Casanova of canine hearts August 20, 2010
Posted by judegrrl in Days of our lives, What the?.add a comment
I have a confession to make.
I am a thief and bandit. The only difference is, I steal the hearts of your household pets and I plunder their affection for myself.
As it is, all my neighbors living around me own at least a dog each. Which I do not have.
So I make up for it by “borrowing” them for my own enjoyment.
If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so too does this apply for dogs.
Watch me!
There's a retriever living at my Red Shirt neighbor's house..
I throw him a bone over the railing diving our houses, and he promptly grabs it...
He gets his bone and I get my love (?)
And he leaves, bone in his jaws leaving me in his wake...
The delicacy of the Thai language March 3, 2010
Posted by judegrrl in Thinking out loud, What the?.Tags: foot in the mouth disease
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I like it that in the Thai language there are 101 ways to defuse potentially tricky situations. Or just plain nosy situations.
For example, the well-used question that the Thai likes to fire at you: where are you going?
It’s a common question, almost the equivalent of “How’s the weather?”
Most of the time a generic answer like, “Just going outside” or “Running errands” more than suffice.
My favourite is deflecting invitations to activities (what a sociable person I can be).
It can be any answer ranging from “it’s not convenient right now”, “I have an appointment already” to “I’m busy” to my perennial fave “I have errands”.
Two days ago, I found out for myself just how different the English language is from Thai. As it is, English speakers are used to straight talk and cut no slack in letting the other party know the truth.
Anyway I was invited to a dinner that I had no inclination towards. Had I been able to answer in my stammering Thai, I would have used one of the above responses and thus spare my friend some “face”.
Not wishing to lie and invoke wrath upon myself, I resorted to the only answer in my mind. Straight away, I rattled out my answer, “I’m sorry I can’t come for dinner at _____. My friend once ate there and had to be hospitalised for food poinsoning. The food at ___ is not safe. We’ll have to give it a pass tonight.”
Imagine the silence that greeted me upon my reply. My friend, a Thai who spent many years in Spore, tried to salvage the situation by asking after my friend. Should I have told her that it was actually a friend of a friend, that the situation happened a few years ago and that I myself actually ate at ___ not so long ago?
In the end, I decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
I don’t think I’ll be asked for dinner for a long time from now.
Me, teacher? January 28, 2010
Posted by judegrrl in Days of our lives, Father Heart of God, Mission, What the?.Tags: teaching English
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Today my friend QY brought my awareness to this funny pict that her event company was using. It was a picture of me alongside a profile of a trainee teacher. Apparently I look like a “Sandy”.
Naturally I’m more amused than anything. The question on the tip of our tongues is: just how on earth did they get hold of my picture??
Eeks, no makeup- I look ghastly!!
And then while I was just about to shoot up my daily dosage of Scramble on Facebook, three little words caught my eye.
A somewhat randomly produced profile by the social networking website had labelled me Teacher of the Year.
For a word IQ of 95?? Why Teacher and not something else, such as wordsmith/ literati wannabe??
An award for Teacher of the Year?
God what are you trying to tell me?? Arrghh, this must be a conspiracy!!!
Qiuyan’s Sofa Bed November 19, 2009
Posted by judegrrl in Girlfriends, What the?.Tags: friend, furniture
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We have 2 friends, Jerming & Qiuyan coming to visit in December. And in a spate of events we acquired a new sofa bed that we have quickly come to nickname Qiuyan’s Bed. By far, it’s the most inviting sofa/ bed in the house. Maybe it’s got something to do with the person behind the name? Hehehe…
For now we see thru a looking glass; then we shall see face to face
10 things they never tell you about being a missionary September 29, 2009
Posted by judegrrl in Culture shock, Mission, What the?.Tags: adjustment, missionary
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- You will spend days, weeks, months and even years lost in translation, alienated in your mother tongue while you struggle to acquire the local accent but never really quite succeeding in catching the full gist of what’s going on;
- You will be eyed suspiciously by the locals, always perceived as “wealthier” simply because you are a foreigner;
- You will never know for sure if the locals accept you for who you are or for the benefits you can offer to them;
- You will be viewed as a fish out of water simply because you were never one of them to begin with;
- You need an extra thick skin to laugh over gaffes, over all the blunders you will inevitably commit;
- You will always be the local/ neighborhood “attraction” that people point at and talk about behind your back;
- You will always be at least one size bigger than what is permitted at local level (!);
- You will lose at least 80% of the roles/ functions (counselor, teacher, confidante etc) you used to perform back home;
- You will experience a sense of loss, grief, depression, and other similar symptoms of maladjustment in the initial period of adjustment;
- You realise eventually that you are not the first person to undergo such transitions and that like your predecessors, you will one day get over the worst of it, recover and go on to lead a larger & richer life simply because you overcame the difficulties of moving to a new place and are now reaping the unbelievable rewards of living in a foreign country.
