Friday, November 17, 2006
M I C (See you real soon) K E Y (Why? Because I love you!)...
There is a mouse in a my room AGAIN and I can't catch it. It kept Gracie and I awake most of last night. Last time I put out traps but this time I can't do that because Gracie seems to get caught in them instead of the mouse. She really is a smart puppy... I hate mice.
Friday, November 10, 2006
There is no place like home
Where is my home? I am having trouble figuring that out right now. Is it Chiang Mai or San Diego or San Jose or is it with my parents when they move to Missouri?
November 1st started the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek which is a flower garden park thing. It is huge and is in honor of the King. I am excited about this because 1) I love to take pictures of flowers 2) Chiang Mai has blossomed into a city of flowers, they are everywhere and they are beautiful 3) I am really fond of the King. I am not excited about this because 1) there is so much traffic everywhere 2) I went to the Night Bazaar area last night for what was supposed to be a quick errand and there was 1 zillion people there. I am not a fan of the Night Bazaar anyway but last night was horrible 3) I am allergic to all the beautiful flowers all over the city and I can't stop sneezing.
I have been driving around Chiang Mai this week and realizing how much I will miss this city while I am gone for two months. I really love it here. I love the streets and I love the buildings and I love the flowers and I love the people. There is a part of me that doesn't want to leave at all.
Last night I was buying a gift from a vendor at the Night Bazaar and I was bargaining with the guy in Thai. He was so happy that I knew my numbers in Thai and he asked me (in Thai) if I was a teacher. I replied (in Thai) that I was an English teacher and he was so happy. He started jumping up and down and thanking me over and over again for teaching English. This exact scenario is not a common occurrence but it is an example of why I love Thailand and the people here so much. Oh, and he gave me a great deal on my gift!
I love my friends Im, Keng and P'Na so much! I hate the thought that I won't see them for two months. On Monday I was telling them what I did over the weekend which consisted of me practically living at church. Im looked at me and said "Jen, I think that you are such a good Christian and I am such a bad Buddhist." Wow, what a great conversation opener about Christianity and why I want to be a good Christian! I will pray for them every day while I am gone.
I leave Thailand on November 18th for America. I will spend two weeks in San Jose and I am really looking forward to seeing all my friends there. I get to spend Thanksgiving with my grandma which makes me happier than I could express in this blog.
I will then go down to San Diego for two days and hang out with Tamara, Katie, Suki and Sammy and then on to Webb City Missouri for one month. I am really happy to spend Christmas with family and excited about a chance to relax there.
I then fly back to San Diego for two weeks and get to spend time with all my friends there. I also hope to make it into Mexico at some point. Then I will fly back up to San Jose and leave on January 13th from San Francisco to come back to Chiang Mai.
I guess that I am at a point in my life where home is just wherever God takes me. I would like to think of all these places as home though. I guess that just means that I am home wherever I go. Praise God for that!
November 1st started the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek which is a flower garden park thing. It is huge and is in honor of the King. I am excited about this because 1) I love to take pictures of flowers 2) Chiang Mai has blossomed into a city of flowers, they are everywhere and they are beautiful 3) I am really fond of the King. I am not excited about this because 1) there is so much traffic everywhere 2) I went to the Night Bazaar area last night for what was supposed to be a quick errand and there was 1 zillion people there. I am not a fan of the Night Bazaar anyway but last night was horrible 3) I am allergic to all the beautiful flowers all over the city and I can't stop sneezing.
I have been driving around Chiang Mai this week and realizing how much I will miss this city while I am gone for two months. I really love it here. I love the streets and I love the buildings and I love the flowers and I love the people. There is a part of me that doesn't want to leave at all.
Last night I was buying a gift from a vendor at the Night Bazaar and I was bargaining with the guy in Thai. He was so happy that I knew my numbers in Thai and he asked me (in Thai) if I was a teacher. I replied (in Thai) that I was an English teacher and he was so happy. He started jumping up and down and thanking me over and over again for teaching English. This exact scenario is not a common occurrence but it is an example of why I love Thailand and the people here so much. Oh, and he gave me a great deal on my gift!
