Pranks!

Our lovely German class!

Kata Beach in Phuket- the water is much clearer than I expected!

Julia and I teaching the Moken kids (sea gypsy village)

at Khao Lak Lamru National Park

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  I think we've been watching too many episodes of the Office. We've been in a mischievous mood, and so we decided to play some pranks on Ton last Friday evening. P'Jeab invited us 

over for dinner. While Ton was in the kitchen, I stole his bag and hid it upstairs. Then I took his cell phone out and hid it in my purse, and Julia called it. He was looking around for a while before he realized where the ringing was coming from. I took his phone and hid it and called it two more times that night, but the best time was right in the middle of an intense Ligretto game- with 8 people playing (we taught the Thais how to play.) I hid his phone in a laundry basket and called him during the game. He totally fell for it again! The problem is that Julia and I can't keep a straight face, so we were trying our best not to crack up but mostly not succeeding. But Ton didn't even notice until we were getting ready to leave that his bag was missing. 

  Somehow the cell phone trick didn't really get old, because his reaction is soooo funny to watch, and he takes it well. So we did it again on Sunday, but one time while Julia and I were talking to the mayor of Takuapa and his friend, a psychiatrist (who had been invited over for a special dinner at Step Ahead). I thought I'd be pretty sly and call his phone (which I'd hidden on the stairs) while talking to the mayor, so that I could keep a straight face. But it didn't work; especially when the psychiatrist, whose name is coincidentally also Ton (!) started looking around for his cell phone. He must've had the same ring tone. Ton said, "you two again!!" and put us both in a headlock. But the pranks didn't stop there. We also got him a small brush and bottle of shampoo (because he loves his long hair), which we wrapped in shiny gold paper and gave to him, and we put a fork and a toilet paper roll in his bag on Tuesday. Julia made a blunder in Thai that led to another prank also. She learned how to say "how old are you" which translates literally as "age, how much?" But when she wanted to ask Ton how old he was, she just said "Ton, how much?" We burst out laughing. And then I said "10 baht" (about 30 cents or so). So the next day I put 10 baht in an envelope and asked Momay to write "how much? 10 baht" on the outside, and  stuck the envelope in Ton's bag.  I don't know who's going to help me pull pranks when Julia's gone!

A Day's Work

In class on Wednesday, we were talking about jobs, and one girl said she does odd jobs in the low season, such as picking fruit to sell. She told me what kind of fruit she picked, but I'd never heard of it (even after nearly a year in Thailand, I'm still discovering foods and fruits that I've never seen or heard of before.) In the evening, before we left for cell group, my student showed up at Step Ahead with a HUGE bag of fruit- her whole day's work! It was about 2 1/2 kilos. I don't know the name of the fruit in English. But I sure was impressed by her generosity.

Julia and I confused our German students with a whole bunch of vocabulary about the reception at a hotel, but then when we played hangman at the end of the hour, they had so much fun that they stayed after for almost half an hour to continue playing!

Mother's Day

Ton practicing songs with the kids before service

Julia, Dinay and I enjoying a good lunch!

Giving flowers to a lady who couldn't come

Have you ever seen kids so cute?? Seriously. 

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  I'm so behind on blogging! I can't really catch up, but I'll tell about a few things. Well, first of all, Megan left (we miss you, Megan!) and Julia came to help me teach German. German class has been so great this time! The students are all still attending class each time (unusual b/c they usually drop off around the middle of term), and they are the sweetest and most fun students! Julia and I could nearly laugh until we cried sometimes in class. I've also started teaching at Chong Fah Resort, which has a really nice swimming pool that they let us use. That is my biggest class- 18 students, which is a bit chaotic, especially since we meet in the restaurant! It's fun though. Oh, but I saw my first cobra since I've been in Thailand- it slithered across my path right on the steps leading to the hotel! I thank God that I didn't step on it, because it literally went right in front of my feet. 