Letter of Confession to a Friend September 26, 2009
Posted by judegrrl in Culture shock, Finding my way around, Mission, Thinking out loud, What the?.add a comment
Dear Friend
You’ve written to me lots about your own personal adjustment to the field. I dearly appreciate your sharing from your heart.
I agree with you on many things. And I love the recommendations you suggested for coping with life.
Such as using a subtle shift in perspective to overcome my current dissatisfaction. Before, I saw myself having to get along with my spouse’s ministry & friends. But if I can see them as MINE, I will not mind that they were HIS friends initially.
I also like what you said about conflict resolution with my spouse. The retreat-&-hide approach is hardly the best solution in improving relations; it would be stacks better to be open and talk about my real feelings.
And I definitely agree that the initial stage of starting out is always the hardest.
Did I think that I could skip this stage? As silly as it sounds, I have obviously forgotten that I am both newly-wed and a rookie in the field. This makes it a double whammy for me.
Now that I think about it I’m actually in denial. Some days I think it’s hard for me to be here in Khon Kaen but at the same time I tell myself this is NOT as hard as it could have been.
Why so? I’ve lived in another country before so this should be easier for me. Plus this is an Asian culture so I can appreciate the similarities much more.
Compared to other missionaries in similar situations, Vince and I have so much going for us. Vince knows people, he speaks the language and he gets around. It also helps that we’re Chinese, which makes it easy for us to blend in with the Thai people.
But…
Why is it that I cry when I think of friends back home?
Why do I still miss home? Why am I lonely here?
Why do I find myself battling melancholy, negativity and all other things?
If I really am having an easier time here than I did in Australia, why does it not feel any easier at all?
So I figure I must be in denial. This means I am not being honest with myself. It’s like my head knowledge and heart do not synchronize with each other. One is saying one thing, the other is not hearing and is saying something else…
So yes, I’m having a hard time.
As in “I’m out of my comfort zone”. As in “I am unable to express myself in 3 simple coherent sentences”. If there’s anything I need to say, I either say it in broken Thai using 2-3 words or I have to prepare the night beforehand, writing out every line and word what exactly I need to say.
Things that I took for granted before now takes a considerable effort to accomplish.
I have to go now. Vince’s cell group is waiting for me to join them. Thanks so much for your counsel. I will keep writing and keep the thoughts unravelling.
Blackout on the Day after Mother’s Day August 16, 2009
Posted by judegrrl in Days of our lives, What the?.Tags: blackout, Khon Kaen, power failure
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In Khon Kaen, it’s not uncommon to experience occasional power failures during rainy days. Something must happen to the cables lines in the heavy outpourings, lashed about viciously by the strong winds. And so it was how I found myself in the dark. Alone at home (Vince was away having an RH meeting) without power for almost 1hr! What an adventure…
Who needs electricity, with candles like these...
And the lights came back on... the fun stops here, back to normalacy
Calling all to attention June 27, 2009
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This morning the Lord solemnly reminded me that I am in a battle. A reminder timely enough as I seem to keep forgetting that fact. And I start piecing together all the different things I’ve received from Him as well as information gained from other sources.
Such as the spiritual profile He’s told me to make on the neighbourhood, the ongoing lethargy & fears that’s assailing me, finding out that denizens from the nearby Theparak slums (one road away from our street) was involved in child prostitution etc.
Below is the entry I made in my journal today:
Sometimes I feel so weak. All of a sudden, everything seems to require colossal effort. It makes me not want to face up to expectations or live up to appearances. To have to go after Am as Jesus would have done, leaving the 99 sheep to go after the 1 lost sheep. The thought of it defeats me already. To have me chase after this 18-yr old girl with no background, teach her the Bible in a 3rd language I’ve barely mastered in this new land. Lord, what are you teaching me?
