Ignorance

So, I turned the TV on tonight (something I haven't done since getting back to CM) and The Amazing Race Southeast Asia was on. I just have to say that I don't understand people's ignorance sometimes. All these Americans are running around Cambodia saying "hola" to the nationals. What part of your brain makes you think the language in Cambodia is Spanish? I just don't understand it.

It is probably not a good idea for me to watch this show again because it frustrated me for other reasons as well. The contestants were riding through the towns saying how sad the people's lives were. They felt so bad for the nationals and how horrible their lives were. Just because someones life doesn't look like yours, that doesn't mean it is horrible or sad. Those Cambodians are probably happier with their lives than most of the contestants on the show.

Sorry but I just had to rant a little bit. Maybe it bothered me so much because they were in an area not far from where I live and I am used to what they found shocking. I struggle often with feeling embarrassed by the way westerners act when they visit Thailand. It bothers me when I see a westerner acting like they are better than the nationals or like they own the world. Several times I have actually overheard people complaining that Thai people don't speak English. Hello! You are in Thailand, not America or Australia or whatever English speaking country you originated from.

I have to stop because I could keep complaining for a long time and instead I should probably go pray for my attitude to be better. Lord help me! :)

"Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister..."

I just came across this on my sister, Tamara's blog and it made me smile and laugh out loud so I had to repost it.

"Two Sisters

Two Memories:
Once Jenni and I were in opposite rooms of the apartment. Our TV was blaring and that stupid Six Flags commercial came on the TV. You know the one I am talking about. The one with the masked "old" man and the house music? So the music starts and I am overcome with this need to dance like an idiot, so why not dance into the living room? And I did only to find that Jenni was doing the exact same dance coming from the other side of the house. We both gave the "what are you doing?" look and then fell into fits of laughter.

Sheryl, Jenni and I went to Party City to buy some things for, well, for a party of course! While we were pursuing through the aisles I came across these awesome Harry Potter wands that light up. So naturally, as any Harry Potter fan would do, I picked up the wand and did my best wand wave saying "Alohamora!" Of course, since Jenni is almost me and I am almost her, standing on the other side of Sheryl, Jenni had found a wand too and was also doing her best "alohamora" wand wave out loud and at the same time. Poor Sheryl! I think she vowed never to go to Party City with us again.

Sometimes we are so alike it is scary. I miss you my Jenni Penni, more than Sirius misses James."

Tam, I miss you more than Samwise missed the Shire!

Mai Dee!!

I am sitting here in my house wondering what is wrong with me. Before you start throwing answers my way, I should probably be more specific...

In the past two and a half weeks, since I've been back in Thailand, I have had one good night of sleep. The first week was because I was in a lot of pain from my fibromyalgia and I couldn't relax. But my body has since adjusted a bit and the pain is almost completely gone and yet I still can't sleep. I lay in bed for hours trying to fall asleep and it is so frustrating. On an average night, it takes me between three and six hours to fall asleep and I just can't believe that is normal. Once I fall asleep, I usually stay that way for two or three hours before waking up again. It is mai dee (not good) and I am really tired of it! (No pun intended.) I have never been a good sleeper but it seems to be much worse now. I've tried all the tricks to relax my body and quiet my mind but nothing works.

Thanks for listening, I feel much better now that I have complained!! :)

High So Salad Dressings in Thai

My two closest Thai friends are two girls named, Aon and Ya. These girls are a HUGE blessing in my life and I don't know what I would do without them. They are my family away from family.

Thai people use the phrase "high so" to mean high society. They use it to describe anything posh, really nice, expensive. Yesterday Aon says, "Jen, I think that you are high so now. When you had no hot water and not a nice home, you were not, but now you are." I replied, "Actually, I am just pretending to be high so, but really I am still low so." For some reason, this was just about the funniest thing I could have said and they both laughed about it for a good ten minutes. Now they keep saying, "You are low so, pretending to be high so!" Every time they say it, the laughter starts up again. Apparently, I am pretty funny.

A couple days ago, Aon and Ya were going grocery shopping and they were going to pick up some salad dressing for me while out. Ya called me on the phone from the store and asked what kind of salad dressing I wanted. Keep in mind that I am living in Thailand where the dressing of choice is salad cream which in my opinion tastes just like mayo. There are not too many other options, the only options that day were salad cream, balsamic vinaigrette and Italian. I told Ya that I would take the balsamic vinaigrette and in the most serious voice possible she says, "Jing la (really)?" I reply, "Jing jing (really)." Ya says, "Are you sure?" I say, "Yes, I'm sure." She says, "Mai cow jai Jen. Jing la (I don't understand, Jen. Really)?" I say, "Jing jing. Why don't you understand?" Ya stammers a bit before saying, "but... but it's black! You will still eat it?!" At this point, I start laughing and can't actually speak for several moments. It is times like this that bring me much joy and make me love living in a foreign country. Aon and Ya brought the salad dressing to my house and when I put it on my salad, they both stared at me like I was about to ingest poison.

Another funny encounter I had with them this week was on a day when I wasn't feeling well. I was tired from not sleeping and I had a horrible cough that was out of control and I had no energy. One of my favorite things about my friendships with Aon and Ya is that they are comfortable enough with me to tease me unceasingly. On this day they started teasing me and my immediate reaction was to defend myself by explaining that I was sick. I said, "but I'm sick and I'm tired and I can't stop coughing and I just want to sleep!" Aon and Ya both started laughing and clapping their hands and looking very excited. I was completely confused about why my sickness was making them so happy until they explained that in a very whiny voice I had complained almost completely in Thai. Apparently, if I can complain in Thai, my language skills are getting better. Korp Khun Prajow (thank you God)!

