word for brown, which ends in a law ling but is pronounced "naam dtaan" not "naam dtaal."

2007-03-03T02:05:00.000-08:00

THE ART OF...

(For your entertainment.... As this post is mostly words and words aren't that fun when most of the blog is pictures, I decided to amuse you and myself with the results of a google image hunt. I typed "enlightenment" and posted throughout are what I chose as my favorite images...)

I'm not even sure who keeps up with this blog (--that is a sentence that appears on just about every blog, at least once). This entry might take on a more serious tone than the others, so if you're not in the mood for that, you may want to pass this one on by. As this is a journal that sort of updates my experience in Thailand, the following seems a crucial element to this. Yes, the pictures are fun, but here's what's going on in my head.

I was supposed to go to band practice today, but I decided to stay home for a day for myself (my voice is feeling a little weak and I wasn't sure how much I wanted to pop-sing...). I'm glad I did because I earned myself a day to contemplate what has gone on this week, and, in doing so, entered into one of those moments of spiritual euphoria that I do hope you all get to experience before too long...

At work I am not teaching (I used to say "at the moment," but I've come to the conclusion that that moment is rather a thing of the past, not the future). Sometimes I help people with research when it is in English, but even in those cases I'm pretty useless. So, I basically goof around all day and justify it by saying that I'm usually goofing around in English and so hopefully it's improving my coworkers' skills. I am undeniably distracting my poor pollster friends, but again, I am noticing improvements in their English. It's like the English-teacher sneak attack. Lots of this goofing is by way of instant messaging people around the room.

This week, in a conversation with one of the ABAC Poll's prime goofballs, our daily kidding around/English-lesson-in-disguise took a sharp turn into an intriguing opportunity. He twisted the buddhist philosophy: "it's better to not be born, live, and die," and made it a joke. I, of course, was confused as ever and asked him to explain. He said it was something the Buddha said. I asked him, does that means the Buddha says it's okay to kill an unborn child? He said no. My statement was shocking, I know. Shocking enough for him to turn the tone of the conversation around with, "what do you know about Buddhism?" I told him I knew that there were a set of laws and if you followed them you could make merit and if you didn't you might lose merit or something, and your next life depends on how much merit you had. He told me that was not Buddhism.

Then he proceded to print out what he referred to as his favorite book, "The Handbook for Mankind," by the Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (Thai monk who died in the 1960s). He actually broke the ABAC Poll printer in the process because it was over 100 pages and pissed a lot of people off, but as far as I know, he hasn't paid any consequences. The printer worked fine yesterday.

While the book was printing out, he asked me to tell him about Jesus' teachings. I told him Jesus taught that he was the way to God. I tried to explain to him how the Bible worked--how it was a collection of books and 4 of those books were written as accounts of Jesus' life on earth. I sent him passages in Thai, trying to explain what Jesus' teachings were like. He kept asking me for the "essence." I don't want to know about miracles, he told me, just the essence.

I took a night to think about what that might mean. I read the first chapter of the book by the Buddhadasa monk and learned that Buddhism was a religion based on logic and reasoning. The author condemned much of what is going on in Thailand's Buddhism, which has gotten away from the core, or what my friend might call "the essence." In Buddhism there is no dependence on prayer or gods or idols. No rites. Buddhism depends on the brain only. The Buddha taught that the enlightenment comes by not taking what other people say, but finding out for yourself. In this way, Buddhism struck me as a bit isolating.

I felt, while reading, that I was experiencing growth pains. That pondering this stuff, set in the right direction, would bring me to a better understanding of God. I was grateful that he wanted me to explain the "essence," as I now understood that it meant the core, not Jesus + Western Civ, but Jesus. I had a sense that only good could come out of this stuff.

The next day, one of the first questions I asked my friend--it could have only come from the Spirit, as it was so far from myself--was "What do you know about Jesus' teachings?"

My friend answered, "To love people as you love yourself." Then he said, "I like what Jesus teaches." He also mentioned that missionaries help each other. I told him, yes, that's right. Jesus also teaches us to love eachother as He loved us. My friend said, "I understand." He then asked me some questions about catholicism and islam (thank God I'd just read a chunk of a book about Islam so I could give him a reasoned and fair account of what Islam is in the eyes of the Christian believer!) and at the end of the day I emailed him (did not print...) a pdf version of the gospel of John in Thai.

Did I know then that these conversations were just as much for me as they were for him? When God teaches, it often comes at us like a Psalm. There is a rant--an uproar of chaos that puts us at the feet of Jesus and forces us to ask for his imput. Then there is the Selah--the moment of quiet before God answers the chaos with order and truth. I guess I could say that the time between the conversation and today's contemplation was that selah.