  We've played a LOT of volleyball at the beach w/ our friends who work at La Flora (hotel) and then a few random Germans. We made friends w/ 4 Germans actually, and ate dinner w/ them once  and had them over at Step Ahead for lunch. The guys at La Flora gave me a Thai nickname- "Chabah"- which means hibiscus flower! I like it. Some people told me it's an old name and that Thais always like to give farangs old names (and names of flowers), but I don't mind. I like the way it sounds; it's better than some of the other funny names I've heard here, and it doesn't mean "frog" or "rat" or something similar. :)

   A few Sundays ago we had a special service at church for Mother's Day (the queen's birthday). Ton did special songs w/ the kids, and they each presented jasmine flowers to their moms. Well, I was lucky enough to be a stand-in mom for a really cute little girl whose mom wasn't there! I was happy to do the job. She hugged me for a long time, and I just wanted to cry because she was so sweet. Actually, the whole service, I think, was the nicest one I've been to since I've been here. Some of the moms of the kids from our Saturday kids class came too, which was cool. 

   Last weekend Julia and I went on a short trip to Phuket to see Pia and for Julia to see some of the city. The other girls who are either staying at or hanging around Amber's house are so sweet and so much fun! We went shopping at the night market and had a girls' night on Saturday. On Sunday Julia and I went to Kata Beach, where the water is surprisingly- amazingly- clear. We didn't swim; we just walked around and then found a really nice coffeehouse called "Summer." Then we got on the wrong bus (because when I asked the bus driver, he said that the bus DID in fact go to Bang Niang...), got off, and got on the right bus to go home.  

  

A spoonerism and a nail in Paul's foot

Paul said a couple of funny spoonerisms today, but the only one I can remember is "it's not that the sin was fruitful, but..." (he meant: it's not that the fruit was sinful...). 

 A conversation between me and Ton the other day went like this (in Thai, which is why it turned out so funny):

Ton: Where did you go eat with Kim?

Me: the Viking

Ton: Nice. Has Kim left yet?

Me: I ate pizza for dinner.

Ton: ???

Me: Wait, what did you ask me?

  This is what happens when you try to learn a foreign language.

 On a not-so- funny note, Paul stepped on a rusty nail at the beach yesterday while playing volleyball. It apparently went into his foot pretty far, but he continued to serve the ball after that! Then Megan drove him home on the motorbike, and he went to the clinic to have it cleaned and get a shot. He has a really good attitude though, and I'm amazed that he's still doing all his usual things while hobbling around a bit. 

 

 

 

A big meal, a great family, new classes, and some time with Jeab

Dinner with a few friends on Sunday night after soccer :)- and the Honeyman family with their two kids, from Bangkok

At Jeab's house

Rong (Jeab's husband), Ton, Liz! (she's visiting us for a few days)

the boys cleaning up after dinner on Sunday night

For the past three weeks, there was a lovely family from Bangkok staying here at Step Ahead-the Honeymans, with their two children and their nanny. The husband is American and the wife is Thai.  Paul and Yeewa Honeyman helped us out with several things around Step Ahead: Yeewa helped Megan translate her surveys, visited the preschools, and she taught the kids in Lam Kaen in my and Pia's place while I was in Phuket. They were so kind and generous, always encouraging us and genuinely concerned about our well-being. Sunday was their last night here, and Paul and his oldest son joined us for soccer at the beach, and then they treated all of us (almost 20 people!) to dinner at Step Ahead. We were sad to see them go on Monday morning!

 Our friend Liz, one of the British girls who taught here for two months but is now working in Bangkok, is visiting us for a few days this week! It's been so great to catch up with her. Unfortunately El couldn't come, because she's with her brother and sister at Koh Samet. 

New classes started this week, and my English classes are too small, but my German class has 8 people! I had so much fun with those students today. My evening English class is quite unique because I have two ladies who each bring their kid to class! So it's 3 adults and two kids, and one of the kids, who is half Danish, can already speak English so well. He was in my Step Ahead kids' class over the school break! And the little girl is half German. She's adorable. 

Tonight Jeab, our housekeeper, invited us from Step Ahead, plus Ton and Momay, to her house for dinner. God has been working in great ways in her life, and I learned from Benz tonight that Jeab has put her faith in Christ! God is also bringing healing and reconciliation in her marriage, and it was wonderful to see a genuine love and happiness between her and her husband. He's not a believer yet. After dinner, we talked and laughed for a long time (Momay and Ton were being very silly- as usual), and then we prayed together for God to bless Jeab's family. 

