Buff

Yesterday, I took this picture of Ethan and Buff setting in my reading chair in my bedroom, no less! Ethan really loves his puppy and it has been quite the ordeal getting this puppy settled and half-grown. If you remember at the first of the school year how difficult the transition was for E-man? He loves animals and we thought it might help if we got him a puppy here in Thailand, to make it easier.




In October we purchased this miniature Shih Tzu, such a cute little thing. Ethan loved that puppy! After about 2 weeks we took it to the vet for its first round of vaccinations. When I picked it up they informed me they had wormed him too, I was concerned because he was so tiny. My concerns were valid, the next morning when we woke up he was practically comatose, he wouldn't respond at all. I really thought he wouldn't last while we rushed back to the vet. When I walked into the door, they asked, "You drop? Head injury?" I told them that no, I was questioning if maybe he had too much worming medicine less than 12 hours ago? They replied, "Oh, I think neck injury." After telling them that we didn't want any heroic measures taken, that I was okay with the IV that is now pouring dextrose into the poor little puppy but nothing else. I left the puppy in their care thinking that I would never see it breathing again. Miraculously they called about 6 hours later and said, "Come get puppy, okay now, no head injury!!" Ya think?! He really was awake and moving around, Ethan would be so relieved. But right away that night the poor thing started coughing and while we were gone on the weekend he died. Our housekeeper, Nok, stays in our home when we are gone and she called me while we were gone informing me that the puppy had died, I had warned her this might happen. Mark and I decided to wait and tell Ethan on the way home from the airport and not ruin his weekend. Our driver beat us to it. When he picked us up at the airport curb with our luggage in hand, he just blurts out, while laughing, "Puppy died! hahahaha!" Ethan was devastated and so upset that Songkran found this so amusing. That is so 'Thai' they laugh in any awkward situation. It was a long 1 1/2 hours ride home listening to Ethan cry, trying to comfort him and help him understand this culture more.




Well, the following week we journeyed back to the kennel where we had purchased the sweet puppy, Fluff, and bought his brother-Fuzz, who looked just like his deceased brother. Ethan was so happy. We decided to wait to take this little one into the vet for vaccines until much older and bigger. Three weeks later we were out of town again, this time in Cambodia and our phones wouldn't work there. When we returned, again we are met at the airport by Songkran laughing and bearing bad news. "Puppy died! hahaha!" This time I'm caught unaware also and I'm trying to clarify what he just said. I'm in shock and Ethan is devastated-AGAIN! "Puppy fall in pool and drown, hahahaha!" We are all so sad the entire trip home. Ethan is not only upset with the insensitivity of Songkran but is very angry toward Nok. I helped him think about how terrible Nok probably feels, that accidents happen. He keeps saying, "Why wasn't she watching mom?" I reminded him about an acquaintance of ours in the states that had just lost their 2 year old in a drowning accident. "Just think about how much they loved their son and terrible, terrible accidents happen." When we arrived home, there is Nok on the porch anxiously awaiting our return, crying too. She feels terrible and wonders if Khun Da will fire her. I tried to comfort her and assured her that I understand that accidents happen. She said, "You don't fire me?" I conveyed to her that we are Christians and that we are called to forgive. I told her that God has forgiven me of many, many things that were not accidents and that because I have been shown so much grace and forgiveness I must forgive those who do things against me. I know that this was an accident. The next morning she told me that when she went home, her husband, mother, boys and brother were all waiting to see, "What Khun Da say?" She told them that Khun Da different, she Christian. I pray that a small seed was planted there in that household and since then, I have had many opportunities to show Nok how Christians are different. Please pray for us that we faithfully live out the Christian life before others that God has placed in our life path.

We just couldn't handle the prospect of losing another little puppy, so after a few weeks, we went and found a big, strong, Thai dog. This is a breed that is known for its heartiness and guard dog abilities. It is a Thai breed, it looks like a small Husky. Ethan fell in love quickly with Buff also. This is much different than the two earlier dogs, this is an outside dog (where she stays most of the time!)a guard dog. It's been great having her here because we can now turn off the outside lights because we have a guard dog watching the place for us. That has been wonderful, I was having to sleep with a night mask because of all the light streaming through the windows at night. I'm grateful that we have made it through all the rounds of vaccinations and Buff is a hearty swimmer. In fact, she loves terrorizing the catfish in our pound, swimming, chasing them around. All the boys like Buff, but Ethan loves her. Boys and their dogs!

