Reflection on March, 2015

I can hardly believe that we're already saying good-bye, and welcome to yet another month....

From where I'm sitting it's quite difficult to imagine that March used to mark the beginning of "winter" for me back in S.A (yes I know that's not normal)!!  But from what I'm hearing it seems like you're still enjoying pleasant weather.... (And some rain as well).

Although our rainy season hasn't officially started, we've been caught off guard by surprise showers lately.  And when the rain starts, so does the flooding.  Bangkok started out as swamplands turned canals, hence the nickname; the "Venice of the East".  Although most of the canals was filled up and paved over, some of them are still in use.  So maybe we'll consider buying a canoe rather than a scooter... haha!!

 Our street after a downpour....

Our language learning is going well (I think...haha).  We're done with the 44 consonants and have done 15 of the 32 vowels.  We've learned the 5 different tones in which to speak as well, but it's still very difficult for us to make it out and use ourselves.  We can read to some extend with what we've already learned, but since our vocabulary is still quite small, we don't know what we're reading.... hahaha!!  They also don't use any spaces between words, just one long kaboodle... so that doesn't really help!

Thank God our teacher, Nee, is really very supportive and patient.  We've grown very fond of her and we cherish our friendship with her deeply.  We can sometimes feel so frustrated at not being able to grow and nurture friendships here since language is really a very definite barrier.  And a big smile and a few short phrases only goes so far... But we remain full of hope and faith, knowing that these are obstacles all cross-cultural missionaries have to face.

Enjoying lunch with Nee after class...

Trying to build friendships at church by helping out with the dishes, and learning new words: wash = lang, fork = sohm, spoon = chawn, and plate = chaan.

Luckily as we grow in understanding all things Thai, so does our list of "safe" food.... haha!!  We've recently discovered a small market selling fresh produce, meats and sweet treats near our home.  Here's some of our favourites....

Hahahaha......  just kidding (Pig's heart, pig's head, worms, grasshoppers and river crab salad!!!!!)  

This is more what our "very safe" menu looks like..... Thai green curry soup, Spicy chicken soup, Stir fried vegetables, Chicken and rice, Chicken and noodles.... and of course an egg and chillies with everything!! Yummy....

And this very interesting traditional Thai pudding (Kanom Whan).  It's 2 different hot sauces, one sweet and the other salty mixed together, with some sort of jelly like noodle...

Are you hungry yet....??  

I'll write about some of the weird, crazy and delicious local fruits in the next update.

May you be blessed during this Holy week as we celebrate Jesus's life, death and resurrection!