I read another chapter of the Buddhadasa today, where he described Buddhism as the "Art of Living." After I read it, I went to the tropical garden in front of my building and contemplated through writing in my Bose-Style (friend of mine's style) journal:

The relationship comes first. In the words of Steve Wonder at the Superbowl, "It's not the religion, it's the relationship."

What then, is religion? If we have this relationship, are we liberated from religion? Are we free to contemplate religions? The Relationship comes first and it is our door into relationships with other people. Maybe my Relationship is my religion--my conversation with God through reading, praying, and talking to others.

Love Each Other is the nicest command anyone has given us. It is a freedom, this love. It's not a burden. Jesus' command for us is not a burden but rather permission to love people, to learn from people, to serve people, and in doing so, grow closer to God. Jesus says "love one another, as I have loved you." This is a freedom. I can love my friends at the ABAC Poll and I can love those in the Church that I have a hard(er) time relating to; I can love them free from anger because I have been given the permission and command to do so.

If I am in this love that God gives me, loving others is not an option, in fact, not doing so is impossible. Wherever I go, I will live and have freedom in this command--wherever there are people. My sin cannot hinder my ability to love and that is why love brings freedom. My sin can't prevent me from loving and loving is all that God requires.

To love is to be available to God. On Christmas, Pr. W. taught that our job as believers is to be available to God, as Mary was available to God. I believe that God teaches us that we are available to him when we love others.

Today at lunch, P'Tao mentioned that Christians love their enemies but Buddhists are allowed to hate their enemies. She was kidding around (and it was quite funny.) Just like I kid around at work by announcing "I'm a Christian!" every time I kill a mosquito because I was told that Buddhists aren't allowed to kill bugs (or any other animals... one of the 5 laws).

Maybe Buddhism is the art of living. But, as a person who has invited Jesus in, I choose the art of loving.

And the art of killing mosquitoes.

2007-02-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

BIRTHDAY BOYS

We had dinner in May's room. Jacob taught us how to make Indian food--I think Chicken Masala with Biryani rice.

In this picture, May, me, Chay, and Jacob

As you see, May and Jacob are doing the cooking, Chay is sitting around sipping, I am just standing around doing nothing.

Except stealing bites before they're blessed..

Don't be decieved. I am just pretending to cook in this picture. That salad had been done for fifteen minutes and doesn't need to be stirred.

After the meal, Tee and Jacob cut the cake. Many jokes ensued.

2007-02-27T00:46:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like...

I have been told that Detroit looks more like Christmas now and it's terrible and confusing since you all got snow too late. I have concluded it's because you all feel that it is always winter and never Christmas. So, I meant to post my christmas pictures, but erased them by accident. You're getting them now. Finally, you can see that Thailand is a place where it is never winter and, for a very short time, Christmas.

Carolling from house to house. (we sang in Thai and English)

The giant ABAC Christmas tree.

The ABAC Nativity scene

May's extended family (that is, her aunt, uncle, and second cousins. Plus Edith and me.). We're getting ready to eat at the ABAC Christmas party.

Our Church Christmas party. I'm sitting with my friend Uon, and then on the left, Hayden and his wife Emily. (Hayden is from New Zealand, Emily from the UK.)

On Christmas day, we had dinner at Wade and Paula's.

2007-02-26T23:20:00.000-08:00

ThaIME

Time in Thai is more complicated than anything ever needed to be. In my last lesson, I learned it so I'm studying by explaining it on here. (I have heared the best way to learn is to teach.)

Okay, first of all, Thai people split the day into four parts.

DEE 1am to 5am

MONG CHAO 6am to 11am

BAI MONG 1pm to 5pm

TOOM 7pm to 11pm.

Midnight is TIANG KOON (koon means night)

Noon is TIANG WAN (wan means day)

6pm is HOK MON YEN

They (usually) only count up to six when stating the time:
neung (1)
song (2)
sahm (3)
see (4)
ha (5)
hok (6)
---
jet (7)
pad (8)
kao (9)
sip (10)
sip-et (11)

Hence, the following for telling time:

MIDNIGHT tiang koon
1am dee neung
2am dee song
3am dee sahm
4am dee see
5am dee hah
6am hok mong chao*
7am neung mong chao OR jet mong chao**
8am song mong chao OR pad mong chao
9am sahm mong chao OR kao mong chao
10am see mong chao OR sip mong chao
11am hah mong chao OR sip-et mong chao
NOON tiang wan
1pm bai neung (mong)***
2pm bai song (mong)
3pm bai sahm (mong)
4pm bai see (mong)
5pm bai hah (mong)
6pm hok mong yen****
7pm neung toom*****
8pm song toom
9pm sahm toom
10pm see toom
11pm hah toom

*notice that you say six, but switch over to the next period
**the second option is more common, but they don't count that high with the toom period.
*** the mong is optional here, but the number comes after the time period
****notice how the mong is not optional here, and for this time, the number (6) comes before the time period (mong yen)
*****the numbers go before the time period again for "toom"

Confused?