Coconut Caper

On Saturday I went to the local market with Khun Nok (my housekeeper) and her family on a mission. I was cooking Aunt Sara's coconut pound cake for Bible Study on Monday and I needed shredded coconut. We are surrounded by coconut trees but I'm still unsure how to grate my own. Khun Nok informed me that I can buy fresh coconut at the market. I stop by the local market near our home about once a week to purchase fresh pineapple (supalot), bananas (gluai) and many other exotic fruits like long-gons. I have started buying some rice (kow) and eggs (kai) there as well, it's so much cheaper than the grocery store and fresher. We now also buy fried chicken there on occasion, it's really yummy. Most of the Thai people go there at least once a day. Nok usually goes twice a day for breakfast and a dinner meal. A lot of my friends can't get past the amount of flies in the open market and the language barriers but I just love the adventure and the bargains!

Khun Nok was taking me to a busier Saturday market, I'm posting some pictures from our trip. I got about 1 lb of freshly grated coconut for 20 Baht-about 0.60. For me she peeled the entire coconut before putting it through the grater usually she just haphazardly peels it and the Thai people have lots of brown flecks of outer husk in their coconut. After peeling it she just ran it through a large meat grinder. Khun Nok wanted fresh coconut milk so she grated another coconut and then scooped it out and transferred it to another metal grinder and added water to the mixture. Nok says fresh coconut milk is the best thing for an upset stomach.

The cake turned out tasty even though the fresh coconut was a lot less sweet than our American version, it also was a finer consistency. I served it with fresh supalot and whipped cream.

Holiday Continued

On Friday we had a smooth 90 minute ride in the speedboat to Phi Phi islands. Such a beautiful, remote setting, a group of islands that have been made popular by movies such as the James Bond Goldfinger and Leonardo DiCaprio's Beach but also the terrible tsunami that devastated the area 4 years ago. I tried not to mention that earlier, didn't want the boys or Mom to worry. We were in a very private resort on the Northeast side of the island and the only reminders of the tsunami were the tsunami evacuation route and the tsunami memorial. It's amazing to me that everything could be rebuilt so quickly in such a remote place.

I just love the whole tropical island vacation-being met at the pier with lavender scented washcloths, leis and a refreshing pineapple drink. It was the beginning of a very relaxing, enjoyable vacation. Because of our inconvenience of being delayed by the weather the resort bumped us up to beach side bungalows-Wow! what a treat! We arrived on Friday of Easter weekend, before leaving I had tried to find a church on-line to attend on Sunday-no can do! We were told the island is Muslim and there are no Christian churches but we know that WE are the church, so Easter 2009 on Phi Phi had a church! When we arrived the lady assisting us with check-in had cross earrings on and I asked if she was a Christian, she was. Don't you just love 'coincidences' like that? She told me she was from the Philippians and had been working on the island for 3 months and had not been able to find any type of fellowship to attend anywhere on the small island. I invited her to worship with us on Sunday but she had to work. It was great to see her throughout our stay and Rose would be a great addition to a church start-up if anyone is feeling led to plant a church on a beautiful, exotic island in Thailand?!

On Friday afternoon we took advantage of a sunset snorkeling/diving trip. Nathan completed his diving certification through school only 2 weeks before we departed. The tide was low and we snorkeled right on top of the beautiful, coral reef. We saw many vibrant, tropical fish of all colors. Purple starfish, Purple sea-anemones, puffer fish, a few eel, lion fish.... Nathan at the deeper levels caught sight of a couple of sharks over the weekend along with some octopus. What an incredible blessing to get to witness so much of God's beauty in the sea, we are thankful.

On Saturday our Clarkson friends joined us. We were so grateful they arrived safely after the political upheaval in our hometown of Pattaya on Friday and Saturday, we were unsure they would be able to get out for their flight. We have now taken several trips with them and it is such a great fit. Drew is 14, they have an Ethan who is 11 and Carter who is 8. Sweet boys and they all get along so well. God really answered prayers in their being here in Thailand at the same time we are. We continue to pray that God would work out all the details of their staying, Mr. Clarkson works for GM.