And then I remember the song Solution by Hillsong United: we will be Your hands, we will be Your feet. Not too long ago, I too have sung the song to Him, entreating Him to use me as the extensions of His hands and feet. So here I am…
The power of a blender April 27, 2009
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It was never my idea to get a blender in the first place. My original intention had been to get a mixer for baking- and as this was rather costly I’d been looking out for bargains and slowly saving up for it. However my baking dreams were put on the back shelf when I felt prompted to get a blender.
Why a blender? If you asked me, blenders were fairly boring and could concoct only stuff like smoothies and assorted blended drinks etc. All of which I was uninterested in. But then one day I just felt that I had to make a special drink for my favourite neighbour (whoa, is it a bad idea to mention favouritism here??). And of all things, this special mango lassi drink just had to be blended before it could qualify as a lassi.
And so the Blender entered into my household. Little did I know that it would be the beginning of the making of many lassis, milkshakes, sorbets etc for me. With the blender, I could blend plain frozen sugared water and frozen watermelon to slush, then stick them into ice-cream moulds to make fruit sorbet. With ice-cream and milk plus a couple of Oreo cookies one could come up with Oreo milkshakes.
And the best yet was my *ahem* mango lassi: stick mango pulp with plain yogurt and soy milk, blend and voila, the very famed Indian drink that puts out any fire caused by the spiciest curries. There must have been magic in the name of lassi because just the mention of it opened the door to a friendship for me today. With lassi, I’ve helped to quench the thirst of more than one, while allowing those who helped in its churning to be a part of the action and receive praise in their own right.
Or maybe it was the blender. A charmed blender which was able to mix in the most humble of ingredients to come up with the most amazing slushees. A blender that turned my discontentment with a little neighbour boy into a willingness to go to lengths to please his taste-buds. To make milkshakes and smoothies to tell him that his presence was more than welcome in my house.
Or very likely, it was a father who knew his daughter’s heart better than herself. It was he who knew that in a strange land far away from home that this kitchen implement would come in much handy to communicate her heart. It was he who caused his will to prevail even in the purchase of a simple blender, even when the daughter was unwilling and unmoved and reluctant.
But the father knew. That somehow with his help, the daughter’s heart would budge and be moved to come up with concoctions. To create simple yet heartwarming drinks that would forward the coming of his kingdom in this new land. Yes it would not be the first time that Christ is preached in the kitchen. May all who step into my kitchen or come across the path of my blender be touched by the love of Jesus, amen!
Shift in ministry focus April 6, 2009
Posted by judegrrl in Kids ministry, Mission, What the?.Tags: Khon Kaen, kids, Thai language
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Before coming to Thailand, there were many (including myself) who assumed that I would be working with children. With the children, I am able to use my creativity & stage persona in teaching and instructing them in the Word of the Lord.
I know for a certainty that my stage presence and a sense of humor are gifts from the Lord- and one way of exercising them is to use them for kids’ ministry. In 2008 alone, I had three persons coming up to me, asking me to consider serving in children’s ministry. Better still, I had the opportunity to minister to children on a 4-day mission trip to Cambodia last May!
In following the events that the Lord had faithfully lined up for me, I subsequently served for a short period of four months in my church’s PKC (Praise Kids Church). During this time, I learnt many precious lessons. I still remembered blogging about my last day at PKC, of how I felt that all the things I thought I had learnt would not be practical in a new country. Like lessons learnt in the running of kids’ church, rewarding the children for positive behavior etc.
Haha, and as you would know it, my “self-fulfilling prophecies” came true. There are many differences between the kids’ ministries in Khon Kaen and in Singapore. Firstly, there’s the difference in the medium of language (hello, it’s strictly Thai and Thai alone here in Thailand!). Secondly, the kids’ ministry is a well run machinery operated by Compassion International (think child sponsorship) with a system, syllabus and paid staff of its own. In other words, this means there is little you can do to avoid interfering with its system.
More than anything, I feel so ill-equipped for any form of kids’ ministry here. I mentioned before not all the lessons learnt in Singapore are portable, especially if they deal with practical aspects instead of principles. Kids need to be led, and to be given instructions and have the course of action laid out for them. If this teacher is not even conversant in the language, just how would any kid feel secure or be affirmed by me?
So it is with this post that I am coming to terms with the changing of seasons for me and the laying down of one ministry for another. Who knows, maybe one day the Lord would still be able to use me to minister to children. Do Lord, O do Lord, O do remember me…
