Sawatdee Ka (Hello in Thai, said by a female)

Sunday Update:

When Misty and I were at the internet café we received a phone call from SiJie, saying that the boss called and invited us for dinner. We had to leave immediately. Since we had not planned on going anywhere too public immediately after leaving the shop, and since it was pouring rain, we turned up at Father Joe’s looking very much like drowned rats.

One thing we learned very quickly is that you NEVER turn down a dinner invitation from Father Joe. The food is always superb, the drinks do not stop flowing, and the guests are usually well known celebrity like people.

Tonight we had lobster, shrimp and asparagus, curried duck, some sort of stir-fry, fish, and rice of course. The lobster was nothing like lobster at home and looked more like oversized prawns, however it was quite tasty. I especially enjoyed the Swensen’s ice cream, which I can never turn down. I don’t know Scotsburn, I think you have some very tough competition. There was also plenty of fruit to go around.

It’s funny, I have never met so many important people in my life, yet I have never been so unprepared in my life. Just imagine…“Yep we dumped cold water on ourselves today in an attempt to shower, grabbed whatever clothes we had clean, and went out for dinner with a world famous photographer.” I’m sure we are a sight sometimes.

Guests of honor were former Mercy children who have since gone on to International Schools to study, met their husbands and are now living around the world. Mercy Success Stories. Many of them have not seen each other in 14 years. Also, there was a man named Lee who has been staying at Mercy for a few days. He is well known in computer science and he runs a company that looks after putting computers into rural farming areas in developing countries. Most of the technology is used to try and improve the communities, and allowing rural families to continue their operations despite the challenges they face from global warming and other environmental effects. Giving Laos as an example, Lee spoke of how many of the families have lived and worked the land for thousands of years. However, with all of the changes in the environment families are now dealing with bugs and soil that is a lot different than hundreds of years ago. With this technology they can draw pictures of the bugs that are eating their sugar cane for example, and ‘chat’ or share ideas with other local farmers, whether it is in the next community or the next country.

We had a wonderful debate about incorporating technology into rural communities. It does not make sense for families to have access to a computer to communicate with other people when they do not even have their own well. Also, you cannot put a computer in the hands of someone who is so desperate for money that they dig down to the buried wires that are used to link the towns, to steal a foot of copper that they will sell.

I have been reminding myself of a heated debate we had both online and in Technology class this semester. People were saying that it is not fair that some schools are equipped with a couple of computers per classroom, and other people were complaining that they do not even have more than 5 computers in the whole school. The debate then went on to say how some communities are so poor…blah blah blah. I guess those who complained about only a few computers per school should take a trip over here where many of our preschools do not even have enough paper and pencils for each child, the children do not have desks or chairs to sit on, and sometimes a whole school is housed in a small shack like building, which is just bursting at the seams with children.

It is still raining out now, it has been raining for the most of the day. The rain made our bath water very cold today. Even now I am still wearing jeans trying to warm up. I cannot wait for a hot shower, whenever that will be.

As many of you are aware, Burma is a mess right now. I spoke with my friend Nick who works at the Canadian Embassy here in Thailand. We do not have an embassy in Burma so he has been extremely busy. However, they have located many Canadians, and they are able to get them out of the country. Thailand has become a base where people and aid are being stockpiled, in hopes that they will soon allow the border to open. Unfortunately Burma is so corrupt that it is very likely that the aid will not get to those in need. Instead people will continue to die of starvation while those in the government and law enforcement will gain. Please pray for the people of Burma who have been affected by this disaster, and let us hope that those in power will make the best decisions for the people of Burma.

My time here feels very limited now. The last month has flew by very quickly. We said good bye to one of our coworkers on Friday who is leaving to take a course in the states. It was a sad goodbye because she is one of the staff we are the closest to, and who also helps us communicate with others. Before we know it we will also be saying good bye to SiJie who will be leaving on the 8th of June. Thankfully with all of these goodbyes, we will have a nice hello, when Misty’s mother and sister arrive. We have been planning for their arrival, looking into hotels for them to stay as well as find activities and sites to take them to. We have plans to visit the most Southern part of Thailand when they come and spend some time soaking up the sun on the world renowned beaches. Most of these scenes are the ones you see when people think of Thailand, the paradise.