On Sunday we had a wonderful brunch breakfast as Phi Phi was celebrating their Songkran holiday with powder painted on faces and a lot of water splashing going on, I just looked around at all the people and wonder if none of those people have a thought of God and the crucifixion/resurrection of Christ? I am humbled and eternally thankful that I have been given the privilege to know the way, truth and risen Christ.

I had planned a scavenger hunt for the boys to collect items used for the stations of the cross. They rooted up some bread, nails, stones, gauze, candles...Mark led us in a great time of worship on the deck of our bungalow with our friends and we sang a couple of hymns-the ones we knew the words to! An Easter we will never forget.

Easter Holiday

We have been away from Pattaya since last Thursday on a holiday to the western part of Thailand. The boys have been out of school for a week and half for the Thailand Songkran holiday, it is their New Year, their most celebrated holiday. We wanted to take a vacation that would be all about relaxing and resting rather than running to and fro seeing sites. We flew into Phuket early Thursday the 9th and had about 5 hours until our speed boat departed for the remote island of Phi Phi. We dutifully dropped Mark off at a McDonald's so that he could finish up some work, he had to submit an article for a Chemical publication before he could really relax. While he was finishing that our driver took us to a Go-Kart park and snake farm in Phuket. The snake farm was unlike any I had ever visited before, it was really small and the handlers had numerous scars and one man was missing a finger from performing and handling the snakes. He told us that one of the snakes is so poisonous that if you receive a bite it is better to just cut off the affected area if possible, that his index finger was cut off rather than risk the spread of the venom. Some people are desperate to find a way to make a living in Thailand and I think this was one of those situations.

After retrieving Mark we had a very pleasant lunch on the banks of the Andaman Sea of fresh seafood and Thai food. It was a really great setting with a cool breeze blowing off the water. The waitstaff were so excited that we knew some minimal Thai and weren't just tourists but live in Thailand. They peeled our shrimp and had a special hand washing ceremony after the meal, very gracious.

It was off to the dock next to board our speed boat-but maybe not! That nice breeze at lunch had now turned into a pretty formidable storm and we were stuck waiting in a room by the pier until the storm blew over. After a couple of hours we headed for the speedboat even though I couldn't see much difference in the storm but assumed they knew something we didn't.

We boarded the speed boat with 3 other guests and 3 staff people. Our luggage was placed in plastic bags on the boat and we headed towards our destination. After 45 minutes of intense waves-5-6 ft. swells, the staff instructing us to put our life jackets on, nervous chatter among the green-faced guests, the captain decided to turn around and we would try the following day. We were all relieved it was a little nerve wracking and we were still within the bay, I can't imagine how rough the waters would have been on the open sea. The staff escorted us off the boat and to a hotel in Phuket for the evening, we were all glad to be back on solid ground. We enjoyed the evening playing cards, watching TV and ordering room service. We would try again tomorrow.

Driver License

I am so excited that I finally have my Thai Driver License!! If you added up all the time it took to acquire all the required paperwork consecutively, testing time, waiting time... I would estimate it took 4 full days to complete the whole process. I am so glad it's all over, I feel great accomplishment in having that license in my wallet. It all started with compiling all the paper work-passport copies, visa copies, we had to go to the Thailand Immigration office to obtain a permanent residence verification-that required a copy of our lease agreement and a copy of Mark's work permit, that took two trips in itself. After all the paperwork was compiled we then went to the Department of Transportation for our color test, reflex test and depth perception test. Obtaining a Thai license is really easy if you have a valid International driver license but they do not recognize a US license at all so we had to go through the entire process that any other Thai person goes through to become a legal driver. Bureaucracy in the Department of Transportation must be a world wide problem.(Maybe a little worse here, I was asking one of my Thai friends how she did when she took her testing and she just laughed and said her Dad gave her a driver license for her birthday when she was 18!! It's all about who you know here and how much you are willing to pay. We have been told many times if we are ever stopped just offer the officer 1000 Baht-$30!) Just think about the normal bureaucracy that we face in the US and then compound that by no signs in English and hardly any spoken. I just had to go in there realizing this was going to be a slow, tedious, frustrating procedure and it was! After passing the visual and reflex tests, which one of them was a close call because I couldn't understand the directions for a particular depth test and I was first up-the guinea pig if you will. After two times of trying to figure out the controls and what the tester really wanted me to do, she said very impatiently, "Last time, you done!" in not a very nice tone, it hurt my feelings. Thankfully I completed the task to her approval.

