Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Here is a story from this past Saturday when we went out to Roi Et (another province 1 hour away by bus from here) with some of our Thai friends:
We went to a temple in downtown Roi Et that was famous for having a 50.2 meter golden statue of Buddha (does anyone know how many feet that is ?). Beside the wat (a Buddhist temple) there was a dormitory for all of the monks that live and work at the temple. We see monks a lot here, and I have been wanting to get a good picture of one of them, but I have not known if that is appropriate or not, so I had not gotten a good one yet. So when I saw all of the monks standing out on there balconies of the dormitory I knew that I had to get a good picture of one. There were a lot of saffron robes hanging up to dry on their balconies, which made a pretty cool picture, but what was even sweeter was that I saw a monk leaning over the ledge and looking straight at me. I decided to go in for the shot, and he smiled. Yes! The he shot up his hand and made a peace sign...Even better! He started waving his hands and Brandon and I figured out that he wanted us to climb some of the statue. When we got to where the Buddah's feet were, I told Brandon to go back down and take a picture of me from the ground next to the statue. When I turned around, there was the monk standing right behind me! It was like a movie, I was so shocked. I did not know what to do, so I simply said "Sawatee-kah!" and walked back down the stairs. But, when I got down to the ground, I saw that the monk was still at the feet of the statue, and posing so that Brandon could take pictures of him! He walked down the stairs and met us around the side of the temple and we started talking, and somehow, between our very limited Thai, and his broken English, we were able to have about a 30 minute conversation! And to think that earlier that day I had said to Brandon jokingly "I want a monk friend!" and now we have one!
We went to a temple in downtown Roi Et that was famous for having a 50.2 meter golden statue of Buddha (does anyone know how many feet that is ?). Beside the wat (a Buddhist temple) there was a dormitory for all of the monks that live and work at the temple. We see monks a lot here, and I have been wanting to get a good picture of one of them, but I have not known if that is appropriate or not, so I had not gotten a good one yet. So when I saw all of the monks standing out on there balconies of the dormitory I knew that I had to get a good picture of one. There were a lot of saffron robes hanging up to dry on their balconies, which made a pretty cool picture, but what was even sweeter was that I saw a monk leaning over the ledge and looking straight at me. I decided to go in for the shot, and he smiled. Yes! The he shot up his hand and made a peace sign...Even better! He started waving his hands and Brandon and I figured out that he wanted us to climb some of the statue. When we got to where the Buddah's feet were, I told Brandon to go back down and take a picture of me from the ground next to the statue. When I turned around, there was the monk standing right behind me! It was like a movie, I was so shocked. I did not know what to do, so I simply said "Sawatee-kah!" and walked back down the stairs. But, when I got down to the ground, I saw that the monk was still at the feet of the statue, and posing so that Brandon could take pictures of him! He walked down the stairs and met us around the side of the temple and we started talking, and somehow, between our very limited Thai, and his broken English, we were able to have about a 30 minute conversation! And to think that earlier that day I had said to Brandon jokingly "I want a monk friend!" and now we have one!
Temple with the 50.2 meter statue of Buddha
Rachael and I running through the pigeons at the park in Roi Et.
This is from a while back, but I had to include it anyways. Bugs are a common snack for the Isaan people. Here I am eating a queen red ant cooked with lemon grass and sold by some woman off the side of the road. It had a slightly nutty taste, with a little bit of a lemony aftertaste....a refreshing snack :P
We went to a park on the way to Khon Kaen and found out that it was a monkey park....They were everywhere! Can you pick out which ones are the monkeys?
This is me and the monk that Brandon and I met in Roi Et. His Thai nickname is Gaset. We were finally able to start English classes at the univeristy this past Tuesday. So far classes have been great. I will have to update you with more on that later. :)
Friday, June 16, 2006
I find myself adapting to life here inThailand more and more each day. I am starting to fall in love with all that is Thai, the people, the culture, the food..........mmmm the food! Here are some of the things that i love about Thailand so far.
1) the people, Thailand has definetely lived up to it's nickname as "The land of Smiles," they are contagious!! :)
2) we ride around the city in song-taos, which are pick-up trucks that have benches in the back and we can usually squeeze in 30 or so people (with a few hanging off the back)
3) the food............enough said (except for the bugs)
4) Thai people greet each other by placing their hands together under their nose and then they bow and say "Sawatee-kah," which means "Hello"
5) they take off their shoes whenever they enter a building or house....it really makes sense
6) the Thai language has five different tones, so it is kind of sing-songy, but one spelling can also mean five different words depending on what tone you use.
7) Thai teenagers and college students love to Karaoke, and I must say, I am quite the diva :)
MORE TO COME!!!!!
We had a little bit of a rocky start getting everything going here. Our Englsih groups were delayed because school was 10 days late in starting. But finally we will start our English groups on campus this Monday. Yesterday and today, we have been on campus signing up students, and we already have around 70 students sign up in just the two days, which is really exciting! Monday thru Thursday we will be on campus teaching classes, and then on Friday we will just be around campus hanging out and getting to know the students. Every Friday night we will be hosting some kind of themed party, like a movie night, where the students can come over to our apartment and hang out. Please pray that we will be able to build some good relationships, and that Gods light will shine through us. We have already built some strong friendships with students that Scott and Valerie already know, but please pray that we will be able to meet more students as well.
Brandon (my teammate from Tennessee) and I are posting more pictures on the TBC website. Go to http://www.lightmessengers.org/gallery and click on Brandon and Sarah in Thailand to see more.