I love my friends Im, Keng and P'Na so much! I hate the thought that I won't see them for two months. On Monday I was telling them what I did over the weekend which consisted of me practically living at church. Im looked at me and said "Jen, I think that you are such a good Christian and I am such a bad Buddhist." Wow, what a great conversation opener about Christianity and why I want to be a good Christian! I will pray for them every day while I am gone.
I leave Thailand on November 18th for America. I will spend two weeks in San Jose and I am really looking forward to seeing all my friends there. I get to spend Thanksgiving with my grandma which makes me happier than I could express in this blog.
I will then go down to San Diego for two days and hang out with Tamara, Katie, Suki and Sammy and then on to Webb City Missouri for one month. I am really happy to spend Christmas with family and excited about a chance to relax there.
I then fly back to San Diego for two weeks and get to spend time with all my friends there. I also hope to make it into Mexico at some point. Then I will fly back up to San Jose and leave on January 13th from San Francisco to come back to Chiang Mai.
I guess that I am at a point in my life where home is just wherever God takes me. I would like to think of all these places as home though. I guess that just means that I am home wherever I go. Praise God for that!
Thursday, November 02, 2006
What are you reading?
1. Grab the nearest book. If you are currently reading something, that'll be fine too.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your Blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet I know that is what you were thinking!
6. Tag 5 people
"The cereal. Being the best thing to eat right now. I could go for a big bowl of Raisin Bran and cold milk. I might even take that over the eggs and tortillas."
Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your Blog along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet I know that is what you were thinking!
6. Tag 5 people
"The cereal. Being the best thing to eat right now. I could go for a big bowl of Raisin Bran and cold milk. I might even take that over the eggs and tortillas."
Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller
Monday, October 23, 2006
Shanghai
Wow, what an amazing week I had in Shanghai! I just spent seven days opening worshiping and praying along with a couple hundred people in a closed country where it is illegal to do so. I went to the annual conference for AO which is the ministry that The Centre is under. There were missionaries there from all over Asia and it was so great to hear about all the different ministries that exist in this part of the world. I was so inspired by the people that I met there.
Shanghai is such a beautiful place, I must have taken at least 250 pictures. I put some of them on my photo blog if you would like to see them, the link is on the sidebar. At night when the conference finished for the day, we went out to explore the city and that is when I took most of the photos. Shanghai is huge and there are so many high rise buildings, it is incredible.
Most of the time in Thailand, I don't mind the fact that I look and sound different from everyone else. But every once in awhile, I long to disappear in a crowd or stand in a throng of people and understand the language that they are speaking. Being in China was a different level of culture shock for me. Even though I don't understand the language in Thailand, I usually have someone with me who speaks and understands it. In China I not only did not understand the language but I was having to translate the English to my Thai friends that were with me. I did not mind doing it, it was just a weird experience for me and a whole new level of culture shock. Coming back to Thailand was so comforting. As soon as we got off the airplane in Bangkok, I felt like I was at home. Suddenly I was surrounded by people speaking Thai and even though I didn't understand it, it was familiar. I didn't mind that I looked different and sounded different, it was all okay because I was home again. It was a great feeling and left me appreciating Thailand on a whole new level.
It was a great week in China and it is even greater to be back in Thailand!
Shanghai is such a beautiful place, I must have taken at least 250 pictures. I put some of them on my photo blog if you would like to see them, the link is on the sidebar. At night when the conference finished for the day, we went out to explore the city and that is when I took most of the photos. Shanghai is huge and there are so many high rise buildings, it is incredible.
Most of the time in Thailand, I don't mind the fact that I look and sound different from everyone else. But every once in awhile, I long to disappear in a crowd or stand in a throng of people and understand the language that they are speaking. Being in China was a different level of culture shock for me. Even though I don't understand the language in Thailand, I usually have someone with me who speaks and understands it. In China I not only did not understand the language but I was having to translate the English to my Thai friends that were with me. I did not mind doing it, it was just a weird experience for me and a whole new level of culture shock. Coming back to Thailand was so comforting. As soon as we got off the airplane in Bangkok, I felt like I was at home. Suddenly I was surrounded by people speaking Thai and even though I didn't understand it, it was familiar. I didn't mind that I looked different and sounded different, it was all okay because I was home again. It was a great feeling and left me appreciating Thailand on a whole new level.