A chat with Dinay. A changed life.

Megan and I made the rounds in our neighborhood tonight on our way to the beach, stopping off for a while at Gan's to share some of our pictures of Koh Yao Noi with her, since she's adding Koh Yao to the list of tours she offers at the Green Biking Company, then saying "sawat dee ka" to the ladies at the massage shops and the guys who work at the yellow Italian restaurant, and after a few minutes at the beach (it was already late- like 9:15), stopping to chat with Dinay at his tailor shop. It's been so exciting to see him grow in his new faith in Jesus. It's so much fun to meet with Dinay whenever I have time to stop for a while. His face beams radiantly every time I see him, and he's so joyful. He's been reading the Nepalese Bible, which I had asked the Honeymans (a family helping out at Step Ahead right now) to bring down from Bangkok, every day. Last week I asked him if he had ever read the Bible before, and he said "no, this is the first time!" He is amazed by the story of Creation and the stories of Jesus in the gospels (he read John first). This week he said he went to Krabi for a few days for his cousin's wedding and that while he was there, he read his Bible aloud to some of his relatives. One of them was really interested and has kept asking Dinay if he's still reading the Bible. 

Dinay likes percentages. Tonight he said several things that made me and Megan crack up. It went something like this:

Bri: "Is it as clean in Nepal as it is in Thailand?"

Dinay: "Oh no, it's about 20% as clean as Thailand."

Bri: "Really?"

. . . .

Dinay: "I'm too dark. I wish my skin were whiter."

Megan: "I wish I were dark like you! Does my skin look darker than when I came here?"

Dinay: "Oh yes, I think you're about 20% as dark as me."

(this makes perfect sense in his mind)

. . . .

Megan: "How many languages do you speak?"

Dinay: "About 5: Nepalese, Burmese, Thai, English, and a little bit of Italian. Thai about 60-70%. English about 60-70%. Italian only about 20%."

  I might have gotten some of the details incorrect. I have a bad memory. But it was funny. 

Phuket

Amber, Pia, and Amanda

We found a Swiss restaurant!

me and Bua at her favorite coffee shop
) 

at Rajabhat (sp. ? University in Phuket)

Chinese steamed buns and hazelnut steamed milk- yum!

I'm sitting at Amber's house in Phuket, listening to the rain while Pia relaxes on the couch next to me. This week has been such a great time to truly wind down after a busy class term and some unnecessary visa excitement last week- which worked out absolutely WAY better than I could have expected. To make a long story short, while talking to Kim, my director's wife, on the phone, she asked me what was the exact date that my visa expires, and.... when I looked at my passport, it was that very day! Exactly one month after my last visa run in June. It had been stamped wrong, which somehow escaped my attention. But Benz called around and talked to people for me, and I found out that I wouldn't be deported or have to pay a big fine, but I'd just have to go to Ranong and get it re-stamped the next day. Praise the Lord! Amber had planned to rent a car anyway to pick up some of Pia's stuff, because she is in transition and will probably be moving up north to do some different work, so she ended up driving me (with Pia) all the way to Ranong, and then back to Phuket! Ten hours in the car.  The great thing is that in Ranong, I didn't even have to go on the boat! I simply walked up to the counter, explained as best I could in Thai what had happened, got my passport re-stamped and left! It was the fastest trip to Ranong ever. 

So for the past week (which ended up being a longer stay in Phuket than I'd planned), I've been able to spend some great time with Pia and Amber and her family. We've done very little; honestly I've been content to sleep in, pray and read a lot, play guitar, and help Pia think through some issues. She will most likely be going up north near Hua Hin to do some new work. I'll miss her so much. She's been one of my closest friends the whole time I've been here. Another cool thing I got to do was get to know Bua, the only Campus Crusade staff in Phuket, and visit her university and talk to her about her ministry. Bua lives with the Griffeons (Amber's family) and goes to their church. Cru recently moved all of their staff to the bigger cities, so all of the staff in south Thailand, except for Bua, are now in Hat Yai. She really has a heart for Phuket, so she asked to stay and do her master's program in Phuket.