2 months from our arrival
Here is another voice from the ocean of humanity.
We have lived here in Thailand for over 6 years, first in Chiang Mai then Esaan, the East, then 6 months in Central Thailand.
Now we are here in Southern Thailand, 2 months since arrival. We have lived in all 4 regions of Thailand now.
We live in a shophouse along a major road in Phang Nga. Our "front door" is a big metal roll-up door. People walk by on their way to nearby shops, peering in at us. Sometimes they just come on in, after taking their shoes off first, of course. The owner and her relatives come in quite often, calling up to us if we are on the upper floor . The other day a "worker" type with his western-style sweat-soaked clothes walked right into our house to sell us some rattan shelves he had just built and laquered. He was convinced we should buy them from him. We did.
2 weeks ago an elderly lady in a rumpled traditional skirt walked in. She held a well-used natural fiber basket and told me in a raspy voice that she was selling peanuts that she had grown herself and steamed. We bought some of those, too. Sometimes people come and ask us to teach their children English. Usually those folks stay at the entrance and call out to us, though.
Our life is an adventure.
In the back of our shophouse there are shacks built from corrugated metal, odd assortments of wood and even old politcal posters. Construction workers and their families are live there as they continue to build shophouses along this road. There is one family directly across from my kitchen door, and the young wife just had her baby, a girl. She brought her home wrapped up in some black cloth. Her 2 older children played with my children on the piles of yellow sand, dirt and rocks that trucks dumped out in back to make roads the other day. The youngest one often runs around with just a little shirt on. I feel for this woman, out there in that awful shack, far from home and with 2 young children and a baby to care for. What can I do for her that would be culturally appropriate? I have been thinking about it, I have been talking to a friend a bit about it. I have been praying about it.
She brought out her baby today, and we grinned at each other.
We have lived here in Thailand for over 6 years, first in Chiang Mai then Esaan, the East, then 6 months in Central Thailand.
Now we are here in Southern Thailand, 2 months since arrival. We have lived in all 4 regions of Thailand now.
We live in a shophouse along a major road in Phang Nga. Our "front door" is a big metal roll-up door. People walk by on their way to nearby shops, peering in at us. Sometimes they just come on in, after taking their shoes off first, of course. The owner and her relatives come in quite often, calling up to us if we are on the upper floor . The other day a "worker" type with his western-style sweat-soaked clothes walked right into our house to sell us some rattan shelves he had just built and laquered. He was convinced we should buy them from him. We did.
2 weeks ago an elderly lady in a rumpled traditional skirt walked in. She held a well-used natural fiber basket and told me in a raspy voice that she was selling peanuts that she had grown herself and steamed. We bought some of those, too. Sometimes people come and ask us to teach their children English. Usually those folks stay at the entrance and call out to us, though.
Our life is an adventure.
In the back of our shophouse there are shacks built from corrugated metal, odd assortments of wood and even old politcal posters. Construction workers and their families are live there as they continue to build shophouses along this road. There is one family directly across from my kitchen door, and the young wife just had her baby, a girl. She brought her home wrapped up in some black cloth. Her 2 older children played with my children on the piles of yellow sand, dirt and rocks that trucks dumped out in back to make roads the other day. The youngest one often runs around with just a little shirt on. I feel for this woman, out there in that awful shack, far from home and with 2 young children and a baby to care for. What can I do for her that would be culturally appropriate? I have been thinking about it, I have been talking to a friend a bit about it. I have been praying about it.
She brought out her baby today, and we grinned at each other.
Comments