It was a great week in China and it is even greater to be back in Thailand!
Thursday, October 19, 2006
My family's Visit to Chiang Mai
I know that some of you have been patiently waiting for an account of my family’s time together in Chiang Mai, so here it is.
Mom, dad and Tamara arrived in Chiang Mai on September 28th. They were supposed to land at the airport at 2:25pm so I had Rachel drop me off around 2:30pm. I figured that it would take them awhile to get through immigration and I wanted to be there when they came through the doors. After about an hour of being told that the flight was delayed, I found out that it was actually cancelled. I spent the next two hours trying to figure out where my family was. It was not hard to find out that they had arrived safely in Bangkok but nobody seemed to know when they were coming to Chiang Mai. Eventually I found out that they were to arrive at 8:30pm so I settled down with my ipod and waited. Unfortunately I live about 30-40 minutes from the airport and I had no transportation so going home to wait was not an option. Well, 8:30 came and went and I still had not seen my family. Finally, at 9:30 my phone rang and it was Tamara telling me that they were already at the hotel in Chiang Mai. Apparently they had arrived in Chiang Mai at 7:30pm, didn’t see and caught a taxi to the hotel. I can’t figure out how we missed each other because the Chiang Mai airport is so small that you can see almost the whole thing when standing in the middle. Overall, I spent seven hours sitting in the airport and never even saw my family there. I had to catch a taxi to the hotel which is about 3 minutes from my house and finally met up with the family there.
That first night I took them to my house so that they could see where I live, meet my roommate and meet my dog. All three of them quickly fell in love with Gracie and she was so excited to have the added attention of three more people. (I should probably mention that they also like my roommate, Rachel, I don’t want to leave her out.) I then took them to my favorite noodle shop and they got to experience the side of the road, buildingless food stands that are so common in Thailand. This was a good thing because within a couple days, my favorite noodle shop was gone. I am still upset! They were all pretty exhausted, so we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
I am not going to take you through every single day of our vacation together like I just did that first day, I will just give you some highlights now…
I honestly did not know where to take them or what to do because I have never visited Chiang Mai as a tourist or done any tourist type stuff. I asked around and found some fun things to do though. We went to and elephant camp (where an elephant grabbed me with it’s trunk as I walked by), a butterfly farm (butterflies as big as my foot and since I am terrified of butterflies, it was not my favorite thing), and orchid farm (orchids are extremely popular in Thailand), explored some caves, visited a Big Ear Village and a Long Neck Village (so beautiful!), explored the Palace and temple on Doi Suthep Mountain (Chiang Mai is famous for being the place where the queen lives during the winter months), went to Night Bazaar several times and went to Walking Street. We spent a lot of time just hanging out with each other as well. I was able to take the family to my church and they met a couple of my friends there. Overall, I had a fantastic time with them!
Some things that I will remember from the trip:
1) Never trust the airlines to have any idea what is going on.
2) Elephants are pretty darn smart.
3) Tamara is a fantastic bargainer.
4) I am proud of Chiang Mai and Thailand and happy to be here.
5) My family likes to turn the air conditioner on really high.
6) I have adjusted to the temperature and humidity here and often was cold while the family was sweating.
7) The Mong Pearl restaurant has great sandwiches.
8) Walking Street is more and more crowded every time that I go.
9) I still don’t love the Night Bazaar.
10) Pu Ping Palace is incredible and I should have visited sooner.
11) My Thai language skills really suck.
12) I wish that my family lived here with me.
13) I miss the sarcasm and easy way of talking that I share with Tamara.
14) I’ve changed a lot since I left the U.S., at least my thinking has.
15) Ect.
I could go on and on but I would probably bore you. I had a fantastic time with my family and I can’t wait to see them in December!