1) the people, Thailand has definetely lived up to it's nickname as "The land of Smiles," they are contagious!! :)
2) we ride around the city in song-taos, which are pick-up trucks that have benches in the back and we can usually squeeze in 30 or so people (with a few hanging off the back)
3) the food............enough said (except for the bugs)
4) Thai people greet each other by placing their hands together under their nose and then they bow and say "Sawatee-kah," which means "Hello"
5) they take off their shoes whenever they enter a building or house....it really makes sense
6) the Thai language has five different tones, so it is kind of sing-songy, but one spelling can also mean five different words depending on what tone you use.
7) Thai teenagers and college students love to Karaoke, and I must say, I am quite the diva :)
MORE TO COME!!!!!
We had a little bit of a rocky start getting everything going here. Our Englsih groups were delayed because school was 10 days late in starting. But finally we will start our English groups on campus this Monday. Yesterday and today, we have been on campus signing up students, and we already have around 70 students sign up in just the two days, which is really exciting! Monday thru Thursday we will be on campus teaching classes, and then on Friday we will just be around campus hanging out and getting to know the students. Every Friday night we will be hosting some kind of themed party, like a movie night, where the students can come over to our apartment and hang out. Please pray that we will be able to build some good relationships, and that Gods light will shine through us. We have already built some strong friendships with students that Scott and Valerie already know, but please pray that we will be able to meet more students as well.
Brandon (my teammate from Tennessee) and I are posting more pictures on the TBC website. Go to http://www.lightmessengers.org/gallery and click on Brandon and Sarah in Thailand to see more.
A buddhist shrine in downtown Mahasarakam. When we pass by it on the song-tao, most people usually do a little bow with their head out of respect to Buddah.
We saw an elephant on the street!!! We bought some cucumbers and fed it :)
This man decided this abandoned song-tao would be a good place to take a nap.
These are some of the boys that go to the village elementary school, where we teach a 4th, 5th, and 6th grade english class on Monday afternoons. They also came to our English camp last week.
Brandon and I taught the story of Joseph using felt board at English camp. Num (red shirt) translated. Num is a Christian university student that has been working with the Paynes for a while now.Wednesday, June 07, 2006
So we have been here in Mahasarakam for almost a week now. Most of the time we have been just exploring the city (eating lots of ice cream:) ) and getting to know some of the students that go to MSU. When school starts on the 15th, we will spend most of our days on campus leading English classes and just hanging out with the students and developing relationships with them. On Monday of this week, we did have the chance to teach an English class at a small village elementary school, which was a really neat experience, and we are going back out to that village today and tommorrow to lead a mini English camp, which I am really excited about doing! I could try and tell you all about what has been going on here, or I could show you pictures, which I think are more clearer, so I think I will do that instead :)
Ajon (means teacher) Peay and her grandson. I met them one night while swimming. She invited us out to eat Vietnamese food with her and her grandson one night. Warning! Just because the chili pepppers are green, does NOT mean that they are not spicy ( cough cough Brandon)
Most of the Isaan people are rice farmers. This is one near the village school that we went to on monday.
Me, Rachael, and Shannon while we were touring MSU
Scott(the missionary), Whit (a student at MSU), and Brandon (one of my temmates) getting a refreashing drink in a bag.
Shannon and I while teaching an English lesson on animals to Thai students in a village outside of Mahasarakam.
Most of the Isaan people are rice farmers. This is one near the village school that we went to on monday.
Me, Rachael, and Shannon while we were touring MSU
Scott(the missionary), Whit (a student at MSU), and Brandon (one of my temmates) getting a refreashing drink in a bag.
Shannon and I while teaching an English lesson on animals to Thai students in a village outside of Mahasarakam.
This is the night market on the MSU campus. Every night they have all these vendors come out and sell all kinds of Thai food for like 20 baht a plate (about 50 cents) and it is really good food there! We have been there a couple of times now. It is also a good place to meet students and teachers at the university.
AH! Bubble Tea! This stuff is SO good. There are all these little vendors along the streets that sell this stuff. You can get all kinds of different flavors, like ovaltine, strawberry, lichi, pineapple etc, but of course I got the coffee flavored one :) And so they blend together ice, the flavoring, and tea and pour it on top of these gummy like ball things (hence the "bubble" tea). The fun part though is when you drink it, the bubbles shoot up into your mouth.....ah, ya just have to try it.
Salted fish, my favorite new food here!
A spirit house right outside of our apartments. The Buddhists place these outside of their homes and businesses so that the spirits will live inside of these instead of in their own homes and cause problems. So, they put food and drinks inside of them in order to make them more inviting for them.
Yes, I am starting to kearn how to use chopsticks!
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Sawatdee kah! (hello in Thai). These are some pictures from our trip thus far.
Thailand is a Buddhist country, and this is a photo taken from a temple in Bangkok. The Thai believe that the type of tree that Buddah sat under when he was supposedly enlightened, has a special spirit inside of it that if they can appease by making offerings to it.
This is cute little Elliot Payne(one of the missionaries' kids) and Shannon (one of my teammates). They were pretending that Elliot was a rocket ship. He is so adorable :)
While in Bangkok, we took a boat ride around the city, and I just thought that this was really pretty. Bangkok is kind of like Venice, except stinkier and asian, because it has all these canals that run though out the city that people can get around on by boat......but they do have streets too!
A Buddhist temple in Bangkok.
There was an amazing rainbow that completely encircled the sun, I have never seen anything like it.
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