2007-02-25T23:49:00.000-08:00

THAI LESSONS

I've been taking Thai lessons. I thought I'd share the alphabet with you.

44 Consonants:

ก gaw gai chicken "g" or "k" sounds
ข kaw kai egg "k"
ฃ kaw ko-wat bottle "k"
ค kaw kwaai buffalo "k"
ฅ kaw kohn person "k"
ฆ kaw rakahng bell "k"
ง ngaw ngu snake "ng"
จ jaw jahn plate "j"
ฉ chaw ching castanets "ch"
ช chaw chaang elephant "ch"
ซ saw so chain "s"
ฌ chaw cheu tree "ch"
ญ yaw ying woman "y"
ฎ daw chadaa crown "d"
ฏ dtaw padtak spear (for fishing) "dt"
ฐ taw tahn throne "t"
ฑ taw montoe queen in myth "t"
ฒ taw pootaow old man "t"
ณ naw naen boy monk "n"
ด daw dek boy/child "d"
ต dtaw dtao turtle "dt"
ถ taw toong bag "t"
ท taw tah-hahn soldier "t"
ธ taw tohng flag "t"
น naw noo rat/mouse "n"
บ baw bai mai leaf "b"
ป bplaw bplah fish "bp"
ผ paw peung bee "p"
ฝ faw fah lid "f"
พ paw pahn offering plate "p"
ฟ faw fun tooth "f"
ภ paw sam-paow ship "p"
ม maw maa horse "m"
ย yaw yak giant "y"
ร raw reua boat "r"
ล law ling monkey "l"
ว wah wehn ring "w"
ศ saw salah resting place "s"
ษ saw rue see hermit "s"
ส saw seua tiger "s"
ห haw heeb box "h"
ฬ law joo-lah star-shaped kite "l"
อ aw aahng big bowl to store water in (silent)
ฮ haw nuh-kook owl "h"

Vowels
(I use taw tah hahn, or ท, to be the stand in letter here... so you can see where the vowels are placed in regards to the consonant...)

(short/long)
ทะ ทา ah/aah
ทิ ที ih/ee
ทึ ทือ eu/eeu
ทุ ทู oo/ooo
เทะ เท eh/ehh
แทะ แท ae/aae
โทะ โท oh/ohh
เทาะ ทอ oa/owa
ทัวะ ทัว oowah/ooowah
เทัยะ เทัย ia/iiya
เทือะ เทือ eua/eeua
เทอะ เทะ uh/uhh
ทำ om
ไท ai
เทา ow

That's the general stuff about the letters... there are tons of rules for tone marks and ways the various letters make different sounds. I just wanted you to see what they looked like.

2007-02-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY.

In Thailand, the holiday is popular pretty much only with teenagers (sound familiar?). It's pronounced "Wal-en-tai day."

In honor of my deep longing for latino influence (like, Mexican food), I will post this picture of hott latinos embracing:

I stole that picture from this girl's blog that I found while playing around with the "next blog" button on blogs. I don't recommend you play with that button, but I did find an interesting one with all these neat pictures. The words are all in spanish. From what I could make out (with my small ability to read spanish), she goes around the internet and hunts down pictures. Then it seems she writes poems about them.

Okay, I also wanted to post this poem I found in the book "God's Silence" by Franz Wright.

LOVE

While they were considering whether or not to stone her--

and why not?--he knelt

and with his finger wrote

something in the dust. We are

as you know made from

dust, and the unknown

word

was, therefore, and is

forever will be

written in our flesh

in gray folds of

memory's

flesh. En

archê ên ho logos:

2007-02-11T23:57:00.000-08:00

I've been published.

2007-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hey, sorry it took me so long to get around to posting these. I have a few pictures, compliments of P'Tao, of the Flower Fest in Chiang Mai.

I actually have tons more pictures, but these are all I had access to and had time for. Like I said, these were from P'Tao's camera. I have tons on my camera, but I don't have the USB chord I need.

These pictures are mostly of Jang (below, left) Me, and Tao (right of me)... I actually met Jang when I first came to Thailand. She came with us to Ayutthaya. I shared a room with her on this trip, in the hotel.

This expo featured gardens from all over the world. The picture below was taking in the garden representing Mauritania. I have no idea where that is...