*If you happen to be a Thai speaking person who is reading this, I apologize for my horrid English spelling of Thai words!

Sarah Lee

Last year I worked at The Centre with a guy named, Jesse. His teenage sister was in a car accident a couple weeks ago and really needs prayer. I've been keeping up to date every day on her progress by going to this website. The following is the story of what happened.

Sarah was a passenger in a car accident on Sunday, October 5th. The accident happened in Shoreview at roughly 3 pm at the intersection of Hodgson Road and County Road I. She is currently at Gillette Childrens Hospital in St. Paul and getting excellent care from the staff here. If you wish to help, visit http://sarahleebenefitfund.blogspot.com

"Sarah was in the back passenger seat of her friends car on October 5th when it was broadsided by a woman driving an SUV at the intersection of County Road I and Hodgson Road. She had to be cut out of the car by the Firefighters. She was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. She had a breathing tube put in during her ride in the ambulance. The ER doctor said she was showing physical signs of head trauma so they immediately started Sarah on medications to control/reduce the swelling of her brain. She was given a CT scan which showed no immediate internal bleeding causing the brain pressure, but rather many smaller locations of brain injury causing the swelling. The doctor said this is severe head trauma. After being stabilized, she was moved to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Gillette Hospital, located within the Regions Hospital building. Their where 3 other friends in the car with her. Driver is ok. 1 girl has a broken collarbone. Front passenger had a punctured lung, ruptured spleen, damage to the kidney. broken ribs, and fractured pelvis. He has surgeries upcoming but they are pretty confident he will make a full recovery from what I have heard.

We place our trusts in these truths.... 'And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus' Phil 4:19 Isaiah 41: 10 'fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand'"

You can get updates on the website. Basically, she is still in a coma which leaves the doctors guessing on how much brain trauma was experienced. Jesse (my friend from The Centre) works for YWAM in Australia and has flown home to be with his family during this time. When I first heard about it a couple weeks ago, I couldn't help but sympathize with Jesse a little because I remember what it was like to be on the other side of the world and get a phone call saying something happened to my sister. Luckily, for Jesse and his family, Sarah is still holding on but needs lots of prayer. Please lift her up in prayer.

Brought to you by the Leeper sisters

I just found these videos and they are gems! The first one should seriously be a commercial, the second is an alternate ending and the third is an outtake.












*Merchandise shown in these videos can only be purchased in Thailand.

It's a blurry world out there!

First of all, sorry that I scared you Crystal! (I wrote on twitter that I may be going blind and didn't think through the fact that it sounded so serious...)

But seriously, my eyesight is getting really bad. I have been wearing glasses since I was five years old so my eyesight has never been good. I was one of those nerdy kids with thick glasses hanging on a string in elementary school. However, in the last couple months it seems to be getting worse and this week it is driving me crazy! I can't seem to focus on anything that is even remotely close to me. This is really horrible for me because my drug of choice is reading, I can't live without it. Today I was trying to read something and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't focus. I took my contacts out and put my glasses on, it didn't help. I kept rubbing my eyes trying to get the blurriness out, it didn't help. I repeatedly shut my eyes really tight and them opened them really wide, it didn't work. Nothing works and it is so frustrating that I want to scream!

Seriously frustrating...

Maybe I am just getting old...

My goal is to find an English speaking optometrist this week...

Or is it walking in my sleep again?

When I was a teenager, I would occasionally walk in my sleep. I would wake up in different rooms of the house and wonder how I got there. My parents would have stories of conversations I had with them in the middle of the night and I would have no memory of them. Fortunately, the sleep walking stopped as I got older. Until now.

When I was visiting my parents last month, my mom found me sleep walking three nights in a row. I got up one morning to have breakfast with mom and dad and found my bible sitting on the kitchen table. I wondered out loud how it got there and my mom told that I had been sitting there reading it in the middle of the night. Who knew I was so spiritual?

This morning I woke up and walked to the kitchen table to use my laptop, but it wasn't there. I looked all over the house (easy because it is a pretty small house) and couldn't find it. I had a sudden, very disturbing thought that someone had broken into my house while I was asleep and stolen my computer. I started looking around the house to see if anything else was missing and I found a banana peel on the couch and a dvd playing on the tv. What kind of thief eats a banana and watches a movie before stealing my computer? As I asked myself that question, I wandered into my bedroom and found my laptop sitting on the floor between my bed and the wall. What kind of a thief eats a banana, watches a dvd and then sneaks my laptop into my bedroom where I am sleeping?

I have absolutely no memory of the banana, the movie or moving the laptop, but obviously I did it. And I am not ashamed to admit that I am totally freaking myself out! What else have I done in my sleep?

Things that made me smile today:

• Gracie and Sammy fighting over who gets to be closest to me
• coffee with Opal
• cha manow (iced Thai lemon tea)
• the buffalo I drove by on the side of the road
• driving from the right side of the car, on the left side of the street
• listening to Brooke's mixed cd in my truck and hearing it skip every few seconds
• praying at The Centre
• feeling missed
• sweating A LOT
• speaking tinglish (half Thai, half English)
• feeling passionate, responsible, brave, mature
• hearing someone say that they can see a difference in me
• feeling comfortable, like I belong
• making Aon and Ya laugh
• waking up on my hard bed with a VERY achy back but realizing that it is MY bed
• the beautiful, Thailand sky
• my friends
• letting God speak through me
• noticing the hot guy on the side of the road and then blushing when I realized I knew him
• Chiang Mai