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
  

Southern Charm

• A woman riding through the front yard on her horse, stopping to tip her hat and say, "Afternoon, honey."

• A man driving his John Deere tractor down the highway at about 1.5 miles an hour (just a guess).

• A woman in the dressing room at Ross, taking the clothes I didn't want and saying, "Well, aren't you just a sweetie pie! Y'all have a good day now!"

These are just a few examples of the southern charm greeting me here in Monroe, Georgia. Yesterday I sat out in the front yard, reading and playing with Rocky (Machelle's dog) for about three hours. I am not ashamed to admit that I am an avid people watcher on all occasions and being here in Georgia is a fascinating place to watch people!

A truck pulled up with two guys in it and one of them stuck his head out the window and said, "ewww ear any dogs?!" After I stared at him for a couple seconds he said, "ewww know, owlin." At this point, Rocky ran out onto the highway to say hello to guys in the truck and I yelled, "Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!" The guy looked at me like I was certifiably crazy before saying, "I don't understand what you sayin!" I stared at the guy, dumbfounded for a moment before saying, "I am calling the dog, his name is Rocky. And I don't hear any dogs howling." The driver then leans over guy #1 and says, "You speakin English?" I have to admit that the thought did cross my mind that somehow I had reverted back into Thai with realizing it. But alas, I was speaking English and perfectly good English at that! But not Georgian English. The guys both stuck their heads back in the truck and drove off. I stood there for probably a full minute in utter stillness and silence, trying to figure out what had just happened, before shaking my head and going back to my book.

Georgia is a different world. Not unlike Thailand. People are friendly here, less stressed than in Cali and they speak a different language. Interesting...