After they depart we only really have a little over a week here and then it will be time for us to head home too. I look forward to seeing my friends and family again, but I know this will be a messy goodbye. I hope to continue my relationship with the Mercy Centre upon my return, trying to find more sponsors so we can send more children to school, as well as to raise awareness about what is happening on the other side of the world. Some day I will return to Mercy, I have to. Whether that is years from now, or in the very near future I don’t know. Whether I will be coming back as a visitor, or whether I will have another role I also do not know, but my heart will not say good bye to Mercy or to the children when I leave, or ever.

Monday

We just took it easy today. We have Monday’s off and they usually end up being our ultimate day of rest and relaxation. We spent most of the morning just hanging out in our room. I watched some tv with one of the boys. It was perfect for both of us, as the movie was in English with Thai subtitles. Then Misty and I went to get some much needed groceries and CDs to start burning our pictures on disk. We searched two of the largest supermarkets for a CD case to hold all of our CDs. I didn’t realize it would be near impossible to just find a plain black case that had nothing to do with Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh or some kind of other characters. Finally we were able to settle one that we would peel the cartoons off later.

We took the bus home, and the bus driver was kind enough to slow down to let me off. I never jumped off a moving bus before with both arms full of groceries. It was like a scene right out of speed.

We were surprised to find that we were locked out of the building upon our return. This would not have been a big deal, except that it was hot out and we had a lot of milk products that needed to go in the fridge. We called work, and apparently two of our boys were in the building. We rang the door bell numerous times, and the men who work in the shop across the street were yelling in Thai to the boys. I walked around back and there was Bird and Spicy, chilling in the laundry section. As soon as they saw me they knew what we needed so they ran downstairs and let us in. We do not know where any of the staff were, and it was quite strange for the boys to be home alone. However, we made the best of the situation by sitting outside together, helping each other finish up the laundry and snacking on some chips.

As Misty and I were finishing our last load of laundry, Bird and Spicy decided to take a bath. They filled a pail of water beside where we were using the washing machine and stripped down and started washing themselves. It was pretty funny as they were not ashamed of anything. At one point Spicy decided to pee behind the curtain, however by hiding himself from us, he was showing himself to the rest of the world. I think it was more of an awkward situation for Misty and I, than for them.

I am bothered. I mentioned in a previous post that the house parents do not allow Bird to go to the villa with the other boys, and this obviously upsets him. Then today when I came home in the middle of the afternoon he was alone with Spicy who is basically blind. I do not see how it is okay for them to leave him home alone here in a locked building, or out in the middle of nowhere with staff and other children. I am going to make certain that I touch on some of these issues during my presentation on Autism and how to work with children with special needs. I am going to focus a little bit on Down Syndrome as well, as it may help aid the house parents with the care of Gelong.

We went to our favorite street vendor restaurant for supper. It looked like they were getting ready to close, but waved us in and motioned for us to sit down. Misty and I go there so often, that it is has gotten to the point that they start cooking when we sit down, and do not even need to take our order anymore, as they always know what we want. I guess it wouldn’t be too hard to remember, since I am sure we are the only two farangs who dine there, or even walk along this street.

After dinner we went to the market outside of Carrefour. Another unsuccessful shopping trip. Shopping in Asia is basically hopeless, unless you are a size 0. Everything is one size, seriously, but has elastic around the chest or waist to make it fit. Most places will not even allow you to try on the clothes because if you are Asian, it should fit you. I feel bad for people who are slightly larger than everyone else. However, they always have the option of going to one of the vendors that likes to say “we have big size.” What a nice boost to a girl’s self esteem. If you ever want to feel like the friendly giant, this is the place to be.

That is about all the news I have for now. I burned pictures to CD’s today and so far I have about 17 CDs full. So for those of you who have been asking if I have taken more pictures besides the ones I post, the answer is yes. Thankfully between the two of us we split on 50 CDs, so hopefully that will do us until we leave.

Good Night!

Jodie