Mom, dad and Tamara arrived in Chiang Mai on September 28th. They were supposed to land at the airport at 2:25pm so I had Rachel drop me off around 2:30pm. I figured that it would take them awhile to get through immigration and I wanted to be there when they came through the doors. After about an hour of being told that the flight was delayed, I found out that it was actually cancelled. I spent the next two hours trying to figure out where my family was. It was not hard to find out that they had arrived safely in Bangkok but nobody seemed to know when they were coming to Chiang Mai. Eventually I found out that they were to arrive at 8:30pm so I settled down with my ipod and waited. Unfortunately I live about 30-40 minutes from the airport and I had no transportation so going home to wait was not an option. Well, 8:30 came and went and I still had not seen my family. Finally, at 9:30 my phone rang and it was Tamara telling me that they were already at the hotel in Chiang Mai. Apparently they had arrived in Chiang Mai at 7:30pm, didn’t see and caught a taxi to the hotel. I can’t figure out how we missed each other because the Chiang Mai airport is so small that you can see almost the whole thing when standing in the middle. Overall, I spent seven hours sitting in the airport and never even saw my family there. I had to catch a taxi to the hotel which is about 3 minutes from my house and finally met up with the family there.
That first night I took them to my house so that they could see where I live, meet my roommate and meet my dog. All three of them quickly fell in love with Gracie and she was so excited to have the added attention of three more people. (I should probably mention that they also like my roommate, Rachel, I don’t want to leave her out.) I then took them to my favorite noodle shop and they got to experience the side of the road, buildingless food stands that are so common in Thailand. This was a good thing because within a couple days, my favorite noodle shop was gone. I am still upset! They were all pretty exhausted, so we went back to the hotel and went to bed.
I am not going to take you through every single day of our vacation together like I just did that first day, I will just give you some highlights now…
I honestly did not know where to take them or what to do because I have never visited Chiang Mai as a tourist or done any tourist type stuff. I asked around and found some fun things to do though. We went to and elephant camp (where an elephant grabbed me with it’s trunk as I walked by), a butterfly farm (butterflies as big as my foot and since I am terrified of butterflies, it was not my favorite thing), and orchid farm (orchids are extremely popular in Thailand), explored some caves, visited a Big Ear Village and a Long Neck Village (so beautiful!), explored the Palace and temple on Doi Suthep Mountain (Chiang Mai is famous for being the place where the queen lives during the winter months), went to Night Bazaar several times and went to Walking Street. We spent a lot of time just hanging out with each other as well. I was able to take the family to my church and they met a couple of my friends there. Overall, I had a fantastic time with them!
Some things that I will remember from the trip:
1) Never trust the airlines to have any idea what is going on.
2) Elephants are pretty darn smart.
3) Tamara is a fantastic bargainer.
4) I am proud of Chiang Mai and Thailand and happy to be here.
5) My family likes to turn the air conditioner on really high.
6) I have adjusted to the temperature and humidity here and often was cold while the family was sweating.
7) The Mong Pearl restaurant has great sandwiches.
8) Walking Street is more and more crowded every time that I go.
9) I still don’t love the Night Bazaar.
10) Pu Ping Palace is incredible and I should have visited sooner.
11) My Thai language skills really suck.
12) I wish that my family lived here with me.
13) I miss the sarcasm and easy way of talking that I share with Tamara.
14) I’ve changed a lot since I left the U.S., at least my thinking has.
15) Ect.
I could go on and on but I would probably bore you. I had a fantastic time with my family and I can’t wait to see them in December!
New Photos
Lots of new photos of China on my photo blog, the link is on the sidebar. Check them out!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I haven't forgotton...
I know that some of you are waiting for an update on my family being in Chiang Mai and I promise that I will write one next week. I am currently in China and my internet connection is not great so I need to be quick.
Basically this post is not really worth your time, but I felt the need to post something because it has been so long since I have logged on.
I will update you on all the goings-on of my life when I get back in Chiang Mai!
:)
Basically this post is not really worth your time, but I felt the need to post something because it has been so long since I have logged on.
I will update you on all the goings-on of my life when I get back in Chiang Mai!
:)
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