The Holland exibit was a huge hit. Tulips aren't to common in Thailand. :) Later, if I have time, I will show you how they had to use a reverse-greenhouse to exhibit them...

This was a Hindu something or other... god. It's in the Nepalese garden. (Nepalise? hm)

These trees are from Australia:

The building behind us was dedicated to the king. This expo is for him because he is the agriculture king. Every king has had a speciality. He's Rama 9, but Rama 4 (King who knew Anna) was an astrologer--no not astronomer, a fortune-teller, and Rama 5 (Chulalongkorn) was the foreign-affairs King. Well, Rama 9 has spent his reign innovating in Thai agriculture. In that building, there was a wonderful exhibit about all he has done. Very impressive. On the top, there is a Buddhist temple. They had a performance on the steps, at night. I didn't take pictures of it. We were too far away. It was very Disney... no substance in the storyline but quite impressive visually. Everything we associate with "Spectacular."

There was an Orchid Contest. Here's one of the gardens entered:

At night the gardens were truly beautiful. The weather was perfect, too. It reminded me of hanging out in Aunt Donna's garden at night. This picture was taken in the garden representing India. It was a neat display. I am aware, however, of the fact that I look like I'm standing in front of the gates of hell in this photo... Maybe I should title it: Trying to Look Cute Near the Gates of Hell.

Thai people love Christmas lights. Year round. So much of Bangkok has Christmas lights--all the outdoor pubs and things. This was the walkway to the parkinglot of the flower expo.
And here's Joel and his indoor herb-garden. :)

2007-02-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Thainglish Adventures

At work I have conversations on MSN--some people message me to practice English. It's easier than facing me, I guess. Today I talked to my friend P'George, the photographer. I asked him if he and (and P'Nui) wanted to check out a photo gallery I'd visited in the past and I get emails from. They are offering free food next week.

He looked at the webpage and said it was very "Hi-so," which took me a moment to realize he meant "high-society." Then I told him that he'd better behave or that's the last hi-so I'd ever take him to. And then he wrote this:

oh I'm sinderlela ride pumkin car 5555555

I told him he'd have to get home by midnight, before he turned back into a poor pollster. He said:

should I wear grass shoes or not

I think I'll be happy for life now.

2007-01-29T00:14:00.000-08:00

Coming soon...

I just got back from a spectacular Flower Festival in Chiang Mai (that's a Thai city in the north.)

As soon as I get a CORD for my camera, I can put up the pictures I took, but meanwhile I can post ones that P'Tao gave me on CD.

But I can't do that right this minute. So you'll have to wait.

Meanwhile, here is a fun little anecdote:

Linkin Park, a band, is very popular in Thailand. The other day, P'Nui told me that Thais call it "Ling Gin Pak," which is Thai for "Monkey Eats Vegetable"

2007-01-19T01:12:00.000-08:00

Howdy Folks!

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. The main reason is that USB chord that fits into my camera has been acting a fool and I can't get it to work. So I will share one picture my friend May sent to me... She stole it from a visiting missionary couple. It was taken at church:

Lets see... where did I leave off. I'll just numbered bits of information for you.

1) I celebrated Christmas in Thailand. It was very strange to celebrate the holidays away from my family.

2) I took the GRE. I'm trying to forget about that. But more significantly was that AFTER the GRE, I met my friend Roni down in the touristy area... she was here visiting her brother who was in Chiang Mai (another Thai city) studying. I know Roni from UM. Her family took me out to dinner. It was fun. They are good people.

3) I survived the bombs in Bangkok on New Years. I wasn't anywhere near them.

4) I've been making music with my friends Tee and Goong. They are really talented guys. We're putting together a gospel album of originals. I will have two original songs on there. We have already been to the studio once. Next we hope to expiriment with Issan (a kind of traditional Thai music) and, I guess, Indie folk.

5) I started Thai lessons yesterday. I am taking Thai one-on-one with a girl who lives near the university. I have two hour lessons, twice a week.

... well, I guess you can see why I haven't updated. Not much to talk about.

2006-12-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

GFV in Thailand

I think it was about a month ago, but P'George and his friend took me to Meuang Borahn, which means "Ancient City." I didn't know what to expect, but concluded that it was the Thai version of Greenfield Village, minus the banjo player. But it's a little different than that, even. The Ancient City contained replicas of floating markets and wats (temples) and other important buildings in Thailand (or, later, from China?).

Enjoy. These are P'George's pictures.

2006-12-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Headline:

Earlier this week, the winner of the Woman's 800m run in the Asian Games had give back the gold.

Because the winner was a transvestite.