All the Farangs that had passed the visual and reflex tests were then taken into a room to watch an hour long English video on driving in Thailand. It was me and 6 old men, Mark had to reschedule a different time when he realized how much time this whole process was really going to consume. There were several chuckles heard in the room when they talked about certain laws, especially the one that only one passenger is allowed/motorcycle-yea right! After the video we were then taken to the computer testing area. Thankfully the test was in English, I failed my first attempt, you have to get 75% of the 30 questions correct. I wasn't too disheartened, it was tough and the guy setting beside me said his friend took it six times before passing. After the first test I was told to come back in the afternoon for retesting. When I returned I happened to find a review booklet in the waiting area that had pictures of the signs and other really helpful things. I passed, what a relief with exactly 75%, that was close! Have you ever seen a blue sign with a number in it? That's a sign for minimum speeds here. How about how many meters should you stop from a pedestrian crossing? 10 meters FYI! You aren't supposed to haul anything higher than 3 meters or 25 meters in length in the back of your pick-up. Sure I had a couple of really easy questions too. Here's one I bet you can get.

If you feel drowsy while driving you should:
1. Drink some coffee.
2. Take some amphetamines.
3. Pull off and stop engine until feeling rested.
4. Turn on loud music.

It was a random computer test and a couple of questions came up twice, of course not the easy ones like the drowsy question!

I was very thankful to pass on the second attempt and wonder if I could even pass a current test in the states, it's been so long.

I was then told to return the following afternoon for my driving test. Yikes! I was nervous. Can you imagine parallel parking on the left side of the road in a vehicle with a stick shift on your left and the steering wheel on the right side of the car? I still have trouble remembering which side the blinkers are on. Let's just say I was prayed up before all of my testing.

When I arrived, there were over 50 people waiting to take the driving test on the course. There was one other Farang and after talking to him I think he was from Austria. There was not one word of instruction given in English and no translation was available. I asked and the man seemed to take some pleasure in telling me, "Mai English!" I was lined up and we counted off, I thought that must be the order that we would be driving the course but some lady had mercy on me as I'm walking around asking, "Do you speak English?" that explained to me that they were just getting a total count and just wait for them to call your name and then line up in your vehicle to take the driving test. Finally after about 20 others my name was called and I lined up to take the test. Right off the bat you had to turn left and do your parallel parking right away. If you touched a pole, weren't parked in the painted box and weren't within 25 cm from the curb you were disqualified and had to try again later. The test waiting area was right beside the parallel parking spot, the pressure was on for sure. After being satisfied with your attempt you had to stick your arm out the window and call out your name to the test evaluator to get the signal to proceed into the rest of the course. I did it!!! I was so relieved and it was such a nerve racking experience. I felt like I had made a good impression for all the Farang women!! Mark said in his test there was one lady that never even got one tire in the required box! After the parking challenge it seemed rather easy until you had to back out of the testing area about 100 yards with the cones getting more narrow as you went along. I did see the one other Farang man fail the test at this point, he touched one of the cones with his tire. It's funny the things you think about at times. As I was stopping and putting it into reverse and took a deep breath I thought to myself, "Just remember the times you backed up a goose-neck trailer, this is easy!" I did it!! I'm really proud of myself! Mark passed his written and driving test on the first attempt. I'm proud of him too!

Then I had to return today to find my application and test results within 6 cardboard boxes that were in no order and I couldn't read one hint of instruction, I'm just fumbling through all these applications with 30 other Thai people until I happened upon mine, then I took it to the cashier and waited to have my picture taken. The whole thing cost 205Baht, roughly $6 and after another 2 hours I finally had my cherished license in my hand! It expires in one year and then after re-applying I can obtain a 5 year license. All of that and we will still retain our driver, Songkran full time. It is just good to have for all the trips to the nearby 7-11 or in case of emergency, we are legal! I am so glad that whole ordeal is behind us.